Watch me pull an achievement out of a hat . . . and other news

Watch me pull an achievement out of a hat.  Well, it’s not actually a hat.  It’s a plastic container with a lid.  And I did pull an achievement out.  Sort of.

I seemed to have lost a lot of my motivation when it comes to prolonged playing of video games.  I like getting on for an hour or so, but then I just start loosing interest and would rather do anything else.  Like watching paint dry or counting the bumps on my popcorn ceiling.  It’s weird for me to feel that way and I’ve been trying to think of something to do to get myself out of this funk.  And I came to a solution.

I printed out a list of all the Xbox 360 games I own, cut them up into little stripes with one name per slip and put them all into a plastic container.  My plan is to pull a game out at least once a week and play in that game until I’ve at least earned an achievement and/or hopefully find renewed interest in playing video games for longer periods of time.  Who knows.  I might find that one game that gets me out of my funk and start playing games for hours on end every night.  At worse I play something until I get an achievement and then put it aside for something else.  At least my gamer score would be going up.  I had a new year's resolution to hit 30,000 last year, but I didn’t make it and I won’t let that happen again.

So after I finished cutting everything up, I shock it around and pulled a game out.  The first one I pulled was Rock Band 2.  At first I was okay with that, but then I realized that I had just played a lot of Rock Band Blitz (and picked up a bunch of achievements – see the sidebar) and wasn’t even remotely in the mood to play another music game.  Plus, I’m not sure if my guitars even work anymore.  I put the game back in the tub and spent the weekend thinking about what an idiot I am.

Today though, I decided to give it another go.  This time I pulled out Borderlands 2.  That’s a game I’ve played and had 165 points in so far.  I stopped playing the game because there’s one side mission that I can’t seem to do fast enough and it was really annoying me, so I quit.  Plus I’m having a hard time with the fact that you can’t carry health vials with you when you get hurt.  I always forget to keep an eye on my health so I die a lot.  I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get another achievement in that game but this time I was going to make the effort to play it and see what happens.

At lunch I put the game in and started to play.  There was a side mission right where I was located so I didn’t have to go far.  It was to Assassinate the Assassins so I jumped in and started playing.  I remembered I had a gun turret as my special and I should try to use that more often to help me fight a lot of enemies while I take cover while my shield recharges my health.  So I threw the turret out for fun while I figured out all the controls again, and after 2 kills (puppy skags, no less) the achievement for getting 100 kills with the turret pops up.  I got 20 gamer score points for that in less than 2 minutes in the game.  I could have quit and done something else (taking a nap before going back to work sounded like a good idea) but I stuck around and completed the mission and turned it in.

It was nice playing that game (even without health vials to use) but I was so rusty with the controls and how to find things in the menus.  I got better by the end of my lunch and I just might try some more missions after work.  I put a tick mark on the slip of paper for Borderlands 2 and put it back in the tub.  This way I’ll know I’ve played it and gotten an achievement if I happen to pull it out again later.

I did include sequels in the tub even if I haven’t played the first game in a series.  Who knows, I might find playing Halo 3 more engaging than playing the first Halo even if I don’t know what’s going on in that world.  I just want to get back in to the habit of playing video games like I use to.

And speaking of playing video games, I’m seriously looking in to getting an Xbox One.  The only problem is I have to get a new TV if I want to play it.  My current TV is a big 32” CRT monstrosity of a TV.  It doesn’t have any HDMI connections, although it does have component video.  The X1 seems to only be an HDMI connection so it won’t do me any good to buy one if I don’t have a TV to play it on.  I’m hoping to take care of the TV part by next weekend.  The X1 might have to come a little later because I have some other plans I’m trying figure out that will definitely put a crimp in my finances. 

Specifically I’m trying to find and buy a new computer.  I would love a laptop, but realized that I could get something cheaper if I got a desktop instead.  I want it to be a gaming PC so that I can get back to gaming on the PC which is something I haven’t done in a VERY long time (X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter anyone?).  Depending on how much I spend for the computer depends on how much I have left over for the X1 system.  Plus there’s other things factoring in to my decision but I can’t divulge those plans just yet.  You’ll just have to stay tuned and see what happens next.

