When games become life (there will be spoilers)

I will warn you that this will probably ramble in and out of my original point because thats just how I roll... On tangents of crazy.
(also, expect spoilers for The Walking Dead, Dragon Age 1 and 2, Mass Effect series, The Darkness..you have been warned)
You ever played a game you really got into? You find yourself yelling at the screen when the characters do something stupid, or don't say something that would resolve the situation they are in, when they don't use common sense? I'm sure you have, just like when you watch a horror movie and someone in it says "we should split up" and you think*  "are you stupid? splitting up is an awful idea, you're all gonna die!"
I think we all do that. *(for the anonymous asshole who flipped his shit because I forgot a word and forced him to read this entire post)

But, what about when a game or game series becomes "real" to you? I don't mean real in the sense that you lose touch with reality and think these characters and places really exist, cause that would be crazy. no, I mean when you get so immersed in a game that when you talk about it, you talk about the characters as if they WERE real. You worry about pissing off or hurting someone in your party. You consider every option and choice because you don't want to make the wrong one. You learn all you can about the characters, the world, the lore.

I don't know if you're like me but there are stories, series, characters that stick with me. That I feel concern over and yes, I've even cried when a character dies.

At this moment in gaming developers are going out of their way to try and get you to engage with the worlds and characters in games more than ever. Moral choice is a big thing  now in games, will you be the kindly hero or the take no prisoners hard ass? Will you save the world or dance on its corpse?

I tend to lean towards "good" in games where choice is an issue. Its not really even a conscious effort on my part really, I tend to choose being helpful, biting my tongue, being diplomatic. I won't lie though, I also tend to be good because being bad usually doesn't pay off. Prime example, Fable 2/3 (probably 1 as well but I haven't played that one). When I played Fable I was ready to be a badass. Next thing I know, my character is so damn good she has a halo. So I started a new character and went out of my way to be as big a dick as possible. The result was that every villager ran away as soon as they saw me. The few who didn't wouldn't give me any missions, the stores would either not sell to me or would jack up the prices. There I was  with no quests, hardly any money, not being able to shop and the game was suddenly a chore. I never did finish the game with that character. I went back to my big burly pirate queen with the halo. Between that experience and my natural proclivity towards good, I tend to sometimes bite my tongue, or more accurately my characters tongue in certain situations in order to get the best outcome (kinda like life I guess).

But what about the games where there really isn't a "good" option? Or where your choices truly mean nothing at all.

I'll start with a game that had an impact on pretty much everyone who played it, an easy one, The Walking Dead. (*I warn you there will be Spoilers now)

From the beginning of the game I was diplomatic in my choices while sitting in the squad car and when I first met Clementine and butchered her zombie babysitter, I tried my best to say something that would help her deal with the brutality I had just exhibited.
As the game progressed everything became about Clem (just as the developers intended). I would try to weigh all the options as fast as possible and choose the one I felt was the lesser of multiple evils to avoid Clementine being hurt or looking at me sadly with disappointment. The few times I did things she didn't like I felt horrible. Perhaps its because I'm a parent and that naturally spilled over to my game play and Lee's situation as a surrogate parent and mentor. Perhaps it was just great writing and voice acting on the game's part. That's not really the issue. The thing is that as I played, Clem became my daughter, I became Lee, her protector and she was most definitely my moral compass. I admit that there are places in the game where I chose things she might not agree with, but those were rare and far between.
I helped take car of Lilly's father when he had his heart attack and I felt I was right.
I killed one of the cannibal brothers in front of Clem and while I felt it was necessary, it killed me to know she was horrified and disappointed in me.
I chose to let go of Ben at the school and I still feel I was justified, but, I wish Kenny hadn't said what he did, because I hated that Clem was disgusted and disturbed by what I had done. Regardless of how I felt about Ben, to her she was a friend and I effectively killed him by zombie proxy.

When Lee  was bitten my first thought was, "No! How will I take care of Clem? WHO will take care of Clem? Why couldn't I have avoided that bite?" And as Lee sat there dying and trying to comfort Clem I cried. I cried until I could barely see the screen. In that moment the game changed for me. I was no longer controlling Lee, I was a ghost in the room witnessing a horrible and intimate moment between father and daughter (yes, I know Lee isn't her real father but, come on, he was more than just the guy that let her tag along.). I desperately wished I could change things so he wouldn't have to die and she wouldn't have to be faced with all that horror on her own. In that moment, they were just as real as I am. And when Clem pulled that trigger, I hated myself and the world. I hated myself because I encouraged her to do it and the world because it had forced us into that situation. When it was all over, I mourned Lee's death and wondered what would become of Clem with concern.
TWD was created with that intent, to make you think and feel and face who you are and they did an amazing job accomplishing that.
But not all games or, I should say very few, if any games create bonds in such a deep way.

