I haven't talked much about our beautiful yellow budgie Bruce, so let's change that.
Bruce is actually female, but it takes a little time before it's obvious - the 'nose' changes colour to indicate it. She's usually quiet, but she isn't afraid to yell a lot when surprised by loud noises or whenever we leave her alone to go out. She's also capable of singing quite nicely, though it's not particularly common. Unfortunately, she's quite tricky to handle. Although very willing to come up to our faces and nibble on our noses, she's afraid of our hands and will back off from our fingers if we attempt to get her to step up to them, which is usually something budgies learn quickly.
However, today our persistence paid off; I reached into the cage to play with her, and guessed she was calm enough to try something a little exotic. I don't like grabbing her with my hand, but as she is so unwilling to step onto fingers it's the only way I've found to handle her. After letting her relax, I carried her out of the cage and stroked her for a minute or so while she looked around. Then I set her on my leg and waited to see what she would do.
She was still breathing very hard, so I was worried she'd start flying around at random as usual. To my surprise she walked about carefully, then started rubbing her head on me! Something startled her and she did fly briefly, landing on the floor and looking a little confused. After a little coaxing she walked right onto Emily's hand, which is something I've never seen her even close to doing before. She was happy to let Emily pet her wings and back! She even stepped from Emily's hand to mine, and ate from a fruit bar while still being held. We decided it was long enough for her to be out, and returned her to the cage; she hopped back by herself.
I'm looking forward to what she can learn to do next!
Oh, I've also played some games. I've warmed up a bit more to Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 after giving it some more play. The different Mobile Suits can play very differently, and despite how crappy the non-Ace suits are, they can still be pretty enjoyable, especially when you take out the ridiculous giant suits with them. I've beaten all the Official Modes so now the game is beaten. Mission Mode looks like it will take forever to max... I spent about 15 hours working on Milliardo before realising that he can't join Operation Meteor, so bringing all pilots to Friendship is actually impossible for him. I've started again with Domon, because his voice samples crack me up.
Dream team: Katejina, Domon, Yazan, Ghingham. Also maybe M'Quve because IT WAS PRICELESS!!
The yelling would never stop.
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Amalur, Pokémon Ranger, Geneforge
Been a little while, so here's a little update.
Yesterday I beat Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It some ways it was a disappointment; the game world is beautiful, but everything else feels hollow. The characters, while sometimes having well-written dialogue, are rather flat. The game's typical smattering of Elf, Dwarf, Human does not serve the setting at all, and I feel it was somewhat a waste of the creators' talents. The combat is fun, but becomes repetitive fast, because even on Normal difficulty the enemies take forever to die unless I get a couple of critical hits. It took longer to clear some standard groups of enemies than it did to beat the final bosses! Nevertheless, it was quite fun, and I might revisit it again with a different build (I played almost entirely Finesse) or difficulty level some time.
I didn't even mention that I'd started playing Pokémon Ranger almost immediately after finishing Diamond. I'm still not thrilled with the idea after giving it a few hours, though it's short enough that at least it won't be a major blight on my life or anything. Drawing rings around the Pokémon is haphazard; it's difficult to tell exactly how long the capture line will be and even the tiniest movement can ruin it. Some bosses seem unfairly difficult to capture and require furious stylus use to pull off. Minun's partner power trumps everything else, so anything non-boss is a pointless waste of time. I'm Ranger Level 8, so there isn't much of the main game to go, but I would like that Manaphy egg to give to Diamond!
Biff's adventures through Geneforge continue, and the world gets more and more interesting. I feel like if Big Huge Games had asked the Spiderweb Software guys to write the plot instead, they would have turned out a truly excellent game! I'm torn between carrying as many supplies as possible and selling big chunks of them so I can pick up new stuff. The combat is brutal; it's starting to get hard to keep creations alive (I'm playing a Guardian, which aren't that great at shaping) and they don't hit enemies too hard, though my own damage is ridiculous. I'm not regretting joining up with the Awakened at all; they seem to be the most reasonable of the lot, though I was disappointed that I couldn't ask Ellhrah to do something about Astrov, but I guess he wasn't in anywhere near as good a position to help as Rydell is.
Yesterday I beat Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It some ways it was a disappointment; the game world is beautiful, but everything else feels hollow. The characters, while sometimes having well-written dialogue, are rather flat. The game's typical smattering of Elf, Dwarf, Human does not serve the setting at all, and I feel it was somewhat a waste of the creators' talents. The combat is fun, but becomes repetitive fast, because even on Normal difficulty the enemies take forever to die unless I get a couple of critical hits. It took longer to clear some standard groups of enemies than it did to beat the final bosses! Nevertheless, it was quite fun, and I might revisit it again with a different build (I played almost entirely Finesse) or difficulty level some time.
