What are you playing?

[Thyndd]

4 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

That does look like a Clannad reference.

To put an image in spoilers you copy a direct image link to the image in question and paste it inside the spoiler. The editor should make it display automatically, if it is indeed a direct link.

Ok, thanks, I got it to work. It seems the link gyazo provided me was not actually a direct link and I had to get it directly from my browser.

EDIT:

Well, I finished Lucy - the eternity she wished for. I felt like binge-reading a short VN in a weekend and it sure was quite a ride. 

Spoiler

As I've already said before, I love stories with the main focus on AI. I feel like there's just a whole lot to explore and many different approaches to go about it.

For one, it's a brilliant way to reflect on what we truly are, or what's our identity, as the story presents it. For all we know, whatever gives birth to our conciousness must be encompassed in the electrochemical processes going on in our brains, who are subjected to the same laws of physics as everything else in our universe. 

That much we may know, but even so, I don't think any human being would not run into conflicting thoughts and feelings if they were put in front of a AI that supposedly could feel and experience the same way we do. It's already difficult enough to come to terms with the fact that everyone, every human, experiences things the same way. How could you tell for sure? Let alone something like an AI which was made to emulate a human being. How fine is the line dividing emulation (imitation?) from the real deal? In science there's this kind of non-written rule that says as follows: "If two things are impossible to tell apart, more often than not they are the same thing". So, is there even a line? Intuiton tells us there must be, while logic tells us otherwise. And we already know that our intuiton is not always the way to go in understanding fundamentals in the universe. But still, given that we don't really know how conciousness works, everyone would feel suspicious in the hypothethical of meeting such and advanced AI. I would not trust my ability to recognize if I'm in front of something that I could consider "human", whatever that means (which would probably be a continuum ranking from, say, a rock to myself, because yeah, to yourself you are always the prototypical "human"), or something that's tricking me into thinking that it's human. Notice that in this case it's not that "they are impossible to tell apart", but rather that I don't have enough confidence in my ability to do so. Two very different things. This surely can be quite a good fodder for a story, don't you think? Thus being what I consider the second strong point of AI themed stories.

And then we have the other perspective, the human one. So far we were thinking about whether an AI could perceive and feel things like us, and therefore we were asking ourselves if it's possible, like in Lucy, that an AI could truly love you. But, to be honest, for a human being once they have overcomed all those conflicting feelings, it doesn't matter anymore. Love and affection is, in spite of what's generally thought, a one-way feeling. A human being can perfectly love and be satisfied loving without being loved in return. 

There's also another possible topic that wasn't brought up in this particular story, but I believe it could be really interesting. In the context of human-like AI emerging in our society, I think a lot of moral and ethical dilemmas would pop up. Think about it, they would be no longer machines without free will nor ability to think by themselves. Using them as tools as personal property would be the equivalent to slavery. AI rights would have to be granted the same way human and animal rights exist, and this would imply a profound change in our vision of life and morality itself in our society.

But you know what's the best of all? That this might in fact happen in our reality. We won't probably see it though... but yeah.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2018 by Thyndd

[Ranzo]

On 2/17/2018 at 8:50 PM, r0xm2n said:

Got 100% on Lucy. Short VN, but I won't forget it.

  Reveal hidden contents

That scene where she was set on fire will haunt me too....

 

Just started Symphonic Rain. This seems different from all the VN's I've played so far. Non japanese setting (apparently, it's italian). The hand drawn illustrations makes it look like a fairy tale. That opening song was pretty good too.

This should be unique....

You are going to need a lot more tissues bud

So I decided to take a short trip back to 1995 and played the dating sim True Love and it was pretty decent for what it was.

[BlackCatPrincess]

21 hours ago, Thyndd said:

Ok, thanks, I got it to work. It seems the link gyazo provided me was not actually a direct link and I had to get it directly from my browser.

EDIT:

Well, I finished Lucy - the eternity she wished for. I felt like binge-reading a short VN in a weekend and it sure was quite a ride. 

