I've been playing Last Remnant recently and I'm about ready to give up on it.  I've hit a boss battle that I just can't seem to beat.  I've spent over 10 hours and 8 attempts trying to beat a pair of twins and their insane battalion of backup.  One of the biggest frustrations is that I have to go through a pre-battle each time.  The pre-battle consists of wave after wave of soldiers.  This part is not too difficult but time consuming.  Then I hit the boss battle.

I guess my biggest frustration with this game is lack of control during the battles.  You can give your unions general directions from a list of options.  However, that list of options changes from round to round and sometimes makes no frapping sense.  Also, the special abilities that could mean the difference between winning and losing are so random as to be essentially useless. 

The same doesn't seem to hold true for the bad guys.  They religously use their montser moves turn after turn wiping out one or two entire unions each time.  I am usually running around with one live union trying to bring the other unions back to life.  It also usually doesn't give you the option to heal unless you are at half health.  I understand all the online griping now.  I don't mind the buggy framerate and animation.  But the battle system needs a serious overhaul. Once I finish this game once I seriously doubt I will play it ever again.

Hopefully this morning I will have some time to get some blogging in.  Have a one day semi-break before things pick back up again at work tomorrow morning.  Here goes.

The insane work schedule continues.  Been working 12-18 hour days for about the last 3 weeks.  Had a short reprieve last weekend but the avalanche regained momentum on Tuesday.  Thankfully though one project is out the door as of noon today and the next one is not presenting until next week.  Hopefully get a chance to catch my breath.

I was so tired driving home the other day that when I saw what was in the picture below I almost thought I was hallucinating.



Gotta love camera phones.

Been insanely busy the last week and a half but was taking a quick break and found this article on WFAA.  I like the fact that they actually use the word "scamps" in the article.

AUSTIN -- Apparent slacker hackers with time to kill brought a raised eyebrow or two to the faces of motorists at a busy Austin intersection.

Electronic signs intended to warn motorists of construction near the intersection of Lamar and Martin Luther King boulevards were changed yesterday to warn of "Zombies Ahead! Run for your lives!"

The two signs are about a half mile west of the University of Texas campus.

Austin Public Works spokeswoman Sara Hartley says the message was only displayed for a few hours. She said the hackers cut a padlock to get into the signs' computers.

Hartley also tells KXAN-TV in Austin that the stunt is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine if the scamps are ever found.

Oh, well back to the grindstone.  Enjoy your day.

Was taking a break from working and I found this video.  I thought it was fairly good choreography and art direction.  Enjoy. 

http://www.vimeo.com/2625538

It's just a World of Warcraft spin on an old classic comedy routine but it's still funny.

Been trying to take a step back from things and look at the broader picture.  I guess that what the New Year makes you do.  Take a moment and look at where you've been and look into the future and see where you would like to be.  And I have to say as things stand now life is pretty okay.  Sure there are a few things I would change but on the whole it's fairly calm and steady.  I like that.  Now how does that tie into gaming you ask.  Well, that's easy.

I love to game.  Board Games, D&D, Halo, Guitar Hero, group Wii play, WoW, Final Fantasy, and many great RPG titles.  I'm hooked and I admit it.  I would much rather spend an evening, either alone or with friends, playing games and just hanging out.  I bought cable over a week ago and I've turned it on once (this morning while I was getting dressed I listened to the news).  It also saves me lots of money on going out.  If I spend $60 bucks on a video game and spend a hundred hours playing it I'm saving lots of money.  That would be 60 cents for every hour of game play.  Doing the math, movies and going out don't even come close to being as affordable.  Everybody is different, but for me gaming just fits.  It's like a warm comfy blanket.  I know Notival will disagree with me but that's okay.

In October/November I was on a huge WoW kick.  I finally got transferred over to the server that all my D&D were on.  It's been a blast.  Gaming in WoW with a group is great.  You've always got back up and it's always a lot of fun.  Still have to keep Bane from dying all the time.  The headphones/chat system sometimes go a bit wonky but on the whole it's a wonderful system and feel less alone on my side of the world when I can here my other guild mates talking about things.  I got my main toon, Jadera, up to 71 then I got distracted.  My mom was here a lot during the holidays and she kind of frowns on me playing WoW.  She's heard too many stories of Evercrack and the people who have ruined their lives by getting sucked into these games.  So that kind of stopped my momentum in the game.  I'm working on getting back into it but I've been seduced by my 360 and I can't break free.

My favorite type of game would have to be any type of RPG.  My first experience was with the first Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.  Then Sudeki for xbox.  After that it was all down hill.  Since then I've been a dedicated fan always looking out for the next good title.  So far to date I've played KotOR 1, KotOR2, Sudeki, Fable, Fable 2, Final Fantasy (X, X-2, XII), DragonQuest VII, Star Ocean, Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonta, Mass Effect and other's but I can't remember their names off the top of my head.

