LadyCrimson

I have. It's becoming a pretty good DK clone but it's not far enough along to see how well it'll work out - thus far it lacks the charming black humor that the original had though not for lack of trying. It takes itself a little too seriously and most of the creature designs are played straight (and the only one that's a bit DK type silly is getting a huge backlash in their forums so doesn't seem to be lasting long - a serious case of "the community doesn't get it"). The gameplay is about the same as DK with some more depth to it so far, so that's good. Thanks for that. I wouldn't mind checking it out but not ready to fork over cash for early access yet. If they can keep gameplay similar to DK I'll probably at least enjoy playing it once or twice/worth a buy. Fingers crossed!

Can't tell if serious, but this whole post still made me

Bah humbug. ...the usual family gathering thing, but mostly a whole lot of sloughing off. Hubs will have a lot of days of (official) time off so we'll likely catch up on movies, play a lot of games, cuddle in bed now and again, and eat lots of Rice-a-Roni. Ok, I'm joking on the last one.

Totally! Probably another reason I like the big Festivals. I'm not the only OCD weirdo in town, then. Hehe. At least 5 or 6 of the ppl I'd chat with had one even before I did and oodles of others half way there.

2nd day of up too late game-grinding. But I should be more chill about that, now that I've gotten my first Fawn companion. It's always that initial must-have-now rush that gets ya. I never doubted you for a second!

*blinks bleary eyes and tiredly flexes WASDF (especially that F) hand* TOTALLY WORTH IT

It's one of those things that was amazing in its time and would impress so much that it became so unforgettable if you played it in its day.....nostalgia makes it amazing. But playing it now after so many years and with the industry having come so far....well....it's just not that good and its flaws are all the more glaring. I disagree about the "amazing for its time" bit. I tried the game not long after it came out and I was singularly unimpressed vs. other games I'd played. The UI and combat "feel" were some of the things that rubbed me the wrong way back then. Quite badly. I'll agree that nostalgia is definitely a powerful thing.

Yeah...the 1st season was only 8 episodes or something like that, which is what got all the accolades. The 2nd was more of a "full" season. I don't know what DVD's do, perhaps they mash them together and it makes them seem like a single season. Plus there was a movie. A terrible movie, that served as sort of an epilogue, or a prologue and an epilogue mushed together or something. I don't really remember. Edit: to be fair, I'm sure to people who loved all episodes of the TV show/consider it a cult classic etc. might like the movie more than I did...

So shopping in the mall made you feel a bit ... hen-pecked, did it? Side note: being stuck in a room filled with some kind of fantasy Giant Chickens would terrify me. Giant beady eyes with their heads bobbing around...creeeeepy...

I'm close to 2000 Lights of whatevertheyare.....taken a few breaks here and there. Not sure I'll get to 3200 before I crash. Probably not. Diet Dew and beef jerky pooowwweerrrrrr!

^ Hahaha. ...after taking a bit to experience the race and the monsters on the ice contests, then doing the stuff to craft a purple fishing pole, I wore out my finger pressing 'F' every 5-10 seconds to get fish to turn in for the Lights. I want that healer Fawn, darnit. More than one. Almost 1000 Lights so far...20 days ... should be no problem. Could use a F key mash macro tho.... Epic pole+bait =fastest way to get the Lights. Especially if you win the fishing contests. Which seemed entirely too easy for me to do. I started losing a few just to let others win sometimes. Race got boring before too long. Fighting the monsters on the slippery ice is a pain in the butt (tho funny), especially for melee I hear. But it's hilarious watching your companions slide around or waddle super-fast!

Twin Peaks was great the first season. Kinda fell flat after that. Watched that Fright Night remake. I didn't think I was going to like it, but the first 1/3 was actually pretty popcorn entertaining. Started to drag a bit in the middle, then when David Tennant (Dr Who) came in it became popcorn fun again. I wouldn't say I liked it more than the original film, but it was a lot better than I expected.

