non-resolution

Shauna and I, between Friday night and Saturday during the day went through the remaining side quests and other world replays to complete our collection of cards in Deadly Premonition.  Once we were done with all of that, we wrapped up the remaining plot line and we treated to some cut-scenes that not only don't resolve any of the plot line but also instill a bit of aggravation at one of the characters in the game, and probably also York, himself.  Anyway, after that I started another playthrough on the hard difficulty and tried to determine if I should've just replayed chapters to get the difficulty achievements.  I read one place that said I could, online and after the fact, but about 50 that said I could not.  I'm not sure what I trust, but I do think it's pretty crappy to make me say bye-bye to all of my cards and all of my newly unlocked and never initiated special weapons.  I unlocked the light sword (aka lightsaber) and the best I got to use it on was Olivia's car (which does not take damage).  I unlocked the RPG and the best it got used on were some barrels and a tree.  D'oh!  In addition to that, I fell in love with the grass cutter as it was buzzing through shadows and boxes and mannequins like they were all blades of grass.  What joy it would've been to use that through the game for the additional playthroughs, but alas, this game seems to take special care in making things as frustrating as it possibly can.  Curses you, SWERY!  Anyway, it seems that this game is getting plenty of attention as I read that SWERY is going to give a talk on story writing at this year's GDC.  That might be interesting...

Anyway, later last night, I coaxed Jason through Harm's Way and now he only has to get through the single player experience.  After that, I got to play some Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock with him and we found another glitchy achievement.  Oh joy it will be when I have to erase my save game just to get it to unlock, when I get as far as caring about getting it!  After Jason decided that there wasn't enough instant gratification in that minefield, he suggested we play some Rock Revolution because there was plenty of stuff for us to boost.  So, we did some grinding through that until both of us were too tired to tolerate it anymore.  Surprisingly, after turning it off, I got a second wind, as it were, and I went back to playing some more Hasbro Family Game Night.  Being able to grind through games of Connect 4x4 and Jenga really calms the nerves after a day of frustration...

getting it started...

Well, I think that I'll start this up as there's no time like the present and I'm hoping that the first step is the hardest to getting this rolling.  As a side note, I'm going to try and tag all of these blogs with an Amazon link to the games for ease of investigation by interested parties.  If someone happens to buy a game through one of our links, that's just a little more positive reinforcement for keeping this rolling.

Anyway, today I was talking with Shauna and day-dreaming about Deadly Premonition all day.  It's funny to me that we're basically finished with the game and it still seeps into both of our minds.  It probably doesn't help that I was listening to the soundtrack for it for the better half of the day.  Anyone interested in said soundtrack can find some well-prepared version out on the `net, just by searching.  If you're having a hard time, then let me know and I'll try to find and post a link to the place where I found it.  It's also sad, to me, that we can obsess about it so much and then not have the time, with our other plans and TV schedule for this morning.  It'll just have to wait for another day, I guess.  It's not like any citizens of Greenvale are waiting for us...well, maybe no one except Nick.

After arriving at home, this evening, I decided to play some Hasbro Family Game Night while waiting for Shauna to make it back from work.  I think I made a little progress before being interrupted by a guy that was dangling the "Beating Tough Competition" achievement in NHL 08, over my head.  It was go time!  I guess he wasn't too bad beyond a little verbal abuse, since I've heard whispers of people charging MS Points in order to bestow that achievement on others.  Well, one way or the other, it's done now and, hopefully, I won't have to deal with any more games that have their servers being shut down, at least for another year. :-\

Anyway, ran out to do some errands and get dinner with Shauna.  After that, watched TV until 10 and then plugged away on hockey some more.  I feel like the controls on this one are way more complicated than the last time I played, to the point where my created team of atomic supermen were still bested by the mediocre team of Japan.  Sorry Flint Sorcerers (my team's name) maybe next game...