Nalabox In Complicated Relationship with: Tomb Raider (2013)

Bet y'all thought I'd say I hate it right? Well, I do.

And I sort of don't.

Me and Lara have had such a turbulent partnership from the outset even before I started to truly play the game. She was to be my first YouTube video upload! But it was not meant to be. My PC, the program I was using and my internet connection was against us from the start. But first impressions aren't always to be taken as they are. You must always give people the benefit of the doubt. I'm nice like that. I played the intro of this game repeatedly for 2 weeks until I got it to work. I was already sick of that damn beach, but I wasn't going to let it stop gaining any positive experience of the game, that was just outside factors preventing us from being together.

One of my many distractions. Val @ 3months Old.

I've never played a Tomb Raider game before and thought this would be a good place to start chronologically. Sense made?  

You all saw my moments of joy and rapid escalation into rage at certain points. We all know this game is broken, those gods damn quick-time-only-work-within-certain-pixels-events were a joke. That creepy way she would appear on puppet strings would pull me out of the immersion that we were experiencing that island together. Was that the intention of the game makers? To make us feel like, we are not only witnessing the transformation into the Lara that you all know and love, but that we are experiencing it alongside with her or we are her? I have no idea. Oh boy did I experience that place. It was a very emotionally involving game but not for the game play but the bloody frustration just getting past those glitchy-as-fuck-events. Again, that's not the game really is it? that's the design of the thing messing with me, yes it's a factor as part of any review but it still didn't deter me from playing the game. You guys know I've uninstalled games quicker for a lot less shit happening. It also wasn't realistic for a Survival game either as discussed in a previous blog post clicky here clicky. Yet I still wanted to play it.

I love Lara but I can't stand Lara.

There is a duality to this game. There are in fact two Lara Croft's.

Gameplay Lara and Cut-scene Lara.

If you focus on only one of them you in fact are playing a completely different game. You are presented with a completely different character. It all starts after Cut-scene Lara kills that nameless shouty man. That rapey man. That's the moment when Lara's whole psychology separates to a one where she takes that experience and internalises it and a one where she takes that experience and intensifies it. 

Gameplay Lara is competent and adaptive to her environment. She, or maybe it was me driving the character, is capable of smart survival.The only thing that holds her back is the progress of skills that get unlocked during the game, which I found to be too late to when you would actually need them. Melee weapon. First thing any character in any game is capable of wielding. She had the climbing pick attached to her leg the entire game but couldn't use it to defend herself, she could only dodge but not actually puncture anyone with it or climb certain walls until after certain events that Cut-Scene Lara had to overcome. But she was seemingly perfectly proficient in such skills BEFORE Cut-scene Lara had to learn it. This Lara's character development has been the most engaging and the most complete, in my own honest opinion, that would lead to the persona of the previous games' Lara Croft.

Cut-scene Lara is the portrayal of Lara that upset a lot of people, not only the fans of the previous games but also those who get upset about the portrayal of women in videogames. This Lara is a frilly dress short of the princess in the castle but she's no longer the physically unrealistic woman. I cannot compare this Lara to either of those things as I don't have experience with the previous games and I only learned of the feminist outrage after I played the game for a few hours. We were told this would be a different Lara and that they made her more gritty and believable but this Lara, again in my honest opinion, hasn't developed enough, well she has. but not anywhere near the persona of the Lara Croft's that came before her. She's the alternative reality Lara, who didn't really save herself in the end, I feel like *I* was the one to save her. Our experience of that island was not a shared one, but a one in which I had to drag her skinny little ass up that damn mountain so Gameplay Lara could take care of bidness. 

I did feel like Cut-scene Lara was the person and Gameplay Lara was the split personality. You'd think it would be the other way around apart from as you get near the end of the game some aspects of Gameplay Lara have finally been accepted by Cut-scene Lara and that's when we see actual character development on her part. You can't repress parts of yourself that only causes internal conflict so once she became self aware, competent and we finally had enough XP to buy the skills we should have had hours ago, that Gameplay Lara was clearly capable of, she was no longer a burden for me to trudge along with just to finish the game but the strong independent stereotype-shoving woman they promised us!

