Progress 10/14

I start off today with Suikoden: Tactics. I load up my people with healing potions and since I am done level griding in the ruins, I head off the current island. Before I go the king's daughter and her bodyguard join my crew! I now have 10 characters in my party.

I check out the next three islands and there is nothing to do but visit shops, which I do.

Then on the fourth island the storyline continues. There is a powerful dude and his minions setting up a rune cannon. We fight!

I can only use 9 characters, so I leave the princess's bodyguard off the roster. I wipe through the first wave and then after losing Mizugi and the Princess in the fight, I wipe out the rest of them with my seven remaining characters.

Mizugi and Azuka (I think that's how you spell their names) say they will head back to the King to report the treaty infraction, and we are to remain here. We agree to check out the town. But this is where I save the game. That's a checkmark.
_____________________________________________________________________

I put in Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. In yet another insanely difficult mission, I have to get to a spot on the map within 40 seconds, then follow a helicopter around while lots of enemies try to blow me up.

I fail to get to the destination the first three times, then I get there, and the helicopter evades me after about twenty seconds, and I fail the mission again. Urghhh!

I'll come back to this when I am feeling more dextrous and patient.
__________________________________________________________________

GTA: Liberty City Stories: After my last mission success, I have opened up two new places to get missions from. I decide to check out "C" whatever that is, and it turns out to be my character's Ma's place. HAH!

She complains that I never called her the entire time I was in prison, but this other guy calls his mother every day. That dude's a pervert I tell Ma. She tells me where I can stick it. Alrighty then!

I head home and pick up my camera. I go over to the deli and start following the guy around. I'll show you what I mean Ma! He picks up a couple of prostitutes and I follow him, not too closely so he doesn't notice.

He heads into a deserted park, and I follow him in. He changes into a diaper and chases the now horrified prostitutes around. I get too close he spots me, MISSION FAIL. Gah!

Re-Boot: This time I keep my distance, use the camera properly, and take a snapshot of him in his diaper. I get back over to Ma's place, but she gives me whatfor anyway. I guess one of my chores in this game will be to regain Ma's respect.

Mission Complete. That's a checkmark.
_______________________________________________________________________
I try out Drakengard 2. I am going to try the extra land-based mission.

Holy $#@^%%$!! There's a million monsters to hack through, and once I do, they give me three giant trolls to destroy. I am not high level enough for this one. Guess I'll switch over to the next main mission next time I try this game during this round.
___________________________________________________________________________

Crysis

I head through more KPA territory and finally meet up at a checkpoint with the rest of the crew. Uh. There's a battleship listed as being from San Diego, and its on land, and its frozen! The crew freaks out and demands answers from our leader, who tells us we have all the information that we need.

Suddenly a frickin' giant alien thing arrives and snatches Jester! Holy $#%!! We hightail it after him, passing lots of North Korean corpses as well. We find Jester's corpse. He's a goner. Our leader tells us he has no idea what's going on any more than we do. That's just great! He vaporizes Jester's corpse so the special tech nano suit can't be confiscated by the North Koreans, and we move on.

Chapter Two of the game begins, and we quickly find a radio station. Apparently "It" went this way, since all the North Koreans are dead. Through the live radio signals, we quickly ascertain that one of the hostages is being kept in a nearby building. Guess who's job it becomes to scan it out for intel? That's right. This GUY.

I kill lots of North Koreans as I make my way to the site, taking over a car and blasting the hell out of a bunch of guys on the road. I steal a boat, because stealing things is what good guys do, and enter the village that is my target.

It's one helluva gunfight from there. There's like 20 dudes against just me. But I wipe them out little by little and eventually its just me and a bunch of empty buildings. I find a rocket launcher. Nice! I learn from the intel that they are holding the hostage in a nearby school. Guess where I'm going? Next round, that is.

This is a checkmark.
____________________________________________________________________

Round 3 Scoreboard:
EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

Round 4 Scoreboard:

MIND TEASERS: 2 of 6

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 4
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 4
World Series of Poker - 3 (I'm broke! Need to win in some cash games)

STRATEGY: 3 of 6
Civilization 4 - 4
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 4
Space Empires - 3 (45 minutes played)
Suikoden Tactics - 4
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: 2 of 6
Crysis - 4
Fallout 3 - 4
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3  (5 sub-missions makes for a tough scenario)
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: 2 of 6
Devil May Cry - 3 (Which way do I go? Huh? Huh? Huh?)
God of War - 4
Gran Turismo 3 -  4
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 1 of 6
Champions: Return to Arms - 4
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 2 of 6
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 4
Suikoden 5 - 4

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 1 of 6
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 4
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED - 2 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 3
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 4
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 4

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

Progress 10/13

I start out with a little Sim action, I put in The Urbz.  I was in mid-party when I achieved my last checkmark, so the party continues! I socialize until I get enough points to unlock a necessary item. Now I can purchase the object I need to start increasing my artistic ability, that's what I've been trying to figure out how to unlock for awhile now. Woo Hoo.

I get some sleep, and the party naturally ends. Time to head to the new area I unlocked last session, Neon somethingorother.

