Lion Terrain Military Blitz vs. Crane Honor Runner Again
Ok, so, the problem with the Lion blitz deck is that it just doesn't blitz. We played two games, and each one saw multiple 10+ gold peeps in the first few turns. Part of the problem I had was not flushing those guys. MUST remember to always flush like I gots a bad case of the poopies.
Then there's the fate deck. I'm running the multiple terrains box, which made me think I should have a bunch of terrains. Trouble is, there's really nothing else in the way of battle actions in there. I think I should throw in some Archer Squads for sure.
I think my biggest problem with Lion is the lack of mobility. With Rat, there's The Meeting Place. Unicorn is nothing but mobility, and then there's the Water Dragon/Enlightenment deck that, while not quite as mobile, still has the means to move peeps where they need to be. *shrug*
Regardless, that lion deck needs some retooling.
I'm also starting to be convinced that the Rat Big Guns idea I had isn't feasible. At least, not with the gold scheme I was thinking of running. Need to test that one, but based on the Lion lack of love I've seen, it won't work. *shrug* Lots of shruggin today.
Mantis PK vs. Crane Honor Runner
http://62.142.214.30/l5r/ again. I've had this Mantis deck for awhile but never played it. Decided to give it a shot after the lion deck. Was SLOOOOOW at the hospital tonight. Yay.
Anyway, I got major bad gold going. Turn three I had AFR, two gifts and favors (which I bowed the SH for), and a Barley Farm. First turn Shinsei's Shrine for the italian chic I was playing didn't help. Pretty much, the lack of gold screwed me, and I couldn't draw anything to help, either. Then like 3 patients came in with her at 5 provinces and 32 honor, so I called it a game. At this point, I think I like lion more than mantis, so if we ever have the booster draft at my house, I'll prolly go that route. Of course, I may revisit this deck some night and tweak it a bit. Not sure what it needs, though.
I do have to give the chic props, though. She made decisions that showed a firm knowledge of the cards and stopped a lot of my plans dead in their tracks. Her name is Andrea, but I can't remember her handle on The Launcher. *shrug* She doesn't usually play Crane. Plays Phoenix in real life.
Before that, I started to use a new style Rat deck against another guy, also playing a rat deck, but he lost his connection or something on round 4, so that game went nowhere. I did have a second turn At'ck (5F/3C monster from DoE), though. That was coo.
Lion Terrain Military Blitz vs. Spawning Ground Oni Chi Bomb
Ok. I made this deck a couple of weeks ago at http://62.142.214.30/l5r/. Went back, tweaked it a bit tonight and managed to get a game in. I've been considering bringing in Mantis and Lion into my fold of clans I run, which'd pretty much mean I don't run Crane, Crab and Shadowlands I think. lol. Of course, I've kinda given up on Scorpion right now, too, no real interest there, and only minimal interest in Phoenix anymore really. Regardless, onto the game.
I started off strong, taking the first province, and even ambushed one of his super Onis that had 10 1F follower tokens on it, for a crap load of honor. Of course I forgot to add the honor and flushed the Lion Champion cause I was at 5 honor. That might have saved me 1 round, but in the end, his Chi death kicked in, robbing me of all my peeps. That damn Yajinden is forkin annoying. I think I definitely need to look at some card draw in this deck...
Of course, I'm still not sure I wanna invest in real life Lion or not. I like what they can do, but Dragon and Unicorn are close enough to that for me I think. So, the big draw for playing Lion is that no one else does. I'll probably just wait for Lotus and see what their strongholds are first. I gotta get some Ambushes for my RL Rat deck, though. Kind of nice when a 1F samurai takes out a bowed 5F unique with 15F total in the unit, and with The Meeting Place, if he unbows, I just run home like any good rat would...
X3 good/bad
Well, moviehole.net is essentially little more than a movie-centric rumor mill, but some of there stuff turns out to be legit, and they post when they're wrong. There's an article here that Joss Whedon (Buffy) isn't going to be directing XMen 3, which is a big sigh of relief from me. Don't get me wrong...Whedon does a great job with teen soap operas like Buffy, but, in my opinion, the man can't direct action, and there's not much I hate more, cinematically, than heroes/heroines succeeding because of some damn lucky thing that is not only impractical, but out of character. Something like a bullet ricocheting off of a coffe mug, off of a toaster, off the tray of a waiter walking by, and finally lodging in the back of the villain's skull. Whedon's style doesn't match the two previous movies, but I've yet to find any word on why he's even being considered for it. Did Brian Singer back out? Anyone?
