Free Steam game of your choice ($9.99 or less) for the best (I'll decide) answer to the following question.
Aside from the fun that comes from mowing down the enemy, we often have trouble connecting with our favorite video game heroes. This is my task to you.
Name a character from any game to which you can easily relate. Post a picture for reference.
1) What is it about their personality, ideas, values, opinions, or motivations that are similar to your own?
2) Name a time when that character did, said, or thought something with which you strongly agree. Describe this occurrence in as much detail as possible.
3) What trait do you wish this character shared with other video game characters? Why do you feel this way?
Nothing fancy. A five+ sentence paragraph should cover it.
Winner at 1:00 AM EST.
I know you said nothing fancy but, I just couldn't stop writing.
No More Heroes is one of my favorite video games of all time for, rather untraditional reasons.
Travis Touchdown is absolutely someone I identify with. The character we all see, that's just something he wears on his sleeve. There's a lot more to Travis than your prototypical Japanese video game bad ass. Although he most certainly is that.
He's a down on his luck 20 something or other. He doesn't have much friends, money or women. No More Heroes is all about Travis living vicariously through this assassination gig. Just like us gamers live vicariously through our games.
So, like Travis, I'm a down on my luck 20 something with not much in the way of money or fame or glory. But, when I'm playing a video game, I can shirk all my bad qualities and be who I want to be with no one to hold me down. No one to judge me, no one to tell me I can't. And, in essence, that's what Travis wants. He wants to escape his normal life and find glory and power in something much bigger than him.
One of my favorite moments from No More Heroes is this monologue during the first ranked fight against Death Metal.
"I feel as if I'm looking at my future self. Mega bucks, big-ass house, fast cars, dining in style with a world class chef and a trusted nutritionist counting every calorie! A team of hot Yoga instructors to keep me in shape... Nurses, to attend to my body... Maids and loyal servants at my beck and call... On the weekends, ten babes knocking on my door every two hours... Every day full of exitement and luxury, that'd be the life! Everything in its right place, it's the perfect life, it's the life of winners! That'll be my life! I thirst for selflessness, hypocrites lusting for their own desire to get killed by young rookies like me! This is how it goes down... And for the old killers? They'll croak anyway. I guess you could call this a "Comedy". I realize there's really nothing here for me. But what else CAN I do but keep going? Maybe I should've been a little more careful before I jumped in... Gotta find the exit... Gotta find that exit, to Paradise! But I can't see it... I can't see anything! There's this sense of doom running down my spine like it's... Like it's trying to suck the life out of me! I need to get rid of it, before I bail... Something deeper, somethng deeper then my instincts is taunting me! Can't find the exit... Can't find the exit... Can't find the exit... Can't find the exit... Can't find the exit..."
This quote sticks with me. We experience a rare moment of rationality in Travis. Here, he lays out his motivations for the entire game. He realizes he's in way over his head, but it's not enough to slow him down. He ignores any instances of doubt and throws them all away. Realizing he can't possibly come out of this alive, he figures, what the hell, let's go all the way.
This is where I find myself now. I've got little in terms of money, I'm barely scraping by. I wan't to give up, I think about giving up and throwing it all away, but what's the point of that? I do the impossible all the time whenever i fire up a video game, let's put my determination and skill to the test.
Life: you better be ready for me, fuckhead!