FinalArcadia Rambles About... (Updated May 3 - Learn more about my video game habits than you ever cared or wanted to learn)

[prog rocker]

If we're talking about something in a videogame that scared us as children, I guess I could add Giygas from EarthBound, although that one was my fault. I was navigating Starmen.net and I saw a thread about EarthBound/Mother dreams. I recall seeing a lot of people saying they had nightmares of Giygas and I was laughing at them. After all, it's a videogame, why would they be scared of him? That night, I had a weird dream. I only saw Giygas in that dream, nothing else. I knew that I was dreaming, since I felt the bed around me. I tried waking up, but I couldn't do anything, it was as if I was trapped there. After that dream, I started to feel really uncomfortable at seeing things related to Giygas, or that reminded me of him, to the point that ultrasounds make me nervous (which caused my sisters to call me a jerk for not wanting to see their kids).

TL,DR: I learned that I should not make fun of people on the Internet.

EDIT: This post ended up feeling like one of those crappy creepypastas, even though that was not my intention.

 

[FinalArcadia]

ENTRY #7

I'm using a Phoenix Down on this thread and lifting it from the grave to - as always - engage in some video game rambling. Nothing specific this time; just some very general video game Q&As... because I saw them in an ask on tumblr ages ago, kept it in my drafts there, and decided, "hmm, I love just writing about my experiences with games, so sure, why not indulge myself a little?" The list was originally longer than what I'm answering here, but I trimmed it for clarity and to cut some questions that just didn't really apply to me. Feel free to take them and answer them yourself, if you want! if anyone is reading this and I'm not just a nut addressing that to an audience that does not exist

So anyway, here are the answers to some questions that literally nobody asked for lol.

1. First game you played obsessively?
I played a LOT of Pokemon and other things, but it really took until I got a Gamecube to have a game I was really obsessed with. Both Animal Crossing and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle were games I’d consider myself obsessed with, and it would be downright embarrassing to see my total playtime on those. Especially SA2B, even more so if you combine my playtime from several memory cards and the PS3 remaster. That Chao Garden, man… It’s video game crack, made even more potent by how fun nearly every stage is in that game to replay.

2. Who did you play with as a kid?
My sisters mostly! We played a TON of multiplayer stuff. My parents would also play Pokemon Puzzle League and the N64 + Gamecube Mario Party games, along with the Pokemon Stadium minigames.

3. Who do you play with now?
Still my sisters lol. I’m not as big on online multiplayer, so I like playing games in-person with them. I was super excited when they confirmed local multiplayer for Gundam ExVs Maxi Boost On, since that’s the only kind of multiplayer I care about so that my sisters and I can fight.

4. Ever use cheat codes?
Yeah, I used them in The Sims on Gamecube for money, and sometimes in Animal Crossing when you could give codes to Tom Nook to get items. Probably other games too, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

5. Ever buy strategy guides?
YES. I have a lot of strategy guides to this day on my bookshelf, some for games I don’t even own anymore. It’s not so much that I use them (some definitely came in handy, though, like the strategy guide for Final Fantasy XIII-2 on my quest to platinum it), but that I just enjoy reading them from time to time.

6. Any games you have multiple copies of?
Oh geez, this is going to confirm to everyone that I’m a nut, but I… have owned three copies of the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). TO BE FAIR, one cracked, so the second copy was a replacement on Xbox 360. The third… I got years later for PS3 because I wanted a copy on there too since I kinda hate the Xbox 360 and tried to replace my library for it with PS3 copies. Okay, and just the fact that I really do love the game. No secret to anyone who has read past entries of this blog.

7. Most regrettable purchase?
Paper Mario: Sticker Star wasn’t worth even a single dollar, much less full price. Probably the single biggest disappointment in video games for me.

8. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours?
No, I hate crowds and I try to avoid being around people when I can, so standing in line around people is like a nightmare scenario, even if it was for a game I loved lol.

9. Ever get picked on for liking games?
Oh, I’m sure people probably joked about me in private since I never made any attempt to hide the games (and anime) that I enjoyed all throughout school. However, nobody ever actually said anything to my face or actually treated me poorly (in fact, people were always pretty nice to me), so I got pretty lucky with that. Most I got was some friendly ribbing from a sorta friend who would say I wanted to marry Sonic the Hedgehog (when, first of all, Sonic himself wasn’t my favorite character in the series even back then, but I digress), but yeah, it was always clearly joking and kinda made me laugh.

10. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has?
All the Elder Scrolls games (not really into western-style fantasy stuff), any Grand Theft Auto title… Basically, a lot of the mainstream, AAA western games. Aesthetically, I usually can’t get into it, regardless of genre or gameplay.

