...from Lorentzian to Euclidean.
Details here.-- Bob
---------
One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Okay, so last week or so, I walk into my local software place back in the old country. I'm psyched for getting Bio-Shock, or in case of absence, any more or less decent timesink - because Medieval 2 is fun, but I want something more personal than armies butchering one-another (which is fun too, but gets a bit tiring).
Anyway, they have BioShock, yes, but they also had something else. Something that I've been looking for for quite a while now, and finally managed to find - Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I promptly start a debate in my head about whether or not I should get it, as I'd already had a bit of a fill with another horror-FPS game a bit earlier in the month. FEAR and Extraction Point addon, to be specific.
The box isn't anything special, and the game is getting a bit long in the tooth at this point, with it having been released last year/two years ago or something like that ... still, for some reason, I did pick it up.
I now bow to whatever impulse moved me to do so as divine.
Whether it came from a Great Old One or not is really irrelevant at this point. What isn't is the simple fact that ... well ... let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
This game is not action, with a dash of adventure and some horror thrown in to stuff up the gaps.
First and foremost, it's Horror. With a capital H.
It is perhaps the most immersive FPP I've played, more-so than the Thief series.
It is also the first game I'm genuinely afraid of playing at night, with the lights out, and I've not even gotten to what most would call the 'good stuff' yet.
This is mostly due to several things, but primarily?
The game puts doesn't just put you into some kind of drone character, who you are then supposed to 'simulate' as best you can. The character you animate has a name. Has history. Has such a thing as mental health and can be _shaken_ by the events, and you with him.
To illustrate, two examples, with possible spoilers.
One - at some point in the game, you become indirectly responsible for the death of an innocent person. Then. a bit later on, when you're making your way through some really creepy surrounds, you have several moments where this person's 'ghost' appears, blood and all, giggles at you, and generally does its best to be creepy as hell ... and you genuinely don't know if it's real, a hallucination (possibly - the main character hallucinates quite a bit, partially due to a bit of a clairvoyant/psychometric streak, but not exclusively due to this) or maybe something else. Meanwhile, you're freaking out because the speakers start with presenting to you the quickened heartbeat and near-hyperventilation of your 'avatar', the screen becomes increasingly blurred ... yeah.
Two - the protagonist suffers from a fear of heights, and in various sequences you're forced to escape via rooftops/high ledges. Do. Not. Look. Down. Or you start with a vision blur, sounds become muted, heartrate picks up ...
These 'sanity lapses' can get pretty bad, and depending on the source the character reacts differently. Faced with something truly horrific, not only do those abovementioned effects happen, but you also get treated to listening to the protagonist babbling in fear.
If they get bad enough, the character goes catatonic and you get a game over ... or, if you're holding a weapon at the time, he commits suicide.
This doesn't really reflect the full experience. Not even part of it. Heck, not even mentioning the scripted events meant to build tension (like taking a peek through a basement window, only to see a body being dragged out through the door, or someone who'd hung themselves, or spotting a shadowed something on the rooftops that you very very dearly _want_ to be just some bits of masonry shaped like a gargoyle but you can't be sure because a bit later it's plain not _there_).
What adds to the general atmosphere is the lack of a HUD. You need to remember how many bullets fit into a weapon, health cues are given via sounds (heartbeat, labored breathing) as well as visuals (world going grey due to bloodloss), there is no targeting reticule and you have to use the various weapons' actual iron sights ... more than any other FPP, this game makes you feel like it's you in there, you whose sanity is slowly slipping away and giving way to ... *glurg*
I won't say the game doesn't have bugs, because it does, but I can safely say the good outweighs the bad by more than just a fair margin.
I rec it heartily.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

In the words of Chuck Heston: "They did it! You mainiacs! Damn you all to hell!!"
..yes, it's finally out.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

I seem to recall some people lamenting the fact that a score CD was not available when the Transformers live action movie came out. It just came out today on iTunes, and I believe it's supposed to be out today in stores as well.

