![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A Very Meeeh Thursday
Jan. 27th, 2022 11:28 pmAgain, thanks mostly to:
Work – UGH. Computer problems day today – not only was there a lot more credit card nonsense that I had to handle, I ALSO spent a good portion of my afternoon fighting with my antivirus, which was refusing to update correctly (and then got overenthusiastic about its job). I am just – so done with this week. Very glad tomorrow is Friday.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – more time on the bike, and more of Jon’s Unpacking livestream watched! Jon continues to start unpacking a room, then get distracted whenever he has to move something or respond to chat, and then start unpacking another room. There is very little here in the way of a plan. XD But he and Claire have more or less successfully finished the kitchen, the entrance hall, and the upstairs walk-in wardrobe, which is good! Working on the living room now – and Jon has figured out how you can turn the Wii on, which is cool! :D He also got in his mandated trolling by, when it was mentioned that the game is probably set in Australia, where the creators live, flipping the game upside-down. Listening to him crack up over his ridiculous little joke while Claire is like “why are you like this” was – you can’t help but smile. XD We’re in the home stretch now – just gotta finish off all the rooms in the just-under-an-hour left!
2. Continue editing Chapter 5 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears”: Check – after being accosted by the doomsayer on the corner (I couldn’t leave him out of the fic), Alice’s trip to the Asylum has met a sudden detour thanks to Rabbit – turns out those Foxy Boxes she needed to find are right by the parking garage. She’s a little surprised to find it’s an actual warehouse after looking at its sign, but stranger things have happened. XD Now all she has to do is find a certain laptop, and a certain Kuei-Jin. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subscriptions: Mostly check – the latest Wyrd Sisters Podcast actually uploaded tonight, but since it covers the book Wintersmith, I decided it was probably thematically appropriate to listen to it this weekend, what with the snow and all. :p So instead –
A) Started with Plumbella and her latest (before getting an ear infection, poor thing): “Project Olympus: The scrapped game that became The Sims 4!” Yes, here we have the Entire History Of how the failure of SimCity (2013) (which was the first forced multiplayer game in the series, and crashed and burned SPECTACULARLY) forced EA to do a U-turn on the main multiplayer Sims game it was planning to release shortly thereafter and repurpose it, rather poorly, into a solo player experience. She even shared a number of screenshots of the old Project Olympus in-development, and – yeah. Those are Sims 4 neighborhoods and furniture. I mean, reuse the assets if you got ‘em, I’m sure the developers has to scramble to make the release date, but DAMN. She also talked about what this might mean for multiplayer in The Sims 5, and asked the developers to consider an Animal Crossing: New Horizons approach where you invite people over sometimes, but it doesn’t affect the core gameplay loop being solo. Not everything has to be social! I know I’m not in the mood for interacting with others when I’m gaming. Leave me alone, please, all my mental energy is on building this house.
B) Then it was back over to OXBox for a bit for another list video: “7 Side Quests You Should NEVER Finish!” Those sidequests that are definitely NOT worth whatever you might get for completing them. Kill a man and rob his corpse to give the maid he supposedly knocked up the money to support herself and her baby in Red Dead Redemption? Turns out it was all a con and she was a total stranger to the family. Go to a LIMB clinic to have your biochip upgraded in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and stop the random glitches you’re getting from your cyborg parts? Have fun having ALL your augmentations and upgrades turned off, and your UI thoroughly fucked, right before a tricky boss fight! And, of course, there’s “Confidence Man” from Fallout 4, though that one is kind of “your mileage may vary” – depends on how you feel about the anxious, wobbly-voiced Travis on Diamond City Radio from before the quest versus the smooth-talking confident Travis you get afterwards. Andy’s in the camp that “anxious Travis” is more interesting and funnier, and I think a fair number of people agree with him. Shame you can’t just boost him up a LITTLE so he’s a bit less nervous on the air! Maybe skip the barfight and just get him a date with his crush?
C) And then, in the Subs, we had Call Me Kevin and some Prison Architect – sponsored by the creators of the game, no less! Because there’s a new DLC out, A Perfect Storm, which adds weather events to the game! Like heat waves, lightning storms, and deep freezes. A perfect setting for Kevin to create a terrible, open plan prison with the electric chair in the middle of one huge room next to the showers. He trapped pretty much all of his builders by making them build rooms but forgetting to add doors; he forced everyone, minimum and maximum security, into the holding cell so they could fight and/or relieve themselves at their leisure; he encouraged the growth of the rat population, and was shocked when they started chewing through his wires and cutting his power constantly; and every time there was a massive storm of some description, he forced everyone out into the yard to experience it close up! This led to things like the janitor giving him $10,000 in cash for “getting through the calamity.” XD What got him in the end, though, was the hedge mazes he built at the edge of the yard, watched over by snipers to give prisoners the false illusion of escape. Mostly because, when the CEO called to tell him that he had to make sure that no one else died on a day with 29 deaths – the snipers SHOT SOMEONE DURING THE PHONE CALL, meaning Kevin instantly failed the challenge and got locked up in his own prison. And the guards had a VERY vested interest in not letting him out. XD Fantastic times from Sadist!Kevin!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – just two ask replies over on Valice Multiverse. Keepin’ it simple, which I appreciate.
At least the evening was good, and I got to watch some videos I quite enjoyed, yay~ Also have chocolate cream pie, thanks to it being my Mom's birthday and her deciding that's what she wanted for dessert. :) Now I just have to make it through one more day, and see what happens vis-a-vis the snow situation on Saturday. They're talking about a foot of snow, but it's supposed to be the light and fluffy kind, so -- small mercies? We'll see. . . Night all!
