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Friday, 30 November 2012

What's Your Story? - Zenic Reverie

It just seems fitting that while Chet and I share our experiences of playing through Hero's Quest at the same time, that the new What's Your Story post celebrates yet another chronoblogger (did I make that up or is it already in use?). Zenic Reverie is not only an active part of the Adventure Gamer community, he also has his own blog called The RPG Consoler. It's time to find out more about the man and what drives him to do this crazy thing we do...

My home country is… USA, the California part.

My age is… 31ish

The first adventure game I played was… probably a text adventure: Adventure, Quest, or Zork; whatever my dad was playing at the time, I suspect I banged on the keyboard enough to enter a command or two myself. I think the first adventure game I played on my own was Space Quest, but I didn't get very far.


I played Zork for the first time a couple of years back. Still enjoyable today!

When I’m not playing games I like to… play games ;)... board games, card games, whatever games. Life is a game. I like many things, but mostly games, puzzles, and learning. I like learning so much that I often forget things just to learn them all over again. ;)

I like my games in (a box, digital format)… I prefer to have a manual to read while I'm away from the game, or to look up a quick reference while my game is paused. For the game itself I don't mind if I have a physical copy or not.

My favourite adventure game is… Simon the Sorcerer for its ability to bring such joy to me and my siblings. A lot of the jokes from that game became inside jokes between us. My sister will probably never see this, but LANTBUNZ! (Rot13+mirrored for Trickster's protection...you'll know it when you get there).


Lantbunz!!!! Hahahahaha!!!

The thing I miss about old games is… What's there to miss? Most of them are readily available. Probably the thing I miss most is the time to play them. Something about playing old games back when they were new gave the impression of having all the time in the world to enjoy them.

The best thing about modern games is… I'm not sure. I don't play many modern games. I don't think I have a good comment here.

The one TV show I never miss is… How I Met Your Mother. I like a dose of levity to go with life.


I hear about this show a lot, but tend to avoid sitcoms. What makes this one different? Is that Willow?

If I could see any band live it would be… The Beatles. Closest I ever got was watching The Yellow Submarine.

My favourite movie is… hard to pick, but here's a few I could stand to re-watch: Memento, Frailty, American Psycho, Se7en, and the Usual Suspects... I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.


Frailty: It seems we have similar taste in movies Zenic. I'm also attracted to the dark and the disturbing.

One interesting thing about me is… I'm deranged enough to think I can play through all console RPGs ;). I had the idea of playing through all console RPGs prior to learning of Chet and Trickster, but their dedication strengthened my resolve to catalog my efforts. Maybe I'll do something interesting someday.

If anyone else wants to send their answers and get 20 CAPs, please send them to theadventuregamer@gmail.com.
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30 comments:

  1. The Trickster30 November 2012 at 23:00

    Some more adventure games on sale at GOG.

    Dark Fall 1 & 2, Neighbours From Hell Compilation, and Book of Unwritten Tales, all up to 60% off.

    The Dark Fall series has always looked intriguing to me. Anyone played it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Evan Stephens1 December 2012 at 00:45

    I played through the first Dark Fall with my ex-wife, it was a lot of fun and also fairly frightening in a passive kind of way (atmosphere, rather than things attaching you). Decent puzzles as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Charles1 December 2012 at 08:36

    That's a good selection of dark movies, Zenic. And HIMYM's quite good too. I have no idea who Willow is?

    @Tricster: I consider the first Dark Fall a little horror masterpiece. It's probably one of the scariest games I've played; not too difficult and kind of short though. IMO, the sequels lacked much of the original's charm, but I'll buy anything Boakes produces just in case he manages to catch lightning in a bottle again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CRPG Addict1 December 2012 at 09:16

      Charles has never watched the greatest TV series of all time.

      Delete
    2. Amy K.1 December 2012 at 09:36

      You must be mistaken. There is no character named Willow on Babylon 5.

      Delete
    3. The Trickster1 December 2012 at 10:37

      Ha!

      I have to go with Chet on this one, although I've never seen Babylon 5. It's on that very long list of shows I should watch.

      Delete
    4. The Trickster1 December 2012 at 10:39

      @Charles: Dark Fall is one of the 183 games I own on GOG (well they're too cheap not to buy!), and I actually started it one day just before this blog came to life.

      It did seem very atmospheric, although I must admit I couldn't seem to figure out how to get the story moving. Didn't give it enough time I guess.

      Delete
    5. Charles1 December 2012 at 12:35

      The only thing the word "Willow" brings to mind is a middling fantasy flick from the 80s starring a very young Val Kilmer as a warrior/warden/ranger leading a bunch of halflings. Or something like that... and yeah, I'm pretty sure there's no one named Willow on The Wire, or Mad Men for that matter. Nice try, Chet!

      Delete
    6. Charles1 December 2012 at 12:40

      @Trickster we'll see how it goes when we meet it down the road! I admit I'm a fan of good horror adventure games, so I was drawn in from the start. I was pretty impressed that the game was produced by a team of one man using Macromedia Director.

      Delete
    7. Zenic Reverie1 December 2012 at 13:42

      I've been watching on the lighter side recently and enjoyed The Secret World of Arrietty and Howl's Moving Castle. I do like the darker movies though, and thought of Donnie Darko just now.

