Obligatory holiday post.
I'm full of mixed feelings right now and all that sentimental shit. I haven't been spending much time on the interweb at all, because I'm being all introspective and all that jazz. I don't even check my dA every day anymore. It's just a lot of work, watch movies with the parents, sleep. Maybe it's because work is seriously physically draining. It's different from school, which exhausts my brain, work like...tires me out on a different level.
Work is really exhausting, and I'm really reaching the absolute end of my tolerance for my family (my mom gets frustrated too easily, my stepdad is too snarky, and my brother never fucking shuts up, he has to have the same conversation with you six times, or he's always in your bubble, ugh).
Christmas was...a mix. My parents bought me a PS3, new headphones, an alarm clock with wheels, and a sonic screwdriver pen. It's a lot more than I expected, I was pretty happy about it. We all went to see Princess and the Frog together (it was the second time for me), but my brother didn't shut up for half the movie and my parents almost started fighting. (However, I sort of danced around my room by myself with the screwdriver pen, making up cracktacular adventures in my brain RTD would be proud of in my head afterwards, so I did feel okay, at least.)
After work today I bought myself Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Disgaea 3, and Devil May Cry 4 to get my PS3 gaming started. I know I could have easily bought Bioshock or Resident Evil 5 or something, but I've realized that I'm really tired of a lot of mainstream gaming. It's weird. It's like most gaming isn't fun anymore, and that's really depressing for me. So, I tried to choose titles I knew I could have fun with.
Recently, I've found that I have this...weird frustration with other people's opinions on tv shows, movies, and games being pressed upon me, or just constantly mentioned around me. If someone I don't like likes something, I will sort of naturally be inclined to not want to mess around with it, or even have an irrational dislike for it. If someone I like likes something...I might be interested, but if they never fucking shut up about it, I will never want to touch it (which is exactly why I never saw Avatar: The Last Airbender til this past summer. And no, It wasn't bad, but I don't feel like I missed out on anything big. SORRY. :|) But I've found that if many people around me mention that they like something, I'll sort of feel...obligated to try to like it. It's weird. It's like some sort of messed up guilt. ANYWAY, this does have to do with my opinion on games.
When a game is popular, even a game in a genre I don't like, (YEAH FIRST-PERSON SHOOTERS, I'M LOOKING AT YOU) the thing with working at Gamestop is that I always have to hear about how "totally amazing" it is. Or, I get an earful from the stupid trailer tape, going on and on about all the things that make it so great, or tons of customers raving about how great it is, I feel like...that's the standard for a "good game." I might get my hands on a game that lots of people tell me is good, without me knowing anything about the game for myself, and find myself TELLING MYSELF OVER AND OVER in my head, regardless of whether I like it or not that "this is a good game." Therefore, I'll try to convince myself I like games, when actually, I'm not having any fun at all. This happened for a game I tried over Thanksgiving. Tons of people I know raved about how fantastic it was, and I really couldn't make myself like the art, or sympathize with the characters, or give half a crap about the story, but I STILL told myself over and over that it was a good game, until all of a sudden I realized that it was like pulling teeth to make myself play at all, and that I wasn't even having fun.
So, I'm trying to put all of the "telling myself a game is good or bad" thing out of my head. I want a game I'll enjoy playing, not a game that "might possibly have a great story/one cool mechanic/a gimmicky concept other people might like" and pick games that will be fun for me. And yes, I'm enjoying Tools of Destruction so far. I liked the previous Ratchet and Clank games I've played, and part of why I think I liked those so much was I went into them pretty much clean slate. No one told me anything about them, and all I've really heard about them since is tons of hate from Jak and Daxter fans (lighten the fuck up, guys. So what if Ratchet's not the hotcake Jak is? He's still awesome).
Anyway, this series had a couple elements I really like that it shares with the Jak games, Jak II to be the most specific. There are areas that are a lot like linear levels, but the game pretty much lets you go wherever you want and do whatever you want WITHOUT feeling like a sandbox game. You're not penalized for wasting time walking around a level sightseeing, or taking a backwards route to the end of an area, or BREAKING LOTS OF STUFF. You're actually encouraged to go back to old planets you've already visited and wander around, because there's special goodies hidden all over the place if you're willing to look. (Perfect for the kind of player like me who wastes most of their time doing just that. That is why it takes me 30+ hours to beat a 6-hour game.) I also really like the level layouts. The art team seems to have a bad habit of making things just a liiiittle shiny, like it rained recently or something, (I guess they had to put spec maps on EVERYTHING), but the art is really nice and organic, and the stories are simple and self-mocking.
