The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

In July, the IoTM of the Month for the game called “Kingdom of Loathing” is the Bag o’ Tricks. I really like this one. Really like it. Yep.

First off, just look at those base stats for equipping it. +item? Yes please. And the MP regen and +spell damage just go great alongside a Chefstaff. It makes the early turns of a Mysticality class go so, so much easier, because you actually have the MP to cast spells and deal some damage with them. It’s completely worth equipping for spellcasters even without the other effects, although it perhaps wouldn’t be worth a Mr. A without them.

Probably the most powerful element of the bag is extending 5 random buffs on your person once a day. That can really save you some money, and is really fairly neat. It’s unfortunate that you have to unequip the bag to use this ability, as that can mean a lot of wasted clicks. Still, the bleeding edge Softcore players probably aren’t going to be actually equipping it anyway, when they could shieldbutt their way to victory with a Pilgrim Shield, so this benefit is probably all their going to get out of it. It’s probably worth it.

But the ability in combat is what impresses me the most. Opening the Bag o’ Tricks is a free action, and not only does it give you some strong buffs (+meat, +items, or +ML (Which I don’t have to remind you essentially equals +stats), depending on how you use it, but it also is a free attack every once and awhile. Dealing a free 40 damage every few turns really does help make annoying fights easier, and I rather love the Bag for that.

Basically, the Bag o’ Tricks is the perfect softcore item for me. It makes the game so much easier and more fun while giving me some new systems to fiddle around with and think about, to keep the game from being boring. I doubt it’s bleeding edge, and I rather doubt it will be talked about much outside of this month (although Val did lay out a complicated way where the bag is optimal, at least until you use up your charges of getting Chihuahua Underfoot) but I’m sure I will be loving the crap out of it on subsequent softcore Mysticality runs. I sure as hell am loving it all over the place on this run.

Over in the land of Twilight, the current garment that is all the rage is the Three-Speed Bicycle Shorts. This stylish pair of shorts comes in three flavors: First gear, Second Gear, and High Gear.

This is a solid item. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to enjoy the real neatness of these pants until we get into some sort of ascension/retcon environment, though, as the neat thing is that they level up with you. Every five levels you get to boost the pants into the next gear. But how are they individually?

Well, the Second Gear is obviously the weakest. HP regen, while useful, just isn’t something I need right now, as an Elementalist. I never turn down HP regen, but I never look for it. Classes without a good healing skill could probably benefit more from it, though. There’s nothing wrong with the time reduction, though, on par with other equipment in that slot, and the +to hit is never going to be a hindrance or anything. It’s useful, but unimpressive. You’ll equip it for the -time spent and nothing else.

At the top end, you have an item that is clearly better than, say, the Xentrium Breeches, and gives some all-important PP regen. This is how I’ve been using them, and they really are quite good. Unless you’re looking for item drops, they are probably better than, say, the Amazing Technicolor Dreampants, though the random nature of the pants makes them more fun, to me anyway. Also, the fact that they’re crazy rainbow pants. But yeah, you’d be doing pretty good at most level 10 and above content in these things, perhaps disregarding the super-high level stuff with the dreamer’s clock.

It’s the First Gear that’s really the unknown quantity here. I just don’t know how speedrunning in this game is going to work. It certainly seems like +XP is going to be very useful to people starting a run, but I just have no way of knowing how useful, since the game doesn’t really have any sort of speedrun community or anything at the moment. Granted, at level 1, -5 seconds is a huge boon, and being able to dodge hits probably is to. It’s just… I don’t know. Anyone in the game who is serious enough to donate for these pants is probably way past the level while the first gear is useful, and without people to test it, who knows if it’s actually as good as it looks. Is this and the Letter Shirt or sports bra better than, say, the Exosuit at early levels? I just have no idea.

Still, this is probably worth your time. It’s got options, options, options involved with it, and that is something I am always down for, and it does have effects that are better than what’s out there. It is likely worth your time.

So hot off my Mah Jong Anime Kick, I decided to watch another Mah Jong anime. I was told that Akagi was not only better, but the best Mah Jong based show out there. (Then again, I can’t suppose that it’s too competitive a field)

My first impression was that it was going to be too manly. Instead of being about cute girls giving it their all at a tournament, it’s about some guy running the Yakuza for all they’re worth? Didn’t seem like my kind of thing.
Then I kept putting on the next episode. Then the next…

The show is actually less about Mah Jong than it might first appear. The show is more using Mah Jong as a medium for mind games, and it works really well. It has the same kind of competitive mind game back and forth that makes Death Note so addictive when it’s “on.” Because these are back alley games, players can cheat, lie, and talk their way out of situations and, as long as they don’t get caught, it’s completely legal to do so. Akagi beats his opponents by both playing skill and sleight of hand. I just sit there, mesmerized. It is so compelling, not only seeing how he wins, but watching those watching the game try to guess his weird strategies.

