this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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Visual Novels
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it surprising to as this was pretty much due to the fact that they made an open source version of NScripter that's 1:1 compatible and then made it work on linux (the
Tsukihime.exeis literally the NScripter binary so you could drop another version in it's directory and run it), ONScripter also made it possible for a relatively easy fork to be created supporting non-japanese formats (UTF-8) which also remained open source (and is even packaged in the AUR)I installed the
onscripter (AUR)package and set lutris up to have that run tsukihime by setting it's working dir to the game's directory (this page contains a lot of really good info on setting it up and a great place to get started with it's more intricate details). What surprised me though is that ONScripter is still being worked on (although there have been a couple dry spells and has changed hands a couple times now), really helps to highlight how resilient OSS can be when put in the hands of weebs.Mahoyo and Tsukihime Remake (from what I've seen) have gone above and beyond in their presentation and it is wild to see how far Type Moon has gone to make this happen, KiriKiri is an insanely powerful VN engine with very little english documentation and they're not even using half of what it could do. compared to what these two do Fate is almost primitive; but that's also because of how much time and effort poured into those two.
me neither, where I live all anime streaming services we have suck; no exception, either I dish out insane amounts of cash every months and fiddle with a VPN provider that I can trust and is fast enough to handle streaming (so far I've only found Mullvad to fit this) to get access to the thing I want to watch; usually in HD (the 720p kind; 1080p is marketed as UHD and often streaming services don't offer that unless you change you user agent to a windows one because DRM is bullshit); or I say fuck it and become a 21st century sailor and use the money I save from that to buy stuff like DVD/Blu-ray releases or figures of which a larger portion of the money would make it to the people making the show possible and not into lining the pockets of the rich so it's a win-win for everybody not wealthy enough to get government funded tax deductions.
I've used an app called FreeTube for a good while alongside NewPipe, both are privacy respecting and have been working better for me than the default youtube website/app, they also both use invidious which I consider a requirement for being able to actually watch youtube content nowadays.
I loved the story to death and still do; it uses a lot of standard isekai tropes (OP portagonist, magic, medieval european style setting, ...), but these are merely set dressing, it's world is vast and expansive, characters feel like people and not just cardboard cutouts, when characters aren't on screen they're usually doing something else that could even forward the plot, ... Rudeus (the protagonist) also doesn't immediately change when he lays eyes on this other world; he was a shut-in NEET in his previous life and try as he may it's hard to break the habits and trauma that bound him to his room and he takes this second chance at life trying to live life to the fullest and it's one of the best redemption arcs I've seen in fiction so far (although I have yet to read Berserk so that could change). there still is a certain level of wish fullfilment, fanserive, and the like (it is an isekai after all); but I never found it too distracting. I loved it's 7th LN volume, this was added with the LN to bridge the events between the end of volume 6 and the beginning of the school arc (LN volume 8), technically it's filler; but it a really well put together part of the story and gives us a good view into Rudeus' state of mind and has lot lot of context to emphasize the characters, context that the anime promptly cut lessening the impact of this whole arc significantly.
I have no other words than "that's insane", even for Mushoku Tensei I didn't get close to that (I averaged a little over one volume a week) and that was with me being addicted to it's story (I even had to jump to a translation on the WN later on because the english light novels weren't caught up and I needed to know more.
EDIT: Added the whole (O)NScripter part at the beginning
Yeah, I'm happy ONScripter exists, although I haven't gotten it to work perfectly for a VN yet. TRianThology doesn't work in Wine, actually displays in ONScripter natively but flashes green twice a second due to some image decoding issue, and works properly when running the game through a Windows ONScripter binary over Wine. Riddle me that one, lmao. I installed the patched AUR version, for what it's worth.
Still need to get around to playing TRianThology properly...
I remember someone saying something similar about mpv. I thought ONScripter was dead when I visited the page when I was writing pages for the wiki. Good to know it's still alive. Hell, it outlived NScripter!
