20 Questions about Video Games
I don't even knooowwww I'm so out of it today. Have a meme that has nothing to do with life, and has everything to do with video games.
1 - your favorite games
In no particular order...
2 - favorite male characters
Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4
Kanji was a staple in my party even though he's supposedly not very good. I never noticed. His personality is hard not to like, especially if you persue his social links.
Professor Hershel Layton from the Professor Layton series
Because ladies love the puzzle-solving geniuses. Layton is a pimp.
Kyle Hyde from Hotel Dusk Room 215
Kyle Hyde is all my favorite kinds of characters. He's a cinical, but he's also thoughtful. He'd like you to think he's a total ass, but he spends the entire game helping people out. He's pretty sharp witted and sharp tongued, I like that.
3 - favorite female characters
Lady Bow from Paper Mario
I always thought she was the most compelling of the partners from Paper Mario. Mostly because it's a little unclear just who she is. I think she's supposed to be queen of the boos? Or at least some kind of royalty. And yet she doesn't mind getting her hands (?) dirty to help her people.
Lynne from Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
I don't know why I like this character, I think I was just enamored with her because of her design and the way the game is played. It's hard to describe, but I really like her.
Chie Satonaka from Persona 4
Chie is the one I persued a romantic relationship with in my playthrough of Persona. I like her because it's established pretty early on in the game that she is not as nice as everyone thinks she is. She's pretty selfish and petty, but she's working through it. I like that the game was really honest about that, since girls can be like that in real life.
And Naoto gets their own special category
Naoto Shirugane from Persona 4
I could have put him under the boys I guess. It's hard to clasify Naoto because how you play the game determines if they decide to identify as a man or a woman. I personally would have prefered if he had decided to stay as a man, but I guess the majority of the fandom sees them as a woman. That's cool, I still like him/her either way.
4 - a game series you've stuck with for a long time
Legend of Zelda. Been playing these since I was old enough to hold a controller! I really like the series and have played almost all the games, but none of them have really jumped out as a game that had to be one that was my favorite. I enjoy them, but I don't adore them (as much as I did when I was a kid anyway!)
5 - your favorite story in a game
It's probably a tie between Persona 4's story (dealing with the themes of adolescence and truth), Silent Hill 2's story (dealing with the themes of loss and guilt), and Hotel Dusk 215, (dealing also with the themes of loss and guilt, as well as lonliness)
6 - your favorite soundtrack in a game
Silent Hill 2 and Paper Mario. I own both of them and listen to them constantly.
7 - your favorite genre of game
I seem to really like puzzle games as of late. I think it's because I don't have as much time to play lengthy titles. I've been really fond of RPGs for awhile but I'm starting to grow out of them (Persona 4 being a delightful exception)
8 - a history of your consoles
I had an NES, an N64, Game Cube, PS2, Wii, and Xbox360. Also a Gameboy, Gameboy color, GameboySP, and a DSlite.
9 - least favorite characters
Joshua from The World Ends with You
I really don't know what it is about this guy I hate. Maybe it's because I'm supposed to think he's Jesus, and that bugs me. All I know is every single thing he does in this game pisses me off, and yet I'm supposed to like him. I even hate his design. He's an ugly smudge on an otherwise excellent game =/
The Riddler from Batman: Arkham Asylum
Okay I know why I hate this guy. He's basically the patron saint of achievements, and I hate achievements. Sometimes I would accidentally find something that matched one of his challenges, and it would just PISS ME OFF because he'd come over my comm and laugh at me. STOP IT DUDE I DON'T EVEN CARE AAAGGGH.
Collette from Tales of Symphonia
I always thought it was funny that this was a game with a giant cast of characters, and the least interesting one was the female lead. Also if you leave her on standard AI she wastes all your items and spams really annoying attacks that are totally useless because she is shit. The best part of the game is when she loses the ability to talk.
10 - games that disappointed you
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
I should have never bought this game. But I thought after the first two (which are excellent and some of the best games on the GBA in my opinion) this studio had proven it had it's shit together and would be able to make lightning strike a third time. BOY WAS I WRONG. It's so bad. It makes me sad how bad it is =/ Though I should have known, the marketing plan was to sell it like it was a monster collecting game instead of an epic JRPG.
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Sometimes I think I just imagined this game and it didn't actually exist.
Final Fantasy XII
A lot of people really like this game. I am not one of those people. I tried to play it on five seperate occasions, and couldn't even get out of the first level. I just hated everything about it, and it turned me off of Final Fantasy forever. It was really upsetting to, because this is supposed to be a great game, and I can't get past the first two areas.
