OOC Discussion

So I just watched Aldnoah.Zero's 12th episode... Best anime I've watched in a few years. Best (and worst) cliffhanger ever.

I can't freaking wait for January 2015... Well played, Aldnoah.Zero, well played.

I also watched it today. I hope it wasn't an illusion and what happened in it won't be "retconned".

Last Anime i watched was Mushishi Zoku Shou. Before that was Knights of Sidonia.


Not a lot of anime can get me hooked these days.

Amazing. Just amazing.

Allow me to facepalm due to a parent that allows a small child play Skyrim.

At least start with Morrowind, so they may be scarred for life as that guy falls from the sky in front of them. THAT's when you introduce Oblivion, and show them where bad people go when they die. It's fun and educative!

I swear, parents these days...

JONTRON STREAMING! BANJO-KAZOOIE! CHARITY! GET WIN! HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!


http://www.twitch.tv/jontronshow

It seems like Forumotion is freakin' out, at least while I'm posting this. Instead of taking me straight to the forum when I visit(checked URL and everything), it just takes me to the site's main page. I have to try multiple times to open the page(refreshing and forward/back buttons don't work, I have to load the page via url input(I'm also able to click on it from a new tab in my "most visited", much easier).

Is anyone else experiencing this?

Not me.

Me.

Well it seems to have stopped now. Probably something in the code or server going rogue, seems like they dealt with it.

yeah

So I just discovered this. I'm 2 years late but I don't care. Go watch.

That's two years old now? Seems like it just came out, lol.

Here's one for you Rory: The new Strongbad music video!

Wow, thank you. I didn't know that they started on that again. Done coasting off of the popularity and money they made off their game, are they? Also, I could never get behind the concept of making a game out of it.

Speaking of, three years ago I was still waiting for them to keep doing game stuff with Trogdor and peasants. I was mainly impressed with the material they came up with for that trailer alone.

No prob man. I was as surprised as you are that they came back after such a long break.

Here's hoping for more Trogdor. *Kolson crosses fingers*

This feels appropriate, after yesterday.

So, i just started playing Alien Isolation. I thought i'd start with the Crew Expendable DLC, since it's the one that happened first, chronologically, and i wanted to check out the crew and the ship, and play the frigging movie. I mean, how hard could it be, right?

Hahahaha.

After the first death, i sent myself packing to the main story mode, hoping to break into the madness a little easier. Now, in my defense, i did start playing on Hard mode right off the bat, cause that's a thing with me, but that game did something that even Fatal Frame didn't quite pull off so successfully: It froze me in my tracks.

I mean, sure, i started by playing a DLC that pitted me against the bug in the first five minutes, with barely any preparation and no experience, and i was looking at the tracker every five seconds and pausing every ten, in order to, you know, breathe. And i started playing this at the lovely sunny hour of 01:30 AM, thereabouts (Arch wasn't streaming, what do you want from me). But that game kicked me in the gut so hard, it was all i could do to keep my composure.

After i started up the main story mode and was walking down a perfectly safe corridor at game start, i had a jolt when the automated lighting system kicked in. That's what this game did to me. And obviously, being the intelligent and rational person i am, come nightfall tomorrow (cause no way am i playing this game when it's day outside), ill be back to walking dear Amanda through Space Station Death.

And bumping my terror tolerance a notch while i'm at it.

K, I also played like the first ten minutes of the DLC. I got into a room with my flamethrower and heard some noise. Then, the frigging door opened. For something like two seconds, I didn't see the alien. Then it just walked in. I shot at it as fast as I could and when I stopped, it disappeared. That's when it hit me : I was too afraid to leave the room.

The worse thing is that I started playing at three in the morning. I'm so stupid. I'll continue with the Main campaign for now, I just can't deal with this.