The bad news, and we've seen this rumor applied to various other characters we all love before, is that casting for X3 wants Keanu Reeves to play Gambit. WTF? First of all, I've never seen him do any accent other than rubber stamped Keanu Reeves. I mean, every line from Point Break sounds exactly like "I know Kung Fu." How's the man gonna sound cajun? And that only scratches the surface of dichotomy between Gambit and "Ted" Theodore Logan. But, like I said, I've seen rumor after rumor of Keanu Reeves playing such and such, and I really think that somewhere, there's a secret society bent on ruining Keanu Reeves' career by slipping online rumors of his casting into roles that already have a passionate following for the character, but that he doesn't match. Just wait, when Harry Potter finally faces down He Who Shall Not Be Named on screen, Keanu Reeves will be rumored to be HWSNBN. I'm surprised he's not Hagrid. Or Harry.
Gotta love those rumors.
Unicorn Honor Blitz vs. RED Crab Follower Heavy
Well, we finally got to play more than one game. Ran a best of three tonight. Nick's RED deck is loaded with followers and items, and if he's not gold screwed it's tough.
First game, I played tactially shitty. Sacrificed a couple of personalities to bad math, and lost despite having a good start and taking the first province. I know where I should have played differently, and I should have won this one, as Nick got lots of gold, but few peops early.
Second game, I got an early Shinsei's Shrine out, which made honor running the way to go. Despite that, I still played aggresively, as did Nick, so the game went fast, just like the first one. He kept dropping From Every Side on defense, which slowed me militarily, but I honored out, with four provinces and matching him peop for peop, so he couldn't win.
Third game, we both had trouble getting people into play. I got a third turn Chagatai off of Plains Above Evil, and he pumped the guy that gets a bonus for each follower full of followers. An arms race ensued, keeping me from buying gold very fast. I don't think I had more than 2 peops out until after I'd lost my first province, but Nick had the same problem. Thing is, if I knew how to read, I might not have lost either of the provnices, because I was playing/counting based on a Fear effect that didn't exist. With me at two provinces and Nick at three, I went balls to the wall, and instead of cavalrying around him, went for the big battle. Won that by a mere 3 force, Nick flipped 1 person, 2 holdings on his next turn and called it a game.
In each of the games, I think Diversionary Tactics was the card for me. That and Kanako's Charge. Each game I sat on and discarded to RED the same damn cards, too. The mercy card that reacts to winning a battle, but doesn't bow your army or destroy the opposing army. And the card that lets you destroy one or two units led by a person of less than 7 gold (cause there ain't none of them in Crab that Nick uses).
One of the damn annoying things about Nick's deck, WHEN IT WORKS, is the penchant for getting cavalry. If he put a few more resources into that, and added a Ring of Water, he'd have a deck really close to the Water Crabs that everybody loves on the tournament scene right now (so I'm told). Moto Steed, that damn Unicorn Shugenja. Add Way of the Horse and Bow from Dawn...mean.
Dragon Enlightenment vs. Crab (RL)
Well, another game I bowed out of, much to Nick's chagrin. It's evident that the dragon deck is pretty poorly made despite the successful first outing several weeks ago.
There was a very strong opening for enlightenment, but NO GOLD. Great hand, with Void, Air and Earth in my hand, but it took 3 turns before person one hit the table. Took that long for Nick, too, but on turn 4 he brought out 2 or 3 guys, and I brought out 1 and 2 holdings. I used Musume Mura once, then lost that province. Used the Dragon Champ to grab Ring of Water (had Void and Fire in play at that point), and made a bid to get Air and Water into play. This was the second or third battle. Halfway through that, Nick and I remembered Razor's Edge Dojo, but by then my hand consisted of Water and Earth, so I bowed. We woulda played again, but for some unfortunate reason, my head exploded with an intense headache that had really started about 20 minutes earlier, but kicked in when I tried to think.
Regardless, Nick's Crab deck is tough, despite being 50+ cards in each deck. We all know statistics, but hey. If it works, who cares how many cards it has, right? And crab has enough strong personalities that a general strategy of big smashy means you don't have to limit yourself and run a well-oiled machine.
Provided the U of M homecoming doesn't get too wild tonight, I hope to get a little online deck testing going. Not sure why I don't play my Uni deck more in RL, but I don't... However, that's a discussion for another day, I have to go fix a decrepit copy machine. Minolta tonta. bleh.
XMen: Legends
Four days? Holy crap. Sorry. Evenings at the hospital are busy as free nipple lickings at a cold witch's convention. Add to that 5 or so hours at Barnes & Noble unloading trailers for the new store before Fairview, and you get a Shafeman with little time.
Regardless, I couldn't pass up the chance to grab the new XMen game on my day off yesterday. Scored it at Target for $35 to boot. Beat that at any other store...
Graphics leave a bit wanting, but this is Ravensoft, the same guys that did Jedi Academy. Of course, they also did Jedi Knight II, and I remember that being on par with graphics at the time, so apparently, while the game play and story departments are advancing in skill, the graphics team is staying in place or slipping a little. They should just hire me.
The main problem with graphics is in the cut scenes. In the dialogue scenes, they used a toon shader that's pretty subpar. Toon shading (making it look like a cartoon instead of 3D) is done so often in today's 3D gaming environment, that you just need to do it well, or not do it at all. The trouble is, many of the companies jumping on the band wagon are just starting to learn the things that the toon pros learned several years ago. So, you get a feel of bad graphics, when it's just a case of old graphics. Of course, the load screen for Prof X makes him look like a bald gay man plotting how best to get into your back door, sans lotion.
Story so far is really not a matter worth discussion. It's very linear. Very much like the movies. Rescue a new mutant from the Brotherhood, try to figure out why they want her, while teaching her her powers. The linearality of it may change past the 2nd mission. We'll see. The great part is, if you take your time and destroy EVERYTHING you can, which is fun in itself, going berserk on park benches, the levels are pretty long. So, content is large, just kind of boring in the first part of the game. ESPECIALLY when Magma (the girl) gets to the XMansion, and you can't progress without exploring the mansion and meeting the characters. Granted, you want to do this, as you can't use the characters until you meet them, but still....very boring.
Gameplay is new to me. I personally don't like the mainly overhead view, and there's almost no point in trying to rotate the camera to compensate that. The ghost map helps a little, but the first few levels really give you no choice about where to go anyway. Combat is great, specially with just one or two Xmen. Action on screen gets confusing with 4 XMen, though, and you find yourself missing a lot, because if you don't focus on the X under your direct control, you lose yourself. The combo power hits are fun. Nothing like grabbing a goon with Wolvy, tossing him at Cyclops, and seeing Slim bat the bastard up into the air with a nice one-two punch.
Plus, the game is actually labeled as an RPG, so you get experience, levels, skills, etc. Kinda cool, cause you get to decide how the mutant powers grow.
So far, character wise, my team can include Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Gray, Beast, and Iceman, but there are hints of Colossus and Nightcrawler, and I'm sure that Magma the new girl jumps in at sometime, otherwise why use her in the Danger Room? That's right, you get to run training missions in the Danger Room.
Best part of the game? Lou Diamond Phillips. He's the voice of Forge. You can't play Forge, but you get to buy shit from him at super expensive prices. That must be to help fund LDP's retirement, or maybe his comeback as an actor.
Reviews: Girl Next Door & Walking Tall
Two blog posts in one weekend? The other BW bloggers just can't keep up!
These are the left over movies from the party.
Girl Next Door wasn't bad. Wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. One of those movies you'd be pissed if you wasted $8-10 in the theater on, but not bad for a rental, and I might have even liked it if it were on HBO during a free weekend preview. Nah, maybe not. The unrated version barely had enough t & a to make it worthwhile, and none of the cable channels would play that version. The problem was, the previews made the movie look like a porn star rompin 1.5 hours, when really the porn stars got maybe 20 minutes total time, and less than 10 of porn star time. *shrug*
Walking Tall wasn't too bad either. Again, not great, but not bad. I dug it more than GND, but not as much as Rock's other action flick, The Run Down. Certainly I was less drunk for Walking Tall than Run Down, which might have had a little to do with it, but I liked the chemistry between the Road Trip kid and Rock more than between Johnny Knoxville and Rock. Don't get me wrong. Knoxville did a good job acting in this film, but it was just less comedic overall. I didn't think there was enough character development in this one. I mean, it's based on actual events, but you really don't get to know any of the people involved in the events. Anyway, much better as a rental, but unlike Girl Next Door, a good enough rental to rent it. No need to wait for HBO on this one.
