Sunday, October 19, 2008

Stasis

This week has been much the same as the last as far as gaming goes: lots of Halo online with guys I went to college with, a little Rock Band, and a little Nocturne. Most of my free time the last couple of weeks or so has been spent watching seasons of The Wire, but that's another discussion altogether, and I like to keep this blog focused on gaming.

The biggest thing to note is the progress I made in Nocturne; it was only a few hours' worth, but I made it through a couple of key boss battles and kind of got the momentum rolling once again. There was this gauntlet of 3 bosses ending with a battle against Thor, with no saves in between. Thor kept kicking my ass until started exploiting the game's battle system. Basically, if I go to fight him with a demon in my party who can null his lightning, then every time he uses it, it costs him the rest of his actions for that whole turn. So, finally I managed to down him, and go back to the save point to ensure I don't have to do it again, and lucky for that because the next time I set foot in that area, I get ambushed by Dante from Devil May Cry. It seems he's been set to hunt down a demon matching my description, and then he owns my entire party. Awesome cameo! Anyway, I came back at him with a bunch of phys-immune demons and beat him back so that now he's either questioning his orders or reporting back to Lucifer that I've passed his test. So now I get word that there is a powerful fiend lurking nearby, and I search him out, and find Daisoujou, some kind of Necro-Buddhist monk with a mean sutra who is currently blocking my progress. I'll figure him out later.

Aside from that, I've just been looking at how much I'm going to have to spend to get a nice gaming PC sometime soon. I'm thinking that I'm going to work on cleaning some more of my backlog out over the next few months, and then sometime around my birthday in February, get a nice rig to play some of this stuff on PC I keep hearing so much about. A quick list of stuff I want to get:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. & its expansion Clear Sky
Sins of a Solar Empire
Half Life series
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead
Fallout 3
WoW (maybe)
Oblivion (maybe, for mods)
past games going back 10 years or more
future releases like StarCraft II & Diablo III

There's tons of stuff on PC, and I'm looking forward to, for once, having the capability to dabble in some of it. For now, though, I have to try to save up some cash, or at least refrain from spending too much while I've still got this massive glut of things to work through.


13 comments:

Catherine said...

I know the feeling of having a crappy PC! I'm looking forward to finishing my PhD so I can have a nice relaxing break and play a few games!

I've been playing a few simple games recently, notably World of Goo (which is friggin' awesome) and, er, Samba de Amigo, which is pretty lame, but vaguely amusing. The maracca control is very finicky and doesn't give you much room for error, but the whole system is kinda forgiving so it doesn't matter if you mess up a few notes, though if you're OCD like me it'll frustrate you that you *got* that one, but it just didn't register, and you're at 99% instead of 100% for a song >_<.

Yeah hehe anyway I've been playing more board games than computer games recently which is pretty damn cool cos board games (good ones anyway) are kinda like multiplayer computer games but well it's also like a lan party.... uh yeah. Anyway it's fun :D For non-gamers too! (like Nicholas, who only likes retro games, and weirdo "arty" games).

I'm admittedly less and less likely to go back to FFXI, and definitely won't be playing in the same way as I used to. Probably a good thing though, cos I've found a lot more entertaining things than MMOs! lol.

Still I like to be able to play a game every so often and I still <3 all my JE buddies so I'll probably go on occasionally as work/time permits and see how I go. I suspect I've grown out of MMOs though now; nice social crutch while I was in Canberra, now I'm back with my bf and family & friends in Sydney I don't need it as much (sorry guys, lol).

But yeah, I want a nicer computer, that's for sure!

Count Elmdor said...

Plus, there's also the issue of MMO's being HUGE time sinks, as well.

Still, though, I think I am to a point where I could play one for a few hours a week and be content.

From what I hear these days WoW has been made more casual-friendly so that you can more or less solo all the way to the cap, and not even miss out on much along the way. I can't see myself doing much big group raiding or anything, but I do like being part of a persistent world, so we'll see when the time comes...

As far as board games go, Chess & Monopoly & Risk are about as much as I've ever played much of (besides Candyland, Sorry!, and Chutes & Ladders). I would like to try out some hex-based strat miniatures games, but when would I ever find the opportunity for that?

Anonymous said...

Do it Dude!

I just put together a major rig. I'm broke but loving it!

hahahaha.

Anyways, can you score me a copy of Assassin's Creed when you come to Japan? I think it's 30 bucks new, which is fine.

What do you want on this end? Or shall I just pay you the cash?

I have your copy of Xenosaga, but figured I'd just hand it over when you get here.

Peace,

E.

Count Elmdor said...

Sure, np. 360 version, right? Not sure if there's anything there I want. I can probably think of something, though.

Anonymous said...

yeah, 360 version. I want those Achievements!

thanks dude!

Can't wait to rock!

Anonymous said...

Thundergod!

FFTactics: War of the Lions: complete!

Fuck me, that game is amazing. Still great after all these years. Best FF ever.

Count Elmdor said...

Hell yeah. FFT - best FF ever, hands down.

Fun Fact: When I signed up for my first ever email account at hotmail back in 1998, I wanted to use a character from FFT as my name. Ramza, Delita, Mustadio, etc., were all taken, so I finally settled on Elmdor, but I misremembered his title (it's Marquis, not Count). He's the one with the Genji armor you fight with his 2 Assassin hench-women on the roof of Riovanes Castle at the end of chapter 3.

Pumpkin said...

I FINISHED A GAME!!! Stop the presses.

Yep, I finally completed Call of Duty 2 for the 360. Great game. I'm planning to try for some of those Veteran achievements.

FYI, what happened to the Wii? Nintendo hasn't released a must have game in like 5 months...

Salubrious

Anonymous said...

What are you some kind of Wii Music hater? lol

I agree, though. Not that it's anything new for Nintendo. After I eventually get around to Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess, I don't know what I'm going to use my Wii for.

Anonymous said...

I knew that story, dude! And you can no longer steal his Genji armor. You have to get it from the 99 level dungeon, which I played through on the original, but not in the psp-make. Still an amazing game after all these years. Battling never gets old, the music is still chilling, and the story is as good as ever.

I just ordered Saints Row 2, Soul Calibur 4, and Dead Space (becuase I like scary games at Halloween).

Mirror's Edge, Gears, and Fallout 2 incoming!

Anonymous said...

orz....Fallout 3!

Count Elmdor said...

Hey, Dead Space looks wicked. I fully intend to check that out sometime next year when it gets to around $30.

Mirror's Edge and Fallout 3 are my top picks for this fall, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to getting them. Kinda want the new Castlevania, too... looks hot.

Also, I wasn't a huge fan of Gears, but I have to give it to them for that "Last Day" trailer they made. It looks pretty epic (lol c wut i did there).

What do you think about LBP? For some reason have almost zero interest, though it does look fun, I guess.

Anonymous said...

I played LBP at the show. It was fun as hell. The physics system is really great, the graphics and sound are incredible, and it's just plain CUTE. Only messed around with the creator a little, but it was rad. It's on my list for sure, but hopefully I can get it free from one of my buddies at Sony. Too many games!