www.FlyingOmelette.com
Questions & Answers Archive 2


Question #40
FROM: James FP

Who the heck is sending you demands to update our site? If it's one of the staffers, they're gonna get a swift kick to the groin.


Dear James,

It wasn't anyone from your staff and it wasn't anytime recently. It was actually a long time ago and I probably shouldn't have even mentioned it, but the reason I did was as the prominent example of something that I've had in my Site FAQ but I kept getting asked anyway.

I also have to wonder how well that would work considering three of your staffers are female.


Question #39
FROM: Hobbes

Hey FO, Hobbes here.

I was wondering what your general opinion of Resident Evil 0 is. I'm a pretty big fan of the series as a whole, but 0 is it's only game that I haven't played through completely (Spin-offs not withstanding). I started on it a little while ago, but I didn't really feel like familiarizing myself with the new partner and inventory systems at the time, so I decided to leave it alone for the time being.

Also, do you have any plans on playing any of the other Resident Evil games sometime? I'm partial to RE2 as far as the traditional RE games go, but it would probably seem pretty easy after 0 (Which is supposedly the most difficult game of the series). I'd imagine you might like the first game if you liked 0, though. Both the original version and the GC remake are pretty good. I also thought RE4 was an excellent (and moderately difficult) game, but it only really keeps the most basic aspects of it's predecessors' gameplay intact.

Hope all's well with you.


Dear Hobbes,

I thought Resident Evil 0 was a pretty good game and I actually ended up enjoying quite a bit. But is it really supposed to be the hardest game in the series? Because the easy mode is actually quite easy. The hardest thing about the easy mode was figuring out some of the puzzles, but there is so much ammo and healing items that I killed almost every enemy in the game and still had way more than enough of both left over at the end. Normal and especially Hard were more difficult and it's almost necessary to play Easy and Normal before Hard because there are a lot of situations where you have to split up the two characters and you'll need to know ahead of time how best to prepare them. You'd also have to know when to fight enemies and when to just run away from them.

I liked the character-switching aspect of the game because it added a unique element ofstrategy. Although I've always been a fan of the "find an item and use it here" type of puzzle games since Shadowgate, I can imagine it getting old after awhile. But the character-switching added an element of freshness to the idea. The inventory system, on the other hand, is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's good that you can't stock up on all the healing items you see and blow through everything. On the other hand, it means you'll have to run back-and-forth a lot. ("I've used my healing item and need another one, so I'll have to run ALL the way back to where I left another one...") The train sequence was a really good opening "Act 1" for the game, too.

The story of RE0 is ridiculous beyond words, but maybe you'd like it if you like things that are unintentionally funny or really cheesy.

I can easily see myself playing other Resident Evil games after this. I think we own most of them in some form except for RE3 and RE4. I plan to get RE4 soon.


Question #38
FROM: Crawl

What did you think of Donnie Darko?


Dear Crawl,

Neither strongly liked it nor strongly disliked it. I thought it completely fell apart at the end at the exact point when they're in the old woman's cellar and get jumped by the two kids with knives. At that point, it jumps the rails in much the same way that the ending of Adaptation did, and quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of movies ending that way. On the other hand, I did like a lot of the humor in the movie, but one of the funniest parts only occurs in a deleted scene.


Question #37
FROM: Daryn Versetti

Seems every time I open my mouth, I put my foot farther and farther down into it, huh? I wasn't calling "Image Arcane" lame, as I said, I haven't even read any of it since our days at The Minerva Project. I just, ah, forget it. I'll only make things worse. Do what you want with the website, I'm sure no matter what it is, if it comes from you, I'll like it. Hah!

(But your reviews and oddities are great and I think you should keep doing them anyway.)


Dear Daryn,

I apologize if my previous response to you seemed a bit harsh, but ever since that incident in March, I've been really touchy about people judging my work before they've actually read it. I realize that everyone is a critic, even of critics, and as someone who is very vocal about what I do and don't like, I completely and totally expect that not everyone will like my work and some will even hate it, but they're entitled to that and that's life. But to call it a "lame-o webcomic" when you have no way of knowing at this point what it's all about is as bad as that company therapist who laughed at me and treated me like a piece of garbage for saying I was a writer when he hadn't even read a single review or article on this site.

And just for the record, Image Arcane is not meant to ride on the coattails of the popularity of such sites as Penny-Arcade and 8-Bit Theater. Occasionally, I had videogame references in the old R.A.U. sketches, but they were just that: references. Neither IA or the R.A.U. are a comic that lampoons videogame stories or the current state of the industry. And since I have no plans to revive the R.A.U. that means that there won't be any videogame connections at all.


