FW: Epic

Below is an email I sent to Joey about my first nights experiences with Demon’s Souls. It’s not in the format I usually write on the blog, but I figured it captures my excitement for the game.

One thing I’d like to add is the online component. Every now and again you’ll see the ghostly outlines of other players running around, fighting, dying. It’s jarring at first, but eventually it kind of builds this weird sense of being alone, but also being around allies. All these people are going through the same struggles as you, but you can’t interact with them at all.

Also, there’s a warning system that allows players to leave glyphs warning against traps, ambushes, enemies, and a ton of other things. You can rate these warnings which gives the original message leaver a health boost.

Lastly, if a player dies, he leaves a bloodstain, which serves as a spiritual “imprint” showing how that player died, which you can replay to get hints as to the hazards ahead.

All in all, Atlus made an INCREDIBLE game, that’s both familiar, and completely unique.

Demon’s Souls kicks ass.

Graphics are beautiful, combat is realistic-(ish), challenging and rewarding. The game is truly non-linear, in that it throws you into a massive area and says “You figure it out, dummy.” No maps, No Radar, no guidance on where to go. The entire time I was playing I was worried about dying at any second, which happened a LOT. The nice thing about death however is that the demons you’ve already killed are reborn where they died. You keep all your items, you just lose all your souls.

First moment I knew I’d enjoy the game is when I stumbled on a message saying “You need to be soul level 50 ahead” and saw some armored dude with a footmans lance. I figured, I’ve seen a lot of bloodstains earlier on from people that got killed by weak enemies, how hard could this fucker be? So I charged him, got instantly impaled and died. :D Then I wanted my souls back, so I rushed in to where he killed me, touched my bloodstains and regained my souls. He didn’t care for it so he started chasing me. And chasing me. And chasing me. He, being an demon, easily outpaced me once my stamina dropped out, and impaled me again, Fortunately, where I died this time was away from his respawn point and I was able to harvest my souls.

The point where I realized I really liked this game was when I spent twenty to thirty minutes hacking my way through the castle, finally found something in the form of an armored knight surrounded by demons. I firebombed them, hacked the rest up. The dude said “thanks for helping me, here’s a looking glass, now I’m outtie” and just stalked off, hacking other demons up in his wake. I followed him for a bit, until he started going where I had already been. The area I found him in was a complete dead end, and aside from the looking glass, there was absolutely no point to the time it took me to get to him. Also, the looking glass isn’t magic, and he didn’t give me any quests. It just let me see things farther away. :D

The point I fell in love with the game is when I finally found my way to an outside area of the castle. I saw a pair of HUGE dragons lounging on a Cliffside, lazing about like cats. There was a warning on the ground (as if I needed it) to not go forward unless I had fire protection. I didn’t. There was a small side path along the cliff below them so I crept along there, found a body with some treasure and snagged it. At that point the dragon took notice of me and the cliff face started trembling. I immediately started running back, almost mis-stepped and fell headlong off the cliff. I barely cleared the cliff face before the dragon let out a gout of flame at my back. The flame BARELY touched me, but the heat was enough to leave me a sliver away from death. I looked at Jenn and asked her “Am I supposed to fight this thing or something?? What the fuck do I DO?!” No clue. I backtracked a bit and found some stairs that led to a long stretch of wall (the parapet? Like, the area where archers repel attackers). There was a gauntlet of warriors along here, not a problem for a bad ass knight like me. Except as soon as I walked out, I realized the dragons had a perfect line of sight on me, and didn’t appreciate me trying to rush the bridge. It turned into a game of cat and mouse where I would run out, poke a demon warrior with my sword, then hightail it back before the dragon had enough time to rush me. I’d deal with the demon in the closed in area that the dragon couldn’t get into and repeat. I had to do this about 5 times, then I had a clear run. I fucking hightailed it as fast as I could, holding my breath, and I JUST barely cleared the other side before dragon wheeled around and unleashed his attack. I won! Although at this point I wasn’t sure if I had just snuck past a mid-level boss only to stumble onto the higher level boss. There was a lever, so naturally I pulled it. It opened a massive gate, and then I just kept going. The next area as a staircase leading down, ringing the square tower. A little exhilarated from my flight from the dragon, I Wasn’t as cautious as I should have been, took a mis-step, and plummeted to my death. Countless demon souls, escaped being roasted by a dragon twice, and I met my fate from being clumsy. L Needless to say I didn’t attempt to go back for my souls. Fortunately, the gate I opened lead to a massive demon right where you teleport in to the area, so I didn’t have to try to fight my way back.

The demon “boss” was cool. He was a massive pile of black ooze that ballista bolts out of him. He had a mass of kite shields all over him, and would spawn little oozes that had kite shields and little spears as well. The trick was to get behind him where he had no shields. It took about 20-30 minutes of running in, striking, pulling back out. Tactical, chaotic, satisfying. I beat him, and as such regained my body!

Up until this point, dying was at worst, an inconvenience. I lost all my souls, which I use to improve stats, upgrade and repair weapons, and buy supplies, but since the demons re-spawn, I could build up my souls back just fighting to my death site, and if I find my body, essentially double my souls. NOW if I die, I lose my body, which cuts my total health in half, and I have to go through a rigamarole to get it back. This game is SICK awesome.

And so the adventure begins

If you're here reading this blog, you probably know that I'm a huge geek. I love geek things. Some, not all. Video games, fantasy novels, podcasts, but my true passion is the Dungeons and Dragons. I've talked about it a bit before here, and on the podcast, but mostly it was just a pie in the sky dream. That has changed! I have a regular gaming group who seem to enjoy the game, and we've had two actual gaming sessions and they're coming back for a third! Because I love D&D and I love writing, I'm going to combine the two things and write about D&D! And so it begins..





First I'll introduce the motley cast of characters:





Name: Lix

Race: Changeling

Class: Rogue

Background:



Lix has a few vague memories about her family, mostly happy ones, but after that it's a gray area. She remembers being forcibly removed from them, but she doesn't know why. From there she remembers being lost in the streets of the strange city of Gemdeep and quickly having to learn skills to survive. She honed her street skills, using her innate abilities of disguise to master the arts of subterfuge and stealth, becoming deadly with her blade and shuriken. It wasn't long before her skill was recognized and she found herself a patron, a merchant who made his fortune financing exploration teams into ancient ruins and traded on the artifacts recovered. He required an agent to monitor the loyalty and abilities of those he employed, and so it was a natural fit for Lix. She was able to rasie out of the gutters into a life of relative comfort, and earn an honest keep for herself .



Name: Light

Race: Tiefling

Class: Warlock

Background:



The Illegitamite son of a whore from the dock district of Gemdeep, the life of this young tiefling was a struggle from the beginning. His mother neither wanted, nor cared for the boy, but out of some twisted sense of duty, kept him around anyways. Raised communially by the whores his mother worked with, he grew up without a father figure. The whores his mother worked with all had different tales of who his father was, but the image he took to heart was one of a dashing and brave treasure hunter. Wanting to emulate this beleived image of his father, Light took to "investigating" the cellars and basements of local shop owners, usually at the prodding of the older children in the docks, who fancied themselves local gangs. The "investigations" usually ended badly for Light, either being locked in the dark cellar as a joke, or resulting in a severe beating from the gangs taking his collected loot, or from the shop owners, or sometimes both. At around age 10 or 11, perhaps by chance, or fate, Light broke into the cellar of an elderly shop owner who kept an altar to ancient devils in his basement. The shopowner professed to have known he was coming, and indeed had waited a long time for his arrival. From there, Light was trained in the dark arts, embracing his heritage, and learning to master the power of his devilish ancestors. He kept true to his desires to become a treasure hunter, and as his last act before death, his master arranged for him to become an agent for a local merchant who made fortunes of such aspiring treasure hunters.



Name: Patrin

Race: Dragonborn

Class: Ranger

Background:



Patrin was born and rasied on the outskirts of the Evermire Swamp, several days travel from the luxuries of the city of Gemdeep. He had the misfortune of being born without a clan, without blood kin, and without a true family. He was raised by a gruff human, a self appointed guardian and scout of the Everrmire swamp, who trained him in the ways of nature and survival. An expert bowman, he imparted many skills to Patrin, but was unable to provide him with any information regarding his true heritage, or history. Fascinated with finding out more about where his kin could be, Patrin used the supply runs to Gemdeep to spend time researching his clan, though it took many years until he finally secured enough information to have a starting point. Almost immediately after the death of his elderly mentor, Patrin left his home to spend as much time as needed in Gemdeep. Deep within the ancient libraries of the temple of Bahamut, he found reference to an ancient and forgotten temple deep within the swamps, populated by an ancient clan of green skinned Dragonborn. Estatic with this new lead, Patrin left immediately to the swamps in search of his heritage.







