#MUSINGS - Personal preference

At times it can be so easy, too say, to be overly enthusiastic and excited over something. Or a game. And I could be guilty of that. For example, I had just gotten Army of Two and was so psyched to play it. Even when I was playing it, I was so eager to share the love and fun with my friends. Real world ain't so kind and not all my friends share the same love and passion I have for some games. So when I recommended and said that AoT was pretty fun and a super awesome game, I was met with quite a number of remarks from a few who didn't think it was all that great.

Lesson learnt is that not everyone shares the kind of likes and dislikes I have towards certain games. Some of them can also be quite vocal and rather.... Unpleasant in the way in which they highlight their distaste. I believe in personal preference and opinion and I do respect their decision and preference. Though what I find hard to digest is not being able to understand why they would have to be so aggressively rude in the way they put it across. 

I wasn't trying to sell them AoT (c'mon, I don't work for the company and in the same manner if they were to recommend  a game which I'm not too find of, I'm not going to downright tell them what a piece of stinking poop shit I find it and the developers to be). But meh, it probably is just me being all sensitive. It must be all the anti-bullying stuff that I have been reading and promoting at work that's probably made me feel or rather be a little too affected by it. 

I still stand by my like of AoT (even when I watched GiNX earlier and they said it wasn't fantastic). Like i said, different people, different opinions. 

#MUSINGS - Grand Theft Auto - Gamer morals

Tony, who reminds me too much of a wussy George Michael.

I bought this Rockstar collection of games pretty recently. It had Red Dead Redemption, Midnight Club, L. A. Noire and Grand Theft Auto. Heard quite a fair bit about GTA and I know it received quite a number of raving views for its gameplay. On the other hand, it also received a couple of negative stuff because of the vices and sins that was one of the game's main recurring theme. I didn't think it would be that bad. After all most, if not all, video games had to have the whole sex, violence thing for it to sell. Or was it that the formula to successful games was to have one or the other, or for guaranteed success, both.

There were two parts to the one that I got - The Lost and The Damned and Gay Tony. Tried out the former which revolved around a bike gang. That appalled me. Although there was a character who was a chaotic good turned lawful good, his other gang members, particularly the leader was quite the chaotic evil. I didn't like the use of excessive vulgarity as well as how some of the female characters (though non-playable) were being portrayed. It quite disgusted me. I didn't even bother completing any of the missions and just skipped over to the Gay Tony one.

This one was a lot more palatable, much more fun. There was still stuff like drugs and sex involved and some nonsensical gang wars and the like. I liked the characters better. Both the lead (whom you pay) and the boss were like able enough and they weren't so extremely morally corrupt. So far I've managed to fly a helicopter and land it and not get too lost driving about Liberty City, which compared to Sleeping Dogs (based in Hong Kong) was like so so so much bigger.

The GPS was much less confusing.

Didn't ever think that the morals of a game could affect me and my decision to play. Is it because I am older and have some understanding of the world and human nature? I don't think the kids who play such games are able to make that kind of decision, to not play because of the errors in human judgment and the abundance of sin and vice that runs as a rampant theme throughout. Maybe that's what we should worry about. Main reason why such games are not suited for children below a certain age is because they're still young and have yet to formulate their own concept of what is morally right and wrong. To be able to identify it for themselves and to make their own informed decisions and distinctions that whilst it seems ok in the game, such things are not and should not be applicable to real life.

Then it comes to the issue of how then can we prepare them before playing such games? Is there a need for them to be prepared? Or should we just stop them completely from even coming into contact with such games?

In this era of technology, unless you have absolute and complete control of your children, it would be a challenge to prevent them from coming across such things. Only if they are educated thoroughly on the concepts of right and wrong (which is a fundamental aspect of character development), can we be somewhat certain that we won't have to worry about them turning out corrupted.

I mean I know of some parents who don't even allow their kids to watch cartoons because of the implied and subtle notions of violence, racism, etc. But maybe one approach we can take is to talk about the game, before it is played. To highlight and make them aware of certain Therese. Granted they might be intrigued and even find the whole scenario amusing but if we stress enough, are serious enough, especially if we let them know that we are granting them permission to play BUT ONLY IF they agree to the responsibilities that come with playing the game.

Oh what am I saying and what do I know.

Though it was something that I thought about as I went about finishing missions. Enjoyable only for the gameplay but I wouldn't want to be a mafia king or a gang leader or some nightclub owner in the real world.

And if you we're thinking what Gay Tony implied; yes there's some homosexuality involved. Nothing explicit, mostly implied. I'm more worried about the objectification of women.

#INPROGRESS - Far Cry 3 - What? I killed him?

He kinda reminds me of Puck from Glee.

Just letting you know, that this is a spoiler. For those of you who don't know what Far Cry 3 is about and are planning to get the game and all, then skip along, move along, rainbows and fishes elsewhere.

But anyway, one of the core mission in FC3 is that you'll be slaying the big bad pirate boss - Vaas. Brother to Citra, gone insane thanks to drugs and money and he's the one responsible for the deaths of your two brothers. Tragic, perfect recipe for revenge. Classic vendetta.

