Flight Simulator X

Platform: PC
Progress: Still doing the tutorial
Enthusiasm: Flying is fun!

My first flight was with an Air Creation Trike Ultralite 582 SL, and I felt I flew OK, considering it was the first time I’d ever played a flight sim. The tutorial mission was to fly through some hoops placed in a straight line. The controls were easy to learn on this aircraft and I only had to worry about throttle and steering. I actually managed to make a decent landing, something I’ve yet to do in GTA San Andreas. The next tutorial mission was to fly through some more hoops, placed a little less linear this time. It went even better than the first flight, where I was a bit wobbly. I got all the bonus rings, and I’m getting used to the very sensitive analogue controls.

I don’t think I could play this with keyboard controls, so thank Joe Pesci my old Saitek P880 worked. The last time I used it, I got so infuriated with a game that I chucked it into the wall. A couple of buttons are pushed in, but they all still work.

I tried a free flight mission with the Ultralight and chose the airport by my home town as location. The scenery was a bit disappointing. They had used the old airport building instead of the new, and the landscape consisted of 99% pine trees (which doesn’t grow naturally here), and 1% road. My home town was missing, and the big suspension bridge further north was grossly misrepresented. But I guess when there are 24,000 airports in the game, some of them are gonna be less detailed.

Next, I started a free flight from Kennedy International in New York, flying the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet. It took off smoothly, but didn’t know how to raise the landing gear. I looked all over the extremely buttonous cockpit and tried several of them — which I guess isn’t the brightest of ideas mid flght — but before I could find the correct button I found myself submerged in water. A $41 million mistake.

New attempt, this time I checked the control menu for the key to raise the gears.

The jet feels very powerful as it reaches speeds of 1500 km/h, and it was extremely easy to do barrel rolls and loops. I flew up to 2000 feet and started fiddling with the controls. None of the buttons seemed to do much of anything that was disscernable to me. I found the gear raise/lower switch and wondered how I had missed it before. Also, the eject handle didn’t work, disappointingly.

I did some more loops and U-turns, then concluded by crashing into the ground at 1000 km/h. An enjoyable flight, except for the gruesome death at the end. I can imagine the inside of that cockpit was akin to a jar of tomato sauce.

Knights of the Old Republic: Escaping Taris, and How I got my Lightsaber

Platform: PC
Progress: Just arrived on Dantooine and received a Lightsaber.
Enthusiasm: Still pretty fun, though bugs sometimes ruin it. The real game begins now.

I plowed through Davik Kang’s base this session. The game is pretty easy, even on the difficult setting, though it probably would have been harder had I been allowed to solo this section. I died once to the droids in the ‘guest’ (read: torture) chamber. While I was slashing away at one of them, its buddy set me on fire with its flamethrower, stunning me for several rounds. I was at ~5 HP when the stun was gone, and right before I could inject a medpac, the fucker flamed me again, killing me instantly. Canderous took them both out easy, though. One of them was nearly dead, and the other fell after a couple of Power Blasts. After the battle, I took some medpacs and freed the torturee, only to kill him when I got the info I needed.

The rest of the base was non-hectic. The spice lab guards, which I thought I would struggle with, all fell in one slash of the vibroblade (or rather one slash from each vibroblade).
Calo Nord and Davik Kang were walkovers. Canderous threw a concussion grenade and two plasma grenades on Calo, and he died pretty fast. A bit too fast, I think. I charged Davik and flurry’d him dead in a couple of rounds. Then I picked up that ugly purple armor of his, and left for Dantooine.

By this time I wish I’d have installed a challenge mod. I’ll see how the difficulty gets on Dantooine before I’ll consider installing one. I hope I don’t have to restart the whole game if I do.

On Dantooine, I went through the motions, lying my ass off to get that lightsaber. Sort of strange, I think. My face was grey with black veins, and Master Vandar was very impressed that I was so dedicated to their cause. Their gullibility will be their doom! Also, apparently I’ve memorized the Jedi Code from previous playthroughs, which is pretty nerdy, I guess. Then the Jedi Masters started preaching about the Force, while I’m smiling and nodding, choosing [Lie] the whole time. Finally, after much chatter, I get my radiant armament of death, the lightsaber:

I shall call it The Blue Blur of Beheading. Now, the real game begins.

Next session I’m going to the sacred grove to deliver horrible pain and death to Juhani. It will be grand.

Lastly, when I see the cutscenes with Darth Malak, I keep thinking to myself, “I wish the morality in this game was less polarized”. Malak is just too damn evil to be a good and credible villain, I feel. He has a bald head with ominous tattoos, a flowing red cape, he speaks with a sinister and metallic voice, and he destroys planets without blinking. Give me Darth Traya over Darth Malak any day.

