Ask me things, and stuff. Especially the stuff. And the things.

[Luke Strife]

Hey all, I'm Luke, 30, from the UK, and I'm ready to answer your questions on whatever the heck gameshow this is.

Been bumbling around the forums and contemplating this for a little while now, so figured yeah why not?

I'm pretty open to most questions, can't really think of any off the top of my head that I'd be against answering.

 

[Mystical]

I think I haven't asked these ones.
1. Do you have a favorite animal? Which one?
2. Do you care for sports? If so, which one is your favorite?
3. What's one childhood memory you're fond of?

 

[Luke Strife]

1. I'm not sure. I love dogs so much. But it also feels like such a generic answer, you know? If they were real I'd totally be a dragon person, though. Dragons are awesome.

2. I do not care for sports almost whatsoever. I sometimes get interested in races, but meh, they go on for way too long. I find more enjoyment in esports, if that counts. But even then, I barely interact with or get hyped with it. Although I did love watching Robot Wars. There's just something about that that is so cool to me. The technological prowess of the competitors, followed by the sheer destruction of robots smashing each other to bits in the arena. Everyone is there just to have a good time, even the folks who lose are still really enthusiastic about the competition. I hate that it got axed, twice! :(

3. It's really weird but I always remember this one time where I'd spent a really nice afternoon with my best friend at the time, and then when I'd gotten back home I'd spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying being outside alone and watching the sunset. It's probably not my favourite memory, but it is still quite a pleasant one that my mind goes back to from time to time. And it's the one that popped up upon reading your question, so that's what you got!

 

[Fafrir]

Henlo!
1. If you had a free day, how would you spend it?
2. If you can immediately learn one other language, what will it be?
3. Favourite dog breed?

 

[Luke Strife]

Hey @Fafrir sorry it took so long for me to get around to answering these. Hoping that they're worth the wait!

1. I'm thankful to have numerous free days, I don't have too many responsibilities currently. So far I spend my days with a little bit of meditation, spending time on learning a language, sometimes I do a bit of reading or writing. Catching up on podcasts. Gaming a bit. Chatting with folks on Discord or Facebook. Perhaps going for a walk if the weather is nice enough. Otherwise mostly just relaxing, learning to appreciate what I have instead of wishing that things were different.

2. This is quite a difficult question for me, for a couple of reasons. I am actually learning a couple of other languages at the moment (finished a course on Norwegian, though good luck on trying to get me to remember any of it haha, and I'm learning Dutch at the moment). Part of me wants to answer this question by saying that I wouldn't, because I feel like much of the fun is in the learning rather than immediately having the knowledge and the skill. But to more seriously consider the question, learning another tongue is quite the task and I have to admit that there are more than a few occasions where I feel so stupid, like I just cannot understand what the course is trying to teach me. There are definitely times when I wish I could immediately understand this core concept and move onto the next thing. As for which language...? I'm not actually sure. While it would be nice to immediately learn one of the two I've studied a bit already I feel like if I were to suddenly gain all that knowledge in one go I'd have to pick something I've never or barely touched in order to make full use of the wish ;) So far I'm learning ones that my friends speak, so if I were to go with that logic then it would perhaps be French. Or maybe it would be something else entirely, like Chinese would be a sensible choice, given how important they are becoming in the world trade. Poland is apparently crying out for Polish-English translators at the moment. There are so many good answers to this question it's difficult for me to pick.

3. Another difficult question! I had a West Highland White Terrier whilst growing up and he was my bestest little buddy. I miss him terribly. I'd be very biased to say that his is my favourite, but then again I couldn't say for sure that I could pin it down to just one breed. I've always had a bit of a fondness for bigger dogs like Labs or Alsations, but really I just love dogs in general. The only exception(s) are smaller dogs, they're too yappy and aggressive for my taste. I like a big or medium sized doggo that I can tumble or cuddle with, and view me on equal terms with trust and respect.

 

[Mystical]

Dragons are great, agree. What's your favorite kind of dragon?

 

[Luke Strife]

Perhaps I am biased, but I've always loved the depictions of western dragons with two hind legs, two forelegs and massive wingspans. A good example are the ones that appear in World of Warcraft.

Random western durgon from Google to illustrate my point.

And while some stories view them as nothing but just another beast, I am more fond of the intelligent variety.

 

[Dregran]

Have you played any RPG or strategy games that have been forum-based?
Are you more excited about the next generation of Pokemon games being based in the UK than otherwise?
If you could choose between flight or superspeed (neither with repercussions), which would you prefer as a superpower?

