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Updating Late Is A Theme This Week
Apr. 28th, 2022 11:42 pmThough annoyingly, part of the reason tonight is my parents needing to reset the router, which took a bit of time (as Mom also moved it to another part of the room). *sigh* So that didn't help matters! But I still got all my stuff done, which is good:
Work – Somewhat quieter – I spent a good chunk of the morning going through returned mail and just cleaning up my desk space – but there were some interruptions to my lunch break from people needing to update credit card stuff, and a slew of forwarded voicemails at the end of the day from one of the people in the back. And a not-great ride home, so. . . *grumps* At least tomorrow’s Friday!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with the Oxventure Stream “Leveling Up Live!” We got through the leveling up of Merilwen and Egbert today! Merilwen has gone all-in on magic – as I said yesterday, as a Druid in the Circle of the Moon, she had the option of taking a Feat this level-up, and grabbed “Wood Elf Magic,” which gives her a free Druid cantrip – a minor spell she can use whenever; she chose one that lets her carry around a flame or throw it at people for burning damage (looking for magical offense other than Moonbeam, essentially) – and two specific other spells, Longstrider (which allows her to temporarily increase the speed of whoever she touches) and Pass Without Trace (which allows her to shroud herself and essentially the entire rest of the party in darkness for a brief time, making them super-sneaky and untrackable – Johnny was like “this is going to ruin so many things” (affectionate) and Ellen reassured them “it only lasts an hour, make it take a while to get places” XD). And THEN she got her two ACTUAL spell choices for leveling up, and grabbed herself a spell that essentially makes a wall of bludgeoning wind (which can be freaking 50 feet long, 15 feet high, and a foot thick if she chooses!) and Stoneshape (allows her to manipulate stones and carve them into any shape she wishes, or make gaps in walls so long as they’re not more than five foot thick – or close UP said gaps with a hinged and latched door!). Many jokes were made about her making a “judo chop action” statue of Corazon, or using Stoneshape to make a loop and then Longstrider to get someone to do a Sonic spin through it. XD
And then it was Egbert’s turn! Egbert didn’t get quite as many fun abilities as a paladin, but he did get a couple of auras – one of protection that allows him to add +3 to the saving throw of anyone close enough to him (which he must be conscious to activate – Mike and Johnny both seemed to consider this a failing of the spell, given Egbert’s love of physical combat XD), and one of ancient magic, which halves spell damage for anyone close enough to him (this one he DOESN’T have to be conscious for, which, good? XD). And he only got one second-level spell – but the one he found, Find Steed, was frankly amazing. Basically he gets a free rideable ghost pet that is smart enough to hold a conversation (telepathically, even, if they’re within a mile of each other) and can back him up in combat! And, the best part? While “steed” implies “horse,” it very much does NOT have to be a horse. The examples in the book included a picture of an armored mastiff dog wearing a saddle, which Jane demanded to see after the leveling was done (Mike eventually brought it up on screen, aww), and was generally agreed to be the best option for Egbert to ride around on. Though Johnny was more than willing to leave “you can change the form of the steed each time you summon it” on the table. XD Tomorrow, we wrap up with Corazon and Prudence! Can’t wait to see what’s under their hats. . .
