,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, An interview of Luther (Kuski of Month on November 2003): ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' -= When did you start playing? =- Back in 1998 I discovered Across on a Demo-CD from the magazine PCGAMER, where they had included Across as Shareware. Me and my former class mate Samir (which six years later turned out to be my room mate for over six months, before he moved out and Kyjelly arrived) started playing it and building levels and so on. Two years later, without touching Across, I saw some guys in my Gymnasium (swedish form of school equivalent to the english High school) playing a game reminding me alot of Across, and I was annoyed, because I instantly found "Elastomania" to both be more ugly looking and had a worse title. First: there were background objects and grass and that kind of shit, which I disliked. Anyway, so at school breaks, me and some people in my class spent time in the computer labs playing Elastomania. I got fond of it immediately and started playing with my former class mate Andreas (rulF), and has kept playing ever since. -= Ex-teams and why did you change teams? =- First team I founded was team [y], which consisted of me, rulF and Krus. We played for quite some time even before we found Moposite and downloaded those professional replays. Funny detail is that me and rulF thought those "Mopo01.rec" etc was driven by one player called "mopo". ;P Anyway, soon Krus just totally owned us in everything, driving 0.01 from Twin Peaks WR back in 2001 and made Moposite replay section on Over and Under (31,59), when WR was something similar. Whereas I started to play more and more internals, Krus got tired of elma and sort of quit, and rulF didn't care much, and wasn't as into the game as I was anymore. Therefore my second team was TNT, and basically I think I joined TNT because it turned out that oizo! had been studying in the same school as I, on the same program as I, and worked on the same job as I, in the same section - and we discovered all this via #across, in a conversation we had - in english ;D -= Current total? =- 38:33,17 -= Top5 newest and oldest personal records? =- (check the last modified times of your replays) Oldest ones: 25.69 Precarious 2003-02-28 1.05.61 Serpents tale 2003-09-06 56.05 Ramp frenzy 2003-09-16 17.71 Hill legend 2003-10-06 30.54 Over and Under 2003-10-10 Newest ones: 21.02 Tag 2004-10-22 33.12 Sink 2004-10-21 18.54 Loop de Loop 2004-10-17 14.15 Warm up 2004-10-14 58.73 Tunnel terror 2004-10-04 -= Across Career briefly. Any WRs?, World Cup I and II and so on.. =- Actually none, and I played under the nick Gandalf, because I was addicted to fantasy literature back then. Though my interest for fantasy died totally only a few years later, and I suddenly found realistic literature to be more romantic, and became something I'd rather put my hands on. -= Elma career? =- Played alot before I even joined #across, since I didn't have Internet as long as I lived on my own. Had a total time of 46 when I first got to talk to some other kuskis. First out I spoke alot to dz and Cloud, and Cloud became the person I trusted the most, because he always answered me so kindly, and took time to watch my replays and hear about my new times (appreciated). Started to play about 6h a day when I became single, and dropped in total time pretty fast. Made my first world record on Downhill (48,82) autumn 2003, and have since then had three different WR:s on Downhill (48,81; 47,90; 46,35), two WR:s on Labyrinth Pro (2:20,42; 2:19,64) and one WR on New Wave (1:27,98). Played 5-6h aday until I began school, now approximately 1h aday, in average. -= Do you still like Across? Why/why not =- I think Across is nice, but I seriously despise the dynamics of the game. Makes me go nuts; "omg WHY DID MY WHEELS GET STUCK THERE?!??!?!? I WAS CLEAN awrrgh!" -= How did you get Across/Elma? Was it your worst mistake? or the best? =- Only time can tell, but so far...actually pretty bad. But good at the same time, if you know what I mean. All things happen for the better. -= Favourite internals / most irritating internals =- Favourite at the moment: short, mind relaxing hoyla levs (like Tag) Irritating at the moment: all those long tricky ones, when I know someone will beat my time in 15minutes anyway. -= Your own best WRs? =- Before Zweq broke my Labyrinth Pro, I thought that was my best WR, because I played so hard for it. But now, I suppose Downhill is the best, since it appears to be the hardest