Take a peek inside the Pokemon Centre in Japan

Can you say Pokemon Nerd's dream???

This place (sorry, no, you can't heal your party there) sells stuff only available in Japan from shelves and shelves of Pokemon dolls, Pokemon stationary, Pokemon food-- and I mean, they even sold Pikachu themed curry powder. So of course, if you ever visit, buy EVERYTHING because who knows when you'll be back, right? That's what I did.

I bought earrings, pencils, chopsticks, folders, masterball candy, cute little pouches-- so many things!

I brought my tiny fluffy Pikachu on the trip but then I found this giant smiley one and another one where he was taking a nap and I completely lost it. How cute are they?! Too bad they were too big to fly home and also like.. 8000 yen ($80).

There was also replicas of some Pokemon inside the store of Charizard, Megacharizard, Lucario, and Mew

You can really tell which ones are the fan favourites because they get way more merchandise. I mean, I can promise that not all 649 Pokemon are here!! Sorry, if Trubbish is your favourite pokemon, you're out of luck, but if Inkay, Wailord or (obviously) Pikachu are more your speed, then you'll have a wild time! There was also a lot of Sylveon, so I was a pretty happy camper. 

Be A Better Gamer: FPS Fun (Counterstrike)

I'm just going to come out with it: It's been a rocky re-start.

I'm not afraid to admit I'm not a bad shot. I've got good reaction time and I can hit a headshot pretty consistently. 

I used to play Counterstrike more, and I got used to it. I found things that work and don't work for me and it become more natural to remember certain mechanics. I found a rhythm, and that's important with this sort of game. In fact, I was so predictable playing Counterterrorist that my friends called me Aug-Cat (my Steam tag is Ang_Cat), because I was always loyal to my Wings Aug

 But... I haven't touched it in over a year, and my ability really really fell off the map. Which is saying something because I wasn't amazing to begin with. 

Unfortunately, I got pretty accustomed to more forgiving games. A couple years ago, when I played a sniper in Mass Effect long enough to quickscope like an MLG champ I thought I was the Queen of the Castle. And that skill translates pretty well, pretty often, in the occasional Halo/COD game, or in an offline shooter RPG, or occasionally if an enemy sneaks up on me.

But that kind of work isn't going to cut it in Counterstrike (I've been playing GO) on the regular, so I'm going to need to improve. A lot. 

In Counterstrike, it's less about your ability to react. It's a lot more cerebral.

SO... I'm going to start a new tag (we're still testing out how well it'll go), dedicated to getting better at gaming! If you're reading this, we can improve together. :) 

PS. Being 100% honest here, I completely stole the title from my favourite streamer and my secret soulmate, Day9.

Are Video Games Art?

OK! THIS IS A BIG TOPIC. And one that I feel very passionately about (because my two great loves aside from sushi and Game of Thrones are art and video games), but let me give you an introduction.

It's been a while since I've last played Dragon Age: Inquisition. I really wanted to play through it a second time as a Rogue (and I certainly still think I am going to!) but after I finished my mage playthrough I moved onto other things... Like Evolve and Dragon Ball Xenoverse! I've also gone back and started the old Trine because I've only played #2.

...I digress. Going back, I think that Inquisition is a really great new example of how video games are art. Actually, Bioware games in general tend to be a great combination of all of the art forms.

Mind you, as subjective as "art" is, I wouldn't call all games art. I couldn't really write anything about how Call of Duty could ever change my life. But a lot of people would argue that video games are entertainment-- not art-- they'd consider it low-brow. I think those people don't really understand games.

I very vividly remember a speaker at E3 2013 talking about how video games are the only artform that challenge you. He said "a book won't let you turn the page if you didn't read fast enough. A painting won't turn black if you don't look at it right. But a video game can say 'nope sorry, you're not ready to continue yet'."

I think that's part of its charm! It's not exclusivity, it's just a challenge.

Sometimes, you're not ready to continue on somewhere yet. A painting may encourage you to stop to look, but it can't make you. Engaging in a game will sometimes force you to slow down.

And you should! Somebody put their heart and soul, their whole life into this! Have you ever looked up at the sky in Skyrim? It looks like a painting. I could spend hours watching a virtual sunset.

Each game has a (usually identifiable) aesthetic.

If you've ever played Dragon Age or Mass Effect, it's rich with plot-- and such cute, human moments like Mordin singing Scientist Salarian in the last Mass Effect. I literally (not figuratively) cried actual human tears.

Inquisition and most of the Final Fantasy series' do an amazing job of creating dynamic and oddly charming characters that you can find yourself so attached to.

I'm so proud of how far games have come in establishing themselves as masterpieces.

Telltale Games' Game of Thrones

Can you guess it? Here's a hint...

THAT'S RIGHT. It's CANON.