Or did she just become the "man" and saved her own Princess? As pointed out here

We've all had a game like that. You go past caring and blank out the glitches and the plot holes and the impossible gameplay just to finish the damn thing and never play it again.

Well I did finish it. I actually finished it months after I was still bringing out videos for it. My PC messed up and I had to play through it AGAIN to catch up to where the videos left off (I lost my footage). Slightly cheaty of me, but that rage and frustration for the River sequence and Mountain village buildings falling down was all real. Extra real because I knew I had to do it again, and again because I'd have to do them again if I wanted to bring out more vids. After my last vid "Glasgae Kiss" an update meant I lost that particular save for some reason and I nearly lost my reason. So I finished the game proper, off camera as it were. It's kinda killed my desire to post videos. Hence the hiatus. You can't enjoy doing the YouTube thing if you don't enjoy the game you're playing. I couldn't face that damn beach again.

I don't know what really to say about those views who say She's a worse portrayal of women in videogames, than her predecessors, because it's a pretty dire situation she's in and yes the element of the princess was there but who could say they would have done any better if put in that same situation? Did she turn into a man as most of the strong male characters were killed off or were bad guys? I don't think saying that is accurate really. She didn't "become the man of the story" as each Gender is capable of expressing characteristics of masculinity and femininity, you don't just switch from one to the other but rather maintain a balance. (society likes to tell you otherwise but that's a whole different debate). In some situations it's more applicable to assume one of those roles in order to respond to it. Maybe the game makers intention was to present a Lara that could balance these aspects but forced us to watch her struggle to get to that point. We all experience every emotion. Regardless of what sex you are. 

Lara, in the end, was just a human being that had a lot of bad shit happen to her and she had to respond to it or die. 

I don't think I would have made it past that first guy in the cave on that damn beach.

Nalabox in Complicated Relationship with: Skyrim

So in my first part of reviewing Skyrim I unashamedly told you all to ignore the glitches and holes and that weird sense of "loss" from the main story because overall the game was bloody beautiful and I hadn't finished it.

I got the game back and decided to stick to the main story and not go spelunking for loot, trolls or skeleton keys...oooh...

Two hours later...

Pic: guiadoskyrim.webrok.com

I stubbornly stuck to the main story and had it finished in considerably less time than I thought I would. So If I hadn't taken my time to explore, fall into traps or got married, my Brother would have had it back in one weekend. Kind disappointing to realize this as I could have missed out on all that content that I fell in love with, would have been a completely different blog entry. Makes you consider taking your time on other things you very well could be missing out on.

I didn't pick a side in the Civil War as I didn't want my gameplay to be restricted plus neither side really elicited a strong enough emotional response to WANT to join their cause.

                           Seems the Jarl of Whiterun has been eliciting a different kind of response...

www.nexusmods.com

The game did that weird thing where you fight the final boss guy but not really. To be honest it should have ended right there on top of the Throat of the World where you started your journey of the Voice, maybe included more rifty time travel?  Instead you don't quite defeat him so you've got to go out and be a stronger Saiyan or catch all your Pokemons and chase after him in the afterlife, the usual stuff. 

Thing is, you to go Sovngarde. THE most spectacular world environment and magnificent work of art and splendor. And the Hall of Valor. Walking amongst Skyrim's Mighty Heroes who have fallen in glorious battle! Which the final final battle is unfortunately nothing like that. Not even song worthy. Not even an audience with Shor worthy. As soon as the story moves on the whole place shuts itself up and offers you limited dialogue with any fellows that have made the journey before you. They said it was impossible! Bringing an end to The End but I did it and they shut their doors in my face. I'm swept up and dumped on my arse on the Mountain and only the Dragons know the Truth.

I started out loving this game and it has made me laugh, cry, steal, weep and kill for it. I have poured myself into it and it just pooped me out and didn't flush...

www.nexusmods.com

Next Time: A little Festive Jeer!