But man, this has to be the cheapest show to animate EVER. There is a narrator voicing over and explaining things constantly, and as he does, you’re mostly seeing still shots of people’s poker faces being panned over, or shots of Mah Jong tiles that are obviously CG, so they just rendered each tile once and kept shuffling it around. It is so clear that this is so cheap.

Still, as I said, the show is completely compelling. It is certainly working inside budgetary limitations to bring me an amazing show, and for that, I am thankful. I’m about halfway through the series now, and I am almost certainly going to finish it… however, watching it has put me so behind on podcasts, I feel like I should spend awhile catching up on those first… but soon! Soon.

So I just spent all kinds of money on a brand new phone and a data plan. Exciting times! I am now the proud owner of a Blackberry Bold, one of the newest Blackberries, with all the bells, whistles, and 3Gs.

The first question one has to ask when they realize I made this purchase is “Why didn’t you get an iPhone?” This is especially true since we switched to AT&T and the iPhone 3G is ridiculously cheap. Well, it comes down to keyboard. I already have access to all the cool iPhone apps and, more importantly, games, through my iPod Touch, so apps are mostly a non-issue. What I really want a phone with data for is for twittering and for getting on my AIM and whatnot in weird places and chatting with people. For this, you need a keyboard, and gods, I hate the keyboard on the iPhone. Granted, I think Shawn on Talking Time made a good point once: The iPhone keyboard is a ton better than typing with a standard phone keypad. But when there’s Blackberries out there, why settle just for that?
And oh my god, this keyboard is so sweet. You can tell that RIM has been making the best cell phone keyboards for years. It feels PERFECT, having the exact right amount of give and click to the buttons. I can’t type at the same speed at which I’m typing on this compy keyboard right now, of course, but I have been impressed at how fast I can already type, and I know it’s going to improve a little more once I’ve had it for a month or two. I can AIM on this thing at good speeds! I might even be able to hold down TWO conversations! It’s pretty damn neat to me.
The other reason I wanted data on a phone was for anytime access to internet browsing. This, I will admit, is an area where an iPhone is superior. Mobile Safari is just the best mobile broswer out there. It works so damn good. The Bold doesn’t have a touch screen, and that’s going to make broswing not as good. It makes up for it with this little trackball thing. I thought I might hate this, but after you get used to it, it really works quite well for selecting things and whatnot. It doesn’t, however, scroll webpages well, which is the main issue with the built-in broswer. However, I was told to immediately get Opera Mini, and I did, and it is much better, having easy zoom in/out controls and shortcut keys to scroll for 1 page of text, making it easy to read blog posts, such as this one. The broswer is plenty good for checking something on Wikipedia or wasting time, and that’s all I ask.

But yeah, it’s quite the nice phone. And I am so glad to have mobile data now. I am going to abuse the shit out of it. Still, besides Twitterberry and BeejiveIM, I don’t really know what other apps there are that I might actually use. (I also put Qik and Google Maps on there, but those are going to be rare uses, I’m sure, though if I ever start road-tripping again, Google Maps could be a lifesaver.) If anyone out there has any good suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Apparently this exists.

That’s basically all I have to say about the subject, except to be astounded.

The world is just an amazing place. you know? You think “hey, I have access to a vast network of computers which can basically give me any information I want at any time. There’s nothing I can be surprised by anymore!” and then you get surprised by the combination of two games and the fact that people actually play in some sort of league in this sport, and so on.

It’s just… amazing.

It really is.

I mean, I honestly don’t know how many other perfect pairings like this could exist, though. The concept is just, honestly, brilliant. “Let’s combine a sport where the goal is to pummel someone until their a drooling body on the ground with a game where you have to be constantly aware of your surroundings and make quick, smart decisions.” It works, you know? The game distracts from the boxing in the minds of the fighters, and the punches to the head and pain distract from the chess. It works.

Man, seriously, though. Chess Boxing.

So I just got back from seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

I guess I’m in the minority, but as much as I loved Harry Potter originally, J.K. Rowling’s writing quickly showed how weak it was as they let her write longer and longer novel and she attempted to build up a world she obviously hadn’t put all the much thought into. It’s a fun world, but it’s a world riddled with retcons and fairly ridiculous plots and dialog.
Book 5 was the beginning of the end for the series being any good, and that’s why, when I saw the movie version, I was shocked at how entertaining and just plain fun it was. Even having to deal with the “Harry is an angst-monster” plot, it was just a good time.

