Sunshine Blogger Award!

Hey everyone!  I have been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by I Played the Game!  The rules are as follows:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you.
• Answer their questions.
• Nominate 11 bloggers and write 11 new questions.

First off, I would like to thank I Played the Game for the nomination!  His blog is absolutely amazing and I definitely think you should check it out if you want to read some interesting takes on video games.  Here is one of my personal favorite posts from him on games that get more hate than they deserve.  Now, onto the questions!

1. Your greatest video game nemesis approaches. What video game weapon from a different game do you equip?

I’m going to take it all the way back to a boss from my favorite childhood game, Final Fantasy X.  Many people had trouble with Seymour’s third iteration, but I didn’t personally struggle with him.  The greatest foe of seven-year-old me is undoubtedly Yunalesca.  I got stuck on her for ages and rage quit the game for a period of time.  How would I beat her?  I would just use my arsenal of weapons from Borderlands to tear her in half and wipe her off the face of Spira.

2. And whilst you’re at it, which video game character are you riding on as you charge into battle?

I want to ride in on a dragon that I have tamed from Skyrim.  I could have as much mobility as I needed in order to dodge Yunalesca.

3. Which video game do you think would make a really good movie?

I don’t typically like video game movies because I’d rather be playing the game, but I’d love to see a movie of Horizon Zero Dawn.  It would have to have a super big budget because of all the robot dinosaurs, but the story itself is perfectly-suited to make an epic science fiction movie.

4. Who is your favourite YouTuber (of any theme) and why?

This is hard, because I watch Youtube the same way most people watch Netflix.  I’ll give a few brief recommendations here, and maybe do a follow-up post later about more of my personal favorites.

The Completionist – I am not a trophy hunter at all.  My personal viewpoint is that games become less fun the second I start trying to push myself through content I don’t like for that 100% completion rating.  That said, there’s something absolutely addicting about watching The Completionist, a channel about completing a game to 100% and then giving a rating based on how fun the game is to complete, instead of just on its objective quality.

Joseph Anderson doesn’t upload often, but his in-depth game critique is always worth the wait, especially since many of his videos are multiple hours long.  In particular, check out his videos on What Remains of Edith Finch and Fallout 4, as they’re nearly flawless in their production.

Finally, Cannot Be Tamed is a great hidden gem of a channel that focuses heavily on giving attention to retro games and general game collection pickups, though her content is diverse and always interesting.  In particular, I like her monthly update videos where she talks about what she’s been playing and what games she recently added to her collection.

Like I said, I may do a larger list or even series on people I like to watch, but here’s a good start!

5. Which video game character do you want a plush of?

I love Monokuma, even if he is a teddy bear that lives to torture high school students into killing each other.  Danganronpa would be a horrifyingly dark game without Monokuma being a strange sort of balancing comic relief, and I find him so adorable that I absolutely need to buy a plush toy of him.

6. Which canceled video game are you most disappointed about?

This isn’t a cancelled game, exactly, but I’m pretty disappointed that we never got the original vision for Final Fantasy Versus XIII.  I love Final Fantasy XV and think it’s amazing, but I still would have been interested to see what the original plan was and how it related to the Final Fantasy XIII extended universe.

7. Microtransactions are terrible.  Loot boxes are just the worst.  DLC needs to go.  What monetisation methods do you feel would be most suitable for video games?

First off, I personally despise loot boxes.  I know that they’re technically more like trading card packs than traditional gambling, but the “hook” from gambling still exists here and I think it’s scummy.  Personally, I love Path of Exile’s method of charging only for cosmetic items that are totally optional.  As a player, I am only willing to pay for microtransactions when I don’t feel like I’m being coerced into it, and I doubt that I am alone there.

8. Classic Doom, or Doom 2016?

I’m not a huge first-person shooter fan, so I haven’t played either of these games.  That said, I suspect that the original Doom would feel pretty dated since I have no nostalgic connection to the game.  Therefore, I would rather play Doom 2016 between those specific choices.  Overall, however, I’d like to play both of the new Wolfenstein games more than any Doom game.

9. October is coming up soon.  What horror game would you recommend I play?

I’m kind of pathetic when it comes to horror titles, but I would recommend giving Stories Untold or Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture a try.  Both of those games have creepy or ominous atmospheres, but they don’t ever cross the line into full-blown horror.  In other words, these are games that are great for putting you on edge without making you cry like a baby.

10. What would you consider to be the most overrated video game?

I love the Uncharted series.  Nathan Drake and his friends are such memorable characters, and I love tagging along on their adventures.  That said, I don’t understand why these games get 10/10 Game of the Year distinctions every time they come out.  The characters are great, but the story is always a generic action plot, the combat is just the same cover-based shooting that was plaguing the industry for a while there, and how many times are Nathan and Elena going to have relationship issues in this franchise?  I love this series, but more in an 8.5/10 sort of way.

11. Which video game series needs to make a comeback?

I’m still waiting on Portal 3, personally, as Portal 2 is one of my favorite games of all time.  Portal 2 came out last console generation, so imagine what a new game on a modern system would look like, and how many crazy puzzles could occur.  Unfortunately, Valve seems to be generally allergic to the number three, so I guess I’ll be waiting a while for this.

 

All right, that’s over!  Here are the eleven questions I have created for you all:

1. What Twitch streamers do you enjoy watching?
2. Do you prefer retro or modern gaming?
3. Do you prefer AAA or indie game releases?
4. What is a hidden gem game that you don’t think anyone has played, but deserves more attention?
5. What game was responsible for your last “game hangover”, where you just couldn’t bring yourself to start a new game after finishing something?
6. Which video game series needs to quit while they’re ahead and stop making new games?
7. What game have you put the most hours into across your lifetime?
8. What is your game of the year so far?
9. What game have you had polarizing feelings toward, feeling both extreme hate and love for, depending on the moment?
10. Which year in gaming history is your favorite in terms of game releases?
11. If you could go back in time and convince a developer to change one major feature of their game in order to make it better, what game and feature would you change?

All right, now it is time for some nominations!  Everyone that I mention below is absolutely worth checking out, and I will link to a post by them that I like so you can check them out!

1.  Thero159
2. Two Beard Gaming
3. Me Vs. Myself and I
4. Day Late Gaming Network
5. Normal Happenings
6. The Indie Game Website
7. Git Gud at Life
8. The Gaming Diaries
9. Savior Gaming
10. Hundstrasse
11. Into the Spine

You guys should check out everyone I listed up above!  Let me know your answers to questions in the comments!  Thanks for reading!