But I'm not going to wet my pants over it. It appears that a blanket of some kind of awful weather is covering the entire state of Oklahoma and here it's trying to start something. It's drizzling and attempting to freeze, except it doesn't feel that cold out. But water freezes, so it's not looking terribly promising.
Just so long as it doesn't repeat last year's fiasco.
Two Decembers ago I was able to identify with any victim of terrible weather when my house was without power for a week. A week in cold, wanky weather. With clear streets, unless they were covered in trees. I can't say it was the worst case scenario - we had the comfort of having a gas water heater (hot showers are awesome) and a fireplace. I also kept vigil with my PSP, charging it in my truck and catching up on podcasts. But there was a stagnant feeling of suck around the house. It also had the perfect timing of occuring during finals week, and the mostly clear streets meant that any excuse out of them was ignored by the many. I can't say I sucked, but I certainly didn't feel like accomplishing anything. I even stopped shaving until I got power back, on some kind of strike that only I understood.
But with that, I learned to survive. I learned that no matter how gross McDonald's breakfast is, it isn't half bad when you can't cook food. I learned that a stock of firelogs is always a good thing. I learned how to read. I learned how to hit the toilet bowl in the dark. I grew.
So this impending weather isn't as much of a worry on my mind, so long as I have power or the streets are clear. That, and Oklahoma goes from 20 degrees to 60 degrees every three days, so I imagine this will clear up in a couple days. I have firewood (retrieved from the fallen trees in my yard from the ice storm), food, a generator, and a bunch of blankets. If the roads ice up, I'm not going to school. I'm more upbeat about it because I've already been to hell.
Bring it on.
-C.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Prince of Persia.
It's with games like Prince of Persia that make me realize that I'm getting too frustrated with "hardcore" gaming. Case in point: I couldn't play more than three hours of Fallout 3 without yawning, setting the controller down, and deciding that time could be better spent elsewhere. Fortunately, I was able to test that game out at a friend's house so I didn't make the mistake of purchasing it. I opted for Prince of Persia based on the myriad of things I'd heard/read/seen on various sites.
The biggest draw-in for me was the graphical style. It's a bit coarse and choppy, but the atmosphere in the game is pretty spectacular. It sure beat the hell out of the previous Persia games; those were riddled with generic brooding darkness that only a frequent Hot Topic shopper could relate to. The colors are bright, the music is mellow... it's just a great world to muck in.
The story is "meh" at best. The Prince (nameless throughout for no reason) stumbles across a damsel in distress while looking for his donkey. However, Elika the damsel isn't as distressed, as she's also a magic-spouting princess that follows the Prince around not unlike a walking insurance policy. She allows the Prince to double-jump across chasms, assists him in battle, and, most noticably, she's constantly saving him whenever he makes the inevitable plummet. And he will do that. A lot. And that's a good thing too, because her daddy cuts down a magic tree and all hell breaks loose.
Most of the story unravels with dialogue provoked by pressing a button over and over in certain calm spots. Elika and Prince banter on about the world and what's happened and what it used to be like before the baddies came to town. The dialogue is all well and good, but I could've stood to see more interaction with the world via legitimate cutscenes. But the Prince and Elika tend to have a good connection as they go on their journey, playingly flirting and saving each other (one of my favorite scenes has Elika catching a sheepish glance at the guy's ass. That prince is gonna get some...).
Villiany comes in two forms: Boss and soldier. The soldiers appear in rare, random spots in the world and can see easily dropped Sparta-style off a cliffside. Bosses are different in that they show up as "goalposts" in each section (level). Some bosses will hotfoot and lead you on a merry, frustrating chase, while others prefer to just stomp your ass in haste. As you progress further, they become trickier and trigger different defensive barriers and invoke frustrating quicktime "God of War" events. I've read that combat is a hoot by various sources, and... I don't quite follow that. Granted, it's fun in spots, but the quicktime sections are a hare too quick, leading to some unecessary frustration whenever a boss kicks my ass and regains health and then continues to block every other attack. The two-on-one aspect (with Elika acting as sideline support) is nice, but by the last handful of sections I had to clear battles became more burdensome than fun.
Some reviewers argue that the biggest enemy in the game is the world itself. But I don't get that relation either. I see the world as a glorified obstacle course. Not that that's a bad thing, as this is where the game becomes awesome. Wall jumping, vine climbing, pole shimmying, and slipper-sliding through the world, wench in tow, is a hoot. Add the 1001 orbs (light seeds, per story) that litter the landscape for intricate collecting, and oh boy, it's a Rare game... I mean, fun. Yes. And to make matters more irritating to those who hate collecting useless crap, you have to collect a certain number of orbs to get powers to progress in the game. Oh, wait, I didn't mention powers, but those aren't good enough to go on about. Fortunately only little over half of them are needed to beat the game, but you know I got all 1001 of those damned things. Somebody had to.
