Played again with just me and Nan. It worked out better, since he was forced to be 50% of the decision-making and island-escaping crew. That's real life for you, I guess.
I think we also finally sorted out the rules properly, so we legitimately won this time. Much better all around.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Monday, January 6, 2014
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Review: Castaways (boardgame) pt 2
Pretty poor outing for it's first run of four players, unfortunately. I played with Z, Nan, and WJ, and it more or less sucked. Well, Z was plenty invested, and both caught onto the rules immediately, and sneakily played to win, as I imagined the game would go.
Here's the crap part: WJ and Nan continued to play like loser-Pandemic. WJ literally just fished on her turn, every turn, and surfed the web on her Nexus the rest of the time. Nan was pretty much asleep in his chair. Only Z and I were making any decisions to try and leave the island, and they would go along with whatever we determined had to be done next. Neither of them made any effort to win, either.
Back to square one in looking for good co-op games. Though, playing by myself (yes, the game can be played solo) was kind of interesting. Lonely, I should emphasize, but interesting.
Here's the crap part: WJ and Nan continued to play like loser-Pandemic. WJ literally just fished on her turn, every turn, and surfed the web on her Nexus the rest of the time. Nan was pretty much asleep in his chair. Only Z and I were making any decisions to try and leave the island, and they would go along with whatever we determined had to be done next. Neither of them made any effort to win, either.
Back to square one in looking for good co-op games. Though, playing by myself (yes, the game can be played solo) was kind of interesting. Lonely, I should emphasize, but interesting.
Review: 7 Wonders (boardgame)
Played 7 Wonders with Nan, Z, and WJ. Interesting and fairly quick. Well, quick depending on who you're playing with. Occasionally you choose your move in about three seconds and someone (or everyone) else sits around pondering their cards for half an hour. If that kills you, and your friends have a penchant for that, better implement a timer system, which we are considering for all games at home from now on, sidebar.
You randomly choose and man a wonder of the world - there are some that you would want more than others; have not quite figured out the advantages inherent in some of them. Everyone gets seven (eight?) cards from the Age 1 deck, and you choose one to play, then pass your hand clockwise. Here are your choices:
You randomly choose and man a wonder of the world - there are some that you would want more than others; have not quite figured out the advantages inherent in some of them. Everyone gets seven (eight?) cards from the Age 1 deck, and you choose one to play, then pass your hand clockwise. Here are your choices:
- Resource card: generates resources that you can use to play more cards.
- Science card: has a symbol on it that can add up to big victory points at the end if you have a lot
- Victory card: has straight victory points on it
- Trade card: increases your ability to get resources or gold
- Combat card: more shields means that you have more fight power when everyone battles at the end of the age. 1/3/5 victory points for winning against your adjacent opponents between every age.
- Play a card face down: to level up your wonder and give yourself access to it's special abilities and victory points
Tada! Limited options, limited cards, and everyone decides at the same time then passes their cards on to another player, so even if you have seven people, it's always your turn. Thus, your choices affect you, and you can also choose to deliberately sabotage someone else. And, if you already see that you're losing by a wide margin, the entirety of the game can't last all that long, so your freedom is always nigh, at least.
The biggest complaint, after only a few plays, is that there seems to be a very distinct way to win. I almost expect that if I wanted to crunch numbers, I could mathematically prove that there's only one reasonable strategy... but I don't really want to ruin it, so let's just think about it in broad terms.
- Resource cards count for absolutely nothing in the final tally of victory points. Sure, they allowed you to build other buildings, but seeing as you can only play 7 cards per age, 21 cards total, each card you waste on resources is a card that could have netted you victory points...
- Victory cards count for exactly the number that is written on the front, which is anywhere from 1-8. The higher level ones are extremely expensive, though several of them can be had for free if you build the low level ones early on in the game. Of course, waiting around for free ones is something of a gamble.
- Combat cards give you victory points at the end of the age, IF you have more than your left or right neighbor. Sure, you get -1 victory point if you lose the battle, -2 if you lose to each of your neighbors, but you can only win a maximum of 2/6/10 each age, and that's IF your neighbors are letting you win. Early on, only 1 combat shield can be built, and in age 3, up to 3. But it's not only expensive, it's using up one or more or your precious 7 cards per age.
- Trade cards help early on in making resource purchases less expensive, so one of those could be useful. The rest provide you with gold, and only one or two will provide you with victory points at the end, so they're basically played when needed.
- Playing a card face down is pretty useful, depending on your wonder's super power. But that's only two cards - and you'll just want to put one down there that you don't need, and you want to keep away from your opponents.
- So we're left with green science cards. There's three symbols, and if you have all three, that's 7 victory points for every matched set. ALSO, you get n^2 for each symbol, where n=the number of cards you have with that symbol on it. So if you have, say, 2 compasses, 2 wheels, and 3 tablets, that's 7x2 for the two sets, 2^2 for the compasses, 2^2 for the wheels, and 3^2 for the tablets. That's 31 victory points for seven cards, and don't even get me started on all the other bonuses you can get. And, a lot of these cards can be had for free if you build the early versions. Just saying, Z won both our games by going for nothing but green cards.
So the analysis reveals that if only one person is going for green cards, they will FOR SURE win. They build exponentially, for crying out loud. Even if only two people are collecting greens, you will probably lose to one of them. Apparently, every person playing must try to get green cards, even if they aren't benefited by them at all, just to deny the monopoly. This game will likely be at Thanksgiving, so it'll be under some more scrutiny then, and hopefully we'll know for sure.
Sorry if I semi-ruined that game with math. I do that sometimes.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Review: Castaways (boardgame)
When you think of Castaways, I want you to think of Arkham Horror. It's cooperative, it's meant to be challenging, and the number of pieces is plain crazy. The biggest difference is the co-op; there is a single game winner! Of the castaways that escape the island (if indeed any of you escape the island), the one with the most 'story points' hoarded is named the actual winner, but you could have used those story points to reroll any bad dice roll; thus, if you have one jerk among your nominal board game group, it could be a very tedious night of not-actually-cooperative play. Interestingly, this makes it somewhat more of a realistic 'marooned on a desert island' situation, don't you think?
If you don't know Arkham Horror, let me just say that there are a lot of pieces to this game. Some that you might not even use. The setup is long (not as long as Arkham Horror) but the variety of outcomes more resembles Betrayal at the House on the Hill, because of the 100+ different plot cards that are randomly summoned throughout the game. And though I'm referencing several dark-genre games, let me be clear that this game is 100% island castaway adventure themed. No otherworldly portals or demonic creatures to eat your sanity.
Your commodity to burn is energy. Energy to attempt campfires, energy to build shelters, energy to explore the island wilderness. All players choose what they want to do (or attempt to do) by placing their tokens on the board in the appropriate slots. Energy is paid, and off we go: to forage for food, salvage some of the shipwreck, or just get miserably lost in the jungle. All things have a consequence, and many decisions have to be made, either individually or as a group.
I think this game isn't for everyone, obviously. A lot of folks who checked it out over the GGC weekend took one disdainful look and said "too many rules". But, like Arkham Horror, it runs fairly smoothly once you establish what goes where. And Rob may not like how it's not quite 'co-operative' since there is a competitive aspect. I think I like that, too. It dispels the "do whatever the veteran says to do" quality that ruins games like Pandemic and Arkham Horror. I have yet to play it with a real troll, though, and my opinion could easily change. For right now, at least, Castaways is inheriting the best qualities from Betrayal at the House on the Hill and Arkham Horror in a more positive setting, and keeping the balance between teamwork and every-man-for-himself.
If you don't know Arkham Horror, let me just say that there are a lot of pieces to this game. Some that you might not even use. The setup is long (not as long as Arkham Horror) but the variety of outcomes more resembles Betrayal at the House on the Hill, because of the 100+ different plot cards that are randomly summoned throughout the game. And though I'm referencing several dark-genre games, let me be clear that this game is 100% island castaway adventure themed. No otherworldly portals or demonic creatures to eat your sanity.
Your commodity to burn is energy. Energy to attempt campfires, energy to build shelters, energy to explore the island wilderness. All players choose what they want to do (or attempt to do) by placing their tokens on the board in the appropriate slots. Energy is paid, and off we go: to forage for food, salvage some of the shipwreck, or just get miserably lost in the jungle. All things have a consequence, and many decisions have to be made, either individually or as a group.
I think this game isn't for everyone, obviously. A lot of folks who checked it out over the GGC weekend took one disdainful look and said "too many rules". But, like Arkham Horror, it runs fairly smoothly once you establish what goes where. And Rob may not like how it's not quite 'co-operative' since there is a competitive aspect. I think I like that, too. It dispels the "do whatever the veteran says to do" quality that ruins games like Pandemic and Arkham Horror. I have yet to play it with a real troll, though, and my opinion could easily change. For right now, at least, Castaways is inheriting the best qualities from Betrayal at the House on the Hill and Arkham Horror in a more positive setting, and keeping the balance between teamwork and every-man-for-himself.
