The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

I’m writing this in the Borders in St. Louis that I often hang out at while waiting for appointments and such. And it just occurs to me how clearly book are on the list of things that I think it would be cool to like, but that I actually don’t like.

Okay, that’s not completely true. Let me explain.

I think Wine, as a concept and thing, is a cool idea. I think the concept of me drinking wine would be pretty sweet. But I’ve disliked all wine I’ve ever tried, and I am a teetotaller. I’m not going to actually drink wine. But the idea of drinking wine, that’s pretty cool. In the same way, the idea of drinking coffee is pretty neat. I hate the taste of coffee, but being someone who drank coffee is something that I could get behind with little to no issue. I won’t, but it’s fine.

Sitting here, at this table, completely surrounded by books… that’s a concept that I can get behind, especially as I put some words down on bloeg. I like the idea of books. I like the feel of books. I like having books stacked everywhere. I’m just not a big fan of reading books.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll read things for class, and every so often I’ll find a book that I just have to read, and I will devour it. But when I have lesiure time, reading books is basically the farthest thing from my mind. Hell, reading comic books is even difficult. I love Yotsuba&!, xXxholic, and Scott Pilgrim, but I have to force myself to set aside time to consume that media. I just play video games. To put it another way, I tend to watch Let’s Plays, which are other people playing video games, before I pick up a book. I’d have to be out of Let’s Plays before I’d think about making that happen.

It’s just weird. Here I am, studying English, which is something I completely enjoy. At the same time, so rarely do I actually engage with books, which is the core of what I’m studying. It’s just… strange. I don’t mind it. I don’t wish I’d read more. (Okay, I kind of do, but in the same way where I wish I’d exercise more. I know it won’t happen, and I’m fine with it, but hey, if it suddenly somehow did, that would be nice.) It’s just weird that I’m setting myself up to dedicate myself to this sort of thing that I simply don’t do.

At the same time, maybe that’s a benefit. As I said, it’s not like I don’t enjoy reading when I actually do it. Maybe that’s the appeal. I’d be doing at work something that I would enjoy, but it isn’t my leisure activity. It doesn’t “taint” my leisure in the same way that, I dunno, working at a restaurant would taint your enjoyment of that place’s food, since you’d eat there all the time. Reading is my work, and it’s fun work, but I leave it at the office. I want to be able to leave things at the office.

Maybe that’s it, then. Hm.

I saw the baby albino deer driving home monday night.

I guess that’s kind of a big deal? Everyone around here talks like this deer is a huge deal. Especially since the all-grown-up one disappeared, probably to too horrible to think about circumstances. It’s nice to know that life goes on. And has genetic mutations that render fur white.

Granted, it probably isn’t the son of the Albino deer, but probably another deer from the Mom who had the first deer in the first place. But it’s cool, right? Something like that? It’s certainly something I know I will be talking about with my parents for a few days.

And that makes me wonder. Because I don’t really have much else to talk to them about. This is the kind of news they want to hear about. Not about anything I’m actually working on, interested in, or doing. It’s mostly just stuff like that. Stuff that’s completely safe in every way. Stuff that leaves me being a blank slate.

Okay, that’s kind of a harsh way to put it.

But to them, that will probably be my biggest news for awhile. And so now it’s my bloeg news for today. Sorry about that.

Why do I want Persona 3 Portable so much?

Here is a game I have bought twice already, and I really, really, really want to buy a third copy? Why? Is it the portability? Is it because it sparked a long-time love with Shin Megami Tensei? Is it because I can play as a girl?

No, wait, it’s definitely that last one.

Persona 3 and 4 have been about having a character who is a stand-in for you. You build that character up your way, make connections with people your way, and act like yourself. Well, preferably, if you’re playing as you and not min/maxing. That’s part of what makes those games amazing. They took the whole “silent protagonist” idea and pushed it even farther, in an interesting way.

But you always had to be a heterosexual guy.

It’s sort of the same feeling I got the first time I played Harvest Moon. “This game is fantastic, but it’s a shame I can’t be a girl.” It’s a game that involves dating the people you want to date in a significant way, and it’s always a shame when you can’t actually date who you want because the character isn’t actually a stand-in for you.

So yes, I really want to play Persona 3 Portable because I want to play as the Female Main Character.

Maybe I’ll pick it up at some point. I wish I could say I would when it got cheap, but this is an Atlus game. I know I’m making the right financial choice, but it’s really annoying. I wish I didn’t have to make it. I wish I could listen to this track for a million hours while I fight shadows. I wish I had time to play the game to begin with. Yeah.