Bloggerable Death

I spend a good portion of my time on the internet. Connected to close personal networks that filter and share various snippets of what’s happening “out there”. Events that have happened and happening and happen contain so much information flooding our senses I wonder how much of it we truly retain? I bring this up because I enjoy reading blogs, fresh delicious information I can consume on the go! Yet I forgot that having a blog means I have to create the content. I have so many words stored up from social sharing and news and listening that it didn't occur to me to filter it back to the “out there” where it first came from.

(Pic from: http://www.dansadlier.com/2011/05/information-vs-communication/ )

Even an instant creative idea takes times to burst forth out from your brain and out of your mouth or on paper. I spent some time looking at other people’s blogs and found that it seems to no longer have that gusto it once had. Take Blogger, what I’m using now, as an example. I enjoy hitting that “next blog” button to see what other voices have to say out there and I find about 12 out of 20 have been abandoned. Some in favour of different blog mediums like WordPress or fully fledged websites but mostly just abandoned. The rest I found are spiritually focused located in the States or Family blogs or just posting-stuff-from-the-internet blogs ( In Portuguese! ).

I looked into other blog mediums to see what they offered in this age of microblogging of Twitter and Facebook and whatever else. Let’s be honest if there is a third or even sixth they wouldn’t have as much integration in our lives. Tough competition where creativity is the epitome of instant gratification sent forth into the world before you have time to read it back to yourself and realise what you just posted was the most funniest/stupidest/racist/philosophical/incriminating thing you ever said. TheNextWeb already had this idea a few months ago it seems and done all my work for me in this nifty pros and cons list:

From TheNextWeb

Welcome back! Quick rundown if you didn’t bother to read all of that we have the likes of WordPress, Tumblr, Posatch.io, Google+, SquareSpace and even Facebook Notes are getting in on the action. The only thing I didn’t like about many of these is that I would have to join up just to discover new voices. I can’t be arsed to do that. Apart from Posatch.io, I couldn’t see what kind of layouts and level of customisation I could be getting over the one I’m currently using. Someone design me a blog roulette type randomizer so I don’t have to sign up to all these websites!

I don’t think blogging is dying as such it’s just there are so many of us out there and soo much content to get through. It’s mostly likely people who read your blogs are bloggers themselves and those who hungry for that instant hit, probably don’t bother reading your blogs. Those that use both microblogging and blogging blogging will possibly keep up with both? Busy peoples!

I resorted to my old past time “Next Blog” clicky and I shall leave you with some gems:

http://countrywithoutborders.blogspot.co.uk – The musings of an artsy Jewish woman

http://aliceingalaxyland.blogspot.co.uk – Astrology and Weird

http://notdadadventures.blogspot.co.uk –Scottish Pirate turned Parental Role Model?

Next Time: I finally finished SKYRIM! But is it still in the NalaLoves box?

Nalabox Loves: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

"Dovahkiin"

Dragonborn. A title that commands respect and emanates power beyond any mortal imagining.

Skyrim is the next chapter in the history of Tamriel which has spanned across four previous main story games, extra content, spin off's and eventually as of 2013 an Massively Multiplayer Online Game; The Elder Scrolls Online. That's nearly 18 years of development and fantastic storytelling. Thank you Bethesda :) 

Your humble beginnings are unknown in the prologue to the game. All you do know is your being carted off to the Helgen outpost as Imperial Soldiers have captured Ulfric Stormcloak, the rebel leader, so it's a beheading for him and unfortunately you too for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not going well for you so far huh? It gets even worse. As Ulfric comes closer to meeting the edge of the executioners axe a giant mythical beast of scale and fire, once thought to be destroyed many centuries ago, swoops down and attacks the people of Helgen: allowing Ulfric and yourself to escape. Once finally out of the now burning Helgen you are free to roam the wild snowy landscape that is Skyrim.

Bethesda are very experienced at making games where the player can become whom ever he/she likes and choose which ever path it takes to get there and this game is no exception. There are main story quests to follow in which you discover you are Dragonborn and learning powerful Tha'ums which is the language of the Dragons by absorbing their souls, their knowledge. 

