Xbox Musings

This should be the last historical post before I start writing what will be a more typical update post. I'm looking forward to writing more of them, as these are quite a bit more taxing to write. These posts usually end up long and filled with reflection, when I'm more of a go with the flow and keep looking forward person. I don't usually like talking about myself too much, and these past couple of posts just come off (to me at least) as a bit self-important. I just wanted to establish a decent base, so people might be able to understand where I'm coming from a little better.

I thought that now you guys have a decent base to work from I should lay out some of my more recent pursuits from which the shorter, more consistent updates will use as a jumping point.

My mistress

I've been playing my Xbox 360 pretty much constantly since I got it. The thing that keeps me glued to the system is achievements. I'm an addict, if the choice exists between a PC version and Xbox, Xbox will win out. I'm not in it for the bragging or e-fame or whatever, I just love the idea that everything I play is in my history. Someone can scroll through my whole list of games, see how far I got in them, what difficulty I beat it on and more from this pool of points I've amassed over the years. It's a cool system, couple that with my slightly OCD obsession with completing or collecting everything I possibly can when I play games and you've found my crack. This has led me to put myself through some grueling challenges, some of the upcoming ones I hope to share with you later when I get video capabilities.

My most proud achievement would have to be completing Lost Planet. I firmly believe Lost Planet to be the hardest game I have ever played and beat so far. Added to that the fact that it is one of the only games I did all the multiplayer achievements legitimately without any boosting or working the system. I usually only have a very limited time for multiplayer, I usually lose interest in a couple of days or a week. Once I've seen the maps a couple times I'm good, I think I play games to experience new things and complete challenges, once I'm replaying maps, struggling against faceless people only to finish a map and do it again with no gain I fall off rather quick. For some reason Lost Planet really stuck with me, I went from enjoying it, to real frustration, to really enjoying it all over again. I firmly believe that there is a lot of depth to Lost Planet multiplayer, in nearly every aspect of the game, from movement to weapons and tactics. I haven't played the sequel yet, but just at a glance I'm not sure it's recaptured the magic. It was this game that taught me to really appreciate and enjoy animation priority, and left me looking forward to the day I finally get time to tackle Dark Souls.

T-Eng for me!

Lately I've been working through XBLA game after XBLA game. I'm a sucker for sales, and Microsoft's had so many that I've completely filled my hard drive with them. I've no longer got any space to download anything or install my disc-based games so I've decided to try and get them under control. I'm trying to complete the ones that take up the most space. I've written my review about Sonic Adventure 2 last week, which you can read here, which was the game I most recently completed. Right now I'm working through Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale. I've been on a bit of an extended RPG kick, which will hopefully provide a tonne of content you guys will appreciate.

I won't get into that too much now, or I won't have anything to say next update. I don't really know if I achieved what I set out to do with this entry, but time is up. I have a previous engagement I need to head off to in 30 minutes. See you all next time!