Granted, these reviews aren't as thorough as Joe's, but I gotta write something. All the other Blog Warriors seem to take the weekend off.
A multitude of reviews: My birthday
Well, the big 2 - 7 day came yesterday. Pretty slow build up up to the day, then Thursday came and a flurry of activity hit. It started off on Thursday with the arrival of our new couch, a card from me mum, and the post office delivery some much anticipated anime. Friday continued the fun with the bash of the century at my pad. We'll start with the couch.
The couch is "army green", which is not to say Olive Drab Green, but more a darker, muted moss green. Bella suede. Bout 100" long. Forkin nice. Soft suede exterior wrapped around a slightly firm, very sturdy base, with great cushions on the back. The ass shelf is deep enough that Wendy can sit cross legged and still have space to spare, making it great for yoga and the obligatory "breaking in" of the furniture.
Anime Arigato came through on the cheap anime front, all looking very legit in packaging and disc quality. For the price, I was worried the stuff was bootlegged. I got all 6 episodes of FLCL for under $10, the entire Outlaw Series (26 episodes) for less than $25, and scored three of the best Cowboy Bebop soundtracks for less than $9 a piece. Add to that a beautiful, muted wall scroll of CB that blends perfectly with the new couch, the classy art Wendy scored, and the awesome display of her Scotland photos, and all our living room is missing is a nice entertainment center.
For the party, we scored loads of alcohol, cause we weren't sure what people would bring. I rented a few games and movies, and all we forgot was ice. Wendy's coworker, Gina, showed up with ice and booze. Nick showed up with ice and booze. Phil showed up with ice and games. Katie/Anthony brought food. We didn't really need to buy too much of what we bought, but hey, now I got a bar in my house. Party kicked off with breaking out the "20 Game Master Arcade Series" Phil scored me for my bday. Played the shit out of some Rampage World Tour! Gotta love kicking the damn gorilla in the nads, specially when the gorilla is Nick. hehe. Played some Gauntlet II, a brief attempt at Cyberball, and watched Phil own on MK II, cause he still fucking remembers all of those damn moves.
Later, we played a little "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling" and started a short game of "Star Wars: Battlefronts" before we broke out the "Lunch Money". Lunch Money rocks with 7 people. Specially when Gina's defining characteristic is her devout Catholicity (made that word up), and so many of the cards have flavor text like, "Yes, Jesus hates you." One of the game highlights was her saying, "Anthony, I don't know you very well, but so far I think you're a sweet guy. However, this child on this card disturbs me, and the quote makes me sad. Therefore, I must Spinning Backfist you."
Then there was Nick walking around like Hacksaw Jim Douggan all night. hehe.
Game reviews:
20 Game Arcade Masters Series.
Not gonna list all of the games on this one, but it'll take ya back. I mean, where can you find NARC now if you're feeling sentimental? At my house, baby, that's where. I wouldn't classify all of the games as part of an arcade Master Series, but enough of em rock to make the purchase worth while, and to make it a hard rockin gift. Not much need for review, we've all played em in the arcades, we all remember em.
Pirates: The Legend of the Black Kat
So far, a pretty simple game, and I doubt I pursue it too much further. Supposed to be 2 player, but our Blockbuster no longer puts the damn manuals in their rentals. If I bothered with it, I'd find the 2 player function, but I think it's just ship to ship versus mode anyway. Game play is smooth enough, and there are two modes, walking and sailing.
Story sucks, as yer a chic that finds out from her governer father that your long lost mom was a pirate, in a note from yer dad as he was getting killed by another pirate... The game doesn't really capture any kind of piratical feel either. It looks like there's about 15 or so islands to visit, but I cleared the first one (in so far as I could without special keys) in about 30 minutes. Graphics are nothing special, and it's damn annoying when you get hit by a giant crab cause itlooks like a damn rock, but isn't really supposed to.
Showdown: Legends of Wrestling
If I hadn't played enough wrestling games to understand the basic controls, I'd be pissed that this one didn't come with a book. There are tutorials from Brett "The Hitman" Hart, but the disc is wonky, as they freeze. Stupid Blockbuster. Anyway, gameplay is a lot like all of the other pro wrestling titles. You CAN make your own wrestling legend, but the whole point in this one is to be "Super Fly" Snuka or the Von Erichs. I went to church with the Von Erichs, by the way. Great guys, just lived a little too hard. One of em was my youth minister in Texas. I digress.