The other day, Cole came over to watch me play a vidjeo game.

There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I mean, gods, I watch Let’s Plays all the damn time. It’s not like I don’t know that watching other people play games can be entertaining.

At the same time, whenever I do it, it’s always something that just kind of happens. I don’t make plans to go over to someone’s house and watch them play something. It’s just kind of, hey, I show up, they’re playing the game, I’ll just sit down and watch and chat and give advice, etc. Yet, that’s pretty well what Cole did. We didn’t have any ideas, he came over anyway, and that was the first thing he suggested. That I start playing so he could see Crackdown 2.

It was a good time, it was fun, but it was just weird. Not in a bad way. Just in a… different way. Just in a constant reminder that I have always existed in one very particular social group, and that people outside my group do things differently. I get into such ideas all the time. It’s not like I don’t handle them well.

It’s just different. I keep getting into things that are different.

Different things keep happening.

Yeah.

And I’m someone who tends to, for the most part, not like things to be different. Known quantities are nice. But getting out of my bubble is better. Even little stupid things like that is good for me.

Probably.

I am really loving Peace Walker, so I decided I wanted to play more of the Co-Ops. I sent out the call on twitter, and October Mermaid said “Yes, let’s play!” I figured it would just be us, taking on a few of the bosses, but when I booted up Adhoc Party and joined her, it turned out something else was going on.

We were going to play with randoms.

Now, this is something I would never even dream of on Xbox. Playing a co-op game with random jackasses from the internet seems like a great way to ruin your night. Still, I was already there, so I decided to give it a try.

It was fucking awesome.

I don’t know if it was the lack of good ways to communicate or just the community around Adhoc Party, but man, everyone I played with was polite and fun. Even after Maggie disappeared, I kept playing with people. My Snake was very under-leveled, and we were playing missions from the end of the game, so I wasn’t really all that much help. At the same time, I was having a blast, and people weren’t complaining that I wasn’t able to bring in key equipment, like the Ambulance Cardboard Box that everyone seemed to have. It was fun.

It was then that I realized that the Japanese really are on to something here. If I could do this with random people during my day to day routine, I would do it a lot. Especially things like DQ9’s tag mode: I would never not do it. It’s just plain fun. Adhoc Party was managing to bring a little of that to me, and I really appreciated it. I wonder if it’s always like this on there. Maybe I should jump on again soon and find out.

On the fourth of July, I had twittered that I really wanted to try some Co-Ops in Peace Walker. It seemed like a really good time. Well, Lobst and Phenwah heard my cry, and we ended up giving it a try, thanks to the magic of Adhoc Party.

It was great!

First off, I’m just totally, completely impressed with Adhoc Party. It works really well. Basically, this is tunneling software that lets you play local-only PSP games online by pushing the signal through your PS3. With that and a Skype headset, it was like we were right there. There was no lag or anything. It was fantastic.

What’s more, Peace Walker is a ton of fun in Co-Ops mode. We played the boss I was currently on, and an annoying fight was turned into an incredibly enjoyable run thanks to the co-op. The game is obviously designed for it, to some extent, and it really works well. We were reviving each other, drawing fire, working together. It was neat. The only problem was the limited number of 4-player missions. Most missions are only 2 players, and we had 3. We exhausted our options pretty quickly because of it. We even ended up playing the Deathmatch mode, just for the hell of it. It’s functional, but not really thrilling. Still, it works, if you really want to get your deathmatch on.

I have a lot more to say about Peace Walker, and I will in the future, after I play through more of it. But seriously, Adhoc Party and Co-Ops is the shit. If you have a friend you can con into getting Peace Walker with you, do that. Do that so hard.

Freedom is nice, I guess.

It’s a solid idea, anyway. Let’s do the things we want to do! Let’s make our own decisions! It’s a nice thing to attempt to try for. It rarely seems to actually work that way, but hey, one can hope.

And I suppose it was those sorts of ideas that paved the way for this country in which I live, and hey, this isn’t that bad of the place. Sometimes, it’s downright cool. I certainly enjoy living here. There’s plenty of bullshit, too, but that’s to be expected when you have freedom. Freedom is good and bad like that. Freedom is a force to be used for good or evil. It’s a thing.

I haven’t really celebrated the fourth in years. Hell, I’m working today. But I hope everyone else out there has a good time. It is pretty cool that our nation is what it is. That’s worth celebrating. That’s worth a holiday. Happy Sunday, and Happy Fourth. And sorry, any Canadians, that I didn’t make a post on Canadia Day. Your country is cool, too! Surely.

