Eat it, Persona 3. - Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Yesterday, I finally beat Persona 3, and it only took me 70+ hours to beat. If you count the amount of times I died painful, brutal deaths, it took me 80+ hours. 10 hours of death? Yes. I think Persona 3 is the only game in recent memory that has made me drop/throw my controller in anger/disgust, and I’ve played Mega Man 9. The sad part is that I have the FES version; it comes with a second part that you get to play after the first. Atlus says the second part is 30+ hours long, and they’re probably right. I would be all over that if it wasn’t for one tiny fact: Final Frickin’ Fantasy XIII.
I’ve bought a PS3 for FF XIII (that, and God of War 3) since the XBox 360 version is subpar. I considered taking the day off of work, but I settled with just leaving work early. I got FF XIII at midnight, and the moment I get home, I shall be glued to my TV until I have to sleep. That’s the one thing I miss about being and undergrad (if I ignore the semester I took Advanced Calculus 1): the absurd amount of free time I had. I definitely didn’t work for 40 hours a week. I could always postpone doing my homework for a day. However, I can’t just not come to work without using my sweet, sweet vacation time. But alas, work allows me to just buy a PS3 because I feel like it, so work I must. I’ve heard some unpleasant things about FF XIII, but Final Fantasy games get the benefit of the doubt from me, since I’ve found all the ones since FF VI to be enjoyable.
Speaking of vacation time (and getting a bit off-topic), I kinda want to take a week off of work to do absolutely nothing. I don’t want to go anywhere, do anything, visit anyone, or have anyone visit me. I just want to sit at home, and not be productive. But I kinda feel like that would be a waste of vacation time, especially considering I only get 3 weeks of it per year. On the other hand, I usually spend my vacation days going to visit family, and traveling to Missouri/Alabama is a time consuming task. It would be nice to just take time off and not have to drive anywhere. And it’s not like I really have any desire to travel to some far off land. Well, I kind a want to go to Japan, but I never want to go to Montréal again. It’s like going to France, except everyone is Canadian. And you know what they say about Canadians: they have awesome health care.
André//9:23 AM//No one ever leaves commentsI’ve got pictures on my mind - Sunday, February 21, 2010
I recently bought a camera off of Woot that I don’t seem to have much use for. Since I want to feel like my money was well spent, I decided to take some pictures.
This is my white board, where I (computer) science and write reminders for myself. Apparently, I need to call my mom. The random boxes with numbers in it are for the Tron AI tournament that I’m in, and I’m doing pretty well. I entered just because it looked interesting with the goal of just doing better than half the people who enter, but now I’m in it to win it.
This is the replacement pedal EA sent me after my first drum pedal snapped in two. This pedal is probably about 3 weeks old. Notice that crack in both the base and the pedal? I don’t know what I’m doing, but I don’t think the Rock Band pedals can’t withstand it. I should see if I can find an absurdly sturdy replacement pedal (after I call EA and see if I can get another free replacement pedal). This is just ridiculous.
This is my pride and joy: my needlessly large TV. Actually, there is a need for its size. Yes, that is a Wiimote sensor bar taped to the top of it. Yes, I am watching The Cleveland Show. It has grown on me, like something that grows on things? A fungus? Perhaps.
This is my DDR mat taped to one of those plastic chair mats you can buy at Office Max and similar stores. Why is it taped to one of those mats? Because the mat prevents it from moving while in use. I can’t tape it to the floor because I taping it doesn’t work very well when the carpet isn’t cheap. I can’t use Velcro because that also doesn’t work when the carpet isn’t cheap. Using a chair mat is much cheaper than spending $300 on a Cobalt Flux, and it has yet to fail me, unlike certain pedals.
This is a picture that my brother drew me for Christmas. He claims that this is a picture of me. Apparently, I am a woman whose sole duty is to inform people that they’re a focks. Yes, a focks, and definitely not a fox. My brother was implying that I lack the ability to say and/or spell fox correctly. The same is true for you’re.
Behold my computing desk! Yes, I know it’s very messy. Look at my monitors! Aren’t they beautiful? Yeah buddy. Okay, those are all the pictures I have.