I could go with the obvious and controversial game with choices Mass Effect...But I'm really sick of hearing people bitch about how your choices didn't matter, they did, just not in a way that people felt had enough impact. whine whine, deal with it. Though I assure you I could say plenty about my feelings for my crew.

Instead I'll go with its sister series, Dragon Age.

Now Dragon Age: Origins was an awesome game and Awakening was a great expansion to an awesome game. Dragon Age 2...meh, not so much. I'm not going to discuss the merits or lack thereof of Dragon Age 2, that's for another day. I'm gonna talk about my party.

You see, I didn't really give that much of a shit that I was the chosen one, the Grey Warden, the Champion. Come on, save the world (or in the case of DA2 the city) is standard fare. What really kept me playing were the people in my party.
In Dragon Age my party consisted of Alastair, Morrigan and Leliana most of the time, eventually I swapped Morrigan for Wynn and fora brief time Zehvran for Leliana. If you've played the game you know Morrigan and Alistair hate each other with a passion. This led to a lot of hilarious conversation between them. I found myself stopping often to listen to them banter. Later Wynn and Zehvran had a fascinating conversation about her bosom. That right there, those conversations, that was what I came back to the game for. To smack down bad guys and listen to my party bitch at each other.
Those moments let me get to know and love my companions much more than standing in camp and asking them questions.
Alistair was a man-child, he was idealistic and innocent and sweet and I loved that about him. When the time came to toughen him up or not, I chose not to. I couldn't bring myself to be the one that changed him into a hard person.
Morrigan's tough exterior masked the fact that she had led a sheltered life and was pretty ignorant of life outside the Wilds. Not only that but she had been so isolated she had never had a  friend, and she really needed one. I felt compassion for her.
There's a lot more I could say about my companions but I have a bit more ground to cover and don't wanna make this last forever.

The point is that, while I played they were living people with their own feelings, fears and motivations. But, it wasn't just my party that affected me...for example, I let the demon in Warden's Keep go. I felt a bit sad for it and i figured if I had to, I could always go take care of it later, and so I gave it a chance. That felt right to me. Another thing was Blood Magic and Jowan the blood mage. Blood Magic is a big no-no in the world of Dragon Age, so I felt wrong about and I didn't use it. On the flip side, I spared Jowan because I sympathiszd with him, and because I found the idea of Tranquils utterly disturbing. None of it is real, yet I felt morally wrong using blood magic and horrified at the idea of being cut off from your dreams and ambitions.

Dragon Age 2 was...inferior in many ways to Dragon Age, but one thing it DID do right, at least to me was the interaction between your party members. My companions not only bickered while out in a town or dungeon, now they discussed things they did while not out and about with me. Varric and Fenris joke about gambling with Isabella. There's that hint that Isabella and Fenris got their groove on. It made them all more real. It made you feel like they were no longer automatons that were on standby til you chose to take them with you. They hung out, they went drinking and wenching and gambling while I went out to woo Anders or kill a few Qunari. When I talk about my characters exploits, its not "Hawke" its "Me". When Fenris screwed me over, I felt it. I was in shock. Both hurt and angry. Here I had saved him from slavery and he rats me out. He betrayed me not Hawke.

When I talk about games I rarely talk about my character, I talk about me. What happened to me in such and such a place. The enemies I defeated. The sweet new weapon I got.
Now, that's not to say that I always see myself as the character I control. For example, Assassin's Creed. When I play AC2 I never see it as a game I'm playing. I'm not scaling walls and shanking people. Its Ezio. His personality is larger than life and I'm more of a tag along. I'm there seeing him in action, but I'm not him, I never could be, he's so much his own person. He's not just a bunch of pixels. He's this amazing man doing extraordinary things and I'm just there sharing in his exploits.

Not all games have that thing. That spark of life that. But the ones that do, those are the ones that touch me. They make me consider my actions, temper my decisions. They make me care. and long after the game is done, the console is off, that stays with me. I still feel sad at the loss of Mordin and Thane. I still feel intense hatred for Griffin in  Gears 3 and would cheerfully chainsaw his ass.

Its a blurring of the lines between fiction and reality. Not in the sense that I think these people are real, but more that I FEEL they are real and while that might sound like the same thing, it really isnt. Its illogical, maybe a bit silly, perhaps even a little crazy, I don't know. All I know is that when I was saying my goodbyes to Garrus before setting out on that final push in Mass Effect 3, it was bittersweet and brought tears to my eyes. I spared Anders in Dragon Age 2 because while I couldn't stand his obsession and I didn't agree with his actions, he was my man and I loved him and I stood by him. With sadness I let Alistair go because as a mage, I could never be his queen, and in The Darkness I grieved and raged with Jackie over the death of Jenny.