So I travel all the way to Vaas's island (where before when I tried to explore without having unlocked that mission the game just booted me back to my last savepoint) and stalk his basecamp. Trance/techno music, dancing semi-nekkid girls and a lot of weed. He's already expecting me when I sneak into one of the buildings and no surprise, has got an ambush lying in wait. But with all the fumes from the burning weed, everything starts to get just a little trippy.

So I'm killing multiple Vaas who are coming at me with knives from all directions and my surroundings are tripped out with TV monitors and strobing lights, such is the game's rendition of being high on drugs. Honestly, it gave me a horrible headache, one that forced me to go cold and leave FC3 alone for the next two days.

But now that's done. Big hip hip hooray I wake up with Citra nursing me. I don't even get to loot the maniac's body. Do I feel accomplished now that Vaas is out of the picture? I don't know. I thought it'd be a lot harder and that he'd be a lot tougher to defeat. But he wasn't. Maybe I'm disappointed? That I was expecting a greater challenge. After all, why would I make it like some training practice to takeover as many outposts as I can, honing on my sniping/molotov/grenad/C4 skills if not for that one defining moment?

Well. It's over. Done. Now my next problem is Hoyt.

I guess I will be finishing FC3. And maybe a lot sooner than I thought I would, even given the weeks that I spent putting it on hold just because I was so frustrated with constantly getting maimed by the stupid komodo dragons.

There is hope still. Haha.

#INPROGRESS - Far Cry 3 - Badass Bow Hunter

So I thought I was badass with a bow when playing Tomb Raider. I'm even MORE badass in Far Cry 3. The Recurve bow is amazing. Just read up on Wiki about what it means to be a recurve bow, it's basically just the shape, how the ends are curled towards the archer and gives him/her a better advantage. Of course because of that, the bow will often be made of composite materials to be able to withstand the stress of the pull of the string due to its shape.

Does that make sense? It took me awhile to digest. 

Anyway, in-game progress is that I took on one of the side quests and that was to hunt down 4 leopards with only a bow.  I also took down a rare black panther with the bow. Prior to this, was never successful with the wild creates since I always somehow just ended up getting killed. But since then, I've learnt the art of running like mad when I hit the animal and its just about trying to register my location. So my chances of survival and not dying a horrible mauled death pretty much increased.

Yay me!

#GAMERHEALTH - Gamers with bad backs.

It doesn't matter if you're a pro or recreational gamer. Judging by what I see - how my brother sits when he plays WoW, how my friends sit when we L4D at LAN shops, how I go all over the place when playing Tomb Raider - I guess I can safely say that when we play video games, we don't really subscribe to the proper seating postures as advised by the game manuals (like really, how many of you actually follow the guidelines they set out?).

I'd been complaining to the boyfriend about aches and pains so we decides to look up late night spas and massages. Obviously the legit and clean ones aren't many but thank god for this particular website which specialized in all the massage parlours and spas in Singapore. Whoever this person is, thank you so much because you saved us the trouble and headache of finding one. Not to mention the fact that the review you gave was really really spot on!

I don't usually go for massages. It's pricey and I don't have the time (or procrastinate too much or give the excuse that I don't want to travel so far). The few that I have been to I can't really judge. They were ok I guess. Usually the masseuse would just go through a series of motions. You're lucky if she asks what are your trouble areas and is a kind enough soul to pay special attention to it.

Enough of the fluffy back story.

There's nothing much to do in Singapore, the weather drove us nuts and we're growing old and aching everywhere. So boyfriend suggested we go for a massage.

Healing Touch is located at 39 Jalan Besar. It's along the main road stretch of Jalan Besar leading to Rochor. Before 10pm, the rates are $50 for 1hr full body massage, with oil it's an additional $5. After 10pm, it's considered their midnight shift so it's an additional $10. The place closes at 3am and their last booking is at 2am.

We booked a 1hr full body massage with oil that began at 10:30pm.

From the moment the lady placed her elbow into that spot with the phantom ache, I pretty much knew we made a good choice. We didn't even have to tell the masseuse(s) which part of our bodies were aching or needed more attention. She even knew I had a sprained ankle before I even yelped out (telling me the pain was necessary for the healing, so familiar). 

I mean of course masseuse ought to know where to hit and massage and pound and knead. I have been to a few before but realized (after much reading and researching) that what the other places were doing were not exactly right and could even be damaging to my overall health. 

Healing Thai Massage isn't cheap but it was worth the money. Went to another place closer to home and it was pretty good. Slightly more affordable. 

With all the nonsense postures I know gamers get into, it'd be good to get a massage once in awhile. The sitting hurts the pelvis and hip area and it also affects the blood circulation from waist down. You also need to rejuvenate your back from the strain of godawful sitting positions just because sometimes we're too lazy to sit proper.  

Plus after all that kneading and pounding, they crack your joints (I always love love love this part). When you go back home, don't take a hot shower. Just go straight to bed. You'll wake up feeling amazingly refreshed :) and that's enough to help you take on the rest of the game for the day.