Friday, September 20, 2013
PVZ2, Helpful Summary
TL;DR of last post:
Let's say you're at a free music festival featuring cool bands. There's two stages.
On the first stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times. At the back, discreetly, they're selling their CDs, maybe a few shirts. As consumers, we're not offended by this, and if the band is good, they'll get some sales.
On the second stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times, but they stop five minutes in and demand $50 from the listening audience before they will go on. "The rest of our show is the best part," they promise.
From a soulless marketing standpoint, they're both aiming for the same demographic, and aiming for the same sales. What is team #2 doing wrong? You be the judge. But I think it's safe to say, nobody I know is going to stick around the second stage.
Let's say you're at a free music festival featuring cool bands. There's two stages.
On the first stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times. At the back, discreetly, they're selling their CDs, maybe a few shirts. As consumers, we're not offended by this, and if the band is good, they'll get some sales.
On the second stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times, but they stop five minutes in and demand $50 from the listening audience before they will go on. "The rest of our show is the best part," they promise.
From a soulless marketing standpoint, they're both aiming for the same demographic, and aiming for the same sales. What is team #2 doing wrong? You be the judge. But I think it's safe to say, nobody I know is going to stick around the second stage.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Plants vs Zombies 2
I saw a host of games at PAX that were freemium / moba, and even the show floor presenters looked as if they were salivating to get in on the mythical cash cow that is LoL, or Candy Crush, or what have you. I almost felt bad for them, standing there with beta keys in hand, sadly watching the hundreds of gamers with their backs to them, huddled around one of the many TVs Riot had set up around the show so more people could watch the regional finals. Obviously, from the rest of my posts, you know where my loyalties lie. But loyalties aside, you are all doing several things wrong, and it is making me sad.
The first of which is, of course, that you are too late. Do you even play mobas? You can't just show up one day and say, "hey this is the most awesome game of all time, and it's free, why don't you give it a go" and think that millions of players will suddenly all drop LoL to rush over to your game. Let's even say for argument that your game is unequivocally better (which you can't prove to anyone by looking exactly like LoL in every aspect). We have teammates on LoL. Contacts. Nurtured friendships and hard-earned rankings. We aren't leaving, and even if we were, we would need ALL our friends go with us at the same time. If you've ever been on the Internet, you know this is not going to happen. The only people you can expect to be in your lobbies are the people who have been banned from LoL, and that's no way to start a community of players. I could go on and on about it, but you should know this. You weren't first the party, you can't expect to take people away from a game they already play. I shouldn't even have to elaborate on this huge bullet point.
The second problem, which I'm encountering with PVZ2 is, your game is not... fun. Like so many MMOs before you, you've been sucked into the freemium lure, and you thought, "I can make players pay for premium content by making it compelling!" And you did that. But the free part of the game, the part that millions of people have access to? No longer compelling. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person that's told you this, either. Try to think critically about your decisions, ok? If the free part is not fun, your whole game is no longer compelling. If you need a LoL example, I'll let you know right now, you can play LoL with 100% effectiveness without ever spending a dime. Almost all money goes to cosmetic changes and very minor conveniences. Most of the people I know who buy Riot Points only do so because we've been playing the game for nigh-on a million years and we just felt like paying a little money. I played Duel of Champions for an enjoyable half hour until it started throwing me into PvP matches against people I didn't know, with no hope of winning due to using only free cards. There's no other modes, there seems to be no way to get better cards without money, and even with paid-for cards, how do I know I'm going to be competitive? I really enjoyed it up to that point, but I can't invest even this small amount of money in so pointless a venture.
The third problem, and this may sound harsh, game companies, but here goes: your greed is showing. It's pretty obvious who's a greedy corporate entity, and who's an indie studio just by looking at what you sell and what you charge. Indie's will give things away in packs, sometimes the whole rest of the game content at one go, because they want you to have fun and play the game they made. Greedy SOBs with evil finance departments (or whatever is the source of this evil, I don't actually know) will charge for every individual object they can possibly make distinct. They'll even trump up some kind of in-game currency so you can spend real money on literally nothing. I understand you need to make money to survive - that is true of everyone in everything that we do. But the heartless penny-counters clearly don't know what "fun" or "video games" are all about, don't let them make these important decisions. Withholding the game that you made for piecemeal ransom is self-sabotage. If you got to go on a rollercoaster for free, then at the very top of the first hillclimb someone showed up with their hand out expecting twenty bucks for the rest of the ride, you'd be understandably disappointed. If your game costs twenty bucks and you want to somehow tap into the freemium crowd, you should probably call your free section a 'demo' or a 'trial' and then charge twenty bucks for the real game, like we've been doing all these years. I know it's just a semantics change, but look at our airline industry: upcharge for first class, business class, checked bags, in-flight food, entertainment, internet, blankets, headphones, window seats, aisle seats? And next, rumors of upcharges for carry-ons? What's next, upcharge for higher quality air? Do you want to be like them? Or do you want to preserve a little professional dignity?
PVZ2 begins as the game you knew before: simple, fun, with the same silly humor you learned to love in the original. But it quickly (or however long it takes for you, personally) becomes apparently that they were not satisfied with the amount of money they were getting from you before. $3 to unlock the Jalepeno. $4 for the Torchwood. $4 for the Snow Pea. $5 to unlock the world gate to open up a new area. $4 for an extra seed slot. $20 or more for extra coins to spend on in-game cheats. The packs are listed all the way up to $100, listed here as "The Best Deal". Really, PVZ2? One hundred real dollars for fake coins in your game is the best deal? Your hand is out expectantly, and it's a little too transparent to be the same clean fun as it was before.
The first of which is, of course, that you are too late. Do you even play mobas? You can't just show up one day and say, "hey this is the most awesome game of all time, and it's free, why don't you give it a go" and think that millions of players will suddenly all drop LoL to rush over to your game. Let's even say for argument that your game is unequivocally better (which you can't prove to anyone by looking exactly like LoL in every aspect). We have teammates on LoL. Contacts. Nurtured friendships and hard-earned rankings. We aren't leaving, and even if we were, we would need ALL our friends go with us at the same time. If you've ever been on the Internet, you know this is not going to happen. The only people you can expect to be in your lobbies are the people who have been banned from LoL, and that's no way to start a community of players. I could go on and on about it, but you should know this. You weren't first the party, you can't expect to take people away from a game they already play. I shouldn't even have to elaborate on this huge bullet point.
The second problem, which I'm encountering with PVZ2 is, your game is not... fun. Like so many MMOs before you, you've been sucked into the freemium lure, and you thought, "I can make players pay for premium content by making it compelling!" And you did that. But the free part of the game, the part that millions of people have access to? No longer compelling. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person that's told you this, either. Try to think critically about your decisions, ok? If the free part is not fun, your whole game is no longer compelling. If you need a LoL example, I'll let you know right now, you can play LoL with 100% effectiveness without ever spending a dime. Almost all money goes to cosmetic changes and very minor conveniences. Most of the people I know who buy Riot Points only do so because we've been playing the game for nigh-on a million years and we just felt like paying a little money. I played Duel of Champions for an enjoyable half hour until it started throwing me into PvP matches against people I didn't know, with no hope of winning due to using only free cards. There's no other modes, there seems to be no way to get better cards without money, and even with paid-for cards, how do I know I'm going to be competitive? I really enjoyed it up to that point, but I can't invest even this small amount of money in so pointless a venture.
The third problem, and this may sound harsh, game companies, but here goes: your greed is showing. It's pretty obvious who's a greedy corporate entity, and who's an indie studio just by looking at what you sell and what you charge. Indie's will give things away in packs, sometimes the whole rest of the game content at one go, because they want you to have fun and play the game they made. Greedy SOBs with evil finance departments (or whatever is the source of this evil, I don't actually know) will charge for every individual object they can possibly make distinct. They'll even trump up some kind of in-game currency so you can spend real money on literally nothing. I understand you need to make money to survive - that is true of everyone in everything that we do. But the heartless penny-counters clearly don't know what "fun" or "video games" are all about, don't let them make these important decisions. Withholding the game that you made for piecemeal ransom is self-sabotage. If you got to go on a rollercoaster for free, then at the very top of the first hillclimb someone showed up with their hand out expecting twenty bucks for the rest of the ride, you'd be understandably disappointed. If your game costs twenty bucks and you want to somehow tap into the freemium crowd, you should probably call your free section a 'demo' or a 'trial' and then charge twenty bucks for the real game, like we've been doing all these years. I know it's just a semantics change, but look at our airline industry: upcharge for first class, business class, checked bags, in-flight food, entertainment, internet, blankets, headphones, window seats, aisle seats? And next, rumors of upcharges for carry-ons? What's next, upcharge for higher quality air? Do you want to be like them? Or do you want to preserve a little professional dignity?