I go there, everybody is dressed in wacky pastel colors. I find the place to buy those kinds of clothes, and do. I need to do that in a couple of the other districts, you have to dress like the locals in order to get into the clubs, which is essential in this game.

I then go to the Sushi Restaurant and take a job making sushi. I love sushi! Yee-Ahhh! I make lots of sushi, do a good job, and get my checkmark. But, before I close this down, I go over to the shop and buy a few objects, including one that will allow me to increase artistic skill for next round.

We're outta here.
_____________________________________________________________________

I put in Civilization 4. I had just started a new game in the last round. I have significantly suffered in city growth due to my island being completely jungle. But, I finally unlocked the technology near the end of last round that lets me convert jungle, and as a result, I can now start making new cities. My goal is to get to at least six cities in this session.

A lot of civilizations show up by boat, and its clear I am waaaaaay behind the curve. 200 full points behind virtually every other civilization. That's bad. But it is the early part of the game. There is a chance that I can make a comeback through sound expansion and development of a quality military. With those as my goals, I load up my island until I get to seven cities. This of course wrecks my economy due to the nature of the game. But I develop currency and a court system in order to counter this. It will be slow going to fix my economy but I needed to rush out a bunch of cities to have any chance at all of catching up to the rest of the pack.

An hour passes and its time to turn the game off. My goals for next session will be to double my cities to fifteen, not something I usually go for in civilization 4, but it will be the only way to chance the initial curve downwards back in my favor. To do this, I will need to develop boats capable of finding new areas for me to colonize, as my island is loaded up completely. I may be able to sneak one more city into a spot, but I need to find other areas to colonize next round.

Anyway, that's a checkmark.
_______________________________________________________________________
Another couple attempts at the Ace mission in Mercenaries. I got halfway through this time before getting wasted. Damn, this is long and difficult. I'll get it though! Just not today.
______________________________________________________________________

Time to finish up in Suikoden 5. Just have to wander around the forest until my characters level up to 17, and they are close. Yeah, 5 fights is all it took. That's a checkmark, we're done level grinding in this game.
___________________________________________________________________________

I load up Mahjong Titans. I choose the Cat design, 1 of 3 left to solve. I've only tried this one one time before. And I am on a roll! Boom! Cat design defeated. That's a checkmark.
___________________________________________________________________________
I feel like violating the rules a little, I want to play Star Ocean.

I complete the entire first mission, defeating Norton and his gang and helping the little village out, and now thanks to the strange dude who appeared to help me, Vahn, I am apparently now getting off the planet.

Checkmark acquired.
_____________________________________________________________________
God of War! I head into the sewers of Athens, destroy 100 million monsters and end up on the other side of the city. That's a checkmark.
___________________________________________________________________________


The Scoreboard for Round 3:

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated

Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3
____________________________________________________________

Round 4 Scoreboard:

MIND TEASERS: 2 of 6

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 4
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 4
World Series of Poker - 3 (I'm broke! Need to win in some cash games)

STRATEGY: 2 of 6
Civilization 4 - 4
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 4
Space Empires - 3 (45 minutes played)
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: 1 of 6
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 4
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3  (5 sub-missions makes for a tough scenario)
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: 2 of 6
Devil May Cry - 3 (Which way do I go? Huh? Huh? Huh?)
God of War - 4
Gran Turismo 3 -  4
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 1 of 6
Champions: Return to Arms - 4
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 2 of 6
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 4
Suikoden 5 - 4

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 1 of 6
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 4
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED - 1 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 3
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 4

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

Progress 10/12

I put Suikoden 4 in the Playstation 2. The story began in earnest last session, so I'm intrigued to see where it will go next. I'm back in the main headquarters in Razril, and after I leave my apartment, my scaredy-cat friend Snowe joins up with me, he wants to get medicine for the Commander, who was hurt. He wants me to join him.

Okay, I'll do it.

Along the way, people praise me and rank on Snowe. HAHA. I mean, hey, stop insulting my friend! We buy the medicine and I get some other supplies. Then we head back to base. Snowe excuses himself and I bring the medicine and dinner from the kitchen to the Commander's room. He compliments me for my actions in the recent battle, but then his arm starts all glowing from the rune he's now stuck with. I...er...excuse myself from the room before I get disintegrated. Yeeaaaah.

I head outside and BOOM! The Pirates assault the area! What the! Snowe takes command of a ship and I take command of another one.

SEA WARFARE COMBAAAAT!

Its our two ships against two pirate ships. Its a good fight, and in the end, we win! We smoosh them! Cut scene: The pirates start to flee, but Snowe breaks rank and chases after them, because he's overcompensating despite his own men telling him its a bad idea.

The pirates turn around and are about to destroy his dumb ass when I come to his rescue, and the pirates turn around and flee again.

We get called to the Commander's room. He compliments me for my actions and gives Snowe another right cross to the face and yells about teammwork. We leave the room and a bitter Snowe yells at me for getting all of the credit again. Then he apologizes and wanders off.