The Party:



Having spies everywhere, Lix's Master had learned of Patrin's attempts at locating this temple. Indeed, the rumour of this ancient order of Dragonborn had been known to him for ages, but he had never had enough information to locate it. Due to some unforeseen "accidents" that had befallen many of his trusted field agents, the merchant, Lorona Rezea, was forced to rely on a new contact, a tiefling he had never worked with. Realizing the potential gain from this temple, he realized it was imperative that he have someone he trust accompany this new agent. He sent a messenger to arrange a meeting between Lix and Light at a local tavern within the merchant district of Gemdeep. The two met, and promptly began tracking the Dragonborns trail. Despite being a fledgeling ranger, the Dragonborn had little concern for covering his tracks, so the two were able to follow with relative ease. Lix and Light found the Dragonborn, several days into the swamp, coming upon him immediately after brutal altercation with a group of kobolds.

The leader of the kobolds had been captured by Patrin, and after some introduction between the three adventurers, the three interrogated the creature. They learned that the creature had been sent from its master, from an ancient forest located to the south of the Evermire swamps. The kobolds had become lost in the swamp after their map had suffered some fire damage, and they too were looking for the ancient temple, though their motivations were unclear, outside of the fact they were instructed by their master. The group released the kobold, only to have Light kill him as he fled, and from a bond formed of necessity, the three set out, deeper into the swamp.



Swamp travel is seldom easy, even to one such as Patrin, so at the behest of his newfound traveling companions, they took rest in a relatively dry clearing, amidst some ancient trees. Within a few moments of resting, the rogue, Lix noticed an abnormality in the local wildlife. Several large lizards had been littered around the small clearing, seeming devoid of both life, and blood. The dried out husks caused the rogue some worry, but before she was able to warn her companions, the source of these creatures death became apparent. As she dived behind one of the large trees to find a vantage, three large, bat-like creatures with foot long proboscis flew out of a hollow in the tree opposite her.



The party sprang into action, and althoug the creatures continued to swarm Patrin after initially drawing blood from her, they were able to defeat the creatures. Lix was able to show off her prowess in the battle by climbing up the tree, and hanging upside down from a branch, stabbing one of the creatures directly in the back of its head. Patrin, after wrestling one of the creatures from her neck, showed off her prowess with the bow by firing two arrows directly at it, though one veered of course, the other struck true. Light relied on his dark and fell magic to down the third, and thus the party defeated the first foes they fought as a group. Though it wasn't formally discussed, it was understood that a bond had now been formed, through the blood of their enemies.



From there the group continued on, engaging the more mundane hazards of the swamp, insects, ankle to waist deep swamp water, and the general lethargy that hours in a swamp can cause. The next major landmark on their map was a deep and ancient ravine, once a mighty river roared through it, but now, it was a dried out bed for underbrush and other creatures. A narrow tree crossed the ravine, which the group bravely tried to cross. Lix, the most agile of the group attempted first, and narrowly made it across. Second was Light who, as the least physically able, attempted to cross unsuccsessfully and tumbled down. Patrin, being the most compassionate attempted to climb down the side, but also fell. After ensuring her allies were ok, Lix lowered down a rope, with a snicker. As Light was acending the rope, a small and violent creature leapt out from the shadows at Patrin, grasping at her throat with his long, powerful arms. As the creature began choking Patrin, Lix bravely leapt down the ravine via the rope. Unfortunately for Lix, her agility did not match her bravery, and she as well tumbled into the ravine. The party engaged the Choker in combat and managed to defeat it, though Patrin took some painful injuries. Within the creatures lair, Lix managed to find a suit of enchanted mail, and a small bag of coins.



Rattled from their experience, and with all the party wounded from the fall and the encounter, the group decided to camp for the night. Fortunately, they were able to rest without much trouble, and summarily continued on with their journey.



After several more hours of swamp travel, they were forced to cross a wide, slow moving river. There was great tension with the crossing, as they were unsure of what the murky waters contained. Being a forward thinking group, Patrin was first to cross, taking with her one end of a rope. From there, Light pulled himself across the river as Lix and Patrin each held an end. Lix entered the water with great apprehension, and despite a moment of panic as a bit of weed tangled her leg, she crossed with little trouble.



The day passed on uneventfully, and as dusk began to settle in, the group came upon a small hut, deep within the swamp. An ancient looking half-elf in stained robes greeted them amidst the darkness, beckoning them to join them. They entered the small hut warily, where the half-elf introduced herself as Lissa, and prophetically informed them that while they were nearing their destination, their journey was only beginning. She deigned not to answer their questions, and before they were able to press her, she used a magical powder to put them into a deep slumber.

As they woke the next morning, they discovered her gone, but all of their gear had been neatly stacked next to them as they slept, with scrolls gently laid atop them, adressed to each of them personally. As they read the scrolls, they exchanged furitive glances, and stowed them away on their persons, declining to share the contents with each other. Before they were put into the enchanted slumber, Lissa had provided them with a more accurate map, and a specific route to get them to their destination. Off they went, with a renewed sense of direction and vigor.

Around midday, the sounds of battle assaulted them, so they cautiously approached a large clearing. Sending Lix into scout, the other 2 remained back. The scene before them was largely one of carnage. 3 Lizardfolk warriors were standing above the body of a massive crocodile, with the bloody and chewed up bodies of several more surrounding it. Patrin was elected the spokesperson for the group, as he spoke draconic. Negotiations were initially tense, as the Lizardfolk felt that the party had been trespassing upon their ancestrial hunting grounds, but Patrin was able to negotiate safe passage in exchange for the armor they had found earlier. Not content to give up their hard-earned rewards, Light abandoned negotiation and attacked the nearest of the Lizardfolk. It was a fierce and pitched battle, and one that almost cost the party dearly, had there not been intervention in the form of a brave young paladin who charged into the clearing, healing the downed adventurers and claiming the lives of the lizardfolk.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Episode 47 - We're back!

And maybe even better than ever?

As left off in the previous post, how could the upload problems possibly be on our end? Even Libsyn was pretty sure isn't wasn't on our end because I was still able to do all of my up- and downloading for work and the problem was isolated to Libsyn, but damned if they could figure out what the problem might be. On Wednesday we called our ISP because the internet was running really slowly. Turns out they made some sort of system change on their end that made our model of modem effectively obsolete. They invited us to stop in to exchange it for a new model. We did that on Thursday evening, and huzzah! we were up and running again! Sorry Libysn, our bad.

Last night on pretty much no notice at all we decided to record our Thursday episode with what gaming news we would have done on Tuesday. Thanks to Rey, David rants away about Sony/Playstation vs. Microsoft/Xbox. He also goes through a big stack of gaming news, then we both review Inglourious Basterds.

It's great to be back.

Episode 46 - Listener night!

David defines “native” for the listeners, talks about the future of the show, and shares a bit about the first PlaystationHome night. We share a letter from a new listener, a new top ten list from Doc, and present the listeners with a Question of the Week: What are the top three best video game weapons?

The show finishes off with the big "fight" we teased in the last few episodes. I'm really not the type to bring a bunch of drama down over something like this. It was far more amusing than dramatic.

This is the last episode we pre-recording during our down-time. I'd been emailing back and forth with Libsyn and at first they were sure the problem was on our end and we were sure it was on their end: We were uploading with no trouble on Friday and nothing changed on our end between then and Saturday, so how could be on our end...?

Episode 45 - Weekend Recap!

David and I talk about bathroom ambushers, the state of our employment, the stupid cat’s vet visit, our fantastic night of Dungeons & Dragons with Danielle and James, two trips to West Edmonton Mall that were varying degrees of aggravating, a night at the movies, getting the Xbox back from Kevin, and the tele-fight between James and Sherri on David's cell phone!

I hate the bumper boats. I hate getting wet, I hate things spraying at me (shut up, perv!), and the life jackets stink. Out of all the stuff I have to do at the mall, those are the worst.

Episode 44 - Special Guest Danielle!

Danielle turns the tables and interviews David! Find out how they met, hear about David's favorite Turtle, and enjoy their spirited debate on World of Warcraft versus console gaming (over which Danielle is still riled up!). There's a little talk about Crystal's roommate, I trash David Suzuki, then things get a little blue in the studio as the talk turns to dating, sexuality, and (much to my chagrin) more information about my own sexual history than I ever expected to be broadcast.

**(Please note that the last 30 minutes or so sounds a bit odd, and the episode ends abruptly. Audacity crashed again and I did my very best to recover everything.)**

The frustration of piecing 30 minutes of audio back together was compounded by all of my attempts to upload this episode. For some reason, the upload would either time out or only a small fraction of the episode would be available and it took several days to find the cause of the problem.

Episode 43 - Media Bonanza!

David and Jenn, with a live studio audience and more anti-Semitism than usual, talk about District 9, Cloverfield, Jon and Kate, Eric Dane's sex tape, Miley Cyrus's stalker and pole dance, Elmo teaching kids about hard times during a recession, and Kelly Osbourne on Dancing with the Stars. Plus phone calls to James and Sherri, and the Rock Band gauntlet is thrown down between David and Danielle!

In response..

You're damn right blowjobs!

Episode 42 - The Meaning of Life

What better way to mark 42 than with nothing but game talk? Hear my review of Folklore for the PS3 and then David's review of Prince of Persia for the 360. Then we pack in so much news that I couldn't fit it all into the Libsyn tags: Earthworm Jim, Lost Planet 2, Fairy Tale Fights, Mini Ninjas, Brutal Legend, Army of Two, art for Borderlands, what Bethesda isn't doing, delays from Bioware, creative press kits for two new DS releases, price drops and skinny consoles, the Zune HD, the new Playstation UI, Fable GOTY, and more!