André//9:34 PM//No one ever leaves commentsAndré the drummer - Monday, February 1, 2010
So I’ve had Rock Band 2 for about a month. I got the entire set: guitar, drums, mic. However, besides the occasional song to make sure my plastic instruments still work, I’ve been playing drums. I’ve recently gained the ability to tackle songs on expert, which means there’s a one-to-one mapping of the notes in the song to the notes on the screen (although I’m assuming they fudge the kick during certain double-kicky songs). While playing on hard, I heard certain songs in which the drummer was playing something that sounds absurdly tiring, painful, and hard. Now that I’ve started playing those songs on expert, I’ve realized that I was completely right. For example, Let There Be Rock is 6 minutes and 7 seconds of exhausting stupidity. I’m pretty sure I my leg exploded after the first time I played that song (it grew back). I thought that was hard until I played We’ve Got The Beat; I hate that stupid, ugly, tiring song. All I see are orange notes, and they don’t stop. I’m pretty sure that’s what caused my pedal to break in two (good thing it’s still under warranty). Yes, I broke the metal-reinforced Rock Band 2 drum pedal; I rock that hard.
The more I play Rock Band 2, the more I’m shocked that I can actually go to Freestyle Mode and actually play something that sounds somewhat musical. It’s like I’m actually learning how to drums using my fake drum set. I’m even considering buying a cheap drummer throne, because the armrests on my computer chair get in the way sometimes and I’d like to sit a bit higher than my computer chair allows. I’m even tempted to use my Rock Band 2 set as a “midi” drum set, but that’s making all sorts of assumptions about compatibility.
André//1:45 PM//No one ever leaves commentsSnow, texting, and other things - Monday, January 11, 2010
I’m gonna do this post old school:
- Have I mentioned how much I hate Steam and their reasonable prices? I have at least 8 games that I have bought, but haven’t played at all. Thanks Valve, now take all that money you’re stealing from us willing consumers (you heard me) and finish Episode 3 so I can actually start playing the Half-Life games.
- I remember being told in Driver’s Ed. that you might feel vibration/pulsing when using your anti-lock brakes, but I didn’t know what they meant until I had to drive through snow. Apparently, it means the anti-lock brakes are anti-locking. I’m convinced that anybody who loves snow hasn’t had to drive through it. I spent far too much time trying to get out of my parking spot when the big snow hit. It’s been all sadness and unhappiness lately since it’s been cold and cloudy for the past few days. It’s finally gotten warmer, but I’ll be a much happier man when it gets well above freezing and all the snow melts away.
- The following phrase has never been true: “These Uggs are cute!” I don’t know what it is with some women and those abominations. Some wear these things regardless of weather conditions, and that’s just silly.
- I was checking my phone bill when I noticed I received more than 25 text messages. I don’t have unlimited text messages, so I get charged for each text message I send or receive. $5 is how much unlimited text messages would cost me, and 25 text messages cost $5 on my current plan. Since I’m not big on text messaging, I send and receive far less than 25 text messages; I’ve had no reason to buy unlimited text messages. However, my dad recently got an iPhone. I got 32 text messages last month, most of them from my dad. This doesn’t please me. Why can’t he just call about things? I have 4,000 rollover minutes to burn through! Sure I could just pay the $5 a month, but the moment I do that, I’ll get 5 text messages a month like I use to.
- I saw my brother reading a chapter of Naruto over Christmas and getting very unhappy. They’re clearly going to kill someone I like, because that’s how Masashi Kishimoto rolls. He will kill a major character because he feels like it, and I can respect that. You hear that Tite Kubo? Masashi Kishimoto will kill a major character. They will stay dead. FOREVER. They will not get Deus Ex Machina-ed back to life in the same episode.
- You know what would be great? Socialist health care like they have in Canada and pretty much every other developed nation except the U.S. Sometimes, I want to move to Canada, but I then remember how cold Canada is.
- Why couldn’t my mom and dad give me the Christmas gift I really wanted: nothing. I explicitly asked to receive nothing for Christmas. Guess what I received? Not nothing. I know some people think I should be happy and grateful, but I’d be more happy and grateful if people actually listened to me. What’s worse is my dad bought me a coat. It’s not a bad coat, especially considering my former one was falling apart. My dad, like most people, has no idea what I like to wear. I thought I drove this point home in high school, but unlike my mom, he’s clearly forgotten. He got lucky with the coat, and this luck might embolden him! He might try and buy more clothing next Christmas (after I explicitly ask him to get me nothing, of course) that he’ll think that I like because it’s black, which is an incorrect assumption to make.
