Blogger Nomination – Double Shot

Welcome to another round of tag questions and answers! Today I’m going to combine both nominations for the Real Neat Blog Award from MeghanPlaysGames and The Liebster Award from Frostilyte Writes. Thank you to both Meghan and Frostilyte in taking the chance I’d have something interesting to say…

<Narrator:> He didn’t…

Alright, let’s start with Meghan’s questions…

  1. How do you take your coffee? If you don’t drink coffee, what’s your go-to, pick-me-up drink?

Black – A nice smooth cold brew coffee is my beverage of choice whether I’m working or gaming.

2. What’s your go-to game since we’ve been in quarantine?

There’s been quite a few – during the past six weeks or so I’ve been keeping myself busy with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, DOOM Eternal, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, MLB The Show 20, Forza Horizons 4, Jedi: Fallen Order and the Final Fantasy VII Remake. I can scratch playing AND completing Chrono Trigger from my bucket list as well.

3. What’s your favorite dinosaur?

Umm….I guess I could say Brontosaurus. I can’t say exactly why I was drawn to the lumbering thunder lizard but it’s been a favorite since I was a kid.

4. What’s a memorable quote from a book/movie/song/video game that you love?

Red Dead Redemption 2 had many moments of profound impact over the course of the 80+ hour main story. Here is one of my favorite quotes from Arthur in the game as he attempts to reconcile his guilt of the past and to proceed forward with his life.

We can’t change what’s done, we can only move on…

Arthur Morgan

5. If you could go back and see one artist/band in concert that no longer plays shows anymore, who would it be?

It’s hard to not immediately jump to something along the lines of seeing Led Zeppelin, Queen, or Pink Floyd on tour during the 70’s. Led Zeppelin at somewhere like Madison Square Garden or Queen at Wembley Stadium back then would have been pretty impressive.

6. Do you have any tattoos? If not, would you ever get one?

Nope. Not particularly fond of needles….so it’s not real likely

7. Share a screenshot from a game you’ve been playing recently.

I’ve spent the majority of my time playing the FFVII Remake over the past couple weeks, so here’s a random screenshot from this absolutely gorgeous game.

And now for Frostilyte’s questions….

  1. We’re four months into the year – what’s your favorite game you’ve played thus far?

There’s been a selection of great games so far this year…if I had to point to a favorite it would most likely be DOOM Eternal. I loved the hell out of every minute I’ve played of it(lame pun not intended).

2. What’s your favorite Pokémon?

Either Gyrados, Charizard or Snorlax. I usually can’t name just a single Pokémon when asked…

3. Have you watched any shows recently that you’d highly recommend?

I haven’t really watched many new shows recently, most of my time spent watching tv has either been watching old episodes of The Simpsons or random history/documentary type stuff. Now that I think of it, I did watch through Tiger King on Netflix. I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say I recommend it, but it was….entertaining to say the least.

4. What was your favorite movie of 2019?

Again, I admittedly didn’t watch as many new movies in 2019 as I would have liked to, especially in theaters. I’d probably say Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I love Quentin Tarantino movies and really any movies with a (somewhat)historical backdrop.

5. How do you feel about games with no single player content?

I’m fine with it to a degree…there’s a difference between being solely multiplayer GAME and game MODE. The game that jumps to mind first would have to be Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. It didn’t have a single player campaign, but I genuinely enjoyed the multiplayer and zombie modes. My favorite game mode was Blackout, which played like a much smoother PUBG-battle royale game mode. I wish I enjoyed Warzone as much as I did Blackout…

6. What is your least favorite genre of video game?

I don’t usually point at a particular genre and say I don’t enjoy it in some form, but there are genres that I don’t enjoy as much as others. I would typically point to RTS and Strategy type games mostly because of being utterly terrible at them and not having been exposed to them as I was exclusively a console gamer growing up. I’d have to try MMOs in there as well…

7. What is your favorite genre of video game?

Growing up a console gamer, my strongest genres of games would have to be platformers and action/adventure type games. Particularly Nintendo franchises like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.

8. What game from your backlog have you recently finished?

This past weekend I finally completed Chrono Trigger! I wrote briefly about the game for a #MaybeInMarch post as I had hoped to finish the game during the month. Once I realized it would not be able to complete it before the end of the March, I slowed down a bit and went around doing a bunch of side quests and other things since I was loving the game so much. It is truly one of the best RPGs I’ve been able to experience for myself. Better late than never, right?