 

[Luke Strife]

1. Do forum RPs with combat count? I've done some of those, yes, but they were all very loose and free-form, not much strategy involved. I guess Boss' current event will count for that since it has some kind of structure. It's something I am interested in, for sure. I've dipped my toe into Mafia a couple times but that's all, so I'm still a super noob at that. Again, I've signed up for the latest one so we'll see how that goes. I've been thinking about making a D&D thing here on the forums, but of course that means I'll be DMing so other people will be the ones benefitting from all the strategy stuff.

2. Actually, I kinda am. I mean, you know how out of the loop I've been already with regards to the franchise, but being here in this scene has rekindled some of that old love I had for it. Finding out that the new generation is going to be based on my home country is making me really interested in trying it. I hope that a few of the new Pokémon concepts are references to things close to home as well, that would really seal the deal for me. I've been contemplating making a "newbie run" on one of the games, but honestly I may just wait until those games are out instead. One of them may indeed be the one that heralds my return to the Pokémon world's gamespace.

3. Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't have thought too hard about this, but I did spend quite some time on this, haha. I think I'd have to go with super speed. As cool as flying is (and if we're going to assume that super speed's land travel is faster than flying's flight speed), I just think it'd be great to be able to zoom about the place, get things done faster, save money on travel, etc. I've always wanted more hours in the day, so since time is immutable, then I'd better speed myself up instead! Read more books, write more, get chores done and out of the way a lot faster, beat all the deadlines, catch falling break-ables. Do all the things and have more time for videogames!

 

[Dregran]

If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?
How accurate is the Kingsmen in terms of slang and general British culture?
What kind of music do to like to listen to? + dislike to listen to?
Are you actually a secret agent working for the queen?

 

[Luke Strife]

1. Ugh. Too many things. But if you're going to make me pick one thing, it'll be finding out how to curb my procrastination, and as an extension to that, task prioritisation. It absolutely sucks right now, and it very much is getting in the way of my targets in my home, work, and hobby life.

2. I'd say it's a pretty good representation of general London culture. London is like a weird island with its own culture compared to the rest of England, or Britain. The majority of England is not so clear a divide between the gentleman and "chav culture", but the latter is certainly prevalent throughout the country. Mostly in cities, though. It is a very good representation of how those two particular groups function, though. Life is incredibly hard for those council-housing lot, so the violence at home and such that is portrayed in the movie isn't too far from the truth for many families.

3. Man it feels like my tastes in music are all over the place lately. I was raised on heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motley Crue, WASP, etc) and as such I really enjoy that kind of thing. As I got older I did a lot of my own exploration and found myself drawn to more electronic things. First with dubstep, then into various things like electro swing and the occasional drum and bass, or chiptune. I've recently been getting into psytrance, specifically Infected Mushroom, even though I'm not a stoner. I still enjoy the audio journey that they take you on. Beyond this, there's plenty of videogame music that I enjoy, that don't really fit all that neatly into any genre. I mostly cannot stand mainstream pop music, like how every girl/boy band sounds the exact same and looks the exact same as one another, or hiphop/rap that constantly sing about having sex in clubs or cheating on your partner. I will sometimes like something from each of those things though, but as a whole I tend not to enjoy them.

4. Alas, I am not. But of course I would say that, if I really were a spy working for the Queen, would I not? ;)

 

[Mystical]

What made you decide to have Scar as your new avatar?
Um what's your opinion of me if you want to say?
What's your impression on the SwSh starters and which one would you pick?
See ya!!

 

[Luke Strife]

1. I'm the kind of guy who loves to play the villains over the heroes. You ever see interviews with the actors after a movie? The folks playing the bad guys always seem to have so much fun. It's my love for seeing the beloved heroes suffer, before ultimately giving way to resolve a story thread. Designing new and interesting villains for my D&D campaign is perhaps my favourite thing to do. Scar is one of my favourite Disney villains, although I can't say I've really ranked them properly. Besides that I find him very relatable. He's dry, sarcastic, and intelligent. I share his "I'm surrounded by idiots" sentiment more often than I can really remember, to the point where I actually hear him saying it in my head when such a time appears.

2. I think you're a cool gal. I wouldn't say that I know you very well yet to give a proper opinion, but I'll share what I feel so far. I like that we share a passion in writing and roleplay. I get the feeling that sometimes you feel like you're a bit awkward, like a fish out of water, but you're always super active and I haven't seen anyone on Marriland say a bad thing about you, so that's got to account for something. I don't think we ever interacted during the time of 4P, but I feel like you've definitely grown up more since then. I do sometimes wish we talked more often but I don't always know what to say, mainly because I can be an awkward **** myself at times too. But we're interacting plenty on the forums in various threads and that is also decent enough. Plus, I enjoyed working with you for MarriProm, that was a lot of fun too.