The ease of the game can either draw gamers in or run them off. The lack of the ability to die is where the challenge pretty muchs keels over. Scoff about it if that's a problem, but the same could be said of Bioshock and its regen chambers, and we all came ourselves over that game. I personally wasn't deterred by this because frankly, had there been a life system or I had to start over every time I fell, this disc would've ended up in the trash. And then there are the achievement points. You cannot cut a fart in the game without unlocking two or three of them. I'll admit a portion or them need some effort to get, but most are so simple to obtain I went ahead and got all but four. It help me beat 10k in nerd points, what can I say?
I won't spoil the exact end, but Ubisoft has a sequel in mind as the story stands. Nuff said.
Prince of Persia isn't for everyone, and that's fine with me. I'll admit that while I had a blast, it didn't last a 60+ hour session of nonstop crazy, like the Saints Row games or Crackdown. It's a good transition for casual gamers wanting a solid platform adventure that'll kill ten or so hours. And I'm to understand that the price for this game dropped to about $40, so I'd definitely recommend it. Do it. Now. Watch as every time Elika heals the land, she gets on her hands and knees. That should lead to some interesting fanart.
-C.
The biggest draw-in for me was the graphical style. It's a bit coarse and choppy, but the atmosphere in the game is pretty spectacular. It sure beat the hell out of the previous Persia games; those were riddled with generic brooding darkness that only a frequent Hot Topic shopper could relate to. The colors are bright, the music is mellow... it's just a great world to muck in.
The story is "meh" at best. The Prince (nameless throughout for no reason) stumbles across a damsel in distress while looking for his donkey. However, Elika the damsel isn't as distressed, as she's also a magic-spouting princess that follows the Prince around not unlike a walking insurance policy. She allows the Prince to double-jump across chasms, assists him in battle, and, most noticably, she's constantly saving him whenever he makes the inevitable plummet. And he will do that. A lot. And that's a good thing too, because her daddy cuts down a magic tree and all hell breaks loose.
Most of the story unravels with dialogue provoked by pressing a button over and over in certain calm spots. Elika and Prince banter on about the world and what's happened and what it used to be like before the baddies came to town. The dialogue is all well and good, but I could've stood to see more interaction with the world via legitimate cutscenes. But the Prince and Elika tend to have a good connection as they go on their journey, playingly flirting and saving each other (one of my favorite scenes has Elika catching a sheepish glance at the guy's ass. That prince is gonna get some...).
Villiany comes in two forms: Boss and soldier. The soldiers appear in rare, random spots in the world and can see easily dropped Sparta-style off a cliffside. Bosses are different in that they show up as "goalposts" in each section (level). Some bosses will hotfoot and lead you on a merry, frustrating chase, while others prefer to just stomp your ass in haste. As you progress further, they become trickier and trigger different defensive barriers and invoke frustrating quicktime "God of War" events. I've read that combat is a hoot by various sources, and... I don't quite follow that. Granted, it's fun in spots, but the quicktime sections are a hare too quick, leading to some unecessary frustration whenever a boss kicks my ass and regains health and then continues to block every other attack. The two-on-one aspect (with Elika acting as sideline support) is nice, but by the last handful of sections I had to clear battles became more burdensome than fun.
Some reviewers argue that the biggest enemy in the game is the world itself. But I don't get that relation either. I see the world as a glorified obstacle course. Not that that's a bad thing, as this is where the game becomes awesome. Wall jumping, vine climbing, pole shimmying, and slipper-sliding through the world, wench in tow, is a hoot. Add the 1001 orbs (light seeds, per story) that litter the landscape for intricate collecting, and oh boy, it's a Rare game... I mean, fun. Yes. And to make matters more irritating to those who hate collecting useless crap, you have to collect a certain number of orbs to get powers to progress in the game. Oh, wait, I didn't mention powers, but those aren't good enough to go on about. Fortunately only little over half of them are needed to beat the game, but you know I got all 1001 of those damned things. Somebody had to.
The ease of the game can either draw gamers in or run them off. The lack of the ability to die is where the challenge pretty muchs keels over. Scoff about it if that's a problem, but the same could be said of Bioshock and its regen chambers, and we all came ourselves over that game. I personally wasn't deterred by this because frankly, had there been a life system or I had to start over every time I fell, this disc would've ended up in the trash. And then there are the achievement points. You cannot cut a fart in the game without unlocking two or three of them. I'll admit a portion or them need some effort to get, but most are so simple to obtain I went ahead and got all but four. It help me beat 10k in nerd points, what can I say?
I won't spoil the exact end, but Ubisoft has a sequel in mind as the story stands. Nuff said.
