740 Everything’s Cool.

I considered doing this page with no text for a while.  In the end, however, I decided that it was better if you could “hear” the crazy inside Jo.  A friend of mine said it sounded like Frank Miller when he read it.  I thought it was a little like Rorschach in The Watchmen, but more than anything else it sounds like someone reacting to a panic attack.  At least that’s how I experience it.  In some ways Jo drew the short straw of character creation, ’cause she ended up with a lot of my crazy.

I was going to talk a little more about Xbox related stuff, but I haven’t really played enough of anything else to speak at length.  I’m saving Final Fantasy till a gaming dry time and War For Cybertron.

I’ve been looking at other games for potential future gaming though.  Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption, Dragon Age,  and Spiderman spring to mind as possibilities.  I understand that Mass Effect is by Bioware?  At least I think that’s the right name.  In any case if it’s as good as KOTOR then it’s probably worth a try.  Red Dead sounds like a good cowboy sandbox to play in.  Dragon Age I’ve not heard much about, like what kind of game it is.  It just looks like it might be cool  I’ve seen trailers for the sequel that made me want to find out more.  The Spiderman one is just in there because the old Spiderman games were good and it looked like the new one might be divorced from the movies enough to make it worth looking into.  There’s also that Castlevania game that came out a while back.

There’s also at least one DS game I’m thinking about tracking down.  It’s called Radiant Historia.  Apparently you can play through multiple potential outcomes and explore alternate dimensions until you hit upon the perfect outcome for the game.   It’s neat looking.  I hope they put a demo on the Wii service.  The woefully underused Wii service…

Ghost Trick looks neat, but it also looks like a one time play kind of game.  Kind of like Phoenix Wright.  Definitely the kind of game I’d try to get as it fades into obscurity.

There’s actually a PSP game I want to get.  Which is become ever more of a novelty.   I think it’s called Tactics Ogre.  I saw it in a store, but didn’t get it as Pokemon was coming out before long.  It strikes me as a game I’m going to have to get before it fades though.  I haven’t seen it in any place but a Gamestop or online.  I do enjoy a tedious grid RPG when a decent one comes along.  Apparently this one is a remake of a critically acclaimed game.

I saw Kirby’s Epic Yarn in a clearance bin and was tempted, but I’m not sure it’s for me.  I do like platforming, but for the most part I don’t like Kirby games.  It’s my understanding that he was stuck in the game after the fact to give the title a popular face to help sales.  Maybe it doesn’t play like a Kirby game.

At this point I’m being kept entertained by Pokemon and Batman alternately.  They should keep me entertained for a while longer.  Especially since I went into Pokemon having seen almost no information.  I’m playing it blind essentially.  I missed out on the Celebi you could get at gamestop, but I got the legendary dogs.  So I can unlock at least some hidden junk.

That’s all I can think of at this point.  I’ll keep you all posted though.  I know you’re dying to hear the intricacies of my goofing off.

27 Comments

I love the composition of this strip, the angled camera in the first panel, the two-character/single background in the second panel… really excellent. Going with no text would have been nice, but having it in there works, too. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the solid black in the thought bubbles, but that’s minor.

Hurm. I should have figured you for a Rorschach fan. And yes, the flow of the scene is a little like I remember the original Watchmen comics. I read them when from they first came out — yeah, I’m that old — so it’s a little dim in my mind.

I spent my first pass through college as a Psych major. I was pretty good at it, too; 3.4 average or so. I’ve paid attention to people since then through three careers, none of which had anything to do with psychotherapy or analysis (or Ghod forbid, running rodents in mazes, aside from the usual Rat Race). The investment in time has paid off in dividends of understanding my coworkers, supervisors, and my fellow Man in general (broadly spoken — that includes Women, as well as anyone understands them).

That said, I think I’ve established my background enough to say, Jolene Brooks is seriously Neurotic. Nothing that can’t be outgrown, given the right environment, or repaired with the help of a good therapist, but I doubt her life or her job will give her those opportunities. A good, empowering (as opposed to enabling) relationship could set her on the road to better mental health.

–Perfesser

Not that the current American culture actually encourages mental health anyway, let alone in the Midwest. Then again, I suppose the setting cuts out finding a therapist outside the broadest terms, let alone a good one.

Funny thing, got into a discussion with a friend of mine today about the Watchmen (nice pick there for a Psych major, by the by) and here I find more discussion about it. Aint Synchronicity amazin’ sometimes?

As for Mass Effect: First one was liek an overambition sci-fi novel. Entertaining, yes, even worth a second or third playthrough (for the whole Paragon/Renegade mechanic, with a third trying to strike the near unobtainable balance. Also, for some reason I have a hard time picking the renegade choices. Don’t judge me.) The main problems involve clunky class mechanics, over-information syndrome, and not enough Seth Green. Okay, there was the proper amount of Mr. Green, but the story, especially if you take some certain choices and do NOT read the background files gets a little…. Hmmm, what’s a good word that means complex, involved, clumsy, and with just a dash of cliche thrown in for good measure? ‘Cause that’s the word I’m looking for here. Then again, things make even less sense to me when you do the Renegade method (seriously, HOW does the Earth Government NOT find excuses to distance themselves from Shepard??)

I think that’s why Tom brought Brooksie in. To get her out, and broaden her horizons. If her film knowledge is as encyclopedic as it appears, she has spent a lot of her life watching movies, probably by herself. for her, working retail *is* broadening her horizons. In earlier comics we saw her getting her first taste of personal empowerment by pulling rank on Reggie and making it stick. She seems to be getting a bit bolder, more confident.

Rorschach’s inner monologue was certainly what flashed through my mind when i read it.

I think it’s the telegraphic sentence structure.

Panties ftw….
I’m still around btw, just not commenting so much these days…. keys can only take so many hits and mine are saved for the rapture… ppl gotta blog about that shiz!

I haven’t had a chance to play Mass Effect, but if you like KOTOR, you’ll love Dragon Age: Origins. It plays almost exactly the same. I just got myself a 360 and Dragon Age was the first game I got.

“I am Jolenes cool blue reason.” Hence the hair?

Also Mass Effect is a pretty good game. It’ definitely an RPG, but the fighting is shooter-y, with lots of special abilities on the side. The story is pretty epic, though it doesn’t branch much, and you get lots of ways to mod your equipment. I personally think it could have been a little more hardcore(do you REALLY carry your ENTIRE inventory with you EVERYWHERE?), and it lacked Really Cool Stuff to find/accomplish/blow up or w/e, but I’m just odd like that.

Just read EVERY comic. In the past few hours. Just saying, I love it. Love everything about it. The characters are amazing, the situations are brilliant, and I loved when you switched from black and white to colour. Keep up the good work 8D I will be watching.

Seconding a little from what people said above, you’ll like Dragon Age if you liked KOTOR or old school Baldur’s Gate. For the record, Dragon Age and Mass Effect are both Bioware, and play rather similarly even if one’s fantasy and one’s Sci-Fi.

Forgot to mention way of the samurai 3.

A true different and amazing game.

If you played the first 2 you will love this game.

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