So, I consider my drawing plan to be a success.  I played a game and got an achievement.  It don't know if it is enough to get me out of the funk, but it's a start.  Hopefully I'll re-find that gaming spark and pull myself out of this funk when I pick a game.

Man, I've got a lot of games

I did a count of how many video games I own a while ago and I was a little bit shocked.  These are only console and hand-held systems.  I don't have my PC games counted because my current PC sucks and can't play them.  I'm hoping to fix that sometime in the next couple of weeks.  More to come on that . . . I hope.

My game counts by system are:

Playstation: 60
Playstation 2: 129
Playstation 3: 13
Xbox: 41
Xbox 360: 138
Xbox Arcade: 189
Game Cube: 25
Wii: 11
PSP: 21
SNES: 23
N64: 12
DSLite: 14
GameBoy: 10
GameBoy Color: 6
GameBoy Advance: 44

If you've done the math right, that's 736 total games.  No wonder why I can't finish a game because I've got so many to play.

My latest acquisitions were Dark Souls II, Metal Gear Rising Revenge, Serious Sam Collection, Sacred 3, Blades of Time and Thief.  All for the Xbox 360.  What can say?  Amazon was having a sale.  Most of those were new copies for less than $8 each. 

I guess I should mention that Thief was the free game on PS3 last month.  I downloaded it and played it for awhile but as I was doing so I realized that I would rather play it on the Xbox than on the Playstation.  Don't know why, just felt like it.

Also, I own all the Arcade Serious Sam games but I got the Serious Sam Collection anyway.  I was hoping that the Arcade games would be a separate set of achievements from the retail copy, but that's not the case.  When I put the disk in and started The First Encounter my achievements for the Arcade title came up.  Oh well, at least now I can delete the Arcade games from my system and just play them off of the disk.

And boy do I need to delete them. 

I got down to 0.69 GP left on my Xbox 360 hard drive.  I have a bunch of the Games with Gold free games, even if I own the disk copy.  Why?  Just in case something happens to the disk, or I get robbed again I can still play the game.  I also have a bunch of games installed on my hard drive.  And, of course A LOT of arcade titles.  I've previously moved some of the Arcade titles to a thumb drive for storage but I was still out of room.  Plus there's all those DLC add-ons for all my games.  And some music videos I've downloaded.  Now, you can see why I was running out of space.

I had to do something drastic . . . and soon.  I went through my storage and started deleting things.  Anything I didn't think I would need and/or use anytime soon.  I deleted DLC add-ons for games that I won't play yet because they're sequels and I haven't played the original games yet (I'll just download them again when I do play the game).  I deleted game update files.  I figure those will be re-installed if/when I play that game again.  And I deleted other stuff I didn't really want any more.  I was able to free up just over 30GB of space on my hard drive which allowed me to download the patches (about 2.9GB worth) for Defiance, which allowed me to finally play the game.  Whoo Hoo!

I have wonder if I should get rid of some of my older games and/or systems.  But I just can't do it.  Partly for sentimental reasons but also because I have a hard time giving up on a game once I start it and like it.  I just don't want to leave anything unfinished.  I'm just having a hard time finding the time to play anything. 

I have been playing games, as you can see from my list of recent achievements on the side panel.  I've received all of those within the last week or so.  I think I've made some nice progress in my gamer score . . . even if it's not a whole lot of progress in a single game.  But if I have 736 games to get through I should find time to play games more often.  Sleep is overrated, right?  Man, I've got a lot of games.

Trophies vs. Achievements

So I've had my PS3 for awhile and even picked up a few more games (Journey, Flower, Flow (?), Resistance 1, 2 & 3, Little Big Planet, and Overlord: Raising Hell).  I've even finished (play to credits) Journey and got a lot of the achievements . . . I mean trophies for that game.