So I logged on with Cyberman 8 and nobody else from the group was on server. So I decided to head to Recluse's Victory. The high level PVP Zone. I was looking forward to giving this a go since I had gotten Focussed Accuracy as a power. I already had good perception, and figured this would make me far less of an easy Stalker Kill. I've actually been right so far. They -can- still kill me. But they really have to -work- for it now. I can see them coming with much greater reliability.
Not what I was going to talk about actually, but just to give you an idea of what drew me there. I wanted to see if any teams were going, see if we could take down some AVs, maybe get some badges. But a big part of it boils down to "FINALLY I have a fair chance against the blasted Stalkers! Let's see how this works!"
So I'm in there zooming around looking for anything interesting to do. I see a Brute taking down some Longbow. Hmm... Tough, but maybe if I pop elude at the right time I could make a go of this. I engaged him...
He runs.
Bwah?
Understand, now, that a Brute in the hands of a competent player just should not NEED to run. They, like Tankers, are the epitome of toe-to-toe combat. This is confusing and irritating behavior.
So I put him on "follow" and give chase. He will NOT fight me.
But he does keep going back to those Longbow guys and keeps trying to kill them. I stopped to watch him for a bit. Asked someone else what the deal was.
"Oh him? He's one of those Chinese farmers. He's farming infamy and salvage."
Oh really...? (slow burn begins)
I'm well acquainted with Farmers in WoW and the jacked up prices in the auction houses.
But more importantly, I'm all of a sudden INCENSED about this. Combination of tiredness. A sore throat, and simply the idea that what was once a game seemingly largely free from all of the "economy crap". Plus the idea that the only reason this guy is a Brute is not because it's the best way for this guy to PVP, but the best PROTECTION that a farmer could get in this zone. He could pound me into paste with the right combination of moves, but he runs because he is more interested in milking the system then fighting.
Oh it is SO on! I'm dogging this guy mercilessly.
I figure out quickly that going toe to toe isn't going to be the best option under normal circumstances. Everytime I engage he runs. And if he can't get rid of me (and he CAN'T, because Cyberman 8 is LITERALLY the fastest thing in that Zone!) he'll look for a group of high end NPCs to sit in so they'll do his dirty work for him. This just makes me madder.
I also figure out that he wants to snag the Arachnos Heavy Bots because it's the only real way he can effectively "bot farm" the system.
I can't consistently throw down with him because he'll move into NPCs or just keep running.
But I CAN make it devilishly hard for him to snag a heavy. Because it's like any other "glowie" click. If you get hit while doing it, it interrupts you and you have to start over.
And I can even keep him from effectively using one even if he does have it by dogging it instead of him. If I pop elude, I can bash on the thing and neither the Bot or him can hit me while I take it to pieces.
So I'm on him like glue. I even stop fighting him. Just standing there in his face, daring him to do something if he stops in any location. "C'mon big guy! Take a shot!" If he moves, I'm with him. If he goes for a heavy, I'm there to short circuit his plans.
He never said one word to anyone. I don't know if he even knew English or not. Nobody on hero or villain side saw him type anything.
This proceeds for a couple of hours. Yes. I said HOURS. He was very persistent. But I was not to be denied. I even got people on both Hero and Villain sides to help out. Villains would take Heavies so that he couldn't take them. Or report when he was AFKing in the base waiting for me to leave. He finally decided to leave in the middle of the zone while he was over by the tram by using the Base or Pocket D transporter and we denied him even that! He had to leave by scurrying at top speed to the villain base with me hot on his heels all the way until I had to pull up short before getting "droned". I watched him leave and checked that he was gone for real by checking the /whoall command. I didn't see him again in any case.
I think I may have put a rather noticeable dent in his quota for the evening. Two whole hours and he didn't get crap done. I spent another hour doing the same thing to a "pal" of his who who showed up doing the same thing. This one was actually kinda feisty and would fight me. But ultimately he wanted me gone so he could go back to farming and I wouldn't let him. He finally ran as well.
Thing is... I actually had a -fun- time doing this. I am not by nature a bully, but the thought of a couple of guys in some sweatshop in Asia somewhere swearing at their monitors...
Well. I have to admit it filled me with positively SAVAGE glee.
This worries me just a bit. I'm wondering if I was being an utterly COLOSSAL prick about this? Or am I on the side of the angels?
Mind you, this isn't something I would do on any consistent basis. I've usually got -much- better things I can do with my time. This is not something I really want to commit to.
But if I go back there and see them or someone like them again under similar circumstances? Oh yeah... "No farming for YOU tonight!"
-Logan
-----------------
"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
-----------------

