Popular Post Charizarzar Posted June 4, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted June 4, 2022 (edited) Hey PSNP! Welcome back to another member interview. Our current interviewee is @Xenoblast91! Xenoblast91 Stock Questions How did you come up with your PSN name? My PSN ID is quite a convoluted one. At least, I want to see it that way. Pretty much stands to its meaning. I love to give significance to whatever I do; kind of poetic if you wish to see it that way, of course. I consider myself a “notionalist”, someone who tries to see beyond the obvious. So, if I’m going to play games which add countless experiences to my everyday life, why not come up with something that stands to that? Let’s break this down to make it clearer. Xeno–: This is a Greek particle [ξένος, Ξήνων] which stands for “odd, strange, rare, outsider, alien, mysterious and unknown”. Even weirder than it sounds (pun completely intended), it can mean “guest or host”, as someone who comes from very far away and isn’t familiar at all with the customs where he stays, or vice versa, someone who gives his help to others in those grounds. This last part shocked me. My real name has a connection with this meaning. I was completely unaware of it until I dove in while doing research on a few texts written in ancient Koine Greek. Moreover, it's a homage to my favorite pre-Socratic philosopher; Zeno of Elea, known for his “sublime paradoxes to point assertions”. Another connection has to be done with element [54Xe], which has pretty interesting applications in neurology and sports. Continuing this, there’s a cult following gaming series called Xeno, which Xenogears and Xenoblade are on my wish list to play someday. blast: Evident for any English speaker. But the origins of this suffix comes from one of my favorite gaming series (more on that following). Do you know this incredible big boy over here?: Yep. He’s the reason behind this part. He made me obsessive, in part, with gaming. However, there’s more to it. As I often play on multiplayer since long times ago, I have a good and well use of grenades on FPS. They are my favorite accessories to make kill streaks, and also, as I sometimes play sneaky, adds up a little more into the equation. Also, the terms expresses an intense feeling towards an experience, like the idiom “we had a blast!”. And to make it more meaningful, a blastocyst, is one of the early stages of any mammal embryo, as it forms few days after the fecundation of an egg. Certainly, ghostly. 91: The least cryptic part, but sort of to add a distinction to the name. It isn’t my birthday year. It refers to my address’ street number. Why? Because it’s the place where my PS4 (and all my consoles) lie. I’ve been living in this construction called home since I was a brat of ~5 years old. In Latin America it is uncommon for someone to move location and leave their house, even by work or family, as this is intended to last several generations. And guess what? I possess several generations of gaming! Also, I like to coat it with the year 1991, as it's when Sonic the Hedgehog, Yoshi (GameBoy game), the SNES (on North America) and Zelda: A Link to the Past came out. So, the equation can mean like: “An oddity which (will) impacts with burst through generations”. Cute, isn’t it? Oh, and one of my dreams is to teach all this to my offspring. Which I haven’t, yet… Side note: There’s another dude here with my same PSN, aside from the digits at the end, but looks like that even though I came up with it alone, somebody had already done before it (he did it circa 2009, seemly). Nothing I've written came from any conversation with them, neither have I ever had an encounter with him. Like, there’s nothing new under the sun, right? What games convinced you to get your PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5? PlayStation 4: The very basic thing about getting the PS4 was to find a distraction in a time when I was living in uncertainty. I was jobless, had recently suffered a breakup, a few issues with family didn’t match up and other things. But, since I had to choose a game to begin with, I picked up Horizon Zero Dawn and read through the web about the similarities between it and Breath of the Wild. I don’t want to touch the nerve here, by no means; that was what I believed at the time. But I remember the very first time the console started up, with the disc inside. My jaw dropped to the floor. I grabbed the DualShock 4 and started to look around. I was crying. Beautiful. Blissful. Majestic. Horizon left me with a sensation I haven’t felt for like many, many years before that. The experience, the driven force of Aloy, her mechanics to play around and her freedom, plus (this is my very personal view) it's superb and has the best graphics I’ve ever witnessed on the console. I’m looking forward to playing Forbidden West! Ah! >_< PlayStation 3: Definitely, there are several games I want and need to play on this console! I bought it recently, like last year if recall correctly. The top 5 are: FFXIII, GTA: IV, COD: MW3, GoW I, Ascension and Ghost of Sparta, Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 and Ico. Of course, the list can go on as PS Plus Spartacus is coming soon, but those are the ones that are always daunting me to give them priority, and go for the Platinum and 100%, LOL. I don’t even own a PS5 (not sure if you should buy it; of course there are games that are enticing me to even consider it –I’m looking at you Spider-Man 2 and TemTem!