![]() So, what's all this then? This is The Closer: Game of the Year Edition (The Closer for short from now on), a RPG Maker game released by Redbird Menace in 2015. It is a game about the trials and tribulations of a young rookie pitcher that was made the closer of his team and loses Game 6 of the World Series. As a result, he has to go on an epic quest to remake himself as a pitcher before Game 7. Furthermore, Slavoj Zizek, a hentai game, Twitter, and secret societies are involved, amongst other things. What? Yeah. It gets kinda nuts. Also, if the mention of the word "hentai" has your alarm bells ringing, don't worry, this game is clean. But I don't know anything about baseball! Relax. I'll try to help you out. The first update - update zero, as it were - will be dedicated to me trying to explain the basics of baseball. Furthermore, I will take opportunities during the gameplay to explain further things that become relevant so you know what the game is talking about. So, uh, what is this game, then? Well, it's basically a JRPG type game, as RPG Maker games tend to be. However, the battle system has been somewhat revamped. Furthermore, the gameplay in this game isn't the focus. This game is made by somebody who mainly considers themselves a writer, so that is very much where the focus lies, and what makes this game great. Honestly, the easiest way to get a feel for how the game operates is to just read the first proper update. Let's not gently caress about any longer, let's just get into the game! Update 0 - Talkin' Baseball Update I - After All, You're Comparing Me To Germany In World War II. Update II - Oh, Be Quiet. I'm Having Fun. Update III - It's Just A Seinfeld Reference. That's All It Is. Update IV - Exactly! The Game Is Always Bullshit! Update V - This Can Be Answered With A Single Word: Japan. Update V-II - Super Mega Character Limit Explosion Panic! Update VI - The Strangest Part Is That I Am Not On Drugs. Update VII - Ended Up Spending Almost Four Hours Singing Show Tunes. Update VIII - I'll Do Worse Than Just Hit Him! I'll Use Math! Update IX - We Freed The World Of Zizek's Strange Anime Game. Update X - Why Is Everyone Always Trying To Be Deep? Update XI - gently caress The Cultural Context! Update XII - Sometimes There Isn't An Answer. There Is Only Fear And Despair. Update XIII - Shut Up, You're A Blue Chicken. Update XIV - You Both Did An Excellent Job, Now Shut The gently caress Up. Update XV - I Am LOLing And SMDHing At The Same Time. Update XVI - Now I Consume Only The Finest, Organic, Locally-Sourced Japanese Eroge. Update XVII - Buddy, They Don't Even Let Me Have Proof. Update XVIII - It Is Just Like Noam Chomsky Once Said: We hosed Up. Update XIX - Sorry, But Those Are The loving Breaks. Update XX - Improbable Teleportation? Just Leave That To Me. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Jul 7, 2019 |
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# ? Jun 6, 2023 01:31 |
Update 0 - Talkin' Baseball ♪ BGM: Talkin' Baseball ♫ So, hey there, and welcome to this LP. This will be an LP about a game that is very much focused on baseball. As a result, I feel like it might be appropriate to at least go over the basics of the game, just for the simple reason that I can't imagine the cross-section of the LP audience and sports people is that large. So, if you know the basics of baseball, you can just move on to the first proper update. But for those of you that don't really know what baseball is, read on. ![]() To start off, here's a view of a baseball stadium, or rather, a baseball park. Now, baseball is a game where two teams play against each other. The game is divided into innings, which are basically just sections of the entire game. The innings are each split in two as well, into the "top of the inning" and the "bottom of the inning". The teams take turns playing offense and defense in the innings - the home team plays defense in the top of the inning and offense at the bottom of the inning, the away team vice versa. ![]() Here's how the team playing defense lines up on the field. You get three players manning the outfield on the left, center and right (hence the position names) and six players around the infield. The first and third basemen cover the corners of the infield, and the shortstop and second baseman cover the middle of the infield. But that doesn't mean anything if we don't know what actually happens during the game. ![]() Though before we do that, here's another overview of the playfield. Take note of first, second and third base spread around the field, and the last base between the batter's boxes, which is home plate. We'll need those bases later. ![]() So here's basically how the game works. The team playing offense doesn't have any fielders out there, instead, they start their part of the inning with only a batter standing in the batter's box close to the catcher. The pitcher of the defensive team stands on the mound in the middle and throws balls towards the catcher, who sits past the batter. ![]() However, the pitcher can't just throw the ball anywhere. In order to make things fair, the pitcher should throw into a "strike zone", which goes from the midpoint of the top the batter's shoulders and the top of the batter's pants to a point just below the batter's kneecap. Now, the main part of the game is the pitcher throwing towards the catcher. The batter holds a bat and attempts to hit the ball. The pitcher, meanwhile, attempts to prevent the batter from hitting the ball. There's multiple things