      Delete
    8. Zenic Reverie1 December 2012 at 14:34

      That comment about Willow is funny because my wife and I sometimes refer to her as that even when we're talking about HIMYM.

      I need to go back and watch Babylon 5 at some point, but when I think of best TV shows not on anymore others come to mind: Firefly, Dead Like Me, 4400.

      Delete
    9. Andy_Panthro1 December 2012 at 23:33

      I'd like to add a recommendation for Babylon 5, it's a great series. I rate it above Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica (new or old).

      Also nice to see a mention of The 4400, which I really enjoyed. Shame it had production issues (writer's strike I think), otherwise it might have had a longer run. Some of the people from it have gone onto Alphas, which is also worth a look.

      Buffy was pretty great though. Kinda tempted to watch it again, but I have far too much TV to watch already!

      Delete
    10. Charles1 December 2012 at 23:45

      Ok, I googled Willow... no thanks. To me that's flute girl from American Pie.

      Delete
    11. Ilmari Jauhiainen2 December 2012 at 06:22

      Babylon 5 was the best scifi show in 90s (although I also enjoyed DS9, which is Trek at its best IMO), but I'd still hesitate recommending it - the series might not have aged well.

      That said, I really cannot pick any favourite on later years. Buffy I missed in its first run, and I haven't found time to delve into it. Firefly was good, but it was cut so abruptly. Galactica (new one) was also good in its own genre, but for some reason I just couldn't connect with all the military issues (I actually liked Caprica more, but that was also cut out so abruptly). 4400 was kind of OK and it did have Jeffrey Combs, who is always pleasant to watch, but I wouldn't put it among my all time favourites.

      If I'd have to choose something from recent years to a deserted island, I'd probably take the miniseries Lost Room or then the remake of Prisoner. Both are more "bizarre shows" than pure scifi/fantasy and very short, but I still found them intriguing.

      @Charles: That's what I thought also, but I dared not to say it :)

      Delete
    12. Canageek2 December 2012 at 07:09

      Willow? Like the tree? Also, wasn't there a character named that on Buffy? (Never watched the show, but lots of my female freinds love it)

      Delete
  4. CRPG Addict1 December 2012 at 09:19

    There's an old Dudley Moore film called Crazy People in which an advertising executive goes crazy and comes up with all kinds of blunt, nutty slogans for his company's clients. The ads end up being a rousing success. Anyway, one of the ads is for a film, for which Dudley's slogan is "This movie won't just scare you. It will $@#* you up for life."

    That was pretty much how I felt after seeing Frailty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andy_Panthro1 December 2012 at 09:20

      Frailty is the only one on that list I haven't seen (hadn't even heard of it). I guess I really need to now!

      Delete
    2. Charles1 December 2012 at 12:46

      "Sony. Because caucasians are just too damn tall".

      I remember Crazy People. Some of those fake ads were hilarious...

      Delete
    3. Zenic Reverie1 December 2012 at 14:18

      Crazy People? I'll add that to my queue, sounds fun.

      Delete
    4. CRPG Addict2 December 2012 at 07:08

      The fake ads are fun ("Metamucil: If you don't use it, you will get cancer and die"). The rest of the movie...well, let's just say that Daryl Hannah is in it.

      Delete
  5. Canageek2 December 2012 at 07:12

    FINALLY CAUGHT UP. I even passed up a GoG Sale comment because I didn't feel I'd earned the CAPS, not being caught up with reading the posts on the blog.

    Which is too bad, as I feel your writing is quite good as of late (Self-deprecating comments aside). You and Chet have very different writings styles, but it is pretty close in terms of quality of writing. I think Chet has an edge in terms of vocabulary usage, but it isn't a large one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Trickster3 December 2012 at 21:10

      Thank you Canageek! I really do appreciate that and take it as a real compliment! :)

      Delete
    2. Canageek4 December 2012 at 10:34

      You are very welcome.

      Delete
    3. DialMforMara8 July 2015 at 05:34

      So you were caught up for a decent while before you met me. Good to know.

      Delete
    4. Canageek8 July 2015 at 07:29

      Do you mean weren't? I've fallen behind and caught up several times.

      Delete
  6. The Trickster3 December 2012 at 21:12

    Still dying to know what Lantbunz is. No, don't tell me!

    ReplyDelete
  7. That Random Game Blogger3 December 2012 at 23:45

    Simon the Sorcerer, you wouldn't believe the nostalgia buzz that screenshot gave me

    ReplyDelete
  8. Canageek4 December 2012 at 15:13

    No one has posted the new GoG releases!

    Stacking: Looks very puzzlegamey, but it is by DoubleFine, so hey, if it says adventure game, I'll believe them. http://www.gog.com/gamecard/stacking

    Miasmata: Sounds like a survival-stealth game, but the description also has adventure game elements: http://www.gog.com/gamecard/miasmata

    Also a bunch of adventure games have been released on macs. Damn fruitputers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Trickster4 December 2012 at 15:44

      Sorry Canageek, but I commented about those three posts back. ;)

      Delete
  9. The Trickster4 December 2012 at 15:44

    Next gameplay post should be up within a few hours!

    ReplyDelete

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