Oh, and I intend to buy a house. What does this have to do with gaming on $250? I’ll get to that.

My lease on my apartments ends in 3 months. If I have it my way, I’ll never rent again. However, my savings got slagged in the long transition period between jobs, and I need to rebuild them to have enough for a down payment on a house. It;s unlikely I’ll be able to pull that off in 90 days, no matter how tight I reign in my finances. So, I’ll probably be moving back in with my parents for a few months. This move would save me a ton of money and allow me to get into my own house MUCH faster than if I continue to rent.

While that move will help make the transition faster, I need to continue to do what I can to ensure I spend the smallest possible amount of time at my parents. I love them to death, but nobody wants to be 25 and living with their folks. Thus, expenses are getting slashed to death. Gamefly is gone. Netflix will be scaled back. No more big-ticket expenses (though I still plan on going to Dream Theater).

And my gaming budget is hereby capped at $250 total for the rest of the year. That’s just 4 games at “Day 1″ prices, or ~$30 a month for games. I can gain more money on that total by completing and selling old games, or through money earned by writing articles for The Game Effect. I may trade or borrow games with others. Microsoft points count in this total. Naturally, this means my gamerscore gain is likely to slow as I won’t have easy fodder. I’m not going to be playing that new game everyone is talking about on any given week.

But you know what’s better than all that? OWNING MY OWN GODDAMN HOUSE! My back catalog is so dense with games, I have years worth of work I can do on completions, and that’s without touching my PC back cat or diving into the Free to Play shooter and MMO scenes.

I’ll be keeping track of my spending on this blog, and I trust you all to be good “financial advisers,” making sure I only buy the BEST games.

I was expecting scary things from Anor Londo, but my progression through the area was pretty smooth… until I hit the boss. Crossing the rafter beams on my first pass of the area was a white-knuckle experience, but I managed it since the painting guardians are not very strong enemies. The sentinels gave the the strongest challenge, due to their high health, and because their shields blocked a lot of my pyromancy attacks. The silver knights were a joke. I got into a pattern of blocking their attack, stabbing once or twice with the lightening spear, then raising my shield again. They could almost never hit me.

Anor Londo’s bosses are considered by many to be the toughest in the game, and I quickly saw why. After wiping against them a few times, I decided it was time to take a break from forward progression and work on powering myself up as much as possible. To that end, I upgraded my Silver Knight armor to be stronger, and decided I needed something stronger than the Lightening Spear, and wanted to ramp up my pyromancy power.

I backtracked through Sen’s Fortress to the blacksmith in that area, with the intent to upgrade a Painting Guardian sword to become Quelaag’s Furysword. I could not upgrade it beyond +5, as I didn’t have the right ember. After consulting the guide, I realized I flew passed it in the Depths, so I had to make a fetch quest to grab it and bring it back.

Once I had that ember and had the sword to +10, I spent some time in Darkroot Garden, grinding up a huge amount of souls, which I used to upgrade my pyromancy flame to +12, and added a few levels to my dex and intelligence. With stronger spells and armor, I went through Sen’s again to return to Anor Londo, and made the Furysword. With the aid of a very skilled player, and my own upgrades, Anor Londo’s bosses fell.

With the ability to warp between bonfires finally mine, I returned to Firelink Shrine and returned to the Undead Asylum to fight the Stray Demon boss. He killed me… A LOT. I’m disgusted with how much that fight inflated my death count. This SOB hits HARD, and killed me in 2 axe hits, plus an annoying fire attack dealing ¼ to 1/3 if my life in damage. Finally, I figured out how I could kill the bastard. My trick was to constantly circle strafe around the boss, which allowed me to evade all his axe attacks and most of his fire blasts. While circle strafing, I lobbed every fire spell I had at his fat ass. With pyromancy gone, I had to finish the fight close quarters, slashing at his fat underbelly a few times, then rolling away when he flies up to do a ground pound. It’s actually a really simple fight… Damn shame I had to die over a dozen times before figuring out the trick.