11. Favorite game music?
Some of my favorite game soundtracks are the ones from Skies of Arcadia, most Sonic games (but not Chronicles or the two Rush games, those suck), many Final Fantasy games, and Paper Mario.

12. Ever lose a friend over a game?
lol what

13. Would you date someone that hates gaming?
Why would somebody date a person who hates one of their passions lol.

14. Favorite handheld console?
Ohh, a tough one. Probably the Game Boy Advance? If we’re just judging based on the system’s library and not taking backward compatibility into account, I think the GBA had a fantastic library of games. One of my top five favorite games of all-time is on there (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance), so that helps. I’m also a weirdo who likes the soundfonts on GBA games.

15. Game that you know like the back of your hand?
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. I’d sure hope so given how much I’ve played it.

16. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now?
Well, I wasn’t really a “kid” when I first played Final Fantasy X, but the first time I played it, I thought it was super boring and didn’t enjoy it at all. Fast-forward to the present, and it is my favorite mainline Final Fantasy game. Something just clicked on the second playthrough and every playthrough since then.

17. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories?
Confession: I’ve been wearing the same t-shirts and stuff since literally middle school lmao. I hate shopping and everything fits (perhaps better than it did back then, honestly). What I’m saying is that, yes, I do wear game-related clothes because at least 25-30% of my shirts (and that’s probably low-balling it) are video game-related with Sonic and Zelda and whatever else.

18. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into?
Combined across all releases, probably Sonic Adventure 2? Other serious contenders are Dissidia Final Fantasy 012, at least one Animal Crossing (either the Gamecube one or Wild World), and maybe Super Smash Bros. Melee since I played the hell out of that with my sisters and still fire it up every once in a while.

19. First Pokemon game?
Yellow! However, I got Blue later that year and was like, “why do all the Pokemon look so weird now?”

20. Were you ever an arcade game player?
I’m not THAT old ahaha……… Wish I had been bold enough to play more Dance Dance Revolution in some of the places that had it years ago, though. Now I’m stuck with faulty soft pads for the PS2 versions.

21. Game that makes you rage?
Mario Kart 64 fills me with pure and unfiltered rage. The CPU racers in that game in particular are such blatant cheaters with the worst rubberbanding AI I’ve ever had the displeasure of playing against. It is - without a doubt - the single worst Mario Kart game Nintendo has published. And yes, I've played all of them other than the arcade ones.

22. How many consoles do you own?
As far as ones I still own go, I’ll just list them. SNES, Game Boy Color, N64, Game Boy Advance, Gamecube, DS, DS Lite, DSi, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, N3DS, Switch, PS2 (slim), PS3 (slim), PS4 (slim), PSP (original + the slimmer one), Xbox 360.

23. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches?
Yeah, I tried to use 3D on the 3DS several times when I first got one (especially for Star Fox 64 3D), but it just wrecks my head. I didn’t even think the effect was that cool anyway, so I don’t feel like I miss out on much when I keep it turned off.

24. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic?
Oh, yeah. Lion King, Scooby-Doo, Rugrats, Naruto, Inuyasha… probably had even more licensed games from series than that, though those are all that come to mind immediately.

25. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games?
I have the sneaking suspicion that my copies of Final Fantasy V Advance and Final Fantasy VI Advance on GBA are bootlegs lol. My mom got them off eBay years ago, though they play fine and that’s all I really care about.

26. Do either of your parents play video games?
They both used to back in the NES and earlier days. Nowadays, though, they just like stuff like Mario Party and puzzle games. My mom is into Just Dance now, too.

27. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game?
God this is embarrassing, but I legitimately cried in 6th grade when one of my sisters accidentally deleted my Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life save file. RIP my longest-running save of that game where I was married to Celia. If this question could also mean crying at the plot or something of games, yeeaaaahhhh… I do that a lot because I’m a sentimental baby who gets way too attached to fictional characters. I also sweat on a daily basis over games because I play a lot of the fitness-type stuff!

28. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like?
You know what? None! Because even if there are some games I like that most people would laugh at, I like them and I see no reason to be ashamed of it.

29. A sequel that you would die for them to make?
I dream of a world where an honest-to-goodness Sonic Adventure 3 exists, and a world where said game plays in the same sort of style and structure as SA2 (and, honestly, Sonic 2006, which structurally is fine even if the execution is an issue).

30. What do you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls?
Motion controls are fine. Outside of shovelware crap that wouldn’t be worth playing motion controls or not, games have progressed enough that motion controls are generally handled well when they’re there. And they are REALLY USEFUL for any kind of aiming. More games should use gyro controls for aiming guns/bows/etc.

VR… eh. I’ve never tried it because I don’t have the money to blow on a headset. I don’t feel like I’m really missing anything by not having access to it, though in the future, I could see it opening up some really cool video game experiences.

31. A genre that you just can’t get into?
First-person shooters. I don’t really like first-person anything (though I make exceptions for a handful of games like SOMA and Outlast), and I’m not big on shooters in general. Also not really into RTS stuff; I prefer turn-based strategy.

32. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness?
...S-Sonic Adventure 2…. again....

33. How are you at Mario Kart?
It depends on which one. My strongest Mario Kart is Mario Kart Wii (also my favorite) because I totally owned when using the Wii steering wheel peripheral. Despite playing more of the games with regular controls, I just don’t play as well with them (and it isn’t the same in MK8D either with Joy-Cons for motion controls). In general, I’m at least passable in Mario Kart, sometimes even good.

34. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon?
“Like” is an understatement. Been playing Animal Crossing ever since the Gamecube one, so obviously I love those. I’ve also been playing Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons since elementary school, though recent ones have been kinda… meh… to me. Last one I truly loved was Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, and that was really mainly because I love Neil so much and he’s the best marriage choice this series will ever have. I wish the games would bring back rival marriage, it honestly sucks that we don’t get that feature anymore because people apparently felt too bad about “stealing” away a character’s love interest? That’s super weird and dumb to me lol. I also think that Rune Factory is better than its parent series at this point.

35. How long does it take to customize your player character?
FOREVER. It’s why I call starting a new household in The Sims a commitment, because I know I’m going to take at least an hour or two to customize my Sims.

36. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character?
Yeah… I like archers, so when that is an option, I choose them. Otherwise, I fall back on some kind of mage.

37. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep?
No, but there have been times where I played something for 4+ hours and not even realized that time had passed. Mainly, this happens when I’m in one of my The Sims moods when nothing but The Sims will satisfy me.

38. What’s your opinion on DLC these days?
Mixed. Some DLC is great to keep giving games more content and being worth it, though I HATE cosmetic DLC like stupid alt costumes and stuff. It just cheapens the whole game to have DLC that feels like mobile microtransactions. I literally just pre-ordered the second Fighter’s Pass for Smash Ultimate an hour before typing this though, so I clearly am not opposed to that kind of DLC lol.

39. Do you give in to Steam sales?
No, because I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve even used Steam lmao. Now, PS Store sales… that’s a different story.

40. Did you ever make someone you hated in The Sims and did mean stuff to them?
Surprisingly, no. That’d require me to put effort into making them, and that’d be more than someone I hate would deserve.

41. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests?
I played several tycoon games, but not actually Roller Coaster Tycoon, oddly enough. In Zoo Tycoon, the only guest deaths were accidental. I’m still horrified about when one guest drowned at some swimming thing in my zoo, and it became a total dead zone of no one going to that section after that.

42. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements?
I’ve got 11 platinum trophies currently on PSN, so yes. Some of those required some tedious tasks, but I love the feeling of unlocking trophies and feeling like I’m working toward some goal. Games I platinum'd are (in order, I feel like I'm forgetting one, though): Final Fantasy XIII-2, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn, Atelier Escha & Logy, World of Final Fantasy, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, Atelier Sophie, Danganronpa 1+2 Reload, Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, L.A. Noire, and Deadly Premonition.

43. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick?
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (I prefer FFTA, but FFTA2 would last more gameplay-wise), Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, and The Sims 3.

44. Do you play any cell phone games?
Fire Emblem Heroes, Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia (the best one, it’s very friendly to F2P players like myself and the gameplay is fun), and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.

45. Do you know the Konami Code?
Yes, but only mainly because of a song in Dance Dance Revolution X that featured it in the lyrics lol. This is despite me being a fan of several Konami series.

46. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever?
Honestly, I’m like a low-level hoarder, so I tend to keep them. I only trade in games I just absolutely hate, and I’m usually pretty good about only getting games I know I’ll like, so trade-ins don’t happen often.

47. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game?
Here I go again… This is kind of the whole reason I even had/have an Xbox 360. I wanted Sonic 2006 sooooo bad that I couldn’t bear to wait, so when I was able to choose a console for my grandma to buy back then, I chose the Xbox 360 over the Wii. Yes, all because of Sonic 2006, of all things. I mean, I got a lot of playtime out of that game, so I can’t say it was a disastrous decision. But once I - years later - got a PS3, that Xbox 360 got shoved in a closet and almost never sees the light of day.

48. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file?
No, but I always was intrigued by them and wanted to try one.

49. In your opinion, best game ever made?
Skies of Arcadia Legends is a masterpiece and a high mark in gaming that will never be reached ever again. Not ever. I wish I could erase my memory of it so that I could then play it again for the first time and fall in love with it all over again.

50. Very first game you ever beat?
Uhhhh, I don’t know, honestly? As far as beat to the credits, it was most likely either Paper Mario or Pokemon Yellow.