David closes out the show with praise for my work on the blog, but also a modicum of criticism. He objects to what he feels is me putting words in his mouth. To that I say: When he posts blogs (which I'd love to see more of, because I enjoy his writing) he can put words in my mouth. (To which he will respond with a crude comment about what else I'll find in my mouth. That's how he rolls.)

(Blowjobs!)

Episode 41 - Listener Night With Greg

We combine Listener Night and Guest Night when Greg stops by to help us out with the show. When we first got Rey's great list of questions, Greg was rather unfairly put on the spot while David and I had a week to ponder and research. Greg took this opportunity to amend his previous answers to Rey's questions, and then we all answered questions sent in by Doc. There's also a top ten list by Doc, a review of the XBox 360 service update, and incredulity over Wal-Mart Canada's price on Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Finally, in response to listener requests, David breaks out the gross dead body stories! The very first time he took me to dinner, at pseudo-Mexican restaurant called Jungle Jim's, he told me a couple pretty gross ones which I expect will turn up on the show. I don't know what it says about me or our relationship that I kept coming back for more.

One of my answers to Doc's questions was Slippy the Toad from Star Fox. This reminded me of a long time ago when I was about 14 and I was playing Star Fox on the SNES. At one point my mother overheard me exclaim "Agh! No! The rabbit died!" and my mother freaked out on me, insanely thinking that I had just announced that I was pregnant. I snottily replied "Mom, the rabbit always dies. They had to kill the rabbit to do the test." I learned that from M*A*S*H.

Episode 40 - Weekend Recap

We talk about our stressful trip to the movies, but you'll need to wait until Thursday's show for the review of the movie. We also go over the annoying and aggravating trip to the ER when the older boy was sick (fortunately, it turned out to be minor and he'll be fine).

As often happens, just as we're trying to wrap up the show we end up on a tangent that makes the show much longer than we thought. David starts talking about how he sometimes wants to engage drivers who are being jerks (or as he puts it, he wants to see if shit's going to pop off) and tells us all about his very first fight as a teenager.

BTJEp39 - Special Guest Nic!

We were really pleased to have Edmonton actor and producer Nicholas Mather on the show. Nic was here to talk about the show his production company, Small Nest Productions, is currently presenting at The 2009 Edmonton International Fringe Festival. The show is a cut-version of School House Rock Live!, a musical based on the Emmy Award-winning 1970's educational Saturday morning cartoon series. Many Better Than Jenn listeners may remember growing up learning how bills become laws with "Just a Bill" and getting some early grammar lessons with "Conjunction Junction." You can find out more about Small Nest Productions and their summer tour on their Facebook page!

One thing we didn't really get into on the show was how David and Jenn are connected to Nic. There's a strange amount of interconnectivity going on. It started off as a simple boyfriend-of-a-friend situation. Years ago, Jenn hired a girl named Jenna as assistant director of the non-profit arts organization that Jenn worked for and they became friends. (As an aside, Jenn was hired by Stephanie, of Episode 17 fame, when Steph was moving to Europe. Jenn later quit and hired Steph back). Jenna started dating Nic, so Jenn has been acquainted with him for some time. Unbeknownst to both Nic and Jenn, they were at one time competing for the same job with Alberta Opera. Nic withdrew his application when another job offer was made (in the same building as Steph). Jenn was the tour manager for two of Nic's actor friends and co-stars. Nic and David were later both competing for a position at Stephanie's organization. Oddly, through all that, we hardly know Nic on a personal level at all.

Two links from the show for listeners who are interested:

The Gamer's Girl Blog
Genesis Poll

About gaming

So J3nn bought me Godfather II for my birthday. Godfather I was on of my top 5 Xbox 360 games.

 

In Godfather, you started off as a foot soldier for the Corleone Family as they fight to take control of New York. It was a third person sandbox game in the same vein as Saints Row or Grand Theft Auto, which is easily my favorite genre of games, so it was set up to succeed. I was never a huge Godfather fan, but I do like the 1930’s mafia setting, so that also helped. Gameplay wise, there was a lot of fun stuff to do. There were assassination side missions, in which you would be given targets, with specific kill conditions which would grant you bonuses. There were 100 different business throughout the city that you could find, eliminate the guards, and extort to gain control and protection money. You could rob banks, hijack trucks, and take over illegal shipping hubs.

 

Chock full of 1930’s mobster goodness.

 

Godfather II fast forwards 40 some years to the 70’s, and sets you up in New York, Miami and a third location I don’t know about. They cut some of the charm of the game,  but for the most part, all of the mafia goodness is still there. You can still rob banks, you can pick up contract hits, and of course, extort local businesses.

 

The biggest change they made was to start you off as a newly appointed don, charged with building a family and taking over new York. You are no longer entirely beholden to the Corleone family, though you still do take your marching orders from them. Initially you are charged with recruiting a few soldiers, who you can keep close to you as part of your “crew”. These men have specialties such as demolition, arson, safecracking, medic etc. They also have their own personality and quirks, as well as strengths and weaknesses. This was something that was missing in the original Godfather, and an excellent addition to the game. In any of the later era mob movies, (Goodfella’s, Casino, Donnie Brasco) the “made men” often run in packs, so it’s nice to be able to experience that. Also, it’s nice to have friends with you  that will not only not judge you for beating a hooker to death, but actually jump in and help.

 

 

Good times.

 

Voice mails

When I get a call on my work voicemail from someone and they have the nerve to mark their voicemail as “urgent” it automatically goes to the bottom of my list of people to call back.

 

 

I hate people.

 

On Parades

So today is the big day! Capital Ex kicks off!

 

For those of you not in the know, Capital Ex (formerly known as Klondike days) is a once a year, 10-day celebration of Edmonton and all of its glory. We have a huge outdoor carnival situation that is overpriced, crowded and wreaks havoc on the traffic of the city. In the beginning of Cap-Ex, we celebrate by having a huge parade through the downtown core. I like parades as much as the next guy, as long as the next guy is completely ambivalent towards them, but what I don’t understand is people who show up three hours before the parade starts. This is similar to people who line up the night before at the apple store for the new iPhone or Best Buy for the release of the Playstation 3, but at least those people have a legitimate concern for lack of available stock, or they are scum bags who want to try to turn a quick buck, but this is a parade! Have you never seen a parade before? I’m pretty sure it’s televised!

 

GET A DAMNED JOB!

 

 

Boxing!

I’ve always been a fan of the “sweet science” despite my overall apathy of sports in general. True I never officially boxed, but I had a friend who had some gloves and we had a few impromptu sparring matches in his basement. Sure, I’ve never gone out of my way to watch any boxing events or the like, but I played the shit out of Mike Tyson’s Punchout and Rocky on my Sega!

 

Ok, so maybe a “fan” isn’t the best description, but I do enjoy it, and I finally broke down and grabbed a copy of Fight Night 3 for the Xbox 360. When the Xbox was first released, and I was in my dark ages era of video gaming, my friend John Hetrick had both. I was a bit jealous that he had the 360 and I didn’t, so I never bothered to try it, but I remember him going on and on about it. He was so right. Fight Night Round 3 is an excellent boxing game with deep and intuitive controls, realistic models, and an incredibly satisfying boxing experience. It took me the better part of 3 hours last night to realize that in boxing, you can’t just block and hope for counters with hooks and uppercuts. No my friend, it’s called the sweet science because there is more than just rocking peoples domes.  Jabs, and plenty of them is what started winning fights for me. Working the body to tire my opponent out, and when the opportunity arose, clock them with the hard left hook. The learning curve hurt my win/loss record, but I did the mature thing and kept the same boxer for my game. I’m really looking forward to playing some more of it, and maybe I’ll get Fight Night Round 4 sooner than 3 years.

 

 

 

Episodes 1 - 10

Episode 1 - June 8, 2009: We talk about Left 4 Dead, discuss some movies, and call a special guest!

Episode 2 - June 9, 2009: David and Jenn discuss bathroom ambushers, Lord of the Rings Online, Kevin's personal life, Joey, and why Sheri hates Tom Hanks. Also, Fallout 3, Henry Hatsworth, Uncharted, and Sims 3. Also, the website went live! http://www.betterthanjenn.com/

Episode 3 - June 10, 2009: Our first ever guest show! David and James talk games, both modern and classic, as well as co-op couples, and the pros and cons of the various downloadable games markets. Jenn sits on the floor and takes notes.

Episode 4 - June 12, 2009: We get socially conscious with discussion on gun control after a child shoots his brother over a video game, video games in schools, and kids quitting school to game full-time. We also talk about moving to Seattle, Dungeons & Dragons Online going free, the incredible success of Sims 3, a bit about EA and Godfather games, and life at work.

Episode 5 - June 15, 2009: TV talk, music games run amok, Beatles Rock Band, lackluster PSP thoughts and more L4D!