Kingdom Hearts 2
It's cute how this game doesn't even try to make sense.
11 - games that it felt satisfying to beat
Persona 3 and 4, just because of their sheer length, had this amazing feeling of accomplishment attached to them when I had finally finished. Persona 4 had the added bonus of making me get really emotional as well.
Metroid Fusion was another one. I could never beat it as a kid, and I thought it was just because I sucked at games. Then about a year ago I picked it up again and started from the beginning. Ziggy told me that it wasn't just me, the last two fights are FUCKING HARD MODE. So I worked really hard, and spent like 4 hours alone just trying to beat the final bosses. When I finally did, I felt like a total boss.
As a kid, both Golden Sun games, Paper Mario, and Ocarina of Time were both really awesome when I beat those as well. At the time I had a hard time finishing games. To beat those felt like a real accomplishment.
12 - games you never finished but wished you had
Metroid Prime. I got all the way to the final boss, but it was just too hard. A pity, because I really like that game. I wanted to see it through to the end, but I just suck so bad at it.
13 - favorite villains
Andrew Ryan from Bioshock
I was kind of indifferent about this guy until the end of the game. He's creepy and omnipresent in the game, but you don't actually see him until the end. But the twist at the end of this game made him really freaky to me.
General Guy from Paper Mario
I just love this dude. His whole level and concept is just amazingly hilarious.
Nyx from Persona 3
I don't like Persona 3 as much as I do 4, but MAN, it's final boss is really amazing. I felt pretty helpless against Nyx, who is basically death incarnate. It felt like there was no way I could win, and even if I did win it would only be temporary.
14 - something you wish games did more of
Twists. And not twist endings that come out of nowhere. A good portion of the games on my list have twist endings, or at least really big twists partway through (Persona 4, Okami, Tales of Symphonia, Hotel Dusk, Golden Sun, Bioshock, Silent Hill 2, Portal, Ghost Trick, The World Ends With You). Ghost Trick in particular has this really amazing twist at the end that I totally didn't expect, but when I went back and looked at the game I saw clues for it all over the place. That's really cool when the story is set up to give you this blow you weren't expecting, but actually had been coming for a long time.
I also really like character development and story built into the gameplay. The social links in Persona 4 were a good example of this, where you get character information and development happening in a way that supports the game play and is somewhat interactive, not just shoehorned into a cutscene. Portal as well, where there are basically no cut scenes, just story told through play.
15 - something you wish games did less of
Really tired of moral choice systems. Or at least I'm tired of them as they are currently done. When you're given two options, and one is obviously evil and one is obviously good, or worse you get a clear outline of what you get from choosing either choice, you take all the drama or morality out of a moral choice =/
Also really tired of tiny text in games, but that's just because I have a very small TV.
16 - single player or multiplayer?
I pretty much only play single player games these days. I like to play some cooperative games with Dan and Ziggy (Scott Pilgrim VS the World: The Game and Super Mario Bros Wii being ones we play a lot), but I don't actually like playing with other friends because our skill levels are really different in the respective games we like to play (only one person is good at fighting games, only one person is good at shooters, only one person is good at racing games ect).
17 - your views on online gaming
I think it needs to clean up it's act before I do much more online gaming. The idea is great, but I don't really like the kinds of people you usually encounter on Xbox Live. There are too many sexist, homophobic, racist pigs with inferiority complexes shouting into their headsets for me to ever have a good time.
That all being said, though, closed online gaming with good friends is wonderful :)
18 - art direction you enjoyed
Scott Pilgrim VS the World: the Game
For a game that only costs like $9 I am amazed how detailed the levels in this game are. Not to mention the awesome character models, that look like they've been ripped right from the comics. The people who worked on this must have really loved the source material, because every inch of this game is amazing to look at (and so much fun to play!
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
It's hard to describe the aesthetic of this game. Especially from the screen shots. Everything in this game is just... interesting to look at. The character portraits are all very detailed and imaginative, and the models in the background move really fluidly despite their proportions (they're pretty much all legs). Everything looks really natural despite the art style being decidedly not.
Okami
We all agree the world is better because this game exists, right?
Hotel Dusk Room 215
Love the watercolor and pencil look of all the character designs. Plus, every character looks really unique and lifelike in the weird sketchy style this game has. Looks like the whole thing was drawn in a notebook.
19 - favorite games from your childhood
Super Mario Bros. 3 was a game my dad and I used to play together. It's still one of my favorites, but it was my favorite then too.
I was really into Kirby's Dream Land on the gameboy. It was one of the first games I ever bought.
