The Forgotten

So much has happened in the last couple weeks I'm not sure where to start...

Smoke in the air has been consistently bad. I think we had 1 day where I couldn't smell it. It's just been this oppressive hot and smokey hell for the past two months. 

Last week the battery for my car fob died and I had to manually unlock my car, which set the car alarm off and it wouldn't stop until I started the vehicle. I get to work that day, run upstairs and find the entire floor deserted. I stand there dumbfounded for a few seconds before I realize that our all-day training must be at a different venue. So I pull up the event on my phone and see that it's just a few blocks away at another building. I rush downstairs and back to my car, which I try to get into again, but this time I can't get the door to unlock and the alarm is just going off. At this point I essentially run away from my car and jog 10 minutes over to the place I'm supposed to be and enter 15 minutes late, tripping over everyone as I move to a seat at the back. Then I was all sweaty for like an hour as the school doodles made a come-back appearance in my notebook.

This week I attended a football game and there were fighter jets and biplanes and gatling guns that fired mini footballs and they threw beef jerky around at the crowd for some reason (it was packaged). I also got a nasty sunburn and mustard all over myself.

Then yesterday I borrow a deep frier to make some popcorn chicken for a potluck today. We over-filled the frier with oil and didn't think of the consequences. Woke up this morning with oil all over the counter and floor because the drainage tray filled up and overflowed when the oil was cool. So that was fun and now the house smells like deep fried oil. 

I finished Pyre completely, purchased and downloaded the new Life is Strange game (but haven't played yet) edited another session of Sonic 2006, and participated in another Starsworn campaign game.

I don't think I did an official summary of the first campaign game, but I feel like the last two sessions went really well other than me forgetting information I really should have known. The party seems to be meshing well with each other and I feel like we're all getting a chance to interact, ask questions and do stuff. I've been a little confused a couple times mostly because I'm not sure who information is intended for or what I'm supposed to share and to what extent. I suppose it's up to me a lot of times, but translating that into dialogue or action is a bit hard for me sometimes. I also feel like I don't ask enough questions if I'm unsure of something. 

The thing I forgot was a dude's name. I knew who he was, what happened to him, all the details, etc. But when I heard his name I'm like "oh that sounds familiar" and then just continued along with it. You don't hear me swearing in the video...just a tired sigh. I can, however, assure you I was cussing like crazy in my head. I can write the mistake off easily enough, but I was really mad with myself afterwards. TO BE FAIR THOUGH. I never actually MET the NPC. I encountered his body in a vat and read about him, but I had tunnel vision and didn't really make the connection between the vat and the dude because I thought the dude was in another tower. Long story short, I basically confused myself 'cause all the information was there and made sense, but I interpreted it wrong.

Anyway, first two games were really good. Mucky, HKS and Thal are easy to play with, which I wasn't really concerned about, but I always get anxious when starting up these kind of things with new people. As for the game structure, content, environments, etc. it's all solid so far in my opinion. I may be a little biased as I'm used to/familiar with Mesk's storytelling and have been for many years now, but I don't really have anything to complain about.

Bot Hunters

Fast approaching is the release a few of the games I've actually been looking forward to this year. Pyre and the new Life is Strange stories are coming out this summer and I am super excited for both. I am most excited for Pyre because it's coming from a gaming company I actually trust to produce quality gameplay and storytelling. I'm just expecting the Life is Strange episodes to emotionally destroy me. I hope to put these two up there with Horizon in games that actually impressed me this year. Outlast 2 was one Shauna and I were looking forward to, but man was it lacking.

