Most of the shiny things are objects you can interact with, usually hidden in dark corners, and the game is highlighting them so you know they are there. For example, at 1:16 or 8:20, there are some vents that are highlighted.
There is a huge amount more detail in Dark Athena, and it does look quite nice.
A major downside to the dialog, you scroll with the mouse. WASD doesn't cut it. Boo for bad ideas when porting games.
So have you tried the game yet? I'm interested to see how much what I've written corresponds with your opinion after trying the game out.
Yep, I see what you mean. They did turn up the specular a bit to much. At least that's the flag you alter in materials in Source. It is further amplified at times where I left the night vision on.
I did get a good laugh out of this. Partly because I guess you're in the ballpark, but more so because I've found myself envisioning a 250 lbs body builder in a full body flex while recording a game review.
If it reassures you, I'm tall, around 6'5" or so, hence the deeper voice, and I prefer running/hiking over going to the gym and seeing what the heaviest thing I can lift is. But I do keep a pocket knife on me at all times, because it is a very useful tool in my line of work.
I would think a 250 lb body builder wouldn't need to carry a weapon though, maybe just a cheesy line about his guns /points at arms.
A lot of people seem to think the same way, because generally no one hassles me. It is kind of funny when people cross the street to avoid you at night because they just see a huge person, and fail to notice clues that give away he isn't out looking for violence, like carrying his groceries.
Yeah, after you added me on Steam, I read through your profile. I figured, given your hobbies, you were around 5 ft or so. You have just now confirmed my suspicions.
Hiking is fun. Earlier this year I did a ton of it on vacation, maybe 45 miles or so. Just a collection of day hikes, including a 15, 11, and two 8 milers on various days. It's great what you can find out in the wilderness, if you're willing to put in the time/effort to make it out there.
You did preface your last comment with "Random unrelated comment," so I think we're good. Otherwise you could just call it building a positive relationship with the audience to ensure continued readership, which does sound much more on topic and business like.
To be fair, I would probably stereotype someone that was a foot and a half taller than me as well. Thankfully there aren't many 8 foot giants around where I tend to roam.
You could look at it this way: for the impending apocalypse (machine, zombie, alien, or possibly raptor) you're stature and hobbies could prove extremely useful for hiding or running away, and you could probably take an escape route that would involve some dangerous swings off of extremely parallel like bars or somesuch. Me on the other hand, well, I don't think any of those things would be particularly intimated by someone that sounds like a 250 lb body builder on a video game review ;-)
Continuing on the previous point, you might want to change your outlook on forest/rocky roads/wilderness, in the event of the impending apocalypse, given those might just be the safe places to go.
I do think you stumbled onto the ??? of the classic 1. Start a blog, 2. ??? 3. Profit! Though I will admit it would be nice, if I had high enough readership that could support it monetarily, I wouldn't mind going to a real website, adding in forums and whatnot. The pipe dream would be to somehow generate enough income to quit my job and just play/review video games for a living. Who says you have to outgrow your childhood dreams?
I wonder if I too could have been just a little bit smarter if I didn't know exactly what you are talking about from first hand experience. Also, short contractors suck.
I'd like to think I'd stand a better than average chance of survival, but that just might be my 250 lb body builder ego at work. Actually, I maintain some useful knowledge that would encourage others to keep me alive, such as basic electrical wiring or mechanical knowledge, rather than say, snares or knots. Interestingly enough, during a college English course, I had a professor you said that, come the end of the world, she would be left behind in favor of her husband, the construction worker. I suppose the apocalypse could make you reevaluate your priorities.
Expanding is a possibility, but honestly, I like the control I have over what is written here, and it does provide a level on consistency among my reviews. Plus I'm still doing this for fun, and that does count for a lot. Though, given that most games seem to fall into the 10 hour range, I could conceivably finish a game and it's review every 3-4 days, still having plenty of time to do other things in the process.
For a while, I legitimately was interested in learning to make games, though, more design the story and concept than get down into the programming, which is good, because I do not excel in that category. I had never considered writing any reviews until sometime early this year, after reading a few, and more so the criticisms of the reviews, and thought I might as well get my soapbox and join the fray. It does help that I only review games that I like to play, which explains why most reviews fall in the 7/8 range, which I scale as good/very good, rather than being forced to play absolutely everything, which would pretty quickly kill my desire to do this any more.
On a related note, I do know one individual who went to work as a game tester somewhere. Word was he got pretty sick of the games, and would no longer play them in his off hours like he used to.
I did grow up playing video games. Several other things too, but games always made for a fun way to pass some time that I had to myself. My biggest gaming hope now is really just to have more time available to play all these games I've amassed over the years, because I feel like I am missing out on some really good experiences. I've actually come to refer to this as the death of innocence - the lack of time to enjoy what you once did, specifically games, versus far more existential crises, death, or just finding out that there are bad people out there, all of which are probably far more likely to be associated with the phrase by your average person. But since when has settling for average been a good thing?
The downside is I'm usually the tall person people ask to do those things. Also, the worse case of such an occurrence I've come across is at a concert where people want to crowd surf, and they realize you're more than strong enough to help boost them up. You think you're being nice with the first person, and then everyone else wants to join in.
Maybe if you memorized all of human history you'd be a valuable enough resource to keep alive. You would just have to compete against any library, or, you know, whatever is left of the internet. I mean, if Wikipedia survived, you'd be screwed.
Honestly, what I would hate most about game development would be being chained to a desk staring at a computer screen all day, though I'm sure it would be tough to really enjoy the medium in my off time because I would probably be critical/amazed at what I'm doing, rather than live in the moment. Also, I could do without the hours, though they are probably less than I work now, which explains this week or two absence of new reviews.
I agree. I usually will check in with PC Gamer just to catch up on some news, and a few times I've looked through their reviews. The lowest I've seen was in the low 50s. I do recognize the abundance of 7s here, though like I said, I can at least claim it's due to reviewing games I've chosen to play. Still, there have been a couple times I've struggled with the rating I've given a game, thinking I might be on the high side. However, I will also point out that I have done several games in the 4,5,6 range, which usually constitutes games that are average-ish, and not worth replaying.
I agree that there is, in your words, a near infinite number of interesting games to choose from, but that is part of my problem, because I would very much like to play them all. Given infinite time, I would devour nearly every game ever played, along with every piece of film or every literary work. Sort of that, I feel I'm missing out - that there is some great experience out that I would never have the opportunity to enjoy.
I was going to try and end that last paragraph with something climatic, possibly poetic. Something like "damn this mortal coil!" but that doesn't really fit, and currently my brain is tired. This may be a warning of things to come.
If it took two guys to carry it, then they were doing it wrong. But yes, pretty much that, and opening that really tough jar.
Believe it or not, I'm a farmer. Which explains a lot, such as my long hours and absence of more reviews (well, I did also get the second book in a trilogy that I've been waiting for for a while, so the few free minutes I have are devoted to that), knowledge of things that could keep me valuable when the world ends, and my aversion to gambling, because we're you do it on a daily basis with a few million dollars in crops, you don't necessarily want to risk what little you make too.
If I were to convert to an "I review everything" type format, then most likely the ratings would be less focused around the 7 mark. But that would only probably happen if I could devote substantially more time to this, as well as a bit more money, because at that point I would probably be reviewing newly released games, which would toss out this whole months behind thing I've got going on.
Farming occupies a pretty unique position in that it is simultaneously one of the most important occupations, but also one of the most looked down upon for it's lack of skilled labor, low earnings, and so forth. It does make for an interesting conversation piece though, since most people have no idea about what's involved, and there are at least a few people out there that seem to be enthralled by it, though I'm not sure how many have this quaint idea of some little farm with a mom and pop tending to the cattle and driving a single tractor through the corn.