Episode 6 - June 15, 2009: We have no friends, bikini car washes, Pride Week and Christian protesters, our trip to WEM, and David's Game of the Week.

Episode 7 - June 17, 2009: We discuss David's video game addiction, the gals at his office, the Edmonton Queer History Bus Tour, how Sheri ain't afraid of no ghosts on her birthday, and what's happening for some upcoming family birthdays.

Episode 8 - June 21, 2009: Kevin: Angry or dead? Past and present relationships, Jenn's lunch with the cast, Crystal's party and her hot roommate, what it will take for David to leave Jenn, OK Cupid, zombie apocalypse, why David's GPS is stupid, and some games.

Episode 9 - June 21, 2009: Getting back to game talk! We talk about the re-release of the original Fallout Trilogy and David reviews Turok. Talk about life at home and a little work talk as David ponders whether a gal at work just doesn't like him, pointless bureaucratic meetings, and finds out where the mystery door leads. Also, are the kids just creative, or are they exhibiting signs of early game addiction?

Episode 10 - June 22, 2009: We discuss the movies we've seen recently, pornographic films, the new southside Future Shop and Sony promo trailer, furniture shopping, and the fights we had over Episode 8 and credit cards.

BTJ EP 1 commentary Pt. 3

Kevin may never be on the show. He wants to big a deal made about him and i'm not gonna beg. Our show is good enough without him

Movie talk! Just like promised. Too bad our audio is so quiet we can barely hear it.

Ha ha. Tom hanks talk. Sheri hated it!

Chris does have a soothing voice, and that's the first reason why I can't tell anyone at work about the show.

Despite not wanting to copy other shows, I wish I had the audio skills that Mike D from Red Bar. I want bumpers in our show.


I still don't know what that weird space of silence is about.

I like the tag line at the end.

BTJ EP 1 commentary pt. 2

We probably won't ever try to monetize the show.

Ten plus shows and only one so far without Jenn. Boo potential guests.

VINDICATION! You can't just get a splitter for these headphones. You need a special box that costs like, $150+. On the list of things to buy, after a third mic.

BTJ ep 1 commentary

Sound quality sounds decent, the awkwardness in my voice is noticable so far though.

Blog plug!

The intro is boring to me already. Yawnzorz. Background is important, but this wouldn't grab me.

Blog plug!

Ha ha, i'm better than Jenn, but my blog wasn't. Blogging is a lot of work. I probably could have blogged about podcasts, but I don't like them as much as games.

The show didn't focus on games for long. We didn't want to pigeon hole ourselves or have such a niche appeal.

We also decided after the fact to keep some level of anonymity, though it wouldn't be hard to find out our secret identities. The beep is funny to me too.

Plugging the show web site before we even had anything there. Whoops!

I forgot we only had one mic for the first show. Yech.

I can't stop saying something-sphere.

We're not funny. FACT!

I did a really poor job on selling people on why they should listen. Boo me

BTJ show commentary.

I want to start doing written commentary for the shows. I'll add addendums, corrections, behind the scenes and more! Enjoy!

I've been smitten! Or smited?

Still really digging the show, and apparenty so are other people. We fell behind in posting, even though we had the shows recorded early, so to offset it we recorded a bit extra show. Now my voicebox is broken.

lunch

Eating lunch in the lunchroom at work for the second time. I'm familiar with everyone but not friendly. Awkwardness incoming!

Mixmaster D.

Bought some software for the psp that claims to be a portable studio. I can make beats, create midi's and record samples.

Once I have it figured, it'll be mad cool.

Shows!

Man, being a Podcast superstar is busy work! Recorded 2 shows back to back last night so i'm home free until sunday.

Website!

The website, such as it is, should be live any time now. For now, site.betterthanjenn.com.

Through the power of radio!!

Bought some podcasting equipment today. Provided I can actually set it up, I might have a show ready to live this week!! EXCITEMENT!!

Uncharted

Just finished Uncharted. I'm pretty happy with the experience, despite the unbeleivably aggravating end sequence. Going to plug away a little more at bully before jumping into inFAMOUS.

Terminator

We went and saw terminator last night, J3nn, Kevin and I. I really enjoyed it, kevin thought it was entertaining but cheesey and J3nn really wasn't into it. There were quite a few nods to the previous movies which were amusing, and some nods to other movies, either intentional or un, but all in all i really dug it.

The FUTURE

So, i've been trying to explore my artistic side, as well as establish some sort of goal/dreams for myself. Maybe its because i'm a dad, or maybe because I've always had a real job and responsibilities, but being artistic, or chasing dreams has never been me. That is going to change today. My life is at a very stable point right now, I have a good job, i'm in the most stable relationship of my life, i'm close to being debt free, etc. Now's the time to start exploring what I want out of life to make me happy.

First, I want to write more. I have a story I want to tell, and i'm going to start putting it together. The blog was originally supposed to be a tool to help me develop writing habits, and its been a good resource, but now I need to step up.

Second, I want to share my passion, video games, and podcasts. The blog has gone a long way in doing that, and i'm gonna commit to more of it, especially now that i'm more used to mobile blogging, but i'm also going to move into the world of podcasting. I'm going to hopefully have the equipment by tomorrow, and a website and hosting service live by next week. The plan is to have a rotation of guests, with me as the only fixed host, but that may change if the podcast grows.

Third, though this is more of an extension of the second one, I want to start a gaming store. I want it to be a blend of video games, board games, etc. This is more of a long term goal, as although my financial security is decent, I still need to be cognizant of responsibilities to my family. This is something i'm going to pursue over the next few years.

That's it for now. I'm excited about the potential for everything, but cautiously pessimistic.

Game update, June 6

I'm in a renaissance of gaming right now. I went through a dark ages period in which my Xbox, Ps3, Ds and PSP had been stolen, but they have been replaced, and I've been going whole hog on gaming since then. I'll break it down by system.

DS: My tried and true friend. Its been a lot of GTA Chinatown Wars, and I've been hot and cold on it. Its been lauded as perhaps the best GTA to date, but I don't know that I'm ready to agree. I think the usage of the touch screen controls are the best I've seen on the ds to date, with the exception of using it to throw grenades, and the narcotics trading system is an excellent addition, but the birds eye view can be challenging and the controls and aiming aren't always intuitive. I'm struggling a bit with length, but will likely stick to it.

PSP: When I first replaced the PSP, I was all about D&D Tactics. I'm a d&d fan from way back, and the way the stick to the mechanics sang to me like a siren song, but there were some camera and pacing issues that made it difficult to enjoy. I'm still going to go back to it, but for now the PSP is all about puzzle quest.

Xbox 360:
Bully, which is a Rockstar game. Similar in play and mechanic to the GTA games, but more of a cruel intentions type theme. You play Jimmy Hopkins, a roustabout whose mom and stepdad ship him out to Bulworth academy while they go on an extended honeymoon. Everything is exaggerated of course, but its a fun game with some new ideas and some aggravating achievements.

PS3:

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. A sort of tomb raider meets gears of war with incredible visual design and powerful graphics. I'm late to the party on this one, but definitely a great game. Should be finished up by the end of the weekend, then on to inFAMOUS.

Wii:
The Wii hasn't got much love from me lately as a game machine. Primarily I've been using it as a workout system, but I had to take a break because of the ills of working out on concrete floors in bare feet. Threw in Super Mario Galaxy the other day and finished a few levels. I also remembered how frustrating it is and why I quit in the first place

PC:

WHAT?!?! PC GAMES?!?!
That's right, I'm back into PC games. Bought Sims 3 for j3nn and got surprisingly into it. Also, the Klondike Kid bought me a copy of Lord of the rings online, so I'll be rocking that.

On co op pt. 2

The only downside to Uncharted, other than the bullet sponges that are your enemies, is that it occasionally pairs you with an AI partner for firefights.

While the enemy AI is extremely well designed and tactile, using cover, pinning you down by alternating reloads, and even flanking you, the parter AI is the opposite. They take random pot shots, ignore enemies, and get in the way of your cover. The biggest offense is that they posess so little threat to enemies that enemies can walk past them five feet away shooting at me wildly, and they won't even so much as wound them.

Maybe i've been spoiled/blessed by great co-op partners, but i'd sooner have no partner than a useless one.

On co-op

I've had a lot of co op game partners, probably the best of them being Joseraph, in regards to being able to mesh and operate as a well oiled machine, and J3nn, for great communication and being able to complement my shortcomings.

It comes up because i've been playing Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, on the PS3. Its a great game, beatiful graphics, fun game play, and good controls.

Dramaticus *UPDATE*

Sheri bought me a copy of dead space for $10 at Eb. They priced matched without checking Future Shop's stock. My new low for yesterday was buying Civilization Revolution for the Xbox 360 to play at home with Kevin and getting home and finding out it had no local multiplayer. Boo urns.

music

My mp3 car deck is on random and its playing a lot of tupac. I like this. Also, i'm gonna look into a zune pass this weeknd.

Dramaticus!

I think when the low point of your day is that you drove to the mall on your lunch break to get a couple games that you were only passively interested in at a discount but they didn't have them, its safe to say your life is pretty good.

