The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So today I, perhaps pointlessly, bought a copy of the Player’s Handbook for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Also, I didn’t look at it and instead got caught up in my other book, When You Are Engulfed In Flames, which Essner got me for a several months old birthday present and is completely awesome. But anyway, so when talking about that with Brer, and such, and we’re been talking about the Shadowrun attempt that went down and really was kinda boring in my eyes and the idea of me GMing something… and I want to do something fun, you know? I could do it, but I don’t want work. I want to enjoy it, through and through. Something fun. That’s what I kept saying.

So here are some ideas that are fun.
Bunnies and Burrows: Granted, I think I would rather be a PC telling bunny folktales, but I would love to just see this in action. I have no ideas for it or anything, no grand story arc plan, and I think the GURPS rules are kinda lame and stupid. I don’t care. Bunnies. Burrows. Yes.
Pokethuhlu: I would run this. For reals. I would have a blast. For Reals. Basically any way to play a children’s TV show I would be ecstatic about. I remember planning a whole horrible Yu-Gi-Oh GX campaign that would be so horribly awesome.
Primetime Adventures: I think this would work less without the LARPing aspect, but would probably still run fine. Of course, what the little group would actually want to do I do not know. Probably not the kids show I’d want to do. But then again, it’s all about negotiating a neat show together, isn’t it?
The Nighttime Animals Save the World: Due to the mechanics, this might not work well over the internet either. But it would be fun, yes?
BESM: I would dig out my book, wherever it be hiding, to run something like this. But again, what it would need is to heavily play on Anime stereotypes and such more so than actually… you know… telling a neat story? Sort of in the same way I’d like to do a kid’s show RPG.
Everyone is John: Well, I think it would be awesome for one night, anyway.
Paranoia: As much as I LOVE this game, I just feel like it wouldn’t work right… like… Brer says he likes the game, but I don’t feel like he’d get into it, and I don’t know the other people well enough… well, I don’t know them well enough for anything like this, really. Anyway, Paranoia is a game I don’t hate that I actually have experience with and could run. It just isn’t as exciting to me at this moment. Also, I have no fucking idea where my mom hid the book for it.

Yeah, my ideas are kinda silly, I guess. Oh well, I can dream.

I really feel like I’m wasting days in KoL recently. I’ve mostly just been grinding levels… I remember having problems here last time, but you’d think with the “tasteful” gifts and candy hearts at my disposal, I’d be doing better. But no. Sigh. Oh well, it’ll make it all easier once I get back to not grinding. I think I hopefully will be able to do the Castle tomorrow, and from there start slowly on the level 11 quest, so wish me luck.

Essner bought a WoW card game starter, and so did I, and we played. The game really is quite fun. Moreso than other card games I’ve tried out. It helps to be so connected to WoW, too, as when I use a move I already have a connection to it, you know? Also, all the Ally cards have ridiculous names. Anyway, I was hopefully that this would help to convince people to go in on my raid strategy from before, but Jonathan is still all non-committal, which sucks. Oh well.

I hope to gods there’s a shift or two I can pick up when I get to work tonight. I also hope that tonight does not last very long, even though more hours would be nice. But oh well, we’ll see either way, won’t we? I’m definitely getting candy and caffeine before, though. I want.

So I bought Warlords for the 360 on a whim. Even though quite a few of the achievements are bugged for some stupid reason, the game is a lot of fun. I don’t know if everyone else will share my love of it, though… hopefully the Tyrants will. Either way, it was just 5 bucks, so whatever. I’m going to spend almost 5 bucks on caffeine and candy later tonight, so… it doesn’t mean that much to me. Heh.

Oh, also, the other day, I did the math. It was all bleeeeeeh, but I did the math, and just to let everyone know: If you’re farming the Cube, like me, it is worth it to pay extra for Misters Tea over Gingers. You will make a profit.
Just, you know… so you know.

I’ve been feeling so lost recently… I hope that turns around soon… but oh well, there’s an update on me, eh? Now for laziness before work.