20 - games you think everyone should play
Persona 4 (but I'm biased)
Bioshock
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Okami
1 - your favorite games
In no particular order...
2 - favorite male characters
Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4
Kanji was a staple in my party even though he's supposedly not very good. I never noticed. His personality is hard not to like, especially if you persue his social links.
Professor Hershel Layton from the Professor Layton series
Because ladies love the puzzle-solving geniuses. Layton is a pimp.
Kyle Hyde from Hotel Dusk Room 215
Kyle Hyde is all my favorite kinds of characters. He's a cinical, but he's also thoughtful. He'd like you to think he's a total ass, but he spends the entire game helping people out. He's pretty sharp witted and sharp tongued, I like that.
3 - favorite female characters
Lady Bow from Paper Mario
I always thought she was the most compelling of the partners from Paper Mario. Mostly because it's a little unclear just who she is. I think she's supposed to be queen of the boos? Or at least some kind of royalty. And yet she doesn't mind getting her hands (?) dirty to help her people.
Lynne from Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
I don't know why I like this character, I think I was just enamored with her because of her design and the way the game is played. It's hard to describe, but I really like her.
Chie Satonaka from Persona 4
Chie is the one I persued a romantic relationship with in my playthrough of Persona. I like her because it's established pretty early on in the game that she is not as nice as everyone thinks she is. She's pretty selfish and petty, but she's working through it. I like that the game was really honest about that, since girls can be like that in real life.
And Naoto gets their own special category
Naoto Shirugane from Persona 4
I could have put him under the boys I guess. It's hard to clasify Naoto because how you play the game determines if they decide to identify as a man or a woman. I personally would have prefered if he had decided to stay as a man, but I guess the majority of the fandom sees them as a woman. That's cool, I still like him/her either way.
4 - a game series you've stuck with for a long time
Legend of Zelda. Been playing these since I was old enough to hold a controller! I really like the series and have played almost all the games, but none of them have really jumped out as a game that had to be one that was my favorite. I enjoy them, but I don't adore them (as much as I did when I was a kid anyway!)
5 - your favorite story in a game
It's probably a tie between Persona 4's story (dealing with the themes of adolescence and truth), Silent Hill 2's story (dealing with the themes of loss and guilt), and Hotel Dusk 215, (dealing also with the themes of loss and guilt, as well as lonliness)
6 - your favorite soundtrack in a game
Silent Hill 2 and Paper Mario. I own both of them and listen to them constantly.
7 - your favorite genre of game
I seem to really like puzzle games as of late. I think it's because I don't have as much time to play lengthy titles. I've been really fond of RPGs for awhile but I'm starting to grow out of them (Persona 4 being a delightful exception)
8 - a history of your consoles
I had an NES, an N64, Game Cube, PS2, Wii, and Xbox360. Also a Gameboy, Gameboy color, GameboySP, and a DSlite.
9 - least favorite characters
Joshua from The World Ends with You
I really don't know what it is about this guy I hate. Maybe it's because I'm supposed to think he's Jesus, and that bugs me. All I know is every single thing he does in this game pisses me off, and yet I'm supposed to like him. I even hate his design. He's an ugly smudge on an otherwise excellent game =/
The Riddler from Batman: Arkham Asylum
Okay I know why I hate this guy. He's basically the patron saint of achievements, and I hate achievements. Sometimes I would accidentally find something that matched one of his challenges, and it would just PISS ME OFF because he'd come over my comm and laugh at me. STOP IT DUDE I DON'T EVEN CARE AAAGGGH.
Collette from Tales of Symphonia
I always thought it was funny that this was a game with a giant cast of characters, and the least interesting one was the female lead. Also if you leave her on standard AI she wastes all your items and spams really annoying attacks that are totally useless because she is shit. The best part of the game is when she loses the ability to talk.
10 - games that disappointed you
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
I should have never bought this game. But I thought after the first two (which are excellent and some of the best games on the GBA in my opinion) this studio had proven it had it's shit together and would be able to make lightning strike a third time. BOY WAS I WRONG. It's so bad. It makes me sad how bad it is =/ Though I should have known, the marketing plan was to sell it like it was a monster collecting game instead of an epic JRPG.
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Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Sometimes I think I just imagined this game and it didn't actually exist.
Final Fantasy XII
A lot of people really like this game. I am not one of those people. I tried to play it on five seperate occasions, and couldn't even get out of the first level. I just hated everything about it, and it turned me off of Final Fantasy forever. It was really upsetting to, because this is supposed to be a great game, and I can't get past the first two areas.
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Kingdom Hearts 2
It's cute how this game doesn't even try to make sense.