I go save the game. This is a story progression checkmark!
_______________________________________________________________________
Gran Turismo!  Time for a little race car action. I start off by acquiring the second B-1 License, which is stopping in time in a zone, this time in a faster, heavier car than in the first license acquisition. It takes me five times, I earn a Bronze. I decide that's good enough.

Time to go race. I try out the second track in the Beginner's League, but there are too many quick turns for my poor Miata to handle, and I am into the wall lots of times in the practice runs. So I head out of this, I'll need to buy handling upgrades before I can do it, and that'll take some victories in the first track.

A nice three lap race, and while I am challenged in the second lap, for the most part its smooth sailing for my first victory in this game. That's $1,000.00 for winning. I need about $3,500 before I can upgrade the handling, so obviously I'll be in this track for awhile.

That's a checkmark.
____________________________________________________________________
Time for some space strategy: Master of Orion 3! During the session, which encompasses about 20 turns, I encounter scout ships from three races, and discover where two of them have settlements. Unfortunately, I cannot communicate with races until I have a colony no farther than 2 solar systems away, and while I do establish two more colonies during this round, neither of them are close enough to establish contact.

Bah!

I develop some nice technologies including Extraction Mining, which allows me to go deeper into a planet's crust, thus increasing my mineral gains in Mining structures that use it. Nice. I also advance my nuclear warheads during this round, and create bases, system defense ships, and spaceships that use the new missiles.

Most of my planets are still in early development phases, so I can't put together a fleet yet. Its much more important to focus on planetary defenses early in case some alien race gets frisky.

Anyway, an hour played. That's a checkmark.
______________________________________________________________________

The Scoreboard for Round 3:

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated

Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3
____________________________________________________________

Round 4 Scoreboard:

MIND TEASERS: 1 of 6

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 4
World Series of Poker - 3 (I'm broke! Need to win in some cash games)

STRATEGY: 1 of 6
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 4
Space Empires - 3 (45 minutes played)
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: 1 of 6
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 4
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3  (5 sub-missions makes for a tough scenario)
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: 1 of 6
Devil May Cry - 3 (Which way do I go? Huh? Huh? Huh?)
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  4
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 1 of 6
Champions: Return to Arms - 4
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 1 of 6
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 4
Suikoden 5 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)

EPIC - OTHER GENRES Locked
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED - 0 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 3
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

Progress 10/11

Time to finally put Assassin's Creed to bed for Round 3. For some reason I just never got around to playing it. So, here we go:

There are a couple of minor things I can do that put together will constitute a checkmark. First, I can save another citizen from being pushed around. That's a fun sword fight. I truly almost screw it up after I leap in, in dramatic fashion with my small wrist knife and kill the first one. But then I don't get my sword out in time and the other thugs start wailing on me. My only chance is to rush away, which allows other guards to involve themselves. But I get my sword out. Now it's my turn hoo hah! I whack-a-mole them one at a time, slicing and dicing until they are all dead. The helpless woman I saved thanks me, and some vigilantes take up position. They'll be very helpful later.

Now for part two, which is to climb to the top of a tower to get another Eagle View of the city. There is a guard blocking where I need to go, and no way to sneak around him. We engage in a quality dual on the top of a roof, very cool. Finally I stab him through the heart. That's what you get for doing your job, sucker!

Checkmark Achieved. That's it for the Rockstar Category games for round 3, unlocking them all for round 4. Only that damn Ace mission in Mercenaries to go before Round 3 is a wrap!
____________________________________________________________________________

Time for a Shooter: Fallout 3! Okay, so I blew up all of the generators. I head back to the Engine Room, to find my crew under siege from some alien scumbags! We kill them all, but poor Endicott gets it in the head. He's dead! NOOOOOOOO! He. Was. Such. A. Nice. Guy!

I have to put on the spaceship and go out onto the ship to find a way to activate the teleportation systems that were turned off. I run around on the top of the ship. One time, I fall off and float awaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Re-Boot! I press some doohickeys on the outside of the ship, and get teleported back inside. My crew follows me, and we head into an observation room. The big alien nasty guy growls at us in his indecipherable language, then points a Death Ray at Planet Earth! Uht Oh. Looks like we're not leaving quite yet.

I'll have to disable the death ray, and presumably kill the big boss. But, that's for next round.

This is a story progression checkmark. Yee-Ahhh!
________________________________________________________________________

The Scoreboard for Round 3:

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated

Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3
____________________________________________________________

Round 4 Scoreboard:

MIND TEASERS: 1 of 6

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 4
World Series of Poker - 3 (I'm broke! Need to win in some cash games)

STRATEGY: 0 of 6
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 3 (45 minutes played)
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: 1 of 6
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 4
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3  (5 sub-missions makes for a tough scenario)
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: 0 of 6
Devil May Cry - 3 (Which way do I go? Huh? Huh? Huh?)
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 1 of 6
Champions: Return to Arms - 4
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 0 of 6
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)

EPIC - OTHER GENRES Locked
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED - 0 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 3
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

Progress 10/10

Loaded in Champions: Return to Arms. Blew through the Orc caves, and got myself a nifty shovel, which is what is necessary to get into the tombs, which will be the next phase of the operation on this level. Checkmark Achieved.
_____________________________________________________________________
Level Grinding in Suikoden 5. Need to get three of the main characters to level 17. Wandered around the woods about 20 times in a row, to get to Level 16, and after being bored stiff, I'm logging off for now. This is not a checkmark yet, but we're getting there.

