Droppin’ addendums

I have a couple things to add to previous posts from this week, and no better time to do it because I don’t really have anything else to say today.

Firstly, and most importantly, you can quick turn in MegaMan Legends! While not as intuitive as the quick turn in Resident Evil games (pressing down+run), it offers more fexibility by letting you quick turn in any direction! I say less intuitive because in RE games you’re always pressing the run button anyway, but the circle button in MML is for talking to people and opening doors/chests. Now that I think about it though, MML doesn’t have a run button and the next most logical choice is the context sensitive button. So forget everything I typed here except for the “I was wrong there is quick turn” bit.

I don’t know which one it is, but I’m sure somewhere there’s a game where the quick turn is pressing both shoulder buttons? Maybe I dreamed it?

Secondly, I tallied up the amounts of songs that I like in Rock Band 2 and LEGO Rock Band. Just because I didn’t feel comfortable rounding up the amount of crappy songs in LRB to “about half.” And what I came up with is that I like 19 of the 45 songs, which means that in reality, 58% percent of the songs in LEGO Rock Band are crappy. Not really enough of a difference to justify the time it took to do the math. Whatever.

I did the same count for Rock Band 2, and amazingly I like 63% of the songs on that disc. Which is surprising to me, because when I think about RB2’s setlist, I can only think of the boring-ass garbage on it like “Float On,” “PDA” and “Feel the Pain”. So I guess if you’ve heard me dissing on RB2’s setlist, just disregard it because I apparently like it quite a bit more than I thought.

P.S. I like roughly 30% of the tracks in Band Hero. And that’s being generous.

Holder of Legends

My family was down in the States last week, and I’d given them a short list of things to pick up for me while they were down there. It was mostly Peanut Butter Crunch and Mountain Dew Throwback, but at the very end, I snuck a note on there asking them to check out the used game shops for either MegaMan Legends game. I wasn’t expecting much, because I’ve been prowling the local shops for years now. Lo and behold, the ol’ family came through for me.

So now I’m the proud owner of a legitimate copy of MegaMan Legends. It doesn’t have the proper jewel case, but I can fake that if it ever starts to bother me. It’s been a few years since I played it in earnest, so I’d forgotten just how strange the control scheme is. I was a little worried about how MegaMan Legends 3 would control on the 3DS, but my fears have been assuaged now that I know they certainly couldn’t have gotten any less functional. It’s all moot though, because that game was cancelled.

I think the most jarring thing to me is that there is no quick-turn button/button combination. I don’t think it was introduced into the Resident Evil series until the GameCube remake, but I have lingering memories of there being such a technique in MML. Maybe I’m thinking about the sequel? Maybe there is a quick turn and I don’t know how because I don’t have the manual? It would be really handy though. S’all I’m sayin’.

On the other hand, I’ve been doing pretty well for myself so far. Near the beginning of the game, there’s a huge robot boss whose weaponry can destroy the surrounding buildings. One of the sub-quests later in the game is to grind up the money to donate towards rebuilding the city. Usually the costs are pretty high, but I managed to end up losing only two of the smaller buildings on this run, which is significantly better than I remember doing on any previous playthroughs. So, I guess I’m getting the hang of the funky controls again.

There’s a second phase in the Northern section of the city that works the same way. Only this time there are a handful of smaller robots which are far more interested in demolition than self-preservation, and three of which fly around and spawn new robots. Also the buildings are spread out a bit more, forcing you to run back and forth across the map in a vain attempt to save what you can. Needless to say, that part never works out too well for me.

It’s a great joy to drop back into the MegaMan Legends world though. Kattleox Island is such a vibrant place, with little flourishes all over the place to keep explorers happy. Maybe they’re as simple as a poster with a pig and chicks on it that says “Don’t kick us!” (which ties into Legends 2), or as unexpected as a lone Servbot hanging out on a roof. And the characters! The voice acting doesn’t exactly shine, but it certainly has the same memorable quality as the original Resident Evil does, just without most of the cheesiness. At worst, Capcom had programmers/translators who wanted to do voice acting do it this time around.

In the end, I think it’s mostly the fact that I can appreciate this game for what it was in its time. Mechanically, it doesn’t hold up as well as I’d like to say, but it certainly makes up for that lack with a compelling game and story underneath those outdated levers and pulleys. I still love the game, and I’m relishing the chance to really get into it again.

Destiny calls me

Okay internet, I need something new. I have finished Scibbe.com.

