Come to the Dark Side -- We Have Loot

Fear not -- I am still free of World of Warcraft and its brethren. However, like my friend David, I have a hefty reputation as 'Mr. Inventory Screen.' I can spend half an hour tweaking gear and checking statistics. I have the art of inventory down to such a pathetically inexact science that I can parse a couple dozen pieces of Too Human treasure within sixty seconds and still take ten minutes on the pause screen.

Mass Effect and Sith Lords began to hex my wife with their looty charms, and I am beginning to reap the rewards during our journey through Final Fantasy XII. I have been banned from developing characters through the license board. However, the augmentation part of the board is almost filled for all six party members, leaving little else but delving into the item lists. See this and despair . . .

BWA HA HA ! ! !

Since I mentioned Mass Effect, this. Yes, there is much rejoicing.

Game well this week, and let the minstrels live.

Alignment Check

Over the weekend, I finished Prince of Persia. As usual, highlight the spoiler which follows at your own peril. As you may guess, the title stems from the Prince's actions at the conclusion conclusion of the game. I actually considered bailing to the Dashboard when I saw what was coming, but the threat of missing something I should know when the downloadable content hits kept me going. On another front, I like the fact that we never really get to see Ahriman; it sort of has that Jaws effect. For those of you whose willpower held out, suffice to say that I am in no danger of, say, this.

While I would not call Prince of Persia a hard game, in the sense of something like Ikaruga or Mega Man 9, the cries of "it's too easy" which echoed across the ether somewhat perplexed me. I 'died' at least one hundred times before completing the campaign (see, Achievements do accomplish something!), which is probably more than my experience with Sands of Time. Do we really need a game over message to tell us when we have failed at something? Ask anyone who watches or hears me play a game -- I am well aware that I messed up, load screen or no. Unlike several to whom I have spoken, I cheered the downplayed role of combat in this reboot of the franchise. I always got the feeling that fights in Prince of Persia games fell somewhere between a playtime-lengthening gambit and Metal Gear-style punishment. I felt far more like a rock star when wallrunning and jumping than in the dispatching of hordes of meaningless dudes. Who am I -- this guy? I would have felt no great loss if the environment itself were my only adversary in a game like this.

Game well this week, and may Scheherazade lose track of your light seeds.

An Unusual Occurrence

I finished Too Human this week. I have yet to see the ending, though, since I made my way through the game alongside my brother-in-law. The oddity of the game's multiplayer component can lead to scenarios like this. I suppose I could just go read the source material, but my reading list is already quite long. We started replaying levels with the 'through' characters in a quest for max levels and phattier lootz, which, while fun, seems to run counter to the whole Ragnarök vibe. On the item-gathering front, I have had a fantastically hard time obtaining any of the title's charm quests. Is that a byproduct of my Bio-Engineer's cybernetic alignment?

I have to get around to pushing my Champion through Too Human's campaign -- once that poser Ahriman is put in his place. And I get to the bottom of what happened to Faith's sister. And I see Balthier be awesome another half-dozen times. I really do have a problem . . .

On the tabletop front, my D&D game might not be a pipe dream after all. The guy trying to round up players has a party of four, which would even free me up from having to run one of the characters. I will update you on how this unfolds, when it unfolds. Hopefully no one minds sticking with the 3.5 rules.

Game well, and may every drop be a red drop.