I am reminded that, in Civ 5, the basic research that makes civilization possible is agriculture, which is similar to my go to line of "If people like me didn't do the job we do, you wouldn't be here." That does tend to deflate the ego of some of the suits I'll run into at the fancy grocery store just after 5, when I look like I've just crawled out of the depths of hell, covered as I am in dirt, oil, and what you would hope to be mostly my own blood. Ironically, looking like that gets you great customer service, because most people want you out of their store as quickly as possible.
It's funny you mention tomatoes, because right now I hate them. With a passion. I hate the way the plant gets stuck in your hair. I hate the feeling of a tomato dripping down your neck. I hate crawling through smashed tomatoes to find a broken hydraulic line on your tomato harvester. This also describes the last month or so of my life.
I've never actually been to a farmers market. Though one of the neighbors where I work is one of these organic types with a little plot of land that would participate in that sort of thing. Unfortunately, the way he farms makes me cringe, because he is so bad. Apparently, he is some silicon valley type that made it big, and felt like moving into the country to try his hand at it, thinking it would be easy. Maybe it is for him, but he isn't trying to make a living off of it.
As for farmers market tomatoes tasting better, I'd bet its the variety of tomatoes they're growing. The stuff you get in a grocery store is usually machine harvested when they are green, and then they ripen on the truck. That's just one of those industry secrets that is only a secret because most people don't care enough about ag to question how things get to be the way they are.
Also, I now have this picture of a rabbit doing gymnastics.
The Lightbringer trilogy by Brent Weeks, specifically The Blinding Knife book. Found out about Brent a few years ago, when I picked up the first novel in the Night Angel trilogy, and blew through it in two days. It is actually a series I'd like to read again because it was so good, but, as with so many other things, I never seem to have the time. If you're interested in a different take on fantasy, I would recommend both series.
You will probably continue to have that monopoly for a while too. I only have a handful of followers now between here and youtube, and I probably won't get around to trying to promote this a bit more until I finish my backlog of reviews, or the November steam sale starts and I do daily coverage again, though with how many games I actually had in depth knowledge of now compared to last year's sales, I may just find I'm out of my experience league.
I would like to also say you have incredible timing. I had literally just logged into the Months Behind account, when my phone pinged with a new email. Pressed F5, and lo and behold, your comment had just shown up.
If I ever have a day off, I do usually look much nicer than I do at work. And I look killer in a suit, as opposed to my farming attire, where I just look more like a killer. Though I am fairly certain if I attempted to go into the mall right after work, in my steel toe boots and clothes that has holes burned in it from time spent on a welder or torch, security would probably escort me out pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, owning a house with a yard means a lot more work too. I was fixing my fridge the other day, when I realized how damaged the floor was underneath, and that pretty soon I'll have to replace a good portion of it. That just means I've got to work harder to make more money. *Sigh*
I can agree with that sentiment. I took a vacation earlier this year, and at one point was kayaking with a stranger. We were making small talk, when he asked me how much we sell our tomatoes for. I told him that the price was set at $68 a ton for paste - those tomatoes they blend up and then sell to Heinz for ketchup or Ragu for spaghetti sauce - and he couldn't believe it. So yes, I am all for paying farmers more :-D
Well, since you liked the Night Angel trilogy, I would of course recommend the Lightbringer series, just knowing it will probably be another year or two before Brent Weeks wraps it all up. There was also a short story released on Durzo, but that's ebook only. I'm old fashioned, and like books that don't run on batteries, but I wasn't willing to spend $45 for the numbered editions that were the only printed books to be released. I would also recommend Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller chronicles, starting with The Name of the Wind, though that is also a currently incomplete trilogy. Another author I enjoy is Jim Butcher, for his Dresden Files series, but if scifi/fantasy set in modern day isn't so much your thing, he does have a fantasy series as well, known as the Codex Alera. I actually have all six of those books, but haven't read one yet.
If memory serves, Steam started having seasonal sales 3 years ago, starting with Thanksgiving or so, another week around Christmas/New Years, and then the summer sale. The exact times, durations, and types of sales seem to vary each time, such as no achievements during this summer, but they've pretty much stuck with that schedule since they started.
I can second spending too much recently. I purchased a couple of paintings over the last two months, and even though they are very cheap for oil and canvas, it still put a sizable dent in my pocketbook. I also haven't even touched anything I got during the summer sale, though to be fair, I haven't played any game that wasn't part of a review since the summer sale either, despite being in the middle of some really good ones, like Frozen Synapse. The good/bad news is I only have another 8 or so games in my buffer to review before I'll need to start spending time on new ones.
You will of course now be filling me in as to what those mall funnies are, right? My personal best, just to break the ice, involves dressing up in full football gear and going through a department store.
I told you I'd be a valuable commodity come the raptor apocalypse. Though, truth be told, I'm not going to fix the floor myself, there is just more involved that I'd like to tackle on my first time. Small bathroom, sure. 500 sq ft, nope. But, to try and impress you again to make up for that, I did install a ceiling fan a while back. In and of itself, that doesn't sound like much, until I tell you that there was nothing there, so I had to start cutting holes in the ceiling and wall, instal brackets, and run my own electrical without burning down my house. I did at least have a roommate standing by with a fire extinguisher in case I screwed up though.
Unfortunately, being tied to a seasonal job, my traveling is limited to the winter months, so I generally seek out some place warm. This has limited me from exploring various areas I'd like to see, and some of the warmer places, like the Southern hemisphere, are a bit more expensive to get to.
In that case, I would hold off for a year or two on both Lightbringer and Kingkiller, though I believe the word is the third, and supposedly final, book of the Kingkiller series will be out sometime next year.
I have never read any of those books/series, so I will keep them in mind. I've been in the middle of A Song of Ice and Fire for about a year now. Currently I'm on the fifth book, but I haven't read very much of it lately, stopping in favor of other series I like much better, such as the latest Lightbringer book. I do also have a major gripe with George R.R. Martin, and wonder if he'll ever actually finish. However, I have far too much invested in the series to stop now, so it makes for decent filler between better books, except for the fourth, which was complete rubbish.
Biographies/historical stuff and an interest in archeology. I'm not sure if I should be impressed, or make some kind of sarcastic remark about always living in the past :)
As far as Pretty Little Liars...at least I've heard of that show, though none of it has been good. I'm actually not a TV person. There are few shows that I can be interested enough to watch at all, and few that manage to hold that interest, though most of those have been canceled by now anyways. So hurray for books and video games.
That was the only reason I considered getting the short story by Brent Weeks in ebook format, it's about a tenth the cost that way. However, I've spent far too much time reading things on computer screens as is, and I'll just wait and see if he does a few more and then releases them as a collection. That's exactly what Jim Butcher did with his Dresden Files series, since he frequently writes shorts for various anthologies, he ultimately combined about 10 of them into a single book.
I was considering trying to photoshop Riddick's face onto the American Gothic painting, but the thought of him trying to thresh wheat with his ulaks is a little much. I do however think he is a much more complex character than many give him credit for, and at least on the book reading part could surprise you. That really only comes from one line, after killing one of those large bad guys with your ulaks, where he says "The ulaks had first been forged by the ancient monks, used in defense of honor." It is also a convenient way to work the game at hand back into the conversation, if just to say we haven't entirely drifted off topic.
How did you pay for said grape? I'm trying to decide if paying with a large bill or a check would have been funnier. Either way, some of those are way too thought out for anything I would do. Hats off to you.
