So What's Next?

[Joker]

No. It's annoying to have an entire slew of ideas ignored because you don't agree with one generalized statement. I'm not a three year old.

I get the "don't want to be a general gaming site" thing. But at least do me the courtesy of responding to the rest of it. =/

 

[Cat Rage Room]

I wanted to give the implication that if I didn't specifically disagree with it, it was a worthy idea worth considering. I should have gave you the consideration of responding to the entirety of your thoughts, but at the same time I know everyone isn't expecting the "WHAT A GREAT IDEA" treatment for every good idea pitched, either. No disrespect meant.

 

[Joker]

'scool.

 

[Dashell]

It'd constitute as interesting (in my book) if this Rob fellow could haxor into the game and find secret 'deleted scenes' that possibly would influence the story in an odd fashion, for example. Nothing personal, .

Those weren't random bugs it was part of a disassembly. And if there are deleted scenes in there, I'm sure he could find them

 

[Ⓐaron]

Anyway, the main reason I don’t think getting rid of the compilation forums is a good idea is because having them makes the site look comprehensive. Even if they’re dead, the fact that they exist makes it plain to people who join the site that TLS takes the compilation seriously and regards it as an integral part of its raison d’être. Now, as I said, they don’t have to be top-level fora; they can be subfora, it’s fine. But they should still be there. If people come here and don’t see fora for each Compilation entry, it makes the place looks like a half-assed site that doesn’t care about complete coverage.

As long as we’re talking about translations, does anyone have any idea if it would be possible to translate Before Crisis and make it playable via emulation? I’m pretty sure that would be something that would drag a lot of fresh blood to the site. If there are legal barriers to this that would be likely to get us a cease and desist order then disregard this suggestion.

I have some other ideas to liven up the forums specifically, but I’m pretty sure people on staff cba to implement them. Given the power I’d be willing to revamp things quite a bit. I’m not interested in changing the politics of the way this place works any but there are some things that could make the forum experience quite a bit more comprehensive and interesting and judging from past actions I’m pretty sure the other people with the power to enact them are too lazy to do so

 

[Mariketsu]

I'd have to agree with Diego here, it might be a good idea to expand to other games to draw more members, but it can be taken in stride, like starting small, as MOG said. Also, it's prolly a good idea to also condense the Compilation down too, just to save space if you do decide to add more games, little by little. That's just me tho.

~ Beel

 

[Cthulhu]

I really want to get a copy of the Settai Shoryu and have some of that scanned but unfortunately that's kinda pricey and I'm broke as a motherfucker right now. The last Ultimania I was able to purchase was..the Dissidia one a year ago.

That's why we get donations and have a big financial backer, i.e. me .

I'm not sure of what's going on with FFXIV but FFXIII Versus has some potential. That's basically the only new S-E game I give a shit about right now, tbh.

XIV will definitely not be something anyone of us will want to spend time on, really.

Secondly, what about some articles for the mainpage based on the kind of thing that Cracked do (or a more series specific example, like what they do on The Snake Soup). You know, funny or serious articles listing like Top 5 or Top 10 lists of things to do with the Final Fantasy series. 'Top 5 endings in the series', 'Top 10 most random, wtf moments' 'top 15 boss battles'. Little things like that which could inject some humour into the front page, alongside some discussion which could move some commenters to posting on the forum.

That could actually work - although it'd have to be good and unlame, unlike most of such articles are (when you look at it closely).

As such, why not actually open TLS into a general gaming forum - to start with?

Most definitely not.

If you want to cover other video games and create content for it, I'm fine with that, but not on this frontpage as it is - it's a FF site, and it should stay that way, else it'll become a giant pile of random articles with no common denominator. Creating a new site / Wordpress installation if you or whoever can make the required content is trivial and much more effective in gaining visitors than having one site try to cover it all.

