Can’t play General Knoxx DLC just yet

So, all three pieces of DLC for Borderlands are on sale this week for 50% off via Xbox Live. That’s pretty sweet, knocking the prices down from 800 Microsoft Points to a more reasonable 400 MP each. That’s $5.00 in human terms…or an after-work sandwich in my terms. Despite the good deals, I planned to only buy one game add-on. Now, The First Hour‘s review of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned did little to entice me, as shooting hordes of zombies isn’t my bag of fun. The other DLC sounds like an arena of tiered enemies; again, not for me.

But the The Secret Armory of General Knoxx sounded like a step in the right direction. First thing, the level cap is raised by ELEVEN, all the way up to 61. It’s also a continuation of the main storyline, which, while underwhelming, is at least something to follow rather than a random drop in the hat like, “Oh, here come the zombies!” Add in new guns and class mods and vehicles (actually, boo to that one), and well, for five buckeroos, it sounds like the best, most varied DLC of the bunch.

After downloading, I checked to see if my co-op pal Greg Noe could play, but alas, not that evening. I decided to at least take a peek into this new area and see what was what. I was foolish to think I could do it alone. I played the fool. I am full of fool, full of fail. Yeah, see, I’m basically a low level 43 Soldier right now, playing on playthrough 2 and trying hard to climb the tall ladder of experience. I decided to continue on with him to experience General Knoxx…well, that didn’t work out too well. I could only complete the first quest, which was of the “go talk to this dude” style. The next quest has you finding some items nearby, but the very first set of enemies wiped the floor from me.

I guess I should’ve paid more attention to the quest. It says IMPOSSIBLE in blood-red font and then LV 51 next to it, eight levels away. ::whimper::

I’m not sure at what point it’s easier to venture into this realm on playthrough 1, but I don’t really have any other characters made that are very far along in the game. I created three more just to get to LV 5 and gnab some class-specific Achievements. So, my two options now to play this DLC that I bought are to either 1) wait for co-op and hopefully survive with Greg’s help or 2) enter on playthrough 1, but first level up my character decently.

Yeah, I’m a little annoyed at this, as time is of the importance, but I’ll figure it out somehow. Still, it was nice to hear new Scooter dialogue…if for a brief moment. GET YOU ONE.

Archiving the aliens finally

It took most of Saturday night and all of yesterday afternoon, as well the checking and re-checking and re-re-checking of online guides, but I did it. I actually did it. I searched high and low, far and wide, in and out, up and down…eh, you get what I mean. The point is I finally unlocked this in Fallout 3:

Alien Archivist (20G): Collected all Alien Captive Recordings

When I first went through Mothership Zeta during my initial play of the game, I missed a lot of stuff. I was more scared then to explore, afraid of what I might stumble across, whether it be a host of enemies I wasn’t prepared for or something else. So I more or less just did the missions as straightforward as possible, and once I was back on barren Earth I realized I definitely did not grab all the alien captive audio recordings. Oh well, I thought. Later, I teleported back to see if I could find them again, but many sections of the spaceship were now inaccessible. Ah, yes. One of those hiccups.

This time, however, I was prepared, and I had a plan (i.e., an online guide). Find the audio recordings. Find them hard, find them fast, find them first. So my second trip aboard the mothership was fairly perfunctory, but I was also surprised by some of the things I stumbled upon that I otherwise might not have found had I not gone looking into every crack and crevice. Like discovering the aliens’ bizarre fascination with the Giddyup Buttercup toy horses or seeing them standing around an old automobile looking rather perplexed or spawning mutant cows to watch them get obliterated by alien technology. I also found a unique kick-ass energy weapon, which I’d look up the name of, but I think the site I usually go to has viruses and so…I will just stay here. The Demolisher? The Disruptor? The Proton Pack? Hmm…

But yeah, I’m glad to see this finally unlocked. Now all I have left is to hit level 30 with an evil character (Samantha is currently level 23 so we got a ways to go), find all the steel ingots (ugh, gonna need a guide for that, too), and then hit all the level checkpoints with a neutral character. Those last ones are gonna be tough. While I absolutely love Fallout 3 and do consider it one of my favorite games, I just know it’s gonna be hard to go through it completely for a third time. Maybe I will find Dogmeat to spice things up a bit. Either way, creeping closer to a full Gamerscore…

For those curious, this is the guide I used to find all the alien audio captive recordings in Mothership Zeta. It is a little vague, which I liked, but tells you which ones are in which room and how many you should have at certain points. Hope this helps!

Stroll down the Winner’s Path in the latest Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver DLC

Sure, it’s still a little weird to have downloadable content for the Nintendo DS–and a pedometer game accessory, at that–but I’m never gonna knock free content.

So, from May 6 to June 25, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver players can download via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection the Winner’s Path, a new course for their Pokewalker that gives way to more special Pokemon and items. Such as a “Bouncy” Magikarp, an explodable Munchlax (hee), and holdable goodies. Actually, to be more specific, here’s what one can find when out on a stroll:

Catchable Pokemon: Munchlax, Beldum, Horsea, Duskull, Bronzor, and Magikarp
Pokemon hold items: Leftovers (Munchlax), Shuca Berry (Beldum), Dragon Scale (Horsea), Reaper Cloth (Duskull), and Occa Berry (Magikarp)
Items: Focus Sash, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Choice Specs, and Power Herb

For those not in the know, to download these special paths you have to select Mystery Gift from the main menu’s options. After that, you gotta head into the game and visit the closest Pokemart, as if you were to pick up one of your mother’s purchases. There you’ll find a dude who will pass along the path to you.

So start downloading, and then start walking.