Emptyeye

Despite my initial intention to purchase Borderlands from Gamestop earlier in the week, I somehow managed to come home with a copy of Rock Band 3 instead. What can I say, Silver is persuasive like that.

There’s a lot of new stuff in Rock Band 3–”Pro” instruments, mainly–that I can’t play because I lack the necessary equipment. What I can talk about is the new Career Mode. It’s actually pretty cool, in that it’s challenge-based. More importantly, though, you can simply go into quick play and, as long as your band is active, anything you do in Quickplay counts toward the challenges, or at least most of them. It’s nice to not have to go into career mode separately to make progress in that regard.

Additionally, all the songs are unlocked from the start, which is nice, especially for tournament-type purposes. No “unlock all” code needed for that.

Speaking of tournament-type purposes, one of the controversial things over at Score Hero is the removal of Score Duel mode. While it’s not a big deal for the style of tournament run at Connecticon, it does interfere with people who wanted to run technical-only individual instrument tournaments (Although, on a personal level, I myself only used it during a couple Score Hero Score Duel nights).

As far as the setlist itself goes, I’ve only played a small portion of it, but on the whole, I’m not sure I’m as big a fan of this one as I was or RB2′s. This kind of makes sense, though, since a lot of truly iconic songs have already appeared in the series (Or Guitar Hero) either in previous games or as DLC.

In all, I like it. As I said, though, i haven’t really tried any of the new stuff, so hopefully I can come back with an opinion on that soon enough.

-EE

Apologies for any downtime you might have experienced yesterday…Lunarpages was performing some upgrades on their end that apparently brought everything down for a bit (I had wanted to make an update yesterday, but even I was getting an Internal Server Error). We should be back in business now.

Hopefully a proper update will be forthcoming later on.

On the sanctioned-online-stalking site that is Facebook, Popcap Games have a version of Bejeweled called Bejeweled Blitz. Essentially, it’s “Score as high as you can in one minute of Bejeweled”.

Recently, Popcap apparently added a level system to the game. Like a lot of Facebook games, it doesn’t actually mean much–it’s basically a measure of your total points scored since they added the feature. But, because I’m a sucker for RPG Elements in my games, this addition has made me play the game a lot more than I otherwise would.

Well played, Popcap, well played.

-EE

CONTENT!

On The Speed Gamers Boards, there is currently a competition going on called TSG Idol, which I’m a part of (The fact that I’m named “Emptyeye2112″ on the forums is an amusing/humiliating story in itself, but it revolves around a forgotten password). Somehow, I made it past round 1 (A free week), and got my entry in for round 2 (A video game/TSG-theme week). You can see that at the topic I just linked.

With just over a month to go until Gobble-Con, I ran through the audio portion of my panel today while I was making dinner. In a couple weeks, I hope to actually run everything through in front of an audience, such that it will be. I think I did okay, considering I was attempting to multi-task while I was going through said audio. Of course, actually getting the slideshow re-integrated with it will be another matter.

Part 8: It’s Almost Like We’ve Done This Before

Back in the tavern…

Gilgamesh: “Hey man, you may want this.”

Nyperold: “This…this is the tome of maps that Emptyeye had! But how did you…”

Gilgamesh: “You thought there was only one alternate dimension?”

Nyperold: “I guess I never really stopped to consider that before. Either way, though, thanks a lot!”

(IMMERSION-BREAKING LIVEBLOG NOTE: If you can’t figure it out, “The tome from one-or-more alternate dimensions” are the actual maps I made in a previous playthrough. They’re actually quite unfinished, as I did play the game with the knowledge that you only had to visit four floors out of ten, strictly speaking)

The group descended into the first floor of the dungeon.

Nyperold: “Okay! Let’s start by going east and kicking in the door you’ll find there.”

The group did so, and came upon four Bubbly Slimes.

Nyperold: “Ah, excellent, it doesn’t look like they’re aware of our presence. Spooky, Optimus, and Nario, you guys just hang out. Kareshi and Tobleron, watch what I do, and try to replicate it.”

With that, Nyperold charged at one of the slimes and moved his blade in quick, efficient motions. When all was said and done, he had hit his target three times and reduced the slime to a splatter on the room’s walls.

Nyperold: “Okay, now you two try.”

