Quarter 1 2013

by infinitespark

Sorry for the recent blogging. (I know it's only once a month so far in the last four months, but I didn't intend to blog this much.) Here's my Q1 2013 blog, rounding up some things that's been happening to me so far in the first quarter of this year. I was doing this roundup blogging back in Gamespot and had the urge to run it here on Giant Bomb. Instead of overwhelming you of paragraphs of te...

Q1 2013 Goings On

Crazy hours poured into work: extra hour or two on the weekdays, came into the office some Saturdays, worked from home on some instances.
Uneven billing schedule caused continuous workload from one month to next without a breather. (I finally got a little bit of a breather now.)
Conducted my first interviews for a temporary accounting position to help out my PAC co-worker and myself. Interviewed three folks. Sent an offer to the guy I interviewed in February, but he declined. A woman I interviewed last week accepted our offer, she'll start Wednesday for us. I don't think she'll help out tremendously, but I'll take whatever help I can get.
Just shifted working hours from 8 AM to 5:30 PM(-ish) to 7 AM to 4:30 PM (-ish). Now I'm waking up at 5 AM!
Concern for my parents: my mom has a streak of gray hairs growing; my dad's been battling boredom and the urge to drink alcohol; both have been asking me for money to pay for their business expenses.
I've been battling myself a lot to keep a clear head. There are some days where I fall getting into some mood swings and self-loathing. It's been affecting my enjoyment of playing games (and my other hobbies) at times.

Q1 2013 Gaming

Few Thoughts

I am surprised that I completed nine games up to this point. None of the nine games blew me away, but some games impressed me more than others. Five out of the nine games I completed are platformers. I expect my completion rate to slow as I'm currently focusing on two JRPG games and not jump around playing too many different games.
I'm still hanging out with a few other folks at the Giant Bomb IRC Chat Room, through I haven't been chatting a lot with the folks there. I haven't played as many games compared to the guys there, don't know a lot of the big personalities in the video game industry, and not too keen with everything Giant Bomb.
I continue to buy too many games for my own good.

Completed

Sound Shapes
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Forza Horizon
Anarchy Reigns
Mark of the Ninja
Super Mario 3D Land
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Retro/Grade
BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Keeping a running list of games completed on my profile here. Wrote some thoughts on the games I beat on DPADD.

Current Active Games

Persona 4 Arena - Yeah, I'm still playing this game, though not as actively as before. I'm still enjoying playing this game despite getting my butt whooped for the most part. I guess it's an accomplishment that I rose my overall win percentage from the low 30% range up to 37.5% currently. I managed to get to a B+ rank briefly in January before falling back down to a C rank. Sometimes I get disheartened by watching high-level Chie play from local and major tournament streams. I won't get close to playing my Chie up to their level ever, but I'll still do my best to put up a good fight.
Fire Emblem: Awakening - I got the game at the date of release (Feb 4th), but didn't start the game until two weeks ago. I've playing this game slowly, been grinding and figuring out who to pair up with who using the DLC map packs. I've had a terrible track record with JRPGs as of late (particularly not grinding enough), so I'm being more methodical with this game. Loving the gameplay as I am a fan of strategy RPGs (Advance Wars, Devil Survivor). This is my first game into this franchise.
Atelier Meruru - Finally got around to start this game. I've only play the game briefly, but from what I was able to judge from the brief time I played it, it's Atelier Totori refined. Slight changes to the battle system, task assignments, and other things here and there. I feel obligated to get through this game since I am the top wiki editor for Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori. I hope to both complete this game if possible (I failed to complete Atelier Totori) and flesh out the wiki page as much as I can.
Dirt 3 - I'm returning to this game to fill in my racing thirst after I completed Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Forza Horizon. I dropped this game quickly when I first got it at around launch because I got frustrated over the Gymkhana tutorials, but I sort of got it this time around. I don't like doing the Gymkhana events though. The racing events on the other hand, still pretty fun. I'll see if I can at least finish the single player events here.
Bit.Trip Runner 2 - Yeah, I already beat this game, but I found this game to be pretty calming in a weird way and been playing it as my "cool down" game as of late. I may go for an S-rank of this game.