We have approached canon. If anyone has ever played a Game of Thrones game, they're mostly pretty disappointing. I haven't played the text-based one, but Ascent, Genesis (the RTS one), and Game of Thrones: The Role-Playing Game...... not a great track record, guys.

Yes, telltale games produces some great work-- they do this fun new take on text-based adventures, kind of, where your dialogue options are what's mostly affecting the environment. It's like Zork on steroids! But I think there are reasonable grounds to remain suspicious of anything that falls under both the categories of "Game of Thrones" and "video game". 

Well congratulations, Telltale Games' Game of Thrones, you've swayed my heart! 

They actually do a wonderful job of telling a story; they practically mimic George R. R. Martin's voice and style while still delivering an entirely unique and original story, and Telltale Games chose the perfect house to follow: House Forrester. It's an insignificant enough house to take creative liberties with what is happening to them starting at the time of "A Storm of Swords" (the 3rd book/season), but a significant enough house that an avid fan would likely recognize the name. 

So far, only 2 out of 5 or 6 episodes have been released-- and I've heard that the iPhone port is quite buggy-- but it's been a lot of fun! Highly recommended. 

The gamer in me says 6/10. The Game of Thrones fan says 9. As long as you're not looking for a conventional video game, I'd give it a 7.5 overall. Pretty happy! 

Fighting Games: Madcatz Fightstick!

For Christmas, I got my boyfriend a Madcatz Fightstick! It looks pretty much like this:

Except that the original parts (the buttons and the stick), were replaced with these green Sanwa parts which you can see in the ebay link above.

Its been a while since he's had it, but I finally got to try it out for myself and I think he agrees with me-- it plays like a dream (and, by extention, it is automatically an A+++ Christmas present, right?).

So I picked Street Fighter back up after years of putting it down-- because when you're young, Street Fighter is 95% button mashing-- and actually bothered to learn combos. 

I feel like the game is a lot more fun when you're... actually playing it. 

Anyway, this fightstick is both PC and Xbox compatible, and (I think?) can be used for other fighters. 

I wouldn't call  myself an expert, but I did do a lot of research and this fightstick is what I'd bet is the best you're going to get for how cheap it is. 

You can get them here at eBay where there's still a ton of listings with different skins. They'll range from $150-400 but the cheaper fightsticks should work just as well!

(Although one thing I've learned from a ton of shopping on eBay is, look out for shipping prices too... sometimes they try to trick you by putting all of the pricing into shipping :l).

Online Finds: Mass Effect/Cosplay Guns

Shopping online really feels like treasure hunting.

Wow. I've really locked myself in my room playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. I mean... sitting down for 10 hours at a time, not eating, sleeping, or getting up at all, really. But I finally pried myself away and....

I found this awesome N7 pistol!

[Insert the Legend of Zelda "discovered treasure" sound... da da da... daaaaaaa!]

It's all battle-worn and the N7 logo is nicely printed, too, which is a bonus!

I don't really cosplay so I guess I can't justify dropping $100+ on this, but if I did, I'd be all over it. Or maybe I'll just buy this because it's nice to have.  I am all about those paint scratches. 

The shop does custom designs on guns, if you want to cosplay any characters who use them. His store already has a ton of cool stuff up from other games like Resident Evil and Borderlands (two other games I love and make me wish I cosplayed). 

Or do most people just make their own cosplay weapons? Someone enlighten me!

Dragon Age: Human Rogue (Archer)

So lately I've been blogging about Dragon Age a lot... because it's a brilliant game.

I've been playing as a human rogue even though I usually play Elf Mage. Proof of that can be found below. My friend Nikki tries to guess my class and race for every RPG I play. Which isn't very difficult because it's usually DPS + whatever the cutest race is:

But hey, you can't deny that Dragon Age Elves are adorable:

For some reason, playing a human rogue automatically set me as a noble, so I guess in Dragon Age: Inquisition, you can't choose your origin story.

All of the Dragon Age: Inquisition trailer footage has been for the mage class. Why? Clearly because the mage animations are beautiful. And I had a feeling that was why they chose to only demonstrate mage playthroughs. 

I just didn't realize that the archer animations would be so boring. It's literally the same animation for every move. 

So why did I choose archer? That's a good question. Fun fact, my boyfriend, Jordan, and I actually planned to play through this game together (which would be cute because Dragon Age: Origins is one of both of our favourite games), and we got to play as a female, so I settled on letting him choose the class and race. However, I kind of ended up taking over the playthrough. (sorry! >.<), so we decided to play separately. And I was left with an archer. :( 

Luckily, the rogue class lets you switch to double daggers pretty early on in the game, which is what I usually play for second playthroughs, and it's turning out to be pretty fun! 

I mean, not as pretty as anything in Solas' skill-trees, but it'll do. 

Dragon Age: Inquisition (Game Backstory)

More informative catch-up posts about the Dragon Age series, in case anyone wants to play Inquisition without wading through the first and second games first.

