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erastesMore Metal Gear...
I've picked up "Snake Eater" again after being stuck on one place on it for several years and - playing on "very easy" - I'm past the stuck point and am nearly finished it. But fuck me - WHAT a brilliant game. Where I had been going wrong, I think, was sneaking and attempting to take all the guards out, rather than attempting just to sneak. Kojima is a flegging GENIUS. There are so many extras in this game that you could probably play it 30 times and have a different experience each time. You can shoot fruit and bees nests from the trees, you can kill alligators and goats (the first time I saw a goat I nearly died of shock, considering I was inching, belly first, through the undergrowth), you can capture live poisonous snakes and spiders to throw at guards (although it depends on the guard how scared he is) and if you kill something to eat later it goes off in your backpack, gradually. You have to experiment with your camouflage, too - depending on the weather, light and surroundings.
Boss Battles have always been the most hated part of my gaming experience and it was actually a boss battle that I had been stuck on for years but I managed to get through it this time with determination (and playing on very easy) but one of the other Bosses was just the most fun I've EVER had in a gaming environment. It was a pure sniper fight between allegedly the best sniper in the world and me-suck-at-action. I adored every minute of it and wanted to do it again when I beat him. Crawling inch by inch through thick forest, using a directional microphone to trace his direction, staying hidden and then blasting him when he'd nodded off.
The best bit for me, always being happy for gay content in games is that the big Baddie (Colonel Volgin) has proved to be bisexual and has the prettiest boyfriend called Raikov. Snake has to dress up as Raikov (stealing his clothes in the process, revealing a black thong with a lightning bolt (the Colonel's weapon of choice) on them (obviously a present) and when he meets up with the Colonel, Snake is immediately unmasked - as the Colonel's way of greeting his lover, or so it seems, is to grab him by the crotch and thus he finds that Snake and Raikov don't match up (although in which way, I don't know). Bi sexual characters are fairly common in Japan, I hear but they rarely make it over here.
Ok. Shutting up about this now.
And just a final word (hopefully) about solicitors. One made me CRY yesterday. I went to go and get my passport notorised for USA tax purposes and I got to the office 15 mins late. Basically because there was no parking, and this wasn't explained on the phone, nor was I told where extra parking could be found. Great Yarmouth is one big one way nightmare, being an ancient and very busy sea-port being very higgledy piggledy. So I rush in and apologise to the reception that I'm late.
They ring the notary and i hear the receptionist say "Yes.. I know. She said she had parking problems." Unprofessional point number 1.
Notary comes charging downstairs grumbling colleagues as he came down UP2.
Notary comes up to me and without introduction leads me into the meeting room UP3.
I apologise again - he mumbles something about if he doesn't get out he won't get paid for something. Am I supposed to feel sorry for a man who's probably on £40K a year? UP4.
I'll add at this point I had been turned into a shuddering wreck and not the feisty heroine I know I can be. I don't know why. Perhaps it was conditioning - that solicitors have been making me feel like a worm for five years I slip into Victim Mode too often. Shame that I was supposed to be a CUSTOMER, isn't it?
He takes my form and sneers. "You haven't filled it in." Me: "I'm going to do it when I get home." Him: (still don't know his name as he didn't introduce himself) "I can't notarise a form you haven't filled in." (translation: I'm not sitting here while you fill it in, stupid cow) Me: NO. As I explained to your secretary over the phone you only need to certify my ID."
Him. Snatches Passport. Goes and photo copies it. Doesn't ask if that's all I need. UP5.
Comes back and can't find his keys (for the sealing stamp) they are in his jacket, he says. He can't find his jacket. Rushes out to reception and asks where his jacket is. When he comes back in I point it out on the back of the chair (that he'd asked me to sit in)
He says (get this!!!!) "Oh - you are sitting on it - no wonder I couldn't see it." UP points 6,7, 8 and 9. What a charming man.
Paper is finally sealed, stamped and I have a copy. I say "Do I settle up with reception?" He says "No, unfortunatley (UP10) you settle up with me. That will be £20" Bargain! Five minutes of insults! "Who do I make it payable to?" HEAVY SIGH. UP11.
"It's TRADITIONAL to pay in cash" Me: "I'm sorry (why am i apologising to this git?) no-one EXPLAINED this to me on the PHONE." Another heavy sigh. UP12. "in that case you'll just have to make it payable to HKB Wiltshires" (Yes, I'm naming them, bad service is bad service whether it's shoes or solicitors)
Pays. Apologises - AGAIN - for being late. Which is ignored (UP13) and I leave without a goodbye or a thank you from him. (UP14)
He didn't miss ONE opportunity to make me feel lower than a worm's armpit. What an arse. Look I know there may be solicitors on my flist, but how on EARTH I ever thought for one moment that I wanted to be one, I really don't know. I did cry on the way home, (feeling stupid) but part of that is probably that I've been bottling up the treatment I received from Steeles Law since I was sacked.
Well that was depressing and I don't often unload in public but I needed to write it all down just to RID myself of it.