The movie of the fairly awful book 6 thankfully follows along with this tradition. It is obvious that the writer of this film was given plenty of leeway with the retarded events of the novel, and has turned the majority of the movie into a really great romance story between friends that is as hilarious as it is entertaining. The chemistry between Harry, Hermione, and Ron is just completely wonderful. They’re like actors or something. They give each other these wonderful looks and glances, and they have dialog that wouldn’t look out of place between a trio of friends. You would never expect Harry to respond to Hermione’s accusations that girls are only interested in him because he was “The Chosen One” with “I am the Chosen One.” It’s charming, and funny, and Hermione’s response is perfect as well. This kind of shit is all through the movie, and it’s why it is so far above what the book is.

In fact, the parts that pretty well follow the book exactly, to the best of my remembrance, are pretty well the worst parts of the film. The last bit of the film with them running after the horcrux is okay, with some nice effects, but it just isn’t as interesting as the chemistry of everyone living out their fun times at Hogwarts.

But yeah, the movie? Totally great. Totally. Worth your time. I only hope they give whoever free reign to write whatever they want. Maybe the 2 book 7 movies won’t be as god-awful as the book was, if that’s the case.

I like music game.
There is music game on iPhone.
Music game is called Mevo and the Grooveriders: Galactic Tour.
It’s good.
Buy it.

…

Okay, fine.

So, this game came out on Steam, and it was called Mevo and the Grooveriders. I was interested, because it’s a music game, and I am a person who loves their music games, but unlike most good indie games, I heard absolutely zero buzz around this one, so I gave it a pass.
Then, John Davidson aka “The reason I still listen to ListenUP”, talks about Mevo and the Grooveriders: Galactic Tour on the iPhone. He says it’s some sort of Mario platformer with music and it’s good. I go “hm” and then promptly forget about it.
Two days later, I open up the app store, and there it is on the front page. And it’s a dollar. So I buy it.
The next day, I get to work way too early, so I boot it up in front of the time clock.

It’s really fun stuff.

The game is really simplistic. Mevo, the little red dude, walks and jumps his way across this platformer world. When he gets to an arrow, you push it in time with the music. There are only two kinds of arrows. That’s basically it.
But man, they use those two arrows beautifully. Across the five levels currently in the game (Apparently it started with three, and they’ve added two more with free updates, claiming that they will slowly add all the content from the PC version) hitting the buttons in time gets to be quite the challenge. There are difficult rhythms, but the best part is that the rhythms themselves make sense, and don’t seem like they are cheating just to up the difficulty. They fit pretty well perfectly with the songs.
And the songs! They’re completely original compositions made for the game, and they’re quite good. You can’t help but nod your head in time with them. This kind of solid indie soundtrack is exactly what an indie music game needs. It’s great. Of course, since it’s a music game, you can’t listen to your own music while playing. Normally that pisses me off in an iPod app, but this is for a good reason, so I let it slide.

The biggest worry is the fact that there are no buttons for you to hit on the iPod, and this is a game designed around buttons. The game would still probably control a little better with physical buttons, as it would be easier to hit very rapid combinations with tactile feedback. However, you couldn’t ask for better virtual buttons. They are perfectly spaced so you can have a thumb on each and hold the thing and they aren’t all picky, so they respond very well. So have no fear there.

Basically, even with just five levels and three difficulty settings, this is a great $1 buy. If they do put in all the levels from the PC version, it will be an amazing $1 buy. If you like music games at all, you really should probably pick this one up. You aren’t going to be disappointed by it.

There hasn’t been a game I’ve bought that’s been more of a hit than Dominion. And why shouldn’t it be a hit. The game has a completely genius design based around building your deck while you play, and is incredibly easy to pick up while being strategically interesting and fun all around. It really is a winner.

So, of course, when I heard about Dominion: Intrigue, the stand-alone expansion for Dominion which can be played alone, or mixed with the cards from the original set? Man, I was right there. Pre-ordering it was basically the reason I ordered the Big Box of Board Games.

It didn’t disappoint.

Even though Dominion: Intrigue is Stand-Alone, I really don’t think it works very well as an introduction to the game. There are no simple cards, because the simple cards are all in the normal Dominion. However, that doesn’t mean this isn’t a good expansion and game. Far from it. I think it’s completely worth the title of Dominion’s first expansion.