The down side is the shorter lifespan, which usually results when a wannabe Mr. Fixit thinks they can tackle that live wiring, or a roofing job.
Ah, but what if one of the things they can fix are random electronic gadgets? Then you'd be out of a job.
I actually played a game myself this weekend - Quantum Conondrum. I finally tried the demo I downloaded months ago, and then claimed the game from my steam inventory, which you saw. Sadly/luckily, I beat it on Sunday, because it's only about 5 hours long and not very difficult, and so I'm back to writing reviews.
X-Com is one of those games I'm tempted to get right now just to play it, despite my large inventory and backlog of reviews I need to do. Other recently released games include Dishonored and Borderlands 2, though especially in the case of the latter, I just cannot part with the $60 for the base game, the $30 DLC season pass which saves you $10 over buying them separately, and then all those additional DLCs that aren't covered by the season pass, such as a character one that just came out. Over $100 is a bit too much to stomach for one game.
Quite a selection of places there. I've stuck to North America, just covering the three largest countries there. My last trip, this winter, was to Kauai, and that was nice. I was considering heading to another island, that is until I saw the state of my floor, and started running the numbers on fixing 500 sq ft at a cost of 3-5 dollars a ft. Yeah, no vacation this year.
The Wheel of Time series sounds like a challenge. I might just take that one up. One of my issues with A Song of Ice and Fire is that the fourth book was junk. He is one of these writers that writes each chapter from another character's perspective, but he decided to split the character between books 4 and 5 based on geography, rather than write one book or split it into two chronologically. Additionally, he introduced my most hated character in the series as one he writes from the perspective of, and she makes up what feels like half the book. I'm no stranger to long series though. Stephen King's The Dark Tower was good, but also somewhat strange. I didn't care much for 1, loved 2 and 3, wasn't as happy with 4, and then 5-7 where all very different because they happened after he had an accident, and suddenly all his stories were interconnected. It's something that's a bit difficult to explain without going into a huge amount of detail.
So, screw anything between the Roman Empire and Pre-WWII?
If I had to pick a Joss Whedon show, it would be Firefly. Sorry, I'm a stereotypical scifi fan. Though the last show I really loved on tv was on called Kings from back in 2009. It was pretty obvious that a Shakespearean like retelling of the book of kings was not going to fly well in the US, and indeed, by the 4th episode, it was cancelled.
Once in high school I went to an electronics store after school, and a friend mentioned he wanted to go with me. First he had to stop by a fast food place though, so I pulled up to the drive through. After ordering his burger, fries, and a drink, he proceeded to hand me his $5-6 in quarters. I looked at him and said "Seriously?" Then I apologized to the teller that took the payment.
That would be 100-120 rolls of pennies. Forget the volume problem, the weight would be an issue. Though I did hear a story on the radio not long ago of a guy who paid his final mortgage payment in pennies, so it can be done.
That is true. Generally, the definition of fixing something is to hit it with a hammer. If that doesn't work, get a bigger hammer. If that still doesn't work, heat it up with a torch, then get the 20 lbs sledge hammer.
After putting time into Frozen Synapse, I am eager to play XCOM. I did spend a bunch of time a Sunday or so ago going through all the demos for games on my wishlist just to make sure I really did want them, and XCOM was one of those. The demo covered very little about the game. If I hadn't been following other news sites I wouldn't even know about the whole strategy behind developing your base, the importance of research, capturing aliens, etc. The demo really could have included 2 more missions, maybe from a bit later in the game, as well as let you experience some of the aforementioned portions of the game, to truly give a potential player an indication of what the game is like.
As long as you continue making suboptimal decisions so I don't die, I'd be okay with that. Also, Heavy weapons guy? Or whatever the class is that gets a rocket launcher, again speaking from my limited experience in the demo.
I will probably wait for the xmas sale, but for 2013, since most DLC cycles are about a year, and then I can get the GOTY edition and be done with it.
/me files away your connection until it can be used in a more subtle manor ;-)
Since I rather enjoy the outdoors, there is plenty I can do in the western half or so of the U.S. That is, if I didn't do seasonal work and had the opportunity to actually do those things. Plus, you usually don't have to pay too much to go hiking as compared to a tour of some metropolis, which plays in very well with the idea of me being cheap.
I prefer modern history, mostly post agricultural revolution, which would be about the 1700s or so on. As far as random facts, I used to be quite good about that. Someone would ask me what bit of useless information I had for them that day and I would say something like "There are 25 C5 galaxies in existence" or "honey is the only food that never spoils." I spent far too much time watching the discovery and history channels as a kid.
It used to be the whole series was available on hulu, but I just checked, and while that is still true, you need a membership to watch anything beyond a handful of episodes, which are right in the middle of the series to boot. Still, if you get a chance...
It would be interesting to see someone pay for a car in pennies. When they ask you how you'd like to pay, you say in cash, and point to a large moving truck outside filled to the brim with pennies.
But hammers are fun, except when you swing and miss, which is particularly problematic when it's a sledgehammer and the hammer only stops when it hits your big toe dead on. After doing that a few weeks in a row, I realized why people wear steel toe boots.
The terribleness of the XCOM demo aside, I would have to agree with you that, so far, I like Frozen Synapse better. I like the simultaneous movements, rather than turn based, and how you really have to predict what your enemy is going to do. That makes it worlds harder than simply hoping you've put your guys under adequate cover to survive the round.
I had forgotten about the panic mechanic (again, not in the demo). Maybe it would be best not to arm me with a rocket launcher then. After all, those Thin Men things are quite creepy.
GOTYs do seem to be less frequent than they were, but I've been burned more than once by getting a game and 1 month later the GOTY came out with the $60 worth of DLC included. That's why I generally wait for those to come out now, especially since it seems all you need to call your game GOTY is someone, anyone, to say that, even if it's in a tiny subcategory, like "best strategic, FPS, turnbased, RPG, indie, platformer of the year! -IGN" Now that I think about it, that might actually be a thing.
I'm more feast/famine with my money. Not only does my income fluctuate pretty badly, due to the seasonal nature of my work, but I'll be really good about saving up for a couple of months, and then decide I want to take a vacation, or spruce up the place with some new paintings, or a Steam sale comes along. The latter can be particularly deadly.
I will concur that quads are fun, which makes two thing we agree on so far. Obviously, somethings not quite right here.
We could start a game show and put Alex Trebek out of work.
Well, the next time you're interested/have free time/money and get Netflix, make sure to watch all 14 episodes of Firefly, and the Serenity movie. Sure, it may be pretty cliche now, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't see it.
Hmmm...what are the naming rules in XCOM. Could you actually put in "Mr. Months Behind" or how about "T. D. Soys," which could actually pass as a legitimate name.
Steel toed boots are critical if you want to pull off the whole intimidating farmer in a mall funny.
Question. If you've got no steel toed boots, and aren't very good with a hammer, how are you going to kidnap someone that sounds like a 250 lbs body builder and does all those things? This might be a bigger problem than making a big purchase in pennies.
Isn't the lack of variety of maps in XCOM supposed to be an issue people have with it? I had heard that there wasn't much beyond a pretty generic look to it, such that there wasn't anything special about heading to China or the US, they all kind of looked the same.
That's what I should do, round up a year's worth of posts, publish them, and call it the BOTY edition. Genius. Though now I'm assuming you're going to want a cut of the profits, which are certain to be obscenely large.
