Hook Line and Sinker for myself as well.

...just to play off the Penny Arcade title in a similar venue.

I wonder if abject tedium combined with a strong dislike for customers can be considered a job hazard. Sorta a bi-polar mix anyways. Sidenote: I'm a little rusty on the topic, but is a singular pole necessarily possible under regular circumstances, like a peak of X subsiding to neutrality without an opposing (-)X. Just doesn't seem feasable but the idea of bi-polar wouldn't be there if there weren't a reason.

"Just Deserts" -- Learn something new every day eh. I really did think it referred to desserts as a epithet, and not some definition of desert (emphasis second syllable) that's rarely used.

Heh, I remember why I liked Striptease as a comic, and it has so little to do with the sex -- despite what prior posts on other topics might conjure.

Purchased Burning Crusade at long last. Halfway through 60 thanks in good part to Nefarian's Head. Friendly with Honor Hold, almost to 310 Herb (which is the magic number for Dreaming Glory if you've got Judgement Gauntlets of Herbalism +5, sacreligious as that may seem).

Update, 61 and 3/4ths after burning through my rested exp playing in the Citadel (Ramparts and Furnace, and I got my spiffy gloves I had in beta too). The minor changes to quests are disconcerting just because they aren't specifically what I expected, but no matter -- still totally doable if you bother to read the quest text. Advanced to 375 First Aid, 320 Cooking, and 320 Herb, going to use Transmute Heart of Fire to Elemental Fire to level Alchemy before I start wasting herbs on it.

Just another slice of random.

In gaming news
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade and Gears of War both go Triple Platinum (3 x 1 Mil).

Sadly the only thing in the currently slated Q1 Wii releases is SSX Blur though the Wii-Store offerings (Bomberman, Wario Woods, and Zelda) and the News Channel (goes live January 28th)) does have some high points. Wii Play get released on Valentine's Day with the extra Wii-mote to promote multiplayer, but I'm not really looking towards Billards, Fishing, and Shooting as amusment, it'll be a nice change from Wii Sports though I guess.

Random Quote:
"How about now, big boy? Do you still wish to penetrate me?... Or is it I who has penetrated you?" -- Argh, wtf is that from, it's gonna bother me cause I know I know the answer, it's just not coming to me. I can even visualize the damn sword.

Whatever, I'm gonna stop malglecting Foundry for a bit to get in a writing mood and extoll the virtues of Eureka sometime this week (I've only been saying that for 2 months now?)

Textual amusement

Video Game Quote-Storming

I see the president equipped his daughter with ballistics -- Resident Evil 4.

Your right hand comes off? -- Resident Evil 4

Please don't go. The drones need you. They look up to you. -- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

I dunno. I was just looking at it and I suddenly got this urge to get inside. No, not just an urge - more than that. It was my destiny to be here; in the box. -- Metal Gear Solid 3

We're going with my Pimp plan -- Tales of Symphonia.

Lloyd: "Colette...need cure for poison..."
Colette: "Oh, I'm not poisoned, Lloyd!"
Lloyd: "No...I mean...me..."

Lloyd: "Victory..."
Colette: "..belongs to..."
Sheena: "...the most..."
Zelos: "...Sexy! Dead Sexy!"

Colette: "Our weapons are love!"
Genis: "Justice!...and"
Kratos: "Ugh...Hope."

Genis: "I'll protect you, Presea!"
Presea: "And I'll protect you too, Genis."
Genis: "Uh...okay..."

Raine: "What was that enemies' name?"
Colette: "I like Poochie."
Raine: "No dear, I meant the species."

Raine: "This is not an inn, dear."
Sheena: "Be quiet you cold hearted witch!"
Raine: "Let's just leave her here."

Sheena: "Did you see my attack?"
Zelos: "Oh yeah, Baby. I was watching all right."
Sheena: "For some reason, I don't think that was what you were focusing on."

Regal: "We must protect..."
Presea: "...This world..."
Sheena: "...With our own hands."
Zelos: "And speaking of hands, I think I'll put mine..."
Sheena: "Ugh, idiot!"

Lloyd: Who was that girl earlier?
Colette: I hope we get to see her again.
Lloyd: What are you talking about? She's trying to kill you!
Colette: Yeah, once we become friends, I'll have to ask her why she was doing that.
Lloyd: Huh?! Are you kidding me? How do you plan on becoming friends with her?!
Colette: Hmm. What would you suggest?
Lloyd: Me? How am I supposed to know?
Colette: Try to come up with a plan before we see her again!
Lloyd: Wait, I have to come up with the plan?...

Lloyd: Where in Gaoracchia Forest is this Mizuho village?
Sheena: I can't tell you that. We'll be there soon anyway, so just be patient.
Zelos: I see you Mizuho people are as secretive as ever.
Sheena: It's to protect our unique culture. If you don't like it, you can wait in the forest.
Zelos: You've got to be kidding! I'll pass on being left behind in the Forest of Death!
Presea: The odds of surviving alone in Gaoracchia Forest...Twenty-five percent.
Zelos: Ouch. Don't say stuff like that, Preseaaaa....
Lloyd: You'll be fine. You look like the type that just won't die.
Sheena: I'll second that.
Zelos: What? You know what they say -- the pretty boys die young.
Presea: ...Incorrect usage detected. Correction necessary.
Zelos: Preseaaa!

Zelos: Exsphere mines, huh?...Riiiight...
Sheena: What? Something wrong with that?
Zelos: Surely you know about it, too. Exsphere mines in the vicinity of Altamira...What else is there besides the Toize Valley Mine?
Sheena: Ah, that one that's connected by tunnel to Moria?
Zelos: And if that's the one, think for a moment about who it is that owns the mountains in that area.
Sheena: ...I guess it'd have to be the Lezareno Company. But...so what?
Zelos: ...Oh, brother. Is your chest the only part of you that's well-endowed?
Sheena: You better shut up or I'll smack you!
Zelos: Don't say it after you've smacked me! Sheesh...

Lloyd: Orochi and Kuchinawa are brothers, right? Those are some interesting names.
Sheena: They're both old Mizuho words for "snake." But those aren't their real names.
Presea: Are they aliases?
Sheena: Not exactly... In Mizuho, we have a tradition of giving people an additional name, while hiding our real names.
Lloyd: Really? What are their real names?
Sheena: Beats me. Only they, their parents, and the Chief know. And whomever they marry.
Presea: Is your name a second name as well?
Sheena: Yeah, that's right.
Zelos: Presea, I know Sheena's real name.
Sheena: What?! How could you know?!
Zelos: Sheena's real name is Violent Demonic Banshee.
Sheena: ...Zelos!
Zelos: See? See? I told you she's a violent banshee!

Colette: What should we do if the Desian ranch is rebuilt?
Lloyd: Hmmm. We'll just have the Professor blow it up again.
Regal: ...Raine has that kind of power?
Presea: That's amazing. Not only can she heal, but she can destroy, as well.
Regal: So she's a human bomb.
Colette: No, Regal. She's a half-elf, so she's a half-elven bomb.
Lloyd: "Half-elven Bomb"? That's kind of long to have to say.
Presea: How about "HE Bomb"?
Colette: Wow! The Professor can make boy bombs?! She's amazing!
Regal: ...If the Professor heard that, I'm sure she really would explode.

Zelos: Did you see that? That was the Great Mysterious Masked Handsome Warrior Zelos at work!
Genis: Hey, can I ask you a question? Mr. Mysterious Masked Handsome Warrior?
Zelos: Certainly, young man. Ask me anything you like.
Genis: If you're wearing a mask, how can anyone tell that you're handsome?
Zelos: Well, it's obvious when you see my unmasked face, right?
Sheena: I'd like to ask something, too.
Zelos: Ah, Great-Chested Sheena. Ask me anything.
Sheena: If you're supposed to be mysterious, why are you still using your name, "Zelos?"
Zelos: Ah, well, that's...
Presea: May I ask something, as well?
Zelos: Wh...what is it, my dear Presea?
Presea: Are you hiding your face because that outfit is embarrassing?
Zelos: ...Ahh! You hurt my feelings!

