Gaming marathons

Going through my box of old games recently, as well as coming across Suikoden like I mentioned in my previous post, I also came across my Playstation Final Fantasy games, numbers VII, VIII and IX. The one that really caught my eye, of course, was Final Fantasy VII.


Ahh, FFVII. This much loved, much derided game will always hold a special place in my heart. I had played RPGs previously, of course, on the Megadrive ( Genesis ); games such as Landstalker, Beyond Oasis, and the Shining Force games. FFVII, however, really opened my eyes to the possibilities of what an RPG could achieve. Since its release, I've recently noticed a bit of shift in critical opinion of the game. I accept that the nostalgia factor of this game is pretty high, but that doesn't stop me from loving it as much as I do.

And so, with this same misty eyed nostalgia making me smile like a loon, I put Disc One in my PS3 and have started up another game of FFVII. I have already played through the game twice back in the day. The first time I missed out a lot of the side quests, so I played through a second time and focused on uncovering all the secrets, such as defeating the Weapon bosses etc. Actually, come to think of it I don't know if I ever actually defeated Ruby Weapon. Bastard.

If memory serves me correctly, I think my play time for the second play-through was probably up around 80 hours or so. On top of the 40 hours I would have spent on the first play-through, this is a hell of a lot of time to spend on a game. I remember sitting in front of the TV for hours and hours, playing this game non-stop.

This got me thinking about how much I play video games now has changed. When I was in my teens, and even up to my early 20's, I could quite happily have these marathon gaming sessions. I remember the longest that I ever played a game non-stop was on Civilization II on the Playstation.


I once spent pretty much an entire day, 14 hours straight, playing this game. I remember that a lot of this time was actually spent doing nothing, just waiting between turns as the little Playstation processor took longer and longer to calculate between turns the longer that the game went. Still, I sat there like a zombie quite happily waiting for my next turn.

In my early 20's I got into EverQuest.


This was a time in my life when I didn't really have that much free time. I was studying at a Theatre school full time, had a girlfriend, had a bunch of really good friends and a good social life, but I still managed to find the time to pump hours upon hours into this game. I spent so many all nighters playing this game, and rather sadly I recall actually forgoing social occasions sometimes in order to stay home and play EQ. I remember that there was a command prompt you could type into the chat box, /char , which would bring up some info about how long you had been playing your character. My main character - because, like most players, I had two or three toons that I would play as - was Smoove Grooves the bard. I typed in /char one day, and to my horror realised that I had been playing for over a month. That's more than a month real time, around 700 hours. And this was just for one of my characters. It wasn't long after this that I quit the game. I did go back on two occasions for short bursts over the next couple of years, but the addiction was never as strong thankfully.

As I've gotten older, I've found that I simply don't have the time, or the inclination, to put in these marathon gaming efforts. It's rare that I'll play a game for longer than two or three hours in a row. A lot of this is due to how I live now. I'm engaged, live with my fiance, and have a full time job. She's very understanding about my love of games, and she's actually a bit of a games player herself, but there is no way she would be quite so understanding if I just shut myself away in the computer room for 12 hours to play a game. As well as this, I wouldn't feel right about it either. There comes a point in your life, of course, when you realise that in the hierarchy of importance games don't really rank as high as they used to.

When I was younger, I actually felt a bit cheated if a game didn't give me at least 20+ hours of gameplay. Now, at the age of 30, I actually prefer games that I can finish in 10 hours or less. Because I can't spend as much time on games as I used to, I really want to play games that I can comfortably complete without dedicating my entire life to them. Obviously I will always make exceptions for certain games, and it's not as if I'm going to not play a game simply because I know that it will take a long time to complete. However, the chances are that I might not actually complete it because I can't spend enough time on it. A couple of perfect examples of this are the two most recent Bethesda Softworks games, Oblivion and Fallout 3. I spent so much time playing Oblivion, but I never completed it. I'm still in the middle of Fallout 3. I go back to it now and then, but I'm not sure if I'll get around to completing it.

The last game that I really had a marathon gaming session on was Mass Effect on the PC.


This was last year. We were living in Melbourne, Australia, at the time and my work hours and her's didn't really match up which meant that quite often I would have the whole day to myself at home. She went off to work one morning, I jumped on the computer and booted up Mass Effect. Eight hours later she got home and I was still playing. I think this is understandable, however, because Mass Effect is a totally fantastic game. It was the game of 2008 for me.

As I'm writing this, I'm also downloading another Bioware game through Steam, thanks to their awesome holiday special they're currently running. That game is Dragon Age: Origins. Will this be the next game to coax me into a long, drawn out gaming session? From what I've read, quite possibly. Of course, this all depends on whether or not I can find the time!

