What I Played Today: November 17

Pathfinder, Rift, Rock Band Blitz

Pathfinder today! So, we finally start heading to the next place, and we run into a storm system and a bunch of storm elementals, then go inside a tower and dick around for an hour. There's this jackass wizard halfling is creating these weird lightning grenades, and decided to completely disrupt the weather patterns of the region to do so. We told him to stop, and he did, and then we got back on our way.

We find a burned village, and then we fight some giant kobolds, and they really messed us up. One of them crit the crap out of our rogue, so she went down hard, and all I did was roll 1's. Managed to shoot the cleric, in fact. I think we are playing a little too fast and loose with the illusion spells; they end up being able to incapacitate our opponents for long periods of time, using it to trap escaping enemies, etc. I'm not sure that's how illusions should work. After spending what felt like forever arguing about splitting the loot, I went home.

Decided to play some more Rift, because I'm a dork. I was wrong earlier, you need the expansion to level to 60 and use the new classes, as well as visit the new continents, so...I just kinda screwed around, doing instant adventures, etc. I still can't recreate my old classes, because I just don't remember then, but it turns out my gear is good enough that it almost doesn't matter. I was able to solo the Chronicle that I couldn't do before easily.

Also played a bit of Rock Band Blitz! It is a video game.

What I Played Today: October 15

Rock Band Blitz, Persona 4 Arena

Played a bit of Rock Band Blitz, there was a score war waiting for me that I am not going to win. I am never going to win a score war. I accept that. But yeah, still rocked out a bit, that's what this game is for, rocking out and doing some game stuff. Bathwater is a pretty good song that I haven't heard in a while.

Also played like two pretty short chapters in Elizabeth's story in Persona 4 Arena. In case you were super curious what she had been up to; not a lot, just transporting world-destroying monsters to the moon. Like you do.

What I Played Today: September 25

Super Hexagon, Rock Band Blitz, Magic: The Gathering

I beat Hexagon! Now it's time for...Hexagoner. Which is harder. Ug.

Also, Rock Band Blitz, I am DONE with score wars, I cannot win. And Magic: The Gathering, in which I unlocked all the new decks, good for me. Aren't I awesome? Yeah, I thought so.

What I Played Today: September 24

Super Hexagon, Magic: The Gathering, Rock Band Blitz, Persona 4 Arena

So, Super Hexagon suggests that you wearing headphones when you play. It's not a rhytym game, so I couldn't figure out why. The reason they want you to wear headphones is so the game can drive you insane. It is such an intense trip. So much spinning, and lines, and colors, and oh my god my brain is exploding. I'm at 44 seconds on the easiest section. I can do this.

There's a Magic: The Gathering expansion, based around the guilds from Ravnica. I like Ravnica, so of course I bought it and started playing it. I don't know if there's any of the new cards in this though, and why not? Huh? Guys?

Rock Band Blitz, another score war. I am currently winning. I do not expect to be winning by tomorrow. But it's Bandages, so I can play this song over and over without getting tired of it.

Then I booted up Persona 4 Arena and for some reason jumped into Challenge Mode. I've finally getting the hang of the quarter circles, although I still can't figure out how to make a double-quarter circle trigger consistently. Also, Kanji's specials are kind of hilarious. He just goes goddamn apeshit. One of them has him leaping full on onto his opponent and pummeling him, which is brutal. Just awful. Kanji's great.

What I Played Today: September 20

Rock Band Blitz

GRAH SO CLOSE YOU GUYS! I had played through that dumb Huey Lewis song a couple of times and managed to get above my opponent with two hours to spare in the score war. Done, right? Of course. Let me just walk away and let the game download all those songs that I probably shouldn't have downloaded. (Whatever, they were on sale.) Then, I come back with maybe 11 minutes to spare, only to see that my previous winning score had been beaten again, and now I have absolutely no time to try again. It was so disappointing you guys. So instead I just played a bunch of my new songs. Screw your dumb score wars.

What I Played Today: September 18

7 Wonders, Seasons, Rock Band Blitz, FTL

I played a game of 7 Wonders with the two expansions, which are....fine? I don't know, I don't really need to play with them. They add some interesting options, but it makes it even harder to figure out how to play the game. I came in dead last, I just did not play my cards right.