Lloyd: What do you plan to do after this battle is over, Zelos?
Zelos: What else? I'm going to make use of my good looks and intelligence and make a harem assembled from all the cute girls in the world.
Lloyd: ...Even after coming back, you haven't changed a bit.
Zelos: What? If you're envious, I'll give you a special present, just for you.
Lloyd: What present?
Zelos: A year's worth of complimentary tickets to the Great Zelos Harem!
Lloyd: *Sigh*
Zelos: Or would you rather make the harem with me?
Lloyd: Don't drag me into it!

Zelos: That darkness beam was a lot of fun!
Lloyd: Really? All it does is make it pitch black. It's not any fun at all.
Zelos: You're an idiot, Lloyd.
Lloyd: What?! Why?!
Zelos: Darkness is great! It's the best chance to make your moves on a girl!
Lloyd: What...?
Zelos: You can do all sorts of things to them, as much as you like! Hehehehehe.
Lloyd: ...Hey, Sheena! Zelos just said he's the one who had his hand on your butt!
Sheena: ...Wh-what did you just say?!
Zelos: Whoa! Wait, stop, it's a misunderstanding! I haven't touched you yet! ...Aaaaah!

Zelos: I see...So Sheena's left and gone back to Mizuho?...Man, and I was so looking forward to gazing upon that voluptuous body again.
Lloyd: ...That reminds me, you and Sheena know each other, right?
Zelos: Know each other? Now, now, Lloyd, that's a great misunderstanding!
Lloyd: Then what's the deal?
Zelos: We're lovers. She's my hunny. ((musical note))
Lloyd: What?! Really?
Zelos: My future hunny.
Lloyd: Bah, so you were just joking.
Zelos: No, it's no joke! Half the world's girls are destined to become my servants of love!
Presea: ...The probability of that is...infinitely close to zero.
Zelos: ...

Zelos: Cooooooleeeeette! She really doesn't respond to anything.
Sheena: Hey! You aren't doing anything funny to her, are you?
Zelos: What?! Of course not!
Sheena: Cause it wouldn't surprise me at all if you did something like that.
Zelos: What do you mean by that?
Sheena: You tried peeking at me in the shower before!
Zelos: That was just natural curiosity toward the unknown.
Sheena: ...Oh, brother.
Zelos: ...This angel transformation definitely doesn't look like something I want to go through.

Lloyd: This "weightless" stuff is a little hard to handle.
Zelos: Once you get used to it, it's pretty fun, Lloyd. Just imagine inviting a girl you like up here. You could have fun in all sorts of ways that you couldn't normally.
Lloyd: Like what? Playing tag or something?
Zelos: *Sigh* You're a really boring guy, Lloyd.

Sheena: Seles, huh... I really don't like that girl.
Zelos: Oh? You've met before?
Sheena: A while ago, someone was stalking me. That stalker turned out to be Seles.
Zelos: Seles was stalking you? Why?
Sheena: That's what I wanna ask. She yelled, "You evil witch, I'll teach you to seduce my brother!" and she suddenly started attacking me. Mind you, I sent her packing, of course.
Zelos: Ah...well, you know what that is. She must think you're one of my sweet hunnies.
Sheena: How in the world would she possibly think that?
Zelos: Because I told her so.
Sheena: So it's all your fault!

//////

Rikku: Dr. P is in the house!
Paine: Stop that.

Rikku: I'm gonna kick you in the spleen!
Paine: Spleen?

Yuna: Give me a Y!
Rikku: Give me an R!
Paine: Give me a break.

Yuna: What's the password?
Rikku: How about, don't screw up?

Rikku: Scary.
Paine: Your point?
Yuna: Scary.

Rikku: Snake. Snake? Snake!!!

Yuna: Duck soup.
Paine: Duck what?

Paine: What a sloppy victory.
Rikku: Better than a sloppy defeat.

"Sadly, no trace of them was ever found"

Yeah. Beat Neverwinter Nights 2. Can't say I'm impressed at all by the ending, though the last fight, and the fact that your influence on your allies played a role was pretty cool. As with all D&D-centric games, the Paladin got sex. Somehow the fact that it's become a running trend for the man of virtue to get laid seems a bit on the far side of wrong.

GameFAQs is running a Video Game Quote Contest, so I get 10 submissions, I'll be pondering this for quite awhile. CJC posted up http://zanyvgquotes.com/ which is just...I mean, at least I'm not bored at work anymore although the site isn't really all that good...at all. As for what I'd like to submit, I'll have to dredge up all the good RPG text-dumps. Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (Why can't I remember Sarevok's opening speech, or Irenicus' for that matter), Lunar 1 and 2, Final Fantasies, etc. Plus Metal Gears and that vein. And then there's the Starcraft/Warcraft quotes, grr. So many good ones and so few easily recalled. At least my submissions should be meme free, but more pondering on that later.

Bogged myself down with non-blogging activities and work today, so short post.

Allow me distract you with sex:

Wapsi Square
Sinfest

And I'm not even going to mask those links, not time-value effective. And with Geass not out, I'm not feeling generous.

Edit: Okay, so I lied because the links didn't linkify themselves. And removed most of them because they were primed and wouldn't even last the week, no big loss.

"Due to the physical limitations of the human brain, it is only possible to speak three different languages. Any language learned beyond the third will necessarily detract from proficiency in the others. In fact, there is a point - seven languages, on average - at which the mind's capacity for language is stretched to the breaking point. Those foolhardy enough to attempt to push this limit are often rendered incoherent in every language."

Second wave of gaming (Part 7 -- Extension of Gaming, Not the Anime Post)

I felt Image Overload was appropriate for a 4 Image post. This one might get similar treatment, I have enough Eureka + Black Lagoon images to pull it off if I opt to do so, though I'm not certain how well the mix of image and text went over with others. I can say that having two Images stacked at the top was a bad flow, so I'd be mixing images into paragraphs, which I'd rather not be doing.

Finished off Lost Planet, and all I have to say is... bleh. The game is awesome, the gameplay is fluid and beautiful, and the fun of dashing around in the middle of about 20 enemies worth of fire is indescribable. Some of the foundation concepts, like Thermal Energy fueling both health regeneration and ammunition for some weapons or the Grappling Cord are groundbreaking (I don't care if you say the Grappling Cord has been done before, this was a seemless intergration unlike anything before it). I definately ended wanting some ephemeral more, though not any more of the Flying-Mech or last battle. For whatever reason I end up hating the last battle in about 80% of games, just because they try and do something new and different and end up fucking it the hell up. So many games either take a winning routine and break it (Any Fighting game in the history of fighting games (See my DoA3 Rant specifically)) or decide to just compensate their AI by making the enemy the most powerful thing ever seen (Like Baldur's Gate 1. Listen to me Black Isle, You're gonna level cap me at 7th level yet give the last boss's minion the ability to cast Cloudkill (For the non-savvy, that'd require level 13 to do)). But enough of a tangent. Good game, perhaps not a great game, but I'll definately be giving it a replay, moreso for the fun of it than for the hunting of the medals. PS: Ending blows total goats, seriously.

Moved the PS2 back to the small TV and put in Valkerie Profile 2. A little over an hour and into Chapter 2. Rufus is a badass in the Balthier style, and I've already gotten over the fact that several of the heavy warriors have the same VA as Ichigo from Bleach (as well as Vash the Stampede and Renton Thurston -- let me give you a moment to have that sink in). Gameplay is spectactular, item linking is innovative as is the Skill system, and Alicia's Special Attack is jaw-dropping. They've got everything I could ever want to alter in the configs. Breaks, Combos, Item Acquisition, Overdamage, all enjoyable. The jumping puzzles are fun, if a bit tricky to get the hang of, but I'm not sure what else they're going to be able to throw at me to complicate things.

