Games, Games, and More Games

I'm not done with Ratchet and Clank 5 yet. I think I played all day Sunday, except when I was in Limbus. I woke up early yesterday, around 5:30, when Justin got up, and couldn't go back to sleep. I eventually went and played for another hour. I set a timer so I wouldn't be late for work. I've made myself late for work reading before, but never from playing a video game.

RC5 is way better than RC3 or 4. It's back to the style they used in RC1 and 2. The only thing it's missing is the skateboarding. Instead, there's flying, but not on a track. I miss the skateboarding, even though it was hard for me. I like collecting things. I'm enjoying how easy it is to level up weapons and upgrade them. One of my biggest complaints about RC4 is that they made you repeat levels to level your weapons up. This game, you still have to level your weapons up, but if you are collecting bolts and raritanium seriously, you don't have to worry. Also, it's pretty easy to level weapons. You just have to use the same one for several levels. That's a big improvement!

I also love the new graphics. The levels remind me of the early RC games, but with stronger colors and a more realistic feel to the landscape. Also, they put thought into which colors to use, so the levels are fun to look at. My only complaint is that there isn't enough light when you go through shadows. The shadows are really deep; it's often hard to tell where the edge is or where mobs are. I did like one level in which you are in a VERY dark tunnel and everything was lighted on the edges in green. It really did look like things glowed in the dark, including the mob's green eyes. Once I got used to not being able to see anything but the lights, I found I enjoyed playing in the dark.

The controls are pretty good, though I had to switch them around to manipulate the camera. Three years of using the FFXI camera has made me want to turn the camera backward. I remember how much I hated that when I started FFXI. However, when I reversed the camera controls, I apparently also reversed the sixaxis controls that control clank's laser beam. I have a hard time using it to open peep walls. I'm also having a hard time with the sixaxis controls in other ways, though. They're not as intuitive as the wiimote. Flying, free falling and the marble tilt are all a lot harder than they should be, simply because the sixaxis controls are taking my fingers a long time to learn.

Besides enjoying RC5, I xp'd with Dragon and Justin yesterday. WHM 75 finally! It only took me three years...

A new whm spell "repose" came out in the update. It seemed to only stick about 1/3 the time for me. I really need to level divine, which is at 181. I haven't looked it up, but if whm has A+ divine skill, I'm about 90 under cap. I'll have to go to besieged several times and cast flash until the buttons wear out. I really ought to do this with my enfeebling and healing skills too. None of my magic skills are capped on whm except elemental, from leveling blm 45 levels.

I'm looking forward to WoTG, hopefully later this week. We didn't reserve it anywhere, so we'll just have to look around until we find it. I'm going to level scholar, although Justin's been doing his best to talk me out of it. He seems to think it will be a worthless job. At the very least, from what he's been telling me, I'm not sure it's subbable. No matter. We can't all be dancers anyway. Even if I were the only one of our group leveling dnc, I wouldn't want to. It's definitely not a back line mage job.

WIR: I ought to finish reading Silver on the Tree and start my reread of The Golden Compass. Instead, I went and picked up First Test, because I want to reread Squire and Lady Knight. Now I'll have to reread the entire series before I go back to my other list. Otoh, at least I'm enjoying what I read!