It took me a while to get comfortable with calling something trophies instead of achievements but I don't get hung up on it as much any more.  That doesn't mean I like it though.

There's only 3 levels of trophies to get.  Bronze, Silver and Gold.  There is a Platinum level but so far those trophies are only for getting every other trophy in a game.  How lame is that?  I'm assuming the Bronze trophies are easy-peasy ones to get.  The Silver will take a little bit more moderate work to get.  And the Gold are ones you might have to plan out and carefully do something to unlock those.  I don't know because I don't have any Gold trophies.

The biggest problem I have with trophies is that I don't really think of them as a reward for doing something (unless it's Gold).  I've been in enough dance competitions in my life to know and associate a Bronze trophy with being a loser.  A Silver trophy with being the first loser.  They're consolation prizes as far as I'm concerned.  If you get a Bronze trophy that just means that there are 2 other people who did the same thing, but better than you.

I know that's not how the trophies are created and assigned to tasks in video games.  But that's how they are associated in my mind.  Since the Bronze trophies are the easiest things to get they fall under the impression that anyone can do that.  If so, what's so special about a trophy for that?

Now achievements for Xbox are assigned a point value.  They could be 5 points, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 or even 100 points or more.  The value of the points does have some correlating relevance to how difficult it might be to get a particular achievement.  If you're gunning for a 100 point whopper you can expect to have to spend a good deal of time working towards that achievement before you unlock it.  Also, there are some 5 point achievements that you might not get because you made a choice in the game that steered you away from that particular achievement.

There's an individual value to each achievement earned.  You and a friend could have played the same game but have different achievements and also a total different gamer score in the game.  You can compare your 675 with their 550 and know who's probably played more and invested more in the game.

With trophies all you get is a number.  Ten trophies earned: 7 Bronze, 2 Silver and 1 Gold.  Your friend might also have ten trophies but they could have 9 Bronze and 1 Silver.  You both have ten trophies, so how can you tell how much one has played the game more than another?

And what does the levels mean?  I was just barely level 2 and I earned a Bronze trophy and my percentage went up 6 percentage points.  After my next Bronze trophy my level percentage only went up 3 percentage points.  What gives with that.  I just don't understand how one Bronze trophy could be weighted more than another Bronze trophy when they are exactly the same thing.  If you're only giving Bronze, Silver and Gold trophies you can't have one Bronze trophy counting for more than another Bronze trophy without telling me how or why.  Seems a bit suspect to me.

As for the Platinum trophies, I don't get it.  It's like "here have another one because you got all the others".  I think the satisfaction you get with earning trophies or achievements should be for those individual tasks.  Passing out another trophy just because you got all the others is stupid and has no value.  Getting the last trophy (not counting Platinums) or achievement in a game should be all the reward you need for having "completed" a game.  But getting these "finishing" Platinum trophies is like going to a dance competition and winning all the awards that they have categories for, but then having the judges say "here's one more for winning them all".  There's nothing tied to the trophy.  Your 100% completion for trophies and achievements could already been seen on your list without getting another one just to say "way to go".

I understand that Playstation was trying to duplicate and "improve" on Xbox's achievements, but doing things in their own way.  I just don't get it.  I feel less impressed and motivated with trying to get trophies because there are only 3 levels of skill and work involved in getting them.  And don't get me started on the lame notification pop-up that shows when you get one.

Trophies also feel vague and tacked on to activities without any thought on how a game is played or the challenges at certain points in the game play.  "Oh, this looks like a good spot to earn a trophy".  They seem to highlight some of the "not that exciting moments" in the gameplay.  Sometimes if feels very anti-climatic when you do unlock a trophy.

In Final Fantasy X HD remastered there's an achievement for winning your first Blitzball game.  The first game you play you really haven't learned how to play that much.  But winning or losing will generate a different outcome after the match.  So why not have a different trophy (or harder trophy) to earn if you can win the first match the very first time you get to play Blitzball.

When I played FFX on the PS2 I didn't win my first time.  Or my second or third time trying that first game.  I think it took my 5 or 6 tries and reloading the save before I understood enough about Blitzball to win that first match and get Wakka the trophy.

