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.

Walk The Dead

So I took a break from Diablo 3 and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (the two games that I've been consistently playing as of late) to finally sit down and play Telltale's The Walking Dead. A friend let me borrow his copy of all five episodes on disc for the Xbox. I played the first episode from beginning to end when I should've been watching the newest episode of The Walking Dead on AMC.

The game has received pretty positive reviews, and after playing the first episode, I understand why. But I still didn't really like the first episode of this game series. The story-telling was good, but I didn't like that it relied on "celebrities" from the comic. When I ended up on Hershel's farm in the very beginning, I was confused. It didn't look anything like it did in the comics or on the TV show. As soon as I realized where I was, I wanted to leave and meet new characters in this world.

Luckily, my wish was granted with Kenny and his family. I have a clear allegiance to Kenny and keeping that allegiance will guide most of my decisions throughout the game. I'm going to skip around here, to keep from spoiling the game.

Once I was inside the pharmacy, my problems with the game reared their ugly heads. I was charged with breaking into the pharmacy to get pills for heart-attack Dad and that became my ultimate goal. Frustration set in as the keys were nowhere to be found in the office. What I did find was a family picture of Lee with his parents and brother. He immediately ripped himself out of the photo and stashed it in the edge-of-the-screen inventory. For me, that was a very meaningful moment in how I understood Lee's story.

It was a weird thing to do, rip oneself out of a family photo but still keep the family photo. I was perplexed, in awe, and hooked. I left the office and the little girl's radio went off with Glenn, who went to fetch gasoline, calling for help. I brought the gun-girl with me to save Glenn and we saved his Korean ass. Upon returning with my axe, I tried to chop my way into the pharmacy and Lee, in so many words, basically said, "No dip-shit, you need the key."

So I was back where I left off and I talked to everyone again. Last being Doug, the guy guarding the door to the outside. And that's when I noticed the trapped zombie. The action button instructed me to show Doug my family photo, which convinced him that the trapped zombie had the pharmacy key. What just happened? Then it clicked: I had done things out of order. When I first talked to door-guard Doug, I was to see the trapped zombie (which I didn't) and try to convince Doug that the zombie worked at the pharmacy. He would have said something like, no it's too risky, I need proof. Then I would have gone back to the pharmacy office, picked up the photo, ripped myself out to hide my identity, and then showed the photo to Doug.

The moment I had with Lee, removing himself from the family photo, was ripped away. I had done things out of order. And from that moment on, I was pissed. So pissed, that I let Doug die in one of my decision button-time events.

As a general rule, I hate button-time events. They suck. I hated them in Resident Evil 4, especially after that knife fight, and I've hated them ever since.

The Walking Dead can basically be construed as an awesome story with a long string of button-time events. Awesome story-telling = good. Long string of button-time events = bad.

The episode ended with heart-attack Dad telling me to stay away from his daughter. My only thoughts were: I must have missed something because I think you're an asshole and I think your daughter is a bitch. As soon as I get the chance to let either or both of you die, I will do just that.

In some ways, I guess the first episode of The Walking Dead game succeeded because I am invested in these characters, whether its helping keep them safe, or having a hand in their gruesome deaths, I am invested.

As the episode ended, I was satisfied to see Glenn off in his pizza-delivery car. Get outta here kid; get yourself to the Georgia big time and be awesome (yeah, I like Glenn).

Pick A Side, Buy With Pride

So I've got a crap-ton of 3DS links and articles tabbed up in one Chrome window and a second Chrome window filled with another crap-ton of PS Vita links and articles. The question is: If I can only have one, which portable gaming device should it be?

Erroring on the side of caution, I'm always happy to wait on the brand new console and let its first batch of bugs work through the system. This means that I feel comfortable picking up a Nintendo 3DS right now. It's rookie year is almost over and there's one particular Resident Evil game that I want to play.

The PS Vita, on the other hand, is the shiny new toy. I played with one at a Best Buy while it was attached to a young man like a high-tech ball and chain. Did I mention shiny? It was shiny.

