The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So I followed a random link on Talking Time, and it lead me to the music for Space Mountain. Check that shit out. That is some badass, awesome soundtrack, there! It blew me the fuck away.

Then I realized I didn’t remember it, so I clicked on another link, this one comparing the “new” Space Mountain to the old one. Hey, there was some music I remembered. It’s changed since I’ve last been there, I suppose. That’s sad in a lot of ways. I remember the last time I was at DisneyWorld, and they had changed the Tiki Room to something similar, but very different, and it was almost depressing. Now, this change, with that badass music? I can probably get behind. Heh.

But goodness, it just got me thinking about DisneyWorld and it’s music.
Whenever I think about the reasons I want to go back there, it’s always about the music. I remember the music right past the sphere in Epcot, where you can go anywhere. (The exact part I always remember is at about the 6 minute mark or so, but it’s all good) There’s ambient music everywhere. It’s perfectly suited to your surroundings, it fades gracefully into one another as you leave or enter an area, and it just makes you feel like you’re on an adventure. A grand trip. I mean, it’s all fake. It’s all attractions and whatnot, but dammit, it just reaches in and hits the same parts of me that get all giddy and sweet and blushy when I read some really good work of children’s literature or something. The rides are fun, there are tons of neat things to see, but the reason why I want to go back, and will always want to go back again, I think, is just to feel that.

It is sad to think that, by the time I get back there, maybe lucky enough to bring kids of my own, everything will be mostly changed, though. You can’t expect them to keep everything as it was forever, of course. But gods, all four parks are just completely created to inspire nostalgia. I remember the last time we went, and how actually awesome it was to remember everything, and be able to re-find all the things that stuck out in my mind and see them again…

So much happened today, actually. A whole lot of things. And yet here I am, thinking about DisneyWorld. How many years has it been since I’ve been there? I have no fucking idea. But it still holds a bit of a pull on me.

I got accepted to the Graduate Assistantship program. Yay!
Yay…

I mean, that’s good, right? A nice bit of money, a free ride to grad school, additional important work experience…
Of course, that means I’m still here.

Bleh, I know I’ve been over this before on this site, but as good of an idea that this all is, I want to get out of here. I don’t have anything against Cape, of course. I think this town is pretty great. But I want the freedom to be able to define my own damn life… transition… find out who I can be if I don’t have family and peer pressures on me all the time, you know?

The real solution here would be to just do it. To stop putting things off. To make everything happen, even though I’m still around here. But goodness, the fights that would bring. I am afraid of them.

Bleh, I’ll just have to. I’ll just have to. I can apply the forced good student thing to this too, can’t I? Then again, this is much scarier than the good student acting…

Ugh…
Sorry to bring all that up again.

So, I’ve been playing a decent amount of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time with my brother!
It’s guud.

That’s it.

No, wait, I guess not.

If you never played a Crystal Chronicles game, basically this is Square attempting to make a Diablo some other multiplayer-oriented dungeon crawl lewt fest. It works pretty well, for the most part! Especially with this latest rendition, I feel like they’ve worked all the kinks out. Well, most.
What kinks, you ask? Well, in the first game on Gamecube, not only did you have to have 4 GBAs and link cables for the party times, there was also the element of the bucket, which you had to have one player basically regulating to carrying around. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, as normally you just make that person dedicated healer, too, and it’s not TOO bad? But it was still kind of completely bullshit.
Then came Ring of Fates on DS. It was alright, but with no online play and some weird interface things it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been. The whole stocking up casts of spells was also kinda… not really what I wanted out of a game like that. Also also, since only me and Spants had a copy, there was not much playing going on, unfortunately.

Now, with Echoes of Time, there are both Wii and DS versions, and they can talk to each other! For some reason, having one player be on the big TV just kinda… makes it more likely that we’ll play multiplayer. Add that to the fact that my brother has a copy, so we can just 2-player it often, and you have a recipe for success. At least for me.
In previous Crystal Chronicles games, you had to pick up your magic as you play. In the first, you’d find a “cure” orb in a chest, and then you could cast cure all you’d like, with no limit. In the second, you’d find 3 Cure orbs, and you could then cast cure 3 times. In this game, you start out with every spell already, and it goes back to the tried and true MP system. While this does lose some of the uniqueness from the game, it also makes combat flow a whole lot better, I think. Especially better than in Ring of Fates, where I, at least, felt really limited with what I could do with magic because I felt it was so limited. The whole “stacking” system of mixing magic to create more powerful spells or different spells is still in place, though. I’m making my standard “physical attacker but I can cure” hero, so I’m not messing with that much besides the occasional Cura, but Jonathan is making good use of that with his Yuke.

