| Interviewing Amy -Sared - Nov 19 01:13am | |
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AmosMagee is the Site Manager, Senior File Reviewer, and News Editor over at JK2Files. She took time out of her busy schedule, including a move to a new house, for this interview. Thank you Amos! Sared When did you first watch a Star Wars movie, and what was your reaction? AmosMagee Wow. That was so long ago. I think I was probably 8 or 9 years old, so that would've been back in like, 1985 or 1986 when I first saw Star Wars: A New Hope. I loved Princess Leia and dressed up as her for Halloween at least three years in a row. LOL Oh, and I was in love with Han Solo, of course.  S What was the first SW game that you played? AM I can't even remember the name of it. It was in the arcade. But the first PC SW game I played was, believe it or not, JK2. S Do you play JA and JO equally? Or has one dominated the other? AM I played JA quite a bit when it first came out. I was just as excited as everyone else about the game, but it only lived up to my expectations in the single player missions. I still play JK2 religiously. S Do you play much CTF/FFA, or do are you primarily a duelist? AM I used to be primarily a duelist, dueling on the DS servers almost two years ago. I played a lot with BSoV. Then I favored FFA and then fell in love with CTF. I still host CTFs on TMBJ's server, Maddness II at least once a week, if I can find the time for it. Anyone is welcome to join us.  S Did Raven destabilize a balanced system when they introduced the lightsaber-staff and dual-sabers? AM Definitely. It's not only the staff and dual sabers though. The combat just isn't the same as it was in JK2. I feel like I have less control over my saber in JA. The animations are pretty, and all of the new specials look great - but it just feels nerfed. I remember many people were annoyed at first because a complete nub could come in an own you, regardless of how much more experience you had with JA. S What changes should be made to the staff or dual saber systems? AM They should have some sort of weakness, like, oh, I don't know ... maybe somehow make the sabers heavier and have slower swings. Y'know, like the red stance takes longer than the blue stance to swing. But they should be even more so with the staff and dual sabers. At the same time, it should stay balanced so that the staff and dual sabers do more damage with one hit compared to the single saber. S Which style do you favor? AM In JK2, I favor yellow. Though when playing against Shroom, I often resort to red to beat him. Still, yellow and the yellow DFA are my favorite to play with. S Are you playing any other games right now? AM I just started playing in the open beta for World of Warcraft. I like it, but I also am a bit eager to get back to Final Fantasy XI. I'd never played an RPG of any kind really before and was surprised I'd enjoy it. I also still occasionally play Quake 2 (I love co-op), Unreal Tournament 2004 and Troopers. I can't really count Doom 3 as a game I've been playing since I only made it through about 20 minutes of the freakin' game. LOL Recently I played some games on Playstation 2 and Xbox that I loved. Ninja Gaiden, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, ATV 2 and Katamari Damacy. If you've never heard of Katamari or never played it before, I highly recommend it. It's a very simple concept, but tons of fun. And hilarious. I'm really looking forward to Prince of Persia 2 and I really hope that Raven will do a JK4, but will get back to the simplicity of the game play of JK2 with a better story. S What got you involved in gaming communities? AM I'd never been a part of a real gaming community until a little over 2 years ago when I picked up JK2. I played some bots a little and dabbled a bit in the single player game and then just decided to jump online. My first experience on a server was interesting, to say the least. I joined "Wookiee Beer Party" and got owned. LOL Eventually I found my way to Fraggle Rock and then into ICoP and finally, after leading ICoP for about a year, I joined TMBJ. I've been with TMBJ over a year now and don't plan on leaving. S How did you get involved with FileFront? AM The leader of ICoP, Astyanax, was the Site Manager for JK2Files and needed some new reviewers after just cleaning house of the reviewers who weren't doing anything. I applied and was added to the staff in February of 2003. I was a reviewer for a few months before being made Senior Reviewer and then after Shroom left as Site Manager, I took the position about a year ago, I think. S What is a map/mod/skin that has recently grabbed your attention? AM How could I not mention Sith-J-Cull's maps? His work is just stunning. Though I prefer maps with better game play, simpler design and more of a "fun factor", I can't deny the accuracy of his SW maps and his talent for mapping. The Samurai model is great and I just love all of the movies that people are making in the JK games. Especially A Great and Majestic Empire, Team Corellia and more work by Kengo and others. I'd love to see more SP maps though. S How many file submissions do you handle on a weekly basis? AM Oh, goodness. It varies. Sometimes we'll get 10, sometimes 50 or more. It does build up after some time. S What did you think of the Episode 3 trailer? AM It was fascinating. Are we going to see the Emperor fight? That will be awesome. A lot of people seem to be looking forward to seeing Windu with his signature purple saber, but I think it's all a bit overhyped. I have a feeling it's going to be anti-climactic. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this film. It's nice to see that Lucas is probably breaking that trilogy pattern of having the darkest film as the second one. Seeing as how this is supposed to move right into A New Hope though, it makes sense. S With Episode 3, being a much 'darker' and more adult film by appearances, what sort of impact do you see on the SW gaming community? AM I guarantee you we'll see a model for the darker and older Anakin. And it'd be nice to see a new model for Padme. But there really aren't any new characters, so we may not see more new models. Maybe some new vehicles? I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of mods that may come out of this. S Where do you see the Jedi Knight series heading in the future? AM I'm hoping Raven and LucasArts won't give up on this series. It's a very popular (and lucrative) series. The one thing you can count on when it comes to Star Wars fans is their loyalty. They seem to buy almost anything that has to do with the movie. But Kyle Katarn definitely needs to make acomeback, I think. The road of Jaden was an interesting one, but it's time for Katarn's return. And please, please, please go back to the saber combat of JK2, Raven! S Where do you see the Jedi Knight Community heading in the future? AM If the series continues, so will the community. If there's a new game, there will be new life breathed into the modders of the community. Especially if the next game uses the Doom 3 engine (omg). I have a feeling that if the next game