Blog Banter : Did You Know I Love Candy?
12 02 2008Welcome, welcome to the 3rd installment of Blog Banter, the monthly blogging extravaganza headed by bs angel! Blog Banter involves our cozy community of enthusiastic gaming bloggers, a common topic, and a week to post articles pertaining to said topic. The results are quite entertaining and can range from deep insight to ROFLMAO. Any questions about Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post! This month’s topic: “What games would you suggest someone play if they wanted to get to know you better?”:
I play a plethora of different video games within several different genres. You will often catch me ogling Master Chief’s bulky cod piece as I battle the ferocious and nasty Covenant while playing Halo 3. Sometimes you will catch me fretting away to Guitar Hero III late into the night, humming the tune Hit Me with Your Best Shot while I become one with my plastic guitar shaped controller. In the afternoon I can usually be found wandering the land of Puzzle Quest, casting spells and battling monsters while saving up ungodly amounts of gold that I will never spend. Lately you probably haven’t seen me play anything but American Idol Karaoke where I have been busy competing in season after season, proving to Simon and the rest of the world that I deserve to be the American Idol for the tenth time in a row. Apparently I’m a star, who knew?
But do any of those games give insight into who I am? You may get a clue into my personality here or there from those titles but I think in order to gain significant insight into my psyche, you have to go farther back into gaming history. Back to a game full of sweet paper-maché animals that love doing the sultry romance dance. Oh yes, long live the piñatas.
Viva Piñata may be a casual light hearted game on the surface but the sandbox style of gameplay it offers allows you to play the game as seriously (or as not seriously) as you wish. I am quite similar in that regard. You may be distracted by the surface me that is constantly laughing, cracking inappropriate jokes, and always appearing to have fun but there really is more there. Just because it is kept hidden does not mean it doesn’t exist. Believe it or not.
A very obvious insight about me you can draw from this game is my fondness for adorable things and my love for taking care of people. Viva Piñata is one of the cutest games to ever exist. The piñatas are all very bright, bold, and visually pleasing. They are designed to be appealing so you will want to care for them. That is the point of the game after all. Caring for the piñatas, making sure they are well fed, getting them dressed up with accessories, building them a comfortable home to live in, basically just making them happy gives you more insight in the basics of my personality. As if I don’t stay busy enough doing these things in real life, this game allows me to focus on caring for things and keeping them happy. At the very core of my being I am a nurturer. It is what I do, it is who I am. It is the game I play every day, even when my console is turned off.
Another vital aspect of Viva Piñata which reveals a prominent characteristic of mine is the garden journal. In this journal is a very detailed checklist for all of the piñatas, all of the plants, everything they need to romance and be happy, and how to make variants of all the different species. There are boxes that are checked off one by one as you accomplish each of the goals. Games with that particular feature are dangerous for me. I am a perfectionist to the nth degree. Put a list in front of me and I will not stop until every last item is crossed off. I get obsessive compulsive and this game certainly brought that out of me. I did not stop playing this game until I had all my little boxes checked off. Piñata boxes, plant boxes, variant boxes, it didn’t matter. They needed to be completed. I shot past level 100, I had unlocked all of the achievements, but the game was not completed until all the boxes were checked. Much like Lego Star Wars, there is no being done until you have achieved 100%.
Did I mention that the piñatas love to do the “romance dance”? Not only do they love their romance dance, but they also love performing that special dance on a frequent basis. And that is where the similarities end. Just ask my husband, he can confirm that for you. This game may tell you about me, but not everything rings true. Poor, poor husband.
Now that you know a little bit more about me, is there a game (or games) you would suggest that would help someone get to know you?
Participants : Silvercublogger, The Average Gamer, Game Couch, thoughts and rants, Delayed Responsibility, Boom Stick Brigade, Boom Stick Brigade 2, CrazyKinux’s Musing, Gamer Unit, Draining Souls.net, 8-Bit Brigade, Zath Games Tech, Arm the Flag, Lou Lantos, Hawty McBloggy
Pinatas eh!
Now I know what to get you for your birthday. LOL I can’t say that this would be my type of game but - ok, it’s not at all my kinda game - I’ve got a feeling I would be surprised if I gave it a try.
And to think that I pictured you as this aggressive Halo elite player that went out killing anything and everything that move. Goes to show you how wrong one can be. wink wink!!
Now, on to the other articles…
Viva Pinata? I could have guessed that… LOL.
I may get if for the DS one day.
I thought it was going to be DDR. : )
Very nice article, my friend.
I will go check out the other articles now before I head off to college.
Oh, and this method is better! ^_^
See, that’s the exact thing, my behavior may be that way in that particular game but it’s not in real life. I try to keep my violent tendencies on the virtual battlefield only! Lol …
Ah, the romance dance. I like to refer to it as the intercourse locomotion.
I’ve played this game to completion too bs and i loved it and certain aspects of the game reflect my personality too, have you the animated series of Viva Pinata?
OK from here down is my banter read if you like I wont be offended if you don’t, I’m just hoping that we’re supposed to do this, if I had a blog I’d join in and do it on that but alas i don’t so here goes.