that can happen here: If the batter doesn't swing: - If the ball passes over home plate while in the strike zone and the catcher catches it, the batter is hit with a strike. - If the ball passes over home plate while outside of the strike zone and the catcher catches it, the batter is awarded a ball. - If the batter is hit with the ball, the batter is allowed to go to first base. The number of strikes and balls the batter has is called the count. So, for instance, if the batter has two balls and one strike, the count is said to be "two and one". Of course, you don't just keep getting strikes and balls forever. - If the batter gets three strikes, he is considered out (and is considered to have struck out) and leaves the batter's box. The next batter in the team's order then takes his place and tries his luck. If the batter however was the third out of the inning, the part of the inning is over, and we either go from the top to the bottom, or from the bottom to the top of the next inning. - If the batter gets four balls, he is given a walk and is allowed to go to first base. If a player is already on first, he advances to second. If there is also already someone on second, that someone moves to third. And if somebody is also already on third, he gets to go to home plate. If the batter swings: - If the batter does not hit the ball, it is a strike. See above for strikes and striking out. - If the batter does hit the ball and one of the defensive players catches it without the ball hitting the ground, the batter is out. - If the batter does hit the ball and it hits the ground past the foul line (refer to the above image of the playfield - the foul area is separated from the infield and outfield by the foul line), it is considered a foul ball. A foul ball gives the batter a strike, but he cannot strike out on a foul ball. So if the batter has two strikes and he keeps hitting foul balls, he can stay batting technically forever. - If the batter does hit the ball and it hits the ground in the infield or outfield, the ball is considered in play. We'll go over this later, because this is the important part. - If the batter does hit the ball and it goes past the outfield into the audience, it is considered a home run and the batter can automatically advance all the way to home plate. All other runners on base get to advance to home plate as well. Regardless of the swing: - If the ball is not put into play and the catcher cannot catch the ball, it is considered a wild pitch and runners on base can attempt to advance. Now, for the important part. If the ball is put in play: - The batter has to run for first base and touch it. If a defensive player gets the ball and touches first base before the batter does, the batter is out. - If the batter makes it to first base before the ball gets there, he has two options. He can either stop there (which is called a single), or try to make it to second base if the hit was particularly good and the defense is still trying to get to the ball. This would be called a double. Making it all the way to third on your batting turn is a triple, and making it all the way back to home plate is an inside-the-park home run. - If the batter stops, he is now a pure baserunner. He will attempt to continue to advance along the bases if the next batter puts the ball into play. - If any runner is touched with the ball while not touching any base, he is out. Finally, some additional things. If a runner reaches home plate safely, he scores a run. The batter that put the ball into play is credited with a run batted in (RBI). If a baserunner wishes to, he can start running to the next base while the pitcher throws the ball. If the batter does not put the ball into play, the catcher will attempt to throw the ball to the defensive player covering that base. If the runner makes it to the base first, he is considered to have stolen a base and can now stay on that base. If he gets touched with the ball beforehand, he is of course out. The game ends under the following circumstances: - If the home team leads in score by the end of the top of the ninth inning, the game is over and the home team wins (because it is already in the lead, it doesn't need to play on offense again). - If the score is not tied by the end of the bottom of the ninth inning, the game is over and the team in the lead wins. - If the score is tied by the end of the bottom of the ninth inning, the game continues and a tenth inning is played. The same criteria for winning then apply to the tenth inning, including the part about an extra inning being played if the score is tied at the end. This can lead to hell baseball, where the game is incapable of ending and just goes on forever. I think this should sum up the game somewhat. If somebody wants to add something, please, feel free. Furthermore, if you maybe want to watch a game of baseball to see it in full motion, you can probably just search Youtube for "MLB full game" and find stuff, but if you want a recommendation, you could check out this game. It's the final game of the 1952 World Series, which is basically the big championship series at the end of the season to decide the champion of the league. I like this video because it's very focused on the game, and the game goes faster. Alternatively, if you want something more modern, here's something for you, a 2018 regular season game. Also, as a final note, I will continue to explain more complex baseball concepts and historical facts and stories during the LP as they become relevant.
