Lara at the Movies (Mystic Thrillers)

Lara at the Movies is a fan made Tomb Raider game, and quite a good one, I should say. I played it once, I had scary times, nervous times, times when I was stuck and didn't know what to do (had to consult a walkthrough), but also I admired the levels and those who made them.
Now I'm playing it again ^_^
Here's a link, if you're interested, but you also need TRLE (Level Editor) to make it work.
http://www.mprager.de/TRLEGold/screens/Screenshots.htm
I'll mention here another well made fan TR game (by Titak, who also made some levels for the Movies) - Himalayan Mysteries: http://www.trle.net/sc/levelfeatures.php?lid=1793

The Blair Witch Project

I can't believe it, I'm stuck already. Well, I did manage to find the torch (it took me a while), light it and get to the main part. I explored everything I could find there, one heart left to find, I suppose, and now I don't know what to do with an old shovel. There's one place that almost says "dig here", but it doesn't work this way. And I don't remember what I did last time... trying to do without the walkthrough.
Balancing, yay! It's probably borrowed from Chronicles where you walk a rope in one level, this one's a bit glitchy, but it's ok.
The mirror room impressed me, too.
I saw blood on the ground and just remembered: that's where I dug last time, I'm sure... almost. But how to get there? A tree blocks the way. To remove it... oh, I know! I need to fetch the torch and burn the roots in the underground cave.
I was right! And now it's getting a bit scary... but the nastiest thing in this level (and in some others) is the wraith, for if you catch fire and there's no water near, you're doomed.

Nasty wraith

It was more difficult than I expected... first that rock kept getting me, and this annoying thing was flying around, setting Lara on fire every few seconds -_- But I made it! And now...
I knew I had missed something! A secret, in the place where I was last time I played, running and panicking chased by a dead man, and now I don't understand what the problem was if they're so easily killed again x)

Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca
 Yeah, this level is where I first learnt about Rebecca.

Hello, Mrs Danvers

What?! A closed door? Don't tell me I have to do that bloody jump again! No...
Phew... it's just me who hadn't noticed a lever on the wall, as usually ^_^'
Trying to find something, I accidentally found a secret. It enlivened my running back and forward a bit, but now I'm stuck again. I suppose the solution is in the new area that opened, because the problem's there as well, but I think I checked every corner...

Hello, Maxim

I'm about to consult a walkthrough, don't want to waste time running in circles. But first I'll take a break and try to remember.
I got it, without the walkthrough! I didn't manage to remember, but I caught a glimpse of the thing you need to shoot in this level to make something happen. Finally, I can continue (funny enough, I could just rush through the spikes, losing a lot of health, but it would be a waste, and I wanted to do things properly).

Hello, er... Rebecca?!

Omg, a few skeletons suddenly appeared when I was exiting Rebecca's room. I should have expected it, though, when I had found a crossbow and explosive ammo for it.
Rebecca wasn't hard to defeat, we simply exchanges explosive shots for a while and that's it... I like how they put a picture of her (moreover, I fought her ghost), there was not a glimpse of what she looked like in the movie.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
Here goes the nightmare of my playing the Movies last time.
I've seen Psycho for the first time just a few days ago, and now it's one of my favorites x) Now playing this level will be especially pleasant, if I can say so.
I climbed a rope, jumped off to a cave, lit a flare, took a few steps forward... and saw a dark shadow behind me, even paused in confusion. Well, a spider is not that scary, it was just unexpected. I know exactly what to expect further on, though.
After a ride on a very bumpy road, I'm finally here. Explored and did everything I could around the building, delaying entering the motel xD
Well, as I said, I knew what to expect. But when I played first time (not even having seen the movie), I entered the bathroom and unwisely rushed to the medipack and heard the scream and Bates suddenly appearing behind Lara's back... I'd suggest turning volume down a bit x)
I was completely stuck in the house, but I should have searched a little more before seeing the walkthrough, the switch wasn't really hard to find.
I have to go into the room... scary >_<
Ok, not so scary if you have a shotgun. In comparison with my favourite level in TR Chronicles, where you have no weapon at all...
By the time I went to the basement I'd got used to Bates jumping out on me, but no one there, except for a few spiders. Oh, and a skeleton whom I pushed into water before I thought of what I should do x)
Birds flying out to attack me, it was very neat, because in the movie Norman makes stuffed birds, and there are pictures of birds on the walls, all that symbolism.
What is even better than having a shotgun is driving a vehicle. Bye-bye, Norman! *runs over* And you spiders! *mad laugh*

Cinema 1 is almost finished, all I have left to do is to solve a puzzle and get a star that will help me get out of the theatre later on.

Debug mode

I had been writing my term paper, but now it's over, and I can get back to my favourite activities :)
But this post will be about how I love debug (or ghost) modes in the games of my childhood. More precisely, in Harry Potter games (although there are more, and in some of them I managed to find other ways to achieve the same goal).
What I mean by ghost mode is a mode, to which you can switch using cheats/changing a game file. It allows you to go through the walls and go practically anywhere. Why would I need it? Well, I prefer playing games without using cheats, but in case you're stuck somewhere because of a glitch, that could be very useful. I've played my old favourite games so many times that I know them inside out, and when you've nothing else to do there, you start fooling around...
So, since I played those as a child, I dreamed to explore rooms that you see in the cutscenes but do not have access to, and things like that. Of course, there's nothing too special there, just empty rooms made only for decoration, maybe with some weird textures, and most doors don't even lead anywhere. But my dreams came true.
There were more interesting things to see, too, like "wax museum" (a room where characters are put when they're not needed and where they go when they disappear), and I learnt how they make the background (somewhere in space there is a cube which has the background pictures on its inner sides, and the level itself is in the center of this cube, so you see everything that's around). In HP2 you can also change the view (as other characters see it) and change Harry's mesh to other characters' ones, although you can't use magic then, that's a shame... oh, and also you can switch to sword mode and destroy things... or have fun with Slytherins in their common room running after you and you always getting away xD

