Shea's HardestLevel

Bio Shock Mega Review Part 6!

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:32:55 GMT

I killed it. I killed it! Oh my god that took four hours. I defeated the last Big Daddy in Fontain Fisheries, and I didn't use a single first aid kit. There was a health station around the corner :wink: ha ha! I read that message that said "You have not defeated all the Big Daddies" or whatever it said right before I went to turn the pictures into Peach. I said to myself "hmmm" do I loose the chance to get the last one? Have I lost the one I left behind back at Stienman's?

So I took account of my weapons. 15 frag grenades. 6 proximity mines. 4 explosive buck, and 40 anti-personel rounds. 4 hours later and countless reloads of the game later …I killed it with exactly that much ammo.

He was standing underneath the security camera that you use the first sentry glob plasmid on. I saved and started this all roughly four feet from the door that leads down to the first aid station at the bottom of the stairs that kind of curl around. The plan went as such. Hit the Big Daddy in the head 6 times with the proximity mine. Run down and heal. Run back. Hit the Big Daddy in the head 6 times with a frag grenade. Run down and heal. Run back. Hit the Big Daddy in the head with 5 frag grenades. Switch to the loaded shotgun and pop him. Switch to the loaded machine gun and empty the clip. Win.

I won. The last stand was 6 perfect proximity mines to the head, followed by a barrage of ricocheting frag grenades flying everywhere as I ran back to the first aid kit. 6 frag grenades right to that Rosie's dome while standing inbetween the two doors, and a desperate dance with the shotgun and machine Gun on the two staircases above and below the first aid kit. The final takedown was actually a shotgun blast. I had switched up and emptied antipersonel rounds on the Big Daddy from the base of the stairs that lead up from the platform that the first aid kit is on. I took a proximity mine to the face and ran back to the first aid station and spent my last ten bucks.

I spun around with the shotgun ready and I could tell that Big Daddy here was down to nothing. Pow pow! He is on fire and I duck down the stairs. I stand. I wait for hearbeats. Big Daddy doesn't come round the corner. I dart back up the stairs and I see the little red haired girl dancing and pointing at me with the syringe. Pow! Pow!

I have full health. The Big Daddy is a charred mess in the pipes. Half in the wall as though it had partially disintegrated. Little Sister is crying over her lost protector. The options to harvest or rescue her come up.

Bio Shock Mega Review Part 6

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:39:18 GMT

I killed another Big Daddy, and I am itching to take on the last one in this level. By "this level" I mean Fontain Fisheries. Hardly just begun - I know, but between the rocket launcher, electric buck, and explosive buck I think I can two step with the Big Daddy's pretty well. As it stands my only question is where to take him on. The last one I took out I had the help of a rocket turret, but I don't think I needed it. Particularly since I was able to upgrade my retaliation shock ability to level two using the Camera, and boy is it nice to get a first aid kit off of a dead spider splicer!

I have to say that I really like the Camera item. It is a nice element in the game in that it gives you a goal other than simply kill kill kill. I find myself striving to get that "A" photograph. Instead of darting in and out of a room I have to dance around a little bit to try and get a nice shot of my enemies before I switch to weapons and take them down. I am thinking that the decoy plasmid power might help get a better shot of my enemies by giving me some breathing room to snap a shot of them before they start attacking me - but I am loath to reassign a plasmid slot away from a more attack worthy power - that may be a wrong move on my part. Proper use of tactical abilities is probably the best way to go.

I know that I certainly find hacking the turrets and sentry bots onto my side is working out in my favor.

Speaking of hacking, I am really enjoying the hacking mini-game. When this is all said and done and I have gotten poor whatsisname out of rapture, transformed him into a Big Daddy, or whatever it is that happens at the end of this game I fully intend to go looking for a flash widget that allows me to play the hacking tube game like you would minesweeper! Thats how much I am enjoying hacking! I don't think there is a turret, security camera, vending machine, or sentry bot yet that I have not hacked. I don't even use the freeze ability to slow the water flow down! Not that I have found the freeze ability garden yet - but even when I do I may pass it over in favor of something more combat worthy.

I guess it all depends on how things go! Well, back to Rapture!

Bio Shock Mega Review Continued!

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:20:18 GMT

All right! PSN is back up and I got some time on the machine!

I have killed a Big Daddy. Not just one but two! And I got a Trophy!