The high point thus far is getting five games for $30. Total, not each. 3 for the kids, 1 for J3nn and I, and one that good go either way.

Self awareness

Huh. Went and bought new shoes to work out in so I don't destroy my legs and joints while working out and found out i've been wearing shoes that are 2 sizes too big for a loooooong time.

New athletic shoes that fit well. I feel bouncy.

Random thoughts.

What would it be like to have lego hands for a day?

Work. :(

I've been working as a telemarketer for a couple weeks as my in between job, and its been surpisingly decent. My boss is really cool, the organization i'm working for is established and well recognized, and the people i'm calling are all warm leads.

That being said, its still telesales, and some days I don't look forward to it at all. Today was one of those days.

Emancipation: Not all its cracked up to be.

Let me preface this with a few disclaimers.

1. I love Fallout 3. Its one of my favourite games, and I've sunk close to 40 hours into it. I'm going out of my way to play through it again, veeeery slowly to write my blog about it (talesofavaultdweller.blogspot.com) and loving it.

2. I am against slavery, regardless of race, creed, religious beliefs, etc. I don't think slavery is a good idea now, or ever.



In my personal game of Fallout 3, the one in which I am not blogging about (save a few posts on this side of things)I was working on a quest to help some escaped slaves. (Slavery is alive and well in the post apocolyptic wasteland) They had set up shop in a burnt out building, and called it the Temple of the Union. They had found the stone head of Lincoln somehow, and had a stone smith with them, so they decided this was a sign, and that they should take the head, and goto the Lincoln Memorial, and turn it into a beacon of hope for other slaves. Now, my character is good, morally speaking, so it only makes sense for him to help out, so I jumped at it.

First I had to goto the Memorial to ensure there were no slavers or Super Mutants about. There were, but I dealt with them promptly. The Slavers were easy, and it was profitable for me, in terms of ammunition and armour. The Super Mutants were not as easy, but I dealt with them anyways. Next, I had to get a picture of the Lincoln Memorial for the stonesmith, so he could recreate it properly. This was a bit more challenging, but a trip to the local museum and it was done. This was even more profitable, as I found the Lincoln Repeater, one of the more powerful in game weapons.

Next step was meeting the slaves at the Memorial. Sounds easy right? Just fast travel there, and bada bing, bada boom, achievement city. The problem was, they weren't there.

I looked on the Fallout Wiki and found it was a common bug, but the solutions they offered did not work for me. I tried 2-3 times, but no dice. Finally I decided that I would have to manually travel with them, ensure that they got where they needed going. It was slow going, and it was irritating, but for the most part, it actually made the game better, aside from the fact that I was doing it because of a bug, not because the game made me. Along the way we faced numerous threats, but since there were many of us (5 slaves, myself, my hired gun, my dog and their dog) we were able to handle them efficiently. The biggest problem we had was that we were travelling with some BOS outcasts, and one of them got a little loose with his missle launcher and caught one of our own within the blast radius. Obviously my people didn't like it, so we ended him.

Apparently travelling overland wasn't what they had in mind, so we took to a train station, following the tracks. Despite the fact that our destination was due south, these tracks took us due west. I questioned the wisdom of the detour, but followed along anyways, clearing the path of Feral Ghouls, and making sure all the locked gates were opened. I even had to close off a gas leak in one of the tunnels.

Once we hit the surface again, I was sure that we would swing around to the south, heading off to where we needed to go, but nope. Northwest now. I followed for a bit, but once we started getting near Megaton, I realized these slaves had no idea where they were going. At this point I was cursing them out continuously, saying that I should have told the slavers how to find them. I finally gave up on doing this the hard way and had J3nn look up how to handle this bug online. Apparently it takes these idiots 24-48 hours to get to where they need to go, likely because they feel the need to take a tour of the wasteland first. I delayed game time for 48 hours, and they finally made it. I was paid for my efforts, and sent along my way.


Stupid Slaves.

Love thy Co-op Partner

So J3nn and I have been together for about a year and a half now, and for the most part, we (or at least I) couldn't be happier with the relationship. We had some rocky patches in the beginning, and we had a forced early move in, but other than that, the progression in our relationship has been grand.

A big difference with this relationship, that was sorely lacking in my past ones is partnership. On almost every level, J3nn is my partner. My partner in financial matters, my partner in raising the kids, and equally as important, my partner in hobbies.

J3nn and I met online, and a big part of what initially caught my interest was that she listed one of her interests as Video Games. There were other interests that we definitely shared, good television, a passion for reading, and probably a few others, but the Video Games was a huge draw. In almost all of my past relationships, I've tried to share my love of video games, with at best, middling success. Girls, for the most part, or at least the ones I've dated, just aren't into video games. I realize thats a broad generalization, as well as a generalization about broads, but thats based on my personal experiences. The girls I DID play video games with weren't very good, or didn't really show a lot interest, etc.

With J3nn, despite her claims of being a "Video Game" player, I found that she very much was the stereotypical gamer girl. She loved Kingdom Hearts, Jak and Daxter, and Mario, but not a lot else. She'd never tried an FPS's, didn't really know what an RTS was, and couldn't even keep her eyes from glazing over when being talked to about a JRPG. Add to that, her past experiences with co-op gaming had been less than stellar, and it was definitely an uphill battle.

Co-Op gaming has always been a huge attraction for me. There was a time in my past where I would relish the opportunity to have some friends over for a few rounds of Red Faction II, in which I would thoroughly trounce them, but as the console games started moving into the online realm, I quickly realized that if I wanted to hang with the big boys, it would take a lot more dedication than I had the desire to put into it. Single player games of course, have, and always will have their place in my gaming life, but Co-Op gaming is something that I can share with a friend, and build on thos shared relationships.

Enter J3nn. We started slow, easing into it. Because of the nature of the beast, Shooters were the easiest transition into the co-op genre, since there are so many to choose from. I realize that maybe something a bit more basic, a beat em up, etc, may have been a better choice, but we needed to see if this girl could hang or not. Halo was a game that I've always wanted to get into, partially because of the co-op element, partly because of the hype, but I never ended up playing through it. Now I had a potential lifelong co-op partner, and an excellent opportunity to get through this game. Halo was a good experience. It was a steep learning curve for J3nn, but she definitely stepped up, and kicked some ass. We finished Halo, and moved onto some other games. We tried Kane and Lynch, but found the camera was poor. Did Army of Two, and loved it. There were more, but that's not really the point.

Now that we had the co-op gaming under way, and a loooooong list of titles for us to work through, it was time for me to let J3nn spread her wings as a gamer. She still had some holdover titles from her single days, Katamari, the lego games, but there realy wasn't a lot for her to do on her own. I knew that J3nn was really coming in to her own as a gamer, and that there was a vast library of titles that she would really enjoy, but I think the prospect of entering new territory, without me to help her, was a bit intimidating.

Fable II was probably the break through title. The game that she actively wanted to play, on her own. I originally bought it for myself, or maybe for us to play together, since it was co-op, but the co-op camera made it almost impossible to play, and Fallout 3 came out soon afterwards, so it went to the wayside for me. J3nn however loved it. She couldn't get enough of it, and it didn't take long at all before she surpassed me in progress. It still remains one of the only games where she has a significant ammount more of achievements than I.

Fable was a nice entry point, but it was still too close to her former comfort zone. I needed to show her some variety, let her realize that she was a gamer now. I had been needling her to play Fallout 3 for a long time, because I knew she could. It was a first person, action RPG, that was rich with story, environment and flavour. It was right up her alley, but she was put off by the intimidation factor of having to learn a new genre.

It took the gamer competition between her and Kevin (germoid) to finally push her into it, as she needed a new game to get into. She started playing, and after a few hours, found she couldn't stop. Once she got into the wasteland and started meeting its inhabitants, exploring its locations, and killing its threats, I knew she was hooked. She's been playing every chance she gets, and has been loving every minute of it. She's almost caught up to me in time spent, she's more than halfway to my current characters level, and she's managed to pick up a few achievements I don't have yet.

The best thing about her playing, is that now we have another thing we can share. As much as Co-Op gaming has given us those shared experiences, they were just that, shared experiences. There were plenty of times in Saints Row or Army of Two where we would be driving around and re-create funny or tense moments in the game, and that was great, but with Fallout, we create our own personal experiences with the game, and then share them afterwards. We can trade strategies, exchange stories on how we dealt with certain situations, and pass on information of hidden items we found. Despite the fact that we're not playing together, its become one of favourite things to share.

Video Masochism

I'm a video game Masochist.

I have a real problem. In spite of my video game thriftiness, or more likely because of it, I end up buying a lot of games. It's a problem I've had for a while, and my collection of Xbox (original) was embarrasing. I had a ton, and finished very few. When I upgraded to the 360, (and all the others of course) I made myself a deal that I was going to finish each and every game I bought. The deal was of course struck with the best of intentions. I'd only buy games that got good reviews, that seemed like I'd enjoy them, etc.

Naturally the road to hell blah blah blah good intentions, so of course I got out of control again. The good news is that most of the games that aren't really the cream of the crop were purchased at a significantly lower price than what I usually spend. The bad news is that they multiply.

