A Gaming Diary
PC
Armadillo Run
Aug 2nd
Fantastic physics-based puzzle game.
Runs even on pretty rubbish PCs.
Buy it.
(Or download the demo first if you don’t believe me.)
Jul 10th After a bad, bad run of very early deaths Giles XX was doing relatively well – he’d reached level two – until he opened a door and a wildcat pounced, killing him in two hits. This game loves to kill.ZAngbandTk (PC)
ZangbandTK (PC)
Jul 6th
The Giles clan were Vampire Mindcrafters. The first seven didn’t make it past level one, often perishing at the hands of the first enemy they came across.
Then came Giles VIII. He didn’t seem to be any stronger or wiser than the rest, but somehow he won a few fights and found himself progressing to level two. That small step seemed to make things easier and he grew in strength and confidence, gaining new powers.
He could send psychic attacks across thin air, wiping out the fragile minds of lesser beasts.
He could stop and sense the enemies around him.
He could open his mouth, bare his fangs and launch himself at the monsters in the dungeon, clamp on to their necks and drink their blood.
He could even teleport himself across thin air. He couldn’t choose where to go, but the power saved him on a number of occasions.
That was until he met the novice warriors. He was a level four character on level two of the dungeon. He was being careful, because he knew there were dangers. Entering a room, bruised and bleeding after a fight with a monster, he saw a sleeping priest. He crept up, ready to pounce, ready to feed. Which was when the novice fighters entered from his left. Knowing he couldn’t take them on, he teleported himself away. It wasn’t far, just behind them in the room they’d obviously just left. He started to run… and slammed straight into a dead end. The two novice warriors approached…
Giles VIII tried teleporting again. He didn’t have enough SP left for the task, but he tried anyway. It was a desperate final act and it failed. He fell to the floor, paralysed, his mind damaged beyond repair. One novice warrior got within striking distance and showed no mercy to his fallen foe. The other warrior was now also close enough to attack. Their weapons flashed in the half-light of the tunnel as they came down and cut through the flesh of the vampire’s neck.
It was over.
Giles VIII the Vampire Mindcrafter, Level 4
Killed by a Novice warrior on Dungeon Level 2
(User 0, Date 07/06/06, Gold 421, Turn 142830).
(There’s not many games that make me write such utter rubbish. Let’s see if, say, Chrome Hounds leads me to write such painful prose about painful deaths.)
ZangbandTK (PC)
Jul 5th
Bow your heads in memory of Jeremy, the Nibelung Monk.
He did well up to level eight, his bare fists and feet making mincemeat of foes… until he got swarmed by several thousand (ish) cave spiders and succumbed to their bites while trying to run.
I need to learn how recall spells work. I tried a recall scroll, but nothing seemed to happen, except the word “Recall” came and stayed on the screen.
ZangbandTK (PC)
Jul 5th
Oh, for pity’s sake!
I was doing so well. I’d been sensible, I was up to level seven and back in town, selling stuff and buying new supplies. I was doing really well. Then I decided to try my unidentified scrolls in the relative safety of town. One of blessing… good… one of strength…. good… one of summon monster… eek!
It’s name is a LIE. A dirty, filthy LIE. It doesn’t summon monster, it summons monsters. Lots and lots of horrible monsters. Well, at least three. More than I could handle, at any rate. My health diminishing rapidly, I read a phase door scroll and found myself halfway across town.
I tried to run, but I wasn’t fast enough, and so Nigel the Skeleton Chaos Warrior dies, killed by a Culverin in the town.
Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC)
Jun 22nd
A few more minutes of this during an enforced period of being awake due to the evil that is hayfever. Ugh. I’m going to be dead again in work tomorrow. I hate hayfever so, so, so, so much. I fell asleep okay and then woke just after midnight with…
Oh, yeah, the game. It’s good fun. I like it. I shoot things and they fall over.
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Jun 10th
Too hot to sleep and the PC has headphones, so I can play without worrying about disturbing P’anther sleeping upstairs.
It’s great fun, though a little hazy due to tiredness.
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Jun 5th
Stupid confusingl-named games. This comes after Half-Life 2 and is the first episode of a continuing series of smaller chunks of gaming.
Just had an hour with it, of which half was spent decrypting and updating game files. Slightl annoying, but I’ve learned to live with these things.
And it’s really good so far. The best stuff from Half-Life 2 without any of the boring bits. But it was only the first half hour.
F.E.A.R.
May 26th
Just a quick go. I’ve taken my PC off my TV and put it back on a monitor and instad of speakers I’ve plugged headphones in. It’s improved the experience greatly. With the sounds so loud and close the scary bits are more unnerving and the fighting bits are just immense.
Good stuff.
Really is bed time now, though.
Rise of Legends Demo
May 14th
Decided to download and install this. It’s been a very long time since I got into an RTS. Hated it at first, but then I remembered it was an RTS, not a shooter and readjusted my expectations of how long things should take. Once I’d got back into the right mindset – build base, gather forces, then venture forth – I started to really enjoy it. Especially as I won, despite my hero having been killed at the start. It’s a rather generous demo, too, as there was another level after that one. Unfortunately, I didn’t do so well and a giant salamander wiped out my whole army. So I quit.
You know, if this was available for less than twenty quid, like most PC games, I might be tempted. But it’s one of those odd expensive PC games, so I don’t think I’ll buying it.
Runs really smoothly on my PC, too, though it doesn’t really look anything like the screenshots I’ve seen. PC games, eh?