Gaming Memories 07 and August 21st 2014

Gaming Memories 07: Dragon Pack-ins

(Original larger post at my gaming blog)

I have a soft spot for physical editions of games, especially ones that have a ton of pack-ins with them.  I think the first time I felt fully immersed in a game was with Dragon Warrior for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  I had played it at my cousin's house at a time when I had not yet gotten into Dungeons or Dragons, or even after 2nd Grade when my love of knowing things really started.  So I spent a while trying to figure out how this "chain mail" worked, and how I could send it to other towns in the game.  I decided it was probably a bad luck thing, like a chain letter, and gave up trying.

In the early 90's, Nintendo Power gave away Dragon Warrior in a promotion to get people to subscribe.  My friend hated the game, so he sold it to me to pay for his subscription.  This edition of Dragon Warrior came with all sorts of pack ins and goodies to it that really changed my perception of the game.  First off, a picture of chainmail was right there in the booklet, it was armor, duh.  But there was also great pictures of shields, swords and in game items.  There were posters of these things and also grand maps of the world, and maps of the dungeons.

I still have all this stuff, though the maps are not in good condition, as I once had it taped to my wall like a poster.  For long times I would imagine myself with Erdrick's sword, I used to have a lot of toy swords when I was younger, rivaling the number of toy guns I had.  Even after all these years, and so many magic swords from gaming for so long... Erdrick's sword is still my favorite.  It would not be till Final Fantasy 12 that I would earn Erdrick's sword again.  Yep, its in there.

August 21st, 2014

Yesterday I talked about Ni No Kuni being a game that is an "experience" that is few and far between.  I guess I should list a few more in that class.  I think it is easy to list your favorite MMO"s and being "experiences".  I would say that World of Warcraft absolutely made me feel like I was living in the Warcraft world(I was a massive fan of Warcraft 1-3).  Lord of the Rings Online, particularly the Shire and Moria expansion, would also fit there.  Outside of MMO's I would say that Fallout 3 was very much immersive and almost "virtual" to me.  The first Knights of the Old Republic was the first Star Wars game that made me feel a part of that world too.  JRPGs tend to not include you like these Western RPG's do, its less first person narrative, so that should tell you why Ni No Kuni feels even more special.  The book just somehow "works" as a tool to make you feel more personal in the world.  I feel like Harry Potter during his first days at school.

Now I want to talk to you about Candy.  Specifically hard candy.  You all have probably had a Werther's Original before, so I want you to think about the texture of them.  They are very hard, and they have a very very smooth feel to them against your tongue.  Why is that?  Well its German made for one, but that's not all.  Well now think about the butterscotch hard candies you can get in bulk bins, or think about Tootsie and Blow-pops.  Ever slide your tongue across those?  Yea, you'd slit your tongue and bleed to death.  This is because they have lots and lots of air in them.  Werthers Original has "void free" creation, there's almost no air inside them to save on materials, or speed up the process.  There is an American company that is doing that sort of quality candy, Claey's Candy makes many different variations of hard candy and I vouch for every single one of them.  Sometimes you might get a cracked candy, but I have NEVER found an airpocket in their candies that would cause you to cut your tongue to pieces.  My favorite is the Horehound Candy, its among my favorite candy in the world.  Horehound tastes like a southern sweet tea that was sweetened with brown sugar.  It is amazing.