Golden Deer Pub Community Forums

Cory Doctorow, eh?

I didn't like what I read of "For the Win", but this book is one of my favorites ever, it's really funny and also pretty sweet anyways. It also has 1984 references ;o

What did you not like about For The Win? That book was recently recommended to me.

He seemed to be trying a little too hard to make it geeky... Just because there _are_ abbreviations and terms for everything, doesn't mean they need to be used in a book. I will end up reading it eventually, though. I've only read the first few chapters, because all of his books are online for free on his site.

I'm a little over halfway through it, I started it a couple days ago, and it doesn't seem that bad. There's really only geeky stuff at the start, later he tones it down.

The first part of my order arrived the other day, and I just got around to borrowing a friend's camera to take a photo of it. I would like to apologize in advance for the crappy photos; it's an old and cheap piece of crap camera, and I couldn't manage to get decent lighting conditions without more effort than I could be bothered to muster.

[spoiler][/spoiler]
• Atelier Annie: I looked into this game a few times but ultimately never purchased it before, because it looked way too simplistic/casual for my tastes. However, Recettear has shown me that casual RPGs can be great too, so I decided to give it a try. I’m currently up to Y:1 M:12 D:8 and am loving every minute of it. I still have no idea if I’m playing properly though, and I don’t think I’m doing too well even though I’ve gotten a Gold for each assignment so far. I’ve had a few months where sales have been down from the previous months.

• Advance Wars: Dark Conflict: Never bought it before, despite loving the previous AW titles, because I couldn’t get past the new graphical style. Since it was so cheap I decided to give it a go, and I’m glad I did. If I try not to associate it with the rest of the series and just think of it a standalone game the graphics aren’t too bad and the good old AW gameplay is still intact for the most part.

I started off getting S Ranks for all the missions, until I got up to Ch:05 where I got a B, even though I should have gotten an S. I was perplexed so tried again and got an A, even though it should have been a very clean S.

So I decided to use the good old internet to find out what the hell was going on, and it turns out that even though they still score you based on Speed, Power and Technique, they completely changed how they are calculated. Once I found out the new formulas I easily got an S and think they really should have mentioned somewhere that they changed the scoring system so drastically, so that us older fans don’t get confused and try to play to the old system.

It’s hard to get used to the name changes too. Why they changed Artillery to Mech Gun I have no idea…


Besides that little niggle the game is still awesome, with great music and gameplay, and I’m really looking forward to the later missions where strategy becomes more important.

• Chrono Trigger: I never actually played the original, so figured I’d get the DS port whilst I still could. Not going play it yet though, I’m going to wait until I can give it the attention it deserves (at least from I’ve heard).

• Sands of Destruction: I’ve heard nothing but bad things about this game, but I think it sounds/looks interesting. The fact it was 83% off helped too.

• Hero’s Saga: Laevatein Tactics: I’ll be honest, this was an impulse buy. From all appearances it looks like just a generic (and from what I’ve heard, very easy) SRPG. This goes straight to the bottom of the backlog pile.

• Marvel Vs Capcom 3: I actually meant to pre-order this, but never got around to it. Spent 10 minutes in Practice Mode, then played though Arcade Mode once, with Zero, Dante (yeah, I know) & Wolverine. I chose Wolverine because I didn’t want to have to waste time learning a more technical character yet, partly because I don’t have time at the moment to play this seriously and partly because I’m still pissed off they took out Strider. Also not happy about the change to 3D graphics, well done though they are.

Also, can’t really call these recent anymore but figured I’d take a photo of them while I have this camera.

[spoiler][/spoiler]
• Tegami Bachi OST: One of the finest OSTs that I’ve had the privilege of owning. Simply superb.

• Hatenaki Michi Limited Edition: This is a great song, like all of the themes for this series. I really want the other 3, but can’t find the LEs anywhere .

@Sands of Destruction

This has reminded me I own this:



because it cost me $1

I haven't watched it yet.

They have a fairly loose interpretation of what "based on" means, in case you're curious. More of "same world, same plot device, different means of transportation" I suppose.

[spoiler]And, technically, I'm not sure which is based off of which. The anime came out in like July '08 and the game released in September '08, I want to say. *shrugs*[/spoiler]

Amazon.com's video game deal of the day brings the price of Dragon Age 2 for PC/PS3/360 down to $40.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?i ... 1000208101


...and I still don't want it.

I rather disliked the first one, and the horrible customer reviews that DA2 is getting on places like Metacritic and Amazon are not helping.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Age-2-Pc/p ... ewpoints=0

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstat ... gon-age-ii

To be honest, most the reviews are "THEY CHANGED THINGS" whining as opposed to legitimate critiques.

I like DA2 a bit more than DA:O if only because it's less of a Bioware game. I mean, you're not "go to these four [s]planets[/s][s]planetsagain[/s][s]obligatory fantasy locations[/s] to recruit people and find your macguffin then plot then one more [s]planet[/s][s]planetagain[/s][s]obligatory fantasy location[/s] and then finale." Well, you sort of are but the locations are all sections of one city.

Also, personally, the combat is a bit more polished and, surprisingly, more tactical (plus Nightmare mode is actually kind of hard; DA:O's Nightmare is Easy with one working training wheel). And, really, that's all I'm playing it for: the combat.

There are, of course, plenty of horribly stupid design decisions, most revolving around some serious plot|gameplay separation (by a fence ... made of tigers) and asset reuse. The game could've used another year of development, not this 8 month dev cycle it underwent.

[spoiler]Seriously, Dragon Age 2 revolves around issues of Mages and Templars. Mages in a city ruled by Templars. A Templar that is batshit insane and likes flogging people.

Yet, you, as a Mage (or with Mage companions) can do whatever-the-fuck you want in town. Fuck it. Who cares? Shit, go Blood Mage if you want; it's taboo and you can decry it all you want but post-talkytalky you can go slitting your wrists like you're 13 listening to Linkin Park. Hell, you're GIVEN A BLOOD MAGE as a companion so it's not like you can even avoid it short of not using her (and she's the only decent Mage companion since she has Entropy access and Creation/Healing isn't that big of a deal sans Heroic/Valiant Aura).

It gets handwaved, apparently, on why you can do what you do but it's still rather a stupid notion. Also, fuck your timeskips.[/spoiler]

tl;dr: Gameplay wise, DA2 is better than Origins; Story Wise and Design wise, it's really not a step up (and a step back as far as design is concerned).

Speaking of Amazon, [s]Dick-Tits[/s]Bulletstorm is also $40. Unfortunately, it was $40 yesterday so it's really just a "price back to normal and now SALE~" kind of thing.

Contemplating a drive to Newport News to check out the Borders store closing sale.

I'm debating the odds they'll have much manga left at this point.

Anyone else have a Borders going out of business near them?

One of the few Borders locations near me has already been replaced with a comic book store (which, oddly enough, sells more manga than the Borders it replaced) XD