Friday, May 29, 2015

Weekend Plans of the Nerd Kind (5/29/15 - 5/31/15)

Errands and lawn care! Baseball games! Going out with friends this weekend! An actual social life!

And no, I haven't been replaced by a more social, well-adjusted pod person replica of myself. Frankly, I resent the implication.

And on an unrelated note, what gets the viscous residue of an exploded pod person pod out of carpet? I'm, uh, asking for a pod friend...

Thursday, May 28, 2015

XCOM: Enemy Within - The Long War (Day Two)

So tired.

Baby murdered another piece of my brain tonight. Parenting, man...

Could barely spell "enemy" in the title of tonight's post. Brain hemorrhaging out whatever it needs to turn letters into words. Words into thoughts.

Started new game of The Long War. Checked and double-checked I was on the easiest difficulty setting.

There is no easiest difficulty. There is no hope.

Four squad members panicked on the first mission like they were all Bill Paxton impersonators in Vegas.

Are there Bill Paxton impersonators in Vegas? 'Cause that would be awesome - that Elvis impersonation thing is so played out.

I don't get why people dig Elvis so much. He's not as cool as Bill Paxton in Aliens.

Four squad members panicked at once. The remaining two protested their teammates lying down on the job by, I can only assume, purposely missing every alien on the battlefield.

Nothing good happened after this.

Nothing good will ever happen again, not till sleeptime.

Viva game over, man.

END OF LINE.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

XCOM: Enemy Within - The Long War



The Long War, a fan modification for the PC version of XCOM: Enemy Within, is evil. We're talking "Hitler's disco love nest in the seventh circle of hell" evil. It's so evil, in fact, that if the people who made Dark Souls were to play it, they would say, "Goddamn, guys, chill out. It's just a game."

There were chryssalids in the second mission.

The. Second. Fucking. Mission.

Between facing chryssalids and a ton of upgraded monsters, large and small, I got a total party kill within a few rounds of starting what is essentially the first mission where the training wheels come off in the original game. And this was on The Long War's version of normal difficulty, to boot. I'm curious to see if the difficulty of the enemy forces are randomized in the game - a change to XCOM's steady challenge creep - because this was a ridiculously overwhelming encounter so early in the game.

I won't have time tonight, but I plan to start a new game tomorrow, to see if this MOD always stacks the deck so hard against you. For someone who's clocked in over 200 hours on XCOM - thanks largely to playing the iOS version during lunch breaks - it's amazing to be surprised by this game again. But I'm worried the challenge will be so intense that I won't be able to fully enjoy all the surprises in store for me.

And what a different game this is, obvious from the moment you start playing it. There are a vast number of tweaks and additions to the game (over 700, according to the Wiki) - including my favorite new option to trade out your pistol for a number of new sidearms, including a sawed-off shotgun. You know, for close encounters.

And believe me, there are going to be close encounters. Chryssalids in the second mission, man. The second fucking mission...

END OF LINE.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Wickett's Geek Emporium: The Returnening

At this moment, at a crossroads in my life, I remember what my mother said to me as a child. "Son," she said, "when God closes a door, He opens a window. That's how the murder clowns get into your room at night."

So, yes, a chapter of my life has closed. Four years ago, I accepted a promotion with my company that ensured long hours, an unpredictable, dreary schedule, and enough physical and mental exhaustion to challenge someone without my health conditions. During the last few years, I never found the time or the energy to write like I used to.

Also, this thing with the toothbrush happened...
https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11018028_10204147432834163_5471063529581283920_n.jpg?oh=f23c82d1078293b75aeb2eb512006cb5&oe=55C3503E

Whether either of these things is enough of an excuse to let this site fall by the wayside, I don't know. But I've missed doing this, and I'm ready to get back to it. As of today, I started a new job with my company that's far less demanding, with a set schedule that will give me time for my family, hobbies, and writing.

There's no better time than the present to start updating this site again regularly. So, welcome back - or welcome for the first time - to this little curiosity of a blog: a few hundred words off the cuff each weekday about one nerd's passions - movies, TV, comics, games. Expect updates late in the evening each weeknight.

Thanks for reading. Talk to you tomorrow... about something. I don't what. We'll find out when we get there.

And don't think for a second that shutting your bedroom windows will keep the murder clowns out. That just puts them in a murderin' mood.

END OF LINE.