Thank you to the wonderful Kelly at Why We Play Games for the nomination! I haven’t done one of these for a while and it was great fun.
The Rules
Display the logo
Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog
Answer the questions
Nominate 7-10 bloggers
Ask these bloggers 7 questions
Questions and Answers
What is your favorite video game genre?
RPGs all the way. I love games where you can make your own character and really become a part of the world, It’s so immersive.
What is your favorite music genre?
I am happy to listen to a bit of everything (with some exceptions) but my overall favourite would be Alternative Rock.
What games do you play when you want to relax?
Generally games that are nostalgic and have more cartoony vibes. Like Stardew Valley, Pokemon, Legend of Zelda (Wind Waker rather than Breath of the Wild for relaxing)… Right now Spyro is the go-to.
What are your favorite hobbies?
I’ve always been really bad for having too many hobbies and finding I don’t have any time to myself trying to do them all and since lockdown started I’ve been using it to reevaluate what I actually enjoy most. Anything that I don’t actually do that much while I have all the time I’ll ever have, I won’t worry myself about in the future. So, taking that into consideration my favourite hobbies would be:
Gaming: You may think “duh, obviously” but since we’ve been indoors and I’ve had so much more time to play I have come to the realisation that I really love gaming. Before all of this I was playing maybe a couple of hours a week when I got some time and feeling kind of guilty when I did but I really do love it, it’s relaxing, sometimes it makes me think, sometimes it challenges me, sometimes I play with friends and family and it’s a good time, it’s made me want to write again. I missed it a lot and I’m really enjoying getting re-acquainted with it. When this is all over I just need to keep this frame of mind with it and not let myself feel guilty for spending a lot of time on it.
Pole Dancing: This is the main way I keep fit. Since I started it my confidence has built so much and I’m so much fitter and stronger than I used to be. It’s so much fun as well.
Sewing: I don’t sew that often but it is a great skill to have and has come in handy more than I would have ever thought. I like having the ability to make things that no one else has. I went through a bit of a leggings phase after Xmas and that’s what I’ve been making a lot of since (I have way too many clothes, I can’t justify making more right now, but leggings are wonderful lockdown and exercise wear). Here I am in my Shark leggings!
What shows or movies are you watching right now?
In terms of TV shows Community, Ru Paul’s Drag Race (Gigi or Heidi for the win!), and I’ve just started watching Modern Family from the beginning.
I really like 80s movies. Recently we watched Top Gun (not really for me), When Harry met Sally (amazing movie), and Good Morning Vietnam (super amazing). Got any recommendations for some more?
What is your favorite video game and/or TV series?
That’s a tough one… I’ll say God of War because I just started playing the newer one again recently. I wrote about it before and was kind of disappointed. Actually, reading that post back (I don’t want to link to it because I’m embarrassed) I really attack it and playing through it again with less of a nit-picky, critical eye I don’t really know why I was so aggressive when I wrote about it, maybe I should do a review of my review. Anyway, it’s such a good game (as are the previous 3) and I didn’t realise quite how much I knew about it until my boyfriend started asking me questions about it and I just went off on one for ages about the whole previous trilogy and all the related Greek and Norse mythology.
My favouritie TV series is probably Spaced. Though I have many favourite series like New Girl, Brooklyn 99, How I Met your Mother they all suffer from being American which means the finales are terrible (except Brooklyn 99 which hasn’t got a finale yet, fingers crossed it’s a good one). Spaced is a British comedy that brought Simon Pegg to the screen. It’s funny, nerdy, and delightfully weird. It’s also directed by Edgar Wright (of Hot Fuzz, Sean of the Dead, Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs The World…) so if you like that sort of thing do give it a go.
What helps you feel calm?
I live near the beach and I like walking down there on a nice day to watch the waves and chill for a bit.
My Questions
How have you been spending your time recently?
Where are you going to go to eat when we can go out to eat again? (I’m thinking of this amazing burger place right now and I am really looking forward to it *drool*)
What was the last movie you watched?
What brightens your day?
Recommend a Netflix/Prime/Disney+ show to watch!
Do you have a song that gets you pumped up?
What is your favourite sweet treat?
My Nominations
I’m quite late in responding to this nomination so I’m not sure who has been nominated by others and who hasn’t so if you read this post then consider yourself nominated!
I have been really struggling to get any content for my blog recently because I’ve been pretty busy this year so far and just haven’t had a lot of time to start a new game. Instead I’ve been focusing on Spyro, which is the perfect game to dip in and out of and there’s absolutely no pressure to finish it, however I’ve said all I can say about that for now… Or have I? Stay tuned!
Just as I was starting to write a few panicked posts just for the sake of having content, none of which I was happy with (and you guys deserve only the best Tea Party action) along comes my saviours: the amazing Later Levels and Livid Lightning with this #LoveYourBacklog event!
What is the Love Your Backlog event? Well, for this week (and yes, I’m very late publishing it but it’s still within the week) I’ve displayed a badge on my site to show I have less than 100 unplayed/unfinished games in my backlog (just 27! I thought it would be much worse than that… It’s a small backlog but it’s still a backlog), today I’m going to decide on a game for each of the following categories:
Game most likely never to be played
Shortest game
Longest game
Game which has spent the most time on backlog
The person responsible for adding the most entries to your backlog
Finally, in March I’ll be participating in #MaybeInMarch where I try to complete the game from the ‘game which has spent the most time on backlog’ category in the month of March.
