The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So, here we go. I think I posted the first one of these waaaaaaay back on the older version of this site before, but here, watch the whole There She Is!! Saga right here. Then come back. I’ll wait.

You watched it?

Oh man, those are so awesome, aren’t they?
I mean, the first I was like “man, that was cute, but it probably wouldn’t appeal to much to the non-furry crowd” and then suddenly, it kept going, and turned into this INSANELY cute romance story. It was deep, and most of all, it was so very touching. I remember catching up back when they didn’t have the last one done, and man, I was on such a downer. I was fairly angry to have that happen to these cute little nameless characters, but this last episode makes it all better, and just… bam! Makes me feel sweet and happy inside.

I mean, on one paw, there’s furry for furry’s sake, for no real reason, just… you know. Someone likes that kind of thing. And then there’s making your characters cute and different enough to disarm you, to get you to like them and feel for them without, perhaps, other connected baggage. That’s what this does. Don’t you think?

So, the Twilight Heroes IoTM is the Recylonizer Kit. I was hesitant to write anything about this one, because I really don’t know what to make of it. I mean, I totally called the fact that, soon, there would be equipment to set up in your hideout that would be untradable. Totally called it. And as such, I jumped immediately on board and ganked this one. But man, I dunno.
Basically, the Recyclonizer kit gives you access to a special store. You charge it up by putting items in, and it gives the kit a charge based on its autosell value. Then you expend this charge to get various consumables. There are attack items, sugar and caffeine, even a sidekick.
But I rarely use consumables.
Seriously, the fact that I have to give up items to charge this thing combined with the fact that they’re consumable makes me really hesitant to use these items. This is totally a personal problem, and not a problem with the item, but I just can’t see me using them often. When you add it to the fact that things like the Sugar Substitute and the Oil-Can Coffee aren’t better than the STROOPWAFEL and Mr. Tea at my level… I really don’t know. I hear Ryme has boosted them since I tried them, though, but it was more to make them equal, not better, and I’ve got plenty of Misters Tea and STROOPWAFEL are in what is going to be an extremely heavily farmed zone, so both are more than plentiful right now… I don’t know…
I hear many of them scale, or at least the Unstable Isotopes do, and that would probably be crazy useful to power-leveling individuals, but I don’t think I’m really going to do that, so that’s, you know, less useful.

I guess this has good points. As the first IoTM that is expended when used, it’s good for investing in, I’d think. I already invested in one. It also really seems like it would be a boon to high level people who need MP or whatnot. And the idea is really solid. It’s just, the more I think about it, the less it appeals to my play style at all. I guess I could make items to give to people that they can’t make, eventually? That’s something. But yeah, it just isn’t an IoTM for me. Still, if some awesome use comes out of them eventually, at least I’ll have one.

So they came out this with No Doubt track pack? Say what you will about where Stefani went after No Doubt, but damn, they had some good songs. So I bought the pack, even though it was a bit expensive, and I was not disappointed. It’s got every single No Doubt song you’d ever want. Well, I’d ever want, anyway. It’s nice. I’ve been having a lot of fun belting those out.

But the point is, I suppose, that it got me to boot up Rock Band 2 again. Man, that game is still so great. I can just come back to it and sing again and again. And maybe it’s sad that I’ve spent this much money on DLC or just a sign of how awesome the game is, but I seriously have so many Rock Band songs now that I play on random and still get songs I don’t recognize, or just have completely different experiences every time because tracks are never repeated. Unless I want them to be. This is how a music game should be, dammit.
So yeah, I spent hours singing, and then Spaeth came over and I sang for a few more, during which I bought one more new song, Tempted. We discovered it was about as Spaeth was completely randomly going through and previewing tracks for sale. It was only a buck! It is hella fun to sing, though “put you asleep” easy on everything else. But who cares, I just sing. It was a great surprise to find that song, but even more of a surprise to find it was by the same band that brought us Cool for Cats. What. The. Fuck. Could these two songs be more different? Mind=blown.
We also found out that a three-pack of songs by a band named Locksley seem to have a ton of awesome potential and might get bought in the future. Also, two of the three songs by Siouxie and the Banshees seem pretty great, too. I’ll have to consider all these for future pickup.