2. Continue writing “As Long As You Love Me”: Check – poor Victor continues to have the worst day of his life, as he is dragged out of his kidnap closet by his kidnapper, only to be informed that they have chosen to prove that he is indeed their kidnappee by cutting off one of his fingers to send to his parents. Victor is basically having a minor panic attack right now, as having his hands mutilated and thus possibly losing his ability to play the piano is one of his biggest fears. Fortunately, we’re already at the start of one of my previously-written bits, and he’s about to have the world’s bloodiest reprieve. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Technical check – it’s that time of the month when a new Wyrd Sisters Podcast comes out, and given this one is just under an hour, I’m holding it until the weekend. But I did get both the other Subs video and a couple of bonuses out of the way –
A) Started pre-workout, actually, with a quick fan-made Smiler video I hadn’t seen before, featuring the ride in all its glory edited to audio clips from the advertisements and Smiler Shop TV and all that. Just somebody having fun with the coaster and its themeing! :)
B) Then, this evening, we had the latest OXBox list – “7 Bosses That Were Immediately Killed by a Much Scarier Boss!” Those bosses who were going to be your next big battle – but instead were taken out by something a lot harder and tougher, lucky you. Like The Punisher in his 1993 arcade game going after Bruno, the mob boss he’s been chasing all game – only for said boss to get lasered and his final battle being against a “Guardroid” robot. Or the Cyclops in God of War: Chains of Olympus getting in one quick-time event against Kratos before the Basilisk terrorizing the city chomps it. Or M. Bison getting his ass kicked by Akuma right before the final fight in Street Fighter II Turbo – though THAT one you have to earn with a perfect speedrun of the game (you can’t have “continued” and you have to have reached Bison in under 25 minutes). Basically, never trust that the boss you see is the one you’re gonna fight. Especially if you’re playing No More Heroes – Hi Jeane! XD
C) And then it was over to Call Me Kevin for “Playing Steam Games NOBODY Plays!” Or, at least, that nobody is playing at the moment according to Steam’s stats. He did a pretty thorough trawl through these least-played games too, hitting no less than seven titles (plus one bonus):
The Island – A very poorly-optimized and animated survival game, where the only thing to do is climb rocks, kill lizards, and very briefly ride a leopard. Not that Kevin is good at surviving in these types of games anyway, but it says something when he wants to die out of BOREDOM.
The Narrator Is A Dick: Longer, Harder, And Uncut – This one actually looked good, and the comments confirmed that other YouTubers HAVE played it through! It’s basically one of those unfair “Kaizo Trap” platformers where anything can kill you at any moment, paired with a sarcastic Stanley Parable-esque narrator. If you find that kind of frustration amusing, especially while being snarked at, I’d check it out!
My Truck Game – I THINK this one is supposed to be about buying, repairing, and driving trucks, but Kevin was only able to get his character to drive around the desert landscape in a school bus. With the camera weirdly focused on the tires. Feels a bit Big Rigs Racing.
Scenner – This one looked like a horror game set on a spaceship, where the gimmick is you periodically enter these completely-black wibbly areas, and you have to navigate using your scanner’s pings and pongs and whatnot before you randomly die. Kevin only clicked on it because he thought the title was a typo, and wasn’t particularly impressed.
Super Man or Monster – More genuine fun! Eight-bit-ish style graphics as you take control of either a randomly-generated monster to destroy cities before they can fight back, or a man with the ability to summon tanks to take out the monster before it destroys the city. Kevin had a lot of fun playing as his randomly-generated Bowser rip-off “Hank,” smashing up Amsterdam before dying to Dublin, then did a quick tour of the guy taking on “Spank” and planting his flag on the ruins. Think this one deserves more love.
Flying Soldiers – A goofy little game where you have to direct your bird soldiers (freshly hatched at the start of each board) through various obstacle courses, setting up walls, springboards, and other things to steer them around or over obstacles. Another genuinely fun puzzle game, it looks like. . .
Timothy vs the Aliens – So fun, in fact, that Kevin decided to check out another game by the same people! This one’s an open-world platformer/shooter where you play as a 20s-style gangster who gets chosen to fight aliens. This one not only seems fun, it also looks cool – Timothy and his world are in noir black-and-white, while the aliens are all in bright technicolor. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of this one if Kevin wants to show it off again!
Dungeon Castle – And then we ended on a terrible game about being teleported to a castle and having to find code nodes so you could hack your way out? The description was not easy to parse, the game looked terrible, and Kevin’s attempt to fight the first enemy ended in a fatal crash. 10/10. XD
So yeah – number of genuinely terrible games, number of actually decent ones. Let’s see if any of the decent ones get a popularity spike from the video. . .
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – two ask replies over on Valice Multiverse! And I managed to do a tag trawl on Victor Luvs Alice tonight, and put a couple other VTMB things in my drafts for later. :) So that’s all good.