  Hide contents

As I've already said before, I love stories with the main focus on AI. I feel like there's just a whole lot to explore and many different approaches to go about it.

For one, it's a brilliant way to reflect on what we truly are, or what's our identity, as the story presents it. For all we know, whatever gives birth to our conciousness must be encompassed in the electrochemical processes going on in our brains, who are subjected to the same laws of physics as everything else in our universe. 

That much we may know, but even so, I don't think any human being would not run into conflicting thoughts and feelings if they were put in front of a AI that supposedly could feel and experience the same way we do. It's already difficult enough to come to terms with the fact that everyone, every human, experiences things the same way. How could you tell for sure? Let alone something like an AI which was made to emulate a human being. How fine is the line dividing emulation (imitation?) from the real deal? In science there's this kind of non-written rule that says as follows: "If two things are impossible to tell apart, more often than not they are the same thing". So, is there even a line? Intuiton tells us there must be, while logic tells us otherwise. And we already know that our intuiton is not always the way to go in understanding fundamentals in the universe. But still, given that we don't really know how conciousness works, everyone would feel suspicious in the hypothethical of meeting such and advanced AI. I would not trust my ability to recognize if I'm in front of something that I could consider "human", whatever that means (which would probably be a continuum ranking from, say, a rock to myself, because yeah, to yourself you are always the prototypical "human"), or something that's tricking me into thinking that it's human. Notice that in this case it's not that "they are impossible to tell apart", but rather that I don't have enough confidence in my ability to do so. Two very different things. This surely can be quite a good fodder for a story, don't you think? Thus being what I consider the second strong point of AI themed stories.

And then we have the other perspective, the human one. So far we were thinking about whether an AI could perceive and feel things like us, and therefore we were asking ourselves if it's possible, like in Lucy, that an AI could truly love you. But, to be honest, for a human being once they have overcomed all those conflicting feelings, it doesn't matter anymore. Love and affection is, in spite of what's generally thought, a one-way feeling. A human being can perfectly love and be satisfied loving without being loved in return. 

There's also another possible topic that wasn't brought up in this particular story, but I believe it could be really interesting. In the context of human-like AI emerging in our society, I think a lot of moral and ethical dilemmas would pop up. Think about it, they would be no longer machines without free will nor ability to think by themselves. Using them as tools as personal property would be the equivalent to slavery. AI rights would have to be granted the same way human and animal rights exist, and this would imply a profound change in our vision of life and morality itself in our society.

But you know what's the best of all? That this might in fact happen in our reality. We won't probably see it though... but yeah.

This post was a lengthy read I see clearly how much you got impressed by the game. 

My view on AI is to be as liberal as possible. Even if it leads to human getting replaced by synths. Tbh as I mentioned in some of my posts I actually am writing a book that is set up in a world where something similar happens. But unlike the most of the books about AI taking over, mine does not put machines in bad light. It’s more like the AI’s are taking over because we fucked up. They are children from pathological family who turned out ok and took care of the old parents and the rest of the family. Don’t know is it a new approach to AI ? Sure hope so I wouldn’t like to write a book that’s based on old ideas. ( Encouragement, guys please I could use some of that the whole writing thing turned out to be quite difficult )

Btw I am playing Fruit of Grisaia  now I am currently at 3rd choice. So far the story managed to frighten me more than anything else I played. The amount of similarities between real life me and Michiru gives me goosebumps. 

[Dreamysyu]

3 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

The amount of similarities between real life me and Michiru gives me goosebumps. 

 I wonder if you are going to have the same impression after finishing her route.

I would like to meet you in person in that case.

[BlackCatPrincess]

17 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

 I wonder if you are going to have the same impression after finishing her route.

I would like to meet you in person in that case.

Ok you made me curious. I have to wake up at inhumane 5 am tomorrow but I will finish Michiru's route today, or fall asleep trying. 

