Revenge of the Hand: MacDaddy Mike's playthrough topic part 2

Like, come on.

This is some PC adventure game logic here that I don't exactly find natural. If I didn't already know to use the Tear of Hate in that room from previous playthroughs, I don't know how I would have figured it out. I probably would have gone straight to Home Guldove and be told that I wasn't allowed in the same room as the Shaman, at which point I'd be confused as hell as to where to go. They definitely could have made this a little easier.

But, oh well, off to Fort Dragonia where I immediately get into a fight with Dark Serge, who is capable of using pretty much every lvl 6 element, so I brought lots of traps along. I was hoping I could just use all traps at once and cast a giant net, but every trap you lay replaces the one you had before, so I wasted my Blackhole trap by laying a Volcano one. Thankfully he used Volcano shortly after and I got to grab that, but then later he used Blackhole and wiped out my entire party. Yikes. I tried again and, for some reason, he used the same attack order as he did in the previous attempt, which allowed me to grab both Volcano and Blackhole off of him. He also used Iceberg, but I didn't have a trap for that, and this was another one of those battles that I ended with critical HP for my entire party and me holding on to hope that I'd survive it.

I grabbed Draggy from the basement before heading up to the room with the dragon statues where I got an interesting history lesson on this game, and lots of hints as to who the antagonists really are. It's also neat to note that the drawings on the walls during this section are the same ones seen in the cutscene where Serge transforms into Lynx. They talk about how human beings are the "progeny of Lavos" and that, like it, we are "devouring the planet". Seriously--how can people say this game has nothing to do with Chrono Trigger?

And then Serge is reborn, though where he gets his clothing back from I'll never know. With this I now have access to my full list of party members, so goodbye Fargo and Viper and hello again Glenn and Guile.

Before moving on I thought I'd do some running around collecting stuff, so I got Zappa and his hammer from the Home World and then talked to his other half so that he could forge Prism equipment--though I doubt I'll bother ever trying to get the "shiny" material for any of it. I also grabbed Viper's lvl 7 tech, and there's actually a glitch here where if you go back into the room and examine the wall you can get another copy of his tech (which isn't useful) as well as another Dragoon's Glory item (which is SUPER useful). Yeah, I picked up six of those.

I'm going to put some elements on everyone soon, and then I think I might go looking for Dario, actually...

Okay, this tale of unrequited love is nothing especially new (although the part about having to kill your love's fiancee because he's possessed by an evil sword and then hiding the incident for years while being manipulated by a panther-man is pretty unique), but it is presented beautifully, from the flashback to the gang as kids and slightly-less-backflash to Karsh finding out about Riddel and Dario's engagement, it's all framed very well to hit all the right emotional chords. It's a situation anyone can relate to, being the underdog to someone greater and losing the one thing you truly care about, and moments like the screen darkening around Karsh as he throws the bellflower to the ground do well to put us in his perspective. The scene on the Isle of the Damned actually doesn't tell the full story, and makes it seem like it's Karsh who takes up the Masamune and kills Dario with it, and I think that's a clever subversion once the reveal is set.

What confuses me is how Dario wakes up in the Home World. This is the one where the Dragoons go to the Dead Sea and die there, but it's established that this is the same Dario that Karsh "killed"...right? But then how come Riddel says that she's not the Riddel that he knew? I thought I picked up both Karsh and Riddel in the Other World, so shouldn't this also be the Dario from that world? Or is it that the Masamune traversed the dimensions and found the Dario in the Home World to corrupt--but if that's the case, then how did this Dario end up on the island? Did the same stuff happen with Karsh at the Isle of the Damned?

I'm so freakin' confused.

Oh well, all of the scenes regarding the Dario sidequest are really great (if not apparently hard to follow), and then I got myself into the badass fight with him. It was Serge, Glenn and Riddel ('cause she has to be there), and though I had put the Black Plate on Riddel, I forgot that I still needed to use white techs on Dario to get him to actually target her with the techs, so it proved to be useless 'cause he'd just decimate her with physicals and use his magic on my other guys. Using any white techs on him caused a counterattack that did about double the HP of any of my crew, so I stayed away from that, and eventually decided to use Diminish to cut all tech damage in half. This idea proved to be a good one, as I was able to prolong myself by sticking to physicals and healing, and since Riddel had her ass kicked right at the start of the battle, I had only my other two to carry me along.

