This is why I'll never be a secret agent

I'm not gonna lie: I suck at being stealthy.

I was playing Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (a sequel to the original FF VII), and I was at the part where you have to control Cait Sith, a cat with a Scottish accent and a happy-go-lucky demeanor, through a mako reactor without being noticed by guards. I think I lost count of how many times Cait Sith was KO'd because of my lack of sneaky-ness.

I've never been good at stealth missions in games. I think it's because I get so caught up in the game that I squeak loudly in alarm when I have to edge past a guard. In fact, while watching my brother play Metal Gear Solid I can recall recoiling slightly when he had to sneak around guards. I would make a terrible secret agent.

Speaking of Metal Gear Solid, when I loaded my saved game today I noticed that the Cait Sith segment of the game was titled "Solid Cait". And yes, I giggled :)

Dirge of Cerberus is one of those games that makes me jumpy, because of the enemies popping up out of nowhere. (I punched open a cargo crate today, and a lizard creature was inside it. I kid you not.) Right from the start of the game you have to be on your toes, which is a lot for someone who's used to playing turn-based role-playing games. I think the last game I played where you had to move both yourself and a camera was Spyro the Dragon, many moons ago.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of the gameplay, though. When I checked my status, my accuracy rate was considerably better than when I started. Now, if only I could be stealthier...

An update, and some shameless squeeing about Dirge of Cerberus

Hello there :)

So I haven't posted in a while, again. But I may have more time for blogging, as my course is finished (and I passed!), and I may not do the August Camp NaNoWriMo after all. Recently, I've been getting stuck and un-stuck in video games - right now, I'm stuck on Star 7 in Katamari Damacy, I need to find some pearls to buy something in Beyond Good & Evil, and I'm stuck on the boss fight in Edge in Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII.

Phew.

First off, Katamari is awesome, but I can't seem to get past the seventh "make a star" level, and I don't have any more constellations to do. Until I can get the hang of "Make a star 7", I may just work on making my constellations bigger. Having to deal with the King of the Cosmos doesn't help - every time you fail a level, he yells at you. It can get on one's nerves.

Beyond Good & Evil is excellent fun. I keep having to consult a walk-through, though, which makes me feel lazy. I'm glad it's making me think a fair bit, though. A game that's too easy is no fun at all.

I've already said a lot about Dirge of Cerberus, but I'm going to blog some more about it, because it's just too awesome. A lot of people hated this game because of the gameplay, but I'm enjoying it, even though it can frustrate me. Even so, when I finally got past a part of Edge (a town in the game) that I had been stuck at, instead of thinking, "Thank god that's over!" I was thinking, "YES! I did it! *happy dance*"

I still haven't started played Sly Cooper. I'm kind of saving that until I finish a game, because I don't want too many on the go at once. I'm also itching to pick up Final Fantasy VIII again, because I got stuck in it trying to find the Lunar Gate and never did try it again.

Anyways, that's what I've been doing lately. I'll try to blog more this month :)

So... I'm kind of a bad shot.

I recently started playing Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, the spin-off game from that little game with the spiky-headed blonde guy ;) I had been reading the game's manual for ages to get a feel for the controls, then went through the game's tutorial (never again!!!), and then began the actual game. I have come to some realizations about me and Dirge of Cerberus:

1. I can't shoot. No, seriously, I can't. Granted, I'm getting better, but I'm still pretty crappy at the gameplay. Final Fantasy VII was a turn-based RPG, so going into a game where you're shooting and melee-ing your enemies instead of the 'my turn, your turn' system is a bit daunting.

2. Manuals are not always complete. I had to find a walk-through to figure out that you can break open boxes with melee. Why wasn't this in the manual? (For the record, if anyone needs a good site for walk-throughs and hints, I highly recommend GameFAQs . The walk-throughs on that site have saved my skin umpteen times, and they have just about every platform listed there. I can't guarantee that they'll have pages for every game, but it's a good starting point.)

3. Vincent looks damn good in a suit. Seriously, play through the tutorial and check out his suit. It's lovely. Although, I'm not so sure I like his haircut in that get-up.

4. Configuration changes everything. If you're a bad shot like me, tinker with the weapon settings. I changed the sight to 'automatic' and slowed down the camera speed, and I'm happy with the results.

Okay, I need to be doing something more constructive. Later!

edited to add link for easier-ness.