Scrambling At The End Of The Day
Jan. 10th, 2021 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickSomehow I feel like I have less time at the end of this day than I did on the day where I almost woke up at noon. Then again, I have to get to bed at a decent hour to get up for work tomorrow. . . *sigh* Okay, let's try and wrap this up quick with the to-do list:
1. Continue with work on the Valice Multiverse verse updates: Check! I've finished up the sections for the Cuddlepile AU, High School AU, and Aperture Wage Slave AU, and I'm a good chunk of the way through Londerland Bloodlines. And I've made an executive decision to lump all the AUs that I do exclusive with my partner Marie over there under one "verse" label to make them easier to keep track of and not clutter up my verses section. So that's nice. :)
2. Watch the three remaining videos in my Watch Later, tomorrow's Call Me Kevin, and Jon's newest Fallout 4 YOLO episode: 95% Check – thanks to helping my mother complete the puzzle, I didn’t have time tonight to watch Call Me Kevin’s latest episode. I’m gonna have to double up on him AND Gray tomorrow evening. Ah well, not that big a deal. . . I did get the rest watched too, though, and a couple extra!
A) These two were added to my Watch Later this morning, so they technically count – two more “kinetic typography” videos on John Mulaney bits! One about how much he loves saying “my wife” (since it sounds so much more adult than “my girlfriend”); one about how easy it was to get away with crime in the 30s (specifically referencing bank robbers TAKING CREDIT for robberies) XD
B) Then it was time for a pair of OXBox videos:
1. “7 Ways Technical Limitations Accidentally Made Great Games” – a list of games that, thanks to technical limitations, accidentally created iconic characters (need to see your opponent in a boxing game but can’t render the wireframe fighter from the arcade cabinet? Make him canonically super-short and call him Little Mac!), creepy landscapes (need to hide your console’s lousy draw distance? Cover the titular town of Silent Hill in terrifying fog!), and even the concept of difficulty curves (your arcade game renders the aliens descending on the player faster the less of them there are? Yeah, that’s totally a feature!) and stealth games in general (the computer you’re developing for can’t render too many enemies or bullets without crashing? Now the goal is to avoid getting caught and having to shoot people! This cardboard box should help with that). Pretty cool stuff, right? Less cool when it’s being narrated by Terrifying Bunny Head Mike, of course XD
2. “Hitman 3 First Gameplay - DUBAI DOUBLE KILL - Let's Play Hitman 3” – yup, as I said yesterday, the OXBoxers have gotten their hands on some early gameplay for Hitman 3! And joy of joys, Mike got first crack at it! Admittedly, it was Mike with Andy serving as “Diana” and trying to hold back some of Mike’s more – Mike tendencies. XD They did one of the story missions, where the guy helping 47 and Diana take down big bad Providence wants to take out the two targets in a specific way (namely, getting to gloat at them via video conference call first) – Mike was PRETTY good about following Andy’s instructions at first, but then he got a) a hammer and b) the opportunity to dump a guard out a window of the tallest skyscraper in the world, aaaand – yeah. XD To be fair, it didn’t turn into an all-out murder spree then – Mike had his fun, then went around being decent about hiding the bodies and whatnot. And Andy, in deference to Mike being Mike, helped him find the exploding golf ball in the level and allowed him to use it to kill the two targets after he knocked them out via a scale model of the building they were in. XD It was absolutely delightful, and hearing them gush about the awesome reflections and whatnot was charming. You can tell the team’s been EXCITED for this one. :D Really looking forward to the official “3 Ways To Play” mini-series for this entry!
C) Oh, and you know who else got an early look at the first mission of Hitman 3? Jon from Many A True Nerd! :D He confirmed that everyone’s only allowed to show 15 minutes of footage, so we got the highlights of him playing the first mission. His kills of choice? Murdering one guy in the art exhibition (after a touching conversation with his daughter) with an overpowered electric sun (it makes more sense in context), and taking out the other guy via getting him to go to the bathroom via poisoned meal, and then drowning him in the toilet. Which kill is worse? You decide! XD But it was very neatly done, and a great look at the level! I’m going to know the Dubai skyscraper inside and out without ever playing the game at this rate. XD
D) And of course we ended Sunday night with Jon’s FO4 YOLO episode – “The End of the Line,” which is not an indicative title at all! Because actually quite a few good things happened to Jon and Finalley this episode:
1. Lots and lots of good guns picked up, including an awesome new sniper rifle he broke down for parts to put on his penetrating sniper rifle to make it even more powerful; and a bunch of various nice laser guns that he combined into one really nice laser gun. Good stuff!
2. Proving how freaking overpowered artillery is by TAKING OUT FREAKING SWAN THE SUPER MUTANT BEHEMOTH – somebody woke him up while Jon was trying to get past, so Jon tried an artillery grenade, and the barrage took out enough of his health that Jon and Finalley were able to take him down with a few headshots. And all those swan boat parts meant lots of free fiberglass. . .
