If Life Had Video Game Rules

I was in my office today, and I suddenly had the strange and random thought….what if my life was like a video game? (Office simulator 2000? They probably already have that.)

Here are some things that would probably happen (and be okay) If my life ran with video game rules.

Granted, I am mixing together a whole bunch of video game mechanics, and physics from different engines. But, here’s what I came up with.

-Drive to work. Crash into everything, miraculously, car is okay. Also hit 5 people. Short police chase, but they soon forget about me after I hide under a bridge for 10 minutes.

-Get in random fight with coworker. Because why not? They will forget and be my friend again as soon as it is over.

-Why is person blocking the doorway???  I CANNOT GET OUT.

-Running everywhere. Must kick open all the doors.

-I can somehow carry 20 items, even though I am just wearing a blouse and skirt. Where am I carrying these?

-Every time I see something interesting in someone’s bag or on their desk I will steal it.

-If I don’t want something anymore, I’ll just throw it on the floor.

-Okay to walk into any room at any time.

-Jump and squat and jump and squat. Now, emote.

-Break open anything that looks fragile. It may have loot.

-And of course, leave in the middle of any conversation or any job.

-Also totally ok to steal peoples cars to get out of there.

 Did I miss any? What other things happen in a video game that would be uncomfortable in real life?

 

Shortie: Why Civilization 6 is the perfect game for anyone

Civilization 6. I played my brains out when I first got Civ 6. I became the embodiment of everything people hate about nerd culture. I spent 10 hours each day of the weekend sitting in front of my PC eating nothing but goldfish and sprite.

This game is great because there are so many ways to play, and so many ways that you can choose to advance your civilization. I love watching my civ grow before my eyes. There are also 5 completely different ways to win the game. Culture victory, science victory, religious victory, domination victory, and score victory . Depending on which you focus on advancing in your civ, museums for culture, research facilities for science, barracks and armorys for domination and so on, this will depend on how your civ grows and advances towards victory in this area.

This is a turn based game, which is great because turn based games are not stressful. You can go away for awhile and come back and not have missed anything, and always stop to review rules and so on whenever needed.  Civ 6 also has the option to play with your friends online, or just with AI opponents.

Civ 6 is easy to play. Alien games are my favorite, so I bought Civ: Beyond Earth and was very disappointed. The research tree was very complicated and I was farming and advancing things I didn’t understand. Okay, I know it was a space game, but having no knowledge of how to play or what i was doing it made things difficult and not fun.

Civ is great, especially if you don’t have a lot of time,  or are just getting into PC gaming. Anyone of any age can play this game, it is enjoyable, challenging and fun.

First thoughts: The For Honor open beta

Let’s talk about For Honor. I have been excited for this game since I saw this first trailer a few months ago, but didn’t really know what to expect. I was kind of anticipating just another boring hack and slash game, but was pleasantly surprised.

I played the beta for the first time last night, teaming up with a couple good friends online. We stuck mainly to the dominion style of the game, where you capture the objectives. It was a bit frustrating at first, when you’re working out the unusual game controls, and trying to find the best character for yourself. I got murdered plenty of times, and we lost our first few matches by 600 points or so.

There are three different factions, and three classes in each faction. The one I found my niche with was the Viking berserker. She is armed with two axes, was fast, agile, and all around awesome.

Once you get a hang of the game, it is fun, and awesome to play. The game requires a lot of teamwork, capturing points, everyone not being in the same place at once, reviving downed teammates, and so on. I can see how non-communicative teammates could be frustrating, and make the game less enjoyable.

The game is aesthetically attractive, and the characters creative, each class handling differently. The movement: fighting, running, climbing, is all very fluid. It’s a fun game to watch and play. The loot system is also neat, you get stuff at the end of each battle you win, as well as coin to buy upgrades and so on.

The matches can be difficult starting out, and the controls are much different than most fighting games. But, once you master the basics: blocking, attacking and helping your team, the game is a blast. Also, since this game is hard, the kills are especially satisfying, and slicing an enemy’s head off after a long fight is gross, but very awesome.

The beta is free on steam currently, and the full game comes out on February 14th. I definitely recommend checking it out!

Have you played For Honor yet? What did you think?

Why You Need to Read the Witcher book series

I love the game Witcher 3. It is a great adventure game, and the story had me right away.

As a lot of people don’t know, the Witcher games are based off of a Polish book series written by Andrzej Sapkowski. The series contains two standalone books of short stories, “The Last Wish” and “The Sword of Destiny” as well as multiple other books, containing one continuous story that follows the path of Geralt, Ciri, and Yennifer.

These books are amazing. Even if you aren’t in to the Witcher games, these are amazingly written and intelligently crafted fantasy books. The short stories collections, especially the Sword of Destiny, were my favorite. The writing style is magnificent and creative, and Sapkowski creates a beautiful and mysterious world that’s easy to get lost in.

I haven’t finished the whole story of Geralt and Ciri yet, as the last book, “The Lady of the Lake” has not finished being translated into English. It’s coming this March to stores in the US, and I can’t wait!

These are great books. Whether you love the Witcher games and want to get more into the world, and know more about the characters, creatures and story, or if you are just looking for a good read, these are  for you. I recommend starting with “The Sword of Destiny.” It has short stories of some of Geralt’s earliest adventures.

 

Have you read the Witcher series? What did you think?

 

The two best games at Pax South 2017

PaxSouth was last weekend. I love Pax. Its so amazing to meet the developers there, and get to talk to them about this game they created, as well as just playing all the different and unique styles of games! Pax was really what got me into gaming in the first place, and made me appreciate all the hard work that goes into developing games, and how talented those awesome dev’s are.

Also, the creators of Cyanide and Happiness were at Pax, and meeting them was a dream come true. I had a little fangirl freakout moment.

I thought I’d do a short bit about the two games I’m looking the most forward to that were playable at Pax.

First off: Dauntless. Crrated by Phoenix Labs, this is the monster hunting game that I’ve been dreaming of.  At Pax, they had the combat demo available, where you could pick from 4 characters, each with their own unique weapons and abilities. The game graphics are colored beautifully and the game runs smoothly and is fun and challenging. The fighting style reminded me a lot of the witcher 3, and it’s a great experience. I can’t wait to play with friends! My understanding is there will be more characters, and you’ll level up your weapons, and your weapons and gear can then be used with any character. Coming free-to-play to PC this year!

Secondly: Earthfall. This is the first full game being put out by Holospark development studio, and the concept art for the game is amazing. This game was inspired by games like Left for Dead,  so for right now it’s kind of a shoot and run, shoot and hide, run to the shelter game, but with aliens. There were a couple cool things about this, like the futuristic idea of using a 3-d printer to “print” weapons. I’m always excited about alien games, so I’m holding out hope that there will be more to the game then that. I believe in you, Earthfall. Coming to PC early access this year, and PS4 and Xbox One later.

There were a ton of great games at Pax, and awesome studios. If you’re a video game fan I definently recommend checking out pax. It’s such a great experience.