Gamer Confessions: Inspired by A Geeky Gal’s Confessions

I found this tag over at A Geek Girl’s Guide and thought it be a great post to feature on my blog! (And I’m writing waaayyy too many long posts this week that just aren’t ready yet so have a cool tagged post for now!) I encourage all of my blogger friends to participate and […]

via Gamer Confessions Tag — A Geeky Gal

A Geeky Gal  recently did a post on Gamer Confessions and I decided to do my own as well. Check out her article for her Gamer Confessions!

A game everyone loves that you can’t stand

I am not a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series. I just never got into the games because I did not like the characters that you played.

A game that you love, but no one else seems to

For this one, I am going to go with a game that I had as a kid that is not well known. The game is called Ghost Master. You play as a “ghost master” who controls ghosts and you scare people. It is a fun game that I had as a kid and was able to play it again once I started using Steam. I recommend getting the game on Steam and giving it a try. It is a lot of fun!

An older game you haven’t finished, and probably never will

An older game that I have not finished was Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue on the PC. I had the game when I was very little, but somehow lost it as a kid. I was able to get the game again on the Vita, but the game is super tricky with the platforming so it will be tough to finish.

A guilty pleasure game

I just recently bought Just Dance 2018 which is a lot of fun. I have it on the Switch which makes it fun because the Joy-Con rumbles in your hand so you know the beat of the music. It is a fun game and it gives me an excuse to dance which I love doing despite having no idea how to actually dance.

A game you really love but haven’t played in a long time

There’s quite a few of these because I have new games to play. I think one that I have not played in a long time is Borderlands 2 which I have for the PC.  I love the wacky humor and comic book style.

A game you never play seriously but others do

In general, I do not play games seriously. I do not play games on hard, I always play on easy. An example would be the extra bosses in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX. I tried to do a couple of them, but I cannot beat all of them. I am never going to beat Sephiroth. He moves too fast.

A game you completed but hated it by the end

I have not had this problem. I am easy to please when it comes to games and I tend to stick with games I know I will enjoy. If there was a game I truly did not like, I would probably not finish it.

A game you thought you’d enjoy, but didn’t

Alien: Isolation on the PC. I thought I would enjoy it because at the time I liked horror games. I did manage to beat the game, but it was just too scary for me.

A game you didn’t think was for you, and then loved

The Yakuza series on the PS4. I did not think I would enjoy the game series. But, I love the humor and the emphasis on family. Plus Majima is such a funny character and Kiryu is so serious. I played Yakuza 0, then got Yakuza Kiwami, and finished Yakuza 6.

A game you are still excited for that hasn’t come out yet

Kingdom Hearts 3! I cannot wait to play it!

 

 

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The Last Guardian and Trico

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(Doesn’t look like Trico, but the puppy is still just as adorable as Trico! Besides Trico’s face kinda resembles a dog!)

The Last Guardian was the first game I got for my PlayStation 4 along with Final Fantasy XV. I got it because I wanted to learn more about Trico. I have always wanted a pet so having a pet on my PS4 was amazing!

Intro

Trico and I did not get off to a good start. Trico was wounded and hungry so he freaked whenever I went near him. I fed him and he eventually trusted me. I was able to remove the arrows from him and remove his chain that was tying him down.

Once Trico was free, he would respond to his name. I also spend a few minutes petting his head because that was his favorite spot. I felt bad that poor Trico was left abandoned and hungry so I wanted to make sure that he got lots of love and food from me. I tried to find every food barrel in the game to make him happy.

Trico and I started to trust each other more. I had to rely on him to solve puzzles in the game and he relied on me to give him food and pets. Trico especially loves having his head petted and I love spoiling him so we quickly became close.

Trico and Bonding

Trico and I are actually very alike. He was prone to panicking and I have anxiety. I began to pick up on what would make him panic and what would calm him down, just as I have picked up on what makes me panic and what calms me down.

Trico would panic when enemies would attack me or attack him. He would fly into a rage and take down the enemies. But, he would freak out for a few minutes afterwards until he received lots of pets and I removed the arrows from his body. Apparently if you wait he can calm himself down, but there was no way I was going to leave Trico alone while he was panicking. Besides, Trico does not like being left alone. If I went into a small hole, he would stick his head in the hole and paw for me and whine. I would feel so bad but I needed to do the puzzle so I had to leave him.

