Just started playing the game the other day. Its a port of the one I played on the Playstation way back in the day, which I feel is a port of an older game as well. I remember it came on a second separate disc when I purchased Chrono Crisis (a ridiculously good RPG).
Anywho, I am enjoying Crono Trigger DS. The DS has a lot of nice RPGs going for it, while the PS3 and Wii do not. Thus, Crono Trigger is the way to go right now.
So between playing Sacred 2 and other stuff, I got around to beating Spidey Web of Shadows today. It was an awesome game. The game play was spot on for the most part, and I really enjoyed the ridiculously awesome storyline.
So the story takes place with Venom’s symbioticness infecting the entire city. As Spidey, you have to stop it. Simple, right? As you go, you have to make several decisions, which fall down to whether you want Spidey to be controlled by Peter Parker (in the traditional red suit), or if you want him to embrace the dark side (using the symbiotic black suit.) A simple hit of L3 quickly switches between the two outfits, and each one has its advantages. As red Spidey, you will regenerate health faster, be quicker, and have more web attacks. As Venom, you have some really awesome symbiotic costume attacks, which made the game for me. Also, only black Spidey can lift up and hurl cars, which is a blast. As you fight baddies you gain XP, which can be used to upgrade moves for either costume.
Also, as you go through the story and beat up bosses, you will be asked to choose either a good or bad path. The good path generally has you save the boss or help him out, while the bad path will have you pummel them into submission. The bosses are either heroes (like Luke Cage and Black Cat) or villains (like Electro and Rhino). And not for nothing, but I don’t think there exists a Spidey game in which you DON’T face Rhino. But no complaints here. So anywho, you beat up the boss, and they join you. So as you play, depending on your location in the city and suit you’re wearing, you can summon someone to help you out. For example, after beating Black Cat I chose the black path, which didn’t necessarily pummel her but seduce and flirt with her (MJ is out). Thus, Cat will only come to help you if you’re wearing the black suit.
Other actions in game also affect your path. Failing to save a citizen falling out of an exploding car will give you black points, while saving the citizen and taking them to a hospital will give you red points. Anywho, this all adds up at the end of the game, with the final showdown with Venom. At this point, your past actions and whatnot will dictate how the rest of the game unfolds. If you were a good Spidey…I dunno what happens, because apparently I was a BAD Spidey. At that point, he says “screw everyone” and keeps the black suit the rest of the game, and you cannot switch back to the red suit. By doing this, I got to see the “bad” ending, so I dont know how the good one is. I would have to replay the entire game to ensure I got a good ending.
So combat is very well done in the game. As I mentioned in my first blog about the game, combat is generally fast and furious. Spidey has the ability to come swinging in, target an opponent with his web, and pull himself in for a devastating attack. Thus, many battles are you just chaining this move from one opponent to the next until they are defeated. While it sounds repetitive, its fun. This really comes into play when you face off against Vulture. He’s flying high in the sky, and you cant reach him. So you have to chain web from his minions over to him. Then the entire boss battle takes place in the sky, with you constantly trying to web him up to get some hits on him. Its a lot of fun.
Speaking of boss battles, most of them you face twice…once in their normal form, and later on in a symbiotic form. All I can say is that facing off against symbiotic Wolverine was nothing short of a blast. Also, most bosses end with a series of on-screen prompts, a la God of War, in which you have to push the X button when it appears on screen to complete the battle. These scenes were fun to watch.
There are of course a few minor issues with the game. First, I am sure that many would say that the combat is repetitive. I admit that it could be, but I always enjoyed beat ‘em ups, so it wasn’t a real issue for me. I don’t mind button mashing in the least. The thing that bothered me the most was the targeting/camera system. Pushing L2 unleashes your Spidey-sense, and you will lock onto the nearest target. Once locked on, you can use the right analog to switch between targets. That wouldn’t have been a problem if not for the fact that the right analog also controls the camera. So when you are locked on to a target and cant see him, and you hit the right analog to move the camera, all your gonna do is give yourself a headache as the screen zooms in so close that Spidey gets hidden behind walls and such that you cannot see him. This was a pain in the butt, but something I can deal with.
