The Hour Of My Return Is Already Overlate

It's been a while since I posted here, because I'm dumb. No navel-gazing this time, just going to be talking about games.

Recent acquisitions:

• Ordered Samurai Warriors 2: Empires from CeX literally months ago, they finally got around to sending it. More Musou!
• Some free with Xbox Live Gold games: Gotham City Impostors, Battleblock Theater, AirMech Arena, Motocross Madness, Warface. I know very little about most of these, but I have seen Battleblock Theater before and it looks like a laugh.
• Somehow I managed to win a copy of Soul Blazer from the last Crystals For Life, so... now I have that, too.
• Nintendo saw fit to give me a free game of my choice (from a short list) so I plumped for Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. Stay tuned for more on that, later in this post.
• They also gave everybody Steel Diver: Sub Wars so I guess that's new too.

I started playing Darksiders - it is pretty fun as I had guessed. However, it is depressing seeing how every mechanic in the game is lifted from another game; is there not one original idea in the entire thing? I hope so, because it is getting predictable. I just got Ruin, the horse, so at least it won't take forever to get around any more.

Played a few campaigns of Warriors Orochi 2 now, the storyline is bizarre and pointless as always. I don't know many of the Samurai Warriors characters yet, so there are new faces every campaign, which is nice. Got quite a few generals I enjoy playing as so far - Zuo Ci is still overpowered as all get out. Still got Wu and the Orochi campaigns left to do.

Much progress is being made on the Spiderweb Software front; I beat Geneforge 2! That is, I beat it by leaving the place to fend for itself, then I continued to play it and actually beat it properly. I went with the Awakened path (again) despite initially starting out Loyalist, because Emily hated it when I chose the options that were mean to the serviles! I think this instalment is an improvement on the prequel; all of the factions (except the Barzites) are nuanced and have enough supporting rhetoric that joining them seems like a logical choice. It really does just depend on what kind of character you want to play. I've since started playing Geneforge 3, but I haven't got too far yet. I'll talk about that in another post.

I've had this PS2 fighting game sat on my shelf for a long time without playing, so I thought I'd pull it off and beat it. The game is Spectral Vs Generation and it is a very Guilty Gear-inspired piece, but with lower quality graphics; some research indicates that it is essentially a port of a PSP game, so I understand that. It's fun, nothing special, the characters are all typical anime fare, end boss is overpowered, the usual. I played as Kryce, a 'dude with sword' character with a bunch of mix-up dash things. His combos were relatively easy so I breezed through until the last guy, who is unironically named "Holy God Earth". Very annoying fight; many rounds came very close as I managed to knock him out of some of the more unsafe animations, but it took maybe half an hour for me to actually win! Might look back at it again sometime, maybe beat it with every character for the 'Completed' state on Backloggery.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was a surprise addition to my collection; it was something to do with having a Club Nintendo account for a certain amount of time? The other games on the list I'd either played or had absolutely no interest in. I'm not the biggest Mario fan, though I definitely enjoyed Super Mario Bros. 3 back in the day, so I decided to give this one a shot. It has a hub structure which allows you to finish the levels/zones in whichever order you wish, so there isn't a difficulty curve as such. I feel like some of the zones are trickier than others, but it's a very close thing. I found a couple of secret exits, but probably not all of them (not sure if this is actually tracked in-game). Rushed through all the zones without much problem, but after you do all six zones there's a last level which is way, way harder than the rest of the game. Again, this level alone (and the multiple-stage boss at the end of it) took me about 30 minutes by itself. Not a bad game, but I am glad it was free.

It sounds like a lot of activity, but it really isn't, because a lot of my free time has been spent playing that destroyer of careers, World of Warcraft. My main character is firmly in the Mists of Pandaria endgame now, working on Flexible raiding. I still enjoy it despite the repetition; it does help that I have a couple of toons just reaching Wrath of the Lich King content on the way too, so I can swap between them if I get tired of waiting 3 hours for another raid party.

No progress on any speedruns, I'm afraid. I'm still interested in running every game ever but I'm finding it very hard to actually pick one to go with. Either Blaze & Blade or Klonoa 2 sounds likely because they have the most planning done of any of the runs I want to do.

