824 Childlike.

Having completed Super Paper Mario I was once again without a clear gaming goal. I wasn’t really feeling Mario Galaxy, and attempts to play American Wasteland were met with frustration. If I intend to finish that game I think I’m going to have to break out my original Xbox, because the early quests are frustrating in their vagueness. It’s really hard to decipher exactly what the game wants you to do to complete a task. Some of them are relatively clear, but others… Which is what stopped me playing it in the first place. A mid to late game quest that I could not figure out. I even have a strategy guide someplace and it didn’t explain what I was supposed to do clearly enough. Anyway, the controls are really loose on the 360 too. I remember them being way tighter on the Xbox. Maybe i can cope better if I downgrade.

After that I decided to play Fable 3 a little bit again. Since I inherited the larger TV I wanted to see if it improved the experience. Fable 3 is one of those games that has such tiny text that I can barely make it out. Some of it was still unclear, but for the most part things were better on the larger screen. I only played a bit of the introduction, but if it comes to it I can jump in and out if I’m bored of something else.

Once I was done with that I decided to see if Transformers: War For Cybertron was any better. It was much improved by the larger viewing area. I was able to make out enemies enough that I wasn’t just shooting the walls the whole time. I played through the Decepticon story and part of the Autobot one. It’s not very long. I expect I can finish it in two sittings, unless I decide to try for some for the achievements. Still, it’s fun for as simple as it is. The only major design flaw is that all of the multiplayer stuff is locked off if you don’t have Xbox Live. That is really shitty. Essentially a section of the content is locked away from you if you don’t pay for the monthly subscription. I unlocked a character, but I’ll never get to play as it. I understand that there are several other characters available only in the multiplayer sections too. That is not cool. Why not include an option to fight multiplayer style against bots? It just seems cheap. Not including them in the story mode seems kind of insane too. All you’d have to do is make the second AI character do all the voice interacting. Anyway, whatever. That’s pretty much my one major complaint about that game. If they made a similar one I’d probably get it too. Even with a section locked off it’s a good time. I wouldn’t pay full price for it though, or even Gamestop’s shitty after market prices. Under half at least if I’m not going to be able to play huge chunks of the game.

After Transformers it’s up in the air again. I tried to play Final Fantasy 13. Got about as far as the second save point. It’s just so tedious, and the girl is so lame. Having only played for 30 minutes, or whatever, 13 strikes me as a gross caricature of all the worst Final Fantasy tropes. I’m just going to have to suffer through this early stuff and hope that they can get me to buy in later on. Right now I’m hoping that the bad guys kill the girl and I can go on an adventure with Szaz, or whatever his name is. At least that would be something I haven’t done before.

I’m going to preface this dream story with a warning. It’s a sad story. if you don’t want to experience the downer then just skip this bit. If you’re interested in my dream regardless then read on.

Apparently I rolled on to my arm the other morning which, as you might know, tends to cause me to have horrifying dreams as my body attempts to save it. This time was no exception. The dream was abnormal in that it was in first person. I more commonly dream in the third. It was also abnormal in that it was cast with people that are real that I don’t know.
It started with me needing to drive Kris Straub, who co creates Blamimations on Penny Arcade’s site with Scott Kurtz, to some random event. It was very businesslike. We barely spoke, and we got to the event without incident. I don’t know what it was, but it took place in an older section of whatever imaginary town we were in. I left after I dropped him off and went back home. Later on I get a call that I need to pick up Scott Kurtz and take him someplace quickly. I don’t recognize the address, which isn’t uncommon. I don’t recognize a lot of addresses. Anyway, when I pick him up he’s really obviously distraught. He doesn’t say what’s wrong, but he keeps getting phone calls and I piece together from his conversations that there’s been an accident and they’re afraid that Kris was the victim. As we drive he finally reveals that my suspicion is correct and they’re afraid that Kris has been killed in a terrible accident, but no one is sure and he need to try and identify the body. The longer we go the more he’s starting to break down. I don’t remember much of the actual conversation before this point, but he finally says “Listen, I know you don’t know me or anything, but I don’t think i can do this alone. I know it’s crazy and an imposition, but will you go in with me?” And who can say no to that? He may have just lost one of his best friends in the world and no one else is around to be there with him. At this point I’m simultaneously empathizing and panicking, because even if this isn’t Kris I don’t want to see it. Part of my consciousness must realize that it’s working because it steps things up a notch by making the walk down the hallway more and more illogical. People aren’t acting right, and the dude who meets us at the door is absolutely not a mortician or a cop. He’s more like a combination of a doctor and a clown. I get as far as the doorway as I follow behind Kurts. He’s blocking my view as the guy reveals the corpse to him. At this point I’m pretty much aware that this is a dream and if I can wake up I don’t have to see what’s under the sheet. I am trying incredibly hard to do something that will make me snap out of it. This all happens in the time between the guy taking hold of the sheet and pulling it back so Kurtz can see. What finally snaps me awake is the heartbreaking sob he makes when he finally gets a look, and starts to fall to his knees.

my only theory as to why these two were chosen as the players in my little scene is that the last this I read before going to sleep was an exchange between the two of them on Twitter.