PVZ2 begins as the game you knew before: simple, fun, with the same silly humor you learned to love in the original. But it quickly (or however long it takes for you, personally) becomes apparently that they were not satisfied with the amount of money they were getting from you before. $3 to unlock the Jalepeno. $4 for the Torchwood. $4 for the Snow Pea. $5 to unlock the world gate to open up a new area. $4 for an extra seed slot. $20 or more for extra coins to spend on in-game cheats. The packs are listed all the way up to $100, listed here as "The Best Deal". Really, PVZ2? One hundred real dollars for fake coins in your game is the best deal? Your hand is out expectantly, and it's a little too transparent to be the same clean fun as it was before.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Dead Space 3, Day 4
The open space sections in Dead Space are still unique (right? No other game does this kind of thing?) And while we always enjoy these unique and frankly, really good looking graphics, it's always frustrating to cruise around in open space - there's no sound, so you can't tell where damage could be coming from. Also, it's mostly floating explosives, so you have to watch all three dimensions around you, or face instant death. Just saying, they're nice sections, it's just also nice that they have limited appearances throughout the game. Makes the oxygen time upgrade on the RIG useless, though! Also, finding secret caches out there in the vastness of space is tough stuff.
Anyhow, in addition to open space fetch quests, we also run a few side missions while we're out here. Hooray for side quests! Or is this more detraction from a scary storyline? I can't tell, I'm too blinded by the lust for better guns. I've turned this game into Borderlands!
There's finally a large setpiece event, when we go down to the planet to attempt to shut off the marker signal for good, and our crappy ship breaks up on re-entry. Being co-op, there are a few moments when we spend more time blaming each other than flying the ship, because one person is flying the ship, and one person is shooting down mines - some of the events are scripted, and there's no way to avoid several of the impacts. We thought it was game over when the cinematic showed us crashing into a mountain peak and the ship breaking in half, but nope, that was scripted, not bad driving.
Down on the planet, we're stranded and alone and freezing to death, marching around an ice storm with no objective markers. We have no idea what number spells our certain doom via hypothermia, so we try to keep our temperatures (as shown on our health gauge indicator) above 20C. Probably we could go all the way to 0 before death, though. The blizzard happily conceals burrowing necromorphs, who pop out like lurkers to tear off limbs and spit acid. We slog from safe spot to safe spot like we're playing German Spotlight with growling undead. Another member of the 'crew' dies, and neither Xian nor I feel any remorse (Clarke and Carver don't seem too bothered, either) despite him croaking right in front of us needlessly. I turned on the heat, dude, why did you freeze to death? We head downstairs to find the last two thermal snowsuits, which the crew apparently didn't bother to do, leaving this last guy to die instead of even looking? What bastards. Why are we with these chumps, again?
Downstairs, we find a new enemy, and a text log that suggests that we throw something to make noise to distract them and then sneak past. Why... would I do that? I have a gun, and these guys only take one or two bullets a piece. I mean, we love sneaking games, but there's nothing around to grab with kinesis to throw, anyway! So we just run into the room with guns blazing and take out the whole lot of them systematically. Do you ever get the feeling that you're meant to play the game a certain way, and you just don't see it until you've already done it the hard way?
Anyhow, in addition to open space fetch quests, we also run a few side missions while we're out here. Hooray for side quests! Or is this more detraction from a scary storyline? I can't tell, I'm too blinded by the lust for better guns. I've turned this game into Borderlands!
There's finally a large setpiece event, when we go down to the planet to attempt to shut off the marker signal for good, and our crappy ship breaks up on re-entry. Being co-op, there are a few moments when we spend more time blaming each other than flying the ship, because one person is flying the ship, and one person is shooting down mines - some of the events are scripted, and there's no way to avoid several of the impacts. We thought it was game over when the cinematic showed us crashing into a mountain peak and the ship breaking in half, but nope, that was scripted, not bad driving.
Down on the planet, we're stranded and alone and freezing to death, marching around an ice storm with no objective markers. We have no idea what number spells our certain doom via hypothermia, so we try to keep our temperatures (as shown on our health gauge indicator) above 20C. Probably we could go all the way to 0 before death, though. The blizzard happily conceals burrowing necromorphs, who pop out like lurkers to tear off limbs and spit acid. We slog from safe spot to safe spot like we're playing German Spotlight with growling undead. Another member of the 'crew' dies, and neither Xian nor I feel any remorse (Clarke and Carver don't seem too bothered, either) despite him croaking right in front of us needlessly. I turned on the heat, dude, why did you freeze to death? We head downstairs to find the last two thermal snowsuits, which the crew apparently didn't bother to do, leaving this last guy to die instead of even looking? What bastards. Why are we with these chumps, again?
Downstairs, we find a new enemy, and a text log that suggests that we throw something to make noise to distract them and then sneak past. Why... would I do that? I have a gun, and these guys only take one or two bullets a piece. I mean, we love sneaking games, but there's nothing around to grab with kinesis to throw, anyway! So we just run into the room with guns blazing and take out the whole lot of them systematically. Do you ever get the feeling that you're meant to play the game a certain way, and you just don't see it until you've already done it the hard way?
Friday, May 3, 2013
Dead Space 3, Day 3
Alright, the difficulty is cranked all the way up, and it's still not scary. We die more, yes, but neither of us are scared. Xian still hates the regenerating monsters, but he hasn't quit the game abruptly due to terror. The only moments of terror occur when the game regretfully informs me, "Your co-op partner has died," and I still have the ability to run around and shoot the critters gathering around my ankles. Usually I turn around to see Xian trying to fend off a huge necro that's putting a spike through his head, or flailing around as smaller necros systematically tear off his arms. I lift my gun, but since the game has already told me there's no saving him, I just shrug sadly.
"How are you doing over there?" I venture hopefully.
"NO, NECRO, I NEED THAT ARM," he wails.
"So I guess we're not doing so good."
"GET THIS GUY OFF ME!"
"He's already tearing off your face, dude. You're already dead, the game is already restarting from checkpoint. This is just punishment. If I could take an action, I'd mercy-shoot you to prevent you from turning into a necro."
Mostly inarticulate yelling in reply.
The story continues to be inscrutable, and now that he's not scared, he's finally more alarmed that it's not clear or cohesive. Someone once again sends us off on another fetch quest, and immediately a ton of necros leap out as if to distract us from the incongruity of it all.
"Wait, why is Isaac, the engineer, sent to do this and no one is coming with? I'm not even on their stupid team," I ask while shaking off mini necros.
"Yeah," Xian muses, using his always-preferred shotgun. "Was it always this unreasonable in the other Dead Spaces, and we just didn't notice?"
"We were spending most of our effort just getting out of each room alive," I agreed, double-tapping everyone that was down. "We didn't exactly have time to ponder the why of it all. Although I do remember you bitterly asking why you had to cross the necromorph'd daycare last game."
"And did you give a satisfactory answer?" Xian asked, stomping into the next room.
"I didn't have to. You got exploded by a babymorph-bomb and then turned the game off to cry."
"Good times," he says, sounding a touch resigned as he raids the lockers and absently blasts a necro with his shotgun after it bursts out of a vent. "Did we get the stupid part to fix the stupid spacecraft?"
"Yeah, I grabbed it. Is the next part on this floor?"
"I think it's on the other side. But I hear a lot of gurgling noises."
"Yeah, they're still out there. But I'm sure they're just waiting for us on the other side."
We brute force our way through the next sections, both irritated at the way the rest of the so-called crew is doing a total of diddly-squat while Clarke and Carver are wading neck deep through necros to repair and fuel the spacecraft. After all that, Ellie sentences us to death by accident by firing up the shuttles thrusters and has no way of turning it off? I mean, Ellie, you're supposed to be the love interest here, but you're not really supporting that cause, because I'm starting to hate your stupid ass.
This part is the worst. I'm not scared of horror games, that's not my problem. My gaming weakness is timing games. If there's a rotating fan that you have to time just so in order to get through or it's certain death, you can bet I'm going to fail that thing like twenty times in a row. The next part is supposed to be hectic and harrowing, but I manage to die on every single jet of flame that you're supposed to time your way past perhaps ten times. I can hear Xian gritting his teeth on the other side of the Skype as we start the sequence over for the thirtieth time, when he says "this time, wait for the jet of flame before running?" The regenerator necro isn't even scaring him anymore, he just flicks a stasis shot at him every time he shows up - and we know where he's going to show up, because we're only making incremental progress through this sequence.
Ugh, the shame. It takes nearly half an hour to get through the stupid thirty second sequence. Turning down the difficulty wouldn't even help, because I'd always die to the flames, which are one hit kills, not difficulty-dependent. It was so late afterwards, we just saved and quit.
"How are you doing over there?" I venture hopefully.
"NO, NECRO, I NEED THAT ARM," he wails.
"So I guess we're not doing so good."
"GET THIS GUY OFF ME!"
"He's already tearing off your face, dude. You're already dead, the game is already restarting from checkpoint. This is just punishment. If I could take an action, I'd mercy-shoot you to prevent you from turning into a necro."
Mostly inarticulate yelling in reply.