–) and/or PS Vita. The latter has a very specific exception. I would borrow it for just a single game: Plants vs. Zombies OG. That being said, I'm unlikely to even bother to buy it for trophy’s sake, sadly. But who knows? Maybe it can happen… What are your top 5 game series and why? There's a lot of series I’ve been coinciding along the years, but I believe that only a few of them stuck with me and can be considered a true follower of them. I’ll give a brief reason as to why they are my favorite, my most loved title to date, and what has been my experience with them: Pokémon – The RPG introducer. Way back in the late 1990s, the internet era was almost inexistent. At least over here. What you got was information brought by interviews made, if you were lucky, a year prior or, on very rare occasions, months before in the publishing of (scarce) newspapers; photos directly scanned from in-game; low resolution and hardly but enterprisingly passionate printed sheets for long-awaited magazines. Anime in general was in its apogee. TV shows were scheduled and you couldn’t skip ads. Any guide for experience, strategies, tips or –even more thrilling– secrets and theories, were bought at the schoolyard. There was this mystic feeling around any game. And then, the “yellow fever” burst among that generation. The tongue-to-tongue information was like having an FBI ultra-secret file of National Security level. “Look, if you have the 8 gym badges, beat the Elite Four and go to the cave with Misty, Ash’s girlfriend, you will meet this alien!”; “I can trade this for that and then it’ll change! Look!” And it was marvelously true. A GameBoy Color suddenly became the most important thing to have, the most precious treasure you could ever possess. Whenever I went, I visualized living, powerful creatures around me. I wanted to really touch, train and own Pokémon. My hometown has a semi-rural topography, so the fields, the mountains, and the small communities around it make it realistic. What I was seeing in pixels, my 8-year-old mind was filling the gaps and the game was lively, tangible and feasible. Red Version was only the crest of the iceberg. Suddenly, a lot of other merchandise came out and you wanted to catch ‘em all. Stadium them added a new perspective with 3D. Connectivity was crucial, and Pearl was like the epitome of the experience ever. And even after 20 years, you can still play with the very creature you once imagined as your inseparable friend around Kanto and beyond. The door to turn-based games was opened, and today, this series (and by extension, the genre) will be forever my favorite of all time. God of War – Easily at top 2. The flagship for Sony. The power, the challenge, the lore. Kratos is what it is. More than an icon; more than a character. He is a model to us. Blades of Chaos. Blade of Olympus. Leviathan Axe. And an inextinguishable thirst for vengeance. Santa Monica really worked it off to give us a memorable series, one which is so immersive and catchy that I choose to only play them on special occasions; like a ritual every year that I give to myself as a self-present and as a remembrance to continue fighting for what I truly strive for. The creativity for combos, the fluidity of the level design and the sensitive freedom of how you can move along the hallways are outstanding; not to mention the incredible shift they gave to Greek mythology and now Norse. This closes the circle throughout my career as a gamer. Being in touch with all the flagship series of the Big 3 is a feat in itself. This series deserves so much love and respect since the PS2 era, and while I played the third installment, it took much time after I reencountered it again, and it stole my heart at last. Call of Duty; FPS experience. – In this category, I can say that any FPS can fall into this position. Halo was a phenomenon. Right now it's pretty dead, even after Infinite. But if Mario Kart brought me wonderful memories, the fresher ones are upon the Chief’s saga. At least until Reach (this was later on). On the other side, Call of Duty was one of those that if you didn’t experience it while being a teenager, while having Green Day or blink-182 blasting through your ears while playing this, I can’t hardly empathize with you for the golden era of multiplayer. I love shooting games. I’m decent at them, of course, but my desire for the experience surpasses by far my desire to stand out in the field or become