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MeltingBalloons
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An Introduction, Of Sorts

Why, hello there, everyone! I saw everyone beginning their wonderful blogs and thought I might have a go as well. I've never really started a blog or anything like this before, but I love writing about anything and everything, so I hope everyone's going to have as much fun reading my posts as I'll have writing them! This first post will mostly contain a Table of Contents of my posts, and this small paragraph which you are reading through right now, which I suppose can serve as an introduction to my blog. So, anyway, I know this is going to be great, and I hope you enjoy every bit of it! :)

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

1. A Little Bit About Me

2. Joining the Site

3. My Favourites

4. What I Look For In A Game

5. My Views On And Experiences With Cleanliness And Health In General

6. Stealth, Dishonored, Achievements and Knife in the Dark

7. Game Review Archive

8. Resolutions and Gaming Goals for the Year

9. My Most Anticipated Games of 2014

10. Reading Time!

11. VGO and Team Hunting

12. The Power of the Semicolon

13. Kinect, VGO, Borderlands and Knife in the Dark Progress

14. Knife in the Dark - Tier 1 Completion, Tier 2 Progress and My Opinions

Edited by MeltingBalloons
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Hello! I haven't revealed my name to anyone so far, and don't actually plan to, so everyone probably only knows me by my username on the site, or my GamerTag, which, coincidentally, are the same. I am currently seventeen and getting ready to dive into my final year of schooling. I am also currently in New Zealand at the moment, even though I have put Sydney as my location; I should probably explain why that is. I was born and have lived in Sydney for the first fifteen years of my life. At about the age of fifteen, I headed over to New Zealand with my mother after my parents seperated, where I have been for the last two years. I visit Sydney as often as I can, but constantly switching between two countries really trips you out. I haven't had access to my Xbox while in New Zealand, which is hard, but then it becomes all the more exciting once I finally get to feel my controller in my grasp once again. I'm planning to finish this last school year and head back over to Sydney.

 

Through it all, my Xbox has been my escape; my one source of mirth during these troubling times. I received my 360 with Kinect when I was fourteen, and picked up a cheap copy of Medal of Honor while I was there. I sat down and played it as often as I could. I wasn't really focusing on the achievements at that stage, but after playing through once or twice, I pulled up the list and started unlocking as many as I could. I sold it Christmas of 2012, and bought it again once I regained the determination to finish off the rest of the achievements, which I still haven't done. Compelling story, I know. Anyway, on to some of my hobbies.

 

I don't really feel like I have a whole lot of hobbies, besides gaming, of course. I enjoying cooking occasionally; just simple things: pastas, stir-fries, steaks, desserts. As for music, GTA V's Rebel Radio has sparked a new-found love for Country music inside me; Willy Nelson is one of my favourites. I listen to Dubstep sometimes as well, which is definitely an odd combination, but some days I feel like listening to the lulling drawl of Country, and others, the powerful force of a good Dubstep tune, depending on my mood. I also have a Soundcloud account, to which I occasionally submit my mash-ups of various songs, but you will never discover its identity, NEVER! I also love watching movies; the Coen brothers' work in particular is my favourite. No Country For Old Men is one of the greatest movies I've seen in a while, and their twisted comedies such as Fargo, The Big Lebowski and Burn After Reading are all amazing.

 

Okay; bit about my life, check. Hobbies, check. I think we're done for now, guys. :)

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I first found XboxAchievements (X360Achievements back then) around December of 2012. I was finishing off the rest of the achievements for Dishonored, the greatest of all games in existence (I'll discuss more of this in a later post), and I happened to stumble across the site on Google. The layout and simple listing of the achievements made it really easy to find what I was looking for, and the guide was worded perfectly and went in-depth for every little detail. It wasn't until April of 2013 that I officially joined the site; shortly after beginning Injustice: Gods Among Us (IMO, it's an injustice that this game even exists, but, again, more for a future post). Once joining the site, I spent most of my time over at the Dishonored section of the forum, answering people's questions, posting comments and tips. I quickly got to know a couple of the more frequent forum users; it felt great to talk about games with people who were actually willing to listen. I was also working on the Dunwall City Trials DLC at the time; I had finished The Knife of Dunwall in about two days. After following peoples' tips to grab a couple more of the Trials achievements, I saw that The Knife of Dunwall section was missing a guide, so I stepped in and had a go at writing one. Even though it was published, it still felt a little 'unprofessional' in my opinion; my next guide will definitely be better. Apart from that, I haven't really done many guides yet, but I'm hoping to have a go at a lot more this year. I also submitted a few achievement tiles here and there. I steadily began visiting the site more and becoming increasingly involved in the community, and now I pretty much come on whenever I have time to kill.