With the doll item from the asylum, I warped back to Anor Londo to clear the Painted World dungeon, and I felt extremely overpowered while doing it. This was such a breeze it’s not worth discussing in depth. Crossbreed Priscilla killed me once, as her invisibility move took me completely by surprise. I was running around like an idiot as she slashed at me, and knocked me off a ledge. I was thinking I just had to wait her out and she’d reappear. On my second attempt, I got smart and looked for evidence of her location, and followed the footprints she leaves in the snow to find her. I won round 2 without getting hit. Unfortunately, I failed to cut off her tail despite aiming for it above all else, so I need to try again in New Game + to get that special weapon.

After the Painted World, I returned to Darkroot Garden. I’d already explored most of the area, so I made a beeline straight for Great Wolf Sif. I thought Sif was supposed to be one of the tougher bosses… I don’t know where I got that impression from. He looks cool, but he’s a total pushover. I soloed him on my first attempt. Sif’s problem is his reliance on the giant sword he keeps in his mouth, and never uses his paws. This causes minimum range issues, where if you get close enough, Sif can’t hit you. Thus, I sat under his belly and hacked him to death, and chased him around whenever he jumped to reposition himself.

Now, I’m tidying up some loose ends before moving on to the New Londo Ruins. I’ll go down to the depths and clear that tree area, and the lake at the bottom. I want to item hunt those areas, and activate the bonfire at the bottom, which is also a warp point. Once that area is clear, I’ll allow myself to be cursed, and move on to New Londo. I could not be more pleased with how far I got over the weekend. I feel I understand the flow of the game better than ever, and know how to adapt to new challenges. I use a guide to know where items are and gain a general understanding of the layout of an area, but still put in the time to memorize the levels and enemy locations, and I learn how to fight each enemy without help, bosses included.

I will update my cumulative death count at a later date, as I don’t have it with me.

 Part of my problem was laziness with the snake enemies. The Drake sword just does not hit them very hard. With the basic sword, I’m dealing less than 40 damage a shot, which makes the fights take a while. Once I learned their extremely predictable attack patterns, they’re easy to kill, they just take a while. Despite dying rather repeatedly, I didn’t feel too frustrated with the dungeon, as I made a little more progress each time.

 Sen’s Fortress felt very linear compared to most of the other areas I’ve explored, which made it easy enough to learn, though I would not say I’ve mastered it. Timing on the swinging saw blades can be tricky, though learning how to kill enemies with traps feels awesome.

 I cheesed my way through the Iron Golem boss with the aid of an NPC summon I found, and one random person who was kind enough to help. I think that person must have been at the higher end of who I can partner with, and he kind of slapped that boss around while I watched. I have no problem with that. I took the whopping 40k souls I earned and leveled the hell up, getting to level 46.

 I’ve now dipped my tows into Anor Londo, and WOW, this place is beautiful. It’s easily the most stunning environment I’ve seen in the game so far. I’m trying now to figure out what to do next. I want to grind some souls and visit Big Hat Logan and the other NPCs at Firelink Shrine to buy new spells and upgrade my stuff, but I don’t want to backtrack through Sen’s Fortress to get there, and then all the way through again to get back. So, I may be stuck in Anor Londo until I get through it. I feel very underpowered at the moment, so my next several hours will likely be exploring and trying to figure out how I can power up.

 Cumulative death count: 67.

The deepest part of the Depths gave me hell, with the jumping frog things that can inflict curse. I suffered curse and death to them three times in a row. Thankfully, I was smart enough to carry with me a cure for curse, but I only had three. With them all gone, I had to choose between grinding souls and going back to buy more curse cures, or taking the gamble that I could make it through this time. Wonder of wonders, I finally rediscovered the path to the boss, and bypassed the frog bastards. Gaping Dragon remains cool looking, but that fight is a joke. Cut the tail, then keep attacking his rear flanks when it’s safe. With patience, this fight is SO easy.

With the Gaping Dragon dead, I had the key to go down to Blight Town. I won’t lie, Blight Town is one of those areas that scares the crap out of me. I suffered a few deaths at the hands of the enemies, but the environment is the bigger enemy. It is so easy to fall to your death on those narrow paths, the lighting is intentionally poor, and it all makes for crappy fighting conditions. I could not get my ass down to the swamps fast enough! I’ll take the poison for comparatively easy enemies and quick access to a bonfire. I spent some time clearing out items in the area, and then it was on to the boss.