So yeah, there have been several open-ended Spidey games made (such as all the Spidey movie tie-ins and Ultimate Spider-Man), but I never liked them. They had silly missions and I just wasn’t enjoying myself. This game was different, and had me hooked. The graphics were great, the voice-acting was spot on, the combat system was a blast, and the story line was killer. All these things make it the best Spidey game Ive played. Spider-Man Friend or Foe does come in at a close second, thanks to its awesome beat ‘em up game play and co-op goodness, but the freedom that Web of Shadows gives you definitely surpasses it.
So if you’re a Spidey/super hero fan, check it out. Its a lot of fun to swing through the city, stopping crimes and pounding villains into the ground.
I practically lived on stir fry when at Oneonta. Steve got me into it, and I kept it going because it was such an easy, healthy meal to cook. While I was eating meat (beef, chicken, or pork) and veggies five days a week, my roommates were eating Burger King or Hungry Man frozen dinners. I really loved popping the veggies into the wok, then cutting up fresh meat and throwing it in, and when it was all done tossing in some sauce. Also, since it was all cooked in the wok it made a very easy clean up. However, I wasnt very fancy, so I used only bottled sauces, like teriyaki and Stir-Fry sauce. Shell wasnt a fan of the bottled sauce, so once we moved in together I stopped making it. However, that all changed when I made my own sauce last night.
We started the night off with some edamame, which are the soy bean thingys. We got hooked on them when we first had them at a sushi bar in Vegas. Pretty tasty appetizer for an Asian-themed night.
So for my homemade sauce, I made up an orange sauce. I based it off a recipe I found online, but altered it a bit for my own taste, and for what ingredients I had access to. I made it with chicken, and had a nice package of veggies that contained broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, red pepper, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, and water chestnuts.Shell also made some white rice which I popped everything on top of.
The sauce was pretty awesome. The taste was dead-on…had a bit of bite to it, but it was delicious. My only complaint was that it was very watery. As you can see from the pic, the sauce didnt stick to the chicken or veggies. Cara and Steve gave me the idea to add some corn starch to it to thicken it up, so I will try that next time around. If that works, I will gladly post up the recipe so everyone can make some “woky goodenss” from the comfort of their own home.
So the best part of being engaged is by far the free wedding cake tastings. We recently ordered our first tasting from Coccadots bakery. When Shell called, the bakery gave told her to select two different types of cakes to sample. I was expecting a slice of cake, while Shell expected a sampling platter with cake chunks that could be dipped into our selected fillings. We were both wrong. When Shell picked up the samples today, this is what we got:
We got two awesome mini-cakes! We ended up eating half tonight and the other half will be for tomorrow. The cakes were a very generous size, and created four large servings.
The first one was an almond cake with banana custard covered with fondunt. The fondunt and almond cake were great, and we are most probably keeping that for the final wedding cake. I enjoyed the banana, as it had chunks of banana mixed in as well, but Shell was not as big a fan.
The other cake was a marble cake with cannoil filling covered in buttercream. The marble cake was just as delicious as the almond, but the cannoli cream was the worst I ever had. It was overpowered with a very weird cinnamon flavor which I have never experienced with cannoli before. It totally ruined the cake. The buttercream was nice and sweet, but probably too sweet for a wedding cake.
As you can see, both cakes were done with amazing work. I was very impressed with the amount of effort the bakery put in to just a sample. The fact that they gave us two different ones for free and put such hard work into it practically won me over. The other bakery is gonna have to top them if they want our business, and that is going to be hard to do.
So we were walking along one of the trails at the Saratoga National Historical Park, and stumbled across this:
Its a statue/monument of a boot, surrounded by an iron fence. There was absolutely no marking on it, or signs or anything else around it. What could this odd boot be for, placed and protected on a hiking trail at a historical park?