Luckily for me, Tools of Destruction continues in that vein. Like I said before, Ratchet and Clank games are great for players who have short attention spans, and like to wander off around an area in search of something to do, even if it is in the complete opposite direction of their goal for that area. The downside to this is, for me at least, because I spend all this time wandering, I earn tons of money from breaking everything around a million times, and buy the newest guns and upgrades the instant they're available, thus making the actual story part of the game almost insanely easy. Sure, I know that once I finish the story mode I'll be rewarded with a new game plus in which all the baddies are harder, but I'll have max health and super-powered weapons, so that's kind of one-sided.
However, aside from sickeningly fun-and-perhaps-a-bit-too-easy gameplay, what makes me admire this game is the fun cast and how it never seems to take itself seriously. I've only just started the game, and so far I've already encountered grumpy old men robots, singing robot pirates, a snakelike Aussie dude who makes me think he's the evil version of the Sniper from Team Fortress 2, Captain Quark, who is basically a giant idiot in spandex, and one big LOLSUPERHEROES...thing, a whiny "dictator" who looks like a weird bug with a giant hat, and some chick who actually I don't really like at all because she's got a boring-ass design.
However, I will never stop being amused by how Captain Quark outlines his plans with crayon and paper dolls.
As for gameplay on the PS3 as as system, I'm going to start by going WHOA, it is CLEAR. This is not to be confused with MINDBLOWINGLY GORGEOUS, but it's still a good thing. We picked up some cheap HDMI cables, so the resolution is set to 1080 on my stepdad's TV, and the picture is really sharp. Now that we're over the obligatory OMG GRAPHIKZ portion, I'm happy with the Dualshock 3. Sony was smart to stick with an if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it policy on their controllers, because it was a natural transition for a PS1 and PS2 junkie like me. The tilting and turning for the motion controls is kind of like the Wii, I don't really know how I feel about it. I've only played Ratchet and Clank so far, and in some areas it's nice and adds to the fun, in others it feels...gimmicky.
SO YEAH.
Oh, and unrelated to all that, have a meme that shows how much I sorta improved over the past year.
OH, AND MY REACTION TO END OF TIME, P1: ...WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?
Work is really exhausting, and I'm really reaching the absolute end of my tolerance for my family (my mom gets frustrated too easily, my stepdad is too snarky, and my brother never fucking shuts up, he has to have the same conversation with you six times, or he's always in your bubble, ugh).
Christmas was...a mix. My parents bought me a PS3, new headphones, an alarm clock with wheels, and a sonic screwdriver pen. It's a lot more than I expected, I was pretty happy about it. We all went to see Princess and the Frog together (it was the second time for me), but my brother didn't shut up for half the movie and my parents almost started fighting. (However, I sort of danced around my room by myself with the screwdriver pen, making up cracktacular adventures in my brain RTD would be proud of in my head afterwards, so I did feel okay, at least.)
After work today I bought myself Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Disgaea 3, and Devil May Cry 4 to get my PS3 gaming started. I know I could have easily bought Bioshock or Resident Evil 5 or something, but I've realized that I'm really tired of a lot of mainstream gaming. It's weird. It's like most gaming isn't fun anymore, and that's really depressing for me. So, I tried to choose titles I knew I could have fun with.
Recently, I've found that I have this...weird frustration with other people's opinions on tv shows, movies, and games being pressed upon me, or just constantly mentioned around me. If someone I don't like likes something, I will sort of naturally be inclined to not want to mess around with it, or even have an irrational dislike for it. If someone I like likes something...I might be interested, but if they never fucking shut up about it, I will never want to touch it (which is exactly why I never saw Avatar: The Last Airbender til this past summer. And no, It wasn't bad, but I don't feel like I missed out on anything big. SORRY. :|) But I've found that if many people around me mention that they like something, I'll sort of feel...obligated to try to like it. It's weird. It's like some sort of messed up guilt. ANYWAY, this does have to do with my opinion on games.
