welcome. everything I write here is something I felt to be important to some degree; game reviews, life updates/vents, and philosophical musings. I do my best to make my statements truthful. everyone is welcome to post comments, provided they are relevant.

12.24.2005

i have the best parents ever

while i was at work, they went into my room and picked up all the crap and cleaned the floor. they said it was part christmas present and part disease prevention. mom saw how much i'd been working (read: how much i'd been whining after work) and knew i'd never get it done by christmas. now everything is on my desk and cabinets and stuff, but at least the floor's clean! it's traversable without risk of dust monkey attack.

12.16.2005

oh yeah, CoV came out. it's all right, but it's by no means great. i certainly enjoy playing as a mastermind. that's where your villain uses npc henchmen to do the dirty work. but there's really not much diversity in that game beyond killing thugs, just like in CoH. the supergroup base system isn't particularly accessible to the casual gamer unless they join a supergroup with at least a few hardcore players. also, it doesn't seem to make much sense that you can't collect as many items for base improvements unless you turn on supergroup mode. you should be able to collect crap constantly, and that way you can hold onto it until you find a decent supergroup and make a decent joining donation. at least the CoH/CoV subscription is combined at the same price as stand-alone.
it's been a while again. time to post.

so i got fired from the security job. the situation surrounding that is partly understandable and partly stupid. one of my shifts involved escourting a painter through newly occupied condos to do touch-ups. this particular shift i was only doing because whoever was supposed to do it couldn't and i was begged to do it the night before, and i didn't get much sleep because of that. in any case, at one point, in a lapse of judgement, i laid back on a bedin one of these units for a few minutes. then, one of the construction company's workers comes in to check on the painter's progress and obviously saw me on the bed. at the time, they didn't say anything to me, so i din't think much of it. that was about 3 MONTHS ago. around early december, they call me and say that they're doing layoffs and this incident has put me fairly low on their keep list. I had no idea that there was a problem in the first place, and 3 months is a pretty long time to sit on a complaint without telling the guard involved.

anyway, i wouldn't have wanted to work for them much longer anyway. they suck. i would like to know when i'm working AT LEAST 24 hours in advance.

So i'm working at Zellers for the rest of december. they said they don't normally hire in december, but stuff happened and they needed people. I had experience at Radio Shack (now called "the Source", how cheesy is that?) and it's just for december anyway.

I had cancelled a bunch of subscriptions to mmorpgs and stuff when i got fired, because i was also a bit late on a few credit card payments and i had about $60 left in the bank after that, but that was before my last payment from my previous employer.

i think i'll call them "that damn security company" from now on. i can't believe they're still in business.

10.02.2005

Inside of gaming:

why the fuck isn't CoV out yet? fucking bastards

I have uncertain feelings about Anarchy Online. the game system is crap, but such is the case with any game i've played that actually focuses on role-playing. i think funcom made The Longest Journey too. graphics were crap, but the story was great.

I can't find my MxO discs, but who the fuck cares.

World of Warcraft is all there is for my friend Xeldan. Finally got into the guild he's in: The Mighty Oxen.

Outside of gaming:

I'm seriously considering this program. I'm also considering aiming for a career as a teacher. also also, I've been trying to help my friend Chad sing again, but a) he gets quite busy and b) he sucks, but that's ok. his rhymes are hot though.

and work still sucks.

8.12.2005

City of Villains

City of Villains pre-order! so excited. but it's a tad expensive, and the monthly cost hasn't been solidified. it's a game on its own, but there are supposed to be benefits to owning this and City of Heroes, but there's still wonder about how big they'll be. the game is also supposed to have better graphic goodness that isn't in CoH yet, but they'll probably get around to that. that is what i have gleaned from GameSpy.com

8.01.2005

i got firefox

Firefox - Rediscover the web

i have been advised time and again to get it, so i have. you probably should to, if you haven't already.