9. Physical or digital?

I tend to skew more towards digital copies of games, at least newer ones. I don’t live in a very large place so I TRY to only buy physical copies of games that are either A) much cheaper or B) not as available digitally. I bought a PS2 from my local game store pre-quarantine and have picked up a few games here and there to build a modest collection.

10. Pinecone?

<Alexa voice> Pine cone – the cone or strobile of a pine tree.

Here are my questions in return, I haven’t tagged anyone specific. If you would like to answer any question(s) feel free to leave your answers in the comments. Tonight, I’m probably gonna kick back and play some more of the Final Fantasy VII Remake…there’s still children that need to be rounded up in the slums of Midgar…

  1. What would be the most frustrating game you’ve ever played?
  2. Many of us had to make a choice growing up (Super Nintendo vs. Genesis, N64 vs. Playstation) – Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you would have chosen the other option? (deep, huh?)
  3. Is there a remake of a game/movie that you feel is better than the original? If so, which one?
  4. What do you think is the least-terrible video game movie adaptation?
  5. Have you ever been “tricked” by a game – you enjoyed it at first, but grew to dislike it later on?
  6. Inverted controls…absolutely! or no way!
  7. Western or JRPGs?

Thanks for reading!

Blogger Recognition Award

Welcome! I was recently nominated by Red Metal for the Blogger Recognition Award and lost track of what day it was in the midst of quarantine life, the Final Fantasy VII Remake, and an endless supply of eggs hidden around the island by a sadistic rabbit named Zipper. Nevertheless, the Blogger Recognition Award is slightly different than others circulating blog circles as each person will answer the same questions, saving me from coming up with my own. Alright, down to business…

1. Say thanks to the blogger who nominated you and link back to that person’s blog

A great big “thank you!” goes to Red Metal, who posts incredibly in-depth, well-thought out video game and movie reviews at Extra Life Reviews. Someone whose critiques, as well as compliments of movies and games showcase a wonderful level of nuance and depth that I’ve greatly enjoyed reading over the past year.

2. Give the story or history of your blog

I really don’t have much of an “origin story”, the story of my blog site is as much the result of restlessness as it is my love of video games. After sitting in an office doing the same repetitive job for several years, I decided I wanted to reach out and try something relatively different to break up the montony and feel at least the slightest bit stimulated mentally. I remember sitting at my desk writing down ideas/goals/projects, and soon came up with the idea for starting my own blog as a creative outlet of sorts. The idea didn’t seem too realistic at the time, mostly due to the awkward idea of writing and posting online for everyone to see, plus feeling completely inadequate at writing since I was in high school. The most difficult part of the process for me was never coming up with ideas, but the struggle of taking those ideas and concepts and turning them into something that remotely resembles what I envisioned…it STILL is.

The decision to write about video games took all of a nanosecond to come up with, if I’m going to be a noob at writing a blog, I’ll at least know WHAT I’m blogging about. I wanted to use my blog as an outlet to talk about whatever I want, whether it be gaming-related or not. I came up with the name Gaming Omnivore mostly due to not really having a genre or type of game I dislike, I’ll consume nearly anything. Another way to describe my gaming tendencies and skill could be summed up in the old saying – “Jack of all trades, master of none”. Since that fateful decision, I feel I’ve improved a fair bit as far as my writing skill and finding my voice online.

So there you have it, the genesis(#gamingpun) of Gaming Omnivore. No radioactive spider bites, gamma rays or…anything particularly interesting.

3. Give two or more pieces of advice for new bloggers

As I’ve only been posting on WordPress for just over a year, I’m probably not the best-suited to be dispensing advice for others. I do however, have some generic-sounding advice that I like to keep in mind myself.

  • Write what you want – YOU are the person writing YOUR blog, don’t feel like you have to write about something just to “join the conversation” if you don’t have an interest. Writing for a personal blog is something you should be doing because YOU enjoy it.
  • Don’t force yourself to write – I know the single most common piece of advice anyone trying to write anything will hear is “just keep writing”, which IS sound advice and has proved helpful in my own experience. The flip-side of that is that by forcing yourself to write something, it’s less likely to get a sense of enjoyment out of it. If you’re just not feeling it, don’t hold yourself hostage in front of your computer until you clean your plate get something written down…

4. Nominate 10 other bloggers and link to their blog

The internet in general can seem like a giant, intimidating place, but the geeky/gaming blogger community on WordPress is great. I don’t usually have the easiest time interacting with others, but everyone I have interacted with here has been nothing short of friendly and helpful. Here are my 10 blogger nominations – my apologies if you’ve been tagged for this already…

Stay safe and thanks for reading!