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I'm still in the mood for something arrpeegee-y after DX HR, so I fired up Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines: Colons Are Awesome again.  It's a lot smoother-going than I remember - possibly due to the fanpatch I got - but I'm still morbidly curious to see if the linear, combat-heavy, and boring last third holds up and if I might actually be able to push through to the end this time.

The rest of the game, though, that first two-thirds?  It really is terrific, and astonishingly grown-up for a game from 2004.

I play through this game once a year or so, and I am consistently amazed at how well it holds up. 

(Insert obligatory rant about truly diabolical sewer seciton here.)

FUCK THE SEWERS BLAAAAGH

That said, the part that has always stymied me so far is the Werewolf.  Going into oh shit mode and having to run at top speed between, like, three different elaborate tasks (none of which you can do, or even know about, beforehand) to kill this horrible wolf that punches through walls is just too much.  This time I'm going to go in with four or five dots of Celerity and see if that helps at all.

Yeah, the werewolf is a massive pain in the ass. I *think* Celerity helps to a degree (and having it that high is practically like God Mode for the rest of the game, in my experience). I think it's the only discipline that makes any difference at all in that section, though, since there's no way to actually fight the thing. 

You technically don't need to kill it, but the rewards for doing so are substantial enough that I always feel obliged.

Gamespot and Best Buy are both sold out of Dead Island, because I planned to get that along with the already paid off GoW3, so it looks like just GoW3, finishing DX:HR, and finishing my Nightmare mode run of Alan Wake. I really do love Alan Wake and it's a shame it didn't get better reviews or sales, although the habit of spoiling some of the scares is kinda annoying.

According to a recent PlayStation Blog update, both CHRONO TRIGGER and FINAL FANTASY 6 will be hitting PSN this week.

The only new stuff for me this week is GEARS 3.  It's been getting good reviews, and even better it was just forty bucks thanks to Amazon's preorder credit, so it was hard to pass up.  As for old stuff:

* RATCHET & CLANK:  A CRACK IN TIME - Picked this up for the first time in forever over the weekend, and it immediately reminded me why I love this series so much.  Right now I'm just a handful of Gold Bolts and Zoni from having all the collectibles, and I've only got about 1 1/2 levels to go to finish the game (not counting the Museum stuff).  Also, the Fred Gun just might be my favorite weapon in the last several years' worth of games.

* TERRARIA - While Minecraft may be a better building game, the fun I get out of exploration in TERRARIA puts it to shame.  In just a handful of runs last week, I managed to bring in a haul of:  One magic mirror (basically the Terraria version of a Scroll of Town Portal), flippers (which let you swim), a portable cloud (double jump), and a grappeling hook.  Just a little more mining for better armor materials left, and I might be ready to take on some proper challenges like the dungeons or bosses in the game.

According to a recent PlayStation Blog update, both CHRONO TRIGGER and FINAL FANTASY 6 will be hitting PSN this week.

Son of a...damn it, I really don't have money right now but I am honor-bound to buy both of those immediately. Grumble grumble might have to delay Skyrim grumble.

Reel that anticipation back in, apparently it was some kind of mistake and neither CHRONO TRIGGER nor FINAL FANTASY VI will be on the PSN this week.