Question #36
FROM: Benjamin Strykolova

I'd just like to say that I think you're making the right choice in starting work on your comics again. I personally don't see why you need to take down the reader submissions (unless it's a server space issue), but I do think you're far too talented to be doing stuff like documenting game cameos and posting side-by-side pictures of people and characters that look vaguely alike. Even if you don't think your comics are the best in the world, at least it's your personal creation and something with lasting value that nobody else can do. At least with the game reviews it's still your own writing and your own opinions. But leave things like reader submissions to the big websites.

I wish you the best of luck and I can't wait to read your first script or strip.


Dear Benjamin,

You don't see why I need to take down the reader submissions when you were one of the people who made me feel like I should never have accepted them in the first place? You know what I'm beginning to realize? I'm beginning to feel exactly like I did years ago before I quit writing Image Arcane. I kept getting told, everywhere I went, that my work was good, but it just didn't look "professional enough". Instead of continuing work on the actual comic, I began spending every moment I had trying to perfect my skills. Consequently, the work became boring because it felt like a chore, and I wasn't doing it for the reason I began drawing in the first place - I wrote and illustrated Image Arcane because I liked the characters and I liked telling stories about their adventures, not because I wanted to impress anyone. Instead, now I was just trying to please everyone and make myself look good in front of them. This was one of the many factors that ultimately led to IA's demise.

Now it feels like the same thing is happening again - I'm trying to purge the reader submissions so that I'll look good to those who feel I shouldn't have them. Well, you know, I still do not have the time or resources to continue accepting reader submissions, but I've grown tired of looking like a total cantankerous jackass out here. I think I'll throw the sections that have reader submissions into a category for "Dead Sections" while doing the site clean-up. That way, those who liked them can still read them, while those who hate them can steer clear of the "Dead Zone". I'll keep the "Dead Zone" as long as I don't need the server space for other ventures.

How does that sound to everyone? Can we at least agree on that?

And thank you for your words of encouragement regarding IA, but don't hold your breath waiting for a script or strip just yet. It might be a long time before I'll have anything that presentable.


Question #35
FROM: Kairobi King

Do you have any plans to rewrite any of your old reviews that are still in the category format? I thought the rewrites of your Earthbound and Kabuki Quantum Fighter reviews were really good and far superior to the originals.


Dear Kairobi,

You liked the new version of the KQF review? I think you're the only person who does. Anyway, I don't have any immediate plans to rewrite any of the old reviews, but occasionally, I'll replay a game I already reviewed in category format and decide to do a rewrite. Again, no plans in the immediate future of updating any of them, but it could happen eventually. Incidentally, I will not be doing rewrites of any essay-format reviews. I'm giving myself only one shot at those, because I could easily spend my lifetime rewriting the same reviews over and over again for the same games, and at some point, you just have to move on.


Question #34
FROM: SlyDante

Well, when I heard that you were getting read of the reader-submitted stuff, I kinda felt a little crushed...That stuff was some of the best your site had.

So I began thinking of having to back it all up...Then I thought as the co-admin of www.evo-star.com (we're affiliates, or at least we have links to each other on our sites), I wondered - & this WILL sound like an odd question - Is it possible for me to take those articles off your hands?

I thought that a lot of people would miss all that stuff, & I didn't want to see it go...So want if I could put them up in the Articles section of my site (with you getting proper credit, of course)?

So I was wondering if I could have the permission to do so...& if there was any legal stuff that would prevent me from doing so, which you've mentioned a lot.

I we can work something out here, & I hope you still manage to have a kick-ass site. Reply soon, please.


Dear Sly,

A lot of people have asked me if they can take over the Cameos Database and/or the Switched at Birth stuff, and I've told them all the same thing: If you want to start up your own Cameos Database or your own SAB pages, I can't stop you and I wouldn't want to stop you. But if my articles continue to exist on the internet, either on this site or elsewhere, then the problems that are associated with them will not leave me. I'm afraid I have to decline your offer.


Question #33
FROM: Daryn Versetti

I didn't mean to imply that your characters can't exist. I just didn't want to see the site replaced with another lame-o webcomic. But I know, I know, I shouldn't judge before I see what you do.


Dear Daryn,

And if I wanted to replace the entire site with "another lame-o webcomic", I'd just go ahead and do it regardless of what anyone else thinks or wants. The whole reader submissions controversy has taught me it's not worth giving a fuck what anyone else thinks. When you do with your life exactly what you want to do with it instead of what everyone else wants you to do with it, you'll find out who your real friends are. And false friendships aren't worth having.


Question #32
FROM: Joey Flint

dear sir or madam,

may i have per mission to use your flying castle.jpg for my school project?