So the Let’s Play has finally been completed. It ended… well, you can see for yourself. Once again, here’s the link for the start of the thing. Let’s just say I have now gotten further honors, with things such as getting 5 out of 5 Parish heads. That’s intense.
As far as doing another? I’m going to be lazy for a few weeks, and then, if I feel the need for mass public approval once again, will order The King in Yellow and do a play-through of that. That is the plan. But the fact that I got this done is awesome. I never finish projects. I’m so proud of me. I’m giving me a pat on the back. Pat Pat Pat.

Now I turn my attention to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, which is as awesome as it is completely confusing. I have a FAQ open at all times while playing it. But it’s fun, and I’ve got nothing to play until Etrian 2 comes out, so I might as well try to blaze through as much as I can.
Honestly, I wish there was a good Megaten game on, say, the DS. I would eat that shit up and beat the crap out of it. The only portable whatever I’ve heard of is DemiKids, and that’s impossible to find and not really what I’m looking for. I’d like it, though. Maybe they could translate the originals and put them on a DS cart or something. I can hope. Not that it’ll do me much good, but I can hope.

Anyway, uh, that’s what I’ve been doing. Fun times, eh?

So I’m playing my Hardcore Pastamancer 100% Hatrack run, right? And it’s going really badly. I can’t kill anything, can’t get anything done, and have run out of easy tasks to do. Ugh. Really bad. Finally, I just say “fuck it,” and blow a rainbow of Candy Hearts and a cheap studded belt to attempt to kill the Knob Goblin King, and pull it off. Suddenly, I have the Crown, and with it, a way to make my Mad Hatrack a half Ghuol half Barrrnacle. It was like the rain stopped, sunlight poured down, and happy music began to play, because suddenly I could kill things again. If he did the delevel, I could kill stuff with my normal attack, and if he didn’t, I actually had enough MP for Ravioli Shurikens. Man, I love Ghuol-based familiars, and deleveling really does make a difference. Things are looking up!
Moral of the Story: I have these special consumable-summoning skills for a fucking reason, I shouldn’t be so hesitant to blow candy hearts and such on things, because I will almost always have too many unless I am running them constantly.

Well, my Let’s Play is coming to a close, which is why I haven’t been posting here. It’s been called “Solid Gold Win” so I suppose that’s means it’s been successful. It’s been fun writing stuff on a regular basis and getting such great feedback, but I can’t say I’m not unhappy it’s almost over. A shame I’m probably going to lose the game, though… I’m going to post more story bits tonight, and try to finish it up with ultimate epic conflict tomorrow. Fun times.

Speaking of fun times, I finally opened up that sealed copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne sitting on my desk, and started playing. It’s been good so far, although I just know the game is going to start ramping up in difficulty instead of staying about here or slightly higher, where I would like it. Oh well, there’s nothing coming out this summer like… at all… besides Tactics Advanced 2… so I have plenty of time to see if I can’t work through it. Fun times!

Did I mention fun times!

Anyway, there’s that update I should have been making.

I mean, I knew this before I started, but seriously, now that I’m doing one, it is a lot of work.
I’ve been doing so much worrying about it, as well. I started it, and then Parish put a “Okay, enough with the stupid Let’s Plays” post, which, granted, was probably not directed at me, but it put the pressure on. And then I was checking rules and making sure the fiction-y bits were okay… so much so that I kept waking up constantly last night worrying about Arkham die rolls and rules, and didn’t get any sleep.
But yeah, I think it’s turning out okay. It’s this thread on Talking Time. My Arkham Horror Let’s Play, full of rules information and little creative bits fleshing out the back story of the investigators. Follow it. Tell me what you think of it, and tell me I know the rules wrong, because I’ve already had one big rule oversight pointed out to me. My pride as a rule whore has been tarnished. Still, though a lot of work, it is pretty fun. I mean, I’ve been working on it basically non-stop since I started it. I’m really tired. I have a week of work ahead of me. But still, it’s worth it to actually accomplish something, and to have people there with that push to make sure I get something done I start. I’m glad I’m doing it.
I just hope the game doesn’t run TOO long. I’d like to be done with this sometime next week. Heh.