Read Gabe's rant about Guitar Hero 2 for the XBox, and really I'm not about to invest in another guitar to go to a console with essentially less options (the few tracks gained are much less than a whole other game on the system) and the new tracks that are confirmed or rumored have no bearing on me, though I'm suprised to see that Deep Purple got another track. The talk that Neversoft (makers of Tony Hawk and Gun) have taken over Guitar Hero III development aren't all to worrying for me, they're pretty much got a winning formula, they just need a good music crew and that's all I ask (It'd be patently unpossible to choose a tracklist where I couldn't get behind a few of the songs), I'm more interested in what Harmonix is going to do instead.

Sidenote: The NPD Data for Video Game sales for 2006 are quite interesting. (Strunk and White would like to add: Data are, Datum is)

One last shot of Webcomic-age. The Oracle Strip of Order of the Stick. Given that Roy's has been settled, can we count the latest developments as settling Haley's? (When you only know the answer and not the question it's hard to tell -- PS: 42).

I probably won't get through all of this, just because work tends to cause my writing ability to deteriorate after a few hours anyways, and I've been trying to write about Eureka for a month or two now to little avail. Planned intinerary for this trip: Eureka Seven, FMP:TSR, Black Lagoon, Venus Versus Virus, Code Geass + GunXSword and Ergo Proxy (though almost certainly not in that order). Actually, next post delays, work is trying to break my spirit and my soul again. Hate when they do that.

Boomerang! You really do always come back! (Part 6 -- Video Games and Webcomics)

(Yes, that's an Avatar quote again, though if I say it aloud one more time Ian might hit me)

Geeze. I think how large a quadruple image post and I disover that abq's postings for the 12th (plus the zero-hour 13th post for the contest) fills his entire front page. So perhaps the anime half of the viewables will be again somewhat image intensive, just for the hell of it. Plus they're pretty. So over the weekend there was much gaming all around (okay, not alot of the PS2, cause that's on the Football TV, so we just Guitar Hero at night sometimes). Last Friday, Capcom put out Lost Planet, so David went out and got that as well as Viva Pinata since he was there.

I chunked a solid amount of time into Lost Planet, enough to be on the last 3 missions (probably the next-to-last but I'm not checking) and spent the rest of it with Neverwinter.

Neverwinter Nights 2
So, I've learned that if you run out of Disc Space playing NWN2, then you're up the creek without a paddle. The game won't let you save, but if you try it'll delete the old file in preparation and then fail. As you can imagine, this isn't very good, though it's pretty rare (I just forgot I'd deleted some stuff and didn't clear it out) so I ended up having to Export and Import to preserve my Monk (yeah, I went back to a Monk after all that, but at least the game seems stable after the last driver updates I made). As a result of this, I'm carrying around 2 of the +10 hp Silver Shards (which was much more of a benefit at Level 3 than it is at Level 13), and had a bit more of a cashflow to begin with, though given that I'm barely equipping my allies outside of three and there's rarely good stuff in stores relative to what you grab in battle, that's not an issue.

13th Level Monk, Human. Diplomacy, Tumble, and Lore with partial Use Magic Device and Spellcraft (Saves and spell understanding ftw). I'll probably replay as either a Cleric or Mage and take the crafting route, it seems markedly easy to do based on all the tomes I've collected. I'm just past Lorne in storyline (I should've just ran away after I killed him and waited for the Frenzy to end, but Knockdown works just as well). Here's to hoping I get to break Torio's neck sometime soon.

Lost Planet
You can definately feel that this is a Capcom game. After doing the Halo -> GoW comparison, going back to the Grenades + 2 Weapons system feels limited. That said, there isn't a pistol at all, so it could effectively be the same as the GoW system as well. Excellent story, though I'm hoping that the Luka thing will get a kiss sometime soon, I don't need that level of relationship tension in my Action games. I get enough of that from anime. I'm a little shaky on the merits/benefit of the additional icons hidden in each stage, but for now I'm mostly playing through and finding those on the rare occasion. Looks like it's going to be standard length for it's genre, maybe a bit on the shortside. I think I've got perhaps 8-10 hours spread across the weekend and not a lot more to go.

Actually, a quick check of the achievements for the game reveals that I'm on the last stage after all, so we'll see how well the game plays now that I've gone from 3-rd person shooter to Zone of the Enders ripoff. Game plays fine and fun, though the stunlocking inherent in non-fatal blows during large firefights is annoying, very annoying. The melee combat interface doesn't mesh well with the controls, but you'll rarely if ever want to be meleeing things. Readability on the game is horrendously low, and I spend alot of battles firing blindly through smoke screens and explosion clouds. They're terrifically pretty, but terribly difficult to see through (read: impossible). The mechs feel like they reskinned some MegaMan X units without a whole lot of extra creative thought, though that doesn't make them any less fun. The basic mech's inability to Dash for extended periods is annoying, but less so that the Bike, High-Jump, and Spider-Drill-Tank mechs that don't even have Dash at all. Oh, and the Power Saw drains way too much energy for an attack that can rarely even hit an Akrid's weak spot (they are rare if ever ground level, at least initially). You'll note I didn't write too much on the story, and fact is, there's not a whole lot to it, but for a shooter I'd rather not spoil the plot as it'd take you have a day to see it all, and it is kinda cool how it unravels, if more than slighty wtf-unrealistic.

Viva Pinata
http://pinataisland.info/index.php?title=Category:Species (Really I could mask this to a cleaner link, but it's actually more work than not to do so, the way that the WYSIWYG editor works for Blogger Beta)
Viva Pinata, in addition to being sickeningly adorable at times, plays out like a mix of Black and White, Animal Crossing, and Harvest Moon. You play a disembodied omnipresent gardening slash caretaking force as you develop and manage your garden to attract, keep, and breed pinatas. In true to the genre style, these pinata species come boasts a mixture of gutwrenching puns and adorable pinata-likenesses of their real-world animal companions. Pinatas have requirements to appear, to join your garden, and to fall in love, and you gain exp for mating Pinatas (which is a maze minigame, every time) and growing plants. Higher levels in turns expands your garden, upgrades you tools, adds to the selection of the shops, and gives you access to new pinata varities. The first time through the game, you guide (with a slight hint of British accent) shows you all the nuances, and every single time a new Pinata makes an appearance, becomes a resident (which gives them colors other than the monochrome of wild pinatas), mate, or a thousand other things, you get a cute 15-30 second cut-scene. Sometimes you'll unlock several of these at once, and get to watch a few minutes of cut-scenes unveil, but it's still fun and cute. What it isn't, is simple. Pinatas, like real animals, don't always get along. Pinatas can fight each other, the larger ones can trample smaller ones, and they can get sick. Plus, most Pinatas have to have eaten certain others in order to become residents, or to be ready for romance.

Webcomics
Shooting to not devolve into a ramble like usual with this one, instead aiming to touch on a few recent developments and further plot which to include in the links section (I've got a few shoe-ins, but I'm still debating on how many and what format of inclusion).

Rob Baldur's other project (being run inside Order of the Stick's pages) is warming up nicely, still got awhile to go before I can start reccomending it (still mostly exposition, but good nonetheless) as those who may have seen the GTalk message, this Battle for Gobwin Knob was particularly amusing. Like, I want to see where this is going, amusing.

Now, for my two female readers (I made that number up, but I'm more than willing to concede it's accuracy), you'll have to bear with me for a little bit here.
The latest Applegeeks returns to the amusing trend. They'd been a bit meh of late, but AGLite has been straight successes for awhile now.

As for the latest MegaTokyo (which has sorta downturned, but only because I don't like Piro all that much), what exactly is Erika's expression at the end there supposed to convey?

Despite how much the author might downplay it, I've always liked the sounds-like-inneundo routine as per this Pointless comic. It's topical, plays to the motives of the characters involved, and amuses me every time -- it's a solid example of how the concept it should be done. Contrast with OOTS's take which takes a suspension of disbelief (and the orbs never came into play again...) or RPGWorld's which tries two things at once with the Evil Eikre routine (which was great by itself, just they didn't mix too well, dampened the effect of both).