But seriously, I don’t know. It may be expensive buying all these plastic instruments, but dammit, this game has legs. I’m willing to pay that much for a game I come back to over and over again. I totally am.

I’ve been distracted for awhile, so I haven’t gotten back to it, but I gave in and bought A Kingdom for Kieflings recently, and I’m glad I did. On the surface, it looks really boring. Basically, it’s an RTS without the combat. It’s all tech tree and resource management. That’s the entire game. But it’s shockingly relaxing, fun, and rewarding. I just found myself sitting there, for long periods of time, just gathering resources and building buildings. The way the game unlocks new customization vectors is about right, too. No sooner are you getting bored with building things when you’ll unlock, say, a building to let you paint houses a bunch of new colors, or you’ll build a statue-maker to make gigantic statues in your honor, and then you have to go play with those and put them all about.
I think I’ve mentioned before how important podcast-friendly games are? This is the DEFINITION of such a game. It’s fun, but it’s not taxing. It keeps you busy while you listen to a podcast or music or whatever. It’s wonderful in that regard. It’s also the perfect “waiting for people to log on and invite me into Left 4 Dead” game, as you can play in tiny bursts and still make progress. Not to mention, it’s amazing how many hours of gameplay is in there. For my 10 bucks, I’m almost to 10 hours logged, I believe. Sadly, I don’t always get that much gameplay out of full priced games.
If you enjoy games that relax you, that are casual, like, say, Picross DS or Puzzle Quest or whatnot, you should really give this game a go. Ninjabee hit it out of the park with this one. I came in so very doubtful, downloading and deleting the demo several times, but it won me over, and I’m glad it did.

Well, you can stop imagining, because it already kinda does.

Upon hearing about it from John Davidson on 1up Yours, I just had to try SMT: Imagine for myself. Could it be that great? Could it draw me in with a property I have come to love this past year or so? So I bothered all the people on Talking Time who had codes to the closed beta they weren’t going to use, and got in on it. It’s pretty good, and certainly one of the best free straight-up MMOs I’ve played. (Straight-up meaning, you know, the normal combat, leveling stuff, and not something like Albatross 18, which is a great free arcade-style golf game, you know? Which reminds me, it’s been a long time since I played that. I bet they have a lot of new courses I should try.) When it gets into open beta later this month, I would suggest giving it a try if you like the series and aren’t allergic to MMOs.

First off, the feel is spot on. The game looks pretty damn close to the PS2 Megaten games in feeling, and they’ve certainly matched all the demon animations and models exactly. I keep seeing new people in town with demons I haven’t found yet, and going “Ooh, wonder where you get that one.” The music is not Meguro-quality, but pretty good. Still, I mean, it’s an MMO, you turn that shit off. But yeah, they’ve nailed the “feel” of Megaten that I’ve come to expect.
The combat is sort of an advanced PSO-style combat with pets. It’s all about timing. I’ve been playing a melee attacker with heal spells, like I do in everything, so I don’t know how other people play? But it feels really solid doing melee. You hit combos until you knock an enemy back, and then you can guard, or prepare a counter-attack or cast a spell or whatever. Everything has a charge time involved, so you actually have to plan when you’re going to counter-attack and block, because you don’t throw those up instantly. Meanwhile, you have a summoned demon partner. They work via a customizable AI like most MMO “pets” do, and it works pretty well, but they were damn smart in letting you be able to give specific commands, if you want. If you really want your Pixie to cast Dia RIGHT NOW on this random person, you can use your Pixie’s Dia just like your own. The thing that worries me about the combat, though, is that it’s extremely tough to switch targets. Granted, your demon is normally smart enough to try to draw attention, but if I’m using a caster-style demon, that just means they get dead quickly. I haven’t found a keyboard shortcut to switch targets. You have to click with the mouse. This is just… not good. Tab should switch between close targets, right? Maybe I’m just missing something.

