End of a Legacy (concerning Italians)

I was finally able to sit down and play Assassin's Creed: Revelations (ACR).

This game has has been sitting in my house screaming to be played for quite awhile now.  With me having most of my mornings open now that my wonderful wife is working in the school system, I get to spend most of my playing time during the early hours of the day.  By early I mean between 8am to 1pm.  I run into the problem of not wanting to stop when it is getting near time to go to work. I have somethings I need to work on with that.  Can't always show up to work late.  Or can I???

ACII was the first of the series that I played, introducing me to Ezio.  After playing ACB, ACR continues the development and gives a well deserved ending to Ezio's story.  Ezio started as a pompous ass (typical Italian...I kid) to me, but I did not plan on him growing on me the way that he did.  I don't know when it started with the three games, but it happened.  I felt very upset about my journey with him ending.  Just watching him pass the reign onto the next ancestor actually made me choke up.  Removing his blades like turning the light off at work for the last time.  It got me just a little.





After pouring my feelings out, lets talk about my thoughts on the game.  The setting is Constantinople.  Ezio is  in search of keys that will unlock a library vault that was built by Altair Ibn-La'Ahad (the Assassin from AC).  Without going into too much detail, Templars are involved as you journey to find the five keys.  I mean Templars are always involved.  Its kid of a mainstay thing to the series.  If you have never realized that then I beg you just hit yourself until the concussion forms.

Other tie-ins are that you finally see the future wife of Ezio.  Yeah, had has always been a ladies man, but its nice to see him settle down with someone.  Or maybe he doesn't.  There is always the chance of the dead-beat dad thing.

I am trying my best to not go into too much detail of the game.  I believe that spoilers are not an issue after 6 months for a game, yet I don't want people to worry about that here.

Knowing what I have said about Ezio, ACR also looks into the history of Desmond.  You learn a lot about Desmond's history and why he left the Assassin order.  You learn more about Subject 16.  And as I already said you finish the Ezio arc.  I mean come one.  That right there is enough reason to play this game.

Things can't always be sunshine and rainbows.  There are issues with the game, but almost all games have issues.  As with with the AC series there are always little bugs and glitches, especially seen with the amazing graphics and scenery that they put into the game.  Sometimes you might have a big brown or grey cone through the screen, but you honestly have to breathe and take into account that sometimes small mistakes get through on the enormous masterpiece.  All of these, plus some freezing issues here and there are some of the reasons why I wait to buy games so that patches can be put out.  Big games like these will always have patches.  They are not bad at all.  Hell, I consider them a good thing since it shows that the company cares enough about the product to fix things.

The side quests were easy for me.  They are pretty much the same as the last two games.  Build stores.  Claim territory.  Recruit.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.  its a code that I have figured out and was able to monopolize and establish near full control within the first few sequences.  Damn OCD.  It is something I always do.

I also had issues with the Ottomans and the Byzantines.  I know the overall history of the area.  Its not foreign to me.  My problem is that unless you read all of the data entries in the game, even multiple times, their role in the game is confusing.  I don't know why and I just can't place my finger on why its so confusing.  It befuddles me.

At the end of it all I am upset this is Ezio's end.  I hope (however I have already beaten AC3) that the next protagonist, Connor, will be worth not ending the story of Desmond with Ezio.

I did beat AC:R, and I will revisit this later on, probably during Extra-Life to try my hand at a Complete.

Damn do I suck

Seriously.

I suck.

I make all these plans to post on here.

I garner your attention and love, and then I smash it because I am unable to deliver.

WHY DEAR GOD DO I DO SUCH A THING!?!?!?!?!

Well I am going to change that.

I have an entry that I have been working on for the better part of 5 weeks that I will finish and post today.  You will then get an entry on Wednesday.  I guarantee.

I will then work on updating The List page so that it shows the current games I am working on.


Thank you!!

Update

I have missed my Wednesday and Sunday post (well, sort of for Sunday, but I will not cop out).

I have been busy and tired from work.  I had to do a 18 hour trip for work on a bus with a basketball team, so I have been recovering from that still.

I have 1.5 posts written to be posted.  I will get one up tomorrow, and then post one again on Wednesday to make up for things.



Thanks for support all!!

Demo Time Baby!

As I have gotten older I have found myself playing more demos for games.  I cannot recall playing a lot of them when I was younger, but now I look at my PS3 and Steam and there are at least 15 waiting for me.  I will most likely purchase maybe one if any, but it is my downloading of them that startles me.

I was talking with We$$ the other night and we were talking about some demos that I had.  I told him that I had written up a quick draft of this post and we had a nice conversation about how things have changed since we were young in the world of demos.

I don't know why in the past I did not partake in them.  Maybe it was because I was young and did not want to waste time on something that was not the full product.  Thinking that if I liked it great, and if not I wasted my time.

I hate wasting my time.

I think another part was I felt games that were not going to make it big went out on demos.  These were inferior products.

I think about it and I also realize that availability played a big role in things as well.  When we were young the internet was only a small fledgling of what it is now.  Downloading grainy porn pictures was a 30 minutes process for just getting one.  Dial up was king.  The idea of sending music, or even videos, over the internet to someone else was there, but most of us didn't pay too much to the notion.  We were happy with our fuzzy, low resolution pictures.

We$$ reminded me that it used to be that demos only came in gaming magazines.  You would get your issue for that month, and in the middle of the magazine, or in the sealed bag that contained the issue, there would be a disc (I cannot remember any demos for cartridge games, correct me if I am wrong) that you could put in your PC/PS and that was that month's demo.  I didn't really buy any of the gaming magazines.  I got my info through word of mouth and made my gaming purchase decisions based on company that made it, series it was in, genre, and the box art.

