It appears that the United States Postal Service has their own line of Tow Trucks. Well, perhaps line isn't the appropriate choice of words, I've only ever seen one (and yes, it was towing a mail van), but just spreading the word. It certainly made me laugh for a moment. Either way, the news since last time.

With the rerelease of Disgaea on the way and La Pucelle idling in my PS2 I'll be plotting a combo post for the two of them, storylines, differences and similarities, interesting things, etc. Yeah, it sounds long, but we all know it won't be, and knowing me it's a ways off in the future either way. But that's for a later date. Present events to discuss.

Compton, David, and I completed Hunters: Redeemer last night, in one go, of approximately 6 hours. Okay, I made that number up, I certainly didn't watch the time. I don't recall Hunters: Reckoning having a difficulty setting but it has been awhile. Anyways, the major difference between this sequel and the original in the series is that now you gain power through use. So Ranged weapons get stronger and larger clips with more use, you empower and gain new powers (there's an offical name but I just blanked) through usage of Conviction, and melee through melee. Either way, on easy, we accumulated close to 150 lives through completing objectives and saving innocents, which is about 5 times the number we ever earned in Reckoning (which Kyle, David, Compton, and I still haven't beaten, nor played in awhile) and about 140 more than we needed to beat the game. Up until the last level, excluding the 2 mission faileds that we recieved (not know how a stage works before hand is kinda a handicap. Note: Kill the enemies, then set the short fused explosives, makes life easier) my Avenger had not died once whereas both Compton and David had about 2 or 3 deaths under their belts (which is not a blaming thing, it's just that the bosses seemed to like to pick on weaker characters, and the first time you fight something, it's hard to know what attacks it possesses), the last stage however, cost me 4 lives. 2 Insta-gibs by meteors from the sky (originally intended for Innocents that we had to save (also where the second Mission Failed happened, failing to save enough, cause we didn't want to just run past the enemies) because I kept accidentally cast my Smite Edge (that's the word I blanked on earlier) to clear the enemies instead of grabbing out my axe and moving out of the way. And twice on the last boss because he felt I was the better target for once and hit me with a Diablo-Esce Firestorm (not insta-kill, but very very near to it, and close enough given that I was meleeing him). The other new addition is the Redeemer herself, who plays the role of annoying brat, who's allegedly 13 but doesn't look it (And by that, I do mean she looks older, go find the cover of the game yourself, you'll see what I mean). Now by annoying brat I mean the one who both starts all the trouble and then stops everyone else from making it worse and helps to solve it. In another change, instead of the animated dialogs being based on who is in the party, all the Hunters are involved, and it makes things flow with greater style, a welcome improvement.

Also saw Shrek II today and here's what I have to say. It's good but it's not great. The first movie was comedic, original, interesting. I won't say it was unpredictable, but you did walk away feeling that you'd been told a good hour and half story, even if you are like me and wanted to kill Eddie Murphy, or at least the damnable donkey. If you can't tell, not my favorite style of character, the really annoying aid to the protagonist who gets more than he deserves (if you still can't tell, I invite you to find my posts about Dobby and JarJar in the archives). Either way, if you've seen the previews, you know that Shrek II isn't quite everything the original was. Fortunately, I can say, that every movie parody you see in the trailors they doesn't involve the Red Carpet or Antonio Banderas happens in the opening and isn't somehow wedged into the story, so you can breath a sigh of relief about that. So, here goes: The Good- John Cleese lends his voice talents, that's always good. Interesting suprises, a good soundtrack, Antonio Banderas makes a good addition to the cast. A few of the twists you've come to expect. Very few catchlines. The Bad- Doesn't feel like you get a full hour and a half story this time; too much time is wasted in moments drawn out for far too long. Not nearly as much original humor, alot fewer puns. The Ugly- There's a SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE AND IT HAS PREVIEW SPACE!!