Tobleron and Kareshi were quite a bit more wild and less efficient than Nyperold. Nonetheless, each managed to hit their respective targets once, killing them. By the time the last Slime realized what was going on, it was too late for it—Tobleron struck and dispatched it.

Nyperold: “Nice job, everyone! Those are the basics, but you’re gonna need more than that to survive for extended periods.”

Again sticking close to the stairs leading back to the city, the group was beset upon by some friendly Undead Kobolds.

Nyperold: “Okay everyone. You know what to do…take ‘em out!”

Kareshi: “Aww, but they seem like pretty chill dudes. I’d like to take ‘em into the Tavern for a drink, honestly.”

Spooky C: “Ignoring the fact that that would lead to a giant mess thanks to their lack of internal organs…I think I have to agree with Nyperold here.”

The rest of the group overruled Kareshi, and took out the skeletons.

Heading back to town, the group was surprised by 4 Scruffy Men…who quickly turned tail and fled.

Nyperold: “That’s right, you don’t mess with us!”

(LIVEBLOG NOTE: I imagine that Nyperold’s being at Level 11 [For reference, barring major level grinding, somewhere in the 13-15 region is your typical endgame level] is having a major influence on whatever calculations are used to decide if enemies flee or not.)

Making it back to town, the entire group, even Nyperold, felt stronger. The next excursion would test their ability to survive for longer periods of time…

Next Time: Item grabbing! Maybe ghost killing!

Chilled Bonus Commentary!
-Typo alert! The sentence in the Bubbly Slime battle beginning with “By the time…” had a random extra comma after those three words. That’s been eliminated. Also, Spooky’s “Ignoring the fact that that would lead…” originally said “Ignoring the fact that this would lead…”
-There isn’t a whole lot of character development here, although we do see Nyperold taking the mentor role a bit. He also manages to satisfy his bloodlust by eliminating a friendly group of monsters, although he’s not quite so blindly enthusiastic about it this time. Kareshi fills the “Emptyeye” role here, being the Neutral Samurai. the rest of the group, like the first, is Evil. The only other thing to add is that I’m pretty sure the real Kareshi would never say “chill”. Oh well.

-EE

Sorry Zudak. I was just as upset as you are, if not moreso. :(

Nonetheless, the show must go on.

Part 7: We Can Rebuild the Group.

Three months or so later, Nyperold sat in the rebuilt Gilgamesh’s Tavern, sipping his vodka and soda. He was still trying to come to grips with what had happened, and its implications.

Nyperold: “Man…Emptyeye….mahel042….Zudak…all gone. I’m really never going to see them again, am I? And that means…oh no! How can I possibly kill more things now!? I hate my life…”

Just then, a group of adventurers walked into the Tavern. They were all naked.

Nyperold: “Wait a minute…”

Picking himself up off his bar stool, Nyperold staggered over to the group.

Nyperold: “You know, I’m not sure why it is…but it seems like a lot of adventurers who come here start off naked for some reason.”

The ostensible leader of the group stepped forward.

???: “Really? How odd. We just kind of like hanging out in the nude.”

Nyperold: “Well, I won’t judge you…but that’s gonna get you killed pretty quick if you leave town at all. Come with me to Boltac’s Trading Post and let’s see what we can do about that.”

The group conferred, and decided that it seemed like a good idea.

Nyperold: “So uh, what’re your names? Also, how much gold do you all have on you.”

???: “Well, I’m Kareshi, and I have…maybe 110 Gold.”

???: “And I’m Toblerone, but you can just leave off the last E if you want. I have slightly over 100 Gold.”

The rest of the group introduced themselves. There was Spookmeister C, or Spooky C, who was a Cleric. Optimus Funk, or Optimus F, was the Thief of the group, and Nario rounded out the new party, being the Mage of the crew. All of them had between 100 and 200 Gold to their names.

(LIVEBLOG NOTE: There’s an 8-character limit in Wizardry character names, hence the abbreviations and whatnot. Also, for the curious, the non-Toblerone character names are usernames from another forum I frequent.)

Nyperold: “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna combine all our Gold, and from there, here’s what you’re all gonna buy. Kareshi and Tobleron, you guys buy Long Swords, Breast Plates and Large Shields, plus Helms. Spooky C, you want an Anointed Flail, Breast Plate and Large Shield. Optimus Funk, for you it’s a Small Shield, Short Sword, and some Padded Leather. And Nario, you get…um, a Staff and some Robes.”