Options Options Options seem to be the name of the game with the cards in Intrigue. So many of them, like Ironworks, Steward, and Pawn, present a choice of many smaller effects instead of one big effect, like most of the cards in the base set. This allows them to fill the roles of some of the more necessary cards from the base set, while still playing fairly differently. Pawn, for example, is just a really great card all around, letting you choose 2 different options from the list of +1 card, +1 buy, +1 action, and +1 gold. The correct choice is not obvious as many times as it is clear, and I think that’s really great.
There are also a lot of twists on other cards. Wishing Well was quickly my favorite card from the new set. This card basically works like Village, but has a luck/guessing aspect to it, in that if you can correctly guess the top card of your deck, you get to draw an additional card. That kind of guessing is just fun. Shanty Town also fills that Village role, but with an interesting twist: You always get +2 actions, but you only get +2 cards if your hand doesn’t have any actions in it besides the Shanty Town you just played. Trying to set up chains with that card is additionally fun.
There are also some really painful new attack cards that run the game out incredibly quickly. Saboteur is just completely and utterly mean. It makes opposing players flip cards off the top of their deck and trash them, adding in a lower-costed card. This is devastating if someone flips over a Province or something. (This happened to Spaeth. Totally dicked over!) The Swindler card also has opponents flipping over the top card of their deck and trashing it, but instead, the player who played Swindler has to replace the card with one of the same value. Lots of dicking potential here, but at least your Provinces are safe, being the only card worth 8. Still, that kind of constant trashing makes the game end much, much faster!
The real power cards, though, are the hybrid Victory point cards. These cards have an additional affect, as well as being worth points. For example, there is absolutely no reason why everyone won’t buy out the Great Hall deck if it’s in the game immediately. It is just so good. Harem is also extremely powerful, and I found myself picking that over a similarly-priced Gold every single time. At first, these cards seemed TOO powerful, but the more I think about it, the more okay these sorts of cards are. The game is designed so you just don’t play with card types you don’t like, and since buying them out ends the game quicker, putting a single card out there that’s higher valued than other options makes the game end significantly faster, affecting gameplay and potentially making the powerful nature of these dual-natured cards less impactful.

Still, though, if you like Dominion, buying this expansion is a no-brainer. Mixing these new decks in with the old will provide tons more entertainment, not to mention that if you mix them, there are now rules to play with 6 players, which is always welcome. I mostly just worry about Dominion: Seaside, the non-stand alone expansion coming out later this year. Is the well deep enough to support another 26 Kingdom decks? We’ll see. I’ll certainly be there day 1.

So, there’s a thread on Talking Time. It’s called Fall Anime ’08. The title is kind of incorrect, though, as it’s much more about talking about what Animes are currently running and how they are. (I guess the title was correct, back in Fall of ’08, but it keeps being used.

In any case, I check in there from time to time. I used to be all about the animes, and I like vaguely knowing what’s going on in the Anime world. So while I’m there, I hear about an anime called Saki. It’s painfully fanservice-y, with lesbian sexual tension poured on by the bucketful, and it’s not very good.

But it’s about Mah Jong. And how winning this Mah Jong tournament is the only thing that matters. And dammit, I am completely weak by this kind of concept. The idea of these dramatic shows about board games, card games, and so on is what made me watch seasons of Yu-gi-oh. I can’t get away from such things. They are so compelling to me, even when I want to murder the animators every time they’re like “MUST HAVE THE CAMERA ANGLE SHOW SHE HAS BIG BREASTS LOL!” When you play Mah Jong like this, then I watch. I am so weak.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing for the last day or two. Watching Lesbian High Schoolers Play Mah Jong show. What have you been up to?

Awhile back, I ordered a big box of board games. They have arrived, and we are now playing through them and enjoying them. Etc. So here is some of my first impressions of the games within said big box.

One of the games I bought almost completely on a whim was Race for the Galaxy. I didn’t know anything at all about it, besides it was a card game (which is a huge plus in my book) and that several people on Talking Time seemed to like it. So some days ago, when the box came in, we busted that sucker out and gave it a try.

Damn, this game is complicated.

This is not a game you get right on the first, or even perhaps the second gameplay session. Each game card is partially COVERED in obtuse symbols. Each player is given a full page cheat-sheet for these symbols. Depending on differences in coloration, cards might play completely different. Some elements of cards actually don’t matter unless you add in an expansion set, but are just there in the base set. It’s really weird, and not for the weak of heart. This isn’t a game you’re going to be teaching your non-gamer parents or anything.

Still, once you start to get into it, the game starts to show off its fairly clever mechanics. The main idea of the game is that there are 5 phases to a turn, and each player picks a phase to get a special bonus in, in secret, at the start of the turn. The catch is that unless a player picks a bonus for that phase, it doesn’t happen. So if nobody picks the Explore phase bonus, no player gets an Explore phase that turn. This means it’s actually impossible to play all 5 phases in a turn, since there are only 4 players, max. It’s pretty interesting.

The other thing that I find interesting is the fact that the cards in your hand are both your money and your options. (options, options…) You have to discard cards to put things in play, but then you’re also throwing away things you can do… it’s a pretty solid way of making a currency without having another currency. (Though they then kind of throw that out the window with the “Goods” thing on Planets.)

Anyway, this game has a huge learning curve, but already, by the end of our second game, we were starting to get the hang of it. I think in another game or two, this will be really fun. We’ll have to see how it goes, though. Such learning curves can really kill the game, but it’s clear that underneath it, there is a really clever strategy game here. Hopefully we can find it.