the MVP. I’ve been so, yeah... but to me, that’s not the core point in this series. When I came out to the Sony ecosystem, I’d just played MW3 on and off and on Xbox 360, and enjoyed the experience of Call of Duty 4. Then I was naturally inclined to seek the same experience here. While not the best COD out there, nor the most shining in terms of development according to fans, WWII has a special place in my heart. It opened my eyes to an experience that was refreshing, innovative and “back-to-basics” for the series, especially for the Easter Eggs presented in the base title and DLC. On the other hand, Doom was in the sight for so long, and I had low expectations about it. How wrong I was. The 2016 game is a great and amazing shooter that can keep you playing for hours. Really liked it; and interesting enough, this allowed me to understand the nature of trophies, boosting and a good deal of other stuff that you’re way familiar with. Recently, I played Warface, a free-to-play game that, while it suffers from a severe lack of players and awful servers, gives me an experience that I hadn't experienced since the Halo OG times. Mario Kart – A very casual series. But that’s precisely why it is so memorable. Because I was raised as an only child, I hadn’t had the experience of multiplayer early on, pre-Internet era. But this series allowed me to play with friends and family from time to time. When the Wii came out, I just left the game on the Wi-Fi menu to hear this masterpiece of OST. And then the matchmaking started to join you with other people around the world; and happened to be frenzy enough to satisfy my wildest dreams of bloodthirsty, wreck everyone and humilia… Hold up right there! What was i saying? Ah yes, the lovely Yoshi was my best buddy and is still my main to even play on MK8, which I'd recently started to play with friends and so on. Undoubtedly, a really beloved series that I’ve played every single entry (yes, even the arcade one, LMAO! Double Dash is quite unique among all the titles, and was the most solid I can recall, and also the most underrated too. The worst and hardest can be Super Circuit, which thanks to the GBA controls felt kind of clumsy, stiff and non-responding appropriately. To date, this series has been what defined me as a player. The competitiveness of the game, the silliness of it and the colorful atmosphere have delighted me for all this time. The Legend of Zelda – This can be considered the lowest loved one… but quite a catching entry. I played A Link to the Past way back around 1999, when the SNES was relevant. Admittedly, due to my age, complete ignorance about English (I learned it growing up) and basically the seamless nature of the franchise left me unwilling to play it. But then, N64 happened. My cousins and I reunited in their home, and we played the mythical Ocarina of Time. Dude, I was flabbergasted; can’t describe it any other way. I just played the Shadow Temple for a few hours. It was unbelievable. And my biggest cousin had this insane, huge poster of the game with Ganondorf mounted on his horse and his menacing pose stuck on his room’s door. It baffled and mesmerized me for many months. But it wasn’t until much later in 2007 when I finally went to a full Zelda experience: Twilight Princess. My biggest memories of gaming come from the 7th Generation of Consoles, and this cemented my experience with this series. From start to finish, I was avidly looking for secrets, builds, powers and strategies. When I reached the last floor of the Cave of Ordeals, I felt invincible; like I had an epiphany about the most sublime gaming experience ever. It was cathartic. What are your top 5 games and why? Here it goes (expect a few special mentions at the end!): Super Mario Galaxy – Sorry if this list hasn’t enclosed many Sony titles. I wasn’t raised on the blue side of the pixel. Rather, I’m still a reddish fanboy of the famous plumber. And for this one, I can’t even describe it as much as I’ve been thinking about for so many years. I must add this was breathtaking, idyllic and enchanting, which offered me a wonderful time. The challenge, the level design, the precision and replay value it presented was more than enough to raise the bar to what one could expect from a title from the benchmark series of a whole company. Breaking into tears in complete awe wasn’t enough to pay respect for the majestic development this title showed of the humble rendering power of the Wii when I first played it. The sequel was even greater, but this started it all; and I believe Nintendo lost the chance to present the third entry within the 3DS, as even the name could have been more than fitting. But speaking of which, I have the feeling that the spirit of a predecessor is printed all over it. I’m talking about the apex of 2D platforming, Super Mario World. That game was one of the very first I ever completed, starting it if I recall correctly at around 6-years-old, but did so through the