released is well received by the community that JA will drop out of existence, but JK2 will still be going strong - unless the next game can please both groups. S Do you see the community following the developer's lead when it comes to the series Or vice-versa? AM That's difficult to say. I've spoken with a few developers and I know they take cues from the community - that's part of the reason why JA was what it was. But I'm not sure that the devs should take so much advice from us. After all, JA was not as big of a hit as we all expected. I suppose it's because of that "too many cooks spoil the broth" adage or something. In my opinion, they got it right with JK2 and tried to add too many new features to JA. It'd be nice to see the modders follow Raven's example when it comes to maps (mostly they do in regards to duel maps) and it'd be nice to see Raven follow the community's example when it comes to certain features in mods. S Do you see yourself as continuing in your current position in the community for the foreseeable future? AM Definitely. I love to review maps, skins, models, mods ... whatever the community can throw at me. The only point where I could see myself leaving my position with JK2Files is if it becomes a conflict of interest with my career - which may happen. S What do you think of the extensive script modifications (i.e., admin mods and the like) that have been made by the community? AM Admin mods are great for those who like to keep their server under control. I realize what an issue this is for the two schools of thought - some people think that an FPS should remain that, but JK2 really changed gaming for some and gave it a social aspect. You can't deny that being able to chat and not just frag has appealed to many different types of gamers. Is this a bad thing? Well, for those who are only interested in getting 100 frags before the 30 minutes run out for the map, it is. Personally, I think everyone should just abide by whatever rules the server they're in has. If there's no laming allowed, don't do it. Just find another server where they don't care about chat-killing. And if you're in a server that's all about fragging, don't complain if you get killed. Simple as that. S Have you done any mapping/modding/skinning of your own? AM I sat down with Radiant once for about three hours and created a fully textured box. That is the extent of my mapping skills. LOL Recently, I visited ShroomDuck in Canada and he showed me how he maps with the Unreal engine. It seems so much more advanced and easier than Radiant. I may get into mapping at some point, but don't expect anything anytime soon. I don't skin either. Though I have had several ideas for skins that were made for me. I think the only thing you'll find with my name on it at JK2Files is the ICoP calendar that we did over a year ago. That was fun. I like doing things like that. S Do you have any plans for evolving/advancing jk2files.com in the forseeable future? AM Advancing? Well, there are some ideas being thrown around that I can't discuss right now that might make it easier on the modders in the community to submit their work. Evolving? If there's another JK game, of course we'll evolve and add that game to our site. I'd love for it to keep growing and for the community to continue to make mods, skins, maps and movies. S m00, or DERP? AM I'm tempted to go with m00, but I'd have to say DERP. It's just a lot more fun to say. DERP. Say it with me. DERP, DERP, DERP. Yes, definitely DERP. |
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| Comments |
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Darth Bane II - Student 
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YO AMY, I completly disagree with you that JK2's dueling is better than JK3's. for instance, if you are against an person with one saber, and you have one saber, the outcome is obviously the one who has the medium stance. if you have to fight someone with the new styles of saber (staff/ two sabers) then you have to find a gap in thier defence.   _______________ Training began: December 2003 Left the Order: October 2008 Returned: November 2009 |
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DJK - Student 
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M00000! Amy r0x0r5!!! |
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Demo Strike - Student 
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Cool, but m00 is the obvious option why derp??  |
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thedestroyer - Student 
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dood i gotta E-mail er to tell er GET THOSE DANG VIRUSIS OFF THAT WEBSITE!!! |
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Lian Del Rey - Student 
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 Amy r0x. _______________ slorp |
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SirBizNatch - Student 
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"S m00, or DERP?" Expert reporting.  _______________ Personal body guard to teh 1337 Jacen Aratan! Midbie Council Memeber||Member of the Almighty FiZZsters |
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. - Ex-Student |
 humbug. _______________ 4/20/2005----Left the academy because I did'nt feel welcomed. |
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Jacen Aratan - Student |
Quote: Heathens, it shall be mæh!!!!! Great interview |
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D@mned ++ - Student 
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Good interview _______________ Bartender at Mune's bar. It’s not just a site, it’s a community. It’s not just a community, it’s the Academy. It’s not just the Academy, it’s a place in my heart. |
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Garos - Student 
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Sweeet interview Sared *slaps ozzcoz in the head* ...derp! |
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Sfire - Student 
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Awesome! _______________ |Sfire - Padawan to MOTREC, Gradius| |Owner of Motrec's and Gradius's 999th Comments! Also Smily's 5001 comment and 3th's 1903 comment! Also, cannot forget to mention the proud owner of Gradius' 3000th comment!| |
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Tido - Student 
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Great interview! |
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ozzcoz - Cosplay Nerd 
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I always thought Amos was a guy *slaps forehead* Well nice interview anyway, and yay for jkfiles! _______________ A wizard did it. |
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Anakin Skywalker - Student 
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Nice article man, great interview  - Anakin _______________ {MOTS}Masters Of The Sith
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xAnAtOs - Student |
Awesome interview Sared, very cool _______________ Brother to Luke Skywalker and (SKX) Dark Blade
Lag Brother to Acey Spadey
Jools is my best friend.
