Playing a Losing Game » instant message

IM Conversation #7

mike delosreyes — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:52:00 +0000

mike d: http://kotaku.com/5157628/your-first-brief-look-at-mass-effect-2
Tai: You know, that ended exactly how I hoped it would end.
mike d: a bit dramatic, but i likey
Tai: I was thinking that it would be impractical to play the game as Sheephard.
Tai: It’d require the story to be even more bombastic than it was last time.
mike d: “i have just become the first human spectre!…what else can i be the first of?”
Tai: I hope items in the sequel aren’t as *yawn* as they were in the first game. No more of this “same thing mark IIX” bullshit.
mike d: like ace combat and Tom Clancy games with their red boxes over baddies, i spent all my time on the inventory screen looking at the roman numerals
mike d: “i dont care what it is. it’s got more roman than anything else i have.” *equip*

IM Conversation #6

mike delosreyes — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:14:30 +0000

mike d: i played a bit of too human. those controls take some getting used to
mike d: “ooh, what’s over there?”
*hits the right analog, char goes apeshit with his sword*
Tai: Yeah. It isn’t terrible.
Tai: You downloaded the demo?
mike d: yep
Tai: What’d you think, otherwise? It seems like a flashy, lazy-controls dungeon crawl.
mike d: i like how when you land from a jump it makes this bassy thud, and when you attack enemies it sounds like youre wiping food crumbs off a pillow

IM Conversation #5

mike delosreyes — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:17:26 +0000

mike d: “Tomb Raider: Underworld™ represents a new advancement in exploration-based gameplay. As the fearless adventurer Lara Croft, players explore, raid and solve the mysteries of exotic locations around the world, each designed in breathtaking high-definition visual fidelity that creates a truly believable world and delivers a new level of challenge and choice.”
Tai: I feel like that’s some kind of specially constructed sentence in which reading it to its end leaves you magically transported back to its beginning.

IM Conversation #4

mike delosreyes — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:09:00 +0000

mike d: it’s amazing how much char customization affects my enjoyment of a game.
Tai: Are you speaking towards the lack of customization in The Witcher?
mike d: i started doing tour mode in rock band 2. and then from boob, i learned that you can do a roundabout way of customizing your entire band – instead of randomized chars filling in the spots for every song. this was enough for me to restart tour mode.
mike d: yes, and then there is the witcher
mike d: “god this fool looks stupid.”
mike d: “i dont care if his weps appear on his boody. i wanna change his face, dangnabit.”
Tai: How are you enjoying that, by the way?
mike d: another thing that bothers me aboot the game is that i have a difficult time with the combat’s feedback. i not only cant tell if im getting hit but how much it’s hurting…
Tai: There’s no indication anywhere?
mike d: since the combat is based around timed clicking, combine this with his manic combat animations, my eyes focus on this instead of the floating numbers and their effect on the various life/endurance/something else bars
mike d: the floating numbers are really small
mike d: at least with the baldurs, there is feedback text and a drowning in blood portrait
mike d: and screaming
Tai: So have you died in the witcher as a result of being unable to gauge your health?
mike d: witcher has screaming, but not “oochies.” more like “harrrgh, im swinging hard, swinging fast!”
mike d: ive only played the first area. the boss was the only dude who was doing significant damage
Tai: And then you went back to Rock Band.
Tai: …which coincidentally is also about timed clicks.

IM Conversation #3

mike delosreyes — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:09:00 +0000

Concerning Dead Space….

Tai: I don’t like the idea of a remotely manipulated sawblade.
Tai: I mean, c’mon. It’s not like the Ishimura is a giant fucking woodshop churning out side cabinets.
mike d: “my dad used to have me chop wood. we didnt even have a fireplace.”
mike d: maybe that’s why you see so many sawblades lying around
Tai: “there wasn’t much where we lived. No birds, no rabbits. Lots of trees though. When I complained about this he’d simply rustle his splinter-laden hands through my sawdusty hair and say ‘shut up now, son, and eat your wood’.”
mike d: “im gonna be someone important, dad! im gonna get outta this life and be a part of something greater than this goddamn woody community. maybe i’ll even join a planet-cracker ship. like the ishimura!”
Tai: “Now look here son, this might not be much of a life, but this is an honest life, a woody life. I don’t want you running off to go mess with no rocks, you’re a wood-boy, nailed and boarded. Heavens, what would you do in space? Where would you find sawblades?”

“There’ll be sawblades in space!”

“Don’t be stupid son, what would rock-miner-folk be doing with sawblades?”

“…CUTTING ROCKS!”

“Don’t be silly now, no damn space-idiot would use a sawblade to cut a rock. Now sit down and finish your wood.”

IM Conversation #2

mike delosreyes — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:16:00 +0000

Concerning Metal Gear Solid 4….

Tai: So are otakon and snake really roommates?
mike d: along with a little girl who cooks them eggs
mike d: she cooks them sunny side up cuz it has fortune-telling powers or some such nonsense
Tai: Metal Gear Solid: Egg Eater
Tai: …does she actually tell fortunes using eggs?
mike d: actually, it never becomes a subplot. more like a character quirk
mike d: they mention it a few times, but it turns out to be nothing
Tai: Darn. I hear MGS4 could use some more subplots.
Tai: do they explain where the girl comes from?
mike d: she is the daughter of a char from the second game. and as usual, she is super genius
mike d: she is so super genius that she types using 2 keyboards
Tai: Which character? “Hybrid Gold Genius Wombat”?
mike d: the boss you fight in the demo. white-haired chick
mike d: forget what her specialty was
Tai: So wait, you kill the shit out of her, then steal her ovaries or something?
Tai: It must be very symbolic that she serves them eggs then.