When I mentioned, a few days ago, that Izuna 2’s partner system seemed designed to make any sane person concentrate solely on leveling one partner at the expense of the rest, I knew… somehow, I just knew… that the partner I’d been focusing on leveling would leave the party due to circumstances beyond my control, and then I’d be stuck with a bench-full of level one characters to grind up.

This was telegraphed far enough in advance that I really can’t fault the designers too much, but it means that I have had to schlep my tuckus back to the beginning dungeons and get some grinding on a new partner.  If THIS one ditches me, I’m going to be seriously vexed.

On another note, Bioshock continues to entertain.  The detail in the environments is nothing short of extraordinary, and I’m enjoying the relative freedom of choice I have when trying to accomplish things.

That is to say, it seems like a very linear game – you go from level A to level B to level C and so on – but on each level, you’re free to get through it in several ways.  Personally, I have become a huge fan of hacking security cameras and turrets to do my dirty work, and fooling Big Daddies into protecting me is one of those videogame moments that belongs on anyone’s list of Good Times.

Oh, and whoever scripted the first time you run into a Houdini Splicer is one sick bastard; that was one of those bits that reached right through the rational part of my head, grabbed hold of the lizard brain, and gave it a good squeeze.

It’s a good thing that I seem to be able to make do on 5 hours of sleep most nights; it’s the only way I can balance work, school and actually having leisure time.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, it means that MMORPGs are more-or-less impossible; I’m on Pacific time and if I boot up Everquest at 10PM on a weeknight, my entire guild is already in bed or heading there.