I’d have to say that the games that sum me up are Halo 3, not because of the violence but because of the competitive nature of the game, i love to compete whether it be on on the virtual battlefield or on a playing field (mainly playing Ultimate Frisbee), I love to compete.
Another game would be Dark Cloud because even though I’m mainly a scientific guy I love creating things (hence my love of photoshop) and even though the game is mainly a dungeon fighting, my favourite part was the georama mode where you had to recreate the villages that were destroyed, I loved this and I had to make the village perfect putting the houses in the positions i wanted and to also put them where the villagers would be happy (eg “i want my house to be facing the windmill”), because i have an overwhelming desire to please people, especially the people i consider to be good friends.
Finally, any game with achievements/goals because I’ve got to do them all, in pokemon i got every available pokemon, in red and yellow, I’m not satisfied until i have the game 100% complete, super mario 64 i got all 120 stars, in assassin’s creed I’m struggling to get all the flags and templars, in viva pinata I ticked the entire checklist, but unfortunately couldn’t get the last achievement (play for 50 hours due to the fact i rented it) and I’ve completed FF VII, VIII, IX, X and X-2 to full completion I do this mainly because I have mild OCD and this is one of the ticks (as well as having numbers ending in 0 or 5 for stuff like volume) and because in certain areas I’m a perfectionist.
Well thats all the games I can think of that some me up.
That was awesome Peniamina. It’s an interesting question to ponder, isn’t it?
I agree with your thoughts about Halo 3. That is the exact same conclusion you can draw about me from that game as well.
it is an interesting and difficult question to answer and takes quite a bit of thinking too.
I want candy
Bubblegum and taffy
Skip to the sweet skop
With my sweetheart Sandy
Got a penny saved
So I’m her sugar daddy
Sorry, couldn’t resist MC P Pants.
I didn’t play much VP, mostly because I got to a point where I couldn’t decide what to do next. I couldn’t get any new Pinatas into my garden, didn’t need to have them reproduce anymore, etc. It was a lot of fun, though.
I think it’s sort of like Pokemon (let me show you my Pokemans) in that it’s a deceptively complex game. An hour or two in it suddenly goes into sensory overdrive… ‘HEY a new pinata came into your garden HEY you have a new shovel HEY want some seeds HEY a baby is born HEY resident pinata yay HEY mating HEY mating HEY mating wait a minute isn’t that their kid they’re dancing with ew that’s sick HEY new visiting pinata’ and so on.
I was only recently introduced to Viva Pinata, and I have to agree with the all of the obsessive compulsive tendencies about that game. I got it on Sunday and have almost already reached the 10 hour mark. God help me and my poor husband!
I am so glad I am not the only one like that! I had the hardest time finding a good point in the game to stop at as well. There was never a break, there was always something (if not multiple things) that needed tending to. I would say I was going to stop in about five minutes, an hour would go by and I would still be happily gardening away. Oops!
It’s funny, I’ve wanted to play this for ages, and now that I have a 360, I’m too busy with Halo 3 to think about getting another game. You make it sound even better than it looks. Eventually, I guess.
Viva good choice! That is an awesome game… I enjoy it cuz it satisfies my love for nature and gardening. And I’m so glad that you mentioned the romance dance! When I first played and saw that I busted out laughing… thought I’ve got a good one for my wife tonight. Hurray for the “romance dance!”
Since I can’t comment on 8bitbrigade’s post I’d like to leave it here… hope that’s ok angel…
Please let me say to Canis… thanks for posting about Zork… you took me back! I loved that game!
Haven’t played Viva, but now I’m interested in seeing this “Romance Dance.” Now I have to work up enough nerve to ask BSB belpers if I can borrow it, considering I don’t have any kids, he will know I want it for me. Thanks for the article.
I liked Viva Pinata up to a point, that point was over a year ago now - I could see it being a game that was going to consume an awful lot of my time which I couldn’t afford to do! - I’ve always liked God-games of various types!
It’s a great game for the 360 and always impresses people when I give them a quick look at my save game!
Viva Pinata is like the best game ever… next to the three other best games ever. Halo 3 takes the cake for getting someone to know you, though. There are so many things to do and so many ways to do them…
P.S. @ the achievement completionist discussion- I was foolish enough to invest 20 hours into Two Worlds… with about two hours of play left for me to get that 370 gamerscore achievement, a complete development oversight made it impossible to beat. That game deserved the rating every website gave it…
P.P.S. I feel sorry for your husband, bs angel… hopefully you’ll put down the controller for valentine’s day, but only if he buys enough chocolate, right?
Maybe he’ll even find the fabled romance candy…?
If he’s lucky.
I really like Viva Pinata but, like you, I get a bit OCD with it and it frustrates me when I can’t get those little boxes ticked off. Grr…!
As for me, I always recommend people play Shining Force 1 if they want to know me better, then they’d learn that I love a world full of magic, elves, centaurs etc! With upheaval and battles against evil (hey, don’t we ALL fight evil IRL?). And that I have a pure strategic mindset (again, OCD much?) and controlling my little warriors into battle makes me happy and gleeful.
That and I’m the type of person who talks to the characters when they miss an attack or get attacked etc… I’m crazy. o-o;