When a game is popular, even a game in a genre I don't like, (YEAH FIRST-PERSON SHOOTERS, I'M LOOKING AT YOU) the thing with working at Gamestop is that I always have to hear about how "totally amazing" it is. Or, I get an earful from the stupid trailer tape, going on and on about all the things that make it so great, or tons of customers raving about how great it is, I feel like...that's the standard for a "good game." I might get my hands on a game that lots of people tell me is good, without me knowing anything about the game for myself, and find myself TELLING MYSELF OVER AND OVER in my head, regardless of whether I like it or not that "this is a good game." Therefore, I'll try to convince myself I like games, when actually, I'm not having any fun at all. This happened for a game I tried over Thanksgiving. Tons of people I know raved about how fantastic it was, and I really couldn't make myself like the art, or sympathize with the characters, or give half a crap about the story, but I STILL told myself over and over that it was a good game, until all of a sudden I realized that it was like pulling teeth to make myself play at all, and that I wasn't even having fun.
So, I'm trying to put all of the "telling myself a game is good or bad" thing out of my head. I want a game I'll enjoy playing, not a game that "might possibly have a great story/one cool mechanic/a gimmicky concept other people might like" and pick games that will be fun for me. And yes, I'm enjoying Tools of Destruction so far. I liked the previous Ratchet and Clank games I've played, and part of why I think I liked those so much was I went into them pretty much clean slate. No one told me anything about them, and all I've really heard about them since is tons of hate from Jak and Daxter fans (lighten the fuck up, guys. So what if Ratchet's not the hotcake Jak is? He's still awesome).
Anyway, this series had a couple elements I really like that it shares with the Jak games, Jak II to be the most specific. There are areas that are a lot like linear levels, but the game pretty much lets you go wherever you want and do whatever you want WITHOUT feeling like a sandbox game. You're not penalized for wasting time walking around a level sightseeing, or taking a backwards route to the end of an area, or BREAKING LOTS OF STUFF. You're actually encouraged to go back to old planets you've already visited and wander around, because there's special goodies hidden all over the place if you're willing to look. (Perfect for the kind of player like me who wastes most of their time doing just that. That is why it takes me 30+ hours to beat a 6-hour game.) I also really like the level layouts. The art team seems to have a bad habit of making things just a liiiittle shiny, like it rained recently or something, (I guess they had to put spec maps on EVERYTHING), but the art is really nice and organic, and the stories are simple and self-mocking.
Luckily for me, Tools of Destruction continues in that vein. Like I said before, Ratchet and Clank games are great for players who have short attention spans, and like to wander off around an area in search of something to do, even if it is in the complete opposite direction of their goal for that area. The downside to this is, for me at least, because I spend all this time wandering, I earn tons of money from breaking everything around a million times, and buy the newest guns and upgrades the instant they're available, thus making the actual story part of the game almost insanely easy. Sure, I know that once I finish the story mode I'll be rewarded with a new game plus in which all the baddies are harder, but I'll have max health and super-powered weapons, so that's kind of one-sided.
However, aside from sickeningly fun-and-perhaps-a-bit-too-easy gameplay, what makes me admire this game is the fun cast and how it never seems to take itself seriously. I've only just started the game, and so far I've already encountered grumpy old men robots, singing robot pirates, a snakelike Aussie dude who makes me think he's the evil version of the Sniper from Team Fortress 2, Captain Quark, who is basically a giant idiot in spandex, and one big LOLSUPERHEROES...thing, a whiny "dictator" who looks like a weird bug with a giant hat, and some chick who actually I don't really like at all because she's got a boring-ass design.
However, I will never stop being amused by how Captain Quark outlines his plans with crayon and paper dolls.
As for gameplay on the PS3 as as system, I'm going to start by going WHOA, it is CLEAR. This is not to be confused with MINDBLOWINGLY GORGEOUS, but it's still a good thing. We picked up some cheap HDMI cables, so the resolution is set to 1080 on my stepdad's TV, and the picture is really sharp. Now that we're over the obligatory OMG GRAPHIKZ portion, I'm happy with the Dualshock 3. Sony was smart to stick with an if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it policy on their controllers, because it was a natural transition for a PS1 and PS2 junkie like me. The tilting and turning for the motion controls is kind of like the Wii, I don't really know how I feel about it. I've only played Ratchet and Clank so far, and in some areas it's nice and adds to the fun, in others it feels...gimmicky.
SO YEAH.
Oh, and unrelated to all that, have a meme that shows how much I sorta improved over the past year.
OH, AND MY REACTION TO END OF TIME, P1: ...WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?