I have been forcing myself to play through them, even still, whether I enjoy them or not, and its really led to some painful gaming experiences. One thing that certainly mitigates these experiences is the achievements on the 360. Being able to have something to show for my labour is definitely nice, and softens the blow considerably. Unfortunately, the PS3 trophy support isn't nearly as refined, and the PSP, DS and Wii are lacking in these regards altogether.

The most recent "triumph" over frustrating gameplay was the GTAIV expansion The Lost and Damned, and the DS localization port of Dragon Warrior Iv.

Don't get me wrong, these are both great games, and they are definitely worth playing. They just dragged on a bit to long for my personal tastes, and I have too many other great games calling my name.

TLAD was neat, and it was fun to revisit the world of Niko Bellic. What I found at fault with the game were many of the complaints I had with GTAIV as a whole. It was a bit too realistic and difficult. The missions could get frustrating very quickly. The dialogue and characters got convoluted and hard to follow. Most of these things were mitigated by the fact that the expansion was considerably shorter than GTAIV, but my biggest complaint of all was that the expansion was far to self referential. Many of the missions I was doing as Johnny Klebitz parallelled the exploits of former GTAIV anti-hero Niko Bellic. I understand that they were essentially doing fan service to the install base, and letting us see how things shook out on the other end of those missions, but the problem was there were far too many missions in GTAIV for me to remember specific ones in a play through of TLAD. I didn't take notice of Johnny Klebitz when playing as Niko because he was a small player in a huge cast. There was no "Oh yeah! This mission! I always wondered what happened to this guy when I played through before, now I get to see" moment for me when playing TLAD, and I really think thats what Rockstar was hoping for. Maybe I'm in the minority, i don't know, but in future installments, I'd much rather see independent stories that have nothing to do with former stories, than this attempt at intertwining narratives.

With DWIV, the biggest problem was the Nostalgia factor wearing off too quickly. I was younger, less experienced, and more easily impressed when I originally played the game, and as such, my pallete for games has become much more refined. Is it still a good game? Absolutely. Is it as revolutionary now as it was when it came out oh so long ago? Not at all. It was a pretty cut and dry JRPG with a nice mix of characters, and decent enough story, and not enough linearity to keep me from checking gamefaqs once and a while. I'm glad I played through it, but I don't know if I'm going to go back and do the bonus chapters.


Now on to the next games! Doing the fallout blog and watching Jenn play through has made me want to play again, so I'm going to try to run my two characters, and play through that. The 3rd expansion is coming out soon, with the increase in level cap, so I'm excited for that. On the portable side of things, my PSP has miracoulosy repaired itself, so I'm back into Puzzle Quest, and getting ready to try D&D tactics, and I'm playing a delightful little kid-friendly RPG on the DS called Master of the Monsters Lair. I'll blog more about that tomorrow.

In the meantime, I heard a rumour that there is a new post up of Tales Of A Vault Dweller up at www.talesofavaultdweller.blogspot.com. Not only that, but there will be another one up tonight!

EXCITEMENT!

Realism Vs. Fun

I think its fair to say that my favourite genre of game is the "Sandbox" genre. That's a title that I loathe, as I find it to be very vague, and it can apply to a wide variety of games, including ones that most people wouldn't immediately consider in that genre.

Let me get a bit more specific. My favourite style of game is an open world, non restrictive, third person shooter, especially those in which the protagonist is some sort of criminal.

The easiest example of course is Grand Theft Auto, although surprisingly, this would probably be the least favourite of the bunch.

GTA was something I had always known about, and always wanted to try, but since I was a very late adopter to the PS2, San Andreas was my first foray into it. Whoo boy, did I pick a good one. In my opinion, of the 3 comparable titles (GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas) SA was easily king of the mountain. A big part of the appeal to me was the subject matter, being set in the early 90's, in an urban setting similar to Los Angeles, it clearly was going for a Boyz in the Hood vibe, which really got me hooked. On top of that though, it had a ton of little elements that were really cool. The RPG lite aspects, in which you would increase your skills through progression, allowing you to unlock new skills, like dual-wielding.

Anyways, once I got into the Xbox 360 era, Saints Row was the belle of the ball. It borrowed a lot from its predecessor, and soon to be competitor, but it also added a lot of much needed features. I loved Saints Row, playing it all the way through to the end. I do everything that could be done, but mostly because I was still getting the hang of video games again, and found it a bit to challenging.

GTAIV came out a while later, and blew Saints Row out of the water. The game was incredible. The graphics were amazing, the cars handled a lot more realistically, there was a whole social aspect to the game in which you had to actually build and maintain relationships with your friends and girlfriends. The Narrative was strong, unlike what you get from most games. Very cinematic. The problem was that once you got past the polish and the shine, it just wasn't fun. The game was TOO realistic, as far as video games go.

Once you had garnered attention from police, there was a circle that would show up on your radar, indicating the area that the police were searching for you. You have to get out of this circle, without being noticed by any police, and stay hidden for about 10-15 seconds, at which point they would leave you alone. Sounds easy, but its really not. The city is crowded, hard to get around, and most of the cars are heavy, and handle poorly.

Gunfights were another sticking point for me in GTAIV. They implemented a cover system, which I do like in most games, but it wasn't very precise. Your character would stick to cover where you might not want him to, he might have trouble getting out of said cover, etc. Did you remember to buy a bulletproof vest and stock up on ammo before this mission? No? Ok, prepare to die. Lots.

Comparatively, Saints Row 2 is a much funner game. Its not realistic a bit. If you are playing co-operatively, and your partner goes down, you can rush over and have them jump back into the fray with the push of a button. Cops after you? No problem! Just roll through a forgive and forget and their minds will be wiped ala Men in Black. Cars fly through the city, and you can manuever around almost anything.

All of this resentment has been brought up through my playthrough of the GTAIV expansion, The Lost and Damned. I do like GTAIV. I really do. It's just not nearly as fun as Saints Row 2. When I get into a car crash in Saints Row 2, my car bounces around. When I hit something in GTAIV, I fly out of the windshield.

This happens a lot.

The end result of all of this is that I can't honestly say which game I think is better. I think, despite the fact they would fall under almost the exact same category, it's like comparing apples to oranges.

Schedules

www.betterthanjenn.blogspot.com:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. By midnight on each day you will have a mid to long post regarding games, or other craziness.

www.talesofavaultdweller.com:
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Same time lines as above, different subject matter entirely.

That's right! You're gonna get 6(!) days of blogging every week!!

Updates!

So,

Let me get personal for just a moment. I've been out of work for a couple weeks, and despite that, my life seems to have been more hectic than I was working. I'm making excuses for not blogging more, as always, and here comes the promise that I will start blogging regularly.

Seriously.

In other news, I'm starting a second blog! I know, I know. I barely update this one, what do I need a second one for? Well, this is a blog that I've mentioned I wanted to do, and it's been rolling around in my brain for a while, so I'm doing it. It's going to be called "Tales of a Vault Dweller", and its going to be based on my gameplay experiences in Fallout 3.

It's NOT going to be a walkthrough, nor a review, nor a crappy piece of fan fic. What it is going to be is a journal style telling of my characters experiences, from the time he leaves the Vault, until he dies or finds his place in the Wasteland.

Its something I can't do with very many games, but Fallout, or all of the Bethesda games, are created in such a way that you can really create your own narrative and backstory, as well as motivations and character traits. I think it will be interesting, and if nothing else, it will serve me as a challenge to see if I can start writing fiction at some point. I realize that creating my OWN story is significantly different than creating a story within someone elses framework, but its a start for me at least.

In other Xbox news, there is a heated competition going on for gamerscore points between Germoid and J3nn. Last tally had Germoid edging her out a bit, but if you want more on that, you can follow them at Xbox.com.

Lastly, for now at least, I will promise a longwinded blog post that I've been writing in my head for a week or more entitled "Fun Vs. Realism: A comparison in games", and I will also promise my first post of "Tales of A Vault Dweller". These will both be up before the weekend is over.

Going in to Monday, I will do scheduled updates to both blogs, as well as extra ones as I see fit.

Dsi

Just saw a DSi commercial all about the camera funcionality. Not impressed with either the feature, or the commercial.

In other news, I bought Mirrors Edge for $20, and AC/DC track pack for $10.

Lastly, J3nn and I are playing through lego Indy so she can compete with Germoid for gamerpoints.


Will blog more often.

Nintendo

The DSI is out soon. I hope that those of you who have a DS already won't be going out to buy one.

My PSP is broken. I want a new one.

Bargains!!

Some time ago, I finally clued in on the trends amongst entertainment media (Video Games, DVDs, CDs, Etc) that things get cheap as they get old. They don't change in quality, only in quantity and relvance. This is a powerful piece of information for a thrifty gamer.

Cases in Point:

The Club is a game I played a demo for quite some time ago, and I definitely enjoyed it, BUT I saw that it would be a niche title that I wouldn't play all the time, or even often, so I passed on it, but kept it in the back of my mind. EB games. $9.89 on PS3, brand new.