So apparently my Amazon boxes, which include the all-important Sam and Max DVDs as well as Essner’s birthday present (his birthday is today. Happy thing, Essner!), were totally lost by the USPS. Or stolen from my front porch. Or something. The USPS website says they were delivered at 9:4something AM yesterday, which is kinda ridiculous because we didn’t get our mail until like 5 PM yesterday. So they scanned them wrong, or lost them, or handed them to someone else… I don’t know. I called Amazon because the phone number for the Post Office is eternally busy, and they said their policy is to send me replacements if I don’t get them 3 days after the estimated arrival date, so if worse comes to worse, I can get replacements shipped out to me on Thursday. But that still sucks, as that means it’s like 2 more weeks of waiting… at least I don’t get gypped out of money, though. I’m probably going to go try to do something at the Post Office on Monday, though… see if I can find them… because, hell, not like I have anything better to do during this summer vacation. Also, it would get me out of the house, which some would see as a benefit.
The other thing I wanted to ramble about a little was the Mayfly Bait Necklace, an item I totally wasn’t planning on getting, but then they beefed it up and I was thinking about it. It now has a static +10% Meat and Item drop on it, and I use Baron Von Ratsworth’s Monocle for a large portion of my early run (especially now that I have that Hagnk script that keeps me from having to pull EVERYTHING from storage and thus probably saves me a little meat every run) for just the 10% item find. I could pull this necklace day 1, and I’d wear it for most of the run, probably up until I can equip my war medals, and even then I might for the neat fly effects, which were the appeal for me all along. I don’t care about being optimal, but I don’t want to hurt my progress, and equipping the necklace before probably would have done that. Now? Not so much. So I picked it up.
My first impressions though have been fairly mediocre. It’s helped me kill a few Naughty Sorority Nurses that I wouldn’t have killed otherwise, and picked up a bunch more PADL Phones (And not the Frat Army FGFs I was wanting), but outside of their specific neat effects, it’s sort of like casting “Equip a Mayflower Bouquet too.” Which I don’t mind. I like the potato effect very much. But it’s not blowing me away. However, I have a feeling that many of the special things it does, like scaring away Pixel monsters and getting me clockwork parts so that I can start trying out building things like Chef-in-a-boxen and Bartender-in-a-boxen, will end up making it worth it in the long run. Of course, after this, I’m doing a Hardcore No Path Pastamancer run, so I won’t be able to really see its effects until after that… but so it goes.
Okay, I guess I best go work this floor shift. Been awhile. Here’s to hoping for the best with that.

So that whole me starting writing thing? Yeah, that hasn’t happened. I was going to on Monday, but then I got distracted and eh… I should. I know I should. But I also just want to have fun and my mind is working in Small Souls, not Role-Playing. I suck at projects.

But other than that, what else is going on, you say? Why, I checked my grades for the semester, and escaped with a 3.25 GPA, which, at this point, is perfectly perfectly fine with me. I could do better. I know I could. But at least I’m getting things DONE. That’s all I want. As long as I’m passing these classes with decent grades so I can graduate in December, I have succeeded in my book. So huzzah! Something like that!

I also got the “I Love A Parade” trophy in KoL last night, which means I’ve almost completed my 11th Post NS-13 ascension. Neat! Or something like that. I should hopefully be done with this one within the week, unless I decide to get the red balloon of valor. Which I might. Doing such things is really good for profits, and possibly getting another Natty Blue wouldn’t be a bad thing… I do sort of want a full set before I start selling them. You never know when I might decide to do a farm and level to basement thing. I do want to at least get the first level of telescope sometime. Probably will never get any more than that, though. Heh. Basementing holds no appeal for me besides that piece of campground equipment. Anyway, I’ve made up my mind that my next run is a no-path Hardcore Pastamancer run for Pastamastery and the stainless steel solitaire. So wish me luck with that… hopefully being no-path means the run will go much faster than previous pathed hardcore runs… that’ll bring my list of hardcore skills to Pastamastery, Amphibian Sympathy, and Cannelloni Cocoon. Oh, and Summon “Tasteful” Gifts and Summon Candy Hearts, I suppose. That’s a pretty decent loadout for my un-optimal play style.
Man, just looking at that Plexiglass pith helmet… it is godly. I’d like it. But man, I’d have to do another Hardcore Oxy run to get it. Fuck that.

