Topic: Janline-R Meetup

Hey, all (specifically Barticle and XFRod)!

Let's get together for a Janline-R game sometime soon. I'm on the East Coast of the US (EST). I'm usually up fairly late, so hopefully that will help us attain a(n at least) 3-person shindig.

Hey. Good timing - just got my broadband connection sorted at home over the weekend! Also picked up a monaural USB headset.

Haven't tried the Janline yet. My connection was a little choppy for the first couple of days and I assume the game penalizes you if you quit/disconnect? (Mahjong Fight Club does that even in offline single-player mode)

Thus far I've managed to avoid the lure of COD but, since I had to try out online play, I've been on the Red Dead Redemption multiplayer. Co-op play there is a lot of fun! I'll give Janline a spin soon though - want to make sure it all works okay and get familiar with the gameplay. The tile graphics look a little rough, I'm guessing because I'm squeezing a widescreen HD signal onto my 4:3 SD TV.

I'm currently on British Summer Time (BST) which is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) with +1 daylight saving. Can do weekday evenings 7pm-midnight say but might be more convenient to go for weekends? My dinnertime would be your lunch and Rod's breakfast!

Contact details are easy - I'm Barticle both on the PSN and @hotmail.com if you wanna email. Hopefully we'll get some online gaming arranged soon!

PS Ooh! I just (like 5 seconds ago) won MFC for the DS from a UK eBay seller for 1 pound!

Schweet!  I'm free right now if y'all are up for it, haha.  Otherwise, indeed, this weekend or some weekend soon we need to match it up      

I'm up for it. My PS3 is usually on when I'm awake so, send me a request.

Thanks for the PSN friend invites, guys. My first ones!

It took me six attempts to download the software update I needed to run the game but after that it worked fine. (A few of the menu layouts changed so some of the bits for my guide will need a rewrite!)

Rod appeared very soon after and kindly invited me to a game - my first online match and first time ever playing real people too! It was a positive experience of both …right up until the moment when I lost my connection. Doh!

Oh well, it's good to know it all works (erm, apart from my PSN connection issues). Hopefully catch you both online soon.

I think I'll try playing mornings and early/mid afternoon at the weekend as I assume there'll be more (Japanese) players on then and it'll be easier to get a full table. I'll do a quick post on the GameFAQs forum fishing for players too.

I'd like to say, that after he got DC'd, I made a miraculous comeback…. Sigh…. I'd like to.

Awh, too bad. You know, you could've told us you conjured up a multiple yakuman in the final hand and we wouldn't know otherwise!

I'm pleased to say my PSN connectivity was a lot more stable this evening. Managed to get a few hanchan in, with two or three human opponents. Had to sit back and watch while one of them produced, set by set, an open hand of Honrōtō Toi-Toi. I managed to avoid dealing into it but they won by tsumo, revealing a dragon pair to complete Shō San Gen too. Ouch!

Didn't bother with the headset and have started using the custom emoticon menu which is fun. Have been doing a lot of bowing. I checked PSN profiles afterwards and everyone gave their language as Japanese so I guess they were nighthawks …or maybe based outside Japan. Looking at trophies I saw that a couple of them were playing via Mahjong World which is a Japanese PSN game compatible with the Janline.

Do you guys know anything about the red and white envelope icon in the Janline lobby view? I think it was there when playing offline but it's started flashing and buzzing when I login now. Can't find any messages anywhere…?

I think that I can help there a little bit..

I always get those envelopes when someone (so far only Rod ) invites me to a game, even if it's days later. You can find those invites in one of the menu options, though I'm not exactly sure where. I believe that pressing triangle after creating a game will allow you to invite others.

I am totally free today and tomorrow, guys! Shall we get a game going??

Just name a time and I'll be there. I'm definitely a night owl over here, so you can press for a later EST slot.

Okay cool, thanks M! That was probably it - and it's gone again now.

I think I spoke too soon about my resolved connection issues. It was really bad yesterday - repeatedly dropping just 1 or 2 minutes after powering up. It's lasting a little longer today but not long enough for a full online hanchan. The game's given me default fourth place in the past four matches I attempted and overall I'm 114k pts in the red. At least I'm not playing for money! I think I might take off and nuke this profile from orbit though. (it's the only way to be sure!)

The game freezes each time and the green wifi light goes out so I guess it's an issue with the console hard/firmware. The PS3 always reconnects after a reboot but then it happens again - in RDR as well as the Janline. After scouring the web in desperation for fixes I've tried entering DNS settings manually, switching security protocols, adding the console to the router's DMZ, doing a hard reset on the router (necessitating a looong call to my provider's outsourced overseas call-centre) and using public DNS settings. Like I said, it seems to be more stable now but I can't trust it. Would try a wired link but sadly not practical here…

Late EST = very late BST so no good for me. I'm sleep deprived as it is! Looking at NYC vs London time, a good window would be something like 1pm NYC + 5 = 6pm London through to 5pm + 5 = 10pm. Would be morning or early afternoon in Portland then.

That actually might not work, but for a great reason  

I'm going to be starting a job on Monday which will have me working from 9am-5pm EST at least.  I'm all up for playing on weekends, however!  What do you all say to tomorrow (Sunday, 8/29) at 3pm EST, 8pm London, noon Portland?  

Oh cool, good luck with the new job! I was only really thinking in terms of wkend play times (although in this case Monday happens to be a UK public holiday).

8pm is cool with me although I don't hold out much hope on my connection. I tried one more game last night and dropped out in the third hand giving me five 4ths in a row (and I had a mighty 1,000 pts lead as well!). My points total plummetted to -144k too. It looks like you're penalised the 30k buy-in each time you quit, so at least I've learnt something about the game!

I've powered up three times this morning and it's dropping connection before I can even load a game… I think I'll stay offline and do some work on my guide instead! I'll try to get on (and stay on) at 8 but it might be a brief appearance.

EDIT: This is so unpredictable. I just successfully completed two quarter-games against a 6th Dan player without disconnecting.

In the second match I was leading in the final hand and the phone rang! I had to go downstairs to answer it so I put on the autopilot and hoped for the best. I made it back to the television just in time to see it land me a dealer haneman along with the bronze trophy for winning an east-only match and the silver for making five or more yaku in one hand!

I didn't even have a chance to see what yaku they were.

Thanks very much, Bart, and congrats on the amazing auto-win!!

I am not entirely sure, but I believe there are two 'flavors' of auto play on there.  One just by pressing triangle and then one with triangle and R2.  Kudos on the trophies as well!

I sincerely hope that your connection holds up.  It might have to wait until next weekend, but I cannot wait to get in a good hanchan with you and Rod  

When we're on there, we usually start up an 'official' USPML room.  

Yeah, L2 gives a full autopilot (including the triangle autowin function). Handy if you have to, well, go and answer the phone for example. The L2 button's labelled Daiuchi which is a substitute or "rep player" - just like in Akagi.

To bad we didn't hook up last night. I'd previously held a stable connection in RDR for about an hour and a half (that level grinding is addictive; note to self: do not buy Warcraft) . Then I was sitting happily online in Janline for a while making some notes for my guide but then when you joined I lost my connection. One in, one out! Am currently looking at options for ridiculously long ethernet cables…

My very first online match was in Rod's "USPML" room. I like the 10-second move timer now BTW. I've played 15 secs and some people take too long, and 5 secs is a bit too instense if you're playing defence (or even defense!). One-round games are probably the better option for me at the moment - if the match is half the length then I'm twice as likely to stay connected, I hope!