So if you've been following the news in the past couple of months you may have heard of a new trend in psychology that is using games as a form of therapy. Particularly MMORPGs on soldiers coming home with PTSD. I'm not in the armed forces or a psychologists however I do have some anecdotal evidence to support this method of therapy. In May of 2008 I proposed to my girlfriend of 4 years; the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I was ecstatic when she said yes. We were both still in college so we decided to wait until at least one of us had graduated before we had the wedding. I wasn't concerned at all that anything one go wrong; as it turns out I should have been. Due to a firestorm of trouble over student loans, time management, vision of the future, rent, and life style choices (she wanted to party, I did not) our relationship began to fall apart. It was a very gradual decent however we were very good at communicating with each other and compromising however sometimes this just isn't enough. So in June 2011 we decided to call it off and went our separate ways. Even though deep down I saw this coming it was still one of the hardest and most painful losses I had ever experienced. Seven years of my life were gone along with my vision of the future. It took all of my strength everyday to keep going and not just break down at work or class. In my new found free time I tried to find distractions to take my mind off of what had happened. This is when I revisited Guild Wars after nearly half a year of playing it. I was incredibly surprised to find that my guild had not removed me but rather welcomed me back into the fold. I thought that was incredible for people who I had never met in real life. So after about a week of two playing and getting reacquainted with my guild mates I told them my story. The support I received was astounding all of them listened and gave encouragement. For the first time in about a month I began to feel like everything was going to be ok again. Just being able to escape for a few hours everyday and be able to think about something else along with having very understanding people there who I could talk to made the darkest moment of my life that much easier to bear. So if you were to ask me if video games could be used as therapy I would have to say yes. As long as it's in moderation and not just an attempt to check out of life for a long period of time and it's coupled with interaction with caring and understanding people than I believe it can work. I hope other will see the value in this type of therapy and that it can be used to helped many other people as well.
So I recently entered the world of survival horror again. That's right I'm replaying through the original Resident Evil. Let me tell you what time has not lessened the atmosphere of this game. Exploring the halls and rooms of Spencer Mansion is one of the most fun I've had in a while. From finding the diaries and such of the Umbrella workers to solving the insane puzzles in the game there is a lot of neat stuff to experience in the mansion. While the controls are more tedious now than ever it certainly does add a level of tension to the game play even though it is frustrating at times. Then there's the horrible writing and voice acting that is just as scary as the zombies and mutants in the game. However even though the game doesn't compare to the games of today there is still a lot of fun to be had here. I can't wait to experience this game again and play through as Chris. Here's to the good old days of survival horror when the survival aspect was no joke.
Ok so I'm making a slight change to this blog. I'm changing it to where instead of posting daily I will be posting weekly. This will allow me to a chance to actually make enough progress that would actually be worth sharing instead of just saying, "Well today I killed some monsters and gained some XP." So if you have any questions or comments please send them my way.
So I got a point in the story were you can either just rush into the next story event or spend you time exploring the world. I chose the second option. So I'm going all over the place and completing side quests and what not. I'm glad I did too because it seems like I would have missed out of a lot of leveling up if I had just went straight into the next part of the story.
Grinding, grinding, and more grinding. I encountered a couple of rare monsters and made it to Elysion in the main story. Not much happening but I'm still having a lot of fun leveling up. What game do you enjoy leveling up in?
So yesterday was a little slow in Last Remnant land. I spent most of my time doing side quests, capturing monsters, and "leveling" up. The story however did begin to pick up and could start to be pretty interesting. I also now have the ability to control multiple unions and recruit Atlumian soldiers. This has added even more depth to the battle system which I am really enjoying. Today I hope to focus more on the main story and see how far I can get. Hope everyone else has fun playing.
So I'm making slower progress than I would have liked but that's ok. I actually went and bought the strategy guide for this game something I never do. I'm hoping it will let me get a better grasp on the battle system mechanics. For those of you who have played it I'm currently at Blackdale. I spent a little to much time trying to capture monsters and sell them to get the merchant points. I'm hoping to make some substantial progress this week. In other news who watched the Gettysburg special on the History Channel?
So I started playing the JRPG "The Last Remnant" the other day and so far I haven't been to disappointed. I know the game got really mixed reviews but so far I'm enjoying it. I hope it holds up all the way through the game. I noticed that downloading it to my HDD has helped a lot with the slow down during battle but it has issues still with some of the larger scale battles. Anyways so far so good. I hope I can see this one all the way through to the end. because it's been a while since I've completed an RPG like this one. Cheers!
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