On the gaming front, apparently Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness comes out next week? I guess I finally need to make the decision on where I’m going to pick the game up. Since your character carries over, it’s going to be forever. It’s basically down to getting achievements on the 360 vs what I assume will be more flexible download rights granted to me on the PC. The fact that they made their own download service, however, makes me wary… not because I don’t trust them but because, I dunno, I use Steam pretty much exclusively for such things. I don’t for Sam and Max (and, whenever it comes out, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People) because they offer me that sweet deal where they send me a physical copy after the season ends for no charge but shipping. (However, they’ve completely met and exceeded my expectations. Their copy protection is low to no hassle, and they let me re-download whenever I’d like and install wherever I’d like. That’s how DRM should be.) Rain-Slick won’t be offering me such a deal. Also, achievements, and the fact that the real-time RPG combat seems like it would work better with a gamepad… I don’t know. I’ll think about it some more. Either way I’m buying it next Wednesday, though. I also have a feeling that it might come down to me being too lazy to run out and buy a Microsoft Funmoney card.

I also have added homebrew capabilities to my DS… well, I ordered stuff to add them to my DS. It hasn’t gotten in yet. Why? It was pretty much solely because of this: Lone Wolf DS. That shit just looks like a lot of fun, and on the DS is a form in which I could consume it. Loki is doing an awesome Let’s Play of the book version on Talking Time here, and it’s all awesome. I wanna play too! But yeah, after I play that, I guess I need to look for other sweet, sweet homebrew stuff. Anyone know of any awesome homebrew games or programs for the DS?

Ah, I found a thread discussing the DRM on Greenhouse games. That doesn’t sound too bad, but I think I prefer Telltale’s system. Or Steam. I like Steam.

In fact, I just bought a new game on Steam, Everyday Shooter. It was going to be a PC game, and then Sony paid him fat stacks of cash to make it a PS3 exclusive, and now, out of nowhere, it got released on PC, so I plugged in my 360 controller and have been playing it. The basic description of it is if you like music arty kinda games like, say, Rez, and you don’t mind Robotron-style shooters, this game is for you. The problems I have with it is that it’s too hardcore. I’m quickly becoming more and more a casual gamer, which is fine by me, as long as I’m having fun. Robotron-style shooters are some of the most hardcore games about, and this is kind of hardcore in some levels too. I just want to turn on this “Shuffle” mode, which picks the various songs/levels in a random order so I can see everything, and turn my max lives up to maximum, which I assume to be 9, just so I can enjoy the whole game with no stress. To do that, however, I have to beat the game several times and collect many, many points to unlock all this stuff. That’s… not what I want to be doing. Replaying level 2 over and over is the quickest way to get these points, and I’ve been doing that, but I just want to experience the game, not have to grind to play the game the way I want to. I wish there was some sort of code I could use to just unlock everything, but I’m not aware of any. Still, it was totally worth 9 bucks. You should look into it if you missed it on the PS3 like I did.

I guess that’s about all I have to say for now. Huzzah! Or something!

So if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I will never do a puzzle in a book or something unless I’m CRAZY BORED, but I will do sudoku and crossword puzzles and such all day long if they’re on the DS. Why is that?
Well, 1, I’ve sort of trained myself to get my entertainment that way. I’ve never filled out books of puzzles, I’ve always played video games. When I’m bored, I turn on my DS. Just having it there makes me more likely do turn to it and do it.
I think the main reason is, though, that these games tell me if I’m wrong. I’ve done some sudoku on paper, and had the whole thing ruined because I made a stupid mistake that I didn’t notice. With these games, when I make a stupid mistake, it makes a little noise and puts it in red to let me know I’m completely wrong. Yes, this makes the puzzles easier, but it also significantly reduces my frustration. I hate frustration. I have more fun when there’s no chance of being frustrated. Thus, I have more fun playing these Touch Generations puzzle games on my DS.
Also, yes, this means I bought Crossword DS. It’s really quite awesome. I mean, as far as a crossword puzzle game goes, but actually, from what I’m hearing, it leaves something to be desired for the hardcore crossword fan… people on Talking Time were saying “I do the NYT crossword puzzle all the time, and the lack of theme and lame hints just make this no fun.” Personally, the clues on the harder puzzles are exactly where I need them. Enough to stump me once and awhile, but there are always things I can figure out around the tough ones so that I’m always making progress. Plus, if I seriously get stuck, I have hints or can just guess at letters. See? Having it digitally is useful! Add this to the fact that it has a really great interface and I feel like it was worth 20 bucks. If you’re one of those people who bought your mom a DS for Brain Age or whatever, I think they would really get into a game like this… though get them Picross first. Picross is awesome. It made me sad when I saw those copies of it on clearance at Toys R Us… wanted to hug them and take them home with me…