6.28.2005

MxO is in shit :(

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/628/628305p1.html

6.10.2005

trend of anime-style games w/ horrible voice acting?

is the voice-acting pool really this bad, or is it just the directors or lack thereof? i just rented Musashi: Samurai Legends and Y's: The Ark of Napishtim.

though Y's is not really all that bad, the abundance of not-so-good voice acting makes me wince. it'd be better off with no voice acting, really. the gameplay is good though, it reminds me of sprite-based adventures, but in 3-d. a'course, not having a game manual doesn't help me too much. though your character is small on-screen, he's got a sword and can jump around, so it could get pretty intense. i still die too much though.

Musashi though... it fucking pisses me off. the voice for the Musashi is some ridiculous whiny kid's voice, and you can TELL nobody had any directing and they're just reading what's shoved in front of them... but GOD, I HATE MUSASHI'S VOICE. the game is ok, it involves hacking and slashing, but the pacing is a bit slow, i should be able to kick more ass a lot faster, and not get done in by the smallest enemy in the game just because they run away from me at the same speed i chase them and attack my back! FuCK. and, there's no low-health warning. i die alot in this game. and get sent back 3 screens to the last checkpoint, unless it's a boss. fucking hassle. and it's a SQUARE ENIX game.

Edit: It's not just that Musashi's voice is annoying either, but the character looks like a bad-ass young adult. it doesn't fit! his voice could have been done by a manly girl and still sound better than what he's got!

ah well, that's why we rent games before we buy them. I've pretty much lost all faith in Square Enix now.

6.07.2005

i've decided to get rid of my unwanted PS2 games. here's a last look at what seemed like a good buy at the time.

alter echo: action/adventure, hack stuff up, morph into assault and stealth modes, slightly tedious, beautiful environments and good music, but just not particularly great.

devil may cry: action, not my thing, heavy on the getting-yo-ass-kicked, sword/gun combo pretty cool though.

kinetica: stunt racing, stunts really hard to pull of, ability to win reliant on ability to pull stunts without hitting anything.

dual hearts: adventure/platformer, cheesometer 40%, heart-grabbing story, good action and puzzles, many unique stages, severl particularly tedious tasks/bosses, don't want to play ever again.

crash bandicoot, the wrath of cortex: platformer. not much else.

MDK2 armageddon: horrible controls, movement strictly on/off, no analog, quirky game and story if you can tolerate controls.

Dark Cloud: action/rpg, dungeon-based levels, story is ok, but outweighed by dungeon running, town building a mediocre escape from dungeons, character advancement dependent on weapon.

Haven, call of the king: action/adventure, very unique and interesting story-driven game, some challenges similar to platformer, reward for perfect completion is a sneak peek at a part of the sequel that will never exist, and it really needed a sequel.

I-ninja: action/platformer, cheesometer 70%, flip out and kill stuff with sword, very odd, mostly about killing stuff or not dying.

state of emergency: action, mission-based game of semi-random destruction via anything you can get your hands on, escourt missions a royal fucking pain in the ass.

gauntlet, dark legacy: arcade/rpg. involves moving around and shooting monsters and monster generators, finding items to unlock stuff, and killing bosses, it's all about the killing.

ty the tasmanian tiger: adventure/platformer, rated E for EASY, i can't believe they made a sequel.

6.06.2005

taking the blue pill

the title of this post makes reference to 2 things

i've ended my recurring subscriptions to World of Warcraft and City of Heroes. CoH subscription ends, like, tomorrow, and WoW subscription ends July 13 or something like that. I may subscribe again as i see fit, but for now i'm not putting another cent towards the mmog racket.

also, i'm now interested in the world of The Matrix Online (MxO). it boasts a crack squad of event-making peoples to push new events every month. By the way, MORPHEUS IS DEAD. I might jack into the matrix before i go back to the other 2 mmorpgs

6.03.2005

IMPULSE

I am trashing giving away selling my stack of impulse comics. for about $.75 per comic, i figure that's fair if they're not well kept and obviously read at least once though probably several times. specials for about $1.25 i guess... and if you think i should sell them for less a different price, i'm all ears. especially if you're buying.

