What I Played Today: February 9

Minecraft, Guild Wars 2

I jumped back on that Minecraft server and screwed around forever. Built stuff, dug around, listened to people talk, wondered aloud how exactly I do anything, accidentally destroy a rare artifact. You know, the usual Minecraft stuff, I guess.

Also played Guild Wars 2, because I love doing that. I finally figured out where to go whenever I have to do one of those awful "Daily Dodger" achievements. In the plant people home area there are these enemy mortar turrets that shoot a very slow, very visible bullet at passersby every 10 seconds or so. Just double-tap out of the way of one of those 15 times, and BOOM achievement. Easily done.

What I Played Today: February 8

Sneaks and Snitches, Infinity Dungeon, Minecraft

I played a game tonight that apparently had absolutely no effect on me, because I cannot even remember what the hell it was. Did I win? Did I lose? Did I flip over the table? Who knows! The experience has since been lost to the mists of time.

I do remember playing Sneaks and Snitches, which is a goofy little game in which each player chooses a location to steal from and a location to tell the cops about. If two people choose the same place, nobody gets the treasure. So, a lot of bluffing to get the treasure, trying to figure out what everyone wants. The scoring system is strange, as for some items, only the person who has the most gets the points, while for others only the person who has the least doesn't get points. It's weird. Anyway, I didn't win.

Then another from the Minigame Library: Infinity Dungeon, a goofy storytelling game where a bunch of elements are thrown together and the current active player has to come up with a story of how the party escapes the current room. We had a party of a Power Ranger, a tycoon, a pirate, a butler, and an evil overlord. It was goofy. The only problem is that it is really easy to pass a room, which means nobody dies comically enough. But it is good for laughs.

And it turns out that my friends have a Minecraft server. I've never played on a Minecraft server, so I logged in and started screwing around. Then I continued to screw around and built a huge tower on top of a hill until 6 in the morning. It was not the greatest idea.

What I Played Today: May 7

Minecraft

Bored...sick...tried to play Minecraft, it didn't work. I thought of building a replica of my childhood home, and after about ten minutes of trying, I decided that was the stupidest thing ever and just went to bed.

What I Played Today: March 22

Minecraft

I played Minecraft. I saw some stuff, and there were a bunch of monsters. I have nothing to say.

What I Played Today: March 8

Minecraft

I have not played Minecraft since it went gold, and it has changed quite a bit. It now has leveling (which does nothing), and you now need to eat occasionally. Oh, and there are these creepy Slender Man looking jerks who can teleport and I am terrified of them. I tried to get back into the groove, building a little house, starting exploring an extensive cave system, and dying like a dozen times. Stupid exploding guys. Oh, one neat thing, there's now a bed, that lets you just skip the nighttime! Because man, that was the worst thing about this game, having to quietly sit around waiting for the sun to rise.

What I Played Today: February 2

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, Minecraft

I had to visit Target last night, which always drains my spirit, so I didn’t wholeheartedly play anything, instead screwing around on Minecraft for a bit. I managed to build a ladder all the way up to an overhanging, making it easy to get to…which is helpful? I really don’t know. I heard recently that the way to really enjoy Minecraft is if you make a project and just go with it, but then I find myself flummoxed by the fact that at night a bunch of skeletons show up and try to shoot me with bows and arrows. Either it’s a survival game or a building game, it doesn’t really work on both levels. I did notice that the trees I planted actually grew, so that’s neat.

Also more time in Harvest Moon, and I just don’t know where people find the time. It is a slow burn, this one. Things grow a lot slower in this iteration, and I still haven’t figured out how to buy a sheep. I’d just be handing out gifts to potential lovers if I could actually produce or find anything that they want…but I’m currently trying to build up the city and my own ranch, so maybe I’ll start attracting more tourists here soon.

What I Played Today: November 6

Minecraft, Kinect Joy Ride, Dominion, Rock Band 3

I am making a lot of progress in Minecraft, having dug a hole straight down to the bottom of the map in my little home to do some strip mining for rare redstone, which takes forever to get to, by the way, and have ventured into the dangerous cave systems outside my house to get some gold. With these two, I have made a watch! Which tells me what time of day it is! Which you’d think would be easier to get!

Also there was a demo for Kinect Joy Ride available, so I downloaded it to see what that was all about, and it is a standard go cart type racing game, with events, but the fact that you can control it with just your outstretched hands is amazing. It doesn’t control perfectly, but who thought it would? It’s a cute game, and there appears to be a lot of content in the full version.

