It is incredibly difficult to write blog posts when quite a lot of what is on my mind is inherently negative.  I don't like making negative posts or writing about negative topics.  I leave that to the media.  They've made a multi-billion dollar business out of it.  I don't want to talk about America's problems with guns and mental health, bigotry towards gays, debt, hatred by other countries, or broken immigration rules.  I don't want to talk about how my health benefits increased by 16% this year, yet my salary stayed the same, so therefore I actually got a pay decrease in addition to getting nothing for the increase of cost of living.  I don't want to talk about how John will be leaving in less than a month now, and I'm going to have to deal with being thousands of miles away from the one I love simply because the people of this country believe that a book written by men are the divine words of some Sky Bully.

The problem is, after I'm done not talking about all of those things, I really don't have much left to say.

It's quite easy to fall into a state of depression this time of year.  It's been coined the "Winter Blahs" by some people.  I think I read that in a Peanut's strip once.  As such, I find it important to focus on the small things that make me happy.  Otherwise, I'd be a basket case.  

Over the weekend, I delved into the third DLC offering of Borderlands 2 entitled Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt.  I purchased the season pass for Borderlands 2 because I really like it, and I'm never going to say no to additional content for it.  Even so, I still worried that I would end up with content similar to The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.  That is...utter crap.  The only DLC that I enjoyed from the original Borderlands was the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned.  

Fortunately, I've been enjoying all the BL2 DLC released thus far, though if I had to pick my least favorite it would most certainly be this one.  I love Sir Hammerlock as a character, but him as the star of this package doesn't quite save it from being a bit mediocre.  And slightly annoying.

So let's get these things out of the way first.  There are two things I didn't like about SHBGH.  First, I didn't like how isolated it was from the rest of the game.  I missed my slot machines, and the feeling of walking through a populated city like Sanctuary.  Or even just a ship full of pirates, or a town that is inhabited by a mad man pretending to be a dozen people.  Instead, it's just a lodge and only Sir Hammerlock, with another quest giver that you never actually meet.  It was a bit droll, really.

The other problem I have with this add-on is definitely the Witch Doctors.  I would like to meet the person who thought they would be a new addition to the game, and punch them in the head.  For a moment, let's ignore the fact that 75% of the new enemies in this DLC do not have a "head shot" spot.  What I mean is, a spot where you can shoot them so that you're guaranteed to crit.  For most enemies, this is the head.  Sometimes it's a special spot, though, like the new strider-like creatures in this add-on, where you have white bulbs on their body to shoot.  For me, this is how I like to play BL2. I aim for those weak spots, usually with a sniper rifle, and to me that's the fun in the game.  Having them either remove that (or move the spots so obtuse or hidden that you can't find them), well that just sort of kills the fun for me.  It makes me have to resort to high damage, explosive weaponry.  Now, I enjoy explosions just as much as the next guy, but when it comes to shooters I prefer the method that relies on accuracy.

Of course, with that being said, this is only one small slice of the game and I really can't expect it to cater to my needs 100% of the time.  However, with the Witch Doctors, I do feel they are just badly designed.  Hard to crit, tons of health, and a heal that is more HPS than most guns' DPS.  I'm sorry, but that's broken.  Every time I killed one, instead of being left with a feeling of satisfaction, I was left feeling that I had cheesed the system, because the only way to kill them was to throw every grenade in my inventory followed by several clips of ammo from a high damage explosive weapon, and hope it was enough to kill it before it healed every point of damage away.  It's so bad, that there are forum posts stating they are actually impossible to kill.  On a higher difficulty setting, I actually can believe that.  (I am playing on Normal.)

So with the bad out of the way, how about the good stuff?  The new weapons are cool and interesting.  I've expanded my arsenal a bit so that I now carry around a few extra versions of the same type of weapon.  In addition to carrying a normal pistol, I also have one that fires explosive rounds now, for when I really need to nuke something.  Same goes for the assault rifle and the shotgun.  I actually have a gun I really like for every slot, now, so that's cool.

The design of the place is also excellent.  It's the same Borderlands style, with different themes.  Have a look for yourself.












All in all, the add-on is quite worth it, and the ending made me laugh quite hard.  I was not disappointed at the end of it, not by a long shot.  Though, if you were picking your DLC and not getting them all, I would recommend either of the other DLC packs first before picking up this one.

