#INGAME - Alice and the Colossal Ruin

I don't give up.

Well, not all the time. Only when I've tried everything I have, done everything I can.

But this time, I have to say, that I've given up. I thought taking a few weeks, months even, away from Alice and this stupid blasted Colossal Ruin would give me fresh insight on how to kill it and get past the stage. But I went back. I died a couple more times. Ranted and raved and hurled vulgarities and everything else.

It eludes me. This... winning. I don't know how to kill it. It refuses to be killed and I HATE that stupid insidious ruin that just appears and hits me JUST when I've got a nice shot at the big baddie.

Maybe I need to take another break.

In other slightly less aggravating news, I've turned Level 8 on DoTA 2 and pretty much having an awesome time. No longer limited to just the Sniper and Drow Ranger. I have expanded my range to using Medusa, Luna, Viper, Death Prophet, Jakiro and even Zeus. And I even managed kills. And I farm better.

But then again I am still playing against bots and have yet to play against humans. They might pwn me and humble me down to size.

I've also met my fair share of trolling morons, idiots and douchebags. But what else is new?

#GAMEBREAK - Just too much

Old naysayers were right when they said that too much of a good thing is bad. Though I wouldn't say that DoTA 2 is necessarily good. It's been eating way too much of my time making me neglect quite a number of things that need to be done. Though I still guess I'm enthralled by how some players seem to be adept and versatile at playing every character.

Was reading a page on how to improve in DoTA and not suck so much. Practice is the key and you have to try out each of the 100+ heroes at least once. I'm reminded again of some friends who play LoL and say that DoTA is just a rip off. They claim LoL is harder to train and be good at but when I compare it to DoTA, I honestly think the latter is a lot harder to master. I mean why else have some players taken years to achieve that almost god likeness in their game play?

I know for certain that I am a very bad strength and intel player. I don't micro manage very well and thus my magic spams are really just all over the place. I'm more of an agi ranged player. At least I know I won't die so fast and so often. Although against certain enemy bots, even my most skilled character ends up getting pwned one too many times. 

Enough of DoTA though. I dyed my hair. It's red and my mother tells me it's like rust growing n my head. Thanks mum. Love you still. Losing this motivation and drive in work... Well... Simply because. 

And oh fitness. It's that time of the month so I'm game raging a lot more than I should to the extent that my bookend gets scared when I play. I also eat way too much and too often. Or rather, I eat too often but the portions are actually the same. 

I think I should go back to Alice. Maybe after all that DoTA, I'd be able to find a way to get past the Colossal Ruin. If not, it's another game I'm going to shelve for awhile, again. 

And don't ask me about FarCry3. 

#INGAME - Alice: Madness Returns - Stupid Colossal Ruin

I actually had a video to accompany this post but I was too smart in cleaning up my phone and thus, the video is gone. In it though, you can see me trying to defeat this ugly tar-like monstrosity and it's little spawnlings. I've been playing that stage non-stop to the point where it gave me a tension headache. I won't deny that several swear words that would otherwise have my mother whack me on the head were let loose as well.

Never had much problem on other levels and usually I'm able to beat the crap out of this bitch. BUT for some reason, I can't. Even dodging and fleeing and shrinking and everything else. This stupid black blob manages to pwn me and laugh in my face.

I don't like it. Not one bit. I hate it. And I will soon pulverise the undead shit out of it. If that were possible. Actually, I don't even know if it is an undead. It just looks like a black blob of tar and poop.

Argh. I take some comfort that I am no alone in this and that numerous searches on Google for "how to defeat the colossal piece of ruin shit in Alice" has led me to several unfortunate gamers who too have difficulty in getting past this... idiot. I'm so flustered and exasperated that I can't even come up with something vile to describe this... piece of crap.

So at least I've gone back to gaming and I've gone past a couple of levels. I liked the Japanese/Chinese-centric level although the side-scrolling bit gave me a headache for some time. Went to Queenland and it was ok. Gigantic spinning wasps... not so funny and nice. Then again, when are wasps ever that nice. Stuck at the Dollhouse where I am stuck at that godforsaken stage to defeat that piece of crap. And I can't even avoid it. I even tried it on Easy mode (that was just how desperate I was to get over it).

To no avail.

Oh well. Waiting for a couple of hours before my cold dies down (hopefully) and I can muster up some courage and promises not to over-swear and get on with the program.

If anyone has got really helpful and valuable tips on getting past this ugly and pain in the ass-ish monstrosity, please do. Please help. Or I may have to shelve A:MR for Farcry 3.

On hindsight, that might not be such a bad thing.

#GOODGAME - Army of Two; The Devil's Cartel

Some people think this game is crap. GiNX said it wasn't too fantastic. I had a friend who dissed my choice in playing a game like this.

