The Energon Pub

[Supreme Convoy]

I started playing God of War. Wow, that's a stunning looking game! Over the weekend, I got up to the part where Kratos is in the giant temple on the Last Titan. The game is getting tougher...

[Shadowman]

Left 4 Dead:
Holy Zombie Jesus.

Where to begin with this one? Any good hype you may have heard is well deserved. that's it, that's all there is too it. Dawn of the Dead (2004 version, oh yes, these Zombies can run) meets Counter-Strike. (If you look closely, several props in-game are taken directly from CS and Half-Life 2)

Just beat the Campaign "No Mercy," where the Survivors have to fight their way to the top of a hospital. (Starting several blocks away)

Now on Death Toll, apparently going through a town called Riverside. Unfortunately, the campaigns feel disconnected from one-another. Probably because this is a multiplayer game at it's heart.

And a fun piece of dialogue:

Louis: This must be the water main for Riverside!
Bill: How the hell do you know that?
Louis: Interesting story. In 1975, the township--
Bill: You know what? I just realized I don't care.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Mega Man ZX (GBA)

FINALLY! I managed to get that impossible-to-get Secret Disk (with Flammole's entry) and the last hidden Sub Tank from Area K. No more having to race through that lava trap room!
Now I have everything: all Life Upgrades, all Biometals (even Model OX) level 4, all Sub Tanks, complete Database. I guess all that's left is getting Lvl 4 Victories on all bosses (not that I would unlock anything with that...)

But that was just Vent Normal Mode. I've tried Hard Mode with Aile, but I'm stuck at Fistleo and Lurerre, can't seem to beat either of them without damaging the Biometal too much (fixing them is so expensive...) What should I do? Stay Normal Mode (and be a wimp) or keep going on Hard Mode?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Did I just kill the thread?

*attempts to revive it*

Mega Man ZX (GBA)

Well, carried on with Hard Mode with Aile and, against all odds, managed to defeat Lurerre with a Lvl 4 Victory! Using Model PX to force back her big ice beam was a good idea after all Now for Fistleo and Model F... Have mentioned I *hate* regenerating bosses?

[Decatron]

REmake

Unlocked invisible enemy mode and one dangerous zombie.

[The Happy Locust]

Far Cry 2
More side-missions for the weapons dealer. Ran a buddy mission that involved assassinating a radio-tower controller who was spreading very bad (albeit true) rumors about my buddy and offering a reward for his head. Needless to say, that station is now off the air.
Ran another mission for the UFLL. The APR is making sure all foreign aid supplies get dropped only on the rich (who are paying nicely for the luxury) My job is to find the man organizing the drops and "kindly" ask him to stop. My buddy decided we should take advantage of the situation by forcing the organizer to drop where we want to. In summary, I threatened the drop organizer until he dropped supplies for my buddy, then killed him to stop further drops. Finally, drove to the drop site to help my buddy pick up the goods before the locals could get a hand on it. Aren't we just so socially conscious?

[Counterpunch]

100% aced LBP

100% items "coming soon"

[Shadowman]

Freelancer:
Just got this back from Tweezy. If you don't know what it is, imagine Elder Scrolls, in Space.

Currently running missions for the Liberty Security Force. A guy who owed the main character, Trent, a lot of money, is apparently nutzo. Now I've got to go find a guy smuggling Alien Artifacts, then shoot him to death with lasers, and probably missiles. (I tend to be kind of...shall we say, liberal when it comes to the usage of missiles)

[Supreme Convoy]

I just finished God of War right now!

I had the game on normal difficulty. It's tough but manageable until I hit the final battle with Ares. I could not gain any leverage in the sword fight and I died probably 20 times. Luckily the game gives you that option of switching into easy mode. I took the easy route just to see the ending.

Seriously though, one of the best PS2 games I played!

[Shadowman]

:BOT: I just finished God of War right now!

