I recently had the opportunity to review Pokemon Soul Silver, the newly remade version of Gameboy Color classic, Pokemon Silver. I have some experience with the series, having previously played through Pokemon Diamond, which was part of Generation 4 of the Pokémon series, along with Pearl and Platinum. The new version of the game introduces 3D animation into the gameplay mix, creating an impressive visual experience.

As a fan of the Pokémon franchise, having played through at least one game from each generation, I really enjoyed this game. There are a number of new and different gym puzzles this time around, which make the game more interesting and fun. The new story line in the game was great, and added positively to the overall experience. You play as a 10-year-old, trainer on a quest to save the world from two very destructive Pokémon™, Dialga and Palkia, who control time and space. You’ve already seen them: they are the mascots for these remakes, appearing prominently on the front of the box. Giratina is the mascot for Platinum, and controls the Distortion World. It’s a little mind blowing  that a 10-year-old kid would be given this kind of power and responsibility, however as with any sequel, they always look for bigger and better. And oh how they get better and better!

HeartGold and SoulSilver were released in September of 2009 in Japan, and made their way stateside in March of 2010. These remakes are similar to the GBC games except for some changes. This game includes all 493 Pokémon, and is compatible with the Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum games. The gyms are completely remade including the 3-D elements introduced in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. The gym leaders can be battled repeatedly at much higher levels, giving the player more challenges. Menus are now opened with the DS touch screen rather than a button,  making it easier to use items. The battle sequences remain the same as in previous games, wherein you use the touch-screen to order your Pokémon to attack, use items, switch Pokemon or run from the battle. What I do find pleasing, as someone who played the original, is the fact that the PokéGear has a function on its radio that allows you to listen to the original songs on the different routes that you travel through on your journey to be Pokémon Master.

The storyline follows the original with only minor changes. 3-years have passed since Team Rocket took over Silph Co. in Kanto (the region where Red, Blue, and Yellow versions took place) and no one has heard from them since, except for a few minor appearances trying to steal Slowpoketails for profit on the black market, or trying to capture Gyarados from the Lake of Rage. The main goal is to control Pokémon around the world using the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. In Gold, Silver and Crystal, very few of the Rocket admins and executives were given names or had distinguishable features, but this time around each is given their own look and Pokémon so they stand out from their lackeys. Another aesthetic Ienjoyed was introduced in Platinum. Each gym leader, elite 4 member, and Red, are given their unique animated battle sprites and intro. Red, if you don’t already know, is the game adaptation of Ash Ketchum from the anime, and he also represents the character from Red, Blue, and Yellow.

Another aspect I found interesting is the Pokéwalker, which allows the player to transfer Pokémon to a little Poké Ball shaped “Tomagotchi” type device, and as the player walks, the Pokémon gains experience and can travel through different worlds.

Overall I find this to be an improvement from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. Many of the aesthetic changes are very cool to look at, which makes the game more interesting to play even while evoking a nostalgic reaction for Pokémon Silver. I recommend this game both for the hard-core Pokémon fan and those just starting out.

Now to wait for the upcoming new Generation 5 which is to come out in Japan in the fall. The new games Pokémon™ Black and White.

Call of Duty: World At War

Nazi Zombies Strategy Guide

Map: Verrückt

Number of Players: 2

Highest Level Achieved so far: 24

Done right the strategy will consistently take you to at least level 18 – 20 with only two players working together. It relies mostly on strategy, some skill, and some luck. I realize there are people out there who get to level 1000 or more by glitching or running the Zombies in circles. This strategy is not meant to break records its just a fun way for you and a couple friends to have some intense encounters and maybe progress a little further than the norm.

ALWAYS start on the American side; you’ll know it’s the American side because the chalk drawing of the M1 Garand will be in front of you. If the game starts you on the German side (Kar98 will be in front of you) just restart until the game gives you the other side.

DON’T BUY ANYTHING IN THE STARTING ROOM. Use your pistols. 4-5 shots into the oncoming Zombies followed by knifing them when they come close will net you the most points. Your goal is for one person to collect 1950 points and the other person to at least have 1200 points. The person with 1950 then opens the door to the next area, which I call the Thompson room for obvious reasons. Everyone buy a Thompson and start using it as soon as the door is open. Typically if playing with 2 people, this should happen no later than mid-way through round 3 and possibly by the end of round 2.