Let’s Play Alert, everyone. If you need something to watch, you should watch this. It’s a Let’s Play of The You Testament.

It’s hard to even describe this thing. Some incredible, full of himself ass decided to make a Bible game, but it’s horrible, and freakish, and Jesus talks about Chakras and is randomized in appearance every time you start the game. I was laughing so hard so late at night I probably kept people awake. I couldn’t stop myself. It was just so fucked up. Everything was so freakish and surreal. And anything that makes me laugh that hard, well, it needs to be shared.

It’s a short LP. Give it a go and hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. It’ll be worth it, trust me.

Normally, I review all the IoTMs every month. I do this because, I dunno, I’m thinking about them, and it takes up a day, and whatever, it’s fun. However, in KoL, I have, recently, always been in a Hardcore Oxy 100% Familiar run when they come out. Therefore, I don’t often get to try them out until after the month is over, and I’m mostly just working from the data I have about the item on whether or not I think it’s cool.

Well, let’s just say that the rogue program is very cool from a flavor standpoint, but I don’t really get the entire gist of what it does. As a familiar, though, I totally get it. It’s a Starfish that also acts as a potato when you equip it’s familiar equipment. This is something I am totally behind. Mostly because it’s hard not to be excited about anything good which has potato functionality.

The rogue program is a June Super-Content Familiar, so it gives you super-content. In this case, it gives you access to the Game Grid arcade by giving you tokens, which you can use to play various video games. These games are little mini-games which, if played well, give you tickets. You can use these tickets to buy a wide variety of items, including a coffee pixie stick, which is the now-required spleen-for-adventures item in these things. The other items seem pretty cool, too. I could see people getting into the Superduperball, since it just flat-out gives you stats. Could sell for a lot so that crazy rich people could level up without actually spending turns… but, of course, it’s untradable, which kind of kills that idea. The spider ring has a deleveler you can use for free once per combat, which is nice. The finger cuffs are a simple stunner which is always useful to have around. There are a bunch of hats that train different stats, which is always cool. The top prizes are a really good ranged weapon and access to a new chat channel, both of which are fine long-term goals.

To buy these things, though, you need to earn tickets. You do these by playing games, and here is where the part about me not being able to play this content yet screws me. I can’t really determine how cool these games are without playing them. Trust me, I’ve tried! I bet they’re awesome, too. Actually, I have little doubt they are. But I can’t really make vague suggestions about which ones to play or whatever that probably aren’t useful without actually playing them. I guess this is where this “review” falls short.

Still, super content! In a familiar! Which gives you MP and potatoes! And is also a Tron reference! Seems like a no brainer, right? Right? Maybe?

I hear work is being done on Retcon for Twilight Heroes. This is top of exciting! It really is. I can’t wait to play through the game a few times like that. It’ll be fantastic. However, we’re still in a pre-retcon environment at the moment, and that means that IoTMs like the n-barreled shotgun are a bit harder sell. It’s an IoTM designed to level up with you, and to be useful in all sections of the game as you go along. However, since the only section of the game that exists for me at this point is the endgame, it’s hard to get all that excited about it? IoTMs like the insanely super XL bowl have similar issues, since they’re only cool in a world where you actually switch character classes on a semi-regular basis. The bowl had the added benefit of being completely hilarious, though, which made me really like it.

The n-barreled shotgun is less hilarious, but still an interesting concept, and it seems solid. +XP just seems like something that’s always going to get those eventual speed-runners excited, and the fact that it can do two types of damage, depending on setting, is something that will hopefully come into play. The top version is no slouch either, which means it should work through the whole storyline thing, though perhaps not competing with the super-high-level stuff. It’s a functional, solid weapon.

However, I have to wonder if I would ever pick this over the GigaGuy Cannon. That gives me access to it’s moves, some of which are really good, but more importantly, it lets me pick up all the healing items. I like healing items. Right now, when I have a billion of them, it’s not important, but in a retcon environment, I wonder if I wouldn’t just use the GigaGuy Cannon until I get really high in level, so I could stockpile those. Still, that’s a personal preference for someone who values healing and defense above everything else, and also, you know, maybe you don’t have a GigaGuy Cannon. If so, I’m sure the shotgun will work great, if you’re wanting an IoTM ranged weapon.

I can’t wait until retcon so I can make more effective value judgments, though. Also, so I can play through all the retcon content, and all the old content again. Excitement!