A game of Dominion happened at some point, with prosperity. Again there was the trade route in play, and again I used it, because it has such an odd mechanic. In terms of reward, it’s not great, especially with the requirement to trash a card, but the fact that it also forces you to build it up by buying those victory cards you won’t care about, like Estate, makes it something you want to invest in, because when you use it right, it’s worth 4 or 5 coins to you, as well as getting rid of some fuffera.

Also after a dinner was a marathon game of Rock Band 3 with 6 players playing pretty much constantly. The fact that it now supports so many people is amazing, although being on back-up singer isn’t exactly the most riveting part assignment. But when people are willing to keep trading parts, it makes for a pretty engaging time.

What I Played Today: November 3

Record of Agarest War, Minecraft, (disclosed)

Some last minute playing of the review game, I had to switch down to easy mode to get further in the story, because creatures with instant kill abilities are bullshit. Whatever, they asked for my opinion on the game, and I find it quite adequate, if a bit cloying, and I’m not going to mention that I found it too hard, because most people won’t. I’ve just never been good at hack ‘n’ slash games; the patterns move too fast for me.

My Gamefly sent me a roleplaying game in which you have to woo ladies, which apparently is my favorite genre, so I instantly started playing it. I made it about 30 minutes from the necessary tutorials before I got tired. Not of the game, I’ll keep trying it, because I’m fairly sure I’m nowhere near the potatoes yet, but the game is also a strategy game that is a bit weird, because you move all your guys before assigning them actions. This isn’t that big of deal, because most enemies will do you a favor and move right where you want them, and half the attacks have a range of 4 or more, but it’s just a bit of an odd choice. There are a lot of complaints on the Internet about this one, but I’m trying to look past them because people who complain on the Internet are usually wrong.

Also more Minecraft. I keep starting new worlds because I keep dying, mainly because things have been changed so that certain enemies will not burst into flames in the light of the sun, so I have to take care of them in the morning as well. Also, some EXPLODE, which was hilariously awful in one world where I made my cozy little home in a rockbed, only for a creeper to see me, enter my home and destroy everything I built. So I started a new world and was instantly enamored. There was a tall rock overhanging a sandpit, as well as tall hills all around. I really liked how impossible and awesome that overhanging was, so I built my little home by the sandpit, just so I could look up at that thing every morning. Once I was established, I found there was a vast cavern system just a few moments away from the overhanging, so I started to explore that. I was walking around, looking for iron, when I think I hear a weird noise, so I stop and look into the darkness, only for an arrow to come flying out of it! A skeleton had managed to avoid the daylight in the dark caves, and now he was chasing me down! I tried to lure him into the sunlight, but he still stood after burning for ten seconds, so I ran. It was a neat moment.

What I Played Today: November 2

Endeavor, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, Minecraft

At the gaming store was a special night for one of our group who was returning to the UK, there were Settlers of Catan cupcakes and everything. I didn’t stay long, but I did play a game of Endeavor. I spread myself a bit thin and focused too hard of getting cards with victory points of them, and came in second. It was fun though, although the one guy who never seems to know how to play any game ended up at the table. That may have been part of it too, I was playing his board as well as mine whenever he asked “Is there anything I can do here?”

Also put in about 20 minutes into the Dead Rising prologue that came out a while ago on Xbox. It’s basically a bite-sized version of the gameplay, in a small town that is inexplicably overrun with zombies, even though not an hour ago it was absolutely abandoned. There’s also an adorable little girl in this one, who needs constant injections of Zombrex or else she will become a zombie! I kinda want her to become a zombie, because she’s a bunch of 1’s and 0’s, so what do I care? But there’s not a lot to the game; it’s only about 13 in-game hours long, and I completed half the objectives already. Maybe I’m not giving it enough credit.

Also some Minecraft. I don’t understand why spiders don’t die anymore. Shouldn’t the lifegiving sun cause them all to explode, instead of sit outside my house waiting for me to come out so they can bite my face and neck? I died twice this game; luckily the penalty for dying isn’t severe. You are just sent back to the respawn point and all your stuff is dropped in a big explosion around where you bit it. So if you’re quick, you can pick it all up again.

What I Played Today: November 1

Minecraft, (disclosed)

I purchased Minecraft today, because the new update looked really good, and I couldn’t think of a good reason why I hadn’t yet. I started on the ground next to a large mountain, with only my angry little fists. I had forgotten how to craft, so I spent some time screwing around, looking for interesting stuff like flowers or whatever, and I ended up on top of the mountain, digging a small hole for my home when the sun set, and I found myself without any torches, and no ways to make any. So I sat in the dark for ten minutes, hoping things didn’t spawn in my little room. After I was sure the sun was up, I broke down my barricade and was immediately being bitten by spiders. “What the?” I exclaimed, and fell off my mountain. Luckily I didn’t die, and the spiders finally got a dose of lifedraining sunlight, apparently they were cozy in the shade outside my home. But eventually I got the goods to get some torches burning, and some glass installed so that I could see outside to know exactly when the sun was up, and stopped playing the second night. Don’t know what my objective is this time…guess I’ll just try and see.