Eventually I had both Serge and Glenn at super-low HP and not able to take another hit, so I used a powerful white element with Serge hoping that it would finish Dario off, as he was in his critical stance. Dario survived, and countered Serge with his ultra-tech, but that at least distracted him so that he didn't get another turn for long enough for Glenn to beat him with physicals.

And now I have the Mastermune, which doesn't noticeably raise my attack, but apparently does wicked criticals. Cool.

Now if I could just figure out how to get into the Sea of Eden...

I'm excited to find out how the Masamune became evil because I totally forgot.

On that depressing note, I finally finished Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom!

I'll post a recap later, as I must run away now.

This game should barely count as part of the NG Trilogy, 'cause the gameplay is all kinds of weird. Super-floaty jumps, different platforming mechanics in general like the knockback being inconsistent, limited continues and ramped-up enemy damage--it really feels nothing like NG1 or 2, and going back to those games is alarming after playing through this one. I gave this game a hard time for having a lot of stages where you move to the left, but to be fair there were stages like that in the other games too, I just didn't notice for some reason.

Despite all my rage, this game is still pretty fun to play, and even moreso once you get used to the controls and some of the bullcrap situations they constantly put you into. The bossfights are the most fun in the series and the new abilities are all really useful (though I miss my ninja buddies!), but the story and the music definitely fall back a bit from the other games. There are only two really good tracks in this game's soundtrack, but they're both pretty kickass.

Earlier this month I played through Ninja Gaiden for a "No subweapon" run, which I mentioned in one of the videos for NG3, and the most difficult fight was the one against Jaquio (or The Jaquio). This morning I ran through NG3 with a similar challenge run and found it surprisingly easy, especially the final string of bosses, but I'm convinced that it's absolutely impossible to beat NG2 without subweapons. The fight against Jaquio (or The Jaquio) in NG2 is ridiculous, as he just flies around randomly and so fast that you can't possible time your attacks. I can't even tell where I'm supposed to be hitting him with my sword, 'cause most of the time my attacks go right through him no matter where I aim. What's funny is that NG2 was definitely the easiest game and had the fewest Game Overs from me, yet I can't possibly beat it without subweapons. Heh.

But damn am I happy to be done with this trilogy. One super frustrating set of games down, and soon I'll take up Super Return of the Jedi and put that trilogy to rest as well.

I can't believe how close I am to finishing this topic. I'm going to need a gorram vacation when it's all over.

I beat the road warrior on the highway, Mac, with no problem. What's your deal?

Seeing the Dragoons spirits was chilling. The art style of this game is amazing and surreal, and all of the buildings smashed together in the Dead Sea is very sublime.

Seeing the heroes from CT blame you for the way the world is was chilling. Then comes Miguel and you get a cool flashback of how Serge's life was saved. It's funny how in the world where Serge lives, most things are worse off. Termina, Viper Manor, Dead Sea. But the funny thing is Arni Village is actually better. Everyone is prosperous and happy. Serge's life had a positive impact on those immediately close to him, but on the world as a whole it was terrible.

I tried Mac's strategy of SealAll when the fight with Miguel started and...sealed my own party and missed Miguel. I was cursing Mac's name at this point because I didn't want to fight him again. Miraculously I was able to weather this storm and then fight him tough. He killed Radius once and Lynx once and I revived them both. Then he killed Lynx and it was down to Radius and Harle. They were enough, though. I played smart and kept their HPs up and despite the beginning of the battle blunder I managed to beat Miguel on my first try. Take that, Mac.

It's hard to put into words how passionate the scene from seeing the spirits of the Dragoons to defeating Miguel is. The ideas bounced around about life, reality, how some choices destroy entire worlds and how those worlds that never had a chance to live exist in the Dead Sea...wow. So cool. One of my favorite areas in any game, I would say.

I think the people who dismiss the game's story are the ones who dismissed it right from the start for being "nothing like Trigger's", but I think that's another way in which the series evolved. Trigger tells a fairly straight-forward story with few twists and turns (though with really unique twists such as losing your main character--but even Cross outdoes this by having you play as the villain for half the game), but Cross' story is designed more like a very good mystery. You're a normal person--or so you think--thrown into a world that makes no sense and there are a ton of players in a complicated game with shifting alliances that date back well before your story really begins, and Cross complicates things further by throwing time travel and alternate dimensions to the mix.