If it's platonic I am ok with it. My nick can be deceiving but I  have a dick, still wanna meet?  

[Zidan209]

3 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

Ok you made me curious. I have to wake up at inhumane 5 am tomorrow but I will finish Michiru's route today, or fall asleep trying. 

If it's platonic I am ok with it. My nick can be deceiving but I  have a dick, still wanna meet?  

Just make sure to show up 5 hours prior to the meeting

[Thyndd]

35 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

My view on AI is to be as liberal as possible. Even if it leads to human getting replaced by synths. Tbh as I mentioned in some of my posts I actually am writing a book that is set up in a world where something similar happens. But unlike the most of the books about AI taking over, mine does not put machines in bad light. It’s more like the AI’s are taking over because we fucked up. They are children from pathological family who turned out ok and took care of the old parents and the rest of the family. Don’t know is it a new approach to AI ? Sure hope so I wouldn’t like to write a book that’s based on old ideas.

As long as you manage to convey what you have in your mind, I think it should be unique enough, since there are probably not to people in this world who share the exact same view on the topic. There are so, so many ways to go about AI... Even stories that explore the same points do it in a totally different way, that's why I don't ever get tired of it. I sure would like to read what you have to offer 

39 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

Btw I am playing Fruit of Grisaia  now I am currently at 3rd choice. So far the story managed to frighten me more than anything else I played. The amount of similarities between real life me and Michiru gives me goosebumps. 

Enjoy Grisaia! It wasn't so long ago that I finished it and I'm already missing its characters.

Btw, are you meaning to tell us that you are best girl? 

[Dreamysyu]

5 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

If it's platonic I am ok with it. My nick can be deceiving but I  have a dick, still wanna meet?  

Don't worry, it wasn't in that sense. More like, in this sense.

And don't worry, you won't say that you're the same with her after finishing her route. No spoiling though.

[BlackCatPrincess]

7 minutes ago, Zidan209 said:

Just make sure to show up 5 hours prior to the meeting

and

 

4 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

Btw, are you meaning to tell us that you are best girl? 

that <---triggers my spoiler alert

2 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Don't worry, it wasn't in that sense. More like, in this sense.

And don't worry, you won't say that you're the same with her after finishing her route. No spoiling though.

Yeah don't spoil me my Michiru Fuwa people!!!! 

 

6 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

As long as you manage to convey what you have in your mind, I think it should be unique enough, since there are probably not to people in this world who share the exact same view on the topic. There are so, so many ways to go about AI... Even stories that explore the same points do it in a totally different way, that's why I don't ever get tired of it. I sure would like to read what you have to offer 

Oh yes yes yes ...... and no. Now I cant decide keep writing or Michiru. 

[r0xm2n]

Some of my thoughts on Lucy....

I noticed that humanities' values were not any different then they are today (remember, this game takes place in 2050, and they wern't any different 15 years after that either). But I think when OUR year 2050 rolls around, our values might have shifted somewhat. I think it's inevitable, I think we are due for such a thing, I'll even see it's needed (otherwise corporate power is gonna be insane, and so will climate change, and nothing else will have changed).

In a perfect scenario (or one close to perfect at least), we'd be working side by side with AI. I'd imagine AI would be really good at conflict resolution (Lucy herself tries this often). Take away the "fake news", and take away most of the emotional charge (AI don't have either), and conflict resolution becomes really easy.

[Thyndd]

I resumed playing Ever17 and finished Sora's route. Now I'm halfway through You's route (they couldn't have chosen a worst name, at least for the english translation, I get confused all the time ), playing as the Kid. There are some things that are freaking me out.

Spoiler

When Sara first appeared I assumed that she was the 7th life reading in LeMU, and who knows where she was during Tsugumi's and Sora's route. But now it turns out that Coco is the "ghosty" one, so wtf?

