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deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:15:40 AM3/12/07
to
PLAY:

Wermz (360)
Yes, it's NOT QUITE RIGHT, but it's STILL OK. I've played a lot of offline
multiplayer, a bit of online multiplayer (I was beaten by Beck :O - oh noes!)
and lots and lots of Level 13 on Challenge Mode. I'm up to 17 now, and just
have the one achievement left. Aces.

Speaking of Aces...

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)
As well as *being* aces, Kyle *says* "aces"! Which makes it *even more aces*!
Aces! It's a great game. Slow and plodding, and very text heavy, but if you
approach it like an interactive mystery novel rather than a game, it doesn't
bother you and is totally fantastic.

Kirby Squeak Squad (DS)
Completed it last week, but I'm still playing to 100% it. I have about 90-odd
of the 120 chests now found.

Wii Sports (Wii)
With my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. She "doesn't do games" as she
"doesn't see the point". The best I've managed in the past, is a few goes on
stuff like Brain Age and Cooking Mama. She needed a bit of convincing to play
Wii Sports, not least because you don't just "play" - you "perform", but
finally got really into it. So much so, that she then announced that *she
wants to get a Wii*. You probably can't understand the importance of this
statement. It's like Hell didn't just freeze over, but Satan was wearing a
woolly hat and ice skating over The Frozen Fires whistling Walking In A Winter
Wonderland.

WANT:

SoTN on the 360. I fear I'm getting the Lack Of CV Shakes, and I don't like
it!
Lots more DS games that I don't yet have.

BIN:

Root Beer Tapper. Urgh.

deKay
--
Lofi Gaming - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk
Gaming Diary - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary
Blog - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/blog
My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that

Chris Stevens

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:33:03 AM3/12/07
to
"deKay" <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote in message
news:iu5av297kqhgc3sqa...@4ax.com...
> PLAY:

Crackdown (360)
Finally crumbled and gave this some serious time, after a couple of weeks of
trying to get some of my older games played. It really is good, isn't it?
Lots of leaping around, agility maxed out and agency tower climbed (with
only a couple of fatal tumbles along the way).
Stood up by DBSnappa last night for an attempt at co-op, but took the time
to clear a few more of the Volk bosses. ;)

Worms (360)
I'd never played 4-player online worms before. I have now. It's great.

Geometry Wars (360)
I fired this up again on a whim, and did appalingly. Barely broke 200k.

> WANT:

Brian Lara International Cricket (360)
The demo still leaves a lot of lingering doubts (especially the age-old Lara
problem of being able to smack the ball all over the place but being
virtually impossible to play subtle strokes), but I still want it. Online
play is a big draw.
Oh, but doesn't it look absolutely ugly as hell? Yack.

> BIN:

Decorating (RL)
It was the turn of my daughters bedroom this weekend, so I spent much of
yesterday trying to remove bright pink paint from my person. Only one more
room to do now, and hopefully that'll be it for a few years.


Chris.

GT: SomethingWitty


Chris Whitworth

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:39:37 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12, deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote:
> PLAY:

FF7 (PSP) - Not much to say. It's still great.

FF3 (DS) - I broke and ordered this last week. The combat mechanism seems
restrictive compared to the ATB of FF7 or the "real-time" combat of FF12 but
I'm only a little way in so haven't explored it fully. Also, I see what the
reviews mean when they say it's too easy to wander off and get killed early
on in the game. Twice in the first half hour == pissed off Chris. So far, I
like it but I don't love it.

Phoenix Wright 2 (DS) - Have I forgotten how to play this, or is it much, much
harder than the first one? There were very few points in the first game where
you had to stop talking to someone, go back and come back later with more
evidence. Not that this is a bad thing, just takes a bit of getting used to.
Also, apparently, Maya is 18, so: would. Her and her sister. At the same time.

Super Grandparent Visitor Alpha Upper Extreme 3 (RL) - took up most of
saturday => no gaming time. Boo.

> WANT:

> Wermz (360)
- but i'm trying to buy any new games at the moment, as I have an enormous
pile of unfinished stuff I want to get through.

More time.

Blue Dragon (360) - I think. I'm currently experiencing a lot of lub for JRPGs.
Although I sort of wish someone would do one with the same kind of combat
mechanics and all that, but without the irritating cutesy big-head spikey-hair
anime-ness. FF12 comes close, but the characters are still /annoying/.

> Speaking of Aces...
>
> Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)
> As well as *being* aces, Kyle *says* "aces"! Which makes it *even more aces*!
> Aces! It's a great game. Slow and plodding, and very text heavy, but if you
> approach it like an interactive mystery novel rather than a game, it doesn't
> bother you and is totally fantastic.

SEE TOLD YOU. You'll get to the end and not want it to be the end, too.

> BIN:

Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
cave in the second village.

Chris
--
Gamertag: parm * BRING BACK BLUE SKY IN GAMES *

"Back when I was young, we had to travel back in time to put the tape in so
the game would load before we died."

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:44:37 AM3/12/07
to
deKay wrote:
> PLAY:

Hitman Blood Money (360) - Completed! On Expert difficulty! Still only have 185
achievement points! It's not given me the achievements for buying all the
upgrades to any of my guns, even though I have bought them all for the
silverballer and shotgun. Either it's bugged and I'm never going to get the
points, or there are secret, invisible upgrades I can unlock somehow. Anyone
know? Anyway, this is a truly excellent game that everyone should play and I
want a sequel now, please. It's one game that could really do with a yearly,
mission-pack update.

Worms (360) - I'm so torn on this. Part of me hates it for being a very cut-down
version of a decade-old game. Part of me loves it, because it's a version of a
decade-old game that I love. When I can see it as its own thing and not compare
it with the mighty Worms 2, I have a great time.

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (PSP) - Had this for ages, but only got round to
starting it yesterday. It's really, really, really good. It's not explained very
well - I've had to experiment and make use of both the manual and even, Lord
help me, my own brain - but I think I'm doing okay now. I've finished the first
chapter and sent lots of artifacts and one hero back to Odin to fight the war
upstairs. If you look at it in terms of mechanics, it makes for a rubbish
handheld game. The structure is half an hour of cut scene, half half an hour of
dungeon, repeat. There's not often a save point during the cut scene sections
and only one save point in most dungeons, just before the boss. Somehow,
though, it all just works. The story bits are very good and the battle mechanics
and side-scrolling dungeons (with visible enemies) are great fun. And there are
a million things to level up and lots of items to make and all that pointless
guff that somehow improves RPGs no end. Even the brand new PSP-only CGI
sequences are really lovely. I put about six hours in yesterday and I really
want to complete this. (Though I'm playing on Normal difficulty and it seems you
can actually get the best ending without playing on Hard and using a FAQ,
neither of which appeals, so by "complete" I mean "see an ending".) I'm not
surprised it's been regarded as a lost classic on the Playstation. It's awesome.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) - I got the first ending at the weekend, then
got past that and am now in a difficult, annoying painting-crawl section. I've
run out of healing items and haven't got much I can sell to buy more. I'm not
sure if I'll ever play again, but it's not binned quite yet.

> WANT:

To get my arse down to Gamestation to see how much trade-in value I'm going to
get for all these games I've got sitting around waiting to go. It's just going
to take ages and be disappointing, so I've been putting it off.

I'm also now wanting a PS3 on launch day and wish I could have afforded to go
with Game. They have launch day machines, they're much closer to where I live, I
have a reward card - but their trade-in values are meant to be far worse than
Gamestation's.

GRAW 2 and Rainbow 6: Vegas (360) - Neither demo was really very inspiring, but
people playing them make them both sound excellent, so I've started wanting both
of these.

Valkyrie Profile 2 (PS2) - Have to see if there's any sign of (a) a UK release
and (b) it being compatible with the PS3. Or, you know, I could just import a
copy and play it on my PS2. I'll worry about that when I've finished with
Lenneth, though.

> BIN:

Potrait of Ruin deciding no longer to put teleport sites near boss doors, so I
can't just nip back to the shop without running through lots of rooms full of
bad guys.

--
Xbox Live Gamertag: That Rev Chap
http://www.inverty.com

Stewart Smith

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Mar 12, 2007, 5:46:58 AM3/12/07
to
deKay wrote:
> PLAY:
>

Twilight Princess (Wii): Finally got back to this after a couple of
weeks off. In the desert dungeon now, got a bit stuck trying to get into
the place until I realised I could evqr gur obne. Now I'm stuck again in
the dungeon but I'm sure I'll work it out.

Children of Mana (DS): I'd have played more of this but my flatmate
keeps running the batteries down on my DS Lite while I'm at work. She's
played 25+ hours, I've done about 8. Well she'll have to whistle for it
when I go to Japan with it next week.

>
> WANT:
>

Hotel Dusk by the sounds of it.

Any recommendations for things to buy in Japan? We're staying about 5
minutes walk away from Akihabara. In particular any recent movies that
will have English subtitles on the DVD. Last time I was over (3 years
back) I got the Takeshi Kitano version of Zatoichi.

>
> BIN:
>

A job interview which is likely to be on the monday after I return from
Japan on the saturday.

Stewart

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

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Mar 12, 2007, 5:47:46 AM3/12/07
to
Chris Whitworth the Monkey was never naughty:

>
> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
> cave in the second village.

It sounds to me like you may be rushing it a little. To give an
indication - it took me three hours of playtime to get to the opening
titles (after beating the djinn). Take your time, look forward to random
battles as being free XP. It's ACES!