I didn't even mention that I'd started playing Pokémon Ranger almost immediately after finishing Diamond. I'm still not thrilled with the idea after giving it a few hours, though it's short enough that at least it won't be a major blight on my life or anything. Drawing rings around the Pokémon is haphazard; it's difficult to tell exactly how long the capture line will be and even the tiniest movement can ruin it. Some bosses seem unfairly difficult to capture and require furious stylus use to pull off. Minun's partner power trumps everything else, so anything non-boss is a pointless waste of time. I'm Ranger Level 8, so there isn't much of the main game to go, but I would like that Manaphy egg to give to Diamond!
Biff's adventures through Geneforge continue, and the world gets more and more interesting. I feel like if Big Huge Games had asked the Spiderweb Software guys to write the plot instead, they would have turned out a truly excellent game! I'm torn between carrying as many supplies as possible and selling big chunks of them so I can pick up new stuff. The combat is brutal; it's starting to get hard to keep creations alive (I'm playing a Guardian, which aren't that great at shaping) and they don't hit enemies too hard, though my own damage is ridiculous. I'm not regretting joining up with the Awakened at all; they seem to be the most reasonable of the lot, though I was disappointed that I couldn't ask Ellhrah to do something about Astrov, but I guess he wasn't in anywhere near as good a position to help as Rydell is.
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Latest Pokémon Champion coming through
My excellent and not at all stupid team took on the entire Elite Four and the Pokémon Champion in Pokémon Diamond with few headaches. At first the sheer level difference was enough to throw me back out, but this game is quite lenient, only charging you the same amount you would have won when you lose, so I rammed into them a few times and lost, only to come back with more experience and Hyper Potions.
| Laszlo | LUXRAY | ♂ | Lv. 49 | OT/Lag.Com |
| Glen | GASTRODON | ♂ | Lv. 50 | OT/Lag.Com |
| Dirk | DRIFBLIM | ♂ | Lv. 51 | OT/Lag.Com |
| Evelyn | ESPEON | ♀ | Lv. 52 | OT/Mercury |
| Ted | TORTERRA | ♂ | Lv. 53 | OT/Lag.Com |
| Rachael | RAPIDASH☆ | ♀ | Lv. 43 | OT/Lag.Com |
Laszlo murdered any Flying types that were thrown at him with a nice Thunder Fang, but was also important for taking out rogue Psychic types with his Crunch. Glen used his sheer bulk to wear down a lot of enemies, with a nice Surf and Ice Beam to take out all-comers. Dirk used his extreme speed to take out a few trouble spots with Fly, while ably absorbing a few hits, then finally taking out an annoying Alakazam with his Aftermath. Evelyn's speed and power made short work of several Pokémon, having to rely only on Psybeam and Last Resort for her attacks. Ted was key, with his incredibly strong Earthquake and Wood Hammer. I had to revive him twice to take on the strong Water/Ground types. Rachael was a newcomer to the team, having replaced my questionably-useful Weavile. Though low level, she was able to destroy a particularly badly-engineered Lopunny with ease, and Fire Blast a Bronzong to death.
All deserve their places in the Hall of Fame.
What do I play next?
All deserve their places in the Hall of Fame.
What do I play next?
Monday, 9 September 2013
Thoughts on Crystals for Life 2014
Somehow last time I wrote I neglected to mention anything about Crystals for Life. I had an excellent time at the event this year and I want to go to next year's event too. To this end I have submitted two runs for consideration, and I'll talk a little about them both here.
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is the greatest game ever made. The marriage of first-person dungeon crawling and a creative and engaging setting, with the reliance on the intelligence of the player to actually finish results in a beautiful game. I never tire of this classic. I started practising this for AGDQ2012 but it was not accepted into the final line-up, and there have also been some route changes since I learnt the game, so I have some work to do before it's ready. Hopefully, being a short and confusing RPG, it's a perfect fit into Crystals for Life.
Dark Cloud is very different. It's still a good game in its own right, but it is mainly remembered as a cult classic and as the prequel to a better game. Also, this run is perhaps 8 hours long with randomly generated dungeons and items to deal with. The route is almost finalised and I did a single-segment play-through on my stream not long ago. My personal best can obviously be vastly improved but I feel little impetus to practice it simply because the game is so random. Once I do another run through, any future time will be mostly affected by how nice the RNGod feels that day.
