New New?

This is an odd time in my gaming career and in my adventures as the Do-Nothing-Man. Disinterest has infected my perspective of gaming. I mentioned earlier that I'm consistently playing Diablo 3 on my computer and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness on my hacked PSP. That's it.

I've taken little breaks to play things like Aliens: Colonial Marines and The Walking Dead. I even sat down to play Halo 4 with my roommate for the first time in several months last weekend. The point is: I haven't been playing much. And, I'm not necessarily happy with what I have been playing.

Even with games like Diablo and Disgaea, the repetitive nature of each game is wearing on me. On both of these titles, it's the grinding and leveling up that initially peaked my interest; however, I find myself only able to stand Disgaea in smaller and smaller segments. Clear a couple levels in the Item World, and then I'm putting my PSP to sleep. Diablo 3 is getting a similar treatment; I measure my playing time in accumulated gold. Once I acquire 100,000 gold in a play session, I'm done. Paragon levels don't even interest me anymore. In both games, I'm chilling in the end-game, doing only the things that I want to do. And I'm still getting a little burnt out.

What I've noticed while playing these two favorites is that I'm in no mood for marathon gaming sessions. A couple years ago, I could sit and play Fallout 3 all freakin' day. That doesn't happen anymore. Part of it could be that I have a standing desk now; when I'm playing Diablo 3, I'm on my feet. Not sitting on my ass. But I've had the standing set-up for over a year and when D3 first came out, I was playing marathon sessions to power level my crazy Witch Doctor.

The PSP is a little different; I'm usually playing Disgaea while sitting on our porch (now things are warming up) or while in bed right before going to sleep. Plus, that little machine is hacked, so I'm constantly tinkering with it while it's connected to my computer. I need to learn how to take my own screenshots. There must be a way.

I thought, for the longest time, that I could be a perfectly content gamer only playing Disgaea and Diablo (at the time I was thinking of Diablo 2), maybe include a Resident Evil 2 play-through every so often. Disgaea and Diablo will always be go-to games for me for me, but maybe it's time for me to branch out and play something that's completely outside of my gaming repertoire.

What a weird word.

Wrong Way On A Dead-Way Track

Last night I received my first legitimate shock while playing Telltale's The Walking Dead adventure game. I finished Episode 3: Long Road Ahead, with many of the original party dead or left behind.

The most shocking was the reporter girl's death. Heh, I've already forgotten her name. Lilly, heart attack dad's bitch daughter, blew her freakin' head off. So I left Lilly in the ditch and drove away. That will probably come back to bite me in the ass.

If they don't die on-screen, they don't die.

Anyway, I'm happy to be rid of heart attack dad and his bitch daughter; I have been wanting to get rid of them since episode one.

Also, we met a wise, old homeless man named Chuck. He kind of reminds me of Gandalf because he was wise enough to tell me that I should have a plan and that I should teach Clem how to shoot a gun.

This seems like very wise council, except I'm not sure I even know how to shoot a gun. In fact, I hate guns in this game. Two times in episode three I had difficulty with, you know, dying. And both involved guns. I'd prefer a blunt melee weapon over a firearm any day in the world of The Walking Dead. But, for some reason, the game insists on making me use guns.

I also encountered my first serious glitch in the game: the action options and target reticle didn't load in one area. When I entered the area, I could walk around, but I couldn't interact with anything. I couldn't talk to the people there and I couldn't open the door at the other end of the area. Luckily, I could go back the way I came and re-enter. After a couple minutes trying other options, I had power down and restart the game. Luckily, this didn't happen during an action sequence; it was one of those, you-need-to-talk-to-everyone-to-progress sequences.

Shocking, but boring and glitchy...not a good outing for The Walking Dead Episode 3. In my honest opinion, I think the series has gone downhill since episode one. We'll see how four and five work out.