____________________________________________________________________

Started playing this round of Space Empires 5. Starting to build fleets, got to level 1 in Computer Technology. Having a serious problem with planet resources. I'll have to figure out how to increase the resources on each planet. 45 minutes into the hour long turn, I have 15 minutes left to play before a checkmark is earned.
___________________________________________________________________

Tried the Ace of Clubs mission in Mercenaries four more times. And I'm dead four more times! Gah!
__________________________________________________________________________

Put in Final Fantasy 12. I have to level grind two levels this turn. So, I might as well try to hunt a big ol monster. After meeting with a contact, I start the hunt for a giant rock creature. I head into the mines, and increase a level destroying undead skeletons and bats. They aren't called bats in the game. Trust me, they're bats. Three of my characters gain a level. Not a bad start.

I come across the rock monster thing. It kicks my ass. I run away! I head all the way out of the mines, back to the save point. Well, three out of six characters up a level. That's a good start to the grinding.
_________________________________________________________________________

Let's try a Shooter: Medal of Honor: European Assault.

In the first big mission there are five different sub-missions. You don't have to do them all, but I have decided that I want to try it.

Gah! I can get to about three of the missions solved, before eating too many bullets, and ending up face-down in a pool of my own blood. I try it 4 times, that's enough of this for now.

_______________________________________________________________________
World Series of Poker: I need to grind through cash games in order to get myself enough cash to participate in the professional circuit. Unfortunately, I don't have it tonight, and get wiped out in both a Texas Hold' Em game, and in an Omaha Hi-Low. Ah, shucks!
_________________________________________________________________________
Devil May Cry - For the first time, it is unclear where I need to go and what I need to do. I grind through the mansion slaying demon puppet things all over the place. There is some glowing thing on the map on the 4th floor, but I haven't figured out how to get up there. I do solve 2 mini-quests and increase my health bar. Nice!

We'll get back to this, since I've been wandering back and forth aimlessly for a long time, and I'm kinda bored now.
_________________________________________________________________________

The Scoreboard for Round 3:

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated

Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 5 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3
____________________________________________________________

Round 4 Scoreboard:

MIND TEASERS: 1 of 6

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 4
World Series of Poker - 3 (I'm broke! Need to win in some cash games)

STRATEGY: 0 of 6
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 3 (45 minutes played)
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: 0 of 6
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 3
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3  (5 sub-missions makes for a tough scenario)
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: 0 of 6
Devil May Cry - 3 (Which way do I go? Huh? Huh? Huh?)
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 1 of 6
Champions: Return to Arms - 4
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 0 of 6
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3 (Level Grinding in Progress)

EPIC - OTHER GENRES Locked
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED - Locked
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

10/9 Progress

Decided to start Round 4 today, though I still have Assassin's Creed and Mercenaries to complete in Round 3. Time for a Mind Teaser: Spider Solitaire

Tried it four times, it is incredibly hard to on Difficult Setting. Eventually I will beat it. Anyway, checkmark complete for this round.
_______________________________________________________________________

The Scoreboard for Round 3:

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated

Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 5 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3
____________________________________________________________

Round 4 Scoreboard:

MIND TEASERS: 1 of 6

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 4
World Series of Poker - 3

STRATEGY: 0 of 6
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 3
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: 0 of 6
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 3
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: 0 of 6
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 0 of 6
Champions: Return to Arms - 3
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 0 of 6
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3

EPIC - OTHER GENRES Locked
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED - Locked
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

Progress 10/6-10/8

Due to a heavy workload, I could not get into any gaming other than an aborted attempt to complete the Ace Mission in Mercenaries. I failed four times! Bah!

With only two games remaining, I am allowed to move into Round 4 in the completed categories. So, here is the current overall scoreboard:

The Scoreboard for Round 3:

MIND TEASERS: COMPLETE

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 3
World Series of Poker - 3

STRATEGY: COMPLETE
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 3
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: COMPLETE
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 3
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: COMPLETE
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - COMPLETE
Champions: Return to Arms - 3
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - Complete
Dragon's Age Origin - 3
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 5 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters
__________________________________________________

Round 4 Begins:

MIND TEASERS: 0 of 6

Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 3
World Series of Poker - 3

STRATEGY: 0 of 6
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 3
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: 0 of 6
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 3
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: 0 of 6
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 0 of 6
Champions: Return to Arms - 3
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 0 of 6
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3

EPIC - Locked
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED - Locked
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

Progress 10/5-10/6

I have decided to combine these two days since what I played through was Dragon's Age Origins. Truly an extraordinary quest adventure, I recently recruited a drunken dwarf fighter into my large rotation of characters, and now its time to head into the Deep Roads under Orzammar, the thaig of the Dwarven nation.

Also where Gatorade is manufactured.

Axe. Check. Arrows. Check. Let's go kill stuffs!