For this run on Quelaag, I tried something different; I ran the boss in online coop. I summoned in another person, plus the NPC Maneater Mildred. With the aid of additional troops, the fight was MUCH easier, as Quelaag’s attention can be divided, leaving opportunities for the others to attack. That said, it still took two attempts to down the spider-woman. After that, I decided to pay back the kindness by putting down my own white summon icon, and helped another played defeat the boss in 3-player coop, and got a nice 10,000 soul reward for my assistance. Cooperative boss fights in Dark Souls are a hell of a lot of fun. I don’t know how often I’ll be able to enlist support later in the game, but I plan to utilize it as much as I can.

Tonight, I plan to spend most of my time researching my next move. I’m in a muddy time where the story progression dictates I go to Sen’s Fortress (cringe), but there’s several optional areas I can visit (and indeed, I did on my previous playthrough attempt.) I plan to take it slow and focus on leveling up and gearing up as much as I can before attempting Sen’s. My friend Ricky, who also has the game, suggested attempting parts of Darkroot Garden to power but before tackling Sen’s, so I may give his advice a shot and see what happens.

Cumulative Death Count: 42

On the workout front, my cold is in remission, so I plan to push myself harder than I ever have before on Saturday, which my friends would probably call “Suicide Saturday” since I think only 1 or 2 of them would be able to complete what I’m planning to attempt:

AM session – Wake up, eat breakfast, go for a run an hour later. Run a minimum of 10k. Time is less important that hitting the distance marker.

2 -3 hour break for lunch and video games.

Early Afternoon session – P90x Kempo and Ab Ripper routines.

2-3 hour break for games, reading.

Evening Sesson – Full-body weightlifting session at Gold’s gym.

As much as possible, I’m going to repeat this on Sunday, with more emphasis on cardio and less on weights. Calorie burn on these days will be nuts, so I’ll be sure to eat enough that I don’t collapse. Every few weeks I deliberately do something to test just how tough I’ve become, and what I can endure, and this challenge will take the crown for most brutal thing I’ve subjected myself to. I’m looking forward to it (not sarcasm).

On the gaming front, I’m planning to work on Warriors Orochi 3, Amalur, and Dark Souls most, as each is a long time investment completion that I really want on my gamertag. At some point I’ll be popping in Gears 3 to download the new map pack and try to get a group going for the new achievements.

Depending on how well I survive this weekend, I may make Weekend Rampages a once a month ordeal, where I put my current level of fitness to the ultimate test, and try to beat out an extra pound or two. My goal, remember, is to be down 60 pounds by my 26th birthday (September 12), and I’m hell-bent on achieving that goal. So far, I’m on pace to do it. The sooner I hammer out this goal, the sooner I can turn my attention to the next goals in line:

1 – Learn how to balance exercise, work, gaming, and spend more time WRITING.

2 – Get the girl. ‘Cause I’ll be fucking HOT.

In the words of Archer, it’s time for a RAMPAGE!!!!!!!!

More Capra Demon shenanigans!

Attempt #1: Roll to evade attack, get hit by poison dog. Roll but get hit by Capra Demon. Dash for stairs in the back, get taken out before I reach them. I dealt no damage to anything.

Attempt #2: Try to throw fireball the instant I’m through the white fog. It’s too slow and Capra hits me before I can cast it. Roll passed him and dash to top of steps. Estus flask, then slash to kill one poison dog. Capra kills me before I can dodge again.

Attempt #3: I think I can run through a gap in some columns to the right. I can’t. Capra and poison dog take me out in 10 seconds.

Attempt #4: I make disparaging comments about how Capra Demons reproduce as I step through the fog. Capra and his dogs gang bang me, allowing no opportunity to evade or heal. Fight lasts maybe 8 seconds.

Attempt #5: Tried the fireball at zoning in again. I actually got it off, but the spell doesn’t even make him flinch. Depressingly low damage dealt. I’m quickly dispatched.

Attempt #6: I watch the Capra rush me, and time my evasion perfectly to dodge him. Something pins me to a corner… couldn’t tell if it was iffy level geometry or a poison dog, and I get combo killed… again.