The story continues to be inscrutable, and now that he's not scared, he's finally more alarmed that it's not clear or cohesive. Someone once again sends us off on another fetch quest, and immediately a ton of necros leap out as if to distract us from the incongruity of it all.
"Wait, why is Isaac, the engineer, sent to do this and no one is coming with? I'm not even on their stupid team," I ask while shaking off mini necros.
"Yeah," Xian muses, using his always-preferred shotgun. "Was it always this unreasonable in the other Dead Spaces, and we just didn't notice?"
"We were spending most of our effort just getting out of each room alive," I agreed, double-tapping everyone that was down. "We didn't exactly have time to ponder the why of it all. Although I do remember you bitterly asking why you had to cross the necromorph'd daycare last game."
"And did you give a satisfactory answer?" Xian asked, stomping into the next room.
"I didn't have to. You got exploded by a babymorph-bomb and then turned the game off to cry."
"Good times," he says, sounding a touch resigned as he raids the lockers and absently blasts a necro with his shotgun after it bursts out of a vent. "Did we get the stupid part to fix the stupid spacecraft?"
"Yeah, I grabbed it. Is the next part on this floor?"
"I think it's on the other side. But I hear a lot of gurgling noises."
"Yeah, they're still out there. But I'm sure they're just waiting for us on the other side."
We brute force our way through the next sections, both irritated at the way the rest of the so-called crew is doing a total of diddly-squat while Clarke and Carver are wading neck deep through necros to repair and fuel the spacecraft. After all that, Ellie sentences us to death by accident by firing up the shuttles thrusters and has no way of turning it off? I mean, Ellie, you're supposed to be the love interest here, but you're not really supporting that cause, because I'm starting to hate your stupid ass.
This part is the worst. I'm not scared of horror games, that's not my problem. My gaming weakness is timing games. If there's a rotating fan that you have to time just so in order to get through or it's certain death, you can bet I'm going to fail that thing like twenty times in a row. The next part is supposed to be hectic and harrowing, but I manage to die on every single jet of flame that you're supposed to time your way past perhaps ten times. I can hear Xian gritting his teeth on the other side of the Skype as we start the sequence over for the thirtieth time, when he says "this time, wait for the jet of flame before running?" The regenerator necro isn't even scaring him anymore, he just flicks a stasis shot at him every time he shows up - and we know where he's going to show up, because we're only making incremental progress through this sequence.
Ugh, the shame. It takes nearly half an hour to get through the stupid thirty second sequence. Turning down the difficulty wouldn't even help, because I'd always die to the flames, which are one hit kills, not difficulty-dependent. It was so late afterwards, we just saved and quit.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Dead Space 3, Day 2
We are really big fans of Visceral Games and the Dead Space franchise, so we don't harbor any anger or resentment for the lack of .... "Dead-Space-ness". Just a vague sense of... boredom. A lack of edge-of-our-seats, pants-wetting terror that was what provided all the entertainment value in the first place. It's just an emptiness, not a disappointment. Like, we watched an episode of River Monsters that was more harrowing.
Anyway, we're cruising through the game at a good clip. I had expected us to be moving faster than last game, because when Xian is alone, he often will just hover in doorways before going through - sometimes refusing to go through at all, saving and quitting the game instead. Did I mention that we had quickly made it to Chapter 5 in our very first day, while in Dead Space 2, it took over a year? This time, we're moving incredibly fast, partly because I'm an active participant; once a room is empty, it's time to move onto the next, so I open the door and trigger the next wave of baddies. Not that he needs time to sit and cry anymore, most locations are well-lit and, according to Xian, he doesn't fear being overwhelmed by baddies if I can save him.
We discuss it idly while riding one of the interminable elevators in the game. Were there this many elevators before? It feels like we've spent a solid percentage of our time riding back and forth in elevators.
"I told you, people have been saying it's not scary," Xian said, pacing back and forth in the tiny elevator.
"And I was telling you, it's not about adding multi-player. Look around us. We're fighting real humans. They've taken away the 'last survivor, backs against the wall' mentality," I disagreed, reloading both weapons in irritation.
"It's still perfectly acceptable gameplay," he said as we exited the elevator, resorting to one of his favorite gameplay aspects, stomping corpses. "It's just maybe a little disappointing that it's not scary."
"I don't know, the human opponent does kind of affect gameplay," I countered, spotting the orange sight-beams of enemy military. "It's an irritating chest-high wall, Gears of War knockoff," the crouch mechanism is dumb, so I strafe out of cover between volleys to pick off enemies. "I'm not a military man, I'm an engineer, dammit!"
"Well, I am," Xian says, taking care of the rest of the gun-wielding enemies.
"Then why do you have a plasma cutter, may I ask?"
"I have no idea. But the plasma cutter used to be the best weapon of all."
"But now with all this customization of guns, looks like that's not true anymore." I spot a necromorph crawling out of a nearby air duct and wait for it to get to its feet before stasis-ing it, alerting Xian to turn around. He puts a thousand bullets into it.
"Overkill much?" I joke, but the 'doubletap' rule is standard for zombie games, so despite criticizing, I stomp every corpse in the room once.
"They all drop a ton of stuff. Look, got all that ammo back." Not that I could see what his drops are, but the baddies did drop ammo for me as well, and the universal ammo clip made it so I was stuffed to the gills with ammo for every gun.
"Hey, why can't I give you this stasis pack?" Xian complains.
"My inventory's full up," I replied, staggering over to him, loaded down with health packs and ammo.
"Heal yourself, already!" He demands, and I remember that he can see my health if he can see my back. Thanks, full immersion. Since I don't feel very threatened by the enemies, nor punished by the death sequences, I haven't been using my health packs. When we die, the screen merely turns red and informs you that 'Your Partner Has Died' or 'You Have Died', with potentially a torso-less Isaac lying on the ground.
Anyway, we're cruising through the game at a good clip. I had expected us to be moving faster than last game, because when Xian is alone, he often will just hover in doorways before going through - sometimes refusing to go through at all, saving and quitting the game instead. Did I mention that we had quickly made it to Chapter 5 in our very first day, while in Dead Space 2, it took over a year? This time, we're moving incredibly fast, partly because I'm an active participant; once a room is empty, it's time to move onto the next, so I open the door and trigger the next wave of baddies. Not that he needs time to sit and cry anymore, most locations are well-lit and, according to Xian, he doesn't fear being overwhelmed by baddies if I can save him.
We discuss it idly while riding one of the interminable elevators in the game. Were there this many elevators before? It feels like we've spent a solid percentage of our time riding back and forth in elevators.
"I told you, people have been saying it's not scary," Xian said, pacing back and forth in the tiny elevator.
"And I was telling you, it's not about adding multi-player. Look around us. We're fighting real humans. They've taken away the 'last survivor, backs against the wall' mentality," I disagreed, reloading both weapons in irritation.
"It's still perfectly acceptable gameplay," he said as we exited the elevator, resorting to one of his favorite gameplay aspects, stomping corpses. "It's just maybe a little disappointing that it's not scary."
"I don't know, the human opponent does kind of affect gameplay," I countered, spotting the orange sight-beams of enemy military. "It's an irritating chest-high wall, Gears of War knockoff," the crouch mechanism is dumb, so I strafe out of cover between volleys to pick off enemies. "I'm not a military man, I'm an engineer, dammit!"
"Well, I am," Xian says, taking care of the rest of the gun-wielding enemies.
"Then why do you have a plasma cutter, may I ask?"
"I have no idea. But the plasma cutter used to be the best weapon of all."
"But now with all this customization of guns, looks like that's not true anymore." I spot a necromorph crawling out of a nearby air duct and wait for it to get to its feet before stasis-ing it, alerting Xian to turn around. He puts a thousand bullets into it.
"Overkill much?" I joke, but the 'doubletap' rule is standard for zombie games, so despite criticizing, I stomp every corpse in the room once.
"They all drop a ton of stuff. Look, got all that ammo back." Not that I could see what his drops are, but the baddies did drop ammo for me as well, and the universal ammo clip made it so I was stuffed to the gills with ammo for every gun.
"Hey, why can't I give you this stasis pack?" Xian complains.
"My inventory's full up," I replied, staggering over to him, loaded down with health packs and ammo.
"Heal yourself, already!" He demands, and I remember that he can see my health if he can see my back. Thanks, full immersion. Since I don't feel very threatened by the enemies, nor punished by the death sequences, I haven't been using my health packs. When we die, the screen merely turns red and informs you that 'Your Partner Has Died' or 'You Have Died', with potentially a torso-less Isaac lying on the ground.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Las Vegas March 2013, Day 4
There's a ten dollar store in the Rio, and we bought another bag late night after dinner and packed it in the morning to get all our new sweatshirts and coats home. We checked out pretty late and headed over to Caesar's to try the new buffet, Bacchanal. And I finally realized that the entire weekend, we had been very lucky with lines. Everything (that's not a casino, I suppose) involves lines, and we just happened to be missing the lines everywhere we went. We had given up on valet-ing our car at the casinos, so no more lines there. We went to buffets at extremely off hours, so had not yet encountered a line. And all the attractions we tried to go to had been wait-free.
