A little word of advice to all you dumbfucks who are against violence in video games... I have some crazy ideas for you.
1.) Don't let your kids play a game you don't agree with
2.) Realize that fantasy and reality are two completely different things, and aren't reflective of each other.
In real life I'm a 24 year old female college student with a great boyfriend, a love for animals, and I'm working towards becoming a do-it-yourself toy maker.
When I play open-world games like Fallout: New Vegas, I play a male, mohawked psychopath who collects human body parts and knives, and decorates my home with them.
Does my fantasy life spill over into my real life?
No, because games aren't real and have no consequence.
In reality, I have a conscience, I have my morals, and I have a life.
If you can't separate the two, then maybe playing video games, watching movies, reading books, and even having goddamn dreams at night aren't for you, and you should see a psychiatrist immediately.
Just streamed my first broadcast last night, managed to get 43 views. Not bad for a first time with no networking whatsoever!
That being said, I'd love to have a larger audience next time.
You can watch my stream here, or wait until I have a cut version up on my YouTube channel.
Tonight I won't be playing The Walking Dead Episode 2 like I had first intended to because of the Newton Elementary Shooting...
It happened literally 40 minutes from where I live, so it's hit pretty close to home. I feel rather uncomfortable shooting up zombies after hearing about nothing but death all day.
Instead I'll be playing Guild Wars 2 instead.
In terms of crafts, I really haven't been crafting too much lately. I've been busy with work and trying to sleep a lot to help my muscles and body to recover. I've been doing a lot of cleaning at work, and it's taken an enormous toll on my body. I don't do any physical labor, and I don't exercise either. Basically, a day at work is like a workout, and I'm a beginner.
I did receive my wool roving in the mail, and have started a small little project. I'm really not too great at it since I'm still learning. I'm going to give Jon my first creation, so I can't say anything about it... I want it to be a surprise. :) Once I'm done I'll post a photo though!
Work is not going well. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to violate any non-disclosure agreement, but basically the manager and assistant manager really don't seem to like me. I've slipped up on certain things a few times, which is entirely my own fault, but other things have happened that just don't make any sense. I've been blamed for things that even the owner said I'm not responsible for, been accused of taking days off when I haven't, (and which my timecard can attest to) and stuff like that. I don't know what I've done wrong, but I have a bad feeling that I'm going to get axed sometime soon.
I also got my new HP laptop in the mail (did I mention that already in an earlier post? I forget...) which I've been extremely thankful to have. It's so much faster, the graphics on my games are unbelievable, and hopefully will last me a lot longer than my Alienware... which I also recommend everyone NOT to buy from. In fact, don't buy anything made by DELL. The quality of their laptops is really sub-par compared to HP.
I just installed a bunch of fun, yet lore-friendly mods for Fallout: New Vegas. I'm going to make a new character and play through the game again. Some mods I got were:
FOOK - Basically an amazing pack of retextures, new items that stay true to the game, bug fixes, and other things to make the game better. I had the Fallout 3 version before and was very satisfied with it. I hate altering games dramatically, but this one stays true to the Fallout universe and improves upon certain things the game developers missed.
Existence 2.0 - A radio station run by a robot that plays strange, creepy electronic music. I had this for Fallout 3 as well.
Mr. New Vegas' Secret Stash - 100 extra tracks for Radio New Vegas, all from the same era as the original tracks.
Sunny Smiles Companion - Allows you to have Sunny as a companion, as well as her dog Cheyanne... if she survives the tutorial, that is.
Melissa Lewis Companion - Allows you to have a pre-existing Great Khan as a companion. The creator spliced sound files to build her dialogue options, wanting to make it as true to the game as possible.
ED-E Light Step - Gives ED-E the Light Step perk so he doesn't set off mines all the time.
Centered 3rd Person Camera - self explanitory
Companion Sandbox Mode - Allows you to tell you companions to chill out, so they don't just "wait" in the same spot forever, but actually sit in chairs, walk around, go to sleep, and other things like regular NPCs. No more standing around like statues.
Can't wait to test those out in-game. Probably will tonight. I'm not feeling too well, so I probably won't be able to play for too long.
Well well well.
Apparently one of the top news stories is the supposed link between Artificial Dyes and ADHD.
That's just lovely.
I stuff my face with artificial colors every day, and I scored nearly 4x the minimum requirement to be diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive type, not the jumping-up-the-walls type) 5 years ago.
HOORAY FOR CHEMICALS.
Annoying concentration issues aside, I just filmed two little segments on Creatures 3 on Livestream.
Click here to watch it.
In other news I just started playing Borderlands the other day, beat Mass Effect 2 on Sunday, and I have 4 clay pieces made and ready to bake.
Look out for more additions to the shop this April!
If you have absolutely nothing better to do than struggle to hear what I'm saying while I play games, check out my Livestream Account! http://www.livestream.com/hellointerloper
I have since adjusted my mic settings to record louder, so if you can't hear me... well, neither can I, and the next videos will hopefully be more audible.