The alternative is to abandon the FF / Compilation thing altogether and use the TLS name to cover a broader array of video games. But even then I'm not too positive about it - we don't have the people with the dedication, as far as I know, to be able to provide lots of content for all those aspects.

No, I'm saying that if we expand the view beyond just FF, then it's going to draw people in, especially if it's of the same quantity and quality as with the Compilation stuff.

Well, do we have the people and skillz for it? Lots of people have discussed the awesoem translations we've posted, but really, we only have one (1) regular translator here (as far as I know) who hasn't done anything for a while (not criticism) - we'd need at least half a dozen of those if we are to create enough content for other games as well.

Assuming someone would show me how to record it, that is.

Hook your TV up to your PC (use it as a monitor) and use a program like Fraps (or whatever) to record it, .

If there are legal barriers to this that would be likely to get us a cease and desist order then disregard this suggestion.

As far as I know, it's pervfectly legal to create phone emulators, . In fact, they probably exist already - what else would they use to develop the game? Getting the game wouldn't be directly possible from the site, but some hints would probably get most people going .

Given the power I’d be willing to revamp things quite a bit. I’m not interested in changing the politics of the way this place works any but there are some things that could make the forum experience quite a bit more comprehensive and interesting and judging from past actions I’m pretty sure the other people with the power to enact them are too lazy to do so

That's pretty vague, . What 'things' would that be, exactly? You don't need to be in staff to suggest things you know .

 

[Ⓐaron]

creation of skinz, tweaks of the board to expand its functionality, stuff like that. Several of the other boards I poast at have customisations that allow users to customise the way the board works to their liking a lot more than is possible here - for example, they can put specific threads, signatures, etc. on ignore, or specify what parts of the board are visible. I can't even remember what all I installed while I was still on staff here but I know there's a lot of stuff I never got around to doing.

Basically, though, the more people can customise the way the board looks to them, the more likely they'll feel at home and want to stay. If TLS offers stuff other vBs don't offer besides just the discussion, it's going to feel that much more special.

edit: here's an overview of some stuff I think would be neat to consider adding (note that each word is a link)

 

[crack]

Personally, I'm not sure what to think of this site turning into a general gaming site; because while it would probably attract more members, I'd feel like it'd sort of be a waste to have the staff work on Final Fantasy VII for so long, then suddenly shift to general gaming, and I don't think this site is prepared to take on that. But, I definitely agree that this forum should expand its horizons and focus on Final Fantasy in general.

My questions regarding the site's need for new members: Where can we get new blood?

This is just a suggestion, but I think livejournal, or another place that the site could possibly promote to, would be a great place to start. Not only are the Final Fantasy communities over at livejournal extremely active, but people have their own thoughts/reviews/theories to share about Final Fantasy. Maybe if TLS started a community over at livejournal, the staff members wouldn't be the only ones limited to writing, but we could allow members of that certain community to post their own Final Fantasy related blogs. Of course, if there were to be a TLS community over at livejournal, allowing posts such as graphics and fanfiction would be better - but livejournal allows you to separate topics like those with tags, so I don't think it'd be a problem.

And I think having contests/things not completely related to just Final Fantasy is a great idea, but I think we would have to have more members for that to work. And maybe bait them convince them to stay ONCE they actually do join, instead of scaring them off like the peeps over at the LTD thread do. We have a problem with being too isolated and ironically, being a close-knit community.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Cba to read this entire thread, but since the creation of this site I've been saying we should either broaden the site's focus or change it entirely. Our primary focus should be on new material, NEW GAMES. Versus XIII and FF IX. Projects on older games should be our second priority.

As for unique features to add to the site, we could try the News Letter idea I came up with back on ACF. It seemed promising at the time.

 

[Russell]

This is just a suggestion, but I think livejournal, or another place that the site could possibly promote to, would be a great place to start. Not only are the Final Fantasy communities over at livejournal extremely active, but people have their own thoughts/reviews/theories to share about Final Fantasy. Maybe if TLS started a community over at livejournal, the staff members wouldn't be the only ones limited to writing, but we could allow members of that certain community to post their own Final Fantasy related blogs.