Yeah, Jonathan and I, as usual, make a pretty good team in these kinds of games. Jonathan is really aiming for an all magic-attack build, and it seems to be working pretty well for him (except when he accidentally hits me with Bio). My Clavat (currently dressed in a White Mage Hood with what seems to be a chainmail dress, or maybe a chainmail shirt that is, say, made for an adult while my character is but a wee child) brings the mad physical beats, especially now that I gave in and am using a sword, which Clavats are just racially better with. I hope we can play through the whole game before we get bored.

Although you don’t find lewt in the field, you do find millions of craftables and sometimes recipes, which you can use to make a pretty decent variety of gear. Everything looks different, too, so you can really make your character look like something. There’s pieces that make you look like classic Final Fantasy classes, as well as other things, of course. Being able to show off such lewt is always a plus in games like this.

The game has online play, but the one time I tried it, just for a minute, it was laggy as fuck. People say they can get into some good games, but the one time I tried, there was literally a second lag between me hitting a button and something happening. Not cool in an action game! So while I appreciate it being in the game, I may not get much use out of it. I mostly got it for local play.

This is my biggest gripe of the game, though. You can’t have multiple save files on the Wii version. The first Crystal Chronicles was great because, once you got everyone’s GBAs together, you just had a ton of files on the thing, and each person could raise their own hero, with new people just swapping out at will with their dude. I wanted that in this game, and it is not there. You can’t even move the save to an SD card and make multiple save files that way. Bleh.

Still, if you like that dungeon crawly action and can convince someone else to buy a copy too, I would have a hard time not recommending this game. It’s just solid co-op multiplayer fun. You can’t beat that.

I have cancer.

HA! See, it’s hilarious, because it’s April Fool’s day! I don’t have cancer!

Or do I?

HA! So funny!

Tricking people is hilarious!

Or is it?

HA!

Speaking of which, I decided I was going to do this project I have to do this semester based on Francesca Lia Block, and author I have quite admired. I mean, she’s not really writing for me? She’s writing for like… junior high girls. But I like her writing style. So I go and oh, the compilation of her first book series, which I liked a lot, was only like 7 dollars on Amazon! I’ll just order that as a reference. I always meant to have copies anyway.
So I order it, and I get a book with a cover like this. Compare, if you will, to the not as painful to the eyes cover of the first copy of Weetzie Bat I saw.
HA HA! Very funny, book publishers!

What really gets me is that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in these books that has to do with fairies. She’s written fairy-oriented books, but these are not those books. There are some ghosts. There are some gay dudes, but I wouldn’t call them fairies. The cover has absolutely NOTHING to do with the content inside! I’m proud to own that inside content, but I will never be able to look at that book without wincing.

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.

So, the first episode of Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures, Fright of the Bumblebees!, came out on my birthday! Of course, I preordered that sucker before then. Telltale has brought me absolutely nothing but quality entertainment, and even though I was less of a fan of this IP than I was of Sam and Max or Strong Bad, I was more than happy to give Telltale the benefit of the doubt and put down my money. The fact that they were putting a nice discount on top of it didn’t hurt either. It was kind of silly that they gave me extra, unneeded copies of games in the purchase though, but whatever. I understand why. They were wanting to hook Wallace and Gromit fans into their other games.

Now, all I’ve seen of Wallace and Gromit before this was Curse of the Wererabbit, and I only saw that because I heard that these games were coming out, so I wanted some context. I liked it! It was kind of punny and certainly entertaining, and I saw clearly how well it would work as an adventure game.