years, on and off; it also brings fond memories with my parents, especially my mom with whom I played a lot. Returning to the main point, the controls keep all the credit, as the inputs the player gave to the character to move freely around anywhere was so basic that retroactively watching videos from people making stunts in-game was something I didn’t dare to try, but I knew they were possible. This showed me the foresight the developer team had, something that sadly is totally lost in the contemporary industry where the competition is ferocious, which continues to increase on a daily basis. This game was the materialized peak of gaming in that era, and is still referred as a guide to many other titles since its release. Halo: Reach – Previously, I mentioned my likeness for FPS games, and oh boy. This was the definitive example of any game of the genre. Probably, many people here can’t identify themselves with this entry; I get it. Understandable. But the same can be said for me during the Console War of the 2010s. The Xbox 360 was rampaging, as 7 out of 10 of my friends had Microsoft’s console, and the only reason for the others not having one was that they were playing on PS2 or had a Wii. Virtually, everybody jumped into the multiplayer scene thanks to this console. The PS3 was quite rare, scarce and unbeknownst to the public here. Yes, there were great games on it, but they didn't offer as much ability to interact or connect at the level the latter offered. If you, reader, like to challenge your views and are open to new views about any topic, I highly recommend the mini documentary titled “Power On”, about the Xbox origins, story and impact within the industry. For me, it was nostalgic, a breakthrough and revealing. Not many companies are open to sharing their failures, learning curves and successes about something. I know you’ll learn one or two things about the gaming industry. But returning to this title, the last which Bungie will produce for the console along within the series, they closed it with a golden pin. While COD4 was having its time, the life cycle of the console was at its end, this game came out and was the killer app for me to buy it. I don’t regret doing so. I was conscious of the “achievements”, how they worked and how to obtain them, and this began my wish to be a collector of those feats and awards to your efforts in a game. The multiplayer was amazingly orgasmic. Team Sniper, SWAT, Slayer and Big Team Rumble were my preferred ones. Many friends from high school were playing it in the summer and we were preparing to go to college, so the rainy, hot summer nights make this experience thrilling and always exciting. I memorized the maps, the cover-ups and techniques to become the best in the match. And it prepared me for one of the most intense stages in my life. Curiously, when the pandemic struck, I returned to boost this game as there were several achievements that I couldn’t get naturally despite my long efforts to do so. That opened my eyes to a new reality that I’ll mention in a question below. Metroid Prime Trilogy – Few games have left me amused, mesmerized and intrigued like this series. I consider it a single title, since my mom gifted me this during high school and played it mostly during Christmas/Holiday seasons in the late 2000s across different years. The OST for this trilogy feels incredibly immersive, stands for the overall atmosphere and gameplay it presents, and the controls were so fluid and responsive that the exploration, combat and puzzle-solving make it addictive, something I can hardly recall from any other title I played along all this time to be honest. The graphics, the environment, its plot and solitude that Metroid series feature is something exposed here brilliantly. Also, it was my very first game in the series to feature this. The exobiology of the game (where you should scan everything, everywhere, every time), the alien setting and lore made it a wonderful experience and one to invite you to explore, experiment and backtrack to further enhance your journey; undoubtedly a masterpiece. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – This entry is unique. Above I stated that my hometown is filled with several rural areas, but as a matter of fact, when I played this game originally on the PS2, the depiction there was amusing and eccentric simultaneously as I really felt I was playing real life in my hood. The “cholo” culture was rampaging in the early 2000s, so this title was socially relevant for the matter. To play this one, I had to go to an arcade store and rent the console for about 50¢ per hour. What made it way uncanny was the fact that you could see the same NPCs walking beside you while playing: thugs with their bandanas on the forehead, tattoos with the “cry latter, smile now”, detailed beards and whippy, two-dip sunglasses were the norm. It was something truly surreal. But what was more astonishing was the fact that in-game you could