I've picked up "Snake Eater" again after being stuck on one place on it for several years and - playing on "very easy" - I'm past the stuck point and am nearly finished it. But fuck me - WHAT a brilliant game. Where I had been going wrong, I think, was sneaking and attempting to take all the guards out, rather than attempting just to sneak. Kojima is a flegging GENIUS. There are so many extras in this game that you could probably play it 30 times and have a different experience each time. You can shoot fruit and bees nests from the trees, you can kill alligators and goats (the first time I saw a goat I nearly died of shock, considering I was inching, belly first, through the undergrowth), you can capture live poisonous snakes and spiders to throw at guards (although it depends on the guard how scared he is) and if you kill something to eat later it goes off in your backpack, gradually. You have to experiment with your camouflage, too - depending on the weather, light and surroundings.
Boss Battles have always been the most hated part of my gaming experience and it was actually a boss battle that I had been stuck on for years but I managed to get through it this time with determination (and playing on very easy) but one of the other Bosses was just the most fun I've EVER had in a gaming environment. It was a pure sniper fight between allegedly the best sniper in the world and me-suck-at-action. I adored every minute of it and wanted to do it again when I beat him. Crawling inch by inch through thick forest, using a directional microphone to trace his direction, staying hidden and then blasting him when he'd nodded off.
The best bit for me, always being happy for gay content in games is that the big Baddie (Colonel Volgin) has proved to be bisexual and has the prettiest boyfriend called Raikov. Snake has to dress up as Raikov (stealing his clothes in the process, revealing a black thong with a lightning bolt (the Colonel's weapon of choice) on them (obviously a present) and when he meets up with the Colonel, Snake is immediately unmasked - as the Colonel's way of greeting his lover, or so it seems, is to grab him by the crotch and thus he finds that Snake and Raikov don't match up (although in which way, I don't know). Bi sexual characters are fairly common in Japan, I hear but they rarely make it over here.
Ok. Shutting up about this now.
And just a final word (hopefully) about solicitors. One made me CRY yesterday. I went to go and get my passport notorised for USA tax purposes and I got to the office 15 mins late. Basically because there was no parking, and this wasn't explained on the phone, nor was I told where extra parking could be found. Great Yarmouth is one big one way nightmare, being an ancient and very busy sea-port being very higgledy piggledy. So I rush in and apologise to the reception that I'm late.
They ring the notary and i hear the receptionist say "Yes.. I know. She said she had parking problems." Unprofessional point number 1.
Notary comes charging downstairs grumbling colleagues as he came down UP2.
Notary comes up to me and without introduction leads me into the meeting room UP3.
I apologise again - he mumbles something about if he doesn't get out he won't get paid for something. Am I supposed to feel sorry for a man who's probably on £40K a year? UP4.
I'll add at this point I had been turned into a shuddering wreck and not the feisty heroine I know I can be. I don't know why. Perhaps it was conditioning - that solicitors have been making me feel like a worm for five years I slip into Victim Mode too often. Shame that I was supposed to be a CUSTOMER, isn't it?
He takes my form and sneers. "You haven't filled it in." Me: "I'm going to do it when I get home." Him: (still don't know his name as he didn't introduce himself) "I can't notarise a form you haven't filled in." (translation: I'm not sitting here while you fill it in, stupid cow) Me: NO. As I explained to your secretary over the phone you only need to certify my ID."
Him. Snatches Passport. Goes and photo copies it. Doesn't ask if that's all I need. UP5.
Comes back and can't find his keys (for the sealing stamp) they are in his jacket, he says. He can't find his jacket. Rushes out to reception and asks where his jacket is. When he comes back in I point it out on the back of the chair (that he'd asked me to sit in)
He says (get this!!!!) "Oh - you are sitting on it - no wonder I couldn't see it." UP points 6,7, 8 and 9. What a charming man.
Paper is finally sealed, stamped and I have a copy. I say "Do I settle up with reception?" He says "No, unfortunatley (UP10) you settle up with me. That will be £20" Bargain! Five minutes of insults! "Who do I make it payable to?" HEAVY SIGH. UP11.
"It's TRADITIONAL to pay in cash" Me: "I'm sorry (why am i apologising to this git?) no-one EXPLAINED this to me on the PHONE." Another heavy sigh. UP12. "in that case you'll just have to make it payable to HKB Wiltshires" (Yes, I'm naming them, bad service is bad service whether it's shoes or solicitors)
Pays. Apologises - AGAIN - for being late. Which is ignored (UP13) and I leave without a goodbye or a thank you from him. (UP14)
He didn't miss ONE opportunity to make me feel lower than a worm's armpit. What an arse. Look I know there may be solicitors on my flist, but how on EARTH I ever thought for one moment that I wanted to be one, I really don't know. I did cry on the way home, (feeling stupid) but part of that is probably that I've been bottling up the treatment I received from Steeles Law since I was sacked.
Well that was depressing and I don't often unload in public but I needed to write it all down just to RID myself of it.
