[360] Achievement Hunting

Thanks for talking about the bladder of steel achievement. You assholes just inspired me to make my first attempt at it. Of course I started just after I downed a Pepsi. Of course I am playing drums, on hard (there are several songs I can't complete on expert). I make an effort to minimize my movements, to preserve energy for the later songs, the ones that are nasty even on hard.

In the mid-30s, my shoulders begin to tighten. No biggie, I will just use my wrists. They are strong, from years of mast whoa I mean from playing lots of drums. I press on. Soon, I notice that at my current pace, I will rub a blister on my right hand from holding the stick. I grab a soft detailing cloth that I normal use to clean my car's interior and wrap it around the stick. Awesome, problem solved.

Around song 50, I realize that I will have to piss soon. I weighed my options, and shot a quick glance at the empty detergent bottle near my trash can. "No, that's silly." I knew that I could use the knowledge of the game's songs to my advantage. I knew that at that point, I still had not played AC/DC's Let There Be Rock. It features a very long "big rock ending". That would be my only chance.

Around song 60, I get AC/DC. I play the last note before the big rock ending and sprint to the bathroom. I hear the song end and the next one will begin shortly. I am still not through. I heard the next song begin. "It is the Rush song! It has a relatively long intro that involves almost no drums!" Luck was clearly on my side.

As the setlist drags on, my shoulders, right forearm, and right ankle are not feeling real good, but I had come this far, I was not giving up easily. In the early 70s, I can almost taste victory. By this point, I had dominated and had not even come close to failing a song. I knew that the last few songs, though, were rough, even on hard. In the late 70s, they throw Mastadon and something about a Shoulder to the Plow at me, no problems. I know that all I have left is Judas Priest, Metallica, Dream Theatre, and some crap song called Visions.

Metallica comes first. It took me a bit to get the timing down on the main drum part, so there is a minor scare here, as my bar gets down around halfway. I had been hoarding star power during each song since the mid-70s, and this one was no different. I was in good shape. Next is Visions. I grab a couple of early star powers before the true bullshit starts on this song. It is a good thing too, as I almost failed out, then hit start power and saved myself. Visions is down.

Only Judas Priest and Dream Theatre to go. Panic Attack is up first. Fun fact: I have only completely this song once, but I haven't played it since. I hoard my star power, have a slight scare in the middle of the song, but make it through, star power unused. Song is done. Judas Priest? Pff, that song is easy. Nothing close to a scare here, game over, achievements unlocked.

Now I'm laying on my couch, beer in hand, trying to rest my clearly out of shape body. It took roughly 5 and a half hours I think.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Encephalon

Oh hey, thanks for letting me know you were gonna try it, russ. You asshole.

Well, I didn't exactly plan it. I was reading through this thread, specifically the handful of posts about the endless setlist, and was like "What the hell, I'm not doing anything for the next few hours." And off I went.

And just to update, the next day, my shoulders weren't sore anymore, but my right hand was sore and felt slightly swollen, since the right hand was holding the drumstick for probably 100,000 or so drum hits. By Monday I was good though.

There's nowhere I can't reach.