John Zeitler

Cave Story Wii is out now!

Go play it!

Intellectually, I did a lot this weekend. I took care of a couple minor home-maintenance projects, I did some grocery shopping, I even cooked. I also managed to get a significant amount of gaming time in as well, and I plotted out a little bit more of a course for proceeding with the Imperial Guard long-term build plan. But given that I spent a good couple of hours this afternoon lounging in the back yard, reading a book or two, I also have this weird feeling like I didn’t accomplish all that much.

I know, I know, I’m far too driven for a proper young man of my generation and occupation (read: I’m lucky I got anything done this weekend). That’s a symptom. I want to know the cause of this mysterious restlessness; I’d love nothing more than to know why I can never just enjoy one day where I don’t “accomplish” something or “make progress” on something else. It probably just means that I need a real leave-the-house-and-possibly-the-state vacation, but I know that no matter where I go to get away from it all, I’d probably be bored out of my mind with nothing to do…

I clocked a few more hours into FF13 this evening, bringing me to what I’m guessing is about the halfway-point of Disc 2. So far, I can see where the majority of the complaints that some players have had with the game could be found. On the other hand, I can also probably pinpoint for each of them the exact moment they stopped playing. It’s almost always before the battle with the flying gunship, or motorcycling through a crowded city Frozone-style, or, hell, before every cliche endemic to substandard JRPGs are turned on their heads.

I kinda like this game.

Spent the evening putting together more for the Imperial Guard army, including the second Leman Russ tank. I’ve been doing a little bit of rethinking on my build plan, though, and while I’m proud of how the custom-hacked-together Exterminator turret came out, I’m probably going to just get two more of the Demolisher kits so as to switch out the projected second Exterminator for a Punisher. Something about being able to sling out twenty shots in a single turn really appeals to me. On the other hand, while the Exterminator only deals four shots a turn, they’re twin-linked, meaning I can reroll any failures on the first try, and they’re higher-powered. Having one of each really helps open up my options when building an army list.

My next building project is finishing up the 10-15 infantry models and the 2 Sentinels, which will give me a sparse but fieldable army. I’m thinking that if I do not lazy out with lazy laziness, I can get those together in time for next Friday’s open gaming night and start getting a feel for where I need to proceed with the build plan. Now that the weather’s warming up again, too, I can take a weekend at some point and get the Orks and Guard primed; since I’m planning on a very off-white and grey color scheme for the Guard, I’ll need to prime those a flat white rather than the black I’d used for the Space Marines and the Orks.

That’s all in the future, though. I’m off to bed now so that, in the morning, I may go and get red bean paste buns.

I’ve begun to notice a weird trend with myself: the less sleep I have, or if I’m coming down with a cold or something, the more susceptible I am to earworms and other mental loops. It’s like my brain can only manage so many processes at one time, and guarding against getting information stuck on internal repeat for hours on end is one of the lower-priority ones.

All day today I’ve had “Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)” playing in the background of my thoughts. It’s a very pretty song, and certainly one of my favorites, but it’s starting to grate on me a little…

In the colloquial sense, this ain’t my first time to the Poke-rodeo. It’s not even my fourth… maybe you could say seventh, if you don’t count failed runs on Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, or any of the countless side-games. Therefore, I feel totally justified in having sent a few leveling tools from my Diamond card into my current trip through SoulSilver, so that the grinding that I’ve discovered I both need to do and enjoy doing on the bus (but still want to have done sooner to get to interesting battles) will go a little faster. Nothing too exotic, just the Exp. Share and a Lucky Egg.

The fact that the critters I used to get those tools into the game early are ridiculously rare and potentially overpowered for this point in the game is completely beside the point.

Filled out a census form for what I’m pretty sure is the first time today. I can’t remember if I had to do it back in college or not, but here on my own ten years later it’s something I have to do now. I don’t much mind, even if I’m going to be moving this year.

As if I had any kind of influence here, I’d like to remind folks that the census is not a conspiracy and it is not being used for some sinister purpose. (Political party registration, on the other hand, is. Both.) Please be honest on your census form, be nice to the census takers who’ll inevitably come by, and be satisfied that this is another part of fulfilling your civic duty– one far less onerous and time-consuming than taxes, voting, or military service.

Having been counted among the ranks of the great American Empire, then, I go now to increase the count of the troops under my command as Lord Commissar of the Winterbourne 716th Regiment of the Imperial Guard. (One of the perks of being a 40K player. I get to wear a nice hat and everything.)

You know, sometimes it’s just better to write up a huge long rant about how a certain company has its head jammed firmly up its metaphorical posterior when it comes to consistently applying standards for what gets localized and what doesn’t… and then delete it. You get all of the catharsis with none of the irrational fanbrat backlash.

I’m off to bed, folks. Tomorrow I will play more video games and it will be glorious.

So, Pokemon SoulSilver. It’s kind of nice. I’m still not sure how this is all going to work out but I can say with certainty that the Pokewalker accessory is going to be helpful to me. I walk about 3K-5K steps every day, see, and the exchange rate is still 1 step to 1 experience point, so…

Will 2010 be another three ribbon year? Maybe. Having the 1-1.5 hours to game every weekday helps out quite a bit in that regard, so I might just decide to do that. Each month has 20 work-days, so there’s 20 hours, and I usually have the main story wrapped up in these games in about thirty to forty hours. Factoring in the occasional “must finish, drop everything” night, I think I might be through one game in a month and a half or so. I have a pretty big stack of portable games to get through, though, so it’s probably only going to be two ribbons… still, compared to ’07 I have a whole month head start. Also of interest: in 2007 I split up the Poke-getting with Luminous Arc, and this year LA2 is next on my list. Odd how I’m repeating this habit.

Actually, you know what? Let’s do this. I’m amending my 2010/50 challenge; at least two of the games completed this year will be main-line Pokemon titles. SoulSilver, obviously, but I’m thinking it’s about time I did Platinum up right. And I’m giving myself a little incentive to go the extra mile: if I manage to complete three full mainline Pokemon games by January 1, 2011, I will be allowed to buy an arcade cabinet. (Probably going to just get a MAME machine.)

Last night was the first time I’d played WH40K in a non-competitive setting. It sounds backwards to think that I went straight for a tournament as my first time (back in November); but that tournament was explicitly for new players, was at an opportunity when I wanted to get further into it, and I hadn’t had time to properly prepare a full army between then and last weekend’s tournament. Once I got through that, though, I realized that I didn’t have to go to such lengths to get a feel for the game; the Friday night groups at Legions are far more relaxed than I thought they’d be.

The end result is that I think I made a good impression on the other players (instead of “here’s some jackass who’ll drop by once with some half-assembled pile of crap, get frustrated, and then never come back again”, I hope I managed at least “here’s a guy who’s new to the hobby but is pretty committed to it, and he’s willing to learn”), and I have a new destination for Friday nights (usually). Oh, and I started seriously putting together the third army after realizing the value of vehicles (in my defense, my first exposure to them was an Ork Trukk which is not exactly known for reliability or even usability). Gonna be a while before that one’s ready (spent today putting together half of what I had bought previously) but it’s going to be a riot.

Catch you folks tomorrow, when maybe I’ll get back to FF13; that’s not a knock on the game, I just felt more motivated to do figure work today.