Not true at Bacchanal. I thought there wouldn't be a ridiculous line because it was a Monday. I was wrong. I am grimly convinced now that there is always a ridiculous line. At all hours of the day, every day of the week. I know there was a ridiculous line when we got there, there was still a ridiculous line when we got in, and there was a ridiculous line when we left! At 3pm! I thought we could come back at a non-lunch hour and it would be better, and that was not true. We walked all the way around the forum shops, and outside Caesar's, but no. Still a line. So we just grit our teeth to get inside - it's a new buffet, and the decor is pretty interesting (chandeliers made of drinking glasses), so we wanted to check it out. The line of food is immense. Each international section could stand alone as it's own buffet - Chinese, Mexican, Italian, American. Because each section is so long, some uncommon offerings are among the regular fare. Fried donut sticks and peking duck, sliders and oyster shooters. The dining areas were split into an area where all the decor was glass, another area where it was all wood, and another where it was all ebony. The best part was at the end of the line, where some industrious dudes were juicing things and placing cups of squeezed juice on ice, and one industrious dude who was shucking oysters as fast as he could to appease the crowd. And there was a crowd - the down side of the super-sized Bacchanal is that no amount of food and servers can really keep up with that many people. Desserts were plentiful and creative, if not the most delectable I've ever had. The forum shops had a very nice atrium, actually, but the stores, like at Crystals, are so top-of-the-line that one need not bother going inside any of them. Well the H&M is probably reasonable, but check out the entrance:
We don't have a shot of it from far away, but that's a three story entrance. Also, I have a picture of the main entrance atrium. (Somebody loves him some curved escalators)
We left for the CityCenter to check out the Mandarin Oriental. I hadn't heard anything about it before, so I was surprised by the fact that the lobby is on the 23rd floor - almost nothing on the ground floor entrance except a bank of elevators that takes you to the real lobby. I was a bit thrown for a loop. But the lobby does have a really great view, so I suppose it's worth the moment of confusion. Between Aria and Mandarin Oriental there is a strip of galleries, and usually we don't care about that sort of thing, but we did peek into the Dale Chihuly gallery. After that, we watched the water wall for a bit and then headed to the airport.
Not true at Bacchanal. I thought there wouldn't be a ridiculous line because it was a Monday. I was wrong. I am grimly convinced now that there is always a ridiculous line. At all hours of the day, every day of the week. I know there was a ridiculous line when we got there, there was still a ridiculous line when we got in, and there was a ridiculous line when we left! At 3pm! I thought we could come back at a non-lunch hour and it would be better, and that was not true. We walked all the way around the forum shops, and outside Caesar's, but no. Still a line. So we just grit our teeth to get inside - it's a new buffet, and the decor is pretty interesting (chandeliers made of drinking glasses), so we wanted to check it out. The line of food is immense. Each international section could stand alone as it's own buffet - Chinese, Mexican, Italian, American. Because each section is so long, some uncommon offerings are among the regular fare. Fried donut sticks and peking duck, sliders and oyster shooters. The dining areas were split into an area where all the decor was glass, another area where it was all wood, and another where it was all ebony. The best part was at the end of the line, where some industrious dudes were juicing things and placing cups of squeezed juice on ice, and one industrious dude who was shucking oysters as fast as he could to appease the crowd. And there was a crowd - the down side of the super-sized Bacchanal is that no amount of food and servers can really keep up with that many people. Desserts were plentiful and creative, if not the most delectable I've ever had. The forum shops had a very nice atrium, actually, but the stores, like at Crystals, are so top-of-the-line that one need not bother going inside any of them. Well the H&M is probably reasonable, but check out the entrance:
We don't have a shot of it from far away, but that's a three story entrance. Also, I have a picture of the main entrance atrium. (Somebody loves him some curved escalators)
We left for the CityCenter to check out the Mandarin Oriental. I hadn't heard anything about it before, so I was surprised by the fact that the lobby is on the 23rd floor - almost nothing on the ground floor entrance except a bank of elevators that takes you to the real lobby. I was a bit thrown for a loop. But the lobby does have a really great view, so I suppose it's worth the moment of confusion. Between Aria and Mandarin Oriental there is a strip of galleries, and usually we don't care about that sort of thing, but we did peek into the Dale Chihuly gallery. After that, we watched the water wall for a bit and then headed to the airport.
Dead Space 3, Day 1
Can you believe it? I forced Xian to set up a skype recorder, so we could make an awesome video of first reactions to what I was assuming would be an epic opening set piece, and.... nothing! I feel so ripped off. If I had only recorded our first playthrough of Dead Space 2, it would have been amazing. Alas for missed chances for us, back then, and for Dead Space 3, now.
I had heard that there was some light outrage, something about the game giving up on being scary, complaints about multiplayer, something. I wasn't concerned, because I never felt it was the solitude that was scary. After all, Xian never actually played the game alone. I felt that the atmosphere could still be there, with two people. But no, it's not about the multiplayer. The game isn't scary because it has, in fact, abandoned any pretense at atmosphere or scary. It has become full modern RE, or even worse, Borderlands. The opening sequence is so not scary, there's no words for it. You just roll up to a brightly lit spaceship armed with full guns, ammo, and health, as some nameless person that's probably going to die anyway. You go ahead and click that link back at the top. Look how dark it is in DS2, first of all. You can't see anything properly, except for the gruesome death of the only person that is helping you, right off the bat. You're a crazy man, one hit from death, in a straitjacket. That's right. You don't even get use of your arms at the opening of Dead Space 2. You don't get kinesis or the plasma cutter until after... well, some gruesome stuff happens first, I'm not going to lie (like I did during those parts to reassure Xian). But it was more memorable than Dead Space 3, right? Man, in the middle of that video, it is so dark, you can not see a thing while reloading your gun, since the gun has the flashlight on it. So you unload the clip into one creature, and then all is dark for the entire seconds of reload - you just have to hope that the other one didn't close in on you in the pitch darkness.
And where are my super-creepy Nicole hallucinations? And super-punishing deaths? Sometimes, the deaths in DS2 were so bad that Xian would shut off the machine and we'd all have ice cream instead. In Dead Space 3, we were at Chapter 5 before we knew it. By Chapter 5 in Dead Space 2, we had already seen a man slit his own throat, crashed a tram and had to fight off brutes upside-down, been through the creepy ruins of a city, been through an even creepier church of Unitology, been swarmed by a pack of scary zombie children and then shot them out an airlock, and finally betrayed by the only lady helping you and made a harrowing escape. Just to fight a boss. These are the kind of cinematic setpieces I'm expecting from you, Dead Space. I don't want to play another Gears of War. Or what this is really turning into: Borderlands. Because of their new crafting system, I find myself wishing more necros would show up so I can get my hands on more materials to craft more awesome trinkets. That's bad, Visceral - wanting more necros should be counter to your goals. Or is it? I hear that you want to 'appeal to a broader audience' to sell more stuff (or someone has told you to do so), is this the way you're doing it? It really feels like you've taking away the 'Dead Space-ness' of it all.
Well, we will turn it up to a harder difficulty and see how the rest of the game goes.
I had heard that there was some light outrage, something about the game giving up on being scary, complaints about multiplayer, something. I wasn't concerned, because I never felt it was the solitude that was scary. After all, Xian never actually played the game alone. I felt that the atmosphere could still be there, with two people. But no, it's not about the multiplayer. The game isn't scary because it has, in fact, abandoned any pretense at atmosphere or scary. It has become full modern RE, or even worse, Borderlands. The opening sequence is so not scary, there's no words for it. You just roll up to a brightly lit spaceship armed with full guns, ammo, and health, as some nameless person that's probably going to die anyway. You go ahead and click that link back at the top. Look how dark it is in DS2, first of all. You can't see anything properly, except for the gruesome death of the only person that is helping you, right off the bat. You're a crazy man, one hit from death, in a straitjacket. That's right. You don't even get use of your arms at the opening of Dead Space 2. You don't get kinesis or the plasma cutter until after... well, some gruesome stuff happens first, I'm not going to lie (like I did during those parts to reassure Xian). But it was more memorable than Dead Space 3, right? Man, in the middle of that video, it is so dark, you can not see a thing while reloading your gun, since the gun has the flashlight on it. So you unload the clip into one creature, and then all is dark for the entire seconds of reload - you just have to hope that the other one didn't close in on you in the pitch darkness.
And where are my super-creepy Nicole hallucinations? And super-punishing deaths? Sometimes, the deaths in DS2 were so bad that Xian would shut off the machine and we'd all have ice cream instead. In Dead Space 3, we were at Chapter 5 before we knew it. By Chapter 5 in Dead Space 2, we had already seen a man slit his own throat, crashed a tram and had to fight off brutes upside-down, been through the creepy ruins of a city, been through an even creepier church of Unitology, been swarmed by a pack of scary zombie children and then shot them out an airlock, and finally betrayed by the only lady helping you and made a harrowing escape. Just to fight a boss. These are the kind of cinematic setpieces I'm expecting from you, Dead Space. I don't want to play another Gears of War. Or what this is really turning into: Borderlands. Because of their new crafting system, I find myself wishing more necros would show up so I can get my hands on more materials to craft more awesome trinkets. That's bad, Visceral - wanting more necros should be counter to your goals. Or is it? I hear that you want to 'appeal to a broader audience' to sell more stuff (or someone has told you to do so), is this the way you're doing it? It really feels like you've taking away the 'Dead Space-ness' of it all.