A bag of bones

You can also decide to join either the Imperial Soldiers fighting for the Empire or the natives of Skyrim the rebellious Stormcloaks who are fighting against the Empire and the right to worship Talos as a God, even though he was a normal dude, but an hero to all of Skyrim. This upsets the Thalmor Elves, who from previous instalments of the Elder Scrolls are the bad guys. I haven't chosen a side yet as I see the benefit to being able to walk into every town and not get attacked by one faction or the other. Also, I find the religious war excuse, as just exactly that. I'm sure the story is more complicated than that considering Ulfric Stormcloak killed the High King of Skyrim and I'm guessing the Empire didn't like that. 

This game also distracts you from the main story with a great many side quests. Oh wow so many times I promised myself I'd just quickly run back to my house in Whiterun, sell my stuff and oooh what's this symbol on the map? A cave? okay it'll only take 10 mins. Oh there's a guy inside and poof there goes an hour. It is incredibly engaging. I must have completed over 50 sidequests plus many miscellaneous quests on top of that but only actually done about 20% of the main story. But that's the great thing about it, that's what this game was made for. For you to do whatever the hell you like!  It has got to the point now where I'm actually slightly displaced from the story and enjoying myself more getting to know the people and secret organisations within Skyrim.

I remember from playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion there were guilds and factions you could join to earn extra monies and perks. Like reduced bounty, with the Thieves Guild, when you got caught in a house you may or may not have had permission to be in. Skyrim is no different, however has greatly improved the development and value of being a member of these guilds and factions. You can follow main plot quests specifically for your chosen trade that not only rewards you with perks, unique gear and special life changing abilities but also gives you a connection with the characters involved due to brilliant intricate storytelling. I've had more fun with the Thieves Guild and Companions quest lines than I have the main story so far. 

I was always one head in front of him!

The combat system allows the player to engage with foes from a distance using ranged weapons and magic or with the use of one-handed or two handed weapons and for those who just like to give the beasties a right ol' whollop the best weapon of all: Your fists. Bosh!

The Dragon Shouts learned from Dragon Word Walls or certain NPC's are a form of supporting magic as they can have area effect as well as long range capabilities and can be used for non-combat too. Such as the Become Ethereal you can walk through solid objects, like doors, and have a peek or avoid detection if your somewhere you shouldn't be. The most used one is probably Unrelenting Force as it can be very effective for knocking Dragons out of the sky, but have your weapons ready, once they get up boy are they pissed.

What's great about which ever weapon you choose, you are not limited to that particular style. Yes most of your skill points will be in two-handed but sometimes the situation calls for a less messy approach shall we say? Like an inconvenient arrow to the knee? You don't need to be a prolific archer to down a guard from 100 yards away. Unlike some games where once you've chosen to be a Rogue that's it. All you can use is daggers and crossbows.

I have to say I'm not a magic user per se, I'm in the "two-handed battleaxe" category so I can't really comment on the magic system. But from what I have had to use (quest related) I've found it really easy to get a grasp of (hur hur) and in that classic Elder Scrolls way; the more you use something the better it becomes so if throwing a fiery ball (or balls; duel wield baby!) of doom is your thing then go for it! Me? I like to cleave stuff in half and chop heads. For the HORDE!!! wait...wrong game. 

As you know I love Fallout 3 and the transition from playing that combat system and in that environment to this one wasn't that difficult. I like that they play kind of similar you just hand in your lasers and steampunk attire for Skyforge Steel and Dragon Scale Armour. Yes, you don't need the VAT system here for easy targeting but the combat isn't that difficult to handle to need something like that. I LIKE that Bethesda have made an entirely different game to Fallout and not been lazy about using the same engine and their own stuff to make it awesome and truly unique gaming experience, unlike BioWare: the menus and gameplay for Mass Effect 2 was EXACTLY the same for Dragon Age 2. Lazy.