Attempt #7: The poison dog cock blocks my dodge. I die in 6 seconds.

I take a break to watch my YouTube video of my 1st Capra Demon kill as a reminder that I have actually won this fight before. I then give in and watch this walkthrough video to see if it helps.

Attempt #8: The Capra’s first attack knocks me on my ass. I get up and dash for the stairs. After a swing and epic miss on one of the dogs, I fall off the stairs and get pounced on by the Capra. Fight lasts about 15 seconds, my record for the evening… as pathetic as that is.

Attempt #9: VICTORY!!! VICTORY!!!! VICTORY!!!! VICTORY!!!! I roll passed Capra demon, and manage to evade the dogs on the way to the stairs. Running backwards, I cut them both down as the Capra approaches. We play a cat and mouse game running up and down the stairs, with me taking cuts at him where I can as he jumps down. I get too greedy and take some hits, chugging estus flasks like mountain dew when I get a second. With just 2 of my 10 estus flasks left, the bastard finally dies.

And on that note, I’m going to put this game down, hit the shower, and go to bed. I wish I could have achieved more in an hour, but I’ll settle for getting beyond this terrible bottleneck. Next time I play (probably Thursday) it will be time to conquer the Depths.

Cumulative Death Count: 23

If you have not yet picked up Dark Souls, follow these diaries to give you an idea what you could be in for. If you’re playing Dark Souls now, you can compare your progress against mine. Since Dark Souls motto is “Prepare to Die,” and I’m curious to see how I fare in such a challenging game, I’m keeping a tally of every death I’ve had since starting the game, and that will be a regular part of these posts.

In most cases, I won’t get into huge details on area layouts or game mechanics. I may sometimes detail my boss tactics, but I’m assuming you have knowledge of Dark Souls as I write. 

Wrath of the Capra Demon

I’ve rolled a new character this week and started Dark Souls over, since it’s been months since I last played. I weep a little inside that I logged 24 hours with a level 35 character that I may never play again, but I vow to make that time and educational experience in the world of Dark Souls and use that knowledge to clear the areas I know faster, so it wasn’t time wasted.

So far, my knowledge has been instrumental in progressing relatively quickly. I killed the Taurus Demon and Bell Gargoyles on the first attempt. With the Gargoyles, I had the aid of 2 summoned NPCs, which made the fight a complete joke. They practically won the fight for me.

Now, I’m quite comfortable roaming the Undead Burg, and made a tiny amount of progress unlocking paths down to the depths. I unlocked the door passed the bridge where the skeletons throw fire bombs in the Undead Burg, and the door to the undead Moss merchant. It’s that path I take from the Berg flame to face the Capra Demon. It’s not too long, and the enemies in the way aren’t too tough.

The Capra Demon, however, is every bit the bottleneck fight he was on my first playthrough. I hate this boss so fucking much. I like to dance and weave around tougher foes, but this huge demon sits in a tiny-ass room with little room to maneuver, and he has huge reach. He killed me 3 times tonight without me even scoring a hit. I may have to watch my kill video of him on YouTube for inspiration. As it stands, I can’t progress farther until I kill him (or feel like pushing through areas that are SERIOUSLY outside normal progression.)

Cumulative Death Count: 15

I need to relearn this fight, which will probably only happen after I die 10-20 more times. Damn, I hate the Capra Demon. Stay tuned for Episode 2, where I’ll probably be yelling and screaming incoherently, while not actually getting any deeper into the game. Exciting times! It’s going to take a LOT of episodes to bring an end to this epic journey, so stay tuned!

So, I’ve decided the challenge will be to play 10 games over 10 hours, devoting approximately an hour to each title. I’ll make an attempt to stream it, but my setup is notoriously laggy, so I’m not sure how good the video quality will be, so I may pull the plug if it looks bad. I’ll also be tweeting happenings over the course of the day.

Here’s the schedule (tentative based on my time at the gym.) All times are US central time.

