Welcome to Thunderdome

The 12th is now in flux. My daughter is a teenager, so she's unaware that other people have lives when they're not interacting with them. At this moment, I might be available, I might not. Ditto for the 13th. I'll keep you posted.

Snoop is really good at Halo deathmatch, and has the same disposition as us! Although, one of those kills looked really sus. How did he see that guy that was under him?

(WARNING: Snoop drops the F bomb)

Cake -

Teenagers being awesome, my daughter just let me know her weekend schedule for Cleveland. Tonight is definitely out.

Tomorrow is a possibility if you are free, but I'd say let's pencil that in rather than write it in pen.

Reminding Cake that we're off tonight, but tomorrow is a possibility. Next Friday is 100% a go. And to make up for the past three weeks, we can do a longer marathon on the 2nd if you're interested. I could start after work and play till morning. Wife and kids will be in Florida.

Cake, if you are available, we can return to gaming Friday night. I've already downloaded the Halo games.

Just realized I need to download Discord. I'll grab that tonight.

I will be good to go.

Did I mention Cake and I bumped the difficulty up to Heroic for our run through? It's made for some pretty good fighting.

Anyway, we completed Halo 3. I was kind of thrown by the shitty graphics in the cutscenes. They're really dated. And while the action was fun, the story was garbage. Our goal was to, literally, do what the plot of Halo 1 was about stopping. As Cake put it, we were crossing the streams.

The ending was also pretty dumb. It didn't really make much sense at all. The more I think about it, the more I think whoever wrote it knows nothing about the physics of space, engineering, basic human needs, etc.

Anyway, we moved onto Halo 3:ODST. This time we're drop shock troopers who landed in an African mega city named...something starting with "Mom". Right out of the gates the fights seem to be much tougher. Enemies are far better placed strategically (snipers in back, tanks in front) and weapons are limited. We continue this Friday.

It's really trying in the story telling too. Introduces everyone by having us all grouped together, meeting everyone, etc. Then we are all split up during a botched/interrupted deployment. Spread out all over the LZ. Then we are two of the group looking for the others. We got to a key plot point where there's a cut scene, and now we are two others from the group, playing their perspective of the same (or maybe just before the same) time leading up to the same plot point.

Hoping I'm explaining that well enough. Point is, it's a pretty different type of story telling in this one, I think. If we can stick with it, and keep the story fresh in our heads, I think it could lead to a more engaging story/game.

I thought it was cool that Nathan Fillion is in it too.

Halo 3:ODST has been half let down, half great fun. The story is a mess, as are most of the new features they tried to shove into the game. And don't get me started on the shitty level design. However, the fights have been a blast. No massive waves of enemies, but rather, really smart placement of enemies. The snipers are a particularly large pain in the ass.

We should beat it when we continue Friday night and move onto Halo 4.

Cake mentioned that Halo 5 is not coming to PC, but I've heard that Halo: Forge is Halo 5 and available on PC? It just doesn't have a lot of the shit nobody cares about.

I also just read that Halo: Infinite is coming to PC.

I thought I read that Halo: Forge is just a map creating tool for creating death match maps and then you play on them with Halo 5 gear. There's no story.

I am a go for tonight.

Thankfully we completed Halo 3:ODST last night. What a dumpster fire of a game. Non-sensical story. Meaningless features. Bugs galore, particularly with spawning. A waste of Nathan Fillion.

Then we started Halo 4. Hoooooooly fuck!!! This was like driving in a wagon train for years and then discovering a Bugatti. Graphics are gorgeous. The sounds are genuinely amazing and sound correct. The story is interesting and told well.

Halo 3 and ODST were kind of slogs to get through and we're being rewarded.

Plus, we bumped the difficulty up to Legendary, so it's been a blast. We really have to work together, take cover, and fight intelligently or we're doomed. Enemies are tough as hell and have weak points instead of being one big hit box. For example, the little dudes that are everywhere can be taken down in a single shot, but only if you hit them in the head. Hit them in their excessive parts, and you can shoot all day, but they won't drop. It's interesting to see how we will go into a firefight, do the wrong things, the enemies take our shots in their most fortified areas, lose the fight, respawn and then do things correctly and face a more manageable battle.

You know you're having fun when you repeatedly die, but are enjoying the shit out of the different ways you're losing.

I'm good for Friday.

I should be as well. I'm out of town, but expect to be back.