Perhaps I'm just quixotic, maybe I'm just bonkers, I don't really know. Perhaps gaming is just evolving.

So am I the lone nutcase?
What games speak to you?

All nighters and dammit give me my smurfin' phone back!

   So as usual. I forget to update this damn thing. Its not that I don't want to, its not that I don't have stuff to write about, its that I'm a lazy procrastinator. Not only that but, for some reason no one needs me until I either sit down to write or decide to draw.
  So lets see...where to start..its been a while and there's so much....

  Ok, well lets start with games I've been playing.
  When last I posted I was playing Gears 2 and had started Bulletstorm among other games. Well I did manage to complete both of those. YAY! I actually finished Bulletstorm in one sitting on a Saturday. Man I laughed so damn hard I almost cried. Definitely a game worth renting. I still stand by my conclusion that it isnt worth $60 but, from the bargain bin? or a rental? Hell yeah. "Sushi Dick" is actually one of my favorite sayings now, its even better than "Dick Tits". You know, for all the hype about the games language...it was really not all that bad. Honestly, there was only one part of the dialog that bothered me...at one point Grayson says "Super Duper. Color me Jubilant" and I couldn't help but wonder... "Jubilant? really? Scuzzy drunk space pirate...Jubilant?"  Yes, of all the offensive dialog, that was what bugged the hell out of me. Aside from that the game was pretty amusing, good for killing 6-8 hours.

  But, 6-8 hours, thats not exactly an all-nighter is it? No, that honor was reserved for Dragon Age: Origins. Coming off my victorious high from finishing Gears 1 & 2 and Bulletstorm, I decided I would make some progress in DA:O. What started as a little evening drooling over how dreamy Alistair is, became some driving need to get through the damn game already. Took me 20 hours straight, but I finished it. I killed that damn Archdemon. I felt triumphant joy for about 30 seconds, then I realized, "now I need to get through the DLC and the Expansion" I started the first DLC and realized I was all Dragon Age-ed out. Still havent gone back to it, though I need to because I am dying to play DA2. Maybe this week...maybe.
  Another game that keeps on racking the hours is Borderlands. According to Raptr I've put 353 hours into it so far, though I dont think thats exactly right since for a while I was playing  every night for hours and it didn't moved from 295. I'm not sure why I play so much Borderlands, it doesn't exactly have a riveting story. But damn if I'm not addicted to Mordecai's maniacal laugh.

   It hasn't all been game playing on my consoles. I've gone on many little shopping sprees as well. Recent additions to my library include God of War 3, Uncharted 2, Folklore, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Dynasty Warriors 7, Brotherhood of Steel, 123...kick it, Hoard, and plenty more that have completely slipped my mind. But much like an infomercial announcer...thats not all!
   Recently we have acquired an iPad. At first, it sat there in its box, looking pathetic and lonely. I tried to like it, but I couldn't, it seemed so pointless to me. I found some use for it looking up game guides while outside smoking, but, really, that wasn't exactly a good reason to fire up the iPad. (honestly, there really is no real reason to own one of these things). So i started messing around and downloaded a few games. Yes, Angry Birds was one of the first games I downloaded, followed by Fruit Ninja and...dare i admit it....Smurf Village. Suddenly I couldn't put the damn thing down. I quickly accepted that I sucked at Angry Birds, but I make a kick ass Fruit Ninja. The Smurfs are my gaming shame. I find it idiotic and dull. Its ridiculous that you either have to drop a wad of cash or wait an eternity for everything to finish, reset, be available for use. However, I can't help myself. I'm now at level 13 of this asinine game. I think I need professional help.

  Another recent acquisition was a new phone.
  Tired of my POS LG Neon turning itself off randomly and annoyingly. Especially mid text message. I decided it was time for an upgrade. I felt out of the technology loop so, I got an HTC Inspire. I love my phone...so...very...much.  I'm not sure how well it does with phone calls, but damn if I don't love playing with the thing. Sadly, my kids have realized that mommy has all sorts of games on her phone and if left unguarded, my phone will be found in tiny hands.