It was hard to get demos this way at home.  Yeah you could go to the store and play the game when it was at the kiosk, yet you always ran the risk of some little jackass hogging all the time in this mortal realm playing the game on an infinite loop.  I do remember FFVII being on a full game play at a MediaPlay back in the day that I played at.  In fact, I now remember a lot of full games that one could play.

Anyways, back to the point at hand.  All of this has lead me to talk about just finishing the Journey demo.  Yeah, I am quite late to the Journey game (DON'T START SINGING!!).  The game is absolutely beautiful. Simply amazing.

From thatgamecompany.com

I mean really, look at that screenshot.  That just blows me away.

The wordless story as you adventure alone with the seldom help of a mute stranger, who is someone in real life, is such an appealing, grand idea.  You get to interact with others without having to worry about being shy or taken aback by talking with them.  There is no judging in this realm.

Maybe because of money or some other reason I did not pick this game up.  I have heard about it a lot even before the release.  Even then it seemed appealing to me.  I just did not take the bait of it.  Part of me wants to now.  Amazing how a short, maybe 20 minute demo will do that.

I have other demos on my queue waiting for me to get to them.  Some I will, some I will not.  I think my outlook on them now is that I hope demos really start to kick some ass.  Start bringing in a lot more people to games.  Maybe I was distracted by one amazing one in a haystack filled with crap, but it only takes one to make you want to experience more of them.

It only takes one of make you use it as a viable way to purchase new games.

So here is to good demos.  May they bring good companies more sales.

Extra Life

I may have talked a little about this in the past, but I have decided that I am going to participate in the Extra-Life charity event.

For direct information on it, you can click here.

Extra-Life (EL) is a charity event that was started in 2008.  The Sarcastic Gamer Community helped a young lady named Victoria Enmon in her fight against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia by sending her video games and gifts to help her with her stay in the hospital.  She tragically died in January 2008.  The Sarcastic Gamer Community however decided to put on a 24 hour gaming marathon that would raise money for the Children's Miracle Network hospital Victoria was at.  Over 2 years they raised $302,000 with all of the money going to the hospital.

-all of this information, and more is found here

EL last year raised ~2.2 million dollars to help the Children's Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals.  Thats an amazing amount.

I heard about this event the day it happened last year, and said I would take part.  Here in Savannah, GA we have the Backus Children's Hospital which is the only one within a very large area.  I am currently working on getting more firm details about Backus Children's, however I know only what I have experienced by growing up in this community, and working for Memorial University Medical Center which is what Backus is affiliated with.

This is an amazing center that we are very fortunate to have in this community.  Thousands of children every year are better because of Backus Children's Hospital, and hundreds of thousands at least for the entire CMN community.  Finding out how I can give to this wonderful cause filled me with so much excitement.  Cue sentiment.

So the question is how does this work?

Its simple.  On November 2, 2013 I will be participating in a 24 hour gaming marathon.  Starting at 8am and going until 8am on November 3, I will play games nonstop.  Everything on my PC I will be able to livestream at my site.  I am going to work on getting the needed supplies to try and livestream my stuff on the Wii and PS3.  Anything handheld though will be problematic.  I know there are ways out there to broadcast it, but I don't know if I want to get the supplies for that since I haven't done too much livestreaming lately.  I know I would do a lot more if I could hook my consoles up, but my handhelds I usually play on the couch or just resting somewhere.  Even on the road.  That will just complicate matters for me.  I hate complication.

So I am going to play games for 24 hours.  Great.  Now here is where you all come in.  You can donate money to my cause @ my extra-life fundraising page.  I have a message up for all those interested and will work on updating it more and more as time goes on.  To donate, just click on the SUPPORT ME! button.  You can pledge as much or as little money as you want.  Extra-life has this thing where you can say to pledge $24, which works out to be $1 per hour that I play.  Do however you want.  My goal is $2000 and I am going to work my butt off to get that.  These kids deserve all the money that I can raise for them.  I am going to toss my own money into this as well to help things along too.

Oh, and your entire donation is tax-deductible.  Thats good for all you line item tax return people.

I will be adding a link to the site so you can always go to the page and donate without having to find this particular blog post.

So please join with me to help raise money to fight the evil villains that attack children: sickness, disease, cancer.  All of it.  Cause I will be damned if things will get worse for them on my watch.

Its time to stand up, put your credits in, and help make sure that all kids get to hit continue cause we got them extra lives.

My Plan From Now On

I am going to redo some of my rules for the blog.

I am going to try and do at least 1 post a week, no more than 2.

It has been quite daunting for me to try and come up with something everyday.  I have ideas that float around my head and I am starting to write them down.  From those notes I will make entries and I will post them up.  Hopefully I can make a back log of entries that I can set to auto upload when I need to.

I am going to promise that posts will either be on Wednesdays and/or Sundays.  This week there might be one posted between those two dates, but we will see.  

I thank everyone that has been sticking around to read what I put on here.  Maybe all I get is bots, maybe all I get is silent people.

To all of you I say Thank You.

And to the bots I say "I humbly accept our new overlords"

Reading...its not a game

One of the things that I have been doing a lot lately is reading.

Its an ancient art that requires one to look at symbols that relate to a language that you are usually proficient in.  When these symbols are arranged in predetermined ways it makes sense to the person translating them.  You can use these symbols as a way to tell a story to others.

In other words, its like playing a game, but instead its on paper (or e-reader) and your i/o device is turning the page.


I only jest at those young people who don't take it seriously.

A couple of months ago I started to get back into reading.  I read all of the Harry Potter books a couple of years ago and I really liked them.  I am someone though who doesn't like to re-read things however since I can remember the story and it nerves me to the point that I feel like I am wasting my time since I know what happens already.