use cheat codes to do whatever you pleased: overpower the military forces, have infinite bullets, infinite health, move quicker and exploit any other status to CJ. You were basically enticed and invited to cheat on purpose. The key to that was freedom. You could create whatever story you wanted to be played, and there were 0 consequences for that. Dangerous if you think about it, but over and over it has been demonstrated that violence in games doesn’t make us sociopaths or any other type of delinquent you can imagine (ranting on the Internet and such doesn’t count… to some extent). But taking a car, horning a hoe in the street and then having a happy time together at that time was unconceivable, given all the conservatism experiences years prior to it… more or less. Undoubtedly, one of the best games I’ve ever played. Battalion Wars – A heavily underrated, really obscure game about warfare in real-time strategy/tactics with touches of RPG. Whoever has played any Advance Wars can recognize this title of the series, but it isn’t regarded as such because it isn’t turned-based. This game revolved around hostilities between two nations, the Western Frontier (basically USA) and their enemies at the Tundran Territories (the Soviet Union), while other nations join or declare conflict with each band. I became badly addicted to this game, because it taught me the values of strategy, forethought, quick reflexes and replay value at its core. It saddens me a lot that it wasn’t recognized in its time for its innovative controls, mechanics and gameplay overall, even its graphics were decent for the generation it was present as the pre-rendered cut scenes were worth watching for the plot and lore it introduced. Eventually I got in touch with the sequel, and enjoyed it too, but not so much as the first entry. I have the wet dream that Kuju will someday release the third and final part to close the circle. Also my likeness for military, shooter stuff heightened my fixation for this title. This can’t be complete without having special mentions here: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario & Luigi Super Star Saga, Halo: Combat Evolved, Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Quest VIII, The Last of Us, Resident Evil 3, God of War (2019), Star Fox 64, GoldenEye 007 and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Which unreleased game(s) are you looking forward to the most and why? This can be outdated quick, but currently Pocky and Rocky, the two TMNT collections, Spider-Man 2, God of War: Ragnarök and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Remake. Do you have any other hobbies outside of gaming? Well, yes! I like to read, travel and do physical training. On the first, I don’t usually pick up books or so, but I rather research the topic of my interest and let the rush of curiosity and hunger for knowledge guide me to wherever I need to be. This has helped me to understand many situations while traveling. On foreign land, it feels like a huge, undiscovered territory that must be enjoyed while I try to figure out what’s going on in it. A wonderful experience where the sole purpose is to get lost, find the magic hidden behind any tourist trap and test by yourself what the place has to truly offer you. But you couldn’t do this if you don’t endure like 5 or more hours of walking from here to there. As pointed out above, I focus mainly on what is called CrossFit. Across the years, the information about it has become popular and wider, so people can have a raw idea of what it's about. Let’s say it's a high-intensity type of training where you focus on three aspects: gymnastics, endurance and weightlifting. During my life I had tried several other sports, like soccer, martial arts, baseball and traditional gym routines. My family has a tendency for obesity, and thanks to anime, one of my dreams was to have one of those ripped, muscular and athletic bodies. Roughly, the silver trophy for “Burn 100,000,000 calories in a lifetime” is almost done, so I think this type of grind is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable tasks I’ve ever embarked on. Top 5 TV shows, Movies, and/or anime, why, and would you recommend them to people? I think in this regard, there’s no one better than the other, but I can pinpoint that otherwise. Also, while I’m not so prone to binge-watching, it takes me time to even finish a series, or at least find the willpower to do so. In the case of TV shows, I can name a few, between cartoons and series, which can be categorized differently due to their own plots and so on. Let’s start with Cartoons: Dexter’s Laboratory – This cartoon inspired me early on in my interest in science. The fact the protagonist had a secret lab within his house made me realize that I could do that too. Of course, I avoid that childish thought and now I have access to a few of them from previous projects and my college. The only movie in this series left an impact on