Mathurin47

What a month August proved to be. The final week of covering for my bosses vacation (at least until Christmas) was an absolute nightmare. The week began with a scheduling snafu involving two requests for the day off. It was his intention to honor both, however one never made it to the posted schedule. Needless to say, we ran a body shorter than expected. The fun continued into Sunday as two hours into his shift the summer hire ran over his foot with a pallet jack loaded with pop and juice; 500lbs+ easy. Nothing was broken, thankfully, though his toenail was removed. 3 hours to deal with start to finish, including the trip to the hospital and he would not be in the following night. The bulk of training consisted of how to write an order and deal with the nightly paperwork. Dealing with an emergency was not part of it at all. Tuesday through Thursday actually went without incident, though there was plenty of catch-up from the weekend. Then came Friday. Ah, Friday. The week is drawing to close, just one more night after this and what! Two call-ins!? I was not surprised to have to take three pallets of stock back, though they did put a good dent in it. And finally Saturday. It actually went well, though it would have been better if half the crew hadn’t been scheduled for 6 hours instead of the full 8. In all we lost about 38 hours due to absences and injuries. I’m just going to call it Murphy’s Week and move on.

Not much else of note this month. Didn’t make much progress in “The Wheel of Time”, reaching perhaps midway through Book Five. Renewed my membership to the Detroit Zoo and took a trip there with a friend and his sister. Barely half-an-hour away, I don’t get down there nearly as often as I’d like. Actually, I haven’t been down there I shifted to midnights several years ago. Pictures from the trip can be found here.

Ys Seven	Morrowind GOTY	Oblivion GOTY	Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Commander Keen Complete Pack	Doom 3	Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil	Doom II
Final Doom	Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders	Hexen II	Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel	Master Levels for Doom II	Quake	Quake II
Quake II: Ground Zero	Quake II: The Reckoning	Quake III: Arena	Quake III: Team Arena
Quake Mission Pack No. 1: Scourge of Armagon	Quake Mission Pack No. 2: Dissolution of Eternity	Return to Castle Wolfenstein	Rogue Warrior
The Ultimate Doom	Wolfenstein 3D	Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny	Metroid: Other M
Valkyria Chronicles II

August Gain +40 – 2 Achievements unlocked

March Gain – Level + 0 Trophies + 28

Backlog increased by 29 in June

Rank 42 on the MyGamercard.net RPG Leaderboard +4

Game spending vs. ‘09: Monthly +2% | Yearly -19%

Looks like alot, but all but Ys, Metroid, and Valkyria were part of a Quake-con pack Steam put up for a mere $70. My primary target was Elder Scrolls III & IV for PC and Commander Keen. All the Doom and Quake stuff I consider a bonus. While I have to admit I would have preferred boxed copies, one thing I’ll give Steam is the ease in which you can get these classics running.

Treasures 82/102
Stage 8-4
A cute little platformer that is probably meant for a younger audience. Solid, but not spectacular. Having fun with it though.
Played it pretty heavily in August and sit outside the “final” stage. Should have it finished next month and perhaps the two post-game worlds as well.

62:58| 22 September
Battle Party Level 38-40,46
I’m really enjoying Persona 3 this time around. Pretty much everything I didn’t like about it has been made more like Persona 4 and makes for a much more enjoyable experience. With Ys Seven on the shelf and Valkyria Chronicles II shipping arriving today, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep the UMD in the drive

48:08
Character Quest Chapter 2: Norma
Battle Party Lv 55-57
Ack! I didn’t get to this at all in August. Will definitely rectify that in September. Not sure why I’m having a hard time getting into this one. It’s not a bad game at all.


Level 28 Elven Circle Mage
Downloaded Darkspawn Chronicles, Leliana’s Song, and Golems of Amgarrak. Began playing Awakenings. Finished one main of the three main quests and am about halfway through the second. Did just about all the sidequests not tied to regions I have not yet reached.

Went through story mode with Rachel, BooLitchi, and Noel. Noel has thus far been my favorite as her drive has been the easiest to work with. My dislike of online gaming and inconsistent internet connection has kept me bound to the single-player mode, which may be for the best as I’m not very good. My goal is to at least play through all the stories and see the true end, though I’m not going to put a time frame on this. Any character recommendations for who I should try next, Ravirr?

Nintendo is a firm believer in the policy “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Fire Emblem is one of many examples. The series has changed very little since it’s beginnings 20 years ago. The nicest tweak seen here is the accumulation of bonus xp which can be used to buff up your preferred units or bring a lagging unit back up to the rest of the group.
The campaign takes a good chunk of time to work through, especially if you are insistent on not losing any units in battle. The story is also by far the deepest I’ve seen in a Fire Emblem game. While the story still revolves around a few core characters, the side characters are not without life.
The shift to 3D is not without its drawbacks, however. These simple 3D polygons just don’t match the detailed sprites of the portable games. Many of the units look identical out on the battlefield. Final time: 41:53. Recommended unless you have something against Strat RPGs.

Here’s a classic dating back to 1983. It’s been a long time since I played a game with a text parser. The puzzles are for the most part fairly easy to figure out, and many of the tougher ones include several ways around. Still it’s not without it’s stumpers and despite my best efforts I was forced to refer to a FAQ for a few of these. Short, but highly enjoyable and has held up well over time.
Rating pending completion of King’s Quest Collection

Almost posted this one last month, but I had already decided on Locked Girl. The animation in this video seriously impressed me in the way the shadows shift from 2D to 3D and transition from character to character. I prefer to include English lyrics when I can, but have deliberately chosen a video without so as not to distract from the animation.

3 Pickups, 3 Additions

Atlus & NIS America

Etrian Odyssey III

Atelier Rorona

Others

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Fallout: New Vegas

Eyes on the Future

I have adjusted the name of this feature to reflect that very few of the games I’ve mentioned in this slot are actually slated for a 2010 release. This month’s game is Atlus’ newest announcement, Catherine. This will be their first HD game. Atlus USA has published a few 360/PS3 games, but none were Atlus developed. I’m not quite sure what to make of Catherine yet. It is certainly… unique. It would appear to be a horror game with sexual elements, nightmares, and sheep. Lots of sheep. The box art mock-up shows a Cero C (15+), so it can’t be too much more revealing than the trailer. Developing for both the 360 and PS3 considering the 360 market in Japan could mean they plan to let Atlus USA localize it.