crossover_chick | A To-Do List Actually Done!

One that was more than two items, anyway. XD But yeah, despite a late start (slept until about 10:20 AM, and even then I was mainly woken up by my parents bringing in groceries -- combination of staying up late and period tired), and a couple of "puzzle breaks" during the day (we completed the second one, of the sea scene! Now, next weekend, we get to start on the third one Mom bought today), I did get everything I set out to get done, done:

Watch all the Call Me Kevin videos in the Watch Later queue: All five that were in there at the time down! (I've, uh, since added another one, but that's just how it goes XD) We had:

A) Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses -- a second-hand PS2 game that was REALLY showing its age with some glitchy cutscenes and terrible controls. Kevin(a) just could NOT make a bunch of these jumps! Nor could he understand the plot very well either, given how he canceled out of the intro trailer when it proved to be running WAAAAY too slow. Honestly, I think we were all here for the creepy PS2-era Barbie characters and Kevin desperately trying to figure out minigames. XD

B) Project Hospital -- a hospital sim that was maybe a little too realistic for my and Kevin's tastes, given it dealt with real diseases and didn't have such a cartoony look. Kevin being Kevin, he threw random diagnoses at people, prescribed them inappropriate treatments, and had a patient die because he was actively working against the AI doctors. Mark of a good Kevin game there. XD

C) Tavern Tycoon -- a tavern-building simulator that was much more cartoony and yet somehow involved even more blood (admittedly rat blood) and vomit than the previous game. XD Kevin got into the tavern-building business, and SOMEHOW made a success out of the first wreck of a tavern, possibly by having multiple bars and lots of potted plants. And by calling it "FREE BEER." XD He stumbled at the second one, though, taking up way too much space with an unneeded gym and refusing to build a toilet. Ended up chased out of town by the local lord and having a chicken thrown at him, which, given the assumed time period, is actually pretty great for severance pay! XD More than Kevin deserved, frankly.

D) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on the PS2 -- Kevin played the PS1 version of the title a while back, and now he's looped back around to try this one! Which has some of the creepiest PS2 faces you've seen in a while, folks! Also, for a game about Harry Potter and magic, most of the gameplay is exploration, some platforming, and collecting Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans -- each with its own soundbite! XD Yeah, this is going to be -- interesting, to say the least. XD

E) Babysitting Mama -- oh, this was a fun one, if only because it comes with a unique peripheral -- an actual baby doll you stuff the Wiimote down the back off. XD Kevin was not exactly gentle with Kevin Junior as he attempted to complete all of the different minigames. XD Though he was surprisingly successful at them, so -- can't argue with results? (He DID shake the baby a lot, however. Good thing the baby is cloth and can stand being shaken. And drop-kicked. XD)

I also watched the first episode of what "Rags To Enrichment" has turned into -- "Rags to Repayment." Which, you know what, probably fits BETTER than "Grads To Riches," as we do NOT have any riches going on right now in that series. XD Yes, it was essentially more of "James desperately tries to have Bob and Trash earn money so he can pay off their loans, despite the fact that extra payments seem to mean NOTHING in the long run as he keeps getting loan repayment pop-ups and repo-people." At least with the doors locked, nothing can get repossessed! Though the Sims still get the resultant Sad moodlet, which is a little annoying. At least Trash is making a decent amount from books, and keeps swiping objects while at work. (Nothing worth any decent amount of cash, but still. $3 is $3 to them!) And Bob is moving into books too, while also still doing painting. (Still no word on why he can't do research papers anymore. . .feel I should Google this just for my own peace of mind.) They're at least putting decent dents in their loans, but it never feels like enough. . .again, Sims just got too real, man. (And once again makes me feel grateful I managed to avoid most student loans!)

Play Vampire: the Masquerade -- Bloodlines (Italian Dinner time!), and get down my resultant notes: Nice solid play session today -- I went ahead and did the Nocturne Theater hub of "A Tangled Web" (which is way easier when you have Obfuscate, that's for dang sure), and then went over to the Giovanni Stronghold! Via magical talking rat!