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is the greatest game ever made. The marriage of first-person dungeon crawling and a creative and engaging setting, with the reliance on the intelligence of the player to actually finish results in a beautiful game. I never tire of this classic. I started practising this for AGDQ2012 but it was not accepted into the final line-up, and there have also been some route changes since I learnt the game, so I have some work to do before it's ready. Hopefully, being a short and confusing RPG, it's a perfect fit into Crystals for Life.
Dark Cloud is very different. It's still a good game in its own right, but it is mainly remembered as a cult classic and as the prequel to a better game. Also, this run is perhaps 8 hours long with randomly generated dungeons and items to deal with. The route is almost finalised and I did a single-segment play-through on my stream not long ago. My personal best can obviously be vastly improved but I feel little impetus to practice it simply because the game is so random. Once I do another run through, any future time will be mostly affected by how nice the RNGod feels that day.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
The In-laws
So Emily's parents and sister are back in England for general visiting and touristry. Might not have all that much time for gaming in the following days, so here's an update of where I am right now.
I finished Deadly Premonition a couple of days ago. I'd already seen a play through on YouTube before but doing it myself was satisfying, and my audience was appreciative. Also quite an infusion of Gamerscore, haha. It's an amazing game, but I wouldn't recommend it to many people simply because it is so strange and its design philosophy goes completely against mainstream AAA gaming sensibility.
Most of my time lately has been taken up with Pokémon Diamond. My team is Espeon, Weavile, Luxray, Gastrodon, Torterra and the immortal Drifblim. Just reached the Pokemon League yesterday, feeling pretty good about my chances.
Also started to play Geneforge, a western RPG by a company I admire for their willingness to sacrifice all else in the name of gameplay. It's interesting so far, and I hope to find time to continue soon.
The last few days have been spent putting up shelves and generally making our flat look nicer for when the in-laws want to visit. Might post some pictures soon.
Saturday, 3 August 2013
Return of the Lag
Haven't written anything for a while!
Went on a trip to Scotland for a fairly belated honeymoon. Had a good time, didn't play any games whatsoever, haha.
Thanks to Xbox Live's Games for Gold thing I own Fable III and Crackdown now. Technically I already have a Crackdown disc but it really belongs to a friend of mine who I somehow haven't given it back to yet. I also downloaded Spartacus Legends because it's free if you have a Gold account. So, three more free games. Oops!
My Unfinished percentage is now hovering at 79.8%, which I guess is a tiny bit lower, but still a far cry from my 65% goal. According to Backloggery I've beaten these games recently: Kirby's Adventure, SoulCalibur II (I actually Completed this one, by doing everything in Weapon Master), RIP2 - Strike Back, RIP3 - The Last Hero, Kirby Super Star (I've actually played this a lot on emulator before, but now I've cooped it with Emily) and Assassin's Creed III (not quite Completed, but fairly close).
A few words about the RIP trilogy: they're arena shooters, which I kind of like, and there's enough variety for it to be fun. RIP2 was my favourite of these, with a higher difficulty than the first one, but not the endless annoying repetition of the third. RIP3 also has a problem with weapons balance; there's never a reason to not upgrade. I've only played through them all on Normal or possibly Easy. I imagine RIP2 Hard would take a long time to get through.
SoulCalibur II was a lot of fun, though some of the challenges in Weapon Master are very stupid. I've previously finished Soul Blade's Edge Master so I knew what to expect, but the randomness involved was very aggravating and it took a lot of swearing to get through some levels. Still, the actual game is good and it made me want to play a little more SoulCalibur V after I finished. So I have a few more achievements on that now too.
Spartacus Legends is a freemium game which is still fairly playable if you don't pay, which is nice, but progress is slow (of course) and the actual fighting isn't the most complex or interesting. If they'd focused a little more on trying to make a good fighting game then it could be a pretty strong title. Unfortunately it suffers from the usual freemium problems and also really irritating music.
Went on a trip to Scotland for a fairly belated honeymoon. Had a good time, didn't play any games whatsoever, haha.
Thanks to Xbox Live's Games for Gold thing I own Fable III and Crackdown now. Technically I already have a Crackdown disc but it really belongs to a friend of mine who I somehow haven't given it back to yet. I also downloaded Spartacus Legends because it's free if you have a Gold account. So, three more free games. Oops!