Only the Little Deviants game was playable, but I fiddled with camera (wasn't impressed) and the UI (enough to know that I still prefer buttons over touch screen tapping) and thoroughly annoyed the machine's fleshy anchor. The only launch-day game I'm interested in is the new Lumines: Electronic Symphony. Gravity Rush also looks neat, but that's it. New game prices are over-priced for games that just look neat. Of course, there's a Disgaea 3 port in the pipe, but I didn't really care for Disgaea 3 on the PS3, so I'm not biting at the moment. Just looking.

The big question right now: What are the chances that Resident Evil Revelations will end up on the PSV? I hope that those chances are good. However, an excellent counter point is that no Resident Evil game appeared on the PSP in its entire lifetime. I'm not counting the PS1 "classic" downloadables. Here's to hoping.

For now, I can stick with my trusty silver PSP. But if Nintendo cuts the price of the 3DS to compete with the PSV, I might have to cave.

A Mess, A Messy Mess

My mind is just crapping out on me right now. I can't think of anything to draw on my board and my sinuses are so clogged up that I think my head might actually explode. My neck is even starting to hurt under the pressure.

Writing mode is set to random right now; I just want to see where this goes. For no real reason, I've been browsing /r/pokemon lately and all that has done is make me want to draw a crazy picture of Mr. Mime. Maybe winter is actually killing me. It's not even that cold here. Nasal cavity monsters are making it impossible to breathe through my nose.

Pokemon entered into my gaming universe as a curious little specimen "mon" partly because I knew nothing about it and partly because I only had a Game Boy at the time. Blue and Silver were the only games that I played; my neighbor owned the counter-parts. When we learned that the new GBA games were not trade-compatible with our games, my neighbor and I quit playing all together. Does one really quit playing Pokemon? Hrm. Anyway, I came back with the remakes of Gold and Silver for the Nintendo DS.

Yes, I own a Pokewalker. What amazed me on the remake was the ability to trade via the WiFi connection. Had that existed way back with Red, Blue, Gold, and Silver, I probably would not have hung up the trainer cap and "quit."

My DS Lite and SoulSilver cartridge are collecting dust right now. But they're having to compete with my PSP and Disgaea's Item World. The funny thing is that both are grinding games and the grinding sessions of both can be pretty mindless.

The world of pokemon seems rife with story-telling potential, but I've not seen any of the games tap into that vastness. A real shame, in my opinion.

And that's how my do nothing blog turned into a pokemon fan fiction blog. Ha! Dear Lord, no.

Demotivational Properties of December

December has felt like a severely-off month. For the first time in my life, I'm bothered by commuting to work in the dark and returning home in the dark. It weighs on me. Makes me feel like doing nothing. Not even video games. I've been on a four day Skyrim break. After work, when I get home, all I want to do is watch T.V. or sleep. Of course, I don't actually watch television; I threw in disc 1 of the Full Metal Alchemist series and hit play all. With eight discs of this anime (I don't have, nor have I seen Brotherhood), I can continue for seven more business days. The weekends don't count, obviously. I find things to do.

During these dark times, I find myself returning to my PSP and Disgaea while bundled up in bed. Flipping between Dark Hero Days and Afternoon of Darkness takes its toll after extended stays in the item world. The Demotivational Properties of December. If this observation were a natural law, classified and categorized by scientists, it would have that title. Perhaps this subtitle: "Winter's Return to Disgaea." I'll draft the abstract as soon as winter is over. In May.

It's a scary thought, but this observation does confirm something I've long suspected. If I could only ever play one video game, that video game would be a Disgaea game. Which game in the series? Well, I'm working on narrowing that part down.

I've heard this diagnosed as seasonal depression, which doesn't seem accurate because:

1. I'm not depressed, just feeling lazy.
2. If this were truly seasonal, shouldn't it happen during other seasons too?
3. Where does the affinity for my favorite SRPG come in? That does not make sense.

Wookies don't live on Endor.

"One theory is that reduced sunlight during fall and winter leads to reduced production of serotonin in the the brain." Thanks, WebMD. Now I'm paranoid. The good news is that this laziness has not crossed into my work life. I'm just as distracted as I always am.