That's a challenge for a gamer and what we thrive on.  We play and replay games to try something new or earn achievements/trophies for doing different things.  If we're going to have these challenges, the least thing they can do is reward us for completing them comparative to the effort we put in to achieve them.  But please, just not with a Platinum trophy.

I blogged a LONG time ago that I wanted my gamer score on my tombstone when I died.  Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about my count of PS3 trophies.  They'll just have to collect dust in my PSN account and no one will ever know.

The Last of Me and going back to an old friend

So of my PS3 games, I've been playing The Last of Us.  Well, actually I've been trying to play that game.  I've got it on easy, but I keep dying. 

Every time I get in an area that explains a new thing to me, like clickers, or crafting Molotov's, I get stuck because I keep dying.  My first time running through those sections are usually my best.  Each time after that I get worse and worse. 

I even had to call my brother for advise because after dying 7 or 8 times I was ready to throw the game in the pool.  He explained to me what to do but I just couldn't see it in my head how I was suppose to make it work.  I got on Twitch and watch someone struggle in the same area.  He was using my brother's strategy of trying to confront the runners one at a time.  He died several times but eventually made it through.  When I went back to the game and tried it I was able to make it through on the first attempt.  But I think I got lucky.

Now, I'm stuck again.  This time I have at least 3 clickers and about 6-8 runners in one area and I can't seem to make it through.  It's right after you learn how to make Molotov cocktails.  On my first attempt I threw the Molotov too soon but was able to get several of the infected to run in to the flames before they went out.  But then I died.  After several attempts I can no longer get out of the starting area before dying.  What is wrong with me?

I was getting so frustrated that I stopped playing the game.  I thought about playing Uncharted but I was afraid that I would end up with the same problem.  I was beginning to think that buying a PS3 was a mistake.  I needed to do something before I totally regretted my decision and returned the system and games.

I went back to Game Stop and bough another game.  An old friend.  One I've played and finished.  One of the few games I've finished.  I have spent several hundreds of hours playing, and loving, this game, and it's sequel.  I bought Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD remastered.

I've finished FFX and I started playing it again before I got robbed.  Just recently I started it again on my PS2 because I was looking for something to get me back in the mood for gaming.  I had played FFX-2 for quite awhile before the break in, and only recently restarted that one making sure I played everything just right in order to get 100% completion in the game.  I'm currently stuck in that game in one area but the game lets you move to other places when you want.

I consider FFX a old friend.  I could spend all day playing that game and it would only feel like a few minutes because the time spent is so enjoyable.  And that's not counting playing Blitzball.  I could play that all day and do nothing in the story and have an even better time.  I don't know why. 

The pace of the game is just right.  The characters endearing.  The action exciting and manageable.  The combat controllable.  The story touching and very emotional at times.  I just watched one of the most beautiful cut scenes in the game last night.  It's beautiful to look at but gut wrenching when you think about what is happening and why.  And even more so if you've finished the game and you know how everything turns out.  It's just one of those games that I think hits all the right notes.  I like this Final Fantasy game better than FFVII and I think FFIX is a close 2nd.

I see 2 problems with the HD remastered edition.  1) I don't have an HD TV.  I still have an old, fat CRT TV and while I can see a slight improvement in the graphics I'm sure I could see more if I had a newer HD flat screen TV.  The font size is smaller, but still readable for the most part.  2) It seems to take a little longer to load things including the end of battle screens.  There's slight pause/delay before everything loads up.  I think it's because it's taking more time to load those new fangled graphics that I can't see on my old TV.  It doesn't effect the overall game play except that it make everything seem to take longer.

After playing the game for a couple of nights, my old friend has restored my faith in my PS3.  I won't be chucking it, or The Last of Us, into my pool.  I will probably play FFX some more before I take another swipe at The Last of Us.  But I think I'll need to watch some more Twitch before I do.

Where I welcome a new gaming system to my household . . .

