The Real Silent Hill?

The Journey Begins...

Currently playing:

OK, so I'm modifying my rules a little bit. After getting some feedback about this blog on the game message board, neogaf, I've decided to forgo the rule where I play everything chronologically. The old stuff is too difficult and I would likely get extremely frustrated early on and just give up.

Also, I'm like 40 hours into Final Fantasy XIII and if I stopped now, I would likely have to start over when I finally got back to it.

So my first game in this project is Final Fantasy XIII. Let's do it.

[Spoiler Warning]

When I started this blog, I had already landed on Gran Pulse. Once you get there, the game really opens up. You can level up your characters in any way you like, there is a huge open field that actually is kind of like a world map, and you can actually grind! I got to this point around 30 hours into the game and have spent the last 10 or so grinding and going through side missions. Who would've thought I would be excited to grind in an RPG? So I thought these side missions were pseudo-necessary to beat the game - in the sense that doing them would help you level up faster.

After looking at Gamefaqs, I realized that is not the case. So I'm continuing the with the main plot, hopefully the light is at the end of this tunnel...

Played about three hours tonight. I can smell the end of Chapter 11...

My Collection

Wii U
Mario 3D World - Unfinished
Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker - Unfinished
Mario Kart - Unfinished
Deus Ex - Unfinished
Smash Bros Wii U - Unfinished
The Fall - Unfinished
NES Remix - Unfinished

3DS 
Bravely Default - Unfinished
Fire Emblem - Unfinished
Smash Bros 3DS - Unfinished
Shovel Knight - Unfinished
Retro City Rampage - Unfinished
Mario 3D Land - Finished 
Virtue's Last Reward - Finished
Link Between Worlds - Finished

PS4 
The Last of Us Remastered - Unfinished 
The Swapper - Unfinished 


PlayStation 3 - 6 Unfinished

Buzz: Quiz TV - Finished

God of War III - Finished
Portal 2 - Finished

Rayman Origins -Finished

Uncharted 2 - Finished
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - Finished
Heavy Rain - Finished
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Warhawk - Unfinished (Needs Assessment)

Little Big Planet - Unfinished (GOAL: Create and Publish a Complete Level) 

NHL 10 - Unfinished (GOAL: Win the Cup)

Digital downloads

Flower (Digital download) - Finished
Journey - Finished
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - Unfinished 
Fez - Unfinished 
Lone Survivor - Unfinished
Wipeout HD - Unfinished
 

Wii - 3 Unfinished

New Super Mario Bros Wii - Finished

a boy and his blob - Finished

Super Mario Galaxy - Finished

Zelda: Twilight Princess - Finished

Warioware Smooth Moves - Finished

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Finished
Silent Hill Shattered Memories - Finished
Metroid Other M - Finished
Excite Truck - Finished
Cruisin - Finished

Boom Blox - Unfinished 

Boom Blox 2 - Unfinished

Zack and Wiki - Unfinished
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Unfinished
Lost in Shadow - Unfinished

Digital Downloads - 3 Unfinished

Bit Trip Beat - Finished

Bit Trip Runner - Finished

Lost Winds - Finished

Strongbad Episode 1 - Unfinished

Bubble Bobble Plus - Unfinished
Liquidity - Unfinished

PlayStation 2 - 10 Unfinished

God of War - Finished

God of War 2 - Finished
Katamari Damacy - Finished
Final Fantasy X - Finished
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal - Finished
Ico - Finished 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Finished

Silent Hill 2 - Finished

Silent Hill 3 - Finished
Shadow of the Colossus - Finished 
Jeopardy - Unfinished (Needs Assessment)

Megaman Anniversary Collection - Unfinished
    Megaman - Finished
    Megaman 2 - Finished
    Megaman 3
    Megaman 4
    Megaman 5
    Megaman 6
    Megaman 7- Finished
    Megaman 8