Dark Sector, decent game, decent reviews, didn't ever grab me. Eb Games. $9.89 Brand New.

Bully, Love Rockstar games, always interested in this title, but always had other games to play. Amazon.ca. $19.99 Brand New.

Alone in the Dark, one of those series I always was aware of, but never really got into. EB Games. $9.89.

Facebreaker, another case of demoitis. Enjoyed it, but not enough to rush out and buy it. Grabbed it today for $9.89, at, you guessed it, EB Games.

I could go on and on about games that I bought, brand new and used, as well as TV shows on DVD, but you gget the drift. Patience prevails, and in most cases, that game or TV series that just came out for $69.99 will be $19.99 or cheaper in 6-12 months. Take it from me, build a back catalogue of cheap games, and try to resist falling into the hype.

Of course, some titles (Left 4 Dead, GTAIV, Godfather II) can't be waited on. Just make sure you're ready to live with yourself when you see them marked down to $9.89 at EB Games. (Happened to me today. Mercenaries II, Mass Effect, Too Human)

Exiting Rapture

So I made a big push this weekend to finish Bioshock, and guess what? I did it! It was a really good game. A lot of neat elements that tied together very well, and a pretty interesting story. The game oozes with atmosphere and charm, albeit of the creepy variety.

I'll save rehashing the entire plot, because I've gone over it earlier, and despite reading some spoilers (Which I'll save also), there were still a couple of neat twists near the end that I didn't expect.

I guess its one of those games with a "good" and a "bad" ending. I went for the good ending, partially because its usually the easier route in most games, partially because there was an extra achievement tied into it. The endgame was anticlimatic, as was the ending movie. Very touching, and very tasteful, but anticlimatic nontheless.

It is going to go into my pile of games to possibly replay at some point. There's a couple of achievements that I didn't get, and I wouldn't mind seeing the alternate ending.

Now the question has been posed: What do I play next??

Right now its a toss up between Bully, Lost and the Damned and Penny Araade Episode 2.

I think it's gonna be Lost and the Damned, because I miss GTA, and it's a bit shorter.

L4D Part 2

Tao Tzu, J3nn and I have been playing L4D. A LOT. It's been a really good time, but I think I need a bit of a break. Not a long one mind you, just a day or two. Tao Tzu and I played on Wednesday night until 2:30 (!) and then I had to get up at 8:00 and take the kids to the mall all day.

Ugh.

Totally worth it though.

I had meant to do a long post about the game, but I never got around to it, and now I've lost the enthusiasm for writing about it.

Left 4 Dead? Nope, Still Alive

Valve has been one of those companies that has never really been on my radar, since I switched back from PC's to consoles years ago. I missed the Half-Life hullabaloo, and competetitve games were never my forte, so I never really took notice of Team Fortress.

Now, naturally I love a good deal, so when The Orange Box came out, I certainly took notice, but still wasn't sold on a virtually unknown (to me) IP. When Music World went under, and I swarmed with the rest of the vultures to pick at its rotting corpse, I finally took the opportunity to pick it up (for something like, 30% off). It took some time before I finally opened it, but when I did, I was pleasantly surprised. Half-Life 2 and the subsequent episode 1 didn't really grab me, but I did play through them. I can see what the appeal is to people, I just don't get the hype, but I missed the hype on "teh haloz" too, so maybe its just me.

Portal was definitely a cool game, and for a week or two, it continually broke my brain. I never finished it, so I didn't find out about the song until much later, I think when I downloaded it from Rock Band. Subsequently, I've listened to it dozens, if not hundreds of times on youtube and love it. Almost enough to get me to go back and play it.

Almost.

But this post is about Left 4 Dead, and all of its Zombie-ey (what?) goodness. Left 4 Dead was something I was peripherally aware of for some time, and passively excited about for a while as well. It certainly sounded good in principle, 4 player, zombie survival co-op that was different every time you played through. What's not to get into? But I've been to that dance before (falling for publisher hype), so I was cynical. Then the demo came out, and I saw the potential for great times, BUT, I knew L4D was a game that had to be played a certain way to enjoy it. It would have to be with 4 people, preferably friends, with good communication and a high tolerance for zombiefication..


To be continued.

Open letter to Nintendo

Dear Nintendo:

RE: DSI


Hey Nintendo, how are you? Thanks for the new Smash Bros game last year. It's pretty sweet. Still haven't really made good use of my Wii Fit yet, but that's really my fault, not yours. I appreciate the effort you've put into recreating a lot of the classics for my DS though. Dragon Quest IV? Chrono Trigger? Ys I & 2? Ok, that last one I'd never heard of, but the idea is still the same. So, everything's good with me. Finished EO a while back, still struggling with Phantom Hourglass, and plugging along at DQIV.


So... I guess I'll come right out and ask. What the fuck is up with the DSI? I thought we were friends, you and I. We go back man. Like, way back. Remember when the NES first came out? I do. I was like, 5 or 6 and mom and dad bought one for "me". Sure, the only game they got for it was Lee Travinos golf, but that was ok! I still played it and loved it! Then when I got older, remember that? Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Nintendo Power? Yeah, I was still stepping out on you, going to the arcade after school, but I was young and didn't know any better. And those times I went to my cousins to play Sega? That was just sowing some wild oats, it didn't mean anything. Sure, I loved Alex in Wonderland, but did it compare to Mario? Of course not! And did Sega have the 20's, 40's and 100's in ones like you did? Of course not! Super Mario 3? Are you kidding me? The game that was so good that it spawned a movie!

The gameboy? I remember that birthday. I do, it was bittersweet. Dinner out with the family, nice trip to the city, the new mario game? True Grandma ruined it by being drunk and missing it, but at least I had that green and grey dot matrix screen to ease that pain. And Tetris with Travis's mom? I remember that vividly.

Then the SNES came out. Remember those times? Mom brought it home for the weekend from the video store and it didn't have to go back until Monday? Remember how I cut school that afternoon to stay home and play Super Mario World? Star worlds, Yoshis, Koopa Kids? I loved those things. Mario Kart? Fuck yeah!

Some might say the N64 was a bit of a misstep, but you tried your best with it, and I know that you had the best intentions! Is it your fault I had to look on wikipedia to remember any of the games? No! Just because I didn't like the Zelda games doesn't mean I stopped loving you!

Remember right before the gamecube came out? I was so hyped about I could barely contain my excitement. Sure, I had kind of fallen away from gaming then, but that was ok, because I still remembered you. Even Luigi's mansion looked good! And when that gamecube did release, I went out and got one, didn't I? Luigi's mansion, Mario Kart, Resident Evil. Red Faction II with all the guys from the warehouse? One of the highlights of the time.

You ruled the handhelds, and I know that. Game Gear? Hell No, but I'm sure I bought a Gameboy color, probably a gameboy mini, and of course the gameboy advance. When the SP came out, I upgraded, and I was only a little bit resentful that it was the first time a Nintendo handheld had a backlit screen.

What did you do then Nintendo? You released Crystal Chronicles and Four Swords adventure, promising hours of untold fun with my friends if we all had SP's and gameboy link cables. I trusted you Nintendo, and so I bought 3 more SP's and the link cables. Was it fun? Of course it was! The functionality between the two was incredible, and the technology, for the time, was mind-blowing, but where were the rest of the games Nintendo? I spent hundreds of dollars in getting this setup, for two games? And then you abandoned the idea!

So we both moved on from there, didn't we? I started playing the XBox, andyou gave up on the SP's. I knew we were growing apart, but didn't know what to do about it. The Xbox just had more to offer me at the time. I didn't like it anymore than you did, but we had both just changed too much.

But then you got me back. The DS came out and rekindled our relationship. It might have took a while for you to find your footing, but you got there, and I love my DS. The DS Phat wasn't pretty, but it served a purpose, and when it got stolen from my car (did you have anything to do with that Nintendo? Was that your way of getting me to switch to the lite?, what did I do? I went out and bought 2 DS Lites, one for me, and one for Charity. And yes, she hates games, but she didn't mind Nintendogs one bit! And of course there was the wifi connectivity. Maybe we didn't play any Lego Star Wars, but we could have!

And now what have you gone and done Nintendo? You've developed the DSI. When we went from the SP to the DS, it was a huge jump. And from the Phat to lite, it was a smaller jump, but still an improvement. But this Nintendo? A DS that plays Mp3's and has a camera? For what? I have a phone that does that, and probably better! Is it because I have a PSP too now? I don't even use the PSP to play music, and the novelty of the movies on it wore off quickly. And if that wasn't bad enough, you're planning on releasing DSi specific games, to force my hand? Is this how it ends Nintendo? With the DS fading off into the sunset, and our relationship coming to an end?

At least we had a good run. Our relationship has had its ups and downs, and we've certainly weathered a few storms together, but I guess we just have different views on life now. I just want to be able to keep buying games for a system that I enjoy, and that is still relevant, and you want to keep making small iterations on your hardware. I don't think I'll buy a DSi, and when the upgraded Wii comes out, I don't think I'll get that either. You've watched me slip away more and more, turning to the welcoming embrace of Microsoft, and done nothing compelling to get me to stay. You've got your soccer moms, your uneducated children, your grandparents, and I guess that's what enough for you. You probably won't remember me when I'm gone, but I'll certainly remember you.


