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So here’s the big post I planned to show everyone the cool stuff I’ve been doing, which was supposed to have instructions for you fine folks to set them up for yourselves. Ideally, it would be so easy even my dad’s friends who read this could do it!

So I tried to get a few people to test the Rainmeter setups, and had a few failures and a lot of indifference. This after I spent three hours writing instructions for it instead of studying >.> So I realized I should just share my Rainmeter setup with anyone who actually wants it. Let the rest of you figure it out on your own like I did *shakes fist*

So I decided not to spend even longer writing instructions for Miranda IM, which I love despite its HORRIBLE, HORRID, HATEFUL, IMPOSSIBLE TO NAVIGATE community and resources. I’ve got it set up and you can all be envious of my setup unless you really like it in which case I’ll help you unlike the jerks on the Miranda forum. Apparently they’re helpful on IRC but screw that.

First picture is my default set up - uses Gnometer, Enigma for CPU/RAM, and ABP for the launcher/notes. I’ve moved the notes skin to the other side of my screen for symmetry and giving myself more room for unsorted files. The taskbar is set up using the Appows Work Classic theme for Windows 7, and the start button replacement is from the Appows suite, with Start Killer hiding the default Windows button.

Second picture is an excellent Persona 4 HUD. Your party in P4 typically has 4 members but I can’t think of anything else to measure - the ones there are measuring CPU/RAM and HDD Space/Battery.

Third picture is the Superbar skin. Quite simply the best Rainmeter taskbar I’ve seen. As in, you could actually use it as your taskbar. I’ve been working to make use of my taskbar, though, so I don’t really want a replacement right now.

Fourth picture is my Miranda IM contact list - little tab always on top of my windows, expands on mouseover. I love it. Uses the modern contact list and Malice Tab skin.

Fifth picture is my Miranda chat window - uses IEView (Adium SL Glass) and TabSRRM (x1).

Sixth picture is Assasin’s Creed: Project Legacy on facebook. From my perspective as a console gamer (its target audience), it’s the “best” facebook game I’ve played so far. It’s certainly not the “best” social game I’ve played - it fails all the social requirements of the usual facebook games. That’s exactly what I like about it. No “get help from your friends” stuff, pretty much no social anything really, which suits me just fine. The interface is slick, and they spent the time and money to write multiple bits of text for each mission.

Oh, there’s one thing it does that I really like about it in comparison to your usual facebook “RPGs” like Mafia Wars: you have stats other than strength/defense and energy/PvP energy. You only have one energy pool, first of all, and second of all your stats are (mostly) useful bonuses. Every stat point you put in increases your maximum energy, then your first stat increases your max for every 10 points you put in (useless). Second stat increases the number of things you can craft at once (+1 for every 10 points). Then you have a stat for bonus money and a stat for bonus chance to receive item drops.

Anyway this post is finally up and now I feel better.

You may or may not know a lot about EchoBazaar. But suffice to say that this is big stuff.

I got a snazzy Archeologist’s Hat, and I engaged in a rivalry with a wealthy man and an attractive female devil (literally). I foiled their plans and gained control over the area, and discovered… this. This thing.

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On another note, speaking of things which I cannot describe to you and simply must be experienced, here is an absolute must-read if you care for games at all. Even a little bit.

Click Nothing

Notice that I’m not linking you to a specific article, because there is so much amazing content here that I don’t have time to read it and subsequently write about it. These are posts about how fashion games could be good, and what game developers can learn from 300, and those two alone should commit you to reading one or two. This comes from Episode 25 of The Electric Hydra which is pretty good too.

GodVille

I don’t think I’ve made a tumblr post about GodVille, so this is my post about my entire experience with the game.

I failed to be engaged by this game at every level.

Maybe playing it as a Google Chrome extension would have been more fun, but I don’t use Chrome that much and I wasn’t engaged enough to want to open a browser to play it. That is, I wouldn’t open my browser solely to play it. I would, absolutely, open my browser and do nothing but play BvS. I open my browser just to play EchoBazaar multiple times per day. If I remembered GodVille at all, it was as “well I’ve got five seconds to waste.”

After the first few days I stopped reading those amazing journal entries. I just checked my hero’s equipment, healed him if he needed it, then went off. Even generic facebook games engage me - for whatever brief period of time - more than GodVille did. I just felt absolutely no reason to “play”. As an iPhone app - something I would have instant access to, anywhere, any time - it might be perfectly acceptable. Tolerable for a few minutes per day. But when I try to go for a PvP fight - the most involving part of the game - and it takes half an hour, with no signs of stopping (both the other player and I had stocked up on healing power), that’s bullshit. You don’t spend half an hour in a single PvP fight in a real game, and you shouldn’t spend half an hour in a PvP fight in a game that otherwise involves no real “gameplay.” I wasn’t sitting there watching the stupid fight, namely because it is stupid, but I tabbed over every once in a while to click heal.

I think there’s some kind of passive bonus if you’ve on the page (“watching your hero”) during a PvP fight? But essentially what it amounts to is a big waste of time for two people, when the fight could move 2-5x faster and nobody would be hurt.

