The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Dawn of War 2 is a rare game for me.

My normal game-playing habits basically revolve around something new and shiny coming out, and me playing it constantly until the next new and shiny thing comes out, and then I drop it like a rock.
This game just doesn’t work that way. I don’t want to ramble on about it too much, as I’m going to ramble the shit out of this game when I write an actual review. But basically, the single player is amazing, but I find it’s only amazing for, say, 2-3 missions. Just those few short-ish missions, and then I’m done. I save and quit out, and I can do other things. I sometimes will go “Oh, I forgot to check if Tarkus can equip that Flames of the Righteous in his Terminator armor” while I’m off playing other things, but I’ll just make a mental note to check it next time and not really want to get back into it.
The next day? I can’t fucking wait to put my time in. I think about it all day at school, and then I get home, and I’m right to it. 2-3 missions later, I’m off to some other thing.

This is one of the reasons why I continue to love the shit out of things like KoL and Twilight Heroes and stuff. I can’t wear myself out on them, really, because I can only play for so long a day. Dawn of War 2 is working like this for me, and yet, somehow, there aren’t those actual barriers that are making me do so. I just find myself not wanting to play. I don’t know how they do it, but I honestly applaud Relic for it.

I do think, however, that it working like that means I’m probably going to complete the campaign. Which is awesome. I feel like I’m a little over halfway done? Maybe a bit less. I’ve got a three-pronged objective set I need to complete in order to advance to what I assume is the endgame, and I have completed one prong, and have done one or two missions into both of the other two prongs. So yeah, I’m into it pretty far. Prong!

Anyway, I like Dawn of War 2. I’m playing it a lot, but not TOO much. The end.

Somebody has unchained one of the soda machines in the english building and moved it upstairs.

I was kind of shocked when I walked out of class and I saw it, sitting out there, taking up too much of the hall, plugged in. I wondered what it was doing up there, and then I walked downstairs and there was an empty space, with the chains that kept it against the wall discarded on the floor. The patch of floor that it once covered was disgusting with candy and soda residue.

The most likely cause was that someone decided they would sell more sodas if the machine was actually where people go to class, and moved it.
But man, it’s much more entertaining to think that someone moved it as some crazy joke, isn’t it? That someone learned the chain wasn’t locked or something and just got a dolly and moved it upstairs. Why is that a joke? Hell, I have no idea. That’s part of why it’s such a mystery.

I attempted to construct a mental image of someone who would have done that. They would probably be wearing a frat t-shirt and a baseball cap. There would probably be high-fives afterwards.
The dean would cry out. A picture of a puppy would be put in the dorm of the frat responsible, with a note attached reading “By order of the Dean”.
There would be tears. The frat members would take down the picture, only to have it be replaced, and a picture of a cute kitten added.
Soon, the entire dorm is filled with pictures of cuteness to punish those who dare rebell.
The Dean cackles evilly, and then points his browser towards Cute Overload.

This is the stupid bullshit I think about instead of paying attention in class.

So, all this week, Ubisoft has been having a Steam sale. 50% off a game each day! Nothing was really appealing to me, though. Assassin’s Creed? Not my sort of game. Prince of Persia? I want to play it, but it’s so much a console game, I couldn’t imagine playing it on the PC. Brothers in Arms? I’ll stick with Call of Duty, thanks.

Finally, on Thursday, they put up Far Cry 2.

Now, maybe it was just all of the, I don’t know, rabid love on the Idle Thumbs, but I had always meant to try Far Cry 2. It’s a game well-suited to the PC, so that wasn’t an issue, and Brer was going to buy it, so I could talk about my experiences with him, if I wanted.

Of course, Tuesday was my birthday. I have TONS of games to play right now. TONS. Not to mention my bank account still hasn’t recovered from my PC purchase. I’m so busy I’m not going to get to the games I have anyway. No, I decided, purchasing Far Cry 2, even for the very nice price of $15, was a stupid move. I wasn’t going to do it.

An hour or two later, I purchased Far Cry 2.

I partially blame Sarcasmorator for his tweet explaining why I wanted it. I’m so eager to go with the bandwagon sometimes. It only takes such a little push. I also blame my always keeping Steam open now on the new computer, so I could constantly look at the sale. How foolish I am.