  So now I can expand my obsession with acquiring games to encompass the iPad and my Droid phone...But just to feel like I'm not just pointlessly wasting time slicing fruit every chance I get...I have books on them too...Currently I'm reading Tuck on the iPad. Its the final book in a trilogy about Robin Hood by Stephen Lawhead.(years ago he wrote a fabulous series of books about King Arthur called The Pendragon Cycle. I highly recommend it) and I'm about to start Journey to the West on my phone. Also, to live up to my name and as further proof of my obsession, I have the full collection of Dune books on both my phone and iPad. Along with the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. If you haven't read any of these books, read them! They are amazing.
  While the ipad has just become my pointless game timewaster, my phone has proven to be much more useful (still havent used it for calls much). I've started working out and watching my calories in an attempt to get myself in Bikini shape by this summer. Let me tell ya, I laughed when I first got my 5 minute ab workout app. I wasn't laughing so much afterward. I was too out of breath and aching to laugh. BRUTAL.
 
   Meanwhile my kids continue to make me proud of their gaming ways.

Sapito has an addiction to Borderlands almost as big as mine. He also has much love for Lego games. I swear, I suck at all those Lego games. Not him. He's finished Lego Star Wars on the PS2, PSP and DS more times than I can count. Same with Lego Indiana Jones 1 and 2 and Lego Batman. I recently bought him Lego Indy 1&2 and Batman for the 360. Also got him Lego Star Wars 3 on the PC. I thought he would explode from glee. He's anxiously awaiting the release of Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, and I must admit...I kinda am too. I love me some Jack Sparrow, even if he's in Lego form. He gave Vanquish a good try and lately he's been going around kicking all our asses at Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe. (he loves rubbing it in that he beat me with my favorite character every time he wins with Wesker)

Ghani, is more quirky in her gaming choices.She has the Borderlands bug as well, but she also loves to rack up hours in Fallout New Vegas. We both share much love for Boone. Though I admit, I might love him just a tad more. She's played a bit of Bulletstorm and Call of Duty Black Ops but her real love is The Sims 3. I am not a Sims person but, whatever floats her boat.

Falls, is the least gaming oriented one. She can go weeks without touching a single game. She gave Vanquish a try and liked it ok, but it didnt really grab her. She likes playing Fruit Ninja a lot and something called Pocket Frogs on the ipad. (they all love that frog game).

I could write so much more but the natives are restless and I cant concentrate anymore. I'll try to be a little more regular is my updates.

Call me Butter cause I'm on a roll...

  I have been gaming a lot more these days and I have managed to complete yet another game. I feel so good finally finishing a few games. Not that it diminishes my "to be played/finished" pile all that much but, gotta start somewhere.
  What did I finish this time? Something I should have finished ages ago, Gears of War. Currently I'm working on getting through Gears of War 2, so I should be done with that soon as well.
    So like I said, I'm playing more games lately and its been really cool to get back to really gaming.Along with working on GoW2 I've gone back to Dragon Age: Origins. I am SO behind in that game and DA2 is about to drop, played the demo to that and I really cant wait to play it.

    I've also started playing Mass Effect 2 and I have SUCH mixed feelings on that game. On one hand the game is beautiful and the story compelling and I will finally get to realize the dream I have had since Mass Effect...to romance Garrus (I love that Turian). On the other hand i hate the combat changes and the lack of an inventory. I'm havinga hard time getting into the game because of these changes. Oh and MY GOD I despise Miranda. She looks like a man and is bitchier than me after running out of Midol during PMS.
 
   Today I started playing Bulletstorm. Its pretty amusing but I dont feel its worth $60. I will admit that the 12yr old boy in me loves all the creative combinations of curse words. Basically its kind of a game where I can shut my brain off and just go on a killing spree. There's a story but frankly, I dont think I care about what the hell is going on. Just send more fodder for me to leash and shoot.

   On the Handheld front I'm not doing as well as I am on my consoles. I got far enough in Pokemon Black to get my fifth gym badge and then kinda switched on over to Dragon Quest VI when that came out. Dont get me wrong, Black is fun and there are enough changes in it to not make it feel like I'm playing the same damn game for the umpteenth time but I can only catch so many pokemon before my brain starts melting.
   Dragon Quest VI is now the 4th DQ game I've started on my DS. I have finished none... I think the one I got farthest in was Hand of the Heavenly Bride. I enjoy them a lot but I tend to get lost and get tired of trying to figure out where to go next. Also..would it KILL these people to let me save at nay point and not just at the churches? I mean, REALLY.

  I haven't really played much of anything on my PSP, not for lack of games, just lack of time with all the other ones I'm playing. I'd like to get through Ghost of Sparta, Star Ocean Second Evolution and at least one Ys game. I'd also like to start Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together....but lord knows when I'll get around to it.

