Her number is on the back of the CD case. 

It's the temptation to peek. Just a quick check on the net and suddenly I know the optimal route, the secret super gun that'll make it all so much easier. Years of trophy hunting did this to me and it honestly really sucks - I often feel this urge to Min-max games on my first go because I have this sense that I only have so much time to play, and I want to make this one playthrough the one that gets me the 100% completion rating. 

But no more of that, not here for sure. It was when I beat Ocelot that I got the urge. I know that at some point in the game, you can go back to the beginning section for an upgrade of some manner, and technically a relatively important one, too, I believe it was the Silencer for the Socom pistol. Fortunately I can still say "I believe" because I didn't give in to the urge to do a search. It'd save me some time in the long run, sure, but why the hell do I still have this overwhelming desire to make games last as little time as possible? It's honestly a real internal struggle to just sit and enjoy things sometimes. 

I'll just do some retracing of my steps every so often, especially when I get a new keycard, and let that be that. Enjoy the game, damn it, explore a little! Make me feel alive, again! 

Disclaimer: it was the suppressor, yeah. 

Oh, and the codec number is 140.15. I checked the back of the CD case, as God intended. 

Where - I - can - see - ya. 

I was getting a little annoyed, to be honest, of how the game was looking on my tv. Starting to get that CRT itch, if I'm being honest. Anyway, barring running out and spending a few hundo on a little CRT (I'm looking, but biding my time best I can) I've gone ahead and started fiddling with the settings on my big ol LED hd tv to try and emulate a CRT as best I can. 

Obviously I'm lacking scan lines and such, but I've realized that the composite hookup had sharpness waaaay too high. No wonder there were all these tiny boxes looking like shit all over the screen. Also it was quite dark so I turned brightness up a bit. Happily, I have Dem black bars on both sides since the game is 4:3 and the tv is 16:9, so I "calibrated" the brightness so the blackest blacks align with the black of the bars. This paired with the official calibration option on the main menu and its looking way better. 

It's not the best substitute ever, but it's much better than it was for the first hour or so of gameplay, I'm much happier with how it looks now. A little love and care can go a long way! 

Snake? Snaaaaaake!? 

Quick pro-tip before I sign off on this edition of Until I'm Good At It: you can just double-tap R1 to reload your currently equipped gun without having to go through a reload animation!

Yeah yeah I know, we all already know that. It's like riding a bike, man. I've played this game so many times it's like second nature, even after a decade or so break. Good times.