First impressions of stuff I've seen so far:
Depending on how it's handled, Gundam 00 could be either a very interesting, authoritative take on why wars happen and their consequences, or an even worse harping on 'War is BAAAAAAD, mmmKay?' than usual for the franchise. Props for good science, though - space elevators feature, and finally a Gundam capital ship with a visible rotational section. Wish they'd made at least one of the pilots a girl, though. Who cares about a bunch of guys, smelly, pretty, gay, straight, or otherwise? Xb Anyway. I'll be staying tuned to see where this goes for at least another few episodes.
Night Wizard is cute and fairly funny, with very likable characters so far. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.
I have some downloads running of the others on Animesuki that look potentially interesting; you'll know more once I do.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Having finally pushed a character past 45, I can now take part in these, and was wondering who else might be interested in scheduling a Supergroup run past one or the other, and if so, when.

===============================================
"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Does anyone here have an account on demonoid.com? If so, please PM or email me if you're willing to do me a favor. No replies to this thread as it's not really DW-related...
Thanks!
Offsides
Drunkard's Walk Forum Moderator and Prereader At Large

Okay, I know that Doug has in his helmet a version of Michael Jackson's Thriller that has the title track as "Moonlight."
So that means that some items of Warriors' World pop culture would be familiar yet strange to us. I just thought of Doug's reaction to seeing The Dukes of Hazzard.

Quote:

---

Except for "Traveller" being called the "General Lee" and having the wrong number painted on the side, the show was virtually identical to "Moonrunners." Well, that and the slight resemblance of Daisy Hogg to [insert minor WW super here.]

---

Song Title: The Curly Shuffle
Performer: Jump 'N the Saddle Band
Proposed Power: Either Simulacrums of all the 3 stooges (causing a massive drain of mana), or causes everyone with the area of effect to act like the stooges
Lyrics:
When me and my friends go out on the town
We can't sit still and we can't sit down
We don't like to fight and we don't like to scuffle
But we dance all night doing the Curly shuffle
(Hey Moe! Hey Moe!) Hey Moe! Hey Moe!
(Well, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!) Well, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!
(La da dee, la da dee) La da dee, la da dee
(Woo woo woo woo!) Woo woo woo woo!
Well, we never miss a chance we get up and dance and do the Curly shuffle
Well, me and my friends love Curly and Moe
We love Curly's brother, Shemp and his fat clone, Joe
It's such a delight to boogie and hustle
Dancing all night doing the Curly shuffle
(Hey Moe! Hey Moe!) Hey Moe! Hey Moe!
(Well, nyuck nyuck nyuck nyuck!) Well, nyuck nyuck nyuck nyuck!
(Wee dee dee dee, wee dee dee dee!) Wee dee dee dee, wee dee dee dee dee!
(Oh, a wise guy!) Oh, a wise guy!
Well, we never miss a chance, we get up and dance and do the Curly shuffle
Well, me and my friends, we all love to see
Comedy classics on late night TV
Those knuckleheads get in a scuffle
They push and they shove doing the Curly shuffle
(Hey Moe! Hey Moe!) Hey Moe! Hey Moe!
(Well, nyuck nyuck nyuck nyuck!) Well, nyuck nyuck nyuck nyuck!
(Look at the grouse, look at the grouse) Look at the grouse, look at the grouse
(Woof! Woof!) Woof! Woof!
Well, we never miss a chance we get up and dance and do the Curly shuffle
(That's right)
We do the Curly shuffle (What did you say?)
We do the Curly shuffle (That's what I thought you said!)
We do the Curly shuffle (ah ah ah ah!)
We do the Curly shuffle (Sointenly!)
We never miss a chance we get up and dance and do the Curly shuffle
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
--Dr. Seuss