Gaming Together

When I was growing up I never played two player games that much.  I mean I played a lot games that had two, sometimes three, player options on them.  Secret of Mana is one.  In fact, that is an amazing game and most likely one of the greatest of all time (damn do they need a sequel to that).

I just chose to play games by myself cause I am a depressing loner (I swear I am not that emo).  I retract the depressing loner statement and add that I am just a tad introverted.  I liked to just hang out at home by myself at times.  No problems with that at all.


Nowadays I still play many games by myself, but I have a few that allow for more than one player to enjoy at one time.  A lot of these are on the Wii, or really any Nintendo platform.  Nintendo makes good multiplayer, non-shooting, games for people to enjoy with others in the living room.

Now I come to Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii.  My mother graciously got the game for me for Christmas and the wife and I started playing it about a month ago.  We haven't played too many games together (really, its probably under the amount of 5) and my wife loves the Mario series.  She is a huge fan of Super Mario 2 and 3.  She is the boss at Super Mario 3.

So the wife says that she wants to play Galaxy one day, and I say sure.  Its setup so that if you play with a second person, the first player does all the controls of Mario, and the second player is there mostly to help pick up star fragments, shoot them at enemies, and talk with you about things.  Knowing this I told her she should be the first player and I would be second player.  We started off with this setup and were doing great until having to fight the prequel boss.  Its really hard to keep Mario moving and the world be on a 3D planet that moves around.  Makes my damn head hurt a lot.

So we realized that maybe we should change things up and have me "drive" the adventure and the wife would man the co-pilot.  The game became a lot more fun.

From inappropriate comments about shooting stars at certain things mouths (plus their reaction/enjoyment of a tasty treat for them), to figuring out how to get through different obstacles, to just staying up later than we normally do because we are enjoying the moment with each other.  All of it is amazing.  I love playing games with my wife.  I found it funny that the first time we went a couple of days without playing she texted me to say that she was really hoping to play tonight.  We have kicked major ass and are at level 3.1.

Don't get me wrong.  Its not a secret that a lot of male gamers would love to be in a relationship with someone who plays games with them.  Who appreciates them as much as them.  I have for years wanted my wife to do that.  But now, just playing the game together I am discovered that I am glad she isn't as much of a gamer as me.

I am not as hardcore a gamer as others, but I do play frequently.  I also know my information and can hold up pretty well with others.  So thinking that I want that special someone in my life to be at that same level is a little frightening.  Yeah it would be cool at first, but then we would probably spend a lot of time just playing games and competing between each other without going out and enjoying new things.  My wife loves to run. Hell she ran a marathon.  She has gotten me to run a little here and there, something that I would not have probably done on my own.  I have experienced art museums, owning a kickass dog, and lots of other things that I might not do by myself, or by having someone who is just like me.

Now my wife just playing Mario games, and really small mobile puzzle games is great.  Because when she sits down and watches me play games, she sometimes asks questions about the story or what is happening.  She can get into things or just sit and read, knowing that I am getting some enjoyment in my moments of just escaping.  A little game therapy.  However its when she plays games on a console that my eyes light up.  She has this fascination with the games.  So much fun playing and enjoying them that I sometimes end up thinking "when was the last time I had this kind of exposure to a game where I was so in touch with things"?  I am not saying my wife is a little child, however she plays things with the enthusiasm of a person coming to it for the first time.  I love that.

This is something that I wouldn't have if I married a gamer.  This is something that would be rare if nonexistent if I married someone who played games as much as me.  I would not get this inspiration to look more into the games I choose if I didn't see the face my wife makes when playing Mario.  I love my wife, and this is something that makes me love her even more.  

Mega Man (Rock Man) Rocks in X

I was working on my Legend of Dragoon post before my wife and I left to go to DC last week so she could run the Marine Corps Marathon (it was her first marathon ever).  She totally rocked it as well.  I am so proud of her.

I will finish up my Legend of Dragoon post, plus talk about our experience up in DC and then the subsequent being stuck in DC soon.  I wanted to talk about another game I just completed.

MegaMan X with no upgrades

MegaMan X with upgrades.  Pretty badass, minus his thunder shins

I have loved MegaMan since I was a kid. The original games on the NES were a bitch to beat.  I attribute this to the fact that back in the day everything was harder, including kids growing up.  We didn't have as many limitations by people or people looking out for us.  There was a constant concern of natural selection taking over and we would end up dead in the street.  This mentality also was taken into video games.  Many people have played the original MegaMan games and never completed them, myself included.  It was so damn hard to get through the levels to the bosses for each stage and not just having to beat them.  Some of them had an easy mode that you could try to use to help get through the game, but still it was hard as hell.