11 - games that it felt satisfying to beat
Persona 3 and 4, just because of their sheer length, had this amazing feeling of accomplishment attached to them when I had finally finished. Persona 4 had the added bonus of making me get really emotional as well.
Metroid Fusion was another one. I could never beat it as a kid, and I thought it was just because I sucked at games. Then about a year ago I picked it up again and started from the beginning. Ziggy told me that it wasn't just me, the last two fights are FUCKING HARD MODE. So I worked really hard, and spent like 4 hours alone just trying to beat the final bosses. When I finally did, I felt like a total boss.
As a kid, both Golden Sun games, Paper Mario, and Ocarina of Time were both really awesome when I beat those as well. At the time I had a hard time finishing games. To beat those felt like a real accomplishment.
12 - games you never finished but wished you had
Metroid Prime. I got all the way to the final boss, but it was just too hard. A pity, because I really like that game. I wanted to see it through to the end, but I just suck so bad at it.
13 - favorite villains
Andrew Ryan from Bioshock
I was kind of indifferent about this guy until the end of the game. He's creepy and omnipresent in the game, but you don't actually see him until the end. But the twist at the end of this game made him really freaky to me.
General Guy from Paper Mario
I just love this dude. His whole level and concept is just amazingly hilarious.
Nyx from Persona 3
I don't like Persona 3 as much as I do 4, but MAN, it's final boss is really amazing. I felt pretty helpless against Nyx, who is basically death incarnate. It felt like there was no way I could win, and even if I did win it would only be temporary.
14 - something you wish games did more of
Twists. And not twist endings that come out of nowhere. A good portion of the games on my list have twist endings, or at least really big twists partway through (Persona 4, Okami, Tales of Symphonia, Hotel Dusk, Golden Sun, Bioshock, Silent Hill 2, Portal, Ghost Trick, The World Ends With You). Ghost Trick in particular has this really amazing twist at the end that I totally didn't expect, but when I went back and looked at the game I saw clues for it all over the place. That's really cool when the story is set up to give you this blow you weren't expecting, but actually had been coming for a long time.
I also really like character development and story built into the gameplay. The social links in Persona 4 were a good example of this, where you get character information and development happening in a way that supports the game play and is somewhat interactive, not just shoehorned into a cutscene. Portal as well, where there are basically no cut scenes, just story told through play.
15 - something you wish games did less of
Really tired of moral choice systems. Or at least I'm tired of them as they are currently done. When you're given two options, and one is obviously evil and one is obviously good, or worse you get a clear outline of what you get from choosing either choice, you take all the drama or morality out of a moral choice =/
Also really tired of tiny text in games, but that's just because I have a very small TV.
16 - single player or multiplayer?
I pretty much only play single player games these days. I like to play some cooperative games with Dan and Ziggy (Scott Pilgrim VS the World: The Game and Super Mario Bros Wii being ones we play a lot), but I don't actually like playing with other friends because our skill levels are really different in the respective games we like to play (only one person is good at fighting games, only one person is good at shooters, only one person is good at racing games ect).
17 - your views on online gaming
I think it needs to clean up it's act before I do much more online gaming. The idea is great, but I don't really like the kinds of people you usually encounter on Xbox Live. There are too many sexist, homophobic, racist pigs with inferiority complexes shouting into their headsets for me to ever have a good time.
That all being said, though, closed online gaming with good friends is wonderful :)
18 - art direction you enjoyed
Scott Pilgrim VS the World: the Game
For a game that only costs like $9 I am amazed how detailed the levels in this game are. Not to mention the awesome character models, that look like they've been ripped right from the comics. The people who worked on this must have really loved the source material, because every inch of this game is amazing to look at (and so much fun to play!
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
It's hard to describe the aesthetic of this game. Especially from the screen shots. Everything in this game is just... interesting to look at. The character portraits are all very detailed and imaginative, and the models in the background move really fluidly despite their proportions (they're pretty much all legs). Everything looks really natural despite the art style being decidedly not.
Okami
We all agree the world is better because this game exists, right?
Hotel Dusk Room 215
Love the watercolor and pencil look of all the character designs. Plus, every character looks really unique and lifelike in the weird sketchy style this game has. Looks like the whole thing was drawn in a notebook.
19 - favorite games from your childhood
Super Mario Bros. 3 was a game my dad and I used to play together. It's still one of my favorites, but it was my favorite then too.
I was really into Kirby's Dream Land on the gameboy. It was one of the first games I ever bought.
20 - games you think everyone should play
Persona 4 (but I'm biased)
Bioshock
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Okami