30 Days of Video Games Meme

Day 1 - Very first video game:

My memory being what it is, I'm not 100% sure. It was likely a NES game, possibly The Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy (but obviously I couldn't play either well ;D) or maybe Wrecking Crew. My mom was an avid gamer at the time and played alot herself, so naturally I played video games as soon as I was physically able to. Our first system was the NES, so it was likely a NES game.

Day 2 - Your favorite character:

Ah, well that's a tough question. I have a few, but I have to say that my all-time favorite would probably be Claudia Wolf from Silent Hill 3. I'm a sucker for antagonists with entirely understandable motivations - even arguably commendable ones even if their actions and the results of those actions aren't necessarily good, from the protagonists perspective. She doesn't do good things but she does what she thinks is right and there's a lot I can respect about that. To really full explain it would take more time but that's just the basics. Here's hoping her appearance in the upcoming Silent Hill sequel lives up to my mental image (I'm not really holding my breath though).

Day 3 - A game that is underrated:
Tough choice! I like a lot of off-beat games so I feel a lot of them are underrated. But I reckon I'll have to go with -

Hodj 'n' Podj. Although I suppose its more unknown than underrated. We got this from a bargain bin at Best Buy when I was very young (before we really had internet, even). It was a sort of digital board game (not in a boring way) where you and another player moved around the board and played mini-games (which admittedly were clones of other games, like Pac-man or Space Invaders) to be the first one to save the princess. The game came with a booklet, one for Hodj and one for Podj, when you complete a task, you got a "code", specific to your character, which gave you a clue on which location you needed to play next. Naturally, we lost this booklet pretty much immediately and played story mode just blindly wandering around trying to hit upon the right game. It was really fun, quirky, and interesting. My siblings and I would spend hours playing it.

Day 4 - Your guilty pleasure game:

While I openly (and proudly) admit to being a WoW-player, mentioning it to people grants that weird look (or as much of a look you can give over the internet via text...) as though I'm totally crazy for doing so, despite the game's high headcount of players. The game has a bit of an unwarranted reputation of being this weird evil monster than eats people's lives. It's certainly a huge time sink but honestly you have no one to blame but yourself for the amount of time you pour into a video game, its kind of cheap to shuffle blame off on the game itself. I have (happily) probably sunk more time into WoW than any other game. For the purposes of this meme I logged on and checked my total time played on my main toon, excluding the rather sizable roster of alts I have, and found I clock in at about 51 days, 22 hours, and 23 minutes of game time so far. And I have never, ever done a raid, that's just straight-up questing and dungeon runs and, of course, Achievement grinding! Hell, the screenshot above is of my main on the Violet Protodrake, which can only be obtained by doing holiday (Christmas, Halloween, etc) achievements spread out at specific times over the year. The day I got it was both incredibly satisfying and just a tiny bit sad...but mostly satisfying.

Day 5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were):
Er, way to ask two entirely different questions, meme. But OK, I'll bite. Frankly I'm probably most like Luigi. Y'know, from the Mario series. But then neurotic and self-conscious characters tend to remind me of me...because I'm neurotic and self-conscious. I could probably find a better fit with more thought but I don't feel like researching that right now and this was the most obvious choice, off the top of my head.

On the flipside, I'd like to be:

Bowser. Because Bowser is awesome. He can breathe fire and stuff. I'd just leave Princess Peach alone and I could terrorize Mushroom Kingdom for years. It would be glorious.

Day 6 - Most annoying character:

Professor Pester, in Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. Seriously, fuck this guy. He comes into your garden and is guaranteed to smash your most valuable pinata. Unless you cheat and build an out-of-place fence in a certain area, you have absolutely no defense against this and are pretty much guaranteed to lose your best pinatas every couple of in-game days. In the first VP, at least you could buy a statue to keep him away but not in the sequel. Granted, I may just be bitter because I spent a lot of time acquiring and caring for my prized Cocoadile only to have to watch powerlessly as he stalked and killed it :( To be fair though, the character himself isn't annoying...just this one mechanic.

If we're talking about characters that make you go "Oh dear god I wish they'd shut up" I guess I'd have to say Carth Onasi from Knights of the Old Republic. All he seemed to do was bitch bitch bitch all the time. He grated me to the point that it colored my opinion of Kaiden in Mass Effect, since they have the same voice actor (even though the voice itself isn't annoying). Bah.