I've been wanting to get a new gaming system for a long time.  I ended up with a little bit of money this month and I decided to take the plunge and get a new system. 

What system did I get?  Was it an Xbox One?  Maybe a PS4?  Or could it be a Wii U?  There's also a PS Vita to consider.  As well as a PS3.  And I desperately need a new computer.  Plus I'd love to get a new laptop.  There's also the possibility of a 3DS.  Which could it be?

I decided to get a PS3.  Yes, my "new" console is considered a "last generation" system.  I don't care.  My finances have been really tight for the last 6 years or so and I've always wanted a PS3.  My favorite console until recently was always the PS2.  Mostly because of the great games and that it was also backward compatible so I could still play my PS games without having to swap out systems.

I got the 500GB The Last of Us bundle.  It was last year's holiday bundle and I was afraid that they would come out with a different one that I wouldn't like.  I also got lucky finding it at my local Game Stop. 

And you know what the best part of all of this is?  I got to keep my same gamertag.  Yep.  I'm Pengwenn on Xbox Live and now I'm Pengwenn on PSN.  When my brother bought his PS3 (in July) he set up his account with a different name.  That's going to be hard to remember which one he is on the different systems.  If you have a PS3 and want to add me as a friend, send me a message and let me know who you are (if you have a different gamertag from how I know you on Xbox.

I got 3 games for the system.  In addition to The Last of Us, I also got a 2 game bundle of Uncharted and Uncharted 2.  I didn't have any money to get anything else.  I will try to get more games.  I figure they're cheap now so many I could pick up one every couple of weeks on payday.  I'm sure I can find some really good bargains now. 

Eventually I'll move up to the "current gen" systems and get an Xbox One and PS4 and a Wii U.  Right now I don't have the money.  There are some games that I know are out on Xbox 360 or PS3 but I want to have them for the current systems.  Games like Destiny, Shadows of Mordor, etc.  Hopefully I won't have to wait as long to get those systems and games that I did for my PS3.

I've only played The Last of Us and I've already gotten stuck twice.  The first time I called my brother and he told me what to do.  I understood what he was saying but I needed to see visuals so I got on Twitch and found someone in my exact spot.  I watched him die 5 or 6 times just while I was watching before he got through the area.  He did it just like what my brother said.  When I got back on to the game I was able to get through that area on my first attempt and it was pretty easy.

Now I'm stuck again.  I have to figure out how to get past/through 3 clickers and about a dozen runners.  Yeah me.  I guess it's back to Twitch for some help.  If anyone has this game and wants to play some co-op or multi-player (whichever it offers) let me know.  It will be nice to make some new friends and to actually play with them.

Games with Gold downloads

Just because I know someone will ask I'm going to tell you which Games with Gold downloads I've got.  Until this month I think I've down loaded all the arcade games.  This month has fighting games and I'm not interested in those.  I've downloaded the full game ones even if I already have the disk for the game.  I did that so I would have the game in my download history just in case something happened to the disk.  I think those games were one of the Fable games (can't remember which one), Civilization Revolution, Gears of War and one of the Assassin's Creed games (can't remember that one either).

The games that I didn't previously own that I downloaded are: Crackdown, Dark Souls, Dead Island, and Hitman Absolution.  I also bought the download version of Red Dead Redemption.  I was thinking of getting that game and the download price was the same as a used copy at Gamestop.  I choose the download.  I was also in the process of pricing Dark Souls when I saw that it was the Games with Gold download.  That saved me some money. 

If you have any of these games and are willing to play with me I'd love to play with you.  Just hit me up with an invite when you see me online.  I'm not on much and I'm not far in any of these games.  Just warning you.

1 minute Time Travel game + 3 new games

I know I haven't blogged for awhile but that's because I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life that has made blogging (and sometimes gaming) very hard to do.  For starters my birthday was this month (the 15th).  I've gotten to a point in my life that another birthday is just another day in my life.  But on the other hand I've been feeling a little blue lately that having someone actually acknowledge it's my birthday and want to celebrate with me would be nice. 