In my last session of Bio Shock I really made some headway. I got the Telekinesis Plasmid and woot! Thats fun! I really do enjoy the TK. I am getting pretty good at snapping the grenades out of the air and sending them back at my enemies. I am not good enough to use them in combat with the Big Daddies, but I am going to try it in my next Big Daddy fight. There was a Nitro Splicer in the middle of that first Big Daddy fight, but I just let him get killed. I took down that Big Daddy the same way I took the second one down - with the Shotgun. I am a dartin and weavin bad ass. Switching back and forth from Shock and Shotgun while running backwards in a circle around the wall!

Whoo!

I also have the retributive shock ability set so that when the Big Daddy does manage to lay a hand on me he is stunned and I have a moment to hit the first aid button. I am hacking the turrets first thing so the Big Daddy is distracted by destroying those for pretty much the first half of his Life Bar, but after that - its all dancin like a butterfly! Sting with a Shotgun! Actually on the second Big Daddy - in Fontaine Fisheries I had a chance to buy Electro Buck before going into the battle - so it was just that much easier. In case you are curious I decided to free the Little Sisters instead of Harvesting them. Sigh.. the perpetual good guy - then again - I have gotten my first teddy bear out of the deal - so it ain't that bad!

Thats about where I am. Killed that big daddy in the big room with all the splicers and turrets. I have hacked the missile turret in the next room, and made it too the Plasmid Upgrade station. I bought the extra space to have all three of my plasmids Shock, Flame, and Telekinesis available at all times. As far as the power-ups that I am looking at right now: Electro Bolt (sorry I like to call it shock), Telekinesis, and I switched the Flame out for the Hypnotize Big Daddy that I bought and haven't had a chance to test out yet. I have Hacker's Delight and Eve Link set up for Physical Tonics. Security Expert for Engineering Tonics, and Armored Shell along with Static Discharge for my Combat Tonics.

I am ready to jump back in and take on the next Big Daddy!

Well isn't that a how ya doing?

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:05:16 GMT

Emergency interruption of the Bio-Shock Mega Review.

The Playstation Network is Down! Countless gamers everywhere are unable to access their digital playgrounds! Its not my Playstation or I would be pissed! As far as I understand it the Playstation system is to connected to its network that even games that you don't play online are not able to play because they are relying on constantly updated information on the internet. Basically if the designers included an automatic downloadable content feature into the creation of their game - that game is now inaccessible until whatever is causing the problem is resolved. This means I can't play Bio-Shock. This means that even attempting to play Bio-Shock runs the risk of corrupting my save file, deleting my trophies, or worse.

The most profoundly amazing part of this is that PSN spokespeople have said that they do not know what the problem is. They know that it happened to the network as its calender switched from February to March. It has not happened to everyone, and it will be resolved ASAP. It makes you wonder what could do this to such a network? Is it a person? A entity of some sort that attacked the network? Could they have implanted a timed virass alert to activate at an appointed time like in Hackers? Hack the planet! Hackers

Bio Shock. Mega Review. pg4

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:39:02 GMT

Well. That was vicious. I find a shotgun and then the lights go out and a hoard of Splicers jump out of nowhere and kill me. Made me kinda wish changing weapons was easier, but its hard to say how it could be easier without reading my mind or pausing the game play for a second. I have now gotten myself killed three times while switching weapons which means that my weakest control point is the weapon change and reload delay. The master FPS-er in my head says that I should calculate for my weaknesses and tactically compensate for them, and that is probably true. The truth is I don't play video games, FPS or otherwise, very often so I am not surprised at all that I am getting mobbed by Splicers and Turrets.

Actually I have totally mobbed on the Turrets so far. I use the electro-shock power, run up, and hack them. I am very good at the hacking game and have only failed it a couple times so far. I like the hacking game. I think it should be available as a stand alone "minesweeper" game. Might be available actually ... let me check ... well it didn't show up on a quick Google search. Its fun! You are given a "gameboard" of tube pieces that you have to switch and swap until you have created a complete path for water to flow through. If you don't create a complete water tube from start to finish before the time runs out the system shocks you and deals damage. If you succeed the machine is considered hacked and you either gain control of the turret or you gain access to restricted items at the vending machines.

Right now I am standing between two turrets I have taken control of and attempting to enter into the offices of Dr Stienman. A doctor driven mad by the power of Adam! Wish me luck as I trudge onward through the mirk and mire of the first Bio Shock!