Anyway, here's my prescription: grind in the item world until geo panels make you hurl, return to Skyrim, kill a dragon, feel awesome, and (finally) make fun of the stupid guards.

On Dragons

Welp, the two week hiatus is up. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm not yet in the post-game of Disgaea 4. Have I failed as a Disgaea fan? Maybe, but I'll keep chugging along. My army of gunners and skulls is not going anywhere. I do admire those of you who have obliterated the game already; kind of wish I had that kind of time on my hands.

Unfortunately, I don't. And I won't have that time until the end of September. Then I can really game it up. It's terribly disappointing that the folks at Nippon Ichi Software didn't have the BYOL (levels) feature enabled right out of the box. Still pissed that I couldn't build right away.

Remember the pre-order goodies?

In crazier news, I played in my first official MTG tournament with surprising success. An ultimate victory it wasn't, but three rounds of defeating my opponents in two games (we played best two out of three) can't mean I'm horrible. I made a fatal mistake in the first game of the fourth round; suffering from blood-rage, I swung at my adolescent advisory with all my creatures, leaving none behind to block. Dumb-da-dumb-dumb.

The tournament was a variation that I hadn't heard about or seen before, but I'm fairly new to competitive MTG. It was always goofy friends doing goofy things with fantasy cards; we didn't try to kill each other like in Monopoly.

Everyone in the tournament started with a booster pack and three of each colored mana. Without looking at our booster packs, we opened the booster and shuffled in the mana. That was your thirty card deck. You played round one without knowing what was lurking in your deck as well as your opponent's. If you won your round, you were given another booster pack and had to construct a forty card deck. The more rounds you won, the more booster packs you were rewarded. But you couldn't go over the forty-card limit.

I'd like to take a moment and give special thanks to my partner in a three-round winning streak: the Volcanic Dragon. He was, by far, the best card I unwrapped out of all three booster packs.

All my rares sucked; plus, this dragon reared his hot little head and helped me win four out of the six games I won.

Gaming this Fall: Features and Distractions

After much consideration I've decided not to endorse your park. No wait. That's not right. After much consideration, I've picked my fall gaming line-up. It was tough. Skyrim. Rage. Arkum City. Gears. Saints. The Old Republic. I can't play them all at once.

With plenty of backlog to go, I had a hard decision ahead of me. But I have a system; not a schedule, a system of features and diversions. The feature or features are the games that occupy most of my screen time; I let go and get sucked into these gaming worlds.

My features for this fall are Skyrim and Disgaea 4. I didn't put D4 in the opening list, because it was a given. I'm kinda hoping Skyrim will be my next Fallout 3. Bethesda, I'm throwing you a bone here. You surprised me with your take on the Fallout universe. Having never touched an Elder Scrolls game before in my life, all I can say is I hope your dragons do it for me. But seriously, I want the world and its story. However, if the dragons disappoint, I will let you know.

The real measuring stick for Skyrim's success will be how much it pulls me away from Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten; this game drops on September 6. There's an event in my google calendar and a bookmark in my graph paper notebook where the map designs start. Skyrim will only stand a chance because it lands sometime in November. That'll give me plenty of time to break my controller playing D4. And (hopefully) enough time to find another PS3 controller.

This time around, the diversion was the most difficult to pick. In my system, the diversions are games that I turn to when I need a break from the feature. Rage and Gears of War 3 were the two biggest contenders this year, as shooters usually fall into the diversion role for me. Stirrings of madness often require me to blow hordes of enemies into steaming piles of fresh and bone for my sanity's sake. Aka, I like diversions that help me blow off steam.

After seeing more videos then necessary, I decided to pass on Gears and Rage for Saints Row: The Third and I must shamefully admit that the man-a-pult car had something to do with my choice. It's like the cannons in Mario 64, but rated M. Like Elder Scrolls, I have never touched a Saints game and I don't give two shits about its gangland story; I just want to reek havoc and be goofy. Goofy. That's what I want in this fall's diversion title.

On a closing note, I'm just choosing to wait on The Old Republic and Batman: Arkum City. I cracked open Arkum Asylum about a year after it dropped and loved it. Hopefully waiting (again) will make the bat and the cat that much sweeter.