- Looking through the site logs, I found someone found this blog by searching for “I hate Linus Roache“, which is just absurd. You know who hates Linus Roache? No one.
- You know who I miss? Bernie Mac.
- While G4 gets an absurd number of things wrong, it has gotten one thing very right: Sasuke, also known as Ninja Warrior. They just sub it and air it, unlike Spike TV and the abortion that is MXC. Ninja Warrior is pretty much the best show on TV that isn’t Law and Order or Better Off Ted.
- I am hearting me some Rock Band 2. There are people who own the game, but only play on medium. I don’t get that. Drumming on medium got really easy after a couple of days. Hard is presenting a reasonable challenge, but I think that’s going to become too easy in a few weeks or so. I’ve barely played any songs using the guitar or sung any songs using the mic (mostly because I can’t really sing); all my time has been devoted to getting my drum on. Time well spent.
I don’t want to have to kill you - Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Let me tell you about the New Super Mario Bros. Wii: do not play it with other people. This is not because multiplayer is flawed. It is not anywhere close to being flawed. The multiplayer is so very excellent. The reason not to play with people is because you will want to kill the people you play with. You will want to kill them dead with a brick. Do you love your significant other? You won’t after you play this game. It’s a surefire way to end a relationship. I think the reason this game creates such bloodlust can be attributed to two facts.
Fact 1: It’s really easy to screw over your teammates. You can throw them into enemies and other things that will take their life. You can take all the shrooms that pop out of a box for yourself. Sometimes, normal shrooms and a special shroom (e.g., the penguin suit) pop out of a box. Guess what that means? It’s a fight to get that special shroom. You don’t even have to try and be a jerk. You might accidentally pick up someone instead of the ice block they’re near, and subsequently chuck them into the nearest goomba as if they were an ice block. Someone can accidentally move into your jumping path, causing you to bounce off their head and probably down a hole. All this will want you take a Wiimote to someone’s neck.
Fact 2: There isn’t a compelling enough reason to work together. In Team Fortress 2, you can’t achieve victory by yourself. Sure, you can be credit to team, but you really can’t get the V without your teammates. In Left 4 Dead, while you can shoot your teammates, it’s a horrible idea. Dead teammates = dead you. In many games, the difficulty scales up since you’re doing co-op. This is not true in NSMB Wii. I didn’t notice additional goombas roaming about. Platforms didn’t get smaller. In fact, I was in a situation where I was the only person left alive. I finished the level like a boss. It was 10 times easier to get the job done without people than it was with people. Sure, it’s convenient to have multiple people on occasion (not everyone needs the mini-shroom), but occasional convenience isn’t good enough.
I’m not saying it’s a bad game, because it isn’t. I’m just saying it will cause you to choke someone out with the remote strap. Choke them dead.
André//12:12 AM//Someone felt like leaving a commentMusic and other things - Sunday, December 13, 2009
So I know a couple of guys from work that play guitar and drums. We came to the logical conclusion that we needed to play together, and that’s what we did Friday. We decided to try and play some songs: “Killing in the Name of”, “Aerials”, “Cochise”, “More than a Feeling”, and “Joker and the Theif”. 60% of the songs I already knew how to play: I’ll let you guess which ones. Most of them didn’t so well for various reasons, and I wasn’t feeling too good about the logical conclusion. Then we jammed and I wondered why we even bothered playing other people’s songs. We even recorded it. Afterwards, I noticed certain fingers on my bass playing hand weren’t feeling great. A certain spot on my thumb kinda hurt and there were tiny, light cuts/grooves on the top layer of skin on my pointer finger. Two things were clear: a) I haven’t played bass for that long for quite some time, and b) entire hand is babies. I clearly need to toughen up my dainty girl-hand.
The new TF2 update makes me glad I’m no longer in school. I haven’t jumped into the fray yet, but I will enjoy not constantly being aimed for when I roll Medic. As soon as I put the final nail in Mass Effect’s coffin, I’m all over this. However, it will be hard to enjoy the update starting Friday/Saturday, since I will have to make the trip over to St. Louis for my Christmas vacation (I miss 3 week Christmas breaks). I will be far away from my awesome compy, and I’ll have to reply on my lappy for gaming. Lappy isn’t very strong in that respect compared to my awesome compy. I’m also tempted to buy an acoustic guitar; it’s sad not having an instrument to play and I don’t feel like bringing all of my gear for a week long trip. Traveling with just an acoustic guitar is easier than having to travel with an instrument, amp, cables, etc. I might go for an acoustic bass, but an acoustic guitar makes a bit more sense. I think I’ll go watch some Law and Order (best show on TV).