  PC games I have a TON of them that I havent even started and probably wont get to anytime soon. My current goal is to get back to playing The Witcher since I pre-ordered The Witcher 2. I also started Sacred and Divinity 2 and really like them so I'd like to get through them at some point.

  Neglected are my stacks of PS2, PS3, Gamecube and Wii games.... I think the last thing I played on PS2 was Champions of Norrath for like the 23rd time ages ago. My PS3 normally doesnt get use unless I'm playing Singstar. I did start Uncharted: Drake's Fortune but I haven't finished it, got to one really annoying puzzle and just said "to hell with it" and put it away for now. My Gamecube has always been much neglected, even when it was new and "in" (was the Gamecube ever "in"? I dont think so). I would like to finish Twilight Princess someday and maybe Prince of Persia The Two Thrones....And maybe start Crystal Chronicles.
 Much like its predecessor my Wii gets the least amount of love from me. Last thing I played on that was Just Dance 2 with my kids. Its not that I dont havea few good choice titles, its just that I cant seem to ever remember the Wii exists except when my parents visit and my mom kicks my ass at Boxing.

   While finishing a handful of games isn't really gonna put a dent in my pile, it does make me feel a little better and its made me a little more determined to try and get through some of my other games.
  
   One final word....I have done something I never thought I would...I'm playing a game on Facebook! OMG!! Lol.  I got int the Dragon Age Legends Beta and I've been playing it on and off. Its not that bad a game actually. I had played The first DA Flash game, Dragon Age Journeys and liked it pretty well. I had expected Legends to be more in the vein of Journeys but its extremely different and at first I found it a little lacking but after putting a few hours into it. I'm enjoying it.

    So that's pretty much it for right now. I'm too Codeined for any deep gaming insights.


    

  

Hi, Hello, I suck!

Yes Yes...Still no damn Inferno..I know. Beat me with a wet noodle.

You know me, I like to go on and on and on forever and beat you down with Wikipedia and a dictionary...so though I know I can probably shoot this thing out now, I won't be happy with it cause its not as researched as I would like. Its quite a daunting task I've given myself this time.

But, I'm not here to talk about that today...at least not this minute, what might happen later...well who knows...When your day starts with getting very up close and personal with a school bus you never know what could happen later. But, I digress....

If you haven't noticed over yonder ----------------------------->
I gots me a new addition to my blog and my home...That's right! i FINALLY got me a PS3!!!!! Happy day. My Xbox360 got a lil jealous but I assured it it will alway be my baby and it has begrudgingly agreed to share my TV with its arch nemesis.

So, yeah..I got me a PS3 and a grand total of ONE game. Which game? This will amuse you; Well, maybe not the game itself but the reasoning behind it. Better get comfy...you know how I tend to go on and on. Why say something in a sentence when you can write a novella?

For those with short attention spans: I bought inFamous. You can stop here, the rest is just details.

The story of inFamous (no not the plot, MY plot)

Alrighty then, long long ago there was talk of this game named inFamous and I didn't really care. I saw some screenshots and found myself wondering why is Starkiller wearing a yellow jacket? Everyone was excited, there was much hoopla. This game was a PS3 exclusive so, meh, what did I care? Now the Xbox didn't want to feel left out and it came out with Prototype. This time I felt meh in general, all I thought was That guys arm reminds me of Ian Stone.

Then I watched both of these:





I laughed, a lot, but I was still not interested.
So why did I buy this game?
It was one part price, one part zappy powers and one part...well...this:


Wait
What?

That has NOTHING to do with inFamous does it?
Well, now you see how my odd little mind works. After watching those reviews, reading about both games and watching Unskippable I decided that Cole was more likeable than Alex Mercer.

Yeah, I bought inFamous as my very first PS3 game because it was $29.99, I get to zap people like I'm a Sith while wearing a snazzy yellow jacket (are yellow jackets "in" right now? 'Cause I know that the guy whose name I don't care to remember from Dead Rising 2 is ALSO wearing a snazzy yellow jacket) and Alex Mercer is a dick.

I will say that I don't regret the purchase though. Even though I suck at it and I've dropped Cole into the harbor so many times he should be nothing but ashes by now I find the game pretty cool. I just gotta learn to stop spazzing out and spinning in circles zapping everything. Also, I wish he didn't run and stand all crouched over like he's got stomach cramps...Not only that but with the poor posture and the gravely voice I keep waiting for him to say "I'm the best at what I do" 

Meanwhile, instead of finishing that Inferno thing, or that other thing I don't even remember what it was about or why I was gonna write it, I've been playing Lips (WHAT? I like Karaoke) and Dragon Age: Origins.


Alistair is soooo dreamy.