The saga continues… to disturb! Once again, the theory that any noun can be enhanced in humor tenfold by adding the suffix “-age” is put to the test — and it passes!

I am so glad we are doing this story line because I can’t think good right now. Oblivion isn’t so much the greatest game ever, as it is all comsuming. For instance, Tarbosh, Lord of the Four Moons, Destroyer of Worlds, and Bringer of Chaos® may consume all sentient life in his path, but he’s maybe, like, the forth coolest God — just beating out Geoff, God of Biscuits.

Troll just created his character. He doesn’t really have any interest in a game like this. He just wants to punch people really hard… in the face. So he created a character called “Markistehsuck” and a class called “Defacerizer.” He needed me to spell it.

When this story line is over, you can be guaranteed that Race and I will be compelled to make a strip about it. Await your doom with pee soaked britches. Good Lord, what is wrong with me…

-Arlo

P.S. Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention the supermegaimportant news. We registered our new domain over the weekend. You can now change your bookmark to http://www.level99comic.com. Right now, it’s just redirecting you here, but when we do make the switch, you’ll be ahead of the game. Exciting things will unfold now that we have a new domain. Exciting things. You should probably just wear a diaper at all times. I know I do.

This edition of the Superhappymechafuntime may not be as proposterous as you may imagine. A couple of years ago, I went to the Anime Expo here in Anaheim and stumbled upon this panel. I didn’t really know what to make of it. On one hand, it was quite fascinating, discussing the prospect of building a real mech and how it could be implemented, but on the other hand, I couldn’t help but think that they were just a bunch of geeks who lived together in their hippie commune hangar, living off a diet composed of Maruchan and 80th generation VHS copies of Voltes 5. I shouldn’t be so closed-minded, though…I bet they thought Leonardo DaVinci was a giant nutjob when he drew plans for his spinny, flyingy thing.

I never thought I would get into it, but I found myself skirting aside my responsibilities to the comic yesterday to play Oblivion. (Bad Race, bad!) I know, I know, I’m awful. To make it worse, while I was working on it, I went to go lie down a little (without an intention of sleeping) and just konked out. Poor Arlo had to stay up waiting for me while playing Oblivion. Anyway, it’s a great game. The attention to detail is palpable, and after a few tweaks (thanks Blaine!), my mountains don’t look like shit anymore. I haven’t been really paying attention to the main quest, though. I just joined the thieves guild and have been punching everything…except for deer, they’re super fast. My hand-to-hand still sucks, but meh…punching things is fun. (Meatslappers!)

Dognabbit, I want Maruchan now.

~Race

I am so freaking proud of us. This is the most bepanelled strip we’ve had so far. And I think it’s the latest we’ve gotten a strip up. Another reason I’m so proud. Our latest is still before most people (at least here on the west coast, where it’s 5:30am) are even up to check out the site. We are way better than those sometimes more popular sites that don’t even end up posting on the right day. I pine for the days when the world can make an entire revolution more than projected and people still keep coming back. But pines are pointy things and they stick you — stick you with the stabbiness that is retarded hopes. Truth be told, I never want to lie to you. You’re my friend. My… best… friend…. ::sobs::

Ok, big hand for Race on this one, guys. She slept all freaking day because she was plagued by… um… I don’t know, syphilis or something, and still managed to pull one out. Ew, ok, that’s gross. I should say she was very sick and went on to create that most bepanelled strip you see today. This epic is a whopper and we haven’t even gotten to our first destination yet! But it will come.

Oh, yes… it will be your doom. DOOM!

I really should get some sleep. I’m seeing things here.

Ooh, shiny!

-Arlo

P.S. I totally made up “bepanelled.” That is like the tenth word we’ve made up for this comic. We’re the William Shakespeare of webcomics. Except with less venereal diseases. Just barely.

