Rambling In The Name Of

I had an interesting week last week, and by interesting, I mean that it will be not at all interesting for you, the reader.  So needless to say, which is why it is needed to be said, I will not be winning any Pulitzers for this one particular article.

First off, this happened to my computer screen last Thursday.  This is not only why steak knives and computer screens should not be friends, but also a lesson in the activities of stretch/yawning while moving toward a spinning ceiling fan.  As is the slogan of Nike in one of many alternate universes goes:

The other non-interesting aspect for you of my last week was that I was indoctrinated into Path of Exile.  I've known about this game for some time, in that it was a Diablo-type clone that was a lot of fun to play and that it was free-to-play.  For whatever reason, those two descriptors together made me wary about trying the game.  Then I noticed Chreekat playing it a lot while I was learning the ropes of DOTA2 and thought I would give it a try.  17 hours later (after figuring out why it wouldn't initially download the first five times I had tried), I've fallen in love with this game.  The character choice is plentiful, the artwork and world design is beautiful, the music is semi-atmospheric-eh, and the skill tree, holy damn the skill tree!

This is maybe just a quarter of the skill tree too.  All these tiny lines and dots were a little overwhelming when I first started, but now I feel that this tree will be manageable.  Did I mention the game is free?  I gladly would have paid money to play this (having played the game now) and the moment I have a steady income again, these fine folks will be receiving a bit of mine.  Oh, and presently, I have not experienced anything that leads me to believe that I have to pay money in order to progress through the game and I am not inundated with adds or special offers for glowing glitter eyes.

I've also just finished Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer, the book in the Summer Reading BINGO, and so now it is onto a book "With a number in the title."  Time to go look through the book case or peruse what free titles I already have on the ol' Kindle.  That is, unless I plan on reading something by Janet Evanovich, but that'd be an easy out and I have no real interest in Evanovich.  The search begins.

Returning to the world of games, Salty Liver and her newly acquired husband gave Conklederp and myself, for our own nigh-approaching wedding, the Mansions of Madness board game.  I am excited to play this game, which I will get into in a later post, but for now, looking through all the materials will have to make do.

Apologies for this less than stellar submission to the Nobel Prize for Literature, but then again, we all can't be Steinbecks.  Or Kings.  Or Revertes.  Or Tolkeins.  Or Pratchetts.  Or Lovecrafts.  Or Crichtons.  Or Adams'.  Or Machens.  Or Poes.  Or Dumas'.  Now Shakespeares, those're one a dozen.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Converting All Your Sounds Of Woe

It's Been A Hell Of A Week

Apologies for how I've been posting for the last week.  Last Friday I was unable to post because I didn't plan ahead, went to work on Thursday night, got home Friday morning, went to sleep, woke up at 2pm, packed for a trip down to California, sat in traffic for an hour when the commute usually takes 18-25 minutes, boarded a plane eventually arriving at my parents' house 8:45pm thoroughly exhausted.

Wednesdays MIDI-Week Single ended up not happening partly because of forgetting the aforementioned computer cable at the aforevisited parents' house and only receiving it on Wednesday afternoon shortly before going to sleep so that I would be awake enough to go to work Wednesday night, which is what I did again last night (Thursday-Friday).

And now I sit here at 7:30am wondering how to salvage what it is that I'm meandering on about so that I can go to sleep and wake up around 1pm to start my day.  So on that note, I'll see you on the other side, hopefully refreshed and full of zazz.

Not that you can tell, but it's now 2:35pm and I have semi-groggily awoken from my slumber where myself and another person were in combat with some sort of ice dragon that was reminiscent of dragging a butter knife along a wall of rocks.  It was not super effective.

But we're here to talk about gaming and I will do just that, but in more of an update form.  Again.

In the last week, I started playing Dota 2, all thanks to Chreekat and Vorlynx.  I'm presently still going through the tutorial, specifically the one where you play through the center lane 10 separate times with one of 20 characters.  I've gone through this one tutorial four times already and while it has become a little repetitive, the variation in the character design and their abilities is what's keeping the game interesting.  I have a feeling that this is a key feature of a MOBA.  I will be going back soon.

The Bioshock 2 DLC, Minerva's Den is also progressing nicely, although I have since forgotten how/why another early Big Daddy has come to life amidst the ruin of Rapture.  I think that was covered in the intro/beginning of the game, but it didn't seem all too important.  Also, why is it that only your character is able to use the Vita-Chamber?  And thanks to that article, it makes sense why every single enemy doesn't use the modern wonders of Vita-Chamber, from Ryan Industries.  I guess I must have glossed over that somewhat important plot point.

I also started Dragon Quest VI after deciding that I needed to step away from Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D on the 3DS.  I had reached a point with the game that it was not fun anymore and that I was only playing because I felt obligated to finish the game.  As I told Dr. Potts this weekend, the game play reminded me a bit like Super Meat Boy except with a limited number of lives. The charm to Super Meat Boy is that you have infinite lives and being able to pass a level is determined by the players stamina whereas in DKCR3D, you are reminded frequently of your dwindling life counter and dying is just as easy.  Dragon Quest VI  I feel is a much needed old school JRPG, of which I realized I hadn't played in, at least I think, a very long time.  Maybe not since I finished Dragon Quest V back in June 2012.

I'm going to call it a day and I will see y'all next week for a more concise and less free flowing post/article.  I just needed to get back on the wagon after missing last Friday and Wednesday.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Just Can't Figure It Out