I have a fondness for things that decorate my walls and make my house look less like a blank space. I'm not talking fancy stuff here; the paintings I usually get are sold out of the back of a trailer in a grocery store parking lot. There is supposed to be some gallery somewhere, but they go up and down the coast selling stuff, and it's cheap, so there's that.
Occasionally I do industrial art. I made this quasi artistic piece last year of a man ripping open his chest to reveal the bright light inside him. I even gave it a fancy, deeply symbolic name. I have yet to get any extremely rich person to buy it for millions though, so maybe it's not that good.
I may have found a third thing: the size of our respective egos. :-)
I'd have to advise "Mr. Months" and "Behind" then, though the fact that you know there are nicknames, but no one seems to have lived long enough to get them yet, doesn't inspire me with the greatest confidence that I'll be sticking around.
You were unsure about being called pretty? I tease. Do you have some kind of napoleon complex going on that I don't know about, because that could be a little disconcerting. I had a friend once that was in the low fives for height, and somewhat sensitive about it, but she would always remind me that she's deadset on taking over the world, and when she rules it, just how screwed I'd be for all the comments I'd made of the year. She wasn't really joking either, so it could be a case like that.
Yes, luring me into a van with tinted out windows with the promise of free video games would work. You win this round. :-)
Well, that is a bit more reassuring. I suppose the complaints I've heard were geared more towards that the maps didn't feel like the belonged anywhere specific - China, USA, etc. I wonder if someone will mod it so that there are multiple texture/model sets, and while the map could be the same for different countries, they would look different depending on where it's located.
I will admit one of the things I really like about Frozen Synapse is the randomness of the levels, and while there may be certain design components that must always be there, such as an open corridor through the center of the map for an escort mission, the miscellaneous buildings and walls can change each time, preventing you from actually developing a strategy. Which is good, because I like being kept on my toes.
Yeah, that's why I get art, just to make things look a little nicer. I have a collection of random stuff from the places I've been as well, but much of that is sitting in a box in my closet because I don't have enough self space for all of it, and something like shark's jaws just doesn't go anywhere.
Up and coming artist? I wonder how many times I can stretch the truth in an ebay ad before they can claim it as false advertising, since I could also add in inspiring, deeply symbolic, and unique. Well, unique at least is true, since I made it out of parts from a tomato harvest, field cultivator, and a part from a tractor's engine, it's not very likely that someone else is going to come up with that exact combination. It's also big, so shipping would be expansive. Oh well, just need to pass that cost off to the buyer!
Why, do you want to get into a whose is bigger contest? ;-)
Funny story, until recently I would have to go into the blogger comment section and manually remove all your comments from the spam section. Apparently you post too much for google's liking. As for me, it's perfect.
You may want to give Atom Zombie Smasher a try at some point. It was another game involved in the steam Christmas contest last year, and I had no idea how to get the achievement, so I just kept playing the campaign for a while. There's this whole panic like system, where there are these zones you're trying to protect, and if you don't get to them fast enough the threat level increases. At the end of each day a zone produces more zombies, which advances the enemy win condition, and doubly so if a zone is at a very high level. I was doing good, even ahead of the curve for a while, until I didn't realize what units I had going into a particularly hard mission that I ended up failing, which caused a cascade of nearby zones going up in threat level, and now I'm so far behind I need to just bite the bullet and restart.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see if it goes on sale. But until then, let's just assume I would handle it better than you (told you my ego was big).
**Because I too fail at posting comments, according to blogger.**
Related note, greenmangaming.com has XCom for 35% off, which brings it to the low $30s, though the last time I used them I was hit with a currency conversion fee on my credit card (I think they're an Aussie outfit). You just need to use a code at checkout. The whole thing is written up here: http://www.pcgamer.com/sponsored/grab-35-off-top-pc-games/
Might be worth mentioning to anyone you know who is on the fence.
Well, I would appreciate it if you would generally try and not get me killed, though at least you're being fair and warning me this may not end well.
No, it was the 'but intimidating' part that was a little weird. As for height, I just say I'm fun sized :) Also I never ever wear flats unless I'm working out, that adds a few extra inches.
Yeah, I can understand the complaint that the levels don't feel like they specifically belong anywhere. As long as they each feel different and distinctive it's a minor enough issue though. I would appreciate a DLC that tossed in more levels that could randomly come up though.
The only DLC I know of that's planned is more along the lines of structured story mission... which misses the point entirely of the strengths of the game.
Sharks jaws? That's... a unique decorative tough.
If games are any indication you can stretch the truth well past the breaking point and still sell it. See Mass Effect 2/3 being called an RPG. :P
I always win in whose is bigger contest. I make it a point to inform male friends that I have a bigger penii then they do. I has an extra large detachable forehead penii. It's well suited for running around and poking random unsuspecting ppl. :)
Now that I've switched blogger accounts Google will probably decide I'm spam again. Blogger needs a way to change your nic! Some of us do change our online names every so often!
Sometimes I wish I was fun sized as well, only because it can be difficult to crawl into those tiny spaces where some machinery breaks. Then someone asks me to get something for them from the top shelf, and it passes :-)
Would that DLC be the one where some stuff happens in China, you get a new character, etc, etc? I've heard about that one as well.
Just a small set of jaws, but still something that doesn't necessarily go anywhere. That, Aborigine art, a pottery shard scooped up from some ancient ruins, and other misc stuff that hasn't found a home yet all lives in a box in my closet.
I just double checked, and you're right. I would have classified the games as action + rpg, just due to the leveling and all that. I bet if you asked most people to pick a genre that played it, they wouldn't go with RPG though. Seems the truth is of little consequence.
Yeah...you win. Because I'm not going to get into a contest that involves "running around and poking random unsuspecting people" with my penii. That would be bad.
Yep, google doesn't like you're posts. Still, I was excited to see someone else post. And no, some people don't change their names. I've been using the same name for 10 years. I used the one before that for 2-3 though. But at least google isn't forcing you to use your real name yet, though I occasionally get pressured to do so when I got to youtube to manage videos.
You have a new poster! Come back random unknown person!
Mr. Months Behind is feeling lonely on the blog. Besides, his reviews are actually quite good.
Back to random unrelated convo: Anytime you feel like being shorter feel free to give me some of your height.
Yeah, that's the DLC I was referring to. Apparently they do have more/better DLC coming though. So yay. Also XCom has apparently sold extremely well, and it's going to become a major series with regular revisions ever y few years ala Civilization. Much yayness.
It's nice to see someone else post. I've known that there always seem to be a few new viewers checking out the older reviews, but seeing someone else post confirms that. Though a first I figured you had just changed your name again.
It's good the game is doing well. I'm holding fast to my GOTY edition rule. Though if it's a bit lower during the winter sale, which word has it begins Friday the 21st, I might get it. Though aren't you worried that.if the do quasi annual releases, like civ, they will mess it up, like civ?
Nope. I haven't changed names again. If I were meaner I would be highly tempted to spam your blog with dozens of posts from dozens of new accounts though.
Alas, I am insufficiently cold hearted to do so. This is unfortunate as it would be funny.
If you see a PoetryinMotion Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 then it might be a sign that I have many evil clones running around though.
oh, I've no doubt they'll mess it up in time. It happens to every series. Still, I have more faith in Firaxis then most companies despite the Civ5 joke and it's not like any other major developer is ever going to touch a turn based strategy game so you take what you can get...
Most of the shiny things are objects you can interact with, usually hidden in dark corners, and the game is highlighting them so you know they are there. For example, at 1:16 or 8:20, there are some vents that are highlighted.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge amount more detail in Dark Athena, and it does look quite nice.