Prince of Persia isn't for everyone, and that's fine with me. I'll admit that while I had a blast, it didn't last a 60+ hour session of nonstop crazy, like the Saints Row games or Crackdown. It's a good transition for casual gamers wanting a solid platform adventure that'll kill ten or so hours. And I'm to understand that the price for this game dropped to about $40, so I'd definitely recommend it. Do it. Now. Watch as every time Elika heals the land, she gets on her hands and knees. That should lead to some interesting fanart.
-C.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Howdee.
It would appear that I've succumbed to doing this. Not writing. That's just a given; I've been spouting nonsense for years - xanga, myspace, and to the degree it will let me, facebook. I mean an actual blog, with a fancy title, URL and all the trimmings. Yum.
If you are reading this, you're likely asking yourself or anyone in the vicinity why the hell I would do this. The honest truth is, I don't really know yet. Maybe it's a way for me to "mature" as a writer of random, stupid things put in a tight-knit, non-stupid fashion so that whenever I escape into the real world with careers and fast cars and somebody asks, "Hey, didn't you write something on the Internet today?" I can then respond, "Why, yes. Yes I did." This might be followed by a handshake or a small dance of sort.
I don't exactly know if my writings are noticed by anyone outside the one friend I have that reads all my stuff either out of sheer boredom or something to preoccupy him while his porn is downloading on Limewire. But I figured I'd give it a shot here, if anything else.
On record, I'm known... okay, notorious for reviews. Not so much the "LOL, this suxxx, Z3R0 out of F1V3 STARRRRRRZ" crap any forum poster can manage to stamp on their keyboard with hammy fists. But I've been noted to be a bit harsh on some stuff. I somehow found that I can write a scathing review of a game like Assassin's Creed after fumbling with the awful controls for only fifteen minutes. But now it seems that my buddies have made my pessimism and knack for criticism a running gag, to the point where they prompt me to review meaningless crap like how someone dropped their keys while unlocking a door or how a dog sits on the couch.
To sum it up short, don't expect simple reviews. Expect experiences.
But I won't waste time pondering on just games here. Anything that sprouts from my mind may show up. And this blog will also test my ability to refrain from another notorious trait: the ever-present potty mouth. Not that I won't curse outright, or I'm trying to get to a better place if I croak. I realize that I'm a grown-up (and use that justification abusively), but I just feel that I do enough of that in person. To paraphrase Lewis Black in some way, this blog will have a "five fuck" limit. Or something like that. We'll see how that works.
The only other thing I can think to write is that I don't have any other things to write. At least not now, not in this post. I just wanted to say hi (HAI) and spend some time figuring out this damn template and get all the kinks fixed so it's all snappy up in this bitch.
See, there's cussings. It's like we're home.
If you are reading this, you're likely asking yourself or anyone in the vicinity why the hell I would do this. The honest truth is, I don't really know yet. Maybe it's a way for me to "mature" as a writer of random, stupid things put in a tight-knit, non-stupid fashion so that whenever I escape into the real world with careers and fast cars and somebody asks, "Hey, didn't you write something on the Internet today?" I can then respond, "Why, yes. Yes I did." This might be followed by a handshake or a small dance of sort.
I don't exactly know if my writings are noticed by anyone outside the one friend I have that reads all my stuff either out of sheer boredom or something to preoccupy him while his porn is downloading on Limewire. But I figured I'd give it a shot here, if anything else.
On record, I'm known... okay, notorious for reviews. Not so much the "LOL, this suxxx, Z3R0 out of F1V3 STARRRRRRZ" crap any forum poster can manage to stamp on their keyboard with hammy fists. But I've been noted to be a bit harsh on some stuff. I somehow found that I can write a scathing review of a game like Assassin's Creed after fumbling with the awful controls for only fifteen minutes. But now it seems that my buddies have made my pessimism and knack for criticism a running gag, to the point where they prompt me to review meaningless crap like how someone dropped their keys while unlocking a door or how a dog sits on the couch.
To sum it up short, don't expect simple reviews. Expect experiences.
But I won't waste time pondering on just games here. Anything that sprouts from my mind may show up. And this blog will also test my ability to refrain from another notorious trait: the ever-present potty mouth. Not that I won't curse outright, or I'm trying to get to a better place if I croak. I realize that I'm a grown-up (and use that justification abusively), but I just feel that I do enough of that in person. To paraphrase Lewis Black in some way, this blog will have a "five fuck" limit. Or something like that. We'll see how that works.
The only other thing I can think to write is that I don't have any other things to write. At least not now, not in this post. I just wanted to say hi (HAI) and spend some time figuring out this damn template and get all the kinks fixed so it's all snappy up in this bitch.
See, there's cussings. It's like we're home.
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