Bio Shock. Mega Review. pg3

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:52:51 GMT

So I died. Not very long after I posted. I was forced to step into the light and triggered an alarm. I ran out of EVE and bullets and was killed while switching to the wrench. Ignominious, but I do have it on super hard. At an ally's suggestion I created a PlayStation :r: Network account and am sad to see that "Screencasting" is not a jump out option. It may be there somewhere but I am not finding it right away. Well I am going to get back to unraveling the secrets of Andrew Ryan and ... barring the three Trophies I already got you should be able to see my progress with this nifty dohicky.

Zzzzzap! Clang!

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:27:09 GMT

Alright I just met the Big Daddies and it told me to save. Sounds like a good blogging point. Conroller wishes right quick. Hold R3 for run, pick up things with x, and ... hm I forgot one. If I don't remember later then it was probably not that great of an idea. I very much find myself wishing I could run. Particularly as I am getting the crap beat out of me. I have not died yet. And I have disabled vita chambers.

I found an Elevator in the middle of this huge tower. No gods or kings only man. An amazing underground city falling to part. Rapture is dead the signs say. I have met a man named Atlas and I have agreed to help save his family from this place. I found a recording of a woman's death and I have seen one full ghost. Splicers have nearly killed me three times, and I have Lightning Bolt‼ Killing the people in the water is bad ass. I tried to lure one of the Splicers into the water, but she wasn't falling for that. She nearly killed me outside the Kashmir Restaurant. The Splicers are creepy, and I really feel like I have fallen into some sort of 1950's hell.

I believe there is a strong Life / Unlife metaphor in the substrate of the world that was created here. Or a direct afterlife metaphor. Perhaps there were no survivors of that plane crash and my character with chains tatooed on his wrists is dead. Maybe he will awaken to the reality of him being an Angel. There is Eve and the Little Sister's live on Adam. If not afterlife deff Biblical allegory in some way. Andrew Ryan attempted to built a better world and it crumbled around him. I don't know exactly how - but I am going to find out. This game is definitely creepy.

:smile: I have jumped at about six points :sigh: The water is so pretty :sigh: and I wish I could swim :yearn: The lightning is mega uber, and the fight is deadly particularly on survivor mode I like the menus and the whole motif What I don't like is that there is no openness in the play path It is not that I want the game to be Fallout or Morrowind :schocked: but it does seem that the story path is more like Final Fantasy than Phantasy Star The possibility remains that I could be very much wrong and soon I will be making decisions about where I am going in the game Yet somehow I feel that I will be guided unerring from one place to another by that little arrow over my head :weird: ¿Wish I had one of those in real life! :pow: Wonder what it would show me :interrobang:

Back to the oh so scary world of Bio-Shock‼ Will I die in this next stretch‽
:bwaha: Check back in a couple hours :evil:

Bio Shock. Mega Review. pg1

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:38:25 GMT

Bio-Shock Bio-Shock. Such a beautiful game. I am on Mega Hard Every Bullet Counts difficulty and just made it to the steps after swimming away from the plane crash. I figure I better make this post now. Its gonna get pretty hairy here for a few hours. And I want to give a initial shock treatment of the game. As I said its imagery is vivid, and yet in some strange omen it has failed my expectations significantly on the first stage. Hopefully it is full of surprises that I had no expectation of achieving. Trophies as of yet undreamed of. We shall see.

Getting out of the plane wasn't so hard. Could have been very interesting, and already I am getting a little sad. Hopefully Bio-Shock 2 has three dimensional swim capability. That was one of the first things that I really wanted to do when I saw all the water. I am also sad for the morale of the game as I am the sole survivor and there are no dead bodies or a monster in the water. Sigh, I would have liked one survivor. I am going to walk up the hill and see what I can see. I have reached what seems to be the first calm already.

Time Management

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:49:02 GMT

What to do next. I always have something to do. I can't seem to get enough things to do I am always adding more. This does ram run right into a problem however. I could get onto Complete SRD and upload some musings regarding OGL rules, but the next time I log into Complete SRD I want to work on the Draconomicon Project. By that I mean "finish" the Draconomicon Project. To do that I would need to book. The book is either in a torrent somewhere or out in the car. Going out to the car would be simpler (and legaler), but I don't have the keys and maybe I should work on something else anyway. I have worked on Nepaninjas, and I could work on it some more. I could blog (as I am doing), and blogging tends to be a default behavior on my behalf. I don't put an extraordinary amount of thought into these posts. They may be more properly categorized as Rants actually ...