Choobs

--
Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org>
http://www.nelefa.org - Gaming and Ramblings from the Shiny part of the world

Abu the monkey was never naughty.

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:46:18 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des 12 Mar 2007
09:39:37 GMT, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do uk.games.video.misc,
yawatina tan reek esk Chris Whitworth <usenet...@parm.net> fornis do
marikano es bono tan el:

>> Speaking of Aces...
>>
>> Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)
>> As well as *being* aces, Kyle *says* "aces"! Which makes it *even more aces*!
>> Aces! It's a great game. Slow and plodding, and very text heavy, but if you
>> approach it like an interactive mystery novel rather than a game, it doesn't
>> bother you and is totally fantastic.
>
>SEE TOLD YOU. You'll get to the end and not want it to be the end, too.

Hey! I didn't say you were wrong!

>Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
>cave in the second village.

I really need to start FFI, so I can play FFII and then FFIII. But
Castlevania, you know? I'm having a mini "Kirby episode" at the moment too.

GAME MAKERS! Instantly increase the amount of time I can play games for, by
simply refusing to release games for the next 18 months!

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:50:25 AM3/12/07
to
The Rev the Monkey was never naughty:

>
> Potrait of Ruin deciding no longer to put teleport sites near boss doors, so I
> can't just nip back to the shop without running through lots of rooms full of
> bad guys.

You're not allowed to complain about the difficulty of a castlevania
game until you've played Circle of the Moon. There Is No Shop.

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:51:36 AM3/12/07
to
Stewart Smith the Monkey was never naughty:

> minutes walk away from Akihabara. In particular any recent movies that
> will have English subtitles on the DVD. Last time I was over (3 years
> back) I got the Takeshi Kitano version of Zatoichi.

The Host.


That is all.

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:52:18 AM3/12/07
to
Sir Chewbury Gubbins wrote:
> The Rev the Monkey was never naughty:
>> Potrait of Ruin deciding no longer to put teleport sites near boss doors, so I
>> can't just nip back to the shop without running through lots of rooms full of
>> bad guys.
>
> You're not allowed to complain about the difficulty of a castlevania
> game until you've played Circle of the Moon. There Is No Shop.

I played that when it first came out, sat on the sofa with a spotlight shining
on to my GBA. I got to Dracula but never managed to kill him.

Kendrick Kerwin Chua

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:53:23 AM3/12/07
to
In article <iu5av297kqhgc3sqa...@4ax.com>,
deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote:
>PLAY:

Phantasy Star Universe (PS2) - Online Episode 2 missions are now not only
silly, but borderline insulting. Past segments would at least have the
other NPC characters address you by name, with the usual text bubble
substitution. This most recent update includes a mission where no other
character appears to acknowledge your presence in any way, except during
combat. Professional writers needed, please.

Wizardry Tale of the Forsaken Land (PS2) - I'm almost at the end, although
I feel like I've missed out on half the game. According to one of the FAQ
documents, it's possible to slog through the game as an evil character and
actively resist earning the trust and loyalty of your party members.

RPG Maker II (PS2) - Just long enough to realize that there's no casual
way to build an RPG, at least not in the hour before dinnertime. I'm led
to believe RPG Maker III is more friendly in that regard.

Chu Chu Rocket (GBA) - I've finally caught up with my previous state of
completed levels. Now all I need is a few hundred extra IQ points to get
past this last puzzle.

GBA Movie Player (GBA) - It's the superior Compact Flash version, of
course. As I feared, this thing refuses to work properly on the GB Micro,
no doubt due to Nintendo's clever anti-piracy hardware tricks. So the SP
gets put back into action so I can have the entire SMS library with me on
my hip. Woo!

Xbox Live (360) - Just on long enough to download the latest patch and
make sure the Daylight Saving nonsense is working. Not that you guys
living in the land of GMT have to worry about that.

>WANT:

Shining Force EXA (PS2) - I'm such a fanboy. I honestly don't care if it's
any good, I just want to be able to say that I own every Shining Force
game. They could sell me Shining Force dog food at this point and I would
likely buy it.

>BIN:

Compulsory weekend work hours to address a technical problem that didn't
exist until the American government decided that people should get up
earlier and go to bed earlier (RL) - I think if my government knew when
people worked and for how long, they might actually realise what an
ineffectual law they've created.

-KKC, who wonders if the Japanese game company Illusion ever made console
games.
--
-- ...Durante la batalla, espias rebeldes lograron robar - kendrick
los planos secretos del arma mas extrema del Imperio, - @io.com
la ESTRELLA DE LA MUERTE, una estacion espacial blindada -
con suficiente potencia para destruir un planeta entero. -

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:52:16 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
2007 09:44:37 +0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk The Rev
<the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>Potrait of Ruin deciding no longer to put teleport sites near boss doors, so I
>can't just nip back to the shop without running through lots of rooms full of
>bad guys.

Eh? Most of the boss doors have teleport doors pretty close to them. They
certainly all have save points, which mean you don't need to waste any potions
healing yourself before the boss.

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:55:18 AM3/12/07
to
Chris Whitworth wrote:
>
> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
> cave in the second village.

I agree. I was sent to a castle early on, so decided to have a poke round, only
to find one tower full of enemies that killed me very dead. I'm not sure whether
I'd not levelled enough before getting to the castle or whether the game
expected me to come back to the castle later.

Anyway, I've put the game on hold for now and will restart at a later date when
I'm feeling warmer towards it.

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:57:26 AM3/12/07
to
deKay the Monkey was never naughty:
> PLAY:

Final Fantasy III (DS) - about 3.5 hours in and I've just ran away from
a big dragon and got a new spell called "mini" which does what it says
on the tin. I'm finding the blank screen pauses before entering combat
alittle annoying now, but not overly so. Still an ACE game.

Castlevania - Circle of the Moon (GBA) - ZOMG! It's a bit tricky! got
two bosses down and covered about 30% of the map. The machine tower is
just fecking evil - I really hate medusa heads. The lack of shop makes
the whole thing much more challenging too, as does the insane decision
to NOT replenish your health on defeating a boss :-/ Leaving the room
where I fought the Necromancer with 1HP and trying to get back to the
save room without anything even looking at me was nerve wracking in the
extreme.

> WANT:

Looking forward to Super Smash Bros Brawl, I guess. I'm just too busy
getting through things I already own.

> BIN:

The missus having the lurgi at the weekend - no outdoor adventures for
me.

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 5:58:00 AM3/12/07
to
deKay wrote:
> <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:
>
>> Potrait of Ruin deciding no longer to put teleport sites near boss doors, so I
>> can't just nip back to the shop without running through lots of rooms full of
>> bad guys.
>
> Eh? Most of the boss doors have teleport doors pretty close to them. They
> certainly all have save points, which mean you don't need to waste any potions
> healing yourself before the boss.

The Creature's nearest teleport was many rooms away and I've got to the boss in
the next painting without finding a single teleport room anywhere in the
painting. I'm sure there are a couple, but they're not close, wherever they are.

There are save points, but that doesn't help when you've reached the boss with
one tonic and a cup of coffee.

Chris Stevens

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:00:41 AM3/12/07
to
"The Rev" <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:55kloaF...@mid.individual.net...
>
> > WANT:

>
> GRAW 2 and Rainbow 6: Vegas (360) - Neither demo was really very
inspiring, but
> people playing them make them both sound excellent, so I've started
wanting both
> of these.

I can't directly comment on GRAW 2 (though I got the impression that it
didn't add a tremendous amount beyond the original), but my considered
opinion of RS:V is that if you have any interest in playing it online
(whether that be co-op or adversarial) it is pretty much essential. If
you're only looking for a single player experience, though, I'd advise
caution. It is good, and the cover system adds a lot to the overall sneaky
feeling of things, *but* the missions are a bit samey. The plot is unlikely
to keep you gripped, so you'll need to make your own motivation for clearing
out yet another roomful of terrorists, and when you've just done 17 similar
rooms/open spaces, then you might find that motivation hard to come by.

Chris.

GT: SomethingWitty

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:01:07 AM3/12/07
to
The Rev the Monkey was never naughty:

> Chris Whitworth wrote:
>>
>> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
>> cave in the second village.
>
> I agree. I was sent to a castle early on, so decided to have a poke round, only
> to find one tower full of enemies that killed me very dead. I'm not sure whether
> I'd not levelled enough before getting to the castle or whether the game
> expected me to come back to the castle later.
>
> Anyway, I've put the game on hold for now and will restart at a later date when
> I'm feeling warmer towards it.

Oh come on - you can't have been more than level 5 and someone said
"there's an uber sword at the top of a tower" and you thought it would
be easy? :) Random battles aren't an annoyance in FF games, they're a
neccessary thing - you actually have to go out and LOOK for them to get
a few levels up - trust me, it'll make the game much easier. I haven't
had a single occurance of being horribly ganked by something too
powerful yet.

Just take your time, do a little bit of levelling, and you'll be fine.

Shak

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:02:24 AM3/12/07
to
"Chris Whitworth" <usenet...@parm.net> wrote in message
news:slrneva7up.v6...@parm.vs.topper.me.uk...

>
> Phoenix Wright 2 (DS) - Have I forgotten how to play this, or is it much,
> much
> harder than the first one? There were very few points in the first game
> where
> you had to stop talking to someone, go back and come back later with more
> evidence. Not that this is a bad thing, just takes a bit of getting used
> to.
> Also, apparently, Maya is 18, so: would. Her and her sister. At the same
> time.
>

It is harder. And the triggering items/witnesses clues were sometimes pretty
tenuous; I fell into a routine of saving-trying-rebooting towards the end,
since I just wasn't getting it right in the same way I was 1.