And guess what! It works well as an adventure game. There was one kind of weird, bullshit puzzle in the thing where I had no idea how I was supposed to think of that. But the solution still made sense in the world, so there was no real issue with it. I just grumbled a little and moved on.
The controls are different from previous Telltale games and are, honestly, not quite as nice on the PC. They’re obviously optimized to work with the 360 controller, because these games will be coming out there. You have to walk your character around with the keyboard but you still have to click on things with the mouse. It’s all kind of silly on the PC. I should just be able to point and click. But if that’s what I have to endure to get Telltale more exposure and more money? Eh, that’s fine. It wasn’t a huge deal.

From what I know, the game really feels like Wallace and Gromit as well. It’s a shame they had to get a sound-alike for Wallace, but at the same time, I couldn’t tell the difference until I was told. Then again, I’m not a hardcore fan, so take that as you will. The game totally looks the part, though. I’m not sure what kind of filters or whatever they put on this thing, but it’s clear that the Telltale Tool is extremely and wonderfully flexible. It really does look like clayma… plasticine figures for the most part.
One thing that I found a surprising problem was controlling Gromit. He can’t talk, of course, and most of his humor comes from his expressions, and that’s great. At the same time, not getting a verbal dismissal of something you tried to do and just getting him shaking his head is much less useful in figuring things out than having Wallace, or the main character in any adventure game, comment on it. It also loses a potential vector for humor. They attempted to fix this by having whatever other characters that are in the scene comment towards Gromit when they could, but he’s not always in the same area as another character. It’s just a small consequence, and they worked around it as best they could. It’s just interesting.

Anyway, I got two decently-sized play sessions out of the game. That’s about all I ask from these awesome little episodic deals. It certainly didn’t disappoint. Although the more I play these things, the more I can see the formula behind how Telltale builds a game. They make a game in three acts, sometimes for. There’s an introduction (optional) then a first act, then a second act where there are the same locations but different puzzles in them, and then a finale where you are stuck in a small location. This isn’t really a complaint, it’s just that after playing so much of their stuff, I can see the inner-workings a bit better.

But yeah. Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures Episode 1? Good.

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.

Chuck Palahnuik is one of those authors where I feel like, as an English Major, I am required by law to enjoy his writing, much in the same way I am required to take smoke breaks during night classes and to go out drinking every night to facilitate talking about “deep” topics. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I assumed I wouldn’t like Diary, a novel of his that I had to read for my novel class. My only real knowledge of his work was watching the movie of Fight Club, which Brer swore up and down I would connect with and I didn’t really at all, and hearing stories about his short story Guts but never looking it up to actually read it. This information told me, when I looked on the syllabus for my novel class, that I would dislike this book, but hey, at least it was short, so I wouldn’t have to suffer long.

When I started reading, it felt like my vague, baseless assumptions were right. Misty, the main character and narrator, is kind of hard to like. She’s extremely confrontational towards her husband, whom the book is “written” for and thus is aimed at with “yous” and whatnot. She seems very much like a complainer, blaming everyone for her problems, then blaming herself, then blaming everyone who tells her that she should be blaming herself. It’s just not all that fun to read.

However, the more and more I got into it, the more and more it’s brilliance got to me. Misty, the character, is a bit unlikable, but as her situation is slowly revealed, it’s clear why she’s so angry and so like she is. The plot is revealed very well, the situations are a bit surreal but not surreal enough for you to not believe they could be happening. I don’t even want to talk about the plot too much, actually. I feel like the way it is slowly shown to you is a lot of the book’s charm. It’s much like a Lost or something like that, only it’s very clear that every little fact is very planned, and every bit of it is going to pay off, (whereas I look at Lost and just see a bunch of cool ideas thrown together with a weak promise they’ll make sense, but then again, I haven’t seen much Lost, so take that as you will.) and that just keeps you turning pages again and again.
It’s also a really good example, to me anyway, of Post-modern fiction done well. Like anything, art can get really bogged down in tropes of movements like that, but this book uses them effectively, and that’s really great. The book breaks the fourth-wall in really fun ways, not just from the use of “you” throughout confusing the characters in the book and the reader, but also in other, spoilarz sort of ways.

Basically, the book hooked me, and before I knew it, it had overcome my prejudices and I was all in. I finished the book in two days of hard reading, and thoroughly enjoyed it. After the last two novels letting me down, pretty much, I was very glad that I hit another novel that really excited me. I can very easily recommend the book, especially since it’s fairly short. It’ll be an easy, fun read. Hopefully. It was for me, anyway.