Saturday, March 20, 2010
Bryce's Birthday
Mid-March, Vernal Equinox and St. Patrick's Day are always a sign that's it's Bryce's Birthday again. It's also an annual trip to Century Diner Buffet. We were back to the party room again after having the front section last year.
Related: 3rd Birthday (2008), 4th Birthday (2009), Century Diner Buffet (all ratings still valid)
Related: 3rd Birthday (2008), 4th Birthday (2009), Century Diner Buffet (all ratings still valid)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Batman: Arkham Asylum Domination
I've come a long way in Batman: Arkham Asylum since playing and writing a walkthrough for the demo. A month after doing that, Emily got me the game for my birthday. I was instantly hooked. Back when I was only playing demos, I was starting to get tired of Batman because I got to the point where I was whipping through in under 5 minutes. The Mini Ninjas DEMO was much longer and more fun. But after getting the full game, I can seem to play anything else. I still download some demos, but end up only playing them once before deleting them. I purposely slowed down completing Arkham Asylum because I was a perfectionist about it. I wanted to make it look good and really master all of the moves. I ended up finishing the game in November, but I wasn't done yet. I practiced a lot on the challenges, which then made the game a breeze.
I put together some tips for whipping through the game easily:
FreeFlow Perfection
"FreeFlow Perfection" is the name of the trophy you're awarded when you perform all 9 moves in one continuous combo. In game mode, the more of these 9 moves you get in, the more bonus experience points you get. If you can pull off high variation bonuses in every melee combat scene, you'll upgrade much quicker. In challenge mode, you get 5000 points each round you perform "FreeFlow Perfection." It's something you'll need to do to make your mark on the competitive leaderboards.
Using the Environment
In the predator scenes, the best strategy it to take out as many henchman as possible before getting noticed. So you don't want to use the loud techniques (glide kick, inverted takedown, etc.) in the beginning. Stick with the silent takedown and batarang. In the later predator scenes, other henchman are alerted much faster when the first guy is taken down, so you'll want to use the environment to take down many opponents simultaneously. Study the surroundings in each scene and also pay attention to the patterns the henchman make. They all walk in fixed patterns before they realize you're in the room with them. To take down many opponents at once, you have to silent takedown one of them in a strategic location... an explodable wall you rigged up... a spot on the platform you can batclaw 3 guys, etc.
Scan the Asylum
Every time you get a new gadget, be sure to return to all of the other locations you have access to so you can solve riddles you previously couldn't get to. The more riddles you solve, the faster you upgrade. Don't be afraid to backtrack. the game isn't timed. I'm at the point where I have all upgrades before the 3rd to last boss fight (Sewer Junction Titan Fight) thanks to backtracking and variation bonuses.
I'll probably do a full walkthrough someday, but I need to decide the best way to present it. Many players already did this, but my method will be unique because I'll apply backtracking to it instead of rushing through the game. The order I play the game is non-traditional, but it maximizes upgrades and experience points.
I put together some tips for whipping through the game easily:
FreeFlow Perfection
"FreeFlow Perfection" is the name of the trophy you're awarded when you perform all 9 moves in one continuous combo. In game mode, the more of these 9 moves you get in, the more bonus experience points you get. If you can pull off high variation bonuses in every melee combat scene, you'll upgrade much quicker. In challenge mode, you get 5000 points each round you perform "FreeFlow Perfection." It's something you'll need to do to make your mark on the competitive leaderboards.
Using the Environment
In the predator scenes, the best strategy it to take out as many henchman as possible before getting noticed. So you don't want to use the loud techniques (glide kick, inverted takedown, etc.) in the beginning. Stick with the silent takedown and batarang. In the later predator scenes, other henchman are alerted much faster when the first guy is taken down, so you'll want to use the environment to take down many opponents simultaneously. Study the surroundings in each scene and also pay attention to the patterns the henchman make. They all walk in fixed patterns before they realize you're in the room with them. To take down many opponents at once, you have to silent takedown one of them in a strategic location... an explodable wall you rigged up... a spot on the platform you can batclaw 3 guys, etc.
Scan the Asylum
Every time you get a new gadget, be sure to return to all of the other locations you have access to so you can solve riddles you previously couldn't get to. The more riddles you solve, the faster you upgrade. Don't be afraid to backtrack. the game isn't timed. I'm at the point where I have all upgrades before the 3rd to last boss fight (Sewer Junction Titan Fight) thanks to backtracking and variation bonuses.
I'll probably do a full walkthrough someday, but I need to decide the best way to present it. Many players already did this, but my method will be unique because I'll apply backtracking to it instead of rushing through the game. The order I play the game is non-traditional, but it maximizes upgrades and experience points.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Snow Day II
While I was at work yesterday, I already had a feeling we were going to get a snow day. It was fine when I got to work, just a little before 8am. The snow was coming down steadily, but not sticking because it was pretty warm outside. By 10am, I saw some o the largest snowflakes ever. The warm temperatures were still holding off accumulation though. It was just a slushy mess. The office closed early, at 3pm, but the additional hour and a half didn't help much as there was a lot of street traffic and train delays. I was originally planning to drop by my apartment to pick up a few things before heading over to Flushing to shovel my parents' house. I changed that plan after having a hard time walking 2 blocks over to the PATH station and just went straight to Flushing. The 7 train was cutoff in Manhattan, so I had to switch to the F, which was delayed. I eventually made it to 74th to connect to the 7 and it was delayed by about 30 minutes! I made it to Flushing at 5pm.
