Monthly Update: November 2013

Happy November lovely people!  Jesus these months are flying by, at least they are on this end.  I've been somewhat busy, both on the working side and on the video gaming side.  Conklederp and I are also busy making plans of the matrimonial type, but there's many months to go before Convergence takes place, Altman be praised.

Since this isn't a blog about work, let's skip right to video games.

A couple of months back I posted about Donkey Kong Country Rerurns 3D, and I'm still working my way though the island that apparently has the tastiest bananas in existence.  I think the only lifeform that has yet to go after Kong's banana's are aliens, but I missed all the DKC after Diddy Kong's Quest so I might be mistaken on that front.  One thing that I forgot to mention in the original post was that I had to change the control scheme from the default to the alternative setting.  The default control scheme has you using the joystick to control DK, which I couldn't figure out why I didn't like it.  That is until I realized that the last time I played a DKC game was on the SNES, which still used a directional pad.  So that's what I'm using.  I've forgone the joystick for the directional pad and I'm a lot happier.  The only downside is that I now "have" to use the L/R triggers to do DK's characteristic slap-the-ground move and the newer blow when crouched, which is an ability that almost/practically useless.

Another issue that I've having with DKCR3D is that it's pretty difficult, especially the mine cart stages.  There are a lot of jumps that you have to make while ducking in the cart and if you jump a millisecond too soon you smash your head onto a spikey ceiling (and die) or if you jump too late you plunge to your death (and die. . .again?).  There's a reason why there are times in the game when you have close to 30 lives.  The game is designed with this in mind.  You are going to die.  Alot.  I would love to see a runthrough of someone going through the game on their first try without dying.  Actually I wouldn't, because then I might hate myself.

Next onto Ace Combat Assault: Assault Horizon - Extended Edtion, which I talked a bit about last week.  I would now like to make a correction.  In the post, I said that I had been playing on the "Easy" (or what the game slaps you with by calling you a "Rookie") difficulty setting, when in fact I was apparently playing on "Pilot," which is the equivalent of "Normal."  I realized this mistake when I booted the game up, went to free missions and noticed that I had a score when selecting "Pilot" as opposed to "Rookie."  So I started over again and wouldn't you know it, the game is easier.  Not a whole lot easier, I don't know if I would even attempt the game on "Elite" (aka "Hard"), but the game has now become fun again, although it's still pretty difficult, especially when you engage DFM (Dog Fight Mode) and the enemy plane plunges "below the hard deck" and you automatically follow, practically flying into mountains, creating a bit of lag because you shouldn't be able to fly through mountains.  Frequently your plane bounces of said mountains and you end up disengaging.  Despite the game being pseudo-less-hard, it's still pretty difficult for being on the easiest setting.

Back in mid-August, I posted about Plants vs Zombies 2: It's About Time and how it only came out on iOS.  Well, a couple of weeks back that all changed and was released on Android OS and just like iOS, the game is free with all the same in game purchases available.  Now, I'm not going to do an entirely separate First Impressions for playing it on my phone as it's the same game.  the only difference is that now my fingers cover more of the screen while playing, which has only been an issue a couple of times.(planting plants in the wrong spot or accidentally giving plant food to a plant while picking up suns).  I also decided to purchase the Snow Pea Shooter with my justification being that the game itself is free, and I've very much enjoyed it so why not show some monetary appreciation.

In the last couple of days in October, both Conklederp and I went through The Stanley Parable Demo, which was a lot of fun.  I don't want to give anything away, which I would easily do by talking more about the demo than I am doing right now.  I won't even say what it reminded me of or, really, anything else.  I should just stop right now.  Although I will say that (at least right now), the demo is not controller compatible, which is odd because it seems controller support would be perfect for this type of game.  Alright, I've said too much.  Go play the demo.

I see November being a similar month, gaming-wise, as October, although more turkey and most likely more running, which I'm going to get back into, tomorrow or at the very latest, Sunday.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Want To Touch The Other Side