So I tried sleeping in today, for the first time in a long while… it didn’t really work well, and I had half-dreams about both meeting and being the Doctor at the same time (“Hi, I’m the Doctor.” “No, I’m the Doctor!”) and then I finally got out of bed and I was all cranky and moody. Oh well, I’ll get back into the “sleeping in” swing of thing soon enough, I suppose.

I also hit another hard boss in my Pokemon Kiddy Roguelike 2: Electric-type Boogaloo which really is frustrating me because I think I have about the worst possible party for the boss. It’s this swarm of Shinx, and my party is a Water-type, who dies the moment any of them use Spark, and me,  Pikachu, who can’t use my good attacks but they “aren’t very effective” against other electric types. I got raped, and I haven’t had the heart to get back in and try again yet. Seriously, it’s a good thing I’m playing the easiest of the easy roguelikes, huh? I’m having a ton of fun in general, and after I play a little more, I’d like to try the dungeon that plays like an ACTUAL roguelike (no starting items, you start at level one, see how far you can go), just to see how I do.

So today is apparently Ryme’s birthday in Twilight Heroes, and he sent me an energy drink! Well, okay, he sent ALL players an energy drink, but he was in chat last night and we talked. Sort of. Ryme’s a cool guy. So I wanted to do something for his birthday but, I mean, hell, he doesn’t need in-game items here or probably in KoL, since he’s been playing for longer than I have… so I decided donating would be the best gift, and picked me up a VHF-1 Fighter. I wasn’t PLANNING on getting one? It has a zillion functions, but the only one I’m going to use is that it’s a slightly buffed up Lexura Infinides that can fly. I didn’t really need it. But I was feeling generous, and just like with the Dreampants, I know I can flip it later on for huge profits if I get really annoyed at it. But I bet I won’t. The Dreampants didn’t wow me, but the more I wore them the more awesome the idea of me wearing these crazy pants was, so I’m keeping them. I don’t see any reason why this won’t be the same way, unless he obsoletes it with a vehicle that, I dunno, does something Heart-y and awesome.
As much of a heart as I am, though, I find myself being stingy with my chips, due to Operation Farm Me An Empty Picture Frame Since I Have Nothing Better In-Game To Do, which is probably a bad thing. I mean, it’s just virtual money, and it’s fun to give stuff away and help people out. Plus, said Operation has been going pretty well, actually. I’m up to 9 Silver Stars. That’s 36 percent of the way there, apparently! So I’ve been trying to send more chips Kinks way, to keep Twilight Buffs working… I appreciate your hits of Snout of the Swine, Kinks! I hope my meager contributions at least cover the cost of me using your service.

So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about these sorts of Browser RPG mechanics, especially when seeing Soul Raver get more and more… actually made… and it just makes me wish I could make Small Souls. I think I wrote a basic concept of it back a bit ago… say… in this post, yeah. But since then I’ve refined it a whole lot more. I know the basic mechanics of attacking and conversing, all based on a deck of “memes” or “phrases” or “some term I haven’t thought of yet.” So you’d have a card called “Yes.” This would let you, basically, agree with people in conversation sequences, but, like all of these, it would have a use in combat as well, doing something… yes-like… Perhaps a celebratory shout buff. You’d have a card called “No” that would work the same way. Disagree in conversation and perhaps stop an enemy from attacking from a term. And so on and so forth… I also have the idea of a whole mechanic like the time-travel mechanic in Shadow of Destiny sort of, where you could basically repeat quests and stuff by going back in time and trying again. This would give the game longevity because you could retry things from every angle, etc, but I assume it would be hard to program, because every major quest starting would make a time point you could jump back to but not jump back from… and the game would have to be able to basically only undo everything you’ve done since that time point, but not everything you did before it… that would be tough. But it would be worth it, I think. You’d lose levels but not items, basically, so by smart application of level minimums for item equips, I could keep the game balanced…
I don’t know, it’s all such a cool idea to me. But I should really stick with projects I believe in and can actually create with skills I have now, like Role-Playing and the podcast version of that… I can do that if I dedicate myself. And I’m going to this summer, dammit! Yeah.

