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Hailinel

I wrote this little thing (it's not actually a little thing): http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/hailinel/blog/lightning-returns-wha...

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In which I describe how I manage to waste a Saturday evening.

By Hailinel 11 Comments

Oh, Dear...

Well, I'd rather not have a repeat of tonight any time soon.
 
  1. Attempt to edit a wiki page.
  2. Discover that 95% of the page is formatted in a manner that's an utter nightmare to work with.
  3. Post a suggestion to the Wiki Task suggestion thread.
  4. Shitstorm ensues.
  5. A challenge that I just do the work myself is posed.
  6. My other work on the wiki is insulted in almost the same breath.
  7. I take the challenge and run with it.
  8. I spend the next next 3+ hours editing a goddamn wikipage.  Why did it take so long?  My browser had utter fits with the way the page was formatted.
 
More than anything else, I think tonight just proved that I'm stubborn beyond belief.  Though I suppose it could also be seen as unjustifiable dedication, if I reeeeally tried to stretch it into rose-tinted territory.
 

By the way...

Does this bug you?  How about this?  This, maybe?  What am I even talking about?
 
The insertion of two spaces after a sentence-ending punctuation mark, of course.  It's a common word-processing practice I've used since elementary school.  I don't see what the big deal is, honestly, but it apparently drives some other people crazy.  What say you?
 
Anyway, here are some other random musings.
 

Returning to the Spire

So after getting reacquainted with the soundtrack to The Dark Spire this past week, I decided to pop the game back in my DS and give it another go.  I never did beat it the first time around, and looking back at my old save file, I didn't get very far in it, either.  But now that I've got the urge again, I'm going to see how far I can get.
 
Which in fact may not be all that far.  After about two hours of play, I'm still on the first floor and haven't even canvased the whole area yet.  This game is crazy hard.  Also, the enemies really like killing my halfling thief for some reason.  (Though, halflings are soft and squishy.)  That doesn't really help my party's pocketbook.  Then again, this game was designed to be a slow grind.  A dungeon crawler in the most literal sense.  It'll probably take me a while to make any significant progress.  If I do, then I'll be sure to report back here.
 

Dragon Questin'!

Ah, Dragon Quest IX, you are like a warm winter's blanket after the cruel mistress that is The Dark Spire.  Your characters are adorable, your sidequests are amusing, your kogal fairy is flapping funny.  Really, I wish I had put more time into you last year.  But for now, it's four fyggs down, three to go.  Also, Slood + Gooey Gear = Ridiculous, yet completely awesome.
 
Now if I could just break away from all of these DS RPGs to get some time in with Nier.  And to think I just picked up the PSP version of Knights in the Nightmare.  Which just happened to come with a free download voucher for Yggdra Union.  Why do I do this to myself?
 

Seahawks

As a Seattle resident, I'm rooting for the local team to beat the Bears on Sunday.  If we lose, boo.  But if we win, it's another week of sticking it to the rest of the country for not giving the Seahawks the time of day.  I don't know about you, but I would find that lovely.
11 Comments

11 Comments

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel

Oh, Dear...

Well, I'd rather not have a repeat of tonight any time soon.
 
  1. Attempt to edit a wiki page.
  2. Discover that 95% of the page is formatted in a manner that's an utter nightmare to work with.
  3. Post a suggestion to the Wiki Task suggestion thread.
  4. Shitstorm ensues.
  5. A challenge that I just do the work myself is posed.
  6. My other work on the wiki is insulted in almost the same breath.
  7. I take the challenge and run with it.
  8. I spend the next next 3+ hours editing a goddamn wikipage.  Why did it take so long?  My browser had utter fits with the way the page was formatted.
 
More than anything else, I think tonight just proved that I'm stubborn beyond belief.  Though I suppose it could also be seen as unjustifiable dedication, if I reeeeally tried to stretch it into rose-tinted territory.
 

By the way...

Does this bug you?  How about this?  This, maybe?  What am I even talking about?
 
The insertion of two spaces after a sentence-ending punctuation mark, of course.  It's a common word-processing practice I've used since elementary school.  I don't see what the big deal is, honestly, but it apparently drives some other people crazy.  What say you?
 
Anyway, here are some other random musings.
 

Returning to the Spire

So after getting reacquainted with the soundtrack to The Dark Spire this past week, I decided to pop the game back in my DS and give it another go.  I never did beat it the first time around, and looking back at my old save file, I didn't get very far in it, either.  But now that I've got the urge again, I'm going to see how far I can get.
 
Which in fact may not be all that far.  After about two hours of play, I'm still on the first floor and haven't even canvased the whole area yet.  This game is crazy hard.  Also, the enemies really like killing my halfling thief for some reason.  (Though, halflings are soft and squishy.)  That doesn't really help my party's pocketbook.  Then again, this game was designed to be a slow grind.  A dungeon crawler in the most literal sense.  It'll probably take me a while to make any significant progress.  If I do, then I'll be sure to report back here.
 