Q1 Non-Gaming Notables

Neurosis/Baroness Concert at Union Transfer in Philadelphia
Read two books! [The Signal and The Noise: Why Most Predictions Fail, But Some Don't by Nate Silver; The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker]
Searching for Sugar Man [Won Best Documentary Film in this year's Academy Awards, fabulous film about searching for the elusive musician Rodriguez and his strange big influence his music had in South Africa.]
Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind LP [I've been listening to this album a lot this quarter and helped me get through some of my unhappiness after reading an interview with the singer on some of the song's messages in this album.]

Q2 Gaming

New Additions

Definite: The Last of Us; Pandora's Tower (to complete the Operation Rainfall library)
Maybe: Injustice

Goals

High - HAVE FUN!
High - Not to buy too many games.
High - Finish Fire Emblem: Awakening.
Mid - Finish Atelier Meruru and work on game wiki page.
Low - Finish Dirt 3.

Backlog Attack? (Per Platform)

PS3 - Atelier Meruru --> another JRPG (not sure which game)
3DS - Fire Emblem: Awakening --> Etrian Odyssey IV --> Code of Princess
X360 - *groans* Borderlands 2?
Wii - *groans* I don't think I'll get going on the Operation Rainfall games...

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Q1 Additions [AKA: Where I Burn My Money]

Video Games

Anarchy Reigns [PS3]
BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien [PSN]
Darkstalkers Resurrection [PSN]
Earthworm Jim HD [PSN]
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron [XBL]
Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan [3DS]
Fire Emblem: Awakening [3DS]
Final Fantasy Tactics [PSN]
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch [PS3]
Paper Mario: Sticker Star [3DS]
Retro/Grade [PSN]
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time [PS3]

DLC

Dirt 3

Asian X-Games Track Pack
Monte Carlo Track Pack

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Champions
Golden
Lost Bloodlines
Rogues
Smash

Rock Band 3/Blitz

Aerosmith - Aerosmith Pack
Buckner & Garcia - "Found Me the Bomb"
Duran Duran - "Girls on Film"
EMF - "Unbelieveable"
Jackson 5 - "ABC"
Magnus "Souleye" Palsson - "Positive Force"; "Potential for Anything"
R.E.M. - R.E.M. Pack
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"
The Zombies - "She's Not There"

Music

A majority of music albums I buy are on vinyl format. There are a few that are CD format and a couple that are in digital format. Yes, I buy way too many music albums.

Action Bronson - Blue Chips
Andy Stott - Luxury Problems
Arms & Sleepers - Bliss was it in that Dawn to be Alive
Arms & Sleepers - Matador
Brian Eno - Here Comes the Warm Jets
Chelsea Wolfe - Apokalypsis
Clutch - Earth Rocker
Codine - When I See the Sun (Box Set)
Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind
Divine Fits - A Thing Called the Divine Fits
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
The Evens - The Odds
Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords
Iceage - You're Nothing
Jawbreaker - Bivouac
The Joy Formidable - Wolf's Law
The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society
Kool A.D. - 19
Kool A.D. - 63
Lee Hazlewood - Trouble is a Lonesome Town
Lone Doe - Marion EP
Low - The Invisible Way
L.W.H. - CIA TV
The Men - New Moon
Minot - The Ringing is Silence Between Your Ears (7-inch)
My Bloody Valentine - mbv
Nas - Illmatic
Neuorsis - Honor Found in Decay
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction
Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
Pig Destroyer - Book Burner
Rodriguez - Coming from Reality
Roky Erickson (w/ Okkervil River) - True Love Cast Out All Evil
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch
Shin Joong Hyun - Beautiful Rivers and Mountains: The Psychedelic Rock Sound of South Korea's Shin Joong Hyun 1958-1974
Shin Joong Hyun - Shin Joong Hyun & The Yup Juns
Sleep - Dopesmoker
Stars of the Lid - The Ballasted Orchestra
Ty Segall - Slaughterhouse
Ty Segall - Twins
Veronica Falls - Waiting for Something to Happen
Yo La Tengo - Elect-O-Pura

Other Additions

The Age of Miracles [fiction]
Girl Friends Complete Collections #1 & #2 [manga]
Haganai: I Don't Have Many Friends Vol #2 [manga]
Searching for Sugar Man [documentary]

Secret Images

Shots of my turntable, vinyl collection, and a cool looking vinyl.