Mr GranstaffMr GranstaffGeorgia
No trackingNo tracking

Send me a PM if you would like to stay in touch. Moving onto something else. :-)

!**GamerButton**!
Mr Granstaff

Mr Granstaff's Blog (69 followers)

May04
One Contest After UHH-notherPermalink
Roast and potatoes with a slice of birthday cake. That was my consolidation prize for losing momentum in my UHH match up yesterday. I'm probably picking the wrong time to approach this contest more casually, but doubtful spending the extra time gaming would make much of a difference with the end result either way. One look at the list on Monday morning and it was obvious that it's not my most favorable of lists and doesn't give me the opportunity to flex my muscles with the platform and genres that best suit me. Previous lists gave me the advantages while this one is actually working against me.

Meh. It's just the name of the game, so you'll hear no complaints from me. Only observations.

With Leap Frog, there's really no variables or disadvantages to worry about. Well, I guess if you decide to go on vacation or something, you could find yourself in one. All in all, my early impressions is that I think I prefer this format compared to last year's one. I think it appeals to more people and after a certain point, one would have to rely more on skill because sometimes, high ratio achievements do equate to difficulty. That's just my two cents. I prefer to see more contests that encourage a display of talent instead of who ends up spending the most time gaming. Gives us working folk a better chance to succeed. wink


  • Recap Time!


Huh. Strange how I feel more motivated to blog when I'm not forcing myself to stay up late from the night before. Definitely feeling more refreshed and not hating myself throughout the day. Ha.

Oh. Yeah. Here's the recap:

Blue EstateSuper DeadMr GranstaffThe Super Dead achievement in Blue Estate worth 132 pointsArcade - Get an S ranking at the end of level 2, on any difficulty setting.


+ Normally I quickly snag up the easy achievements, but since my fingers were still warmed up from playing this game the day before, I opted to go for one of the higher ratio achievements.

Still took me more times I care to admit to, but got it done and that's all that matters. Barely too.

--

Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey DoTip O' the CapMr GranstaffThe Tip O' the Cap achievement in Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do worth 10 pointsPurchase the Barker Bowler prize


+ After getting frustrated with that Rail Shooter, I remembered why I go after the easy achievements first. Ha.

Anyway, I fortunately had enough tickets to purchase this prize right away, so quickly unlocked this one.

--

Disney Fantasia: Music EvolvedPage TurnerMr GranstaffThe Page Turner achievement in Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved worth 8 pointsView a journal page while exploring a realm.


+ Another achievement where I had to make minimal effort towards. Only needed to conduct one other song and that's all she wrote.

--

You're in the MoviesCater for MostMr GranstaffThe Cater for Most achievement in You're in the Movies worth 50 pointsMake a movie in each of the 5 genres


+ Since I only needed to create a movie from the Classic genre, this one didn't take too long at all either.

--

Rare ReplaySneaky SnakeMr GranstaffThe Sneaky Snake achievement in Rare Replay worth 31 pointsComplete a Snake Rattle N Roll snapshot.


+ Meh. All of these snapshots are easy to do, so don't have much to comment on. Probably took less than a minute.

--

Zombie Driver Ultimate EditionCombo MasterMr GranstaffThe Combo Master achievement in Zombie Driver Ultimate Edition worth 63 pointsMake a 10 000 points combo.


+ While at work, did some research and decided to load up the game in Slaughter Mode. Took a gamble since I had never played the game before, but that seemed to have been the best course of action as it didn't take long to get that achievement either.

--

Bridge ConstructorStorm WarningMr GranstaffThe Storm Warning achievement in Bridge Constructor worth 28 pointsA vehicle flew at least 5 grid units into the air.


+ I probably could have approached this one a little differently, but after so many simulations, the physics in the game worked in my favor and we now have another UHH achievement wrapped up.

