Insert a witty title here

Well, there's always the first time for everything, I guess. I was just playing a match of L4D with a bunch of my Esa friends, when some random guy playing with us asked if we were up for a friendly clan match after the game.
Well, I, for one, couldn't stop laughing at that, although it's understandable to mistake us for a clan. We do wear a tag after all.
So we told him that we're not actually a clan, but if they really want to, we might be up for a game. Too bad only Cedox, Slaverstrike and I were actually online and willing to play, so in he end we had mixed teams with the guys from the other clan.
And I have to say it was one of best, if not THE best game of L4D I've ever played with complete strangers. No one did anything stupid (and no one whined about anything!), the teamwork was excellent on both teams, and the teams were evenly matched (my team won with a hundred points or so in the end). I had lots of fun! Now I'm hoping they would like to play another game some other time, so that we may even get a full Esa team going. Which shouldn't be difficult since there are at least nine or ten Esas at the moment (dammit we could even START a clan, we definitely have enough players, and I don't think we're even that bad. Well, we still can't seem to finish campaigns on expert, so we do fail a bit, haha).
So much for my slight prejudice for clan players, haha.

So, Esas played an unofficial friendly clan match. That's pretty ... far out.

Left 4 Dead is still awesome, although I'm starting to have a serious beef with the melee defense in versus. It needs to be nerfed in one way or the other, I think it would be enough to make it so that it doesn't do damage. Because I'm really fucking sick of trying to jump people as a Hunter, and just getting shoved around a few times and dying FROM IT. And I think it's a perfectly good defensive measure, I mean, it doesn't piss me off to get shoved off, since it's my own damn fault for being obvious enough trying to jump someone when they see me coming, but dying from it? That's too much.
Not even mentioning the infamous corner defenses. Making the melee NOT do damage would reduce the shoving to a mere temporary solution, for clearing way or fending off attacks, which I think it's supposed to be. Now it's the perfect attack against hordes and special infected since they take damage and eventually die if they're being pushed around long enough. I know, we just did it in No Mercy's fourth chapter, during the elevator faceoff. It's lame, I felt bad for doing it, but at least now I know how fucking impossible such defense it is to break, and I know not to do it anymore. It takes the fun out of the game (since I don't really care about winning as much as I care about playing a fair game and having fun). Slaver was cursing at me from his room after we did it, telling me we're complete fucking assholes for doing that shit. Yeah, I know.
Another problem I think should be addressed at some point, is the spawning of Tanks in versus. Because it's fucking unfair when one team gets the tank right at the beginning of the map, and the other team by the end of it. And since Tank IS such a huge tideturner (though it naturally depends on player skills and teamwork too), and if the teams are evenly matched, or the other team is clearly steamrolling, it's very, very unfair if the other team gets the Tank right away. So maybe synchronize the spawning in some way? I don't know. And no, they shouldn't come in the very same place for both teams, because that's unfair too since the other team can then expect it, but ... I don't know. I just think something must be done. I'm tired of hearing the whining it causes, and I'm tired of feeling cheated on by it.

I haven't been writing here for a while, I don't exactly know why. I've been playing lots of Fallout (clocked over 100 hours with Gabrielle, and still there's so much to do! Also started another game with another character, who strives to be good instead of ending up as the Scourge of Humanity). Then I had this irresistible urge to play Kingdom Hearts 2 (I know!) and spent 30 hours with a PS2 controller glued to my hands. And say what you want, but I like that game! It's fun to play.
I also bought Bioshock from the Steam Christmas sale (only five euros for a game like that was almost ridiculous! I had to get it), and I should play that one too.

And I'm finally getting back to playing Team Fortress 2 after a few months of hardly playing it at all. And I've been playing as a Sniper. Which is pretty ... yeah. I'm pretty bad at it, but at least I've gotten a lot better! I came very close to breaking the damage record my little brother did back in the day, and I was even an MVP the other day! That was pretty unbelievable, but you'll understand once I tell you that the enemy team had about four Snipers, and all of them were amusingly bad. I had three of them aiming at me in a nice line, and I headshot all of them one by one, so yeah. They were horrible. And thanks to them, I got enough points in one round to be an MVP. I often get owned by enemy Snipers, but every now and then there's a Sniper who's even worse than I am, and I can usually get a domination on them.

I've also gone from Chrome to being Kromi, which is basically the same thing. Since kromi means chrome in Finnish. And at least there are not that many Kromis running around (not that anyone can mistake me for someone else anymore since I wear a tag these days. Dammit, and it wasn't even a long ago I ranted about not wanting to wear a tag. Oh how fickle I am).
Also it's pretty funny when people pronounce it in English.
Where does the nick Chrome come from anyhow? You see, back in last January when I was considering starting to play TF2, I was actually horrified of playing with strangers, and embarrassed because I had never played an online FPS before. So instead of using the nick I usually go by (Katastrophe), I wanted a new nick so that no one would know it's actually me. Yeah, lol. Zeromancer's Chrome Bitch was one of my favourite songs back then, so I figured that it was a good as name as any (and for the first few days I went by the whole title, dropping the Bitch at some point). And I was planning to go back to Katastrophe once I got comfortable enough with the game. Well, I never did, since Chrome kinda grew on me.