Yes, you read that right -- while I was making my way through the sewers, looking for the access point for the Theater (you can't enter it via the streets), I encountered a rat who, unlike his fellows scurrying around in the storm run-off, was sitting by one of the maps. I took a closer look at him, thinking he was cute --

And discovered that, when I hovered over him, he had a "you can talk to this person" prompt. And when I did talk to him (his line being something along the lines of "the sewer water is always greener in someone else's sewer"), choosing a dialogue option brought me to the map screen! I just looked this up, and apparently this is a Plus Patch addition for Malks, which makes sense (though I did entertain the idea that it could also be for NOSFERATU, since they have to navigate by sewer most levels due to their appearance). Completely threw me when I first saw him, but -- well. Saved me from having to go up and find my way over to the Cabbie, I suppose!

Anyway, arrived at the Giovannis via the Sewer Entrance (which is just under one of the decorative ponds in the front yard, for the curious), and made my way over to drunk Maria and got her invitation off her via Dementation (after a couple of tries -- I didn't know which dialogue options scored it for you at first). Got in and made an attempt at the "Dirty Dishes" side quest -- I say "attempt," as I was able to start the quest, but ended up discovering I didn't have the stats needed to finish it. While Alice has a shockingly-high Persuasion of 8, you need one of 9 to get two of the participants, Mira and Christopher, to spill their secrets. So that left me with Adam, who can be persuaded to admit he's broke with a Persuasion of 8. I told that to Mira (as she pays for her information, unlike Christopher), and got one XP out of it -- a shame I can't complete it, but one's better than none! I also took a poke around the mansion, and discovered two ladies locked in a bathroom, cowering. O.o That's -- weird. And creepy. And good for free blood. :p

Anyway, once I was done messing about, I went ahead and talked to Nadia to take the persuasion route down -- then had to reload and try again when I chose the wrong option and she ended up refusing to speak to me. *grumbles* Got the right option the second time (why are they both in blue if one doesn't work?), made my way down to the crypts, and finally fought a bunch of zombies (NEARLY died when I got stuck, but managed to free myself and Bloodheal to victory). Picked up the "Voce Della Morte" (even though I don't need it since I deliberately failed the Pisha quests -- this is mostly because it will be grabbed in the fanfic), and the Saloucept, the XP-boosting item I came here to get -- though Alice's research is JUST UNDER what I need to recognize and use it. *grumbles* I hear I can get another free point of Scholarship from Beckett, so I'll hold off on leveling that up for now -- hopefully after that I'll be good to go with this and the remaining skill books I have! Currently have Alice parked in the lowest portion of the crypts, having shot a bunch of zombies. Boss fight with the Changs should be coming up next!

As for the notes on my timeline, I've structured them so that Alice sneaks into the Giovannis' place while Obfuscated when she, Victor, and Victoria all arrive, and Victor and Victoria sort of do the "Dirty Dishes" stuff while she tries to find the sarcophagus. She tags along when Nadia takes Victor and Victoria downstairs, and gets the shock of her life when Lizzie is in the crypt. I also have Mira, Chris, and Adam following them down there to see what's going on, and setting the regular zombies on them before Alice knocks them out (they're kind of lucky she didn't just kill them outright for having HER SISTER locked up, honestly). They use the "Voce Della Morte" to command the zombies to attack any other snooping Giovanni, then Alice goes after the sarcophagus. I dunno how they're going to get OUT of there -- the game doesn't make it clear how you escape if you didn't kill everyone; you just take a truck and leave -- but that's a question for a future Saturday. :p

Get all my screenshots for the next Newcrest Adventure update done: Okay, this was a bit last minute, as I literally just did the last one. . .and wow, this week is going to be a FIVE-PARTER! I took a lot more pictures than I remembered taking. O.o Then again, it was the first day of Spring, a pop-up holiday that encouraged them to interact with people, AND they got out of the house, so. . .and it's not like I DISLIKE taking pictures of my OTP family in the game. XD Which is probably the problem here. XD Gonna throw the pictures for the first part into my queue just to keep it going, then get the rest sorted tomorrow. Which is gonna take a while. . .I'll have to try and plan my evening accordingly. (I can see you all rolling your eyes!)

Anyway -- got a couple of comments to answer in the inbox, then it's time for bed, as I do have work tomorrow. *sigh* And then I'm relying on my own time off and snow days for any long weekends after that. . .well, nothing for it. We'll see what happens as we move towards the end of January. Night all!