Hold the Thompson room. Stay in this room and rack up points. There are 2 windows facing the courtyard, a breakaway wall (around round 5 they start coming through here) and the doorway to the first area that you were in. Typically one guy covers windows and the other doorway and wall. Either way your goal is to accumulate points so let some Zombies in so they can drop things like 2x, max ammos, and insta kills. Only hit bombs at the end of rounds or if desperately needed. A nice feature is that the bomb always gives you 400 points as well. Move upstairs in the break between round 5 and 6 otherwise the running zombies will cause havoc in the downstairs.

BEFORE GOING UPSTAIRS CHECK YOUR THOMPSON AMMO IF IT’S LESS THAN 100 ROUNDS BUY SOME MORE

Once upstairs immediately progress through to the next room (determine door opening duties amongst partners so that you all have about the same amount of money). The room you are now holding is the one with the grenades on the wall and the unlit green (slight of hand) fast reload perk machine. You have two areas to watch, the window in the adjacent room and the hallway that leads to the main room with the stairs. Keep using the Thompson and grenades. Your goal is for you and your partner to accumulate around 6500 points. This should happen by the end of round 6 or 7. After which, the following sequence of events needs to occur:

Step 1. Acquire Points around 6500 (more is actually better but this will do)

Step 2. Leave a Zombie alive at end of round (should be 6 or 7), crawlers are preferable

Step 3. Someone opens door to kitchen area

Step 4. Someone opens door to power room (usually the other person however sometimes points are not distributed equally)

Step 5. Flip the power switch

Step 6. Grab Fast Reload/Slight of Hand Perk 3000 points (both players)

Step 7. Go back downstairs to Thompson room, back to starting room, through the now opened door to the German side.

Step 8. Grab Juggernaut Perk 2500 points (red machine with cross on it) Typically one person grabs this and the other opens the stairs. The one that opens the stairs will need to come back for it, usually in the lull between the next round.

Step 9. Open Stairs

Step 10. Kill Zombie that you have kept alive up until this point if you have not already done so

Step 11. Have the person with both Perks watching the long hallway that contains the Double Tap Perk and the person with the Slight of hand perk watching the window on the balcony.

Important thing to remember at this point is to keep an eye on ammo and funds. Once the Thompson runs out of ammo buy the MP-40 (1000 points) off the wall on the upstairs area (near Double Tap machine). The double barrel shotgun is also a good investment for the guy on windows as long as they have the quick reload perk. My friend and I have survived using just these 2 weapons up to round 20.

Hold these two positions until you are killed by an onslaught of the undead.

Some Tips for holding this area:

-       Make sure everyone gets the juggernaut perk as soon as possible

-       Grab MP-40, Double Tap perk, and Bouncing Betty’s as funds increase

-       Grab shotgun if needed

-       Around round 11 or 12 try to keep one Zombie alive at the window (constantly repairing the window so he doesn’t burst through) so that the other player can run back through the level to the power room to grab weapons from the mystery box. Hopefully by this point at least one player has a surplus of points. The following weapons are the most desired: Ray Gun, M1919 Browning Machine Gun, MG42 Machine Gun, and possibly the Ppsh and sawed off double barrel shotgun, but the first 3 are the main ones your aiming to get.

-       Also try to make the teddy bear appear. Why you ask? It refunds you the money and moves the box closer to your holding spot. The box will either move to the Thompson room in the dark corner, the juggernaut room, or to the left of the broken wall in your upstairs defense area (this is the closest most ideal place)

-       NEVER EVER OPEN THE OTHER DOOR IN THE POWER ROOM OR THE OTHER DOOR AT THE END OF THE DOUBLE TAP HALLWAY. Opening the other door in the power room isn’t the end of the world, but it will cause another random box location to occur and this one is even further than the electricity room. Opening the door at the end of Double Tap hallway is suicide because the Zombies will flank you

-       Past round 15 start using the electric fence traps located on the balcony. This gives you a rest and is a way to conserve ammo. Once triggered it lasts for one minute, it then must recharge before it can be retriggered (I believe 1 – 2 more minutes) it beeps when it can be retriggered.

-       On bouncing betty’s. Always place them behind you so that you can lead hordes of Zombies into them for maximum damage. Betty’s will not hurt you or other human players. Use them to create traps and fall back points. 