I could recreate the Campaign :smile: Wiki but I have hopes that the admin that deleted it will simply repost it considering my objection to its removal. It was deemed "Patent Nonsense" for some reason. I think they couldn't read it :grin: who's fault is that. Anyone that understands :smile: grammar could read it fine. I guess there are not that many people who understand :smile: grammar. Anyone subscribed to this feed must most certainly at the very least appreciate :smile: ...?

I have "networked" on both Ecademy and Facebook and Myspace. Thats a never ending wave to surf on for hours at a time. I actually seem to need to "rein in" at Ecademy and even the meplaces, but more so at Ecademy. It seems the nerdier the site - the more freeflow I can get away with. Ecademy's fellows seem to be easily overwhelmed with a "comment" that is as long as a "blog" but not half as well edited. I do spell check - if your curious. I could continue to "network" at other sites like Wizards, but some other elements of itinerary rear their head first. Networking is more than simply logging in and checking your messages. You need to be ready to follow a random tangent - and that means you have to be ready to dedicate an hour or more to focusing on the site.

I have been awake since 8 am. Its 7 am. Yep - thats 23 hours. I am not in college, and save for some miracle no one is planning on giving me any kind of money for working on the internet ... anytime soon. So at the immediate cost benefit ratio - I should most certainly go to sleep. Is it possible that should I stay awake and substantiate a new website, prune the GiantKetchup forums, learn to program flash, find a screenshot software and make a movie, practice rock band for the myspace album? Wait .. can't do that last one everyone else is asleep. Is it possible that I most certainly "should" do one of those things right now more than I should go to sleep? Not to mention put the computer down and go fetch some young lady's attention. Cook. Do yoga. Meditate. What have you.

I smoked a cigarette, looked at food, and decided to "publish this entry to your Facebook profile" and go to bed. After I make a sidewiki comment about it that will publish to my Blogger and my Google. That is the nice thing about time management and the internet - properly connecting profile can save you time!

Illustrator Training.

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:11:37 GMT

I finally have my system working at a seeming capacity. I have no apparent virus. No missing major software. I pulled out the old CS3 license, and had a warm feeling as I used Peer-to-peer share networks exactly the way they are supposed to be used. I obtained the media and used my license key to activate it. Bangarang. The internet does what its supposed to do! Thusly I have decided to do something that I am supposed to do. Illustrator Training.

As I have this lovely space on which to work I will catalog my progress in a somewhat instructional format. Somewhat. Hows that for a game? My goal is to learn Illustrator better than I have from the basic tutorials and the various elements of advice I have received from my fellow Adobe Farkers. I am really a Photoshop Fellow myself. However, Illustrator takes the cake for "most leet" Adobe development tool. I am sadly not so much familiar with :think: well :smirk: whatever other kinds of software there is out there. Due to my schooling and personal development I have used the Adobe toolset almost uniquely. I know other programs exist out there, but I am simply not so familiar with them.

My goals for today's research into Illustrator …

Device a system by which Illustrator replaces Character Map in my development activities.

I use Paint and Character Map every time I get onto the internet. Paint I use for screen shots, and was always slated to be replaced by a screen shotting program. I can easily replace it's function with Photoshop seeing that I have it open. The Character Map however is a little different. I specifically use it to pull up the interrobang, and currency symbols. I am aware that many people have memorized the hot keys for these things, but the fewer hot keys I have to memorize the better by my mind. I like the grab and paste availability of the Character Map. I can do this with Illustrator some how. I know it … I know it!

Illustrator is a powerful program that I can use the same way a scientist can use a laser. "Well on this setting it does this, and if I flip some of these switches it goes lawful chaotic." Its a paradox I know, but I can do things with Illustrator that can make rich girls cry while still being unable to do exactly what I want to do right now. Sigh, thats the way of things. Well, I would like to think it would make rich girls cry. I do so hope to meet a rich girl that wants a website. Only way my wresumay (web resum… ) would get me a job is if that person was still shocked by email. I do actually have one of those jobs right now.

Thirty dollars an hour seems to be the egfective going rate. Hatching about four of those hours a month at this point. A real programer like I … aspire to be instead of simply an odd form SEO optimizer, and a master dungeon master. The master dungeon master should I perform the correct mental acrobatics in time for next years Gen Con?! I did get Illustrator to work by the way. Illustrator CS3 allowed me to insert not only the interrobang…holy crip!! Did you see that? I inserted the interrobang, and instead of coming out all together is spread out, but at least it shows up as a proper glyph like all the ellipsie and double bangs do. Click the :smile:

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