Adventures in Camera Phones and Zappy Guns

ELIZABETH.  STOP.  TRAPPING.  ME.  IN.  CORNERS.  BEHIND.  TURRETS.

Seriously, I forgot how fucking annoying it is to have someone following you around.  Listen, bitch, YOU may be invisible to turrets and immune to gunfire, but I am a mere mortal, and I do not like being cornered with enemies present.

*sigh*

In other news:

I learned how to take cell phone pictures of my TV!
Because who needs screen capture?
Not THIS BITCH!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It was a long few minutes, really, trying to figure out how to not take a poopy cell phone picture of the screen.  For instance, there was this really cool anglerfish, and being the bio-nerd that I am, I got a great picture of it:

 But not before getting THIS PICTURE OF IT:

WHAT THE FUCK.

So anyways.  I am really, really happy to discover that the DLC lets you have multiple gun types again, instead of just swapping between whatever two you happen to prefer/ammo is available for/you most recently picked up off a dead guy.  Except for the fact that I keep throwing plasmid blasts every time I jump (thanks, Thief), I really like having a turn wheel for each weapon.  I missed that, you know?  Good stuff.  And while we're talking about weapons, can I just say that I LOVE this guy:

You been zapped, boyo.

And after you zap them they turn into a BLOODY MIST!!!  I love it!
I haven't been this happy since I got the Bloody Mess perk in Fallout 3!

And one last thing to say for now, but not least...

Never open safes.

They are just never worth the fucking lockpicks, and they never have been.

You did not seriously just lock up your GIN AND FLASK in a super-tough-to-open safe.  You, my dear Splicer, have a fucking drinking problem,

and I hate you.

Dualshock 4 Controller

I was unaware that the rubber on Dualshock analog sticks is basically doomed.  But it is.

Our left analog stick looks like this:

So yeah, that happened.

We are looking at trying aftermarket grips to see if that helps.  Sony...what are you doing.  Seriously.  I gave you so much money.  You can't give me a controller that doesn't fall apart right off the bat?

Starting Up Bioshock Infinite DLC: Burial At Sea Ep.1

(If you haven't played the first three Bioshock games [1, 2, and Infinite], THIS WILL INCLUDE SPOILERS...maybe)

I just went out of town this week (tue-thur) for a workshop for my job, so unfortunately, when my husband informed me he was downloading DLC for Bioshock Infinite AS WE SPOKE back on Monday, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to BASH HIM OVER THE HEAD BECAUSE HE WAS GOING TO GET TO PLAY IT BEFORE ME.

That cannot be allowed.

Fortunately, he was also stuck watching the baby fulltime while I was gone and going to work to boot, so I am, in fact, getting to play it first.

Things have a way of working out, you know?



So I'm just starting to sink my teeth into the first part he downloaded - Burial at Sea, Episode 1.  For the sake of brevity, let's call it BASE1.  Alphabet soup, and whatnot.

I find it a little unnerving that I have no idea going into it how long it is, what exactly the situation is with Booker, why Elizabeth is playing out the classic, sexy-smoking-lady-walks-into-a-private-investigator's-office-and-leads-him-on-a-mysterious-mission scenario...

Photo from here

I mean, I'm going into this with NO heads up on what the story or gameplay will be like, except that it takes place in Rapture.  Don't know why Booker is there.  Don't know why an Elizabeth is leading him on a quest to find someone that is and isn't his daughter.  Don't know how long this chapter will be, or which game's mechanics it will pull from.

It's exciting and wonderful and nerve-wracking.

I got as far as meandering my way (I always go non-plot first) toward the ice plasmid before my 360 froze, though, so unfortunately I haven't made it too far in.  Already I am loving seeing Sander Cohen in his "prime" (yep, still crazay), and the interesting merging of BS1 and BSI features (skyhooks, "constants and variables," splicers, voice boxes, etc.).  I don't know what timeline we are in, but it doesn't feel terribly forced that Rapture is not quite how we remember it because of that premise.


The one thing I am really, really getting annoyed with, especially because my 360 is a big fan of freezing, is the inability to manually save.  On one hand, you've got me marathon playing it whenever possible because if I close it I have to COMPLETELY research the entire area.  I mean, did I find that lockpick before, or after the autosave?  How many corners had coins sitting in them that I had already collected, that are now waiting for me again?  How many turrets did I circumvent to get gear that now I have to go back and do again?

Besides, babies mean setting down the game, a LOT.  It means I need to be able to play fifteen minutes, save, and shut off the game so it doesn't just sit there cooking while I try to get little boy back to bed.I need to be able to save, homies.


Anyhoo, because this is on the 360, I do not have a way to record or screenshot for you guys, or I would.  I am still messing around on Thief, though, at least until the Outlast DLC releases, so bear with me.

Later!

Thief Monetary System (Also Hello!)

Hi, and welcome to 3:33!  If you don't get the reference, you need to stop what you are doing and go play Eternal Darkness.  Go on.  I'll wait.

Now that that's outta the way, let's get started!



For once, I am actually really happy with the money system in a game.

I've been playing Thief (PS4), and where some games you end up with way too much gold to bother with or are constantly farming for it just to get basic supplies... Thief seems to have struck a great balance in my opinion.  Yes, you can replay chapters for gold if you come up short, but you can always afford the necessities.  There are also REALLY cool upgrades that you have to prioritize your spending for, because you probably aren't going to be able to afford everything unless you are seriously putting WAY too many hours into listening about Polly Adler's fancy perfume.

That fucking perfume.

Anyways, I've been pretty thrilled about the spending system.  The one thing I wish could be changed is the fact that you can only get the wrench and the wire cutters from one vendor (Or maybe two?  The same vendor, in two places? Who can tell).  So should you elect to spend your money on rope arrows and not a wrench at the start of the game, then find yourself on the other goddamn side of the map and needing to get into a vent, well, you're boned.

Go listen about Polly Adler some more, because you have an awfully long trek back to the Crippled Burrick or Siren's Rest.