Alienation

I don't really fit in this world.

That is, I don't enjoy being here. I hate the obsession with appearance and oneupmanship and conformity. It is physically paining to put up with perceived injustice around me every day.

Let me give you an example. While riding the bus home yesterday I was surrounded by people having their own conversations, and it was pretty full so I had to sit next to someone else. Being an introvert by nature, being around so many people at once makes me feel uncomfortable and indeed, unnecessary. My hearing also isn't particularly good; since youth I've had problems which stopped me from learning how to ride a bike, and I had grommets in my ears for some time. Anyway, it is a struggle to hear even someone next to me, as the other voices disorient me.

I also hate repetition. Irrational though it is, I feel personally slighted when I have to say something twice or more - am I not interesting enough to listen to? Combined with my small ego, it makes me second-guess myself and I often end up holding my own counsel instead of trying to say what I think. So I don't like asking others to repeat themselves either, despite knowing they probably don't suffer from the same neuroses as I.

I've never been diagnosed with any kind of mental problem, but then again I haven't exactly been diagnosed a lot for anything. When I was 15 I had enormous problems with migraines that remain unexplained. The usual candidate would be stress (with school) but I honestly never felt much pressure because I'm quite strong with academics. I did get bullied (intelligent, pale, freckled, red hair, loquacious) but it really wasn't too bad.

This post hasn't actually born much relation to how I wanted it to come out. I guess that kind of thing is symptomatic of ADHD but I am loathe to claim it for many reasons.

I'll continue this topic later.

The continuation

Only a few Steam Sale games left:

• Europa Universalis IV with Conquest of Paradise - again, Paradox strategy games
• Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition - makes me feel a little sad to also have the originals on GOG, but this will be more convenient for showing Emily
• Shadowrun Returns because it seems like a faithful successor

Just to make sure I will never, ever finish my Backloggery I also bought a few games at CeX again:

• Darksiders - looks fun, if not groundbreaking
• Gauntlet: Dark Legacy - one of those cult classics
• Warriors Orochi 2 - finally got mailed to me

Also, free stuff:

• Magrunner: Dark Pulse was free for a while on GOG
• Saints Row: The Third was one of the Xbox Live free games, and I certainly enjoyed Saints Row II
• Charlie Murder is another free one
• as is Gotham City Impostors

Post containing actual content to come soonish.

Steam Summer Sale

I have a lot of things to write about, so let's get the boring list out of the way. THANKS STEAM

• Rajas of India and Sons of Abraham for Crusader Kings II - as slow and sometimes empty as these games are, I still love playing them
• Avernum: Escape from the Pit and Nethergate: Resurrection and Avadon 2: The Corruption because they were the only modern Spiderweb Software games I didn't already own
• The Stanley Parable because I have only heard good things about it
• Age of Empires II HD and Age of Empires III Complete - I never got into this game series but again it gets a lot of praise
• Risk of Rain - Emily likes the look of it and we can play co-op!
• Rogue Legacy - wanted this since it came out
• Sword of the Stars: The Pit with The Pilgrim because roguelike

And I ran out of tag space. See you in a moment.

And Another Thing...

GOG WHY ARE YOUR SALES SO GOOD

• Avernum, Avernum 2, Avernum 3, Avernum 4, Avernum 5, Avernum 6, Blades of Avernum because Spiderweb Software are practically my idols. I must finish Geneforge. MUST.
• DROD 1 + 2 + 3, heard a lot of good things about this series. Also that it is really hard.
• To the Moon because I like crying at games.

In case you're wondering why this is a separate post - Blogger wouldn't let me put all the Labels in one post, hah.

No Restraint Whatsoever

So this week's Humble Bundle is too good. This also combined with our latest CeX outing to produce a formidable list of new games.

• Dynasty Warriors 7 and Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce to feed Emily's growing Musou obsession.
• Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen because I've heard it's good and also because it contains the original game, seems like a deal to me.
• Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant and Wizardry 8, because I love dungeon crawlers and I hate myself.
• The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour because they were part of the bundle, but also because Emily might not quite remember all of the solutions like I do.
• Harvester ahahaha
• I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream because Harlan Ellison.
• System Shock 2 is excellent but I've never actually played it before! More Looking Glass Games, hell yeah.
• Dust: An Elysian Tail, this half-month's free Xbox Live title.