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Stealing this from BiggD, who stole it from BEA and Spade :p

 

Favourite Color: Blue

 

Favourite Hobby: Photography

 

Favourite Book: The Da Vinci Code

 

Favourite Movie(s): No Country For Old Men, Little Miss Sunshine

 

Favourite Actor: Hugh Jackman

 

Favourite Beverage(s): Water, Green Tea

 

Favourite Food: Rice

 

Favourite Meal: Sushi

 

Favourite Forum Member: MeltingBalloons

 

Favourite Game (OVERALL): Dishonored

 

Favourite Game (STORY): Alan Wake

 

Favourite Game (MULTIPLAYER): GTA V

 

Favourite Game (CO-OP): Splinter Cell: Blacklist

 

Favourite Weather Condition: Stormy

 

Favourite Song: More Than a Feeling - Boston

 

Favourite Music Genre: Country

 

If I think of any more, I'll throw them in here! :)

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pretty cool to see that you like country thanks to Grand Theft Auto, haha. if you haven't already, you should check out artist like Luke Bryan and Josh Turner, they are my favorites :)

 

sucks that you have to go without your xbox, like I said before I don't think I could do it :p

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I also submitted a few achievement tiles here and there. I steadily began visiting the site more and becoming increasingly involved in the community, and now I pretty much come on whenever I have time to kill.

 

Careful dude…that's how I felt when I became really active in Fall of 2012, and now I'm ALWAYS ON THE SITE. It's horrible (not because the site is bad), but because I spend too much time on it when I should and could be doing more productive things lol.

 

Waiting to hear about Injustice. I actually read the comic of it last week and it was excellent!

 

Favourite Movie(s): No Country For Old Men, Little Miss Sunshine

 

Favourite Beverage(s): Water, Green Tea

 

Favourite Forum Member: MeltingBalloons

 

Favourite Game (OVERALL): Dishonored

 

YES YES YES!

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pretty cool to see that you like country thanks to Grand Theft Auto, haha. if you haven't already, you should check out artist like Luke Bryan and Josh Turner, they are my favorites :)

 

sucks that you have to go without your xbox, like I said before I don't think I could do it :p

 

They've got some great old classics on those GTA V radio stations, it's great. Luke Bryan was interesting; his music seems to be influenced a bit by the Rock genre. It felt really fresh and it was a great listen. I really enjoyed Josh Turner as well; I listened to 'Your Man'. The song just lulled and flowed beautifully; that sort of music just really relaxes me. Both really great artists; thanks for the recommendation. :)

 

Oh, I miss my Xbox so. I actually just came back from Australia on Tuesday, just as the GTA V Community Gaming Event started. I was so disappointed. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to catch the Replay Event.

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For me, a game's quality always comes before gamerscore. I rarely purchase a game if I don't think I'm going to enjoy it; I just don't find the experience satisfying otherwise. Of course there are certain exceptions, for instance, if I'm working towards a Staff or Challenge/Franchise Club. If I get really interested in a Club, I'll lose all sense of morality and buy all the games required and work through them one by one, no matter what they are. I've enjoyed most of these spontaneous purchases immensely, except for maybe Dark, for which you can find my review, in which I basically bash the shit out of it, right here.