I had the game on normal difficulty. It's tough but manageable until I hit the final battle with Ares. I could not gain any leverage in the sword fight and I died probably 20 times. Luckily the game gives you that option of switching into easy mode. I took the easy route just to see the ending.

Seriously though, one of the best PS2 games I played!

After I beat Ares in that final battle, I swear, I was actually sweating. It was that intense.

Freelancer:
Brought the smuggler guy back to the New York system (All systems and planets are named after places). Then I got a new ship, some spiffy new weapons, and almost died four times by two random gangs. Hurrah!

[Psycho Warrior]

Halo 3
Completed legendary with a friend. this weekend we go for the vidcaster achivement on the level Halo

[Shadowman]

Freelancer:
Ow.

Escorted a freighter convoy through an asteroid field. That wasn't hard; babysitting mission's aren't bad. It was the goddamn pirates. I barely survived, bu spent pretty much everything I had on repairs and re-equipment. (It is important to note that if you're wing gets shot off and lost, so does the gun attached to the wing. Annoying, but still a nice touch of detail)

Then we went back in because we had to defend a station. I died three or four times. Upon FINALLY completing the mission, I had to spend the last of my money because, again, I lost a wing. (Although before, I had lost both, leaving me with one gun, one turret, and two missile launchers)

I learned a lesson, in that if several well-armed men want to kill you, and they really put an effort into it, it doesn't matter how much repair equipment you have, you will die.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Mega Man ZX
OK, skipping Fistleo for now and went after Hurricaune. Got Lvl 4 Victory (kinda easy not to hit her weak spot) and a thus a larger Model H Biometal Gauge. I'll certainly need that for Fistleo.
4 Pseudoroids down, that means it's Assault on Guardian HQ Time with the battle with Prometheus. My favorite battle and music

[Baseball Tonight]

I'm playing relatively old PS2 games

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - completed the first 7 or 8 missions, but mostly exploring - gotta find out where all the bribes are.

Xenosaga - about 32 hours in, got to rescue the people during the Gnosis attack on the Foundation

Final Fantasy X - 10 hours in, caught up with Aeon after the Fiends attack following the blitzball game.

[Shadowman]

Freelancer:
Youch.

The guys I was working for suddenly decided they didn't like me, because some guy I didn't know handed me an item I didn't want, and then an officer about to illegally kill me was in turn shot by another officer. What the hell, people?

So screw them, I'm working with different people now. British people!

EDIT: And now the German people are trying to screw me over. They want the alien thing I have, and are actively trying to murder me. And, of the last story mission, all I got out of this, was that somewhere in the universe is a guy who understands what is going on, but we do not know where he is, or if he's alive...so nothing has really changed from the last mission, except how many bruises my ship has gotten.

Rheinland (The German guys I mentioned) now have cloaking tech. And they're shooting civilian cargo ships. And setting up blockades. And attacking people outside of their territories, inside of other people's territories. I'm no political analyst, but I know an act of war when I see one, and engaging in combat against civilians in some other person's territory is an act of war.

[The Happy Locust]

Far Cry 2
still running missions for both sides. the UFLL hasn't had any jobs so I've grudgingly started working for the APR again. First mission was to destroy yet another radio operation; The so-called Liberation Radio. My merc Buddy had another plan, however. He wanted me to force the radio operator to give a fake message that would distract attention from his own jobs. However, this meant taking out the radio censor at a separate location. Good thing I had a handy-dandy cure-all tool: A grenade launcher.
After taking out the censor (and scoring one for free speech), immediately destroyed any possible heroic meanings by then forcing the radio operator to broadcast a false message, then immediately killing him.
A quick tip from an informant told me of a foreigner being held hostage. I rescued said hostage, who turned out to be yet another mercenary who now declared himself my friend (I've got more mercs than the country has soldiers at this point).
Next mission for the APR, destroy the country's only fresh water pipeline to prevent the enemy from profiting from it. these guys really don't think long-term, do they? '
Anyway, this mission need high explosives so I raided the diamond mine for some TNT. My merc buddy called with a request: destroy the pipe-line's cutoff valve so that the area would flood. I saw potential in this and took a side-trip to destroy the cut-off system. This had a very nice bonus. A formerly dry riverbed is now fully flooded and has given me a waterway into the southwestern portion of the map which I'd normally have to drive through. Very nice. Too bad my buddy was working as security guard at the mine. His bosses put two and two together and he was immediately under fire. I quickly ran to his aid and saved him.
All in a day's work. According to the game, I've only put in 22 hours but I'm also only 73% done with the game. Plenty more content to go.