Also, I haven’t mentioned it, but I have a review game that I’ve been working on, and I’ve gotten a ways. I have no idea how far I’ve gotten because there’s no indicator and it hasn’t been released yet, but it is one linear game. Which would be fine if there were logical spots to decompress, but so far everywhere I’ve been has been on fire, so it’s mostly running for running’s sake.

What I Played Today: September 19

Mage: The Ascension, DDR, Minecraft, Secret of Monkey Island

I’ve suddenly been inducted into a roleplaying group of dudes I mildly know, and it appears we’ll be meeting every Sunday and just hanging out, and it’s a good thing that they all seem like pretty chill guys. We sat together for a while chatting and all agreeing that we’ll be willing to roleplay in pretty much anything, and so we started by rolling up some Mage characters and giving that a try.

I attached to the idea of the Cult of Ecstasy, the cult who awakened to their magic ability by doing something crazy, and made a bit of a sleazy music agent, who once was a musician but turns to the biz when his fear of drug addiction overwhelmed him. He seemed to naturally transition into a leadership role during character creation, and we played a session where my character basically walked around collecting the other PCs to join his cabal while being a bit of a dick. It was pretty fun, especially near the end where another mage overdoses in an alley and started dangerously bending reality. After confirming I could do jackshit to him with my magic, I hid behind a dumpster while another PC shot him in the head, then stepped up and immediately took credit for the situation. Luckily I had connections the “manager” of the club we were in allowed us to clean up the body quickly, and we called the session. I look forward to playing again, although I have concerns that some of my character traits don’t match up to how I play my character, and my tendency to try to do too much has hampered my character.

Also played some DDR. The quest mode in this game is really stupid, but I finally made some headway and earned a new song. So, hurray?

Also played some more Minecraft, and I think it’s neat, but man, I do not know what I’m supposed to be doing. I found a really neat cave, and found a way to get down into it, but it just keeps going, so I thought, hey, I think I’ll go build something neat on that island I started on, only to find out that I have no idea how to get back there without dying. So...

I also played some of the Secret of Monkey Island because I was apparently very bored. I was one of the self-named island when I stopped playing the game last, and so I was a bit confused on what to do next, so I wandered around the island for a while, and man I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. I thought I figured out how to do something awesome when I pushed a rock, but man, it did not do a thing, so I ragequit.

What I Played Today: September 18

Minecraft, Space Hulk: Death Angel

Apparently there’s this hot new indie game out there, getting the attention of Penny Arcade and a lot of other sites, and the amount of attention it is getting is enough to cause the website hosting it to go down and the owner to say, “Yeah, okay, fine, you can all play for free this weekend only, but stop wrecking my shit.” So, download and try I did!

The game is Minecraft, which creates a huge world around you full of trees and mountains and pigs, and basically says, okay, go at it. You can pretty much destroy everything, and so you start doing so quickly...tearing apart trees to get wood, digging huge holes into mountains to create a little home for yourself, getting ores and various other sundries to prepare yourself against the creatures of darkness that come out at night.

It’s a interesting sandbox game, there is so much space to explore, and I have spent hours already, digging a huge dungeon that I live in, just going deeper and deeper to see what is down there. (Answer: more rocks) I am still unnecessarily terrified of the night creatures, but mainly because their voices carry through the very walls...you can hear them even when you’re safely 300 feet underground digging hallways. It’s distracting. I did find this weird cave system which leads to a magma waterfall, so that’s neat. I’ll probably try to play it as best I can while it’s still free, but I already find myself saying, “Okay, now what do I do?”

I also picked up Space Hulk: Death Angel, the coop card game by Fantasy Flight that I was really excited about. I played three times today, and I must say I really like it. The choices you have to make each turn are simple, but deep, the mechanics make a lot of sense, and the overwhelming dread builds slowly as your space marines get picked off one by one. I haven’t won yet, mainly because once you lose a space marine, it’s a downhill slope from there, but I keep wanting to try, see what I can do better, see how the different teams synergize, and already want more cards. Which I’m afraid I never get, because it’s a Silverline game, but it also has apparently sold out already, going for over $100 on Amazon for some reason, so maybe it’ll be pretty popular. But I want to play with friends now, because there’s an added “Hey, better you than me,” mechanic to some of the events.