Hell, even Andy Kauffman is in this game. Each wrestler has about 3 costumes each, which you choose when you pick them. I gotta play it a bit more, as figuring out any game during a Battle Royale is tough stuff. So far, I don't like that there isn't any fanfare and entry video, the matches just start, and I don't like that the damn "anything goes, hardcare 3-way dance" had nothing in the way of chairs, signs, flaming barbed wire, or old TVs duct-taped together with a piece of cardboard spouting "NWWA Hardcore Match" where the glass should be.
And that's that. And since I may or may not have told everyone that came last night to read my blog, cause I tell everyone that, but prolly forgot with all of the social excitement...Thanks to everyone that came, thanks for the gifts, thanks for the "happy birthdays", and thanks especially for the 6 pounds of ice in my freezer, as we've not bought ice trays since Wendy left them in the old apartment, even though they're $1 a piece... How's that for a run-on?
Nezumi Boomstick RL vs. Crane Dueler
The RL designation signifies it's my real deck instead of the virual decks I play at http://62.142.214.30/l5r/. So, despite flushing like my ass was on fire, I didn't see gold for two turns, at which point I had G&F and Favor Returns running. Shoulda went for a second G&F I think, which woulda thinned the deck a little, but I didn't think of it and went for Yoee'tr early. Thrice I saw either one personality and 3 holdings (got Plains of Otusun Uchi earl) or 4 holdings. Even the sensei can't help with that...
Twice I forgot to attack and do some PK, cause I kept hoping for a Sneak Attack instead of just goin balls to the wall. Gotta remember this deck is banzai or lose.
All those complaints aired out, Nick just played a damn good game. Twice he had just the right card at the right time to fuck up a carefully laid plan that would have made the game that much closer. In the end, I bowed out, because his Champion was out, as was a chi-beefed auto dueler I couldn't overcome. With 8 cards in my dynasty left, and Occult Murders only able to off one of those dudes, I didn't have much chance.
I know Nick got bummed about "not finishing it", but a win's a win, and bowing out just makes sense if you can't win. Gives ya more time to play another game and whatnot. If you know your deck, you know when it can't win anymore. I'm all about playing to the end when you're learning your deck. Under pressure is when those great combos come to mind... If you burned through those combos, though, you know when the time is up. That's just my take on it. No need to get upset and feel like your victory is less or anything. If that's how ya felt, Nick. ;)
Nezumi Boomstick vs. Dawn Shadowlands Shugenja Duel Thing
Obviously, not sure what exactly his deck did, but it packed a LOT of big peeps, even more shugenja, and duels spread the wealth. We didn't get to finish the game, but it was clear I was winning. How? As my opponent, "le jaguar" put it, Ratling Terrorist Master Guerilla Tactics.
The first time I attacked, I had maybe 5 rats, vs. 3 peeps that were 4/4 Plus Iuchiban and a big ass Lion Bloodspeaker. Peasant Vengeance to Iuchiban, and a Tsurichi + D'grn-ki to the Lion, run home. Two turns later, I pumped 33 Force into a province, he didn't defend, and that ended that. I had a Call to Arms, so his next attacked had no assignments to pull that Call outta my hand.
I had quite a few rats dishonored, but we don't care about that, cept for Fushin being on the board. So, I attacked with 2 Yoeet'rs, a T'k, a dishonored Erchicek, and 2 Dg'rn-ki's. Fortunatley, he played EXACTLY as I expected him to, Fushin took Erch, then I Archer Squaded Fushin to death, and managed to take out a 4/4 Shug with a D'gr.
My final attack before he conceded was a 4 Bushi assualt. As expected, he defended with everyone and bowed S'ktcha with Kaneka, so the other 3 Bushi Archer Squaded out The First Oni, earning a resounding "TERRORIST!" from the man. Then he conceded, cause I had to register a patient, but there was a definite promise of vengeance.
The few times he attacked with Fushin before I axed him, I had a Narrow Ground. He Tireless Assaulted Kaneka in, with a Porcelin Mask of Fu Leng and 2 2F followeres, but a Nezumi Techinique I almost took out of the deck saved that battle, and fucked up most of his on table force, too.