I need to teach myself that dammit, I don’t have to play everything. I really don’t. There will come a time, very soon, where I have significantly less funmoney than I have now. Breaking myself of these horrible habits would be a very, very good thing.

But will I until I have to?

I would be money on “no.”
And hey, when I win the bet, I guess maybe I’d have some more money to buy vidjeo games.

It’s no surprise that, after the Player’s Handbook 2 hit, along with all of the awesome Gabe, Tycho, Scott Kurtz, and Wil Wheaton DnD podcasts going about, that I’d hit a fever where I’d desperately want to get some more DnD in. And I do! Very much so! I assumed, however, it was going to be an uphill battle to make happen.

I got home from class yesterday, and there was Spants rolling up a new character, and Jonathan saying he’s planned the beginnings of a Paragon-level campaign.
What a thrilling development!
I resisted running upstairs to the computer to talk strategy out of excitement.

We wanted to run a Paragon campaign because, frankly, we’d run many half-campaigns starting at level 1 through 4 before, and we had all decided we wanted to try mixing it up next time. Jonathan just pulled the trigger and made the call! I’m thrilled.

I just need to figure out what class I want to run. My initial idea was a Paladin of Corellon multiclassing Bard. A kind of hymn-singing tank with a heavy focus on heals with the Hospitalier paragon path. However, Jonathan announced when I sat down that I was probably going to make a Shaman… and dammit, I was looking over the Shaman abilities today and I really do want to play a Shaman. Having the spirit companion is cool flavor, and getting to summon him around and having their basic heal hit multiple targets is something I can get behind to make them different from a Warlord or whatnot. So watch me end up doing that instead, though I really wanted to run a tank because I haven’t gotten to yet and that would leave more options for Shauna and Essner, if he’s playing, to pick from. Spaeth is being an Avenger, which is a divine damage dealer, so we still could really use at least a tank and a healer, you know? Eh, We’ll see when I roll the character later today.

Anyway, more DnD! I honestly couldn’t be more excited.

Yesterday was my birthday!
It was kind of a boring day.
I’m not especially complaining or anything, but I didn’t do all that much. I sat around playing the new Wallace and Gromit game and Broken Picture Telephone (both which will be in blog posts soon, I’m sure) and then I went out to eat with Essner. We discussed his script and how awesome sports movies are. Then I went to class. Then there was some cake, and some very nice presents, and some awkward sitting around. Then I installed and updated and now here I am.

There wasn’t any big parties or anything. That happened back on Friday when I went out to eat with the grandparents (and apparently we’re going out Thursday as well? So that’s nice, I suppose.) It was really, mostly, just a day. A day in which I should have gotten more homework done, but didn’t. Good for me.

What are the spoils of the anniversary of my birth? Let me share real quickfast.
-Dawn of War II from the parents, which I’ve played a couple missions of and has already been exactly as I had hoped. More on that later, of course.
-Dungeon Delve from my brother, another great DnD supplement that is just going to make me crave playing all the more.
-Loco Roco 2 from Jonathan’s ladyfriend (which still embarrasses me, that she’s so wanting to get me gifts), a surprise gift which I was worried I wouldn’t be able to play, but after upgrading the homebrew firmware I’m going to give that a nice try before bed.
-The Path from Brer, a artsy Indie game I quite want to try, but is one of those games I have to be in the mood for and then will play all the way through in an afternoon.
-The one libram I was missing in KoL from Cris and Val, which I will use to summon countless items.
-A shite-ton of candy.
-And, of course, additional funds, for buying stupid things. Like Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

Yep. Expect writeups of a lot of those in the future. Cause, fuck, that’s basically what this blog is. My impressions of all the entertainment I consume.

You know, that title would make for an interesting striptease, I’d think.

Marty Crouch’s Magic Chest is this month’s Twilight Heroes IoTM!
This is a really great item! Maybe I just like items that give me tons of items. But it’s a really great item!

First off, just as an equippable. There’s nothing else in the game that I’m aware of that gives you a percent boost to your spell damage. The closest thing in that slot is, what, the Enerbun Sphere? Which is only +20. At higher levels, the chest would be MUCH better. So that’s cool.