I’m not sure if ‘Backlog’ means only games that I have bought and not played at all or games that I have started and not finished, I would take it to mean both really. Another one is that I am only including my Playstation 4 and Nintendo 3DS as I don’t don’t currently have any other consoles and my laptop wouldn’t be able to handle games (it’s an old lady now, can barely handle my blog let alone a game.) So with that in mind let’s get started…
Game most likely never to be played
There were a couple of contenders here but Mario Maker on 3DS wins it. I was so excited to get Mario Maker after it had so much hype through Let’s Plays but as I didn’t have a Wii I had to wait for it to come out on 3DS (I know! Woe is me) and… What a disappointment. I mean, I’m terrible at Mario games anyway but I do generally have a bit of fun with them. This was just awful though, I couldn’t figure out how to play any courses other than the top 10, and after that I gave up and just never touched it again and most likely never will.
Shortest Game
I don’t really know which is the shortest as I haven’t played some of them but after a quick Google I would say it’s probably Another World, which I acquired through the PS+ monthly free games ages ago. Apparently it’s about 2.5 hours so maybe I should give this a go when I have a free afternoon. I don’t know much about it really, just that it’s older than I am, and it’s a platform survival game… Which, due to my platformeritis, probably means I’ll take much longer than 2.5 hours to finish it, if at all. Honestly I am not sure I’ll like it but it was free so it’s worth a shot, right?
Have you played Another World? What do I have to look forward to?
Longest game
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. I have started and restarted this game over and over but I can never get very far. First of all I don’t like the combat controls in the game, I find it incredibly difficult, which is strange because that style is generally right up my street. I also get incredibly overwhelmed when you unlock the large map and there’s just stuff everywhere. You look at it and know it’s going to be a lot of running, a lot of fetch missions, and a whole lot of “what the hell was I actually doing before this 20 part quest to the other end of the map…?”. The fact that so many people love it makes this all the more frustrating. I just don’t understand what I’m missing.
Game which has spent the longest time on backlog
Definitely The Last of Us. I got this with the Playstation 4, played through the first section but I found it incredibly hard, scary and stressful. I ended up using YouTube walkthroughs way more than I wanted to which basically made the game more of a play-along and I just wasn’t having fun anymore. Like Witcher 3, this is another one I feel very bad for not finishing as it’s meant to be so wonderful… Maybe in March that will change as this is the game I’m supposed to try and finish. Oh dear.
The person responsible for adding the most games to my backlog
Can I choose myself? Or Playstation +? I always get at least one game in the PS+ free monthly games and so many of those are unplayed. I think that usually I at least like to try and get my money’s worth with a game, and I’m generally quite good at only getting games I really, truly want. The fact that these are free means I don’t feel so guilty about letting them sit there.
So there’s my backlog, it may not be that insane but I imagine if I had a gaming laptop it would be way worse.
What’s your backlog like? Have you played any of the games I’ve mentioned?
Despite posting very sporadically recently I was nominated for two Sunshine blogger awards by the incredible I Played The Game and the wonderful Art of Redress! They couldn’t have come at a better time as I’m trying to get out of this writer’s block I’ve been getting recently. I decided to answer their questions in the same post as they nominated me around the same time.
Without further ado let’s get to the questions, I’ll answer I Played The Game’s first and then move on to Art of Redress.
The Rules:
Thank blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
1. Your greatest video game nemesis approaches. What video game weapon from a different game do you equip?
It’s the year 2001. 8 year old Dragon’s Tea Party is happily playing through her new game, Loony Tunes’ Sheep Dog ‘N’ Wolf (also known as Sheep Raider). It’s a tremendously fun and goofy game, the levels are surprisingly challenging but do-able until… Level 10. Level 10 is pretty much a breeze until she gets to the boss. The big, red, furry, boss with trainers (otherwise known as Gossamer to Loony Tunes fans but I had no idea that was his name). Knowing how to beat him was pretty easy to figure out: you have to jump over his “stomp waves” then run around him super fast anti-clockwise, once he falls over from dizziness run and grab the sheep, place the sheep on the button, jump on the platforms hovering over the lava to open vents in the ceiling, repeat 4 times.
You red, furry, bastard.
I knew what to do… Actually doing it was a whole other issue though. The sheep might fall in the lava, you might fall in the lava, Gossamer would get up before you had a chance to turn the wheels, I think he might even kick the sheep off the platform if you don’t get back in time. Throughout the years I have tried to go back to that game to beat Gossamer over and over but every single time I get to the same stage and just can’t do it.
I went off on a bit of a tangent there, sorry! The other questions won’t take so long to answer! To actually respond to the question, I would get the super shotgun from Doom and just shoot that twat’s face right off. I don’t care if he’s a beloved cartoon character. IT’S BEEN 17 YEARS! If you played this game and managed to get past that level I am genuinely in awe of you.
2. And whilst you’re at it, which video game character are you riding on as you charge into battle?
I always quite liked the massive boar from Twilight Princess. He’s pretty scary and intimidating. Yeah Gossamer, stomp this giant boar away if you can. Mwahaha!
3. Which video game do you think would make a really good movie?
I have a lot of feelings about this because I think original God of War games would be really cool BUT it could go horribly, terribly wrong as well. I think Jason Momoa (swoon) would be the best actor to play Kratos, he has that gruff, angry, brutal thing going on that we saw in his Game of Thrones days and he just looks physically perfect, both just as a person and also for the movie. I saw a thing about Vin Diesel being good as Kratos and that’s the sort of stupid suggestion that could make the movie go wrong. Vin Diesel doesn’t look tough enough, I know he’s super hench and everything but his face has something about it that just reminds me of a very gentle potato. “Pissed off, homicidal Spartan” is not something that I see when I look at him. Same with The Rock, yes he’s hench but he’s too comedic for the role. Casting aside, I think they have a good story to go with and they’d have an amazing time of it with the monsters and visuals. As long as they don’t try to add unnecessary crap it would be good. I bet after the success of the new one they’re seriously considering it anyway.