The Dragon Age series has two major threats that your protagonist must face:

The first threat is the Blight. 

This is a historical period in Thedas where darkspawn demons takeover the Old Gods, resulting in an Archdemon. This Archdemon leads hordes of demons to cross from their world (The Fade) to the tangible world.

The first game takes place during the time of the world's Fifth Blight, and your character (a member of the once-prestigious order of the Grey Wardens) must defeat in the Archdemon and save the world.

In the background of the first game, we are first introduced to our more apparent threat:

The Mage-Templar war.

In Thedas, the Templars are an order of knights tied to the church, the Chantry, which are used to control and look after the mages. The mages are confined, by law, to The Circle-- a college where mages are trained but also caged.

Mages who escape or evade the Circle are called Apostates, and are hunted down and murdered by Templars.

The war is meant to determine the rights of the mages-- whether they will remain under the eye of the Church, or whether the Circle will become independent from the Templars and the mages will be free to roam Thedas as they choose.

This war has caught a lot of people in the cross-fire, destroying villages, creating refugees, and killing countless innocent people.

This is where the second game focuses its gaze; the Inquisition is a new order, meant to mediate between the mages and the Templars both, to diffuse tension, and help those caught in between.

Dragon Age: Inquisition (Background)

Update on Dragon Age! Oh, how I've missed living vicariously through my Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor. It's been nice to have you back in my arms, Bioware (do I sound creepy yet?).

Here's some background information on the setting of the games:

If you haven't played Dragon Age: Origins or what most people consider its disappointing successor (myself not included), Dragon Age: II, here's a very general backstory for you.

The story takes place in the world of Thedas. Fun fact: Thedas stands for TheDaS, as in: The Dragon Age Set.

The first 2 games only take place in the Kingdoms of Fereldan to the south and Kirkwall to the East. We hear a lot about Orlais, the wealthy, cultured nation reminiscent of historical France for much of those two games,and it's exciting that we're finally getting to see what it looks like!

A lot of reference has been made to Orlais that I'm expecting big things (that are accurate to the portrayal in earlier games).

If Dragon Age had another game (which I feel like it won't), I would love to see Antiva, Tevinter, Nevarra as the setting, three other places which are simply marked as "faraway foreign lands" rather than getting really fleshed out.

The maps so far seem huge, and it seems like they've really taken a few obvious pages out of the Elder Scrolls' book. I could see myself logging a few hundred hours on it, is that excessive?

The fast travel system (always able to fast travel to any of the camps that you've already established) flows well. It stops the travelling of the game from getting tedious but also doesn't let the game get too easy.

More updates on background to follow soon!

I'm back... and so is Dragon Age!

Long time no see, friends!

I'm still trying to get some videos underway but in the meantime, I'm back to blogging! In that time, really only four things happened because I let things totally consume me.

1- Dragon Age: Inquisition

I thought that this would be a good time because Dragon Age: Inquisition came out a few days ago and it's been pretty radtastic so far.

I was going to get back to blogging on the 18th, along with the Dragon Age release, but it's been so addictive I haven't really been able to get off of it. 

I'll keep updating you on it but my work is definitely getting neglected for my inquisitor. I don't even know how much my friends have seen me outside of class time.

I haven't even left the first map yet (the Hinterlands) because even the side quests are so immersive.

It's, so far, seeming like a greatly executed game. Oh, and I started playing the....

2- Warlords of Draenor expansion for World of Warcraft

I started playing this with some friends; now, of course, World of Warcraft is a great game for lore. For a long time, this was the only thing I really knew about the game. That, and the fact that one of my friends literally spent $2,000 on the game.

I consider myself an MMO connoisseur of sorts (isn't the grinding kind of relaxing?) but I've never actually had a chance to get into WoW, one of the greats.

On the first night, I played until 7am after 9 hours of gaming and it's consuming my life so much that I always seem to be seeing some sort of Blizzard HUD in the corners of my eyes. 

I've tried to get into World of Warcraft a few times, but no expansion has ever been able to really pull me in the war Warlords of Draenor does. Actually, it kind of drags me in and forces me to love it.

Usually I play as a Mage but I tried a Monk this time. I'm still playing as DPS so it's not wildly different but updates on that will follow too!

3- I was in a play (Yay!)

It was a thriller where my mother was a murderer and I played a 12 year old girl. My 20 year old friend played my 9 year old brother and, I can't believe this, but by the coincidence that we were also both Asian, someone actually asked whose children we were that they got to be in the play. 

Someone actually thought we were actual children. 

4- I cut off all a lot of my hair

And dyed it black for the play. I've heard I look both younger and older-- thoughts? It's definitely way less maintenance (what's a hairbrush?) but I also miss having colourful hair. :(

Maybe I'll buy some colour remover for the black dye to speed up the process. 

Aaaaand that's been my life so far! I've missed you, internet.