The same is also true about the players dialogue, in that you’re either the galaxy’s worst bastard, or Jesus In Space. I set out to play a darksided character, but I dislike feeling like a psychopathic serial killer in every quest. I want to play a more subtle and sly evil, but the dialogue is about as subtle as a boot to the face, and I mean that in the literal sense.

Knights of the Old Republic

Platform: PC
Progress: Right before the final mission on Taris.
Enthusiasm: Having fun. I’ve played the beginning of this game many times, so it kinda drags along, but soon the real fun starts.
About this game

This is a solo playthrough. I’ve finished this game a couple of times on the Xbox with a party, and both were Lightsided (though the second time was supposed to be Darksided, but I fucked up). I play as a dual-wielding Soldier on the hardest difficulty, and It’s fun and challenging so far. I’ve died a few times to stray grenades on the last mission I did, and the administrator of the Sith base spammed Stun and killed me too many times, but got him eventually with a well-placed concussion grenade. Only after I had killed him did I see the Immunity to Mind-Affecting implant in my inventory. Damnit…

The next mission is Davik’s base, then it’s off the planet and off to Dantooine for my Lightsaber!

Grand Theft Auto IV

Platform: Xbox 360
Progress: Mid game somewhere.
Enthusiasm: Had waned for a while, but I’ve been fancying starting up again.
About this game

This game is not as eye-gouging on SDTVs as Mass Effect, thankfully. I only have to squint when using the cell phone, and I had problems with the mission where you have to read a number off a phone display, but I got around that.

I’ve gotten to the third apartment, and I’m about to choose sides between Dwayne and Playboy X (X is going down!). The most memorable mission up to now is the one where I wreak havoc on a construction site (where you snipe the guards on the cranes before assaulting the site). I was dressed in a suit reminiscent of Tony Montana, aviator sunglasses, and wielding an AK-47; running around the construciont site just blasting every fool in my way. It was glorius.

Been planning to continue on with this game soon. I’ve been playing GTA since the first, and I feel IV is the best of the 3D offerings, though I occasionally play San Andreas just to dick around while listening to a podcast.

Mass Effect

Platform: PC
Progress: Nearing mid-game.
Enthusiasm: Sort of waning. Might play a bit more.
About this game

First started playing this game on 360, but found it to be headache-inducing on an SDTV. Also, the aiming sucks for the sniper rifle.
Bought the game again for the PC not too long ago, and the experience is much improved. I can actually see the text without squinting, and I can shoot the fourth testicle off a Krogan from 100 yards away.

I’m playing a Female Infiltrator, and using Ashley and Liara as my team mates. The last mission I did was the Noveria Peak 15 mission. I killed Matriarch Benezia after a long battle, and freed the Rachni Queen, which the Council wasn’t too thrilled about. I found the mission end to be a bit anticlimatic. At the end I programmed the computer to set off a Neutron Purge to kill the remaining Rachni. As I set it off, the radar was brimming with red triangles and I thought this was going to be a truly epic battle, but I found out that 4/5 of those triangles were not real enemies, but just there to create false suspense, I guess.

On another note, the Mako driving is awesome in the PC version. Hated it on 360.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

Platform: PC
Progress: Nearing the end of the beginning.
Enthusiasm: Still digging it. Will probably keep playing some more.
About this game

This is the second time I’ve started this game. Didn’t come very far the first time, and I didn’t like my character, so I restarted with a Rogue/Fighter/Assassin. I also installed the mod Companion and Monster AI, and I find the added AI options to be very satisfactory. No longer will the mage singe the eyebrows off my frontline fighters with a poorly placed fireball.

I’ve picked up Gann, enchanted some weapons, talked to some berserkers and decided not to join their shitty lodge, and I just met up with Kaelyn the Dove in the Temple in Shadow Mulsantir. I cleared out a couple of rooms containing some undead horrors and came upon three Death Knights with a challenge rating of “Overwhelming”. The Death Knights weren’t attacking me so I cleared out the Wraiths hiding in some urns (they will pop out if their urns are destroyed with, say, a Cone of Cold aimed in its direction in the heat of battle), buffed up, and challenged the Death Knights. Kaelyn, the Cleric, was the first to die, and with her one of the summons disappeared (I have no tank at this point, so I’m forced to use summons as tanks). Next to die was my character, the Assassin, who was futilely trying to Sneak Attack the Death Knights. Then there were the Spirit Shaman and the Wizard who both were blade fodder before too long. At this point I turned off the game. Trying again tomorrow.

I Never Finish Games

Well, that’s not exactly true, but it feels like it sometimes. I have bought and started countless games the past years, but I quickly grow tired and abandon them for months at a time to play something else. I’ll come back to the game eventually, and I might even finish it if I’m near the end, but games are long, and I have a ton of games I’ve yet to play through.

Anyway, this blog is a journal of my game playing habits.

That is all.