I had just watched all the Star Wars Movies on Blu-ray with my wife since she had never seen any of them before (its a long story) and I had started to think about all the books and stories that are in the Expanded Universe.  How cool it would be to look into those stories.

It was this same thinking that led me to watch the all of the Stargate series.  I love Stargate and I thought after seeing it when I was a kid "Wow.  I wonder if we will ever get more movies that look at other worlds.  Cause there are a lot of possibilities".  Oh how right I was.

As a side note, please go watch all of Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Stargate Universe (SGU is amazing and they need to bring that back ASAP).  You can buy all the DVD's online, or you can watch them on Hulu or Netflix.  Its worth it in my opinion.


So back to the whole reading thing.  So I asked my buddy Brian about which books to read since he is an avid Star Wars fan.  He led me to the Thrawn Trilogy.

BAM!

Read all three of them and I loved them.  I was instantly hooked.

I immediately asked him for more recommendations and he said I should go to the X-Wing series.

So now that I am 7 books into the X-Wing series, and have spent ~$80 on all the books.  I spend a lot of my quick free time reading them.  Especially at night when I can't sleep but I am in bed but don't wont the bright light from my PSP or DS to wake my wife in bed.  Just laying there and reading them on my iPad helps to relax me and take me on these fantastic adventures that have been written.  It helps my mind to simmer down and relax and I usually end up falling asleep.  Not because I am bored but because I am content.

Sometimes I might talk about my reading adventures on here just to break up some of the more monotonous game updates when nothing big has really happened.

Below you can find the titles of the books that I have read, in case you are interested:
Thrawn Trilogy:
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire
Star Wars: Dark Force Rising
Star Wars: The Last Command

Star Wars: X-Wing Series:
Rogue Squadron
Wedge's Gamble
The Krytos Trap
The Bacta War
Wraith Squadron
Iron Fist
Solo Command
Isard's Revenge (I have yet to read)
Starfighters of Adumar (I have yet to read)

Update on my whereabouts

Damnit I did it again.

I have been gone.

Well.  I have been absent is the best way to describe things.

My last post was on December 18th.  So I think I should update things since around that time.

First, at the beginning of December my wonderful wife finally got a job in the school system here.  It is something that has been a longtime coming.  For 4 years now she has been working her butt off and got the recognition that she deserves.

Now with this we had to figure out our schedules since she wouldn't be at home to look after the pup.  So I got used to being up every morning and taking the dog on amazing walks, plus having to deal with work.

Second, because she suddenly got a job in December I still had to work all the extra shifts in the mornings and weekends that I had already signed up for.  Since I had been doing a lot of part time work to help cover things at home while we figured out things with our jobs, I would sign up for work the month beforehand.  So I had a lot of days that I was working.  I did so much thought that I was exhausted and getting burned out on a lot of things.

Third, my workload with my regular job was picking up with the end of season things for winter sports coming up, plus having to get things ready for the spring season.  I was just going a million miles a minute for a long time.

Combine all of that, plus the fact that I still have been going strong through January with work, I have been just trying to catch up with rest.

I have had a lot of my mornings to myself and thats when I get a lot of my gaming done.  Don't worry.  I got through Assassins Creed: Revelations this month, which I am excited about.  I will be working on that review soon.

I also have some other announcements as well.  Got some charity work that I am going to work on, and some other updates as well.

The next two days I am doing testing in my office all day long.  The problem is it takes very little time to do the testing, but the periods of research are sporadic.  This leads to much downtime.  I will easily get all of my other paperwork done, but I plan to spend time updating this here blog, plus playing some PSP games.

Stay tuned for some fun

The Legend That Was Ended

Legend of Dragoon  PS/PSP
That feels amazing to say that.

I have finally completed Legend of Dragoon!!!  YAY!!!

12 years and ~70 hours later I am done.

I don't know why but it feels as if a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders.  A giant sigh of relief that I have checked off a game that has almost been a cornerstone to this blog and my backlog.

Legend of Dragoon.

Wow.

Ok.  I am done now just blabbering about how wicked cool it is that I have completed it.  I will do a celebratory dance later.  On to business.

Some time has passed since I completed LoD (Legend of Dragoon).  This was in my master plan.  I wanted to make sure that I had time to breathe, process all that had happened properly, and then compare my memories from years ago to now.  I wanted to make sure that my thoughts are properly projected onto this medium.

I loved LoD when I was young.  Around the age of 15 I was into FF games and anything Square made.  Besides Nintendo (which at that time was my first big developer that I liked) I had learned that Square games were things that I would always go out and directly buy.  No questions asked.  I would be at the store no release day and be buying the game.  Or I would have a preorder in so that I would get the games on release day when I was in college.  I would get upset when I wouldn't receive the game on release day.  I have luckily grown since then, and I have learned how to relax and wait for a good deal.  Yet I still find myself buying main FF games sometimes at midnight release.

So I was young and so attached to this company that made games that enlightened my mind and led me on journeys across far off realms, allowing me to escape my own tortures.  So I see this game, LoD, and I figure that it has to be good.  So I buy it (or I got one of my parents too.  I can't remember).  I buy it and take it home.  4 discs.  "Man", I thought, "if it has 4 discs then it has to be amazing.  Cause FFVII was 3 discs, FFVIII was 4, so the more discs the better". 

I popped the game into my Playstation and started to play the game.  And I loved it.

I can't remember exactly all my thoughts and emotions from then, but I do know that I greatly enjoyed LoD.  I thought the graphics were great.  OH LORD there was voice acting in it (something new to me in console games), you could transform into a Dragoon and summon a Dragon and cast magic.  I can see myself now sitting on the carpetted floor of my father's bedroom playing this game with wide eyes trying to absorb everything that flowed out from the TV.