I'm also one of those people who plays these type of games multiple times.  Especially ones like Fable and KotOR where you can be good or evil.  All the ones listed above (except the Final Fantasy ones) have been played through at least twice if not multiple times.  The only thing that kept me sane while I was on bed rest when I was pregnant with Rohan was my xbox and Sudeki.  Right now I'm working through Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia through for the second time. 

I'm almost done with Lost Odyssey.  I'm missing 2 achievements.  And I am not giving up on the game until I get them.  Right now I'm working on maxing out my characters and getting ready to fight the extra dungeon boss.  Apparently even at max level the fight can be lost.  It's about one turn casting massively powerful spells and lots of luck.  No defense play here.  If you can't take him down in 3-4 rounds your probably gonna lose.  After that's it's finishing the game and putting it down for a while.  It's a great game with a wonderful story and very pretty graphics and I'll probably play it again at some point down the line.

My current addiction is Tales of Vesperia.  Another great story and lovable characters.  I really like the cell shaded animation style and the voices actually are not that bad.  If I had to pick my favorite game of 2008, Tales would definetly be it.  I'm getting close to finishing the 2nd play through and then I'll proabably immedietly push into the 3rd play through.  So much to see and do and despite being careful I still managed to miss a lot of it.  Probably will never get all the achievements for this one but I'm sure gonna give it a good try.

After that it will be back to WoW.  No more real games I'm interested in are coming out until about halfway through 2009.  And with that hopefully I'm done reminiscing for a spell.  No promises though.

The last year I've really gotten into some serious gaming.  I don't think I want to calculate the hours I've spent doing it.  And not just video games.  Almost every Thursday I meet up at Ryan's house for some fun pen & paper RPG time.  Currently we are playing the new 3rd edition D&D.  In the past we have played Call of Cuthulu, Dark Heresy, and Dead Lands. 

I was going through my character sheets and remembering all the fun that was had with a couple of friends, a handful of dice, and little bit of imagination. I've tried to play a number of different roles.  I've been a whore, a thief, an assassin, a paladin, and most currently a cleric.  Next time I'll to try some kind of mage-like character.

It's been a while since we've played Dead Lands (before Rohan was born) but it was a lot of fun and my first steps back into the world of D&D.  My charcter was a whore turned gunslinger looking for vengance.  Her real name was never revealed but she was known by the group as Ruby.  She could kick your ass and yet you'd be begging for more.  She had the ability to stop grown men in their tracks with just a glance.  Her looks also got her into trouble sometimes as well.  Every day she had to fend of advances from Clazy Cleatus but that was a battle she rarely lost.  Most remembered moment was the adventure when we fought Velociraptors and Cleatus blew us all up.  Never leave the man alone with dynamite.

Next was Call of Cthulu.  This was the first one I picked back up with after I separated from Lee.  This one is one of my favorites and I hope we get to play it again sometime.  I really had a lot of fun creating this character.  She was a thief and I can't remember her name for some reason (I will have to look it up when I get home tonight and update this post).   Very, very successful theif.  That is until she got caught in a mystical trap and learned there was a whole other world out there with monsters and magic in it.  She was "recruited" by Delta Green to help solve crimes and deafeat monsters.  I've actually got two moments I constantly remember in this one.  The first one being Ranger Rick fighting zombies with a can a bear spray.  Second one being catching the big gem before it could fall into the ground and open up a really nasty portal to a demon realm.  After saving the gem I spent the entire combat running around evading the big bad until Notival's character set up a plan the culminated in blowing the gem and the port-a-potties to smithereens.  Great times. 

After that was the 40K game, Dark Heresy.  This time I chose to do a strong, fighter type character.  She was a deadly assasin from a back world's planet.  Everyone called her Kat but no one really her real name since she was taken from her parents and sold into slavery at a young age.  Her motto is "violence solves everything" and she believes that not bathing provides her with a "dirt ward" that protects her.  She was forced to join and serve by the PTBs.  This game is a little more difficult to play but still fun.  The one thing about this one I will remember is Notival and his grappling hook.

We did a short round of D&D with premade characters.  This time I chose a Dragonborne Paladin and named her Rriss.  We really just used these characters to lurn the new dynamics of the 3rd generation D&D.  The paladin was a really fun class to play but since I was playing a tank like character in 40K I decided to leave my poor Pally by the wayside and choose something different for our current D&D campaign. Dre graciously stepped aside and let me try out the Cleric/Healer style player.  My first time playing a healing class, ever.  Even counting WoW.  It requires more strategy but I'm really liking it so far. 

My new D&D character is a male Minotaur named Apostle.  At a very early age his parents were killed in the dungeons underneath Ptolius and he was found and taken in by a pair of Lothian missionaries named Paul and Sophia.  They raised him as human deep within the folds of the great Lothian church.   Being a minotaur he is constantly at war with himself to keep control of his dark rage.  He is very uncomfortable around other Minotaurs and usally tries to avoid them when ever possible.  Being percieved as a wolf in sheeps clothing keeps him fairly friendless but that doesn't really bother him.  He has one close friend name Phon who he has known since they were both kids.  He is viciously protective of his adoptive parents and Phon.  Anyone who tries to mess with them is in for a world of hurt.  Until recently his ambitions were to be accepted into the Order of the Dawn, an elite group of  individuals who are defenders of the Lothian faith.  In the last few months he has fallen in with a group of Adventurers.  He's really pleased by the work he's done since joining Adventuring Guild Number 18 and hopes to continue and deepen his bonds with his new comrads.

