hello again, everyone. long time. i wanted to share with you my whole view of gaming and games. the reason is: i've been lurkin' everywhere video game related for a few weeks now and all i've been seeing is people complainin' about this game, or that creator, or this company's past efforts compared to today's efforts. also, i've been seeing the term "gamer" thrown around a lot, too. so, keep a steady head, and feel free to leave me a lot of criticism if you don't agree with me, as i take you down a journey through my mind.

first off, "gamers". i don't know what peoples' interpretation of the word is, other than the fact that "if you play games, you're a gamer" and whatnot. but, i don't believe that. it's not about who has the better console, or the number of games one has. you can't buy a $200 headset for your shallow $60 fps on your $12 a month subscription fee bearing console and call yourself a goddamn gamer. it's how much of your time you put into games. every game. it's also how you experience the game, how much of it you let yourself grasp. how you interpret the story, what you relate to. you're not just looking blankly at a screen for hours mashin' that a button, or that x button, or whatever key to skip through cutscenes. you take it all in for what it's worth. and you mold your own opinion of every game. not jump on the "let's hate/love this so-and-so 'this one's just like this one but worse/better'" bandwagon. 'cause every game has its own story. and every addition to a series adds more to the lore. there's so much to experience, and i don't like seeing a game being bashed because this big wig gaming magazine gave it a low review. and i don't agree with these young kids getting the latest call of duty, winning one match (didn't even contribute, the team won) and thinking they're top dog. just like these guys who "go pro" and have big heads about it. don't get me wrong, i love watching competitive gaming, it's just that they're all sticking to one genre, and anything else sucks. if it doesn't reap rewards, it isn't worth it. now, i'm sure that's not exactly how it goes, but that's what it seems like. that is what they are portraying. far as i'm concerned, competitive gamers aren't really gamers, they're performers who use their talent in order to entertain. like actors, or athletes, or strippers. just a few professions that are in the same vein. i'm sure i went off point there, but my point is, becoming a gamer is as easy as.. i don't know. i typed and deleted a few witty comparisons, but i can't decide on one. let's just go with it being as easy as.. picking up a controller? i lost it.

next, past efforts vs. current releases. as expected, i'll talk about final fantasy. and for the final fantasy segment of this, i'll type properly (because of roman numerals). This is personal for me. My friends all play Final Fantasy as much as I do. And they pretty much say the same thing. "X is better than Y." In my personal opinion, III is my favorite. I loved the story, I couldn't get enough the job system, and I really appreciated the remake they did for the DS. But, I like the rest of the series as well. As a matter of fact, I love XIII. I play it whenever I get the chance. I think it did so much for the series. But, there is a dark side. XIII-2. Hm.. It was a great game, but I think it would've been okay to leave it out. I like both the past efforts and the current releases. Because I look forward to new games and new stories. My friends don't agree. "XIII was just a money grabber." "The leveling system wasn't good enough." The leveling system is reminiscent of X. What was the problem? I loved X's sphere system. And the money grabbing? VII started off as a revolution in 3D RPG's, or whatever. But, it got so popular, it spawned all of these spin-offs that dragged on, much like how XIII is doing now. For VII, I enjoyed the game, it was a good story.. but the spin-offs are what I like. Crisis Core is on my list of favorite games. I like the Final Fantasy series. There are amazing storylines, great characters, wonderful places and it never ceases to amaze me. Honestly.. Final Fantasy was the only thing I wanted to defend. well, zelda too. what with this new zelda that's been announced for the 3ds, which i'm excited for because it looks like a link to the past. i can't wait.

well, i might have to make this a two part discussion, because i have to get to work here in about 3 minutes and i've still got stuff to talk about. so, with that said, i think kingdom hearts: dream drop distance is needlessly complicated and it takes some getting used to, but i'm glad i finally have it. see you around, everyone.
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