tag – The Constellation of Moon

The Gamer Tag

Posted on May 11, 2019

I just discovered this over on A Reading Brit and had to do it. Gaming is a huge part of me (as is reading) so this was a perfect tag to try out.

Aloy fights off a Corruptor, drawn by me

1. What is your all-time favourite video game?

I don’t like favourite questions. I can’t pick one. My favourite video game for “it is a work of art” is defnitely Child of Light. My favourite “I spent my childhood on this” is Jazz Jack Rabbit 2, Duke Nukem 2 and Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego? (yes, I have aged myself, haven’t I? I played all of them on Windows PCs…). My favourite “comfort game (think comfort blanket but game)” is Bioshock series and Alice Madness Returns.

2. What is your current favourite video game?

Still difficult to choose. “I am too tired to do anything but don’t want to sleep yet” is Let’s Go Eevee. Mindless open world wandering is Skyrim and Dragon Age. I love Dishonored series and adore Prey (the Bethesda new one, not the old one). I also love Fire Emblem series as a comfort game.

3. What is your favourite video game genre?

Semi open world first person shooters (?). Think Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4 and 76 (but not Multiplayer I suck at multiplayer) Or Bioshock series, or Horizon Zero Dawn, or Prey or anything Bethesda brings out.
Strategy RPG (Fire Emblem only, Final Fantasy drives me nuts somehow despite being initially very similar). and a little of JRPG (Child of Light)

4. How long have you been playing video games?

Very young. My dad was computer crazy (at a time you could build a PC from a weekly magazine…) and he would let us play games. I remember playing Chip’s Challenge. And Mine sweeper and Pinball…

5. What’s the first game you ever played?

Apparently I replied early to this question. Probably Chip’s, or Carmen San Diego.

6. What game have you clocked the most hours into?

Bioshock series and Fallout series.

7. What’s your longest gaming session?

Not sure. I used to game longer during a difficult time in my life, most of the day. But now I play less and divide hours more.

8. Who is your favourite game developer?

Bethesda, specifically Arkane. And I loved Ken Levine and American McGee as game masterminds

9. Who is your favourite hero character from a game?

Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn. She’s such a personality. I also have a soft spot for Link who keeps getting called Zelda 😛

10. Who is your favourite villain?

The Typhon. (Prey)

11. Who is your most hated character of any game?

I am not entirely sure. I really hated Fontaine from Bioshock series. But do you mean playable character or Ai character? Those are harder to choose which one I hate… I love/hate any Assasin’s Creed main character (but the first two were the worst) because they would easily fall down and commit suicide or break cover with a tiny movement from the controller. It drove me mad.

12. What gaming systems do you own?

PC (custom). PS4, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS Lite, DS and 3DS, Switch, Wii (old one). I also play on my phone.

13. What was your first game system?

Not counting PC. The first I played was Atari, then Nintendo 64. First owned was Nintendo DS Lite. (I always had friends/neighbours who had a console and we would play at theirs, until I got older).

14. What’s your favourite gaming system and why?

I love PC as it usually has all games I want and I can just plug a controller or play with keyboard-mouse, and enjoy PS4 a lot (it is my main gaming console at the moment). Recently the Switch has been winning me over with how portable and versatile it is.

15. Do you prefer to play male characters or female characters?

If given the choice I usually choose female. But if the game has a male character only I don’t mind. For example, Dishonored only lets you play Corvo (male), but Dishonored 2 let’s you play him or Emily (female). I have played both, and prefer Emily mostly because she has new powers that differ over Corvo’s.

16. Do you follow walkthroughs, or do you play through on your own?

I try to play on my own, but if I have spent ages trying to figure something out and I just can’t crack it, then I will look that part up. I like walkthroughs mostly for the “trophies” part (I am a sucker for trophies/achievements, I will replay games until I get as many as I can without being too frustrated by it).

17. Have you ever been to a gaming convention?

No. I would love to attend E3 but it is too far.

18. What game are you most excited to come out in the future?

CONTROL.

19. What’s your best memory of a video game?

One of my favourite things is that I went off videogames for a little bit and my little sister found American McGee’s Alice (the first Alice game he did) and she convinced me to play. I was SO bad at it. But she would coach me through it. And when Alice Madness Returns came out I was in the US so I bought it for her. In my head it was her game. I moved away and ended up playing it and beating it before her, which was a shock to me, but a fun memory because it felt like beating the master.

20. What’s your worst memory of a video game?

I do not want to remember those. But funny worst are the glitches that happen in some games 😛

21. Which video game character do you see yourself as, or if you had to be represented by a video game character, who would it be?