Because I gave Trico so many pets and we became close, training him was not too hard. You train Trico to do commands to help with puzzles. But, Trico is a wild animal. So he may not listen or he might do his own thing instead. I found that because I bonded with him early on he would listen to me and be more eager to help me out.

Trico and Friends

My friend that I mentioned in my first blog post came over my house so we could cook dinner, make our strawberry cake, and play games. I wanted him to play this game while he was at my house because I wanted him to meet Trico. He loved Trico just as much as I did.

When he played, it was actually at a part where we were high up and could easily fall. It freaked me out; most of the time I was hiding behind my friend or gripping his arm while he played because I was scared of us falling.

We both had to trust Trico and this is where things got interesting. At one point, we were stuck because we could not figure out how to get past a section and we kept falling. We would switch the controller any time we failed or got stuck. When I took control, we saw Trico jump and he just kept making noises. I had no idea what was going on, but my friend said that Trico was telling me to jump. I took a chance and he caught me at the last minute. My friend and I cheered and sighed with relief that we were safe.

Ending

Just like all adventures, eventually my adventure with Trico came to an end. I will not spoil the ending for anyone or major plot points because I encourage you all to play this game for yourself. I cried at the credits because I remembered my journey with Trico and I missed him already. I was happy to see the story reach a conclusion, but I was also sad it was coming to a close. I loved The Last Guardian and Trico! It is easily one of my favorite games on the PS4!

Have you played The Last Guardian? What did you think of the game?

GamersUnitedGG and Women in Games

Happy Monday Novas! Today we will provide another entry into Cupcakes and Machetes Women’s History Month Challenge! In honor of National Women’s History Month, bloggers are providing their own versions of posts dedicated to women in history! You can join in and read other great posts for the month by clicking here! Power up Players […]

via Women’s History Month: Video Game Females at the Forefront! — GamersUnitedGG Blog

After writing about Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn, I wanted to share an article about other female characters that gamers like. GamersUnitedGG has a list of popular women characters that she wrote for Women’s History Month.  I think it is important to talk about female characters we enjoy because it shows how important it is to have well thought out female characters in video games. Enjoy her article!

Horizon Zero Dawn and Appreciating Aloy’s Character

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I finished Horizon Zero Dawn a few months ago. I picked it up because of Aloy and my love for strong female protagonists. I ended up relating to Aloy which made me enjoy the game!

Backstory

The game introduced me to Aloy’s origins. I learned that she is an outcast of the land. I also learned the mechanics of the game with Aloy’s father figure, Rost. He teaches Aloy how to take care of herself. This is an interesting way of teaching the game mechanics because it flows with the story instead of being a separate section of the game.

Next I learned that I can choose Aloy’s personality. She has set ways in which she will act, but there are dialogue options that allow me to influence her character. The first incident involved her being harassed by kids for being an outcast. I loved that they had this option because it really made me think. My gut reaction was to sometimes use the more aggressive options to fight back against how Aloy was treated, but I ultimately would always choose kindness.

Proving

After the tutorial, the story begins with Aloy wanting to learn more about her past and why she is an outcast by proving herself at the Proving. At the Proving houses, I was given another chance to show how Aloy would handle opposition. It was not easy picking what I know is right. I did not like how people treated Aloy for being an outcast, but I knew that it was better to treat those who treated her wrong with kindness rather that fighting them. I could relate to her being bullied because I have been bullied, but as an adult I believe that kindness is the better option.

At the proving, I loved how Aloy was portrayed. She was an athletic character despite her small size. She could take enemies down with spears. She could easily climb up structures like mountains and climb across thin ropes or rappel down surfaces.

Aloy is also cunning. She is able to track down enemies using her Focus. She can easily craft arrows and think of multiple ways to take down an enemy. I was awed by how inventive she was and how intelligent she was.

Journey Outside

The Proving turned out to be a massacre and Aloy is sent out as a Brave to find out who caused the massacre and why machines are being corrupted. Once I moved outside the introduction area, I found new monsters. I had to learn how to take them each down with the help of Aloy’s wits. The worst was a giant dinosaur like monster that took forever to defeat and was tough.

I also needed Aloy’s cunning and her athletics to gather collectibles in the game such as Vantage point that are on hard to reach and tall spaces. I had to climb up and try not to look down because the vantage points were very high up. Aloy did not care, she was not afraid of the heights or climbing because she knew she would land safely if she relied on her wits.