A major downside to the dialog, you scroll with the mouse. WASD doesn't cut it. Boo for bad ideas when porting games.
So have you tried the game yet? I'm interested to see how much what I've written corresponds with your opinion after trying the game out.
Yep, I see what you mean. They did turn up the specular a bit to much. At least that's the flag you alter in materials in Source. It is further amplified at times where I left the night vision on.
ReplyDeleteI did get a good laugh out of this. Partly because I guess you're in the ballpark, but more so because I've found myself envisioning a 250 lbs body builder in a full body flex while recording a game review.
ReplyDeleteIf it reassures you, I'm tall, around 6'5" or so, hence the deeper voice, and I prefer running/hiking over going to the gym and seeing what the heaviest thing I can lift is. But I do keep a pocket knife on me at all times, because it is a very useful tool in my line of work.
I would think a 250 lb body builder wouldn't need to carry a weapon though, maybe just a cheesy line about his guns /points at arms.
A lot of people seem to think the same way, because generally no one hassles me. It is kind of funny when people cross the street to avoid you at night because they just see a huge person, and fail to notice clues that give away he isn't out looking for violence, like carrying his groceries.
ReplyDeleteYeah, after you added me on Steam, I read through your profile. I figured, given your hobbies, you were around 5 ft or so. You have just now confirmed my suspicions.
Hiking is fun. Earlier this year I did a ton of it on vacation, maybe 45 miles or so. Just a collection of day hikes, including a 15, 11, and two 8 milers on various days. It's great what you can find out in the wilderness, if you're willing to put in the time/effort to make it out there.
You did preface your last comment with "Random unrelated comment," so I think we're good. Otherwise you could just call it building a positive relationship with the audience to ensure continued readership, which does sound much more on topic and business like.
To be fair, I would probably stereotype someone that was a foot and a half taller than me as well. Thankfully there aren't many 8 foot giants around where I tend to roam.
ReplyDeleteYou could look at it this way: for the impending apocalypse (machine, zombie, alien, or possibly raptor) you're stature and hobbies could prove extremely useful for hiding or running away, and you could probably take an escape route that would involve some dangerous swings off of extremely parallel like bars or somesuch. Me on the other hand, well, I don't think any of those things would be particularly intimated by someone that sounds like a 250 lb body builder on a video game review ;-)
Continuing on the previous point, you might want to change your outlook on forest/rocky roads/wilderness, in the event of the impending apocalypse, given those might just be the safe places to go.
I do think you stumbled onto the ??? of the classic 1. Start a blog, 2. ??? 3. Profit! Though I will admit it would be nice, if I had high enough readership that could support it monetarily, I wouldn't mind going to a real website, adding in forums and whatnot. The pipe dream would be to somehow generate enough income to quit my job and just play/review video games for a living. Who says you have to outgrow your childhood dreams?
I wonder if I too could have been just a little bit smarter if I didn't know exactly what you are talking about from first hand experience. Also, short contractors suck.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think I'd stand a better than average chance of survival, but that just might be my 250 lb body builder ego at work. Actually, I maintain some useful knowledge that would encourage others to keep me alive, such as basic electrical wiring or mechanical knowledge, rather than say, snares or knots. Interestingly enough, during a college English course, I had a professor you said that, come the end of the world, she would be left behind in favor of her husband, the construction worker. I suppose the apocalypse could make you reevaluate your priorities.
Expanding is a possibility, but honestly, I like the control I have over what is written here, and it does provide a level on consistency among my reviews. Plus I'm still doing this for fun, and that does count for a lot. Though, given that most games seem to fall into the 10 hour range, I could conceivably finish a game and it's review every 3-4 days, still having plenty of time to do other things in the process.
For a while, I legitimately was interested in learning to make games, though, more design the story and concept than get down into the programming, which is good, because I do not excel in that category. I had never considered writing any reviews until sometime early this year, after reading a few, and more so the criticisms of the reviews, and thought I might as well get my soapbox and join the fray. It does help that I only review games that I like to play, which explains why most reviews fall in the 7/8 range, which I scale as good/very good, rather than being forced to play absolutely everything, which would pretty quickly kill my desire to do this any more.
On a related note, I do know one individual who went to work as a game tester somewhere. Word was he got pretty sick of the games, and would no longer play them in his off hours like he used to.
I did grow up playing video games. Several other things too, but games always made for a fun way to pass some time that I had to myself. My biggest gaming hope now is really just to have more time available to play all these games I've amassed over the years, because I feel like I am missing out on some really good experiences. I've actually come to refer to this as the death of innocence - the lack of time to enjoy what you once did, specifically games, versus far more existential crises, death, or just finding out that there are bad people out there, all of which are probably far more likely to be associated with the phrase by your average person. But since when has settling for average been a good thing?
The downside is I'm usually the tall person people ask to do those things. Also, the worse case of such an occurrence I've come across is at a concert where people want to crowd surf, and they realize you're more than strong enough to help boost them up. You think you're being nice with the first person, and then everyone else wants to join in.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you memorized all of human history you'd be a valuable enough resource to keep alive. You would just have to compete against any library, or, you know, whatever is left of the internet. I mean, if Wikipedia survived, you'd be screwed.
Honestly, what I would hate most about game development would be being chained to a desk staring at a computer screen all day, though I'm sure it would be tough to really enjoy the medium in my off time because I would probably be critical/amazed at what I'm doing, rather than live in the moment. Also, I could do without the hours, though they are probably less than I work now, which explains this week or two absence of new reviews.
I agree. I usually will check in with PC Gamer just to catch up on some news, and a few times I've looked through their reviews. The lowest I've seen was in the low 50s. I do recognize the abundance of 7s here, though like I said, I can at least claim it's due to reviewing games I've chosen to play. Still, there have been a couple times I've struggled with the rating I've given a game, thinking I might be on the high side. However, I will also point out that I have done several games in the 4,5,6 range, which usually constitutes games that are average-ish, and not worth replaying.
I agree that there is, in your words, a near infinite number of interesting games to choose from, but that is part of my problem, because I would very much like to play them all. Given infinite time, I would devour nearly every game ever played, along with every piece of film or every literary work. Sort of that, I feel I'm missing out - that there is some great experience out that I would never have the opportunity to enjoy.
I was going to try and end that last paragraph with something climatic, possibly poetic. Something like "damn this mortal coil!" but that doesn't really fit, and currently my brain is tired. This may be a warning of things to come.
If it took two guys to carry it, then they were doing it wrong. But yes, pretty much that, and opening that really tough jar.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I'm a farmer. Which explains a lot, such as my long hours and absence of more reviews (well, I did also get the second book in a trilogy that I've been waiting for for a while, so the few free minutes I have are devoted to that), knowledge of things that could keep me valuable when the world ends, and my aversion to gambling, because we're you do it on a daily basis with a few million dollars in crops, you don't necessarily want to risk what little you make too.
If I were to convert to an "I review everything" type format, then most likely the ratings would be less focused around the 7 mark. But that would only probably happen if I could devote substantially more time to this, as well as a bit more money, because at that point I would probably be reviewing newly released games, which would toss out this whole months behind thing I've got going on.
Farming occupies a pretty unique position in that it is simultaneously one of the most important occupations, but also one of the most looked down upon for it's lack of skilled labor, low earnings, and so forth. It does make for an interesting conversation piece though, since most people have no idea about what's involved, and there are at least a few people out there that seem to be enthralled by it, though I'm not sure how many have this quaint idea of some little farm with a mom and pop tending to the cattle and driving a single tractor through the corn.
