tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7696335.post7266536998024502603..comments2020-06-13T03:22:05.789-04:00Comments on The New Skeptic: Blue Shell: Socialist Leveller or Nietzschean Abyss?Vernunfthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16652751092085432868noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7696335.post-77292108329410592292009-02-20T00:55:00.000-05:002009-02-20T00:55:00.000-05:00Another malwarelicious comment:"I was referring to...Another malwarelicious comment:<BR/><BR/>"I was referring to Mario Kart Wii and SSBM, to be exact.<BR/><BR/>All the videos online which you haven't even bothered linking to include using a mushroom to escape, which is not even offered to a first-place runner when collecting item boxes (I verified this with someone else's probability charts).<BR/><BR/>Chalking up an item's power by measuring it to an extremely immense amount of skill you have makes it invalid. You have to consider players in the upper-average range, who don't have joysticks glued to their thumbs but still play normally and with a good degree of skill. It really is no fun to play with instant-kill items like the hammer and bomb, especially a hammer that knocks down projectiles and can go through platforms. Can you imagine trying to avoid it with the slow-moving Link or Marth, whose B-up instantly renders him a sitting duck?<BR/><BR/>As a reminder, the only way to dodge a blue shell; the only DOCUMENTED YOUTUBE way, is with a mushroom or taking advantage of a track cannon. Since getting a mushroom while in first place is an impossibility, it truly satisfies the statement that it is an unfair item that doesn't even help the launcher in any way."<BR/><BR/>I limited my discussion to Mario Kart DS because I'm familiar with it. If we're talking Wii, I can't speak to the blue shell's behavior. You may well be right.<BR/><BR/>I could link to my two videos where I dodge a blue shell without the use of mushrooms, but that would only go to the DS version. You seemed not to read my post and its explicit limitation. Since we're talking at cross-purposes, that sure was useless.<BR/><BR/>You're talking about the Melee version of the hammer? Get better at this game. It's weaker, much easier to avoid, and randomly leaves you helpless when the head falls off. Further, the levels are larger, which makes simple flight a viable option even more than in the original.<BR/><BR/>Psst - Link has bombs. He also has an up-B capable of hitting even a hammer-wielder.<BR/><BR/>Get better at this game. I don't see a purpose talking about a skill level where luck rules because the players are too bad to control their characters. If they're that bad, then ANY discussion is inevitably going to come down to randomness.Vernunfthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16652751092085432868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7696335.post-3920601757585845862009-02-19T17:53:00.000-05:002009-02-19T17:53:00.000-05:00This was the comment I was responding to:"Dodging ...This was the comment I was responding to:<BR/><BR/>"Dodging the blue shell requires not skill, but extremely lucky circumstances that Nintendo doesn't offer to a first-place driver.<BR/><BR/>Also while the hammer in Smash Bros. cripples the movement of the player, it renders them invincible from almost anything in a 4-foot radius around them, and lands an insta-kill on anyone with more than 30% damage.<BR/><BR/>It's no fun to play a match where people are knocked out due to reasons beyond any amount of skill tempering. It's much more fun to play games with items like the fire flower or the Freeze."<BR/><BR/>I deleted it because I don't like links to malware.Vernunfthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16652751092085432868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7696335.post-4415978703342731672009-02-19T17:43:00.000-05:002009-02-19T17:43:00.000-05:00No, I explained.The blue shell in the DS version c...No, I explained.<BR/><BR/>The blue shell in the DS version can be dodged with sufficient skill. It's true that if the blue shell gets you at some parts of a track, you can't execute the dodge. But I don't think those parts are a substantial portion of any track. In most cases, it's up to you to dodge.<BR/><BR/>Back to blue shells - check videos. Dodging them can be done. Facts negate theories.<BR/><BR/>You just aren't good at disarming hammer-wielders. I've spent too much time playing SSB, I know, so my gameplay might be different from yours. Simply put, the hammer can be overcome. It can be avoided if all else fails, except in unlikely situations where it's picked up with little notice in a tight spot. In large levels, one can avoid the hammer-wielder until it wears off, because he's so slow. And it's not impossible to disarm someone with the hammer - it takes a great deal of skill, which requires long hours of cultivation. Add up the ways of neutralizing the hammer or making it a positive liability, and it's not scary at all. On balance, I think the hammer is a DETRIMENT to have in the original SSB - it's just too easy to disarm the wielder.<BR/><BR/>Additionally, hammer kills often encounter instant karma. Kill a guy with the hammer and he comes back temporarily invincible, and you are stuck holding the hammer.<BR/><BR/>The skill-negating effect of items is woefully overestimated, usually by people who just don't have skill. You know how a piece of technology sufficiently beyond your intellectual comprehension will seem like magic? Well, effective item warfare (not mere use of items, but also picking up items, disarming items picked up by others, and negating the usefulness of items picked up by others) sufficiently beyond your skill horizon seems like luck.<BR/><BR/>Granted, if neither player has item skill, then it IS luck which determines successful use of items. But then you're just not good. Get better.Vernunfthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16652751092085432868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7696335.post-40496780421752586112008-06-27T20:08:00.000-04:002008-06-27T20:08:00.000-04:00Typing "www.youtube.com" is hard yeah.Hey how abou...Typing "www.youtube.com" is hard yeah.<BR/><BR/>Hey how about some updates, Lazy McEnglishMaster?Vernunfthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16652751092085432868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7696335.post-73225207997499741822008-06-27T13:37:00.000-04:002008-06-27T13:37:00.000-04:00I note with no considerable surprise that nowhere ...I note with no considerable surprise that nowhere in this article is the technique for dodging the blue shell revealed. Nobody's special if everybody's special, right?Nick Milnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.com