on drinks

lately, i have been trying to cut down on my diet coke intake. after years of drinking it, going back to regular coke did not seem right. as an alternative caffeinated beverage, unsweetened iced tea has been a good fallback. additionally, there is a new drink that i recently tried that was pretty good, monster: rehab. normally, i am not a fan of energy drinks, but this one stands out. it is basically an arnold palmer with all that energy drink crap. if you are a fan of iced tea and lemonade, i would highly recommend trying it out.

another beverage i cannot get enough of is metromint water. while it does take some getting used to, it is still pretty enjoyable. i think a friend of mine said it tastes like someone spit gum in your water bottle, which i understand is not the highest compliment you can give. however, the drink itself really grows on you. if i could, i would drink it all the time, although it does bother me that a 20 oz bottle costs as much, if not more, than a bottle of coke.

on puzzle games

i do not think i have ever played a game that made me want to throw my controller across the room more than puzzle quest. in the wake of finishing 999, i started playing puzzle quest on ds, and i seriously wonder if the game was meant to be so frustrating. it seriously feels like the game is rigged half of the time. in contrast, might and magic: clash of heroes is a more balanced game, although not as fun. at least in puzzle quest, there is a sense of progress that is not really found in other puzzle games. being able to level up as well as customize your character adds a lot to the replay value of the game. personally, it has always irked me that i suck at bejeweled type games. earlier this year, i tried to get better at them by devoting a full hour each day playing bejeweled blitz for a solid month. sadly, i cannot say that i have improved at all.

i wish that clash of heroes allowed a more in depth system in which you could customize your units. perhaps if each level you gained would allow you to upgrade a single unit versus the current system where using them leveled them up instead. it would make the multiplayer aspect of the game better in my opinion, although without friends with the game, it is hard to say.

i think before going, i would like to comment on 999 a little more. while it was an excellent game in the first playthrough, each subsequent replaying was a bit boring. while the true ending wrapped up the game nicely, i found most of the other endings much more interesting, with the deaths of your fellow crew members especially poignant. also, the lack of a proper time constraint reduced much of the tension that builds throughout the story. but other than these small complaints, an excellent game that i think more people should play. much more fulfilling than the professor layton series, although i did enjoy those games as well.