All in all, twas a good showing of the Nezumi Boomstick. Card of the game was Archer's Squad. I think I am going to drop Lotus at Dusk and Iron Pillar completely. Maybe replace with a Kolat Assassin and some limited control of some sort.
Had more to write, but my relief is here. Regardless, I wanna thank 'le jaguar' for the good game and being cool about me dealing with sick people thrice.
Blog Wars did it I think. The thought of her "little Sarah" standing alone against the hoard of testosterone rallied Wendy to join our little e-community and rise up against the nation of Pole Bearers and Sperm Shooters.
Unfortunately, I don't see our nation as very united, as that's not as fun. Sure, there may be coordinated attacks against the Tuna Cans, but none of us dudes can resist a good chance to rib the other, so while Wendy and Sarah might likely unite against the Anti-Estrogen Brigade, we Men shall stand alone against the world. As we always have.
Remember kids, Country said it best after the Succubus took him to Lillith Fair. That's right, Lillith Fair. I believe he saw the Dixie Chics, and possibly the Drain Your Manliness By Listening to These Bitches Chics.
"Estrogen is for Pussies!" - BC, circa 1998
Things you learn in the ER
It's funny, the things you pick up out of necessity. For instance, I can say insurance card in Somali, Hmong, and Spanish. (Not surprisingly, it's "insurance card" in each language, because Americans invented the term.) I just learned the Delete key on this keyboard doesn't work. I've learned that somewhere, there's a drug dealer that knows sign language, and he's making a killing with the deaf addicts.
I've also learned how to repair a printer with two ink pens, a pair of scissors and two varieties of surgical clamps. This is because overnights the IT department is incompetant, and they have NOT learned that our hospital will not function without a label printer. Sure, it's possible for me to make labels by hand with our carbon copy machine called simply "The Stamper" or "The Blue Chip Machine" if your a nurse, but the doctor's don't like that.
And I've also learned the only two things worse than a mom with a sick kid are A) a doctor that's style has been cramped by slow/broken technology and B) a mom with a sick kid that "knows a great lawyer for this sort of thing."
Three columns, now for the margins
Well, obviously I got the three column bit worked out. Now I just have to figure out what part of the margins are screwing up. Why the hell are the links hitting the extreme left edge of the screen? Supposed to have 20px margins, but that ain't the case. Oh well, maybe I'll get hit with another epiphany that stops my mind-numbing data entry here at the hospital dead in its tracks. Here's to hoping.
A round of updates
Obviously, the look of my blog is changing. I'm learning CSS as I go and the ultimate goal here is first to make Joe's blog look like Joe's site.
My biggest problem is figuring out a three column layout. I want the site specific nav bar on the left, to match the site, blog content in the middle, and blog navigation on the right, similar to my site here. Once I get the layout set up for that, I'd like to eliminate the images used for the links at present, to cut down on site size and leave more room/download time to real beauty of Joe's work, not to my links...
Of course, if I could just set down and hack it out, I could get it, but as of yet I've only had time to work on it at the hospital, meaning my chain of thinking is constantly interrupted. So, any tips on the three column layout, drop em here. Also, anybody that knows why the background image isn't showing up in my header, gimme a tip on that, too.
That's right, baby, magna cum LOUD. This is a review, although I'm listening to Slaughterama by Gwar, so you know my mental state.
Anyhells, LSL:MCL continues the story of Larry, only you play the original Larry's nephew Larry Loveage. You're in college, "getting your BA in T&A". A singles dating program called Swingles is on campus and your goal is of course, to get on and get laid. To accomplish this task, you have to pick up chics and get tokens of affection from them. The game basically has two modes.
Wander mode is just that, you wander around the game world exploring. You can view many of the things in the game world, find secret tokens and cash, buy things, interact with the people, and take photos with your trusty perv camera, photos which you can then sell for a little extra cash. Items you buy either cost cash and help you succeed at the mini-games or cost secret tokens. The secret token items add to the perv value of the game by letting the girls strip while dancing and what not.
Mini-game mode is how you accomplish most of the tasks that progress the storyline. Games include Whack-a-Pole (think Atari pong) for a confidence boost, and varients on Simon Says and Whack-a-Mole, Quarters, and that old Nintendo game wherin people line up in different lines and you serve them before they get angry.