And, since we started with quotables, here's some more from Hellbound (I tried to cite the line, but in some cases I just went with the concept instead)
I don't want to know how that works
Acid Piranas
Popularity contest with a rock
Lead-based paint
Caramel pockets
Nothing to see here

Interjection -- Arkham Horror Rule Reconstruction.

Dunwich Horror Cards are marked with a Barn Symbol.
Curse of the Dark Pharoah Cards are marked with the Pharoah Symbol.

Replacement Cards for Flesh Ward x4, Healing Stone, and Lantern x2.

11 Allies total, deal out 11 face up so everyone knows who's availiable then shuffle them.
(Note, CotDP rules add it's Allies to the Deck and force 2 discards on Terror Track advancement, reconcile this however you'd like -- though the makers suggest taking all 3 sets Allies and taking 11 each time).

With 5 or more players, place 2 monsters on the gate location indiciated on the starting mythos card.
Note that you cannot start the game under the effects of a Rumor, draw a new card.
Also note, that this applies to all subsiquent Gate Openings as well, with 5 or more Players.

Dunwich counts as Arkham for enviroment, but it's monsters do not count towards the monster limit.

Tasks and Missions steps are completed during the Upkeep Phase.

Stalkers (Purple Border) follow the indicated movement of the mythos unless there is an investigator in an adjacent Street Location or Unstable (Red Diamond) Location.

Flying Monsters will move to a street location when moving if there is an investigator present, otherwise they'll move to the Sky. They all will not leave a square with an investigator, just like other monsters.

Gate Bursts fuction normally unless the location of the burst is Elder Sign-ed. In these circumstances the Elder Sign is removed and the Gate appears with a monster as normal. When a Gate Burst occurs do not add a token to the Terror Track. Also note that when Gate Burst cards are drawn, All flying monsters move regardless of the symbols on the Gate Burst Card.

When reduced to 0 Stamina, instead of losing Clues and Items, an investigator may instead take an Injury Card. His Stamina is restored to it's maximum value, though he must still move to St. Mary's Hospital or Lost in Time and Space, as appropriate.

When reduced to 0 Sanity, instead of losing Clues and Items, an investigator may instead take a Madness Card. His Sanity is restored to it's maximum value, though he must still move to Arkham Asylum or Lost in Time and Space, as appropriate.

If an investigator has 2 or more Injury and/or Madness cards. The player may skip his turn to announce Retirement and draw a new investigator.

If a monser in Dunwich moves into a Vortex. Return it to the cup, increase the Terror Level by 1, and add a Dunwich Horror Token to the track.

Monster Surges occur when you draw a location that already has an open portal. When a surge occurs, place monsters on the board equal to the Number of Open Gates or the Number of Players, whichever is greater.

If the Terror Track is full, adding to it instead adds a number of Doom Tokens to the Doom Track equal to the amount the Terror Track would have moved.

"A Gate appears" / "A Gate and a monster appear" does cause a Doom Token to be added. Note that in the case of the latter, the Gate appears first so the investigator is drawn through without having to fight.

Characters in Other Worlds do not get Movement Points, meaning you cannot use items such as Tomes which require Movement Points while in other worlds.

Trading can occur Before, During, or After Movement. You may trade Common Items, Unique Items, Money, and Spells.

Errata: Jenny Barnes gets 2 Common Items (instead of only 1), Bob Jenkins gets $9 (not $8).

Scoring Notes
+1 per Task/Mission Completed
-1 per Investigator retired.

I'll roll this into a self-abbreviate version of the original rules sometimes, make a clear model of play for gamer's sake.

*Image Overload* Viewing Habits 1 (Part 5 -- The Anime-lite half of the post)

Note, I used the *Image Overload* Tag with strict emphasis in mind.

Finished Guitar Hero on Medium, 5 Starred everything, gotta get back to working on Hard. Then 5 Starring those, and then we'll be into the real difficulty of the game. About that time I figure I'll get sick of even the songs that I like and be forced to get Guitar Hero 1 to keep things interesting. Course, by my current pacing that'll be like mid-June before I've gotten that far.

Anyone wanting to point out that the above pictures (Rider, kinda a grainy scan, and the original, chokers ftw) are actually girls playing Bass can take a seat and a number, not that I'm going to heed any of it -- I prefer Bass anyways.

Back when Christmas rolled around I pondered awhile on asking for a few DVDs of a Cartoon/TV/Anime nature and thusly spent awhile deciding what would actually be worth having in a repeatable format. Obviously it had to be something that I thoroughly enjoyed, probably comedic in nature. David's copy of The Critic is a prime example of a solid decision, that show was so amusing and quotable ("Buy my Book" and "Penguins can't fly!" as primely recoignizable examples). My revised shortlist ended up reaching the following conclusion.

* Pick 1: Teen Titans. Probably the weakest pick on the list, but the show appeals to me despite everything that it's frequently knocked for. The half-adopted anime-mannerisms and style aren't detractions. The show covers some really amusing and rather endearing concepts and does so without resorting to inelegant bloodbaths. Not every episode is a winner but Robin vs Slade fights and anything involving Raven's past are pretty much guaranteed wins.

*Pick 2: Naruto

Okay, so maybe that was totally an excuse to use that image, only not really. Naruto really appeals to me on both the viewer and the group level. Now everyone gives me the strange look about the latter, so let me explain. There's anime that's great to watch, and then there's anime that's great to watch with someone else. I mean, I'm enjoying Welcome to the N.H.K. but it's not the sort of anime you'd bring out to watch as a group, it's not that style. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the perverse level to the show (I'm not that far actually) but the complexity, it's the sort of thing you want to flip back through, and have sole control over.



I mean, sure, Naruto just fill the generic shounen slot on the watch list, but it's the creme of shounen shows that I have access to. What else is there with that level of battles and relationship interplay? DragonBall-Anything is purely around for mockeries sake, at least as far as I'm concerned, and while Bleach is out, there isn't enough of it yet to really be a contender. I mean, they're not in Soul Society, which, truth be told is all I care about. You have to get Ishida out of the picture in Bleach for me, I just don't like his early introduction or anything in the middle range. It's not until they drop the doilies and the dead mentor/grandfather that I can even begin to appreciate the fact that he's a dead-eye fighter. Same with Chad, but at least they cut the crap quickly with him. Before I totally sidetrack myself, I'd just like to say that Renji's English VA does not fit at all though the attitude is right... ... ... and for the same reason, I'm waiting eagerly for Ichimaru Gin's first arrival.



Back on track, Naruto is aimed right at the mid-adolescent range (some sexual appeal, some violence without going heavy on either and no language) but it doesn't do anything to alienate those outside the range, the US-side editing is light enough not to be troublesome, and its got eye candy for both genders. Sure there's a few nuances, like why the hell they chose Frogs, but they make that work. It's great writing, lots of intrigue, and ninjas, everyone loves ninjas.



Really, I think One Piece could've done this if it hadn't been toned down to kiddy level and butchered so.


See what I mean? Total bad-ass-ness. (Yeah, I realize that's just fan art, but it's cool anyways, and One Piece definately had the potential to be). 4Kids should've had faith in the power of the original to gather a fanbase, instead of trying to force it through edits.

* Pick 3: Invader Zim
No brainer really. Zim is awesomeness, mostly in the for of Dib and Gir, but awesomeness nonetheless. J.Vasquez is a brilliant, if twisted, mind and Zim manages to do everything amusing without falling into the overly-disgusting-images/concepts pitfall that brought down Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, and other similar shows.

The Doom Song, Taquitos, the Jolly Boots of Doom, and Gir's cupcake being prime examples of Invader Zim's level of humor, it's definately something I could see myself buying on DVD.



*Pick 4: Avatar
"Wait, you can use your bending?!"
"Sure, they didn't cover my face"
"Why didn't you do that earlier"
"Gin."
"Gin?"
"You know about Gin right?"
"Sure. There's two kinds of Gin: Positive Gin from attacking and Negative Gin when you're defending."
"And Neutral Gin."
"Neutral Gin?"
"When you do nothing and wait for the right moment."
"So there's 3 kinds of Gin?"
"Actually there's 85, but lets just focus on the third."