Aside from this ridiculous slew, I have also been playing games. First I'll talk a little more about Nier. The game just keeps getting weirder! I thoroughly enjoyed the Forest of Myth section. I also kind of liked Facade but I wish the message hadn't been so obvious and heavy-handed. Just got past a major plot point and the game just gets more intriguing. Also now I can use spears, so I can dodgeroll-spearthrust repeatedly to move really fast, speedrunning woooo

You saw Dynasty Warriors 7 up there but I've actually had it for a while and I've played a lot of it. 30 hours, even! I've beaten all 4 campaigns and I've taken a decent bite out of the Conquest mode. It's a lot of fun as usual, the stories of the Three Kingdoms are told well (and also spoiling me for the rest of the book, which I'm still reading, lol spoilers for historical events). Not sure how much I like the "pause time to wait for the beginning of the Musou animation" thing, but I do like how they hang in midair waiting for you to wreck them.

Also finally started playing Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. Seems okay, though it also looks like it's aiming very carefully at the 'tried and tested JRPG' target, which makes me a little sad. Hope it picks up, plot has been not-quite-eyeroll-worthy so far.

Smörgåsgaming

Before I get into the meat of the post, I'll just mention that I picked up Deadlight because it's one of those free Games with Gold. I don't know anything about it.

I spoke a little about Assassin's Creed IV: Freedom Cry last time, and since then I've beaten it. In fact, I've completed it, having rescued hundreds of slaves and achieved all the achievements. I certainly enjoyed the whole thing, though there was one particular mission that I must have spent about an hour and a half on, just to get the 100% sync criteria, because it failed to register the first time. At least it wasn't totally broken like the King Washington DLC. Definitely worth picking up if you enjoy the series, and I thoroughly enjoyed the part on the sinking ship, it was very well orchestrated.

I'll also talk a little more about Nier. I gave up on doing the annoying side-quests and just rushed headlong into the plot, and it is making me enjoy the game more. I still don't understand the point of Kainé's clothing, and I hope there is one, because otherwise it's just a ridiculously lampshaded design choice. Game is fun, plot is interesting, keep it coming.

Been doing a little bit of speedrunning lately. Unfortunately due to events outside of my control I'm not going to be attending Crystals for Life this year. However, I still hope to join in during the bonus stream portion and do the two games I was meant to. To that end, I've been doing some more attempts at Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness. The start is tricky; I need to get a Blaster in my initial dumping-of-money-in-a-pond and the chances of that happening aren't too bad (50%) but the need for a decent farming point in the first dungeon is paramount and the chance of that happening is difficult to measure but from experience minute. I did manage to actually get a run to the end but it was slower than my current PB (45:17) so not much to report really. The five Create scrolls I bought for the last fight didn't work at all... a quick perusal at my disassembly of the game's code did not reveal a reason why: either being a Cleric or having an Intelligence above 90 should guarantee the spell's success. Blah!

Second speedrunning game is Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires! Emily has much enjoyed slapping thousands of Chinamen to death so I suggested we try running through the game quickly and this happened. Now, those are only first attempts and could benefit from a bunch more planning (and not losing battles) but it has still been fun and I look forward to improving them. Unfortunately it's rather annoying to stream/record right now because I don't really want to use composite video; the in-game map is blurry enough on HDMI. Maybe someday, but for now they are 'records' without videos behind them.

Final game to mention is El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. I knew virtually nothing about this game other than "it is weird" when I bought it for cheap. Now I've beaten the damn thing and I still know almost nothing about it, other than it is beautiful and definitely worth whatever I paid. The combat (modelled on Devil May Cry) is fun, though a little difficult to specify exactly what move you want. The visuals are spectacular; I had more than a few moments where I thought I was playing Klonoa again, especially during the sideways platforming sections. It's an excellent game, truly different, yet does not seem to have much exposure. I would very much like to speedrun at least individual levels of the game.