A similar mystery unfolded itself at the Saratoga Monument. The tower, like anybuilding, had four sides. Each side had a figure from the Battle of Saratoga represented, except one:
Notice the one with a figure missing? Very odd indeed. To the untrained historian, its quite the mystery. But to someone like me, I knew exactly what was going down.
So who’s boot was that a statue of? And who’s figure was missing from the Saratoga Monument? Why, it was none other than America’s most (in)famous traitor: Benedict Arnold.
Before Arnold made history by attempting to turn West Point over to the British during the American Revolution, he was a rising star in the Continental Army. He was a great and wise leader, and a good friend of George Washington. Arnold is often referred to as the “Hero of Saratoga”, as he helped defeat the British there. During the battle, Arnold was shot in the foot and wounded, which is where the statue of the boot comes into play. Also, the Saratoga Monument was dedicated to important individuals of the Battle of Saratoga: Phillip Schulyer, Horatio Gates, Daniel Morgan, and Benedict Arnold.
So why is Arnold’s boot not labled, and why is his statue missing from its rightful place at the monument? Because he turned traitor. No one is genuinely sure why Arnold defected and attempted to simply give the British the keys to West Point, but a good theory is that it had to do with his wife. Historians believe that because his wife was a Loyalist, as was the rest of her family, there was a lot of pressure on him to defect to the British.
Regardless of the reason, he was labled America’s first traitor. Thus, how could Americans praise and remember an individual who tried to give away a key fort, and then ran to England when his plan was found out? But at the same time, he was such a great hero prior to the West Point incident, and arguably helped America win the war by taking part in key battles early on, how could Americans forget and ignore his prior service?
Thus, he has become somewhat of a “black sheep” of a family, as he is the individual that no one wants to talk about or remember exists, yet you must acknowledge his existence when someone asks about him. The boot is there to signify the wound he sustained during the Battle of Saratoga, yet it is not labled or marked in any way whatsoever, so that only someone with prior knowledge could deduce what the boot represents. Similarly, the missing statue is a way of saying “he should be here, but hes not.” No one would know who was supposed to be there unless they had an understanding of what happened with Arnold.
I think Arnold is an interesting figure. He was such a huge part of the Revolution early on, and sacrificed a lot and did a lot of good, but then he suddenly defects to the British. Its a sad and tragic story in a way, as even though Arnold escaped America and got safely to Britain, he never re-established a military name for himself. Why? Because if Arnold, an American hero, would suddenly turn his back on his country, then what would stop him from doing the same to Britain? Thus, he is ignored as a hero in America and not even remembered in Britain. Once I have time again, I would love to find a good book on him.
And in case you wanted to know a little more about Benedict Arnold…
Since we both had off, we decided to take a day trip to Saratoga. We started in the downtown area with all the shops, and just walked around. There was a park that was home to a couple of natural springs that you could drink from. I was afraid to, but Shell did it. The water was naturally carbonated, and tasted “metallic.” There were also a few war memorials there from “Saratogians” (true word used on some of the markers) who fought in various wars. We also stumbled across a bakery called Spa City Cupcakes that just made these huge gourmet cup cakes. We chose to split a S’mores one. It was delicious. I wish I had more.
We then went to PJ’s BBQ for lunch. It was decent, but it was no Brooks. Anywho, I got a chicken and rib combo. The chicken was good and smokey on the outside, but that flavor didn’t seep into the chicken, so the inner breast meat was kinda bland. The ribs were small and tough…not the best quality. The sauces were good though. There “house” sauce was a hickory one, and that was tasty. The best was the Kansas City Sweet. There was also a whiskey, mustard, and hot wing sauce, but those three didnt really go with the chicken or ribs. Shell got a bbq chicken sandwhich that was tasty. We also got a side of mac and cheese and hush puppies. The puppies were delicious, but the mac & cheese tasted exactly like the microwaved Stoufers mac my mom used to buy. I wasn’t a fan. But I was a fan of the vanilla Coke.