Wii want to play? Not anymore we don't.

DEALS!!!!

Just found Alone In The Dark for 360 for $9.89 @ EB Games downtown. Its in the flyer so presumably its on sale at all locations. Can't wait until I finish Bioshock so I can try it!!

A new reader!

There was a picture here, but it was removed out of respect to a co-worker.
I'll keep it down as long as he keeps reading.
;0

In your FACE Tao Tzu

Now I can blog mobiley, and as such, will do so consistently. The downside is that I will blog about more mundane things. Check back and comment often!!

Screw twitter!!

Who needs twitter when I can blog directly from my email?? Hahaha!

Dragon Quest IV - Part 1

I originally played Dragon Quest IV on the NES and I fucking LOVED it. I thought that the fact that the game was broken up into chapters, and that each chapter had its own unique flavour and elements was way ahead of its time. I've known about DQIV for the DS for some time but never got around to buying it, but eventually J3nn bought it for me, and I've been playing it off and on for a while.

Here are some things I've learned from DQIV on my second go 'round.

1) Nostalgia is misleading.

Its still a great game, but the highlights that I fondly reminisce on are shorter, and less impactful than I thought they were. Maybe its because I'm not 14 anymore, and maybe its because I've been spoiled by RPGs like Oblivion or Fallout 3, but its not as great as I remember.

2) Translation is terrible.

I'm currently looking for a character named "Tom Foolery" who is a comedian. If this were an isolated character, I'd get over it, but the naming conventions in this game are all around terrible. On top of that, each chapters characters are modeled after foreign (to northa america) culture, such as Russian, Scottish, irish and french, and the game goes to great pains to illustrate their accents. Its the worst.

3) Playing 2 years of Etrian Oddysey ruined me.

Etrian was a very strategic game. There were many levels of strategy in each battle, there were elemental strengths and weaknesses to consider, there were dozens of skills, and hundreds of party/skill combinations. DQIV, because each character is pre-made and has specific spells and abilities they are able to unlock, takes away a lot of the strategy required and breaks it down to "if you have this equipment and are this level, you should be able to beat these guys". Its not to say that DQIV isn't challenging, but it doesn't require the same depth of strategy that EO has.


All in all, these gripes aside, its still worth playing through, and I am still enjoying it.


See ya tomorrow!

Lack of initiative

(me) "As much as I love Penny Arcade, I also kind of hate them a little bit"
(jenn) "Oh? Why?"
(me) "Well, they get paid to talk about games, which is one of my favourite things to do. When I talk about games, I get blank stares from the girl at stupid future shop. She shouldn't have asked me about Final Fantasy if she didn't care!!"
(jenn) "Well, why don't you blog more? You might not get paid for it, but if you get some readers, at least you'll get something out of it."
(me) "Because aside from you and Joey, no-one reads my stupid blog, and I'm too lazy to try to promote it."
(jenn) "Well, if you write in it more, more people will find it, and it should self-perpetuate."
(me) "Yeah, maybe I'll make an effort to blog more"

I'm paraphrasing most of the conversation, but this is the gist of a conversation Jenn and I had. The thing about the girl at Future Shop is true. I bought Final Fantasy III for the Ds and she exclaimed that she didn't know Final Fantasy was on any other systems than Sony. I started to explain to her that FFIII was originally only released in Japan, and that FFI and FFII were ports from the original NES, now available on PSP. I started to explain that FFIV on the DS was originally FFII on the SNES and that I was hoping FFV comes out soon, because it was my favourite (and the last one I played), but I lost her somewhere around the first sentence I said, and there was a line forming behind me, so we got the fuck out of there. I did rant for abou 10 minutes to Jenn about it. Why would she bring it up if she didn't care?!?!?

Anyways, the point is, I will now update my blog once a day, at minimum, as to what I have going on in my gaming life, and occasionally funny or interesting anecdotes about my life.

Probably not that last one.

My visit to Rapture

So.. I bought Bioshock sometime last year. I'd heard all of the hype, how it was amazing, mind-blowing, etc. I never really rushed into play it, so it sat on my shelf for some time. Eventually, I decided, "Hey, I should try this Bioshock game", so I did.

My first impressions (of the retail game, I had played the demo prior)were that the game looked really, really nice. The graphics, lighting, etc was very well done. On top of that, they had the faux 50's feel to it, with the cheesy voice over commercials. They also had a lot of 50's music, which for some reason chills my soul. The game is very, very creepy. It is set in a dystopian underwater city, run by a man named Andrew Ryan. You discover Rapture accidentally, and soon find that all is not well. It seems to be overun with psycopathic, violent individuals who are called "splicers". They don't seem to cotton to the idea of you visiting rapture, and try to rip you apart at every turn.

On top of the splicers, there are super creepy little girls (creepy kids freak me out), accompanied by their giant bodyguards called "big daddies". Big daddies are huge mechanical looking baddies, fashioned out of an old fashioned diving suit. They are big and dangerous.

The advantage to visiting Rapture is their genetic engineering break throughs. They developed a technology called "Plasmids", which come in the form of tonics. You inject the Tonic into yourself, and you assume the power of the plasmid. Some plasmids are passive, allowing you to absorb more damage, cause shock damage to your enemies if they attack you, etc. You can upgrade these as you move along through the game, and find or buy a ton more. I think I read that there are about 70 or so in the whole game.

I quit early in the game, but picked it back up recently on a whim and I am really glad I did. Immediately after the spot that I quit the game, you aquire a camera which allows you to "research" your enemies. Doing this allows you to learn more about each type of enemy, and gain bonuses AND plamsids to use against them. This further adds to the RPG-ish elements of the game, and has really helped draw me in. It's been a constant battle for my desire between Bioshock and finishing up Saints Row 2 with Jenn.

Now I should get back to pretending to be a good employee.

Mercenaries 2, OR Achievement City!!

So Sunday morning, (I think) J3nn was being lazy and not getting out of bed and the kids were at there grandmothers. This presented me with an excellent opportunity for some solo gaming, which isn't something I can do a lot. I looked at some of the titles I am currently trying to finish (Fallout 3, Blue Dragon, Far Cry 2.. I know, I pick the longest three games to play concurrently) but decided to take J3nns advice and try out Mercs 2.

First impressions: It's chaotic, but I think I like it. There are little nitpicky things I don't care for, but the controls are pretty smooth, and the setting seems like it could be neat. It definitely has elements of Army of Two in it, which is a good thing for me. I'm eager to get into it, but I think that I'm gonna wait until I have someone to play co-op with. J3nn and I are still keen on Saints Row 2, and we have Gears of War to go back to. TaoTzuthe3fold and I are still friends, so we'll keep going with RB6:V2. Mercs 2 isn't a good enough game for me to play by myself, so I'll get to it when I can.

Mercs and Demos

So.. J3nn got a copy of Mercenaries 2 from the book repository. I vaguely remember enjoying Mercenaries for the Xbox, but I also remember hitting a spot in the game where the difficulty ramped up to an unpleasant level.

Mercs 2 has got poor reviews based on bugginess, but I have faith in developers and patches. That being said, I've seen it as cheap as $35, so whether or not they're going to bother putting in the time remains to be seen. I don't have much knowledge of Mercs 2, other than the fact that it has 2 player, online co-op, which is my favourite game feature ever!!

I did play a demo briefly when it first came out, but for me, it suffered the same problem that the Crackdown Demo suffered. In an effort (I assume) to illustrate the level of action present in the title, the developers opted to throw you right into a hellastic, insane gun battle, without giving you a chance to find your feet. Very few games, especially shooters, first or third, do this. There is usually an adjustment period in which they show you the controls, let you learn the environment, etc. I understand that in a demo they want to utilize their limited space and grab you while they have your attention, but it backfires for me. I don't want to play a game where I'm constantly being shot at from all places, at all times. Saints Row 2 is a good example of what a sand box game should be. When things get hectic in SR2, they get real fucking hectic, but for the most part, that hecticity gets brought on by your own actions. If you want to, you could just mosey about town on a shopping spree without fear of having your body and vehicle bullet holed.

I'm hoping Mercenaries 2 is similar in actual retail game play. I don't mind being in the middle of a heated war zone, especially considering the setting and theme of the game, but I would like a few moments of downtime in between. I think thats why I was able to get into Fallout 3 quicker and easier than I was Bioshock. They both have a similar, faux 50's, creepy as fuck vibe, but in Fallout, if I'm feeling like the wasteland is getting too unpleasant, I can mosey on back to big town or Megaton and visit civilized people. With Bioshock, I was constantly being accosted by creepy dna junkies, giant lumbering robots, and scary as fuck little girls. There was no reprieve, no breathing room. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, but I can't stomach a high tension, creepy environment constantly, for hours at a time.

In other news, we're planning a saw marathon soon. YAY JIGSAW!

J3nn has never seen any of them, and I'm really excited about Saw V.

I'm out.

Also, J3nn is talking about marriage.

(Pretend I made a scared face emoticon here. I don't know what one looks like)