Orius

I was beginning to enjoy this element of RPGs recently, the freedom of being able to interact with a world and everything. One thing that bothered me though is when these games don't use these elements creatively. For example, if you don't interact with certain characters, the only consequence is that you won't be as powerful, or your 'stats' won't be as great, etc. I prefer it when it's something like "Chrono Trigger", where the consequences are associated with the kind of fate/ending your character will receive by the end. It's so much more fun than just, "Oh, I'll have a harder time killing monsters because I missed that buff."

I don't really read a lot of books, even when they have pictures in it. That said, my favorite manga are some of the darker psychological stories, like Oyasumi Punpun. That was fun, as it talked a lot about controversial themes that made me question my perspectives and stuff. I like it when stories do that, giving the audience an opportunity for discussion. I'm not sure why, but I'm drawn to depressing stories like Punpun. There's just a certain addiction that comes with reading about a screwed up life spiraling into despair. It makes you want to see how much more torment would the protagonist go through. And it's great that Punpun didn't do it in an extremely unrealistic manner like many so-called 'dark manga' stories, and its themes keep to rather realistic subjects such as heartbreaks, bullying, religious bigots, and even the meaning of continuing living in a meaningless world where 'God' is a figure of your imagination. Yeah, it's that kind of story. Another manga that shared this depressing tone of nihilism was another of my favorite, "Bokurano". Not only was it fun to deconstruct some of the unaddressed aspects in sci-fi/action movies (like the collateral damage in the recent "Man of Steel"), it has really well-written characters as well, which is a bonus when you are reading about a story that deals with the vulnerability of a child living in an adult world. A more cruel story, written by the same author, was called "Shadow Star Narutaru". lol I read that merely for the guilty pleasure of seeing characters suffering. It's not terrible by any means, but it's so dark that it might induce apathy among some readers.

lol "Casual". Yeah, I picked "casual" and "adventure". I'm not really a 'hardcore' gamer per se. I like my games to have good stories (a trait that many gamers frowned upon), and I mostly prefer CYOA games with dialogue choices and a branching storyline. Many visual novels have that, but they just don't have the same kind of interactivity games like "Mass Effect" do, as it immerse you in the decision-making. Many RPGs have this element as well, but it's not an aspect exclusive to the RPG genre, which is why I didn't choose that. RPGs can be fun, but sometimes, the gameplay kinda bogs down the story for me, resulting in me quitting before I could get through the story because I had to do multiple backtracking and mundane stuff like that. This is why I enjoyed Telltale's games a lot, as they were created with specifically the story in mind. Even a game with good story like Silent Hill 2 wasn't really the most amazing story ever, because its focus was on the survival horror elements. Not that it's bad, of course, just that it's not my thing. It's a shame there aren't more games like the Mass Effect trilogy out there. I know a lot of old RPGs have massive branching storyline, but their pixelated character sprites kinda bothered me. lol

I'm all too familiar with these "licensed games" (as they are referred to by the gaming community at large). lol They are so bad. Some of them can be fun when you are familiar with the franchise as a fan, but the enjoyment only goes as far as your devotion to the fandom. One thing to note is that there's a misconception about some of these licensed games. Persona, IIRC, is not an anime-based game. Persona 4 is a game-based anime. It's the other way round. The same thing with Pokemon. It's probably why they are more well-made, because they weren't created with the intention of cashing in on an established franchise/license. I did play a couple of decent anime-based ones like Digimon Adventure PSP, though that particular title felt like a cheap advertisement for the anime with lackluster and uninspired dialogues that didn't connect with me on an emotional level the way the anime did. The side-quests are really interesting though, as they further developed the characters through slice-of-life missions that takes you deeper into the character backstories. And then you have Alien: Isolation, which I'll admit, has excellent gameplay value, but as a companion to one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, it really pales in comparison. I know I shouldn't compare, but I was kinda disappointed that the story wasn't even remotely amazing or entertaining like the two Alien movies. I mean, this was made for the fans of the Alien movies, right? Then why are you pandering to the video game community and focused on the gameplay instead? The story was yet another generic corporate evil storyline that ended with no resolution whatsoever as to whether if Amanda has any closure to her mother's disappearance. It just felt disappointing. It was a good step towards future Alien games, but I think it was a little overrated by the fans (IGN underrated it to a ridiculous level). Anyway, my point is, when these games are created with the intention of cashing in on a franchise, the result is often uninspired. You can tell from start to finish that their main purpose, albeit not their sole purpose, was to slap together something decent and sell it.

Subscriptions, definitely. I'm not a rich guy, but damn, those f2p games can sometimes be god-awful. And it gets worse when it's merely "f2p with limited features" like "Star Wars: The Old Republic", as it merely gives crappy features that make you go through a frustrating experience that ends with you paying for it anyway. I guess it is possible for some f2p game creators to make a good game, if they are talented enough, but I just don't think it's very practical. Guild Wars 2, I'll admit, was one of the more well-made exceptions out there, so that's a plus. If only more f2p games could follow in its footsteps... whatever it is the GW2 creators did. But yeah, my experience with these games is, a game with at least a cheap subscription usually has the better content. However, don't get me wrong - this is a double-edged method because the companies ended up being greedy and stuff and make you pay for all kinds of extra features that would have made your gaming experience fun and complete ("City of Heroes" comes to mind), so they aren't that great to begin with. I usually just stick with single-player games that you purchase with a single payment. It has always served me well.

30 degree Celsius, mostly cloudy, with a precipitation of 30%, a humidity of 70%, and a wind speed of 5km/h.

lol I like the 'like' system present in forums like this. That way, I won't spam up the place by replying to every single 'welcome' message with a repetitive 'thank you'.

New member here. What's up? I've been watching anime for quite a few years now, though recently, I haven't really been in the mood for anime-viewing. My favorite anime as of now is Gintama, and I'm really glad that a new season has been released, such that it got me back into anime-viewing. So, other stuff about me... I'm from Asia. I love movies. And I play a little video game here and there sometimes, recently completing "Digimon World 1". Here's hoping I would meet some cool folks around here. Ciao.

I was not a big fan of magical girl anime. Then Madoka came along and I liked it, because it's not really a magical girl anime. lol Having said that, I did used to like Cardcaptor Sakura as well.

Having seen the kind of fillers I had, I usually know their quality and would just skip them to get to the main story the author/mangaka was trying to tell the audience (too lazy to read the manga ). Stuff like Detective Conan and Fairy Tail hardly had interesting fillers, AFAIR, so I wouldn't regret much. Of course, there are well-written anime series out there who make good use of fillers to give us a deeper insight to the story (FMA:B, hell yeah). That would be the kind of filler I would watch.