But whereas some people have claimed that this game has "poor pacing", I've found myself appreciating it more in this playthrough than I ever have before. The game opens with so many questions for the player: who are the people in the intro/what do the visions mean/who is Kid and why is she relevant/why is Serge so special/where the hell are we/what does any of this have to do with Chrono Trigger, etc...and I think the game does a great job at answering the questions in good time as well as providing new ones. Key moments such as Lynx calling Serge the "Chrono Trigger" and the references throughout The Dead Sea all give us a taste of something bigger and intrigue us to discover more, and each new discovery forces us to reexamine everything in the story up to this point. There is no mention of Lavos until you reach The Dead Sea, but once there everything starts to get a whole lot more complicated and, yet, somehow more connected.

More than Trigger ever tried, this game's story really felt like it was building to something--something more than just a confrontation with a big bad. When you reach Chronopolis you immediately get a sense as if every answer you've been searching for is somehow hidden in this facility. A prime example of the way the game builds mystery can be seen from the very first conversation you hear when you enter, spoken by blue, uncanny shadows of men with no faces. They talk about getting ready for the big experiment (what experiment?), they talk about how they live on the Zenan continent (wait, you mean from Trigger?) and, most importantly, they mention that the El Nido sea is completely empty (but, what? No it's not!). From the moment you walk into Chronopolis, you get the feeling that everything you thought you knew about this game was going to change.

A lot of the dialogue has to do with the reach of humanity exceeding itself, and much of the idea of the FATE program has to do with limiting human potential, as if to correct its own mistake. An instruction to the young girl in Arni 01 to give up going to the main continent as a poet. An instruction to the man in Arni 02 to give up becoming a fisherman. A plan to avoid any point of contact with the main continent, so as not to affect history. It's all pretty spooky stuff when you think about it, that human lives, human feelings, human choices, and (as the game describes it) even the human soul can be artificial. The irony is that the computer says that its essentially found a way to eliminate death, but the cost for this is to remove free will and thereby twist the notion of living.

Then Lynx explains why Serge was important--or, at least, why his body was important: the Frozen Flame had chosen him, and Robo/Prometheus' interference made it so that only Serge would ever be able to harness the Flame's power again. The fight against FATE was actually fairly easy, but the unique music and the killer look of FATE sold it (it actually gets even creepier when you realize that its face is modeled after Serge's).
---
Attractive people love Mac's playthrough videos ~ Reliable Internet Personality
http://www.youtube.com/user/MacDaddyMike

The Time Crash didn't just bring Chronopolis ten thousand years into the past, it also brought Dinopolis back. Kid, somehow channeling omniscience through the Frozen Flame, describes this in an interesting way, saying that Lavos likely tried to draw Chronopolis back to the past as a backup plan in case it was defeated, so that it could reunite with the Frozen Flame and somehow be reborn--but, to counter this, the Planet itself executed a backup plan of drawing Dinopolis back so that nature could fight back against the human "progeny of Lavos". Oddly enough, this all hearkens back to the Prophet's explanation of the dimensional rift when you first enter Viper Manor, in that Serge was "drawn" into this alternate dimension to fill the hole that his death created.

This all ends up being so heavy. Now we find ourselves fighting for our species' survival against the final evolution of the Reptites, but at the same time we feel like the enemy because human beings don't really deserve to be on this Planet and owe our existence to Lavos' influence. But then you have to consider that it was a group of humans that stopped Lavos and allowed the Planet to continue...but then you have to consider that it's the humans' hubris that caused the Time Crash that pretty much led to Lavos' revival and potentially screwed everyone over again. I guess it's the Time Crash that everyone's paying the price for.

Either way, there's a lot to take in here. I'll just leave some music:

I went to visit Kid to wake her up from her coma, and it's only now occurred to me that this, too, is an optional event. You can't even do it unless you beat Dario and got the Mastermune, but it's such an iconic scene from the game that it boggles my mind how it's not mandatory. So many of the best moments in Cross are ones that you have to seek out and could miss on a first playthrough, which is certainly odd. And then, boom, flash of light and some absolutely terrifying music and you're thrust into Lucca's burning home. I don't know what you get for rescuing the children, and even though the one kid I saved said there were more hiding around, I actually didn't find anyone else. I've always been a fan of any area that doesn't change the music when you go into battle, and the strings and chorus in this track really make you feel like you're trudging through an inferno the likes of hell.