There are many trademarks to MegaMan.  Dr. Light, Dr. Wright, the ability to take your enemies ability and use it.  Robots Robots Robots.  It is fun.

Now MegaMan X is a reinvention of the MegaMan series for when Capcom decided to develop the MegaMan for the SNES.  It has 16-bit graphics, new characters, new story, and takes place ~100 years in the future.  MegaMan X was made by Dr. Light in the past but locked away due to certain factors.  If you are really concerned about the back story to him, you can find it here.  

X has an added bonus to him from MegaMan in that you find capsules with Dr. Light's hologram in them giving X newer armor and body.  I don't know why but when I was a wee lad I loved this concept of upgrading beyond just getting new abilities.  It was so cool looking for upgrades, heart tanks, extra energy tanks.  I loved it.  I needed it.

Maybe this is what fueled my wonderful OCD.  Who knows.

So now that I have laid down the foundation for MegaMan X and my attraction, the question is why did I just play it?

Well, the reason is I needed something to break up the monotony that has been going on in terms of the games that I have been playing.  I love RPG's.  I love them oh so much.  But when you play a whole lot of them at one time then it feels as if your life is dragging on and on.  Just grinding away the days.  Because you have to spend a lot more time on a RPG (on Legend of Dragoon I am currently around 56 hours) you need a break.  And MegaMan X provided that for me.

I was able to beat Mega Man X in maybe 7 hours tops.  I did a full Complete as well and have updated Backloggery to reflect that.  All upgrades and tanks and weapons GOT bitches.

I guess this is when I talk about Mega Man X and its coolness factors and all.  It was cool.  It did well in terms of setting off the X series of games.  I will be playing the other X games, mostly cause I have them on my list, but because I like the series.  Because I am playing my SNES for the most part on a PC emulator I get the added benefit of having save states.  I love save states.  I can instantly save anywhere and return to it whenever.  Its great.  But I think this can also damper the experience sometimes.

Instead of having to deal with dying and then going back through the stage, or replaying the boss again and again, with whatever energy I have left over in terms of my weapon energy usage, I got to cheat the system and restart exactly where I was.  I used this to help me with the final boss fight for the game cause I could save state each time I landed a hit on him so I would not lose my process.  In normal play you would have to keep track of passwords that you get when you complete stages or whatever, but the save state process knocks all of that out.  It cuts out the fine property of the game where you have to be really careful and plan things out.  You can't explore too much or you have to start alll over again.  That is something that is nice for someone who wants to experience the game as opposed to someone who wishes only to complete things.

I try and not to play through just to play through.  I like to experience the story and all.  However the other part of me is like "Hey dude.  There is this ability with the emulator that you can use.  Might as well."  So I did my best to balance the two and didn't abuse the system.

Bottom line time.  Should people play this.  I think everyone should play this that has every played a Mega Man game and enjoyed it.  It is different but the same.  I guess you could say it is a same difference.  Its a great game.  I am glad it is not something where it is a completely different path from the original series.  Its a great game and keeps to a similar route, maybe just off to the side.  Like a highway access road.  Yeah.  Like that.

Play it!

Schedule of things

I have been thinking it over and I think to help me get through things easier I am going to have to have some type of schedule.  Nothing completely finite, but more of a rough draft of what I want to do each day.

I sometimes find myself trying to figure out which system to go to in a night and I can't make up my mind.  This might help me grasp some precious time and make decisions before hand.  Also with game schedules coming up I am going to have to move things around so when I get home at 9 I am not trying to set myself up for a 5 hour bender.

So here it goes:

Monday: Console system (Currently Wii- Skyward Sword)
Tuesday: Console/FFXI/PC (I get to pick from these since this is a game night coming up soon and depending on the time I can figure out what I have time for.  Also it helps when I want to continue in the middle of a story for the console)
Wednesday: PC/FFXI
Thursday: Handheld/FFXI
Friday: Console/FFXI


I think this will help me to keep on track for now.



Lets keep our fingers crossed.

My DS has taken a beating

I have been getting back into playing ffv more and I realized that my DS has seen better days.

