Have we established I like answering surveys yet? Nope? Okay, well, in case you needed further evidence of how much I love them, Jasyla posted a pretty awesome gaming questionnaire on Cannot Be Tamed, and I couldn’t resist. These are my answers:
1. When did you start playing video games?
Honestly? I have no clue. I remember playing a number of games when I was a young kid, around five or so, although my parents were pretty strict with the whole thing; the first video game I ever played that I actually owned was ‘DuckTales: The Quest for Gold’ when I was around eight.
2. What is the first game you remember playing?
You know that terrible ET game people like to make jokes about? The one that got buried in the Arizona desert? Well, my grandmother used to have an old Atari in her apartment and the only functional games were ET and Pong; being a tiny alien just sounded a lot more appealing me. I know people like to talk about how awful that game was, but I loved it. Even though I spent most of my time playing it fruitlessly trying to levitate out of pits.
3. PC or Console?
PC! Mostly because I find console gaming is more expensive (at least, it is if you PC-game my way, with your regular laptop and mostly taking advantage of Steam sales and Humble Bundles). I’m also something of a shameless multitasker, which is a nice way to say I have a terrible attention span when it comes to games and constantly alt-tab out of them for a few minutes. Gaming on a PC enables this behaviour.
4. XBox, PlayStation, or Wii?
I’m going to default to XBox because it’s the only console I’ve ever owned.
5. What’s the best game you’ve ever played?
I don’t know if it’s the best game, but my favourite is definitely Portal 2. I loved the writing, and I loved the puzzles. (Oh, and Tetris. Tetris is a masterpiece. I’m not even kidding here.)
6. What’s the worst game you’ve ever played?
Silent Hill: Homecoming. I bought this because I wanted to try playing a scary game and someone suggested it. Lo my disappointment. Not only was it not particularly scary (it felt more like an action game than a horror game), the controls felt super clunky and the story was lackluster.
7. Name a game that was popular/critically adored that you just didn’t like.
Bioshock: Infinite. I found a lot of the combat incredibly tedious and repetitive and had to push myself to actually finish it. The story itself wasn’t terrible, but i never found Booker to be a particularly compelling protagonist, and the character I was most intrigued by throughout the game, Daisy Fitzroy, was treated horribly at the end along with all the Vox. Elizabeth was cool, I guess, but I would’ve at least liked to get a chance to play as her. (Other answers include all the GTA’s. That my favourite activity in those games is to cycle to the top of mountains and then parachute down should tell you a lot; I also feel very uncomfortable stealing pixel people’s cars.)
8. Name a game that was poorly received that you really like.
Does Star Wars: The Old Republic count? It got fairly good reviews from most gaming sites, but I wouldn’t say it was received too well by the player-base. To be honest, it’s a hugely flawed game, especially as an MMO, but I love, love, love playing through the stories for all the different classes. I also really like the lore for the Old Republic era in general.
If it doesn’t, I can’t really think of any. I think I may just be boring and play stuff other people already like. (I guess I could always go with Early Cata and its healing model.)
9. What are your favourite game genres?
Mostly, I like RPGs with good stories, or puzzle games. I also love platformers.
10. Who is your favourite game protagonist?
FemShep, all the way. I also really like the most recent iteration of Lara Croft.
11. Describe your perfect video game.
It would have an engaging story with well written characters, platforming elements, stealth elements and a protagonist who wielded a bow because bows are just the best weapons.
12. What video game character do have you have a crush on?
Carth Onasi from KoTOR, and Alistair and Morrigan from Dragon Age (even though Morrigan always hates my characters for being too nice).
13. What game has the best music?
I’ve never been someone who pays too much attention to game music, but the Bastion soundtrack is just amazing.
14. Most memorable moment in a game:
Probably the first time I beat my cousin in Super Smash. He used to be very smug about being better than me at the game, despite the fact that he actually owned it and got to play it more than once a week. It was very satisfying to get to win for once. Go Kirby!
15. Scariest moment in a game:
Well, as I mentioned above, my one and only attempt to play a scary game didn’t go so well, so I’ll have to go with the first time Lara Croft impaled herself on the newest Tomb Raider. I was like nope, nope, nope. Actually, scratch that, it was the first time I fought a Thresher Maw in Mass Effect. Those things are effing terrifying.
16. Most heart-wrenching moment in a game:
The decision you have to take at the end of Legion’s loyalty mission in ME2. It left me feeling gutted for days.
17. What are your favourite websites/blogs about games?
I like reading Polygon and sometimes Rock, Paper, Shotgun, and Gamasutra.
18. What’s the last game you finished?
Depression Quest. I can’t really say I enjoyed it, but I think it was pretty successful in what it was trying to do.
19. What future releases are you most excited about?
Dragon Age, Dragon Age, Dragon Age! *runs around excitedly*
I’m also pretty excited about No Man’s Sky.
20. Do you identify as a gamer?
For the longest time, I didn’t feel like I could identify as a gamer, since I didn’t feel I’d played enough games (a very large amount of the time I’ve spent playing games throughout my life has been spent playing either WoW or The Sims), and was really terrible about actually finishing the ones I did play. Ultimately, though, I enjoy games; I enjoy playing them and talking about them and reading about them and thinking about them. ‘Gamer’ is a handy label to describe this, so I’ve come around to using it to describe myself.
21. Why do you play video games?
For fun, mostly. And sometimes for a challenge.