-       On Ray Guns. The Ray Gun is the most powerful weapon in the game especially in the realm of Nazi Zombies and it is almost a near necessity for one person on the team to have it, so that you can progress past round 20, as it’s the only weapon that still retains some semblance of stopping power at that level. However, it has a severe drawback: splash damage. If you shoot at a wall, window, or Zombie that is too close to you the splash back damage from the Ray Gun will kill you, causing you to go down and lose all of your perks. So be careful and try to shoot Zombies from a distance (shooting your partner with the Ray Gun has no effect).

The story of one character’s trip across the wastes…

Imagine for a moment – a book that writes itself. All you would need to be is that character, be placed in that world, have it be an interesting setting that you can interact with on many levels, and the ‘story’ would flow from that point. Fallout 3 is that ‘book’. Sure, you can follow the quests (whether main or side), but you don’t have to - there is tons to see and do aside from that. You might still stumble into the occasional quest that starts suddenly, but you can always back off – no one is forcing you do it, or even complete them.

I have played quite a bit of Fallout 3, and I suppose now is a good time for a review, although – maybe a bit late. I have also played Fallout 3 as a “good guy”, “bad gal” and a “neutral guy.” Bear in mind, I have had no experience with previous Fallout games, so I will not be making any sour whining noises about that, and how ‘it does not meet my sex fantasy expectations of what a dream game needs to be’ – blah, blah, blah.

Backdrop
Fallout 3 is a wasteland, filled with blowing sand and burning seeps, radioactive areas that are dangerous, leaking barrels killing or damaging the unwary. There are also lots of rocks, big shelves and walls, caverns, & cliffs to sneak around or get to the top of so as to see better, to get a vantage point or just protect your back. Many buildings are rubble, others you can explore. It just takes investigation, and curiosity – and sometimes that’s half the fun.

The story’s backdrop, we have all heard about – 1950 science fiction nuclear aftermath. Giant radiated movie ants and roaches, and even a mini game of ‘whack a mole’ (short – part of a quest, pound 10 moles with a stick). Everything that seems like debris adds ambiance, is dangerous or, is something actually useful – if you can just find out for what. But there is plenty of funny 1950′s childhood retro fear here on tap, so feel free to enjoy it. Typically, (for me) 1st person view was the most fun to play in, but I tried 3rd person too, as it is good for running and skipping sneaking all the time, which does eat up a lot of REAL time by the way.

Similarities
Also, I have taken the time and looked previous fallout games over somewhat, and can see there are differences, such as what monsters didn’t make the cut, number of weapons, plot, perspective of play (1st/3rd, overhead) and other various nuance. Granted, Bethesda does have a certain way of doing things, and Fallout 3 is a fine example of that style. I would not say that it is “Oblivion with guns” because that game had a lot of sword-based ‘club-bashing’ of monsters. Not like real swordplay, but kind of. If you play Fallout 3 in that way (melee) you will probably have a similar experience, play wise. Other similarities include dialog interaction with NPC’s, as that is identical.

A final similarity would be ‘dungeons’ that look increasingly similar to each other after about 40 – 50 hours or so. This game at least leaves the player with a better rational of why opponent characters are in those areas, but not always. “dungeon” areas begin to all look a lot alike after awhile though, and that is part of what brings on a sense of boredom, along with similar monsters being there, and similar various stuff to collect. Once one hits the level 20 cap it’s pretty much dullsville incorporated, unless you start really toying with the game.

Many folks complained about travel in STALKER, as anywhere you wanted to go it was walking. Well, the same applies here, with an exception that once you have been there, you can always fast travel back to shortcut your time to a mere load screen. There are dangers, of course, like the occasional enemy in the immediate area who jumps you, but that does not always happen. This is also a similarity with Oblivion and Morrowind, although Morrowind referred to it as “teleporting.”

Gameplay
Game play is not at all like your typical shooter, except the barest comparison. Most FPS games (Halo, COD for example) have enemies that attack in hordes, and are all very twitch based, meaning – your reflexes and quick aiming ability account for much of ‘actual gun skill.’ Not so here, as Fallout is an RPG, so you play a character that must learn to use guns (or whatever) just like in real life, and that takes time to master. While this can leave something to be desired at some levels, by level 20 you will have a pretty tough character. So, although you might get some armor, you will be relying on health packs and good old fashioned brains to fight most of your battles.