In case there was ANY doubt
4. Who is your favourite YouTuber (of any theme) and why?
Well, considering they’re pretty much the only YouTubers I watch (besides Yoga videos), it would have to be the wonderful Game Grumps. They can always make me laugh or help me to relax. If I’m at work and not having a particularly busy day I like listening to the videos while I work. Here’s the one that got me hooked (although you have to watch this one rather than just listen to it!):
5. Which video game character do you want a plush of?
I have wanted a plushie of Makar from Wind Waker for so long. He’s absolutely adorable.
6. Which cancelled video game are you most disappointed about?
I’m assuming it’s cancelled as it’s been YEARS but where is Dead Island 2?! The trailer (back in 2014!!!) was awesome and then it just quietly disappeared!
7. Microtransactions are terrible. Loot boxes are just the worst. DLC needs to go. What monetisation methods do you feel would be most suitable for video games?
I really hate monetisation in games, it takes me out of the story and game and makes me feel like the developers don’t care and just want to make more money. I’d rather pay a larger amount of money for a game and have the only future purchase be the sequel, as it used to be. If the game is good enough I’ll pay for the whole game, I don’t want to pay for little bits here and there.
I guess if I had to come up with a monetisation technique though I’d say that purchasing purely aesthetic items would be good. That way there’s no in-game advantage over those that can’t afford to spend money on stuff like weapons, equipment, or whatever. On top of that, Overwatch’s released a Mercy skin for charity recently which was a wonderful idea.
8. Classic Doom, or Doom 2016?
I’ve not actually played the original Doom, in fact it came out the year I was born and I used to watch my dad play it but I was far too young to play it myself (how impressive would it have been if I could though?) I have played the 2016 version though which was amazing so I’ll say that one!
9. October is coming up soon. What horror game would you recommend I play?
I am a massive chicken, I can’t play horror games so don’t have that much experience of the genre first-hand. I guess I’d say Layers of Fear (if you haven’t played it already!) as that’s got a good story, good scares (as opposed to just relying on jump scares) and it’s a bit different.
10. What would you consider to be the most overrated video game?
I tried Fortnite and it’s kind of fun but I don’t get the hype around it. I like the idea and everything but it just seems so repetitive. Maybe I’m wrong, I didn’t play it for long enough to form a complete opinion to be honest but from what I’ve played, heard about, and seen… I just really don’t get how it’s become so popular.
11. Which video game series needs to make a comeback?
I would love them to re-master the old Baldur’s Gate games. It would have to be done really well but I feel like there’s a big lack in terms of old-style RPGs right now (see also Planescape: Torment and Neverwinter Nights) and it’s a shame because they’re all so creative and fun. I can imagine it being really hard to come into playing them now for the first time though as the graphics are so old and it looks a little clunky (it took me HOURS to find a door in Torment recently because it I just couldn’t see it through the pixels) so it would be nice for a new generation to experience it, like I did with the 2016 Doom!
Is it really bad that I have never played a Sega game properly? I’ve dabbled in Sonic the Hedgehog occasionally but never really liked it and that’s about it for my Sega experience.
2. What is the furthest you’ve ever ran?
There is no greater torture to me than running. I honestly can’t believe that some people do it for fun. I guess it would probably be when we were forced to run around the field at school over and over again until our lungs gave out and the teacher, all bundled up in her coat and sat down, would yell at you to keep going. They did get really lax at cutting the grass in that field and my friend and I figured out that if we just walked vaguely quick but moved our arms like we were running the teacher couldn’t see our legs so yeah. Needless to say I was not a sporty child.
3. Winter or Summer?
Summer! I love the beach, the sun, all the nice clothes I can wear in the summer…
4. If you could go back in time to stop All Saints covering Under The Bridge, would you?
Hell no! I like that version, and I like the original too. It’s not a shameless copy, they’ve changed it a bit and made it sound different. All Saints had beautiful voices and if you’re still not convinced then just imagine if it had been the Spice Girls that had covered it instead (I mean I love the Spice Girls too but All Saints had the better voices and harmonys). In fact I’m going to listen to it while I write my answers to the rest of these questions.
5. Favourite comedy film?
The Mask. I’m a huge Jim Carrey fan and The Mask just never gets old. It’s also got early days Cameron Diaz in it and while her role isn’t particularly comedic like her other movies I think she’s awesome.
6. What mobile phone do you own?
Samsung Galaxy 6.
7. Favourite ice cream brand?
I mean, this is horribly generic but probably Ben and Jerry’s. I don’t pay a lot of attention to ice cream brands but they do have some damn good flavours, especially the cookie dough one.
8. Cinema snack of choice?
I like Pick and Mix, I find cinemas go a bit overboard for popcorn, it’s just so expensive! At least with Pick and Mix, even if it’s still horribly expensive I still feel like I’m getting more for my money than if I get popcorn. I also have a large selection of different sweets so the snack doesn’t get boring!
9. What is your worst gaming experience ever?
You know when you were younger and your mum wants to go see her friend and she drags you with her? You don’t need to worry though, there’s entertainment for you as well because her friend has that son about your age! As there is nothing else to do you end up playing this kid’s favourite game which he’s really good at because you know… It’s his favourite game… He’s also trying to be super cool and act like he’s the bees knees by insulting literally everything you do and you made the mistake of mentioning you like video games so he takes great joy in chastising you every time you lose. You’d have that euphoric announcement of “we’re leaving in 5 minutes!” and you’d skip down the stairs ready to escape that Hell hole, you’d put your shoes on and get ready only to wait… And wait… And wait… My God, what were they even talking about? Eventually you resort to begging your mum to leave and finally you can go home, recover, and hope you never have to go back.