Why I Love Horizon Zero Dawn

I was so happy to play Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn. I enjoyed her story and watching how her character developed and how I was able to influence her character through the dialogue options.

I also like the armor in the game. Aloy’s armor was realistic. It looked like real armor for the time period. It was not armor that tried to sexualize her character. It was just there to protect her from the elements or from the machines.

I enjoyed that Aloy felt like a real person because she was someone I could easily relate to. We are both strong willed people that try to be brave. We also always try to do the right thing, at least in my portrayal of Aloy. I loved how much thought the developers put into creating Aloy’s character which is clear in how easy it is for me to see aspects of myself in her character.

My question for this week is what do you think of Aloy’s character? What female characters do you relate to?

Turn Based Turnip’s Choice in The Witcher About Stray Dogs

I have been delving into my gaming backlog recently, and decided that it was a riple old time to start finally playing The Witcher (2007). I had no idea what to expect from this series, but even though the first game is now quite dated, I find the mixture of point and click and action-oriented […]

via The Witcher — No I Will Not Kill Stray Dogs! — Turn Based Turnip

Turn Based Turnip talks about a quest involving killing stray dogs in Witcher and refusing to do so. I could not do that myself either. I love animals so much! Just recently, I started  playing Shining Resonance Refrain and there were cute dogs and chickens on the town map and I was so happy to see animals! I also loved that there was a bard with cats in Shining Resonance Refrain!  Read Turn Based Turnip’s post about her moral dilemma in Witcher.

 

Borderlands 2 and Games That Make You Laugh

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Borderlands 2 is a game that was recommended to me by Steam a few years ago. The game looked fun and seemed to not take itself seriously so I decided to get the game. It turned out to be one of my favorite games to play on my computer.

Picking a Character and Starting the Game

The game starts out by giving you various characters to choose from. I decided to choose Maya because she was a Siren which seemed to be a more magical based class which I thought that would be fun to play. I also loved her blue hair and how confident she looked.

The game starts with a train crash and I woke up to see a robot named Claptrap. Claptrap is known for being annoying. He is also very timid so he was not helpful at all when enemies would attack me because he would just run around and panic. So basically, he is the embodiment of my brain when it’s anxious!

He also got his eye taken by the first boss of the game, Knuckledragger. I love how all bosses are introduced by a big cutscene because the game wants you to know it is a “badass” game. He would throw ice and snow at me while Claptrap just ran around and ran into walls as I tried to get his eye back. After I got Claptrap’s eye back, I was introduced to the first open area of the game.

First World Area

I was first introduced to the voice of the main antagonist called Handsome Jack.  Handsome Jack made me laugh because he was so ridiculous. He buys a horse that is made out of diamonds? If that’s not weird enough, for some weird reason he names it Butt Stallion! Seriously?!

Next I meant Sir Hammerlock. He is a stereotypical gentleman hunter (think Nigel Thornberry from The Wild Thornberrys show). He made me laugh because he purposefully shocked Claptrap because he wanted Claptrap to shut up.

Later on, I meant bosses which I had to just stop and laugh at: Boom and Bewm. Yes that’s their names. They loved using explosions and I had to stop them while Claptrap did his usual helping of running around in sporadic circles. It was just funny seeing this two enemies running around finding every excuse to say “boom”. There’s great boss music that plays while you fight them so I enjoyed the ridiculous bosses with the battle music.

Enjoying the Game Further

The first open area in the game happens after you beat another ridiculous boss named Captain Flynt and go on a ship. I headed to the next open area to go to a place called Sanctuary.  I met other characters there such as Moxie and had to do more ridiculous quests with Sir Hammerlock. One of my quests involved him wanting to name a creature, but he could not come up with a name so she just started calling the creature childish names.

This game is full of humor and is a good game to play if you need a good laugh. Another part of the game I enjoyed was walking Tiny Tina’s dog which was an angry fire creature who I ended up taming and became my pet. I also enjoyed the bonus DLC where Tiny Tina basically turns Borderlands 2 into D&D.

My question for this week is what games do you play when you need a good laugh?

