Final Fantasy - the pain, oh the pain.

God I am a hopeless gamer chick.

So, I am currently at Chapter 10 in Final Fantasy 13 and....currently getting my ass whupped by Cid. THAT BASTARD!!! He ticked me off because I am convinced somehow...he cheats. I get so damn close and then....he kills Light....and I get pissy....because....haven't I suffered enough? I've been so bored but can't walk away. I have to beat this game. I have to find out what happens at the end so I know I'm gonna stick it out and complete it. Its just I am not fond of mindless grinding - its why I quit WoW. Plenty of gamers can grind and do it happily and exceedingly well and I'm not taking anything away from them. Its just there are different kinds of games for different kinds of gamers...and....I don't grind happily, I wanna get down and strategize and switch up....oh crap....I think I just had an revelation....I am a controlling gamer harpie....ouch. That could explain why I was so happy that Altair jumped off taller than tall pinnacles when I told him too in Assassin's Creed.

I am a tad frustrated at the lack of interaction and the linear-ness (is that a compound word I can use?) in FF13. I weaned my gaming teeth on the teet of Knights of the Old Republic where I fell in love in with roleplaying. And while I am up for FPS adventures like Max Payne, Gears of War (Marcus is my boyfriend *gloat*), Kane and Lynch and GTA 4....I still like to feel dragged in by my heels and allowed to partake in the adventure. Its the cave girl in me, I guess. But FF13 always makes me feel like an outsider...is that deliberate?...my over active imagination?...don't say it my hormones, cause I just know that ain't it.

So...I don't know what to make of FF13. I play one handed most of the time, only occasionally having to shift to two to change my chain of attack...although I have to use two hands in the boss fights more often but its still mostly one-handed. Like....with Cid....I switch more. (I am gonna kill him)

For those keeping score...want to slap Hope 1, wanted to slap Snow 1. In the moment, I wanted to slap Hope but now I feel a bit bad about that. And during one moment I wanted to slap Snow to get him to "snap" out of it! (It isn't wise to listen to his muttering to himself in the Ark - or subway tunnel, since that is what it REALLY looks like)

Apparently now my characters can develop in any area of expertise....so what the f**k did I just spend all that time developing Lvl 4s for? Anyway, I don't care. I am going to continue my characters on their present paths of development as I am satisfied and hope for the best at the end. Thats if I can, you seem to have to develop a character in 3 areas up to now before you can lvl up again, which is another albeit slight annoyance. Sometimes more of less is easier to manage and focus.

I have also ignored all new weapons and simply focused on upgrading each character's weapons equally across the board. All are currently at Lvl 9 or above...not sure if it helps. Also....Eidolons...they don't help much for all their showy displays but do tend to return everyone to full power in the team when their finished. Hmmmm. Chapter 10....can 13 be far now? Yes, yes it can. Because they can throw a hole bunch of horrible creatures in your path to keep you grinding, keep you hanging/tripping up until the very, very, very end which could be a long, long, long time from now.

i am gonna kill that Cid guy though. Just as soon as I have a hot cup of tea and prepare myself for a few more disappointing deaths because the little sh*t cheats (I swear he does!)

J-Cat commented about Vanille's hug on Hope. Yeah, that was pathetically sad for that poor kid. LOL. I think the poor sap was caught a bit off guard....but later....when Lighting hugs on him, he seemed to like that a whole lot more. Pervy boys and older women. Ooooo yah. AND....OMG!!!! The freaking nipples on the shirtless Snow!!! I mean...I really admire a lot of the beautiful artwork I find in games. FF series is reputed to be beautiful but this the first FF I've ever played. I've found myself staring at the lip gloss worn by the FF13 girls and thinking I need to get me some of that...games really are art and a lot of fun. But the nipples on Snow are amazing. I sat staring at them wondering what artist where sat and literally drew, painted and graphically layered in that kind of detail into a game character male's nipples?  Is there some development team someplace saying "We make his nipples so real, all the gamer chicks will get horny". Or is there some artist stuck in the corner of a basement lamenting "I am such a perfectionist, no one will even notice or appreciate this man's nipples"    For the record. Loved the nips boys!!! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and those were beautiful to behold. Sure beats the typical Japanese panty flashes of Vanille and any other young female in Japanese based games or anime or manga or...you get the picture.