André//11:15 PM//Someone felt like leaving a commentLet’s give thanks - Sunday, December 6, 2009
The Thanksgiving season is over, and all the ham I ate (I had so much ham) has been digested. I think now is a good time to reflect on all the things I have to be thankful for:
- The absurd amount of delicious chicken tenders Longhorn Steakhouse gives you. They line up the chicken tenders from one side of the long plate to the other. It’s absurd, and awesome. Other restaurants try and give you 3 or 4 tenders, but that’s not cool. I’d go to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner right now, but I try not to go to sit-down restaurants alone.
- Reddit. Reddit was down for a couple of hours one day, and I actually had to do some work. It was the worst day ever (worst day ever…).
- The ridiculous deals that Steam regularly has on games. I got Plants vs. Zombies (zombies don’t read newspapers!) and Osmos for $2 each! KOTOR? $2.50. I bought Mirror’s Edge for $5! And that was within the last 7 days! Now that I think of it, I have entirely too many games to play right now. I just got Shadow of the Colossus and Persona 3 off of Amazon. Upon further reflection, I’m not thankful for this at all! I’m sick of Valve making me buy games. I also don’t like the fact that my job gives me money to buy games, but takes almost 9 hours out of my day. Not cool. You either have no time but plenty of money to spend on games, plenty of time but no money to spend on games, or you’re dead.
- My DVR, which allows me to have 40+ episodes of Law & Order recorded on it. I need to put a dent in that before my Christmas vacation. I would have for my DVR to run out of space. Did you know Linus Roache is British? I did not know that. Did you know he was Thomas Wayne in Batman Begins? I didn’t know that either. Now every time I see him on Law and Order, I expect him to get shot. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
- The recent increase in quality and/or quantity of scripted television shows. I’m thoroughly enjoying V, and I can only hope that they have a ending planned. I don’t want this show to try and go on forever, only to end up like Heroes. I could talk for days about what happened to Heroes and how it could avoided the lame, or at least make a sizable entry about it on some blog. It’s hard to have a show go on forever and still be good without the show being more or less episodic in nature (e.g, Law & Order).
- Dayman. He’s the fighter of the Nightman. Did you know he’s also the champion of the sun and a master of karate. When he’s around, there’s friendship; furthermore, this friendship is for everyone.
- Restaurants that don’t put cheese on their burgers by default. No matter how much I ask for them to not put cheese on my burger, they do it anyway. I don’t know what it would take to get people to not put cheese on my burger, simply asking doesn’t do the trick. They can spit all over my burger if they want, I just don’t want to see any cheese. My burger is not a plate of nachos. I could go for some nachos right now. I wonder if one could combine nachos and burgers. NachoBurger? I know someone who would enjoy that.
- The ability of the writer of Naruto to kill off important characters. You just don’t really see that in long running shonen anime, right Bleach? You don’t even see it in Yu Yu Hakusho, and I love Yu Yu Hakusho to death.
- The possibility of new music from Gravity Kills. I heart me some Gravity Kills. I’d cut of a finger for some new Gravity Kills. Well, not my finger…probably Glenn Beck’s finger. I’ll give him something to cry about. I hope Glenn Beck dies in a car crash.
That’s all I got.
André//12:08 AM//No one ever leaves commentsThanksgiving Season - Sunday, November 15, 2009
It’s that magical time of the year: Thanksgiving time! I bet someone was thinking I was referring to Christmas time, but they would be wrong. It amazes me how some people disrespect Thanksgiving by putting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving! How dare you sit and feast on Thanksgiving dinner with your Christmas decorations already up! It’s like going on a date with someone and having that someone spend the entire time talking about how hot somebody else is. When I see Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving, I just want to take those decorations and throw them on the ground (I won’t be part of this system)! What other holiday solely revolves around getting your grub on? There is none. I can’t think of a holiday I enjoy more. Christmas? Christmas involves the giving and receiving of presents! Forget that mess. Am I a scrooge? Do I hate presents? No, I just don’t receive presents anymore; I kinda have a job and moneys (yes, money of different currencies!). I don’t accept presents from friends, I have no significant other, and I’d rather my mom and dad not spend any money on me. So no presents, and I don’t mind.