I have some videos of me doing my Icecrown dailies and Heroic Deadmines on World of Warcraft (albeit being EXTREMELY tired and failing miserably in said Heroic.)
Enjoy, if watching this stuff is your kind of thing.
And... STALKER and Livestream don't get along. I get 1 fps if I try to record it, so don't count on it anytime soon.
Making this, I learned some valuable lessons.#1. You need a different recording program for games #2. Windows Movie Maker is stupid and doesn't put your clips in chronological order #3. My mic sucks... really, REALLY badly. #4. Making captions for a YouTube video requires a complicated AND separate program, but annotations (which is almost the exact samething) don't
#5. Barrels, fetuses, fire, and the military aren't a good mix
But yeah... this was made for my boyfriend, so he could see how creepy this portion of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is. I am very well aware that I sound like a complete idiot. My mic is terrible and makes me sound like something was jammed into my sinus cavities. I also get nervous when I'm being recorded... or when somebody calls me over to their laptop to say hi to someone on Skype... or when I had to perform something on stage in elementary and middle school... or when I have to present something in front of a class... ...I am horrible at public speaking.
Well, enjoy it for what it's worth... which is nothing. :P
Well, for starters, I am a lazy, lazy person.
Every time I go on the computer, I immediately gravitate towards games, leaving behind any blog-related activity in the dusty corners of my mind.
I -was- hoping to update more often now that I have an iPod Touch, but I discovered that Apple is an eeevil and diabolical company, and does not offer a Blogger app for download.
Gawd forbid they offer something Google-related.
I guess I could try using the email-based blogging feature, but that seems like a complete pain given the awful touchscreen on the iPod.
Yes, I know it's a good touchscreen compared to others, but I think all touchscreens are awful...
...LONG LIVE BUTTONS AND KEYS!
I will try to update more... or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
One thing is for sure...
I don't want this blog to die.
It may not be anything big or special, but I really want people to have a place to get updates about new Etsy postings and such.
Look for at least ONE new update in the next coming days.
I promise at least one.
Really.
I've been a gamer for many years now, and it seems that every year there are at least 3 Final Fantasy games being released.
I never really played much of the series myself... By the time I had discovered Japanese RPGs, my sister was still not a teenager, and rated "T" games were not allowed in the house.
Just for the record...
Over the years I have played:
- FFX-2, which I gave up on. I had reached the last boss on the first playthrough and was unable to beat it, so to avoid the levelgrind, I just started over. This time I aimed for 100% completion, and even printed out a 25 page guide on how to do it. I had gotten maybe about half way through it when I found myself stuck, unable to start the next mission. Discouraged and wondering what prerequisite I missed, I just decided to forget it and play something else.
- FFTA, which I beat twice. I loved this game so much that I even bought the soundtrack, which I was pleased to find that it included two disks... one with the original GameBoy Advance tunes, and the other one with all of the songs played by an orchestra. Though the plotline was slightly cheesey, I really loved the different races.
- FFTA2, which I bought thinking I'd be getting the old FFTA experience from, but even better. Unfortunately, adding new races, jobs, and missions didn't make it better, but instead made it nothing less than drudgery. The new classes weren't unique at all, and rather did the same things that a different class could do... aside from being exclusive to one race, that is. Doing so many missions made me forget what the heck was going on in the main plotline. When you play a game and not know why exactly you're playing it, that becomes a problem. After investing countless hours into it, I put it down for good, not knowing how far I actually got.
-FFXII, which I couldn't resist buying since they were using the races from FFTA. To my disappointment, you couldn't recruit my favorite race, which was a letdown. What was even worse was dealing with the androgynous main character, the stuck-up princess, the self-righteous knight, and the little whiny girl tag-along. The only two good characters, which I assumed were a couple, apparently weren't a couple at all. Once again, I lost track of the storyline among a flurry of fancy-sounding city names and characters. All I knew was that it had something to do with a crystal and a feud between monarchies... or something like that. Needless to say, the monotony of the battle system and losing the plot made me give up.
- And finally, FFXI. This game was the toughest, most time-consuming, group-driven, involving, life-like, and atmospheric game I have ever played... and I loved it. After playing it on and off for years, I eventually decided that the lack of soloing was too annoying to deal with, and quit, for what I expect to be forever. This game was the closest you could get to living a whole different life. The races had their own culture, architecture, government, and capital... even the enemy races. It saddens me to think that the servers will close down within the next few years.
But back to what I was saying...
Whether it's the main numbered series, a remake, or a spin-off, Final Fantasy games are constantly being produced, and has become a highly recognized brand name in the world of gaming.
It's definitely become a household name, like Mario, Pokemon, and Legend of Zelda.
The only problem is that the longer you continue a series, the bigger the risk you take in producing the games, both financially and reception-wise.