In all, though, the game is really getting me with the Pokemon vibe. You have to be high enough in level to convince demons to join you, and you do it just like in other SMT games, where you talk to them and negotiate or threaten or whatever. Every time I see a new demon about in the world, I start thinking about how I can get it. They have the fusion too, just like the other games, so you might want to recruit even more than just one. The main problem I have, though, is that you can only carry six demons. I’m fine with only being able to take that many into battle, but when I tried to use the “Demon Storage” to store a couple I had that I was going to keep for fusion fodder, I couldn’t. It told me I had to buy some sort of pass and didn’t tell me where to do it. Perhaps that’s their business model, and the demon storage is a premium feature. If so, that kind of sucks, because that means you can’t go all Pokemon without paying. Still, though, even with six slots, I’m sure you could play fine overall. I just like collecting creatures.

The game tries to have a story, too, which I’m barely into. So far I haven’t been impressed, but that’s because the story has mostly been tutorial so far. If the story is halfway interesting and you could play through it with a friend, this free MMO could be a great way to waste some time with an online friend or three. Hell, the whole thing has promise. So much so that I went back to play for several hours again today, because I was wanting to. That’s a good sign. We’ll see how it goes, but either way, it seems a cut above most of these free MMOs, even others by this same company, and I’m glad it’s about.

So Left 4 Dead on Easy is a totally different game.

After a night of Ticket to Ride followed by some connection issues followed by a solid Dead Air advanced run, Morbid Coffee and I were left with one plan, and one plan only: To, uh, get me the Akimbo Assassin achievement. We did this by, of course, going to No Mercy on Easy.
I was shocked and surprised. It was INTENSE. A full game of Left 4 Dead normally takes about an hour and a half, maybe longer if there are a lot of failures. Coffee and I burned through the game in 22 minutes. 22! AND I was doing the Akimbo Assassin achievement, like I said, so I was holding myself back and only using pistols! It was a whoosh and a swoosh and it was nothing like the Left 4 Dead I know and love. And it was totally sweet.
Seriously, on harder difficulties, the game is all about survival. As it should be! But suddenly, on easy, that wasn’t even anything to even pretend to care about anymore. It was all about speed. You had to run fast, and shoot just enough zombies to sneak past. It was a total rush, and man, I can’t wait to try some speed runs with a full group of people, instead of two computer players. Attempting to beat times could make for a really great alternate Left 4 Dead night. I can’t wait to try!

In a swirl of spending TONS of money, my Gift Buying is going well! Here’s the list!

Jonathan: Check
Mom: Half-Check (Plan in place, just have to get it.)
Dad: Check
Grandpa: Check
Grandma: Check (though kind of hesitant. Wondering if I should supplement)
Brer: Check
Festivus Gift Exchange: Like one tiny thing away from completely checked.
Friend Gift Exchange: No Check. I have NO clue.
Friend White Elephant: No Check.

Also, I’ve spent a ton of money! Wait, I already said that. Oh well. My funds are quite low! And they’ll be even lower soon, since Amazon should be charging me for Persona 4 + Expensive Extra Goodies Pack today. Though once I get some reimbursement for some stuff, I’ll be a little better off… and then, you know, paychecks, I suppose. I won’t have much to want to waste on myself after I finish all this gift buying and have Persona 4 to take me up to Chrissymas day, right?
Either way, I’m not totally screwed. I just never like seeing my funds drop this low since I got, you know, more responsible. I like having that buffer.

Anyway, my Chrissymas preparations are going much, much better since last I mentioned them. Huzzah!

So as I realized and sat down to order the Double Jump Persona 4 guide for when Persona 4 comes out this week, I realized that I’ve spend almost plastic instrument music game money on this game, what with the expensive goodies pack, the game itself, and now this guide.

Man, I must really like Persona.

And I mean, I do. Not only is it, luckily, a completely awesome and good game, but it also OOZES style, and man, if there’s one thing that can really sell me on a game, it’s having a strong style. Art, music, everything coming together to create a perfect, awesome mix. Persona 3 did this, and everything I’ve seen of Persona 4 suggests it will too. And so I buy the stuffed animals and the T-shirts and…
Well, I won’t apologize for wanting things I want. Just the cost of what I’ve been doing, that I’ve pushed into triple digits spent on this game, struck me as I was ordering. And I thought I’d share.