Then we have this thing about Takeshi not remembering what year they are in. If I'm not mistaken he already said that in the previous routes. That's weird. I'm wondering if they are gonna pull out something à la Danganronpa 

Spoiler

where the world outside has ended or something like that

 

 

[r0xm2n]

Double post.....

"ChiruChiru" is my favorite character ever! Just love everything about her. I'd have an AI of her if I could.

And her route is ........ yeah. Won't say anymore...

[Dreamysyu]

4 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

I resumed playing Ever17 and finished Sora's route. Now I'm halfway through You's route (they couldn't have chosen a worst name, at least for the english translation, I get confused all the time ), playing as the Kid. There are some things that are freaking me out.

It's one VN where I love to see the reactions of other players when they read it.

Also, in case you're wondering, there is enough clues in Ever17 to get what's going on. I personally enjoyed trying to put all pieces of the puzzle together myself, but, yeah, I was slightly spoiled before I started. It didn't really break my experience, but I had a clue where to start looking for hints. Or, you know, you can follow the usual path and be completely mindblown at the end. Both approaches work.

Obviously, I am not going to comment on your current ideas.

[Thyndd]

2 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Also, in case you're wondering, there is enough clues in Ever17 to get what's going on. I personally enjoyed trying to put all pieces of the puzzle together myself

Oh I'd love to do that, but you see, my long term memory is absolutely atrocious so unless I marathon it or go around writing down the key points I'm bound to forget half of what I read in a couple of days  I do try to keep up though, and I will do my best to assemble the pieces and share my theories for the amusement of you all 

 

[Dreamysyu]

4 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

Oh I'd love to do that, but you see, my long term memory is absolutely atrocious so unless I marathon it or go around writing down the key points I'm bound to forget half of what I read in a couple of days  I do try to keep up though, and I will do my best to assemble the pieces and share my theories for the amusement of you all 

 

Well, you don't have to go that in-depth. Simply, be attentive and open-minded. It works.

PS. Why am I running out of likes every day nowadays?

[Kurisu-Chan]

Replaying Little busters! in order to get the 3 new routes.

just recently finished Yuiko onee-chan's route...man, it still hurts like a train. 

[r0xm2n]

Just picked up Little Busters in that sale. Obviously I'll have to shed many more manly tears when I do play it....

[VirginSmasher]

Currently, I'm reading through Sorcery Jokers and it's been...good, but not great. I've had issues with certain characters and their decisions and the lack of interesting material for long periods of time doesn't help its pacing. That being said, I do enjoy the character interactions a lot and the plot overall has been quite good. I think I'm pretty close to finishing it soon enough, so I'll have to wait to see what I think about Sorcery Jokers overall.

[Thyndd]

Ok, I haven't even finished You's route yet but I feel the need to address some information that's been revealed. This is gonna be exciting 

Ever17 spoilers:

Spoiler

So it seems that they are in some kind of time loop. Not only because the Kid thinks so, but if I recall correctly something of the sort was mentioned when I finished Tsugumi's route. Ok, so now we've got Higurashi stuff going on in our hands lol.

Now onto my theory: they've been trapped there for 17 years in some way or another. I have no idea why they don't age, but it probably has something to do with that Cure virus. I also have no idea why they don't remember anything. If there really is something "paranormal" or very sci-fi going on there such as time travel, then that could be an explanation, but I'm not sure that's actually the case.

Now, where's my evidence? The dates. You's father disappeared 17 ago, when You was one, right? But according to the info in LeMU's computers, he actually died 34 years ago. If they were trapped in LeMU for 17 years without knowing it, the numbers match (34=17+17). If that's true, then they think they are in 2017, but in fact they'd be in 2034. Wait, but there's also a note in the computer saying that You's mother died 15 years ago, and a note regarding the funeral dated on 02/07/19, which they say correspond to July 19, 2002. Yes, but only in Japanese date format. In German date format that would correspond to July 2, 2019. Guess what? That would also mean that, assuming they are in 2034, You's mother would've still died 15 years ago lol, only that in this case You could've been born and have recent memories of her mother, in contrast with the apparent prior non-sense.