I do remember things that I didn't understand or care for at the time.  I didn't like how you were limited to 32 items in your inventory, that you had to use the addition system.  I didn't have enough hand-eye coordination to master that.  I didn't like how you had to plan things.  I love RPG's, but as a kid I wasn't that good at thinking ahead and planning that well.  I sometimes found myself just charging forward into battle and trying to make it work.  Thats how I ended up stuck at the final boss and not able to defeat him cause I was unable to plan ahead and overlevel, and have enough healing items to keep me alive.

Stuck.  For almost 12 years.  Now we come to today.  We come to a time in which I am older and am able to plan and strategize better.  I know not to always rush into battles without thinking of the setup.

I respect the limitation of 32 items.  It makes me plan and think.  I like it.
I like the addition system.  In fact, its one of my favorite parts of the game with regards to fighting.   I have written about it in the past and I still respect those views.  It beats a lot of the bad things.

Bad things you say???
Yes.  There are some things that I have issues with.

First, translation.  Maybe things have just improved over the last decade, but the wording for things on LoD is horrible.  Sometimes it is hard to make connections with things since the dialog makes you want to rip your eyes out and boil them.  It made the story hurt me sometimes because I couldn't keep up with things.

The bad translation also lead to problems with story flow.  I talked about this earlier some, so I won't expand too much on things.  I think though that translation issues partially led to sudden, random points to the plot that were added with no back story to them.  I understand sidequests and small diversions to the main story, but that didn't happen here.  You had to suddenly do these things that took you way off from the main flow of the plot.  Along with this was the fact that certain elements to the game were not explained or brought to light, however they served a purpose.  The Sacred Sisters of Mille Seseau should have been explained more.  Tell me what their importance is to the story.  Make me care more about them.  Damnit, that is all I want.

Well, that and more.


In the end I feel like the love of this game that I had built up when I was young was partially burst.  I am glad I replayed it and completed it.  Its a small personal goal that I was able to check off.  Would I play through LoD again?  I think probably not since I gained all I needed from the game.  I do think that it needs a sequel since it would be another revenue stream that SE could use, and many fans would cheer it on.  You could almost do anything you wanted with a sequel since so much time has passed since LoD came out.  I would definitely play that for sure.  For those who haven't played it yet, if you like classic games from the PS era then you should give it a shot.  On the PSP its a good play.  However, I think thought for now my time with Legend of Dragoon is done.  Good game Square, good game.

Skyrim

Plain and simple.

Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Awesome Sauce

I picked this beauty up over the Steam Summer Sale.

This epic game that Bethesda made.  The amazing American (Western) RPG.  The Elder Scroll series which is the answer to Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Breath of Fire, and all of the other incredible JRPG's.

My thoughts on the matter are it might not be a complete JRPG slayer.  Its a good game.  There are some issues though with the draw of it.

The graphics are amazing.  When you have a PC that can handle this game on full then it will definitely rock your socks off.  I wish I had real HD monitors that would allow me to experience this in its full glory.  Plus there are plenty of mods that help to increase how good the game is displayed.  A lot of mods.  And this type of mod is one that I find myself getting a lot.  I found a website through Kotaku about a player who has over 100 mods to create an amazing experience.  You can find it here.

Because of all the different mods there always leaves open more and more things to add on.  Like left hand rings, an amazing storage area, etc.  Mods are good and bad at the same time.  If you use them in ways that don't break the mechanics of the game and give you an unfair advantage I don't see an issue with them.  Mods for better graphics.  Mods that allow your followers to understand your commands better.  Mods that help to organize your storage in your home (not increase your on person storage) are all things I don't see a problem with.  I do think mods that cheat your stats and give an unfair advantage are cheating.  Yet who am I to say its cheating.  Skyrim is so massive and open that one could say that there is no "correct" way to play.

That leads me to the next point.  Being open.  Really open.  OOOPPPEEENNN.

You can do whatever you want in almost any order.  You can spends days just doing sidequests and never finish the main story.  To me its almost just too big.  I get too distracted with things and then its hard to reign myself in and continue on.  I don't want to miss a thing (queue song in your head....now). I want to experience everything there is in this digital realm to stimulate my synapses with pleasure of the game.  But I fear that I will miss things.  Its that fear that makes me hesitant.  Hesitant to turn the machine on and return.  Its something that I feel whenever I play Fallout 3 as well.  Both are Bethesda games.  Both make me really like them, but then also get sick with the amount of things to do.  Its hard to fathom what I need to do to be the best or to really enjoy everything.

Damn you Bethesda.  Maybe that is what they think WRPG should be.  Completely open.  Its something that I think maybe needs to be toned down a little.  Yes you should have a role where you can adjust it to however you want, but I think there should be some limitations.  Those limitations help someone like me keep focused on the main prospect of the game.  I need those.

Now some people might say I should just not play these games.  They may be right with those statements.  But I like the games.  I like what they have going on within them.  I need to learn how to deal with the expansiveness of the games and eventually I will greatly love them.

UPDATES A PLENTY!!!

Like the title of the entry says:

UPDATES A PLENTY!!!!

Over the holidays I went up to North Carolina to spend time with my mother.  My wife, Jacob (the pup), and I had a blast up there.  Its so nice to breathe in the fresh North Carolina air.  Things were simple up there with on big stressors.  Nice to relax.  Nice to collect our thoughts and prepare for the final drive for the rest of the year.

Nice to catch up on some games.

I have yet to update my backlog page, but I will do that soon.  I didn't want to screw up my chances of getting some badges on the site when I added some new games.  I beat Mega Man X, and with the progress I made over the holiday I can get a badge on the site.  Yet if I put my new games up on there then I reset my progress made to the badge.  So I am going to wait to figure out what needs to be on there before I add things.