I always talk about IoTMs, don’t I? Well, I’m interested in them. So deal.

KoL’s offering is the Sugar Fruit Fairy, which is a sort of replacement for the supposedly extremely awesome Pygmy Bugbear Shaman. I picked it up, but I am personally unexcited.
I mean, I get that gaining stats and increasing item drops are the two most important things to do in KoL to be effective and quick at it. Thus, this fairyball which effectively does both is the shit. But it’s just so unexciting to me. I mean, I appreciate playing well, but I more appreciate playing easily and entertainingly. The MP drain this creates is an annoying cost to juggle, though I admit less than I originally thought. I thought it would be a HUGE pain, but during my short test so far, putting an origami “gentleman’s” magazine on it and using Spring Raindrop Attack left me with a positive MP gain, so I suppose it’s not so bad. But it’s still something to work around. My Wizard Action Figure isn’t nearly as powerful as this, but I would be much more eager to use it if I needed a fairyball because it does nothing but good and I really appreciate the deleveling and healing it does. I feel constantly like it’s doing awesome things, whereas, after every combat, I get that MP drain reminder message with the Sugar Fairy…
I dunno, I guess it feels like I’m so easily manipulated, to let something like that sway my decisions, but dammit, I play these games to have fun. If something FEELS more fun, then I should do that, right?
Still, I’ll give this one a full 100% run like all the others, and we’ll see how it does overall. I do like it dropping buffing items, maybe those will make me love it more, though they drop really rarely. But I’m not hoping for too, too much.

First off, let me say that sometimes I make some really fucking stupid decisions. When I decided not to use the Combat Action Bars back when they were released months ago? Someone should have slapped me. That interface makes playing KoL a lot more fun when using more than one skill a combat. I mean, yes, most of the time, I am just using one skill a combat. But now that I’m diving into Hobopolis for the second time, I am using multiple skills constantly.

That’s right, I’m back in Hobopolis. The first time I tried it, things did not go very well. I learned that you can’t plink Hobos, which made my “Oh, I’ll be a Moxie class and it’ll be fine and the fact that I’m stuck with this familiar for my 100% run won’t matter too much” strategy work like shit. I ended up having to borrow a V for Vivala Mask and a Navel Ring of Navel Gazing and bum a ton of buff potions just to get to my goal, which was buying my Hobocobo. It really kind of embarrassed me, having to depend on all the help, though it did point out how completely awesome my friends in KoL and Twilight Heroes and whatnot are, which I, of course, completely appreciate.

This time, though, things were different. I was a Seal Clubber, which, as far as I’m aware, is about the best choice, as muscle classes have it easiest for most of Hobopolis (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) and I also have pretty powerful Mr. Store gear of my own, that being my Haiku Katana, which can really lay the smack down on just about everything in game. I got to pick my familiar this time, thanks to the update where I could complete my 100% run when I break the prism, instead of when I ascend, and thus am using my P.R.E.S.S.I.E. cause, well, it’s Crimbo season and it’s a pretty good familiar who is also giving me stats so I can keep improving. So I can now kill Hobos in the town square with little effort, and I’ve been working on the Hoboes at The Heap, and I seem to be able to deal with these stench-aligned ones with little problem as well. I couldn’t take the ones at the Ancient Hobo Burial Ground yet, mostly because a lot of my damage is from some Elemental boosts, so their resistance to elemental damage was really cramping my style. But I’ll get there.
The general idea is to keep killing Hobos until the Crimbo content comes out, and then re-evaluate. Until then, though, this is certainly a fun time, and I look forward to getting to buy some gear with all the Hobo Nickels I’ve been getting. Also, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the name generators. Completely. Awesome. Still, it’s pretty obvious most of the REALLY cool stuff comes from playing with many co-ordinated people. But I dunno if that’s going to happen. Heh. But you never know! It might! Still, I doubt I’ll keep this up long before I get the ascending bug again. But it would be kinda cool if I got a telescope and the level 30 trophy before I did, though. Who knows.