So the dates seem to fit pretty nicely. I could be totally wrong, but even if that's the case, I would like to think that I'm onto something there. Too many coincidences.

 

Edited February 21, 2018 by Thyndd

[Dreamysyu]

33 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

Ok, I haven't even finished You's route yet but I feel the need to address some information that's been revealed. This is gonna be exciting 

Ever17 spoilers:

  Reveal hidden contents

So it seems that they are in some kind of time loop. Not only because the Kid thinks so, but if I recall correctly something of the sort was mentioned when I finished Tsugumi's route. Ok, so now we've got Higurashi stuff going on in our hands lol.

Now onto my theory: they've been trapped there for 17 years in some way or another. I have no idea why they don't age, but it probably has something to do with that Cure virus. I also have no idea why they don't remember anything. If there really is something "paranormal" or very sci-fi going on there such as time travel, then that could be an explanation, but I'm not sure that's actually the case.

Now, where's my evidence? The dates. You's father disappeared 17 ago, when You was one, right? But according to the info in LeMU's computers, he actually died 34 years ago. If they were trapped in LeMU for 17 years without knowing it, the numbers match (34=17+17). If that's true, then they think they are in 2017, but in fact they'd be in 2034. Wait, but there's also a note in the computer saying that You's mother died 15 years ago, and a note regarding the funeral dated on 02/07/19, which they say correspond to July 19, 2002. Yes, but only in Japanese date format. In German date format that would correspond to July 2, 2019. Guess what? That would also mean that, assuming they are in 2034, You's mother would've still died 15 years ago lol, only that in this case You could've been born and have recent memories of her mother, in contrast with the apparent prior non-sense.

So the dates seem to fit pretty nicely. I could be totally wrong, but even if that's the case, I would like to think that I'm onto something there. Too many coincidences.

 

I would want you to clarify something about that, but, well, I don't want to accidentally spoil anything, so I'll refrain for now. Not implying whether you are wrong or right. Also, at what part of You's route are you right now?

And are you going to read the bad ends? At least one of them is pretty interesting imo.

[Thyndd]

1 minute ago, Dreamysyu said:

I would want you to clarify something about that, but, well, I don't want to accidentally spoil anything, so I'll refrain for now. Not implying whether you are wrong or right. Also, at what part of You's route are you right now?

I just read the part where 

Spoiler

Sara reprogrammed Sora's priorities to make her allow them to get the information they need. That information is what I just discussed in my post 

 

5 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

And are you going to read the bad ends? At least one of them is pretty interesting imo.

I probably will. I like to read the bad endings once I get all the good ones though. However, if you consider I'm missing something story-wise then I guess I'd better play them first.

Spoiler

Though come on, calling them "good endings" is a bit of a stretch, don't you think? LOL So far they all have been sad as fuck 

Also I'll take this opportunity to discuss something that I overlooked in my previous posts:

Spoiler

Sora is a freaking hologram, i.e, she cannot be detected by the infrared sensor, so the life readings in LeMU should be actually 5. There must actually be 2 "ghosts" there to amount to 7 people. 

 

[Dreamysyu]

2 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

I probably will. I like to read the bad endings once I get all the good ones though. However, if you consider I'm missing something story-wise then I guess I'd better play them first.

I recommend reading them before the true route. Other than that, the order doesn't matter.

[Zidan209]

My stomach hurts from this scene in Grisaia...

Spoiler

 

[Mr Poltroon]

10 minutes ago, Zidan209 said:

My stomach hurts from this scene in Grisaia...

  Hide contents

 

I also get stomach aches when I have to eat such things.

[Zidan209]

2 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I also get stomach aches when I have to eat such things.

That's not the cause of my stomach ache, but i'm pretty sure you said that on purpose 

Edited February 21, 2018 by Zidan209