On top of all of that my supervisor went out on maternity leave this month and I've had to tag along to a bunch of her meetings before she left so I can step in to her shoes and fill in for her while she's out for the next 3 months. 

On top of that I've had problems with my AC unit.  Right when the temperature starting hovering around 108-110.  I called the guy out the first time and he couldn't pin point what was wrong with the unit, but admitted that it wasn't functioning correctly.  He suggested either the thermostat, the compressor or the blower motor.  The cheapest fix was the thermostat, starting at $200.  My dad suggested I go to Home Depot and buy one myself.  I got one for $25 and he helped install it.  Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem.  After getting another guy to come out and have a look he found out it was the starter relay for the compressor and the compressor wasn't running efficiently.  The bad news is I ended up spending $1,116 to fix the relay and compressor.  The good news is I finally have cold air in my house again. 

So with all those things (and a general disgust with how things have been happening while playing) I haven't blogged or felt like playing for awhile.  I did buy 3 new games though.  It was my birthday present to myself.  And I needed some cheering up.  I got The Darkness 2, Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns and Splinter Cell: Blacklist.  Got 'em used and cheap at Gamestop (although I found out later I could have gotten SC:B even cheaper on Amazon . . . and new too).  I should probably stop buying new games and just focusing on the games I already have. 

If I hadn't had to spend so much money to fix my AC unit I would have gotten a PS3 bundle.  There's a The Last of Us PS3 500GB bundle on sale for $269.  Unfortunately I'd rather have cool air than a new system right now.  I'm hoping it will still be available next month or August after I've financially recovered from this.

But until then I have a new "1 Minute" game.  This time (ha ha) it's with time travel.  You have one minute to list every game you can think of that has time travel as an element of game play.   Your character either travels through time to another point in the time continuum or your player plays in two different time periods.  I'm going to rule out the Fable games.  Starting as a kid for the "tutorial" parts and then playing as an adult for the main game doesn't count.  That's just a gimmick to help you learn the mechanics of the game before getting in to the real story.  So Fable games are ruled out.  For me and for you.

So now lets get to your list.

On your mark.

Get set.

Go.

Time travel.

Don't be cute and try to reset the timer.  That doesn't count as 'time travel'.

If you can get one in a certain franchise you should be able to get all 6.

And no, I'm going to give you a hint.

You better hurry.  You're running out of time.

(hee hee)

And STOP!

Okay how many did you come up with?

Here's my list:
Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger
Time Splitters: Future Perfect
Assassin's Creed 1-3, Brotherhood, Revelations & Black Flag
Gears of War Judgement
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy X and X-2
Blink: The Time Sweeper
Civilization Revolution

That's a total of 14 games.  I'm very disappointed in myself.  I thought I could think up more than that.  There's got to me more, right?

I wasn't going to included Gears of War Judgement because I was thinking it was all flashback story telling but then I remembered that you actually play in the present when the Locus storm the courtroom place.  It's not stereotypical "time travel" but you are playing in two different time periods and I said that would count.

I haven't played Blink for so long but I remember it has something to do with time.  I could be totally wrong about that game.  I think I might have to go look up the story for that game and see if I'm way off.

I will admit that Civilization Revolution was also a stretch.  But since you play in multiple time eras and things change as you play I'm counting it.  Hey, it's my game so I will allow it.

As for the Final Fantasy games I'm saying they count even though I don't understand exactly how or why.  I'm not even sure I can explain to you my reasoning in a way that you'll be understand, even if you have played the games.  I understand all the Summoners and Sin stuff (to a point with Sin anyway) but where (or maybe when) Tidus comes from and how and what Yuna does in the second game to find him is still pretty hazy to me.  I'm working on another play through of the first game and I'm slowing plodding my way through the second game (when I can get my system to load it).  Maybe when I finish the second game I'll have a better understanding.

So tell me how many you got in the comments.  Was there an obvious game I missed?  Did I have some that you think you should have gotten?  Did you cheat and read my list first?  Shame on you.