A Supermarket Story

So it's been quite a while since I've last made a Supermarket Story post.  I'm sure you've missed them.

The other night, I stopped for groceries on my way home from work.  Among the things I needed was cat litter.  When I need to get that, I usually avoid the self-checkout lane.  With the weight of the litter, I always have problems and end up needing a cashier anyway.  So I just go through a normal check-out lane when I have a big, heavy box of litter.

This particular night, my cashier was this early-20-something dork with thick glasses.  Now, I'm not one to judge -- I was a dork with thick glasses up until I was 18.  But, sadly, this guy totally realized the stereotype that I had etched out in my mind.  As he's scanning my items, he gets to my bottle of fabric softener.  It's then that he says, "Oh, fabric softener.  I have never used that.  I don't even know what it does."  I'm pretty sure that I was able to hide my look.  You know the look.  It's the one that basically says, "Wow, you're a fucking idiot."  I'm very good at speaking without words.  But, I hid that look, and simply replied, "It softens your fabric."  I said this without any sarcasm.  I swear!

To this, he replied, "Oh, my jeans get pretty soft after I wear them for a month."

I said nothing to this, because I'm an intelligent human being who knows when to keep his mouth shut in order to avoid receiving any more useless and unwanted information.  Unfortunately, the woman behind me in line was not this type of person, and replied, "Ew, what does that smell like?"

And, naturally, the Cashier-el-Dorko replied, "It smells manly!"

I'm pretty sure this was the fastest I have ever said the words, "Noneedtobagthemilkorfabricsoftenerthankyougoodbye."  

I'm Still Undecided on whether Cotton Malone is a Cool Name

I finished reading The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King two nights ago, and immediately delved into The Templar Legacy.  It's a rather recent novel that was published in 2006 by author Steve Berry, who I hadn't heard of before I found the book.  It is the first in an on-going series of books centered around the character Cotton Malone.  As the title of my post suggests, I'm still trying to decide whether or not that is a good name for an adventure hero.  I'm leaning towards yes, because Malone is a badass last name.  I can ignore the first name.

Anyway, the book has drawn me in rather quickly, so I suspect that I'm going to enjoy it.  It's sort of a mixture of genres, mixing spy novel, adventure, and mystery.  Malone is an early-retired spook (he worked for the U.S. Justice Department) who is now a bookseller, and he gets caught up in an intriguing mystery.  Judging from the short synopsis of the book, there's also some historical fiction thrown in as well, which really caught my attention.

This was just the kind of story I was looking for.  I was pretty full up on fantasy after reading LOTR, and definitely wanted to read something set in a contemporary period of time.  I considered reading the Jason Bourne series of books by Robert Ludlum, but balked at that because I've seen the movies and therefore knew almost all of the plot of the books already.  I also considered reading some Ian Fleming, but again, movies.  Before I found Steve Berry, I considered delving back into Tom Clancy novels.  His newest books have actually delved away from Jack Ryan and are focusing more on his son, Jack Jr., and I thought that would be a good place to restart reading him.  But sadly, I read that the very first Jack Jr. book wasn't very good at all.  I didn't particularly want to have to read a bad book just so I could get to ones that were better.

And then I found Steve Berry, who, like I said, I hadn't heard of until now.  The first book appealed to me, especially with the historical fiction bit.  (I love that Indiana Jones-type stuff.)  And, the books have been written recently, as well, which is also what I wanted.  So I made my choice and purchased the first Cotton Malone story.  It's the first of seven, with an eight due to be published this year.  So, if I really like it, I'll have quite a bit of reading to do!

Anyone who keeps a blog or other such similar medium will always have this urge to make a post on New Year's Eve.  I'm not sure why.  Perhaps it's to validate their existence, or to give themselves a feeling of completion for the year.  In any case, here is mine.

Let me start by hoping that everyone has a good 2013.  It's going to be an interesting year, I think, and it's quite likely that we'll be starting it all off with a brand new financial crisis.  I can't WAIT to take a pay cut!  Woo!

Worthless politics aside, I'd rather focus on staying positive for the new year.  So, um...well, the snow is pretty.  

Christmas 2012

Despite how utterly exhausting the holidays tend to be, there's always a part of you that wishes, despite everything, that every day could be like Christmas.  The presents, the happy family times, and best of all, not having any responsibilities whatsoever since all the preparation is finally, finally done.  But then everyone leaves and you stop and think, "Fucking hell, I just want everything back to normal so I can get on with my life!"  