Actual pic of me waiting for my mum to finish her conversation
10. Last time you did a press up?
Monday! Although, I do the ones where you keep your knees on the floor but they’re still hard.
11. If you were a cat, what name would you hope your owners would chose for you?
This is the hardest question out of everything in this post. I’m going to say Sassy like the cat from Homeward Bound because I used to love that movie and also I feel like I’d be a sassy cat.
My Nominees
I’ve been a bit off the grid recently so if you have been recently nominated I apologise for not seeing it, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want! I haven’t quite managed to come up with 11 so if you want to answer the questions even if I didn’t nominate you please go for it! The more the merrier! If you just want to check out the below blogs as well I highly encourage you to do so.
If you had a mascot that just represented you, what would it look like? (If you want to put a creative flair on this and draw it or something go for it!)
What’s the stupidest/most embarassing thing you’ve ever said in a job interview?
Do you have any hobbies other than gaming?
It’s Halloween next month! What are you dressing up as?
You really need a cocktail right now… Can you find a geeky themed one to satisfy your craving? Or make one up…
Would you rather have everything you own be covered in glitter, or every time you wear something a stain (varying in size, origin, and colour day-to-day) will appear on it gradually throughout the day in a random location?
What was your favourite TV show when you were a child?
First of all, sorry for being a little AFK at the moment! What with the new God of War coming out and things suddenly getting a little more manic at work I’ve not really found the time to blog. I missed you all!
Thank you so much to both TriformTrinity and The Codex: Online for nominating me! They are both wonderful blogs and I thoroughly enjoy reading their posts. Please check them out if you haven’t already!
I’ve taken ages to answer these but finally it’s all done! I’m going to answer Trinity’s questions first (as he nominated me ages ago) and then I’ll answer Codex’s. Hope you enjoy!
The Rules:
Thank blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
Triform Trinity’s Questions
If you had the chance to write one article that could change a person’s life. What would you write about given your previous content?
Based on my previous content I guess it would be about not feeling awkward/guilty/bad/etc about your hobbies that some people perceive as lazy or negative, like gaming or anything else you might enjoy doing in your spare time, and learning to embrace them.
One day you see a portal to another world. Where does it take you?
A world where everyone is a mythical creature (based on their personality) so some are unicorns, some are fairies, dryads, griffins, satyrs, etc… But there’s also gorgons, sirens, crab people, werewolves… None are necessarily good or evil, so no big war going on, they all find a way to use their talents, sirens give singing lessons, griffins are used for long distance air travel, dryads are great gardeners, the satyrs are really good musicians, gorgons are great sculptors. They just have loads of great parties.
What type of music is your home? The type that you can always fall back on to fully relax and is the one that interests you the most.
My mum has really good taste in music (in my opinion) and I love listening to my favourites from her selection when I’m chilling out. This would be stuff like Otis Redding, Amy Winehouse, Kirsty Maccoll, The Small Faces, Salt-N-Pepa, Destiny’s Child… So sort of souly with some tongue in cheek pop I guess.
You are making a game, what genre are going with and why?
I would make an RPG because I’m always a big fan of those and I love the freedom you have in some of them to develop your character.
Breathing in space or breathing under water. Which one do you choose?
I would love to breathe underwater. Mermaid was pretty high on my list of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I absolutely love swimming and if I could breathe underwater I would just build myself a little sea house in a nice coral reef somewhere… I never understood The Little Mermaid, why would you give up being a mermaid for a guy? Especially a guy you’ve only seen once. Ariel was a bit of an idiot really.
Favorite mascot?
Mascots aren’t really a huge thing in the UK… Can I say the deflating Pikachu that got aggressively dragged off stage at the Pokémon World Festival? I felt bad for him.
What is your morning routine before going to work/school/etc.?
I fight the urge to stay in bed, wondering how long it would take for people to come and kick me out of my flat and super comfortable bed if I just never went to work. I eventually drag myself up and turn off the alarm that I have to now leave at the other side of the room because I can’t be trusted to have it next to the bed in case I snooze it. I grumble my way to the kitchen and do 15 minutes of yoga where I go through an incredible transformation turning into something resembling a human being somewhere between cobra pose and sun salutation. Then I have a smoothie, get dressed, pack my lunch and snacks for the day, make sure my pet rats have some food, realise I’m running a little late, sprint out the door and go downstairs, run back up the stairs because I think I forgot to lock the door but no, I did lock the door, so I sprint back out and head to work.
Tell me a story of when you encountered your first video game.
I honestly don’t remember my first video game, let alone the encounter. It was probably either Tetris or Pokémon Yellow. I’ll talk about the latter because I remember that one the most, and rather than tell a story, as I can’t remember it, I’ll just say what I remember. First off, I really hated Gary Oak. From the arrogant music that accompanied him and his trademark ‘smell ya later!’ slogan I hated him. I ‘d call him Buttface or something to get petty revenge but it was never enough. One thing I did love was Pikachu, especially the fact that Pikachu walks behind you and you can talk to him. I always enjoyed starting the game over after a few gyms, I liked getting the weaker Pokémon and getting them to evolve (and I still do!). I played it in a very chill way and just enjoyed wandering about. I loved my Gameboy Colour and would take it everywhere with me, even battling my bad car sickness sometimes so that I could play it more. Hope that makes up for not being able to remember the story of my first encounter with it!
Actual pic of my Gameboy Color and Pokémon Yellow game, both of which still work!
What is your element?
Water.
Why is this your element?