Bart Saves the Universe
#1,000,000
Impulse & The Atom, Double Shot
Impulse plus+, Gross-Out
Impulse Annual #2, Weird Western Tales
Impulse Annual #1, Legends of the Dead Earth

Impulse regular issues
1-2, 4, 6-8, 11-35, 39-44, 46-53

so that's 6 special issues, and 45 regular issues

6.01.2005

Raze's Hell

okay, it's a shooting/fighting game, so that pretty much all i need to not like it.. however, i still think it could have been a hell of a lot better. the story: a civilization of insanely cute beings has decided to spread the joy across the world, and the plan involves killing anything not cute. Raze's village is destroyed while he's away, so he runs off and stumples upon some ancient artifact that gives him offensive capabilities. from what i could tell, you just kill everything that's cute and shooting at you, which is quite a lot. there's some story involving betrayal and summoning ancient beings to aid you, but it doesn't have a stong impact on you killing things. and if there's a lot of smoke, the framerate drops like a rock. it's stupid. but, if you're really into shooting stuff and chewing through an army of cute fuzzy things, be my guest. it's not my thing, and don't think it's worth playing even with god mode and infinite ammo.

5.30.2005

Psychonauts

this is a really good and well done adventure game. it's longer than short, though certainly not very long, but it's got enough to keep anyone busy for a while... at least a week if you don't use ANY help. there is a really helpful hint-giver who will tell you exactly how to defeat any foe, and a fair ammount of specific challenges. I don't recommend it to anyone with a short attention span, simply because the story plays a big role in making the game worthwhile. you can easily skip most of the dialogue and cut-scenes and get straight to business. there's quite a variety of tasks to accomplish, and only a few side-quests to help increase your rank.

WARNING: the next 2 paragraphs just explain the item-collecting/powering-up part of the game. here's how it works; you start the game as a rank 1 PSI cadet with a boost-jump and force punch, working your way up the ranks to gain new powers and enhancements to a potential rank of 101, though that last rank does nothing. you increase your rank by accomplishing various tasks in the real world and in the minds of the people you'll meet. one way is collecting "figments", which are basically transparent glowing crayon drawings. each figment has a value assigned to it, and once you hit 100 "figments" you gain a rank. you can also help sort out the emotional baggage in people's minds by finding tags to go with 5 different styles of bag in each person's mind. there are also memory vaults that contain slide-shows of significant memories, and while they're easy to open, they're a bit tricky to catch.

another thing you can do to increase your rank is collect and assemble "PSI challenge markers", which are a stack of 9 cards floating around a PSI core, which resembles a creepy green eyeball. you find these around the camp grounds (the real world) as whole markers or individual cards that you need to combine with a PSI core purchased at the main lodge. you can also buy a cobweb duster for a hefty price, which will allow you to collect cobwebs from people's minds and make cards with them in the real world, as well as opening up areas in the minds of particularly loopy people.

the powers that you unlock as an eager PSI-cadet are either as a result of your rank, or special training from one of the councelors. there's 8 special powers in all: telekinesis, blasting, pyrokinesis, levitation, invisibility, shield, clairvoyance, and confusion. they're all neccessary to complete the game, but obviously some are more useful than others. although clairvoyance has a limited role in completing the game, it can still be used to see how others see you, and it's quite amusing.. try it on friends and foes alike.

So, story; Raz ran away from the circus to become a psychonaut at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. due to the family having a bad past with mentalists, his dad doesn't let him go. Raz sneaks into the camp, impresses the councellors, and begins training. however, rumors are around that there is alake monster that threatens to steal your brain, and the kids have been having nightmares with peculiar similarities. training goes on, and things keep getting weirder. i could go on, but you really ought to play the game.