I get the impression most visual novels are not going to make it mainstream, which is why the presentation is usually budget-constrained. And the length, of course. It makes me wonder if TYPE MOON is going to make their money back on the remakes—I hope they do! It means more pretty animations. I guess if anyone can do it, it's them, lol.
I remember reading Muv-Luv Alternative, and while the animations were pretty primitive, they did a good job of conveying the action. Sometimes you don't need much, but I always love to see visual novels go above and beyond. Age are probably doing pretty well for themselves too...
It's not too bad over here. Obviously, if you're not American, you're going to miss out on a lot of series, but aside from the Monogatari Series, I don't run across series I can't access in my region that often. Then again, I watch anime from 1980-2010 mostly. HiDive is nice, though.
I refuse to use services that require me to install a DRM module in my browser like Netflix. Fuck Amazon too, but for different and more personal reasons.
I've bought some anime, but being a GNU/Linux user, that means I either need to check the decrypted AACS keys carefully before purchase, or I need to avoid buying Blu-Ray editions. I wonder if MakeMKV is more reliable. It seems silly to spend any significant amount of money on DVDs that tap out at 480p when there are 720p/1080p editions that treat me like a criminal because I don't have an authorized software Blu-Ray player in addition to an actual Blu-Ray player. From memory, the 1080p editions of some anime are actually scaled up by the studio anyway. And usually poorly.
I remember reading about that when I was learning about encoding...
So, yes, I am kind of bitter about the choices I've been left to make. I spend more money on manga and visual novels these days. At least there are actually a significant number of visual novels not encumbered by DRM...can't say the same for most Blu-Ray editions of anime. Region codes, disk encryption...this is crazy stuff. I'm just glad they haven't figured out a way to encumber physical books with DRM yet.
That being said, I'm happy to purchase older anime because the highest quality you can get a lot of them is on DVD, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything :)
Thanks for recommending it. I installed the Flatpak. It seems more reliable than going to an Invidious instance in my browser. It's not like I watch YouTube much, but I guess it ought to be comfortable when I do.
Well, you've done a good job selling it to me! I don't know too much about it, but that's enough to pique my interest. A lot of isekai with male protagonists are very transparent wish fulfillment fantasies or grindfests. And that's fine, but I find it so boring! Isekai series with female protagonists tend to be more fun. Mushoku Tensei sounds like it has a lot of the stuff I enjoy in those isekai stories, and I can put up with fanservice for the sake of that. I've got a loooong plan-to-read list, but I will eventually read it!
I think I spent about 14 hours a day reading it and lost a fair bit of sleep in the process. Combine the novelty of reading with a great story, and I just couldn't get enough. There is no way in hell I could spend anywhere near that amount of time reading a story today, even if I lost sleep for it. That being said, HakoMari volumes are only about 200 pages long.
Meanwhile, Worm took me three weeks and I was not the same afterward.
DRM was a mistake enabled by corporate greed and our current copyright laws; the best we can do is show that we're not biting anything that smells of these practices which is hard when exclusive licensing only provides one legal option with the alternative being piracy. That said; while it is definitely against the law (in most countries) the way I'm doing it now provides more money to the anime industry by spending less so the people in charge of making the thing I like get a larger share while the rich tax evading middle man CEO of [insert streaming service here] isn't gaining anything from just adding DRM. It's sad to see that this can only be done by resorting to these methods; but I think we both know who copyright law really benefits.
I haven't gotten into the whole Blu-Ray shenanigans yet (part because getting anything anime here is a fucking nightmare in the first place and DVD/Blu-Ray are far down on the list of anime things I'd buy) I also don't have anything that could read Blu-Ray ATM (my laptop does read CD/DVD perfectly fine though) so it'll be a good bit before I even dare bother.
Depends from studio to studio, nowadays 1080p generally looks "fine" for most anime; but for older projects where SD DVD or VHS (/Betamax) was the best quality option or a lot of stuff early in the HD era it's always a gamble to see if it turned out ok-ish.