Well, we will turn it up to a harder difficulty and see how the rest of the game goes.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Las Vegas March 2013, Day 3
We were getting up at 8am anyway, so arriving after 9am to the site of the time share complex was no problem for us. This particular one so happened to be within the network of Nan's mom's timeshare company, so we've heard of it - there aren't that many in Vegas, after all. So we put on our endurance+3 gear and patiently waded through the filling out of paperwork and waiting, etc. Luckily, the sales company knew what was up. Each couple/family got their own salesperson, and the pitch was literally made over a generous breakfast. It really helped my attention span to be able to nibble on some breakfast pastries and sip juice. And it wasn't a hard sell - once we politely declined, they handed us our Blue Man Group tickets and wished us a pleasant vacation. That was a relief, because the lady who made us attend was extremely pushy. You never know sometimes, with these kinds of things.
At any rate, since we were on the south end of the strip, I steered us in the direction of the Silverton Casino to check out the reports of a gigantic fish tank. It was there, but it was still early for feeding time, so we wandered into the humongous Bass Pro Shop. How big, you ask? There were multiple waterfalls, multiple swimming-pool-sized fish tanks, and a huge floor area to display entire boats.
Fish feeding was interesting, because all of gigantic rays in the tank were handfed by the diver right up against the glass. We didn't stay long, though, because the aforementioned bad parents vacationing in Las Vegas were taking a vacation from controlling their children, and we were largely getting run over by very loud kids. We headed to the Monte Carlo to catch the 4pm Blue Man show. There were lots of kids at the early show on Easter, which made me nervous, but they weren't too much in the way. The show was awesome as advertised, here's the last song, which may spoil it for you if you are sensitive to spoils? The rear level of seats was 90% as good as the front orchestra, so if it comes down to that decision, don't spend a lot more to sit up front. Though the very front row gets ponchos to wear :)
Our tickets came with a 2-for-1 deal at the nearby cupcake shop, so obviously we had to do that. After a light nap, we went to the Village Buffet the the Rio, which is supposedly the best (and only) seafood buffet on the strip. It did have unlimited lobster tails as advertised, though lobster tails in bulk somewhat turn out like crawdads. Still, lobsters and oysters, I'm not complaining. Though, service was pretty spotty, I'll complain about that - they were kind of closing up underneath us.
At any rate, since we were on the south end of the strip, I steered us in the direction of the Silverton Casino to check out the reports of a gigantic fish tank. It was there, but it was still early for feeding time, so we wandered into the humongous Bass Pro Shop. How big, you ask? There were multiple waterfalls, multiple swimming-pool-sized fish tanks, and a huge floor area to display entire boats.
Fish feeding was interesting, because all of gigantic rays in the tank were handfed by the diver right up against the glass. We didn't stay long, though, because the aforementioned bad parents vacationing in Las Vegas were taking a vacation from controlling their children, and we were largely getting run over by very loud kids. We headed to the Monte Carlo to catch the 4pm Blue Man show. There were lots of kids at the early show on Easter, which made me nervous, but they weren't too much in the way. The show was awesome as advertised, here's the last song, which may spoil it for you if you are sensitive to spoils? The rear level of seats was 90% as good as the front orchestra, so if it comes down to that decision, don't spend a lot more to sit up front. Though the very front row gets ponchos to wear :)
Our tickets came with a 2-for-1 deal at the nearby cupcake shop, so obviously we had to do that. After a light nap, we went to the Village Buffet the the Rio, which is supposedly the best (and only) seafood buffet on the strip. It did have unlimited lobster tails as advertised, though lobster tails in bulk somewhat turn out like crawdads. Still, lobsters and oysters, I'm not complaining. Though, service was pretty spotty, I'll complain about that - they were kind of closing up underneath us.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Las Vegas March 2013, Day 2
Our hotel, the Westin, just off the strip, is not only smoke-free, but also offers 5 bucks at any of the in-house restaurants if you forego room service. They claim it's for a more 'green' hotel. Well, since they'll still give you the toiletries you need if you ask, the only thing room service does for me is make my bed, which I don't even care about. All my stuff is plenty clean and put away, and they provide more than enough towels. So, five bucks at their 24-hr Starbucks? Sure.
In the morning we went to the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat (long name). Lucky thing, too, because we walked right in with no line at about 10am, and when we left, there was a massive ugly line outside in the rapidly building heat, and the dolphin area was really crowded with people. In the morning, there was plenty of space around the dolphin pool to sit and watch at very close range. They say that they don't train the dolphins to do tricks, but regular 'interacting' with the dolphins pretty much means tricks. So we saw a dolphin show from as close as you can get without buying the Supreme Dolphin Experience (or whatever it's called). Basically I was right behind the people who did buy that ticket. Check it out:
The dolphin you can barely see on the far left is holding paintbrushes in its mouth and making abstract art. You can buy them in the gift shop. And we also saw some large cats. Not that many, and unfortunately, they're all asleep during the day. So, you make the determination on whether it's worth it - we bought the ticket 3-pack for this, the aquarium at Mandalay Bay, and CSI: The Experience. You have to decide right when you buy the 3-pack, which three out of several tickets you want, and without a line to stand in, I had to make a split-second choice. They're probably all a rip off, in the end. Sigh, Vegas.
We meandered towards the Venetian, passing by the gondolas and Madam Tussard's. I asked Nan if he wanted to check out a gondola ride, but it was really sunny and hot, the people in those gondolas looked like they were baking. He asked me if I wanted to check out Madam Tussard's, and that's a firm no. Wax people are creepy, period the end.
When we got inside the shops at the Venetian, we were all but assaulted by a door greeter that dragged us to a time-share seller that made a very hard sell to get us to go to one of those presentations. Even though she actually wanted money (a deposit to ensure we'd show up), the presentation seemed legit enough, so we agreed. What else were we doing in the morning, anyway. This whole vacation post is turning into an extreme couponing episode, isn't it? Well, the money we save, we in turn blow on the blackjack tables.
We finished up exploring the Venetian - apparently there's two gondola rides, one inside and one outside - and went to Mandalay Bay to see the aquarium. I didn't realize it until later, but there was a big boxing match going on in Mandalay Bay. We must have missed the crowds lining up for it. The aquarium is open pretty late, so we were confident there would be few people there, and there weren't many - apparently only the bad parents take their kids to an aquarium at 9pm at night. These bad parents are also the ones who let their kids run around screaming at the top of their lungs. So that was a little bit ruined. Also, strangely, the large tanks were significantly cloudy and poorly lit. Otherwise, it was a nice setup - glass floor and ceiling panels, glass tunnel through the tank, gigantic sharks and rays, touch-tank rays, jellyfish, lionfish tank.
We ate in Citizen, the 24-hr restaurant in Mandalay Bay, and saw all the people from the fight leaving. The music was turned up crazy loud in there, can't recommend it, despite free drink refills. I wanted to play spot-the-hooch, but there's no where to sit or stand discreetly in Mandalay Bay, and their new nightclub isn't open. Nan came up with a new game, though: Bad Parent Watch, so we also vied to see who would spot the worst parents. I scoured the casino floor, looking for someone smoking a cigarette, playing slots, and holding a baby, but no such luck. We did see some parents buying their kids candy at 11:45pm, but no clear winner yet.
We played some late blackjack back at the Westin. Usually I don't see the appeal of throwing money away, but I entertained myself by counting cards while Nan played. It wasn't a busy table, so the dealer let me sit next to Nan and watch. I told him I'd kick him or something to signal a favorable deal, but as it turned out, every time I was about to, the dealer would just so happen to win, so it would have just made him lose more money if I had anyway. I was sufficiently entertained, though - contrary to popular opinion, it does not take any smarts to count cards, just an enormous amount of concentration. Our first dealer dealt so fast that I probably couldn't have kept up if I had an abacus out. Our last dealer dealt at a more sedate (rookie) pace. Nan thought I looked incredibly bored, just staring blankly at the cards and refusing all drinks and conversation. At least I have something to keep myself occupied. Hope the dealers in the future let me sit at the table.
In the morning we went to the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat (long name). Lucky thing, too, because we walked right in with no line at about 10am, and when we left, there was a massive ugly line outside in the rapidly building heat, and the dolphin area was really crowded with people. In the morning, there was plenty of space around the dolphin pool to sit and watch at very close range. They say that they don't train the dolphins to do tricks, but regular 'interacting' with the dolphins pretty much means tricks. So we saw a dolphin show from as close as you can get without buying the Supreme Dolphin Experience (or whatever it's called). Basically I was right behind the people who did buy that ticket. Check it out:
We meandered towards the Venetian, passing by the gondolas and Madam Tussard's. I asked Nan if he wanted to check out a gondola ride, but it was really sunny and hot, the people in those gondolas looked like they were baking. He asked me if I wanted to check out Madam Tussard's, and that's a firm no. Wax people are creepy, period the end.