For instance, it's almost certain that the Zelda series will ever see a perfect score like The Ocarina of Time.
Mario keeps on thriving, having enough good games with some okay games in between. Either way, it's enough to keep the trust of the public, especially since the series is appealing to all ages.
Crash Bandicoot and Spyro both enjoyed their reign in the 1990's, but have subsequently faded into nostalgic obscurity, prompting a largely unsuccessful "re-imagining" of the series, much to the dislike of original fans.
Sonic the Hedgehog has had his name dragged through the mud countless times in the form of embarrassingly awful games over the years, though the kids seem to keep gobbling it up. (Read my previous blog post critiquing the Sonic series)
So the question is... When will we see the last Final Fantasy?
Is it time for Final Fantasy to throw in the towel?
I believe it most definitely is time, and it needs to be done NOW, before Square-Enix loses what little reputation it has left.
I understand that my statement is a bit harsh, but let's start with FFXIII.
Despite my confusion and general apathy towards completing FFXII, many played it through and liked it. It received an average rating of about 90%, leading many fans to excitedly await the release of the next installment of the series.
How did die-hard fans react to the new game?
I believe VGCats explains it best in this comic... which may be offensive to some viewers.
Of course, Japanese players gushed over the game, but seeing their love for everything overly dramatic and over-the-top, it's not very surprising. (One word... anime.)
Then there was FFXIV, the much awaited "sequel-in-spirit" of FFXI.
I was extremely excited about this game, seeing how enjoyable my experience with FFXI was.
The public reaction to this game, however, cannot be disputed... It downright sucked.
So much so, that once the ratings average of "4.0/10.0" were released by critics, Square-Enix's stock plummeted.
You know your game is bad when...
Rather than immediately admit the game's shortcomings, Square-Enix plead with the public and critic sites to not review the game until it has been out for three to four weeks. Obviously this was the critic's fault, not the game's, right?
Wrong.
As weeks passed after the release date, more problems reared their ugly heads.
The crafting, the traveling, the unnecessary menus, repetitive quests, slow leveling... everything was one disappointment after another.
The worst, and most inexcusable in my own opinion, was this:
Obviously, not even the developers were excited about this game, so they decided to copy and paste the terrain over and over again.
For a company that prided themselves in releasing a "next-gen" MMO in terms of graphics, this is beyond comprehension.
Need more to understand the full scope of awfulness?
Then watch this:
If straight up ranting and swearing is your style, there is an article up on Encyclopedia Dramatica.
Just as a warning though, it is DEFINITELY NSFW, like everything else on ED.
To make a long list of reasons why this game was a complete trainwreck short... Only about 32,000 people play as of 11/3/10.
Obviously, Square-Enix has to try really hard to gain back their reputation.
But wait! What's this?
Square-Enix just registered a trademark for a new game!
And it's... oh, look. Another Final Fantasy spin-off.
Who could have guessed?
Honestly, it's about time the Final Fantasy name is retired.
They've had a good, long run, right? (Note the "Next Page" button at the bottom of the list...)
Their famed and much cherished composer quit the company... Oh wait, make that two... no, three composers in total.
Like said before, the future of their stock price is in cahoots...
Generally, things aren't going too well for them as a whole.
Even if they decide not to call it quits and work on other series, they could try to salvage the Final Fantasy name.
For example, they could stop making androgynous main characters that nobody really connects to.
They could start incorporating other ethnicities in the series to broaden its appeal... you know, without making them look like complete racial stereotypes.
They could make their plotlines less hectic and less full of indecipherable jargon and complicated names. (I played that game, and that summary still means absolutely nothing to me than a bunch of big words.)
You know what would also be an amazing idea? They could start listening to player feedback! (See above critiques of FFXIV for details.)
There are countless things they could do to save their company, or maybe even the Final Fantasy brand in general.
Perhaps the huge dent in their pockets from FFXIV, and knowing five whole years of game development have all been a waste will convince them...
Or perhaps their big egos will get the better of them, and we'll see them fall to the depths of videogame hell... the bargain bin.
Sorry for the unannounced hiatus!
Jon came to visit for a week so we were preoccupied with watching LOST, playing video games, making mac and cheese at 3am, escaping from bimbo-infested ice cream parlors, and all the other ridiculous things we do.
I've also become obsessively and hopefully addicted to Fallout 3.
(Once again, I have Jon to thank for that!)
In the next few days I need to sort some things out on eBay, get my sleep schedule back on track, and excitedly cheer on my favorite countries in the World Cup...
...so yeah, don't expect any detailed updates just yet.
I assure you that things will be back to normal soon!
I really should have just slept the whole day away. As soon as I popped some breakfast in my mouth this morning, SURPRISE! Stomach ache. I think I might have a stomach bug. Well, I'm not going to let this ruin my day... I have a whole day off!