In any case, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and the best for the year 2013.  Provided below are some pictures from my Christmas Day.



I must say that one of the reasons why I'm glad Christmas is over, is because I can now walk around my house without tripping over gifts.


























There's a tradition with holidays.  There's always a picture of Brandon giving the camera the finger.  Go ahead, look for it.  You'll find it.  Also, the funny thing about Christmas this year is that the very next day (today), it seems that the world was trying to tell us, "Hey, y'know what, just stay inside and don't do ANYTHING."  How do I know this, you ask?  Well...

Why Far Cry 3 is my Game of the Year

A heavy armored pirate steps in front of a wall, placing him out of line-of-sight of his equally heavy armored buddy.  I pop off a silenced shot from my suppressor-equipped sniper rifle, splattering his brains on the wall.  Bonus XP for a headshot goes to me, and his buddy is oblivious to what just happened.  I exhale, smirking deviously.

I'm racing down a dirt road in a jeep, speeding towards a bridge that suddenly pulls up.  It's a drawbridge, and the commandos I'm running from raise it.  I speed up and jump the gap, landing safely  on the other side, only to be accosted by mortars incoming from a nearby truck.  I jump into the back of my jeep and man the turret, riddling the offending truck with bullet holes until it explodes.  I drop back into the driver's seat and continue on my way.

I'm walking through a field of illegal drugs with a flamethrower, lighting every plant up in a brilliant haze of orange fire.  I say to myself, "This is fucking awesome!"  Two seconds later, my character yells, "This is fucking awesome!"  Great minds...

These are just three examples of the memorable moments I've had in this game, and a sampling of why this game beat out the likes of Borderlands 2, Guild Wars 2, Dishonored, Mass Effect 3, Serious Sam 3, The Walking Dead, Diablo 3, Max Payne 3, Sleeping Dogs, Black Mesa, and Mists of Pandaria for my favorite game of 2012.  More reasons to follow.

A lot of good games were released this year, and their slight problems were just as integral to their elimination from the top spot as Far Cry 3's positives.  Borderlands 2 was probably the game that came closest to winning.  Honestly, before Far Cry 3 came out, it -was- winning!  But it lost out due to a few different things.  First and foremost was the quest design.  Why the game wouldn't let you track more than one quest at a time is beyond me, really, especially when the game was clearly designed to give you 3-4 quests in the same area to knock out simultaneously.  Additionally, the graphical style, while still very cool, sort of lost its appeal to me since the release of Borderlands 1.  The cel-shaded style now seems almost bland to me.  This could simply be because of how utterly gorgeous Far Cry 3 looks. In fact, that probably is why, if I'm honest.  But can you BLAME me?  The last thing Borderlands 2 did that knocked off points for me was the addition of quests that cannot be completed without a full group of players.  Fuck you for trying to force me to play with others.

Guild Wars 2 has a lot of good things going for it, especially as an MMO.  But in the end, the story just didn't hold my interest over time.  And if I lose the story, I pretty much lose interest in the game.

Dishonored is a brilliant game that didn't make the top spot simply because I didn't have the patience to finish it yet.  It's a game that, to be played properly, must be taken slow.  At least, that's how -I- feel it should be played.  But sadly, I didn't have the patience to stick with it and finish things up.

I'm sorry to say that Mass Effect 3 lost out because of the ending.  I have a desire to play it again, especially after all the DLC has been released.  But then I think of to what end I'll be playing, and I just kind of go...meh.  Obviously the end of a game is hardly the point of playing it, but when you know how it goes, it does sway your decisions to continue.  Especially when such an end is bad.  This really isn't the game's fault at all, but my own.  I hate mortality.  I hate the fact that I, myself, am going to die.  This gets projected into everything.  So when it comes to my entertainment, I prefer my stories to end before my character's do.  Additionally -- re-grind multi-player to get the best ending?  Um, no.  As I said to Borderlands 2:  Fuck you for trying to force me to play with others.  (Edit:  Through patches and DLC, it looks like it may not be required to grind multi-player to get the best ending.)

Serious Sam 3 is my kind of game, but it's also designed to be a silly game with loads of action.  While Far Cry 3's story is hardly inspired or the work of a great novelist, it's still much stronger than anything in Serious Sam.  SS3 is more of an arcade type of shooter.  While I love those dearly, FC3's style is more appealing to me in the long run.