And also: Mia in clothes way too small for her makes me happy.

Shak


Chris Whitworth

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:07:11 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12, Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org> wrote:
> Chris Whitworth the Monkey was never naughty:
>>
>> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
>> cave in the second village.
>
> It sounds to me like you may be rushing it a little. To give an
> indication - it took me three hours of playtime to get to the opening
> titles (after beating the djinn). Take your time, look forward to random
> battles as being free XP. It's ACES!

Not rushing - just exploring. It might have been nice if there was a sign
outside the cave that said "Don't come in here until you're level 10 or
higher".

Chris Whitworth

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:09:16 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12, The Rev <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Chris Whitworth wrote:
>>
>> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
>> cave in the second village.
>
> I agree. I was sent to a castle early on, so decided to have a poke round, only
> to find one tower full of enemies that killed me very dead. I'm not sure whether
> I'd not levelled enough before getting to the castle or whether the game
> expected me to come back to the castle later.

The eastern tower was doable. Most of the western tower was doable, except for
the fucking gryphon thing at the top that killed me very dead, too. That was
the second time it'd happened, so I turned it off for a while and went back
to Phoenix Wright.

Chris Whitworth

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:11:00 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12, Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org> wrote:
> The Rev the Monkey was never naughty:
>> Chris Whitworth wrote:
>>>
>>> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
>>> cave in the second village.
>>
>> I agree. I was sent to a castle early on, so decided to have a poke round, only
>> to find one tower full of enemies that killed me very dead. I'm not sure whether
>> I'd not levelled enough before getting to the castle or whether the game
>> expected me to come back to the castle later.
>>
>> Anyway, I've put the game on hold for now and will restart at a later date when
>> I'm feeling warmer towards it.
>
> Oh come on - you can't have been more than level 5 and someone said
> "there's an uber sword at the top of a tower" and you thought it would

No-one said there was an uber-sword there, this was just exploring. You get
sent to the castle, you're free to wander around, you wander up the tower
before you're meant to and get splatted. If you're not meant to go there,
they should either warn you, or lock the door, or something, rather than
killing you dead and losing half an hour of playtime.

Chris Whitworth

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:13:08 AM3/12/07
to

Yeah, I've been doing that more than the first one, which is a shame.

> And also: Mia in clothes way too small for her makes me happy.

IAWTP.

Kendrick Kerwin Chua

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:15:51 AM3/12/07
to
In article <slrneva9if.v6...@parm.vs.topper.me.uk>,

Chris Whitworth <usenet...@parm.net> wrote:
>
>Not rushing - just exploring. It might have been nice if there was a sign
>outside the cave that said "Don't come in here until you're level 10 or
>higher".

Lacking that kind of warning mechanism is very old school. The ancient PC
RPG titles didn't let you recover from a mistake, they killed you dead and
then forced you to reload from a previous save. But to your point, I
remember from Shining Force Neo that there were warning signs everywhere
which actually blocked the motion of your character. The number of hits it
took to destroy the sign would be a good indication of the strength of the
enemies in the dungeon area beyond.

-KKC, enjoying the dulcet baritone readings of Garrison Keillor.

Stewart Smith

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:17:21 AM3/12/07
to
Sir Chewbury Gubbins wrote:
> Stewart Smith the Monkey was never naughty:
>> minutes walk away from Akihabara. In particular any recent movies that
>> will have English subtitles on the DVD. Last time I was over (3 years
>> back) I got the Takeshi Kitano version of Zatoichi.
>
> The Host.
>
>
> That is all.

It's out on DVD here already, I'll be buying it shortly. It's also not
Japanese... Paprika is a possibility if it's out on DVD. Maybe Tokyo
Zombie, though from Yes Asia it doesn't look like it's subtitled.

Stewart

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:17:21 AM3/12/07
to
Chris Whitworth wrote:
> On 2007-03-12, Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org> wrote:
>> Oh come on - you can't have been more than level 5 and someone said
>> "there's an uber sword at the top of a tower" and you thought it would
>
> No-one said there was an uber-sword there, this was just exploring. You get
> sent to the castle, you're free to wander around, you wander up the tower
> before you're meant to and get splatted. If you're not meant to go there,
> they should either warn you, or lock the door, or something, rather than
> killing you dead and losing half an hour of playtime.

Exactly. I just had a bit of an explore - I always look round new locations when
I get there and thought the castle would be safe, like a town - everything was
fine, then, suddenly, SPLAT!

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:18:56 AM3/12/07
to
Chris Whitworth the Monkey was never naughty:

> On 2007-03-12, Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org> wrote:
>> The Rev the Monkey was never naughty:
>>> Chris Whitworth wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an obvious-looking
>>>> cave in the second village.
>>>
>>> I agree. I was sent to a castle early on, so decided to have a poke round, only
>>> to find one tower full of enemies that killed me very dead. I'm not sure whether
>>> I'd not levelled enough before getting to the castle or whether the game
>>> expected me to come back to the castle later.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I've put the game on hold for now and will restart at a later date when
>>> I'm feeling warmer towards it.
>>
>> Oh come on - you can't have been more than level 5 and someone said
>> "there's an uber sword at the top of a tower" and you thought it would
>
> No-one said there was an uber-sword there, this was just exploring. You get
> sent to the castle, you're free to wander around, you wander up the tower
> before you're meant to and get splatted. If you're not meant to go there,
> they should either warn you, or lock the door, or something, rather than
> killing you dead and losing half an hour of playtime.

You do know that holding L + R lets you run away, yeah?

Discretion being the better part of valour and all that ;-)

Zomoniac

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:19:19 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12 09:15:40 +0000, deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> said:

> PLAY:
>
> Wermz (360)

That be it. Slowly progressing through challenge mode. For some reason
it took me about 10 attempts to do challenge five, but then got from
six to twelve in about half an hour without a hitch. So good, yet so
frustrating. Why yesterday did it take one CPU Worm 55 seconds to
decide to skip his go. It's stupid.

> WANT:

Virtua Tennis 3, God Of War 2, time. A house.

> BIN:

The price of hice.


--
Zo

Zomoniac

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:20:10 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12 10:02:24 +0000, "Shak" <m...@privacy.net> said:
>
> And also: Mia in clothes way too small for her makes me happy.

Ne'er were truer words spoken.


--
Zo

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:22:25 AM3/12/07
to
Sir Chewbury Gubbins wrote:
> Random battles aren't an annoyance in FF games, they're a
> neccessary thing - you actually have to go out and LOOK for them to get
> a few levels up - trust me, it'll make the game much easier. I haven't
> had a single occurance of being horribly ganked by something too
> powerful yet.

I don't mind random battles - that's basically all the first game was and I've
completed that and enjoyed it greatly - but FF3 just seemed all wrong. It seems
a lot stingier with healing and resurrection items, from what I remember, and
places incredibly hard enemies in places where you'd expect you'd be able to go.
I lost more progress than I made while playing, which isn't a good balance.
Also, the first game was much kinder to you when you were wiped out - FF3 just
kills you.

Chris Stevens

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:22:42 AM3/12/07
to
"Zomoniac" <the_pro...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:55knqpF...@mid.individual.net...

> On 2007-03-12 10:02:24 +0000, "Shak" <m...@privacy.net> said:
> >
> > And also: Mia in clothes way too small for her makes me happy.
>
> Ne'er were truer words spoken.
>

But surely *all* clothes are too small for her, with her gigantic baboons.

Chris.

GT: SomethingWitty


hurricanepilot

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:23:59 AM3/12/07
to
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:44:37 +0000, The Rev
<the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>deKay wrote:
>> PLAY:
>
>Hitman Blood Money (360) - Completed! On Expert difficulty! Still only have 185
>achievement points! It's not given me the achievements for buying all the
>upgrades to any of my guns, even though I have bought them all for the
>silverballer and shotgun. Either it's bugged and I'm never going to get the
>points, or there are secret, invisible upgrades I can unlock somehow. Anyone
>know? Anyway, this is a truly excellent game that everyone should play and I
>want a sequel now, please. It's one game that could really do with a yearly,
>mission-pack update.


Just about my favourite game of last year. I went a little spaz on it
and got the full 1000G. As for the upgrades, you need to complete a
mission with the upgrades in place before it'll register iirc.

Now that you know how to get through the game, you can actually
complete the whole thing pretty quickly on the other difficulty
levels. It took me ages to complete it on the highest difficulty, then
I completed the whole of the Expert level in a 3-4 hour sitting. Some
levels you can complete in just a few minutes.

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:24:14 AM3/12/07
to
Zomoniac wrote:
> On 2007-03-12 09:15:40 +0000, deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> said:
>
>> PLAY:
>>
>> Wermz (360)
>
> That be it. Slowly progressing through challenge mode. For some reason
> it took me about 10 attempts to do challenge five, but then got from six
> to twelve in about half an hour without a hitch. So good, yet so
> frustrating. Why yesterday did it take one CPU Worm 55 seconds to decide
> to skip his go. It's stupid.

I agree. Why are the AI worms taking as long to decide what to do on the 360 as
they did on a 266Mhz Pentium II, eh?

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:27:40 AM3/12/07
to
hurricanepilot wrote:
> <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hitman Blood Money (360)

>
> Just about my favourite game of last year. I went a little spaz on it
> and got the full 1000G. As for the upgrades, you need to complete a
> mission with the upgrades in place before it'll register iirc.