Over the past couple of weeks at work I've teamed up with one of my coworkers in dev and we've been hunting bots on one of the sites I do tech support for. It's actually been quite interesting because each person has gamed the system in very different ways. I mean, the results are essentially the same, but each one tried a different strategy and had varying results. I could safely say I'd know exactly how to fool us/our system and get away with it, but I definitely do not have the skills for it currently. Anyhow, I've gotten really good at spotting suspicious behaviour on the site. I feel like a cross between a bounty hunter and a detective...only like the most lame one in existence.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43yqdd/look-at-this-massive-click-fraud-farm-that-was-just-busted-in-thailand

It's a common problem rife on social media sites. Unfortunately, all it's going to take is a more clever person to beat the system. It's almost worth not doing anything since we know how to catch people as is and would be akin to a trap. It's just...a lot of work investigating each case. So we're automating detection and likely putting in a recaptcha to give bots a hard time. My coworker already explained how this could be circumvented, but it requires a non-trivial amount of work on the cheater's side (i.e. they need to actually know what they're doing).

Anyhow, it's keeping me busy at work and I get to make a lot of spreadsheets, which is keeping my inner data nerd at bay. I've only crashed Excel twice since this started and one of them was because I tried to extract and open a  report including 6 months worth of activity on a site with over 500,000 users. That was my bad.

The best part is some of the smart ones that have been confronted with their cheating and banished are trying to get more information out of us stating that it's not enough evidence to condemn them. It's so tempting to slap them in the face with it, but it's unwise to give smart people the tools they can use to best you in the future.


Update on the dude who said I was annoying (one of them at least...I think there's a club): He has started his own Dungeon Siege LP (no voice unfortunately) and has-----WAIT FOR IT-----changed his dislike to a like on my video since I was so nice. I'll be sure not to spend it all in one place.

Also, the D&D campaign Mesk was going to run is now cancelled, which is a little disappointing because I was looking forward to that. I hope he picks it up again, but I guess for now I can turn my attention and focus back to completing my writing and RPG.

Results

Figured out what was causing the pain in my right side and it was the same thing that it always is. It's not life-threatening. I just get to sit around and wait for it to get better as always. Better than surgery. I can eat/exercise however I want again. Within reason. In a bad mood because of a fight with a family member. Because if it isn't the answer you wanted, it's obviously cancer.

Life is Strange video is prepared. It will be released this week.

Nick and I finished the base game of Trine 2. We're on to the DLC now.

Almost done editing all the original Gauntlet footage. We'll be continuing that soon unless Mesk and HKS want to drag me through more high level areas in Warframe full of death and despair and hilarity.

With holidays coming I'll likely have limited access to computers from the 23rd-26th. It's going to be busy. I will have uploads queued, however, if you're expecting videos.

I'm going to go grab a coffee and work on being less frustrated.

EDIT: Went for a walk at lunch and I'm in a bit better mood. However, mystery of the day...on our way back we counted 41 empty bread bags. Either a garbage bag full of them opened or someone was doing something crazy with a hell of a lot of bread. No matter what the story is...what does someone do with that much bread? Then Oliver suggested this.

Flavourless Mush

Now I know why the kiwis I bought were on sale. When sliced open, they are flavourless mush.

Four more days until I know more about what's causing me pain in my right side.

I'd make today a soundtrack Thursday, but I forgot my headphones at home. The other ones I have are mostly broken and hurt my ears.

I got past the first section of Fire Emblem Awakening on Lunatic mode (i.e. Chapter 11), sat through the forced romance cause I was neglecting my support and training for Chrom, and pushed forward into Chapter 12. Started the level and I wish I could be recording DS games because my reaction was priceless. You get taken right to the preparation menu with no cutscene so I'l like "okay, let's see what we're up against." Immediately around me I see 4 knights, 2 cavaliers and 1 paladin (which I didn't realize was a paladin until I started). I scrolled to the left and said "oh god" because there were 5 more horse dudes and more knights. Scroll up and started swearing said "oh god no" and saw that the whole map is just covered in knights and horse dudes. A good number of them are tier two. I look at the map clear requirements and see "Rout Enemy" and there's just this outraged cry of despair you hear from me and I see that it's 43 units vs my 13 units. I have 3 tier two units. THREE. Only TWO of my units can withstand an attack from that paladin. The rest can be one-shotted. I should see if I can grab a screen of this...anyway I quit to go level my dudes on risen (which are easy aside from the bosses which have 60 HP and do 51 damage -_-). I can literally rant about Fire Emblem for hours so I'll stop.