• Noon -1pm: X-Men: Destiny
• 1-2pm: Kingdoms of Amalur
• 2-3pm: Rayman Origins
• 3-4pm: Cars 2
• 4-5pm: American Nightmare
• 5-6pm: ONE HOUR EYE BREAK
• 6-7pm: Skyrim
• 7-8pm: Nexuiz
• 8-9pm: Gears of War 3
• 9-10pm: Assassins Creed Brotherhood
• 10-11pm: DreamWorks Kartz

Three games on this list are achievement punching bags (X-Men, Cars, DreamWorks), but the rest are quality games I’m looking forward to playing. It should make for an interesting (and lazy) Sunday!

I will begin their training program on March 12th, which means I have a job in hand, and almost a month and a half of time to kill before that. I plan to continue working at Target up until that time, to keep making money to cover my cost of living, but no longer worrying about finding a job means I have a significant amount of free time to play with. How will I spend the days?

I have 4 things I want to spend my time on this month – Gaming, Writing, the Gym, and growing a social life. Without breaking the bank (as it will take months to restore my savings) I want to see what’s out there for social groups and clubs, and try to meet new people. Because my rate of weight loss will likely decline once I begin full time work, I plan to hit they gym aggressively in February, to lose as much weight and improve my physical condition as much as I possibly can. It’ll make for an intense month!

On the gaming front, I’ve rejoined Gamefly for achievement fodder, will be picking up Kingdoms of Amalur, and plan to keep rocking the back catalog like I have been. Beyond a review for Amalur, I’m not sure yet what writing I’ll be doing for The Game Effect this month. Tomorrow, I plan to hit the gym, knock out some misc. chores, then sit down and plan out some feature content.  When I have specifics, I’ll be sure to share!

It turns out 2011, my so-called “year of the RPG,” wasn’t very successful. I completed just 2 RPGs – Torchlight and Phantasy Star Universe. PSU, with a 120+ hour time commitment, is a completion I’m quite proud of. This year, however, I need to up the ante, as completing only 2 RPGs in 12 months isn’t good enough for me. This year, I’m aiming for six. I think one every two months, given the time commitment these games require, should be tough but possible. Given the work I have to do to complete Gears 3 AND get to 200k this year, I expect a mini-GSL later in the year (assuming I have income) to keep on pace.

Seriously 3.0 is the achievement I plan to use to hit 200k right on the nose. For this to be possible though, I need to correct my gamerscore, which does not currently end in a nice, clean 5 or 0. To do this, I could find some game with odd achievements to use, but I plan on trying to go back to three old games and correct their odd totals. First, I’m starting with Infinite Undiscovery, a fun JRPG that I dedicated almost 40 hours to back in 2009, completing the game on Normal. Now, I plan to press on through the next two difficulties, anticipating another 100-120 hours for the last 331 points. Yes, seriously.

After that, it’s time to return to the original release of Divinity II. I have the 1 point achievement for killing Charlie the Goblin, but I need to complete the game for the 99 point achievement to balance it out.

Lastly, at some point before the end of the year, I need to figure out how to get “You Ate All the Chips” in Halo Reach (collect all flags in a matchmade Stockpile game). Thanks, Bungie, for that evil achievement. If anyone knows ways to make this easier, I’m all ears. If I can accomplish these three tasks, the path to a perfect 200k is simple scoring and doing all the crazy crap I need to for Seriously 3.0.

My current game rotation is Infinite Undiscovery, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Skyrim, Gears 3, and AC Brotherhood. Also, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I’m back on working Red Alert 3 with W1lly x360a. That’s a lot of games to try to juggle, but Gears 3 is something I can casually play whenever I want and make progress, and Red Alert 3 is a scheduled affair. Once a few of these games get wrapped up, I’m going to try to keep the rotation smaller.

On the weight loss front, I’m at a snag… already. I’ve been spot-on with my diet, but despite reduced calories, my numbers aren’t dropping, even though at this point diet alone should be working. My body’s been refusing to burn the blubber over the last few days. I’m going to try to mix it up with an AM and PM workout. I’m under-employed, so I have the time…

As a measure to make sure my daily efforts are focused to job hunting, I’m imposing on myself a Monday to Friday “No Xbox before 6pm” rule, except for days where I had a work shift at Target, or special occasions (like my best friend coming over on Thursday and Friday). Here’s to hoping I have the will to be good about this, and don’t find other ways to waste my time.