3. For the new ballistic weave Jon got! Yes, he completed his “Jackpot” mission for the Railroad (managing to get past the gunners with the help of a plasma grenade) and when he turned it in, he got himself access to that lovely lovely weave! Had to deal with being overencumbered briefly when PAM handed over his reward (and then stressed me out by TALKING about how overencumbered works and agonizing over what to drop instead of, you know, DROPPING something), but it was worth it.
4. Pulling off a surprisingly awesome kill on a TRIO of Super Mutant Suiciders without really meaning to – Jon was heading to Shaw High School to do some looting and make some kills to get the necessary level-up he needed to get Armorer 3 and some of better levels of ballistic weave, and came across some super mutants. After fudging a shot on the Suicider he could see (aiming for the wrong arm), he pulled off a much better one, and got one to blow up his two friends, scoring him nuclear material and a couple of free mini-nukes! Jon promptly took the goodies and got out of there, deciding the stuff he’d originally come for could wait!
So yeah, very solid episode! And the only sad goodbyes we said were to Preston (who Jon sent to live at The Castle, because he didn’t want to pick up any Minutemen quests from him – if he wants quests, he’ll listen to Radio Freedom and skip the “talk to Preston” step to turn them in) and to his original pipe sniper rifle (a good solid weapon, just outclassed by the guns Finalley currently has). And next time, we’re apparently progressing the damn plot! Time to go after Nick Valentine in Vault 114, yay~ Looking forward to that next week!
3. Play Fallout 4 and attempt to make something resembling progress: Check-ish – due to me not knowing when my previous saves went bad, I decided to just start from my “safe save” at the beginning of Vault 111 and go from there. Ran through the Vault and its lore, got down to Sanctuary, hunted bugs with Codsworth, and started my raiding and scrapping and whatnot. Left poor Victor dealing with some pretty terrible weather after a good night’s sleep, that’s for sure. I feel like I could recite how to deal with this section in my sleep if I had to. I just really, really hope I can use this save to actually get down to Concord and start progressing the story again. . .
4. Get in a workout: Check! Got back on the bike today, and that means another chunk of Jon’s Fallout 4 Survival Playthrough! Grills finished up exploring Natick Banks, finding the old police station just as some robots came in to try and ruin the party. Fortunately, some of his fellow Brotherhood also showed up in a vertibird to help out, and together they took care of the robots and a random deathclaw pretty easily! Grills grabbed the Eddie Winter Holotape from there (Jon saying that, at some point, he’d like to do Nick Valentine’s personal quest), then started down the road to the outpost where he was supposed to meet Haylen. His trip was interrupted by a Legendary Glowing Yao Gaui – fortunately the bear was already hurt, making it easier to take down; even MORE fortunately, it had some legendary gear Jon actually wanted – a nice Powered Synth Chest Piece! So he happily took that with him and continued on to the outpost. . .
Just in time to find the Brotherhood members firing on Bloatflies and then descending deeper into the Glowing Sea to get a few Super Mutants at their base. Jon helped out, reported to Haylen, got the distress pulser he needed, then summoned a vertibird to take him to the Crater of Atom. . .
And then he realized Somerville Place, that settlement Teagan asked him to hit up for crops, was nearby and rushed over to complete that. Only, on the way, he ran across that one little bunker that has a working sentry bot, talked to the bot, aggroed it, and then tried to blow it up with grenades – only to blow himself up. Whoops.
Take two, fortunately, went a little better – Grills managed to get the same Powered Synth Chest Piece from the same bear, and this time went to Somerville Place before he reported to the outpost, avoiding the first sentry bot – but then taking on a second. A Siege-Breaker bot no less. Again, poor Grills died (mostly due to exploding car), but fortunately he’d taken a snooze on one of Somerville’s beds, so he was able to just redo that one fight and take out the bot with more care. With that sorted, he bullied the residents into providing the Brotherhood with food, then went back to Haylen and went into the Glowing Sea! His trip from the Crater of Atom to the Sentinel Site (a creepy pyramid) was largely uneventful, despite some Radscorpions being around, and I left him preparing to clear the ghouls out of the site to secure the nukes. So yeah – even with two deaths, I think we can say Grills had an okay day there!
So yeah, that wasn't too bad! I'm just rushed now because of a) spending a good chunk of my evening finishing that puzzle (hard straight up until the last piece!), and b) watching the end of the Browns/Steelers game (looks like the Browns have won it, which is good because that's what we wanted to happen). I still have to finish up the Valice Mulitiverse queue and get my DW comment done, but at least I have a moment to do that because I can't go brush my teeth until my dad is done in the bathroom anyway. And then it's off to bed because work tomorrow. . . Hopefully it's not too bad a Monday. Certainly looks like a complicated GL, but that'll eat up the morning, at least. *sigh* Night all!