I'm still sad I missed out on the Fire Emblem Fates Special Edition. Currently my only option are the scalped ones on Amazon etc. selling for like...$300 which I'm not inclined to pay. That would be ridiculous considering other expenses.

I'm stuck on the plant level in Myst 3. Don't tell me what to do. I'm missing something stupid obvious. I know it.

I may work on Evil Within backwards as I want those files off the laptop and I have no where to put them.

Working on a special Life is Strange video that will be released next week. It's mostly done. Just need to fix a few areas.

Actively working on editing the rest of the SR4 footage, Gauntlet footage and one more ESO video. Actively recording Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. I need enough space to finish Gauntlet, SR4 and Dead Space 2. Evil Within, Bioshock Infinite and Murdered are the problem since they are full LPs still.

This week in the world of work: Tiger Telepathy, making fun of Facebook's code (though we learned it actually links back to a picture's URL when it scrapes the page not make a copy), excessive Christmas decorations in the other office that shares our building (including a movie theatre, stormtroopers, LEGO displays, Christmas trees, projectors etc.) and the one site I work with FINALLY renewed their security certificate.

I have a script for the first area of an RPG almost done.

I did not lose any laundry this week.

Final Episode of Life is Strange

I can't sleep yet because of this game so I figured I might as well write about it. You can all laugh at me if you want, but the game made me cry. And I don't ever recall crying in a game before. Maybe feel a little sad or tear slightly, but this was like my heart just got ripped out and tenderized kind of sad. You have a choice at the end, and I think either would have been soul crushing in a way...but I may have actually chosen the MORE soul crushing way.

Jeez what do I even say about this game overall? I mean, aside from some exceptionally cheesy (and sometimes awkward) writing, the overall plot and voice acting were pretty stellar. They definitely go for the shock value each time as a cliff hanger, but they went from something so light-hearted and innocent in Episode 1 to extremely dark as fast as the end of Episode 2. And it JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE. I liked the art style and gameplay all right. Sometimes some of the objects looked kind of messed up, but it was solid in the play and I didn't notice many graphical issues. A bit of Z fighting and some really strange frames in Episode 5 that I'll need to slow down (at one point I THINK Max warped out of the chair and back again in a transition for instance). Music was good...and deceivingly light and soothing. Game kept me engaged the entire time.

I just wasn't prepared for this at all. I knew what was coming, and I couldn't handle it. I truly recommend this game if you like choice-based games, if you highly value story, and if you want something to crush your emotions into a little ball before they get stomped into a smooth paste.

Episode 5 is going up shortly. All I'll say about it is that I was right. And I'm sorry that I was right.

One More Marathon Week

Not that I made it through last week's marathon in one piece. I crashed pretty hard over the weekend. Not sure what I had, but it basically sucked every ounce of energy I had. I literally spent one entire day reading and watching movies/tv. On that note, Kingsmen wasn't half-bad, though it ended on a...uh...super classy note. Then I went and watched some Rick and Morty so I suppose there was a theme to the evening.

Shauna will be happy to hear that I finished Summer Knight too so there's that.

I will have regular work hours, 9-5 (more or less) weekdays now, which means my schedule will be more consistent and I won't come home every day feeling like I got hit by three trucks, died and had to crawl my way out of hell, racing five demons back to my body for another go at this "life" thing. That's the theory anyway. Chances are I'll just end up buried in the mountain of writing and video work I need to catch up on. So we're switching from crawling to digging more or less.

Anyhow, uploads have continued. Recording continues. I should like...do a full update or something so there's some kind of illusion that business continues as usual. Complete with a load of giggling and screaming internally.

