Christmas 2012

Nothing is particularly special about my Christmas. My family and I usually spend it being too full while playing/reading/watching whatever we bought for each other. This year is slightly different because for a change I haven't been feeling too great. It's difficult to eat much and this cold I have has been going on far too long, making me prone to headaches. I make it sound harder than it is.

Merry Christmas.

Oops

So I accidentally bought some PS2 games today because I was already in town and I don't know, I'm an idiot or something.

• Mega Man X: Command Mission (PS2) it's pretty good for a capcom game
• Iron Man (PS2) yeah I know this version isn't supposed to be that great, but I didn't know all the PS2 games were BOGOF so I grabbed this one at random pretty much

Not much else to report. Emily went to hospital for her test results and they basically said 'surgery will not help you very much' so she has yet more pills to enjoy.

Gaming â Arran

What with the inimitable ShadowWraith hanging around my house for a bit, there's been ample time for gaming. I must have watched him play through Devil May Cry 3 about seventy times by now. Like the fighting games I occasionally love, it has enormous potential for humour and it is quite visually satisfying too. We played through together with me as the doppelganger and despite not having all that much control over how the game went it was pretty awesome.

Aside from that, I also got to try out two of the random mystery PS2 games I've been acquiring. Daemon Summoner was a complete mystery to me, being devoid of even a wikipedia page and GameFAQ, so I didn't know what to expect, but it was terrible. Reminds me a lot of Turok with the fog and awful frame rate. The crossbow takes an unreasonable amount of time to reload (though somewhat realistic I guess) and the melee weapon seems to do about zero damage. I got to the second level which is a forced stealth section with absolutely no display of enemies around you or even if you're hidden a là Thief, with numerous patrolling guards. Rather than taking the time to learn the routes and timing I switched the game off. One day I'll come back to it, but it may well end up being the last game I ever finish.

The other one is Haven: Call of the King which is not as unknown, but almost as annoying. An action adventure in the vein of Jak and Daxter, it has the same kind of art style and controls, except Haven is sort of sticky and has a large turning circle. It's a shame because it obviously had good production values but screwed everything up in small ways. The game is linear rather than hub-based and the levels take a long time to explore. I don't dread going back to this one but it will take a lot of patience.

Emily picked up Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for me on a whim and despite the potential for terribleness it's actually pretty good. Exploring Konoha is a good deal of fun and the combat is hectic and visceral. It's a shame the DLC is unavailable as I'd like to replace the awful English voice acting and download the free extra characters. I think I'm close to the end of the campaign as I just beat Kiba in exam stage 2. Not bad at all. The camera is stupid though.

I thought it was also high time I finished my easy play through of Earth Defence Force 2017 also. Easy difficulty is very very easy, so it's not much of an accomplishment, but it was pretty cathartic. The last level has a truly insane roster of enemies and I dread to think how many tries it will take on Hard or Inferno. I also played through the first 5 or so levels with Arran on Hard. I'd recommend this game if you really hate ants. Watching them fly about the landscape as you set off explosions everywhere is neato. Also it cracks me up when the soldiers start chanting EDF, EDF!

Also I got 1000g on Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires. I like this series despite the repetitiveness and playing as every musou character as the achievements demand is a good way to experience it. Meng Huo OP!

Family Matters

Been re-interested in genealogy stuff again lately. I still find it amazing that Emily's 4th great-grandfather fought in the American Revolution. It's difficult to trace my family tree back that far because of my parents' extremely common last names. Davies and Jones, both with roots in Wales...

Connor Kenway

I love the Assassin's Creed series and I've never really made a secret of it. Ever since playing the first game, my imagination was captured by the possibilities of the storyline and the simple pleasure of exploring an ancient world with hand and foot. The mystique of the game universe Ubisoft have created still makes me marvel.

So naturally I'm playing Assassin's Creed III and enjoying it immensely. America (before it was America) is laid out beautifully and I'm agape at the sheer amount of additional stuff there is to do. Hunting deer or slitting throats, it's all brilliant and I don't know if I'll ever get enough of it.

Wakefield CeX

CeX is the greatest shop!