After that we went to the Saratoga National Historic Park, which housed the battlefields from the Battle of Saratoga, which took place during the American Revolution. It was pretty cool. You could either hike, bike, horse ride, or drive your car (guess which I took) across the nine-mile road, which has several sections marked off with information and signs, such as the location of fortifications or camps. It was pretty neat. I enjoyed it.
The final stop on our trip was to the Saratoga Monument, which was about six miles from the battlefields. The monument is HUGE. Its 155 feet tall, and it took 186 steps to climb. The monument looks kinda like the Washington Monument, so its thin and tall. We were able to climb all the way to the top. It was quite a hike, but very cool to check out.
So yeah, all in all it was a fun day. I’ll post a nerdy blog in a bit about the more historical stuff, namely the “Mystery of the Forgotten Boot” and “Who’s Missing from this Spot?” The answer is the same for both questions.
So Steve FINALLY snagged Sacred 2, and I FINALLY didn’t have a DNS error for awhile, so I was FINALLY able to play some co-op online tonight. It was a blast.
Since he just got the game, I created a new character to go along with him. So I now have a level 35 Shadow Warrior and a level 3 Inquisitor. Getting online was a breeze. Once you start a game, hit pause and theres an option to invite a friend. Your friend just has to accept the invite from the game’s main screen, and then select join game, and bam, you’re in the game.
One of the best parts of the online co-op is that you dont have to stay on screen with your buddy. In theory, you can each be at opposite ends of the continent, doing your own thing. What is great though is that your buddy becomes a new instant travel marker, so you can teleport to your friend’s location at a moment’s notice. I thought that was neat. I also enjoyed how easy it was to make trades with your friend, and how you each get experience and gold for completing quests (so there is no competing for quest rewards.) Voice chat worked great, and had no problems with that. I didn’t notice any lag at all, which was great. So thanks to the voice chat, I was able to start walking him through the basics of the game.
The game is fun by yourself, but its definitely a lot more fun with a buddy. I really hope to get some more co-op going as time goes on.
“No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater than central air.” -Azreal.
Anyone know the movie? No cheating! (this means you Steve)
Heres a hint:
So now that I completed my first stint as a student teacher, it is time to prepare for the next. While last semester was a half-day middle school, this one is a full-day high school. I got to visit the school and meet with my teacher today.
The school is the complete opposite of where I was last semester. Rather than an urban school with majority African American students, this school is about 90% white students, in the suburbs. The school is one of the wealthiest in the district, and has extremely high expectations of its students. I like the fact that every classroom has a computer and projector hook-up. No longer will I have to drag my laptop to class everyday!
I will be teaching 11th grade American History. I will have AP classes and intergraded classes (not sure exactly how much of each yet.) The AP classes will be right up my alley, as they are strictly lecture-based (district guidelines are extremely strict). The AP students are given an assignment over the summer in which they must read the textbook on their own, and the second day of school they must write an essay on a random question dealing with one of the chapters. I thought that was very intense. It is the intergraded classes that I will be able to play around with, and do projects and different kinds of activities.
My teacher seems cool. He is also the football and lacrosse coach, and he also is the head of the faculty for the school. So yeah, Im rolling with the big wig.
So my day will start there at 7:15am, and run on til about 2:30-3:00 in the afternoon. Not too shabby.
In other news, I got my sweet student loan check in for a princely sum. This will allow me to quit work after the summer so that I wont be struggling with work while busting my butt for this intense school district. I look forward to it.
The only thing I regret is this…all I know is American history. I was kinda hoping to get a 9th or 10th grade class so that I would be forced to bone up on my World history, but no, I gotta perfect my American history instead. So my mind is still fresh from the previous semester, but at the same time, I kinda looked forward to working with some new content. It will make this semester much easier, but will really hurt me later on when I look at the job market. I dont know if I’ll be confident snagging a sweet 9th or 10th grade job, since my content knowledge is sub-par.