Currently recording:
-SOMA
-Planet Alcatraz
-Gauntlet
-Dead Space 2 (thinking of finishing this on Saturday if I have the drive space)
-Testament of Sherlock Holmes

Currently editing:
-Testament of Sherlock Holmes
-Murdered: Soul Suspect
-Gauntlet
-Bioshock Infinite (hahahaha the never-ending project)
-Evil Within (might get Mesk to cast over some of these segments or "key" segments)
-Some....special, unexpected footage intended for a new trailer (it's a surprise)
-Dungeon Siege (cause I keep forgetting I have this)

Recently finished:
-Awesome Possum (about 4 more episodes to go up)
-Tera footage (likely more to come in the future)
-Saint's Row 3 - all uploaded to LAG (but not all released yet)

So at least something is happening.

I have some initial thoughts on SOMA (we're about 3-4 hours in), but I may save those for another post as this one is already pretty long. In short, it's good, it's a lot like Amnesia games only...less terrifying and more sci-fi world-buildy computer apocalypse like. Yeah. The graphics are pretty neat and you can faff about with tons of physics objects (which have GREAT potential for silliness...but Shauna's keeping my SCIENCE in check, no worries).

Life is Strange Episode 5 next week. I'm not ready.

One More Thing

Forgot to post about it yesterday, but I figured I'd make a new one rather than add an edit. I will be leaving on Friday for a couple days, so I won't be around to for video uploads etc. I may queue some up and just post from my phone, but that all depends on how good reception is out in the boonies.

Life is Strange is fully uploaded. Don't watch part 6 unless you want to see me suffer at the hands of the phone password. The rest is pretty intense though, so be prepared.

I will queue up some Contrast, Dead Space 2 and maybe (if I get it done between editing papers and making ski videos) more of those Sherlock videos. I may have some other videos hidden in the depths that I can throw up in the meantime. I'll have to take a peek.

When I get back, I'll be working through the never-ending back log of video. Awesome Possum may start going up early even though I'm not done it. I'm stuck. In the arctic. With robot dogs. And tears. I supplied the latter.

Life is Strange Episode 4

Yeah so I marathoned Episode 4 last night and you are in for way more than five episodes this time. That said, a good portion of it was spent at the deduction board trying to figure out this dude's cellphone password, but that's besides the point. They really packed the content into this episode this time. They also packed in a lot of heavy decisions...especially from the get-go. Anyone who has been playing or watching thus far knows how Episode 3 ended and they waste no time hopping right into those consequences.

I won't ruin it for anyone, but the ending of this Episode is pretty messed up. I mean, everything that has happened so far has been hinting that something like this was going to happen but...holy crap. It's not even on the level of the end of Episode 2. It goes beyond that to the point where I was mildly in shock. Jeez I can't even think of anything else to say without ruining everything so uh, episodes are going up as of today. First two are up at the time of this post. The rest will be later when I get home from work. 

Anyway, half regretting staying up and playing that as I got like...2 hours of sleep, but at the same time, so worth it. 

Okay guys. The time has come. A 4 day working, paper editing, ski video making, house cleaning marathon is a go. I may not survive this. Should the worst happen, please play Highway to Hell at my funeral. That or the most obnoxious bag pipes you can find. I want to go out trolling. 

PS - Okay I will say this. Still on my mind. Been bothering me since I saw it in game. Why, were they having the party in the pool? I mean, yeah, great idea in principle, but have any of you actually been to an indoor pool? The sound quality in there is NOT optimal. Everything would echo so much and you have a massive amount of electronics and wires RIGHT NEXT TO WATER. Kristy will be disappointed. The people in this game are not making good choices. 

PSS - Seriously I don't care where or how, but guys, go experience Episode 4

PSSS - Seriously.


EDIT - Not that anyone is too interested, but went to see someone about my back again and the guy was unable to adjust it, so going to get an x-ray and see if my scoliosis is worse (always had it, but it's never been serious). I have hot pink tape all over my back again. Fabelhaft.