Hold on a second.  Did you say progress???
Yes I did.

Over the weekend I completed one game and beat another.

YAY excitement!!!

I completed Legend of Dragoon!!
It took 12 years and ~70 hours, but I have done it.  I am still formulating my post for this in my head since I have so many mixed feelings from what I felt as a child playing this, and my internal processes from completing it now.  Once I have those completely sorted out things will be put to digital pen and paper and all will be available for your eyes.



The game I beat was..

BAM!!

I finally beat FFXIII-2.  I finished in just over 48 hours, and with 123/160 fragments.  I owned the final fights.  Got all 5 stars for each battle.  Now that I have finished the game, I am going to go back and complete all the quests and achieve all the fragments so I can list this as a completion.  I would love to have this as a completion, plus I feel that I can get the platinum trophy that comes with this easily.  

I too am still forming the entry for this one.  I will be doing one on beating it and then will add one once I complete it.  I think I deserve to do this for sure.

You might be asking why I keep saying beat and complete.  With the Backloggery when you finish a game you must list if it is a beat or a complete.  Beating a game is just completing the main story line to the game.  Completing the game is finishing the main story line, then collecting all the side items, completing side quests, obtaining all the trophies, etc.  Completes are harder to get but that is how it should be.  I like to have as many of them as I can get.  

I am going to work on updating The Completed List with Beat games and Completed Games.  I will toss this into the updates that I have planned for the site.

As for now, thank you for coming by and reading.  I will have more for you soon.

Frequent Posting Update

I just wanted to post that I am working on a couple of projects right now.

First: I am currently working on a couple of posts to go up while over the break.  Just in case anyone wants to read over the holidays.  I guess here you go.

Second: I am going to post more things on this blog.  Random posts, funny things I see, stories, reviews, etc. I think if I just keep doing posts about my progress on games (which will continue to occur, so don't worry) then the blog won't be used as efficiently as I think it can.  Its no secret I have ads (look above and to the right).  I do my best to limit those ads because I hate blogs that just have them all willy-nilly about the place.  On the other side of things though I would like to make a little money off of this site so I can feed my addiction.

Don't worry though.  I will never do a review of a game or product just to plug it and get cash.  I give my poorly typed opinion on things and that is just how it is.  I will continue to limit the ads as best as possible, but as of now I have no plans to take them away completely.

Third: Please follow my twitter.  I use my main twitter handle for now, Badfish54.  I have that set up to post when I have to entries in, but I will start passing on random info from there too.

Fourth: On Facebook as well.  Getting Through the Games.  That is the page.  Come on by and like.  It is still a work in progress.

Fifth: You may notice that I am going to start mentioning other blogs.  I think all bloggers need to look out for each other.  So as I read around if I think its a read then I will post it up on here.

Sixth: I have decided to work on a book.  I have never written one before but I thought it would be cool to try and put some of my random ideas to page.  I have a great one (I won't tell what it is about) and I will update people on how that goes.  Currently I have 3 pages written.  YAY!!!


Thats all for now.  

Getting Through...

I have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and nervous tics.  Or a least I was told I had that when I was young.  It may be something else, but I have grown up and taken meds for that and other things.

I wanted to talk about the issues I had growing up that maybe the game world helped and/or hurt.  Some of these problems other gamers probably have.  Hell, I know a lot do.  A lot of people have these conditions and I just wanted to talk about myself and how I have dealt with things.  So a little backstory.

When I was around the age of 5 I was diagnosed with ADHD (or maybe ADD, how knows.  I know later on I was told I had ADHD).  They put me on the standard then, Ritalin, and I took that twice a day everyday.  I was lucky to have the summers off of my medication where I could be a wild and crazy kid (great show).  That would end though when school got close though.  Back on the medicine I would go.  That is how things went until middle school.

Around 6th/7th grade I started to have OCD tendencies they said, as well as nervous tics.  I had problems with stuttering and making a clicking noise in my throat.  They also thought I was depressed and they redid the medications.  I went from Ritalin to Adderal (a version of which was sustained release), Prozac, then Luvox, then Paxil, then Wellabutrin.  I also started to take Clonidine around 8th grade and continued that until 10th.  That was a fun drug.  Nothing like almost passing out through the day cause the stuff is an anti-anxiety drug with a wonderful side effect of knocking you on your ass.

The worst OCD tendency that I had was with my writing and typing.  I would be writing things and I would make . really big and cause they were perfect when I originally put them down.  0 and 8 were the same things.  I would keep making them bigger and bigger.  This started around 3rd grade when I started at a new school (damn you Country Day).  This then turned into me writing something and I would cross it out or completely scratch it out.  I went through a lot of pencil erasers doing this.  I would have written the world/letter/number perfectly, but in my mind it was horrible.  I had to fix it.  And when I did that I would feel like I made another mistake so I would eradicate that.  And so on and so on.  Numbers were the worst. I had to start doing all my math problems in Roman Numerals just to get through math classes.  I constantly felt like there was no end in sight.  With typing I would write a sentence and then erase the whole thing cause I felt that I didn't hit the keys just write.  After you finish a sentence you normally put 2 spaces after the period.  I would hit "space space, back back, space space, back back, space space, back back" cause I needed that pattern.

My tics were the worst part though.  I had one where I would imagine a wheel spinning in my head and I couldn't make my mind make it stop spinning.  So I would suddenly concentrate completely on this wheel going around and around nonstop.  It would sometimes take me almost 5 minutes to calm things down.   I had a horrible tic where I would shake my head violently over and over again throughout the day.  I started messing up the muscles in my neck and giving myself daily migraines.   I had a horrible tic where I would shake my head violently over and over again throughout the day.  I started messing up the muscles in my neck and giving myself daily migraines.  Of course all the anxiety caused by all of this caused it to be even worse.