The frequency with which Avatar: The Last Airbender can get me to laugh is pretty astounding. The show has all the magic that Naruto possess without actually coming from overseas. The groundwork rules that the powers in the show exist within were laid back at the beginning and the creativity they use within those parameters is remarkable and amusing. Avatar is bloodless but still not friendly, themes of Hatred and Revenge are fairly common. The show has likeable and visually appealing characters and the battles are bright and creative. Plus, the dialog not only rocks, but started in English and thus didn't lose any of it's jokes to translation (some things just can't cross the language barrier).

Honorable mention to Firefly.

Out of the Night and into the Twilight (Part 4 -- N3 and Zelda)

Decided I'd gone a few too many text heavy posts without touching hitting an image. Bandied a few ideas back and forth but decided that going with something in the Ninety-Nine Nights vein would be most fitting, since I'm stowing the Anime-Commentary for another post.

[Picking up where I left off]

Aspharr in the demo was really what hooked me into the game, specifically his impale maneuvers. When Aspharr (or Ass-y, as Ian calls him) runs an enemy through with his spear, he's got a bevy of options at his disposal.

• Regular Attack -- Smashes the enemy from side to side (Think of any old cartoon, like Popeye flipping Bruno back and forth) battering other enemies.
• Heavy Attack -- Spiral with the impaled enemy like doing a shot put and hurl it into a group of enemies, knocking them away.
• Jump -- Leap aerial and front flip, crashing down Pike-first with the impaled enemy and landing with a shockwave.
• Charge -- Run forward extending the hapless enemy as a battering ram then hurl him into his friends.
• Other -- You can actually combine several of these Charge + Charge for better distance, Charge + Leap, Charge + Heavy and get even more amusing attacks.

Ashparr's Orb Spark calls down a Holy Nuke. There really isn't a better explanation actually. About 3 spear lengths in front of him there is a giant orb of blue Holy Energy that draws enemies around it in, and then explodes. Generally it sends enemies flying back to where they had been standing, but in more confined spaces, it occasionally just lines the boundaries of the area with a line of corpses.

Myifee (Me Fee)
When you first select Myifee the game tells you he's a mercenary however that's actually untrue, as the opening cutscene for him details when he joined and why. Myifee is perhaps the greatest story ever told, mostly because as best as I can tell, he joined up with the mercenaries because a pretty girl did before him. He ends up saving pretty much every major human installation during the course of his missions and in the very end, gets the girl Epharr (F R -- seriously) who was a former Orc slave and for that reason turned into a warrior. She's also one of those random RPG-esce types who has a mask, on her head even, but never wears it. When you down the Orc Chief Lieu she dashes in to deliver the killing blow, and then stands there panting exhaustedly. If you play Aspharr's campaign first (you unluck Myifee and him at the same time) you still get to see this part of the scene, which leave Asparr going "What was that all about" in a 'O....kkkkkkkkkkkayyyyyyy' kind of way. In Myifee's campaign she collapses crying and he the comfort hugs her.

Though slow as hell, Myifee has a suprising amount of armor for someone who's actual attire consists of pants and a massive dual-bladed sword on a string. I'd love to say psyche, but it's all true -- he really does have a Twin Blade that he whirls about like a yo-yo at times. He only gets one impale, and that consists of throwing his Blade through and enemy, recalling the weapon so it sits on his shoulder with the impaled enemy above it, and then lashing the weapon out again hurling the corpse. Myifee has fire as his element, so his most powerful attacks utilize him calling fire up from the earth rather than actually swinging his blade. His orb spark calls down a storm of meteorites to smash into the field ahead of him, and he can turn his focus, redirecting the subsiquent waves. The ability is battlefield carnage at it's best with random division of enemy troops being hurled skyward by the massive explosions.

Dwingvatt
Dwingvatt's a goblin who watched his brother die at Inphyy's hands protecting goblin civilians that she was attacking. Really, he should've just attacked Inphyy, but that wouldn't have created this anguished goblin figure. I'm not certain if you're supposed to identify with him, I certainly didn't. He's lightning fast, starts with the double dash ability and has several ninja-esce abilites, including smoke bomb teleports. Wields twin daggers but isn't very damaging. His Spark calls down a tornado, but it's not all that impressive as far as Orb Sparks go.

Klarrann
A Priest of the Church, Klarrann is the only character who can't jump, and that goes a long way towards tying him with Myifee for slowest character (Myifee can chain dash whereas the other characters suffer a delay after dashing, so while Myifee walks slower he can keep pace over distance). He wields a giant symbol of the church, which is apparently a long pole really that he bashes stuff with. Klarrann's campaign reveals that the King of Nights has gotten the Goblin King to try and fuse the Orb of Darkness with the Orb of Light, which would bring the land under 99 Nights of Darkness, at the end of which the King of Nights would reign supreme and the Ages of Man and Goblin would end.

Klarrann has as much variety with his impales as Aspharr did, only his impales are actually grapples. Klarrann can pick up a measly goblin with his free hand and: smash him around, charge him with holy energy, toss him into his buddies, pound his face into the ground, leap into the air and hurl him downward, or about a half-dozen other combinations of these. His Orb Attack state turns his Holy Symbol into a gigantic energy-sword that he swings around destroying enemies. Klarrann's Orb Spark calls down a torrent of bolts of holy energy in an area. I actually landed the attack directly on Pyurrot (Dark Elf Leader) in Klarrann's final mission and the damage not only obliterated her army, but left her at 1 hp (just goes to prove you can't kill a Boss with a Orb Spark).

Tyurru
Tyurru is the second least varied of the characters, beaten only by the secret character. Accompanied by a spirit of water (complete with a -tan name) Tyurru learns the horrors of war as she fights. In the end she loses her master to her friend who's been corrupted by the lure of the Orb of Darkness's power and has to defeat her. She's a Water Magus and thus her primary attack launches a small bolt of water (about 3/4ths of screen length as default distance, though she'll auto aim the proper distance for up to twice that far if there's an enemy in the line) and her heavy attack unleashes a giant wave to wash over enemies. Tyurru's fairly weak in her damage en-masse with terribly low hp and armor, but she decimates heavier foes and can out-maneuver anything by floating on her magical staff (shaped like a key). For all of her missions you get Yesperratt, Earth Magus - that'd be her friend, to fight alongside you. Yesperratt also tends to be wide-spread though not massive damage. Tyurru can also conjure large floating balls of water and knock them around into enemies, but that's mostly a waste of time better spent just nuking them. Her Orb Attack just empowers her regular strikes. It makes the Bolts of Water piercing and fatal, which means she absolutely demolishes any army facing her with it, and causes her heavy attack to fire seeking globes of water that explode and hurl enemies everywhere (great for combo count, not so great for kills). Tyurru's Orb Spark calls out a Tsunami which destroys armies and washes them away, it's pretty good for massive Xbox 360 slowdown.

Vigk Vagk
VV's a "friendly Troll" who gets captured by orcs and turned into a weapon of war. He barely takes damage from anything, but has no variety in his strikes. The only saving grace is his ability to use the enviroment. As VV levels he gains new grasping abilities, expanding from nothing to including grabbing soliders (and later dual wielding them), logs, rocks, and entire trees. VV gets befriended by a goblin, who dies when they are sent to unsafe territory to fight, so as Vigk Vagk you end up fighting not only most of the Light side heroes, but also the Goblin army heroes as well. His Orb Spark is a gigantic yell that ends up working similarly to Tyurru's except VV's has an initial delay, blasts out to further away, and can absolutely stall the Xbox for 5-10 seconds as it processes all the damage and corpse movement.

Extras
I've actually been working on getting all 1000 points worth of achievements out of N3, just to say I did it, and thankfully getting my B Rank missions improved coincides nicely with leveling the heroes to 9 (I think I got Myifee that far, but only him). The game boasts a very impressive gallery of unlockable images, sadly I don't know of a way to get images there onto the computer, as some of them would make for spectacular wallpapers.