Frost the Fearless

Firstly, I apologise for the quality of the picture. I don't have everything set up to take stills or record from my Xbox to the laptop so when stuff randonly happens, which is frequently in Skyrim I've noticed; I grab my mobile phone to take pics with. Secondly, my horse is awesome!

I've hired and fired many of the companions you can get to accompany you throughout Skyrim. Some don't cost gold but will make sure you travel to the arse end of no where to get something for them before they'll even think about putting their coats on let alone take an arrow to the..wait already made that joke. But by damn Frost the Fearless Steed has never let me down. Thus far he's the best companion I've had on account that He doesn't run away, glitch, make my presence known, die instantly, doesn't have the IQ of a fart and best of all he was completely FREE. He may or may not have been illegally acquired but since he was technically stolen by someone else doesn't show up as Stolen when he came into my possession. Crime free. Plus he kills Dragons. He's actually better than me too :)
 You know I've read about the possible glitches regarding him running away or just not spawning when you fast travel but he's the only travel companion that hasn't glitched on me in one way or another. He just doesn't die either. Maybe that in itself is a glitch but it's a damn good one for a change! 

I've stuck with Jenessa the Dunmer Mercenary for most of the game, she's not the best I hear but she's the better from the ones I've come across so far. Some puzzles in the ruins you can blunder into require you to have a companion to stand on pressure plates while you pull a lever etc. However, I have found some will just walk  over the very apparent traps and set them off when you have gone to a great deal of care (and time) to avoid. (Lydia; IQ of a fart). The AI of your followers could be greatly improved or a least the instructions you can give them apart from Attack, Stay, Bugger off, and "here carry my stuff!". It would also be helpful if they stayed a certain distance from you at all times especially when sneaking. Many times Aranea the Priestess of Azura didn't even bother going into sneak mode and often didn't actually follow me at all. It is good in some way when a companion is morally objective and often comment on the wrongness of an act you are about to commit it's all very good for the immersion but is it an AI fail or glitch when they simply "push" you into a group of mobs when you are BOTH supposed to be in sneak mode? Harsh, very harsh. I mostly avoided stealthy missions for this reason, my followers would often rush in or Frost would appear out of no where and kill everything anyway.

Which one are you again?

So I decided to get hitched and reap the rewards and joys of matrimony. Mostly the rewards. A homecooked meal and 200 gold a day? Where do I sign up? Best thing is my handsome beardy man is a Training Vendor, which means I can buy skills then get my monies back from trading inventories with my spouse! Another great thing is that you can go Skyrim weeks without seeing them and they don't throw a hissy fit, unlike the many wenches in the Fable games.

Just Google "Skyrim Landscapes" and you'll find some of the best in game screenshots of the world you traverse on your adventures. I have dubbed the landscape "a treat on the senses" as it is truly amazing. a lot of hard work has gone in the the look and feel of the environment and when your spending many many hours of your life in a fantasy world you want it to look real damn good. And real. Which it does spectacularly, from snow capped mountains, stormy seas and even the scale of the cities are amazing. Bethesda never fails to impress when it comes to environment design. The only thing they could have kept on par is the enclosed spaces to match the overwhelming feeling of "awe" for their outside spaces. Objects or characters trying to interact with their environment in a small cave or house just repeated the same glitches often found in Oblivion and spaces often looked unfinished and blocky, not to mention a whole area of the map with nothing in it.

GLITCHES! Bugs, objects colliding at incredible speeds, cows falling out of the sky, broken spawns...the list goes on for the many glitches found throughout the game and it's a shame they feel like the same known glitches experienced in Oblivion and I'd imagine it's predecessors too. It spoils your fun and sometimes you just have to say "come on guys didn't you fix this from last time?" too much effort and time spent on making this game look good they forgot about making it FUNCTION? I'd understand if there were new bugs but not the same ones overlooked? 