So some how I made it through many years of all of that, and I made it to high school.  In high school things got changed up and I went from Adderall to Concerta 54, the high dose.  Then in 11th grade I was switched to a non-stimulant drug called Strattera.  They made the switch cause my doctor finally realized that my tics were still there.  Those started to calm down, however my throat clicking and stuttering still continued.  Something no one really knew was that when taking Strattera it amplifies your emotions and feelings, and being a hormonal teenager things were great.  NOT.

I became really depressed and had many a dark thought.  My grades started to slip and it only just plummeted.  I think the only reason I made it through was cause I got to the summer and I went off all my meds.  I was free and able to figure out what would make me feel better.  What could I do to take control of my mind??  What the hell is the answer???

Well, I spent a lot of time watching M*A*S*H.  Besides doing that (its a great show may I add) and watching a lot of other things and building up an enormous collection of movies and TV shows, I played games.  A lot of games.

I have been playing games all of my life.  One of the constants that I have had.  I am a big lover of RPG games (if you haven't figured yet).  During this summer period I played a lot of RPG games and they helped me to get aligned right.  Once my senior year started I had a munch better mindset and I went back on the Strattera.  I killed it that year.  My grades shot through the roof and I made honor roll for the first time ever (hell I made it multiple times).  I had my first real relationship and got into college.  I started to play FFXI as well and that helped me to reward myself with playing.

Then I graduated and I made the decision to come off all my medication entirely.  I felt that I had trained myself enough to make it without the meds.  And so I did.  That was in June of 2004, and since then I have been med free since then.  I went through college without anything but my only ability to figure out how to control my mind.  I then went through grad school and now have a job and an amazing wife and been med free.  Its a great feeling and I think besides the wonderful people in my life that have always supported me, I think that games helped me to get through things.

The pattern that many games have where you have to do the same thing over and over again helped my OCD tendencies big time.  I quickly set into things and could keep going with them cause of this pattern.

Another aspect of the games that helped me was the ability to escape.  FFXI helped with this greatly since I was completely immersed in another world cause of the MMO platform.  With games however I could escape.  When I got hyper anxious or nervous about things, or I got over stressed, I knew that I could turn on a machine and escape for awhile.  This type of therapy helped my brain get into a new place and a pattern, while part of my brain sorted out the details of the madness of my life.  I never felt bad when I played games (except when I would die and not saved for a while.  DAMN YOU when that happened).  I only felt pleasantness.  Some people might say this is not the way to approach things.  That you need to take things head on.  They would be right with that method.  I would do that eventually.  I just needed to do something to take the edge and craziness of the world out of my mind and sort out how I wanted to do things before I did them.  Then once I was done I would take care of my problems.

I kicked ass in college and grad school using this method.  I don't think that I even thought of it as one then.  Looking back now I do consider it my own little therapy method.  It feels good to be able to step out of this chaotic swirling vortex of anger and stimulus that we call life so one can look back on things and sort it out.  With work and all nowadays its hard for me to find the time to just turn on a new world and step out for second.  I do my best to do that and this blog helps me to do so.  My tics have been minimal (knock on wood) with controllable ups and downs, and my OCD is pretty contained.  My ADHD is still around, but I have lost the H awhile ago.  I know how to let my mind wonder and bring it back in.

I was able to grow up and assert more control over my emotions and mind.  Control my anger and sadness. Do all of this cause I had games to help me.  I can be in control without them now.  Its not an addiction at all.  I can play games just to play them and enjoy them when I want to.  But when times get tough I can turn on the machine and step out for a few.  Take a mental 3 hours or so when I can find the time.  Its something that I know is possible and will enjoy for the rest of my life.  Games have helped me so much and I intend to help them back.  And by doing that I plan to play them and beat them.

Plus, this is much better than relieving my frustrations with alcohol, smoking, drugs, or violent sex.

DON'T DO DRUGS

Dragoon Power Bitches

If any of this seems redundant its because I am not checking my earlier posts to see if I have talked at all about things.

Why you ask?

I am lazy.  The idea of combing through many posts of information makes me want to hurl right now.

Look.  I had a long day yesterday.  Had to spend about 10 hours on a bus travelling for work.  It surely was a blast.

Time Travel Forward.

Found at http://www.lightspeed.cx/

I started this post on 10/24.  I just started back on this on 11/1.  Why?

Well.  I blame it on a bitch name Sandy.

AP/Weather Underground - NOAA satellite image 10/28/2012

Hurricane Sandy to be specific.

On October 26th, my birthday, my wife and I flew to DC so that she could run in the Marine Corps Marathon with her father.  The race was on the 28th.  We knew before heading up that Sandy was coming, however we knew the marathon had to go on.  We were to leave to come back to Savannah on the evening of the 29th.  All planned out and good to go.

On the 27th we started to get word that maybe we should move our plane back to after the race, but we wanted to spend time in DC with friends and family, and we thought we would be good on Monday evening.  Mostly cause our brains were telling us that DC wasn't the direct target.  I mean I have been through a couple of these things before and I know how to call a hurricane target.

So Sunday, October 28th arrives.  My wife and her father wake up and they head out on the metro.  They start the marathon at 7:55 and proceed to kick some ass.  I met up with many friends, including we$$, and we went all over DC and VA on the metro and by foot to catch them at different points.  It was so exciting to cheer them on.  The adventure of tracking them and catching the right metro was great.  I still remember the face my wife gave when she saw us around mile marker 22-23.  She just had this surprised look like she didn't know we were going to be there.  Then she smiled and we cheered her on.  We met her at the final hill at the finish line and I even jogged with her some (I am sooo out of shape) to help her get through that last part.  She finished around 5:50 and is officially a marathoner.