<Henkes> nebody feeling like abusing me with a lightsaber?|+Smilykrazy grabs Gradius, beats the living CRAP out of him, then throws him into a huge vat of ACID |
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solitude - Jedi Council 
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Quote: cannot see the m00! http://www.googlism.com/what_is/m/m00/ _______________ Joined 16 October 2004 | Retired 10 April 2005 | Returned 05 June 2008 | Made Staff 27 June 2008 | Made Council 18 January 2009 Padawan To Odan-Wei Belouve | Adopted into the Belouve family | Twin to xAnAtOs | Owner of the 4th Quesi sexy badge Brother To Roan Belouve, Nomad, Majno, Silkmonkey, Kensei and Jarhok Belouve
Owner Of Virtue's 1000th profile comment, Mr. Doobie's 1000th profile comment, Gradius' 2500th comment, xAnAtOs' 2500th comment, Rosered's 1500th comment, Laziana's 900th comment, Scythus' 500th comment and Echuu's 100th comment |
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SilkMonkey - Distributor of Cold Ones 
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She said derp on her own. I had no part in this at all. <.< >.> <.< >.> _______________ |-HK-47 -SilkMonkey: You are receiving a warning for being_too_sexy. If you do not stop, action will be taken against you.|| (11:13:43) � Virtue dances for Silk ||Smiling owner of Smilykrazy's 6000th comment =) ||Odan Wei's Proud Big Brother|| Janus is my official TaruTaru Cuddly Animal Type Person. ||(@Virtue) Or you could just be a man and set fire to your genitals.....you won't fall asleep for days after that.......trust me.||Thomas Skywalker er for sexy for sitt eget beste!!!!| Not changing sig until the JA loosens up. (Started: Aug 31, 2005) |
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SaberWeildinKow - Student 
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Wow, what a goon! I thought she was cool, but now I see the larger issue, she has been blinded by the derp and cannot see the m00! This comment was edited by SaberWeildinKow on Nov 19 2004 04:51pm. |
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Majno - Padawan 
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Nice article man, great interview _______________ " You've just taken your first steps into a larger world. " - Ben. |
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Odan-Wei Belouve - Student 
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Great interview Sared, awesome job, man _______________ Padawan and brother to SmilyKrazy - Adopted in the Belouve Family by Fizz and Bubu, BELOUVE ON! - Vladarion, you'll always be in my heart and memories - Spam-Padawan of Jacen Aratan - [DJ is my beloved wife! - JA Family: Brothers:
Virtue, Furi0us, Vladarion, Hardwired, Janus, Axion, D@RtHM@UL, Motrec, Mike , xAnAtOs , Luke Skywalker; Little bro to SilkMonkey ; Special kind of brother to Kenyon ; Sisters in-law: Rosered, Ain-Soph Aur] Photoshop works: click here |
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Fizz of Belouve - Student 
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m000ooo shall it be! yes, i cant agree more to what she said. smart fella _______________ One of the Belouve boys, founder of the mighty FiZZsters Midbie council #20 - Fizz - #1933 - Jan '03 - Aug '04 "Renfield, you idiot!" |
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Kueller - Student 
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Heathens, it shall be mæh!!!!! Great interview _______________ Personal sleepness-nights-supporter of Virtue. Owner of the 1000th comment of Daidalus and 1943th comment of Gradius! Owner of the 300th comment of Carda! -Taught Gradius all his laming skills
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Bubu - Hubbub 
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omfg m00! _______________ make install -not war |
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