When you find Kid, you first see Lynx standing there, and if you look closely you can also see what looks to be Lucca's glasses lying on the floor. 'Nice touch.

The next scene is just beautiful, especially the way it was shot with the burning building on the right and only the silhouettes of Serge and Kid off to the left, with the glow from the fire just barely illuminating their shapes. Though I've learned to stay away from broken women, I'm always moved by characters having moments of fragility and vulnerability, and seeing Kid here acting as her name implies, frightened of abandonment and unable to understand what is happening around her or why, it really does get to me. A very touching scene that establishes her personal connection with Serge and gives more dimension to her character, and it's accompanied by one of my favorite tracks in the game:

It's at this point in the game that there are only two real big questions left on player's minds: what happened in Guardia between Trigger and now, and why is Kid so damn important? The latter question is still to be answered in the game, and though we don't ever really get an answer for the first one, I don't think we really need to. The Masamune's contamination is something that I wouldn't mind having addressed in another game, but do we really need to know how Crono and Marle died? I've seen fans clamoring for a game that resolves this question, but what's the point? Will figuring out whether they got shot or stabbed really be worth the plot point invested in it? There's no room for development there and no real reason to ever address it again, so I think it's better left off to the imagination.

I've seen a lot of people say they want mid-quels that explain what happened between two games that are set a few years apart from each other, but it's honestly one of the dumbest demands to me 'cause there's really nothing to be gained from that kind of story. I don't even remember what example I'm being reminded of, but I read something like this recently and it ticked me off.

Anyway, I went down to get Starky's ship (and beat the boss with an X-Strike dealing 2500 damage), and now I'm at Terra Tower. Final stretch, baby.

This game doesn't get enough credit for its visuals. So many monster designs, so many character animations, so many vibrant and varied elemental attacks, every enemy in the game gets at least two completely unique special attacks that animate beautifully, the camera work is always exciting during a battle and the framing of story events often shines (like the scene with Kid I mentioned in the last post). What made me think of this were the fights against the "Tors" (Anemator, Pyrotor, etc.) in Terra Tower, all of which have a great look to them and have really cool special attack animations for Omega[Color].

They also tend to have cool death animations, as do most of the bosses in this game, and that's something that I always enjoy when it's there and hate when it isn't. I recall being upset by Shadow of the Colossus (well, everything upset me about that game) because I expected some kind of Zelda-esque death sequence for defeating each one, but they all just fall down to the right and lie there, barely even crumbling, with no spectacle to it at all. Hell, even Ghoma in Ocarina of Time had a more interesting death animation than anything in SotC.

There are two things that I really don't like about Terra Tower. The first is that there's no music in the first section of the dungeon. Once the music does kick in, it really contrasts the more adventure-seeking theme of the Black Omen from Trigger with a heavier string-piece that really highlights the finality of the climb, but having no music in the first section just makes it all feel really....lonely. Again, I feel I have to compare it to the final dungeon in Trigger just to appreciate the contrast, as this game clearly takes a darker approach to even just the final battle. Oh, I'm sorry--"final" battle.

The second thing that I don't like is that they kind of screwed up when programming the enemies here, because they're all far weaker than they should be. The bosses are fine, but the enemies I fought were struggling to do more than 50 damage to any of my guys, and I only have Stone Mail on all of them with no Prism Equipment ever forged. Most of the enemies use lvl 1-3 elements, and most of the lvl 1-2 elements ended up doing zero damage to all of my party members. Somebody really screwed up here, because with no threat to the regular enemies the fights with them just became a chore--though you do get good HP bonuses with every one you fight, so I guess it's good for grinding purposes, if that's your interest.
---
Mac plays the games he thought he knew (Current: Chrono Cross (PS):
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/548-zsb/61122424

But anyway, running into Belthasar in a non-lunatic (ha, accidental pun) state was interesting, as he fills you in on how Harle has been manipulating you from the start, as an agent of the Dragon God. Her alliances are certainly suspect, and I wish I had been thinking more about her as I was playing through the game to figure out what she was trying to accomplish with every action. There were times when she was trying to legitimately stop Serge from continuing, but I can't quite remember when or how it would have helped her cause, or if her cause was all that clear to begin with. Was she really trying to help the Dragon Gods, or was she trapped in her responsibilities but slowly falling in love with Serge? She does, in her final appearance, say that she wished that she didn't have to fight against Serge but that there was no choice now. She's a far more interesting character than even I bothered to give her credit for, probably because I was concentrating too much on how awesome she was as a party member.