My Unfinished percentage is now hovering at 79.8%, which I guess is a tiny bit lower, but still a far cry from my 65% goal. According to Backloggery I've beaten these games recently: Kirby's Adventure, SoulCalibur II (I actually Completed this one, by doing everything in Weapon Master), RIP2 - Strike Back, RIP3 - The Last Hero, Kirby Super Star (I've actually played this a lot on emulator before, but now I've cooped it with Emily) and Assassin's Creed III (not quite Completed, but fairly close).
A few words about the RIP trilogy: they're arena shooters, which I kind of like, and there's enough variety for it to be fun. RIP2 was my favourite of these, with a higher difficulty than the first one, but not the endless annoying repetition of the third. RIP3 also has a problem with weapons balance; there's never a reason to not upgrade. I've only played through them all on Normal or possibly Easy. I imagine RIP2 Hard would take a long time to get through.
SoulCalibur II was a lot of fun, though some of the challenges in Weapon Master are very stupid. I've previously finished Soul Blade's Edge Master so I knew what to expect, but the randomness involved was very aggravating and it took a lot of swearing to get through some levels. Still, the actual game is good and it made me want to play a little more SoulCalibur V after I finished. So I have a few more achievements on that now too.
Spartacus Legends is a freemium game which is still fairly playable if you don't pay, which is nice, but progress is slow (of course) and the actual fighting isn't the most complex or interesting. If they'd focused a little more on trying to make a good fighting game then it could be a pretty strong title. Unfortunately it suffers from the usual freemium problems and also really irritating music.
Monday, 6 May 2013
Wales Strikes Back: Return of Arran
Our welsh friend has been over for another weekend. This means I've actually been playing games for a change.
Arran saw fit to bring Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance with him, which I maintain is probably one of the top 5 stupidest names for a game yet. It's a hack and slash game with some fun mechanics. It took me probably about 5 hours of play to beat, which is pretty short, but I did only play on Normal. The last boss was around 90 minutes of that, too. When he throws the... thing... at you, the game expects you to do some kind of precision cut on it or you take 100% damage. Well, analogue sticks aren't good for precision, so I died to that attack A LOT. The cutscenes are ridiculous. Buy if you have too much money.
I randomly finished Fable II also. When I last left off, I was just about to recruit Stephen Fry, so there wasn't much left in the game. Killed a rock, watched the main villain die in a cutscene, blah blah. I feel like the Fable series has the most untapped potential in any game series yet. The ending was very underwhelming.
FINALLY beat Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords just now, also. I used a level 50 Warrior with two items which allowed me to stack resistances, which seems to be the only way to beat Bane, as his item/spell setup is the cheatiest thing in the game. The writing is reasonably good in PQ, and I'm glad to finally put this game to rest. Except I want to speedrun it BECAUSE I AM INSANE.
Of course, I'm not the only person who plays games around here! Arran had a Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past save on our cart that he continued to completion. My poor exasperated wife had to guide him through a lot of the dungeons. :)
Emily has also been grinding the crap out of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - I've seen her beat Super Macho Man a couple of times now, but she hasn't quite managed to close out Tyson himself yet. She has managed to knock him down a few times, though. One day!
Arran saw fit to bring Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance with him, which I maintain is probably one of the top 5 stupidest names for a game yet. It's a hack and slash game with some fun mechanics. It took me probably about 5 hours of play to beat, which is pretty short, but I did only play on Normal. The last boss was around 90 minutes of that, too. When he throws the... thing... at you, the game expects you to do some kind of precision cut on it or you take 100% damage. Well, analogue sticks aren't good for precision, so I died to that attack A LOT. The cutscenes are ridiculous. Buy if you have too much money.
I randomly finished Fable II also. When I last left off, I was just about to recruit Stephen Fry, so there wasn't much left in the game. Killed a rock, watched the main villain die in a cutscene, blah blah. I feel like the Fable series has the most untapped potential in any game series yet. The ending was very underwhelming.
FINALLY beat Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords just now, also. I used a level 50 Warrior with two items which allowed me to stack resistances, which seems to be the only way to beat Bane, as his item/spell setup is the cheatiest thing in the game. The writing is reasonably good in PQ, and I'm glad to finally put this game to rest. Except I want to speedrun it BECAUSE I AM INSANE.
Of course, I'm not the only person who plays games around here! Arran had a Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past save on our cart that he continued to completion. My poor exasperated wife had to guide him through a lot of the dungeons. :)
Emily has also been grinding the crap out of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - I've seen her beat Super Macho Man a couple of times now, but she hasn't quite managed to close out Tyson himself yet. She has managed to knock him down a few times, though. One day!
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