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So on my hiatus from Final Fantasy XIV I've been kind of... at a loss, honestly, and a little depressed. I feel like a terrible jerk if I'm just sitting there doing nothing, but if I'm sitting around doing nothing it's because I feel bad about my inability to commit to things. This makes sense when I tell it to myself, so please go with it.

Anyway.

I've spent most of my time analyzing where I failed with Vesperia, and Danger by Design. Accordingly I've just decided to give up on Tales of Vesperia, officially moving it to the DNF list. I'm tired and cranky and can't really see myself going back to that. I tried to do TOO MUCH and tried to document every second of the game, essentially rewriting it. I need to pace myself on these long games.

Danger by Design, however, I'm going to leave in the draw pool. If I draw that one again I'll go back and try to finish it off, but until then... no. I'm just gonna clear my mind and not dwell on stuff I failed to finish because of dental/medical bullshit.

Which means that at least until the end of the year the Hat Project is BACK ON. I have missed having an excuse to play all kinds of random bullshit. In case y'all missed it, here's a link to the rules and obligations I'm going by.

I'm also allowing redraws for a while, if I get something long and tiring, another large-scale RPG or something, I reserve the right to silently go "nope" and grab something else. This is provisional and only matters to me, but I'm admitting it in public. Also, to further ensue that "Weird Nutbar Who Faffs Around With Games" is all anyone can think of me, I've added my entire large console game backlog to the Hat List.

That said, the game I just finished was NOT a random draw.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a PS3 launch-ish game that I adored when I grabbed my PS3... and then a patch update rendered the game disc unreadable somehow. My sadness was legendary. I was talking with someone about the game and decided to pop the disc in... and at some point ANOTHER patch update must have rendered the disc readable again. Hooray! I decided to finish the game in a blazing hurry just in case this was temporary or an accident or something.

Uncharted belongs to my favorite genre of action game: The "Clamber Around On Things" platformer. Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider. Mirror's Edge, to an extent. I don't have a proper genre name for them, but I love them. They're games where the physicality of climbing and plotting a path through a room are important. Normal platformers (Mario, say, or the Banjo games) don't have that element of puzzle-like "Can I get there from here? How?" as you plot how to wallrun/jump/climb your way from point A to point J, with stopovers at every point between.

Unfortunately they also insist on having combat. I'm really bad at most in-game combat systems. I finished Uncharted on "easy" and poor Drake still got shot about a billion times. Happily, he is of that class of character that can handle it: The Honest Rogue. He's all treasure-hunty and On A Quest From His Ancestors, and he's a wise-cracking smartass, and he basically is... well, Nathan Fillion. Even sounds like Nolan North doing a Nathan Fillion impression. Go fig.

Anyway, Drake. Nathan Drake. I like this guy. He's -designed- to be likable, that kind of flailing quick-talking smartass Everyman that everybody's just predisposed to like. When you reload a gun, he mumbles "...okay, I'm good..." to himself. Pick up something hefty and he mutters "...s'whatI'mtalkin'bout." Take cover and he presses his leg against a nearby rock awkwardly, prepared to spring out with a whole-hearted "YAH!" and open fire on enemies, while peeking carefully around the outcroppings. Fits the genre.

He's well-designed, as are all the characters.

And then, at the very end, it turns into a straight-up shooter with monster zombies, because a supernatural element in the last act is kind of what these treasure-hunt-adventure stories DO.

Did I mention I'm really bad at the shooting part? I am SO bad at the shooting part. Happily this is also where the game stops demanding precise shots and starts letting you get away with unaimed flailing or just holding the fire button down and running away. Again, fits the genre. Precise for manshoots, monsters you just flail at.

Someday I'm gonna find a "pure" puzzle-platformer though. Oh well.

Anyway! Starting the Hat Project back up means it's RANDOM DRAW TIME. So... let's draw a game! Randomly!