Ah, okay. Cheers. I don't think I've ever taken any guns apart from the
silverballers to a mission - the shotgun I just upgraded to see if I'd get the
achievement.

> Now that you know how to get through the game, you can actually
> complete the whole thing pretty quickly on the other difficulty
> levels. It took me ages to complete it on the highest difficulty, then
> I completed the whole of the Expert level in a 3-4 hour sitting. Some
> levels you can complete in just a few minutes.

It's funny how after two hours of playing around in a level it says "Completion
Time: 7m 27s". Was it really that short?

I'd also like to find a way to do the levels more cleanly. On my run through I
only got one Silent Assassin rating, in the opera house. Everything else was
much more messy.

Chris Stevens

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:28:30 AM3/12/07
to
"The Rev" <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:55ko2jF...@mid.individual.net...

> >>
> >> Wermz (360)
> >
> > That be it. Slowly progressing through challenge mode. For some reason
> > it took me about 10 attempts to do challenge five, but then got from six
> > to twelve in about half an hour without a hitch. So good, yet so
> > frustrating. Why yesterday did it take one CPU Worm 55 seconds to decide
> > to skip his go. It's stupid.
>
> I agree. Why are the AI worms taking as long to decide what to do on the
360 as
> they did on a 266Mhz Pentium II, eh?

I think we need a debate about computing power, complexity of AI and
probably some buses. ;)

Chris.

GT: SomethingWitty


Zomoniac

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:35:10 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12 10:22:42 +0000, "Chris Stevens"
<ne...@thestevensfamily.plus.com> said:

That is true. But Maya's give her something else entirely.

--
Zo

Chris Whitworth

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:36:41 AM3/12/07
to

Zomoniac

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:39:06 AM3/12/07
to

I ignored the other thread, as I shall do this one if it goes down that
road again.

But what annoys me even more is that it's so ludicrously inconsistent.
Against the same level opposition the CPU worms seem to either shoot
themselves in the face with a bazooka, put dynamite next to me and then
stand on top of it, or fire a bazooka into the wind across the level at
such an angle that it blows up a barrel, sending two of my worms
sliding down a cliff to my other two worms, where they all land on a
mine and blow up. It never seems to be anything other than intolerably
stupid or intolerably good.

--
Zo

Zomoniac

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:41:00 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12 10:36:41 +0000, Chris Whitworth <usenet...@parm.net> said:

> On 2007-03-12, Chris Stevens <ne...@thestevensfamily.plus.com> wrote:
>> "Zomoniac" <the_pro...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:55knqpF...@mid.individual.net...
>>> On 2007-03-12 10:02:24 +0000, "Shak" <m...@privacy.net> said:
>>>>
>>>> And also: Mia in clothes way too small for her makes me happy.
>>>
>>> Ne'er were truer words spoken.
>>>
>>
>> But surely *all* clothes are too small for her, with her gigantic baboons.
>
> http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=1797379
>
> Chris

ARSE! I've been waiting for months to find the opportune moment to use
that and then missed it.

--
Zo

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:47:59 AM3/12/07
to
Zomoniac wrote:
>
> But what annoys me even more is that it's so ludicrously inconsistent.
> Against the same level opposition the CPU worms seem to either shoot
> themselves in the face with a bazooka, put dynamite next to me and then
> stand on top of it, or fire a bazooka into the wind across the level at
> such an angle that it blows up a barrel, sending two of my worms sliding
> down a cliff to my other two worms, where they all land on a mine and
> blow up. It never seems to be anything other than intolerably stupid or
> intolerably good.

I had an opposition worm through a grenade hard into the ground last night,
which looked like an AI mistake, except it bounced up and back and landed right
on one of my worms, killing him. No human would ever, ever have been able to do
that.

hurricanepilot

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:49:19 AM3/12/07
to
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:27:40 +0000, The Rev
<the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>hurricanepilot wrote:
>> <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hitman Blood Money (360)
>

>It's funny how after two hours of playing around in a level it says "Completion
>Time: 7m 27s". Was it really that short?
>
>I'd also like to find a way to do the levels more cleanly. On my run through I
>only got one Silent Assassin rating, in the opera house. Everything else was
>much more messy.

On the toughest difficulty, it's suicide to try for anything other
than SA ranks. Most guards will even take shots at you when you have a
hostage, and you only need to get shot a couple of times and you're
dead.

Funnily enough, the Opera House level was the one that took me the
longest to get SA on, as I always had 1 witness at the end of the
mission, even though the indicator never went red.

Zomoniac

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:53:35 AM3/12/07
to

Yup, I've had one or two instances of grenades being thrown against
objects, with the timer adjusted so it doesn't even have to land near
me, just blows up in my face as it bounces past. It's very annoying.

--
Zo

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:50:25 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
2007 09:58:00 +0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk The Rev
<the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>The Creature's nearest teleport was many rooms away and I've got to the boss in
>the next painting without finding a single teleport room anywhere in the
>painting. I'm sure there are a couple, but they're not close, wherever they are.
>
>There are save points, but that doesn't help when you've reached the boss with
>one tonic and a cup of coffee.

I don't understand why you've got no money all the time. You do sell your old
weapons and armour, yes? I was fully stocked up with potions and stuff pretty
much all the time, and didn't use (or sell) any of the cakes, meals and drinks
that I found (what the hell do they do, anyway?)

The only times I went on money hunts were for the Lucky 7s and No Money
quests.

deKay
--
Lofi Gaming - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk
Gaming Diary - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary
Blog - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/blog
My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:52:42 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
2007 10:19:19 +0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk Zomoniac
<the_pro...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>That be it. Slowly progressing through challenge mode. For some reason
>it took me about 10 attempts to do challenge five, but then got from
>six to twelve in about half an hour without a hitch. So good, yet so
>frustrating. Why yesterday did it take one CPU Worm 55 seconds to
>decide to skip his go. It's stupid.

Ah, but was it a stupid worm? Some teams are - I hadn't realised until
yesterday.

Also, perhaps three more CPUs might improve the AI? ;)

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:54:22 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
2007 10:39:06 +0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do

uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk Zomoniac
<the_pro...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>But what annoys me even more is that it's so ludicrously inconsistent.

>Against the same level opposition the CPU worms seem to either shoot
>themselves in the face with a bazooka, put dynamite next to me and then
>stand on top of it, or fire a bazooka into the wind across the level at
>such an angle that it blows up a barrel, sending two of my worms
>sliding down a cliff to my other two worms, where they all land on a
>mine and blow up. It never seems to be anything other than intolerably
>stupid or intolerably good.

I have found the "Stupid" worms to be stupid 99% of the time, and the "Cocky"
worms to be far too accurate 99% of the time. That's the point.

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:56:42 AM3/12/07
to
The Rev the Monkey was never naughty:

But but but all four of your characters can learn Cure before they
choose jobs, and then it's your white mage's job to heal. And you can
buy Phoenix Down in the second village!

Mined ewe, having been playing FF games for years, I'm maybe taking a
bit too much for granted. I tend to take a very slow approach - just
like in real life - talk to the locals before going wandering off.

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:58:49 AM3/12/07
to
deKay wrote:
> <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:
>
>> The Creature's nearest teleport was many rooms away and I've got to the boss in
>> the next painting without finding a single teleport room anywhere in the
>> painting. I'm sure there are a couple, but they're not close, wherever they are.
>>
>> There are save points, but that doesn't help when you've reached the boss with
>> one tonic and a cup of coffee.
>
> I don't understand why you've got no money all the time. You do sell your old
> weapons and armour, yes?

Yes. (I even keep selling the stuff I'm wearing by mistake.) I guess I just get
through a lot more healing items than you. And I normally only use them on
bosses. The boss/exploration ratio seems to be off a bit in PoR. I'm sure I've
spent more time fighting bosses than doing the normal stuff.

Anyway, the problem is actually getting back to the shop to get more now, as
well as being able to afford them.

Shak

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:02:41 AM3/12/07
to
"Chris Stevens" <ne...@thestevensfamily.plus.com> wrote in message
news:et39li$htf$1...@aioe.org...

All clothes are small for her. Gurfr barf va cnegvphyne orybat gb ure avrpr
and so she complains that they're *too* small.

Shak


Shak

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:03:05 AM3/12/07
to

"The Rev" <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:55ko2jF...@mid.individual.net...

BAITAGE!

Shak


Jaimie Vandenbergh

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:04:28 AM3/12/07
to
On 12 Mar 2007 10:13:08 GMT, Chris Whitworth <usenet...@parm.net>
wrote:
>On 2007-03-12, Shak <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>> "Chris Whitworth" <usenet...@parm.net> wrote in message
>> news:slrneva7up.v6...@parm.vs.topper.me.uk...
>>>
>>> Phoenix Wright 2 (DS) - Have I forgotten how to play this, or is it much,
>>> much harder than the first one? There were very few points in the first game
>>> where you had to stop talking to someone, go back and come back later with more
>>> evidence. Not that this is a bad thing, just takes a bit of getting used
>>> to.
>>> Also, apparently, Maya is 18, so: would. Her and her sister. At the same
>>> time.
>>(snip)

>> And also: Mia in clothes way too small for her makes me happy.
>
>IAWTP.

"I always wank to Phoenix"? That's a little too much information,
thankyouverymuch. As if the incipient necrophilia wasn't enough!