^ That's a great idea.
Surely TLS's unique & exclusive audiobooks & Dacon’s upcoming comic are both things to be promoting. Both are great examples of how TLS isn’t just your average FF fan site.

 

[Joker]

Hook your TV up to your PC (use it as a monitor) and use a program like Fraps (or whatever) to record it, .

How does I hook TV to PC, tho?

Or can I just hook up PS2/360 to it? ;.;

Ed: I'd be fine playing with an emulator, if it came to that, so long as there was a way to use the actual controller. Can't stand keyboard gaming =/

 

[Hisako]

I had a little thought, nothing spectacular, but:

Perhaps we could move the Music, Debate, Gaming and Entertainment sub-forums out into their own main sections, like in previous renditions of our community? Putting it as a sub-forum of "General Discussion" makes it seem like the forum is "Final Fantasy VII", "Other Final Fantasy" and "that other stuff in the rest of the world". I think that's something in the forum we'd have to restructure if we want to expand focus.

 

[Mariketsu]

I do like the notion off keeping the forum primarily FF (or FFVII), but I also think you guys should expand to more games, because, the forum would cease much progress when it only caters to just a specific thing and the expansion to other FFs is a great idea. A few more games should be introduced as well, to ensure that activity keeps up, even if a small degree, so new members will still be drawn here, even if a more major part of the forum is stalled from lack of news. I also agree with Satsu as well, General Discussion should definitely be expanded.

~ Beel

 

[Ⓐaron]

I had a little thought, nothing spectacular, but:

Perhaps we could move the Music, Debate, Gaming and Entertainment sub-forums out into their own main sections, like in previous renditions of our community? Putting it as a sub-forum of "General Discussion" makes it seem like the forum is "Final Fantasy VII", "Other Final Fantasy" and "that other stuff in the rest of the world". I think that's something in the forum we'd have to restructure if we want to expand focus.

yeah this is a good idea

 

[Joker]

Okay, so I've now downloaded FFXInt, Fraps, as well as two torrent-related programs, bought a pack of DVD-Rs, and a wired 360 controller, all so I can do a Let's Play on my PC.

Now to find a host for the videos, because YT's bullshit length limit pisses me off.

(in short, i'm vserious about this)

 

[Cat Rage Room]

I'm telling you right now, Youtube is probably the best if you want it to have as much exposure to people as possible. However if you insist, try Viddler.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Yeah no other video site gets anywhere close to the level of traffic that YouTube does. Which is pretty unfortunate, since YouTube is one of the shittiest in terms of quality. But so it goes.

 

[Mariketsu]

I use viddler for my new AMVs now, being YT forced me to remove over half of the ones i had up on the site (originally had 78 uploaded), so I moved to viddler. Viddler has an awesome uploader and doesnt reduce quality nearly as much or throw audio and video off-sync. Still, they're right, youtube gets far more exposure.

~ Beel

 

[Joker]

I don't care about exposure. I just want to do the LP for fun; I know some people have expressed some interest in doing the commentary with me, though :3


But I don't care how many people watch it tbh. It's just for fun/site content.

 

[Ⓐaron]

That's as may be but the LP will get TLS a lot moar exposure if it's on JewTube. You can always upload it to both services and note that Viddler is the preferred method of watching it

 

[Cat Rage Room]

That's what I'm saying. If you say you're going to do it for the site, it might as well be exposed to as many people as possible. If you're doing it for yourself, fine, but if its going to be site sanctioned there's no sense putting it on some nobody site.

 

[Dashell]

There's tons of LPs out there though, I mean... I don't think an LP is the best way to get visitors. You should try something unique. Something no other site has... dunno what that is but that'd what I'd do.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Someone should do an LP of Before Crisis. There probably aren't many of those.

 

[Cthulhu]

Do an LP of Paratrooper instead. FGJ.