ReplyDeleteI am reminded that, in Civ 5, the basic research that makes civilization possible is agriculture, which is similar to my go to line of "If people like me didn't do the job we do, you wouldn't be here." That does tend to deflate the ego of some of the suits I'll run into at the fancy grocery store just after 5, when I look like I've just crawled out of the depths of hell, covered as I am in dirt, oil, and what you would hope to be mostly my own blood. Ironically, looking like that gets you great customer service, because most people want you out of their store as quickly as possible.
It's funny you mention tomatoes, because right now I hate them. With a passion. I hate the way the plant gets stuck in your hair. I hate the feeling of a tomato dripping down your neck. I hate crawling through smashed tomatoes to find a broken hydraulic line on your tomato harvester. This also describes the last month or so of my life.
I've never actually been to a farmers market. Though one of the neighbors where I work is one of these organic types with a little plot of land that would participate in that sort of thing. Unfortunately, the way he farms makes me cringe, because he is so bad. Apparently, he is some silicon valley type that made it big, and felt like moving into the country to try his hand at it, thinking it would be easy. Maybe it is for him, but he isn't trying to make a living off of it.
As for farmers market tomatoes tasting better, I'd bet its the variety of tomatoes they're growing. The stuff you get in a grocery store is usually machine harvested when they are green, and then they ripen on the truck. That's just one of those industry secrets that is only a secret because most people don't care enough about ag to question how things get to be the way they are.
Also, I now have this picture of a rabbit doing gymnastics.
The Lightbringer trilogy by Brent Weeks, specifically The Blinding Knife book. Found out about Brent a few years ago, when I picked up the first novel in the Night Angel trilogy, and blew through it in two days. It is actually a series I'd like to read again because it was so good, but, as with so many other things, I never seem to have the time. If you're interested in a different take on fantasy, I would recommend both series.
You will probably continue to have that monopoly for a while too. I only have a handful of followers now between here and youtube, and I probably won't get around to trying to promote this a bit more until I finish my backlog of reviews, or the November steam sale starts and I do daily coverage again, though with how many games I actually had in depth knowledge of now compared to last year's sales, I may just find I'm out of my experience league.
I would like to also say you have incredible timing. I had literally just logged into the Months Behind account, when my phone pinged with a new email. Pressed F5, and lo and behold, your comment had just shown up.
If I ever have a day off, I do usually look much nicer than I do at work. And I look killer in a suit, as opposed to my farming attire, where I just look more like a killer. Though I am fairly certain if I attempted to go into the mall right after work, in my steel toe boots and clothes that has holes burned in it from time spent on a welder or torch, security would probably escort me out pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, owning a house with a yard means a lot more work too. I was fixing my fridge the other day, when I realized how damaged the floor was underneath, and that pretty soon I'll have to replace a good portion of it. That just means I've got to work harder to make more money. *Sigh*
I can agree with that sentiment. I took a vacation earlier this year, and at one point was kayaking with a stranger. We were making small talk, when he asked me how much we sell our tomatoes for. I told him that the price was set at $68 a ton for paste - those tomatoes they blend up and then sell to Heinz for ketchup or Ragu for spaghetti sauce - and he couldn't believe it. So yes, I am all for paying farmers more :-D
Well, since you liked the Night Angel trilogy, I would of course recommend the Lightbringer series, just knowing it will probably be another year or two before Brent Weeks wraps it all up. There was also a short story released on Durzo, but that's ebook only. I'm old fashioned, and like books that don't run on batteries, but I wasn't willing to spend $45 for the numbered editions that were the only printed books to be released. I would also recommend Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller chronicles, starting with The Name of the Wind, though that is also a currently incomplete trilogy. Another author I enjoy is Jim Butcher, for his Dresden Files series, but if scifi/fantasy set in modern day isn't so much your thing, he does have a fantasy series as well, known as the Codex Alera. I actually have all six of those books, but haven't read one yet.
If memory serves, Steam started having seasonal sales 3 years ago, starting with Thanksgiving or so, another week around Christmas/New Years, and then the summer sale. The exact times, durations, and types of sales seem to vary each time, such as no achievements during this summer, but they've pretty much stuck with that schedule since they started.
I can second spending too much recently. I purchased a couple of paintings over the last two months, and even though they are very cheap for oil and canvas, it still put a sizable dent in my pocketbook. I also haven't even touched anything I got during the summer sale, though to be fair, I haven't played any game that wasn't part of a review since the summer sale either, despite being in the middle of some really good ones, like Frozen Synapse. The good/bad news is I only have another 8 or so games in my buffer to review before I'll need to start spending time on new ones.
You will of course now be filling me in as to what those mall funnies are, right? My personal best, just to break the ice, involves dressing up in full football gear and going through a department store.
ReplyDeleteI told you I'd be a valuable commodity come the raptor apocalypse. Though, truth be told, I'm not going to fix the floor myself, there is just more involved that I'd like to tackle on my first time. Small bathroom, sure. 500 sq ft, nope. But, to try and impress you again to make up for that, I did install a ceiling fan a while back. In and of itself, that doesn't sound like much, until I tell you that there was nothing there, so I had to start cutting holes in the ceiling and wall, instal brackets, and run my own electrical without burning down my house. I did at least have a roommate standing by with a fire extinguisher in case I screwed up though.
Unfortunately, being tied to a seasonal job, my traveling is limited to the winter months, so I generally seek out some place warm. This has limited me from exploring various areas I'd like to see, and some of the warmer places, like the Southern hemisphere, are a bit more expensive to get to.
In that case, I would hold off for a year or two on both Lightbringer and Kingkiller, though I believe the word is the third, and supposedly final, book of the Kingkiller series will be out sometime next year.
I have never read any of those books/series, so I will keep them in mind. I've been in the middle of A Song of Ice and Fire for about a year now. Currently I'm on the fifth book, but I haven't read very much of it lately, stopping in favor of other series I like much better, such as the latest Lightbringer book. I do also have a major gripe with George R.R. Martin, and wonder if he'll ever actually finish. However, I have far too much invested in the series to stop now, so it makes for decent filler between better books, except for the fourth, which was complete rubbish.
Biographies/historical stuff and an interest in archeology. I'm not sure if I should be impressed, or make some kind of sarcastic remark about always living in the past :)
As far as Pretty Little Liars...at least I've heard of that show, though none of it has been good. I'm actually not a TV person. There are few shows that I can be interested enough to watch at all, and few that manage to hold that interest, though most of those have been canceled by now anyways. So hurray for books and video games.
That was the only reason I considered getting the short story by Brent Weeks in ebook format, it's about a tenth the cost that way. However, I've spent far too much time reading things on computer screens as is, and I'll just wait and see if he does a few more and then releases them as a collection. That's exactly what Jim Butcher did with his Dresden Files series, since he frequently writes shorts for various anthologies, he ultimately combined about 10 of them into a single book.
I was considering trying to photoshop Riddick's face onto the American Gothic painting, but the thought of him trying to thresh wheat with his ulaks is a little much. I do however think he is a much more complex character than many give him credit for, and at least on the book reading part could surprise you. That really only comes from one line, after killing one of those large bad guys with your ulaks, where he says "The ulaks had first been forged by the ancient monks, used in defense of honor." It is also a convenient way to work the game at hand back into the conversation, if just to say we haven't entirely drifted off topic.
How did you pay for said grape? I'm trying to decide if paying with a large bill or a check would have been funnier. Either way, some of those are way too thought out for anything I would do. Hats off to you.
ReplyDeleteThe down side is the shorter lifespan, which usually results when a wannabe Mr. Fixit thinks they can tackle that live wiring, or a roofing job.
