where you'll find me now
I have been whiling away the days, or at least so much of the days as are characterised by an absence of Evil Landlord, since I need to use his computer, by playing Dragon Age. This is not quite meeting my deep-seated need for a first-person fantasy RPG (i.e. the sequel to Oblivion), but it’s more than somewhat entertaining. The world-building is, at least this early on in the game, potentially impressive, the scripting and voice acting aren't half bad, and it embellishes its fantasy clichés with an earnest charm.
I am, however, not designed to run a party around a gaming landscape - I hate it, and in tactical terms I am even more of a stunned herring than usual, which puts me in the positively near-death ranges of piscine insensibility. Apart from inevitable click confusion in battle situations and stupid party member AIs rushing them into death-dealing situations because I haven’t set their tactics properly, there’s something peculiarly irritating about wandering around doing quests when there are other people peering over your virtual shoulder. I like to do quests slowly, exhaustively and with a sort of zen contemplation, which is horribly disrupted by companions tagging along. Particularly since my two current companions are embroiled in the kind of heavily snarky banter which simply screams “ROMANCE!” down the line, the whole thing being made all the more surreal because the female character speaks in the sultry and slightly detached tones of Aeryn Sun.
I like the dog, though. Solidly muscled, and with that sort of cheerfully homicidal look characteristic of bull terriers. It's an extremely good sign that I haven't yet managed to accidentally kill it.
The tactics are probably not materially assisted by the fact I’m having a bad couple of days for glandular symptoms, rendered the more hideous by a randomly disrupted night and insufficient sleep. Last night I dreamed the Evil Landlord added two stories to the house and painted it pink, in the process removing the piano and refusing to give it back. The renovation bill was seventeen million rand. The result was something like one of those tall, narrow Victorian semi-detached things with a violent case of embarrassment. I awoke exhausted and bemused. However, I work at home tomorrow, while overseeing the garden service in a probably lackadaisical manner, so Things Are Looking Up. Possibly.
I am, however, not designed to run a party around a gaming landscape - I hate it, and in tactical terms I am even more of a stunned herring than usual, which puts me in the positively near-death ranges of piscine insensibility. Apart from inevitable click confusion in battle situations and stupid party member AIs rushing them into death-dealing situations because I haven’t set their tactics properly, there’s something peculiarly irritating about wandering around doing quests when there are other people peering over your virtual shoulder. I like to do quests slowly, exhaustively and with a sort of zen contemplation, which is horribly disrupted by companions tagging along. Particularly since my two current companions are embroiled in the kind of heavily snarky banter which simply screams “ROMANCE!” down the line, the whole thing being made all the more surreal because the female character speaks in the sultry and slightly detached tones of Aeryn Sun.
I like the dog, though. Solidly muscled, and with that sort of cheerfully homicidal look characteristic of bull terriers. It's an extremely good sign that I haven't yet managed to accidentally kill it.
The tactics are probably not materially assisted by the fact I’m having a bad couple of days for glandular symptoms, rendered the more hideous by a randomly disrupted night and insufficient sleep. Last night I dreamed the Evil Landlord added two stories to the house and painted it pink, in the process removing the piano and refusing to give it back. The renovation bill was seventeen million rand. The result was something like one of those tall, narrow Victorian semi-detached things with a violent case of embarrassment. I awoke exhausted and bemused. However, I work at home tomorrow, while overseeing the garden service in a probably lackadaisical manner, so Things Are Looking Up. Possibly.