Progress 9/2

Here we go again, Mahjong Titans! This time we will try the Crab design. This is one I haven't tried yet.

OH YEAH! I beat you Crab design. Hole in One! What about it! Finally, that's a checkmark. Time to go shoot something.
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I decide what I'm going to shoot is bug-eyed aliens, so I put in Fallout 3 in my computer. I am playing through the spaceship  add-on. I just got some allies, people cyrogenically frozen. I take the old Wild West gunfighter with me, and we go on a mission to BLOW SHIT UP!

Specifically, one of the three power generators that my allies think will allow us to leave if they are destroyed. Okay, then. We vaporize us some aliens along the way, and then I have to man a wacky station with five buttons. When I hit a button a big tube on the level below releases a charge that vaporizes aliens. Why did they have this in the middle of their own ship? I dunno! But it was there, so I used it as aliens and robot drones charged the area. All I had to do was hit the button corresponding to the tube nearest to the baddies, and they got discharged across the room. Pretty funny, killed about 25 of them this way.

Then we go blow the generator up. This was so short a mission, that I decide to earn a checkmark I need to get a second one. So I go back to our base in the engineering station, and switch out the wild west gunfighter for the space medic guy, who I'll need to bring with me to the cyrogenic lab.

This mission was more difficult, because the gunfighter knew how to take care of himself. While my medic did have a laser gun, he wasn't adept at fighting and he kept getting killed. Since I needed him, every time he got killed I needed to go back to the save game. Needless to say, I saved the game a lot, and it was sloooow going. Damn medic guy!

Every person we unfroze in the lab attacked us immediately. That's gratitude. We came upon this lab where aliens were cutting up other members of his unit. My guy freaks out, and we use their own freezing gas on them. Then we go in there and polish them off. In the next room, we find two more of his guys in pods. He analyzes the situation, and he is able to temporarily save them and they join our team.

We move around to find the generator. Lots of resistance from the aliens, we kill-i-fy them, until both of his buddies fall down dead, which we expected to happen at some point. At least they went down fighting, eh?

We find the generator. WE BLOW THAT SHIT UP.

Checkmark achieved.
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I feel like closing things out with Space Empires. A few uneventful turns of moving my ships around, but then one of my escorts gets caught alone by a fleet of those damn aliens who refused my treaties, and THEY BLOW MY SHIT UP.

Sometimes you are the hammer. Sometimes you are the nail.

I am still a novice at this game, but I'm starting to learn the early nuances. I think. We'll see. I open a new colony on medium sized planet. Okay, then.

After a 30 minute session, my hour of playing this game in this round is over. That's a checkmark in the strategy column.
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Only 2 days left until the meeting in The Warriors. So far I am 0-3 in attempting to collect a checkmark in this round of Rockstar Game Types. I went down in flames in The Hulk, Assassin's Creed, and GTA: Liberty City.  Let's see if gang warfare will be easier.

So this mission I'm taking Rembrandt, Snow, and Cowboy to a train yard, it's time to get our logo ALL CITY. In other words, we're spraypainting subway trains. There's 8 new trains that haven't got a spot on them. We're going to tag those suckers. Too bad the train station is in Moon Runner territory. Looks like I'm going to have to Wreck some people.

Cowboy goes off to locate fresh trains, while Snow watches my back. I tag the first train, then Snow and I have to deal with a bunch of Moon Runners. Good thing these guys are wimps. I WRECK THEM!

I grab some more paint, and head into the next area of the map, where the security guards start covering the grounds in force. I enter the headquarters, and beat the holy hell out of the poor dude just doing his job at the dispatch station. Then I break the radio, cause that's how I roll, me being the hero of the story and all.