“But Ryan, how can you finish a website? And a blog at that?” you might ask. I would proceed to wonder why you would ask such a silly question, because the only way that I can imagine that anyone could conceivably finish a blog would be to read all the archives. And that, I have done. A lofty task considering that Brickroad had a pretty consistent 5-posts-a-week thing going on since February aught-nine.

It’s true, I skipped all the “Crystalis the Lovable Warlock” posts and still need to catch up on all the vlogs and LPs, so I haven’t 100%ed it, but I’ve read everything that interested me, and now I need something new. So if you know of any gamer blogs that read half-decently and contain a few posts about other things, let me know. Basically, I want to read my blog, but by someone else. Oh, and long posts are always a plus. I have a lot of downtime to fill with fluffy online entertainment.

Also, maybe go check out Scibbe.com. At least the “13 Weeks of Final Fantasy” feature and the “Memoirs of the Peemeister” posts. There’s plenty of great (or at least mildly interesting) content there, but those are the ones I feel shone the brightest.

Lace up your shoes

So Guitar Hero games are dirt cheap now. What better opportunity to pick up GH: Van Halen? I’m still angry because I should have gotten it for free, but $10 is a reasonable price to pay for a game I’ll get at least a few hours of enjoyment out of. Also I <3 Van Halen.

I can’t decide whether it’s more impressive than the GH:Van Halen being $10, but LEGO Rock Band has also plummeted down to $5, so I grabbed that too. It’s just like Rock Band except with more collectible crap! Someone knew exactly what kind of game I want to play!

The downside here is that some jackhole at… Harmonix maybe?… decided that all the music had to be kid-friendly, so 90% of my DLC does not work when playing on the LEGO RB disc. It’s not the worst thing that could happen, but some of the songs they chose to not allow bend my mind. Out of the ten Queen songs I have, only four are playable. This is double weird because the crux of story mode is that your LEGO avatar has been inspired to start a band after seeing (LEGO) Queen perform. And “The Boys are Back in Town” isn’t allowed? It was good enough for Toy Story 2, but not LEGO Rock Band? Harmonix must have brought in the most bored, angry soccer-moms they could find to make the cuts. The one upside here is that it removes almost all of the ludicrously difficult songs, so random setlists aren’t so terrifying anymore.

The setlist on the disc isn’t exactly stellar either. It’s head and shoulders above the tripe they were pushing in Band Hero, but about half of it is still crap. Really, does anybody actually like Counting Crows? Looking at it in a more positive light though, a DLC pack of three songs would cost slightly more than this disc did. Yeah, the price will double if I choose to import the songs to Rock Band 2, but it’s still way more cost-effective in the long run.

Let it all out

I’ve been up all night learning how to integrate XML into my website. The short version is that I don’t think it’s going to work.

The long answer is a little more complicated. XML will work fine for my article pages. The only thing that it’ll inconvenience is the little “related” tab I have on the navi bar, but I barely fill that out properly anyway. I still have a long way to go before I really understand this stuff, but it seems like it will not work at all for the blog. Essentially, all that goes in the XML files is the body text, and HTML tags don’t work there, so I can’t type up a post in my blog.xml and call it good. I’d have to go add a new set of tags to the xsl file too, and that makes the process slightly more complicated than the copy-paste-replace routine I do now.

But maybe I’m missing something? It doesn’t look like it, but I still have a lot of reading to do. I managed to mock up a new xsl index page, and I did it all through trial and error. Just took an example page, and started figuring out how it worked. That’s exactly the same way I learned to do HTML (which is why my coding skills are so limited).

In any case, I’ll be using XML for my upcoming project. It’s still a week or so from launch, which means I’m way behind, but I’ll have plenty of time to work on it next weekend. Hopefully it works well. For now though, bed.

That sun won’t shine

This morning, I hit 100 consecutive days of playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy. That, combined with the time I’ve been logging in Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together probably makes my PSP my most often used video game system. If you’d suggested such a fact to me five years ago, I probably would have kicked your teeth in. With words, of course.

Despite my obvious obsession, I still have a lot to accomplish in the game before I feel comfortable moving onto the sequel. My current goal is to earn the “get every character to level 50” accomplishment, which is not so bad with the good guys, but it’s a slow, boring grind to get all the villains up past L30. Once you hit that point though, it’s pretty smooth sailing. Oddly, I never thought that I would feel that a fighting game had too many fighters to choose from.