This of course, brings up what is so very great about Fallout 3 – it is no cheesy hallway run, where your only reward is some ammo, or finishing the game. You can attack from many, many different directions, and possibilities exist for one who is strategic, creative and patient. Wide open spaces means maybe you can attack from above, below, either side, with an enlisted follower, by setting traps, sneaking, head on, big guns, small guns, melee, or even leading a different enemy into their ranks by trickery. “Dungeons” (buildings, caves, metros, etc.) are not so different, as finding an enemy to trick into attacking them isn’t always available, yet do often have turrets that you can hack and manipulate to your own ends. It’s a rare game where you can be truly devious in an attack.

What else is different from a typical FPS? To start, there is food. There is many, many types of food, and drink. (I have found more than 4 types of booze already… and it can have good effects and bad, that are useful… but risky…). Food like: Squirrel stew, iguana on a stick, iguana bits, insta mash, mirelurk cakes, sugar bombs, to name but a few (so, squirrels survived?). All help your health, and add a bit of radiation (except for a few). Not exactly damage, but it will be over the long term, if you get enough of it (500 rads or so). Food helps your health when you are shot up, as can many other things like water (dirty or purified) but it takes quite a bit if you are really shot up. Stimpacks are more like healthpacks – for ‘no radiation’ health, and there is an area in the interface/Pipboy where you must add it to limbs, head and/or torso too, when you get really shot up and become crippled. You can easily choose which, and, stimpack effectiveness is delivered by medicine skill level.

Junk, weapons & skills
Junk in Fallout 3 can be used to build things if you possess an appropriate schematic, using about 4 items of what could only be considered crap, you can make something of worth (a weapon) that can be used, repaired or sold. Small gun skills are very useful, as is repair, because ammo is hard to come by, as weapons have damage levels that repairing them will increase, which adds effectiveness. Big guns do great damage, but are harder to come by, and use ammo up quick. All ammo has NO weight, so you could always collect it anyway and just sell it. Small guns are plentiful, and have more of a sniper aspect, whereas big guns require more personal exposure for lesser accuracy, and sometimes take awhile to “wind up”.

Melee weapons can be a hardship. because not all enemies get in your face – some either run away, or stand off at a distance and peck at you or just rail gun you. Some love to throw grenades at you too. Try advancing on a robot with a flame-thrower and you will see where the sneak skill and a stealthboy (temporary invisibility) comes into play. So, obviously, unarmored fists can be a challenge too. The game has a particular level of hardship from around level 5 to about level 8, not sure why, but it gets really tough. If it gets too tough for you, well, just use the interface and set it easy mode, ya crybaby whiner. I suppose that is the part of the game where they teach you about “running away.” (Do I get experience points for that?)

Repair skill is a very worthy skill to have. Not only does it help you keep a weapon working well, it brings it to a maximum damage efficiency (according to your skill). It is also good because you can do field repair when needed (if you have another weapon or armor like it with you, it works by combining two similar items), and that also saves weight and makes the items you carry worth more… that is, less to haul back to sell.

There are many, many guns, assuming you have the skill to use them… sniper rifle, hunting rifle, assault rifle, SMG, shotgun, flamethrower, minigun, gatling gun, missile launcher, railspike, minikuke, various ‘nades, mines and some ‘homemade’ stuff. (really nasty stuff) But, not something you would want to waste, (made from junk you find). Oblivion made you work at becoming skilled at something, and here – you just assign points for ‘surviving’ to the next level, as it is all automatic. Much of the junk you found there was just that. Junk.

Luck has a part to play in creating a character, but it is a subtle thing. Where Strength allows more weight to be carried, and power (like punching), Perception means you detect enemies earlier than they do you, if it is high enough. Endurance affects health (hit points) amount, Charisma seems to have almost no effect, except in quests with speech and challenges. Intelligence affects number of skill points at level up, Agility affects how many points you get in VATS. All of those give bonuses if high, and supposedly actually affect your character in tangible ways (like Agility effects movement) but I have not seen that in all of them. So, in this way, Fallout 3 departs from Morrowind and Oblivion in a major way. Luck, as I have observed, might effect battles and hits, but I have experienced something else… more intriguing. Luck affected what my enemies went through to get to me once it was high enough. Funny as heck to watch, too.

