Way to Your Heart Blog-hop - Part 2

First off, happy birthday to Less Than Three Press! They put in so much love, effort and time, and there is so much love for these ladies and the work that they do! There is a bloghop to celebrate this fabulous publisher's fourth birthday, with many authors participating. Many are also doing giveaways, so check out the main post!

I had to think about what I love for this post, and it's come down to two major contenders. There are, of course, the usual (reading, writing... tumblr >.>) but for these posts I'm going to focus on non-writing related loves: video games, and horseback riding. Last week's post was on horseriding.

Today's post is about video games.

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Persona 3/4

I have an odd relationship with videogames.

It seems like I play them an awful lot, and yet I've really only finished about 6 of them all the way through to the end. Some of them might count multiple times (see: Suikoden 2, which I finished 4 times to get every ending possible; or Dragon Age: Origins, which I finished 4 times with different characters), but most of them count only once. 

I tend to play massive RPGs, mainly of the Japanese RPG variety which means that the main character is usually uncustomisable, there is a battle party that you take into  fights with you and they are usually turn based. I'm incredibly bad at first person shooters, which seems to be encompassing more and more western rpgs, so the JRPG really works for me. (No, really, my default for shooters is to run behind anybody else I'm playing with.)

FF6

I've played most of the Final Fantasy series (with 6 being my favourite)--but I've never finished a FF game. I think my problem with finishing those games tends to lie in the fact that towards the end, I get so attached to the characters and the story, that I don't want it to stop. So if I never finish the game, we're all set into a state of limbo, and I can pretend there's several more discs to get through before I reach the end. I've made it to the final area in FF8 about 5 times now, and have never done more than step through the doors, save, and quit the game.

But you know what? My system works for me. It frustrates my friends to no end, but it leaves me characters to come back to, and I enjoy that. The most enjoyable part of the games for me are the funny little dialogue lines, or the character development--essentially the story. If there's not enough story (Dragon's Dogma, I'm looking at you) then there's just not enough to keep me enthralled with the world, and I don't even make it anywhere close to the final area.

Dragon Age : Origins

I am, however, extremely skilled at one particular thing: I can make characters. I have about 8 characters on

World of Warcraft which was the limit when I stopped playing, and those 8 were not the original 8 I made when I first started playing. I started 13 different play throughs of Dragon Age: Origins, just to see every single difference that could possibly happen between races and genders. And I still maintain that the romance my male dwarf, Nemo, had with Morrigan was written in the stars. He was the prettiest dwarf ever, a ridiculously fun challenge which I had with the character creation screen.

And that is one thing I love about the western style RPGs; the character creations and the ability to romance your party if you want to. (Alistair <3) They also tend to be more player-choice oriented, enabling you to go where you want and do the quests you want rather than following the absolute set storyline through to the end. And yet, my Finishing-the-game stats are not really any more or less with the extra availability of options.

Genso Suikoden 2

I guess the reason I play them so often and never seem to finish them is simply because they're one of the best ways of escapism for me. And because I never finish them, I never have to set those characters down. Even if I have to start a new game, I know they'll be there, and I've never had to say goodbye to them, so they'll be around forever. I have to say goodbye to book characters that I love, and no matter how many times I reread the same book, I know I will always have to say goodbye to them. With my videogame characters, who I can love just as much, I've never had to say goodbye.

And by the way? Playing Suikoden 2 four times for each ending? Worth it. In fact, now I feel like playing it again. 

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For the Giveaway!

I will be giving away 1 digital copy of each of my books, or if you already own them, then a $10 Gift Certificate to LT3 Press! So all in all, 6 lucky winners per post!

All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what your favourite form of escapism is, whatever makes you happiest. I suspect books and reading will be a main one! Please leave an email address so I can contact you. The Give Away will end at 12 PM (PST) on April 15th.