PixlBit

Nintendo may be one of my favorite video game companies, but they’ve certainly had their share of big mistakes.  Most notable ones are things like the Virtual Boy, or refusing to use CDs instead of cartridges in the N64 days.  I feel they’ve even made a big mistake pretty recently, and while it’s not as grand of scope as the goof-ups mentioned before, I still think it’s a big mistake.  And that’s the way they handled the release of the NES Classic Edition last year.  I mean, what a mess!  Nobody has been able to get one of those things!  It frustrated me to no end!  And they’re poised to do it again with the SNES Classic Edition (I really hope I can get that one, though).  I was so mad about the whole situation, though, that I went out and bought a competing multi-game console called Retro-Bit Generations. 

Alright so I have some breakfast in me, and I think I am ready to type out the random thoughts I had about the games I played over the past week or so. I mean I had an idea yesterday but I didn't get around to putting them on digital paper, and currently I just finished breakfast after a morning trip to the Home Depot. I'm starting to get an idea of where everything is in the Home Depot. Anyways let's start out with what I have been playing.

I guess it is called Uncharted. I always love to call it Drake and Josh because of the excellent Nickelodeon show well Drake and Josh.

Lovecraft is a pretty big name in internet culture, and "Lovecraftian" is a popular descriptor to throw around. Cosmic horror! But while I have read some Lovecraft—most notably the fantastic "At the Mountains of Madness"—most of his work has remained a mystery to me. But this year I finally broke out the massive Lovecraft book I've had for a while and am slowly working my way through it. 110 pages and 19 stories so far. Since it lists the stories chronologically, I'm still in his earlier works. He obviously improves as he goes because if what I have read so far was the totality of his output, Lovecraft would merely be an interesting footnote in horror history. There have been some good stories, specifically those that deal with deteriorating sanity of the narrator—I especially liked "Polaris" where a man stares up at the North Star both awake and in his dream and anguishes over which life is the real one—but mostly the stories have been overly vague in their supernatural elements and predictable in their endings. Sometimes an unexplained mystery can be compelling, as in "The Temple" or the fantastic final line of "The Statement of Randolph Carter," but stories like "The Terrible Old Man" I finished and was like...so? Too many of these early stories are like that, containing the germ of something interesting but failing to flesh it. But on the whole I have enjoyed my time with Lovecraft and, looking to the stories ahead, I'm excited to finally get to the famous stories I have yet to read.

Two games, both of which take place in sci-fy worlds originally created by developers working for Microsoft whose company name started with B. Both offer squad based shooting with jetpacks. Both come from franchises with driving sections that make you feel drunk while steering. Both given praise by critics even though they kind of suck. Today I'm going to answer the unsolvable question: Is Mass Effect Andromeda worse than Halo 5? Or is the king of disappointing 8th gen installments in once great franchises still on top of that turd hill? Let's go over 

Somehow I've logged ten hours into Final Fantasy 12 already weird. I forgot how much I liked this game. I've also gained greater appreciation of the battle system, which I originally disliked cause it wasn't turn based like FF10. But I like it now. The new, Japanese License/Levelling system is better too. I like working with classes. I'm sure I didn't maximize the potential of my characters with the right classes, but dammit, that's what grinding is for. 

Mark and I played some more co-op in Kane & Lynch 2 trying to get a few more achievements. I was trying to get the one where you have to get the kill on an enemy your co-op partner knocked down but not out. I shadowed Mark and shot at anything he did that still moved. I only got a couple more and was still far from the 30 needed for the achievement. So, I just helped Mark get a few other achievements and just had fun with it. Then I switched to Valkyria Revolution, since it installed so quickly.  

And after I paid a whole 2 bucks for it. LOL

So let's recap the current situation: Gym reopens and I'm excited. It's a 1000 degrees outside, so I go work out in an air conditioned room, then I go to the pool where it's a 1000 degrees outside and swim a couple of laps. I sit for a bit to dry off, then jump in the truck for the two minute drive to my house, than into an air conditioned house to take a shower. A couple of days of this and I now have a cold. I'm currently typing this with a stuffy nose, slight headache, and sneezing up a storm. We'll see if I decide to venture out for CD Friday. I also find it funny that I have a cold when it is 1000 degrees outside. Anyways that some personal randomness let's get started with this week's Quick Hits.