Day 7 - Favorite game couple:
Guess I don't play a whole lot of games with couples in them (or I don't notice them) because I'm having the hardest time thinking of ANYTHING that could possibly fit here....Hmph, I guess since I can't think of anything I'll have to go with my own non-canon OTP:

Dynaroo and Honker from Oddballz, an old school virtual pet game from the makers of the original Catz and Dogz games (only better). These two were totally made for each other.

Day 8 - Best soundtrack:


Right so if you've known me for any length of time you probably knew this already, given that I am a big Silent Hill fan. I've found I can't really pick one Silent Hill soundtrack out for this, its more of an across-the-board sort of thing (although I personally tend to like SH2 a tiny bit more than the others...). Even objectively (or not, I don't know) Silent Hill has phenomenal music. Music tends to be integral in creating an atmosphere and the series music does an excellent job of doing this. Each soundtrack tends to have a distinct feel that fits with the atmosphere of its respective game - Silent Hill 2's soundtrack has an empty and lonely feel, one of the central themes of the game, while Silent Hill 4's is decidedly claustrophobic. The music just fits perfectly, so much so that even die-hard haters of the recent Silent Hill installments say their soundtracks were good. I just dig how all the songs can be tense or creepy, despite also being beautiful, haunting, or even aggressive. Its a unique expression and fits very perfectly into the games its meant for.
Its difficult for me to go "Hey, listen to this track and you'll totally understand" because it is in large part the way the music works with all other aspects of the game which makes it as great as it is. But for the curious, these are some of my favorites: youtu.be/tyxdV8VYA30 youtu.be/ImfFAkV16Qc youtu.be/GBYsdw4Vwx8 youtu.be/ZxvOxyaxnmM AND I will seriously link every single song if you let me...

Pity that Akira Yamaoka is no longer doing music for the series, but we all need to move on eventually I guess. I wouldn't dare say another composer can't do the series justice and look forward to how Daniel Licht does on Downpour.

Day 9 - Saddest game scene:
I'm a bit overemotional, so I find a lot of scenes sad! But among the saddest would have to be...

The ending of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. I won't spoil it for anyone who has somehow not played this nearly 20 year old game, but it is emphatically my favorite of the Zelda series due in large part to its ending. It's bittersweet, fairly depressing but not oppressively so, and its not one of those cheap-but-effective "character you care about is killed" type of things. Those work, certainly, but I appreciate it when people can evoke an emotional reaction without using death to do so. Anyway, if you haven't played this game, do it. I hear its being released on the 3DS' virtual console (on the 6th, maybe?) so if you have access to that, now's the perfect time to play it (I know I'll be getting it as soon as possible :D)

Runner up: The ending to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Time/Darkness/Sky, believe it or not. The story, up to the credits, has a fairly crushingly sad ending. And a very well-written one at that. The only reason its not the saddest is because it retcons itself post-credits which makes sense from a gameplay perspective but does significantly reduce the emotional impact of the ending.

Day 10 - Best gameplay:
Ah, well this is another tricky question isn't it? Gameplay seems to be something that's noticeable when its bad, or in parts it doesn't work, where when it works you don't completely notice because its like an extra limb you've had all your life. Further, its kind of subjective isn't it? Good gameplay in a puzzle game would be horrible in a FPS and then of course if someone flat out hates how RPGs play even the best RPG game ever wouldn't turn them. But anyway all this semantical bullshit is just because I don't know how to answer the question (and also because I have a massive headache thats making me very cranky). This gets tough because I tend to like everything even if they're bogged down by flaws and can ignore A LOT and still really like something :\ I've decided I absolutely cannot call any game the "best" because perfection doesn't really exist, much less with video games. And with genres and whatnot, you're basically like asking me "Out of all the things in the world that are blue, what's the best blue thing?" which is an asininely broad question that makes my brain collapse in on itself. So just a game I think has really good gameplay:

Batman: Arkham Asylum. Yeah, I'm totally bias. I love Batman. I've always loved Batman (especially Kevin Conroy Batman because he's the best Batman that ever Batmaned) and playing as Batman is something akin to something awesome and Arkham Asylum actually does it -really well-. Nice simple punchy action and nice simple stealthy stuff (does dropping upon an unsuspecting baddie and stringing him up ever get old? No, no it doesn't). Plus you can glide about if you get enough height and climb and stuff and I have a weird gaming fetish for being able to quicky flit about an area all acrobatically or whatnot (I was soso tempted to put inFamous here because omg the exploration is too goddamn fun). I dunno, it was fluid and natural feeling and was certainly great gameplay if not the "best"

Day 11 - Gaming system of choice:

At current its kind of an even split between the Xbox 360 and PC, with occasionally dalliance with the Nintendo DS (or 3DS, I guess). Honestly I'm open to anything (although I tend to avoid games that force Wiimote control!) and I have access to almost every system at the moment. Given a choice I'm more likely to buy a game for the 360 but lately have been veering toward PC for two reasons - Mods and earlier this year I got a video card that can actually handle games so now its actually an option for me. Also, Steam.
I do also like the DS and play it quite often. It would've taken the place of the 360 up there if I'd been in the mood to play it recently. I am waiting for them to release any decent 3DS games though :\

Day 12 - A game everyone should play:
It's hard to blindly recommend any game since even the best of games will have someone who just flat out won't like it but...

Everyone should try a Silent Hill at least once. Preferably 1-4 and Shattered Memories. 2 and 3 are getting HD upgrades next year so you should totally give them a look then. Just for the love of god don't play Homecoming. It is not a good introduction to the series (and in fact I kind of hate it :\)

Day 13 - A game you’ve played more than five times:
I've played -most- of my games more than five times because I'm kind of obsessive and wanted to get 100% completion in games even before they invented Achievements. However, I decided to go with the one with one that at least makes for a half-way interesting (and long-winded) story:

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando. Now, the Ratchet games are fantastic and I've been fans of them forever. They're also highly replayable, with their New Game+ option. But that's not quite why I played it through so much. Now as most people already know, I am from California. As fewer people know, for about 6 months back in 2004 I lived in Florida. Though as the experience was not pleasant we moved back to California but having no house anymore we moved into an extended stay hotel (which is a hotel....that you can stay in for an extended period of time). That's an average-sized two-bed hotel room for 5 people and a dog, which was fun. We had one computer to share, with a dial-up connection, making it next to useless. The TV used an antenna so not much was on, but we thought ahead to bring our PS2. We could only bring one game each, though - my brother brought RPG Maker, my other brother brought a .Hack game, and I brought Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando.

With nothing to do all day while my mom was out finding a house and work and stuff (I was supposed to start college at the time but due to living briefly in Florida, I was considered out-of-state so the price was astronomically higher than it would be for a resident, which I could not afford), we mostly just played video games. Having only a passing interest in the other games, I mostly played Ratchet and Clank. And beat it. So I played it again. And again. And again. Etc... I have a rather distinct memory of spending a few hours trolling about the desert collecting crystals because it was either do that or stare at the wall. I actually still have that save file on one of my old memory cards :) Despite it not being a happy time I can look back at it with a sort of fondness. Not something I ever want to do again though.

Y'know now that I wrote it down I realize this story is reeeeeeally not interesting at all. Sorry!

Day 14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper.

Day 15 - Post a screenshot from the game you’re playing right now.

Day 16 - Game with the best cut scenes.
There are a lot of games that have great and effective cut scenes but personally I've always liked:

The cut scenes from the Oddworld series, all four games. They're really well done (especially for the time) and they nicely characterize the...er, characters. And in fact the cut scenes were one of the few things that were good in Munch's Oddyssey I always wanted Oddworld Inhabitants to do a movie proper and I guess they are although its not meant to be ready any time soon so I tend to forget about it.

Day 17 - Favorite antagonist.
Well, since Claudia is my favorite character and she is an antagonist, technically it'd be her. In the interest of variety, though, I'll choose another:

Bowser. He's just a cool dude. Any opportunity to play as him tends to be enough to get me to buy a game, so I reckon he counts.

Day 18 - Favorite protagonist.
Might as well use this for my favorite Silent Hill protagonist....

I suppose I'm bias, Silent Hill 3 was the first Silent Hill I played and naturally it stuck with me. While she may not be as sympathetic as Harry, there was something very human about Heather and her motivations that I quite liked.