EDIT: or so I thought. Things have suddenly taken a turn for the absurd again.
The APR has apparently discussed peace with the UFLL again (for the record, that worked out great last time, oy... ). My job was to be a courier. I deliver a terms agreement to the UFLL leader and then return with a "good faith" package consisting of a briefcase of diamonds. On the way out of the meeting, a buddy of mine asked that I deliver the message but not the diamonds, instead stealing them so all us merc types could pay a pilot to ferry us out of the country. I was in on that deal for sure.
Upon reaching the UFLL leader's mansion, found the place completely wrecked and the leader dead but the diamonds were still there. Once I grabbed the diamonds, the Jackal showed up, stole the diamonds and knocked me out.
I woke up in a local prison, having been blamed for the murder. My merc buddy was in the next cell. My other buddies are alive but whereabouts currently unknown. After my buddy was carted away for interrogation, I broke into his cell, snuck out through it, collected some gear, and then killed every guard I could find while also rescuing my buddy. After escaping the prison, got a call from the 2nd-in-command of the UFLL asking for a meeting.
I met with the new UFLL commander (a fellow merc himself) who is not happy about suddenly being thrust into a position of power and he wants the other side to be on equal footing. My new mission is to assassinate the APR leader so that both sides are brought down a peg but still equal in power and influence.

[Shadowman]

Super Mario 64:
Two words: Nostalgia Sandwich. And shockingly free of rose-colored glasses.

Nabbed ten stars, so I'm already 1/12 of the way there! Also I killed Bowser in the Dark World...now who is Ganon going to play 20 Questions with?!

[Dreadwolf]

Mega Man X: Command Mission
Defeated Ninetails, acquired all music and video files, and Axl's "Ancient Gun" weapon.

[The Happy Locust]

Far Cry 2
it seems hilariously tragic, but most of my latest missions have been intra-factional. Old friends from up north showed up hoping to lead the UFLL now. The new leader of the UFLL was already on a hit-list. I was sent by the next guy in command to take him out. Luckily, I got a better offer (after killing his aide) and immediately returned to my first employer, happily sniping him from the roof of the other faction's building (it just seemed right).
Next mission, another merc decided to make a play for the APR's leadership and hired me due to my recent track record of "promoting" others. Once again, target made a counter-offer and the upstart happily took a bullet for his faction's future... Well, maybe not happily but I'm sure someone was smiling.
REceived word from a journalist friend that both factions (now run by mercs) were joining forces. Unfortunately, that meant killing anyone who spoke against them. They rounded up all the journalists to "deport" them. Luckily my journalist friend had his cellphone. I came to his rescue and immediately freed them. He finally had something to offer me for my troubles; Information.
I was given the Jackal's location and met him in a prison. I was expecting a fight but instead he convinced me that he was on the right side in this battle. His arms dealing was to bring down the corrupt factions to protect the civilians (crossfire being an unfortunate but acceptable cost). He's also arranged for pretty much every civilian in the country to flee the country (my earlier underground support missions had actually been helping this end). With the civilians gone, we're free to take out the leadership. Firstly, I need to go off a guy who stole the Jackal's briefcase of diamonds (not the same ones he stole from me) and then go to take out the new joint government.
Considering I'm at 96%, It's a fair bet to say this is the last mission in the game.

[Shadowman]

Super Mario 64:
Up to 14 stars, and I unlocked the Wing and Invisible Caps.