10/4 Progress

Time to close down the Strategy Category! Space Empires 5. I'm not too keen on this game yet. It is the last one on the entire list that is sketchy. But, with no suitable replacement at this juncture, we'll press on!

Last time around, I had tried to make a treatise with the alien race that appeared near my initial space clusters. And they were complete A-Holes! They turned down both of my fair offers and countered with self-centered schmucky offers. When I turned those down, they assaulted and took an unprotected acquisition alone in a recently charted cluster, and destroyed a few of my scouts who were just minding their own business. For this, I begrudgingly respect these guys.

THIS MEANS WAR! Too bad I have no real warships. That is a situation that obviously needs to change. And so, awaaaay we go!

I realize that all I have in the system where those bastards took my colony, is another colony ship. I decide to move it the hell out of there, and I'll leave that situation alone for now. My primary problem appears to be a giant colony that I want to build lots of stuff on but can't because there's no resources available. I set up some ships to go over there and hopefully if I understand how to do it right, they will drop resources in a few turns. We'll see if that works out.

I gain a technology level in Medical Science. I drop that to zero and put some research points into Storage Facility research. Six more turns until I gain the first major technology area I put tech into: Mathematics. Based on what's in my first two systems, my next big one will be researching how to colonize Ice Planets. That will take 200,000 research points and I only get 5000 per turn right now to use. I clearly need to build research facilities on future colonies.

Here's my main system. All of the Red Bull Horns signify ships or planets I control. Yes, my symbol is Cattle or Beer, or Cattle Beer. That should strike fear into the hearts of my alien competitors!

Over the course of the next few turns I build a few more escorts and blaster ships, and start to move them into already existing fleets. Its going to be a long time before I am really battle ready for conflict with anyone else, especially since I am just learning the ropes on how to play this game.

Here's the second sector of space I have claimed as my own. Lots of ice planets! Brrrr!

I am starting to get a handle on the micromanagement aspects of this very complicated game. And as a result, it is starting to grow on me. I will continue to play this one and see what I can make of it, so our 48 game roster is, in fact, complete. It's clear that this is a very slow moving entity, which is a nice change of relaxing pace as compared to most of the PS2 games.

Ooh! News report on current events in the Empire! Neato Mosquito!

After a few more turns of examining building queues, and setting up existing colonies to build facilities a little smarter than I originally did, an hour has expired and my third round turn on this game is now up!

But, this game is starting to grow on me, like moss!

That's a checkmark!

___________________________________________________________________

The Scoreboard for Round 3:

Three games to go, and two of them I just never got around to attempting this round. Once I complete one more of the three, I will have access to Round 4, that's one of the rules of my system, so I don't get stuck with the last two games. But, since the only one I've attempted and failed is the Ace mission on Mercenaries, we'll see if I can blow through Assassin's Creed and Dragon's Age Origin next.

MIND TEASERS: COMPLETE
Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 3
World Series of Poker - 3

STRATEGY: COMPLETE
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 3
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: COMPLETE
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 3
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: COMPLETE
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - COMPLETE
Champions: Return to Arms - 3
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 3
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 5 of 6 defeated
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 5 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

10/3 Progress

Gah. Too much work today for gaming! Back tomorrow!

Progress 10/2

We're down to four games left in Round 3! Time to play The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, the longest game ever created! Today I'm back to the main quest!

Martin, the heir to the throne, needs me to get him a giant rock in order to help open a portal to where the evil cult is that assassinated the royal family so we can get even-stevens with them, by slaying them all! There is one in a dungeon called Miscarand, according to Martin's research.

Right-O! It's dungeon-crawling time. The place is clearly marked on my map, and I get on my horse and teleport there through the game's nifty instant-travel technique. If you've been somewhere once, you can simply teleport there again. Nice.

What? Just goblins and skeletons? Cake Walk City.

I go to one of my houses, and dump stuff that I won't need for this particular quest. I go to the shop and sell stuff off that I'll never need, and then I'm off to the dungeon. I get attacked by a pair of goblins outside, and slay-i-fy them in mere seconds. Once upon a time, those kinds of low-level monsters constituted a threat to me. But I have done so many side quests and of course, helped out the God of Insanity a bunch already, and my character is souped up both with stats and weapons/armor.

I enter the dungeon and after the initial stairwell, headless undead charge at me. HA! I alternate whacking them with arrows, fireballs, and giving them the whatfor with my spare sword. I always keep two swords on me, because my main one has a nice frost attack on it, but those take up charges. There is no way to turn it off and just use the sword. So you don't want to use it on low level monsters and then have nothing left for the big boss later.





Ah, a locked gate. Guess I need to explore the level.

I defeat plenty of goblins and undead, which vary between skeleton warriors, skeleton archers, and headless zombies (How do they know where to go?), until I come to a locked gate. Bah! I consult the map and start heading towards the areas that I have not explored, until I find a big blue button in the wall. That's not obvious or anything!





Should I push eet? Could be something gooood....could be something....baaaaad.

I push the button. Nothing seems to happen, but I know better.  I head back to the area with the gate, and wah lah, it's open! I head into the next area.