I would probably be a female Morgan (Prey). I would love to say I am an Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn), but I am more Elisabeth Sobeck (don’t google if you intend to play this game, it is a spoiler to find out who she is) than Aloy.

I tag Justine, Asha, Lauren and Lilly-Beth plus anybody else that wants to do this!

Books

Harry Potter Spells Book Tag

Posted on October 20, 2017

Anyway, I was tagged by Taiwo @ Stuffed Shelves. You should go check out her own post on this tag and her blog as is 🙂

This tag was created by Kimberlyfaye Reads. All spell graphics are credited to her.

AN UPCOMING RELEASE YOU WISH YOU COULD GET YOUR HANDS ON RIGHT NOW!

This one is hard to answer with just one. I have a huge list of books I want to get my hands on. There is: More Than We can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer, Renegades by Marissa Meyer, The Invasion by Peadar Ó Guilín, The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross, … the list really is long…

FAVOURITE SERIES STARTER

I love A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle. It starts off with the line “It was a dark and stormy night” because Madeleine thought she could pull it off despite it being so “cliche” and she did.

A BOOK THAT GAVE YOU ALL THE WARM FUZZIES

This is a very hard one for me. I rarely ever read warm fuzzies books (and it is only when you ask me to name one that I realise this). I guess the Redwall saga has a lot of moments when I’d love to be part of their banquets and be tasting their food and it has adventure and animals and it is just amazing, so I’ll go with that.

A BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

This is an easy one to answer. The one that always makes me cry is A Ring Of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle. It focuses on grief and death. The other one I would say is up there with ARoEL is Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer.

BOOKISH HERO OR HEROINE YOU WANT AROUND TO PROTECT YOU IN REAL LIFE

Can I choose someone like Aragorn or Eowyn? My life isn’t that crazy that the hero needs to be so amazing. I guess in a way, I’ve always wanted The Captain to be there which is why I created him, but he isn’t exactly a hero but he also isn’t an anti-hero.

A BOOK YOU INTENTIONALLY SPOILED FOR YOURSELF

Does reading the book and going like “I am sure this is going to happen” then skipping some chapters and “yes it is! see? I am sure now this will happen” and keep doing this until the end count? Because this happened most accutely with Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody. I generally can guess plot and plot twists but this was one where I was like “nope, it can’t be” and it was every time, so I spoiled it for myself.

A BOOK YOU WISH YOU COULD MAKE EVERYONE READ BECAUSE YOU LOVED IT YOURSELF

After the Fire by Will Hill. It is blunt and it is brutal but it is also beautiful and amazing and so human and I just wish everyone would read it and try to see life a little bit different.

A BOOK OR SERIES YOU WISH NEVER ENDED

Dragonriders of Pern. I love Anne McCaffrey’s books and they are amazing, I wish she was still around and could keep on writing. I mean, it is dragons, it is space, there is time travel, there is a “shoulder” dragon (fire lizards), it is amazing!

A BOOK WITH AN UPLIFTING ENDING OR MESSAGE

There are several of them, I am trying to think of one I haven’t mentioned here already (because several on this post would also be candidates for this spell). I think I will say, Franklyn’s Flying Bookshop was an amazing ending and it made me happy.

A BOOK YOU WISH YOU COULD FORGET YOU EVER READ

There are few and far between and I can’t remember one I wish I hadn’t read though I am sure there are a few. But I probably have forgotten them already.

AN AUTHOR WHOSE BOOKS ALWAYS GET YOU OUT OF A SLUMP

There’s 3 amazing ladies: Anne McCaffrey, Madeleine L’Engle and Robin McKinley.

A SWOON-WORTHY HERO OR HEROINE

I love both Corlanth and Harimad in The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. And Aerin is kind of a hero in her own being for me (The Hero and The Crown by Robin McKinley).

A BOOK THAT MADE YOU TO STOP DOING ALL OTHER THINGS UNTIL YOU FINISHED IT

There are so many of them, but the most recent one was Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer. I had meant to read just a couple of chapters before bed and somehow stayed up late until I had finished it in one go.

A BOOK THAT WAS PAINFUL TO READ (FOR WHATEVER REASON) OR BROKE YOU

Lies Like Love by Louisa Reidd made me very thoughtful. It was kind of scary and at the same time, it could be true. Books with topics that are too close to some traumas in my life sometimes make it hard for me to keep reading but I try to keep up with them.

A BOOK THAT HAD YOU LAUGHING AT LOUD

Comics, I recently read Mikki’s Comic Book by Mikiko and it is so cute and funny, but of course, it isn’t the only one.