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Update I - After All, You're Comparing Me To Germany In World War II.![]() ♪ BGM: Closer's Theme ♫ Alright, let's get this show on the road. ![]() ♪ BGM: Silence ♫ ![]() We have our developer and publisher logos. ![]() We also have our disclaimer, which is a bit different than usual. ![]() And we get some standard RPG Maker controls, though one thing that is very appreciated by me as an RPG Maker 2000/2003 veteran is the run button. This is an RPG Maker XP game, and as such has some more abilities as your average RM2K/RM2K3 game. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:So, right off the bat, I have some things to explain. I will be interjecting these quotes into gameplay in order to explain either baseball people, historical moments, certain rules or other things to the less knowledgable parts of the audience. So if you know your stuff, you can probably skip these. Now, here, we have two things. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And thus, we are given the opportunity to name our hero. Now, I will be leaving the proper name of The Closer up to you, the audience, but since I need a name to continue, well, when it comes to Yankees closers, there is really only one name. ![]() There we go. TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ♪ BGM: The Entrance ♫ And here our intrepid hero comes, out of the bullpen... ![]() ...and on to the mound. ![]() ![]() TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:Those funky numbers there are what's called a slash line. They consist of three numbers, the batting average, the on-base percentage, and the slugging percentage. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ♪ BGM: Terminate ♫ Well, here we are in our first "pitching combat". However, we will be going through a tutorial for this later, and for now, we don't really have a lot of choice, either. We're on rails for this segment. So I'll just be skipping through this in favor of letting the tutorial explain things more. ![]() We are given two pitches to use. We'll go over the different pitches later. For now, here's how this "battle" works. - If we throw a fastball, it's a strike until we get to two strikes. From then on, whenever we throw a fastball, Rodriguez will foul it off. - If we throw a slider, it's a ball until we get to three balls. From then on, whenever we throw a slider, Rodriguez will foul it off. - And the exception to that: If the count is 3-2 - a full count - and we throw a slider... ![]() ![]() ![]() ♪ BGM: Silence ♫ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() So, yes, this is what we in the trade call a "supposed to lose fight". TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:
![]() The first thing I noticed was the silence. One minute, the crowd was ecstatic. They were on their feet. They were cheering my name. A moment later, I could hear the pounding of my heart, deep in my chest. I didn't have to see where the ball landed. The silence told me all I needed to know. With a single pitch, I had turned a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit. The game was over. Of course, the game wasn't really over. It was only the top of the ninth. My teammates had a chance to erase my mistake. With a little luck, they could even put us back on top. They could make everyone forget what I'd done. They didn't. Robertson, the center fielder, was up first. He tapped the ball back to the mound. One out. Next was Vazquez, the first baseman. He led the American League in RBIs, but there was no one for him to drive in. He popped out to right field. Finally there was Jones, the catcher. The beat writers liked to say that he was "clutch", and that he came through in the toughest of times. He didn't. Just like that, the game was over. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to drink until I could forget about what had happened. Tomorrow was another game. Tomorrow was another chance. If only it was that simple... I had to go to the locker room. I had to shower and change out of my uniform. I had to look my teammates in the eyes. I had to face up to what I'd done. What I'd failed to do. ![]() ♪ BGM: City Theme ♫ Well, time to talk to our teammates, I suppose. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They are, uh, not taking it well. ![]() I don't know what exactly the Yankees' motto is, but that ain't it. That's more of a New England Patriots thing, I believe. ![]() Inspiring! Well, I guess we have to talk to the coach now. ![]() This is Moose. He's the pitching coach for New York. He used to be a pitcher himself. One of the best. He threw a rare pitch called a knuckle-curve. The name makes it sound like a hybrid of a curveball and a knuckleball, but that's not quite right. It's more of a variation on the curve. That's not what made him a special pitcher, though. He was able to make lightning-quick adjustments, changing his approach between at-bats, and even individual pitches to the same batter. Moose never won a World Series as a pitcher. Everyone on the staff wanted to bring this one home for him. TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:This indeed mirrors an event out of Mussina's career. To note, a perfect game is when a pitcher pitches the entire nine innings of a game and never lets a batter reach base once. It is an exceptionally rare feat. