'If there were a competition of c***s, you would come in second!" "Why second?" "Because you're a c***!' by Kara
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 9:35 AM

Asterisked because even I'm not sure where my boundary is for one or two words. Especially today, when I'm particularly grumpy.

No, nothing's happened. I just have a fever and decided to come to work anyway since I'm sort of right here now. If I can sit up, I might as well sit up somewhere where it'll reflect well on me.

One thing I discovered while cleaning is that I have three very old Doctor Who novelisations (not originals like some of the ones I have now). As in there's a little one called Doctor Who and the War Games -- yes, that is what they titled the book version. And despite what it's based on, it was only 130 pages and I read it in part of a day. I don't know how I managed to forget I had them, but I think I got them as a birthday present a while back. Back when the show was still hiding in obscurity and no one understood they were nifty.

No, no. Despite my grumpiness, I'm not going to launch into a New Fans rant. As much as I could totally rock one right now.

Mainly, I'm just amazed at not only what stuff I discovered that I thought I'd lost, but the stuff I discovered that I didn't remember I had. And I've gotta wonder how much of it came with me when I first moved out and got shuffled into boxes because I was too lazy. Can't have that this time -- no massive storage closet. Forcing me to be good and actually go through things.

In the meantime, now that I don't have to spend all my free hours unpacking things (I can do it here and there now), I'm back on my games. I believe somewhere -- possibly in a different rant -- I mentioned I finished Super Robot Taisen MX and am now on to ICO.

It's funny how quickly I get through things when people lend them to me. See, The Co-Writer with the Longest Hair understands me well. He knows that the best way to get me to read/watch/play something isn't to just pester me to and then keep asking me if I have yet and then yell at me if I haven't, but to actually lend it to me. Because then I feel a responsibility to return it, and thus make it a priority. (It helps that he's pretty good about judging what sort of thing I like, though, too.)

Anyway, ICO is at once awesome and annoying. Awesome because it's gorgeous, awesome because the gameplay is pretty simple to pick up, awesome because it's a thinking game and I like thinking games as opposed to combat. Though there is some degree of combat in it, natch. Annoying because of GODDAMN YORDA.

Well, the whole point of the game is to get yourself and this little anemic girl Yorda out of a castle of evil shadows. Yorda really doesn't talk a hell of a lot, and when she does, I can't understand her. Ico (player character) can handle a lot of abuse and will happily jump off things and swing from chains, but it takes a lot of coaxing to get Yorda to make even a short jump. And she won't swing on a chain, no sir.

As the game goes on, she also gets more and more easily distracted. Usually I can wave and say 'Umpah' and get her to take my hand, but lately she's taken to just sort of taking her time. From what I can gather, she lives here. I don't see why she needs to wander around and look at everything, especially if she knows she could get dragged down into a hellish underworld of [I don't really know what it's like, actually, because that always ends the game] any second. It's almost like she doesn't want to get rescued, and I'm not sure if that's a plot point or just her being generally daft. Or possibly horribly disoriented because clearly she hasn't had any iron in her diet ever.

The big problem here is that I just can't hate her. I've tried, but as annoyed as I get and as much as I yell at her -- thus likely spooking my new neighbours -- I can't help being rather protective of the poor girl. I suppose it could be the abusive [spoiler], or maybe just the fact that, much like a clumsy puppy, she might get herself killed if I don't keep her nearby every second. (Well, that and having to start the stage over.)

I'm also not a fan of the vertigo, but I'll put up with it for the awesome visuals.

If you have been ............................................... OI!!!!!