Case in point: When my luck was low, I had many encounters with Talon merc’s, and they were always waiting for me, outside some doorway or on the other side of some entrance or exit. When my luck became a 9, I noticed a subtle shift of them getting reamed by other enemies long before they ever got near me. Poor idiots. So, Luck did change game play quite a bit, but bear in mind – I was sneaking at the time.

Sneak skill is also a mixed bag…I mean to say, many enemies will not see you sneaking in the dark, but many still will. It helps some, but it will not make you invisible to all. I have seen the entire wasteland, and made plenty of effort sneaking around enemies I didn’t want to deal with. It’s a mixed bag. Sometimes I could sneak past, sometimes I ran like a chicken, sometimes they saw me, sometimes one brutal shot convinced them it just wasn’t worth it.

Perks & VATS
Certain perks are good if taken right away, like Educated and Comprehension. You will probably find at least 35 books…so, double the points will be nice, as there are about 300 to find. Perks have been discussed in many other reviews, and so has character building, so I will dwell on other things. Weight, for example, and how you much can carry, is based on Strength (even average). my character is a 6 strength, so I can carry 210 lbs, which is a large amount of stuff early on. For ‘ease of use’ reasons, ammo weighs nothing, as do many ‘drugs’ and a few other items. Drugs that boost health, boost damage, intellect, perception, charisma and other needs to ‘get ‘er done’. Typically very addictive, of course.

VATS is interesting, and several perks make it FAR more useful. Initially, it might feel like a cheat when you hit an enemy in the face several times and all they do is flinch, or you just plain magically miss. It is more effective at close ranges (later in the game – medium range too) but you will still spend plenty of time finding ways to ‘interact directly’, say, with a grenade or land mine. Some enemies will also recognize a land mine when they see it – so be prepared, not all Scorpions are dumb as a brick.

A.I.
AI isn’t bad – I have found that enemies will sometimes chicken out and run off when attacked, and some will flank the long way, showing up unexpectedly. They also often change their mind about running away. Keep in mind that the game will be very gruesome and gory, perk or no perk. Generally, any AI is on patrol of an area; which isn’t so bad, as many animals are territorial and do about the same. Scorpions are a ‘get in your face’ type, like raiders, only really fast. Centaurs are a bit slower. Although many enemies are ‘in your face’, like Oblivion, some are not, some flank, some retreat… you will see varied differences in speed, approach and handling. Some enemies hate fire, others hate plasma, some hate melee, some are armored, some are perceptive. It takes awhile to figure out what’s best for who, but just about anything works by level 20.

Animation
Some animations in the game are not great, as Oblivion’s animations were not bad, per say – but there were times when a dog trying to go down a hill just wasn’t able to do it on the slope. So, the walk staggered the drop, looking very, very fake, dropping 3 or four feet at a time just to go down the slope (invisible stairway!). Well, dogs here have the ‘stagger’ too. Aside from any battles – your dog can just “sit and stay” if that is what you wish. But, he also runs off and finds crap if you ask, like chems, guns, ammo, etc…which does make him quite useful. I lost my dog – was too greedy I suppose. I sent him off to get stuff when I didn’t need it one too many times. Eventually, he did return, but it seemed like forever – I thought he was long dead. Also, sometimes stuff floats, (like chairs, tables, etc.) and enemies will float away (rare, but it happens).

The animations in the beginning of the game are just horrible. The vault had characters without expressions, and they basically just stood around, and some animations look, well – cheesy. All in all it’s not reason to abandon the game, but sometimes it just doesn’t cut it and can be jarring. “Oh, yeah – video game”. Sometimes the AI is ‘ice skating’ when off in the distance. but, But, Oblivion has that too. There are better physics to make up for all of shortfalls, I suppose. And, you don’t see enemies facing the other direction when they shoot at you, like say, in GRAW. Add to problems – the ‘occasional’ texture pop in when you turn your head to look another direction. It slowly fills, and looks strange. I have experienced a few other weird glitches that were video related, but I reloaded and they went away.