So I quit before the fight was over and decided I didn’t care who won, but I went back a few minutes ago to tick the “pure Zero Player Game” button. For the record, I did not check to see who won the fight. But what the pure ZPG button means is that my hero will revive himself and continue doing the exact same thing he had been, until their servers go down or they implement inactivity deletion.

The true lesson is that a game needs to be engaging, as opposed to “immersive” or “good” or any of these other things. Vael said it in a post about Echo Bazaar - it’s not like the gameplay is very “good”, it’s just so damn interesting that you can’t give it up. Its interactive story, unique to it as a game, makes it engaging. In Billy vs Snakeman, the basic form of engagement is character progress - get more shiny stuffs to power up your character, do more content, get more stuff. I’ve reached the very tip of the shiny stuff iceberg, and I’ve stopped playing my daily stamina. I go on the weekends for BillyCon (in-game conventions, which are amazing) but aside from that I’m just not engaged anymore. I was more engaged in the game while grinding stats than I am with my current stage of “throw stamina at monster, hopefully get reward.”

So, engagement. Something browser based games have to work really hard to create. I’ll also note that I haven’t logged into MurCity or MonBre for months, even though I would only need to go on for thirty seconds. Again, no engagement anymore. I’ve tried a few skill builds and that’s that, unless I were to try a different race.

I’m not really going anywhere with this, but there you go. Stay tuned next time for similar ramblings about the current “console generation,” which will likely become an outdated term in a few years when the Wii 2 comes out!

I have the unknown pleasure in my inventory. Or at least the key to get to it.

But I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it. Oh, how I hoped.

post-adventure edit: Uploaded pictures of most of what I saw. I missed one opportunity card that was pretty cool. The above picture is EB14, so EB15+ is all spoilers.

extra edit: aw man, lost my opportunities hand, I was saving those

Oh yeah. It’s on now.

edit: Also got my invitation thing to Godville. Vael, add the god Lunacy as your friend. Or the hero Demi Victus. I don’t know how it works.

As far as the game goes, I see what you mean. It’s like a slower version of Progress Quest, with the addition of some small amount of player influence. I’ll just have to see how PvP works.

So. So I’ve gotten this far.

But the fact that that third option is there? I have no interest in dudes. But for the sake of complete lulz, I might go for it.

What should I do?

Remember how cool Cameron thought he was for letting the Absconding Devil and his Singer enjoy their true love?

Now you know the rest of the story.

This is why Echo Bazaar is amazing.

Disgraced Rattus Faber Chief is a pet that gives +2 Dangerous and -1 Persuasive. His flavour text reads: “He still limps from his last fierce duel. Best not to remind him.”

So anyway I had the option to duel the chief after reaching Dangerous 39, which means that in theory I could have eliminated the rats without even seeing this storylet. The straightforward option was to simply kill him, while capturing him alive was a chancy option. I figured, hell, why not catch him alive?

So I did. And I think I may have scared those damn rats off FOREVER.

In the mean time, Watchmaker’s Hill has been missing out on my Dangerous self. There are plenty of wonderful things unlocked, but I have to wonder… what did I miss? While I was busy cleaning up my house, what wonderful things were going on over there?

Brb selling 1600x rats-on-a-string. I just need 200x Surface Currency in order to unlock the Wolfstack Docks, because I already got the Glim. I have to find somewhere to farm that, though. And somewhere to get an in with the Bohemians.

Oh, I also have some opportunities to take care of. There’s a burning house with people to save, and an aunt I need to invite to the ‘Neath…

edit: oh man I just did the burning house thing and it was AWESOME but I don’t want to spoil anything - I’ll upload the picture to the Echo Bazaar folder on uninotes and you can check it out if you want to not be surprised.

But the surprise is great. It really is.

Welp.

So my Hardcore character on Dragon Tavern (permadeath) just upgraded his equipment enough to stop adventuring cautiously. Today, he died.

Sad, sad day. Sad day.

I just got the title for spending 300 day’s worth of AP as well.

Sad day.

edit: For those of you that know the game, I took 31 hits from a single boss. I didn’t bother to check what my success chance was. It was my first adventure after returning from the tavern >.>

Also it’s like Echo Bazaar is just looking for excuses to throw nightmares at me. Not finding someone (Watchful challenge), thus not getting paid, gives me nightmares? Really? Explain that one to me, please.

I’m stuck on my ambition until I get Watchful 45/Dangerous 37, and I’m stuck on the Absconding Devil until I get Bohemian 3 again, so basically I guess I’m going to go be Dangerous because it’s the least dangerous thing I can do.

Derp.

Guys… I dunno wat to do. I don’t like either of those options. But can I really leave it without doing anything? Discard the card now, and any time I see it again?

Can I refuse their ideas and insist on playing my story?

edit for more bonus content: since you can only do one ambition, I thought I’d share some of mine (Nemesis): Prisoner’s Honey is made by raising lamplighter bees on certain infernal flowers, and then there’s a choice you get for why you’re chasing down your Nemesis - you can see from the image what I picked, and this twist in my tale may resolve the issue I had with the above choice… “my” first lover was killed, I found another to heal my grief, then found my nemesis had gone to the ‘Neath and followed him - this also fits with the other Surface Tie I picked up, that of a friend bringing me secrets I’d sent them to find

I think I like that backstory, but I’ll wait a little longer and see how it sits

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