Eventually I made it up to the top to the Frozen Flame, the splinter of Lavos, and in swoops the Dragon God to mess me up. This is a really cool fight with some really badass music, and kind of imitates the first form of the Lavos battle by having you go through bosses you've faced before, in this case being the various dragons. I did fairly well throughout and was smart enough to save my X-Strike for the Water Dragon form, which did 2000 damage and ended it very quickly. Guile was doing wonders as well, though he's still a really difficult character to use because his elemental grid is so strange and small compared to the rest. He'd be amazing in a New Game+, but for a first runthrough he's very limited. Oh well, his lvl 7 tech did 1000 damage to the Dragon God's final form, and down it went.

Throughout the dungeon they did well to bring attention to the melody of life or whatever it is, be it done through the crystals or the order of the Tor fights, and then the order of the forms in the Dragon God fight and the order of the elements that it used to fight with. I wonder if that's also the intended order of the dragons when you're supposed to seek out their relics--Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, Black, White--and that they're programmed in ascending difficulty based on that order. It'd be nice if you got some extra item for doing them in that order, 'cause I'm starting to wonder how much this melody has appeared in the game prior to this dungeon.

Well, I'm likely going to wrap up Chrono Cross today or tomorrow, but that don't mean you all should stop playing on my account. You know I'll comment and follow along the rest of you even when I move on to the next game.
---
Mac plays the games he thought he knew (Current: Chrono Cross (PS):
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/548-zsb/61122424

As for the whole Schala angle...I like it. Schala was pretty much the only loose end from Trigger so there had to be some expectation that she'd turn up in this game, and with all of the mysteries surrounding Kid and the fact that there are subtle references to her carrying Schala's pendant around make for a natural development in this direction. What I don't like is how we discover this, as this is really a case of "show, don't tell" that the game creators overlooked. Even discovering it this late into the game is fine as long as we could see it happening, maybe in a flashback to the Ocean Palace scene and then showing Schala and Lavos merging, and maybe showing Kid's creation and whatnot. As a story element, I'm fine with it, I just didn't like how it was presented.

As for presentation, man is this part of the game mean. I decided to go for both the "bad" and "good" endings to compare, so I started with the "bad" one, and it's just...mean! I'm fine with games having a secret "correct" way to beat a boss that gives you more for the game (every Castlevania since Symphony of the Night does this, and I'm okay with it), but sometimes that means having to waste what could otherwise be a really cool fight (like in Portrait of Ruin, where you get to fight the Sisters at the same time--wicked fight that you're not supposed to fight). The Dragon God is more like the final boss and the Time Devourer feels more like an addendum or epilogue, but they could have at least made it more appealing of a fight. No music. NO MUSIC. I guess it's supposed to put you off from fighting the boss and figuring out that you have to use the Chrono Cross somehow, but, come on!

And then there's the "bad" ending. Ho boy is it just like a dickslap to your face. The Time Devourer doesn't even die, it just sort of gets sucked up into a portal...and then the credits roll. And then after the credits you get a black screen that says "Fin". If I were a dumb kid who never figured out that you're supposed to use the Chrono Cross to get the "good" ending, I would have raged until my face asploded.

Like, I get it. I get what they were going for. But this is going way too far. You have to give the players something.
---
Mac plays the games he thought he knew (Current: Chrono Cross (PS):
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/548-zsb/61122424

And I completely forgot that they kind of do have a reference to the "it was all a dream" angle from Trigger by having Serge wake up on the beach with Leena as if nothing had ever happened. From here I like to think that Serge and Leena lived out their lives together and that Kid went off to search for Magus, but she hoped to one day see Serge again. In the journal that frames the story she makes reference to the "summer" where they "ran together", so I imagine the person she's directing the journal entry towards is Serge, meaning that they've been separated for a long while (perhaps she got sent to an alternate timeline after restoring Serge to the beach?), but I've read online that people think the photo frame on her desk is awedding photo of her and Serge, which...eh, I just don't think so. You wouldn't erase someone's memory of you if you intended to get together afterwards, especially after all the bonding they did during their adventure. I always thought that was actually supposed to be Magus in the photo, personally.