And get immediately charged at by a whole lotta undead, and some goblins too! I cast a huge fireball, draining most of my mana, but the goblins and zombies are burned to a crisp. Now I just have to deal with six skeletons! Gulp! They surround me and start their fun game whack-a-hero!

Fortunately for me, I have superior armor, shield spell, and of course, I switch to my kickass sword. It takes quite a few minutes of battle, but eventually, all six of those suckers go down! Yee-Ahhh! Finally, there was a challenge worthy of me.

I use some healing potions and spells, and fix all of my armor and weapons before moving further.

Pretty big map. The architect of Miscarand had a big job.

ooh, shiny!

Heading further into Miscarand, I begin to realize that the goblins and undead don't like each other, and fight whenever they see each other. There are goblin corpses spread around. HAHA! So basically, the goblins were all like "This looks like a good new place to live." And the Undead were all like "Oh no you didn't!"

The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy though. Both groups immediately attack me when they see me, so that makes the politics quite simple. I cut off their heads, then loot the bodies!

Not a lot of treasure in Miscarand. That's been the case with most of the mission dungeons. Fortunately there's over 100 other places to loot in the game environment, so I haven't had problems going on treasure-raising missions. Not today though!

The door to the third and presumably last section of the dungeon. Hoo Hah!

I head through the door and into the new area. Aside from some random goblins, I don't seem to be under siege. That's a little too quiet for THIS GUY's liking. It's a trap, I smell it. There are a bunch of stairwells that I can't access because they are blocked by stone blocks. That's very odd.





Er...me no can get up the stairs. I smell a trap.



I backtrack to an area on the level I haven't been, and find a backdoor route up another stairwell. Ah HAAAH! I walk right into a chamber with the largest, shiniest stone I've ever seen. That must be what Martin wants.

I'm in a Prudential commercial. Okay, I'll get a piece of the rock, damn it.

I take the giant rock. I put it in my bag. That's how video games work. So there!

That's right! Quest Updated. Who da Man?

But every good adventurer knows that the quest isn't completed until you escape from the dungeon. So I turn to---

AAHHH! The King of Miscarand, who happens to be a levitating Lich, teleports in. Those blocks guarding the stairs slide away, turns out they are directly under my current position. A horde of Headless Zombies storm up all four of them. I try and take a picture for your benefit, but they start whomping on me, sorry! I have to fight, ya'll! 

Okay then! I blast the zombies with small fireballs. Not my big one, I need to save my mana for healing and shield spells. The King sends some nasty magic my way, silencing me. GAH! I change my amulet to one that absorbs magic, and pull out my magic sword and begin to hack away at him. He's immune to frost damage. GAH! But fortunately, not immune to the normal damage that comes from the magic sword. Good.

It takes a few minutes but I hack him to his second death. Then I clear away the Headless Zombies one at a time with fire and swordplay.

They go down, and I only lost half my health. Not too long ago, this battle would have been too tough for me, but my character is nearly maxed out these days. So neener to you, King of Miscarand. I loot his body, there is a key on it. 

I head to the portion of the dungeon I haven't been to, thinking the key must lead to major treasure! I unlock a door with it, kill some more Headless Zombies, and find some minor chests that all together lead to 300 gold pieces. At this juncture of the game, that's like, nothing. Bah. 

Another dungeon conquered. I'm the hero!



I leave the dungeon.  Time to head to Martin's headquarters at Stone Peak Mountain. He's there conferring with Jaufre, the guy who recruited me and helped with my initial training and is now preparing Martin to eventually become Emperor.

I give Martin the stone, and he realizes we now need its opposite number, which can only be found in HELL! Great. I keep going through portals to hell, I've done it like six times already in the game, with plenty to go. My goal in there is usually to close the portal to protect the territory that was threatened by its presence.

Now Martin wants me to talk to the leader of the city Bruma, which is close by, and tell her that we're going to intentionally allow the enemy to open the portal in Bruma as they plan, so that I can get in there close enough to a major citadel on their side and steal the big Sigil Stone that we will need to pair with this one, and gain the opportunity to kill the big bad guy.

Martin has a plan! A suck plan, but a plan nonetheless.

Ergh. Well, eventually I'll play messenger and do that. But not for awhile, as it'll be side quest time next round! That's a checkmark! Sword Slashing Category COMPLETE!

______________________________________________________________________

10/1

Again, no games due to, ah I can't lie, I discovered I could watch the entire eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, including the free 2 hour special, and over the past few days, that's what I've been doing with my free time.

I love that show! Tomorrow, its back to games.

9/30 Progress

Busy today! No games for me! Bah!

Progress 9/29

I start out today ready to finish the chapter in Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened and just like with Gabriel Knight, I have come to realize that each chapter after the inital ones are now much longer than initially anticipated. Therefore, earning a checkmark will occur with a definitive story progression. After the last session that I played this game, where I started as Dr. Watson and then watched as Sherlock slipped in, in the disguise of the murdered detective we found in London, then busted out of my cell and started prowling around, I feel I am close to that progression. We'll see.

