Right now, I am honestly not sure what to write about. Things have kind of been in limbo as of late. E3 left me kind of empty inside. There have been no interesting games released as of late (although I do need to find a way to pick up Final Fantasy IV for DS). And I am still trying to finish up GTAIV. I really should have finished that game before I headed into MGS4. (There are way too many games I play this year ending in the number four.) At this point, I am fairly certain that I am near the end of the story for GTA, but needs about 25% more to get 100% completion. There have been over 50 hours of my life poured into Liberty City at this point and I really don’t want to stop anytime soon. Really, this is because the last 10 hours I have put into this game have been my best so far.
These 10 hours aren’t the best because of the story or the missions, but because I took a step away from the game. Seriously, I was playing GTAIV non-stop from release day until about the day before MGS4 came out. And by non-stop I mean whenever I had a free moment and the TV wasn’t already being used by my wife. The problem with this is I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the game. My tasks usually focused on completing the missions at hand and attempting to keep all of my relationships at their optimum reward levels (except for Dwayne…I’m not sure why I chose to let him live sometimes.) However, when I returned to GTA IV I focused less on relationships, even more on the missions, and a lot more on the side missions. For some strange reason, this allowed me to see some things I had not seen before.
My eyes were opened to bums with real, polygonal cardboard signs that bugged me for change. While I got nothing worthwhile in return for said change giving, it still was something I had yet to experience. Another great pastime I have also focused on is ramming motorcycles with the largest SUVs I can find. Of course, these motorcycles were occupied and it was fairly enjoyable to see how far I could fling a body (yes…I am a sadist in Liberty City). Honestly, I try to find as many ways as I can to send the most bodies into the air. Filling up gas stations with cars and somehow trapping citizens in a ring of fire would be a great accomplishment…I just don’t know to do it yet. It would be helpful if I could pick up citizens and throw them around. Oh well.
Back to my point, I think overall it helps to step away from a game for a while and then return to it after a short break. When focusing on a game too much, a routine is developed on how you play it, what you see, and what you do. Moving away to a completely different experience and then coming back to it allows you to re-approach your gameplay. For example, when playing MGS4 I focused on the simply stunning look of the game and a lot of sneaky-like gameplay (I say sneaky-like since I like to run n’ gun). When I came back to Liberty City, this routine was still ingrained in me. Missions were played with a bit more use of the cover system and I started to notice a lot more about the world around me. It really was an eye-opening experience.
Should everyone take this approach to gaming? I am not sure. But I think it would greatly help. I do know it doesn’t help to take a long break from a game and then come back though. Every summer I used to play Final Fantasy VII. People like Ian McKellen read the Lord of the Rings once a year…I played the same video game once a year. Great tradition. Anyway, I would gear up for this and use the same playthrough techniques time and time again. If I were to use the prior technique of playing it for about a month or a few weeks followed by a short break and then jumping back into it again, I may have completely changed my approach to the game. Although I am not sure sure what else I could have brought to the FFVII table since I pretty much accomplished everything in that game (and broke the memory card…but that is another story).
While I have no scientific proof to prove my point, I have my beliefs in this. Perhaps for the next few months I will use this approach to gaming. This should start with Soul Calibur IV. I could probably play that for a good solid 2 weeks and then switch to Lego Indiana Jones. Once this is completed, I can go back to SCIV for a few more days until Mercenaries 2: World in Flames comes out. Then I am in the thick of the holiday season with such jewels as The Force Unleashed to look forward to (that will make a great bday present!).
So, I guess what I have determined through all of this is a new scientific test. Play games, switch it up, and see what happens. I will report my findings as soon as I have any. Trust me.
As always, thanks for reading and I appreciate your time.
