10.29.07

Three Ribbons

Posted in Anime, Gaming, Rants at 4:10 am

In case you didn’t see below, I managed to complete my little Poketoberfest project successfully. I’m still rooting for RJ, who I believe is still participating, but for now I’m just glad I finished. But, throughout all of the chaos that I put myself through, I realized one thing: too much of a good thing doesn’t change the fact that it’s still “too much”.

Yesterday morning in the shower, I took a look back at the games I’d cleared to that point, and the games I was looking to clear. I was starting to get a little burned out on Pokemon, but I knew that I was not only close to the end of the month, but close tot he end of the game– too close to quit. But, I did think at just what finishing would actually signify. Whereas previously I’d cleared three Pokemon games over the course of six years, I have cleared three Pokemon games over the course of just over five months. I spent a grand total of about a week straight playing a handheld game of one sort or another. (And that’s just for the initial run-throughs– my current Diamond clock reads on the order of 110 hours, but ten of those are bogus due to a level-grinding trick I did just to see how feasible it was.) That’s a mind-boggling amount of time for me to consider, but when you really get down to it, it’s not that bad. After all, you spend just shy of two full days of each week at work!

I don’t consider it wasted time at all. Believe it or not, even though at its core it’s tedious level-grinding, it’s like potato chips or meat loaf. It’s comfort gaming. You’ve done it before, when the next version comes out you’re as likely to do it again, and you enjoy every moment of it because it’s familiar and pleasant. I never once had to worry that I was being outdone, or that I was hopelessly outmatched by an opponent. My only real rival was myself, and my self-imposed deadline. In some ways, the pressure of that deadline was far more relaxing than just being able to put it aside whenever I felt like it. Yeah, it sounds perverse, but pressure is a big motivator for me.

So, have I caught ‘em all? Far from it. Am I going to wrap up the Sapphire side-quests (specifically, the Regis and Lati)? Hah, not until December at the earliest. Am I glad that I can finally move on and start some shorter games? You betcha. While I probably won’t be starting anything else up tonight, Touch Detective 2 1/2 has been calling me since I picked it up a couple weeks ago, and I have been known to occasionally cool off over the past week with Every Extend Extra. Which reminds me, I ought to get a review of that written up… eventually.

Oh, and with regards to School Rumble. This is the most freaking hilarious show I’ve seen in months. This is what I’d kinda hoped Strawberry Marshmallow or Lucky Star would be… randomness with a plot. A plot, damn you! Not just “randomness with no real/interesting plot”, not just “hey look at the moe and don’t think too hard”, but “hey cool we’ve got a setup and now we can has teh cute”. I’m actually wondering what leads up to that Bailout clip I showed you all the other day… ah well. Just a few more discs to go.

Also, you might notice the lambda symbol up there in the Gamercard. Yeah, I decided to rent Portal. Only problem was that it comes with two other really crappy games on the disc. Couldn’t find any other way to get it for a reasonable price, so there you go. I’m really digging it, and if it weren’t for the godawful delivery system (seriously, it’s good, but it’s not “$20 and you have to use Steam” good) I’d recommend it to everyone. As it stands, I’d suggest everyone put it on their “must rent” lists.

EDIT: Relax, I’m not liveblogging anything. Just wanted to say that if you happen to be a fan of Parasite Eve, first, why do you exist?!; and second, there is actually a third installment in that now-not-really-failed series coming (you guessed it) to Japanese mobile phones. You can set up your Folding Chairs of Misery over there next to the ones for Mega Man Legends fans; we have punch and cake. (But the cake is… no, no. I won’t make that gag. Yet.)

Catch you all tomorrow.

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