October 7, 2009 at 7:38 PM (Ayaikun, Rants For Great Justice)
Tags: rant
Well, I’ve been considering writing about this for a little while, but always decided against it because of the slightly personal nature of the subject matter. But after recent events, I’ve decided it’s a consistent and interesting enough subject to at least put my two cents in about.
I have a bit of an anxiety problem. It’s nothing that I need to see a doctor for (at least, I don’t feel the need to), but it’s definitely there. I have the specific form of OCD called ICD: Impulse Control Disorder. More specifically, I have trichotillomania. In the same way that gamblers can’t stop gambling and pyromaniacs can’t stop setting things on fire, I can’t stop pulling my hair out. Fortunately, I’ve never pulled the hair out of my head, and I’ve been able to “ween” myself off of my eyebrows (which are fully grown in, now, and have been for a few years), but my anxiety still ravages my eyelashes. Luckily, unlike head or eyebrow hair, a lack of eyelashes is easy to cover up with a little eyeliner, so hardly anybody ever notices this fact unless I point it out to them. It’s a pretty 1:1 equation; I get anxious, I pull my eyelashes out.
Other than that, my anxiety usually manifests in the way that everyone else’s does: headaches, stomachaches, and shoulder tension. I have experienced a few anxiety/panic attacks, but they’re always triggered by something (usually, something medical or talking about something medical). But I’ve found an interesting solution to both my hair-pulling and my occasional attacks: video games. Read the rest of this entry »
9 Comments
September 20, 2009 at 10:35 PM (Ayaikun, Preemptive Strikes)
Tags: first impressions, ps3, tales of vesperia
I loved Tales of Vesperia on the 360, so when I heard it was being ported to the PS3 with loads of extra content of course I had to check it out. The Japanese fanbase was understandably enraged when they heard about the new game (since many of them had bought the console solely for the game), but I didn’t share their animosity. I figure, the PS3 version got it over a year after the 360 version, new content is kind of expected. While some of the codes and hints found in the 360 version point towards the content being planned even before the 360 release, I just can’t bring myself to feel the rage that a lot of other fans do. Well, that, and I didn’t buy a 360 just to play the game.
I went ahead and pre-ordered the Japanese version of Tales of Vesperia, because chances of the game getting an NA release were dubious (though since then, rumors of the voice actors being called back coupled with Vesperia PS3’s staggering sales numbers in Japan have given us hope). While I’m only a measly 200-level student in Japanese, I can read enough to be able to play the game without struggle and know the story well enough to not be bothered by my lack of fluency. I was hoping that the fun of the original coupled with the new content would be compelling enough for me to give it another run-through. So how does the PS3 version stack up against the original? Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments
September 17, 2009 at 9:22 PM (Ayaikun, English Class Trolling)
Tags: bioshock, poetry, ps3, xbox 360
So… basically, I had to sign up for an English class for college last year. I went into the class expecting to have boring topics shoveled down my throat, and wound up getting absolute freedom to write whatever I wanted, with some minor guidelines. Among rants about ignorant game violence bashing and monologues from the point of view of Yoshi, I chose my final project in the class to be about Bioshock. A couple of people expressed interest in some of my projects, so I’ll be posting them here under the category that pretty well expresses my intent for the entire class: “English Class Trolling”. Whenever I post one of my papers, I’ll give the outlines for the project.
The outlines for my final projects were as follows:
- Write a poem in the style of James Wright.
- Poem must be about a crime.
- First part must contain an introduction, where you were born, and a description of your location in relation to the crime.
- Second part must contain a confession and an expression of disgust.
- Third part must begin with the word “Idiot”.
- Fourth part must begin with an expression of pity.
- Fifth part must contain references to a king, a kingdom, and a prince.
- Sixth part must contain a quote and be no longer than 3 lines.
- Seventh part must contain a declaration in parenthesis.
Other than that, we had total freedom for our topics and our analysis of the topic. So I give you, “The Failed Utopia”! For the record… my English teacher had no idea what the hell was going on. Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments
September 4, 2009 at 2:40 PM (Ayaikun, Rants For Great Justice)
Tags: pc, ps3, rant, team fortress 2, xbox 360
Yeah, yeah, I know. With the current escapades of Team Fortress 2, I’m sure this is probably a pretty tired subject right now… but I’d like to give my two cents anyway on the subject of MMO bannings.
For those who haven’t heard the news, this is basically the scoop: Team Fortress 2’s random “hat drop” system (which I’m not entirely familiar with, only briefly playing the game months ago) has recently been at the center of a lot of controversy surrounding measures taken by Valve against the use of a third-party program that gave users the advantage over legitimate players. Basically, anyone using the program (which aided them in idling to obtain more hats than those that actually played the game instead of leaving it on while they did other things, like sleep) lost all of their hats, while players who did not partake in the exploit were given a bonus hat. Since this is online gaming and therefore SERIOUS BUSINESS, outrage in both directions was sure to rear its ugly head in no time. Players who wer punished for using the exploiting software are crying out against Valve, citing that they only did it because of weaknesses in the system, because there was no explicit rule against it, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. Either way, there’s a lot of general unhappiness and hostility against the players who DIDN’T cheat, who are now experiencing hardship in game for their honesty.
As a long-time player oFinal Fantasy XI (five years, actually), I’ve seen things like this happen more times than I can count. In this TF2 example, my opinion is pretty clear cut: You cheated. You used third-party tools that probably went against the TOS. It should have been common sense that you there was always the possibility of punishment, and you should’ve been ready to accept it. Honestly, Valve is being pretty lenient in not just outright throwing bans left and right like other companies may have. But it’s always not so easy, and sometimes the innocent become casualties in mass-reprimanding movements of the online community. Is it always right, or can it turn into a witch hunt? And why is the community always so angry? Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments
August 21, 2009 at 4:51 AM (Ayaikun, Preemptive Strikes)
Tags: first impressions, resident evil 5, xbox 360
A while ago at college, a friend of mine borrowed Resident Evil 5 from a friend of ours, but returned it before I got a chance to play because he so strongly disliked it. When prompted for his reasoning, he responded that it was because he didn’t like the lack of being able to shoot while in motion. As someone who’s played other games in the Resident Evil series (most notably, Resident Evil 4), I had no delusions that the game would change to disclude that particular mechanic.
Maybe it was knowing what I was getting into, maybe it’s being a fan of the series’ style for a while, or maybe it’s the fun and often hilarious co-op play… but I definitely have a different first impression of the game than my friend. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments
August 18, 2009 at 7:12 AM (A Reviewer is Me, Ayaikun)
Tags: review, tales of vesperia, xbox 360
… I guess it would be no shocker to anyone at this point if I said I really like Tales of Vesperia.
I picked up the game last winter because I’m a big fan of the character designer, Kosuke Fujishima (who also did the designs for Phantasia, Symphonia, and Abyss). I’m a casual Tales series player. I’ve only ever beaten Symphonia, even though I own almost all of the localized (and some Japanese) games in one form or another. I’ve started quite a few of them, just haven’t gotten around to finishing. I do love the series, but until I’ve beaten more of them I wouldn’t go as far as to call myself a real fan (though I’m attempting to change that with my current marathon!).
Anyways, despite picking it up almost 6-months beforehand, I’d never really touched the game until June of this year because I was at college and could never find any time alone to sit down and play a long, dialogue-heavy JRPG. When I finally got home, I decided to make it my summer RPG of choice. And here I was, thinking that I would actually get to play other RPGs while I was home… Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments
