All about Videogames Tag

On other blogs I always love to read the so called tags. These are basically a series of questions about a single subject which are answered by the blogger.
It often gives a nice insight into what the blogger is into and sometimes makes the reader learn about new things or re-discover old ones.

For my very first tag I chose to do the videogames tag. Here I will answer some questions about video games and how they influence me and what I like or dislike. If you like the tag feel free to copy and/ or share it.

1. What is your all-time favorite video game?
I don’t have a single all-time favourite game actually. As many games are important to me for their own unique reasons.
Discworld and 7th guest because they were the games I always played together with my dad. Wolfenstein 3d and Tetris because my mother is still the one with the best scores in those games.
Silent Hill and Final Fantasy X as that’s the game where my brother and I bonded over.
World of Warcraft for making me meet new people and pushing myself out of my shell. Mass Effect and Dragon Age because those games made me care about characters and storylines.

2. What is your current favorite video game?
At the moment I really enjoy SWTOR as I am a big Star Wars geek. But I am also still working my way through my second playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition and suffering from an oncoming addiction to Warframe.
I can get bored really quickly so I always try to spice up my gaming life with some fun casual games in between. At the moment I am playing a bit of Huniepop and some Animal Crossing.

3. What is your favorite video game genre?
RPG’s!! I love them so much!
I am also fan of adventure and FPS games. But my love for RPG’s is what kept me into gaming all this time.
Big epic storylines and well developed characters can really get me hooked. No wonder as I play tabletop rpg’s as well.

4. How long have you been playing video games?
Since I could hold a joystick so that means I was around 2,5 – 3 years old. At first I had no real idea what i was doing just that I loved sitting in my chair and watch stuff move on the Commodore 64. Little did my parents know that they would create a gaming monster.

5. What’s the first game you ever played?
I have no idea. The ones I can remember were Smurfs, Airwolf, Frogger and some more games. I was actually not to shabby at Smurfs and really loved playing those games with my parents. I wasn’t allowed to play too long (more like 15 minutes) but they are a fond memory.

6. What game have you clocked the most hours into?
That’s without a doubt World of Warcraft. I have been playing since the closed beta and got the game a month after release. It was sold out here so a friend of mine helped me out and sent me a copy.
Recently Blizzard send me the Wolfrider statue as a thank you gift for playing the game for 10 years. The statue is very cool and it was such a kind gesture. But on the other hand it made me feel really old 😉

7. What’s your longest gaming session?
That has to be during the release of the World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm. I started at release and basically gamed the entire night and day to finally get to max level asap. I soon found out that for me it’s a bad thing as I really burn out on a game.
I am also notorious for having long gaming session in Bioware games like Dragon Age and Mass effect. As soon as new installment come out everyone around me knows I won’t be around that weekend. Spending some quality time with my companions.

8. Who is your favorite game developer?
– Bioware: Ever since Neverwinter Nights it is their games that made me smile and cry during some important periods in my life. Playing their games made me able to kick back and relax when I needed it.
– Blizzard: World of Warcraft was the first game that I really interacted with a lot of people and created many lasting friendships. Both my best friend Demmie and partner in game (crimes)Chardy are friends I met through Warcraft. It’s where I learned how to lead in raids, play on a high level, have fun with people all over the world and how to just enjoy gaming with others not in the same room.
– Digital Extremes: For being so in touch with their playerbase and for creating such good games (esp. Warframe). I love to see the passion of the players being rewarded but also to be able to go berserk on Skype with Chardy. And that’s something that no other game has achieved. Also more developers should organise (dev)streams like they do.

9. Who is your favorite hero character from a game?
I adore my wow characters and I love playing a Saryn in Warframe.
Shepard and the Inquisitor/Warden from the Bioware games are on another storytelling level for me and I will always have a soft spot for my Sith Inquisitor from SWToR

10. Who is your favorite villain?
I have a long standing feud with Nefarian in World of Warcraft. During vanilla WoW (2006-ish) we had the raid BlackWing Lair on farm and pretty much used it to gear up for other content. Nefarian was the only one who could drop the armor piece I needed for my hunter set. I came back every week and I saw it drop only once and passed for my classleader. After that it became a legend. I finally got the thing….. in 2010 just before Nefarian returned with another bloody dungeon. Needless to say things between my hunter and the dragon have been…complicated.
But overall I have a thing for villains.. so my softspot for the inquisitor (space marine), Wesker (Resident Evil) and Stalker (Warframe) is well known among my gaming buddies.

