Meeehhhh….

This was amusing, and a perfect mirror of my feelings for that particular species.
Lately I’ve been in a strange drive to finish up a lot of things I’ve been leaving undone.  I cant’ really explain why, but its consumed me, and it doesn’t purely pertain to hobbies either.  I just finished staying up 6 hours past my usual sleep session to finish painting a room in the house.  Why?  I have no idea…
Of course, in hobby terms, this means applying myself to get 100% completion on a lot of games I have laying around.  In most cases, this isn’t so bad, because a few I’ve left undone because I wanted to go back through them.  A few though, can be a little irritating.  Full Gamerscore on Left 4 Dead ranks really damn problematic, as does Street Fighter 4’s Trials, which, I have yet to see anyone finish.  Still, I think the most annoying for me will be, of all things, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1.  Its not that it was hard or anything, but,the three Achievements I had left were the ones for finding all the hidden art, not letting anyone die, and not using healing items on the last boss.  Why does this irritate me?  Well, because I had played all the way to the last boss without dying, and was planning on finishing my “Easter Egg Hunt” the next day when I had more time.  So, I just gave the Boss a whirl to see what it was like, ended up beating him without even trying, though I let two characters die in the process, but hey, I didn’t care.  I didn’t realize it would auto-save over my file immidiately.  That kind of peeved me.
Regardless, I can’t help but think this completionist obsession phase is a little unhealthy.  Granted, I have nothing much better to do at the time, but it seems a lot of work for nothing when I sit back an look at it.  I guess I’m stupid.
While I’m still chaining thoughts together in my sleep-deprived state of mind, I’d like to throw a brief rant out there about the existence of Achievements in the first place.  First of all, why should most of us bother?  Granted, there are a few obsessive-compulsives who live off extending their GS, and people like me who use GS as a measurement for finishing a game, but what use is it to anyone else?  Or the previous two for that matter?  Optional limited downloads granted per every so much GS maybe?  Anything?  At least if the numbers meant something there might be some justification in the way certain developers train us to jump through hoops.  I understand that people feel that achievements need to be earned- its in the name-, but theres a line between a fun challenge and a tedious chore.  There are very  few games on Live that have honestly fun Achievements.  /rant
On another note, been looking forward to the release of the Metroid Prime series on the Wii.  I never picked up the third one, so this is quite nice for me.  And on a final note, I saw this the other day, and knew I was seeing the next art piece for my game room.  If you’re not in the know, thats Fatima, the Shadow Frost Witch from Luminous Arc 2.  That was a game that seemed rather unremarkable at first, but somehow character attachement reall sneaks up on you.
Good grief that was a long post, I need to stop blogging when I’m tired.

Random Nonsense

Started reading a very nice book series, ended up borrowing/downloading a lot more Chopin, Evanescence and Within Temptation to go along with it during the noisy times of the day.  Also have Infinite Undiscovery sitting in the next room…still in its wrapper.  Books do that to me.  >.<

The Times

Kudos to the latest Goblins strip, because Complains-of-Names has the cheesiest yet coolest line in D&D metaverse history.  Also, in lew of tomorrow, I’ll be celebrating… by doing nothing.  Seems like a nice idea.
Lost pretty horribly to an Alliance Warrior and Priest in Un’Goro Crater yesterday.  And to a lizard. Its not often that someone my level (or even two of them) take me down with so little fuss.  I could almost kill the priest off in time to be ganked by the war, and vise-versa (yes I tried twice, granted I was on half HP and Mana the second time…).  Since then I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to upgrade my gear.  Ugh.
Also:  Awesome!

Azeroth Update… And Stuff

Hit 51 the other day.  After playing FFXI for so long it amazes me how fast levelling is going on this game.  Won’t be long before I’m doing more and more PvP, and raiding after that maybe.  Considering the very, very low quantity of people I actually associate with (five friends, four of which are the same person with different characters, and maybe 15 guild regulars) coordinating larger scenarios will be…problematic.  Lets play storybook!
Taurens are not born jumpers.
Or listeners…
And we have our off days.

Watched Legend of the Shadowless Sword Friday.  What a disappointment.  If the director had been possessed of, oh say, subtlety it may have been a great film.

Random Comic

Quote of the Day

“What we are is semi civilized beasts with baseball caps and automatic weapons.”

-George Carlin, May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008

Quote of the Day

“General, we’re surrounded!!”

“Excellent, we can attack in all directions!”

Facts

Smash Bros. Brawl is win.
Azureus is fail.

Mr. Clean

The recent Right Stuf! email sent out advertising their Spring Cleaning sale was dressed up, humorously, as a Mr. Clean detergent label.  I got a good chuckle out of the bottom of the “container.”

Death of a Legend

I was reading a recently received copy of EGM today, when I glanced over a small article. Essentially, it was voiced by a fan of the Legacy of Kain series, inquiring as to why there were no more games planned for the series. The details of the game (though I did like the plot, and Kain) were unimportant, but the response from one of the editors is what really caught my eye. It seems that Tony Jay, a pretty renowned voice actor (one of the best in my opinion), passed away quite a while back. A whole bloody year in fact. How I missed this back then will never know. Mr. Jay possessed a very interesting voice, the kind that seemed to echo in its own right. His voice as the Elder God is one of the most eerily appropriate casts ever done, and one of the most memorable voices ever (trust me if you have ever heard it you’d remember it).