Also played Seasons, which is pretty confusing. Each turn, someone rolls some dice with a bunch of insane symbols on them, then you pick one, then you get some stuff and can play cards from your hand and I don't know how you track this game at all. The cards are fun, I guess, but after you get a lot of them on the field near the end of the game you are sitting there thinking, "Well, I have no idea what is going on." I did alright, but someone ran away with the score because he was getting five points with every card he played. Come on man, that's not fair.

Also played Rock Band Blitz. They are having a sale, and I am excited! Well, except the part where Microsoft hasn't updated the price for all the sales items. That part sucks. Also, even though I am doing fantastic on most songs...I started a score war for a song that I am not good at. One problem is that Huey Lewis just stops singing at one point, right after the score gate, so both times I forget to make sure to get that multiplier up and it kills the moment of the last minute. Gotta figure out exactly when that happens, that I've got him. (Clutches fist...like a supervillain)

Also I played FTL, because I wanted to. I am doing pretty well in my current game. I hope I win.

What I Played Today: September 17

FTL, Rock Band Blitz

Played a little more FTL, some jackass slugs ripped me off. I unlocked the second layout for the Engi ship, which doesn't have cameras on the ship? Why doesn't it have cameras? That seems like an oversight. But yeah, got a little bored because there are seven more ships and I have no clue how to get them. Also, someone said something about the game on the Internet and it got me really worried! Why would you say that, Internet guy?

I am also now the best at Rock Band Blitz. I have taken the advice to heart and am now beating my friend in a few songs. And this is me officially calling him out! The student has become the master! I can't imagine how my mildly unwarranted hubris could backfire!

What I Played Today: September 15

FTL, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Rock Band Blitz, Magic: The Gathering, Coloretto

So, I downloaded this game that I had been anxiously waiting for for what feels like six months, FTL, and it turns out that is actually fantastically good. You are in charge of a ship that is jumping from place to place, running into dudes, fighting other spaceships, and often exploding. While I do see a bit of repeating in the events (stupid six-legged horses), it is pretty entertaining. Trying to unlock each ship and layout is going to consume me for a while.

Tried to pass Dust, failed. I got to the point of no return, and I was just not strong enough. There are so many dang dudes to fight.

Also played some Rock Band Blitz. I took the advice offered in Thursday's post (you can look it up, I'm not your mom), and I was doing okay. I was finding that if I go hogwild with the bottle rocket, I score as many points with my special as I'm getting for playing normally. I'm pretty sure I gold starred something. And yet, still behind that one guy. (shakes fist at that one guy)

Also probably played a game of Magic: The Gathering against the computer, and then played a game of Coloretto online with strangers. Things got weird late into the night.

What I Played Today: September 12

Rock Band Blitz

I played a bit of Rock Band Blitz, and it is frustrating that one of my only friends who owns this game is so good at it, because it is discouraging playing this game and realizing I am a full 100,000 points behind in almost every song. How am I supposed to catch up with that? Time and practice? Come on!

What I Played Today: September 5

Persona 4 Arena, Rock Band Blitz

Played more Rock Band Blitz, I got really close to beating a friend in a score war, but missed it by 5,000 points. I'm sure if I had Super Guitar, I could do it, but for some reason that ability is locked for me, because I suck? I don't know.

Also got through three whole chapters in Persona 4 Arena! I started Yukiko's chapter, got a little bit of the way, maybe three fights, then I thought "this is stupid. I'm going to complete Yu's chapter." So I did, and I got to a screen where stuff started actually happening, and then the game throws up "To Be Continued..." Which is nonsense, but it unlocked more stories. So I powered through Chie's and Yukiko's chapters, got to pretty much the same space, although how those chapters left me hanging were distinctly different, which was interesting. So yeah...stories. I bet that's really exciting to hear about.

What I Played Today: September 4

Persona 4 Arena, Rock Band Blitz

Skipping ahead! I was away on holiday, and I didn't play much, so we're just going to skip it. I was sick today, so I spent a lot of time sitting my ass around the house. I did play some Rock Band Blitz, which is a fun game made by Harmonix, which plays a lot like Frequency, which I like, but also requires a lot of strategy to score a lot of points, taking advantage of which lanes have the most scoring potential, while also not neglecting lanes, otherwise your multiplier suffers. It's pretty genius, and I'm kinda mad at myself for selling my copies of Rock Band, because I do not have a lot of songs to play.

Also screwing around with Persona 4 Arena. I got through a few fights in Yu's storyline, then decided I wanted to do everyone's storylines pretty much concurrently, so I did a few fights in Chie's storyline. It's a lot of reading.