I managed to stick to it a bit more than that, but then the thing caught up to me when i was in an air duct, and i didn't open fire in time (i was playing as Dallas too, just to round up the irony). The Nostromo's map is too intricate, too many twists and turns and junctions, and just too many places the thing can ambush you from, and to top it off, the damn hatches open automatically. I'd rely on my hearing, but the damn proximity music just sets my nerves on fire, and there's too much ambient noise to tell apart from the Alien, especially when you're not familiar with the sounds it makes walking around.

Also, the characters would know the map like the back of their hand, i don't (then again, i get to respawn, so i guess fair trade?). I'm pretty sure that DLC is meant to be an advanced map, so don't feel too bad.

Hats off to them, though. They sure delivered on the experience.

Don't feel too bad?

You're talking to the guy who never finished F.E.A.R. because it was too scary. I tried to play Amnesia with my sister beside me; when she left, I never touched the game again. I can't even watch a Let's play of P.T. on YouTube because I just know it would give me a heart attack. In summary : Alien Isolation is one of the stupidest purchase I ever made. Most people say it's a really good game with some pacing problems which makes it too long. Players stop being scared after a while. I predict that the game will never stop scaring me.

And yes, I'll play the damn game because I paid sixty dollars for it. *facepalm*

Canadian dollars though. Steam is now priced with Canadian dollars in Canada! *runs away crying*

Well, huh... maybe try and embrace the horror?

K wrote:Space Station Death.

Literally laughed out loud.
Is this a thing? This Should Be A Thing!!

If it is, i'm behind the times.

Dear diary, today i had my first run-in with a Xenomorph in Alien Isolation. Now, i still remember clearly the first time i played AvP all those years ago, and roamed those dark hallways in anticipation, before i see this ghastly silhouette against the flickering lights coming at me.

It had nothing on this.

Now bear in mind, dear diary, that i had just yesterday played this game, and had played hide-and-seek with said Bug before. So, i thought i was ready, at least mentally, for the madness that was surely to come. I wasn't. It's one of those things that even if you've seen it before, you're not ready to see again.

First encounter i'm positive was only story based, and i was in no real danger. All it was, was the bug stabbing someone through the chest with it's tail, and pulling the body down a shaft. So basically all i see is a tail and hear a lot of hissing. And then i get control back, and immediately go into a crouch, even though i was in an open space where mobility would serve me best. I stalked my way through the dark, over to the elevator, pressed the call button, and then patiently crouched behind a box, scanning the dark for any grimm reapers prowling about.

Wait, did i say patiently? Hahahaha.

See, there's this talk i have with myself sometimes, where my rational side is trying to make my, uh, other side pull itself together. In this case, my gamer mind was trying to tell the rest of my mind that this situation was, in all likelyhood, all scrpited, and there was no actual Xenomorph spawned out there. This was taking into account the layout of the room, the fact that i'd had no choice but to take the most exposed path to my objective, and a bunch other design clues you pick up on that tell you this is not how a good game designer would set up an actual challenge. The problem was, it all fell on deaf ears, as my spectator mind was too busy crying like a little girl, under the so lovingly crafted sensory assault the game inflicts upon you when it wants you be terrified.

I encountered the Alien one more time after that, and i'm pretty sure the safety was off by then, but here's the thing: Even while playing Fatal Frame 3 for the first time, unnerved as i was, i didn't think much of the fact that i was able to stay focused throughout the experience. This is the very first time i actually thought to pat myself on the back for just being able to keep my wits about me when faced with a figure that by this time should hold no actual mystery for me anymore.

So yeah, you know how pretty much every game has an epilepsy warning on the manual? I'm pretty sure this game needs a warning for people with a heart condition. No, really, people with cardiac problems stay away from this. If it's constipation, however, dive right in. This game is the definite cure for lazy eye and bowel irregularity. Take that, pharmaceuticals.

Yeah, pharmaceuticals have nothing on this game.

I started the main campaign and stopped right when I entered the station. I'll get back to you when I get farther.