When we got inside the shops at the Venetian, we were all but assaulted by a door greeter that dragged us to a time-share seller that made a very hard sell to get us to go to one of those presentations. Even though she actually wanted money (a deposit to ensure we'd show up), the presentation seemed legit enough, so we agreed. What else were we doing in the morning, anyway. This whole vacation post is turning into an extreme couponing episode, isn't it? Well, the money we save, we in turn blow on the blackjack tables.
We finished up exploring the Venetian - apparently there's two gondola rides, one inside and one outside - and went to Mandalay Bay to see the aquarium. I didn't realize it until later, but there was a big boxing match going on in Mandalay Bay. We must have missed the crowds lining up for it. The aquarium is open pretty late, so we were confident there would be few people there, and there weren't many - apparently only the bad parents take their kids to an aquarium at 9pm at night. These bad parents are also the ones who let their kids run around screaming at the top of their lungs. So that was a little bit ruined. Also, strangely, the large tanks were significantly cloudy and poorly lit. Otherwise, it was a nice setup - glass floor and ceiling panels, glass tunnel through the tank, gigantic sharks and rays, touch-tank rays, jellyfish, lionfish tank.
We ate in Citizen, the 24-hr restaurant in Mandalay Bay, and saw all the people from the fight leaving. The music was turned up crazy loud in there, can't recommend it, despite free drink refills. I wanted to play spot-the-hooch, but there's no where to sit or stand discreetly in Mandalay Bay, and their new nightclub isn't open. Nan came up with a new game, though: Bad Parent Watch, so we also vied to see who would spot the worst parents. I scoured the casino floor, looking for someone smoking a cigarette, playing slots, and holding a baby, but no such luck. We did see some parents buying their kids candy at 11:45pm, but no clear winner yet.
We played some late blackjack back at the Westin. Usually I don't see the appeal of throwing money away, but I entertained myself by counting cards while Nan played. It wasn't a busy table, so the dealer let me sit next to Nan and watch. I told him I'd kick him or something to signal a favorable deal, but as it turned out, every time I was about to, the dealer would just so happen to win, so it would have just made him lose more money if I had anyway. I was sufficiently entertained, though - contrary to popular opinion, it does not take any smarts to count cards, just an enormous amount of concentration. Our first dealer dealt so fast that I probably couldn't have kept up if I had an abacus out. Our last dealer dealt at a more sedate (rookie) pace. Nan thought I looked incredibly bored, just staring blankly at the cards and refusing all drinks and conversation. At least I have something to keep myself occupied. Hope the dealers in the future let me sit at the table.
Las Vegas March 2013, Day 1
The story behind this Las Vegas trip is that I finally decided to be a super-fan and buy tickets to IPL 6, after IPL 5 was so awesome and exciting. And Vegas is a perfect place to go with Nan, since there's things for him to do that don't involve sitting in a big audience with a bunch of other LoL geeks. I even convinced some of my other LoL crew to buy tickets, but I'm the only one who bought hotel and flight so far in advance. And, just my luck, IPL folded up shop and died. Not that I'm mad that I have to go to Vegas - there's other things to do there, but Goddammit, IPL. I'm going to be mad at you forevermore.
We arrived very early on Friday, grabbed a rental car from the super-rental-car theme-park-style rental mega-hub, and went straight to the Hoover Dam. It was sunny and approaching hot (especially for March), but not as hot as Vegas can get, thankfully. Still, we had some drive-through McDonald's and had an extra water or two with ice from them. We walked around and took many pictures, but didn't take a full tour, because Nan has been on one. Did you know, though, that you can park for free on the far side of the dam? It's not even really that far of a walk. Don't pay the $7 to park fifteen feet closer! The views were very nice from the dam and from the road. We didn't climb up to Pat Tillman bridge - too sunny, no sunglasses or sunscreen, coming from a freezing cold climate. We just soaked in some views and headed back.
As we half expected, it was still too early to check in, so we gave them our phone number and went to the Las Vegas Premium Outlets South. I wanted to go early on purpose, before we went to the extremely expensive shops on the strip proper. There were great outlet stores, not always huge deals, but we did manage to find some sweatshirts and coats on deep discount because it was so hot outside. We checked into our hotel and took a lengthy siesta before cleaning up and going out in the late evening to the buffet at the Wynn, rated as one of the best on the strip. Everything was quite good (decor was standard Las Vegas fare plus extremely tall flower vase structures) and dessert area was delectable, with crepes made to order and even ice cream cookie sandwiches made to order.
We spent some quality time hoochie-watching. I tried to convince Nan to try and take pictures, but he thought it would be too obvious. But it was really good - there are at least two night clubs in that complex, so the floor was full of ladies wearing their absolute minimum. I definitely saw some undies underneath some too-short skirts, and we spent some time trying to spot the sketchiest hooch. When Nan decided we were being too obvious, we went outside to watch the last Sirens of TI show. We were incredibly disappointed, partly by the show, but mostly by the audience. The show had the scantily-clad ladies as advertised, but that's not enough of a draw at that distance. And you could really see how awesome the show must have been, back in it's heyday of actual pirate battle, since they kept a lot of the special effects, a few fancy dives, and sinking ships. It must have been really fun. It's not anymore, in case you were wondering. The ladies sink the opposing ship due to mostly power of singing and burlesque dancing. It's a mite ridiculous. The other factor that was stupid was the audience. I'll give a pass to the incrrrrredibly drunk ladies right behind me screaming obscenities and otherwise before, during, and after the show, because it's Vegas, and they give away a lot of drinks in big novelty cups. But the numerous parents with small children in the audience? Not so forgiving. The show started after 11:30pm, first of all. The other people on the strip at that hour are hookers or women dressed as hookers. Even the ladies on the stage were dressed as hookers. One child, no more than four or five, asked loudly what that siren "was doing to that pirate" right there on the stage in front of us. I missed the parent's reply, but there's really nothing that could excuse them. Heads up, parents, there's nothing for your kids on the strip. If you thought Sirens of TI was for your kids, you were very, very wrong. They don't want you there. Just let your kids sleep.
We arrived very early on Friday, grabbed a rental car from the super-rental-car theme-park-style rental mega-hub, and went straight to the Hoover Dam. It was sunny and approaching hot (especially for March), but not as hot as Vegas can get, thankfully. Still, we had some drive-through McDonald's and had an extra water or two with ice from them. We walked around and took many pictures, but didn't take a full tour, because Nan has been on one. Did you know, though, that you can park for free on the far side of the dam? It's not even really that far of a walk. Don't pay the $7 to park fifteen feet closer! The views were very nice from the dam and from the road. We didn't climb up to Pat Tillman bridge - too sunny, no sunglasses or sunscreen, coming from a freezing cold climate. We just soaked in some views and headed back.
As we half expected, it was still too early to check in, so we gave them our phone number and went to the Las Vegas Premium Outlets South. I wanted to go early on purpose, before we went to the extremely expensive shops on the strip proper. There were great outlet stores, not always huge deals, but we did manage to find some sweatshirts and coats on deep discount because it was so hot outside. We checked into our hotel and took a lengthy siesta before cleaning up and going out in the late evening to the buffet at the Wynn, rated as one of the best on the strip. Everything was quite good (decor was standard Las Vegas fare plus extremely tall flower vase structures) and dessert area was delectable, with crepes made to order and even ice cream cookie sandwiches made to order.
We spent some quality time hoochie-watching. I tried to convince Nan to try and take pictures, but he thought it would be too obvious. But it was really good - there are at least two night clubs in that complex, so the floor was full of ladies wearing their absolute minimum. I definitely saw some undies underneath some too-short skirts, and we spent some time trying to spot the sketchiest hooch. When Nan decided we were being too obvious, we went outside to watch the last Sirens of TI show. We were incredibly disappointed, partly by the show, but mostly by the audience. The show had the scantily-clad ladies as advertised, but that's not enough of a draw at that distance. And you could really see how awesome the show must have been, back in it's heyday of actual pirate battle, since they kept a lot of the special effects, a few fancy dives, and sinking ships. It must have been really fun. It's not anymore, in case you were wondering. The ladies sink the opposing ship due to mostly power of singing and burlesque dancing. It's a mite ridiculous. The other factor that was stupid was the audience. I'll give a pass to the incrrrrredibly drunk ladies right behind me screaming obscenities and otherwise before, during, and after the show, because it's Vegas, and they give away a lot of drinks in big novelty cups. But the numerous parents with small children in the audience? Not so forgiving. The show started after 11:30pm, first of all. The other people on the strip at that hour are hookers or women dressed as hookers. Even the ladies on the stage were dressed as hookers. One child, no more than four or five, asked loudly what that siren "was doing to that pirate" right there on the stage in front of us. I missed the parent's reply, but there's really nothing that could excuse them. Heads up, parents, there's nothing for your kids on the strip. If you thought Sirens of TI was for your kids, you were very, very wrong. They don't want you there. Just let your kids sleep.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Nyonya, New York Chinatown
I like the decor, I'm a big fan of flat hard chairs, for some reason. The place is cash only - as if the six square blocks of Chinatown is a null zone where your credit card no longer works.
