Ucantalas

Members
  • Content count

    1098
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Ucantalas


  1. 300 episodes (approximately)! Woo!

    Also, I'm glad Idle Thumbs isn't totally completely cancelled. I hadn't listened for a few months, and then I jumped back in with episode 299 and felt kind of sad. Understanding, of course, but I've spent so much time hearing you guys talk about video games over the years. Idle Thumbs introduced me to tons of games I might not have tried otherwise (like Dishonoured, Spelunky, or Far Cry 2). This podcast also helped change the way I look at video games.

    Definitely looking forward to the new podcast, though!


  2. Wow, it's been a while since I've been here. Over a year, I think.

    Guess I might as well post what's been going on in my life...
     

    Back in October of last year, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. That sucked. I had finally started actually taking care of my body, working out and watching what I ate, and wham! Diabetes.

    In December, two days before Christmas, my great-uncle died, that was a very sad holiday season. 

     

    I had a part-time job at a research group at a university here, but that just ended and so I am unemployed again. I've been looking for more work, even before that job ended, and haven't heard a thing from anywhere I've applied. It's really been getting me down and I'm just feeling like I don't know what to do anymore. Some people in my family have been saying I should go back to school, but a)I'm not even sure what I would do, and B) I'm terrified of finishing and winding up right where I am now once again, but this time with more debt. (Also, truth be told... I'm going to be 26 soon, and so if I start school again I'm going to be a good chunk older than most of the other students, and that kind of scares me...)


  3. So... has anyone else played / been playing the 3DS game LBX (Little Battlers eXperience)?

    I'll be the first to admit that it very much looks like a little kids game, and it is kind of easy... But it is unbelievably fun. Lots of parts for customizing your little fighting robot, fun combat... The story is pretty meh, but it's based around a kid's cartoon, so I'm not really surprised. 

    ...this game is basically the Medabots game I wished existed when I was a kid. 


  4. According to Wookiepedia's page on Midichlorians, under the "Behind the Scenes" section, "Origins", it mentions George Lucas talking about them in 1977 when discussing guidelines for the expanded universe (as SecretAsianMan said above). 

    From that section, it sources "The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film" by J.W. Rinzler. I can't vouch at all for the book's accuracy, but it's something at the very least.


  5. Woah. I came here thinking "there could be some really useful information in here! I'll take a look!" and now all I can think is "I need to go take some math classes online..."

    I love the idea for this thread though, definitely a helpful idea.


  6. Hello everyone, I have returned!

    Things got a little crazy for a while and so I haven't been here much in the past few months.

    First, I moved into a new apartment. The move was stressful, but it's nice. I'm on the 11th floor, with an awesome view of the city. Plus I pay about $100/month less than I did before, and all utilities are included, so it's been a huge money saver. (Also, the apartment building has a pool, a gym, and a convenience store, so that's cool. And the laundry machines in total cost about $1 less per load of laundry than they did at my old apartment building... sometimes it's the little things that excite me.)

    Shortly after the move, I got a new job. I work for a research group at a university. It's a decent job, with good pay, but can be incredibly boring. It's also a little nerve wracking because I spend all day in a small room at a big table with between 3 and 10 other people (depending on who is scheduled to come in that day) and everyone talks to each other but I'm not good at talking to people and just get nervous... 

    On top of all of that, I've been spending my spare time working on a small game in Unity. It's been taking up a lot of my spare time outside of work.

    ...so how's everyone else doing?


  7. Yes! I am alive! Things have been a bit busy for me the past little while so I haven't really been on here much. I'm probably going to be posting in the "Life" thread about it in more detail. But I'm doing alright. How have you been?

    Also, going slightly back on topic... I hate not having a car, because I want to go and get a case of beer so I have something for the summer, but I hate having to carry something like that on the bus. Its big and bulky and a pain in the ass to carry.


  8. I don't know if it counts as "completed", exactly, but I finished playing through my first match of "Warlock - Master of the Arcane". It's a turn-based strategy game that feels very much like Civ V but focused more on combat and with way way less diplomacy.

    I somehow managed to blast my way through the match, amassing tons of gold, food, and a vast army to take cities incredibly quickly and destroy the AI "players". I'm sure when I started the match a few weeks back I must have set it to the easiest difficulty or something.

    Anyways, I found it fun, but a bit lacking, especially since I have Civ V and just couldn't stop comparing the two. And it wasn't much of a favorable comparison, as a lot of what made Civ V cool to me (mainly, being able to win through methods other than destroying all your opponents in combat) either isn't here or is hidden so completely that it doesn't seem to matter. Also: If you loved fighting Barbarians in Civ, you'll love this game, with all of its dozens upon dozens of roaming monsters, and monster bases popping up randomly, sometimes even within your city limits...

    I had fun, but I don't know if I'll play it again to be honest. Maybe with some friends, but certainly not by myself again.


  9. I went to one of them (whichever one is in Florida? World, I think?) way back when I was a little kid, with my grandparents, my aunt, and one of my cousins.

    The only things I remember are 1)Watching "Batman & Robin" as the in-flight movie going down; 2)Talking to some kid my age I sat next to on the plane, whose name I have long since forgotten and will never ever see again; 3)Dropping a cup full of ice I had been carrying with me while walking around the park, and then being sad because Florida is RIDICULOUSLY HOT and I needed that ice to cool off.

    OH and 4)We went to a Medieval Times for dinner one night. It was awesome.

    So... I'd like to go again someday because I don't remember anything about actually being AT Disney WorldLand.


  10. ...I really liked the trailer. I am (probably unreasonably) excited for this. I shouldn't feel this way, after how let down I felt with XIII, but I can't help but want it. I'm having that problem right now where I both want to know everything about it, and also not hear anything that might be considered a spoiler at all...


  11. The other major difference was just how much "better" I am at optimizing systems and understanding RPG mechanics. I built my character very differently, immediately going for lockpick, small guns and speech, with an emphasis on the non-combat skills so that I could access more content and alternative paths. Another example: When I first got to the librarian in the hub, I immediately bought all of the books, read them all, then stole back the guns I had traded for the books. Then I bought all of the books again. I repeated this for 10 or so minutes until all of the skills couldn't increase from books any more (90%?). I did this sort of thing a bit as a kid but now I find myself looking for this edge all the time. I didn't even *need* the edge!

    That right there is a major reason I get intimidated playing RPGs. I never know what I should be focusing on, and I feel completely useless at optimizing systems in most RPGs. I dont know where to put points and stuff, and especially with things like Diablo 2 where so many people have played it for so long, I just end up feeling incompetent because so many people seem to know exactly how to build a good character, and I'm just sitting there going, "Huh, that sounds neat, I'll grab that!"