You know I’m bad

I’ve been trying (and mostly failing) to eat healthier lately, but it’s been hard. Turns out you can’t just turn your eating habits around overnight. I suppose it’s possible, but certainly not easy. Anyway, this “Lean Cuisine” business has been working its way into my lunches, but it’s all a bunch of baloney.

Taking a quick glance at the box does not reveal its sinister truths. No, in fact, if you’re not paying attention, you might be tricked into thinking that this meal is healthy for you. But that is a lie. The ravioli is a lie.

Oh, look at this in the corner, it’s the gist of the nutritional information. I know enough about this stuff to know that the six-inch ham sandwich I get at the Subway has less calories and fat than this box of ravioli. Not by much, but this purported “good choice” of a meal might not be all you think it is. But then let’s look at the fine print.

So the truth here is that they aren’t giving you healthy food, they’re just giving you a pittance of the same crap you’ve been eating all along. Very clever, lean cuisine, but not clever enough. My sad little Subway sandwich is healthier than this thing, and there’s more food there. Again, not by a wide margin, but the sandwich is considerably more filling than the even sadder six pieces of ravioli. The only thing that the lean cuisine is able to hold over the Subway sandwich is that the sub costs a bit more.

Maybe some of the other lean cuisine options are actually healthy for you. I haven’t checked them all out, because this is the kind that was in my freezer. Hopefully at least one of the other ones is a little better all-around than the ravioli. I’d much rather eat a bigger portion of healthy food than a small portion of food that’s not good for me.

The Cave Story

I read this website called Ted’s Caving Page a while ago, and I keep telling people about it, but forgetting to actually give a link. Not that people really read this blog, but now there’s a link there and I can get back to sleeping peacefully at night. Well, as peacefully as one can after reading such a spooky story.

Really, it’s quite an excellent piece of literature. While it’s quite likely fiction, it’s written as a journal, which makes the story so much more realistic. And hey, maybe it is for real, maybe it’s not. All I know is that I’ve seen my share of horror movies, and very few of them are as effective at creating a believable atmosphere as this short story. The beginning fills you with a sense of discovery and adventure, then slowly changes those optimistic feelings into ones of fear and dread. It’s so good, and shouldn’t take more than two (uninterrupted) hours to read start to finish. Definitely one worth checking out.

Just killed a man

You know what’s ridiculous? Paying money for things. Don’t get me wrong, I buy stuff all the time. Or when I get the opportunity anyway. Money is a little tight right now so spending on unnecessary goods is last on the priority list. Especially when things are so way overpriced. Like the DVD/Blu-ray sets of Fringe.

I want to watch this series because it seems like a show that I’d enjoy. But everything in the world is stopping me from doing that legally. Netflix, which has been my go-to place for TV, does not carry it yet. Because stupid Canadian Netflix is stupid and has a considerably smaller library than American Netflix. Best Buy will sell me the more desirable Blu-ray set, but for $80 a pop. I make bad financial decisions, but I am surely not paying that much for a single season of a show I’m not totally sure I’m into yet. They have the DVD version available for $65, which is closer to what I’d be willing to pay for the BD set, but not for DVD. Wal-Mart will supply me with the DVD sets for $30 each, only not a single Wal-Mart in the city has season one in stock. Ever.

Also, Wal-Mart doesn’t sell TV Blu-rays? WTF?

So I guess for now I’m illegally downloading the series. Yeah, ya heard me. That’s what I did with the first episode, which is all I’ve watched so far. It’s good stuff though! At least, I enjoyed it. I always find serious TV shows very hard to start watching, and if there isn’t a hook that caters to my interests, I will pass them by without a second thought not matter how good a reputation they have. CSI? Not interested. The Sopranos? Pass. Game of Thrones? Oh God it looks so boring. Actually, I don’t think there’s ever been an HBO series that I’ve even been marginally interested in.

The ones I do like always have a specific little something that pulls me in. For example, I probably would have let LOST go, if not for that scary thing that was roaring in the jungle and uprooting trees at the end of episode one. What is it? A dinosaur? A monster? Something more sinister? There were plenty of reasons for me to stick with LOST (NB: Hurley), but that spooky thing in the jungle was the number one thing that caught my interest and made me watch the second episode immediately afterwards. I wanted to know what that thing was, dammit! And I would watch as many episodes as it took to find out.