 

So, what do I look for in a game? Firstly, the story and genre must both appeal to me. If I don't feel drawn to it in any way after watching a trailer or looking at the back of a box or something, that's it. Occasionally, I'll also have a look at a game if I'm familiar with the developer and/or publisher. This may seem odd, but that's is how I first discovered Dishonored, which is published by Bethesda Softworks. I was working through Skyrim at the time, which is also published by Bethesda; well, Bethesda Game Studios, but it's still Bethesda, so let's not get technical. That's how I found the trailer for Dishonored. I bought it as soon as I could after that, and enjoyed every moment of it.Very much. So, as far as genres go, Stealth's number one on my list, followed by Sandbox games, and possibly Survival/Horror, but I haven't seen anything that fantastic since Alan Wake. I am looking forward to Slender: The Arrival though; I was hoping for an Xbox version ever since I played the original.

 

Also, I'm always looking for games that express original ideas. No matter how great a game may be, I don't really want to play something if it feels like I've played it already, if you know what I mean. Also, price is a minor issue. I'm not going to pay an absurd amount of money for a game just because I want it; I haven't completely lost my mind, yet. I'll either wait till it drops a bit, or do a bit of research and try to find it cheaper, but still new, if possible. These two don't matter as much as the rest, but graphics and playability are also important to me. Lack of these two aspects pretty much solidifies the fact that not a whole lot of effort has gone into a game, and it's probably both a combination of laziness and money issues, in which case the game shouldn't have even been attempted in the first place. A typical example would be Silent Hill: Downpour; the ideas were okay, but stood alone against mediocre graphics and very boring, weak playability. So, bundle all the things together that I've mentioned above, and you've got what I look for in a game. :)

Edited by MeltingBalloons
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They've got some great old classics on those GTA V radio stations, it's great. Luke Bryan was interesting; his music seems to be influenced a bit by the Rock genre. It felt really fresh and it was a great listen. I really enjoyed Josh Turner as well; I listened to 'Your Man'. The song just lulled and flowed beautifully; that sort of music just really relaxes me. Both really great artists; thanks for the recommendation. :)

 

Oh, I miss my Xbox so. I actually just came back from Australia on Tuesday, just as the GTA V Community Gaming Event started. I was so disappointed. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to catch the Replay Event.

 

Mhm I had to get some Luke Bryan going after I got off work. Another really good one is Rodney Atkins. I love his song about cleaning his gun and being a fatherly figure for his daughter:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM42nG7Tjgs]Rodney Atkins "Cleaning this gun" - YouTube[/ame]

 

I wish my dad was like that :p but he's from up north and the rest of us are southern.

 

Raising my shield to all the country music haters :D

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Careful dude…that's how I felt when I became really active in Fall of 2012, and now I'm ALWAYS ON THE SITE. It's horrible (not because the site is bad), but because I spend too much time on it when I should and could be doing more productive things lol.

 

I'm only really on here when actually I have nothing to do; it's still a secondary thing for me. My life's usually too busy for me to be on here a lot anyway, but I guess that's a good thing ;)

 

Another really good one is Rodney Atkins. I love his song about cleaning his gun and being a fatherly figure for his daughter:

 

I love it; it's a really nice song, and the lyrics actually mean something, which is so rare in music these days. Most country songs have a good message to them, and it's really great to see.

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So, what do I look for in a game? Firstly, the story and genre must both appeal to me.

 

Nice to read this post (even though it says it isn't finished). Story is most important for me, too. I don't understand how people can care for gameplay more. I'd rather a great story with mediocre gameplay, then a game with a weak story and fantastic gameplay mechanics.

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Nice to read this post (even though it says it isn't finished). Story is most important for me, too. I don't understand how people can care for gameplay more. I'd rather a great story with mediocre gameplay, then a game with a weak story and fantastic gameplay mechanics.

 

It's finished now! And I agree completely; story always comes before gameplay. I found that with games like Hitman: Absolution and Velvet Assassin. I don't worry about the gameplay so much if I'm captivated by the story, and that's what all games should aim for.

 

A country fan?

 

*now has mixed opinions of the user.

 

*Raises shield against country music haters :D

 

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! New favorite forum member.

 

Gotta love that classic rock! Photograph by Def Leppard also came really close; fantastic song. And there's no other game that comes close to Dishonored in my books. :)

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It's finished now! And I agree completely; story always comes before gameplay. I found that with games like Hitman: Absolution and Velvet Assassin. I don't worry about the gameplay so much if I'm captivated by the story, and that's what all games should aim for.

