The Gems Will Drain You
By brooklyngrenade 10 Comments
Yesterday I did something I haven't done in quite a while. I did a gaming marathon, with only one title. That game being Super Puzzle Fighter, y'know, one of my addictions, a game that I love. Now one may ask "What was the purpose of this marathon?" And that is a totally valid question. Because, it is an arcade game which does not have an option to view high scores (or that I know of; you only see your total score when you beat Arcade mode). It only has leaderboards of those playing online. Those beautiful win/loss ratios if you will. In my case, not beautiful at all. But I was not out to get win after win after win, oh no. The more sophisticated goal only by name I was out for. An achievement.
So, I spent nearly six hours and change trying to get 20 ranked wins, just for this achievement. I won about three matches straight early on. Then things got a bit frustrating and draining. For hours I kept losing to the folks who were online; yeah people actually do play this online, but not enough. That was part of my frustration. I kept running into the same four or five people who's rank was way above mine, and who kept wiping the floor with me. A lot of the matches I played I won at least one round. But they took the match in the end, further hindering me from getting that achievement. Once I got to 17 wins, I then went on a serious losing streak. How bad was it? At the end of this long and draining session, it was up to about 52 losses. That totally fucks up my ratio and makes me shitty, I know. But hey, I was playing the people who've mastered the game, the ones who probably spend most days playing the same two people. I keep saying that was my main problem, but there was also something else that was really "grinding my gears," as Peter Griffin would say.
Nevertheless, I did not get the achievement last night like I planned. But my determination to unlock it is even greater now. I simply have three more matches to win. I am however going the extra mile with the game's achievements. I want all of them. That's my ambition right now. I want to complete this game. I feed into its addictive nature, I must reach its zenith for the ultimate high. After that I am going to take a break with Puzzle Fighter, most likely get back on Puzzle Quest and other XBLA games that I will purchase. At the end of writing this blog, the Pokemon theme song starts playing in my head :P. Y'know how it goes, "I want to be the very best, like no one ever waaaaassssss..." It makes sense though. A completionist is somewhat a winner in my eyes. Time to get back on the mission.
Peace. :)
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