First, some DVDs to watch:

• The Ultimate Fast Show Collection - this is what we actually came for, so naturally we bought a billion other things too.
• Lord of the Rings Complete - Special Extended DVD Edition - Emily wanted to see these again; I wonder what the extended edition adds?
• Iron Man - Emily also wants to see the backstories of the Avengers, as we both really enjoyed that film.
• Captain America - The First Avenger - ditto
• I Am Legend - it's not quite the book, but I think it's a really good take, also Will Smith

So now down to the real meat... JAMES:

• TimeSplitters [PS2] - I have TimeSplitters 2 and like it, so why not?
• Haven: Call of the King [PS2] - I have no idea what this game is!
• Eternal Quest [PS2] - I have no idea what this game is either!
• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 [360] - ahahaha
• White Knight Chronicles: Origins [PSP] - kind of a strange entry to the series, but I don't have a PS3

Also went to Games Workshop and bought Warhammer: The Island of Blood, a starter set for Warhammer Fantasy with High Elves vs. Skaven. Emily really wants to paint this stuff! To help with that we also got Hobby Starter Set (set of 9 paints, flocking, brush, glue etc.) and a Chaos Black spray.

No money left now. Noodles for the rest of the month.

Buffalo Bill's Limited Edition Extra Smokey Beef Sticks

Why is there an E in that title? I'm not sure, but I have some in front of me.

"Flavor from the Old Country"

They sure are beefy. But mainly salty.

Also apparently they come from Lebanon. I didn't know Lebanon was in Pennsylvania.

Strangely, 'smoke' isn't one of the ingredients. But Paprika is.

what it is my doge

So I've been doing a fair amount of gaming and programming lately, here's some highlights:

• Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is still a lot of fun albeit a little derivative. Sure, the series basically doesn't change, but it still does what it does, well. I've got most of the achievements already. Just need to finish Guan Du and Chi Bi and play as a bunch of other people. I wish they'd make more interesting achievements for the DW games. Maybe I'll get DW Gundam, those look better.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is also on my Now Playing list. Looks good so far, very WRPG-lets-you-do-anything-you-damn-well-want although the enemies I'm getting to now hit me for about a billion damage so you probably can't do things THAT out of order. I know Aphox speedran the game in about 4 hours so it must be fairly breakable. I'm playing as a Mage which probably blows but whatever. I feel like I'll end up playing this game multiple times.
• Pokémon SoulSilver is back in my DS and I'm actually playing it. It's probably my favourite one yet; the pokémon don't look dumb yet, and the mechanics of Gen4, though there's about eight thousand moves I don't know the effect of now. I just caught Lugia, and now I have to do the dreaded Victory Road. My party isn't very powerful.
• League of Legends still occupies a lot of my time; I've found a few people to play ARAMs with and they're a bunch of laughs.

Back to life, back to reality

Sorry! I've been pretty quiet lately. That's not an indication that I'm either dead or plotting something, I'm just not that interesting. Things have also slowed down on the game-buying side, as I'm trying to focus more on game-finishing right now.

If I ever decide to actually knuckle down and do some work on a speedrun I guess I'll mention it here.

Emily's still not awfully well but hopefully might get some tests and shit done to see if she's suitable for surgery on her stomach.

Soulcalibur V is fun. Ezio is interesting to play, though I'm not sure how good he actually is. Crossbows are awesome.

Picked up Lost Planet: Colonies for criminally low. I've heard it's pretty okay.

Don't Throw Stones

Not had the most pleasant few months. :)

Had to move out of my flat because the ventilation was deemed unsatisfactory for new regulation. Okay... but it's taken them 9 weeks to put in the vent required (2 hour job).
Emily has been in and out of the hospital repeatedly with what was at first suspected as gallstones and has now moved onto a severe case of 'nobody knows'. Thankfully she's a bit better now.
During those 9 weeks at some point the electricity in my flat turned off so all the food in my fridge/freezer spoilt. Just threw it out, got the electrician in, it's back on now.

Soon I might be able to live in the building I pay all the bills on, what do you think?

JAMES

Well, I got a job, so to celebrate I went out and bought a bunch of stuff. :p

• A PSP-3003 so I have video out, also it's kinda neat and red.
• Component video cable for said PSP (a composite one would be slightly more useful)
• A Gamestation Elite card yeah it's the same as the GAME one
• Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- I think this one is pretty good?
• Advance Wars: Dark Conflict this series is good
• Flower, Sun and Rain this is Suda51
• Earth Defence Force 2017 KILL ALLENS
• Brink BRINK!
• Prey this is also pretty okay and was very cheap
• some stupid zelda book

Some crazy deals today. Games should probably never go down to 99p in price.

