dear x

"IF YOU'RE ALWAYS TRYIN' TO GET TO THE TOP, YOU WON'T GET TO THE BOTTOM OF NOTHIN'."

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've been thinking a lot lately about things I'm currently interested in, and I just wanted to share them.

I've played a few different games since my last post. Er, my last real post. Gosh, that was right before I started Dragon Age: Origins. Since then, I've played Far Cry 3, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, L.A. Noire, Bioshock Infinite, and Diablo III. I like to get as many achievements as possible, otherwise this list would have been longer.




Far Cry 3 was so much fun to play. Sneaking into an enemy camp in the dead of night, stealthily disabling their alarm systems, and then picking off guards with a silenced sniper really got my adrenaline going. Every time a guard got close, I thought they would see me and then sic their dogs on my tattooed ass. I also got a sort of sadistic glee from leading a tiger towards an occupied camp and watching it slaughter all the guards. The villain, Vaas Montenegro, was probably my favorite part of the game, though. Most of the other characters felt cliched and boring, but Vaas was insane and spectacular. He was only in the game for a total of maybe 20 minutes, but he left an impression on gamers everywhere.



Blood Dragon was pretty much the same as Far Cry 3, but with a visual makeover. A lot of the game is either a throwback or parody of 80's pop culture, especially 80's sci-fi films.



L.A. Noire was fun in a tedious kind of way. I enjoyed questioning suspects, but I didn't feel particularly intrigued by the story. I hated responding to street crimes, or chasing down suspects. If it weren't for questioning suspects, the gameplay would be identical to any other Rockstar game. None of the characters were all that interesting, either. Cole Phelps, the main character, annoyed me the most. I consider myself to be pretty moral, but his strong morals and straight-laced attitude just irritated me. Perhaps it's because I'd rather choose to have a morally pure character, rather than have one forced upon me.

I loved Bioshock Infinite. It had all the fun of the original Bioshock, plus a beautiful open environment in the skies of Columbia. Using vigors (plasmids) to attack enemies and then fleeing to the sky-lines (the rollercoaster-like rails found throughout Columbia) made the combat much more fun and made Columbia feel as large as Rapture should have been. You see way more of Rapture than you actually explore in Bioshock, and I was disappointed that a city under the sea featured no water-based battles or scenarios. Aside from the beautiful surroundings and fun combat, I really enjoyed the story. I found that I actually cared about Elizabeth and Booker, and I certainly enjoyed having Elizabeth as a companion. If only every game saddled you with an invulnerable scavenger who tosses you salts, health, and ammo when you're low.

Lastly, I finished Diablo III. I got the console version and I've had a lot of fun playing as the wizard, witch doctor, and monk. The story was pretty meh, although I may just feel that way because I've never played the first two games, but the gameplay was enjoyable enough. I'm weird, though. I like grinding and repetitive playing.



These two handsome men are Michael Mando and Troy Baker. They do the voice acting and motion capture for Vaas of Far Cry 3 and Booker of Bioshock Infinite respectively. Michael does more live action work, but he was incredible in Far Cry 3. I hope he does more work in video games. Troy is a very well-known voice actor in video games and anime, with titles like Fullmetal Alchemist, Saints Row 3&4, Naruto: Shippuden, The Last of Us, and Arkham Origins on his resume. He's an incredibly talented actor and musician. I highly suggest looking him up. If you like video games &/ anime, you've probably already heard his voice. Troy is easily my favorite voice actor.



I watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood over the summer. I loved it. The story was much better than the original anime series, I thought. Granted, the original series aired when the manga was only half done, so they had to create a story. I don't want to say a lot about the story though, because most of my favorite parts, or the things I preferred over the original series, are spoilers. Just...go watch it, yeah?
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