11. Who is your most hated character of any game?
Neptune in the aqua-ring from the Resident Evil remake.
I am afraid of sharks, have a small phobia for them. And that portion of the game with the big shark is fuel for nightmares.. My father helped me through that portion and is still teasing me about that. Nope, nope, nope!

12. What gaming systems do you own/ have you owned?
Some are still with my parents or I have owned in the past 🙂
I own some of the older ones and currently have a PS3 and 4, Xbox360 and Wii.

13. What was your first game system?
My first real console was the Nintendo 8-bit that my parents got my brother and me. For certain reasons we couldn’t go on a summer holiday and my parents wanted to at least give us something to entertain ourselves while our friends were away. So at the Intertoys we got  a NES with the newly released Super Mario 2. And my father bought himself and my mother a game, which was Star Wars- a new hope.

14. What’s your favorite gaming system and why?
For many games I prefer the PC and I make my own systems for that.
For most console stuff I prefer the PS3 or 4 as my dealings with Sony have always been pleasant and I love the exclusives they have. Sadly the same can’t be said for my experiences with the Xbox360.
And I still adore the Nintendo games but they are so expensive and the releases are a bit slow in Europe.

15. Do you prefer to play guy characters, or girl characters?
As a female myself I do prefer to play female characters. If it comes to games with story/rpg elements in it I like to be able to connect and identify myself with the character and to be honest that goes easier when I play a girl. That’s why most of my mains have been female and why I adore some of the female frames in Warframe.
Funny enough my Blood Elf Warlock, Vyksos, is actual a male and playing him is just so much fun. So there are also plenty of non female characters I like to play.

16. Do you follow walkthroughs, or do you play through on your own?
Most of the time I figure out everything on my own. But every now and than if I get really stuck I will look for hints online.
Back in the days of the 7th Guest there were no online walk-throughs so me and my dad used notepads to try and figure out riddles and stuff. And back in those days I did call the Nintendo tipline to get some hints if I was really stuck on stuff.

17. Have you ever been to a gaming convention?
Yes I have. I have been to Blizzard’s World Wide Invitational in 2008 which was the European version of Blizzcon. I am still bummed that they only organised that once and since 2009 it has become USA only 🙁 Attending it over there is just way too expensive.
And I have attended Gamescom in 2010, 2012, 2014 (Tennolive <3) and will attend again this year.

18. What games are you most excited for to come out in the future?
Looking forward to the new Warframe updates (more new enemies)!
As for complete new game? I really want the new Mass Effect and hopefully with a better ending
And some new Dragon Age DLC would be mighty fine as I missed Anders and I want to get a happy ending for my kick ass warden/Kirkwall hero.
Looking forward to getting into the Heroes of the Storm
And playing in Victorian London in the new Assassins Creed. I just hope Shaun Hastings is back to be a sneering smart ass again.

19. What’s your best memory of a video game?
I have many good ones so it’s hard to choose.
One was when Chardy and I attended Castlefest last year and he found out he got a ticket to Tennolive during Gamescom. Ever seen a Rhino in a kilt make an attempt at some victory dance? Well I have.
Attending BBQ’s with my Guildies or taking over the Winter Efteling. But also the late night drunken raids and all that.
Videogames did add a lot of good memories for me 🙂

20. What’s your worst memory of a video game?
The ending of Mass Effect 3.. I played through it and got some lame ass choice which made little to no sense. And was treated to me crashing back into London and seeing Ashley get off the ship (while I killed her in part 1). Needless to say I was not impressed and I suffered my first real incident of Nerd Rage. It really soured the game for me and till this day I deny their ending and make my own. The Normandy is back, Shepard has recovered and she is having a well deserved pina colada with Kaidan.. The End
It didn’t make it any better that the ending of Dragon Age 2 was bit of a let-down as well. I chose Anders and well yeah.. they talked about choice? Which bloody choice! Forever bitter.
As much as I adore Bioware games, most of their endings are a bit meh.