I love water, as mentioned in a previous question I would love to be a mermaid. If I ever got super rich I’d have a swim up bar in my garden swimming pool with flumes, diving boards, slides, everything… It would be like a water utopia. Besides swimming in it I love the sound of the rain, it’s a really calming sound, and I drink loads of it I guess so there’s that too.
Running or walking to your destination?
I hate jogging, it’s one of the wort things someone could voluntarily put themselves through. Why someone would choose to do that? Walking it is!
The Codex: Online’s Questions
1. In your lifetime, what has been your favorite year for gaming?
Right now PS4 because it’s my only console, we do have a PC but I don’t want to spend more time on a PC after being at work all day so it gets put on the side lines a bit. I do really want a Nintendo Switch though and I dare say that might take the place of favourite if I get one.
3. Favorite song on the radio, right now?
I don’t actually listen to the radio that much because I hate hearing the same songs over and over again, unfortunately I can’t always escape it in the office so I think I would say IDGAF by Dua Lipa. It’s not the sort of thing I normally listen to but it’s fun and catchy.
4. Favorite shower jam song?
I’M WALKING ON SUNSHIIIIINE WOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAH!!!!
5. Perfect weather?
I love the sun. I live really close to the beach and I often wish for lovely sunny days so that I can go there for the whole day. I love taking a good book, eating ice cream, sun bathing and attempting to swim in the English Channel, I’ve tried it several times and once your entire body goes numb you don’t notice how cold it is!
6. A place you’ve travelled to before and wish you’d never left?
This is kind of skewed because a) I was very young and you tend to remember things in a more glorified way when you’re younger, and b) I had the 5 star treatment in an amazing hotel and resort so it’s not really the experience of the actual country itself or one that I’d be able to afford now. When I was 7 we went to Dubai and I can still remember it so well, it was absolutely incredible. We stayed in a wave shaped hotel next to a water park and an incredible beach, the food was amazing, everything I remember was amazing… I would love to go back one day. I’m worried that I’ll be disappointed though because things will have changed so much or it won’t be how I remembered it.
Maybe one day I’ll go back…
7. If you were invited to an episode of dancing with the stars, but had to be matched with a villain from your favorite game(s), who would your partner be?
I think Ganon from Legend of Zelda would dance a mean Tango. I probably wouldn’t because I would have a hard time keeping a straight face but he’d be pretty good.
8. Orlando, Florida. Would you rather spend the weekend at Universal Studios or Magic Kingdom (and all of it’s affiliated parks)?
I have never been to America, let alone Florida. I would love to go though. There’s so much I’d love to see in both Florida and just the whole of America that I don’t think I’d ever get the time!
I’d love to go to both of these but if I had to choose I think I’d go for Universal Studios, just because they have a Harry Potter section.
9. Did you invent a language when you were young? What was it called?
I did not, I wasn’t quite that creative!
10. Mc’Donalds or Burger King?
I do’t really eat fast food that much, and when I do it’s usually pizza. I suppose between these two I’d choose McDonald’s because I do like milkshakes and chicken nuggets.
11. Do you like the feeling of being warm in cold weather or being cool on a sunny day?
I hate being cold so I would say being warm in cold weather. I am one of those people that has a blanket in the office so that I can feel warmer when it’s cold. It’s actually a scarf but it’s really wide so it covers most of me. I’ve considered buying a heater to put under my desk and warm my feet as well…
My Nominees
Only going to say 4 people and then anyone else that wants to answer the questions, please feel free (11 people is hard)!
Are you going on holiday this year? (Or where have you already been on holiday this year?)
Type “I want a” into your phone and then let predictive text come up with the rest, then tell us what it says! (OK, this isn’t a question but I think it’s fun.)
Have you ever met someone famous?
What was the last thing you read? (Or the last movie you watched if you’re not into reading.)
What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
What would be your dream guest line-up a Comic Con?
You have to fight a minotaur, answer a difficult riddle, or climb a mountain to advance to the next stage of your life. Which one would you choose to do?
Which TV show is your guilty pleasure?
If you were to get sucked into a video game, like in the new Jumanji movie, would you be secretly pleased?
Which video game do you come back to over and over again and why?
If you could play only three games for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Thank you again for the nominations, and I hope you guys enjoy answering my questions!
Thank you so much to Athena from Ambi Gaming for nominating me! It was about a month ago now but I finally got round to it! She’s asked me some great questions which I had a great time answering. If you haven’t seen her blog then you really should take a look because it’s amazing. She writes fascinating analyses of games and on top of that she’s a Dragon Age fan. What’s not to love?
The Rules:
Thank blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions (I have not nominated 11, only 3 because I think these are making the rounds quite a lot at the moment and a lot of people have already done this or similar).
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
Athena’s Questions
If you could change one thing about AAA gaming, what would it be?
Sometimes an amazing game will come out and everyone will love it, and for good reason, then a sequel will be made, then another, and another… It just becomes a cash cow and every time a new one comes out the heart of it gets buried deeper and deeper… I have the same, but stronger, opinion on movies. Do not get me started on the bloody Hobbit ‘trilogy’…
Do you think pineapple belongs on pizza?
Absolutely! It’s one of my favourite toppings!
Is there an article on your site that you would write differently, knowing what you know now? Which one?
My whole series of the Nuzlocke challenge. I didn’t expect it to be going on for so long and I started writing it in a sort of fan fiction, script, Tumblr-esque format, as in dialogue is written like this:
Dragon: “Woah, this is like reading a script!”
Hedwig: “I know right? Maybe one day Dragon’s Nuzlocke Challenge wil be shown in theatres…”
I wish I’d written them normally, like a book, instead. I am so far into it though now that I can’t really change the format.
What’s the weather like near you today?