A BOOK THAT MADE YOU WANT TO SEND IT (OR YOUR E-READER) FLYING

Given to the Sea. Too many POV and not all of them in first person, and one of them is basically just filler because it is irrelevant to plot (part of plot but it could’ve done without it and not made a difference). The ending was atrocious and I kept trying to read and to like it but I just couldn’t.

BOOKISH WORLD YOU WISH YOU COULD VISIT

Pern. Damar. Deema.

A BOOK WITH A SHOCKING TWIST OR ENDING

Everless by Sara Holland. It was more unexpected and it actually was a pleasantly “oh wow” twist.

A CHARACTER DEATH THAT DESTROYED YOU

I don’t think any character death has destroyed me. I like characters but it doesn’t destroy me if they die.

BEST SERIES CONCLUSION

Would it be too geeky to say Return of the King by Tolkien? I think he ties things up amazingly, and specially for some of the characters like Faramir and Eowyn. It was a good mix of different endings, an ending that isn’t all the same for everyone but that “fits” each character. I liked that.

So now I’ve made all these book spells. Would you like to do some? (I will tag some of you on Twitter)

Please do tag me in your post and if I didn’t tag you but you’re interested in doing this, remember to link me to your post too!

Books

The Guilty Reader Tag

Posted on October 2, 2017

So I wasn’t tagged to do this at all but I found it fun so decided to do it anyway. I am curious to see how “guilty” I am.

Question Number 1: Have you ever regifted a book?
Yes. I have had to move a lot and strip down to basics in the last 5 years, so I would gift away books I had finished reading that I thought would find a good home. Some of those were gifted books, some weren’t. Of course, none of them had deep meaning in having received the book, the ones that are a special gift I have kept.

Question Number 2: A book you’ve said that you read but you haven’t.
This one is tricky, because I don’t usually say I have read a book I haven’t. What may happen is I think I have read it and I actually haven’t and I am thinking about a different book. Usually this is because a) another book has the same/similar title or b) the plot is so much the same that I think it is that book.

Question Number 3: Have you ever borrowed a book and not returned it?
No. If I have kept a book it is because it has been gifted/given to me. I wouldn’t want someone to lose their book because of me.

Question Number 4: Have you ever read a series out of order?
Kind of. Some series I have started with the core books (like for Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series, the core is the Dragonflight trilogy but they are not the first chronological books to be read) and gone from them and grabbed here and there. I would read them as I got hold of them. I sometimes just want to read a certain book in the series and that is that.

Question Number 5: Have you ever spoiled a book for someone?
Not sure. I don’t think so. Most of my life there weren’t many people to discuss books with so there was no one to spoil. And nowadays I usually ask before dropping spoilers. Maybe I have without realising it?

Question Number 6: Have you every dog-eared a page?
Yes. For as long as I can remember I wouldn’t write notes or do anything to books, then a friend lent me Carlos Castañeda’s books and asked me to make notes on the margin, dog-ear the pages and all that since he wanted to find those notes when he re-read it. There were also his notes there so it was very interesting to see what had sparked his interest and some of the thoughts he had while reading it. After that experience I am more lenient, but it will depend on the book. Non-fiction, poetry and things like that are more prone to get marked than usual YA fiction.

Question Number 7: Have you ever told someone that you own a book but you actually don’t?
Probably. Mostly because as I mentioned before, my books were doing a quick turnaround and moving forward at some point in my life, so I may have had it then given it away and forgotten. But this is rare and I can’t remember a time this happened.

Question Number 8; Have you ever said that you haven’t read a book but you have?
No. I have read odd books and books that spark reactions like Twilight series or Flowers in the Attic (if you do not know what I am talking about, one word: incest) and don’t deny it at all. Don’t see why I should. My tastes have refined and some books I read genuinely because I was trying to find what the hype was (nowadays I mostly keep away from some rather than make myself go through reading it so I don’t DNF).

Question Number 9: Have you ever skipped chapters or pages in a book?
Yes. The most recent one was Daughter of the Burning City. As early as she has breakfast with her “father” I had suspicions and skipped a few pages and realised that I was right so my suspicious took better shape and I kept skipping until I had half read the book and half skipped it (and my suspicions were so point on that it was sad and annoying and I spoiled myself for it). I sometimes skip parts if I am considering DNFing the book and want to read forward to see if it is worth reading and it’ll get better. Usually, if I decide to keep going I will read what I skipped. Also when I was younger, my mum would only let me read adult fiction if I skipped the sex pages, so I would.

Question Number 10: Have you ever bad-mouthed a book?
So what exactly does this mean? Said bad things about it? I try not to but if the book is bad, it is bad. Can’t change that.

This is all my guilty reader tag, and I tag Maja and Nikki (once you read this, try doing it on your blog).

I guess I am a not too guilty about guilty things.