Darkness binding, light that's blinding,
a seperation of soul, pay the final toll,
go on through, start life anew,
forget the past, it couldn't last.

I suppose I should tell you, I intend to do a creative blog, on Blogger. I am having a little trouble with a name though. My current idea, 'Shadow of a Creative Soul', just seems a bit.....much. Of course, the word 'creative' or some iteration of that word, is likely to be involved in the title. It's probably not going to matter, but does anyone who bothers to read this blog think they know what a creative blog by me would be called?

EDIT: Well, the other option I have is something along the lines of, "Creating with Red Hair." but I get the feeling that just sounds too simple.

Song I currently can't stop listening to. I'm curious if it has the same effect on others. Sound quality is probably a bit off.

Where are the lines?
The choices to be made?
I see no lines to cross.
I only walk onwards.
When will I see the lines?
A life should be full of choice.
Yet still I see no lines to cross.
I only walk onwards.

***SPOILER***

Guess the song. I dare you.

My current spate of spending continues, acquiring me more stuff of want, but not need.

Firstly, I got Smash Bros. Brawl, finally. YAY.
Then I saw a sale on, so I HAD to check that out, and I came away with.....
A cheap copy of F.E.A.R. Apparently a director's edition. It came with some extras, including a little comic, though after reading it, I almost wonder why they bothered. Will have to wait until after I've finished HL2: Eps 2.
And a $30-off copy of DBZ: BT3. This decision ended up as "What the heck." so I'm half expecting to regret it, though I did think 2 was nice. Will wait until my initial excitement over Brawl has subsided.

I also just received my latest order of anime, all of which were on sale, by the way, so now I've got:
Neon Genesis: Evangelion. I have seen it before, but it was so long ago, that I can only remember bits, and I was probably too young to get the full experience.
Love Hina. Looks fun.
Afro Samurai. Sounds interesting, though I'm debating whether or not to watch it in english, because they keep pushing Samuel L. Jackson as the main voice actor. Probably won't.
Barefoot Gen. Some 'horror of war' movie (like Grave of the Fireflies) I've never heard of before, but it seems well rated, and it was cheap.
And the first season uncut collection of Dragoball Z for $40. Those who have been paying attention will know that I already spent $120 (individually bought DVDs) for half the first season uncut, however they brought in a new edition before finishing the previous one, so it's impossible to get the remaining episodes any other way. Grah. And it probably would have cost me more anyway.
Also have Biohunter on backorder. Cheap.

I'll have to stop spending money someday

Nobody ever commented on the last episode of Druaga. I thought the ending was a nice reference to the game it's based on. I wonder what the next Gonzo anime is going to be.

EDIT: Turns out Afro Samurai is only in english, but given the setting, it's probably the only way it would have worked.

Hi.

More anime:
The remaining episodes of Dragonball. Watching 2nd tournament right now.
Second series of Ranma.
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz OVA. Grr, expensive. Gundam Wing, 49 eps=$99 (I got it for half that price). OVA, 3 eps=$20.

Completed a couple more XBox games since last blog. Both FPS. And I can't do the multiplayer, so that's not discussed.

Pariah: Halo wannabe with numerous faults, upgradable weapons and I'm sooo going to rant now. First there's the weapons, which generally feel lacking in power.
You get a big knife for a melee attack, but I'm not going to run up to my enemies to hit them 3 times with it when they don't even flinch. Oh, and you actually have to switch to it first.
The shotgun isn't deadly unless you're at point-blank range and hit them in the body. That's right, the body, not the head.
The pulse rifle takes longer to bring down an enemy than the machinegun you get at the start of the game, even with the extra accuracy.
The uber-gun you get at the end makes a big explosion, but you can't kill anyone with splash damage
The other guns seem fine. Machinegun is a little inaccurate, but still effective. Grenade launcher was probably the best with remote detonation. Sniper rifle was deadly, had thermal vision, but only one zoom setting. Rocket launcher, never really had much reason to use.

While there were only a few occasions where the environment looked like it would possibly let me stray outside the game zone, I still managed to find odd invisible walls hanging around in outdoor environments, even when there was a solid wall 3 feet away.

In a similar way, I kept getting the feeling the enemy could shoot through walls, because I would go right up to a corner, ready to pop out and shoot at an enemy, and then I'm getting shot. I can't actually see the enemy yet, but I'm taking damage. Makes me think the designers didn't line up the physical and graphical walls properly. Also, when a turret fires, the bullet seems to hit you just a split-second before leaving the barrel.