If books were invented in the last 30 years they probably would have; a big part of the reason they haven't bothered is because they'd have to do it extremely slowly as to not let the frog jump out of the boiling pot. New technology usually comes with less consumer control compared to it's predecessor, e-books can have DRM (although if you know where to buy you can get them without DRM or a DRM scheme calibre can easily remove), it's sad to see things moving in this direction; but where there's money you'll find corporations digging it up no matter how dirty it may be.
Make sure to set it to use an invidious instance that works well for you, freetube also has SponsorBlock built-in which you can enable in the settings, there's also much more there for you to tweak.
There are no flat characters in Mushoku Tensei (aside from chest size obviously) even the mandatory overly sexualized girl of the group has an actual reason for being that way. On the surface it definitely sounds like the usual isekai; but it doesn't just copy the formula for the sake of copying the formula, it takes care of every detail in order to build something that stands on it's own.
Section 1201 of the DMCA is an incredibly shameful piece of legislation to have made it to law. Ridiculous copyright terms apparently weren't enough for Disney and co.
Yes, unfortunately, that's all we can do. I doubt it will convince any of these companies to abandon these practices, but I refuse to support them monetarily. I'm reminded of the Veronica Mars Movie kickstarter campaign, where fans happily pledged over $5 Million dollars to see it come to fruition. Warner Bros. rewarded their fans for their generosity and support by encumbering the film with DRM so GNU/Linux fans who funded the film couldn't watch the film: https://www.techdirt.com/2014/03/17/warner-bros-turns-kickstarter-success-story-into-flaming-mess-with-proprietary-platforms-drm/
This is greed, plain and simple. They already brought in $5.7 Million in revenue before the film was made. Sure, that money was spent on making the film, but at the very least, they knew they would break even; anything on top is pure profit. Not many studios have that kind of guarantee. They brought in another $3.5 Million from the Box Office, making a solid profit. It's very possible that without fans funding the film, Warner Bros would have lost money.
DRM did nothing to increase their profits, but it did tarnish their reputation in the eyes of fans.
Yes, I'm a Veronica Mars fan, but this kickstarter was before my time, so I didn't get burned by it. ZDNet has a good summary too: https://www.zdnet.com/article/we-used-to-be-friends-the-veronica-mars-kickstarter-backlash/
Thanks to the discussion we had, I spent yesterday going through my Blu-Ray collection. MakeMKV is fantastic and I highly recommend it if you ever buy a show on Blu-Ray. Hell, even DVD. I don't know how well it keeps up with constantly changing Blu-Ray encryption schemes, but it seems to be much better than any of the standard methods. Plus, it has a nice GUI. I'm still using it with a trial license but if I find myself using it more, I think I'll pay for a license.
Ah, that makes sense. I don't have a VHS or Betamax player, haha. Or a Laserdisc player. I'll have to settle for the DVD conversion when I buy one of those older shows.
That's an interesting thought. I can't say I disagree with it at all. I own Harmony on Blu-Ray and started watching it again for the first time since 2015 (fantastic film btw), and it really does feel that way. The more advanced technology gets, the less the general public can do with it. It's just...strange, when you think about it. The one exception has been the web, which was kind of an accident. Had Microsoft created it instead of some wide-eyed engineer at CERN, it definitely wouldn't have ended up being the open platform it is today. And even though it is very open compared to a lot of other areas, there's a trend toward certain companies trying to lock it down.
On the subject of locking down physical books, TorrentFreak has a super interesting article on the history of libraries and how publishers really didn't like them: https://torrentfreak.com/you-cant-defend-public-libraries-and-oppose-file-sharing-150510/
I'll have to tweak it sometime, thank you! For the moment, the default invidious instance has been working great. A lot better than the invidious instance I use in my browser.
That's my favorite kind of story, actually. It's the same reason I really like the Monogatari Series (even though I despised it when I watched it originally; the novels grew on me).
Give them a finger and they won't stop at an arm, all these people are interested in is money; which sadly enough does not guarantee a good product
Holy, I didn't know of Veronica Mars before this but it doesn't really surprise me. I bet they figured the movie would never break even normally so they just extorted fans; this doesn't even remotely look like incompetence.