Oh yeah, I'm an obsessive-compulsive screenshot-taker in Fallout 3, so in case you're interested about the first part of Gabrielle's great journey in the Capitol Wasteland, you can read it here. I have another part coming up, since that just basically covers the main quest, and I've had many silly adventures after that.

Well that's pretty gay...

Okay, I just have to post this. Because wtf awesome.

I was playing a bit of Fallout 3 earlier today. I started a new game a while ago, this time with a guy named Gabrielle, who's strong and charismatic fellow (specialised in big guns, melee weapons and bullshitting like no other), who likes to dress sharp. And incidentally he's a complete antichrist and a shameless thief who takes everything not nailed down with him. He runs around the Capital Wasteland dressed in a stylish suit, hat and sunglasses, wielding a sledgehammer and a Flamer (although I just found the joys of the Shishkebab). He sneers at ugly Raider clothing and doesn't give a shit about defense stats: sacrifices must be made if one wants to look as good as Gabrielle does.



(Posing with a cool-ass magnum, since the Flamer's so clumsy-looking, ew.)

Anyway, Gabrielle blew up Megaton, went to Tenpenny Tower, felt appalled by all the bloated egos and ignorant people living there, and instead of maybe helping them with their Ghoul menace, he promptly went to talk to the Ghouls in question, ending up in cahoots with them. Because no matter how hard I try, Ghouls are awesome, and seriously, the racist residents of Tenpenny Tower needed to be taught a lesson in humility.

So before actually letting the Ghouls in, he went to look for Burke, since Gabrielle happens to be a bit of a Burke fanboy, and he wanted to get a picture with his idol. So he went to the penthouse suites, and followed Burke around for a while to get a good picture.

So picture his surprise (and my sick glee) when he followed Burke into Alistair Tenpenny's suite and witnessed THIS sight:



Yes.

Yes, Mr. Burke just promptly laid down next to Alistair Tenpenny in his queen-sized bed (I knew there was something going on...!), and neither of them paid any attention to Gabrielle standing (...and later on sitting...) next to the bed.

Gabrielle of course was mortified by this: either appalled or enormously jealous, he couldn't stand the sight of his idol being so ... so close with Mr. Tenpenny. So he went to let the Ghouls in, watched everyone get massacred and stole Mr. Tenpenny's fancy red suit.

The end.

(I fucking love this game.)

L4D and Fallout 3

I'm dying with this lack of a gaming computer.

So, Left 4 Dead's demo came out some time ago, and I had to start my broken computer just in case it runs, and I could spend a few hours on L4D with friends. I had already tested the game out on Slaver's computer, since he bought the game in advance and thus got the demo beforehand, and needless to say, I wanted more.
So my graphics card stayed alive so that I managed to play 1,7 hours of Left 4 Dead with PlayStation graphics. And then it screamed in agony and promptly died. So much for L4D demo then.
I have a new computer underway, finally, and it should arrive this week if everything goes well. Intel's quad core processor, ATI Radeon HD 4670 (I wanted a GeForce, but the Radeon was much cheaper), 2 Gb RAM, I should be getting nice graphics and a constant high FPS in TF2 and other games.
And I can't fucking wait to get to play TF2. The first thing I do when I get the new computer, I'll install TF2 and play. For hours. Everything else be damned, I need it.

But Left 4 Dead? Is simply awesome. The AI Director is, apart from being a complete fucking sadist (it always spawned a goddamn Tank when half of my team was dead and the rest had like 1 HP left - yes, we kept playing on Expert, because that's where the true L4D experience lies) a marvellous invention, it really does make the game feel fresh even if you do play the same two maps over and over and over again.

I love the soundscape, I love the true feeling of panic the game causes (I still get a chill every time I hear the "horde's coming!" soundcue, and automatically look for a wall to press my back against), I love the atmosphere, I love the hordes of running zombies, I love it how it almost feels like slow-motion when you fall down and there are zombies everywhere screaming and clawing at you and you shoot and shoot and it's completely in vain and you're on the verge of dying, heartbeat deafening you and eyesight going and then there's a friend blasting through the wall of zombies with a shotgun and helping you up.
It'a fucking brilliant.



Then everyone's a team-killing fucktard, everyone shoots at cars, giggling while they're at it; you throw a molotov when a friend is getting pinned by a Hunter and there's a horde coming and after that you beeline straight towards the safe room and lock everyone out; you always refuse to put out your flashlight when you hear crying and you HAVE to shoot at the Witch, and it's all fun and games even if everyone gets completely slaughtered by the Tank when half of the team is dead and the rest have 1 HP left. Seriously, having done all of that, or been in the receiving end of the molotov and being locked out of safe room, it's always a blast. Maybe not playing with strangers, but with friends shits and giggles is always a good thing.