Stangely, the service was very coffeehouse - they just brought out the occasional dish as it finished cooking. We got our appetizers last, but I won't complain overmuch - through all the confusion, we got a completely extra dish that we didn't order.
The roti was the fluffy kind that you so often find in malaysian restaurants - it gets chewy as it gets cold, though. The hokkien mee was good, but not as strong in flavor as you expect hokkien mee to be. Lobak was good and crunchy. Chow kuey tiao was only "okay". Curry mee was really good. Roti telur was a bit flat also. I guess a number of the dishes were underseasoned. Chendol was covered with the brown coffee-ish goop moreso than coconut. Maybe we should've let it melt to a more chendol consistency first
Stangely, the service was very coffeehouse - they just brought out the occasional dish as it finished cooking. We got our appetizers last, but I won't complain overmuch - through all the confusion, we got a completely extra dish that we didn't order.
The roti was the fluffy kind that you so often find in malaysian restaurants - it gets chewy as it gets cold, though. The hokkien mee was good, but not as strong in flavor as you expect hokkien mee to be. Lobak was good and crunchy. Chow kuey tiao was only "okay". Curry mee was really good. Roti telur was a bit flat also. I guess a number of the dishes were underseasoned. Chendol was covered with the brown coffee-ish goop moreso than coconut. Maybe we should've let it melt to a more chendol consistency first
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Fenton's Creamery
This has got to be the most massively overpriced eatery ever, and remember, I've just been to Las Vegas. 15 bucks for a tiny crab sandwich that's made out of canned crab? 2 extra bucks for really poorly made curly fries? 11 bucks for an appetizer? This is crazy criminal. The sandwiches come standard with 'chips and pickles' - plain chips out of a bag, and somewhat funny-tasting pickles. This is the kind of low quality food I can get in a campus cafeteria; I'm not thrilled about eating it on campus, but at least it's cheap student food. The very idea that it's priced at 12+ dollars per sandwich is pretty much offensive. Their food is outright poorly constructed, and their ice cream is just not that special. Think about it. For 15 bucks, you can buy three jugs of high quality ice cream and create the biggest sundae this side of God. You do not need Fentons to put it in a tiny dish and then claim they're giving you "huge" scoops.
The place was packed, and it's arranged as you'd expect a creamery to be arranged, and therefore, there's absolutely no sound barriers. My throat is hoarse this morning from having to shout to be heard all night, and singing happy birthday to other patrons no less than 4 times in one hour? I felt like I was working harder than the servers.
Fenton's must be another California dream like In and Out. It's like they've never had real, home made ice cream, and the taste of 'just okay' ice cream just impresses the heck out of them and it develops a wholly undeserved reputation. Look, guys. You can get real ice cream for less than half of that price. You can make your own concoction for less than half of that price. The crowds, the atmosphere, the endless fake birthdays, no amount of ice cream can be worth that. And especially not a $15 dollar ice cream.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Las Vegas, Part 1: Mandalay Bay
Las Vegas is probably a wasted place for us. We don't gamble, we don't go clubbing, we don't drink, and we are allergic to cigarette smoke. I know. It sounds bad. But we do kind of like the place. We like resorts, and we like eating until our guts fall out. So it'll just have to be a review of those two things.
TheHotel at Mandalay Bay (that's the name of the all-suite section of the hotel. TheHotel. I know, it's kind of weird.) is pretty nice. Unlike Vdara, it is connected to the rest of the Mandalay Bay, so it's just a quick walk to the casinos and other parts.
The suites are great. Living room with business/desk area, couch, tv, wetbar (and minibar), and then a door to the bedroom, which is really beautiful. Floor to ceiling windows, like all the Mandalay Bay, one-direction windows, so you're free to leave the curtains open, I suppose. The bedroom has two mirror-fronted closets, and the television is situated in front of the bed, but can also be hidden in the dark wood and mirrored closet. The main bathroom has the most massive bathtub I've ever seen, a separate toilet closet, a glass stand-up shower, and another tv. Just in case the other two weren't enough to go around. With the included bath salts, you could spend a lot of time in that tub, watching tv or whatever. You could have a party in there. It is really that big. The best part of the separate bedroom, though, is that the recessed entry door to the suite (there's a half bath by the entry, too cool), the living room area, and the door to the bedroom, provide plenty of sound barriers - drunken revelers in the hallway won't bother you one bit, in the privacy of your bedroom. Unless they press your doorbell, I guess. All in all, it is an awesome room, full of all the comforts of home and then some, and it puts into question whether they want you to come down to the casino at all. I certainly don't.
But we went downstairs for Lion King. Amazing. Production value just plain through the roof. Hydraulic stage bits, immense costumes, huge cast, the works. Still pretty much word-for-word the movie, but just like Beauty and the Beast, you can't mess with a winning formula.
And we went downstairs to check out the beach, which is only open in the summertime. It has a massive wavepool, and several adult-pools. But it was hot like only the scorching desert can be hot, and it was crowded, and get this: the cover charge for the day-club pool was $60. Six-Zero. Sixty. Dollars. I can only hope I heard him wrong, but no amount of day clubbing is worth that kind of money, and the music was somewhat questionable, besides. All in all, they advertise that they made an entire beach, and there WERE sand and waves, but it didn't really create the atmosphere I was expecting. I mean, what sand there is, is covered with lounge chairs. The walkways are still concrete and temporary flooring structure. The 'beachside casino' is neither beachside, nor casual, and the lazy river is pretty short. You can get wet, and there are some pool-side concerts, that's about it. Don't get your expectations too up.
Next time: The Aria at CityCenter, and a detailed comparison of brunch menus.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Red Mill Burgers
Apparently something close to famous in Seattle, my hero Adam Richman ate there once, and that is always good enough recommendation for me.
True as advertised, they had some kind of Great Wall made of bacon sitting ominously in the kitchen, for reasons us lesser being probably couldn't hope to understand. There was also a picture of some employees showing off this slightly peppery bacon bunker to the press, cleverly disguised with bacon mustaches. The bacon-stache! A new classic.
Fortunately, fame and TV specials seem to have not given these good folks a license to phone it in. The burger was good, the atmosphere was good, the portions were good (on the burgers, anyway. The shake, fries, and onion rings are small-ish) and the prices were not too terribly out of control. Oh, it was expensive for a pair of burgers, fries, onion rings, and a shake, but at least it was still high quality. Nan opted for a double-bacon double-burger, and that thing was probably better material for bench pressing than casual lunching - he was food coma'd for the rest of the day. I got a Bleu Cheese and Bacon Burger, and it was very fine, if messy.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
North Beach Pizza
Decor is better than average, and there is parking, which is not something to dismiss easily, but the service is crazy slow and not worth the wait. Maybe it was the time of day we tried to eat there? Whatever it was, it's just pizza and pasta, there's no real reason lunch should take two hours! We should have been tipped off by the fact that there was no one there except retired-looking folks sipping contentedly at coffee and chatting idly.
The food tasted fine, don't get me wrong, but it was extremely simple. In that kind of time, I could have made pasta myself from scratch. And next time, I guess I will.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Finished: Ghost Trick, Phantom Detective
I hope everyone likes visual novels. I read good reviews about games like 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, so I assume that it works for people other than me (huge bookworm). I'm always recommending people play Phoenix Wright, because I can't imagine a person who doesn't like that sort of thing.
So this game, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, was written by the same people. There. That ought to do it. Go buy it.
More details? Is it because you haven't played the Phoenix Wright games? Fine. It's a game where you solve... (wait for it...) your own murder. Because you're dead. Get it? Ghost Detective?
Specific to this publisher, your brain during the course of the game looks like this:
- "This game is easy."
- "This game is goofy."
- "Huhn, that was neat."
- "WOAAAHHH"
- *KA-BOOOOM*
Because, for some reason, they enjoy a specific twisty-ness to their plotlines that unfolds over the course of the entire story. And I am in full support of any story on any medium that can surprise me with plot twists. So don't give up on any of these games because they are easy, or because the early game is a bit goofy.
Just like Phoenix Wright, Ghost Detective does not have especially difficult-to-solve puzzles, or anything, you're just in it for the very fine storytelling. But on that note, the pinnacle of their storytelling success was in the last Phoenix Wright (Phoenix Wright proper, not Apollo Justice), so if you want just the best one, play through those. This one is very fine, and the animation and different gameplay are new aspects, but I suppose it's hard to hold a candle to the trilogy of Phoenix Wright stories...
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