Fringe doesn’t benefit from something so blatantly mysterious and intriguing, but rather the promise of many such things in smaller, episode-sized doses. From what I understand, the show is about a bunch of misfits solving mysteries and battling evil with “fringe science.” Already in episode one we’ve seen a creepy virus that makes skin invisible and mental linkage through copious amounts of drugs, so I have a feeling things will get pretty crazy pretty quickly.

The show also seems to be going in the opposite direction of Dollhouse when it comes to the subject of maintaining a running plot. As I explained yesterday, Dollhouse is working things together very slowly, while in the first episode, Fringe has already established basic character backgrounds, a huge corporation that may or may not have evil intentions, a possible secret society, and countless other plot threads that are clearly leading into something bigger. In short, it’s the sci-fi cop drama version of LOST. Which is almost exactly what I want to be watching. Really, my ideal TV situation would be watching LOST for a third time. Alas, I need to branch out a bit.

Hopefully the rest of Fringe continues to tickle my fancy as well as the first episode did. Judging by the little bits I’ve read about it on Wikipedia, I don’t think I’m going to end up disappointed. The fact that it’s a Bad Robot production also leaves me greatly optimistic, as other TV shows by said company include LOST and Alias, not to mention my 2011 Movie of the Year, Super 8. So yeah, I’ve got a pretty good feeling about this one. Just wish it wasn’t so danged expensive to watch it legitimately.

Might be from Hell

I’ve decided that I’m going to try to spend most -if not all- of this week talking about TV. Mostly so that I can tell people that my blog is about random stuff, and not just video games. Also, because I have thoughts on TV shows that I want to share! I may have mentioned that yesterday.

So, Dollhouse. I watch this one every Sunday morning when I’m getting my weekly exercise on the elliptical. You might say that spending 50 minutes exercising a week is not enough, and you may be right. But this is my scheduled exercise, which I do very reliably, as opposed to any other exercise I get being more spontaneous. During the warmer months I spend at least an hour in the pool afterward, so it’s a pretty good day for my physical wellness. Adding Dollhouse to the routine has also bumped up the elliptical workout from 30 minutes to the aforementioned 50, which seems like a lot more time when I’m actually on the machine.

Hey, I thought this post was about a television program, not my slowly improving exercise habits!

I’m four episodes in right now, and I’ve got to say that I feel like it’s starting out a bit too slowly. The premise of the show is that there is this semi-secret organization called the Dollhouse, which wipes the minds of willing candidates and then contracts them out to do jobs. The “Actives” are then programmed with whatever skills and personality traits the job demands, and then some. It’s a neat premise, thought not exactly what I expected. I guess I read the summary on the DVD case as though our main character, Echo, was always herself, just with new skills programmed in for whatever she’s going to be doing that episode, like changing jobs in Final Fantasy Tactics. But nope, in every episode she plays a different character, and they all begin and end with her as a totally blank slate. It doesn’t really hinder the show, but you definitely feel less attachment to Echo, because you don’t really have that one character to follow, but the same actress playing a new one every time.

This format leads to the show having a sort of “caper of the week” feel to it, which I’m not really into. I prefer to have my serialized programming follow an overall plot thread. Little frays in said thread are fine if you want to add side-stories and character development, but up to this point each Dollhouse episode could be more or less a self-contained story. It does seem to be dangling carrots hinting at consistency and a grander plot, but so far they’ve all been repetitive background noise. By which I mean characters keep talking about stuff, but they’re always saying the same thing and never developing anything further. It could all come to a head in episode five and I’ll have egg all over my face, but I kind of doubt it. Any consistency here is enjoying a very slow burn.

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that the show was cancelled after two seasons, so it could end up that all these loose ends will be hastily cobbled into a big, sloppy mess just to put a wrap on whatever story they’re telling. That might be even worse than having no continuity. Could end up that they winds themselves into a rich, if somewhat short tapestry. Who knows? I sure can’t tell where it’s going yet, but I have theories.

Dollhouse is certainly an entertaining show, but like I said, I’m not too keen on the fact that our main character isn’t (yet) really a character. The independent episode plots are cool, but I think the show will get much more interesting once the secondary stories start to develop and take the forefront. That said, Alias is still the top dog* when it comes to this specific brand of fiction. Sydney Bristow could go on any number of zany missions, but she was still always headed towards a clear goal. For Echo, not so much. But I’ll stick with it. Worst case scenario, there are only 22 more episodes, and they do provide an incentive to get a little exercise.

*In all fairness, my experience with Alias is from season three onwards, and even then I mostly “watched” it as background noise to Dissidia and Picross 3D. I certainly enjoyed what I saw though.