Strange Girl Gaming’s Video Game Bosses

So I have decided to start a new series of videos on YouTube, one of my favourite aspects of any video game is its bosses, seriously, the bosses than any game has to offer has both the capability of launching it into video game stardom or being the final nail in the games coffin making […]

via Video Game Bosses: Ep 1 The Bed of Chaos (New YouTube Series) — Strange Girl Gaming

Since I decided last post to talk about why I like playing games on easy, I decided to share an article that would talk about challenging games in contrast to my article. Strange Girl Gaming is starting a YouTube series on video game bosses and talked about The Bed of Chaos from Dark Souls as her first boss to examine. Enjoy the article and the video!

Blue Reflection and Enjoying Easy Games

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I have a confession to make: I play games on easy mode whenever I play them. My best friend has teased me about this because he enjoys challenging himself when he plays games while I enjoy playing them to relax and focus on the story.

A game that’s really easy that I found is Blue Reflection. It was advertised on PlayStation’s “Big in Japan” sale back in April. It was love at first sight because the game was a magical girl game and had beautiful music in the trailer.

Introduction

The game introduced me to the protagonist, Hinako, a high school girl who used be a ballet dancer, but is unable to after hurting her leg. She is struggling to find meaning in her life without being able to dance anymore.

She enters into a magical realm after talking with a girl who all of a sudden starts laughing manically like she is possessed by something.  After hearing a voice explain to her that she has powers, she transforms into a magical girl and she is able to move like she used to before her leg injury. After she fights some enemies and exits the realm, she finds that the girl has returned to normal. She then meets Yuzuki and Lime who are also magical girls and explain to her that she is a special fighter called a Reflector. They also tell her that if she fights she can have a wish granted, so she can wish for her leg to be fully healed.

The game is separated into various chapters made up of socializing with friends, exploring the magical realm, and fighting monsters that are causing high school girls emotions to go rampant. There are also a few major boss fights at the ends of some chapters.

Continuing Through the Game

As I progressed through the game, it never got challenging. The focus of the game is more about the story of Hinako finding meaning in her life through helping others rather than isolating herself and focusing on her inability to dance. The combat is fun and the music in the story is beautiful. The music sounds like dancing music so it fits with Hinako’s dream to dance again.

The major boss fights have a bit of challenge to them, but it is more because they last much longer than the mini bosses. The combat is still engaging with each girl using different weapons. My favorite was Lime because she fought with a teddy bear, but was the strongest girl in the game. It was really funny seeing her decimate enemies with a magical stuffed animal.

The strength of this game is the story. Seeing Hinako mature as a character and learning about why monsters are targeting high schools girls was interesting. The game has a lot of cutscenes and dialogue which may turn some players away, but it was fun for someone like me who enjoys games for the story. I would recommend giving this game a chance because it is a fun magical girl game.

Do you enjoy playing games on easy mode or challenging yourself?

Thank You and Top Ten List of Favorite Games

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Thank You

I would like to thank all of my followers who are following my blog and supporting me while I am still new to blogging. Thank you for all the likes and comments on my posts. Thank you for being so welcoming of me. I would like to thank the blogging community for being kind and supportive. You inspire me to keep writing and putting my thoughts out there.

I also want to thank Kim from Later Levels for helping me meet other gaming blogs through the summer blog party. It was so kind of you to use your blog to help other bloggers meet and learn about each other. You helped me get my blog out there and meet other bloggers so I could find even more blogs to read. Thank you Kim!

I was inspired to start this blog  because I enjoy reading other blogger’s thoughts about video games so I decided to try putting my thoughts out there.  I got the push I needed to start my blog because writing a blog is part of a social media class I am taking to pursue my Master’s in Professional Writing. I have a lot to say about video games because I find them to be so much more than mindless entertainment. They are comforting to me and give me new places to explore and stories to experience. I am looking forward to writing more posts about video games for a long time because I have a lot of games to cover and even more that I am currently playing or want to play.

Top Ten List of Favorite Games

I also decided to go with TWOTALL4UFOOL’s idea of posting a Top 10 list of my favorite games to end this post so you can all learn a little bit more about me. My list is a bit odd because my favorites are constantly changing plus there is a lot of games I still need to finish as well so I could not put them on this list.

1. Persona 5
2. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX
3. Okami
4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
6. Nier Automata
7. Super Mario Odyssey
8. Horizon Zero Dawn
9. Final Fantasy 15
10. Borderlands 2

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me through my blogging experience and post your top ten games in the comments so we can all learn a little bit more about each other!