Fun facts and things you ought to know; i already mentioned that you can use clairvoyance to see interesting images of yourself in other peoples' eyes. there's also bulletin boards in the parking lot and at the lake with funny announcements from staff and the kids. come back to the minds of people you've sorted out earlier to see how they're doing, and finish up the area. you REALLY should get the psitanium dowsing rod FIRST, because the arrowhead rewards can be between 10 and 100 arrow heads, which beats breaking stuff for loose change, hands down. then get the magnet badge, because it not only attracts loose arrowheads, but health and ammo A LOT better than without. THEN get the cobweb duster.

By the way, it's only out on Xbox right now, but it'll be on other systems sometime this summer

5.17.2005

speaking of CoV

it looks like CoV is a mix of stand-alone and expansion; you don't need CoH, but some features will only be available to those who have both. I'd like to know how subscriptions are going to work though...

getting cleaned up

I'm fairly determined to get a grip on my life. 2 mmorpgs, a messy room, and a dead-end job do not make for the brightest of futures. one big step for me is breaking the illusion that I might have some kind of obligation to play the mmorpgs as much as possible within the time I've paid for, which is total bull. there's also the guilds and friends to think of, which should really be able to survive without me. I'm planning on keeping my WoW subscription and dropping CoH at least until CoV is released, and maybe longer depending on money and school.

that's the other thing. apparently, Algonquin has a diploma course in game design, and it's way cheaper than the intense program at IADT. however, it's money I don't have for the whole course, and I'm still deep in a pile of self-doubt.

Right now, I'm focusing on making myself useful in the house, cleaning my room, and getting a more predictable job. I'm going to apply at a nearby Licks restaurant...

5.13.2005

pihakwa

I like his work, saw it linked off Mac Hall. i started imagining my story ideas with his style, and i think it'd work well, if he was up to it, and i actually had something for him to work with. i told him as such, gave him $10 and some compliments.

i have a veritable arsenal of GBA games...

3.24.2005

i lost 6 pounds :O

wish you were here


CoH is very nifty. Task forces are very long series of missions ending with a big super villain showdown. I have only finished the easiest of these, and the next one took 4 guys 3 hours to clear 4/5 hideouts of Clockwork. maybe we were doing it wrong, maybe we needed more people, the point is that it's a huge commitment, since you can't quit without starting all over again.

a brief lesson in slang

"shit" vs. "the shit"
shit: not good to a high degree
the shit: good to a high degree

here's an example using two shows on Teletoon;

Megas XLR is the shit
Bromwell High is shit

3.14.2005

my thoughts on City of Heroes

in brief: easy to pick up after WoW, servers don't do stupid shit while i'm getting pummeled, but may be lacking in the "neat stuff" department.

Granted, I only have one character at level 12. I hear most of the neat stuff gets unlocked when you've reached certain levels, but i can't imagine anything particularly interesting. other than the peacebringer/warshade freaks that is... in any case, the most i can see you getting is custom titles, power enhancements and costume changes, and in a city full of heroes it just seems kinda inadequate. though those warshades are pretty cool, and i haven't really plunged into the community.

like i said before, I'm looking forward to CoV.

3.08.2005


when City of Heroes came out, i was somewhat intrigued. when I asked my friends if they were also intrigued they replied with a "not so much" or something similar. Now that City of Villains has reared itself from the depths, I am doubly intrigued. also, the "collector's edition" was the same price as the standard edition. and it's a whole 5¢ cheaper per month than World of Warcraft. speaking of which, it's been losing it's grip on me lately for whatever reason; guild falling apart, servers falling apart, computer crying every time i step into Orgrimmar... whatever.

I bought The Minish Cap today. the rental was 2 days late...

I still need to register for some more of that thing, uh, what's it called? edikayshin? something like that... and I'm seeing a diet coach or something this afternoon.

