As we make our ways through the middle of the week, I thought it would be fun to engage in a little of what my own blog used to be famous (infamous?) for in the past: oversharing. Oversharing can (and usually does, in my case) mean sharing anything that probably should not be divulged publicly, much less on the internet, for one reason or another. But today I am going about it in the sense that what I am about to share is not necessarily scandalous, but is perhaps nevertheless something that probably does not fit the "image" of myself that I have worked diligently to cultivate online. But I figured that since Justin is rather shameless in terms of admitting this about himself, I was in the right place to divest myself of this information.
I am a closet gamer.
Not "gamer" as in one who owns every version of every possible gaming console dating back to Sega (or, no! Intellivision! Atari, even!), nor one who constantly frequents online forums and buys twenty new games every month the moment they are released. In summary, I am essentially a wanna-be gamer who used to love games and who was probably always "doin it rong," but was nevertheless deeply entertained by and to this day nostalgic about each favorite game at any given time. (Um, even though I have now "hidden" that "gaming" tag over on my own blog so that those embarrassing entries are no longer so easily accessible. LOL!)
So, because I am nice, and feeling a bit self-deprecating this week, I thought I would share some scenes from some of my favorite games of the past right here, to further embarrass myself in front of all of Justin's readers and the internet at large.
FINAL FANTASY X
I cut my adult gaming teeth, so to speak, nearly six years ago, when I was (*GASP!*) 30, on "Final Fantasy X." My lover at the time introduced me to it, and guided me through playing the entire thing over a period of a month. Even after the lover with whom I had come to associate the game left me, my love for this game remained strong, and to this day I keep several different versions of the game saved at specific, favorite parts so that I can play them again when I'm feeling in the mood. One of my favorite cut movies comes in the "Macalania Woods" portion of the game, in which two of the main characters, Tidus and Yuna, kiss and embrace to the tune of Rikki and Nobuo Uematsu's "Suketi da ne." (I know, this was back during my epic-eye-roll-inducing romantic days.)
BALDUR'S GATE
I was introduced to the RPG "Baldur's Gate" by the same lover who introduced me to "Final Fantasy X," but the game for me held no romantic overtones whatsoever. It was purely a game whose dark story arc and even darker graphics lulled me into relaxation after any stressful / soul-destroying day in my office. I realize that the term "relaxation" may read oddly, since the game is all about violence, but allow me to assure you that after one of my soul-destroying days the prospect of killing a bunch of characters rather violently on-screen promised a tremendous amount of relaxation.
GOD OF WAR II
Several years ago I and my BFF at the time became hooked on playing PS2 games together, and the first installment of "God Of War" was actually the game we played that I liked the best, but the video quality for the second game in the series was far better on YouTube. We would return to his house after (again!) soul-destroying days in our respective offices, drink copiously, and play this also very violent game; one of us playing, the other reading from an online "game guide." Because we did drink so much during game play, I can now no longer remember if we even finished the game, but it was definitely one of my favorites because I have always been a fan of games that feature a Greek mythological story line, Tom of Finland-esque muscular protagonists, and random hidden sex scenes throughout the game.
INDIGO PROPHECY
I think the game I loved the best, though, was one I discovered completely on my own, at the insistence of my old online friend @malackey: "Indigo Prophecy." Written and directed by Quantic Dream founder David Cage, the game play was new for me in that you had to play three different characters at different times throughout the game, and the decisions you made for each of them affected the outcome of the game as a whole. There were three different possible endings to the game. I sat, in complete darkness, for three whole days by myself, over a long rainy weekend in my studio in Honolulu, before I beat the entire game and saw all three possible endings, I was that obsessed with it.
I'm pretty sure that I have the best memories of "Indigo Prophecy" because it really was, in every sense of the word, one of my most cherished, and most fondly recalled, "Secret Gamer Behavior."
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