Dragon Questin'!

Ah, Dragon Quest IX, you are like a warm winter's blanket after the cruel mistress that is The Dark Spire.  Your characters are adorable, your sidequests are amusing, your kogal fairy is flapping funny.  Really, I wish I had put more time into you last year.  But for now, it's four fyggs down, three to go.  Also, Slood + Gooey Gear = Ridiculous, yet completely awesome.
 
Now if I could just break away from all of these DS RPGs to get some time in with Nier.  And to think I just picked up the PSP version of Knights in the Nightmare.  Which just happened to come with a free download voucher for Yggdra Union.  Why do I do this to myself?
 

Seahawks

As a Seattle resident, I'm rooting for the local team to beat the Bears on Sunday.  If we lose, boo.  But if we win, it's another week of sticking it to the rest of the country for not giving the Seahawks the time of day.  I don't know about you, but I would find that lovely.
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LordAndrew

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Edited By LordAndrew

The tables are a hack to workaround bad CSS rules. The staff are the ones that should be fixing that. I've mentioned it in the thread.
 
The problem with two spaces after a sentence is that HTML was not designed for it. When you do it you're actually causing the WSYWYG editor to insert a non-breaking space followed by a non-breaking space. At least, that's what it should be doing. Sometimes I see a non-breaking space followed by normal space though. If that occurs at the end of a line and the second space can't fit, the second space actually drops to the next line. And then there's a space at the beginning of a line, which I'm pretty sure you'd agree is ugly. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure that doesn't happen is to not use non-breaking spaces that way.

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel
@LordAndrew said:
" The tables are a hack to workaround bad CSS rules. The staff are the ones that should be fixing that. I've mentioned it in the thread.
 
The problem with two spaces after a sentence is that HTML was not designed for it. When you do it you're actually causing the WSYWYG editor to insert a non-breaking space followed by a non-breaking space. At least, that's what it should be doing. Sometimes I see a non-breaking space followed by normal space though. If that occurs at the end of a line and the second space can't fit, the second space actually drops to the next line. And then there's a space at the beginning of a line, which I'm pretty sure you'd agree is ugly. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure that doesn't happen is to not use non-breaking spaces that way. "
It's good to know a coding reason behind what's going on.  The thing is, when I look at what I write, it doesn't seem visually like an offense to me.
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Claude

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Edited By Claude

I always learn something new. Refresher.

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ahoodedfigure

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Edited By ahoodedfigure

There are different spacing traditions, and some people go crazy I guess. I've learned to do a single space just because it saves characters when I write elsewhere. It doesn't matter much to me either way, and I probably wouldn't notice it unless someone pointed it out.
 
Nothing like a good online fight to get the blood pumping.

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natetodamax

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Edited By natetodamax

The double spacing doesn't look visually offensive to you because you're used to it. But for people like me who weren't taught to double space after periods, it's just as big of a nightmare to us as tables are to you!

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel
@ahoodedfigure said:
" There are different spacing traditions, and some people go crazy I guess. I've learned to do a single space just because it saves characters when I write elsewhere. It doesn't matter much to me either way, and I probably wouldn't notice it unless someone pointed it out.  Nothing like a good online fight to get the blood pumping. "
Indeed.
 
@natetodamax said:
" The double spacing doesn't look visually offensive to you because you're used to it. But for people like me who weren't taught to double space after periods, it's just as big of a nightmare to us as tables are to you! "

At least altering the number of spaces after periods is easy enough to change.  Editing table text?  Far more trouble than it's worth setting up the table in the first place. :P
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Edited By Dalai

I had learned to wean myself from double spacing after sentences. If you read my earliest posts here, I double spaced all the time. To be honest, I don't even know why I changed my habit. Maybe my space bar was angry at me? 
 
As for the wiki, I keep that to the professionals.

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel
@Dalai said:
" I had learned to wean myself from double spacing after sentences. If you read my earliest posts here, I double spaced all the time. To be honest, I don't even know why I changed my habit. Maybe my space bar was angry at me?  As for the wiki, I keep that to the professionals. "
It's funny.  Someone actually criticized my work on the Other M page (image placement, in particular) as "unprofessional" yesterday.
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Edited By Godwind

Nice blog as usual (except for those times when you praise Metroid: Other M).  For some reason I can't really get into Dragon Quest 9.  Perhaps I shouldn't try to grind my ass off trying to get the weapons/armor around.

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel
@Godwind:  Thanks (I think :P)!  Grinding does help to a point, but I wouldn't say that it's as grindtastic as, say, Dragon Quest VIII, which could be pretty demanding in that aspect.  Once the game opened up (after acquiring the ship), I've spent more time doing just whatever I felt like, whether that be grinding, trying out different classes, doing side quests and otherwise seeing what all the game has to offer.