Work – UGH. Computer problems day today – not only was there a lot more credit card nonsense that I had to handle, I ALSO spent a good portion of my afternoon fighting with my antivirus, which was refusing to update correctly (and then got overenthusiastic about its job). I am just – so done with this week. Very glad tomorrow is Friday.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – more time on the bike, and more of Jon’s Unpacking livestream watched! Jon continues to start unpacking a room, then get distracted whenever he has to move something or respond to chat, and then start unpacking another room. There is very little here in the way of a plan. XD But he and Claire have more or less successfully finished the kitchen, the entrance hall, and the upstairs walk-in wardrobe, which is good! Working on the living room now – and Jon has figured out how you can turn the Wii on, which is cool! :D He also got in his mandated trolling by, when it was mentioned that the game is probably set in Australia, where the creators live, flipping the game upside-down. Listening to him crack up over his ridiculous little joke while Claire is like “why are you like this” was – you can’t help but smile. XD We’re in the home stretch now – just gotta finish off all the rooms in the just-under-an-hour left!
2. Continue editing Chapter 5 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears”: Check – after being accosted by the doomsayer on the corner (I couldn’t leave him out of the fic), Alice’s trip to the Asylum has met a sudden detour thanks to Rabbit – turns out those Foxy Boxes she needed to find are right by the parking garage. She’s a little surprised to find it’s an actual warehouse after looking at its sign, but stranger things have happened. XD Now all she has to do is find a certain laptop, and a certain Kuei-Jin. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subscriptions: Mostly check – the latest Wyrd Sisters Podcast actually uploaded tonight, but since it covers the book Wintersmith, I decided it was probably thematically appropriate to listen to it this weekend, what with the snow and all. :p So instead –
A) Started with Plumbella and her latest (before getting an ear infection, poor thing): “Project Olympus: The scrapped game that became The Sims 4!” Yes, here we have the Entire History Of how the failure of SimCity (2013) (which was the first forced multiplayer game in the series, and crashed and burned SPECTACULARLY) forced EA to do a U-turn on the main multiplayer Sims game it was planning to release shortly thereafter and repurpose it, rather poorly, into a solo player experience. She even shared a number of screenshots of the old Project Olympus in-development, and – yeah. Those are Sims 4 neighborhoods and furniture. I mean, reuse the assets if you got ‘em, I’m sure the developers has to scramble to make the release date, but DAMN. She also talked about what this might mean for multiplayer in The Sims 5, and asked the developers to consider an Animal Crossing: New Horizons approach where you invite people over sometimes, but it doesn’t affect the core gameplay loop being solo. Not everything has to be social! I know I’m not in the mood for interacting with others when I’m gaming. Leave me alone, please, all my mental energy is on building this house.
B) Then it was back over to OXBox for a bit for another list video: “7 Side Quests You Should NEVER Finish!” Those sidequests that are definitely NOT worth whatever you might get for completing them. Kill a man and rob his corpse to give the maid he supposedly knocked up the money to support herself and her baby in Red Dead Redemption? Turns out it was all a con and she was a total stranger to the family. Go to a LIMB clinic to have your biochip upgraded in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and stop the random glitches you’re getting from your cyborg parts? Have fun having ALL your augmentations and upgrades turned off, and your UI thoroughly fucked, right before a tricky boss fight! And, of course, there’s “Confidence Man” from Fallout 4, though that one is kind of “your mileage may vary” – depends on how you feel about the anxious, wobbly-voiced Travis on Diamond City Radio from before the quest versus the smooth-talking confident Travis you get afterwards. Andy’s in the camp that “anxious Travis” is more interesting and funnier, and I think a fair number of people agree with him. Shame you can’t just boost him up a LITTLE so he’s a bit less nervous on the air! Maybe skip the barfight and just get him a date with his crush?
C) And then, in the Subs, we had Call Me Kevin and some Prison Architect – sponsored by the creators of the game, no less! Because there’s a new DLC out, A Perfect Storm, which adds weather events to the game! Like heat waves, lightning storms, and deep freezes. A perfect setting for Kevin to create a terrible, open plan prison with the electric chair in the middle of one huge room next to the showers. He trapped pretty much all of his builders by making them build rooms but forgetting to add doors; he forced everyone, minimum and maximum security, into the holding cell so they could fight and/or relieve themselves at their leisure; he encouraged the growth of the rat population, and was shocked when they started chewing through his wires and cutting his power constantly; and every time there was a massive storm of some description, he forced everyone out into the yard to experience it close up! This led to things like the janitor giving him $10,000 in cash for “getting through the calamity.” XD What got him in the end, though, was the hedge mazes he built at the edge of the yard, watched over by snipers to give prisoners the false illusion of escape. Mostly because, when the CEO called to tell him that he had to make sure that no one else died on a day with 29 deaths – the snipers SHOT SOMEONE DURING THE PHONE CALL, meaning Kevin instantly failed the challenge and got locked up in his own prison. And the guards had a VERY vested interest in not letting him out. XD Fantastic times from Sadist!Kevin!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – just two ask replies over on Valice Multiverse. Keepin’ it simple, which I appreciate.
At least the evening was good, and I got to watch some videos I quite enjoyed, yay~ Also have chocolate cream pie, thanks to it being my Mom's birthday and her deciding that's what she wanted for dessert. :) Now I just have to make it through one more day, and see what happens vis-a-vis the snow situation on Saturday. They're talking about a foot of snow, but it's supposed to be the light and fluffy kind, so -- small mercies? We'll see. . . Night all!