Ah, but what if one of the things they can fix are random electronic gadgets? Then you'd be out of a job.
I actually played a game myself this weekend - Quantum Conondrum. I finally tried the demo I downloaded months ago, and then claimed the game from my steam inventory, which you saw. Sadly/luckily, I beat it on Sunday, because it's only about 5 hours long and not very difficult, and so I'm back to writing reviews.
X-Com is one of those games I'm tempted to get right now just to play it, despite my large inventory and backlog of reviews I need to do. Other recently released games include Dishonored and Borderlands 2, though especially in the case of the latter, I just cannot part with the $60 for the base game, the $30 DLC season pass which saves you $10 over buying them separately, and then all those additional DLCs that aren't covered by the season pass, such as a character one that just came out. Over $100 is a bit too much to stomach for one game.
Quite a selection of places there. I've stuck to North America, just covering the three largest countries there. My last trip, this winter, was to Kauai, and that was nice. I was considering heading to another island, that is until I saw the state of my floor, and started running the numbers on fixing 500 sq ft at a cost of 3-5 dollars a ft. Yeah, no vacation this year.
The Wheel of Time series sounds like a challenge. I might just take that one up. One of my issues with A Song of Ice and Fire is that the fourth book was junk. He is one of these writers that writes each chapter from another character's perspective, but he decided to split the character between books 4 and 5 based on geography, rather than write one book or split it into two chronologically. Additionally, he introduced my most hated character in the series as one he writes from the perspective of, and she makes up what feels like half the book. I'm no stranger to long series though. Stephen King's The Dark Tower was good, but also somewhat strange. I didn't care much for 1, loved 2 and 3, wasn't as happy with 4, and then 5-7 where all very different because they happened after he had an accident, and suddenly all his stories were interconnected. It's something that's a bit difficult to explain without going into a huge amount of detail.
So, screw anything between the Roman Empire and Pre-WWII?
If I had to pick a Joss Whedon show, it would be Firefly. Sorry, I'm a stereotypical scifi fan. Though the last show I really loved on tv was on called Kings from back in 2009. It was pretty obvious that a Shakespearean like retelling of the book of kings was not going to fly well in the US, and indeed, by the 4th episode, it was cancelled.
Once in high school I went to an electronics store after school, and a friend mentioned he wanted to go with me. First he had to stop by a fast food place though, so I pulled up to the drive through. After ordering his burger, fries, and a drink, he proceeded to hand me his $5-6 in quarters. I looked at him and said "Seriously?" Then I apologized to the teller that took the payment.
ReplyDeleteThat would be 100-120 rolls of pennies. Forget the volume problem, the weight would be an issue. Though I did hear a story on the radio not long ago of a guy who paid his final mortgage payment in pennies, so it can be done.
That is true. Generally, the definition of fixing something is to hit it with a hammer. If that doesn't work, get a bigger hammer. If that still doesn't work, heat it up with a torch, then get the 20 lbs sledge hammer.
After putting time into Frozen Synapse, I am eager to play XCOM. I did spend a bunch of time a Sunday or so ago going through all the demos for games on my wishlist just to make sure I really did want them, and XCOM was one of those. The demo covered very little about the game. If I hadn't been following other news sites I wouldn't even know about the whole strategy behind developing your base, the importance of research, capturing aliens, etc. The demo really could have included 2 more missions, maybe from a bit later in the game, as well as let you experience some of the aforementioned portions of the game, to truly give a potential player an indication of what the game is like.
As long as you continue making suboptimal decisions so I don't die, I'd be okay with that. Also, Heavy weapons guy? Or whatever the class is that gets a rocket launcher, again speaking from my limited experience in the demo.
I will probably wait for the xmas sale, but for 2013, since most DLC cycles are about a year, and then I can get the GOTY edition and be done with it.
/me files away your connection until it can be used in a more subtle manor ;-)
Since I rather enjoy the outdoors, there is plenty I can do in the western half or so of the U.S. That is, if I didn't do seasonal work and had the opportunity to actually do those things. Plus, you usually don't have to pay too much to go hiking as compared to a tour of some metropolis, which plays in very well with the idea of me being cheap.
I prefer modern history, mostly post agricultural revolution, which would be about the 1700s or so on. As far as random facts, I used to be quite good about that. Someone would ask me what bit of useless information I had for them that day and I would say something like "There are 25 C5 galaxies in existence" or "honey is the only food that never spoils." I spent far too much time watching the discovery and history channels as a kid.
It used to be the whole series was available on hulu, but I just checked, and while that is still true, you need a membership to watch anything beyond a handful of episodes, which are right in the middle of the series to boot. Still, if you get a chance...
It would be interesting to see someone pay for a car in pennies. When they ask you how you'd like to pay, you say in cash, and point to a large moving truck outside filled to the brim with pennies.
ReplyDeleteBut hammers are fun, except when you swing and miss, which is particularly problematic when it's a sledgehammer and the hammer only stops when it hits your big toe dead on. After doing that a few weeks in a row, I realized why people wear steel toe boots.
The terribleness of the XCOM demo aside, I would have to agree with you that, so far, I like Frozen Synapse better. I like the simultaneous movements, rather than turn based, and how you really have to predict what your enemy is going to do. That makes it worlds harder than simply hoping you've put your guys under adequate cover to survive the round.
I had forgotten about the panic mechanic (again, not in the demo). Maybe it would be best not to arm me with a rocket launcher then. After all, those Thin Men things are quite creepy.
GOTYs do seem to be less frequent than they were, but I've been burned more than once by getting a game and 1 month later the GOTY came out with the $60 worth of DLC included. That's why I generally wait for those to come out now, especially since it seems all you need to call your game GOTY is someone, anyone, to say that, even if it's in a tiny subcategory, like "best strategic, FPS, turnbased, RPG, indie, platformer of the year! -IGN" Now that I think about it, that might actually be a thing.
I'm more feast/famine with my money. Not only does my income fluctuate pretty badly, due to the seasonal nature of my work, but I'll be really good about saving up for a couple of months, and then decide I want to take a vacation, or spruce up the place with some new paintings, or a Steam sale comes along. The latter can be particularly deadly.
I will concur that quads are fun, which makes two thing we agree on so far. Obviously, somethings not quite right here.
We could start a game show and put Alex Trebek out of work.
Well, the next time you're interested/have free time/money and get Netflix, make sure to watch all 14 episodes of Firefly, and the Serenity movie. Sure, it may be pretty cliche now, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't see it.
Hmmm...what are the naming rules in XCOM. Could you actually put in "Mr. Months Behind" or how about "T. D. Soys," which could actually pass as a legitimate name.
Steel toed boots are critical if you want to pull off the whole intimidating farmer in a mall funny.
ReplyDeleteQuestion. If you've got no steel toed boots, and aren't very good with a hammer, how are you going to kidnap someone that sounds like a 250 lbs body builder and does all those things? This might be a bigger problem than making a big purchase in pennies.
Isn't the lack of variety of maps in XCOM supposed to be an issue people have with it? I had heard that there wasn't much beyond a pretty generic look to it, such that there wasn't anything special about heading to China or the US, they all kind of looked the same.
That's what I should do, round up a year's worth of posts, publish them, and call it the BOTY edition. Genius. Though now I'm assuming you're going to want a cut of the profits, which are certain to be obscenely large.
I have a fondness for things that decorate my walls and make my house look less like a blank space. I'm not talking fancy stuff here; the paintings I usually get are sold out of the back of a trailer in a grocery store parking lot. There is supposed to be some gallery somewhere, but they go up and down the coast selling stuff, and it's cheap, so there's that.