Also, I continue to hear the siren call of GTA4. I wasn’t interested until EVERYTHING ON 1UP talked about how the good part was the story and not the wanton boring destruction, and people talking like “I never played a GTA before, but I played this and the story really drew me in! It’s great!” I could be that person, who never played a GTA before and had tons and tons of fun! Eh, I’m basically accepted I’m going to pick it up sometime, though I wish I’d wait for a price drop or a coupon or SOMETHING. Give me strength!

Well, I guess I best go to work now. Everyone quit during the dark times of no hours, so we’re severely lacking in people. However, tonight, at least, is a very small ad, so I should be back at a decent hour. Hopefully.

So I picked up Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2: Explorers of Time (Cause 1, exploring time is neater than exploring darkness and 2, this is the version with Lucario in it) and I love it! It has several appeals for me over Shiren. The first is that it’s Pokemon, and I get how Pokemon mechanics work and I like Pokemon. The second is that you only lose half your items and all your money when you die. In Shiren, you lose EVERYTHING, including your level. In this game, if I fail, the next time I try, it’s easier because I get to keep my experience. This lets me just grind until I can beat something, which perhaps is not the true spirit of the roguelike, but what do I care? I’m having fun. And… THREE, SMILES GO FOR MILES! Oh, um, I mean… it’s cute. I like cuteness. I mean, I met an exploration team called Team Flame with a Camerupt, a Ponyta, and, finally, the fearless leader… a Bellsprout. So cute. And the Kangaskahn at the bank still called me Sweetie and Honey. Heehee.
Anyway, I was enjoying my game and talking to CJ Awesome, a Talking Timer who I actually chat with from time to time, and he had played it a bit awhile back, and we were discussing this whole world the game takes place in. I mentioned that it was weird that, in a world where Pokemon run a society and whatnot, these Pokemon know what humans are. If they know of humans, they’re in the normal Pokemon world, and then they wouldn’t be able to build these elaborate bases and towns because humans would tromp by and throw Pokeballs at them or something. Mr. Awesome then said that he always assumed these games took place in the Pokemon Afterlife. “How would a dead human end up there?” I then wondered. “Mistakes are sometimes made,” he said.
This whole scenario, to me, just seems like it could be so interesting. I mean, you’re already a human accidentally a Pokemon in the game, and you don’t remember how you got there or what happened before… it could just be expanded in an interesting way, is all I’m saying. A trainer, dead, accidentally thrown into another afterlife, coming to meet those Pokemon that he or she trained, develop relationships, perhaps romances, before realizing everything that’s going on, that they were the trainer of these Pokemon, that they can get back to the right afterlife, and having to make that choice. Or maybe someone is trying to correct that mistake and they don’t want to go back…
It’s at that brainstorming point when I realize how lame I am. Sure, I would find such a story extremely interesting, but the idea of someone investing time into creating an actually involving narrative in a Pokemon game is just retarded. It’s Pokemon. You buy it for the cuteness and the shockingly intense gameplay mechanics. You don’t need a story, and thus it makes no sense to add one. Yet, I’m so connected to this whole Pokemon world that I want to see more serious things done in it.
Come to think of it, that’s probably why I’m looking forward to that Sonic RPG. The idea of it is ridiculous in the same way, and yet Bioware is making it. It could blow me away, have that childish charm I love so much and still be interesting, you know?
I don’t know, it doesn’t make much economical sense, but I think it would be awesome. The fact that my mind considers, even if just for an instant, the idea of writing fanfics along the lines of what I rambled tells me I would DEVOUR something like that.
Man, I am so lame. And yet, I don’t really care too much, you know? As long as I’m having fun, who the fuck cares, right? I’ll get back to my kiddy roguelike now.