| 29/11/2009 Today's the first Sunday of Advent! Last Monday I was so excited for it that I started scouring Youtube for performances of various Advent Carols. Anyways, on Friday I finished the Let's Play of Silent Hill: Homecoming. This game had the same problem that the last 2 Resident Evils had: decent game, no fright. Seriously, it's almost like Survival Horror has been castrated in its efforts to enhance the gameplay/combat. As for Silent Hill: Origins, that game was very very annoying. The guy playing it had trouble completing it because of how annoying it was. The gameplay was dodgy, the story was messy and almost pointless, the established characters used had been changed beyond belief (how dare they make Lisa a whore!) and the environments and creatures were so unbelievably bland. Origins also has the worst UFO Ending. Speaking of UFO Endings, I found it ironic that Homecoming's UFO Ending tied up more loose ends than the Best Ending did, seriously it was so vague it gave no hint as to what would happen after. Also, why was it Cybil Bennet disappeared? Was it only the Good Ending in Silent Hill 1 that was canon instead of the Best Ending? I also need to talk about Silent Hill 4, since that game is such an oddity. Out of all the entries it was the most creative, just not the best executed. They could have made sure Eileen's AI was a little more observant, as well as give Henry a personality. He's so bland he might as well be a cardboard cut-out. Walter could have popped up in much more random places towards the end of the game. And uh...the hauntings in the flat themselves could have been a lot more varied. The guy I watched doing the Let's Play got the same 7 over and over again, none of the truly freaky ones like the shadow in the closet or the photo of Walter replacing a hanged portrait. Ah well. What I found most creative was that SH4 only had 2 bosses in the entire game, the last boss being Walter and I found him to be Silent Hill's most creative final boss (since most Silent Hill bosses are defeated just by being shot at multiple times). Talking about real-world affairs, I did want to give my idea on people no longer being bound by nationality in the future, but I find the word 'cardy' more interesting. After having gone without heating for more than a week the handyman came round yesterday to fix the boiler...again. You see, the boiler's been on its last legs for an unbelievably long time, but instead of investing in a new boiler, Dilwyn (our lovely landlord) prefers to just have it repaired each time. After chatting a bit, I commented to the friendly handyman that Dilwyn's not the only landlord in Aberystwyth avoiding purchase of a new boiler. He nodded, saying that trait was typical of the local 'cardies'. He guessed I didn't understand the meaning of the word, so at my request he explained: 'cardy' can refer to the inhabitants of Ceredigion, the county that Aberystwyth is found in, but 'cardy' also describes a person unwilling to spend money. So I could only respond that if Dilwyn wants to save money in the long run, he should just buy a new boiler. The handyman laughed and said: "Tell that to the locals." |