IM Conversation #4

12:41:44 PM mike d: it's amazing how much char customization affects my enjoyment of a game.
12:43:05 PM Tai: Are you speaking towards the lack of customization in The Witcher?
12:44:02 PM mike d: i started doing tour mode in rock band 2. and then from boob, i learned that you can do a roundabout way of customizing your entire band - instead of randomized chars filling in the spots for every song. this was enough for me to restart tour mode.
12:44:09 PM mike d: yes, and then there is the witcher
12:44:33 PM mike d: "god this fool looks stupid."
12:46:53 PM mike d: "i dont care if his weps appear on his boody. i wanna change his face, dangnabit."
12:48:31 PM Tai: How are you enjoying that, by the way?
12:49:27 PM mike d: another thing that bothers me aboot the game is that i have a difficult time with the combat's feedback. i not only cant tell if im getting hit but how much it's hurting...
12:50:54 PM Tai: There's no indication anywhere?
12:51:05 PM mike d: since the combat is based around timed clicking, combine this with his manic combat animations, my eyes focus on this instead of the floating numbers and their effect on the various life/endurance/something else bars
12:51:22 PM mike d: the floating numbers are really small
12:52:17 PM mike d: at least with the baldurs, there is feedback text and a drowning in blood portrait
12:52:35 PM mike d: and screaming
12:53:17 PM Tai: So have you died in the witcher as a result of being unable to gauge your health?
12:53:20 PM mike d: witcher has screaming, but not "oochies." more like "harrrgh, im swinging hard, swinging fast!"
12:54:29 PM mike d: ive only played the first area. the boss was the only dude who was doing significant damage
12:55:03 PM Tai: And then you went back to Rock Band.
12:55:32 PM Tai: ...which coincidentally is also about timed clicks.

IM Conversation #3

Concerning Dead Space....

1:24:50 PM Tai: I don't like the idea of a remotely manipulated sawblade.
1:25:17 PM Tai: I mean, c'mon. It's not like the Ishimura is a giant fucking woodshop churning out side cabinets.
1:26:21 PM mike d: "my dad used to have me chop wood. we didnt even have a fireplace."
1:28:22 PM mike d: maybe that's why you see so many sawblades lying around
1:28:36 PM Tai: "there wasn't much where we lived. No birds, no rabbits. Lots of trees though. When I complained about this he'd simply rustle his splinter-laden hands through my sawdusty hair and say 'shut up now, son, and eat your wood'."
1:31:23 PM mike d: "im gonna be someone important, dad! im gonna get outta this life and be a part of something greater than this goddamn woody community. maybe i'll even join a planet-cracker ship. like the ishimura!"
1:34:23 PM Tai: "Now look here son, this might not be much of a life, but this is an honest life, a woody life. I don't want you running off to go mess with no rocks, you're a wood-boy, nailed and boarded. Heavens, what would you do in space? Where would you find sawblades?"

"There'll be sawblades in space!"

"Don't be stupid son, what would rock-miner-folk be doing with sawblades?"

"...CUTTING ROCKS!"

"Don't be silly now, no damn space-idiot would use a sawblade to cut a rock. Now sit down and finish your wood."

IM Conversation #2

Concerning Metal Gear Solid 4....

12:09:56 PM Tai: So are otakon and snake really roommates?
12:10:35 PM mike d: along with a little girl who cooks them eggs
12:11:20 PM mike d: she cooks them sunny side up cuz it has fortune-telling powers or some such nonsense
12:12:12 PM Tai: Metal Gear Solid: Egg Eater
12:12:23 PM Tai: ...does she actually tell fortunes using eggs?
12:13:10 PM mike d: actually, it never becomes a subplot. more like a character quirk
12:13:51 PM mike d: they mention it a few times, but it turns out to be nothing
12:13:55 PM Tai: Darn. I hear MGS4 could use some more subplots.
12:20:00 PM Tai: do they explain where the girl comes from?
12:20:54 PM mike d: she is the daughter of a char from the second game. and as usual, she is super genius
12:21:54 PM mike d: she is so super genius that she types using 2 keyboards
12:21:56 PM Tai: Which character? "Hybrid Gold Genius Wombat"?
12:22:50 PM mike d: the boss you fight in the demo. white-haired chick
12:23:02 PM mike d: forget what her specialty was
12:23:20 PM Tai: So wait, you kill the shit out of her, then steal her ovaries or something?
12:24:26 PM Tai: It must be very symbolic that she serves them eggs then.

IM Conversation #1

12:28:34 PM Tai: You wake up in a room, on a bed, and find a $20 on the nightstand.

Mission Objectives:
Primary - find pants
Secondary - restore dignity
12:31:18 PM mike d: there should be more dignity meters in games
12:40:28 PM Tai: Yeah. Indigo Prophecy had a sanity meter, but that's just not good enough.
12:40:52 PM Tai: And no floating spinning turkey leg is going to restore dignity, it's going to take a different kind of pickup.
12:45:42 PM mike d: soap. or a spinning brunette caught in a bear trap.
12:46:44 PM Tai: A high school diploma.