Last time around I drugged the male nurse guarding the laboratory. He's out for the count, but now I have to lurk about and find some clues as to why various foreigners were abducted to London and shipped here in crates. If anyone can figure it out, it's THIS GUY, while being Sherlock F%$^%! Holmes!

I go up a flight of stairs to poke around up there, and unlock a closet with a spoon! Holy Handy Smurf! Inside is a doctor's jacket, which I promptly steal, because I am the good guy, and as we've well established in this blog by now, good guys always steal stuff!

Now I can move around more freely, since I fit in better. Goody. I walk around and find a bunch of doors locked, but there is  huge open area with a bunch of birds inside a gigantic cage. A brunette is yelling at one of the other crazy dudes, Bauer, to stop. He's agitating the birds and he's got their seed. He wants to let them all out and fly around the place, that would cause the nurses to all stop their duties and havok would ensure. Hmm. That's a good point, crazy dude. Thanks for that.

Aww, she loves her birdies. Bah!

I need the key to the birdcage, but neither of these wackos seems to know where to get it. I go back downstairs, time to talk to some of the other residents of this evil nuthouse.

After some exploration, I find a woman named Gerta who is lamenting the loss of her friend Heidi, who abandoned her. So sorry! By the way, yer crazy!

I progress to the other end of the asylum. There are more nurses with whistles wandering about, so I have to be careful to avoid them. I get to the cell of a guy named Becker. He wants his medicine. Its made with those strange pink crystals I found in the laboratory. What's that, create a concoction at the direction of a crazy house patient with no actual medical degree? All right, I'll do it! Especially when Becker says he has some valuable information for me.

Becker wantsies his druggies.

I head back to the lab. I take the pink crystals. I need some water, there's a fountain up by the birds. I head up there and fill a cup with water, then deposit the pink crystals in there. Yeah! Becker's "medicine" is all ready to go. Maybe it'll turn him into Mr. Hyde and he'll bust out of the cell! We'll see.

Mmm-Mmm! Them's good drinking water

I give Becker the pink drink, and suddenly he's a lot more lucid than before. We have a chit-chat about the foreigners that were brought in. He wants to tell me more, but he's afraid that the guards will overhear and hurt us both. I need to get rid of them somehow for him to tell me more. Drats.
Becker tells me that crazy Gertrude may know how to open the bird cage, that the doll in the lab belongs to her. I kind of figured that one out already, but the game wouldn't let me pick the doll up earlier. Armed with this knowledge, I head back into the lab, and snag the weird looking doll. Hello Heidi!

All happy to be reunited with your icky doll.

Gertrude is very pleased to have Heidi back in her hands. She tells me that Heidi was taken from her as a punishment. A large guard took her to a private room and tried to make her do, uh, unsavory things, so Gertrude rewarded him by cutting off his head!

Nice!

The staff punished her for her murder by putting her in an isolated wing by herself, separating her from Heidi, and not letting her see the birds anymore. The woman who lives in the room now has the key for the birdcage, Gertrude tells me. She also tells me she was afraid the guard whose head she cut off might come back for her, so she stole the key to his room. Right. The room with the key for the bird cage! Heidi hid it in her belly, Gertrude says, and pulls the key out of the doll and hands it to me. Yes! Crazy people rule!

I head upstairs, and sneak into the right room, and after stealing random things off a desk which might be useful later, I find the key to the bird cage.

"Fly! Be Free!" -- Mork from Ork, to a carton of eggs.

I head into the aviary, and much to the delight of Bauer, I release the hounds! Well, the birds anyway. The nurse/guards all freak out and chase after the birds. The birds fly into the lobby and out into the streets. The nurses completely abandon their posts to try and retrieve them. HAHAHA! Stupid nurse/guards.

I head back down to see Becker.

He tells me that when they were first brought in, they tried to communicate but couldn't because they all had different dialects. Becker was sure that none of them were crazy or in need of being institutionalized. Weirdly, about a week after they were brought in, they were all speaking the same language, and saying the same thing, some kind of chant or something.

AH HAH! Culty-Cult brainwashing is it? Okay then. I promise Becker I will rescue him as soon as possible, since he's a prisoner here too and clearly not insane. I make that promise because I'm Sherlock F$^&! Holmes!

This is a story progression checkmark. Time to move on.

The Scoreboard: Round Three! 43 Down! Only 5 games to go until we're onto Round 4.

MIND TEASERS: COMPLETE
Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 3
Spider Solitaire - 3
World Series of Poker - 3

STRATEGY: 5 of 6 defeated
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 2
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: COMPLETE
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 3
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: COMPLETE
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 5 of 6 defeated
Champions: Return to Arms - 3
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 2
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 5 of 6 defeated
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 5 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters

_________________________________________________________________________



Progress 9/28

It's time to conclude this round's Xenosaga expedition in our Epic Other category.

I am exploring the manufacturing plant Mekabah, and like all of the other areas in this game, it is super long. I made it to the 44th floor - I did not have to actually clear 44 levels, I took an elevator to the 41st floor and have been working on puzzles and slaying large menacing beasts and robots through the four levels.

There is a door leading to an area in the 44th floor that is locked, and I have to work my way down the left side to the 42nd floor to find a button panel to open it. I head back up to the 44th floor and enter the new area of the complex.