It’s kind of bright but mostly cloudy and kind of warm but not quite warm enough to want to go outside for long periods of time. Ah, English weather…
Do you like pancakes or waffles better?
Pancakes! I can eat more of them in one sitting and I feel like waffles can get a little too sickly after a while. I do love a waffle though too…
Is there anything about your gaming hobby/habits that you don’t like?
I can be quite competitive or precious if I’m playing something I consider myself to be really good at and someone is playing it better than me. It’s really childish and I am better at hiding it now than I used to be but thinking back to previous moments makes me cringe.
Do you have a preference between JRPGs and western RPGs?
I’m going to say Western RPGs simply because I play a lot more of them. I’m also not a fan of turn based games which seems to be a bigger theme in JRPGs than Western RPGs.
When does an open-world game begin to suffer from open-world bloat?
You get a quest to find someone’s missing ring which was stolen by a witch. Simple enough, right? The witch will give you the ring when you get back her spell book which she left in the ruins of Mordor halfway across the world. In the ruins you meet an adventurer who has already claimed the book, but will give it to you if you go to the pub with him that night because he’s lonely. You go to the pub but before he can give you the book he’s kidnapped by vampires. You travel to the vampire cave, which is in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. You kill the vampires but your friend has already been turned! It’s not too late, you can still save him! Just go to the Netherworld to get an antidote! You arrive in the Netherworld only to find that the antidote is in the possession of a clan of werewolves who are at war with the vampires. To get through you have to become a werewolf and earn the clan’s trust. After a few months of completing small quests for the clan you prove your loyalty and the chieftan promises his daughter, Lady Wolf, to you, the night of your marriage she takes you to see the alter where the antidote is kept but as you take the vial traps are set off and she’s killed. The clan you had come to call family turn on you and you must seek redemption by killing their most feared enemy: Shrek. To kill Shrek you need to… Wait, what the hell is going on? Where am I? What year is it? This was supposed to be a simple side mission but now I’m on the other side of the world, possibly in another Universe, to where I need to be in the main plot and I’m a werewolf. I just wanted a bit cash and some experience points.
What is the most memorable line of dialogue in a game?
As much as I tried to think of something else to be a bit different, deep and meaningful Skyrim keeps pulling me back in with its’ “I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow to the knee”. I know, it’s so boring!!! True though.
Quick! You have 3 seconds to grab one game from your collection. Which one to do you grab and why?
This questions is making me super stressed out… I honestly don’t know. Euuuuuh… STARDEW VALLEY! I’ve been a bit stressed out lately and it just really helps me to unwind at the end of the day, it’s so therapeutic and there’s so much to do. I have my main farm where I’m trying to complete everything and my side farm where I’ve set myself a sort of ‘adventurer’ challenge where I only focus on mining and fighting because I suck so badly at that in my main game, I need the practice.
So peaceful…
Do you collect anything? What is it?
I have a couple of Charm bracelets and each charm is a memory or event. When I have a bit more disposable income I might update some of the lower quality ones with better charms but for now it’s a nice little string of memories around my wrist. Writing this has reminded me that I need to buy some more!
My Nominees
If you want to answer please consider yourself nominated! I have 3 blogs I would like to nominate though:
The guys at Double Jump. Their blog is unique in that it’s two sisters that write about video games together. One of my favourite posts of theirs has been about game theories (I particularly enjoyed the Princess Peach as a Goddess theory).
Sci-Fi or Fantasy? (Feel free to elaborate on why if you want to.)
You’re being attacked by a zombie! You grab the object to your right to use to defend yourself. What is it and how do you use it to kill the zombie?
What was the last song you sang along to?
You can have any Pokémon you like as your starter (excluding legendaries and evolved Pokémon). Who do you choose?
Who would win in a fight between Link and Mario?
Which villain (book, game, movie, whatever) do you sympathise with the most?
Which game franchise do you think has the best music?
Besides gaming, what’s your favourite element of ‘geek’ culture, or something you’d like to get more into if you had the time/money?
You stumble across a magic lamp, and awaken a genie who offers to help you create the videogame of your dreams. What genre do you create, and what’s the basic premise of your game?
Thank you to Jay Borenstein from Nerd Speaker for the nomination! His blog is all about nerd culture, from art to video games. It’s a great blog, do check it out! I actually was nominated for another one of these a while ago and I started writing a draft for it but never got around to finishing it, to my shame I also can’t remember who nominated me first time round but thank you!!! If you jog my memory in the comments I’ll put a link to your blog here too!
The Rules:
Display the award logo on your blog.
List the rules.
Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well. (Uhh… Google it, I don’t know)
Tell your readers three things about yourself.
Answer five questions from the nominator.
Nominate from 10 to 20 bloggers. (I have not nominated this many…)
Notify the bloggers by leaving a comment on their blog.
Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice, including one weird or funny question.
Share the link to your best post.
Three things about me
I just got back from a skiing holiday and, after breaking through the pain barrier on my 4th day skiing, my legs are suspiciously pain free. I don’t trust them anymore.
I got really obsessed with Ru Paul’s Drag Race a little while ago and I have a farm on Stardew Valley, as a reminder of that time, where my animals have names that are a pun on contestant’s names (Shantneigh, Jinx Moosoon, Mew Paul…)
When I was little I saw the music video for Eiffel 65’s Blue (Da Ba Dee), if you don’t know it has horribly animated blue aliens in it that party with the singer on stage. That night though I had a nightmare that the blue aliens were being stalked by a scary space creature while the song played in the background. For years I thought that my dream was the music video, I wouldn’t watch it and if I heard the song it gave me the creeps. To my shame it wasn’t until I was about 20 and I mentioned “that scary music video where the blue aliens get brutally murdered” to my friend, who understandably looked at me like I was crazy, that I realised I’d dreamt it.
