Trip Hazard

Me too! Give Toonstruck a whirl if you haven't already. It's pretty dumb and extremely goofy, occasionally annoying but also studded with slapstick jokes, withering put-downs and a bit of S&M in the unlikeliest of places.

Thanks hammerpants I have watched my run since then and seen the mattock, but at the time I didn't notice it for some reason. Those dollar signs in my eyes sometimes make it difficult to see. I did get a bit lucky with that bomb; I intended for it to go where it did, but I never thought that it actually would.

Niiiiice. Too me more hours than that to beat Olmec for the first time, so you've got me whupped. Congrats! BUT! I trounced you in today's daily, and here's the evidence. I had loads of fun with today's seed, and I saw something which I'd never seen before in the black market. Died in a stupid way, though.

Great game though it undoubtedly is, there are some bullshit puzzles in Full Throttle, and the wall-kicking is probably the chief offender

A terrible story, told in a borderline incomprehensible fashion, but still a story in spite of this. Incidentally, I really like FF7, but not for the story. The music is killer, the enemy designs are usually pretty characterful, and there are some truly bizarre scenes (I'll never forget my stay at the Honey Bee Inn...) Surrounding all of this, threatening to suffocate the humour and vibrancy of the world and the characters, is the stultifying dull, disjointed story. Oh, and those fucking unskippable battle animations. Damn them to hell! Sorry. Got a bit carried away there.

Begging your pardon, I thought perhaps you didn't see it and it was just instinctive. Never mind.

Daily for the 16th. As I mention in the video, my practice run was pretty great, so it's inevitable that my daily should be bloody awful. I always choke when tossing bombs at giant spiders! El Muerte, I do not believe that you "did that on purpose" It was cool though, good reflexes!

I started a new game of DaS yesterday, going for a dexterity based build. I'm going to roleplay a ninja! Fast and light, but massively damaged when attacked and very easy to stagger. It should be an interesting experiment, 'cos the first (and only) time I've beaten DaS was as a Warrior, with Black Iron armour. I parried the first black knight to death on my first try, so was chuffed about that. Heart in mouth stuff, tho. This is excellent advice. If you think you can kill an enemy, always try your best to do it. The tougher they are, the bigger sense of achievement you'll have on finally taking them apart. I remember taking on the even though he scared the shit out of me and I already knew I didn't want to go that way, just to see if I could. (I could )

I'm really looking forward to playing GTA5 on PC, with an SSD drive.

You know it's not going to be a good run when you've inadvertently angered the shopkeepers, and sent good bombs after bad. Mind, you did way better than I did

You'll have a great time manually managing your inventory in Dark Souls, then. I loved Dark Souls to bits, but the inventory management was awful.

Agree totally with Yasawas. I played through about three quarters of the game with my starting weapon, which I had been upgrading periodically. The only reason why I swapped it out, incidentally, is because I just fancied a change and not because it wasn't doing the business anymore. I started as a warrior too! I think they're a great class for beginners because sword-and-board is a very reliable way to play. It won't work in every situation, but then nothing really does. Edit: don't focus on four stats, that's spreading yourself too thinly. 3, or even better, 2.

I didn't think the DLC was shitty, precisely. It certainly wasn't as good as the main game, and I had a few issues with it where options were offered, but only one option would be acceptable, eg. But, I think that criticism can be levelled at the main game too. Either way, shitty seems a touch harsh to me, but each to their own.

Today's run was a bit of a shambles. I made some catastrophic (and entirely avoidable) errors in a nest of spiders, but I did get to make out with some sexy pugs so it's swings and roundabouts really

Loved that Dawn of Midi stuff. As you say, BadHat, it's highly repetitive, but really hypnotic and has a lush texture to it. This topic keeps crashing for me on Chrome, so I'm using Internet Explorer. So, this is what it feels like to hit bottom

I think the climbing gloves are a pretty good match with the jetpack, because if you've been a bit liberal with the fuel and find you're running out, you can usually cling to *somewhere* and recharge. But, they do definitely screw me over at times as well (less so now I'm used to them)

I dunno, I've seen others do it, with speed and dexterity. I didn't have the balls myself, so used my second-to-last bomb. Made it all the way to Olmec though, and beat the game for the 2nd time *fistpump*

Had some thoughts on Tomb Raider on another forum, in response to another poster who did like it, so I'll slap 'em down here. "I couldn't get into the story at all, or care about any of the characters, including Lara. No matter how many times she gets her limbs all hacked and mangled, she just slaps on a bandaid and off she goes again. I've got no problem with serious violence in games and other media, but only if there's some sort of consequence, and there never was. Possibly towards the end of the game this becomes more apparent, but I didn't finish it. Played *checks* 9 hours of it. I think the problem really is down to me more than to the game, which, whilst I do think it's quite average, doesn't commit any particularly egregious sins. Some of the set pieces wowed me, infact, but they were few and far between. No, I think I'm just bored to the back teeth of games which present you with a map with some icons on it and expect you to go tidy them up, without any good reason to do it besides some more XP or an achievement or something. As you (rightly) state, one doesn't have to do any of that stuff, but there's so much of it in Tomb Raider that it felt like I'd be missing out if I didn't. I wouldn't have been, and I shouldn't have, but I did, so I got bored. Still, even if I'd have simply ignored it all and ploughed on with the story, I don't think I'd have finished it. Just, don't give a shit about the bonkers cult, seen it all before elsewhere. Some originality wouldn't go amiss."

That Nick Cave track is a belter. I think I'll be giving that album a spin today. Didn't like that Eels track. So positive, so nice. I kept hoping for something really awful to happen and shatter the idyll, but nothing did. My favourite Eels album, by a long shot, is Electro-Shock Blues; I'm all about the hopelessness and despair. Sounds like QOTSA are back on form! Will give that a spin as well Darkside track great too.

Hahaha! I do like the combo of climbing glove and jetpack, but yeah, I probably could've gotten along without it just fine. Another day, another daft mistake, eh?

In which I, once again, complain about popular Youtubers.

Spelunky gets my vote. Always fun, always challenging, no QTEs, no cutscenes, all game, all the time. It might actually be my fave game ever, not just this year.

Happened to me at the end of run. Pick up the glove, make to leave the shop, realise my mistake, hurl it back at the shoppie, die.

"You learn something new every time" Truer words have never been spoken

Agree with both you and Nappi. Much has been made of difficulty in games recently (are games getting too easy and leading players by the hand?) and what constitutes a "fair" death. I don't think I've died even once in Spelunky and thought that it was unavoidable. Death is always a result of a mistake or mistakes made by myself, so I'm always learning and improving. And, sometimes screwing things up completely, but that's still fun