But like a post I had earlier about personal preference, I like the game and I cleared it and honestly it's my blog so that's pretty much all that matters (haters gonna hate). 

I didn't get a chance to play the first installment, perhaps I should. AoT:DC got me intrigued because I had never played a 3rd person army shooter kinda game. I guess I could say I am a closet war/gunfight kinda girl (I mean, I like The Hurt Locker). First-person console games always give me a headache which is why I usually gravitate towards game's that are third-person yet first-person, if you can understand what I'm saying.

Why Army of Two and not Battlefield or Call of Duty? It's not that I haven't played those games before... I do. There really isn't that much of a difference in terms of the storyline. Some may argue that AOT's plot is thin and predictable, but isn't that the case with most army/war games anyway? The uniqueness of AOT is that you're not in a group. As in you aren't deployed as a group. You work as a duo, a partnership and the survival of both is essential for the game's success. If either Alpha or Bravo dies, you restart. Granted it's almost like unlimited life but the save points and all aren't quite so close together. So when you die at a tricky part at the end of a stage of sorts, you'll be booted back to the beginning and go through hell again.

An issue I faced with this game, or rather a pet peeve, was not having a mini-map. I think I've been so spoilt and pampered by games that offer me mini-maps and locations of my enemies that when I first started playing, I was so disorientated. I didn't know where the enemy was or where they were firing from and often got confused by my partner's shots and theirs. At least in some games there are arrows that kinda show you the general direction where your enemies are firing from. This one... not so much help.

Ammo can be a-plenty. The arsenal of weapons is pretty generic and limited. Then again, I don't know my SMPs to the M4s or whatever they are. I prefer sticking to my modified and customized sniper rifle, this AK-47-ish rifle with a scope and my Desert Eagle. Also... what's the point of having a small shield on a gun? I thought shields were to protect the body and person, not the gun. Unless there's another reason and my brain is just too lagged out to process and compute.

Fine I admit that I felt a little cheated when the game ended. It was tough in some parts but I guess I expected a little bit more for expanding so much energy, effort and time in taking the risk to play it on medium-hard (I would vacillate between the two depending on how many times I would have to restart a stage/mission). Granted I was given money to purchase and customize my masks, tattoos and weapons but that was pretty much it.

In multiplayer mode, it's pretty much the same although I felt that I had much more initiative and action than my counterpart, whoever it may be. Points are scored based on who kills more, does certain skills more or decoys blablabla and it all adds up after each stage. Somewhat faintly reminiscent of Time Crisis.

The game's playability (as in how often you'd wanna boot it back on the PS3) depends on how well you like the multiplayer. I guess it's ok. I prefer this to Tomb Raider's only because I am a little slow when it comes to aiming using a console as opposed to a mouse and keyboard (though I suppose that's pretty much the same with everyone else).

What did you think? Hate it or love it?

#NORMALITY - Finally, a PC!

My boyfriend is super amazing. He can drive me nuts but most of all, he loves me plenty :) What girl wouldn't be happier when her boyfriend sets up his PC so she can play it. Best bit was when he texted me saying that he had a new toy for me to play with :D

There are way too many smileys and emoticons here. Oops. Can't really hide how happy/chuffed/excited I am. Blogging from the new computer and there are THREE monitors! Just that we haven't got the splitter and the cables for the monitors so I'm just using one. First thing I did was to download Steam and of course, Left4Dead.

Then a friend told me that there was a HUGE sale that just ended and that made me a little sad. Quickly logged in but what do you know, lo and behold! The one game that I had been hunting for, especially to be played on a Mac was on SALE! Now that I am using a PC, there was nothing holding me back. Just waiting for it to finish downloading and then... I hope I may see my Imoen again.

Yeah... If you didn't already know, that game is Baldur's Gate. A game introduced to me by my brother donkey years ago and I was so hooked on. I love medieval RPGs. Well, some of them. But what I loved most about BG was the characters and their personalities.

Although the PC is here, doesn't mean I'm gonna be forgetting about my PS3 games. I bought Alice: Madness Returns. Just finished battling a couple of dead sailors and letting their souls rest in peace.

Ok. BG is done downloading. Time to PLAY! But before that, let me leave with you with a visual of the set-up. Two more monitors on the left and right (all Dell). Razer keyboard and mouse. Creative sound system. I can't say much about the PC rig itself because I am no hardware junkie. But let's just say that it's fast. Like crazy fast.

See ya!

#NEWKICKS - Army of Two

IT HAS ARRIVED!

Or that I drove down all the way to Orchard Central to get it.

Other girls buy clothes, shoes and bags for retail rehab. I take the road less traveled.

*pastes a DND sign on door*