Waiting for the two enemy factions to kill one another takes forever. I'm sure they're hitting one another, but a weapon that can take near a quarter of your health in one hit obviously can't kill your average grunt in 10. I'm kinda hoping they were actually doing SOME damage.

Vehicle sequences, a perfect way to break tedium if used properly.
First sequence, drive around in a jeep for a while. Same as halo. Then someone else gets into the drivers seat, and you get the homing-missile launcher and machine guns. Probably the most fun in the whole game.
Second sequence. Drive around in something that looks like APC with a dual grenade launcher on top and try to hit a few fast-moving hoverbikes. Had trouble just killing one bike with those grenades, so I gave up on the APC. The easiest way to get through the section was to park the car close to a wall, get out, and stay out of the line of fire. The AI will try to get sight of you, but ignore the APC, running into it and instantly killing themselves I would have sniped the guys off the bikes, but you can't hurt anyone while they're inside a vehicle.
Third sequence, you get a bike, but you only really get to your destination a little faster.

The storytelling is broken, and there's a lot of odd jumping from where you were standing to where a cutscene takes place, and vice-versa. By the end you'll only have a vague idea of what happend during the whole game, and quite possibly be uncertain about what exactly just happened right at the end.

There are two bosses near the end of the game. Both painful, because they both have instant-hit attacks. The first just sort of stares at you for a few seconds, then an explosion takes off a fair chunk of your health, unless you've miraculously manged to put a wall between you and the boss. The only indication he's doing the attack is that he's not doing his other, easily dodgable, attack.

Then you've got to continually attack some generator while this ninja-like thing flips around. If the ninja jumps at you, you take damage, the few feet you moved to the side makes no difference.

I think that covers everything I can remember.

Project Snowblind.

The first thing that happens when you select 'new game', are the words:

"All characters and events depicted are true to historical fact."

First, this game is about a cyber-enhanced soldier trying to prevent a crazy general from detonating several EMP bombs which would send the world back to the stone-age, and the first scene has you defending a military base against a small army, which includes a few small, chicken-walker type robots.

Now, I'm wondering exactly what 'historical facts' they're referring to, exactly, but I get these images of giant enemy crabs.

Okay, summary. You get a super-soldier, an array of guns, secondary weapons (grenades, etc), and cyber powers, and then take on all-comers, sometimes with the help of allied soldiers. And, well, you don't have much trouble winning.

All the guns work well, and have a secondary function, which uses the same ammo. The rifle you start with has a grenade launcher. Shotgun can spray stickybombs. The electricity gun can send out an orb which will stick to a wall and zap anybody who goes past. The fletchette gun sends a swarm of energy balls out to hunt down and slowly electrocute nearby enemies to death, an attack which can be spammed. You also get a laser which can fire through walls. You can also punch anyone who gets close, which can be fun, as you send weak enemies flying.

For secondary, you get the usual selection of grenades, frag, EMP, flash, gas. You also get spiderbots, which are nice, but didn't see much use. And riotwalls, which are basically a forcefield, but I didn't even think about using them until I got to the last level and went, "Hey, I wonder how those riotwalls I've been carrying around half the game work." and tried it once.

Cyber powers are probably what you'd expect. Enhanced vision, which is mainly for seeing enemies through walls, but doesn't get much use until you get the laser. Slow time. Ballistic shield aka, temporary invincibility. Cloak. And lightning, which looks like some sort of cloud, which I guess works kinda like the fletchett gun's secondary fire, I didn't get much use out of it before the game ended. You have a limited energy bar and have to rely on items to restore it.

Now, I do have some problems getting the maximum fun while playing games with easily expendable weapons, such as grenades and rocket launchers, since I generally err on the side of caution, and wait until I really need to use them against 'tough' enemies. This also goes for the cyber powers.
Thing is, there's never any real need to use your cyber powers, or your secondary weapons. Your regular weaponry is more than enough to deal with any threat presented, and there's usually enough ammo to keep your favoured gun in action, but if you do think to use everything at your disposal, you'll probably find things a bit easier.

Personally, I like games which put you in a situation, then you figure out how to best deal with it. This game usually gives you a few options, which is good, but when the same strategy works in almost all situations, it loses it's impact. The strategy in question is hiding behind cover while the flechette swarm kills every enemy soldier in the room, then turn off the alarm, and move on.