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Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Well, the title actually becomes meaningful in the last moments of the game, but this is one I don't intend to spoil. Beat the game with about 30 hours poured into it, which is less than I had anticipated, but on par for a Zelda game. I've got 9 out of 24 Bugs left to go, about 24 of the 60 Poes still to be hunted, and I believe 15 Heart Pieces (Definately have to find the 20 Cats, only one I'm sure I'm missing). Other than that, I'm done, unless there's some achievements to be done regarding fishing (besides the rolling game, which I haven't done, but will, out of completionary neurosis). Finishing all that might land me at 40 hours, but that's sorta stretching the concept.

I took out the Cavern of Trials on my second pass through it's depths. Ended up using 2 Faeries and a Great Fairy Tears (for the damage, not really the healing) which has the same effect as Grandma's Soup in Wind Waker only it's so much harder to acquire. Speaking of Wind Waker, the rule was in full effect most of the time I was playing. For those who don't know/remember, the rule goes basically like this "Oh my God, Colin, how can you suck so badly at this and still succeed?!?!". Essentially, I breeze through the complex portions of dungeons through a creative blend of fighting prowess and insight, but if it's something like standing still on a platform for 10 seconds or walking a straight line, you can expect me to fail disastrously at least twice.

I found it sorta dishearting to have the first Dungeon Item, the Boomerang, have a story and a personality and all the rest to just be what you expected, but not enough to sour my opinion of the game at all. But combining the Boomerang with the conventional "puts-out-fires" weapon was a good mixture, even if I completely neglected the Boomerang and the Slingshot

The Ball and Chain was different, but really I prefer the ease of use and similar power inherent in the Hammer. Plus, the beauty of Hammer + Spin Attack, or the infamously genius Hammer-Stunning a Room full of Chu-Chu Jellies simply outpaces the Ball and Chain. Plus, it was rarely used, mostly a gimmick item for the dungeon with little application outside of those specific enemies/dungeon.

The spinner, on the other hand, had all the impact of the suck jar from Seasons. It was a serious WTF, followed by a 'this is genius!' It had novelity and purpose (even if it's applications were limited outside of it's home dungeon) and was one of the cooler things that the game implemented. It's a rudimentarily successful combat weapon, aids you at moving over difficult terrain, and makes for some of the greatest jumping puzzles that have been designed. I mean, they could make a $15 spin-off minigame completely designed around the Spinner and I'd buy it (That idea is total gold, I know).

I need to find a way to integrate spoiler tags via HTML, so that'll be tomorrows project amid other stuff, then I'll post my feelings about the rest of Twilight Princess. Still to go, Resolutions and Anime.

Interlude and Reprise (Part 3 -- Misc + XBox and Wii Continued)

I've opted not to edit Part 2 due to the fact that I've already rambled a good deal of distance down the page talking about Gears of War, so this becomes Part 3, though it'll still mostly cover the material that Part 2 had aimed for (parts are posts, not topics).

That said Warning: Long, long, long, long post.

Before we get to that, an interlude. GameFAQs cited because it's the easiest way to do it (100% less popups than most other sites I could use for this purpose). Horizontally expanded for maximized vertical compression.

Before the gaming takes over, I'd like to give a cheer for REM making the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Definately deserving, but I think I'm biased anyways.

Gaming Divinations aka: What looks to be worth buying.

Nintendo DS :
(Currently Out)
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin; Animal Crossing: Wild World; Jump! Ultimate Stars; Phoenix Wright; Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow; Elite Beat Agents.

Note: The omission of Final Fantasy III is not an oversight, I'm just not all that interested. Retrogaming isn't my directive.

(Upcoming -- Going pretty much by interesting titles)
1/16 - Phoenix Wright - Justice for All; 2/06 - Lunar Knights, Trioncube; 2/20 - Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (I'll admit I'm merely amused by the name); 2/27 - SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS, Steel Horizon.

XBox 360
Viva Pinata; Burnout: Revenge; Enchanted Arms.

1/12 - Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions (You best believe this is getting picked up on release date); 1/30 - Fusion Frenzy II; 10/16 Grand Theft Auto IV (I'm impressed that this has a release date).

Wii
Rayman Raving Rabbids; Elebits; Trauma Center: Second Opinion.

1/15 - WarioWare: Smooth Moves; 3/13 - Prince of Persia Rival Swords. ?/? - Super Smash Bros: Brawl.

Honorary Mentions: 2/05 - Bust a Move Bash!; 3/05 - Mario Party 8.

Rats, PSP is getting a Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters (I like this name). Between that and Resistance: Fall of Man, looks like Insomniac has hands in both of Sony's systems, perhaps I'll be getting a PSP as it's library of games keeps getting better, though the PS3 can definately still wait; no way in hell I'm shelling out that much.

-----------------------------------

Second Verse, Same as the First.

So, David and I have taken the plunge back into Gears of War, on Extreme this time. We're just past the first beserker, who faired remarkably poorly (overlooking the Death and a Knockout against me). David has some sort of uncanny death-walker powers around the Beserker. I swear he walked through a doorway that was 3/4ths Beserker and 1/4th Beserker fists and lived, hax.

Extreme isn't a whole lot worse than Hardcore, you just have to duck back into cover a bit earlier. I've definately acquired blind-firing skills, and the ability to grenade Emergance Holes (though I admit I tend to go for a near point-blank toss, just because the trajectory for aiming as the secondary player on Co-Op is nigh unusable, especially having gone back to a regular television instead of the HD Widescreen).

I've learned the hard way that I can no longer combat the locusts without cover using the Lancer or 3-shot, even if I have the element of suprise. The Shotgun is an entirely different story though, that's still brutally effective. The harder stuff is still ahead, but I think it's entirely within our powers to beat. Fighting at night will be an interesting part though, and the Explosive Wretches have me running scared already.

And after Ninety-Nine Nights...

I've actually played all 7 Characters now, though it wasn't until the Priest that the game's title actually came through into the game, and that was like the 6th character I played. Microsoft gets major points for creativeness in choice of names, even if they all pretty much unequivically suck.

Ninety-Nine Nights plays alot like the 1000 Heartless Battle in Kingdom Hearts 2, which is a good thing if you enjoy that type of brawl (I'm reluctant to say bloodbath, as there really isn't). I've never played any of the Dynasty Warriors, so most of my brawling experience comes from ancient arcade/console sidescrollers like X-Men, Gauntlet, Streets of Rage, and Final Fight.

In N3 you get a Weapon Slot (Except for the Special Character) and up to 5 extra slots to fit with items (you start with 1 and gain more as you level from 1 to 9, the cap). Items do a variety of things including Increasing Item Drop Rates and increasing Defense % or Hp all the way to the more powerful items that enable you to wield Weapons above your level, allow Orb Gauge Items to heal you as well, and increase the statistics of your troops as well as your hero. Killing enemies (assuming you, and not some ally or troop lands the finishing blow) release Red Orbs that come to you. Unlike Onimusha (and yes, I did try to type Inuyasha before stopping myself) you don't have to do anything to gather them, you'll collect them all regardless of how hard you try to escape them. These orbs fill your Orb Gauge and also grant you exp. When you fill the Orb Gauge you can perform a Orb Attack, wherein your Hero is charged with energy, and although reduced to only two attacks, capable of decimating armies. Any enemies you kill in Orb Attack mode drop Blue Spirit that fill your Spark Gauge. When that's filled (which takes quite a few Orb Attacks to do) you can perform the awe-inspiring Spark Attack. These vary between characters but are capable of completely clearing the field of everything except enemy Heroes.

I fully intend to spoil the game in the next few minutes here, though I imagine anyone playing that game isn't doing so for the story (and if you are, you're going to be disappointed).

Before I get to the characters' stories, just a quick run through of some of the major players. In addition to Human Forces (Generally Regionally aligned, the Temple Knights have an army, most major cities sport a force, and the Mercenaries also have an army, though they all look the same, except for minor color differenances) there's also some elves who fight for the side of good. Syumerrt (Never pronounced in game) leads them, though he only makes 2 appearances, and he's not actually built with any combos, just a bonus damage archer with the ability to smack with his bow instead of needing to draw a blade.