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"The problem is not that the world is full of fools, it's that lightning
isn't being distributed correctly." - Mark Twain

The Rev

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:07:10 AM3/12/07
to
Shak wrote:
> "The Rev" <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:55ko2jF...@mid.individual.net...
>> I agree. Why are the AI worms taking as long to decide what to do on the
>> 360 as they did on a 266Mhz Pentium II, eh?
>
> BAITAGE!

I'd honestly forgotten about that other AI conversation when I posted, probably
because I skipped over most of it. It's just been annoying me in Worms.

Zomoniac

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:10:02 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12 10:52:42 +0000, deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> said:

> Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
> 2007 10:19:19 +0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
> uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk Zomoniac
> <the_pro...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:
>
>> That be it. Slowly progressing through challenge mode. For some reason
>> it took me about 10 attempts to do challenge five, but then got from
>> six to twelve in about half an hour without a hitch. So good, yet so
>> frustrating. Why yesterday did it take one CPU Worm 55 seconds to
>> decide to skip his go. It's stupid.
>
> Ah, but was it a stupid worm? Some teams are - I hadn't realised until
> yesterday.
>
> Also, perhaps three more CPUs might improve the AI? ;)

Not having to constrain the game into a ludicrous filesize probably would.


--
Zo

Jaimie Vandenbergh

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:11:18 AM3/12/07
to
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:46:58 +0000, Stewart Smith <nos...@ee.ed.ac.uk>
wrote:

>deKay wrote:
>> PLAY:
>
>Children of Mana (DS): I'd have played more of this but my flatmate
>keeps running the batteries down on my DS Lite while I'm at work. She's
>played 25+ hours, I've done about 8. Well she'll have to whistle for it
>when I go to Japan with it next week.

I finished it while on hols last week (learning to snowboard, so lots
of lying-down-aching time to play!) - 24 hours, and I was getting a
bit bored towards the end since the gameplay is so brainless. So I
didn't bother to complete all the sidequests and whatnot, only a dozen
or so of them.

Steal Hook is great for cash - I ended up with nearly half a million
lucre but CBA to mess around with gems enough to spend it.

>> WANT:
>>
>
>Hotel Dusk by the sounds of it.

Do so, it's grate.

>> BIN:
>
>A job interview which is likely to be on the monday after I return from
>Japan on the saturday.

The way to treat job interviews (unless desperate) is you interview
them to see if it's worth your while working for'em.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
#include "clue.h"

DBSnappa

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:12:15 AM3/12/07
to
deKay wrote:
> PLAY:
>
A bit of Crackdown.

GOW (360) Coop with DrG. I was very drunk and missing everything, but it
felt remarkably easy.

That was it really - didn't play anything all day Sunday.

>
> WANT:
>
Not much
>
> BIN:
>
Nowt

DBSnappa

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:12:42 AM3/12/07
to
Chris Stevens wrote:
> "deKay" <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote in message
> news:iu5av297kqhgc3sqa...@4ax.com...
>> PLAY:
>
> Crackdown (360)
> Finally crumbled and gave this some serious time, after a couple of weeks of
> trying to get some of my older games played. It really is good, isn't it?
> Lots of leaping around, agility maxed out and agency tower climbed (with
> only a couple of fatal tumbles along the way).
> Stood up by DBSnappa last night for an attempt at co-op,


You loves it, bitch!

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:12:42 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
2007 11:10:02 +0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do

uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk Zomoniac
<the_pro...@hotmail.com> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>> Also, perhaps three more CPUs might improve the AI? ;)


>
>Not having to constrain the game into a ludicrous filesize probably would.

The AI seems just as good/bad as it ever was. Weapons and sound samples are
the casualties of the filesize, not the AI.

Redsmartie

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:19:34 AM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12 11:12:42 +0000, deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> said:

> The AI seems just as good/bad as it ever was. Weapons and sound samples are
> the casualties of the filesize, not the AI.

I thought that is was just because it was a straight port of Worms:
Open Warfare
--
gt: redsmartie
www.redsmartie.com

"Game experience may change during online play"

Stewart Smith

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:28:41 AM3/12/07
to
Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>
> The way to treat job interviews (unless desperate) is you interview
> them to see if it's worth your while working for'em.
>

Heh, this is for an academic position so I need to look like I'm going
to come up with lots of ideas for grants and the like. I've got to do a
sort of "where do want to go with research" type presentation and it's
not exactly my field so I'm already at a disadvantage. Ah well they
were desperate enough to solicit me for an application well after the
closing date so maybe I'm not up against much. Unless I'm there to make
up the numbers...

Stewart

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:27:03 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
2007 11:19:34 +0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk Redsmartie
<nospam.r...@remove.gmail.com.thankyouplease> fornis do marikano es bono
tan el:

>> The AI seems just as good/bad as it ever was. Weapons and sound samples are


>> the casualties of the filesize, not the AI.
>
>I thought that is was just because it was a straight port of Worms:
>Open Warfare

Could be. I don't know.

Jaimie Vandenbergh

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 7:32:12 AM3/12/07
to
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:28:41 +0000, Stewart Smith <nos...@ee.ed.ac.uk>
wrote:

>Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:


>>
>> The way to treat job interviews (unless desperate) is you interview
>> them to see if it's worth your while working for'em.
>>
>
>Heh, this is for an academic position so I need to look like I'm going
>to come up with lots of ideas for grants and the like.

Arrr. That's a bit different.

> I've got to do a
>sort of "where do want to go with research" type presentation and it's
>not exactly my field so I'm already at a disadvantage. Ah well they
>were desperate enough to solicit me for an application well after the
>closing date so maybe I'm not up against much. Unless I'm there to make
>up the numbers...

Just consider it practice, then. Don't bother thinking about it til
you're on the plane back from hols!

Cheers - Jaimie
--
There are no normal people--only people you don't know very much about.
-- Nancy Lebovitz, rasfw

[ste parker]

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Mar 12, 2007, 7:37:15 AM3/12/07
to
Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>
> I finished it while on hols last week (learning to snowboard, so lots
> of lying-down-aching time to play!)

Xscape? If so, what package did you go for? And what the hell did you
buy clothing wise? I went with the intention of getting myself kitted
out a few months back, couldn't decide, and so just came back with some
golf shoes instead for some reason.

--
[ste]

Jaimie Vandenbergh

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Mar 12, 2007, 8:36:35 AM3/12/07
to
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:37:15 +0000, "[ste parker]"
<imag...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>>
>> I finished it while on hols last week (learning to snowboard, so lots
>> of lying-down-aching time to play!)
>
>Xscape?

French Alps. Tignes, to be precise - bloody wonderful, very luck with
the weather.

>If so, what package did you go for?

Neilson.co.uk ski package from Manc. The Xscape prices are way more
than out in the real world - me+grilfiend hired an instructor for
three hours at 140euros (they'll take up to five people). Private
tuition at Xscape is £45/hour/person.

So if you want to learn, it's cheaper to go to the mountains! A guy we
went off with last year learnt at Xscape, and spent more than 600quid
doing so. The trip cost him 480 and he learnt more there.

Taking at least one half-day lesson is vital, or you've nowhere to
start - but don't join the six-halfday school, you'll learn less for
the same price (160euros for the week, I think it was).

> And what the hell did you buy clothing wise?

Me: Just wrist protectors (£12 from Xscape). The rest was rented
boots+board, my old ski pants (waterproof), my walking jacket (Crag
Hoppers, no fleece lining), fleece hat and some decent skiing gloves.

Her: as above plus: kneepads, elbow pads, ski helmet, and
hip+arse+coccyx protective shorts. She's quite wary, can you tell?

Trouble with boarding is that the boarding kit is all styleee. And
shite. And expensive. Buy someone's old ski pants/dungarees off ebay,
some good waterproof board gloves with removable liners, wrist
protectors, and you're done.

> I went with the intention of getting myself kitted
>out a few months back, couldn't decide, and so just came back with some
>golf shoes instead for some reason.

Running shoes are better on the ice!#

Cheers - Jaimie
--
'The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human
mind to correlate all its contents' - H.P.Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Trousers

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Mar 12, 2007, 8:37:12 AM3/12/07
to
deKay wrote:
> PLAY:

Crackdown (360) - I refuse to level up the driving just because. The
rest of it's all good fun so I will stick to that. Working my way
through the Shai-gen lot now and enjoying the challenge.

Heavy Weapon (360) - Quick 2 player go with the wife which she was
rather competent at.

That's about it for a fairly busy weekend during which I went to a
cracking rugby match (League not girls rugby) and picked out a new car.
Now to get the funds together.

> WANT:

A Wii still

> BIN:

This lump on my eye which is getting bigger since I moaned about it last
week. I could ring bells at Notre Dame me.

Chris Stevens

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Mar 12, 2007, 9:02:43 AM3/12/07
to
"DBSnappa" <davidjREMOV...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:KAaJh.71604$nW6....@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Treat 'em mean, etc. ;)

Chris.

GT: SomethingWitty


Chris Stevens

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Mar 12, 2007, 9:07:35 AM3/12/07
to
"Chris Whitworth" <usenet...@parm.net> wrote in message
news:slrnevab9p.v6...@parm.vs.topper.me.uk...

> >> >
> >> > And also: Mia in clothes way too small for her makes me happy.
> >>
> >> Ne'er were truer words spoken.
> >>
> >
> > But surely *all* clothes are too small for her, with her gigantic
baboons.
>
> http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=1797379
>

Excellent!
I'll now be looking for opportunities to shoe-horn that site into future
email exchanges. :)

Chris.