DS in the dark

I know you can't see well with this picture, however I thought it would be artsy fartsy cool.

Things that are messed up on my DS:

• Won't recognize games in the game slots half the time
• The right trigger button has problems sending a signal.  You have to push the button in a specific way to make it work
• Crack in the hinge
• Freezes sometimes on start up
• Losing that luster white color

I have been tempted to get a new DS, or maybe even a 3DS, however I like being able to play Advance games on it as well as DS since I have a lot of Advance games that have yet to be beaten.  However, I do have the small foldup gameboy advanced:

I swear mine is Silver, not Purple

I was going through old things that I had and find a lot of old school Gameboy games and whatnot (original Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Zelda) and I can't believe I ever had all these titles just sitting around.

Will I add them to the list???

e

h

h

h

h

h

h

no.

Not yet at least.  As for now I think its time to juice up the ole clunker of a DS and give FFV a whirl.

I learned how to swim (Spoiler Alert!!)

Let me tell you something.

My damn shoulder is killing me.  Even though I be chopping things left and right in Zelda, it has taken its toll.

Since I got back from my honeymoon on Sunday, I have been playing Zelda every night trying to make some progress.  Don't get me wrong.  I love it.

Let me rephrase that.  I LOVE IT.  To me there is nothing like a good Zelda story to warm the cackles of a gamer's heart.  Its a classic.  Yes it might be a retold story over and over again, yet Nintendo has a way of coming up with ways to make it exciting.  However I got FFXI working on my old beat up PC and I want to start fiddling with that some.  I also got AC:Revelations too.  Sooooo I need to get to work on my lists.  You might be thinking "what about FFV dumbass???"  Don't worry, I have not forgotten about it.  I have been slowly working on that game as well.  There will be updates soon.  I swear

SPOILER!!!!!

I just got through the first 3 dungeons and I am now working on making the Goddess Sword better.  I just ran around in some spiritual plane (which I will give a tip of my hat to Nintendo.  I liked this aspect of running around without weapons and dodging things.  Luckily I did not have to bust out my mad Metal Gear Solid skills to get past it) to gather orbs.

Now I have one of the best and most important items in any Zelda game besides the Boomerang (if you want to debate on whether the bomb is more important I will have a post about that).

I have the Dragon Scale which allows me to swim under water.  YAY!!!!!!!!!

Its just swimming right?  No.  Its more than that.  You start off only barely crossing substances that have a liquid consistency.  Can't dive, can't even swim that fast.  Just mosey dog paddle across a small puddle.  Then you get the Dragon Scale and life is much better. You can swim better.  You can dive underwater and explore.  And that open up so much of the new world as well as the parts that you have already explored.



Now that I think about it, that means that I have to go back and re-explore those areas???

FUUUCK   I can't deal with that.   FFXI is looking a little better now.  

The Sword is back

Hey all.  Sorry about my little hiatus that I took.  I have been slammed at work and I had what the insurance companies call a "Life Changing Event".

I got married.

YAY!!!!!

Now in no way am I saying that because I got married I have not been able to play games.  First, I got married on the 11th, and if you understand the Gregorian Calendar and can understand basic math you would realize that I have been away since before then.

Second, my wonderful wife did research on two games that I had as possibility to buy from a list I had made.  She did it without my asking, understanding that she married a dork.  That's one of the reasons why I love her.

Aside from the mushy stuff, she found from asking people that Zelda: Skyward Sword (Zelda) would be the best option between that and Assassins Creed: Revelations.  I had been interested in Zelda because it was a Zelda game.  Being someone who grew up with the green tunic wearing, sword wielding hero, I knew I had to try it.

I am about 2.5 hours tops into the game.  I spent a lot of time getting used to the flying and the fact that I did not pay attention to the tutorial in which you have to flap your arms like a goober to gain altitude.  My wife sitting behind me laughing her ass off with her drink almost shooting out her nose as I "fly" around the living room.  Word of advice: Have enough room to wheel about like a moron.

The sword fighting is fun.  It move with the 8 points of a compass.  Its no 1:1 ratio but its still really damn fun.  I will admit though that when lots of monsters attack me I tend to just fling my arm around like a moron and yell "DIE DIE DIE".


I think the game has a lot of potential, and the story is rather fun.  I was going to write about where I feel this game falls in the timeline, however I will hold off on that till I get back from my honeymoon and I have some more time to play the game more.