 

If only more people shared our mindset :)

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I'm not bashing you, I'm bashing country. :p

 

I know; I was defending it with my shield, LOL. :D

 

Dude. Def Leppard is my favorite band. <3

 

As soon as I heard Photograph in GTA V, I took an instant liking to it. There's just something about classic rock. I should listen to more of Def Leppard's stuff.

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As soon as I heard Photograph in GTA V, I took an instant liking to it. There's just something about classic rock. I should listen to more of Def Leppard's stuff.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaG8faaFUMM]Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me (lyrics) - YouTube[/ame]

 

You're welcome.

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You're welcome.

 

That was awesome; I really love that sort of stuff. They don't mess around with either; just straight into it. It just feels 'full' the whole way through.

 

Go away Spade.

 

Also, don't you live in Alabama? I thought that's all they play down there :p

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cyokaj3BJU]Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama[/ame]

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Also, don't you live in Alabama? I thought that's all they play down there :p

 

That's only the southern part of the state...which I live in. >_<

 

The sounds country music makes are simply intolerable to me. Why anyone would like it is beyond me. Musically and, most of the time, lyrically, it is an unacceptable form of "music."

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I like certain things to be quite clean. It's not a disorder or anything, but I just have this thing about germs, and touching things without necessarily knowing where they've been. For example, I always try to wash the dishes as often as I can in my household. We have a dishwasher, so everyone sees that as an excuse to forget about the whole hand-washing process, and believes that rinsing them quickly, sometimes even with cold water, and placing them into the dishwasher will suffice. I have tried to explain, multiple times, that the dishwasher isn't some magical machine that rids every single dish of food, bacteria and whatever else happens to be on there. But, of course, no one listens, and SURPRISE, I have to filter through 15 dishes to find something clean to eat my food with. When I wash dishes, every single dish and utensil is scrubbed furiously under boiling hot water until I am satisfied. Then, and only then, do they get placed in the dishwasher. Maybe that is a little extreme, but I'd rather that than spend my life in ignorance; I want personal confirmation that the dishes are clean, and I don't think that's too much to ask. I also hold my breath if my face happens to be around any putrid gasses or airs, such as garbage bins, to avoid inhaling anything. And, if I'm eating a meal, I generally want to know that whoever's prepared it has clean hands, or at least has gloves on, or something. I also recently found somebody else's hair in a meal I ordered. In my opinion, it's just a combination of laziness and slovenliness, and it makes me feel a little uneasy while I'm trying to finish off my meal. Which leads me to my next topic: health.

 

I generally try to eat healthy whenever I can. I also buy fresh as much of the food I eat as possible, and cook it. I find this to be a lot healthier than pre-made meals or food, or fast food, or anything like that, because I don't feel comfortable really not knowing what's in the food that I'm eating. I usually read the nutritional information, and avoid products as much as I can that contain things like yeast, sugar, any artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colors or flavors. Instead, I use natural substitutes, such as stevia and coconut products. I love the taste of coconut, and have used ingredients such as coconut flour, coconut milk and coconut oil on a regular basis, as these are all really healthy. I also stick to a lot of fresh meat, vegetables, and eggs, but not too many eggs. I also bought almond milk after a recommendation from both Spanish Assault and BiggD, and I tried it for the first time today. It tastes sweet, and a lot like vanilla; I liked it. The milk that I bought contains vegetable gum though, so I thought about trying to make my own almond milk. It can't be that hard, right? Just ground almonds and water. And, at least I'll know what's in it, and it'll be a lot healthier than normal milk, and my previously-purchased almond milk, for that matter. I was sort of skeptical about continuing to eat cereal while I was using normal milk, as I didn't really want to be consuming it, but almond milk sounds like it's going to work a lot better. I also try to avoid any high-sugar cereals, and just stick to the very simple ones; the almond milk will add its own flavor, anyway. I thought about attempting to make sushi as well, probably with brown rice.

 

This post was probably a little different from my other ones; I was just trying to mix it up a bit and share something other than what I had previously talked about. So, this has been both my views on and experiences with cleanliness and health; I hope you enjoyed it. :)

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