There was about 3 inches of slush on the ground. It was heavy, but because it clumped together, was actually easy to shovel. Snowfall slowed down a little after that and I didn't have to go out again until 10pm. There was an additional 2 inches of light snow then. I went out one more time at 12am to try to lighten the load for the next morning... it gained 3 inches in just 2 hours! I woke up at 6am from the Wiley Inclement Weather alert and went back to sleep until 7am. There was at least 1 foot of snow by then! That was the largest shoveling session of the day. I went out again at 12pm to clean up another inch or two. It still snowed the rest of the day, but enough of the sun's rays were getting through and melting the snow before it could pile up.
I'd say we got a total of 18-20" in Flushing. The report from Central Park was 21" which brought the February total to 37"!
There was about 3 inches of slush on the ground. It was heavy, but because it clumped together, was actually easy to shovel. Snowfall slowed down a little after that and I didn't have to go out again until 10pm. There was an additional 2 inches of light snow then. I went out one more time at 12am to try to lighten the load for the next morning... it gained 3 inches in just 2 hours! I woke up at 6am from the Wiley Inclement Weather alert and went back to sleep until 7am. There was at least 1 foot of snow by then! That was the largest shoveling session of the day. I went out again at 12pm to clean up another inch or two. It still snowed the rest of the day, but enough of the sun's rays were getting through and melting the snow before it could pile up.
I'd say we got a total of 18-20" in Flushing. The report from Central Park was 21" which brought the February total to 37"!
Friday, February 19, 2010
South Street Seaport
Rosemarie did a pretty good job planning out the places she wanted to see and items to buy as she covered a lot in a short period of time. On my day off, all that was left was Ground Zero and the South Street Seaport. That worked out well because we also had a family dinner scheduled for 6pm in Flushing.
There wasn't much to see at Ground Zero as most of the area has been boarded up and reconstruction in the works, but still an essential as it's an important memorial. I thought we could take the Hoboken bound PATH train one stop to see the inside of the construction area, but that was blocked off as well. The South Street Seaport was nice. I haven't been in that area since I was a kid and it was my first time into the mall as well. On our way back, we stopped by the NY Montessori School (the chain that Rosemarie is part of), which was in the neighborhood. It was closed for Winter Break, but it was nice to just get a glimpse of it.
From there, we went back to Emily's apartment (where Rosemarie was staying) to pick up our things and headed to Queens. We did a little bit of shopping in downtown Flushing and then met up with my parents.
There wasn't much to see at Ground Zero as most of the area has been boarded up and reconstruction in the works, but still an essential as it's an important memorial. I thought we could take the Hoboken bound PATH train one stop to see the inside of the construction area, but that was blocked off as well. The South Street Seaport was nice. I haven't been in that area since I was a kid and it was my first time into the mall as well. On our way back, we stopped by the NY Montessori School (the chain that Rosemarie is part of), which was in the neighborhood. It was closed for Winter Break, but it was nice to just get a glimpse of it.
From there, we went back to Emily's apartment (where Rosemarie was staying) to pick up our things and headed to Queens. We did a little bit of shopping in downtown Flushing and then met up with my parents.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Disaster & Recovery
I scheduled a floating holiday tomorrow for Chinese New Year so I could take Rosemarie around the city. I was also going to meet her for dinner tonight because Emily was busy at work. Everything was going OK at work. I got all of my tasks done, and got to my apartment around 5:30pm. That's when everything blew up. I turned on the lights and noticed that the bathtub in the distance was all black. I was supposed to meet Rosemarie around 6pm and I also had a real estate agent showing the apartment to a potential tenant at the same time. In 5 years of living there, I've never had any problems with the plumbing and it just happened to occur this one day!
Fortunately, I was able to catch the super on the phone and he got the plumber there pretty quickly. So we did end up going out for dinner in my area, which had the best Thai food in town. The potential tenant saw the place, but didn't seem to factor in the problem because I guaranteed to would be fixed tomorrow (otherwise I would have a huge problem). Everything is cleaned up now and I have a long weekend to look forward to!
Fortunately, I was able to catch the super on the phone and he got the plumber there pretty quickly. So we did end up going out for dinner in my area, which had the best Thai food in town. The potential tenant saw the place, but didn't seem to factor in the problem because I guaranteed to would be fixed tomorrow (otherwise I would have a huge problem). Everything is cleaned up now and I have a long weekend to look forward to!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Pizza Wednesday
My cousin, Rosemarie arrived last night for a short NYC visit. She was on a business trip to the US and decided to stop by because it's been 23 years! Something amazing is if I count back 12 months from today, I saw all but two of the cousins on my Father's side over the past year. Jet's wedding covered most of it... Jet (CA), Kathy (CA), Timmy (TX), Jennifer (MA) and Greg (NY). Then Christine (Phil.) came by in December. And of course I see Andy & Cindy regularly.
We met up on Wednesday with Andy & Evelyn downtown so Rosemarie could try some NY pizza. We ended up moving from John's Pizza to Numero 28, which looked more comfortable at the time. The last time Rosemarie saw Andy in 1987, he was just a little boy, about 1/3 his current height! After a good size meal, we headed over to Bruno's for some tastey desserts to compliment the dinner.
We met up on Wednesday with Andy & Evelyn downtown so Rosemarie could try some NY pizza. We ended up moving from John's Pizza to Numero 28, which looked more comfortable at the time. The last time Rosemarie saw Andy in 1987, he was just a little boy, about 1/3 his current height! After a good size meal, we headed over to Bruno's for some tastey desserts to compliment the dinner.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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