Less Angry and Exhausted

Yeah I'm actually not angry about anything this week. All is well now that I have finished those edits and I can't remember what else I was angry about. In other news, my memory is still terrible. I keep saying that will get better when I'm less busy, but either I'm never less busy or my memory is just permanently awful. Okay it's all right in some respects. Sure I can't remember my appointments or meetings, but I can remember every line of Arrogant Worm's History is Made by Stupid People and silly flash videos I watched ten years ago. TOTALLY USEFUL.

I can't even remember why I started this post. God.

Updates I suppose. Bioshock 2 and Far Cry 3 co-op are almost complete. I have a handful of video left for both of them. The Far Cry 3 stuff is particularly aggravating as Michael and I spent a long time suffering at the hands of that final mission. Bioshock 2 is equally aggravating and amusing. I would highly recommend watching the last couple of videos I posted (Suddenly We're in Doom) as there is some really messed up stuff in it. Dead Space 2 will continue for awhile (especially since I haven't even finished recording it yet). Life is Strange Episode 4 is supposed to be out soon-ish. I thought it was actually out this past week. I might do something with Banished as I have been playing that quite a bit the last few days.

I think Delta has slowly been posting the Saint's Row 3 stuff I gave him, but it's going to run out fairly soon. I think more Tera is in order in the near future as well. Guild Wars 1 is going to sit around awhile longer. I ran Gauntlet on Normal with Nick. Not sure if/when I'll post those recordings, though there was a lot of silliness (mostly involving me getting him killed). We'll be running Trine 2 in the near future. Murdered Soul Suspect and Bioshock Infinite are on the queue for LPs with Shauna, but I'm likely to produce more Sherlock video first.

Also got to love the music some company arbitrarily decided to block a video with music from Assassin's Creed 4 in my country after having it sitting there for at least two years with no ramifications. Took me about five seconds to find another version (extended which is even better). Nah nah.

Nothing like telling someone they can't have something. Only makes them want it more.

I still can't get over how much this bothers me. Companies fighting over sound or visual content in my LPs, which is fair use at this point in time, for SCRAPS. Apparently a few cents a month at most is worth fighting for. And I'm the kind of person who will openly admit to using other people's music or content in my videos and accept those claims on my videos...if it's something that was under my control. If it's built into a game and I have no control over what plays when, then I don't think you should be filing claims on my content. Don't give me the line "oh well you can turn the music off in game then." No. Just no. Keep fighting over that petty cash gentlemen.

Strange is Life

Yeah so I meant to play Life is Strange Episode 3 after midnight on its release. I'm a genius and thought it was midnight this evening and not last evening at midnight. And it's very confusing to talk about because technically midnight is a new day, so it WAS released midnight Tuesday, but I still thought it was later today. Point is, I'll be pretending it was actually released tonight and I'll play it through when I get home from work at 11pm.

My 1000 subscriber mark is approaching. It's really just an arbitrary number as I'm pretty sure only 10 of those people are actively watching my videos. The rest I'm sure are either bots or subbed because of the Dungeon Siege or Diablo 1 videos. Still, I feel it's an excuse to do something special. Not going to say what, but I'm in the process of making it now (when I'm not trying to sift through 7-8 hours of Saints Row 3, the bits of Tera and War for the Overworld I have left, Guild Wars 1 and other things that have been getting stale on my hard drives).

Halfway finished the Among the Sleep LP, which really isn't that monumental as it was something like 3 hours long in total. Still, I feel like SOME progress is being made. Then poor Mesk and HKS have been wanting to play through more Guild Wars and Tera, but I've been all out a lot the past couple weeks (doing things like covering for my coworkers who monumentally messed up their shifts at work and interviewing for a new job). Once my hard drives are a little cleared up, I owe them quite a bit of game-time to catch up.

And hopefully I can avoid upsetting Mesk further with how I'm playing my archer in Tera. Hee.

Life is Strange Episode 2

Episode 2 is going up today. Marathoned the game again last night once I had access. It actually came at a really good time because I doubt I could have slept last night had I not taken the two and a half hours it took to play it. Went to sleep all right after that despite how...intense it got at the end.