of my WR:s for other kuskis to beat. -= Best WRs in your opinion? =- All World Records driven by FM -= What's the limit of WR times? =- There is no limit, but some levs are harder to beat than other. -= Are there some kind of external contests you like? What kind of contests do you like? Are there any new competitions you would like to see? =- Since internals playing takes up so much of my time already, I can't really seem to be bothered with other external contests. World Cup might be an exception as a cup, but it's still too hard for me to keep up consistent elma play throughout an entire cup like that. -= Best lgr in your mind? What lgr do you use? =- The cleanest possible, and preferably as similar to Default.lgr as possible. I think I use HighQ or something oizo! once installed. -= Mention some good things you have gotten with Across/Elma? =- Met people from other countries, visited Finland (which I thought I'd never do). Got a guy from the scene living with me at this very moment. Kyjelly yeah! -= Mention some bad things you have gotten from Across/Elma? =- Bad sleeping habits. School results have suffered from the huge amount of time I've spent on elma instead. -= What is the most frustrating thing you have faced in your career? =- Zweq broke my Tag record within 15 minutes, after I had seriously hoyled it for several days. And I even thought I had talent for the level (lol, sometimes you're really wrong, ey). -= The biggest mistake of your Elma career? =- I don't really recall having one. Maybe being such an arrogant bitch to people when drunk, or something like that. Except that, I guess I haven't made very many mistakes. :p -= Cheating, what feelings? Do you use level unlocker/1.11hb/1.2 etc? =- I use Saveload, autoplay, and some .exe files Zweq once sent me, in complement to the new version of elma t0r sent me. -= Elma tuning, have you tested? Opinion about it? =- I unfortunately need to tune in order to drive good times, but I'm somewhat aware of the psycological factor behind this; I suppose I could still drive pretty good times without tuning, but my mind tells me I can't. So, tune? Yes, to teh max. -= Best kuskis and teams? What are the things you value in another kuski/team? =- FM is a great example of a great working team. Karlis, mr, axxu, Ramone, psy, MP are among the most skilled kuskis I know - seen them all play IRL. -= Your best achievements? =- Didn't I write down my World record times above somewhere? Yes, I did. :p However, apart from them, I guess quitting my job and attending school was the best thing that I've done in a long time. Of course I do have some really obscene things that I find "great achievements" as well, but them I won't tell here :) -= Do you do any other neat finger-related stuff like playing violin, repairing watches, pick pocketing etc? =- Write, paint, music, yeah, whatever comes into my mind. -= How much did you play in your sickest period? How much these days? =- 10h every day. But that was during a depressive period I had, and when I was unemployed. -= Have you had Elma dreams? =- Perhaps every second day I dream more or less about something elma related. Which of course is an indication of me playing too much elma, and thinking too seriously about it. But I can't help myself, or prevent myself from doing so. And as long as I don't want to quit thinking about it, and as long as it doesn't make me feel any worse - I won't. -= Strengths and weaknesses as a player? What moves you like/dislike? =- Strenght: I'm patient as hell. Weakness: I have the worst temper. Move I like: Love clean spacings. Move I dislike: Overuse of volts. -= Tips for average players? =- Learn the dynamics very well before you try the harder tricks. Go play external contests with players that you can compete with, and play play play. A kuski can always learn something new, but a good kuski can fast see if someone does something wrong, or if another kuski can't handle the bike in the - as you see it - best way. Try to make good times with easier styles, then attend to the harder ones. -= Best memories with Elma? =- Team [y] found #battle, and I think we never were more excited than that night. And: FEM04 <--- -= First time at #across? =- Early 2001, spoke to some JanBobbo and dz. And JanBobbo asked: "tt", and I didn't have a fucking clue ;D -= Best Elma friends? =- Oh, so many... Well, those who feel they are my friends: yes you are :) -= Thoughts about Elma meetings? =- I think it's an awesome way to increase the fun of the game, and I love Elma and