A bit of a catch-up post this. I’ve played it a lot in the last few days, but haven’t posted. I’m getting quite lax in posting these days, it seems. I’m thinking of packing in the gaming diary entirely and just posting updates on my blog. Maybe. Anyway. I’m now on level 62-ish. I’ve played online quite a bit, both in other people’s gardens, and also opening up my own. I did have one guy come in and ask “tchoutchou?”, …
I played quite a few Xbox 360 demos at the weekend. Some thoughts: Mercenaries 2I found this too hard. I admit I wasn’t trying very hard, but it did seem impossibly difficult. The explosions were nice though. Except when my jeep was what was exploding. Oh, and respawning enemies in this sort of game == badness. RocketBowlDire. No, it really is. Domino MasterMeh. Feeding Frenzy 2Rubbish. FractureSpace Marinezzzzzzzzz… Yeah, the raising and lowering land was great. But this isn’t Doshin …
Breeding twin wildcard frenzy! I decided to start breeding Syrupents, but to do that I needed Robeans. But, to breed them, I needed Bispottis. So, I got some Bispottis and set about romancing them. I managed to get a set of twin wildcards, which I named Chas and Not Original Dave. Then I master romanced the Robeans, using the Bispottis, and then fed the Robeans to my Syrupents, and romanced them too. I got a set of twin wildcard Syrupents …
Only managed to gain one level today, although I did do quite a lot. I made a Syrupent resident, obtained some Mousemallows, master romanced Whirlms, and found a few variants and maximum-grew some more plants. I suspect they were all relatively low-level events so barely touched the “petals” required to gain levels. Oh, and I managed to get myself a set of twin wildcard Whirlms! I named them Richard and Judy.
It was all about the Camellos and S’morepians today. I managed to make more of each resident, then Master Romanced both species. I made a fortune selling the Camellos once I’d done too. I’m now on Level 51, and have wiped my garden almost clean ready for the next species!
I not only managed to acquire a cutlass today (to keep out the Ruffians), but I also bought all the remaining Tower of Sour blocks, meaning that (along with my Cunning Wall of Blocking Ability that keeps Pester out) no nasties can enter my garden. Finally, the game can begin properly! So I bred Buzzlegums, so I could get the Master Romancer award for it, but also so I could entice S’morepians into the garden to eat them. I managed …
Played up to Level 34 today, mostly undisturbed by sours, ruffians and suchlike. Master Romanced custacians and redhotts, and grew loads of new plants and trees. I have loads of money now (over 45,000) so I’m not struggling to buy anything I need any more, and things in the garden have finally calmed down. I just need to get hold of a few more blocks for the Tower of Sour, and a Cutlass, and things should be just fine!
After yesterday’s rampage, I spent ages getting my garden back together. Looking back, it probably would have been easier to start again from scratch in a new garden, as there was nothing left worth keeping (a few flutterscotches, whirlms and bispottis was about it). With much rebuilding, I finally had a garden full of stuff again. I suppose it’s about time I started concentrating on romancing various species, but with sours coming in every five seconds (not to mention Professor …
Played up as far as level 21 today. I had loads of stuff in my garden, pinata aplenty, and then two sours came in at once and left a pile of hemlock seeds. Which multiplied faster than I could get rid of them, and soon 90% of my pinata were dead or dying, and I had no money to use to “sell” the weeds, or cure my pinata. Disaster! In the end, I had to dig a river to cut …
I 100%ed the original Viva Pinata. Every reward, every achievement, every pinata, every plant… everything. It took about 60 hours. The sequel arrived this week. It’s bigger. Yes, bigger than 60 hours. So I made a start. After around two hours play, I was on level 14, having gained no achievements, but filling my garden with loads of different pinata. I’ve had a few from the pinartic, a couple from the desert, and loads of wander-in-ers. But there’s too much …
I’m actually rather impressed! It looks great, controls pretty well, and was fun to play! Quite a surprise, actually. I’m not sure I want to buy it, but if I see it really cheap I’d certainly be tempted.
After yesterday’s play, there was actually just one level remaining: Heaven. And oh. My. If the previous levels were funny, this was twice that. Or more. From having to beat God at Dance Dance Revolution, to God saying “Oh f–“, to God saying he’ll do anything to get his Oblivion save game back as he was on the end boss. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game as funny as this. Yeah, there are nasty control and camera issues, …
I finished the remaining game-parody levels in The Game Engine today. I loved the Gauntlet and Joust sections of NeverQuest. “Save keys to open doors!” was amazing. Medal of Homer was better than I was anticipating too, especially the way they called the French “cheese eating surrender monkeys”. Then it was into Matt Groening’s mansion. Oh my. It was a boss battle, but was amazing! From his dig at Seth “Family Guy” MacFarlane, to the way he kept drawing Bender …
Four games against my wife today, with three wins for me. I also got the “underachiever” achievement, for playing 10 games without getting an achievement. What a strange achievement to get.
Started, played, and completed the Grand Theft Scratchy level. It was OK, although a little repetitive. Once again however, the references improve things tenfold. There’s the way the level starts in a close-enough replica of Grove Street from GTA San Andreas. Then there’s the Missile Command subgame. And the fact that Poochy is the end of level boss. And, of course, Marge yelling “all my bitches” and stuff. Amaze.