--

Motocross MadnessMad SkillsMr GranstaffThe Mad Skills achievement in Motocross Madness worth 91 pointsReach skill level 20


+ This one was just a grind, really. Started off on Level 10, but after reading a solution and doing what it suggested, it ended up not being that bad of a grind. There was a neat method in the Exploration mode in Egypt. Since I found myself to be decent at the controls, I was able to rack up my multiplier pretty well and was at Level 20 before I knew it.

--

Serious Sam: Double D XXLI Heard You Like ParallaxMr GranstaffThe I Heard You Like Parallax achievement in Serious Sam: Double D XXL worth 18 pointsFind the Secret Monument to Parallax


+ Had a brain fart with this one as I had forgotten my progress was saved on the Cloud. I had done this because I wanted to try out my new gaming monitor with the other 360 console, so that's why my saves were stored there.

Anyway, realized this after I was stumped that my game progress was essentially starting me from scratch.

Fortunately, I remembered and was able to quickly unlock this one too. Enjoyed the secret too. Wish more games did this. Then again, I often don't realize something is an Easter Egg until long after the fact. I never said I was a genius. wink
I worked on a few other games too, but didn't make any progress in them that I would consider satisfactory. I mostly just loaded up those games so I could quickly access them later on via my Recent Games list. Normally, I feel like I'm constantly shuffling through my digital collection if I don't do that and let's face it - that's just a waste of time. Or, maybe I'm just being lazy.

Bah. Who knows.

Hm. Now, that I think about it. I did make decent progress in Pool Nation, but I don't think I'm very good at the game. Hopefully I can snag the 50 Ball Streak in Endurance mode. I'm just finding that I'm too slow and simply running out of time. My aim is there, just too cautious, I guess you could say.

With Voice Commander, I actually did really well advancing into the game. However, with my UHH achievement progress, not so much. I'm afraid I got too immersed into the game and forgot what was on the agenda.

D'oh!

It's just so hard to break my habit of only building Laser Turrets and the few Rocket Turrets for the boss battles. For whatever reason, I don't build many Shock Turrets, so I'll have to be more focused on that when I start grinding for it. It's difficult to explain why I did this. The only analogy I can think of is when you go out to eat, you stick to what you know and that's essentially what I did. Plus, I think I just favor the Laser Turrets because they last so much longer and with my nagging cough, the less I have to bark out orders, the better. I am finding that the Shock Turrets are quite powerful for the smaller ships. They just don't last as long as the Laser.

Oh. I did work on Rock of Ages too, but still have levels and boss battles to take care of, so I'm looking to focus on that later. Such an enjoyable game and liking the humor in it too. I'm surprised I put it down and never finished the story. At least I have a reason to now.

Since I last checked, I'm down by 4. I'm cautiously optimistic that I can still come back, but I'm seriously expecting to lose this week. I may not be the smartest person, but I'm smart enough to realize the list that was generated might be too big of a bite for me to chew on. Sprinkle in a tough opponent and one has to wonder, "Why even try?"

Eh. Why not?

And, with that - game on!




[UPDATED: APRIL 30, 2016]

* added/tweaked Games Collection, added to Games for Sale list

Want to boost? Play some co-op? Trade games with me? If so, click the spoiler tag below:

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***


External image
Posted by Mr Granstaff on 04 May 16 at 15:14 | Last edited on 04 May 16 at 18:08

Share this blog

Reddit Feed
Sven0330 I 100% agree on liking the change to leapfrog. Gives someone like myself a chance to compete for a little bit. I still will not survive to the end due to either impending life changing event or once it hits above the 5.0 ratio, whichever comes first. I expect the competition to anyways go much longer than 7 or 8 ratio anyways and I think the highest I can actually do based on my current games is 10.72, which would require some intense grinding even if I started today.

I still really like being able to be part of these contests finally since they way they were designed before it really made me feel shut out since I couldn't game even a quarter as much as the people who would regularly go very far in them.