Game play is very simple, as are the graphics. The story is typical Leisure Suit Larry action, which means it's very tongue in cheeck and cheesy. While buying many of the secret items do add a level of nudity and "naughtiness" to the game, you're either hard up for porn or just a teenage if you plan on getting excited by the game. Not to mention it's game animation nudity...
Overall, the game is fun, easy to learn, and jam packed with great (bad) puns, better (worse) pick-up lines, and a continuation of the type of humor veteran (old) gamers have come to expect from Sierra. Since there's a $20 price difference between PC and any of the game consoles, I'd definitely recommend the PC version. But make sure you're 17 or older, or they won't sell it to you. I actually got IDed, and that means either they're IDing everyone or I look 10 years younger than I am. Sweet, I should cruise some high schools.
Nezumi Boomstick vs. Lion Terrain Control, again
Played again last night at http://62.142.214.30/l5r/. Nick, if you read my blog, go make a deck. You too, Joe. It's a great place to A)find a game when no one's around, and B)test a deck before dropping tons of cash on it. Best of all, it's free and there seems to be more great people than dicks there. Kind of like the wolf den, Joe, but you can ignore the dicks easier.
Anyway, I ended up playing the French Lion again. Great guy. His handle is Matsu lemitsu I think. He gets kind of embarrased about his English, but I've not had any problems with that, and he's understanding about mistakes (cause I've not memorized my own cards, let alone all cards), as well as very knowledgable about all aspects of the game. And most important, he gives you props when you make a nice move.
So, last night he had no problems with gold. In fact, he took an early province before I did. I came back with a swarm and managed to get in a narrow ground after he saced a terrain to bow a loaded down T'k (Crippled Bone Runner and 3 0F ratling tokens pumped with a conj), and then dropped a Shallow Graves with Akodo's Grave. That let me send home everybody but an Ik'krt with 2 0F tokens and tie his forces. I lost a 2F guy with token, he lost 7F worth of peeps and an Anvil of Earth. Not a bad trade. Thing was, the Shallow was just to draw out the terrain control. If he'd left it in, I'da had to send everyone home, cause he still had me beat with it. :)
Course, if I could have taken the prov, I'da knocked out Musume AND a 7F personality (daimyo I think). That bastard roughed me up for awhile, all the more after his Champion came into play. Between a very fortunate series of Fall to Your Knees and Scouting Maneuvers, I had a tough time holding my own against those guy. He FtYKed two Tsuruchi Techniques and a Sneak Attack. Add to it, at most I had two Bushi out, but couldn't draw anything but Direct Assaults and Iron Pillars, and I was hosed.
Prolly taking a look at the makeup of the deck again. I KNOW I can drop Te'tek'kir, for another bushi, and might dump the Lotus at Dusk. I just find myself discarding them, anyway. I think the first change will be the Bushi ratio, then I'll look at the Fate Deck. I may need some limited/open control, though. Regardless, the deck is 1-2 right now, and only 1 was from major play mistakes. The only mistake I'm aware of this time was discarding an early peasant vengeance to the sensei. Coulda used that in the tie I lost Ik'krt at. Might have won that won the the PV. Might even have meant the province, which would have changed the whole game structure at that point. :( Regardless, Te-tik-kir exp is not good for this deck.
BTW, Joe/Nick/Luke, my handle is "shafezumi".
Shrimp, and Lots of It.
All You Can Eat Shrimp at Red Lobster. Great thing. Wish it wasn't $15.99 at dinner time, but still. Their coconut shrimp is DAMN good. Not sure what the sauce is that comes with it, hell not even sure if I like the sauce, but it's tasty, too. Prefer cocktail sauce, though. Regardless, catch it during the $9.99 special and eat the shit outta the little fuckers. Still not as good as Pappadeux, though, but that's a treat to be savored at special times.
Rat Rush vs. Lion Tactician
While I'm hesitant to call my rat deck a blitzer (some pros at www.nezumiwarrens.net won't let me, since there's no Rend the Soul in it), it is decently fast. I say Rush cause it's more a swarm deck. I'm still working on a name, and also a logo for the sleeve backs. Accidentally grabbed some old school sneak attacks via eBay instead of the new backing. Oops.
Anyway, another game at http://62.142.214.30/l5r/ saw me facing a Lion Tactical/Terrain deck. Forget the name of his SH, but it was the one that gives all Terrains a focus value of 3, etc. I found out later this guy is a big time French player and is expected to win a sizeable upcoming Parisian Cup Tourney. Cool. This was the deck he was playtesting for that day.