I've really gotten into all the back story of my character and the world during this campaign.  It's been a lot of fun even when we almost all got killed by the big dragon.  Most memorable moment would actually have to be one I missed.  The one game I had to miss Yark went storming into trouble, as usual, and came really close to being a small footnote in the Guild log books.  My goal in this game is to always be within 5 squares of Yark so that no matter what happens hopefully I can save him from himself.

Didn't really mean for this to turn into a novel but once I started remembering things I couldn't stop.  Told you I was in a writing mood today.  Next post, Gaming part 2.  Wonder what Rohan will think when he reads these someday?

Well, I briefly thought about doing some work.  Can't really get into it right now.  Most of my projects wrapped up before the holidays so I'm kind of at loose ends until Mary gets a chance to approve/edit the stuff I've already given her.  So here I am again.  In sort of a writing mood today so there may be many multiple posts today. 

New Year's Resolutions, everybody makes them, almost nobody keeps them.  Last year my only goal was to have a better year than the one before.  I actually accomplished that goal.  2008 was for the most part a very stable year.  I haven't had to move again.  The ex hasn't been too bad.  I didn't lose my job.  I'm happy with that.

This year I thought I'd try some more specific resolutions. 

• Get my name officially changed back to Bryan
  
• No Dr. Pepper in the house. 
• Work out at least 4 times a week even if it's only 15-20 minutes. 
• Keep junk food in the house to an absolute minimum. 
• Read at least 3 books a week to Rohan.
• Build at least 3 memory boxes a month
• Take Rohan to the park whenever possible (weather permitting)

I think that's probably a good place to start.  I've all but decided to put my dating life on hold until Rohan is older.  I've tried a couple of times but I just don't think I'm ready. I'd just rather be me for a while.  Nothing wrong with that.  I've got Rohan and a couple of good friends (more than I ever had before) and I'm okay with that.

Well, the holidays are officially over.  Back to the daily grind.  And back to my blog.  I kind of neglected it during the holidays.  But from the looks of things on my Google Reader page so did most everybody else so I don't feel so bad.

Holidays were fun for the most part, randomnly chaotic, and little bit frustrating at times.  But I guess that's just the general nature of holidays with a close knit family like mine.  Rohan had a blast, of course.  Got way too many presents.  So much so that I had to take his Christmas money and buy him another shelving unit for his room.  Had to move the jungle gym into the living room as well.  He got 5 fire trucks (2 of which are really big), 1 tractor, 1 veritech, 2 floor puzzles, and much more.  For pictures check out this link: http://web.mac.com/nukunuku21/ROHAN/Winter_08.html  WARNING! The vast majority are of Rohan. After all, I am his mother.  :D


Started off the holidays with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Mart with Mimi and Pop (Grandparents).  Rohan had a blast opening presents, playing with my brothers and his cousin Andrew.  He's definetly at that stage where toys are cool and clothes are not.  When he would open a box with clothes in it, he would immediately go on to the next package in hopes that it was a toy.  Regardless of his lack of enthusiasm he did get some really cute clothes and an adorable red jacket with spaceships on it.

Then it was home for a day and then on to the three day extravaganza with my Uncle and Aunt in Frisco.  We started off on Friday night with a sleepover at my Uncle's huge enormous house.  We ate pizza, sat in the hot tub and played some Guitar Hero.  Mom and Dad stayed at my house with Rohan so that he could get a good night's sleep. 

Saturday started with a bang.  At about 10am we started opening presents.  I think we may have finished about noon.  It was happy, crazy fun with stuff happening all over the place.  Then on to junk food and lunch.  Then playing more Guitar Hero, a little bit of Halo, and watching Walle.  Then another night of sleeping over followed by brunch the next day at Cheesecake Factory before everybody went their separate ways.

I don't even really remember what I got for Christmas, other than a printer.  I spent most of the holidays looking through the lens of my extremely kick ass hand me down Nikon DX that I got from Dad in July.  This holiday it was all about Rohan.  And that's okay.  He's only young once and unless I adopt he will most likely be my only child.  Have to enjoy it while you can.

Because I had Rohan for Christmas I didn't have him for New Years this year.  So the week of New Years I went out more times than I normally go out in 3 months.  New Years eve was spent with Kristen at her house with Champagne, Queso, and Wii.  New Years day we had a D&D dinner party.  Friday, Notival convinced me to go out to Deep Ellum for a bit.  Corby was back in town so he went with me.  Then the next day I headed back over to Zero's house for a little bit of drinking and a lot Bloom Blox on the Wii.  All of it was lots of fun but I'm definetly looking forward to a slow weekend at home with just me and Rohan.

And that about sums it up.  Back to work I go.  Maybe.