1. Continue with work on the Valice Multiverse verse updates: Check! I've finished up the sections for the Cuddlepile AU, High School AU, and Aperture Wage Slave AU, and I'm a good chunk of the way through Londerland Bloodlines. And I've made an executive decision to lump all the AUs that I do exclusive with my partner Marie over there under one "verse" label to make them easier to keep track of and not clutter up my verses section. So that's nice. :)
2. Watch the three remaining videos in my Watch Later, tomorrow's Call Me Kevin, and Jon's newest Fallout 4 YOLO episode: 95% Check – thanks to helping my mother complete the puzzle, I didn’t have time tonight to watch Call Me Kevin’s latest episode. I’m gonna have to double up on him AND Gray tomorrow evening. Ah well, not that big a deal. . . I did get the rest watched too, though, and a couple extra!
A) These two were added to my Watch Later this morning, so they technically count – two more “kinetic typography” videos on John Mulaney bits! One about how much he loves saying “my wife” (since it sounds so much more adult than “my girlfriend”); one about how easy it was to get away with crime in the 30s (specifically referencing bank robbers TAKING CREDIT for robberies) XD
B) Then it was time for a pair of OXBox videos:
1. “7 Ways Technical Limitations Accidentally Made Great Games” – a list of games that, thanks to technical limitations, accidentally created iconic characters (need to see your opponent in a boxing game but can’t render the wireframe fighter from the arcade cabinet? Make him canonically super-short and call him Little Mac!), creepy landscapes (need to hide your console’s lousy draw distance? Cover the titular town of Silent Hill in terrifying fog!), and even the concept of difficulty curves (your arcade game renders the aliens descending on the player faster the less of them there are? Yeah, that’s totally a feature!) and stealth games in general (the computer you’re developing for can’t render too many enemies or bullets without crashing? Now the goal is to avoid getting caught and having to shoot people! This cardboard box should help with that). Pretty cool stuff, right? Less cool when it’s being narrated by Terrifying Bunny Head Mike, of course XD
2. “Hitman 3 First Gameplay - DUBAI DOUBLE KILL - Let's Play Hitman 3” – yup, as I said yesterday, the OXBoxers have gotten their hands on some early gameplay for Hitman 3! And joy of joys, Mike got first crack at it! Admittedly, it was Mike with Andy serving as “Diana” and trying to hold back some of Mike’s more – Mike tendencies. XD They did one of the story missions, where the guy helping 47 and Diana take down big bad Providence wants to take out the two targets in a specific way (namely, getting to gloat at them via video conference call first) – Mike was PRETTY good about following Andy’s instructions at first, but then he got a) a hammer and b) the opportunity to dump a guard out a window of the tallest skyscraper in the world, aaaand – yeah. XD To be fair, it didn’t turn into an all-out murder spree then – Mike had his fun, then went around being decent about hiding the bodies and whatnot. And Andy, in deference to Mike being Mike, helped him find the exploding golf ball in the level and allowed him to use it to kill the two targets after he knocked them out via a scale model of the building they were in. XD It was absolutely delightful, and hearing them gush about the awesome reflections and whatnot was charming. You can tell the team’s been EXCITED for this one. :D Really looking forward to the official “3 Ways To Play” mini-series for this entry!
C) Oh, and you know who else got an early look at the first mission of Hitman 3? Jon from Many A True Nerd! :D He confirmed that everyone’s only allowed to show 15 minutes of footage, so we got the highlights of him playing the first mission. His kills of choice? Murdering one guy in the art exhibition (after a touching conversation with his daughter) with an overpowered electric sun (it makes more sense in context), and taking out the other guy via getting him to go to the bathroom via poisoned meal, and then drowning him in the toilet. Which kill is worse? You decide! XD But it was very neatly done, and a great look at the level! I’m going to know the Dubai skyscraper inside and out without ever playing the game at this rate. XD
D) And of course we ended Sunday night with Jon’s FO4 YOLO episode – “The End of the Line,” which is not an indicative title at all! Because actually quite a few good things happened to Jon and Finalley this episode:
1. Lots and lots of good guns picked up, including an awesome new sniper rifle he broke down for parts to put on his penetrating sniper rifle to make it even more powerful; and a bunch of various nice laser guns that he combined into one really nice laser gun. Good stuff!
2. Proving how freaking overpowered artillery is by TAKING OUT FREAKING SWAN THE SUPER MUTANT BEHEMOTH – somebody woke him up while Jon was trying to get past, so Jon tried an artillery grenade, and the barrage took out enough of his health that Jon and Finalley were able to take him down with a few headshots. And all those swan boat parts meant lots of free fiberglass. . .
