Introduction and Captions by Ilmari
Holidays are coming, and we are having a bit of a break from normal game playing, but don't worry - lot of fun extra stuff is coming up during the next two weeks. First on our list is Deimar's What's Your Story. Deimar has been a semi-regular commenter of the blog and has promised to play Elvira for our enjoyment. But enough of my chit chat, here's Deimar!
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| I am sure I'd recognize Deimar, if I ever meet him in real life |
My home country is…Spain
My age is…32... and counting
The first adventure game I played was…The Secret of Monkey Island. My father bought me and my sister a Commodore Amiga 500 when we were little (I must have been about 6 or 7 I think) with the hope that we got into this new thing called personal computing. Shortly after, he got us this game called The Secret of Monkey Island that didn't look nor played like anything we had seen at the time (yeah, I missed all the other graphic adventures before MI at the time). It was mesmerizing, even considering that we were stuck on the three trials for a long long time because we didn't know we could enter the kitchen in Scumm Bar...
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| So close, yet so far... |
My favourite adventure game is…Again, The Secret of Monkey Island. I must have played it at least a dozen times. The writing is very funny, it is not frustrating in any way, the characters have a lot of charms, insult swordfighting... What's not to like? I don't think I have ever played a game that captured me as much as the original MI.
When I’m not playing games I like to…Watch TV series and films, mostly. Occasionally I also play tabletop games and RPGs with my friends. Sadly, work and the other hobbies have made me drop reading, but I still try to read novels, comics and manga from time to time (you won't believe it, but I'm still reading Neuromancer since the comment in which I said I would do so. I'm gonna finish before New Year, I swear!!).I also used to write in my own blog in spanish, talking about anything from my travels, games I've played, movies or series I've watched or even my own short stories. Oh, and I play padel.
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| Actually Deimar's finished it already |
I like my games in (a box, digital format)…All the way digital. Although things like cloth maps and the like were fun to have (I made a lot of use of the map in Ultima VII), I prefer not having to worry about storing space at home or if the DVDs/CD-Roms/disks will still work. Digital download is the way to go. I will miss the box covers made by Aspiriz though. They were truly beautiful.
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| I can see the appeal |
The thing I miss about old games is…I don't miss that much from old games. Probably because from time to time I play my own share. I think some of the old games were quite good because there was only one creative mind behind them, at most two or three. I think this made the games more daring, always trying to push the boundaries of what have been made before, and each game was a personal window into the mind of a designer. At some point, the big game companies formed and started trying to appease everyone playing very safe with their games, just like Hollywood with the big blockbuster movies. The good news is that I think the indie developers are giving us that personal vision that is more niche, but in my opinion also more satisfying. I think we are living another golden era of videogames.
The best thing about modern games is…Quality of Life improvements. I don't think fighting with a text parser is a wonderful thing, sorry. Or playing an RPG without automap. Also, I really like that game designers are moving away from hiding game mechanics. Old games could be really really obscure in that regard. And I like that difficulty in games is no longer an artificial mechanic to elongate the duration of the game.
The one TV show I never miss is…Game of Thrones. Although I also really like to watch Person of Interest, which is awesome and relevant in so many levels, and Arrow. Actually, this year I'm going to spent a lot of time in front of the TV as I like superhero movies and series and we got Arrow, Flash, Gotham and Constantine :D
If I could see any band live it would be…Probably Queen. Freddy Mercury is one of the best performers in history, and their concerts must have been something worth to behold. I wouldn't mind seeing Coldplay live again. They are also fantastic.
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| Sadly, no amount of CAPs will bring Queen back again |
My favourite movie is…I wouldn't be able to say to be honest. I've watched the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies quite a few times. But I've also watched Aliens, The Goonies, Gremlins and Die Hard a lot so... I guess one of those.
One interesting thing about me is…I'm trying to get my Ph.D. on Computer Science, which is awesome until you try to explain to someone "normal" what do you do for a living and he/she is snoring after 1m of talking.
Hey, a a fellow spaniard! Nice to see you here. I love how internet can join people from any part of the world but it is always nice finding a countryman.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the name of the maker of the covers is Azpiri, not Aspiriz. He is still shown much appreciation in all the retrogaming reunions in Spain where he is a regular participant. The queues waiting for him to sign a poster, book or whatever are legendary. Actually he not only signs, he makes a small unique drawing to everyone. Really nice guy, at least judging from what I have read, I have not met him.
Yep, I totally missed the name even considering I linked a google search. Shame on me!! But he sure sounds like an awesome guy.
DeleteMy Dad got to see Queen live in Montreal. He even took pictures, which shall forever taunt me: http://imgur.com/a/8z5pD
ReplyDeleteAlso: I'm doing an M. Sc. in chemistry, and I totally understand what you are saying about explaining things.
Those photos are awesome. Really really good pics
DeleteDoubly so considering he was shooting with a giant all-metal Olympus at a concert! I can't imagine lugging that thing around on my neck the whole time. He tells me the slides are even better, since this was digitized with his old, not very good slide scanner. (I think that was a mirror and some cardboard?)
DeleteI can only imagine the awesomeness of seeing Queen with Freddy Mercury. I regularly listen to the greatest hits.
DeleteAlso, I work in Genetics so can also understand the explanation issue!
Canageek, I will be forever envious of your father for seeing one of the greatest rock bands ever AND taking pictures as a proof (I guess rules were more lax in those days, since I cannot imagine any photograph equipment allowed in a concert with names of similar stature).
DeleteI guess everyone with advanced studies in some highly specific field recognizes the explanation issue (not just in science, but in humanities also, as I can attest with a degree in philosophy). It's just that one needs few years even to learn all the required terminology and methodology and then another few years for understanding what are interesting problems in a particular field of study, so that to a person not acquainted with all this it just seems like fancy words of nothing interesting.
We are the champions... of the wooooorrrrlllddd.
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