The Will of the Ancients Updates Topic

Arcie · 4 April 2005 00:18

Nice little pop at the fan fic writers there, Solo.

I’m playing with a short story called “Hide and Seek”, but I’ve just got so much to do…

Bluefoot · 4 April 2005 02:11

Zing!

Can’t speak for everyone else, but I totally deserved it. Hehe.

Solo_Wing · 5 April 2005 05:00

I’m just as bad at not finishing what I start too, though.

So, what did you have in mind for your Hide and Seek story, Arcie… a fanfic about Rhoda?

Arcie · 5 April 2005 22:22

[quote=“Solo Wing Dragon”]
So, what did you have in mind for your Hide and Seek story, Arcie… a fanfic about Rhoda?[/quote]

Ah, you know, that never even came into my head. Nah, it’s different, no spoilers in advance I think.

Solo_Wing · 12 June 2005 03:00

I finally got around to updating the site with a few things:

Update #116

Dragon Factory Theory by KBlack
Azel’s Awakening Theory by Jeremy Prusak
Azel PDRPG Teaser (the one with Atolm’s theme playing in the background - I always loved this one)
PDO TGS 2001 Teaser (some art from older games shown and a smashing “crest”)
PDO E3 2002 Trailer (first in game footage shown of PDO besides screenshots)
PD1 PC Demo (with PDO TGS 2002 trailer)

Geoff, if you’re reading this, then I’m going to get working on our article for next update… I thought I’d better get this stuff up first since it’s been over a couple of months since the last update.

…back to trying out the Battlefield 2 demo.

system · 20 September 2005 16:09

I noticed the new site update’s up now; Robert’s article was a fun read, and should win some kind of prize for being the first PD article with a photo of an oatmeal biscuit in it. My stuff’s more routine, really; the “Version Differences” page is mainly info that I’ve posted on the forums in the past, but only recently got written up for the site. If anyone notices anything I’ve missed off that page, be sure to let me know.

I’ve also updated the products / merchandise section a bit, though I haven’t marked the updates on the pages themselves - if anyone was wondering what I’ve actually added, there’s:

Scans for the PD1 Original Soundtrack, the Azel Memorial Album, the Azel Official Guide and the Tiger LCD games
New entries (descriptions & scans) for the bootleg Panzer Dragoon OVA DVD, some Saga and Orta promo discs, and some Saturn / Xbox demo discs that have Panzer Dragoon demos on them
Quite a few updated descriptions, including the one for the LCD games (which was vague to the point of being wrong before).

If anyone has any comments / suggestions on how I’m handling that section of the site, feel free to let me know about those too; I should be giving it another update in the not-too-distant future…

PanzerPants · 20 September 2005 17:08

Great update.
I thought Roberts article was particularly engaging and well written.

Kudos to Lance Way and Jeremy Prusak for some interesting articles too.

Robert_Frazer · 23 September 2005 21:28

Well, I do so adore my Hob-Nobs! Next to tea (no sugar, and the milk poured in after the tea), the immortal Blessed Beverage, they’re the finest consumable snack in existence.

View Image

And no, McVitie’s didn’t pay me to post this message - although they should!

Solo_Wing · 21 November 2005 08:33

I’ve just updated the site again. News update #123 includes:

Created in the Ancients’ Image Theory by Jeremy Prusak.
Some minor updates to the Products and Game Info sections by Lance.
A picture of Atolm’s imperial necklace.

Solo_Wing · 3 February 2006 23:46

Update #125 (at last!)

Game Info Section Update by Lance
Translations Section by Kimimi
PD1 and Zwei OSTs now downloadable. (thanks lordcraymen, Ancient Weapon, and Lance for providing the original CD images).

Edit: I just found out that the Trivia section is causing some errors. I’ll work on fixing this next.

system · 4 February 2006 05:24

That was a pretty beefy update! Nice to see Kimimi’s stuff go up on the site at last, too.

A question / suggestion, Solo: for really large downloads like the OSTs, have you thought about putting them up as 7zip files instead of RARs? 7zip obviously makes for really good compression, and WinRAR (the program) can extract 7zip files now as well, so it probably wouldn’t be incovenient for site visiters who are used to downloading RARs from TWotA. ('Course, the “inconvenient” part is how long it takes to compress the things in the first place…)

Kimimi · 4 February 2006 05:50

Wheee! I hope people find my stuff interesting and/or useful!

It’s wierd, but since I’ve been posting the translated documents, I’ve been expecting some kind of critical backlash which has thankfully never happened (probably due to my bad experience starting out translating at Suikosource).

Solo_Wing · 4 February 2006 11:48

I’ve actually tried 7zip in the past with some smaller files and didn’t notice any real difference, but how much smaller are larger files when compressed with 7zip? If there’s a noticeable difference I’d be tempted to switch to 7zip files, especially considering the open source nature of the format (I’m a big fan of using open source technologies where practical).

I hope you guys are okay with the larger, and less standardised FLAC files, as opposed to MP3s which would play on just about anything. I debated a lot about that with myself, before deciding to go with the lossless files.

roushimsx · 4 February 2006 16:30

[quote=“Solo Wing Dragon”]
I hope you guys are okay with the larger, and less standardised FLAC files, as opposed to MP3s which would play on just about anything. I debated a lot about that with myself, before deciding to go with the lossless files.[/quote]

You bet your ass I appreciate it!

It’s nice to see someone take a stand for preservation. Thank you for hosting those FLACs, I greatly appreciate it.

[quote=“Lance Way”]
A question / suggestion, Solo: for really large downloads like the OSTs, have you thought about putting them up as 7zip files instead of RARs? [/quote]

Using 7z or RAR or Zip or any other form of compression on something that’s already in FLAC is really only useful for collating the files for easier distribution. The space saved from one compression scheme to the next is entirely negligable since the files are already so heavilly compressed (similar to trying to zip up an avi or mp3). You may save a meg here or there on a large file, but overall you’re not going to be saving enough space to make it worth the time spent compressing it, especially for something of this size

edit - just ran some tests and it looks like running any compression over them just bloats the files. No compression/store for the win!

Geoffrey · 4 February 2006 18:03

[quote=“Kimimi”]Wheee! I hope people find my stuff interesting and/or useful!

It’s wierd, but since I’ve been posting the translated documents, I’ve been expecting some kind of critical backlash which has thankfully never happened (probably due to my bad experience starting out translating at Suikosource).[/quote]

No we appreciate it. Truly. We always knew that the PD trilogy translations were slightly embellished, but the extent of that embellishment wasn’t always clear. Now if you start retranslating PD Orta texts, Abadd will proceed to destroy you.

system · 4 February 2006 18:11

Good point - to be honest I hadn’t actually heard of FLAC before today, which is why I didn’t make the obvious connection of “already compressed data + compression = already compressed data”.

Kimimi · 5 February 2006 09:42

Has Abadd already done some? Or is he freakishly obsessed with Orta or something?

Solo_Wing · 6 February 2006 08:25

You could say that Abadd has already confirmed the quality of PDO’s game translation. So, there’s no major need to retranslate it.

Kimimi · 6 February 2006 08:49

Geoffrey Duke already put me straight on that one - sorry Abadd, I didn’t know! :S

Solo_Wing · 2 March 2006 18:44

Update 126 is now up… update 127 (hopefully) coming soon.