Overall, it looks amazing, wild and the freedom very much appeals to me. Character interactions could be improved, hell their AI could be improved greatly and more options to tell your followers what to do. Maybe go as far as mixing some RTS style commands for combat? The game is distracting, like I mentioned earlier, to the point where it really does defer from the main story line. Maybe it's my innate curiosity and gaming style but I ended up getting really lost sometimes and "lost" from the story too. Doing all those other quests and challenges meant no real progression and it got to the point where I had clocked over 100 hours of game time and no sense of achievement. Also when I did follow the story I found it led you to large open areas with nothing in them, which from the start made me feel like i was testing an unfinished game.

In the end i can say I very much liked this game but I did not LOVE it, primarily because I never finished the game due to my brother wanting his copy back. I don't think I'll be rushing back in to it either.

Nalabox Loves: Fallout 3

“The Lone Wanderer”

This game was my first venture into the action-role play genre of an optional liner storyline and free roaming environment. I hadn't played the previous instalments of Fallout for the PC so the introduction of the karma system was totally new to me. Making good or bad choices having an effect on how you play the game and whether or not you got to do optional quests because of being too good or too evil was fantastic. There has been so many times I've played games a bit on the renegade side and never got penalised for it, yeah it makes the game super easy but where's the enjoyment in that? As well as the karma system the character development is a lot more detailed than what I've been used to. There are skill points I can assign to my S.P.E.C.I.A.L (Strength. Perception. Endurance. Charisma. Intelligence. Agility and Luck ) traits and practical skills such as weapon proficiencies, science, repair and speech etc which are all dependent on how many points are in allocated in S.P.E.C.I.A.L. The more you have in Charisma the better your Barter and Speech skills. The Fallout series have all had Perks which can be obtained when the player levels up which can determine extra attributes to your skills. For example I had no idea in my second playthrough that I could just completely skip doing the Wasteland Survival Guide side quests by persuading Moira Brown that it was a daft idea, hence getting the Dream Crusher perk, this means that enemies are now afraid of me and their critical hit chance is reduced by half. Ha!

Fallout 3 is based in post-apocalyptic America after a 200 year nuclear fallout caused by a war between China and the USA in 2077. You are one of the many survivors in an underground vault called vault 101. You were born there and you will die there. No one enters and no one leaves.

your Tomb/Home :)

Until your Dad does. Leaving the underground community in disarray and letting the gribblies in killing the unarmed residents which pisses off the Overseer, the boss man, who seems to think you, a nineteen year old kid had something to do with it. You are thrust into the Wasteland with nothing but a security truncheon and a Tunnel Snakes Gang leather jacket to face all manners of thugs, thieves, raiders, mental robots, giant radioactive beasties, feral ghouls, super mutants, Mr Burke and much more. You suffer all this just to find your Dad and demand to know what the hell is going on!

As the story progresses you learn that your father, voiced by Liam Neeson, was a scientist trying to bring back the waters of life and start re-building humanity and that task now falls to you.

You have your typical tutorial style quests to get you used to the game during the “childhood” years of living in the vault, I guess it is a nursery for the game. Then as the story progresses and you get launched into the wider world you have the option to follow the main storyline and complete optional side-quests and any Downloadable Content you may have with the game. You can choose whatever gaming style you like to complete the quests. For example; you can go in to Tenpenny Towers with diplomacy and tact, while pickpocketing keys to just let the ghouls in or you know, guns blazing and let the ghouls take over or even take the ghouls out yourself. It's entirely up to you. There has been times when I tried a little of both to complete a quest depending on whether I want Good or Bad Karma resulting from it. What I love most about this game is the exploring and thus far it is the only game, that I have played, that actually rewards curiosity. You can be in the arse end of nowhere and still find food, gadgets and ammo. Especially if you try to be a real smartie pants and walk to Rivet City without using the underground metro tunnels. Plus it all looks and sounds amazing. True survival.

There are a few special items tucked away here and there to help improve your chances of survival and some items increase your stats permanently: Vault Tec Bobbleheads. They're everywhere and some are very hard to find and send you MILES out of your way to get. Some, if your not careful can only be found before certain main storyline events have occurred. Keep an eye out chaps.

Yes, I play with Dolls!