Occasionally I do industrial art. I made this quasi artistic piece last year of a man ripping open his chest to reveal the bright light inside him. I even gave it a fancy, deeply symbolic name. I have yet to get any extremely rich person to buy it for millions though, so maybe it's not that good.
I may have found a third thing: the size of our respective egos. :-)
I'd have to advise "Mr. Months" and "Behind" then, though the fact that you know there are nicknames, but no one seems to have lived long enough to get them yet, doesn't inspire me with the greatest confidence that I'll be sticking around.
You were unsure about being called pretty? I tease. Do you have some kind of napoleon complex going on that I don't know about, because that could be a little disconcerting. I had a friend once that was in the low fives for height, and somewhat sensitive about it, but she would always remind me that she's deadset on taking over the world, and when she rules it, just how screwed I'd be for all the comments I'd made of the year. She wasn't really joking either, so it could be a case like that.
ReplyDeleteYes, luring me into a van with tinted out windows with the promise of free video games would work. You win this round. :-)
Well, that is a bit more reassuring. I suppose the complaints I've heard were geared more towards that the maps didn't feel like the belonged anywhere specific - China, USA, etc. I wonder if someone will mod it so that there are multiple texture/model sets, and while the map could be the same for different countries, they would look different depending on where it's located.
I will admit one of the things I really like about Frozen Synapse is the randomness of the levels, and while there may be certain design components that must always be there, such as an open corridor through the center of the map for an escort mission, the miscellaneous buildings and walls can change each time, preventing you from actually developing a strategy. Which is good, because I like being kept on my toes.
Yeah, that's why I get art, just to make things look a little nicer. I have a collection of random stuff from the places I've been as well, but much of that is sitting in a box in my closet because I don't have enough self space for all of it, and something like shark's jaws just doesn't go anywhere.
Up and coming artist? I wonder how many times I can stretch the truth in an ebay ad before they can claim it as false advertising, since I could also add in inspiring, deeply symbolic, and unique. Well, unique at least is true, since I made it out of parts from a tomato harvest, field cultivator, and a part from a tractor's engine, it's not very likely that someone else is going to come up with that exact combination. It's also big, so shipping would be expansive. Oh well, just need to pass that cost off to the buyer!
Why, do you want to get into a whose is bigger contest? ;-)
Funny story, until recently I would have to go into the blogger comment section and manually remove all your comments from the spam section. Apparently you post too much for google's liking. As for me, it's perfect.
You may want to give Atom Zombie Smasher a try at some point. It was another game involved in the steam Christmas contest last year, and I had no idea how to get the achievement, so I just kept playing the campaign for a while. There's this whole panic like system, where there are these zones you're trying to protect, and if you don't get to them fast enough the threat level increases. At the end of each day a zone produces more zombies, which advances the enemy win condition, and doubly so if a zone is at a very high level. I was doing good, even ahead of the curve for a while, until I didn't realize what units I had going into a particularly hard mission that I ended up failing, which caused a cascade of nearby zones going up in threat level, and now I'm so far behind I need to just bite the bullet and restart.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see if it goes on sale. But until then, let's just assume I would handle it better than you (told you my ego was big).
**Because I too fail at posting comments, according to blogger.**
ReplyDeleteRelated note, greenmangaming.com has XCom for 35% off, which brings it to the low $30s, though the last time I used them I was hit with a currency conversion fee on my credit card (I think they're an Aussie outfit). You just need to use a code at checkout. The whole thing is written up here: http://www.pcgamer.com/sponsored/grab-35-off-top-pc-games/
Might be worth mentioning to anyone you know who is on the fence.
Well, I would appreciate it if you would generally try and not get me killed, though at least you're being fair and warning me this may not end well.
No, it was the 'but intimidating' part that was a little weird.
ReplyDeleteAs for height, I just say I'm fun sized :)
Also I never ever wear flats unless I'm working out, that adds a few extra inches.
Yeah, I can understand the complaint that the levels don't feel like they specifically belong anywhere. As long as they each feel different and distinctive it's a minor enough issue though. I would appreciate a DLC that tossed in more levels that could randomly come up though.
The only DLC I know of that's planned is more along the lines of structured story mission... which misses the point entirely of the strengths of the game.
Sharks jaws? That's... a unique decorative tough.
If games are any indication you can stretch the truth well past the breaking point and still sell it. See Mass Effect 2/3 being called an RPG. :P
I always win in whose is bigger contest. I make it a point to inform male friends that I have a bigger penii then they do. I has an extra large detachable forehead penii.
It's well suited for running around and poking random unsuspecting ppl. :)
Now that I've switched blogger accounts Google will probably decide I'm spam again.
Blogger needs a way to change your nic!
Some of us do change our online names every so often!
Sometimes I wish I was fun sized as well, only because it can be difficult to crawl into those tiny spaces where some machinery breaks. Then someone asks me to get something for them from the top shelf, and it passes :-)
DeleteWould that DLC be the one where some stuff happens in China, you get a new character, etc, etc? I've heard about that one as well.
Just a small set of jaws, but still something that doesn't necessarily go anywhere. That, Aborigine art, a pottery shard scooped up from some ancient ruins, and other misc stuff that hasn't found a home yet all lives in a box in my closet.
I just double checked, and you're right. I would have classified the games as action + rpg, just due to the leveling and all that. I bet if you asked most people to pick a genre that played it, they wouldn't go with RPG though. Seems the truth is of little consequence.
Yeah...you win. Because I'm not going to get into a contest that involves "running around and poking random unsuspecting people" with my penii. That would be bad.
Yep, google doesn't like you're posts. Still, I was excited to see someone else post. And no, some people don't change their names. I've been using the same name for 10 years. I used the one before that for 2-3 though. But at least google isn't forcing you to use your real name yet, though I occasionally get pressured to do so when I got to youtube to manage videos.
Do you two ever discuss the reviews? or just everything but the reviews.
ReplyDeleteIt happens more often than not, this one just went much further off the rails than anything else.
DeleteAlso, welcome to Months Behind Reviews and the comments in particular. Glad to have you here.
You have a new poster!
ReplyDeleteCome back random unknown person!
Mr. Months Behind is feeling lonely on the blog. Besides, his reviews are actually quite good.
Back to random unrelated convo:
Anytime you feel like being shorter feel free to give me some of your height.
Yeah, that's the DLC I was referring to. Apparently they do have more/better DLC coming though. So yay.
Also XCom has apparently sold extremely well, and it's going to become a major series with regular revisions ever y few years ala Civilization.
Much yayness.
It's nice to see someone else post. I've known that there always seem to be a few new viewers checking out the older reviews, but seeing someone else post confirms that. Though a first I figured you had just changed your name again.
DeleteIt's good the game is doing well. I'm holding fast to my GOTY edition rule. Though if it's a bit lower during the winter sale, which word has it begins Friday the 21st, I might get it. Though aren't you worried that.if the do quasi annual releases, like civ, they will mess it up, like civ?
Nope. I haven't changed names again.
ReplyDeleteIf I were meaner I would be highly tempted to spam your blog with dozens of posts from dozens of new accounts though.
Alas, I am insufficiently cold hearted to do so. This is unfortunate as it would be funny.
If you see a PoetryinMotion Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 then it might be a sign that I have many evil clones running around though.
oh, I've no doubt they'll mess it up in time. It happens to every series. Still, I have more faith in Firaxis then most companies despite the Civ5 joke and it's not like any other major developer is ever going to touch a turn based strategy game so you take what you can get...