Fortunately, his gold production was stunted the first few turns, while I grabbed AFR and G&F round 1, got another G&F * Yoee'tr round two, and round three saw Ikk'rt, Rat Conj, and Treasure Hoard. I was set after that. Round 4 I took a prov. And surprisingly that was the only prov I took. I didn't get enough bushi for effective formations until the last round, and still didn't get to use it, cause he axed all my 0F tokens. Defensively, he had the Lion that gets a +1 to Force every time I use an ability during an Attack Phase, pumped to 6F to start with due to a weapon and +1/+1 Kaiu Village Armor token. That guy and another 4/4 pumped with a 2/2 weapon. Good combo with the favor, the weap/armor lion, and the wind that lets him move the guy to a different defender's province. Fortunatley, I had Daigotsu and once the swam kicked in, so did favor denial.
Key cards for me were the sensei, and I finally got to test Heimen Laborers. I like them a lot, but may drop to two instead of three. My gold scheme can manage 4 to 5 cheap peeps a turn, specially with a village in play, but unless it was 3 ikk'rts, two yoeetrr, and a conjurer or something, 6 would be stretching it with the holdings I usually see in play mid-game. Besides, if I drop a Heimin and Iron Pillar I could toss in a couple of Path of Wisdom to feed the sensei/conjurers.
So, the present incarnation of the deck I wanna build is 1-1, with the loss being mostly due to the learning curve. Got it hammered, now, and we'll see how it rocks from here.
And Boolah's up. He may be the most dedicated blogger of us all. So far, he's stuck to the schedule of posting after work. And it's intelligent. Fits the bill I guess. Mine is all over the place; bitching, gaming, rare rioutous social commentary. Joe's is a pseudo introspective review of his life through serious analysis of his passtimes. Big Country's is intended to be a fuckall humor fest, probably with some good intelligent points mixed in when he's not paying attention. Boolah's is an intellilectual creative reveiw of pertinent issues.
Yep, that's the WatchDogs.
Anyway, the list is thus.
Boolah - http://mightyboolah.blogspot.com
Country - http://bigcountry.blogspot.com
Joe - http://www.torcpress.com/blog.html
Shafe - http://shafeman.blogspot.com duh
Ok, I played this game virtually at the link above, with a modified form of the deck I have now. Kind of a goal deck that I want to test before dumping too much cash on it. Need much more testing.
Major gold screw first turn. Grabbed A Favor Returned, which was unfortunately in my 2nd province. Flip my cards, three peeps. Discard one with the sensei, nother peep. Grab Gifts & Favors, flush the provs. Second turn, same as the first, three peeps. Sensei scores me another gifts and favors, so I grab that, bring out Yoe'trr and think I'm solid. Third turn, sensei someone into the dynasty deck, pull a treasure hoard at Set mama. Next turn drop a ratling archers and attack. I now know EXACTLY how Kuro's Fire works, and lemme tell ya, it's a powerful spell. Specially since no one in the local play group fully understands how it works. The opponent offered to let me take the attack back, but it was no big at that point. Figured I'd either recover or it wouldn't matter. It didn't matter. That spell was on Agasha Chieh experienced, and I had no out of battle PK, so she was safe from me.
Unfortunately, after that he brought in Yainjden (4/6 0 PH), let one shug Play with Madness, becoming a Shadowlands Bloodspeaker that cast Maho spells, and gave her a spell that let her swap Chi and PH. Yainjden can redirect chi loss from Maho effects from himself to any other personality.
After that, I hit a gold rush and didn't see more than one personality a turn. He chi deathed em all one at a time. I hit a streak of all gold and bowed out. He had like 8 personalities on the board with full provinces and Musume Mura, not to mention the untouchable 7 point Kuro's Fire and Yainjden combo. I had an Occult Murders left in my dynasty, but no way to replenish my fate deck to feed the sensei too much after that.
I could blame the game on gold screw. However, I can pick out two key points wherin I made bad decisions. And since I don't have Tomorrow Sensei in my real deck, I've only used it this one time. Takes some getting used to. Specially mid game. For instance, when the Yainjden combo hit the table, I shoulda just cycled through the dynasty deck til OM came up, Yai Yai, then started shuffling discarded peeps back in... Also should have asked about Kuro's Fire. Oh well, live and learn. And then get Luvs.