Dear Joey,

Sure, go right ahead. Though I have to wonder what kind of school project that picture could possibly be used for.


Question #31
FROM: Felrah L

Hi,

If you like Cosmos, you should check out this contest for a new figurine. He's one of the choices:

http://www.first4figures.com/newsarticles.asp?newsid=25

http://www.first4figures.com/


Dear Felrah,

Thanks for the link. I voted for him. I really like that drawing of Cosmos sitting on the asteroid, too.


Question #30
FROM: CB007

Just wondering if you've watched many good movies lately. Either recently released, or older films that you've seen for the first time.

Anything you'd recommend?


Dear CB007,

I haven't seen anything in awhile that I could strongly recommend. The best movie I've seen recently is "How the West Was Won", but it's very long so if you decide to watch it, be prepared (the DVD I watched did contain an intermission). I liked "March of the Penguins" a lot more than I thought I would, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea.


Question #29
FROM: James FP

Do you have a favorite kind of cheese? I like Swiss and Velveeta!


Dear James,

I like Pepper Jack and Swiss. Good ole American cheese is nice once in awhile, too.


Question #28
FROM: Scourge, the Avenger

In your demo, Smoky exactly follows Skids' transformation process.

Thanx,

DECEPTICONS FOREVER

CHECK OUT MY SITE:

http://www.angelfire.com/goth/cybertronian_artifacts


Dear Scourge,

Interesting. I wonder if it's possible that Smokescreen is animated this way not because the animators were being lazy but because they simply referenced the wrong toy (Skids)? Considering that Wheeljack's animation is dead-on, it seems likely. (Smokescreen should, by all means, transform the same way Prowl does.)


Question #27
FROM: Peter

Greetings, how's it going?

Please forgive the mail out the blue. We are in the process of setting up a games business to realise a life long dream of selling PC Engine, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast and Playstation stuff amongst other Japanese classics... To be honest we have only just discovered your site through VideoGames101.com (*~*), but as we stock alot of gaming classics; I was wondering if we might be able to exchange links? Our site is very close to going live and we'd love to get some additional traffic. It'd be a true honour to be linked with such a dedicated site. We really like the Mystical Ninja review.

Please feel free to use any of the cover scans of any of the games on our site if you wish to use such images. Although I'm afraid we don't have any permission to use them ourselves.

(PS I'm sure you realise but if you click on the small shot it leads to a cover scan and sometimes a back cover shot (if available.) I think that would be the best size image to capture as it is not streched like the small shot.)

Many thanks, Keep up the good work!

Bye for now and have a nice weekend....

Peter.

http://www.genkivideogames.com/


Dear Peter,

Sure. I'll add your link to my Links page today.


Question #26
FROM: James FP

This question might be more suited to asking of Sethra, but since you were a part of it, I'll ask you anyway:

What exactly was The Minerva Project all about? And do you still have any old scripts for Image Arcane or TMP that you might post to your site sometime? Reading your character descriptions and seeing bits of the old comics is fun, but what I'd really like is to read a complete story about them.


Dear James,

I still have some of my old scripts in written format, but I will not be posting them because much would need to be changed to fit the current vision. I don't think I have any of my TMP scripts (Sethra says she might have them somewhere, but can't find the floppy they were on), but those would not be posted either, because TMP was an "alternate universe" version of IA.

As for The Minerva Project itself, it was just an interactive story. The story took place on a world called "Renuldar-Star" and the main character was named Minerva K Red, who went on all these adventures around the world. If you joined, you could either just write stories based on the existing characters and settings, or enter your own setting and characters into the fray, provided that what you had was not too similar to something that already existed. For example, the pseudo-Asian culture setting was already taken by someone else, but when I joined, there was no desert setting. So I took the Aridian Kingdom from Image Arcane and worked it into the Minerva Project, along with some of my characters. I created some new characters specifically for TMP, too. The quality of your writing had to meet certain standards and you had to write within a certain set of rules in order for your work to be accepted and posted to the site. But as you can see, this is exactly why my TMP stuff cannot be considered "canon" to the Image Arcane series - too much had to be altered to fit in with the Renuldar-Star world. I believe the goal of TMP was to create someting that was like a cartoon series with a "staff" of writers, but it failed when the people running it lost interest.


Question #25
FROM: James FP

Do you have a favorite Image Arcane character, or would that be too much like choosing a favorite child?


