PixlBit

I really need to blog more. Actually, I need to game more so I'll have more to blog about. But anyway...

I've been stressed this winter, so my energy has been "passive watch shit on Netflix" level. Only recently have I really gotten back into gaming. That was actually a product of watching the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies over two days and then feeling the desire to finish Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, which I rage quit after a game-breaking glitch that wouldn't allow me to 100% the game. I think they maybe patched it, because I played through the game from start to finish without encountering it this time around.

Looking through the stacks of unfinished games after I finished Lego Pirates, I puled out Lego Lord of the Rings, another game I quit playing due to a glitch that wouldn't let me 100% the game. Again, this time success.

After a bad day at work, I really wanted a game that would let me take out my frustrations. I tried a couple more games from Mount Backlog (thanks, Chris, for that name!), before realizing that I just wanted to replay the original three Ratchet & Clank games (PS3 HD remakes). And so I am. R&C is done, with all gold bolts found. I'm about a third of the way through R&C Going Commando (my personal favorite, mostly because of the Sheepinator), and still having as much fun as I did when they were first released on the PS2.

Last night, however, I took a break from Ratchet & Clank to check out my downloaded hoard on the PS3. i realized that I'd been sitting on Papo & Yo, totally unplayed, for several years. I didn't remember even buying it. So I started it, only planning on playing for a half hour or an hour. I was going to be good, go to bed early and get up early and actually accomplish stuff today. Yeah, that didn't happen. What did happen was that I got sucked into a game with a story about something I could relate to. I had an alcoholic father who could be abusive - never to me physically, but I have seen my mom's copy of their divorce decree and the reason wasn't irreconcilable differences. Luckily, my mom left when I was baby, so I have no memory of it, but I did have to deal with emotional abuse. I didn't know (or didn't remember) about the story when I started playing. I only put the controller down long enough to shovel some food into myself at one point and played all the way through in pretty much one sitting. It's not a game that I would call fun (or even enjoyable), it had some rough edges, it made me uncomfortable in places, and I'm so glad I played it. It's not the game mechanics that make this game, but the story. The game mechanics are pretty cool, don't get me wrong, but they definitely take a backseat to the story itself. A story that is more of an experience than just a story. And today, the more I've thought back on it, the more powerfully it has affected me.

The gameplay issues I had were pretty minor, the biggest one being the hints. For a game that for most of the game took you by the hand and practically did the work for you, when it came to a couple of puzzles at the end where I could have really used a hint, there was no hint box to be found. It's OK, I eventually figured it out, mostly by accident. I also experienced a bug where all the text disappeared, including the pause menu and the credits. I have no idea about some of what may have been important parts of the story in the last section or two, so I may have to replay the whole game to see if i did, indeed miss anything important. It's OK, it's a game I don't mind doing that with, but it might not be for a few days while the sharp edges I've been left with wear off.

And now back to Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, because I think I need the comic relief.