Nah, it's simple stuff - just run the course basically. Can do on foot or on mount. Ice makes you slide uncontrollably sometimes so it's tough to hit the markers. Really funny to see someone do it on a pig mount.

Hubs: "Ethernet router is acting flaky, probably need a new one." Me: "Is that what I think it is?" Hubs: "It's what connects all our PC's together." Me: "That's what I thought. I'd be offline. The horror! Go fetch!" Hubs: "Yes dear."

Racing on "ice" is slippery fun!

I'd like it to be tomorrow already, so I can start whatever pointless grind it is to get my pointless Winter Mimic companion and Winter Sled riding mount and other goodies, whilst chatting with other collector obsessives who are doing the same thing.

Yeah, I'd still like a wood smoker unit for the backyard or something, but knowing me, after the first few months it would sit there 90% of the time unused, rusting away. So I haven't. I was out and about and noticed my wrist watch had stopped, so I guess I need a new battery, or a new watch. Which made me wonder ... in this era of cellphones and gadgets how many people still use wrist watches? I suppose not too many, except for certain occasions. I don't actually wear mine too often but I definitely still like having one. I still remember the huge cheap-Swatch fad. Every kid and their mother seemed to have one.

Has anyone tried the Dungeon-Keeper like War for the Overworld alpha stuff via Steam early access (or KS backer access), yet?

@Kaine - Hm. Could be, like I said it was a long time ago. I remember some friends finishing the game without ever having encountered him. But they could have just missed seeing him in his "spot." I also remember rushing down there to grab him as early as possible...could you get him without having that quest? Bah...one day I'll replay the game fully again.

I like that there's at least somewhat of an option for both styles, even if it's not ideal in either direction perhaps. One of the reasons I liked Xan in BG1 was because he was easily missed by players. I found him by accident exploring or something. I think there was a quest that sent you in his direction but it wasn't mandatory. Ages ago tho, maybe my memory is faulty on that. Anyway, I like finding the companions and having a story to go with them in the process. But I've also liked games where you create parties from the start, with the control that goes with it (like in Might and Magic rpg's). The latter feels less personal and less world/story involving to me, however, and my preference for story-rpgy's tends to be for companions who have personality/story relevance vs. just chess pieces I pick at the start.

Been trying to save up all my diamonds for the Festival period, knowing I'm likely to want to buy multiples of anything that's not BoP from other players (vs. me grinding 8 hrs a day every day for 2 weeks...). So I found myself a bit dismayed when I somehow accidentally upgrade a healing companion on a hardly-played alt, whilst meaning to upgrade a runestone she was wearing. 300k, poof. There was no confirmation message, just suddenly "congrats, you've upgraded your companion!" I was all WHAAAA?? Guess my finger slipped, or I was asleep. Oh well. Not a huge deal for me, but still annoying. I've tried to give the new refining system a chance, but it still feels needlessly complicated, and more importantly, a lot more time consuming per stone unless you spend lots of diamonds to rush it.

I mostly mean the oft more stageplay-like style of filming and acting back then is hard for me to settle into. If I've never seen the movie before, it usually takes me 15-20 minutes before I can concentrate on it enough to really get "into" it and/or I'll occasionally rewind because I feel like I was watching the screen yet not watching, if that makes sense. Restless mind I suppose. Gets worse as the years go by. Happens with modern films occasionally too, if they have deliberate slow pacing, but a lot more frequently with 40's/50's films.

@Woldan - love the frosted pics! I don't want to live in a snow area (brr!), but I sure do appreciate the beauty of frost and white in nature. @Raithe - Haha....that's something I might do. Altho I did consider buying a very small xmas tree just so I could watch my cat get all excited. But nah. Kitty will have to be happy with some new catnip toys.

It was time for a huge beef jerky order, so I can be in a dried, salted beef coma all weekend.

Jingle bells, vacation farewells**, nog and rum in egg! The office space is a quiet place, whilst the artists are away! Hope you all have a great holiday! **note to self: not a whole lot rhymes with 'bells...'