2.28.2005

not much happening. rented Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. good game, better than the first game thanks to the little things like an improved scan visor. your new beam weapons use ammo, but it's nothing you can't handle unless you completely suck. bought Katamari Damacy. what a zany game. finished Myst IV: Revelations. the acting sucked - even Atrus' performance was shoddy. The game though is still great. I beat Metroid Fusion countless times now. I keep forgetting to print myself a copy of the maps for Fusion and Zero Mission. can't find Wario Ware... hope i didn't leave it somewhere on a job site.

World of Warcraft: I hear good things are being planned for the potentially near future. Also, my alt became my main. Gajing, level 34 troll rogue of Senjin Rebellion in the Sargeras realm. Snowy has been pretty much abandoned, but i might get back to him after the next patch - warriors will gain rage on parries, dodges and blocks. Rogue has become my favourite class in the meantime, so i started a gnome rogue named Skipper... and the realm name escapes me at the moment. (it's Firetree.)

I must sleep, for i have a doctor appointment for which i must catch a bus.

1.21.2005

Evil Genius: things to know before you start

Evil Genius is not an amazing game, but it is very nifty. I like to say it's a cross between Dungeon Keeper and The Sims. You must carve a base out of a mountain on and island of indeterminate location. You recruit and train minions who do all the hard work of running an island base; they man the security pannels, staff your hotels, and defend your base, all at the cost of draining the minion's statistics - health, loyalty, smarts, attention, and endurance. Various facilities can be built to regenerate minion statistics, and the many loot items you acquire will help with this. You can't control minions directly, but you can give your henchmen direct orders to kill or capture agents. Use your evil genius avatar to prioritize tasks and execute weak minions to boost the stats of others nearby. Of course, a wide range of traps will be available to do in any pesky agents snooping around your base.

Anyway, there are several good things to know before you start playing that can make your life as an evil genius drastically easier.

1. Easy money. BEFORE you interrogate the maid, and thus complete your first objective, you can send as many minions as you want into a world region without having agents raid your island due to the heat you gain. With this in mind, you could use more minions to do the stealing. At the beginning, the most reliable way to do this is to build more lockers in the barracks; 50 should be enough, but if you seriously want the 100 minion maximum, then you probably need 90. With the minions taken care of, you should size your strong room at about 5x7, with two squares on one side for a security door and a briefcase rack on each side. Why only 5x7? I'll cover that next. Sending 50 minions to a region with a $9 rating (like the Mid-West or Middle East) will net you $20000 per minute, since that is as much as they can give. Now, let the game run while you do something else, like planning the rest of your base, or playing some Halo, or whatever tickles your fancy. It shouldn't take more than a few hours, especially if you send another 40 minions to another region.

2. Do NOT collect more than $10 million. As I read in the EvilPlanet forum, there is a bug that, when you get to your second island and your minions try to put money into your strongroom, suddenly brings your total money to $0 and screws up the interface bar. At that point, you will be 100% screwed - you would not have had time to dig out a new strongroom or control room, and trying to stop your minions from putting that gold into the small strongroom is like trying to hold on to a fish in the air with your feet.

3. Do not steal everything your minions discover on the world domination screen. Having a lot of loot could cause some of it to go missing when you go to the second island. You're better off just stealing a few pieces of loot with research potential *cough*mercury mirror*cough* in adition to the über-loot and the rebuilt totem pole.

4. Finish all the objectives (main and optional) for the first island. they will not be available on the second island. Actually, I'm not sure if the spare über-loot will be unavailable, but it wouldn't hurt to get them sooner than later. unless you've already stolen a lot of loot, and don't want to risk the wrath of my 3rd piece of advice.

5. Keep your notoriety low on the first island. At certain levels of notoriety past 100, the super agents will start hounding you, and they can't be killed until the second island, where their weaknesses will be made known as optional objectives. If you go out and accomplish every act of notoriety as soon as you can, you're going to be up to your genius brain with agent troubles. You will need a total of 200 notoriety to get to the second island, at which point 2 out of 5 super agents will be on to you.