GT: SomethingWitty


Chris Stevens

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Mar 12, 2007, 9:15:23 AM3/12/07
to
"Trousers" <get...@bibble.com> wrote in message
news:YPbJh.283499$ff2.1...@fe02.news.easynews.com...

>
> Crackdown (360) - I refuse to level up the driving just because. The
> rest of it's all good fun so I will stick to that.

My driving skill is also the least developed of the four. It's a product of
the fact that they've made getting around on foot so enjoyable, I guess. I'm
sure I'll make the effort with it at some point, though, because I've heard
all sorts of interesting things about driving the SUV up the side of
buildings once you get to four stars.

Chris.

GT: SomethingWitty

The Rev

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Mar 12, 2007, 9:17:17 AM3/12/07
to

Also, the agency supercar turns into the Batmobile at four stars.

Getting top four stars can be a bit of a pain - though it's fairly quick if you
go round running over Shai-Gen gang members in the supercar - but it's worth it.

[ste parker]

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Mar 12, 2007, 9:46:08 AM3/12/07
to
The Rev wrote:
>
> Also, the agency supercar turns into the Batmobile at four stars.
>

Things like this are the reason I play games, it's such a shame so many
take themselves so seriously nowadays.

--
[ste]

Paul Evans

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Mar 12, 2007, 10:20:33 AM3/12/07
to
My games playing as usual seems to deviate from everyone else's. I must be
weird like that.


Play:

The Sims 2: Seasons (PC): It's snowing! Woohoo! Erm, yep - suppose that's
one way to keep my Sims warm in bed(!). Why is it that despite my Sims being
indoors when it's snowing, that they still somehow freeze to death? I sense
a glitch somewhere...

The Secret of Monkey Island 2 (PC): Finally saw the need to download DosBox.
This game is still great and the jokes still seem fresh, despite it's age.

Sim City 2000 (PC): Unplayable on XP until I found DosBox. Haven't really
played this one in years and unlike SOMI2, this one's pretty horrible to
play.

Duke Nukem 3D (PC): Again via DosBox. Really hasn't aged well at all.

Jobhunting (RL): This is really crap. I've applied for five jobs so far and
had three rejections. Terrific. Why does the dole suddenly seem so bloody
tempting?


Want:

Gunstar Heroes (GG): I've seen screenshots in the past and thought "yeah
this looks pretty". It's not until you actually see it running here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXwOlTyLoco

...that you think "Jesus f**king Christ!". Of course if I was somehow able
to get hold of a legit copy (almost impossible seeing as it was never
released outside Japan, apparently), then the fact my Game Gear has
increasingly become senile in it's old age would mean I still wouldn't have
much luck playing it.


Oblivion: Shivering Isles (PC): It's been a while since I last bothered with
Oblivion, but this would tempt me back.


Bin:

Unemployment.

Paul.


Shak

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Mar 12, 2007, 10:33:36 AM3/12/07
to
"Paul Evans" <paul.e...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:55l5tfF...@mid.individual.net...

> My games playing as usual seems to deviate from everyone else's. I must be
> weird like that.
>
>
> Want:
>
> Gunstar Heroes (GG): I've seen screenshots in the past and thought "yeah
> this looks pretty". It's not until you actually see it running here:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXwOlTyLoco
>
> ...that you think "Jesus f**king Christ!". Of course if I was somehow able
> to get hold of a legit copy (almost impossible seeing as it was never
> released outside Japan, apparently), then the fact my Game Gear has
> increasingly become senile in it's old age would mean I still wouldn't
> have much luck playing it.

Buy a Wii!

Shak


deKay

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Mar 12, 2007, 10:42:10 AM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon, 12 Mar
2007 14:33:36 -0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk "Shak" <m...@privacy.net> fornis do

marikano es bono tan el:

>> Gunstar Heroes (GG): I've seen screenshots in the past and thought "yeah

>> this looks pretty". It's not until you actually see it running here:
>

>Buy a Wii!

But you can't play the GG version of Gunstar Heroes on the Wii.

ammo...@cc.full.stop.helsinki.fi

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Mar 12, 2007, 11:32:19 AM3/12/07
to
Paul Evans <paul.e...@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> The Secret of Monkey Island 2 (PC): Finally saw the need to download
> DosBox. This game is still great and the jokes still seem fresh,
> despite it's age.

Wouldn't ScummVM be a better/easier way to play it? But you're right, it
really is a good game. (And it's age what?)

-a

DBSnappa

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Mar 12, 2007, 11:55:28 AM3/12/07
to
The Rev wrote:
> Chris Stevens wrote:
>> "Trousers" <get...@bibble.com> wrote in message
>> news:YPbJh.283499$ff2.1...@fe02.news.easynews.com...
>>> Crackdown (360) - I refuse to level up the driving just because. The
>>> rest of it's all good fun so I will stick to that.
>>
>> My driving skill is also the least developed of the four. It's a
>> product of
>> the fact that they've made getting around on foot so enjoyable, I
>> guess. I'm
>> sure I'll make the effort with it at some point, though, because I've
>> heard
>> all sorts of interesting things about driving the SUV up the side of
>> buildings once you get to four stars.
>
> Also, the agency supercar turns into the Batmobile at four stars.

Does it? How cool is that! I'm on about 3.5 at the moment and I have to
say that I love the way the SUV goes from plain jane to modded beast
when you get in it!


>
> Getting top four stars can be a bit of a pain - though it's fairly quick
> if you go round running over Shai-Gen gang members in the supercar - but
> it's worth it.
>

This is pretty much what I spent lunch time doing - half an hour and I
went from 2.9 to 3.48 - some of the races on the Shai Gen island are a
bit wonky - how on earth are you supposed to not mow down civilians when
the race is all on pedestrianised areas!

Paul Evans

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:07:15 PM3/12/07
to

<ammo...@cc.full.stop.helsinki.fi> wrote in message
news:et3rq3$jbp$1...@oravannahka.helsinki.fi...

I thought about ScummVM, but then I realised I had a load of other old DOS
games that didn't seem to like XP very much (like Settlers2) so I opted for
DosBox instead.

I was actually toying around with the idea of running ScummVM on my mobile
(Nokia N71 - S60 platform) for a laugh... If it works, it would mean I would
have something to play in between those job interviews!

Paul.


[ste parker]

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:14:12 PM3/12/07
to

Or get a DS and run it on that. Volume is a bit low even at the top
setting, but that's about it.

--
[ste]

Nils Tanner

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:18:28 PM3/12/07
to
Why is a mushroom called mushroom? As usual, deKay
<an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> got it all completely wrong and wrote:

>PLAY:

Kameo: It's over, finally. At least, the story is over. There would
still be some sidequests to solve, which I definitely won't do. The
game is beautiful, but it feels rather like a chore.

Castlevania PoR: Great game! Although I'm only at the third picture,
it's brilliant. The only thing which bothers me is my partner. I
preferred being alone in the castle. But it's a detail, really.

Geometry Wars: Just a tiny little bit. And then once again today,
which doesn't count, I know, but I did over 400'000 today :-) And my
previous best was something like 160'000. Hooray!

>WANT:

IIRC Phoenix Wright 2 will be out this week. So I want this.
To reach 500000 in Geometry Wars
Castlevania PoR never to finish!

>BIN:

Kameo. Bah.

jochta

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:21:54 PM3/12/07
to
Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>
> Xbox Live (360) - Just on long enough to download the latest patch and
> make sure the Daylight Saving nonsense is working. Not that you guys
> living in the land of GMT have to worry about that.
>
>

We have daylight saving thanks. We'll be on BST (GMT+1) the Sunday after
next.

Sir Chewbury Gubbins

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:26:10 PM3/12/07
to
Nils Tanner the Monkey was never naughty:

> Why is a mushroom called mushroom? As usual, deKay
><an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> got it all completely wrong and wrote:
>
> Castlevania PoR: Great game! Although I'm only at the third picture,
> it's brilliant. The only thing which bothers me is my partner. I
> preferred being alone in the castle. But it's a detail, really.

I think in most cases the second character really just performs the same
function as the fast-equipment-switch facility in DoS, no?

Choobs

--
Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org>
http://www.nelefa.org - Gaming and Ramblings from the Shiny part of the world

Abu the monkey was never naughty.

WCZ

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Mar 12, 2007, 9:28:17 AM3/12/07
to

"The Rev" <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:55l272F...@mid.individual.net...

> Chris Stevens wrote:
>> "Trousers" <get...@bibble.com> wrote in message
>> news:YPbJh.283499$ff2.1...@fe02.news.easynews.com...
>>> Crackdown (360) - I refuse to level up the driving just because. The
>>> rest of it's all good fun so I will stick to that.
>>
>> My driving skill is also the least developed of the four. It's a product
>> of
>> the fact that they've made getting around on foot so enjoyable, I guess.
>> I'm
>> sure I'll make the effort with it at some point, though, because I've
>> heard
>> all sorts of interesting things about driving the SUV up the side of
>> buildings once you get to four stars.
>
> Also, the agency supercar turns into the Batmobile at four stars.

And it gets guns!

>
> Getting top four stars can be a bit of a pain - though it's fairly quick
> if you go round running over Shai-Gen gang members in the supercar - but
> it's worth it.
>

Thats what I did along with about a million pedestrians.

I've not been able to get the SUV to drive up buildings but it does have a
jump button and you get good air control for those stunt achievements.