I'll keep that in mind; it is sad to see it's not FOSS (or at least not from what I can see). I haven't needed to rip anything in a good while but when I inevitably will this will be in my toolbelt.
MKV video is fantastic though, almost everything anime I download is MKV (batch releases often having both english and japanese audio alongside softsubs and proper video and audio codecs is a blessing), whenever I need to hold video in an intermediary format I use MKV as it can hold pretty much all codecs I use.
Most of it isn't even because of technology, all the shit they're pulling with electric cars they could have with ICE cars and the board computer. Heck electric cars should be easier to repair as there are less moving parts and the design is much simpler; the only reason we can't is because they put systems in the way that require proprietary tools.
Same happened with the switch to smartphones where these devices lost things like user replaceable batteries even though there is no technological reason for it, and it's taking the might of the european union to undo this age old trend.
Definitely going to give that a read; I do know that we have proper technologies for decentralized file hosting and indexing (not just bittorrent, but also IPFS which bases itself on the same technologies), these will definitely become a requirement if we want to fight over the ability to share information freely.
So on the subject of the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, January 1st, 2024 is actually the day the very first incarnation of Mickey Mouse will make it to the public domain. Finally.
Except...not quite. See Mickey's Headed to the Public Domain! But Will He Go Quietly? (HTTP-only):
Somehow, trademark law is being abused to eternally extend copyright! Trademarking characters prevents commercial distribution of work that is not copyright-infringing. We'll see if Disney is actually able to employ this in practice starting next year. Way to go Disney, plundering our public domain and ladder-pulling it for the rest of us.
And I'm sorry if this is not interesting to you at all, lol.
Veronica Mars is a great show! At least, the first three seasons are. The movie is alright, and the fourth season is...fine. It's just a shame Warner Brothers are, well, a corporation. And after doing some more reading, it's possible the reported budget of the film only includes the production budget and not the marketing budget. $3.5M seems like a pretty bad performance so I wonder if they did actually make a profit in the end.
It's worth noting that backers who could actually watch the film on Flixster (WB's part-owned streaming service that has since died a violent death) had a worse experience than people who bought the film on iTunes or wherever else. They didn't get a HD version. So backers ended up mailing in receipts after buying the film elsewhere, which Warner Brothers refunded. Sounds like a total mess.
Yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned that. MakeMKV is proprietary and under standard copyright, but the sources for every release are provided for compiling yourself on GNU/Linux (and wherever else you can get it to work). It's C++ and you can try poking around in there. I don't know C++ yet, so I couldn't tell you what the program does :) Some of the components GulpinSoft has developed seem to be free software, just from checking the headers of some files?
Sources here: https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=224 (Edit: Fixed URL)
I'm not quite sure how it works. I think they have a keyserver which provides keys for particular Blurays. My understanding is MakeMKV does extract the key itself, so it's not like you need to rely on keys from the developer's site...but I could be wrong. Regardless, I've found the interface a lot more usable than Handbrake and it has been very reliable.
You can use MakeMKV indefinitely with the Beta key. The program has been in beta for over ten years now, so there's probably not much risk of a full release... even then, it's only a one-time purchase for a license you can use on as many computers as you like, on any operating system you like, forever, even with the full release.
I should note that mpv seems to be handling subtitles very poorly in the resulting mkv files. Like, sometimes not being able to switch to them or the timing being out. VLC handles them completely fine though. I don't really care, since I don't use subtitles, but it seemed important to note if you use mpv (which you probably do).
It's a fantastic format for playback! It's It's not so great for editing in an NLE because of, well, how much stuff it supports.
Yeah, that's true. I hope it actually does get better over time...I feel like a luddite sometimes eschewing new technology because I don't like the way they treat me.
The article touches on the history of libraries but is more focused on comparing it to file sharing, which nonetheless, I found super interesting. Is there a particular advantage IPFS has over BitTorrent? BitTorrent has a lot of advantages over HTTPS for transferring files, so I'm curious. BitTorrent is technically superior to HTTPS in several ways, so for practical reasons alone it's worthwhile using. The decentralized aspect is a bonus.