Hidden gems

I was just going through a box of my old games, and came across Suikoden on the Playstation. Out of curiosity, I looked it up on TradeMe ( the New Zealand version of Ebay ), and discovered it's worth around $250 - $300 NZ. Needless to say, I have now cleaned it up and put it away safely in a drawer where it won't get scratched or damaged.

I wonder how many other people out there have old games in their collections which are worth a small fortune, and don't even realise it?

Modern Warfare 2 - Objective Complete

I just finished Modern Warfare 2. I wrote in my previous post about not being overly impressed by the game, but still hoping that it might blow me away as I continued playing. This never happened, unfortunately. Sure, it had its exciting moments, but for the first time in any Call Of Duty game I actually found myself growing slightly bored as the game went on. I found the final couple of levels in Afghanistan particularly uninspiring, and by this point I was just eager to get the game over and done with.

Going on all of the rave reviews from the press and gamers alike I get the feeling I'm in the minority with my opinion, but overall the game just never really "clicked" for me. My problems with the game that I mentioned in my previous post still stand. The story was confusing, and very poorly conveyed. I honestly didn't have a clue what was happening most of the time, or what my objectives were or why the hell I was supposed to care. I did find myself dying less as the game went on, however. I think it was mainly just the tight, death-trap streets of the Rio de Janeiro that were the main cause of my frustration regarding this aspect of the game's difficulty.

I still feel very uneasy about the worth of the "Airport" level, also. I'm still not convinced that it was necessary to have it as a playable level in the game. The fact that you can choose not to play the level, and not have it affect the story completion, attests to the fact that it could easily have been left out.

I'll still play the multiplayer side of the game to death, however, which I guess is really the main attraction of the Modern Warfare games anyway.

Modern Warfare 2 - First Impressions

Ok, so after umming and ahhing about whether or not to buy MW2 on the PS3 or PC, I decided to go with PC. As I mentioned in my previous post, I simply prefer the keyboard and mouse control that it offers. Also, finding it for $20 cheaper than on the PS3 definitely played a part in the decision.

I've played through the first five chapters of single player, and have spent a couple of hours on multiplayer. My initial impressions? To be honest, I'm a bit underwhelmed by it so far. My main problems with the game are the confusing and poorly told story, having to frequently restart due to numerous deaths caused by not having a clue what's going on around me because there are 40 million explosions all happening at once, and also that the game simply doesn't feel as fresh or as fun as the first Modern Warfare. Going back to what I said about having to restart all the time after dying, I realise that the Call Of Duty games have always been an assault on the senses, and consistently maintain a high level of intensity. The games represent, as closely as a game can, the sheer confusion of a real battlefield. However, in none of the previous games - and I have played and completed them all, except for Call Of Duty 3 - have I ever felt like I have died unfairly. I've lost count of the number of times I've just walked around a corner in MW2 and died instantly after being hammered from all directions by enemies, sometimes even from behind where I thought I had cleared all of the enemies out. To be fair, I am playing on the Hardened difficulty level, but this is the level I played all of the previous games on and I don't recall ever dying quite this much.

In my previous post, I wrote about the potential controversy of the "Airport" scene in this game. After playing through it, I freely admit that I really was quite upset and shocked by the scene. What was equally as upsetting, however, is that after it finished I realised how unnecessary it was. Infinity Ward have said:

"The scene is designed to evoke the atrocities of terrorism".

If that's all they were going for, then I guess they were successful, but what was the point? I realise that it serves a purpose in the overall story of the game, but this information could just as easily have been conveyed through one of the between level loading screens. In my opinion there was no point in having this scene as a playable level. Yes, they give you the option of skipping the scene entirely, which going on it's graphic nature would really be a good option for some people, but personally I have no problem with graphic or confronting material as long as it actually serves a purpose. Good developers go through an iteration process where they sort the wheat from the chaff in order to come out with the best game they can, so I just find it strange that this level was included as I don't think it improves the game in any way. I'm keeping an open mind about this, however, as I haven't finished the game yet and it may be touched upon later in the game. If anyone reading this has an opinion, feel free to comment. I'm genuinely curious about other people's reactions to this scene.

Now, on to the multiplayer. I was prepared to bitch and moan about the horrible online experience for the PC version, but I've actually been pleasantly surprised. Almost all of the rounds I've played have been smooth and lag free, and I consistently get three or four green ping bars. In regards to the gameplay itself, it's obviously just a slightly evolved version of the original game's multiplayer. So, it's a hell of a lot of fun is what I'm trying to say. I really like the new rewards, and all of the new weapons are a lot of fun. I can imagine myself playing the online side of this game for a long time to come, just like I did with the first game.

I probably sound pretty negative about the game overall, but I really don't think it's a bad game. I just don't think it lives up to the excellence of the first Modern Warfare. Obviously I've still got a way to go before I finish the game, so it could still pull one out of the bag and really blow me away. Like I said, I've definitely got an open mind about it.