Dear James,

I don't think I could pick a single favorite. In the old series, my favorites were Jack Sheen, Nucleo McRaven, Christopher Paladin, and Chancey Tomasaro. It's kind of funny because Sesa Markino was supposed to be the leader-type character, but I realized sometime around when I started writing that I don't like characters whose only personality is that they're the leader. Thus, Sesa became a self-parody and Chancey, who was supposed to be the bumbling goofball of the team, became a much stronger leader character. Christopher was an odd case because he wasn't supposed to be in any episodes beyond the first one he was in, but I thought of an idea for a second story involving him, and then he just ended up staying for the entire series. But I think the original idea for the story of Image Arcane could've been accurately described as the story of Jack and Nucleo, so it's no surprise they became my favorites. I confess that I don't quite have as much love for my villains as I did my heroes. That's almost the exact opposite of what a lot of people who grew up watching cartoons have told me: Many people prefer the villains, and in some cases, (but not all), I did, too. But maybe that's why I liked my heroes more because I worked hard to create good guy characters that would be likable. Even so, I'd say my next set of favorite characters were Honen Calzoun, Bazil Kyradius, Stefan Ferguson, and Desiree Blueblood, all of which were villains. After that, I'd go with Deuce and Tomi.


Question #24
FROM: SethraShnoo

I'm probably not going to be very well-liked for saying this, but I think you reneged too quickly on the forums issue. If you put it back up just because people are bugging you for the URL, then they need to learn to use Google or their bookmarks.

The reason I disagree with your response is not because I have anything against the forums or anyone in it, but I think you had a specific and legitimate grievance and I don't think you've reached any kind of a compromise. The message this sends to the community is, "Okay. We can do whatever we want and it doesn't matter if it angers you because you'll just forgive and forget after awhile." People might try using this to manipulate you and your website, regardless of how "good" or "bad" they are.

I saw that happen to Kiera at the Game Pond and I don't want to see it happen again. I also hope you did not renege on your plans to go back to college. Giving up something like that for any message board is foolishness.


Dear Sethra,

Trust me, I've already had enough second thoughts about reinstating the forums to go around for everybody, and I didn't think it was a good idea to begin with. What I really would've liked to have happened would've been to wait long enough for the same people who've been antagonizing them for the past 6 years to show up and pull another prank while the site/forums link was still completely severed. That way, everyone would see that it wouldn't make a difference what I do with the site, and that as far as those people are concerned, we're still part of the "Game Pond" and we're still their property. Has everyone forgotten how in circa November 2001 all of our boards dropped the Game Pond from their ezboard rings, removed it from our websites' Links pages, completely stopped posting there, and verbally renounced our association on a number of occasions, yet they still came around to all of our boards and tried to enforce Game Pond rules on us? In my mind, there has been a compromise: I'll do with this site exactly what I want to do with it, and fuck anyone who doesn't like it.

I didn't give up my plans to go to college because of the boards. For one thing, classes don't start until the spring anyway. For another, with the rising costs of gas, I don't much believe I'll be able to afford it now. Considering the plight of many people who were directly affected by Hurricane Katrina, I don't have much room to complain about my own personal problems for now. I do know that I may not have any choice but to find some way to afford it soon...I may need to use college as an excuse to keep my parents off my back about returning to New Jersey.

I wouldn't have even entertained some of the emails that Kiera used to get. There were a number of them I might have even considered sending directly to the authorities.


Question #23
FROM: Crawl

I've beaten Eternal Darkness, and have some opinions on it, so it might make for an interesting subject of conversation when you've beaten (or at least played a ways into) it.


Dear Crawl,

Okay. I don't really have much to discuss about it right now. I'll need to play more of it before I can properly judge it.


Question #22
FROM: Daryn Versetti

I wouldn't mind if you did take up writing Image Arcane again, but in all seriousness, I'd hate to see the videogame portion of the site take a backseat to it. There are enough webcomics as it is. Just keep the good ole' classic gaming rollin'.

TTYL!


Dear Daryn,

I honestly don't get this argument. Wouldn't it be just as easy for someone to say, "I really like your videogame articles, but in all seriousness, I'd hate to see Image Arcane take a backseat to it. There are enough gaming sites as it is."? And what does the number of webcomics have to do with anything? My characters have as much a right to exist as anyone else's.


Question #21
FROM: SCOTTY

Hello. Like your site. Especially the Kid Icarus page. I recently bought Midway Arcade Treasures 1 & 2, and some other older games for newer consuls. My question is, since you say you like Kid Icarus so much, would you happen to know if this game or others of its time will come back in the original form? Thanks for any help.


Dear SCOTTY,

I haven't heard anything about a rerelease of Kid Icarus or any news of any planned sequels. The original game wasn't included in Nintendo's Famicom GBA series, it wasn't released for the e-reader, nor was it unlockable in Animal Crossing. Pit wasn't a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and quite frankly, it surprises me he even made it in as a trophy. At this point, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for anything to happen with that game series as it appears Nintendo has abandoned it.

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