Jay’s Questions
What did you want to be when you grew up? If you even consider yourself grown up?
I wanted to be a popstar really badly. Unfortunately, I’m not. I wouldn’t consider myself grown up now to be honest so right now my dream job would be basically spending more time with my blog! I didn’t realise how much I love writing until I started this. I keep imagining how I could branch it out if it got more successful but first I need to sit down and have a good WordPress session to dress is up a bit.
Name the most recent game or movie that made you want to give a standing ovation when the credits rolled.
Going to say this for both a game and movie because two examples immediately sprang to mind:
On the game side I would say Undertale. It was truly a wonderfully written game and I haven’t had that much fun playing a game for such a long time. Check out my post about it for full appreciation!
On the film front I’m going to say Atomic Blonde. OK, so the plot was a little meh… But I found myself literally sat on the edge of my seat, holding my breath throughout those fight scenes. I can’t tell you how refreshing it felt to have what looked like a genuine fight scene, and with a woman no less. Usually in a fight scene with a girl the girl does all the beating up and manages to avoid getting hit. When she does get hit there’s like a pause and an “oh shit, you’ve done it now” moment but not here, Charlize Theron takes her fair share of hits too, as would happen in reality. They were hitting each other with literally anything they could reach, they were out of breath like you would actually be, it was almost like they’d been put in a room and told to fight for real, using whatever they could to win. I loved it. Not that I want to see people beating each other up but in a movie world that’s filled with superheroes doing their epic “oh it’s nothing” choreographed fights, making it look so effortless, it was just good to see something so raw and real that made me wonder if the heroine was actually going to get out alive. Plus the 80’s soundtrack is awesome.
SO BADASS
If you were forced to listen to the same three songs on repeat when working out at the gym, what would they be?
My gym music is really different to the music I usually listen to, I’m usually more into my Indie Alternative stuff but that doesn’t really suit working out.
Work Bitch by Britney Spears. Anyone that does not put this in their list is lying. No matter how much you try to deny it this song is just perfect for working out.
Red Alert by Basement Jaxx. Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo… I have a soft spot for Basement Jaxx.
Boom boom boom boom! by The Vengaboys. No explanation needed.
Who is your real life role model and why?
I really want to say Miss Piggy but I guess she doesn’t count as a real life role model… This is actually really hard… Oh well. So Miss Piggy is badass. She doesn’t take shit from any body, including her boyfriend. She has impenetrable self-confidence and has been an actress, model, socialite, editor for Vogue, a pirate, an astronaut, a singer… And she looks awesome doing all of them. Even when she was Mrs Cratchit in The Muppet Christmas Carol she was still fabulous. To top all of that off she’s a pig which is not normally what you’d associate with all of the above and yet she rocks it.
If you could have an adult pair of cartoon jammies, which character(s) would you want on them?
I would like Princess Peach jammies because I religiously stick to her when I can as my choice of character in Mario games, she’s a princess so hopefully the jammies would come with a matching crown, and the jammies would be pink by default and I like pink!
My Best Post
Going to cheat a little here, not my best post but my second best post, A Platform For My Game Shame. I’ve mentioned my best one on lots of other things recently so I wanted to give a little love to this one instead. It’s all about being terrible at platformers, specifically Mario games, and getting frustrated as a result because that’s considered one of the best gaming franchises.
The Nominees
I have a little list of bloggers that I’m nominating, take at look at their blogs because they’re all awesome, but please feel free to consider yourself nominated if you want to answer my questions. I nominate everyone!
Thank you to Megan from A Geeky Gal for nominating me! As the name suggests her blog is full of some wonderfully geeky things, including cosplay, fandom related posts and lots of merchandise ideas. She wrote the mystery blogger award post ages ago so I’m sorry I’m only just getting around to writing this!
I really love these nominations because it’s so much fun to answer people’s questions and then read the answers to yours!
Rules
Put the award logo/image on your blog.
List the rules.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny
Well, I don’t believe I’ve ever said it before on my blog but much like my nominator my name is also Megan (although an English Megan so it’s not pronounced in the American way which makes me wince every time I hear it, sorry American Megans…)
When I was a teenager I had a blog about baking which, looking back now is a bit cringey because I wasn’t a hugely successful cook and my writing was probably awful. It’s still out there somewhere, gone feral in the internet wilderness, I won’t attempt to find it or share the link though because I’m too embarrassed
Fairly recently I adopted a couple of rats named Hanzo and Genji and they are very spoiled and very adorable
My Best Post
I wrote a post called Adulting and Gaming: My Struggle To Do Both and even though I wrote it back in October it is my only ‘old’ post that still gets fairly frequent visitors and comments.
Megan’s Questions
1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I really, really, really wanted to be a popstar. I had no other ambitions other than one time I wanted to be a waitress but that was mostly because in the movies they always wore cute outfits and ended up marrying a rich, handsome man (feminism, right?) Unfortunately I am not a popstar… Or am I????? (That would be an awesome twist, wouldn’t it?)
2. If you had to describe yourself using only 5 words, what would they be?
Shy – I’m quite quiet and a bit socially awkward until I get to know people well
Weird – In a good way, well I think so…
Geeky – I’ll happily go on about my favourite fandoms for ages until someone shuts me up
Open-minded – I think that everyone should believe what they want to believe and do whatever they want to do as long as it’s not harmful to anyone while respecting everyone else’s beliefs and lifestyles.
Indecisive – This list took me far longer to write than I care to admit.