YAY!!!!!!!

I really am proud of my wife for completing her first marathon.  She is a marathoner.  Thats so damn cool.  I think I am more proud of her than I would be of anything else.  Even completing this damn list.  GO MARATHON WIFE!!!

If any of you would like to follow her blog you can check her out here.  Its a great blog for people who like running, or want to know more about it.


Back to the matter at hand.  Se we get back to the hotel and discover that OUR PLANES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED!!!.

NOOOOO.  That cannot be.  We had plans.  We were going back.  Alas, all the airports from DC and north of were shutdown starting Sunday night.  We were stuck in DC until Thursday at the soonest.  November 1st.

So after I got things squared away with work, and we found out we could stay in the hotel (2 bed/2 bath/ with a kitchen so it rocked), we settled down and decided to make the best of things.  It was around this point that I realized that I was glad I brought Legend of Dragoon with me.

I started at this point during the downtime to really point some work into LoD.  We would get trophies and spend time with we$$ in DC, but during the downtime when the wife and her father were resting or napping cause they were exhausted from the marathon, I would game like mad.  I think I got a good solid 9 hours extra in on things.  Which helped me to get pretty far.  I have really kicked ass with the additions system and Dragoon levels.

Wait a second.  What are the additions?  Well, its something nifty that Square put in.  Instead of most RPG fighting where you just click attack and your character does that, you are presented with a closing square that you have to hit the X button just in time to score an additional hit (ahhhhh see where addition comes from??).  Additions don't just give you more SP that allows you to transform into a Dragoon, nor just causing a hell of a lot more damage, but it also breaks up the monotony of things.  Yeah you can get through fights by just hitting the same button over and over and over again and not pay attention, but I have found that this can get old.  Having to time things so you can get extra damage, plus have to level up your individual additions adds an extra uniqueness to things that keeps me interested.  Your character don't gain that much when they level up like other games.  Instead the real determining factor is how proficient one is with using additions.  That is where you get your true strength from in the game.  Even with Dragoon transformations, because you are so limited with what you can do when transformed you have more power with the use of additions.

So I find myself now on Disc 4, with almost all of the side stuff done.  Like most RPG games grinding is what I am doing now.  It can be draining on one though.  Doing the same things over and over and over again is so BLAH at times.  The additions system helps some, but I think I am going to finish the last side quest soon then head on to complete the game.

I loved this kid when I was a kid.  It was amazing and I blew it up in my mind that this was the end all Square game that needed more advertisement than it actually got.  I still think that Square could build a lot with the Dragoon series, but there are a lot of flaws in this game that I wouldn't have picked up as a wee lad.  The translation for the game is kind of hard for me to get through.  I don't know if it is that or something else but the storyline just seems to happen without any transitions.  Things just happen and you have to go with it, no explanations at all.  It can be a little disconcerting cause you have to just go with it.  Blah.  It can ruin the flow of things.  I am doing one thing with the storyline and then suddenly I have to do something else just cause I was told to abruptly.  I NEED BACK STORY PEOPLE!!!

I will keep people updated on things.  I am hopping to have this game completed soon so I can get done with Battlestar: Galactica on Netflix.  Then I can watch the new series online and read the books.

AHHH!!

I have way too much on my to do lists

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!

Live Streaming

I am slowly cross referencing my Backlog page and the List to make sure all the games are accounted for.  It will take sometime to do that but I will make sure to continue with the longer posts more frequently once I have that done.

I wanted to inform everyone that I am going to Live Stream my games that I play on my PC.  This will include Steam games, Emulators, PC games, and FFXI.  You can find the channel on twitch.tv that I use at:
www.twitch.tv/Sargon54


Stop by anytime to catch me on there.

Time travelling with FFXIII-2

So I think that during my hiatus from writing one of my biggest accomplishments gaming wise has been working on FFXIII-2.

Before I went away for a long time I was having some issues getting into the game.  I felt the story was a little too campy and the leveling system was quite complicated.  I was very overwhelmed with just the enormity of things that one could do.  At least that is how it felt at first.

After almost 40 hours into the game and coming up to the end of the normal playthrough I have really started to like this game.

The graphics are great (which is a normal for SE).  The worlds pull me into them and make me feel as if I am there.  The colors are bright and crisp and how they style the future is amazing.  I do think they could have added some off the beaten path locations in each timeline and not just in one zone, but I am ok with things.

The battle system I think is much better than in FFXIII.  In FFXIII (which is really the only FF game this can be fairly compared to) you had multiple characters, but you could go through the whole game with just the same 3.  The stats were predetermined and there was not the much individuality offered to the characters.  I like what SE did with FFXIII-2 though in terms of having 2 characters and then a slew of monsters that you can place in the party with you to fight.  Noel and Serah can develop jobs however you want, and their is even more customization with the benefits that come with selecting which jobs get large nodes and which get small nodes.  To further elaborate on this (cause I needed to do lots of research) if you have Ravager select a small node, then you just get a STR and MAG increase.  If you have Ravager select a large node then you get those basic increases plus a bonus for magic.  Commando does STR bonus.  Some of the jobs allow for one type of bonus if you select a large node on an even level, while another bonus for an odd level.  This makes you have to plan things out more and for a RPG that is an element that I like to see.
The monsters have only one job depending on what they are.  They will only be COM, RAV, SAB, etc.  You can't have them change.  They have a leveling system as well that is similar to that of the one for Noel and Serah.  The biggest customization benefit they have is in their abilities.  Each monster can only have 10 abilities at one time.  They all have 1 ability that is locked.  This is important because you can have monsters level up and then infuse their abilities into another one, thus getting rid of the first monster, to make the second more powerful and to benefit the party more.  I haven't explored that much into this, yet it will probably become more of an impact when I get into post-game play.