The “vault” aspects sort of left me with a “what do I do?” feeling, but – eventually, I would just save and experiment. Interestingly, it put me well on my way to “vault martyr”. I did dig around some, and steal as much as I could before I left (lets see other martyrs try that!). After leaving the vault, I finally found Megaton…which was also slow. Even tried to bang the hooker, but it seemed like all she did was relieve me of my caps (money). I didn’t even hear any fun noises. Irritated, I reloaded the game file, and did something else. I was just curious anyway, but could get the same treatment from someone at J-lube.

Something you might want to try – and that is sneak. Not only does it give critical damage if enemies are not aware of you, but it also allows to to listen in on conversations you might not normally hear enemies make. Some of them are hilarious to be sure. I recall tossing some ‘nades down onto some raiders who couldn’t locate me, and one said “Oh, SHIT!” Then the grenade exploded, and he groaned. His buddy replied “You deserved it, dumbass.” I just about laughed myself ill on that one. Super mutant conversations are also somewhat entertaining…

Assessment
So. The ‘Oblivion’ trees are gone, and so are long load times. There is still loading, but it is shorter, and the frame rate (at least on a 360) is pretty decent, especially when installed to the hard drive. Very little water to be seen, maybe a river and a few radioactive ponds. So, I have seen the entire wasteland, and it is a big place. I finished the main quests and side quests, but I see a 200 hour game potential if one is in no hurry, however, the main quest will probably tap at about 15-20 hours, max. For $60 or so you can go out and write your own (although imperfect) adventure,…. so, what’s stopping you?

———————

With all of that in mind, here is an example of the book that I mean, in my own words, following my actions, early on in my game. Your experience will likely be quite different (I mean, aside from the shooting – but hey, you can always run away).

My characters story….
I headed off into the wastes looking for some adventure, and a scrap. I pointed myself via one of the little arrows on the compass, just to see how the feature worked. Checking my map, I had been to a few of them. But one steered me to an old broken freeway overpass, and from my concealed rock-ledge perch, I saw some raiders at the entrance of the overpass, and so I snuck along a lower rock line so as to not be seen in my ambush. I crept right up to the side of it, keeping low, to the overpass edge. Suddenly – one of them heard my steps – but, my back was covered, and so was my right flank. Hidden from my view, she came along the wall, turned and ran up to me in the open with a bat, and I let her get in close and – BLAM! - shotgun says no way.

This alerted another raider, and he came running with an assault rifle – big mistake – he also got in too close, and my shotgun said so. This in turn alerted another raider (or – already was) who ran up with a knife. Well, you know what they say, ‘bring a knife to gunfight’, and all that. I crept up the bridge after resupplying via their ammo cans. I figured that higher on the overpass was a probably great place for a guy with a sniper rifle.

I got up a ways, and daybreak began to dawn, a bit too quick for my tastes, breaking cover, I ran up to a big semi truck to grab for use as protection, but was seen. Poor Mr. Ballbat didn’t have a chance. BOOM! Another raider tried to flank me left, and – hey – I was right! He had a sniper rifle. Didn’t do him much good, I forced him into a close up scuffle, and shotgun beats sniper at 4 feet any day. I saved, took a few steps and saw more raiders up ahead. One came running with a flame thrower, one with a bat, one with a knife. I set a mine and threw a grenade – somehow, the flame thrower guy skirted around, but the other guys got mowed. He cornered me next to the truck, and had just enough distance where I was getting real cooked, as he was real quick with that fire tosser. Yeeouch!!!

Taking damage, I threw 2 more ‘nades – the first one killed him, the second was a waste. Then, the supposedly protective truck next to me exploded, damn near killing me. Dang! I forgot about that. I had just one little health bar left – I was almost dead, heart pounding in my ears.

Curious, I reloaded my game and tried it differently. I ran up quickly and set a mine right at a pile of planks that crossed a collapsed section of the overpass, where ‘Ol flamey would be forced to cross. He saw me, and I tossed a grenade, which missed. I threw another, it also missed. He hit the mine, and that was a big boom – body parts flew everywhere. Yuck!

But… the other guys were gone! I couldn’t figure it. I looked around, and thought… hmmm… wonder if the force of the grenade blast knocked them off the bridge… ??? I walked back across, and down under the bridge and searched where I thought they might be. I found one – obviously the fall killed her. I never did locate the other guy. Poor rat bastige.

Got me another sniper rifle tho, and a number of rounds. Ugh. What a mess.
–