A Gaming Diary
Archive for April, 2006
Blazing Angels Demo
Apr 3rd
Bah.
Downloaded the demo. Got to a bit where I had to fly over a church. So I did. Twice. And nothing happened. I wasn’t really enjoying it, anyway. So I turned off.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 3rd
Just spent a good couple of hours with the Xbox version. Finished of the Novice and Intermediate Flagman missions with AAA rankings.
It’s just a superb game. How does someone go about making a game in which a learned skill feels so natural?
I earned enough OutRun miles to buy the OutRun class 328 GTS. The speedometer says it’s only abotu 20km/h faster than the standard version, but it feels an awful lot faster.
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Apr 3rd
Had the day off work because Telewest were coming round to install a TV Drive. Knock on the door when I was playing Oblivion, so I ran up and let the guy in. He saw the pause screen and started talking about Oblivion, which he’s been playing. Apparently I’ve got a better sword than him.
Anyway, after he left I carried on playing. I’ve just finished the Dark Brotherhood quests. Which is annoying, as they were excellent. Lovely quest line.
I’ve gone back to have a look at the main quest, but the enemies in Kvatch are even harder now than they were before and I just can’t do it, even with help. Bah.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 2nd
I just ran out of time with my car actually sitting on the chequered line.
Why does this game treat me so badly when I love it so much?
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Apr 2nd
Just time for a couple of Dark Brotherhood missions today.
The first one was a major one and has left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. I guess that’s what I get for being a hired murderer, though.
Second one was a lot nicer. Lovely horse ride through a forest, then a nice kill of someone really very evil indeed.
Metroid Prime Hunters
Apr 2nd
Tried the single player.
It’s good. Looks nice… for the DS, though the design isn’t exactly special. Very smooth though. Controls work surprisingly well. The stylus works pretty well as a mouse replacement.
One problem is the distance between save points is a bit of a long way. Another problem is that I got to an annoying boss. I hate them. They annoy me.
Main problem, though, is that after a little over half an hour’s play my left hand aches like a bastard. Not good.
OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Apr 1st
Leading easily until the very last corner of a five-stage race and then crashing and coming sixth is very, very annoying.
On any console, I imagine, but in this case on the PSP.
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Apr 1st
Lots of Dark Brotherhood quests today. Much fun and one moment of extreme rubbishness when a quest broke and the game structure fell apart for a few minutes until I managed to pull things back on track.
Also got very distracted for a couple hours trying to kill things. I really am a wimp in outright combat. Sneaking, I’m a good. But my dagger against a minotaur or a goblin shaman… I die. I’m fast enough to run rings around most foes firing off arrows, but they take ages and ages to kill anyone. I really need to find more ingredients for some Damage Health potions I can mix up and poison my arrows with. That helps a lot.
I did try turning the difficulty level down a quarter of the way, but that just felt wrong. I could whip my dagger out, stand toe to toe with a heavily armoured barbarian and take him down without even losing half my health. I shouldn’t be able to do that. That’s not what my character is. I need to be luring enemies into traps of my own devising or using poison or running away. That’s who I am.
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Apr 1st
Mainly Dark Brotherhood missions this evening. Good stuff.
Unfortunately I had to kill a guard when I forgot to take off my costume and change back to my civilian identity before wandering into Imperial City. He saw, decided killing me would give a fast track promotion and followed me all the way to my bedroom, so I had to kill him there, meaning I’m left with a naked corpse in a corner of the room. I’ve tried to hide him as much as possible, but I can still see him scrunched up between some crates. Annoying.
I’m having real trouble finding places to sell stuff I find. I used to sell all my weapons at the Smash ‘n’ Slash – the orc there loves me now – but I can only get a maximum of 800G for everything there, which is a bit rubbish when something’s worth 3,000G.
I’ve not turned the difficulty level down yet, but I might at some point. I ran into some ice giant today and my arrows just bounced off him. But I suppose I did choose to be a thief. I’m not meant to be going toe-to-toe with giants. So maybe I shouldn’t complain… except that means there’s a lot of stuff I can’t do. I guess I need to wait for cover of night and sneak past, or lure it away and then run until I lose it and then try to beat it back to where it started if it’s somewhere I need to go…
We’ll see.