On another note...I went out on the weekend and got myself....*sqeaks with giddy girl delight*....my gamer's den CHAIR!!! Yes, finally!!! I groaned and moaned but that is all the past. I have claimed my space. Decisively and for good. Okay...backstory...my gaming den also housed a periodic guest room so I had a huge monterously-ugly bulky sofa bed in it which was my only seating for gaming. It was the big soft pillowy kind of style and...I hated it. It didn't have a high enough back...you pull a marathon gaming weekend its nice to have back support, especially upper back. This didn't. So I would slunker down, which caused the seat cushion to ride forward so load times on games were also finding me standing up, tucking the seat cushion back and fluffing up the back pillow and trying to get my ass back in the chair and controller at the ready. This is no way for a serious gamer to live. And I am almost embarassed at this reveal. The bed is great, very comfy but....not the sofa. No, no.  Its hardly ever been used, one skinny man-child (my son) at Christmas for a few days tops.

Then a miracle happened...my hubby got let go from his work. Sucks but it happens and it had a bonus. We no longer needed our 3rd bedroom as his junked up office. I've converted his old office into a nice little guest room. Tah-dah! Realigned my living room to move some bookcases from my gaming den down. The room freed-up in the game room from the bookshelves now houses my PC and printer and....my tablet (so maybe I can finally get back to graphic playing). So, my x-box, my 360 and my PC are all now housed in the same room. WOOT!!! This required me to float the ugly couch out a bit into the centre of the room....THE couch....the big-whopping ugly one!!! It didn't look good and is hard to maneuver around as space is limited so....I went shopping (I am not a girly girl or a shopping girl) looking for the best bargin I could get. In under a week - mission accomplished. I wheeled dealed and shopped and viewed and questioned...I was a woman...a gaming woman on a gaming mission. AND - I got a leather reclining loveseat. RECLINING!!! Damn, I can game in comfort, put the seat back, gain some winks, wake up and then get back to it! Ummm, okay, thats a bit overboard, so likley no...but....I could if I wanted to. Better - I got it with money I'd already saved. And I am very happy and very excited. Now, I just have to sell the sofa bed. Sofa beds are heavy. Conan the Barbarian kinda heavy. I don't want to move it - at all. So...I want to sell it cheapie cheap with the basic "Come and get it, you move it, its heavy so come prepared with many friends to provide hands and backs, cause I won't" Okay, I'll work on the wording....

A funny thing happened last night...the hubby entered the gaming den and watched me suffer, er, struggle along through FF13 for a bit. He isn't a gamer per se. (A bit of racing car games, card games, hidden object games) He marvels at my ability to kick ass in games and I know he is tempted but....wouldn't cross over. However, he likes Western movies. No...he loves them...not all...but good ones....he loves. Well...I had a game I bought in a bargin bin for my 360 quite awhile ago called Gun. I hadn't even cracked the case. When I had to finally go to bed (I still gotta work, woe-is-me) I unwrapped Gun and popped it in my console, handed the controller to my hubby and gave him a bit of  tutoring. He isn't a gamer and he is a complete virgin so he was all thumbs and having trouble with the controller. Weren't we all there once? I think my sitting there only made things worse, because its easier for me now and I think the ease he sees me play with now is a bit intimitating to his beginning learning curve. So...I went off to bed and left him alone to sort the game tutorial out for himself without my watching over him and my final words of wisdom "Right thumbstick is where you want to look, left thumbstick is to move you where you're looking". And when he drove me to work this morning he happily reported he'd shot a Grizzly Bear and sunk a ship. YES!!!

And perhaps another gamer crosses over and worlds will be saved.....or not.

My cat plays in the bath tub....when it has water in it....wtf?