Day 19 - Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in.
A bit of a tough question. By virtue of the fact that games are meant to entertain they tend to be set in settings of conflict, which generally are not nice places to live. But lets assume this is "excluding all the constant conflict" sort of thing. As much as I'd like to say Silent Hill, without its otherworld and foggy incarnations is just a resort town and I never liked the tourist traps I lived in so I guess I'll have to go with:

Azeroth (or World of Warcraft to you laymen), specifically Mulgore, probably because I've spent quite a bit of time there leveling countless alts (I'm partial to tauren) and it just seems rather nice and peaceful. Nagrand is a close second, but it is quite similar to Mulgore so...I guess I just like plainsland. With anthropomorphic cows.

Day 20 - Favorite genre.
Ah, I don't think I can answer this! I like pretty much damn near everything, at least a little, and trying to decide what I like best gives me a lot of mixed results. Pretty much the only games I don't play are sports games. Oh, and FPS but that's more because I can't than that I don't want to.

I guess I'll have to say "Adventure"

Day 21 - Game with the best story.

Silent Hill 2, definitely. Of course, I'm bias but hey the game is lauded for its excellent story so its not like I'm alone in this. The strength of its story (and atmosphere) is enough to overcome its clunky gameplay mechanics. Likewise, as a really close second though:

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. It doesn't get a lot of attention, unfortunately, but I really loved the story of this one. So much so I do need to debate with myself time and again on which of these two has the superior story. I am absolutely Silent Hill-minded, I know, but psychological stories always interest me the most (pretty much all my favorite movies have heavy psychological stories) and Silent Hill is basically all about the psychological. 2 and Shattered Memories especially.

Day 22 - A game sequel which disappointed you.

Silent Hill: Homecoming. Largely because I a special love for that series so a poor Silent Hill game is a big disappointment. A terribly lackluster story, poor puzzles, glitches, and a generally not Silent Hill-like feel. It wasn't the worst game ever but it certainly wasn't all that good and it being a Silent Hill just makes it all the more disappointing.

Day 23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style.
Tough call! In general I prefer cartoonish graphics, in movies, tv, video games. Reckon that might be the cartoonist in me, though! But I do tend to feel cartoon or otherwise stylized graphics tend to age better than realistic graphics. Cel Shaded games tend to always look pretty good but more realistic styles can fade when gaming moves up a generation. Just my opinion though. On top of cartoonish graphics, I also tend to prefer vibrant or vivid colors and backgrounds, which I guess tend to go along with the cartoon thing.
I guess I'll say The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. I know its not everyones thing, but its certainly mine. I loved the graphics when it came out and I still love them now :)

Day 24 - Favorite classic game.
I was pondering this question quite a bit until I realized it was asking for a classic game, not a retro game as I'd first assumed, which narrowed down my choices. A classic, by definition, is a work of renown high quality generally considered the standard in its field. What's more enduring or standard of the puzzle genre than Tetris?

Of course, I'm specifically speaking about its original Gameboy incarnation, but its other versions tend to be good too. When I was a kid my siblings and I had one of the original chunky gameboys. We only had a handful of games for it - Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2, Link's Awakening, Pokemon Red and Blue, and of course Tetris. Tetris is extremely addictive, due in large part to its relatively simple game mechanics, endless gameplay, and unbelievably catchy music. Tetris Music A has got to be one of the best tracks in music game history. Many other puzzle games have followed in Tetris' footsteps, but Tetris will have always been first :)

Day 25 - A game you plan on playing
There are a lot of games I plan on playing but I'm going to have to go with Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Not only am I looking forward to it as a MMO, but I've been waiting for a new Knights of Old Republic game for ages.

Day 26 - Best voice acting.
I don't really think on voice acting often...unless its bad, of course. But one game I know that had consistently great voice acting is L.A. Noire:

Of course, can you call it voice acting? It's more like acting. There are a ton of characters (just take a peek in the manual and see the three pages of credits) and there's not a bad performance by any of them.

Day 27 - Most epic scene ever.
Another tough choice, there are a lot of epic scenes in games. But when I think epic, my mind tends to go to sci-fi. So a good example would be the final scene in Mass Effect:

Hard to find a screenshot that doesn't totally give it away but...yeah, its epic.