Again good luck this week. I like that you are going to go all out anyway even if you feel you are currently behind. You never know what may happen during the competition so no need to not try. Give it your all like I know you always do smile
Posted by Sven0330 on 04 May 16 at 15:27
Mr Granstaff @ Sven0330 - Indeed. I like how the events are catering to more of the society versus the more engaging crowd.

And, thanks for the luck. Not only is limited playtime a huge factor for me, as it usually is, but I fear that I'll be too slow to reach the full 20. I'm against a sprinter and I simply lack the cardio to keep up. Now, if there was a legit Kinect fitness related achievement tossed in there, I would feel much better about the outcome. :P
Posted by Mr Granstaff on 04 May 16 at 15:41
dlCHIEF58 I know I've said it before, but it is a relief right now to not have to worry about any of that needing to earn achievements which was why I decided to pass on the Leap Frog this time. I got burned out on jumping from game to game to earn certain achievements and this new format would have promoted that by trying to achieve a certain ratio each day. I do like the new format a little better than the last one so maybe next time - still trying to get my completion ratio back up to 2014 pre-Bean Dive levels before the start of this year's as well as get progress on all those games I started.
Posted by dlCHIEF58 on 04 May 16 at 17:28
Mr Granstaff @ dlCHIEF58 - I got you. :)

I wish I had your willpower because these contests are just so tempting! Leap Frog doesn't seem as demanding as other contests though. Of course, I hate to say it, but I am burnt out with UHH although it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in quite some time. I just don't see myself going overboard this week. I'm afraid last week wore me out because I was cutting out sleep a little bit. I mean, I wasn't going off of three or four hours of sleep or anything like that, but did stay up longer than what I'm used to.

Heck. laugh As you know, I even tried to stay awake all night over the weekend, but couldn't. I mean, I didn't spend all that money for my fancy mattress just to sit there and look pretty. wink

As always, good luck with your continued efforts on reaching your goals. You've stayed stubborn enough to not give up now!
Posted by Mr Granstaff on 04 May 16 at 17:58
dlCHIEF58 I have the same issues stating up late and now it is a little worse since I've moved the couch into my game room - once I get horizontal and comfortable it is only a matter of time before the eyes go shut and the controller drops. I can't pull any all-nighters anymore, or at least it is very rare - I usually have to play something a little active first (Kinect, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, or Rocksmith) to get energy built up beforehand.

My personal goal would have been a little easier to meet had I not started a few other new games and ones that had title updates that added achievements. I made almost no progress last month, in fact I think I am a little behind what I was at the beginning of that month. But I wanted to play a few new things I either got cheap (Guitar Hero Live) or have had on my hard drive just sitting (Halo 5, How To Survive). Good thing there is a 3 day weekend this month so I can try to make that up. Then in June I take my vacation so that should help get me close to the finish line there.

But good luck this week and I hope you can pull it off at least one more time.
Posted by dlCHIEF58 on 04 May 16 at 20:13
Mr Granstaff @ dlCHIEF58 - It's rare for me to fall asleep other than in my bed. I suppose that's where my sleep routine comes in. Up until a few months ago, I couldn't tell you the last time I took a nap. I genuinely cherish sleep. You know that saying, "You can always sleep when you're dead?"

Nah. laugh I'm truly miserable if I don't get a certain amount of sleep everyday. Due to last week's efforts, I'm still sort of feeling it by not really having much energy when I get home from work.

Oh, well. The feeling will only be temporary, so I'll live.

And, I don't mean this in a negative way, but after so many weeks of UHH, I'm afraid it has lost its appeal. I don't know if it's due to the list that was pulled this week or if I'm still fatigued from last week, but I'm not looking forward to going through so many campaigns in such a short amount of time. Off the top of my head, we're talking about three games I pretty much have to start from scratch. Plus, I like to smell the roses along the way, if you know what I mean.

Too bad I'm not on vacation. Otherwise, with the 24 hours or so I've missed out on gaming due to work, I could see myself already having at least 18 or 19 of the achievements by now.
Posted by Mr Granstaff on 04 May 16 at 20:58
Hide ads
Hide ads