The truck is quite good fun too. It has the most horrendous turbo lag EVAR
but when it eventually gets going it certainly shifts. If you crash into
cars at a high enough speed they explode instantly and it has nitrous.

[ste parker]

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:28:08 PM3/12/07
to

Yes, but we haven't decided to move forward the date it happens at by a
fortnight like they have this year.

--
[ste]

[ste parker]

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:30:51 PM3/12/07
to

Or three/four weeks, if I'm going to be vaguely accurate!

--
[ste]

Kendrick Kerwin Chua

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:37:15 PM3/12/07
to
In article <55ldioF...@mid.individual.net>,

It gets worse. Every five or ten years, the American government is
planning to move the date of the time change in small increments until
we're in a permanent state of Daylight Saving all year around. I guess
that for technology workers, that constitutes job security. :/

-KKC, who notes the Sega Saturn and the Gameboy EFA cart have no DST
settings.
--
-- ...Durante la batalla, espias rebeldes lograron robar - kendrick
los planos secretos del arma mas extrema del Imperio, - @io.com
la ESTRELLA DE LA MUERTE, una estacion espacial blindada -
con suficiente potencia para destruir un planeta entero. -

Nils Tanner

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:38:58 PM3/12/07
to
Why is a mushroom called mushroom? As usual, Sir Chewbury Gubbins

<chewbury...@nelefa.org> got it all completely wrong and wrote:

>> Castlevania PoR: Great game! Although I'm only at the third picture,
>> it's brilliant. The only thing which bothers me is my partner. I
>> preferred being alone in the castle. But it's a detail, really.
>
>I think in most cases the second character really just performs the same
>function as the fast-equipment-switch facility in DoS, no?

Ah. Then why is it there? I always think about which character I
should use and end up using just the one I started with. And then I
fear I missed good stuff because I didn't use the other character! I
hate this and I demand less choice in games! .....ahem....

Shak

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 12:56:05 PM3/12/07
to
"Kendrick Kerwin Chua" <kend...@nospam.io> wrote in message
news:p5adnU38GpgmHGjY...@io.com...

> In article <55ldioF...@mid.individual.net>,
> [ste parker] <imag...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>[ste parker] wrote:
>>> jochta wrote:
>>>> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Xbox Live (360) - Just on long enough to download the latest patch
>>>>> and make sure the Daylight Saving nonsense is working. Not that you
>>>>> guys living in the land of GMT have to worry about that.
>>>>
>>>> We have daylight saving thanks. We'll be on BST (GMT+1) the Sunday
>>>> after next.
>>>
>>> Yes, but we haven't decided to move forward the date it happens at by a
>>> fortnight like they have this year.
>>
>>Or three/four weeks, if I'm going to be vaguely accurate!
>
> It gets worse. Every five or ten years, the American government is
> planning to move the date of the time change in small increments until
> we're in a permanent state of Daylight Saving all year around. I guess
> that for technology workers, that constitutes job security. :/

Worse? DST/BST is unnecessary in this day and age. I'm hoping that crackpot
who suggested we get rid of it in the UK somehow gets listened to.

Shak


Mal Franks

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Mar 12, 2007, 12:59:58 PM3/12/07
to
In article <iu5av297kqhgc3sqa...@4ax.com>, andyk@lofi-
gaming.org.uk says...
> PLAY:

Lord Of The Rings Online: Shadows Of Angmar [Beta] (PC) - Spent an hour
playing this and created an Elf Hunter on Northwood server and took it
to level 5. Still in the starter zone but it seems nice enough so far -
prefer the less cartoony graphics to those of WoW but whether it'll get
me away from DAOC i dunno tbh.

Dark Age Of Camelot [US] (PC) - they're planning to make significant
changes to the archer class and I have a scout on an euro account so I
went onto the beta testing server Pendragon and created one. Looks
interesting but not sure if i'm enamoured of it

With the current DAOC archery skill press a key to draw the bow string
and then when you feel the time is right another button that instantly
fires the arrow, but the new archery skill is a 1 button affair which
starts the drawing and releasing of bow with no further interaction
which makes you feel like you're no more than a glorified spellcaster

> WANT:

Worms (360) - just didn't have time to download it

A revamped DAOC archery system the retains the current mechanics

A week or 2 off work

A new computer

> BIN:

Tiredness

Jaimie Vandenbergh

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Mar 12, 2007, 1:12:18 PM3/12/07
to
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:14:12 +0000, "[ste parker]"
<imag...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Paul Evans wrote:
>>
>> I thought about ScummVM, but then I realised I had a load of other old DOS
>> games that didn't seem to like XP very much (like Settlers2) so I opted for
>> DosBox instead.
>>
>> I was actually toying around with the idea of running ScummVM on my mobile
>> (Nokia N71 - S60 platform) for a laugh... If it works, it would mean I would
>> have something to play in between those job interviews!
>>
>
>Or get a DS and run it on that. Volume is a bit low even at the top
>setting, but that's about it.

The ScummVM folks seem to have an odd blindspot for volume - on my
Nokia 9300i I have to set it to the lowest possible volume otherwise
it's so loud it distorts.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
Now I lay me down to sleep
Try to count electric sheep
Sweet dream wishes you can keep
How I hate the night. - Marvin the paranoid android

Chris F

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Mar 12, 2007, 2:06:57 PM3/12/07
to

works perfectly on my N73. :)
--

gamertag: Chrisflynnuk
http://live.xbox.com/member/Chrisflynnuk
Current eBay auctions: http://tinyurl.com/hutcb
360, DS, PS2 and Saturn Games For Auction.

James Sutherland

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Mar 12, 2007, 3:36:49 PM3/12/07
to
The Rev <the_rev_y...@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:55kmcbF...@mid.individual.net:

> Chris Whitworth wrote:
>>
>> Insta-deaths in FF3 just because I poked my head inside an
>> obvious-looking cave in the second village.
>
> I agree. I was sent to a castle early on, so decided to have a poke
> round, only to find one tower full of enemies that killed me very
> dead. I'm not sure whether I'd not levelled enough before getting to
> the castle or whether the game expected me to come back to the castle
> later.

Probably the former. I didn't have any real trouble with that bit. Once you
get slightly ahead of the the curve in terms of levelling, the game gets a
lot easier. I've certainly found it easier and less frustrating than, say,
Dragon Quest VIII.

James Sutherland

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Mar 12, 2007, 3:50:06 PM3/12/07
to
deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote in
news:bvbav2p2850obacop...@4ax.com:

> I don't understand why you've got no money all the time. You do sell
> your old weapons and armour, yes?

Be careful doing that. You need some items for missions.

Online shop is the easy way to make money.

James Sutherland

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 3:51:28 PM3/12/07
to
Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org> wrote in
news:55kpvaF...@mid.individual.net:

> And you can
> buy Phoenix Down in the second village!

I don't think you can. I think the only unlimited source of phoenix downs
is stealing them from a particular creature.

Toby Newman

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 4:00:01 PM3/12/07
to
On 2007-03-12, Sir Chewbury Gubbins <chewbury...@nelefa.org> wrote:
> The Rev the Monkey was never naughty:
>>
>> Potrait of Ruin deciding no longer to put teleport sites near boss doors, so I
>> can't just nip back to the shop without running through lots of rooms full of
>> bad guys.
>
> You're not allowed to complain about the difficulty of a castlevania
> game until you've played Circle of the Moon. There Is No Shop.

CoTM wasn't very difficult! However, personally, I find Shops to be very
difficult. I regularly get stuck at the cheese fridge in the supermarket
because I have to compare the price per kg of every type and then offset
that by the maturity and the intangiable desire the packaging creates
within me.

If CoTM had a shop in it I doubt I would have finished it.

--
-Toby
250 Nintendo Stars for trade: Wii Play
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Add the word afiduluminag to the subject to circumvent my email filters.

James Sutherland

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 3:59:26 PM3/12/07
to
deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote in
news:8lpav2lckhhgmrhn5...@4ax.com:

> Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Mon,
> 12 Mar 2007 14:33:36 -0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
> uk.games.video.misc, yawatina tan reek esk "Shak" <m...@privacy.net>
> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:
>
>>> Gunstar Heroes (GG): I've seen screenshots in the past and thought
>>> "yeah this looks pretty". It's not until you actually see it running
>>> here:
>>
>>Buy a Wii!
>
> But you can't play the GG version of Gunstar Heroes on the Wii.

Buy a PS2!

deKay

unread,
Mar 12, 2007, 6:42:38 PM3/12/07
to
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des 12 Mar 2007
19:50:06 GMT, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do uk.games.video.misc,
yawatina tan reek esk James Sutherland <ja...@guybrush.demon.co.uk> fornis do

marikano es bono tan el:

>deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote in


>news:bvbav2p2850obacop...@4ax.com:
>
>> I don't understand why you've got no money all the time. You do sell
>> your old weapons and armour, yes?
>
>Be careful doing that. You need some items for missions.

It seems every item you may need, if you sell it it either respawns or you can
buy it back.

deKay
--
Lofi Gaming: www.lofi-gaming.org.uk [Gamertag: deKay 01]
Gaming Diary: www.lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary/

My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that

"Zomoniac is wrong"

Shak

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Mar 13, 2007, 5:34:45 AM3/13/07
to
"James Sutherland" <ja...@guybrush.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Xns98F1CA01F44A6ja...@212.23.3.119...

Anyone else read "Phoenix Wright"?

Shak


Kendrick Kerwin Chua

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Mar 13, 2007, 5:46:16 AM3/13/07
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And their counterparts "Phoenix Left" and "Phoenix Up" join them.
Together, they are masters of the civilised disciplines: medicine, law,
art, and seduction.