Now, The Walking Dead is quite the interesting little game.  When it comes to story, it's quite superior to FC3's.  And thank goodness for that, since without the story, there really wouldn't be anything to it at all.  There never was much "gaming" to be had in Telltale's adventure games.  The story of The Walking Dead moved me in ways that games haven't moved me before, and not always in a good way either!  Obviously the ending immediately comes to mind when I think of it.  The amputation scene is next, and there are several other moments I could add to the list.  But when it comes down to it, I need to have a certain amount of GAME in my games.  So while I would recommend The Walking Dead to anyone who considers themselves a gamer, I myself would always choose a game like FC3 over it.

Diablo 3 was fun for a while, but once I went through the story once, I really didn't have any incentive to keep going.  I think I've fallen out of love with ARPG's in recent years.  I mean, I played the HELL out of Torchlight.  On and on and on.  Level after level that were exactly the same only slightly different, and never-ending.  And I liked it!  Not so with D3.  One time through and that was enough for me.  Then Torchlight 2 came out, and I got bored in about 15 minutes.  So I think this particular genre of games has lost its appeal to me, for whatever reason.

Now, Max Payne 3.  Why didn't it win?  It has almost everything going for it that Far Cry 3 does:  Amazing graphics.  Solid gameplay.  Relentless action.  Great story.  Great ending.  What gives?  Well, the one thing it doesn't have is exactly the reason why it failed to win, and that is an open world.  This is a tricky statement to make, because one of my favorite games of all time if Half-Life 2, and that is also NOT open world.  What did Half-Life 2 do that Max Payne 3 did not?  This is a very subtle thing to notice, but once you know it's there it becomes obvious.  When I was playing through MP3, I always felt RUSHED.  Someone was always yelling at me to MOVE MOVE MOVE!  Or I was being timed.  Or I was being chased along "rails" and unable to stop.  Or I was on something moving along at high speed.  You always seem to be pushed forward in that game.  In contrast, with HL2 the game seems to WANT you to explore.  While it doesn't flat-out encourage it, it feels like it's doing just that.  So while HL2 is still on "rails", it feels more open.  More friendly to my type of gameplay.  It's something that Dishonored was also BRILLIANT at doing, and I give it many kudos for that.  So, while I absolutely loved MP3, it loses points for trying to rush me.  With FC3, I get this whole island to explore at my leisure, with the option of delaying the main storyline for as long as I damned well please.  And the exploring is rewarding, with secret temples and hidden relics.  There are points in the game where I felt like fucking Indiana Jones!  I love that kind of stuff.

Let's add another wrinkle to the mix, shall we?  Sleeping Dogs basically has EVERYTHING that Far Cry 3 has.  Amazing graphics.  Solid gameplay.  Relentless action.  Great story.  Great ending.  And, yes, an open world.  So, what gives here?  Why isn't it the winner?  Well, the first strike against it is that the controls handle about as well as a drunk lemur riding a cross-eyed yeti.  When I think about Sleeping Dogs, that is sadly what I remember most, and the reason why I won't play it again.  Secondary to that is my slight problem with the story.  I have a hard time feeling like a hero when I'm working for the bad guys, even if I am undercover.  So unlike FC3, or further to that point, Fallout and Skyrim, I don't feel very heroic and therefore don't have as much investment in the story.  And as we all know about me, less investment in the story equals less investment in the game.

I hesitated putting Black Mesa on the list of releases I've played this year, simply because it's not finished.  But let's be honest here:  It's a free transformation of Half-Life 1 into the Source engine.  Can I really consider that to be a "new release"?  I finally decided that yes, it does.  So where would I put it?  Well, it loses points for being a remake.  And it loses points for changing how jumping works from the original game.  Aside from that, the new visuals are stunning, the music is fantastic, and it will probably become the new definitive version of the game.  It's somewhere around fourth or fifth, I'd say.

Last but certainly not least is Mists of Pandaria.  My time playing MMOs, I have learned, is probably over.  At least, playing them to their fullest capacity, that is.  I still play WoW to this day, though lately all I've been doing is tending my farm.  It didn't win because WoW is old and is simply releasing content until enough people stop playing it, or Blizzard ends it on their own.  Do I still like it?  Absolutely.  Do I still want to play it for hours on end?  Not so much.