Now security can't communicate, so its easier to get around them and to the second train. I Tag it! Yeaaah. Cowboy shows up at the next checkpoint, he's found 4 more trains. He takes off to find the last two fresh ones in the yard. Snow and I run around WRECKING Moon Runners and Rent-A-Cops. They don't get along either so I can often sneak right past as they fight each other. Thanks, Moon Runner guys, for carrying spray paint cans on your bodies for no good reason, so after you get wrecked, I get more paint.

I spray paint those four cars, and then Snow, Cowboy, and I get warned that when we broke the radio, we alerted the actual police to trouble. Oops! Now the place is swarming with tougher cops, and I have two more cars to tag.

We make our way through, WRECKING cops and Moon Runners. Fun, and I never get into as much jeopardy as I thought I would. I tag the last two cars, and we're out of there.

Checkmark Acquired. Finally, on the board in the Rockstar category, truly that's the hardest section of gaming for me.
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Back to the strategy category, I feel like playing some cards. So I put in World Series of Poker, and I gear up. I have a problem. The next tournament is a big one, the entry fee is 10K. Unfortunately, I only have slightly over 5K in my bankroll, due to <ahem> unfortunate circumstances on the river, or something.

So I go to the cash game option. My checkmark goal will be to get that 10K entry fee in the bank, and Clonie Gowen calls me up and invites me to play in her game, fronting me $1,000. Thanks Clonie!

I saddle up for an intense game. My first twenty hands, I get no real good cards. I am learning that one of the true keys to Poker is patience. Out of those 20 hands, I only play 2. Win one, lose one, end up about even.

That's when some sweet cards start falling into my hand, and I start winning. I'm up to $3500, before "Jesus" Fergusen lays the smackdown on me, for half my stack! Clonie Gowen gets eliminated in that hand, too bad!

I spend the next ten hands waiting for some good cards, and around hand 50, the good ones start showing up again.

I eliminate the "DevilFish" Dave Ulliott, and take a risk to try and eliminate David Williams. Williams has the better hand, I run downhill again for a little while. I have to shove it all in against Jesus. That doesn't sound good. I am down to my last card. Uh oh. and...

I SUCK OUT ON THE RIVER. HOO HAH. TAKE THAT COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF THE PROS!

Then a pair of jacks falls into my lap, and I use them to excellent effect. After a few more hands of winning, I get myself up to $4,600. I exit the cash game, and have myself a bankroll of slightly over 10K.

Checkmark acquired.
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 Here's where we are on the ol' scoreboard:

MIND TEASERS: 4 of 6 defeated
Chess Titans - 1
Gabriel Knight - 1
Mahjong Titans - 2
Sherlock Holmes - 2
Spider Solitaire - 2
World Series of Poker - 2

STRATEGY: 4 of 6 defeated
Civilization - 2
Europa Universalis - 1
Gladius - 2
Space Empires - 2
Suikoden Tactics - 1
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 2

SHOOTER: 4 of 6 defeated
Crysis - 2
Fallout 3 - 2
Freedom Fighters - 2
Killzone - 2
Resident Evil 4 - 1
Ring of Red - 1

PURE ACTION: 4 of 6 defeated
Devil May Cry - 2
God of War - 1
Madden Football - 2
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 2
Soul Reaver 2 - 2
Soul Caliber - 1

SWORD SLASHERS 3 of 6 defeated
Champions: Return to Arms - 1 (Hacking Orcs A' Plenty)
Dark Cloud - 1
Drakengard - 2
.Hack Infection - 1 (Level Grinding in progress)
Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 2
Shadow of Rome - 2

EPIC - FANTASY 3 of 6 defeated
Dragon's Age Origin - 1
Dragon's Quest 8 - 1
Final Fantasy 12 - 2
Suikoden 3 - 1
Suikoden 4 - 2
Suikoden 5 - 2

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

ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 1 of 6 defeated
Assassin's Creed - 1
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 1 (Pimpin' Ain't Easy!)
Hulk - 1 (Tough Boss Fight!)
Manhunt 2 - 1
The Warriors - 2
Urbz - 1