I loved FEM04. Just to mingle with the people you've talked to for so long is worth the travel to another country. -= What do YOU think should be improved in an eventual new version of Elma? =- I wouldn't want a new version of elma. It's actually good as it is. I just want some great "spy-binoculars", so that I could spy on those I suspect are using cheats ;D -= How about battles? =- Don't battle much nowadays, but I think it's an excellent way of improving your elma skills. And yeah, it's a really fun complement to the ordinary types of elma game play. -= Have you got any negative feedback about playing Elma from your mates? =- Many say I play too much, and that if I had put my mind into something else than elma, I would've had learned something, as they call it, useful. -= What games do you like beside Elma? =- Nowadays, none. But used to play alot of games when I was younger. Such as, Zork series, Myst series, old Sierra games (KQ, PQ, SQ), played old RPG:s, BG, BGToSC, BG2, LBA1, LBA2, Lands of Lore series :) -= Did you buy Elma? Why not? =- I actually haven't ;( I'm even more poor than DarMoed is at the moment, so I can't either. -= Have you thought about if you could stop playing Elma soon, or anytime? =- Yes I have, but not entirely. I have cut my gameplay down to only max 1h a day - in average :p Unless I'll get some spree in the near future and hoyl some level again. My elma needs come and go. -= What gets you still playing Elma? =- Addiction to the game and dedication to the scene. -= Are you at the top of your career now? If not, when? =- I think I already have been on the top of my career: the best kuskis out there now are by far too good for me (Internal levels). -= Forecast the future of Elma. How the scene will be in five years? =- It depends on if I stay. And if you stay. And if new people join up. You all hear me? LET'S ALL STAY. -= Was it a surprise to be voted for the kuski of month? If it was who should have won in your opinion and why? =- At the point I was voted for KOM, it wasn't a surprise, because then I had alot of confidence with the game. But if I was about to get voted today - I'd be surprised ;D And I don't really remember who I was competing with, so I guess I thought I was the one who would win. Totally, yeah -= Mopolauta, thoughts? =- Good, KyJelly loves it, I like it. I read it some, write some News (been some time since I last wrote now though, but hey ;P Patience..). Good thing to have when you're elsewhere and you're bored. -= Opinions about Elma Crime, MUe's animations and stuff like that. =- Didn't pay any attention to it. But I think Bartek has some surprising talents with making animations and creating elma stuff. Inspiring for many I am sure, therefore I take time to give credits to him (in contradiction to what skint0r does). Love you skint ;* -= You are the updater of certain sections on Moposite. How's that feeling? =- That feels good, I took on some responsibility when I discussed Moposite matters with Abula at FEM04, and I'm still holding my promise, even though I suspect Abula might have been thinking I've forgotten ;) Abula: :* it's coming.. -= What's your favourite Elma website (not moposite)? =- WTF, I don't know any other site ;D oh, yeah, Stini made a great job with the ICE site, and I really love it. The design and the statistics on it. Mmm.. almost as good as the FM teampage (omg statistics on that one). -= Your relation to OLP? =- OLP? Old Losers Play? -= Why that nick, Luther? =- The main character in Lands of Lore 2: Guardians of Destiny was called Luther (Lands of Lore 2 was a such inspiring game to me (and please note the abbreviation for it: "LOL")). Just after I finished the game I installed elma and wrote: "Luther". Mistake really. Don't know if I regret it though. Would be worse if I had chosen a nick like xtC or something ;D (love you micke :* ) -= Your real life. Do you have it (school/work, other interests etc)? =- I like talking, I like spending time with people, I like being surrounded by people, I like writing about things, I like being in love and I like being me. -= Write something about the game, fellow kuskis, moposite, #across, etc =- Love the game, love the people, love moposite, love #across. Why would I else be there TERRORISING you with my deep talk and mental break downs and other matters regarding me that does nothing but bother you :P -= How did this interview make you feel, like a moviestar? =- I don't know, but I feel a little bit like Liam Gallagher. Luther [ICE], Tuesday 26, October 2004