Extra Credits

Where is it? I tried using the ctrl+f to find it but I got zilch.

ANYWAY, interesting episode

edited 22nd Oct '14 9:59:57 PM by SpookyMask

What I'm wondering now is whether games are more of a blend of the three types in different proportions, or if it's more like a partition where one part of the game is planning and another is improvisation, or something like that.

Where they list some of the lies, mistakes & omissions of the Seminal Tragedy.....

Neat. Looks like Extra History's headed for Japan next, specifically the Sengoku period.

That reminds me of that one teacher in Persona 3 who will not shut up about it. (Worst history teacher)

I'm kind of bitter about that: I voted for Alexander the Great to be the next topic.

In any case, the next topic after the Sengoku series has already been decided by the Patrons (another pick of mine that didn't win; I was rooting for Caesar). James said in the E-mail that he was happy that such a niche topic won (and that's all I'll say about that).

Eh. I kind of got my fill of the Sengoku period by reading the manual that came with Sword Of The Samurai, but there's a good chance that Extra Credits can turn it into a better story.

Just wanted to let people know that the crew hit their $10,000 mark today (how much the Patrons send each month). They've reached all their other stretch goals, and are now asking for suggestions on what to add past this latest mark (the thread for it has ideas like Extra Mythology, Extra Science, or behind-the-scenes/making-of episodes).

They're saying at the $12,000 milestone, they're considering hiring a musician to record custom outro music for each mini-series of Extra History. We know from Extra Remix that Daniel probably would have lots of names lined up.

So if anyone wants that, go ahead and sign up.

I would. If I had money to throw. But I don't.

Y'know, Dan Prime said, in the recent episode about Horror that Lingers, that they've never talked about the tension-release cycle in horror. But they have, haven't they? Way back in their interest curve episode, they applied it to horror, saying that effective horror builds rising tension, scares you at the peak, then backs off, to build you up again. Whereas mediocre horror either keeps building the tension to the point where it's exhausting, or tries to scare you all the time.

Well, that might just have been a cursory glance at it.

Also of note, James Recommends has some WWI games up so...here.

Valiant Hearts is probably the most my style, maybe Commander: The Great War. But I only have a 3DS/Vita and almost all of them are for the PC.

edited 31st Oct '14 9:48:36 AM by phoenixdaughterAM

Time to delve into the Sengoku Jidai.

Yup, that's pretty much the story as I've heard it before.

I just love hearing the name "Oda Nobunaga". As soon as the name was mentioned I immidiately sprang up and paid close attention. "Oh, shit, son! Oda Nobunaga has entered the stage. Things just turned badass!"

You know, it's stories like this that show just how unpredictable and chaotic war, and history in general, can be. I mean, Nobunaga's plan was pretty darn clever and daring, but it was also an insanely lucky potshot against an enemy that more or less had already won the war. Whatever gods Nobunaga had been praying to, they definitely delivered.

Same here. It is a story I already know, more or less, but is still really entertaining to hear them telling it. Specially since they will probably fill the blanks as I only have heard pieces at times.

As for Oda, the compltely absurd and seemingly foolishness of his plan remembered me of his childhood nick name "The Fool of Owari". He was likely quite an eccentric fellow. Quite a brutal one too, , or so I've heard.

But personally, I am more interested in Tokugawa. Oda is the badass one for sure, but Tokugawa is probably the cleverest bastard in feudal Japan. He didn't ultimately win the war for nothing, after all.

Well, it's a story I'm pretty much hearing for the first time. I mean, I've heard of the Sengoku period and I've heard some of the names they mentioned before (especially Nobunaga. Thanks, Civ V), and that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge on the subject. So, I look forward to the rest of this series.

Just to let people know, this series is going to be 6 episodes long, apparently.

Well, there was a lot of warring going on, so it's understandable they'd need a few extra episodes to work it all out.

Yeah, they are likely going to cover until the end with the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. That cover the rise of 3 different warlords plus the fall of two. That is quite a lot.

He didn't ultimately win the war for nothing, after all.

Dude, spoilers! :P

Hm.

I feel like they should focus on a non-war focused piece of history next. Admittedly, it's probably only within the last century or two that some major events in history haven't included war (cause, you know, the past sucked balls), at least in part, but I'm sure they can find something interesting to talk about.

edited 9th Nov '14 7:08:05 PM by Ekuran

Gee, I am sorry. I thought It Was His Sled.

It is not that the past is full of wars. It is just we tend to focus more on them than anything else. We have had wars aplenty for the last couple of centuries. Hell, most of the past century was defined by wars (well, one of them was a "cold" one, but still rather violent in half of the world, any still a conflict at any rate).

Still there is plenty to talk about in history that doesn't involve wars. Like plague! And starvation and natural disasters! You know, fun stuff. There is some actual fun stuff too, like technological developments and cultural interconnections.

Also, even when war is prominent, it is not always the most important event or the part you need to focus. For crying out loud, you can talk about the Mongols^note the biggest land based empire ever and emphasize how the revitalized world trade if you want so.

PS:For those interested in videos about history, I recommend Crash Course World History and its sequel. They have a very different approach to teaching history than Extra Credits and are very good. Most notably, they tend to avoid details of battles and wars and really focus on everything else. Only 8 out of 42 videos of the original series were primary about war[[note]]and I counted "Alexander the Great" and ".

edited 9th Nov '14 8:04:25 PM by Heatth

I can second the Crash Course recommendation. It presents a much larger perspective than we usually get in history media, let alone school.

Yeah, if you want history without so much of a focus on war and stuff, you should see Crash Course. Great series.

Extra Credits is probably not ever going to do non-war stuff, because war is dramatic, and fits their narrative style better.

Alucard: Don't worry, they will cover good ol Alex eventually, it's just a matter of time.

Video: It's Imagawa, EC, not Imigawa.

edited 16th Nov '14 4:02:30 AM by SaintDeltora