And almost all the guys on my class got totally hooked on the game, so at least I'm bound to have company to play with whenever a need arises. I don't know when I'll be getting the full game, probably at 21st when Europe gets it. Providing that I have the new computer at my disposal.

What else? I've been actually playing quite a lot of Fallout 3 at a (boy)friend's place, and I'm loving it as well. I'm playing as a woman named Steve, she's a greedy and impatient wannabe bad guy specialised in all kinds of thievery and bullshitting. Deep inside she's a real doll who fights for the good. I blame it on the fact how devastated she was when she learned the truth about her father and the whole Vault 101 dealio: she wants revenge, but she doesn't know how to pull it off, thus she's lost and trying to do mean things, only to fail gloriously and end up doing ... nice things.
I mean, I was supposed to blow up Megaton. I talked to Burke (and ew ew EW the most disgusting conversation EVER, stupid Black Widow perk and my greediness!), and got the thingamajig to rig the bomb with, and I wanted to kill Moriarty because he was a complete fucking ass for being right about my dad.
But I couldn't do it, because I liked Gob too much (I love ghouls, and Gob made my day by always having his day made by me. I couldn't just blow him up, not when every time I talk to him he's relieved and genuinely happy to see me, calling me a friendly face. And while I want to steal something from Moriarty, anything, fuck I just want to see him suffer, I CAN'T because Gob would probably get mad at me or worse, Moriarty would blame it on Gob and make his life even more of a hell. Yeah, I should probably stop from getting attached to NPCs), and I also took some really weird sort of liking to Moira of the supplies. Who's batshit insane and cheerful to the point of being so obnoxious I just want to hit her. So I'm helping her to write her book, and this far I have been blown up my mines, sniped by a sniper, raided a Raider-infested ancient supermarket, walked into a grenade - twice, jumped from a roof and drank lots and lots of radioactive water, just for her.
I seriously don't know who's more insane in the end: she, or I.
So in the end I couldn't blow Megaton up. So I didn't. I disarmed the bomb, got hooked on Mentats in the process (cheers, Megaton, you fucking owe me) and settled down with my creepy robotic butler.
But at least I could finally empty my pockets. I'm a compulsive junk-gatherer, I take everything cool with me and carry it around until I can't anymore, and then with heavy heart I part with my teddybears and toy cars and all other cool stuff I had found. Sigh.

And I might have to kill Moriarty anyhow, I might have to put a grenade in his pocket. I want the stupid asshole dead. And I don't want to have some Jesus-level karma, geez! I'm a bad person, bad, grr.

Well, yeah, my badness is strictly tied to how I feel about a person. The "mayor" of Arefu, you know the guy, I hated him. He was an idiot, and a complete wuss for not doing anything about the Family, and taking care of the citizens of his crappy little village (and Jesus Christ that one woman in Arefu, she is SO OUT THERE you wouldn't believe!). So I broke into his house and stole everything I wanted. That oughta teach him.
Or this one sad little village full of idiots who were completely pussywhipped by Super Mutants. There was this girl, though, who tried to hit on me, that was fun. But anyway, I left their stupid village just to run straight into some minigun-wielding Muties, and because I'm a total coward when it comes to fighting (I'm a thief! I'm sneaky, I sneak behind people's backs and stab them, I don't engage in firefights with ugly giants with miniguns! At least not when there are two of them! I even try to avoid Raiders), I of course ran away. And lead the mutants right into this idiot village, and left them fight them off. Sorry, idiot villagers!
Or the Family, goddamn I wanted to kill Vance. And his wife. And all the idiot vampire brothers of his. One day, one day I'll sneak there and steal all their stuff and kill them when they sleep. I just don't get the logic, oh no we can't be cannibals that's barbaric, let's just drink blood instead. Absolute bullshit.

So if I don't like an NPC I break into their house and steal their stuff. Or plan to put a grenade in their pants. And if I do like an NPC I'm a total angel to them. But even to people I like I act impatient and I always ask for more money or whatever for my services. Adventuring's not free, you know. I need money to buy stuff for my house. But it's got me some really nice deals, so at least it pays off.
And to ghouls? I'm always an angel. They have hard time anyhow, if there's anything I can do to make them feel better, I'll do it. I'm planning to go visit Underworld as soon as I have a good excuse to enter DC. Gob wanted me to say hi to Carol for him.

So yeah, I really like Fallout 3. It's tons of fun, there's so much to do, the NPC's are compelling (even when I don't like them, and hey, it takes character to be obnoxious!) and I've really taken liking to my character. I really don't know what I'm set out to do, I guess I'll keep thieving and trying to do bad things, and helping out ghouls as much as I can and whenever possible. I guess I'll just go where adventure takes me.
Can't wait to buy the game for myself and make a male character with a girls' name and be total fucking antichrist and blow Megaton to high heaven. I won't even talk to Gob, if I never knew him, I can't feel sorry for him. And who knows, maybe the-guy-with-a-girls'-name really hates ghouls.

I guess that's all I wanted to say. For now.