Rebecca

I rarely read books with such enthusiasm and so quickly (which still might seem slow to someone), as I'm now reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Actually, I've had this book for a few years, I sometimes took it with me when I went somewhere, plus my English wasn't that good as it is now, so I read very slowly... but now it has got very interesting.
Believe it or not, I predicted two plot twists in the story (I don't want to spoil anything, so I can't tell). Either the plot's predictable or I'm good at guessing.
However, the ending surprised me a lot. But it seems... unfinished, or something. You could still say it ended well, though.
Now I can see the movie ^^ 

'We're all mad here'

This will be a really short post as I don't have much free time and I'm not going to have it for a while (I had quite enough time later, but it's still a short post). Even if I had, I don't know yet what I could write about. So, I'll just say: I'm going to play American McGee's Alice for the second time, yay! xD It will be even more interesting this time that I've recently read the books and I remember everything.
This time I chose normal difficulty level, and it feels... I hardly made it in some places. But it's got more enthralling.
Still difficulty in this game is not quite balanced, sometimes it's easier, sometimes harder, sometimes there's too much meta-essence around, not that it's bad, but I like to collect things and I'm sorry to leave it behind x)
Having finished the game, I realized something: last time I played I somehow skipped the final cutscene. It seemed to end so abruptly, and now I understand why xD
It was nice to see Wonderland restored and Alice leaving the asylum.
Next time I think I'll stay on normal difficulty, Jabberwocky wasn't easy to defeat both times. It's one of those cases when the final boss is easier. 

Final Fantasy I diary

(about two weeks ago)
I found the very first Final Fantasy and started playing it on my NES emulator, and it's still fun xD Quite difficult, though, but I was expecting that having read a review. Mostly it's difficult because I hardly have money for anything, and that's the point, to win using limited resources (or so it was in the review). I just hope that by levelling up, I don't spend more than I earn. It's still easier than it should be, because I can save at any time, not only at the inn (which also requires 30G as health and magic is restored at the same time).
It's also unusual that you can give names to everyone in your party.

I've played for a few hours now, and it only gets more interesting. Fortunately, looks like I'm not one of the "spoilt" modern gamers, vice versa, I mostly play old games. Plus I haven't played any other FF games, and it's as new to me as it was to anyone in the beginning of the 90s.
Man, this game's older than me xD

01.11.15
It would be too boring to wait until my party's level is 4, so I ventured to go further. Today I've defeated the first boss. I didn't expect I would, though, but it turned out to be quite possible (a ghoul with its paralyzing attacks is much worse). But it wasn't all, I had yet to get back to the town, and that was harsh... but I managed :D I wouldn't if it wasn't for a tent I had bought earlier. Only Rain (Black Belt) died and (revived) now lags behind the others in experience a bit, but it was worth it.
(funny enough, later I found out that if I went a little further, there would be no need to go back myself; and now they all level up at different time)

16.11.15
By now we've visited Matoya's cave, been to Pravoka, got a ship, visited dwarves and elves... current level: 8.

13.03.16
Returned to FFI. It might be for one day only, though... first I had to remember the controls, it wasn't hard as I do most of it automatically. Then I decided to write down what the names of spells mean, because it's hard to remember when they're limited to 4 letters. And now I'm thinking where to go next. I have the map of the world, and I'll begin by indicating places I've been to. This game would be much more difficult if I had to draw the map myself and guess what each magic does. But it's exciting enough for me already. I'm not sure if I'll play it again in the future, so I'd like to make as few mistakes as possible.

18.03.16
After I went on another scout to the Cave of Marsh and was going back, I encountered 4 Geists. Wtf are they doing in the forest? My party was already worn out by that time, and after unsuccessful attempts to avoid meeting them (not to speak of winning), somehow they managed to run away.

Having played two NES games, a typical one (like Tiny Toon Adventures) and a typical JRPG (like Final Fantasy), I find the latter very relaxing (except for when my party's getting low on HP): you just give commands and wait. And the former requires so much effort and concentration that my heart's racing while and after I get through especially difficult parts.

Pastels and watercolour

Today I've tried drawing with pastels (this had been my dream for a week or so, since I watched a few videos and fell in love with them, pastels, I mean). Mine don't blend as well as I expected (or maybe I don't have proper skills), but it's ok, it still looks nice. It should, when I finish at least a half of the picture. I probably need to change my style of drawing a bit, as now it takes so damn long x)

I've also watched a few videos of watercolor painting and it does look very beautiful, but I've always found it hard to handle, and requires painting more quickly than I do.

Eragon

Reading for the second time.
I learnt about it when my friend gave me the first book of the series as a gift. And I found it enthralling. Moreover, I'm amazed how young the author was and how detailed the story is. Some may find mistakes, or think that the Varden have a poor strategy or whatever, but in my opinion, it's insignificant. They also say Paolini borrowed some elements from other books. Well, in some sense, nothing that is written now is completely new. And I should say even if he borrowed something, he developed it a lot.
It's a shame that movie was so different and didn't become popular enough, so it's not likely that we'll see a sequel...
Looks like many people find certain characters annoying. They might be at times, but not that I hate them.
I saw Eragon being called Marty Stu somewhere, well, I wouldn't say he is. Yes, he did get everything kind of easy and didn't face many serious challenges. In my view, Nasuada, Murtagh, even Roran suffered more during the war. But Eragon's not at all perfect. I sort of like him, still my favourite character is probably Murtagh. Although, I don't think I have any favourites here.