When you start a mission capable of having troops assigned to you (Myifee and the Temple Knights) there are four choices:
Infantry - Sword and Shield, good at fighting Polearm and Archer Troops.
Heavy Infantry - Good at fighting regular infantry, weak to polearms.
Archers - Worthless, completely worthless as your allies. They just charge in, decent at fighting the Dragons in the 3 missions they occur.
Polearms - Reasonably good at keeping down enemy elites/heroes, but tend to get trashed by archers or infantry.
The Temple Knights boast two Elites, Heppe who is a swordsman and then a Pikeman who doesn't actually come up in the storyline ever. The Mercenary forces have one Elite, who is their leader, but again, he's not important enough for me to remember his name or for anyone else to write it down.

Varrvazarr deserves it's own mention, set on the icy edge of the human lands, it acts as a barrier to the forces of the dark, but it's a military nation, led by Lord Vydenn and his three sons, Vyarrharienn, Vyden, and Vyerten. There's actually a 4th son who left to live a real life who styles himself TeaTea, but actually has a Vy name as well.

The Forces of Dark:
Goblins, led by King Dwakfarrio. They're the staple dark troops, having the same 4 divisions as the Human Troops although the distinction between Heavy and Light Infantry are nominal.
Elites - Commanders and Wizards. The Commanders are little more than higher offense/defense goblins with better speed, reflexes, and guard ability. The Wizards sport three spells, a Call Lightning that blasts a marked area with a lightning blast (ie: Keep moving), a Decripify Spell that reduces your movement, and a particularly nasty curse that affects friendly troops, making them vulnerable to your attacks.
Dwakfario fights with twinned daggers and a variety of reaching strikes (well, reaching for a dagger, they extend beyond the reach of any of the hero's non-ranged attacks though not much further).

Orcs, forgot the leader's name, he only shows up at the end of Myifee's mission and there's nothing special about him.
All orcs are Halberdiers, which make them pretty rough against your heroes and are far stronger than flimsy goblins. They have Commanders for their Elites, who just have more HP and better ability to Guard attacks.

Pwucks, Ppakk the Third. Pwucks are small frog people with spears. They're weak but swarm effectively. They speak Pwuck, which means that no one in the game understands what they say (displays as wingdings), but it comes up so rarely it doesn't matter.
Ppakk is a giant frog with a sword, but fights by leaping into the air and belly-splashing down on you for a large amount of damage.

Gewgs. Gewgs are dragon-esce peoples. They fight with large swords and they're good at stunlocking you with staggered hits if you don't have a good escape maneuver. No Elites, no leader, but they're the most infrequent of the enemies short of the army of the night.

Ariphan, lead by Pyurrot. The Ariphan are the Dark Elves of the N3 universe, fighting with swords and controlling Dragons to attack.
They're fairly infrequent, but about half the times you're fighting them you'll be fighting Pyurrot with them, and she's particularly brutal since like Dwakfarrio she boasts an actual routine of special attacks of her own.

Army of the Night, lead by the King of Nights. The Army of the Night are shadowy horned figures who hurl orbs of darkness as well as fairly powerful regular attacks. They have high-ish hp as well, but they only occur in the late game, at which point you're not really inclined to notice.

Inphyy (In fee) - Inphyy's parent were killed by goblins so she harbors a genocidal hatred for their kind. Now, I'm fully aware that genocidal isn't a word that one just bandies about, but she actually does destroy defenseless goblin women and children in one of her missions. In the present, Inphyy is a Temple Knight and calls Ashpharr brother though they aren't related by blood. In the course of her story she becomes increasingly bloodthirsty, forsaking a wounded messanger pleading for the Temple Knights to rescue Varrvazzar from an attack by the combined forces of the the dark armies, as well as having the Goblin Fort buried in earth. She slays the Goblin King Dwakfarrio before Aspharr can stop her and ends up doing battle with the King of Nights himself.

Inphyy two-hands a 1-handed sword. She's the second fastest of all the characters, acquiring both a double charge and a double jump in the course of her levels. Her Orb Attacks are a charge attack (akin to Gaktenou's Spiral Dash Tackle really) and a Whirlwind of holy energy. Her Orb Spark is a field of death. Basically anything around her is zapped by a chaining nexus of holy energy and dies instantly. It's rather amusing to wade into a field of troops and unleash this. Inphyy's spark is by far the easiest to aim, but one of the least powerful as it's got a limited radius centered on her.

In addition to the double jump and double dash abilites, Inphyy has the ability to leap across the heads of friends and foes alike. She only has one impale maneuver (we'll cover what's special about these in Aspharr's section) and it's a single target, though it's a brutal kill as she draws the blade out with a vertical flip.

Aspharr (Ass Far, I only wish I was making that up)-- Inphyy's foster brother who doesn't realize that she actually has feelings for him, feelings that the Priestess (similar age to him) he serves as a Temple Knight is jealous of (the Priestess doesn't ever come into play, except at the end of the Goblin missions, where they mention she gets killed in passing). When the dying messenger asks Aspharr for help you get a choice where you go (the only choice in any of the campaigns). If you go with destroying the goblins instead of helping your fellows then in the last mission Aspharr will arrive only in time to watch Inphyy collapse to die in his arms, and will go on to slay the Goblin King in his rage. Should you take the other path, you end up stopping her from killing him -- the happier ending.

[Pause here for now, done with work for the day]

Locust, Goblins, and Shadows (Part 2 - XBox and Wii)

I'd love to be starting the New Year with my life back on track, but apparently that's more complex that I originally deigned -- but I'm working at it so here's hoping.

Gears of War
Originally I had a fairly long comparison between Halo 2 and Gears of War. That probably won't be the case the second time around, but there definately will be some comparison.

First off, I'd like to say that the whole "Cog Tags" and "Gears" aren't especially creative, but they don't hurt anything either. Before I get into the core of the topic I'd like to say that, really, the whole Achievement System of the 360 is a thing of beauty in my mind. It engenders completionism, rewards exploration, and synergizes with creative development (heh -- how's that for a mission statement?).

Coming from a background of extensive Halo and Halo 2, lots of multiplayer and co-op, the cover system of Gears took some getting used to. I'm still a standing combatant at heart, though the game has definately taught me to use that power sparingly -- sweeping Lancer fire as a covering mechanism and to polish off injured enemies -- but I don't have the feel of Blind-Firing yet. David uses it to brutal effect without endangering himself, I utilize it sparingly, but generally prefer not to be wasting rounds calibrating my fire, especially with my nature to reload frequently.

The quick-reload system is special. I'm not certain that everyone wants a mini-game for their reload, but since I'm skilled at that sort of thing it wasn't a bother for me. I spent most of the game with white weapons, gotta love having an 8-round shotgun. Grenades seem to be poorly implemented with regards to having a Horizontal Split-Screen; even on the HD Widescreen you couldn't get the full arc of the Grenade in view, specifically the landing area, so I never got the hang of using them since I could never get them to land properly.

The revive system is excellent, allowing for a certain danger level in opponents and enacting a dangerous caution during split-pathed events -- an excellent balance that Halo 2's Legendary co-op system could learn from.

The cover system is wonderfully intuitive, though rarely does that come into play. Maneuvering into an obstacle purely to jump over it is the closet you get to having a jump function though, and the game does feel somewhat limited by that. Claustraphobia aside, the game is very narrow. Unlike the sweeping, too-large, vehicle-mandated fields of elysium of Halo 2, GoW is confined and dark. Almost too much so at times. The game needed a bit of sometime to aid it. Advancing through areas becomes difficult at times due to inability to see the clear path, and you can generally forget about finding dropped weapons, that's nearly impossible. And while you can interact with the enviroment plenty, well at least in a cover sense, beyond that it's boringly static. Aside from the occasional pushable car or sheet of metal covering a propane tank or the rare partially intact car that you can damage (though it has no bearing on anything) there really isn't anything to do with the enviroment. Although I concede to greatly enjoying the Kryll scenes in getting to the vehicle; an eclectic mix of strategy and searching that didn't manage to reach anything beyond minor annoyance at my 15+ deaths. Inability to damage Troikas is a major annoyance in my book. Although generally you turn around and use them against the Locust, they're pretty much invulnerable unless your wielding mad grenade skills or a boomer gun.