The combat system for a newbie like me was easy to grasp especially the VATS- VaultTec Assisted Targeting System. Everyone is a crack shot with the Gauss Rifle using that. It did take the difficulty of moving targets away for me and being completely new to a FPS. I panicked a lot in my first playthrough. Some people said VATS detracted from being “in the game”, essentially pausing the game to line up your shots. I'm sorry but walking into Old Olney on your tod with nothing but grenades you kinda need that brief pause to. Breathe. Lob your last grenade. And leg it. You also don't want a game to detract from the fact it is a game afterall, not a simulation of surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Why the hell would I be in America anyway? I'd want to see how well I do in my home country: make a game about that!

I honestly don't know what it is specifically that I love about this game I just do. I have played it through 3 times now, once on the ps3 and twice on the xbox 360 and I've never been bored with it. Even though I've been through all the quests as Good, Neutral and Evil. I've explored every nook and cranny, played the DLC over and over. It is such a good game.

Fallout New Vegas, however, is a different story.

I tried to leave off playing it for about a year but I still feel like it was just another DLC. They didn't change much of the game to make it stand alone from Fallout 3. It was too short for one and I don't know whether it was the choices I made or whatever but I found the ending a bit disappointing. I thought they were going to implement some sort of war tactics style gameplay at the end but they didn't and the ending is not what I would have chosen for myself. I might pick it back up and play it again to finish the side quests which seems a lot more fun and engaging than the main storyline I have to say. Might leave it completely and play something else.  

Prologue of Whimsy

So I wanted to have a crack at writing a blog. But what the hell do I write about? Has someone else already done it? Would I truly be contributing to the online community with valuable unheard of information? Of course not, don't be daft.

Then I was shown a picture from memebase of this mock letter written to the Internet at large, describing a fairly attractive young woman who enjoys nothing better than playing games, reading comics and watching anime. She enjoys the company of geeky boys and will happily sit by them offering sexual favours so their hands are free while they play their favourite games. The letters ends yours sincerely and a small trollface appearing. At first the letter seems really sincere then it does come across a little far fetched. The joke being of course that this girl does not exist.

But she does exist.

I am a Girl that likes to play games, watch anime, read comics, loves Picard and Kirk equally, Japanese horror films and many more wonderful geeky things.

So where did this mock letter come from? Yeah I know it's intended as a joke but there are thousands of girl gamers out there. But I'm a rarity don'tcha know? Hey, I know the types your thinking of and as these guys put it http://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-girl-gamer-stereotypes/ I've gone through this list and I'm not in any of these categories. I guess the ones like me don't want to be found or have unfortunately been drowned out.

I'm very much interested in research into this kind of topic which spurred me to pick up this blogging malarkey. So here we are. To answer those questions: I shall write about myself as is the trend for all bloggers these days; I don't recall anyone writing about me in their blog and again, don't be daft.

All I'm offering is a different perspective of the gaming world from my eyes and a continuation of the work I was interested in when I did my degree focusing on Cybersociology. Which includes this whole business about gender-swapping in games, particularly MMO's, Game Addiction, and forget about this Boys V Girls crap. We all know there are some girls out there better at C.o.D than the boys, turns out we're much more competitive, we got more to prove. So why not, lets explore this avenue. I've got plenty of time on my hands to do so.

That's all rather academic so I will also fill in these spaces with my own reviews on games I've played or currently playing. “how do you have time to do all this?” I hear you say. Well, I've been suffering from a Chronic Pain disability for the past 12 months due to an injury. I am on the road to recovery but this may take over a year or I may never fully recover at all. Life.

Additional note: I have recently opted to have surgery in the hopes that it will aid in my recovery. Most of my blog entries were written months ago when I was flirting with the idea of starting a blog in case I wasn't able to post regularly due to being in hospital etc. And I have decided to document my time in hospital if any of you are so inclined to read about that too.

So all I have is time baby and I'm filling that time with playing games!

p.s The banner isn't finished and I am open to suggestions of any loveable characters you want me to make a likeness of to fill in the space :)