There is the biggest Mech enemy I have ever seen standing there! Even the ones in Ring of Red look wimpy by comparison. Doh! I make sure I am healed up and ready for a fight. And here we go! COMBAAAT!!

His name is Kanthosis, and he don't take no guff!

Kanthosis has 3000 hit points, but I blast him to smithereens in four rounds, because that's how I roll. I give him a little of this!

Kos-Mos' extremely powerful cannon blasts Kanthosis to little itty bitties.

Onward we go. I break through a secret wall to find a treasure chest with a nice ring in it, and then I head to the left side of the map to find....another giant mech. This one in lavender. Lavender?

The heroes of the story! Well, 3 of them anyway.

Lavender mechs are good on the XP.

I smash the lavender robot in four turns as well. Then I reach a ledge. Jump off? It asks me. What? You want me to leap off down below to an unscouted area in the enemy's complex? All right I'll do it!

I land on a big satellite dish. And immediately I am besieged by THE BOSS!!





 

The Boss has two assistants, both named Schultz.

What the?

The fight is on! The Schultz's fire laser beams, and the Boss, Proto Dora has a huge sledge press that he keeps flattening me with. Kos-Mos blasts them with her X-Cannon, and Momo uses her Meteor Flyswatter thing. Yeah, don't ask. It's Japanese Anime' style. The less questions you ask, the better it will be for you.

Meanwhile I have Shion on healing duties, since she can heal all three characters simultaneously. Then Proto Dora raises a Beam Shield, rendering my most effective weapon, the X-Cannon, useless. I switch Kos-Mos over to her Dragon Hammer, which does nice damage but not remotely what the X-Cannon does, and now its going to be a slow whittling down process.

Halfway through the fight, Proto Dora absorbs the Schultzes to become more powerful. That's cold!



I finally realize that Momo has a power that will lower the Beam Shield, but it will take four hits to do it. Proto Dora keeps using massive health potions to re-heal 2,500 hit points at a shot, and a lot of damage I did is returned. This is a loooooong fight.

It takes twenty minutes, but finally I get through the beam shield, and defeat Proto Dora! Yeaaah! Boss defeated.

I would like to put a checkmark here, since it took me close to two hours of playing to get from the start of this area to the slaying of the current boss. Unfortunately, there is no save point anywhere nearby. Looks like we'll have to keep going.

Let's just pray together that I find a save point before running into another boss. In the last area, there were three massive fights and two of them took me many times to play through to finally win them. If I lose all of this progress, I will not be a happy game player.

I have to climb the tallest ladder I've ever seen, and then its time to creep around quietly looking for the save point. Unfortunately, there are demons everywhere. Yes. Demons! What the?



Eat some Laser Rain from Shion!



Do I look like Mario or Luigi to you?

The demons are tough opponents, but not as tough as Proto Dora, and my characters have advanced enough to be able to handle them.



Demons! Just what I needed.



Finally, I locate an elevator that takes me all the way down to the ground floor. Guess what's there? SAVE POINT! YEE-AHHHH! That, sir, is a checkmark!

Aside from Mercenaries, the other games left are all PC. I've been playing a lot of games while either taking a break from writing, thus needing to get away from my PC, or during commercial breaks during football, which I've been watching on my PC. So, now I will have to blow through the computer games to complete the third round. We're very close. Should be on Round 4 by the weekend. We'll see.

________________________________________________________________________________

The Scoreboard: Round Three!

MIND TEASERS: 5 of 6 defeated
Chess Titans - 3
Gabriel Knight - 3
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 2 (Amok in the Black Edelweis. In Sweden, I mean Switzerland!)
Spider Solitaire - 3
World Series of Poker - 3

STRATEGY: 5 of 6 defeated
Civilization 4 - 3
Gladius - 3
Master of Orion: 3
Space Empires - 2
Suikoden Tactics - 3
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 3

SHOOTER: COMPLETE
Crysis - 3
Fallout 3 - 3
Killzone - 3
Medal Of Honor - European Assault: 3
Ring of Red - 3
Star Wars Battlefront - 3

PURE ACTION: COMPLETE
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 3
Gran Turismo 3 -  3
Madden Football - 3
Soul Reaver 2 - 3
Soul Caliber - 3

SWORD SLASHERS - 5 of 6 defeated
Champions: Return to Arms - 3
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 3
.Hack Infection - 3
 Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 2
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 3

EPIC - FANTASY - 5 of 6 defeated
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 3
Final Fantasy 12 - 3
Suikoden 3 - 3
Suikoden 4 - 3
Suikoden 5 - 3

EPIC - OTHER GENRES 5 of 6 defeated
Kingdom Hearts - 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 3
Mercenaries - 2 (Super Long Ace Mission!)
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 3
Xenosaga - 3

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 5 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - 3
Manhunt 2 - 3
The Warriors - 3
Urbz - 3

GAMES THAT GOT THE BOOT DUE TO SUCKAGE

STRATEGY
1) Europa Universalis III

SWORD SLASHERS
1) Shadows of Rome

SHOOTERS
1) Freedom Fighters