War of the Monsters - Unfinished

Grandia II - Unfinished

Gamecube - 2 Unfinished

Pacman vs. - Finished

Animal Crossing - Finished

Super Smash Bros Melee - Finished

Metroid Prime - Finished

Metroid Prime 2 - Finished

Warioware - Finished

Zelda: Wind Waker - Finished
Zelda: Four Swords - Finished

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes - Finished

Killer 7 - Finished

Ikaruga - Finished

MarioKart Double Dash - Finished

Alien Hominid - Finished

Paper Mario Thousand Year Door - Finished

Resident Evil 4 - Finished

F-Zero GX - Unfinished
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2

PlayStation - 2 Unfinished

Wild 9 - Finished

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - Finished

Silent Hill - Finished 

Chrono Cross - Finished

Incredible Crisis - Unfinished
Oddworld: Abe's Odyssee - Unfinished

N64 (Virtual Console) - 2 Unfinished

Super Mario 64 - Finished

Mario Kart 64 - Finished

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Finished

Zelda: Majora's Mask - Finished

Starfox 64 - Finished
Paper Mario- Finished
Sin and Punishment - Finished

Super Nintendo - 1 Unfinished

Super Mario World - Finished

Super Metroid - Finished

Donkey Kong Country - Finished

Super Castlevania - Finished
Secret of Mana - Finished

Zelda: Link to the Past - Finished

F-Zero - Unfinished

Genesis - 2 Unfinished

Earthworm Jim - Finished
Gunstar Heroes - Finished

Columns - Unfinished (Needs Assessment)  

Ristar - Unfinished

Turbo Grafx 16 - 5 Unfinished

Super Star Soldier - Unfinished

Neutopia - Unfinished

R-Type - Unfinished

Bonk's Adventure - Unfinished

Bomberman 93 - Unfinished

NES - 8 Unfinished

Super Mario Bros 2 (US) - Finished

Zelda - Finished

Zelda II - Finished

Super Dodge Ball - Finished

Kirby's Adventure - Finished

Ice Hockey - Finished

Ninja Gaiden - Finished

Castlevania - Finished 

Excitebike - Finished
Life Force - Finished
Wario's Woods - Unfinished (Needs Assessment)

Super C - Unfinished

Blaster Master - Unfinished
Punch Out!!! - Unfinished
Kid Icarus - Unfinished

Super Mario Bros 2 (Jp) - Unfinished

Super Mario Bros 3 - Unfinished
Super Mario Bros - Unfinished 

It Begins...

I have been playing video games for the majority of my life.  As other hobbies have come and gone, gaming has always been something I have had a personal connection to. I grew up as an only child, and while I didn't have a shortage of friends as a kid, there were definitely many times when I was expected to entertain myself, and thus my Nintendo Entertainment System became my surrogate brother. Sure, I would play the classics with my friends all the time, but more often than not, I would play by myself. After school, before bed, weekends - I always had that blocky gray controller in my hand.

Now I'm an adult and my gaming hobby is just as strong as it was as a kid. My wife and I recently downsized to an apartment and I sold off all of my classic systems due to lack of space, using the $300 I got from the sale to repurchase most of my collection on the Wii's Virtual Console. I'm still missing a few favorites, but the key games are there.

There is an expression amongst the gamer nerds known as "the pile of shame". This refers to the chunk of your gaming collection that remains unfinished, or in the worst cases, unopened. While I can say that I have played every game I own at least once, there are a good percentage sitting there that I have never beaten. This could be for any number of reasons: it's too hard, I lost interest and moved on to something else, or sometimes the game just blows.

What's perhaps most shameful is the game that sits on the very top of my pile of shame, where it has sat for the past 22 years. Super Mario Bros. Yup. The first game I ever owned has mocked me with it's brutal difficulty for the past 22 years.

Well it's time to clean house. I am going to go through my collection of unfinished games and beat them one at a time. No matter how hard the game is, no matter how much the game sucks, I will play it until I beat it.

And I'm saving Super Mario Bros for the very end.

Now - for this to be effective, there needs to be a set of rules and a structure in place. Here's how I see it playing out:

• I will go through my collection chronologically by generation - starting with Nintendo, and ending with PS3. I will of course be saving the Super Mario Bros trilogy for the end. 
• I can make no new game purchases until every single game in my collection is beaten. This is key - and one of the major reasons I'm doing this blog. I spend too much money on games and don't value them enough. I want to really appreciate the value of each of my games. So making this public statement will keep me honest.
• I will only play that games that I have not yet beaten. Games that have been finished can stay on the shelf for now. In some cases I may play through a game that's already been beaten just for fun.
• No cheats. No warp zones. I want to gain complete mastery over every game in my collection. If I get really stuck I will allow myself to use a walkthrough, but nothing that modifies the game or makes it easier to beat.
• Some games don't really have an end or a way to be beaten. I will analyze how to approach these games on a case by case basis. 
• If I decide I cannot beat a game, I must either give the game away or if it is a game I downloaded, give the cost of that game to charity. 
• After beating each game, I will write a review about it.

I think that's good for now. Let me know if you can think of any other rules I can apply for myself.

So begins my adventure through my video game collection. I am really excited to see what comes out of this. Hopefully you are too.