3. For the new ballistic weave Jon got! Yes, he completed his “Jackpot” mission for the Railroad (managing to get past the gunners with the help of a plasma grenade) and when he turned it in, he got himself access to that lovely lovely weave! Had to deal with being overencumbered briefly when PAM handed over his reward (and then stressed me out by TALKING about how overencumbered works and agonizing over what to drop instead of, you know, DROPPING something), but it was worth it.
4. Pulling off a surprisingly awesome kill on a TRIO of Super Mutant Suiciders without really meaning to – Jon was heading to Shaw High School to do some looting and make some kills to get the necessary level-up he needed to get Armorer 3 and some of better levels of ballistic weave, and came across some super mutants. After fudging a shot on the Suicider he could see (aiming for the wrong arm), he pulled off a much better one, and got one to blow up his two friends, scoring him nuclear material and a couple of free mini-nukes! Jon promptly took the goodies and got out of there, deciding the stuff he’d originally come for could wait!
So yeah, very solid episode! And the only sad goodbyes we said were to Preston (who Jon sent to live at The Castle, because he didn’t want to pick up any Minutemen quests from him – if he wants quests, he’ll listen to Radio Freedom and skip the “talk to Preston” step to turn them in) and to his original pipe sniper rifle (a good solid weapon, just outclassed by the guns Finalley currently has). And next time, we’re apparently progressing the damn plot! Time to go after Nick Valentine in Vault 114, yay~ Looking forward to that next week!
3. Play Fallout 4 and attempt to make something resembling progress: Check-ish – due to me not knowing when my previous saves went bad, I decided to just start from my “safe save” at the beginning of Vault 111 and go from there. Ran through the Vault and its lore, got down to Sanctuary, hunted bugs with Codsworth, and started my raiding and scrapping and whatnot. Left poor Victor dealing with some pretty terrible weather after a good night’s sleep, that’s for sure. I feel like I could recite how to deal with this section in my sleep if I had to. I just really, really hope I can use this save to actually get down to Concord and start progressing the story again. . .
4. Get in a workout: Check! Got back on the bike today, and that means another chunk of Jon’s Fallout 4 Survival Playthrough! Grills finished up exploring Natick Banks, finding the old police station just as some robots came in to try and ruin the party. Fortunately, some of his fellow Brotherhood also showed up in a vertibird to help out, and together they took care of the robots and a random deathclaw pretty easily! Grills grabbed the Eddie Winter Holotape from there (Jon saying that, at some point, he’d like to do Nick Valentine’s personal quest), then started down the road to the outpost where he was supposed to meet Haylen. His trip was interrupted by a Legendary Glowing Yao Gaui – fortunately the bear was already hurt, making it easier to take down; even MORE fortunately, it had some legendary gear Jon actually wanted – a nice Powered Synth Chest Piece! So he happily took that with him and continued on to the outpost. . .
Just in time to find the Brotherhood members firing on Bloatflies and then descending deeper into the Glowing Sea to get a few Super Mutants at their base. Jon helped out, reported to Haylen, got the distress pulser he needed, then summoned a vertibird to take him to the Crater of Atom. . .
And then he realized Somerville Place, that settlement Teagan asked him to hit up for crops, was nearby and rushed over to complete that. Only, on the way, he ran across that one little bunker that has a working sentry bot, talked to the bot, aggroed it, and then tried to blow it up with grenades – only to blow himself up. Whoops.
Take two, fortunately, went a little better – Grills managed to get the same Powered Synth Chest Piece from the same bear, and this time went to Somerville Place before he reported to the outpost, avoiding the first sentry bot – but then taking on a second. A Siege-Breaker bot no less. Again, poor Grills died (mostly due to exploding car), but fortunately he’d taken a snooze on one of Somerville’s beds, so he was able to just redo that one fight and take out the bot with more care. With that sorted, he bullied the residents into providing the Brotherhood with food, then went back to Haylen and went into the Glowing Sea! His trip from the Crater of Atom to the Sentinel Site (a creepy pyramid) was largely uneventful, despite some Radscorpions being around, and I left him preparing to clear the ghouls out of the site to secure the nukes. So yeah – even with two deaths, I think we can say Grills had an okay day there!
So yeah, that wasn't too bad! I'm just rushed now because of a) spending a good chunk of my evening finishing that puzzle (hard straight up until the last piece!), and b) watching the end of the Browns/Steelers game (looks like the Browns have won it, which is good because that's what we wanted to happen). I still have to finish up the Valice Mulitiverse queue and get my DW comment done, but at least I have a moment to do that because I can't go brush my teeth until my dad is done in the bathroom anyway. And then it's off to bed because work tomorrow. . . Hopefully it's not too bad a Monday. Certainly looks like a complicated GL, but that'll eat up the morning, at least. *sigh* Night all!