The 3 round burst rifle is perhaps my least favorite weapon, tied perhaps with the basic pistol, though there's never any reason to be using the pistol. The 3-burst weapon might have accuracy even at longer ranges, but in those circumstances you can either close distance for a more powerful gun and get the job done at least as quickly or you can pull out any of the other -- deadlier -- long range weapons and utilize those instead. The shotgun, sniper, and rocket launcher fill their purposes nicely, though really the rocket launcher is rare and generally completely overkill since enemies are rare to gather in such as way as to let it have great effect. The sniper is pretty much anti-effective if you can't pull off quick-reloads with some regularity, but the last boss can tell you that isn't the case for me. The Hammer of Dawn is pretty much instant party when you get to use it and even though it's basically a deus ex it's well balanced, and trails on some very nice events, beserker taunting for example. I didn't spend too much time with the Torc Bow, but I can say it's a beauty of a weapon once you master it's quirky aiming. Brutal to fight someone with one, the tell-tale sound of impending death, but the satisfaction of an explosive locust death is great. I used the Magnum for a bit, just to play with knee-capping + curb-stomping, but just using a real gun is far more effective. It's a decent finisher if you need to conserve ammo for some reason, but that shouldn't be the case ever. Last but not least is the Lancer, which serves the dual purpose Automatic Rifle and the highly-acclaimed Chainsay Bayonet. The chainsaw follows some fairly special rules, mainly the interruptable by damage, which governs it's ideal usage. It's best for destroying advancing Locusts, especially Wretches, though it can work aggressively if you've driven your foes into reloading cover, or get covering fire from allies to keep Locusts in cover.

The storyline of GoW is pretty miserable -- you're fighting a war, you've got this ultimate weapon to wipe them out, but stuff keeps going wrong with using it -- but it does at least provide an ending before gesturing towards the inevitable sequel, unlike Halo 2 which used the ending just to open even more unanswered questions. The cinematics are fairly pretty though rarely for anything too special, most of your comrades are faceless voices across com channels.

The general enemy level is much harsher than Halo. Weapons leave practically no trails, and definately don't come in 4 shades of neon, though the Locusts aren't very good at getting full cover when they hide, with the exception of Troika's that seem to shield beyond their means (I'm serious, hitting a Troika user, that can turn to face you is like trying to 1-shot snipe a moving Ghost in Halo). The enemies do speak, but it's rare. After awhile I was yearning for the familiar Halo shouts of "Demon!" and "Look Out!" from my foes instead of the chatter of Baird and Cole, amusing as they are in the scripted scenes. They hit harder and faster than you in melee, so much so that as a rule letting them get melee distance means you're done for unless you've got a shotgun or a rev'd Lancer. Wretches are perhaps the best Resident Evil creature ever. I admit they aren't from that game, but they'd fit. I still liken them to what I'd expect from Zerglings in a 3-d world (Hear that Blizzard? Taking notes for Nova's foes? Assuming you're still planning to make the game...). Their screams are unholy and echoing, and their threat and damage, especially when explosive, makes them quite perilous until you've learned the art of firing on the run.


Ninety-Nine Nights
[Okay, so 4 hours is not nearly enough, the other 2/3rds will show up sometime. Probably early next week as I have other stuff to accomplish this weekend]

...In with the good... (Part 1 - Refurbishing and Guitars)

Technically a post to be paired with "Out with the bad..." but it's an idle rant on an inauspicous beginning to the new year, so only one half is going to see the light of day. Plus, I ranted to a good many in a fair number of venues already, so the first half is pretty much unnecesary.

Did find the recover post option, that might've salvaged the lost post of yesteryore, but it's well beyond that horizon of salvation now, passed on to the land where all good datums go.

Getting with the Times

So, with the Blogger Beta I decided to update the Layout -- but really, I'm kinda attached to the random lighthouse in the background. Less so now that it's adding miniatures to my posts; if you're going to be doing that I need to look into like a Dragon theme, just for minature Dragons near my post titles in ornate wrought-iron bookholder style.

So, the Layout is pretty much the same, slight change to the archiving display and post display, including re-enabled comments. Updated the Header, though it'll probably roll-back to Lighthouse comments in about 2-5 weeks, right about the time I do something new with the RadioBlogClub section there, but Storywriter was a good initial song. I'll admit the colors need some tuning to go with the background, but there was no good way to try and line two seperate screens up in IE to compare them.

Probably will be adding some sort of link-tree at the bottom of the sidebar, Webcomics and Anime Blogs of note, though precisely how I want that sorted and tiered is still in the works, so it'll be a bit before I render decision there.

Hero of the Guitar

Beat Guitar Hero 2 on Medium, close to straight 5 Stars, but I haven't taken the time to do it yet. Only 3 Gold Star songs at the moment (For the DDR versed, that's basically a AA, or a AAAAA I guess, since Guitar Hero has a digital hit or miss system). Started doing Hard, which was a pretty tremendous learning curve; adding the 5th fret really expands the options. I'd had one Orange note on Arterial Black in Medium which had been very unexpected, but going Hard adds it as a regular note and makes Triple-Fret Chords occur. Took some adapting but I'm through the first 2 and a half sets with 3 and 4 star results, a few 5* on songs I've retried. I'm not very good at Arpeggiation or speed yet, but I'm working on it.

Much like everyone else who plays GH, you play it and immediately think 'Yeah, song x would really be good." Now, obviously you want bands that are fun to listen to in there, but the trick is finding songs by them with good guitar licks, so while I'd love to have the SSX3 or Burnout Soundtracks (EA picks about 65% great songs) there's not a lot of Guitaring inherent in Dance Dance. What I look for is the noticable and repetative Guitar Riffs that really get a song stuck with you. For reference - Killing in the Name Rage Against the Machine, Take me Out Franz Ferdinand, No One Knows Queens of the Stone Age - would be the core examples of this. If you just think about the song, you think about the Guitar parts.

With that in mind, the heaviest suggestions I have are
Realistic - Walk this Way Aerosmith/Run DMC, Hanging Around Counting Crows, Shiny Happy People or Losing my Religion REM
Unrealistic - Tank The Seatbelts, Sleepy Head or We Have Theme Song The Pillows (Really, any of their works would fit the bill, they pretty much utilize guitar riffs in all their songs) Biaxident Liquid Tension Experiment (YYZ already almost sounds like it, but it's one of the few LTE songs that wouldn't be overly long and overly hard) and anything involving Luca Turelli (Kings of the Nordic Twilight or Rhapsody -- Though perhaps that type of music would go over very poorly)

I can't really think of any Guitar-rich Fallout Boy, Panic! at the Disco, or Shiny Toy Guns.

Wildcards as soon as I can pin down a definitive reccomendation - Yes (I'd say Run with the Fox, but it's Flute featured, not Guitar), Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Something off of Beethoven's Last Night), Basement Jaxx, Black Mages (Probably Those who Fight Further or Via Alla Flamenco or Battle on the Big Bridge), System of a Down, Black-eyed Peas, and Emmerson Lake and Palmer.

Sadly, I can't really think of a good Mindless Self Indulgence song for these purposes. Bitches is all about the singing, and not the guitar.

...

Seems the periodic auto-save fuction of Blogger doesn't protect against catastrophic system failures (aka: localized brownouts)

Well, rewriting 2 hours of typing should only take 1.5 hours, but that ain't gonna happen just yet, though I may be bored enough to try. The lengthy post on GoW will now be 2 paragraphs and sans halo-comparison, whenever I get back to it.

I'd like to say it's nice to see SS starting strong with a new year, but all of those things have been out for Month+. At least there's no more catchup for them to do.