Freelancer:
Now I'm in a Japanese themed area, because I was chased out of the British themed area by the German themed guys who don't seem to be worried about starting a damned war.

[Psycho Warrior]

Halo 3
Current achievement count: 910 gamerpoints.

[The Happy Locust]

Far Cry 2
GAME.OVER!
Some surprising but completely logical and believable twists to end this game. So much so that I'm going to write the rest in spoiler alert mode.
SPOILER ALERT!

Okay, so I'm still working with the Jackal to help the civilian population escape. Firstly, I had to go retrieve the Jackal's diamonds so that we could bribe the border guards at the country or else none of our refugees were making it accross the border. When I reached the landing zone to retrieve the briefcase, I found a bunch of my buddies waiting. Good news! Oh wait, they need the diamonds to escape the country themselves and I can't have them? We have a minor disagreement but there's a very easy way to solve this. Excuse me...
Okay, 5 minutes and 6 corpses later, I have my diamonds. Too bad I just had to kill every one of my surviving merc buddies. sigh...
Okay, moving on. The remaining leadership of the UFLL and APR had decided to join forces, which is a pretty good reason why everyone's in such a hurry to flee the country. I reached their meeting point, took them both out, and killed the remaining guards. Reconvened with the Jackal, who gave me my final mission. One of us had to detonate a bomb to destroy the pass so that soldiers could not follow the civilians while the other took the diamonds to the border to bribe the guards into letting everyone pass. The catch? The bomb had no remote detonator so one of us had to go up there with a car battery and sacrifice himself. The other would deliver the diamonds and then kill himself. Considering we were both suffering from terminal malaria, it was a moot point. I chose the detonation.
I reached the explosives, rigged up some wires, and then watched everything go black. :explode:
My journalist friend, now at the border, saw the distant explosion and knew it was over. the Jackal delivered the diamonds and then his own story ended with a bang.
In the epilogue, over 2 million refugees fled the country thanks to our efforts. the cease-fire between the factions fell apart almost immediately and the country remains war-torn. The journalist's report of the tragedies was completely overlooked by the international media (typical) but he's not going to stop trying. The end.

This was a good game. A really good game. I highly reccomend this to anyone looking for something to play because you will not be disappointed. that's really all I can say about it.

[Shadowman]

Super Mario 64:
20 Stars, unlocked all three caps. Kicked that damned rabbits ass. (It was annoying when I was a kid, and it has not changed since)

EDIT:

Freelancer:
BEATEN! An ancient alien species was possessing various high-ranking government and military officials, to weaken the system through a massive civil war, and then take over.

We invited them over for tea to discuss our differences rationally...

...Nah, I'm kidding, we blew them all up. That's the American Way!

[Shadowman]

Did everyone stop playing games all of a sudden? Where is everyone?!

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night:
NOT the PSP version packed in with Dracula X Chronicles. Instead the PS1 quasi-emulated version from the PlayStation Store. I wanted to get it because A: I wanted to try the original product and B: It's Castlevania, and Konami has some kind of mind control device implanted in me...I knew there was something funny in that drink Hideo Kojima gave me! I thought it was drugs!

Just met Maria, and I can see why they felt the need to redo the script; "What do you here?" WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! I mean, it's not a typo, the context made sound like she was supposed to be asking why Alucard came to the Castle. Man, lazy translators. Same reason that guy in Metal Gear said "I feel asleep."

Getting ready to fight the Doppelganger.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Mega Man ZX Advent
With some help from GameFAQs I got all secret disks of the game! Now for getting all medals (which will be hard, especially Argoyle and Ugoyle) My stats so far:

Buckfire (Deerburn): Bronze
Rospark: Bronze
Chronoforce: Silver
Vulturon (Condorock): Bronze
Queenbee (Kaisemine): Bronze, Silver
Hedgeshock (Tesrat): Bronze
Argoyle & Ugoyle: None
Bifrost: Silver

Total: 8 out of 24

Sucky, no?