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Mo has lost the pitch "Slider"! Mo has gained the pitch "Meatball"! TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:The concept of a pitcher getting figured out and suffering from it is a real thing. Also, a meatball is an almost derogatory term for a pitch that is very easy to hit. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:Dontrelle Willis was a pitcher that had a fairly short career, only from 2003 to 2011. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 2003 and was runner-up to the Cy Young award in 2005, with solid seasons in 2004 and 2006. Then, starting with 2007, he never had an even average season again. What happened? Well, what Moose is alluding to here is that Willis had a very strange way of throwing the ball. He kicks his leg up really high and twists his body strangely. As a result, hitters didn't really know how to react to it. Until they did know. And the rest is history. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Moose has joined the party! Alright! ![]() We also have access to the menu, but it doesn't show us a lot right now. ![]() ![]() We can look at the pitches our party members have... ![]() ![]() ...and see their status. That's about it. Oh, yeah, by the way, this game was made before Mussina was elected to the Hall of Fame. Anyway, let's talk to the coach. ![]() This is Joe Randall, New York's manager. Most days, he's a reasonable fellow. Even though I was only a rookie, he was willing to make me the closer less than a month after I was called up. Some people in the media called it a rash decision. They thought the job should have gone to an experienced pitcher. There were a couple guys in the bullpen who could have been considered. They weren't exactly old-timers, but they'd been pitching for a few years. Coach Randall knew what he had in me, though. He called it "lightning in a bottle". But lightning is fleeting. It flashes across the sky in an instant and is gone before you even know you've seen it. Coach was right about me, but in the worst way. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Alright, we have our task, and now it's time to head out to train. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ♪ BGM: Moose ♫ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() To access the menu, use the "A" or "Escape" key. TheMcD's Baseball Stuff posted:
![]() Anyway, that concludes this update. It's loving long enough already. But before we leave, there remains one question for you to answer: What is our hero's name? And I would like to say that if you have any questions regarding baseball or anything I mentioned here, by all means, ask. This LP is at least going to try to also be educational on the sport of baseball and some of its history. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 21:08 on May 24, 2019 |
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This is really bizarre but I love hearing sports stories. I'm in. Name him Guirl so everyone sounds sassy. GrandmaParty fucked around with this message at 15:26 on May 18, 2019 |
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It is a bold move to have you playing as the villains in a sports game.
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This seems interesting. Since the only other baseball game I know is OFF and I can't think of a funny game, I'll suggest the name Batter.
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1234567890num posted:This seems interesting. Since the only other baseball game I know is OFF and I can't think of a funny game, I'll suggest the name Batter. This but Peper Steak.
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The existence of this game and theMcD's willingness to LP it makes so many things about the Super-League make more sense to me now
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I'm onboard for another baseball JRPG. Hopefully this one doesn't end with the destruction of existence. Name him Casey. That's a baseball name, right?
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:The existence of this game and theMcD's willingness to LP it makes so many things about the Super-League make more sense to me now The Super-League still doesn't make sense to me but name him Eri Yoshida anyway.
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I feel like I've stepped off the deep end here. ![]() The baseball rules are completely lost to me despite the first post but the meta commentary is enough to make me stay.
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No one really "gets" the Super-League, but existential horror is part of it. That said, Gregor because one day he woke up on the baseball mound and was shocked to find he had turned into a pestilential, verminous meatball thrower.
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I've spent the last week reading Breaking Madden and as I begin to run out of it, this appears. Thank you.
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kw0134 posted:No one really "gets" the Super-League, but existential horror is part of it. That said, Gregor because one day he woke up on the baseball mound and was shocked to find he had turned into a pestilential, verminous meatball thrower. I second this.
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with an ace closer there's only one name to trust, and that's Tim Lincecum
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I'm fine with sticking with Mo. I'm already thinking of the character as Mo, might as well keep going.