Okay, yeah, Kevin doing a multi-game video also probably didn't help my time management, given my note-taking. XD But it was a fun ride. And at least tomorrow's Friday -- just one more day to get through! Night all!
Work – Somewhat quieter – I spent a good chunk of the morning going through returned mail and just cleaning up my desk space – but there were some interruptions to my lunch break from people needing to update credit card stuff, and a slew of forwarded voicemails at the end of the day from one of the people in the back. And a not-great ride home, so. . . *grumps* At least tomorrow’s Friday!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with the Oxventure Stream “Leveling Up Live!” We got through the leveling up of Merilwen and Egbert today! Merilwen has gone all-in on magic – as I said yesterday, as a Druid in the Circle of the Moon, she had the option of taking a Feat this level-up, and grabbed “Wood Elf Magic,” which gives her a free Druid cantrip – a minor spell she can use whenever; she chose one that lets her carry around a flame or throw it at people for burning damage (looking for magical offense other than Moonbeam, essentially) – and two specific other spells, Longstrider (which allows her to temporarily increase the speed of whoever she touches) and Pass Without Trace (which allows her to shroud herself and essentially the entire rest of the party in darkness for a brief time, making them super-sneaky and untrackable – Johnny was like “this is going to ruin so many things” (affectionate) and Ellen reassured them “it only lasts an hour, make it take a while to get places” XD). And THEN she got her two ACTUAL spell choices for leveling up, and grabbed herself a spell that essentially makes a wall of bludgeoning wind (which can be freaking 50 feet long, 15 feet high, and a foot thick if she chooses!) and Stoneshape (allows her to manipulate stones and carve them into any shape she wishes, or make gaps in walls so long as they’re not more than five foot thick – or close UP said gaps with a hinged and latched door!). Many jokes were made about her making a “judo chop action” statue of Corazon, or using Stoneshape to make a loop and then Longstrider to get someone to do a Sonic spin through it. XD
And then it was Egbert’s turn! Egbert didn’t get quite as many fun abilities as a paladin, but he did get a couple of auras – one of protection that allows him to add +3 to the saving throw of anyone close enough to him (which he must be conscious to activate – Mike and Johnny both seemed to consider this a failing of the spell, given Egbert’s love of physical combat XD), and one of ancient magic, which halves spell damage for anyone close enough to him (this one he DOESN’T have to be conscious for, which, good? XD). And he only got one second-level spell – but the one he found, Find Steed, was frankly amazing. Basically he gets a free rideable ghost pet that is smart enough to hold a conversation (telepathically, even, if they’re within a mile of each other) and can back him up in combat! And, the best part? While “steed” implies “horse,” it very much does NOT have to be a horse. The examples in the book included a picture of an armored mastiff dog wearing a saddle, which Jane demanded to see after the leveling was done (Mike eventually brought it up on screen, aww), and was generally agreed to be the best option for Egbert to ride around on. Though Johnny was more than willing to leave “you can change the form of the steed each time you summon it” on the table. XD Tomorrow, we wrap up with Corazon and Prudence! Can’t wait to see what’s under their hats. . .