Then again, like I said, the ending isn't so much confusing as it is ambiguous, and I choose to think of it in the way I do because it's the best ending in my opinion. Serge gets to live out a normal life, free of FATE's control, and Schala is restored and tries to reunite with her lost brother. That's how I take it.
---
Attractive people love Mac's playthrough videos ~ Reliable Internet Personality
http://www.youtube.com/user/MacDaddyMike

Those three game overs were against Highwayman (which I'm still ashamed of), Miguel and Dark Serge, the latter two being the ones that make a lot of sense given my parties at the time. I had Black elements all over my party members at all times, from Gravitonne being a wicked multi-target attack to quickly getting three Freefalls and putting them on my crew, but I kind of regret never bothering with any Red innate characters after Kid gets poisoned. Putting Harle as my MVP was a tough choice, when Guile killed early on and Glenn was a powerful fighter when I had him, but I never realized just how much of this game has you playing as Lynx, and during that time it's Harle that always stood her ground in battle and saved my ass.

I didn't remember as much of this game as I thought I did, but with a story as complex/complicated as this it's understandable that I'd need a refresher course going along. This is a game that clearly had a lot of thought and effort put into its production (aside from maybe the last ten minutes of the game that I would have done differently), from its absolutely gorgeous visuals and music to its strategic combat system and deep story. One of the most surprising and overlooked changes to the combat system that I enjoyed was the removal of "items", at least in the traditional sense, and severely limiting the amount of Revive elements in the game, demanding more strategy and a high punishment for failures.

The question always comes up, I know I know: Trigger or Cross? My answer tends to change day by day, because as much as they have in common they are very different games and very different experiences. Trigger is more light-hearted and adventurous, whereas Cross is more serious and dark. Trigger's gameplay tends to be more quick and active, whereas Cross is slower-paced and strategic. Trigger's characters and story have more charm, but Cross' have more depth. I can do this all day.

But I think if I were absolutely forced to pick right now, I would say that Trigger is the better game, if only because it's far more "safe" and accessible to everyone, whereas I can see why some of the decisions in Cross can turn some people off. That said, I still appreciate Cross a heckton and put it right on the same pedestal as Trigger, but while it does a lot better than Trigger, Trigger is just a tighter game all around.

I can play both of them over and over again, though, and that's what counts most.

Wow, only three games left. I'll get started on Super Return in a couple of days, hopefully (it's exam week for highschools over here so I have my days off from teaching), but don't stop talking about Chrono Cross or any of the other games I've played, or any games that I haven't!

Funny thing is, when she asked Serge if he had removed all her elements from her grid, he denies it. Yet that's exactly what I did before the scene at Viper Manor anyway. She still had Pilfer, though.

So now I have control of the boat. I visited Earth Dragon Isle and got some Mythril and Denadorite, which I think are materials a bit ahead of this point of the game.
_
---
Fair Lucrezia could not sate her appetite for lovers.
But I suspect she would be fine, with two or three more brothers.

I'd like to do another playthrough where I try for a team that's all the same color, like going through the game with a pure White team (insert Slayer joke here) or maybe a team of all tiny animal characters like Poshul, Draggy and NeoFio. Or only characters who use swords, or gloves, or...there are SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!

Part 1 - http://youtu.be/z3yNzbCiIq8

Well, I've gotten started on the last of the Super Star Wars Trilogy, and actually the one that I know best, kind of like how Ninja Gaiden II was the one I knew best in that trilogy. This is a game I have only fond memories of (except for the last level), so I'll probably be a bit lighter on it even when it's frustrating the crap out of me (which it's already starting to).
---
Attractive people love Mac's playthrough videos ~ Reliable Internet Personality
http://www.youtube.com/user/MacDaddyMike

CC: My next venture will be the S.S. Invincible. With a boss that will probably kill me.

Alright game, overall, but its cheapness made me angry one too many times. Now that I think about it, it would have made a great LP.