No Longer A Teenager
Hey guys. I feel compelled to write a short blog today, and this is the result. It's just a quick update on what's going on with me, games-related and otherwise. This year, the cake was indeed a lie - I didn't get one :( Some of you may have noticed that I turned twenty on Sunday. First of all, I'd like to thank those of you who left me birthday greetings. They didn't go unread or unappreciated...
Hey guys. I feel compelled to write a short blog today, and this is the result. It's just a quick update on what's going on with me, games-related and otherwise.
This year, the cake was indeed a lie - I didn't get one :( Some of you may have noticed that I turned twenty on Sunday. First of all, I'd like to thank those of you who left me birthday greetings. They didn't go unread or unappreciated, so thank you very much for your kind words. In terms of how I celebrated the momentous occasion, I'm afraid it was a pretty dull state of affairs as far as birthdays go. I was whisked away back to my hometown for the weekend, and spent my birthday with my family and my girlfriend. On the Saturday night we went out for a meal at a local restaurant, as a joint birthday present for my sister and I (her birthday is on March 6th). I didn't get any games-related gifts, largely because all of the games I might have considered asking for aren't coming out until later in the year. I got a couple of new pairs of jeans, a selection of CDs that I'd been hankering after for some time, and my parents put together a food hamper for me and my girlfriend to help ease our living expenses between now and Easter. Other than that I just received a bit of money (around £150 all told, I think). My final birthday gift is one that I've lined up for myself - a pre-ordered copy of Final Fantasy XIII on Amazon, which will hopefully be winging its way to me before the end of next week. I'm hoping that by then I'll have at least finished Playthrough 1 of Borderlands, so I can take a break from that and focus on this JRPG that I feel like I've been waiting forever for.
Borderlands is keeping me very busy indeed Speaking of Borderlands, it's the game that I'm focusing all my game time on to for the next week or so, in the hope that I can have it finished by the time Final Fantasy XIII arrives. Unfortunately, this means that Fable II has sort of fallen by the wayside for now, but I intend to get back into that as soon as I'm done with both Borderlands and FFXIII. I'm currently around 19 hours in, rocking a level 27 Soldier, and I've just unlocked the story mission where I can pick up the second part of the Vault Key. I'm not sure how far through I am, but I do remember Jeff mentioning in his video review that Playthrough 1 ends at around level 35, so I'm hoping that finishing it within the next week or so is feasible. As far as my opinion of the game itself goes, I'm really enjoying it thusfar. I suspect I'll put it down when I finish Playthrough 1 in order to play FFXIII, and then I'll pick it up again to sample Playthrough 2 later in the year. I also still have Final Fantasy VII on the go. I won't say too much here, due to all of my important opinions being saved for the Enduring Final Fantasy VII serial blog, but I'm still enjoying that too. Looking at it through the objective eyes of a modern gamer certainly highlights the game's flaws, but it's also giving me an opportunity to appreciate all of its good points with a renewed sense of respect for the game. Incidentally, expect Episode Four of the series before the end of the week.
SECOND WIND! Regular readers might remember that I had a bit of a scare with my Xbox 360 controller last week, where it saw fit to turn itself off every time I pulled the right trigger. In a game like Borderlands, where the right trigger is kind of important, I figured I was done for. After a bit more careful experimentation, however, I managed to deduce that it wasn't the right trigger, but the controller's vibration that was cutting off the power. I opened up the 360's configuration menus, turned off the vibration, and it's been working fine ever since. I'll probably replace it soon anyway, but it's good enough for now. One thing that's struck me is that I've barely noticed the lack of vibration since I turned it off. It's really led me to question whether vibration feedback from controllers really does add anything to the experience. A topic for a future blog? Perhaps... That's pretty much all I've got to say for now, I think. I have a lot of essay deadlines slowly creeping up on me, so don't be alarmed if my blogging starts to slip a little in its regularity. I'll try to keep the Enduring FFVII blogs coming on a weekly basis, but I suspect that updates like this will be thin on the ground for the next month or two. On the positive side, though, at least that means I'll have a ton of stuff to write about in the summer months. Thanks very much for reading, guys. I'll see you around.
Dan
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Currently playing - Final Fantasy VII (PSP)