Of course, the main benefit are these combat items, and these are some pretty solid items. There’s a wide variety of just basic damage-dealers, but there are certainly some standouts. The Deja Voodoo doll is completely intense and game-changing in its ability to face the same monster twice in a row. It seems like anyone who was, for example, Ultra-rare hunting would need to have one of those in their inventory. The Red-Eye Mind Trick is equally game-changing, giving you a “free run away” mechanic, although it’s at the cost of a -items debuff. Still, it’ll be heavily used when the time comes to speedrun this game, I’m sure.

The coolest thing about the items, though, is that many of them are usable on other players. I love this stuff! However, they’re much more “tricks” than “treats.” They actually inflict very minor debuffs. This is… an interesting way for the thing to go. Still, it’s perhaps cooler than, say, the Nerf’d effect in Kingdom of Loathing. It’ll make those who like to grief more happy that way. Me? I’m just happen there’s yet another deck of cards in the game. Can’t have too many cards!

But yeah, I think this is an IoTM that I have little trouble in recommending. It’s effective and funny (a lot of the attack messages on the items? Great stuff.) and totally worth the investment, I think. Well, I mean, as long as you think investing in virtual items in a browser game is a good investment. I obviously do.

That’s what the guy says, and then I’m like “Dude, I would like to get to class” and he’s like “No, I will punch you” so I beat the shit out of him. Then I’m late for class and people are trying to take me down and take me to class and I’m like “Chill out, I’m running to class right now, you don’t have to beat me up!” but they don’t listen.

So I listen to the Rebel’s FM from time to time, and I listen to their Game Club. I’ve been listening since it was 1up FM, even though I never even pretended to play along with them. (Granted, I had played Psychonauts before, but I mean, I have a copy of Shadow of the Collosus here. I could have tried to play along, but didn’t.) I just listened to their commentary because I am a fan of game commentary and podcasts. But they announced that their next game for the playing was Bully.
Now, Bully is a game that I’ve always wanted to play, actually. I’ve constantly been tempted by copies in bargain bins and stuff. It always seemed like a much more focused GTA, the kind of game I could get more into than thefting the autos. And I mean, damn, the only Rockstar game I had ever played was Rockstar Presents: Table Tennis, which barely counts. It seemed criminal for me not to give it a try. So I booted up the Prime account via the website’s affiliate link (Yay, they get a buck or something) and got a copy of Bully: Scholarship Edition on the 360. I played up through the first chapter last night (Which I think is where I have to be for the podcasts’ first week) and I wanted to lay down some impressions.

First off, the art in the game is really pretty. I wish the game itself looked a bit more like the concept art in the load screens. It’s awesomely stylized. I also wish there was more art in the load screens, as there is only like 4 different pictures.

Secondly, why the hell are all the achievements written IN ALL CAPS. Did someone leave the caps lock on? How unprofessional, Rockstar.

The gameplay itself is… okay? I’m beating the crap out of people all the time. I do like that I can either injure them or finish them off with a “Bully maneuver” like an Indian burn and send them crying away from me. I can’t control the Skateboard worth shit. It really doesn’t seem like that open an open world, but then again I haven’t left campus yet, so I assume, thanks to this map in the case, that I’ve only seen, what, 1/5th of the world? So I’m sure that’ll open up.

What really gets me is the narrative. I don’t like being Jimmy. I was hoping he would be like, I dunno, a tough guy who’s playing a bully, but really has a sense of justice about him? But he’s really just a mostly bad guy. At least so far. He listened to this Gary character for way too long, mindlessly doing the missions he gave, when I wanted to punch him at about the second cutscene with him. Granted, I think that’s by design. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to hate him, and he’s well-voiced and stuff. But it was extremely frustrating. I felt more like the character I wanted to be in the non-mainline quests I’ve done so far, where people getting picked on would ask for help, and although I’d expect payment, I’d run around and beat the shit out of everyone who was picking on others.
Again, I’m only through chapter one. Maybe after this “betrayal” Jimmy acts more like I want him to all the time. His conversation with the huge guy at the end of their fight would suggest it being as such. We’ll see.

Anyway, I wanted to write some impressions. I’ll be sure to write some more if I keep up with Game Club all the way through the game. I hope to, but seeing as Tuesday is the day of my birth, it could get a bit unlikely, as I’m sure there will be many shiny new games to play.