3. What TV show, book, or game has most impacted you personally?
This is a difficult one because there are so many! Books were my first love before games or TV shows so I think that one of my most read books, The Hobbit, would probably be it. It launched me into an incredible fantasy world that defined my go to genre, from that I discovered so many other books, and then games and TV shows, that have all impacted me and had a hand in shaping who I am today. It’s also a book that no matter how old I’ve been when I’ve read it I’ve always enjoyed it just as much as the last time. I can’t remember if that was my first ever fantasy book, probably not, but it’s definitely the one I remember reading the most (even more so than Harry Potter which was sooooo close to being chosen instead).
4. If you could be any villain in a TV show, book, or game, who would you be and why?
I think I’d be someone like Gabriel from Supernatural because he has a lot of fun. (If you don’t want to know anything about this character skip to the next question because I’m kind of dancing over a minefield of spoilers here) I don’t think I could ever be evil, I’d be more of a mischievous annoyance if I was to be on the bad side of anything and he certainly ticks the box there. I would also quite happily just stay out of any drama going on between powerful forces but would ultimately side with good if things were to get out of hand so I can also see myself going down his path. His episodes are hands down some of the best and while, yes he’s not a villain in the traditional sense he does annoy a lot of people. I mean who isn’t an alternating villain/good guy at some point in Supernatural anyway?
5. [weird] What strange food combinations do you really enjoy?
I don’t think that this is weird but everyone I eat it in front of seems to think it is: peanut butter and celery. I like getting a stick of celery and spreading the peanut butter so that it fills the dip in the celery. Nomnomnom…
My questions
If you could wear any video game/Movie characters’ outfit for a day (male or female) whose would you choose and why?
Which song would play during the credits in a movie about your life?
Which scene in a movie/tv show always makes you laugh?
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had a lovely one, I ate so much food and watched so much TV (mine is a very chilled holiday). Back to the Creative Christmas questions now (from Later Levels) after a 2 day Christmas break…
Your help must have worked, because it’s now Christmas morning and presents are under the tree! There’s a fancy box with your name on it; which gaming-related item are you hoping is inside?
Ooh… Well this is more gaming merchandise than actual gaming but I think a year long Loot Crate subscription would be rather lovely (specifically the LootGaming crate), then I get a present every month so Christmas just keeps on coming! I am one of those people that gets super excited if there’s a parcel on the way to me, especially if it’s a mystery parcel. I did get a Loot Crate once to see if I’d like it but was really disappointed by how long I was waiting for it (it got delayed by about 3 weeks) and the contents wasn’t that incredible when I did get it because I only played 2 out of 6 games I got in it but I suppose that’s the risk. If it was a gift though then I would appreciate it so much more. If it was a themed box like the Harry Potter or Stranger Things ones the guarantee of me liking everything in it would increase tenfold as well.
This would be a pricey gift of course but the question says it comes in a fancy box so…
It’s Christmas Eve!!! So exciting! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!
Now on to today’s question…
You’re woken from your drunken haze by another frantic call from Santa, who’s worried he’s not going to make all his deliveries in time. Which video game item or vehicle would you recommend for him?
Uh… Isn’t it obvious? The Batmobile. It can transform into any vehicle he’d need, it’s super fast and the presents will just want to be delivered on time because they are being boosted by the sheer power of how cool their ride is. If presents were delivered by Batmobile rather than sleigh I think Christmas would be a little bit more interesting. He could even use the tanky cannon thing on top of it to to fire the presents into passing houses.
It even has red lighting to make it look Christmassy
Have a look at Later Level’s blog for more Creative Christmas content!
Today’s Creative Christmas question is a little cringey, in a good way though! I’m looking forward to reading other answers for this. After re-reading my post I realised that it kind of sounds like terrible fan fiction so… Enjoy?
The party is still going strong and you find yourself conveniently positioned under the mistletoe. Which video game character would you call over for a cheeky kiss?
I’m stood in the corner of the party in my usual go-to party stance. That means I have a glass of Prosecco in one hand, a glass of wine in the other, and I’m standing strategically between the buffet and the bar. Once the epic tunes (mentioned previously) are put on I dramatically throw off the elegant cardigan that was concealing the full wow factor of my dragon scale inspired dress, it is quite sparkly and very pretty and it make me look awesome. I wish you guys could see it, I look incredible. Everyone goes “oooooh…” when I walk past them. It even matches my shoes. I make my way to the dance floor downing my Prosecco on the way to leave one hand free for dancing (because you need a free hand… What if you need to punch the air or something?) and I start throwing shapes to some Blondie when across the room I see him… It’s Link from Legend of Zelda, but not just any LoZ Link… Twilight Princess Link… In an attempt to catch his eye I clear some space on the dance floor and show off my best dance move: The Robot. It works, I see his eyes drift over to me as he watches my moves, clearly impressed. I mime lassoing him and then pulling an invisible rope and while he doesn’t really respond to it at first he eventually obliges and joins me on the dance floor. He’s got some pretty sick moves, he starts back flipping and even does some forward rolls. At one point he gets a bit carried away and rolls into a corner full of china pots. I run over to make sure he’s OK and as I help him up I realise we are stood under some mistletoe, I blush and lean in and as I do feel a strange force bitch slap me. It’s Midna, I didn’t know she was invited. God dammit she’s so cool and beautiful, her magical orange hair is still in the shape of a hand, is it even a bitch slap if it’s done with hair? She glares at me and leads Link away, chastising him. That’s fine, I guess if I’m going to lose out against a female video game character I’m glad it’s her. I start scanning the room for my next victim lucky man. Is that Prince Sidon from Breath of The Wild over there…?
Yes Link, work that camera!
Check out Creative Christmas creator Later Levels and see who the other bloggers would kiss under the mistletoe!
Dragon's Tea Party 