As with many major holidays, I go visit my parents. The only downside to visiting my parents is that my parents live 200+ miles away from me and 300+ miles away from each other. If I go home, I have to leave the comfort of my apartment and my TV, both of which are pretty nice. I can’t just visit only my mom or my dad; furthermore, visiting my dad only means I miss out on the tasty food my mom makes. I have to visit both in the course of a 9 days, and now that I work, I have to take time off of work to do so. Lots of driving will be done (flying won’t really save me that much time). I wished my parents lived closer to each other so I could be lazy. Oh well, at least I’ll have something to do in St. Louis this time: visit the new Micro Center.
André//11:08 AM//I'm surprised 3 people left commentsGaming apathy - Sunday, November 8, 2009
As much as I’d like to forget, I remember when I was in high school. As soon as my dad got home and I had to relinquish control of the computer (there was only one), I’d often spend the rest of the night with my PS2 or Cubey McCube. Those nights were good nights. Now I have slightly less free time, but significantly more money; I can pretty much buy all the games I want and I have the time to play the crap out of them. I’ve been revisiting games I didn’t beat all the way or warrant a second play-through. I’ve even made a list of games to go through, because that’s how I roll. But I haven’t been playing all that much. Gone are the days where I would put in a full work day on a game. And I’m talking a real work day, not a spend-half-my-time-on-Reddit work day.
After giving the business to RE4 (which looks really sad on an HDTV), I remembered a game I bought last Christmas, but never got around to playing thanks to my thesis (which is something everyone should read). So I went to my DVD shelf and that’s when I met her: Tales of the Abyss. I started playing and it was beautiful. I played that game all night, then the next night, and so on. Sure, she’s not perfect, but who is? She’s not as hot as her older sister. Her load times are a bit long and a bit too numerous. But she helped me remembered something: I love me some J-RPGs, I love them good. I think I’ll hold off on the latest Castlevania game for the DS and buy Persona 3 (possibly Persona 4 after that).
On a slightly related note, I have the Left 4 Dead 2 demo sitting on my computer, and I haven’t played it yet. I really should get on that. Just like Glenn Beck, zombies must be shot in the face. If I succumb to the urge and buy the game, I’ll need to find a L4D2 crew to roll with. But that will take planning and effort, because some people have significant others, responsibilities, lives, etc. Some people disgust me, but not Tales of the Abyss. She’s lovely.
André//10:16 AM//I'm surprised 4 people left commentsAndré’s Impersonal Blog - Sunday, November 1, 2009
8+ years ago, I made this blog and called it “SFX’s Antisocial Blog”, and it was kinda inane (I was a teenager, teenagers suck). However, I thought the name fit the blog quite appropriately. Eventually, I stopped being a teenager and started sucking a bit less; I didn’t seem to enjoy the name as much. So when I pulled an Ariel, i.e., deleted my blog and started over, there was a need for a new name. But I’m quite uncreative, so I simply named it “André’s Blog”. Boring? Very much so. Have you tried googling “André’s Blog”? You get 90 million blogs, and mine is #90,000,000. And those blogs are made by sucky people who not only suck, but share my name. Some of them don’t even put an accent on their e! It’s like having a sausage and a biscuit, but not putting the sausage in the biscuit: morally reprehensible.
I’ve been meaning to give the blog a superior name, but it’s a difficult endeavor due to my being lazy and uncreative. However, I occasionally get a bit less uncreative and a bit less lazy; I stuck “Impersonal” in the middle and I think I like it. It’s so apt! How personal is the blog? Not very personal at all. I think the name fits, like a pleasant pair of pants and unlike an unpleasant pair of hipster pants. On a related note, why would any man wear tight pants? I know I could bring myself to walk over to the women’s section (where else are you going to get pants made for the ladies?) to buy clothes; kinda girly. And on that note, I think I’m done here.
André//11:53 PM//No one ever leaves commentsThis blog is powered by Wordpress and hosted by E-Rice.