So, remember that write up of bit.trip beat I did the other day? Have you seen the comments? The creator went and posted something on there. Makes me wish the post was a little better written. (I have several sentences I would edit, in retrospect, but it seems bad form to go back and do it)

Man, what is this? Why do I have people like that coming to this blog? Do I have an actual website or something?

Let’s look at the facts.

I post every day now. When I started doing that back in… what… November 14th of last year? I didn’t expect I would really keep with it as much as I do. But dammit, I haven’t missed a day yet. It’s interesting to be so dedicated to putting some stupid shit up here every day, but I very much like that it’s become a habit. It’s something I have to do. It keeps me writing, even if it is just whatever random shit that oozes from my head. I have something to show for it, at least. I like that. So yeah, like an actual website, I post every day.

I have readers. And you’re all awesome.
But seriously, I have some readers. This is to be expected. I mean, I have friends who could care what I think about things. But the thing that makes it legit? Some of them I don’t even know who they are personally. I even have commenters now who I cannot place and can’t figure out. And they aren’t spambots! That’s something an actual website has, right?

Finally, I have things like I mentioned earlier. I have some recognition from people who make things. Granted, it’s mostly from indie things (completely awesome indie things, though) so it’s not too shocking that someone like Jalapeno Bootyhole from one of these smaller outfits might have the time to leave me a comment. But it’s still totally ultra cool. It certainly seems like something an actual website would have.

Is my hard work paying off or something? Am I legit? I mean, if nothing else, I know I have a lot of Google cred. My website has existed for a long damn time. But man, I can’t really get it around in my head that what I’m writing might actually be read by a human somewhere. It’s still kind of crazy.
I think it’s best if I keep it that way, though. I don’t want to keep myself from writing very personal blog posts, even though I also want to keep writing my little very personal reviews and stuff. Basically, what I want to do is write. Something. So I shouldn’t hold myself back or make myself write this or that… I should just write. And I will.

And if you keep reading it? Well, that’s totally awesome. Thanks.

Ugh. Arg.

So as I’m writing this, it’s Thursday of my Spring Break. I’ve not even attempted to get anything done during this week, school-wise. I’ve just been relaxing. Dammit, I needed some relaxing! Why can’t the whole break be a break! Grumblegrumble.

But still, now I’m working on homework, and it’s going to badly because I just want to fall asleep and be lazy and check out the Player’s Handbook 2 and all kinds of stuff. But I have to be good. I have to go to work, I have to write these stupid papers, and I have to things as well as other things. But I feel burned out so quickly on them. I couldn’t even get a whole draft banged out before this. I stopped in the middle out of frustration. Granted, I was bothered by providing tech support in the middle there to stop my flow, but still, I should be getting more work done than that. I can’t slack off! It’s the last semester! Ever!
ARG.
ALTERNATE REALITY GAME.
Okay, not really alternate reality game. Just Arg.

Welcome to the real world, me. Breaks are hard to get. You don’t get breaks! Ha ha!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go curl up with my vidjeo games and my nice friends and hide from my homework for awhile longer.

Hey! It’s dream-recounting time!

I dreamed that I was some sort of blogger (crazy, right? Me? Blogging? Insane.) and that I was writing a blog entry about how much I was getting screwed by my current employer, and how much better I’d have it if I was working at Criterion. I certainly wasn’t working at Kohl’s in this dream (as it was somewhere with a big campus and a movie theatre) and I have no idea why I was wanting to work at Criterion, or even, exactly, what Criterion is. I guess they put out movie collections of Wes Anderson’s work?

In any case, I wrote a detailed blog entry about why I should rather be working there. It was intense. I think it might have had video.

The next day, I went to work, at this place where I don’t work, and Randon, the Loss Prevention guy from Kohl’s, kept threatening me. He said I needed to take down my blog entry, or there would be hell to pay! I was telling him it was weird that he’s complaining now, because in dream time I apparently posted it weeks ago.
Eventually, this lead to a chase, where I was running away from Randon because he was going to beat the crap out of me in order to teach me a lesson. He finally caught up with me, and then I promised to take down the blog post.

I did, though I wrote a description of why it was taken down on the blog. The next day, Randon was giving me the evil eye, like I didn’t do enough.

Then I woke up.