The story.  The big thing with FF's game is the fact that the story has many twists and turns, comes out of nowhere and smacks you in the mouth, all while taking you on an amazing journey.  It needs to draw you in and not notice that you are escaping from reality for awhile.  The question then is as follows:
"Does Final Fantasy XIII-2 do this"??

Its a hard question to directly answer.  The story does have some twists, but not as many as I am used to in a FF game.  Maybe its cause I am watching Battlestar Galactica and have played waayy to many RPG's, but I am able to figure out what is going to happen.  I am not a surprised at things that I normally would be.  That is not to say the story is good.  To refrain from spoilers the way that SE has taken on the idea of time changing and paradoxes is interesting since it is different than what we normally think of when we talk about paradoxes.  I like the idea of time travel and different universes and all of that.  Its crazy the creativity that people can come up with.  Its because of this element that they are able to add the slight bit of openness to the game with the ability to go to different areas and get sidetracked with completing quests and getting fragments.  FFXIII had you just go along a line without being able to deter.  FFXIII-2 allows you to run around and do different things without having to stay on the same line.  Its nice to have this as I am someone who really does miss running around world map and spending tens of hours doing non main story stuff.

I am now in the middle of Episode 5 and I am really starting to figure out why what has happened has happened.  I like it.  My goal is to have the main storyline done by the end of this week, and then start to work on the postgame play next week.  There is a lot of things to do and I am excited.

Been a long time...

God it has been a long time.

An exceedingly long period of counting that concerns seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, etc. has passed.


And I have been nowhere to usher those (oh few you are) through the journey that we call completing a shitload of bad investments.


Lets do a little self imposed Q&A on what has happened:

Where the flying f**ktards have you been?
Well kids, I have been here, at my computer.  Also over yonder on the couch.  And upstairs sleeping in the bed.  Plus there is hanging with the wife and the pup.  Oh, and that work thing.  Blah to work I say.

There be an issue with the work thing?
Well, work has been pretty intense lately.  There was a chance that the wife and I would be moving but things unfortunately fell through.  So I have been picking up some extra shifts at work in the morning to make some extra cash.

Ok, I am bummed for you since things haven't gone well.  Have you kept up on the games?
Heck yeah.

Really?
Yeah

Really??
...ehhh.  To the best that I can.  With so much work lately I have tried to do my best to get through the list.  I will also say that I fell prey to the Steam Summer Sales program (maybe one of my biggest enemies) and I got some games off of that for my PC.  At least I got a great deal on them.


Over the months I have been working as consistent as I can with getting through the games (always insert title when you can).  I use Backloggery as my main tracker of all my games.  I routinely praise them for such a great site, and they deserve it.  Its so simple and easy to use.  Nothing complicated or annoying notifications that you get at all hours of the day.  This is one of the main reasons why I haven't been keeping up with my blog really.  Cause my thinking was I could just update things on my Backloggery page and those that really wanted to could follow me there.

Ok.  So why decide now to start back on the blog?
Well I can only do so much with Backloggery.  I like to write out my thoughts sometimes.  Elaborate on what my brain and feelings are saying to those out there in cyberland.  Those are really the main reasons.
I think I also have some grand delusion of being famous on the internet for something that does not involve a sex tape.

Note: I do not have a sex tape on the web.

The Q&A session is now over.

Let me catch you up on things.  I have completed a handful of games, added a good amount of games.  And I am carrying on.  That is all that one needs to know.  I am going to update the List so it reflects what is going on.  I should have a new post in the next couple of days.

Caves be a bitch!!

I hate caves sometimes.

I am working on the Sylvan Cave in FFIV right now.  Its an optional area that gives you some summons, some good items, and lets you meet up with a special guest.  It is also a huge pain in the ass to travel through.  Crazy ass monsters always jumping out and attacking.  Using their fire spells which causes me a ton of pain since I left all my fire resistant gear behind.  

Blah.

The worst thing is that I collected many chest and items, and then my GBA fell off my table and reset.  

REALLY!!!!!!!!!

So now I have to reclaim a lot of that stuff I had already obtained.

Back I go

Its Been Awhile

Wow.

Seriously.  Wow.

It has been way too long since I worked on this.  Why have I been gone?

Kidnapped?  No.
Murdered? Clearly no.
Turned into a tree hugger and decided to give up all modern technology?  HAHAHAHAHAHAH.  No.


Its a mixture of reasons really.  I haven't felt a huge drive to really write about things.  I haven't really even played that many games really.  Mostly just FFXI until I played Diablo for a couple of hours yesterday.  That got me going again.  Got that urge flowing.  That need to escape.  I am such a damn junkie.

My computer had also been on the fritz for awhile as well.  I had a driver issue between iTunes, my game keyboard, and some other things so I ended up just redoing my windows 7 installation.  Now I have no problems.  I am soo damn happy for that.

The final reason has been things at work have been chaotic.  As of right now there is a good chance that I might not have a job come July 1st, and the stress level is insane.  And by insane I mean:

Things have started to look a little better on the job front, and there is a good chance that the wife and I (and of course Jacob) will be making a move somewhere, but that won't be decided until later.

With all that established I just want to quickly summarize things.  I have gotten quite a bit in FFIV.  I am currently underground, and I have discovered that Cid did not actually die.  So at least one less death.  HAHA

FFXI has gone well.  I went to town and I got my SAM up to level 60 and that is amazing.  I am really liking that job and will keep you updated on that.

I put much time into Diablo like I said and I made it to floor 5 with no problems.  Going to grind for awhile there and then will keep moving on down.

Sorry about the short post.  More will come.  I swear.