Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the seasick crocodile

[vovat]

bethje and I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas! last night. Beth has Rudolph and Charlie Brown on tape, so we've already seen those this year. I haven't seen Frosty the Snowman in years, though. Granted, it's not as good as those other Christmas specials, but I still wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Speaking of the Grinch, when I was in ninth grade, all the homerooms had were supposed to decorate for holidays, and there was a contest for the best. Some rooms would come up with these elaborate decorations. For instance, on Halloween, one of them had "Pumpkin Pool," with the pumpkin decorated like an eight-ball. My homeroom, however, was very lazy when it came to these things. On the day of the December door-judging, we had absolutely nothing, and someone suggested we should put up a sign saying, "The Grinch stole our decorations!" I thought it was a clever idea, but the teacher vetoed it.

A Yahoo News article [EDIT: which no longer appears to exist] on Wikipedia mentions how someone added in some false information about the Kennedy assassination as a joke. I guess there's always this sort of danger on a site that anyone can update. I remember when Phil Hartman died, some jerk posted to the IMDB that he was in a movie called "Help, My Wife Is Crazy and Has a Gun," or something like that. The thing is, anyone can also edit or question problematic additions, so I would imagine that it usually balances out. It's probably a good idea to double-check information from Wikipedia with another source, but isn't that the case with ANY source?

Anyway, this morning, I finished with the first Phantasy Star game. I had to consult a walkthrough for quite a few things, because I suck at video games. Actually, I guess I don't suck THAT badly, because most of the battles that the walkthrough writer said were really hard weren't so much for me. When I'm close to the end of a game, though, I usually don't want to bother trying to find my way through dungeons. I just want to get it over with. I can only imagine how difficult it is for the people who actually write the walkthroughs. I ended up beating the final boss twice, because the Governor of Motavia asks you a yes/no question afterwards, and I wanted to see how he reacted to each response. For the most part, the ending is exactly the same either way. After a brief ending sequence, there are credits. Fish Man wasn't involved with this one, but the writer is identified as "April Fool." I wonder if that's like when they had Simpsons episodes credited to "Penny Wise" and "Pound Foolish."


The game was made in 1988, so it's rather primitive by today's standards. The graphics, sound, and story aren't particularly fancy. Nevertheless, it was a fun game overall.

What I liked about the game:

• The main character is female, which is all too rare in the world of video games. Sure, there's Samus Aran, but she's apparently ashamed to reveal her gender, since she wears that gender-neutral suit until after she's defeated Mother Brain.
  
• In another case of minority representation, one of the other party members is a cat. And there's one point where this cat can grow wings and fly, which is a really cool idea.
  
• Space travel! There are three different planets to explore, each one with its own climate and people. They're small planets, certainly, but what do you expect from a game from the late eighties? There are spaceports, and you can eventually get your own spaceship.
  
• There are several vehicles you can find or purchase, each with their own uses. In addition to the spaceship, there's a hovercraft, a landspeeder, and an ice digger.
  
• The idea of being able to talk to enemies is pretty cool, even if it doesn't seem to be that useful. There are some people where, if you talk to them, they'll leave you alone. A good way to avoid unnecessary fights, but not a very good source of information. I didn't try the telepathy spells very often, though, so maybe I missed out on something in this respect.
  

What I didn't like so much:

• I don't much care for the first-person view in dungeons. It's an interesting idea, but it makes exploring them way too difficult. Most of the time, I got through dungeons through sheer luck. There were others where I had to use a walkthrough.
  
• There were times when I couldn't really tell what to do next. I mean, I don't think I ever would have considered using the polymaterial to find Hapsby the robot without the walkthrough. I don't think directions necessarily need to be handed to the player on a silver platter, but there were some instances when more hints would have come in handy. And, with the difficult dungeon view that I mentioned in the last item, you could often wander around with no idea as to what it is you're actually looking for.
  
• Lack of character development. Yes, that was pretty much par for the course with early games like this. A little bit more characterization for Lassic, for instance, might have been nice, though.
  
• Unhelpful salespeople. I guess I'm somewhat spoiled by later games where, when you look at a weapon or piece of armor in a store, you'll be told who can use it, and whether it will increase their power. Not only is there nothing like that in Phantasy Star, but it can be tough to decipher what the extremely abbreviated names for things (e.g., "Crc. Sld.") actually mean.
  

As for the ugly...uh, I guess the dragons are pretty ugly. And I think the most amusing line in the game is when a girl named Miki asks if you like Sega games.

Next it'll be on to Phantasy Star 2, I suppose.

And here's how I taste:

You taste like a steaming hot bowl of gazpacho.
You are spicy and diverse. Your delicately
seasoned bits drive people with good taste
pretty wild.


How do you taste?
brought to you by Quizilla

Comments

[loz]

I remember when Phil Hartman died, some jerk posted to the IMDB that he was in a movie called "Help, My Wife Is Crazy and Has a Gun," or something like that.

UGHHH. That is more than insensitive, that's barbaric.

Around Christmas time my inner Phil Hartman fangirl always makes an appearance, mostly because one of my favourite Christmas movies is Jingle All The Way (it's so bad, it's good). Lately I've been watching NewsRadio, primarily for Dave Foley, but it just brought home to me how wonderful Phil was.

Even if I didn't like him so much, I'd still think that's a jerky thing to do.



The other Nathan I know likes playing retro/vintage/ancient video games too. Hmmm.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

UGHHH. That is more than insensitive, that's barbaric.

Yeah, I know. :( And I'll bet the guy who did it thought he was being hilarious.

I really don't know if it's that easy to change things on the IMDB nowadays.

I've never seen Jingle All the Way. I kind of want to, just to see how bad it is. I wonder if it's required viewing in California nowadays. {g}

And 1988 isn't ancient! I was playing video games long before that. What about "Hunt the Wumpus"? That game was pretty cool.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

On the day of the December door-judging, we had absolutely nothing, and someone suggested we should put up a sign saying, "The Grinch stole our decorations!" I thought it was a clever idea, but the teacher vetoed it.


Your teacher's a grinch! That was a good idea, dangit!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think it was, too. I probably would have voted for it, if I had been on the Judging Committee or whatever.