Ucantalas

That really doesn't surprise me. It's about as generic as an RPG can get. I'm sure the only thing I will ever remember about that game is that the very end has 2 dungeons back-to-back, with 6 bosses, and no opportunity to save. It was hell to get through.

Whoops, by "break" I just meant breaking the intention of that section - no longer having to do all the finding the battery and charging it and recording the beast, etc. but just skipping all of that by grabbing the hot dog. It didnt actually break or impede progress. It just became a big problem the second time through with other characters because we had just assumed that was how you were supposed to complete that section. It led to some long discussion about whether or not parts of the game were impossible without a certain character. Eventually we got it, though.

This game is a perfect example of why I could never be a critic. While I was playing this game I didn't think twice about weird camera things or trying to control three characters... And I ended up playing it a LOT. (It was the XBox 360 version). I got all the achievements (including No Death runs) for me and two of my friends. (We played a few rounds together, but eventually once I got all the achievements on my account I'd just play on their accounts while they were at work to get them the achievements they needed...) I must have played through that game well over 30 times. Not once did thoughts of slow walking or weird cameras enter my mind. I was enamoured with the funny dialogue and beautiful scenery, with my every attempt to find out how to break the game every way I could. (Fun fact: The very first time through, I played as the Monk, and stole the hot dog in the Zoo area, thus breaking that section of the game. Then, the second time through none of us knew what to do because we couldn't just take the hot dog that time...) This game devoured my life for about a week or two. I could recite all the narration from memory (a skill that has since faded). I could blast through the entire thing without thinking twice about it. And even now, after I've done absolutely everything in the game, after I've seen and experienced everything it holds... I still get this feeling every once in a while, a feeling pulling me back, telling me to go play it again.

So earlier today I finished watching Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It was so good. One of the best anime I've seen.

Its interesting you mention that because, aside from cake frosting I can't think of any other chocolate spread. (In fairness though, I'm Canadian not American, but that's usually such a small difference its not always worth noting.)

I feel like a 5 year old. When Swapnote was there I never used it, but now that its gone I want it.

It's probably a good thing I didn't see this until after doing my grocery shopping, otherwise there would have been a jar of nutella or two in there as well...And it would be gone in a day.

...and that bump has dragged me back in. Just waiting for one more player before the new game starts. I hope it goes better than past games have for me. Still, as terrible as I am, I love all of the political sort of communication and pacts and stuff. It's definitely the meat of the game for me.

I thought YouTube stopped limiting the length of videos? All those dumb fucking 10-hour videos seem to indicate that was the case.

So on Tuesday the Canadian author Farley Mowat passed away. He wrote some good books. I remember reading "Owls in the Family" and "Lost in the Barrens" in school.

Years after buying it, I finally finished Final Fantasy 3 (the remake for the DS). I despise the final dungeon with a passion. Boss rushes aren't great in an action game, but in an RPG they are a special kind of torture.

This is why beards are clearly the superior facial hair: you can't get dinguses tattooing one on their hand and pretending to have one.

I find it interesting you guys mentioned how nice and peaceful it is going out into the wilderness and being sort of disconnected from cell service and wireless communication, while I just finished listening to some debates about Canada's plans to start implementing WiFi across national parks.

I don't know if I should post this, but I very recently completed a short little Flash game I made in my spare time over the last week. http://www.kongregate.com/games/ThomasW31/escape-from-color-castle I'm more happy that I finally have something made in Flash that didn't die as a prototype, even though I am completely aware that it's not such a great game...

I'm not terribly excited for these, simply because Ruby and Sapphire were where I sort of lost interest in Pokemon... I still haven't finished them, even though I still have a copy of Ruby. But maybe that's all the more reason to get these? So I can finally finish it?

My family has had all kinds of lawnmowers (except for riding mowers). The electric was fine, except for two things: 1)Keeping the cord out of the way was a pain in the ass. (The one we had was fairly old, so I don't know if electric mowers these days just have a battery or something, but ours needed to be plugged in to an outlet the entire time you were mowing. If electric mower tech has improved significantly this might not be a problem, but I haven't kept up on that kind of thing.) 2) Do not mow wet grass. I've heard this is something you shouldn't do with other mowers as it can clog up and stuff, but I mention it here because mowing the lawn after a rainy weekend was how my dad finally killed that electric mower once and for all. How big is your lawn? If it's not too large, you might be able to save quite a bit of money with something like this: (That's what I ended up having to use after the electric blew up...)

Finally! A Lords Management game for baby gamers like me!

Just finished Shank. It was pretty fun. I remember playing a demo of it and loving the look of it and the way it played, and then I ended up purchasing it as part of one of the Humble Bundles... and then I completely forgot about it until yesterday. The in-game animation looked fantastic, but by comparison the cutscenes just felt lackluster. The gameplay wasn't anything too great, a basic sort of beat-em-up, but with a really cool combo system that just made it feel much better than the typical brawler. It was pretty short, but the pain in my thumbs tells me that maybe thats a good thing.

So Steam is having a big Activision sale right now, and there's a weekend deal for a sale on a whole bunch of Star Wars games. Also, if anyone wants 40% off of Luftrausers, I just got a Steam coupon for that.

Cool! Instead of sleeping, I've been listening to old Idle Thumbs episodes over the past week or so! I just finished the interview with Ron Gilbert at PAX '09. It's really interesting going back and listening to discussions about games that I've actually played all the way through, like Fallout 3, and also listening to discussions about the future of a series or release when I already know what's going to happen... I'm tired and dont even know what im writing anymore.

Pretty much every RPG character ever made. All of them barge into peoples homes, demanding information, rifling through their cabinets and shelves and trash cans, taking anything they think might be even mildly useful. (And even if its not useful, they'll take it anyways and sell it at the general store just down the street.)

Since the discussion has turned to steaks, what is everyone's opinion on seasoning? A simple salt and pepper is good, but I quite enjoy rubbing on some Montreal Steak Spice. Anyone else? Also, does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with a half a head of red cabbage?

Dried fruits of all kinds are delicious!

I downloaded and played the demo for Mario Golf and really enjoyed it. Of course I spent hours and hours playing the Gamecube Mario Golf with friends in college, and this felt very reminiscent of that game, which was a plus to me.