12.30.07
Achievement Unlocked: Hikikomori (20G)
(Xbox Live is still acting funny with regards to the gamercard up there. I’m still upset. Nothing new about either of these.)
I recently raised the point that I’m a huge game and anime/movie junkie to Rick, adding that I was about two steps from becoming a full-blown hikikomori. (This in and of itself was a nerd-joke; John McClane has something similar said about him in Die Hard With a Vengeance.) Rick responded that I do too much stuff to really be considered among the total shut-ins, but given my general social calendar, I’m damn close.
Not that I plan on changing this. Meh. Too much effort.
To turn this to the semi-serious side, though, I do have quite a bit of a gaming and anime backlog, as I’ve said many times before. Clearing out half of the Reclamation List did that nicely, so I’m likely to be in good shape for entertainment for quite some time. What this means in terms of a resolution is that I’m planning on twenty-five Game Clear notices in 2008, with five of those hopefully in the first quarter.
I’ve not prioritized my gaming very well. I have dozens of open games, the big one being Super Robot Taisen, but other notable ones being Brave Story, Twilight Princess, and Dead Rising. Still, I’ve found myself getting into a few other titles on the side which have engaged my attention at just the right time to derail an active run. So, I’m going to set out an order right now. By the time you read this, I’ll (probably) have started a run at Eternal Sonata, which is what I hope will be the first major Game Clear for 2008. (I might be wrapping up Lego Star Wars if I haven’t started ES yet; rest assured that if it’s not active when I post this, it will be started by the end of today.) I might get a minor Clear with Touch Detective or a Phoenix Wright game (I’m backed up by two on that series– please don’t hurt me, lawyer fans). After Eternal Sonata, I’m going to jump back into Valkyrie Profile with the intent of finishing it at long last.
Downtime is something I’ve also been exceptionally poor at managing. Some nights I just don’t feel like playing a game or writing, and I wind up wasting the majority of the night surfing or doing something inane when I could be watching an anime or TV series. There’s a bit to deal with there, but the point is that I’m going to make a better effort at having some ‘passive’ entertainment at the ready when I’m feeling blah. Given how I’m going to manage the ‘08 Reclamation List, I should be able to work through this at a faster pace than I have before– no more marathonning series unless I really can’t wait to see the next bits.
That does bring us to the Reclamation List. Last year I decided to hold off on buying titles at the beginning of the year based on Rick’s “moratorium” idea, and I definitely want to give it another stab. The trick of it is, though, that GameFly has been unusually good to me, and I’ve not rented a game ‘to death’ (as in to completion). After the Achievement Race ends on the 19th, though, the plan is to treat GameFly games as half-purchases: I can send it back if I think it sucks, but if I feel like playing it more than about five hours or so, it stays until completed.
Now, that does nothing for the actual purchases. Since I’ve been looking forward to Brawl since, well, the Wii was announced, that one is a guaranteed purchase. Professor Layton is also a series I want to show support for, so that’s also an allowed exception unless I have fewer than two Game Clears by February 10th (if I only have one, Layton waits). And, since I’ve proven myself completely incapable of preventing myself from purchasing games, for each Game Clear I rack up from January 1st to March 31st, I will pick up one GameCube game from the Reclamation List; if I reclaim all GameCube games, I can continue with some of the more common PS2 games. (The reason for this restriction is because the ‘Cube shelf is woefully underfilled.) After April 1st, the ban will be either relaxed or broken depending on how many Clears I’ve racked up.
Finally, reclaiming anime and movies work on slightly different rules. I have four unwatched series right now (Ai Yori Aoshi, Air, Sailor Moon, and Strawberry Marshmallow), a live-action series untouched (Veronica Mars S2), and a handful of rewatches cued up (Ah! My Goddess TVS1, Love Hina, Firefly/Serenity, the Matrix films, and Lord of the Rings Extended Editions). I won’t reclaim any DVDs from the List until two of the five unwatched sets are complete. Once that’s done, I can reclaim one series, but after that I can’t reclaim anything until I’ve collected the remainder of School Rumble and finished two more of the five unwatched. At that point, I get another reclamation before I finish up the other two unwatched (School Rumble being added to the initial five).
Yeah. It’s complicated, but I think I can stick to it this year. All I have to do is get through to April and then I can revise as needed. Tomorrow– New Year’s Eve– I’ll talk a little bit about how TFO.net itself will be changing in 2008.
Josh "Ramen" Miller said,
12.30.07 at 11:48 am
I did that hikikomori style thing between high school and going to the University I attended for a couple of years. Basically I knew I was going to be moving away in a couple of years so I didn’t bother making any real social contacts or attachments. I guess it’s not quite the same thing.
Anyway, I jut wanted to let you know I’m ripping off your games playing/completed style posts in 2008. I’m keeping a running list somewhere as well, likely in the Lameawiki since I can update it from abroad.