Whatever Doesn’t Kill Me… Makes Me Kick Ass!

Warning: Extreme GamerRecently I’ve been ill. Not dying of a horrible plague type sick, but enough to mean a week in bed with my life grinding to a halt. So I did what any normal person, okay, scrap that, normal gamer (if there is such a thing) would do and spent the time clearing up my backlog of games. Only I didn’t just clear the pile but started playing on hard or above on a few games I am particularly enjoying. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game with difficulty options that has been unique enough to make me want to play it through repetitively. There’s either been no difficulty settings or once I’ve completed the game I want to move onto something fresh and exciting… but I’ve been missing the challenge.

I’m not going to pretend to be some sort of god’s gift to gaming but I do tend to pick up games quickly and plough through them due to the number I’ve played. I’ve been piling up the achievements on normal but at the end of the day I wanted something to stretch my abilities a little bit further and make me have to work for it… so when I was poorly, it was blatantly the right time to do it (if you live in the world of my logic).

You may be hard, but I'm harder!
You may be hard, but I'm harder!

So, I have spent the last week completing WET on normal, hard and golden bullets difficulty (1 shot kills basically) and had it wrestled away from me before my fingers bled from ultra hard. Then I went back to Arkham Asylum to play through that on hard – word to the wise, it IS hard. With Arkham Asylum now almost complete on hard mode I actually feel a sense of achievement I’ve not felt in quite a while. I’ve stopped resting on my laurels and playing normal just because it’s the default, and kicked myself back up into the next gear. Okay, maybe I didn’t pick the best time to take up the challenge but if I can conquer hard modes whilst ill then now I’m better I say bring it on!

I know what's coming and you can't scare me Joker!
I know what's coming and you can't scare me Joker!

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9 responses to “Whatever Doesn’t Kill Me… Makes Me Kick Ass!”

  1. Kat avatar
    Kat

    Big props to you Zoey! If I’m ill then even Peggle is a struggle.

  2. Kirsten avatar
    Kirsten

    I think one of the great compensations of being ill is being able to game through it. I’ve had migraines over the weekend though and I can’t play when that happens which is soooooo boring.

  3. John.B avatar

    I can’t console game when ill, concentration too low. Handheld though is perfect, lying on the couch with a temperature is just grand if you have Pokemon to keep you going. 🙂

  4. Rhyle avatar
    Rhyle

    Kirsten – my recommendation for migraines is a dark room, a damp cloth on the forehead and Kevin Smiths Smodcast playing on the laptop.

    As for being committed enough to replay some of those games on hard? Rarely. There are so many great games to play at the moment that managing the time is hard enough and I prefer game to be FUN over INFURIATINGLY CHALLENGING.

    You are right though – being ill is the ideal opportunity, I did GOW2 on insane while suffering from a bad case the workshyfops.

  5. MarkuzR avatar
    MarkuzR

    All I’m saying on this matter is that I’ve STILL not managed to get Gold on the second last MEDIUM level of Trials HD… I played it again last night for the first time in a month (I’ve not been near my Xbox since September 22nd due to workload) and still can’t get it. I still have the Hard and Extreme tracks to go after that.

    Basically, I’m buggered.

  6. Darach avatar
    Darach

    It’s great when you get a game that hooks you enough to merit replay on a harder setting, isn’t it? 🙂

    Props for tackling Batman – that’s def on my list to do on Hard 🙂 If I can stop having too much fun, watching him get beat up, that is 😀
    Die Batman, Die! 😀

  7. Dave G avatar
    Dave G

    I always remember completing Final Fantasy 9 while suffering a bad dose of flu. I was sleeping so badly that think I was near delirious and to this day I’m not sure how much of the game was surreal and how much of it was my state of mind!

    Kudos on the Wet completion, a pleasure to be the one to wrestle it from you (now I have to see if I can even handle normal)

  8. Duncan avatar
    Duncan

    In a 4 tier difficulty level game – 3rd tier.
    In a 3 tier difficulty level game – 2rd tier.

    Simply. I enjoy being challeneged, but I also don’t want the flow and enjoyment of the game to become frustrating. At least not on the first play through. 😉

  9. The Rook avatar
    The Rook

    I enjoy playing games on hard difficulty settings for the challenge and (of course) achievements,but will always play through any game on the normal/medium difficulty first.

    I think the only game I gave up on for being too hard of the hardest difficulty was Lost Planet (You can die just by standing still because the extreme cold takes your health away). And any CoD on Veteran is a challenge.

    So kudos to going back to games to play on a more challenging difficulty, good that you found a benefit to being ill. 🙂 Hope you’re fully recovered.

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