The group thanked Nyperold for his generosity.

Nyperold: “Yeah, don’t mention it…I think my old crew would’ve wanted it that way.”

Kareshi: “Your…old crew?”

Nyperold: “Yeah, where do you think I got all this money from? They were a band not unlike you guys..there was Emptyeye, that crazy gambler. And Willy the Wizard…we’d pick on the guy, but really, I loved the dude. And Zudak..oh man, Zudak…he got his Studly Staff and was convinced he was ready for the front lines. What a wacky Mage he was. Man..I miss those dudes.”

• Typo Alerts!: “So…what actually happened to them?” originally ended with a period. Additionally, I repeated the error I made in an earlier entry, misspelling “anointed” as “annointed”.
• The initial line was me responding to the Troper Zudak, who said basically, “Nooooo my character! :(“
• Similarly to Chapter 1, this chapter serves mainly to introduce our new set of characters, after I lost most of the old ones. The names come from The Shizz posters, except Toblerlon(e), who is something of a patron saint of big bruiser types on TV Tropes. Characterization-wise, we get a glimpse of Nario being the Wide-Eyed Idealist, what with his focus on actually accomplishing the goal of the game, but besides that, there’s not a lot there just yet. It will come, though.

-EE

This is a site that I found thanks to TV Tropes. How to use it is basically you go to it, laugh, then reload and repeat the process, basically indefinitely. Near the bottom of the page is a direct link to the page you happen to be viewing at the time.

Luckily, I have a quick primer for you on some of my favorite ones. Be warned that some of these are rated R languagewise.

With their ability to predict technologies that would not become prevalent until about 15 years after 1982′s Combat Rock, The Clash were truly ahead of their time.

Some of my fellow Shizzies and I absolutely need to make this happen at MAGFest 9. They’ve actually come close a couple times before.

House gets down!

Again!

Anyone who has ever played the Oregon Trail will tell you that this is the correct solution to any river problems.

I may have to use this in my TSG Idol entry one week, as it’s actually in my vocal range.

Doc Louis has upgraded from stealing bikes to stealing spaceships. Also, he can breathe in hostile atmospheres.

Just watch this for a few minutes. Truly, there is no stopping him.

I don’t know what anime this is from, but man it’s cute.

SUCCESS!

-EE

While the crew was in the Tavern, disaster struck.

Literally.

A hurricane blew through Llylgamyn, laying waste to the entire city. When it subsided…

Nyperold: “Guys? Guys? …where is everyone?”

Nyperold scanned the city, but found no one. His companions, the citizens of the city, they weren’t there. There were no bodies, they were simply….gone.

Nyperold: “Guess I’m….alone.”

(LIVEBLOG NOTE: I turned on the game and, whether it was due to an old battery, or just a fidgety NES, Nyperold was the only character not simply erased from existence. This after some strange visuals, which makes me think it was the NES and not the battery.

So, I leave my next move to you, the viewers. Make new clones of the characters who aren’t Nyperold? Create an entirely new party? Or just give up (I really don’t wanna do that one)? Make your selection…now!)

Mega-Cool Bonus Commentary!
To quote Joe Elliott, “This was not on the agenda.”

More specifically, if I remember what happened correctly, the first time I powered the game on, there were 3 characters still there, but two of them had wacky stats and levels and stuff, with gibberish where you’d expect numbers to be. Powering off and back on a couple times yielded Nyperold as the only survivor.

From a gameplay perspective, this really sucked–there was a not-inconsequential amount of time I had spent building up this party that was simply lost when most of the characters up and disappeared. Nonetheless, from a storytelling perspective, as we’ll see later on, this probably helped me out quite a bit–this was an unexpected development that I would have to write around, and quite honestly, probably made the narrative better than it would have been otherwise, especially regarding the Nyperold-centric parts.

I’m currently sitting in an office building goofing off doing important staff work for Connecticon’s Member Appreciation Day for October. These are like little mini-cons that take place…in an office building, something that seemed completely surreal to me the first time I attended one. Mainly, I figure that I should update the site to keep myself in the habit of doing so.

You still have a few hours to sign up at The Speed Gamers Community and vote for what characters I should use in Phantasy Star II tomorrow when I stream. More seriously, if you can, check out their community stream every evening this month. Each night, a member of the TSG community will be streaming games of their choice to raise money for ACT Today, a charity devoted to autism care and treatment.