It's not too difficult to die, but as long as you've got an instant-revive item handy, you won't have to restart. The only time I had to load was in an 'escape before the bomb goes off' level where I got a bit lost.

There is an element of stealth to the game, there are security cameras, and guards can set off alarms, but generally, the reprecussions are so minor, that you might just ignore stealth altogether. The worst possible reprecussion is a couple of small hoverbots and a mounted turret. A couple of EMP grenades deal with the bots, and simply turn off the alarm at the nearest switch to turn off the turret. If that's too hard, you can just wait a minute until the alarm goes off on it's own.

You can also hack the security systems, turn off cameras and tripwires, or have defenses shoot your enemies instead of you. While I like having a turret change sides, there's rarely any enemies around for it to shoot at. The device you use to hack can do so from a long range, which is nice, but for some reason you only get limited ammo, which can be annoying if you find the console you just hacked controlled those two tripwires you jumped past a few seconds ago. And if there's a turret, no alarm, and no enemies for the turret to shoot at, you may as well just walk up and punch the turret to death instead.

Vehicles are included, and while they don't handle very well, they do a good job, unfortunately, in the two spots where a large chicken-walker type mech was available, I'd killed all the enemies in the small available area before trying to drive it

As for storytelling, well, after Pariah, this had brilliant storytelling. It was also occasionally funny.

I just realised I haven't really mentioned the AI, I suppose I just didn't really notice anything about it. No major flaws, no stand out actions that I can recall.

Overall, the game is well designed, but feels easier than it needs to be, mainly thanks to powerful weapons. There are no alternate difficulty settings, so I can't try for a harder challenge that way. It's also not a very long game. But in the end, I probably wouldn't regret putting the game back on sometime in the future and trying to make better use of my arsenal, or challenge myself by never reviving.

I don't know how long I've been here typing. I only know that it was a lot easier to see my keyboard when I started. I'm not spellchecking.

The coming of the age of stars

In the beginning, there was darkness.
After much time, the light came.
The light was strong in it's youth, removing the darkness wherever it went.
But the light could only stretch so far, and if it moved, the darkness would swiftly reclaim it's place.
The darkness pressed in on the light from all sides.
The light fought with all it's might, never lowering it's guard.
But the light's power waned against the tireless darkness.
The darkness ate away at the light, until only small, scattered points remained.
And the darkness spoke to the light, "I will spare your life, foolish youth."
"Even though my reign will be incomplete, you may live."
"For while you live, I may be defined. Thus all shall know of me."
And so, the age of dark ended, and the age of stars began.

Light builds and wanes,
Darkness is eternal.

Robots (Based on the CGI movie) - Generic platformer with guns. Easy (made for kids probably) but with occasional, annoying difficulty spikes due to poor camera, and touchy first-person aiming. Also, I find it weird that your gun has a limited range of effect, but there's no visual to show it, such as your projectiles disappearing.

Futurama (Based on animated TV series) - Funny episode with unnecessary interactive bits inthe form of platforming. Occasionally poor level design, part of which would not have been if it wasn't for the camera being in the wrong place. Combat can feel both too easy and quite unfair. Little effort seems to have gone into Leela's in-game one-liners. Last boss is boring. Getting 100% of the collectibles in a stage is meritless.

Halo 2 (Based on Halo) - Yay duel weilding, yay energy swords, yay covenant cloak. Apart from that, feels like more of the same. That's not entirely a bad thing, though. Multiplayer isn't really something that's going to happen anytime soon, so I can't comment on that.

Atari Anthology (based on all the games included) - Well, there's not really anything to complete, but I dare say I'm not going to put it in the drive again. 18 first-generation arcade games and 67 Atari 2600 games, some of which overlap (example: Asteroids arcade, Asteroids Deluxe and Asteroids 2600). I put the Atari 2600 behind me a long time ago, and have no desire to return, and vector graphics were mostly out-of-date for games before I had my limited experience with arcades, so there's no nostalgia there.

Well, when I mentioned that I was getting a DS to my brother, he suggested trading-in his unwanted Xbox and games. Conversation follows. In the end, he did get rid of it, just into my hands instead

So I've now got an Xbox, 16 games of varying quality, and a couple of random game manuals Highlights include Burnout Revenge, Halo 2 and both Lego Star Wars games. LSW looks like it would be better with a second person, but that's unlikely to happen. Now if I could just see what's happening on the screen properly in the smaller games

Of course, this has been a bit of a distraction from coming on here, not that it takes much these days. Also been doing a bit of training for work.

Nothing more to report.