2. Continue writing “As Long As You Love Me”: Check – poor Victor continues to have the worst day of his life, as he is dragged out of his kidnap closet by his kidnapper, only to be informed that they have chosen to prove that he is indeed their kidnappee by cutting off one of his fingers to send to his parents. Victor is basically having a minor panic attack right now, as having his hands mutilated and thus possibly losing his ability to play the piano is one of his biggest fears. Fortunately, we’re already at the start of one of my previously-written bits, and he’s about to have the world’s bloodiest reprieve. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Technical check – it’s that time of the month when a new Wyrd Sisters Podcast comes out, and given this one is just under an hour, I’m holding it until the weekend. But I did get both the other Subs video and a couple of bonuses out of the way –
A) Started pre-workout, actually, with a quick fan-made Smiler video I hadn’t seen before, featuring the ride in all its glory edited to audio clips from the advertisements and Smiler Shop TV and all that. Just somebody having fun with the coaster and its themeing! :)
B) Then, this evening, we had the latest OXBox list – “7 Bosses That Were Immediately Killed by a Much Scarier Boss!” Those bosses who were going to be your next big battle – but instead were taken out by something a lot harder and tougher, lucky you. Like The Punisher in his 1993 arcade game going after Bruno, the mob boss he’s been chasing all game – only for said boss to get lasered and his final battle being against a “Guardroid” robot. Or the Cyclops in God of War: Chains of Olympus getting in one quick-time event against Kratos before the Basilisk terrorizing the city chomps it. Or M. Bison getting his ass kicked by Akuma right before the final fight in Street Fighter II Turbo – though THAT one you have to earn with a perfect speedrun of the game (you can’t have “continued” and you have to have reached Bison in under 25 minutes). Basically, never trust that the boss you see is the one you’re gonna fight. Especially if you’re playing No More Heroes – Hi Jeane! XD
C) And then it was over to Call Me Kevin for “Playing Steam Games NOBODY Plays!” Or, at least, that nobody is playing at the moment according to Steam’s stats. He did a pretty thorough trawl through these least-played games too, hitting no less than seven titles (plus one bonus):
The Island – A very poorly-optimized and animated survival game, where the only thing to do is climb rocks, kill lizards, and very briefly ride a leopard. Not that Kevin is good at surviving in these types of games anyway, but it says something when he wants to die out of BOREDOM.
The Narrator Is A Dick: Longer, Harder, And Uncut – This one actually looked good, and the comments confirmed that other YouTubers HAVE played it through! It’s basically one of those unfair “Kaizo Trap” platformers where anything can kill you at any moment, paired with a sarcastic Stanley Parable-esque narrator. If you find that kind of frustration amusing, especially while being snarked at, I’d check it out!
My Truck Game – I THINK this one is supposed to be about buying, repairing, and driving trucks, but Kevin was only able to get his character to drive around the desert landscape in a school bus. With the camera weirdly focused on the tires. Feels a bit Big Rigs Racing.
Scenner – This one looked like a horror game set on a spaceship, where the gimmick is you periodically enter these completely-black wibbly areas, and you have to navigate using your scanner’s pings and pongs and whatnot before you randomly die. Kevin only clicked on it because he thought the title was a typo, and wasn’t particularly impressed.
Super Man or Monster – More genuine fun! Eight-bit-ish style graphics as you take control of either a randomly-generated monster to destroy cities before they can fight back, or a man with the ability to summon tanks to take out the monster before it destroys the city. Kevin had a lot of fun playing as his randomly-generated Bowser rip-off “Hank,” smashing up Amsterdam before dying to Dublin, then did a quick tour of the guy taking on “Spank” and planting his flag on the ruins. Think this one deserves more love.
Flying Soldiers – A goofy little game where you have to direct your bird soldiers (freshly hatched at the start of each board) through various obstacle courses, setting up walls, springboards, and other things to steer them around or over obstacles. Another genuinely fun puzzle game, it looks like. . .
Timothy vs the Aliens – So fun, in fact, that Kevin decided to check out another game by the same people! This one’s an open-world platformer/shooter where you play as a 20s-style gangster who gets chosen to fight aliens. This one not only seems fun, it also looks cool – Timothy and his world are in noir black-and-white, while the aliens are all in bright technicolor. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of this one if Kevin wants to show it off again!
Dungeon Castle – And then we ended on a terrible game about being teleported to a castle and having to find code nodes so you could hack your way out? The description was not easy to parse, the game looked terrible, and Kevin’s attempt to fight the first enemy ended in a fatal crash. 10/10. XD
So yeah – number of genuinely terrible games, number of actually decent ones. Let’s see if any of the decent ones get a popularity spike from the video. . .
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – two ask replies over on Valice Multiverse! And I managed to do a tag trawl on Victor Luvs Alice tonight, and put a couple other VTMB things in my drafts for later. :) So that’s all good.
Okay, yeah, Kevin doing a multi-game video also probably didn't help my time management, given my note-taking. XD But it was a fun ride. And at least tomorrow's Friday -- just one more day to get through! Night all!