If only they had a class on Russian history…
After dinner Shell and I headed out to see Star Trek. I was never a fan of any of the TV series or movies. Actually, I take that back…I could enjoy watching The Next Generation, and I LOVED First Contact. But the only thing I liked about the original series is the episode of Futurama when the cast is stranded on the planet with the alien thingy who thinks their characters were real. So even though I was never a “Trekie”, I eventually wanted to see it. It seemed fast-paced and actiony, and not as lame as the original series seems to be. The movie looked good enough that Shell wanted to go too, and she also wanted to see it to see Sylar (Zachary Quinto) play Spock.
I enjoyed it emmensly. It was indeed fast-paced and actiony. I also felt like I could sit back, enjoy, and understand without being steeped in Star Trek lore. I thought the acting was top-notch (Quinto plays a good Vulcan- he has the voice for it) and it was an all-around great sci-fi movie. It’s sort of like Batman Begins I guess, where they are re-invigorating an old storyline of TV shows/movies. I look forward to sequels. Shell walked out of the movie trying but failing to give the Vulcan sign for “live long and prosper.”
The only thing I didn’t like was the time-travel paradox. Time travel is an iffy subject, and everyone has their own theories. One of my theories is that a past and future person cannot make contact. That happens in this movie, and I wasn’t a fan of it. I dont think it was necessary. But thats just me. I guess thats just my feeble human mind trying to understand the inconceivable. Whatevs.
Needless to say, the movie was awesome. Shell and I saw it, my parents saw it, my aunt and uncle saw it…the only one of that group who is a “trekie” is my mom, but each and every one of us enjoyed it. I think its safe to say that this is one of the must see movies of the summer.
This place was amazing. We’ve driven past it a few times, and were curious. Today we decided to finally check it out. Shell had been doing research on it online, and found mostly raving reviews. They have no official website, but here is a review from the local paper:
http://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/restaurants/onerestaurant.asp?RestaurantID=1276
Now for my review.
I loved it. The atmosphere was very awesome. The decor was like a Southern home, mixed with tons of “Americana” (red white and blue junk all over the walls). It was cozy, but had two rooms to kinda space it out more.The service was fast and friendly. Food came fast, and service was extremely nice.
The menu was very reasonably priced. We ended up getting “blue plate specials”, which for $8.95 consisted of soup or salad, a choice of a few different entrees, and a slice of the “pie of the day. Shell went for the chicken and dumplings, which she said were better than Cracker Barrells. I got yankee pot roast, which was delicious. What was also awesome was the mashed potatoes…they were literally the best I ever had in a restaurant. Ridiculously creamy and super tasty, they were. My dinner also came with a side of apple sauce, which was out of this world. You wouldnt think that apple sauce could be different from place to place, but this was. It actually tasted like apple pie, so I think they must use some of the apple pie filling in their sauce.
As for the pie, todays special was apple walnut. Very delicious. The crust is light, flaky, and perfect. Beats out any diner pie I have ever had by far. There were also many different varities that they make, such as apple, lemon, boston cream, peach, and strawberry rhubarb (only naming a few.) The place is known best for its pie, and after today I can see why.
All in all, it cost us $19.00 and change for two dinners two salads, meals (including the main course and two sides), pieces of pie, and drinks. You cant beat that. If you’re in or around Albany, definitely check it out. You wont regret it.
Dont worry Cara…we’ll take you there next time you come up!
So Blink-182 have reformed, and their summer tour is taking them up to SPAC. I definitely intend on seeing them. Its going to be a great show. They are touring with Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and several others. Will definitely be a great time. I really did miss them.
So I came home today to the surprise that my camera was already here! They just shipped it yesterday, so I got it within one day. I guess its because the company is from Brooklyn. So that was a nice treat to come home to (and so was Shell’s mannicoti.)
So heres my first video. As you can see, its of Loki. I was just fooling around with a half-charged battery to see what the camera could do. I definitely see a major differnce in quality compared to my old one. I was really astounded by the sound quality. It picks up sound very well, and it plays back just as good.
So yeah, heres the first of many videos to come. Now you can all meet the bain of my existence…Loki!