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Jacques Portsman for that cross-LP flair I do not go in for baseball in the slightest and have already forgotten the rules exposition, but I definitely go in for surrealist urban fantasy so this looks to be yet another Enjoyable LP Experience
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Surely Leon is the more appropriate cross-LP choice?
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Fedule posted:Surely Leon is the more appropriate cross-LP choice? Given that I'm the one LPing this, the proper cross-LP choice is actually Masaru.
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kw0134 posted:No one really "gets" the Super-League, but existential horror is part of it. That said, Gregor because one day he woke up on the baseball mound and was shocked to find he had turned into a pestilential, verminous meatball thrower.
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Ruby Wardell.
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Brad Lidge
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Rosemont posted:I'm fine with sticking with Mo. I'm already thinking of the character as Mo, might as well keep going.
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BobHamelin or Bob Gibson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvh6NLqKRfs
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Rosemont posted:I'm fine with sticking with Mo. I'm already thinking of the character as Mo, might as well keep going. Putting in another vote for this.
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Yeah, let's go with Mo
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We're the Yankees, eh? Only one name is acceptable Yankeesfans.gif ![]()
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Gregor is great, but you nailed it with Mo.
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TheMcD posted:And I would like to say that if you have any questions regarding baseball or anything I mentioned here, by all means, ask. This LP is at least going to try to also be educational on the sport of baseball and some of its history. I heard that baseball was based on cricket. Is that true?
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As an Australian who has never actually watched any baseball, I think my brain tried to strangle itself while reading about the components of the slash line. But all the info about the personalities involved and the surprising amount of humour in the game's writing has definitely caught my attention. Best of luck with this one, TheMcD.
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Mraagvpeine posted:I heard that baseball was based on cricket. Is that true? The short answer is that cricket definitely influenced baseball, but it's hard to say by how much and if it's enough to count as "based on". Baseball's a weird sport to talk about history for, because the oldest real rule set, the Knickerbocker rules, is effectively a completely different game from modern baseball. In it, you weren't allowed to throw overhand, balls caught on one bounce were considered out, and there wasn't a set number of innings; you played to 21 aces (runs).
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Yapping Eevee posted:As an Australian who has never actually watched any baseball, I think my brain tried to strangle itself while reading about the components of the slash line. But all the info about the personalities involved and the surprising amount of humour in the game's writing has definitely caught my attention. Best of luck with this one, TheMcD. The slash line is really simple, honestly! Really! So you have AVG, which is just batting average: how many times did you get a hit, divided by the number of your chances to get a hit*. OBP: AVG but let's just look at you getting on base at all (unless it's because the other team hosed up or sacrifice weirdness). SLG: how far did you actually get when you got on initially, ignoring walks again. (Single is worth 1, double 2, triple 3, home run 4. Not getting on at all is, obviously, 0). Let's take a hypothetical, extremely handsome Australian player named Apping Yeevee. He only ever plays one game, because it turns out that he was playing under a false identity, but in that one game, he gets to the plate 4 times. He hits 1 single, 1 home run, gets walked once, and strikes out once. His AVG is .666, because he got 2 hits out of his 3 non-walk appearances. His OBP is .750 since he got on at all 3 out of his 4 times up. And his SLG is (4+1)/3=1.666, because he got 1 home run (4 points) and 1 single (1 point) in his 3 official at-bats. *which is "how many times did you get to be a batter" ignoring walks, being hit by a pitch, or hitting into an out that actually accomplishes something (sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly, which are terms you don't need to know.)
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Call him Sleve McDichael. E: Changed my vote to Bobson Dugnutt. Whybird fucked around with this message at 22:30 on May 19, 2019 |
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Whybird posted:Call him Sleve McDichael. Not Mike Truk? For shame. ![]()
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Whybird posted:Call him Sleve McDichael. i will change my vote to this
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GeneX posted:The slash line is really simple, honestly! Really! Also voting for yankeesfans.gif because that gif is a work of art and needs to be appreciated more. Seriously, watch it through several loops. You'll find something new every time.
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Whybird posted:Call him Sleve McDichael. Excuse me, but Bobson Dugnutt?
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Rather Watch Them posted:Excuse me, but Bobson Dugnutt?
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I'm on the Bobson Dugnutt train here
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# ? Jun 6, 2023 01:31 |
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Rather Watch Them posted:Excuse me, but Bobson Dugnutt? +1
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