3. Ugh, I've been trying to avoid this question for so long, haha. But I am sworn by the Very Serious AMA Rules™ to answer honestly, so here we go. If I had to rank them in order it would probably be Sobble > Grookey > Scorbunny. Reason being is I just find Scorbunny just too boring. It's just... there's nothing about the design that intrigues me or makes me want to see more of it. Maybe once its evolutions come out I may change my mind, but for the time being it's just... meh. It hasn't really helped matters much that people keep making memes about it playing football/soccer, which I absolutely detest and auto-avoid as much as possible. Grookey is definitely very cute, but there's just something about its face and how it looks like a beak that's a bit off-putting to me. It seems a bit out of place and strange. Sobble is adorable, and I feel like its design is quite unique. Plus it's a great play on words, which is something I do appreciate as a fellow pun-slinger (think of a gunslinger, except I'm tossing out puns, Wild West style!). That being said, I always feel like some kind of aversion to water types whenever I play. I love fire magic in most games I play (which is hilarious given regardless of how I play a Frost Mage in World of Warcraft, but in any other games, it's fire for me), so I've kinda always had a bit of an affinity towards those types in Pokémon too. Although if I were to play SwSh, given what I said earlier I probably won't be picking Scorbunny. But regardless of how I feel about any of them, I've been enjoying the memes and little cartoons that people have been sharing about them.

4. Bye! Thanks for the questions! ^^

 

[Mystical]

I like how you go deep into your answers. But you really don't have to answer if you don't want to! ^^'

As for the first question, that's interesting. I'm sure playing villains is fun, yes, though I'm never really able to play a villain before somehow turning them into Someone Not So Bad. Do you have any creative tips for writing a good villain?

Also lol, didn't see you as sarcastic, but that's funny.

And thank you for the kind words. :3 I'm always happy to talk if you want to!

 

[Luke Strife]

Thanks! I always feel like longer and more indepth answers are more interesting to read on the whole, so that's what I always aim to do.

In response to your question: Man, I do, but I was hoping to save it for when I do my character writing guide in the workshop, but I've been putting that off for too long. I'll go deeper into it when I get to writing that, but essentially the main lesson I've learned for writing a good villain is to make them like a hero. Sure you can have just a big dumb hulk dude go on a psychotic rampage, or a business woman who knows all the loopholes and will always take the interpretation of the rules that will benefit her the most. Those characters are obviously evil. But the best villains, in my mind, are the ones you can relate to. A fantastic example is Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos is such an intriguing bad guy because he has been written like he's a good guy. It's what makes his story arc all the more interesting. He thinks what he's doing will be for the greater good, with the universe's best interests in mind. He paints himself as a hero, trying to right wrongs. He doesn't outright kill any of the Avengers unless he has to, in fact he has a lot of respect for them and understands why they fight him the way they do. He doesn't expect them to understand the logic behind his actions.

That also ties into another point I want to make for writing them; make sure they're always seen to be doing stuff, and that it's stuff that helps them achieve their goal. Every single time Thanos is on-screen, he is achieving something and working ever-closer to his end goal. You never see him just lazing around and basking in his glory until after he's achieved his goals. It shows the viewer that he is proactive and very competent. Let your villain succeed several times before they start to lose to the heroes. It adds tension and drama, because the stakes are raised. The heroes become more desperate over time, maybe even willing to sacrifice one of their own (pulling from the movie, again). I obviously don't think Thanos is the only way to write a good villain, for sure, but it's one of the best examples of villain-writing that I've seen in a long time. I'll get to adding to the workshop at some point, honest. I'm just ****e at prioritisation.

Add onto that, villains are (in most cases) people too. They have desires, needs, fears. Ask yourself about what each of these things are when you're designing one, and then ask yourself how they go about dealing with each thing. If they are afraid of losing someone close to them, to what lengths do they go to protect them? Maybe they're willing to concede valuable objectives for their master plan if it means losing that someone? Or maybe there's even a scenario where they're willing to sacrifice them? These kinds of things really flesh out a character, make them believable, and really show to the audience what kind of measure of a person they are. Especially with how they react to the heroes should they choose to exploit these weaknesses. Show, don't tell.

I feel I'm more sarcastic and dry in voice and face-to-face than I am communicating via text. It's just so hard to read the intent behind someone's words that sarcastic jokes tend to have a low hit/miss ratio.

And you're welcome! I'll keep that in mind. ^^