-KKC, who should build a house out here in left field.

Russell Marks

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Mar 13, 2007, 8:45:58 AM3/13/07
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deKay <an...@lofi-gaming.org.uk> wrote:

> PLAY:

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PS2) - finished the story
missions already, which I realise is insane. :-) I didn't much like
having to redo the last mission after it crashed during the end
credits, but luckily it's the easiest end mission I can remember in
any GTA (and the most enjoyable). The story was absurd, the player's
character even less believable than usual, and I could have lived
without another silly forklift mission (and a few other pretty stupid
ones). It also makes you wait a *long* time before unlocking the whole
map, about 30 missions or so. But generally it's ok, despite being yet
another tired recycling of the same old stuff with a few new vehicles
and weapons. I can't imagine I'll try for 100% in this one though,
I've already noticed a whole bunch of annoyingly hard checkpoint
time-trials - quite lazy and disappointing after the fairly good
side-missions LCS had.

Mercury Meltdown Remix (PS2) - did a little more on this before VCS
arrived. Even though it's quite generous about things (like letting
you miss the par times), I don't know if I'll make it too much
further, it's getting surprisingly tough.

> WANT:

Nothing really.

> BIN:

Donkey Kong 64 (N64) - like Banjo, it's another Rare platformer with
an awful final boss; 20 hits in five different ways to a time limit.
The third way in particular is horribly difficult, mainly due to the
completely broken camera (how hard can it be to just show you the
bloody boss?) and glitchy controls. I gave up on the game there, and
frankly that was long overdue.

The wobbly/tilting third-person boat camera in GTA:VCS, which a)
doesn't make any sense whatsoever, and b) must be deliberately
intended to make you feel seasick. It's fine when the sea is calm, but
if you get any waves at all it makes the boats practically unusable.
Seriously. I've seen it do continuous tilting of easily 30 degrees for
every wave in choppy conditions.

The percent-complete calculation in GTA:VCS. Finishing off the story
and only having 31.7% is a bit of a joke.

-Rus.

Nils Tanner

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Mar 13, 2007, 9:39:45 AM3/13/07
to
Why is a mushroom called mushroom? As usual, Kendrick Kerwin Chua

<kend...@nospam.io> got it all completely wrong and wrote:


>>> I don't think you can. I think the only unlimited source of phoenix downs
>>> is stealing them from a particular creature.
>>
>>Anyone else read "Phoenix Wright"?
>
>And their counterparts "Phoenix Left" and "Phoenix Up" join them.
>Together, they are masters of the civilised disciplines: medicine, law,
>art, and seduction.
>
>-KKC, who should build a house out here in left field.

Up, down, left, right, shoot shoot shoot!

[ste parker]

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Mar 13, 2007, 10:01:54 AM3/13/07
to
deKay wrote:
> PLAY:

Somewhat late, but I didn't play anything 'til last night.

Jak & Daxter (PS2): Rubbish graphics (although decent enough textures
and draw distance), occasionally annoying camera, and trying too hard to
be funny. And it crashed after about 20 mins. That makes it sound
awful doesn't it? Far from it, it was great and I'll be back to it.
But for now I went back to....

God Of War (PS2): Previously played for hours whilst drunk, I knew I
had to go down a hatch but had no key. 20 mins wandering about and I
find the key on a body, must have totally missed it at the time. Work
back to hatch, and loads of enemies respawn and I've forgotten how to
kill things. Get past that, climb up some vines, small cutscene with
spinny-bladey-sink-in-the-ground-as-mist type things which kill me.
Continue, beat them, make my way to the top and find about twice as many
of them with one of those great hulking beasts with a ball 'n' chain
that climbs in too. Die, retry, die, retry, die, give up.

Ico (PS2): Switched it off last time after getting to the top of the
castle and being attacked by two flying shadows who stole the girl, but
gave it another go. First try, girl stolen again, I get to the hole
just in time to pull her out, I get hit and fall off the edge. Retry,
having to go back to the bit just before where you climb a chain and
push a box off for her to climb up. Struggle to get on chain. Unable
to make chain swing this time for no apparent reason, so I jump off.
The wrong way. Struggle to get on chain, get it right and get up to the
top again. Cunningly leave the girl on the steps so I can go and hit
things with sticks first, but no luck, dragging her up there is the
appearance trigger. Thought I killed two shadows, but either I didn't
or two more appear, just leg it to the ladder and get down it and they
seem to disappear. Get a little train cart, get her on it and go to the
end of the line, thank god there's a save point just up there. Climb
up, and call the girl. She won't climb up! Why not?! I just want to
get to the save seat! Try to reposition myself, and inadvertently jump
off the ledge, over the train track, into the fucking abyss. Reload,
chain swings this time. New plan, the shadows seemed to disappear last
time when we went down the ladder, so I'll just leg it. Get down the
ladder, and the bastards follow us down this time. Girl grabbed, I leg
it back up the ladder round to where she's been stolen but just as I get
there she's gone. Reload. Get to the top, just stay there until I'm
sure the shadows are utterly dead, climb down ladder leaving her to get
the train, don't notice her wandering after me and almost mow her down
(can you do that? the possibility put the fear of god in me). GOT TO
THE SAVE POINT! Switched off.

> WANT:

To recall where the hell I need to go next in FFVI. And for the world
map to be slightly better than useless.

> BIN:

PS2, almost.

--
[ste]

Zomoniac

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Mar 13, 2007, 10:05:08 AM3/13/07
to
On 2007-03-13 14:01:54 +0000, "[ste parker]" <imag...@hotmail.com> said:

> deKay wrote:
>> PLAY:
>
> Somewhat late, but I didn't play anything 'til last night.
>
> Jak & Daxter (PS2): Rubbish graphics (although decent enough textures
> and draw distance), occasionally annoying camera, and trying too hard
> to be funny. And it crashed after about 20 mins. That makes it sound
> awful doesn't it? Far from it, it was great and I'll be back to it.
> But for now I went back to....

I haven't played it since I lent the disc to a mate who doesn't respect
property, sorry! I'm sure it used to have lovely graphics at the time.

> God Of War (PS2): Previously played for hours whilst drunk, I knew I
> had to go down a hatch but had no key. 20 mins wandering about and I
> find the key on a body, must have totally missed it at the time. Work
> back to hatch, and loads of enemies respawn and I've forgotten how to
> kill things. Get past that, climb up some vines, small cutscene with
> spinny-bladey-sink-in-the-ground-as-mist type things which kill me.
> Continue, beat them, make my way to the top and find about twice as
> many of them with one of those great hulking beasts with a ball 'n'
> chain that climbs in too. Die, retry, die, retry, die, give up.

YOU ARE WRONG!

--
Zo

[ste parker]

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Mar 13, 2007, 10:15:47 AM3/13/07
to
[ste parker] wrote:
> deKay wrote:
>> PLAY:
>
> Somewhat late, but I didn't play anything 'til last night.
<snip>

Ooo, I almost forgot:

Trigger Heart Exelica (DC): Only played a few mins until my DC started
resetting again (did Level 1 on training, then had a go at Story Mode
and didn't make the end of Level 1 when the probs arose), but it seems
rather good indeed. Excellent shooter and probably second-last-dc-game
EVER! Until the next one gets announced.

--
[ste]

[ste parker]

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Mar 13, 2007, 10:22:28 AM3/13/07
to
Zomoniac wrote:
> On 2007-03-13 14:01:54 +0000, "[ste parker]" <imag...@hotmail.com> said:
>
>> deKay wrote:
>>> PLAY:
>>
>> Somewhat late, but I didn't play anything 'til last night.
>>
>> Jak & Daxter (PS2): Rubbish graphics (although decent enough textures
>> and draw distance), occasionally annoying camera, and trying too hard
>> to be funny. And it crashed after about 20 mins. That makes it sound
>> awful doesn't it? Far from it, it was great and I'll be back to it.
>> But for now I went back to....
>
> I haven't played it since I lent the disc to a mate who doesn't respect
> property, sorry! I'm sure it used to have lovely graphics at the time.
>

It does actually look nice in it's own way, it's mainly from thinking
about people saying Zelda has crap graphics that I was comparing to in
my head. Everything in this is massively low poly in comparison and
doesn't look anywhere near as good as Zelda, not even close, although
the textures are probably better I'd say. Stupid pointless comparison
anyway!

>> God Of War (PS2): Previously played for hours whilst drunk, I knew I
>> had to go down a hatch but had no key. 20 mins wandering about and I
>> find the key on a body, must have totally missed it at the time. Work
>> back to hatch, and loads of enemies respawn and I've forgotten how to
>> kill things. Get past that, climb up some vines, small cutscene with
>> spinny-bladey-sink-in-the-ground-as-mist type things which kill me.
>> Continue, beat them, make my way to the top and find about twice as
>> many of them with one of those great hulking beasts with a ball 'n'
>> chain that climbs in too. Die, retry, die, retry, die, give up.
>
> YOU ARE WRONG!
>

I don't mean give up forever, but I either need to start
blocking/parrying here or read a FAQ about how to do this bit, even if
just to refresh my memory on how you were told to kill the ball 'n'
chain guy earlier (as I probably was by the game, just don't remember).
Also, didn't you say you can change the difficulty mid-game? I've
looked everywhere without seeing such an option, I was getting so
frustrated with this bit I just wanted to get by it.

--
[ste]

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