So what’s up with my gaming life? Well, not much really. I finally got to Syberia, have been playing various NES roms on my PSP, oh, and I finally picked up what’s-it-called…oh yeah, MOTHEREFFING OBLIVION. It seems that everyone has dropped their lives entirely to engage themselves into it, and who can blame them, really? It’s a disgustingly immersive game, and quite pretty to boot. Now, I haven’t played an Elder Scrolls game since Daggerfall, but I’m surprised that it kind of feels the same. Aside from the fact that you don’t have to swing your mouse to attack anymore, or that quests are no longer randomly-generated, it still has that certain charm that I loved about Daggerfall. Elder Scrolls is what Fable tried to be, and in my humble opinion, failed miserably. FAHBLE?! PSHAW!

As I already mentioned, it looks really good…at least, on my computer. *points and laughs* I’m running it on 1280×1024 and large texture detail, on an Athlon 3200+, 2 gigs of RAM and a GeForce 7800GT. It’s a very beautiful thing. Most everything looks great, and it doesn’t lag, not even in the rain. I also don’t seem to have that problem of objects “popping” into view, a grievance I’ve heard from both PC and 360 players. As far as I can tell, it’s all very smooth. My only problem is the freaking mountains. They look awfully mushy and primitive…but my dungeons are gorgeus! =D

I made meself a “ninja” class: a stealthy, agile, thiefy character. For some reason, I couldn’t get a screenshot and I was too lazy to download a screencap program, so I just took a damn picture with my old camera that was lying around.

I pwnz bitches with my fists!

For some reason, I find gratification in punching giant rats to death. It’s strangely therapeutic. Well, and amusing. Mmmmm…rat meat.

In other news, I was checking out this week’s Photoshop Phriday on Something Awful, and I was inspired. I totally missed the boat on the whole process, since I haven’t shelled out the $9.95 to join their forums, so I just did this for fun because I’m kind of lame like that. The subject was “pretentious video games.”

As you can see, I combined “Ghost World,” perhaps the most pretentious comic/movie EVER, and Starcraft: Ghost, a game so pretentious that it’s too good to be released!

Christ, it’s already 6:43 a.m. and I’m still not tired! Maybe I’ll go punch rats some more and steal their meat. For the good of alchemy. Otaku-dom, here I come!

~Race

Wow, it only took us two strips to make it to the AnimeXPO. And this will not be the only hit on nerds and hygene before this arch is over. It should be noted that Fanboy’s shirt has a picture of Misty from Pokemon on it. You know, I had to go to the Official Pokemon Website to look up her name… How did that show go so wrong? God, children suck.

So more Oblivion… Read the previous post for a take on it. I am writing this at 3:30 in the morning because I forgot to do it after lettering the strip. ::sigh:: I’m just about 15 hours into the game. I really want to finish the Thieves Guild quests and the main story line before I crack open Suikoden. So many people have asked me why I bought another game when I just bought Oblivion. Well, man, I don’t even get Suikoden IV in my store anymore (so… much… rhyming…) so I need to snatch up a copy while I can. I actually had to get it transferred from another store. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get maybe one more copy in before they delist it. BTW, you can check up on my progress in Oblivion here:

Right now, I’m a cat burglar in the Thieves Guild and haven’t gotten very far in the story line. It’ll be a while. I’m glad I have two days off in the next three days.

Another thing. You can make your own class in this one, as before. Lou was at my house testing the waters with this Oblivion Whatchamagig and created his own class. The NPC guessed he was a monk and we tweaked that a little. He asked me what we should call this new class. The conversation was as follows:

Me: “Well, let’s see what your specialities are…. Seems to me like you’re kinda like a stealthy, sneaky monk type…”

Lou: “GASP! …. Like a….. NINJA!?”

So he made a Ninja class. Instant cool points. For some reason, the fact that the game let him sneak around inside it being called a Ninja legitimately and on his own terms led him to really enjoy the game. He got in some really cool bare-handed stealth kills, I have to admit.

Well, back at ‘er.

-Arlo