Cex Barnsley!

Now that we've found out about the amazing shop that is Cex, we visited our local one and guess what they had?

• Assassin's Creed Revelations (360) - seeing as I've just finished Brotherhood, I obviously needed this.
• Daemon Summoner (PS2) - hahaha we noticed this on some Amazon listing where it was ridiculously cheap so I just picked this up on a whim, it will probably suck
• Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command (PSP) - seeing as I've just finished Space Marine, I obviously needed this.

Also got some films/TV stuff.

• Indiana Jones Trilogy Boxset - these is good films
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within - uh yeah, Emily
• Babylon 5 - First Season - I want the whole thing eventually, but this is a good and cheap first start

Woo :D

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

So in this game you decapitate like a million orks and then shoot a bunch of chaos. That might seem a bit obvious but the distinction is actually important.
The first half of the game is about wading in, throwing grenades, sniping the rokkit launcher dudes, dodging nob attacks, stunning and executing enemies. In short, it's hectic, and somewhat hard. The game gives you a bunch of different weapons and lets you change them pretty often and it all adds up to an interesting experience. By the end of the third chapter you'll be drained but confident that you can beat all the orks, so the game changes it up.
The second half of the game is about hiding behind cover and shooting everyone from as far away as you can manage. Huh. Sounds like every FPS made in the last few years. This unfortunate change is because the Chaos marines use the same strategy as your own marine buddies do, i.e. dig in and shoot. There are also the Sorcerer units which laser beam you if you stay out in the open for too long, but they make a nice satisfying -pop- when you hit them with a charged Plasma shot, so they're okay. The melee dudes run at you and engage you in some pretty one-sided combat; if you don't have the Thunder Hammer, it's going to be pretty tedious to wear them down. If you do have the Thunder Hammer, you only have your Plasma Pistol and Bolter to go on, and that makes fighting the Chaos horde a lot harder. I guess this section is meant to make you choose between raw melee power and actually-being-able-to-shoot-people-worth-a-damn but the choice is hollow because the Plasma Rifle is too good.
The finale is pretty badass and befitting the whole game, and the ending cutscene made me smile because I basically knew it was coming, but it fits the W40K world very well.

All in all I did enjoy this game. It's a lot of fun and it is definitely intense. I like this take on the W40K game but I'm still, STILL waiting for an honest recreation of the board game in video game format. Not that I expected this to be it; Space Marine excels at what it set out to do, namely: let you tear off Ork faces.

Birmeetup

Yes I know I still haven't made a post about AGDQ2012, shut up.


Yesterday it was decided that 6 people shalt meet in the most holy town of Beth- Birmingham. Emily and I, Dan and Emma, Mike and Kerry. We had a lot of fun freezing to death in a French restaurant which had no idea what service was, and also walking around the various video game shops. Thanks to the magic of GPS mobile phones, we also managed to find Cyber Candy which sells sweets from various exotic countries such as, uh, America.


Sweetie haul:

• Applehead - the box proudly proclaims '25¢' but it was probably slightly more than that
• Oh Henry - what is this
• Jolly Rancher (tropical blends)
• Jujubes
• Mentos (liquorice mint, strawberry liquorice)
• Lifesavers (fruit tingles)
• Pocky (Chocolate) - hers
• TimTam Originals - hers?
• Twix PB - I have to try this apparently
• Whatchamacallit? - also have to try this apparently

Gamie haul (thanks Cex!):

• Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (PS2) - mainly because I know it's hard as balls and might be one of the last games I ever manage to finish
• Final Fantasy IV Complete (PSP) - kinda wanted this for a while, I like the idea of having all the old FF games on my PSP.
• Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2) - I knowwwwww but apparently the actual game part of it is quite good
• Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) - was surprised they had one, well worth getting, it's the special edition with the postcards and whatnot

Birmingham itself is pretty neat, although they should probably clean their maps a little. And maybe update their signs.

Novo Anna

So it's almost new year's and I'm spending it in a hotel room with my darling wife and also Emptyeye and Silver, the couple we roomed with at the first Awesome Games Done Quick. We've played games, drank stuff, ate stuff and might branch out into playing games sometime later if we feel like it.

This year has been pretty damn good and seeing as AGDQ2012 starts in about 4 days I'm pretty sure next year will be great too. Happy New Year.