So after having a little more of a taste of the game, what do I think? Well I'm interested enough to play and LP Episode 3. It didn't lose the momentum it had from the first game. The story is actually engaging. I want to keep playing and see what happens, and the story isn't afraid to delve into some dark stuff. The ending of this episode was proof of that (and I won't ruin it, but let's just say you can "fail" the climax of this little installment). The dialogue is....well strange. Heh. At some points, you seem to be having a real conversation with a real person...aaaand then you fall into cliches and lines that I don't believe any real person would say given the situation. In other words, sometimes the characters act like they would in real life, and then sometimes the characters act like ideas or stereotypes of people in real life. Like the only experience the writers had with teenagers is from bad high school dramas.

Graphics and gameplay is on par with episode 1. I forgot how one of the game mechanics worked, and I mention it, but I never actually had to use it. Music was lovely and mellow and sets the tone nicely. The game is paced well (an issue I see with a lot of games...and movies, is just poor freaking pacing). There are actually few games I would say are paced perfectly, but this is one of them. Even one of my favourite games, Transistor, had a few pacing issues. There's enough balance between actions and dialogue to allow for character development to happen.

My favourite part, although completely expected, is the attempts at making all characters sympathetic (but not necessarily likable). Even some of the nastiest characters at the school seem to have reasons for being the way they are and doing what they do. Doesn't make them good people, but you at least get everyone's backstory and understand where they're coming from...even if you really don't give a shit and would love to see them burn anyway. Also really interesting to see some actual research going into victim response and recovery implemented in the game, especially when I've been doing a lot of research in the area and training myself.

At any rate, I still recommend playing it, or even watching it (should find someone more interesting than me though).

That janitor though. Creepy as hell, but I can't help but think he's the only one who actually knows wtf is going on in the town...in terms of mystical bru-ha-hah anyway.

I Forgot a Title

I just realized I had an opportunity to do a soundtrack Thursday today...and totally didn't think of it. Oh well. Here, have a Life is Strange Episode 1 Soundtrack. It is very mellow.

Yeah so about Life is Strange. I think I will be LPing the rest of the episodes when they come out. This will be a slow LP as the next episode will be released in March. I've had enough positive feedback to continue however. It's interesting how many mixed reviews I have received about it. Seems as though the general consensus is: love the main character, like the character development, dislike the cliched (and unrealistic dialogue) and there was nothing that was really HATED. My opinion?

Character development: good
Voice acting: Some good, some awful
Dialogue and Writing: Some good, some awful, some unrealistic
Interactions between characters: Mostly believable if not a little cliche, but some motivations and actions really confused me. I couldn't understand the reasoning behind Max not contacting her best friend for five years for instance...
Setting: A little bland, but the characters are the focus
Style: Meh. Don't love, don't hate. I like the little details. I like the small funny bits. Some of the models and art looked...weird to me, but other parts were quite beautiful. I loved Chloe's design. Max has this perpetual look of exhaustion about her, which is fine because she's a stressed out student.
Mechanics: Kind of hilarious at times, especially when I couldn't get the football part right and the girl kept getting smoked in the head. Again, a little cliche with the time control.
Music and sound: Suits the game. I enjoyed the soundtrack. Hopefully that won't result in copyright issues on YouTube.
Additional notes: All the boys in the game all seem either creepy, scary or high. The exception is the teacher (who is like built up to be the best human being ever in Max's eyes) and the principal who just wants money. Also I think I have an irrational hatred of Brooke. She was kind of an asshole. I expected so much more from you Brooke.

I am interested in continuing this myself. I want to know what the consequences of my actions will be, and how much it changes the story (I plan to play through again without recording and try different options).

Lord of the Rings: The Third Age will be finished by the weekend. Sanitarium should start next week. I plan on finishing the recording of Dead Space this weekend. Mesk and I will finish Hunted shortly. Shauna and I will continue Murdered: Soul Suspect (of which I actually think we're almost done). And Alien Isolation continues to clog up my drives as I slowly sift through the CONFIRMED 34 crashes that we experienced during the series.