me, as there is a scene which can be easily considered +16. Loved the design of the characters and the whole series. Invader Zim – A really edgy, early 2000s show depicting a clumsy yet weird Irken alien that was sent to Earth to conquer it. His idiocy is the reason why he doesn’t succeed, along with that 10-year-old kid that always tries to stop his attempts despite no one believing him that Zim is an extraterrestrial. This was a great show, had a very dark and obscure tone, and the humor there was top-notch quality. The movie released a few years ago is a great homage to the original series, and I enjoyed the cartoon a lot when TV was a thing. Kenan and Kel – While not a cartoon, the humorous plot kept me in awe for a long time. One of the best Nickelodeon series, and the lore it had made it more realistic in my opinion. I remember watching it at late night, and that was thrilling because I could get caught and couldn’t finish the episode. I think that adrenaline rush is the reason I remember this show more than anything. Here I can add a challenge show which depicted kids running through challenges on an ancient themed temple called Legends of the Hidden Temple and the obvious show that I use as a profile pic: Power Rangers. Those years were spectacular! KND: Kids Next Door – The premise to have a bunch of kids gather like spies under a secret society done precisely by underaged, unsupervised adults was fascinating. Also, the teamwork reminds me a lot of Power Rangers, which, I believe, would be a pretty obvious position in this list so, just let’s say that the gag for that was cool. Time Squad & Fairy Odd Parents – Another jewel among the cartoons. Time travel has been a feature in fiction that has always fascinated me. Therefore, a series that is about that explicitly? It refers to a patrol that corrects historical events? A genius kid who helps the team to achieve their goals? Heck, I’m in! It has a special place here, as when weekly new episodes were a thing, you can see me waiting Friday evening to watch the newest chapter. That made weekends magical. On the latter, I can say that the drawings enchanted me: simple, clumsy yet attractive and enough to watch for hours. My favorite character is Cosmo, whose silliness is always naïve but sometimes incredibly genius. Also, having the opportunity to grant any wish one desires is a double-edged task. That’s precisely the moral behind that show, and I place these two in together as I feel a connection between them. Special mentions: There are many other shows I enjoyed back in the day, so the list can go and go, then here’s another list with some great series: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, Samurai Jack, TMNT, Spider-Man (1994), Gravity Falls and Phineas and Ferb. Anime: Dragon Ball – Pretty mainstream, I know. But this opened the opportunity to even consider this side of entertainment. It’s like the cornerstone of what we even consider anime. Without it, I couldn’t enjoy One Piece, Naruto or Bleach. Probably as my tastes are inclined more towards nekketsu genre, and honestly, it is; many of the series that I’ve watched focus on this. For that matter, I prefer to read manga, especially with those first two mentioned earlier. On Luffy and co. side, I’m at current events (prefer the manga way more to the anime, as I can hear music at my taste and take my time to understand every panel); however, I was a complete skeptic about the series; since the 4Kids version was the only one available when I watched it first, then my like for it rapidly decreased and I became oblivious towards it. It wasn’t later on when I gave it a chance that it clicked with me. Can even say it’s my favorite to date, but again, this wouldn’t be possible if I'd never watched DBZ back in the day. Here in Mexico, Goku is highly and immediate recognizable, even more than any other foreign fictional character. There’s even the belief that he should be a Saiyan raised as Mexican (the phrasing of his sayings as an Earthling). With the hyperactive blond ninja was the opposite. The very first chapter aired on January 1st on Cartoon Network while I was in middle school, and the antics and similarities with Toriyama’s work rapidly became a must-watch. I even bought manga from the series, up until Sasuke’s betrayal. Finished the manga, but never really wanted to go to the infinite filler episode mess that it became in the end. Kimetsu no Yaiba – This is a new one. I don’t even know why I started to watch it, but I began slowly seeing it. It inspired me to make certain crazy stuff and it is a very good series. The smooth animation, artistic style and story are intriguing, pleasing and you can empathize with characters quickly. Haven’t finished the second season yet, but will do it eventually. The way the author mixed the classic element control into a fresh sword fighting styles, plus the way the series encourages you to consider self-improvement to stand up against unsurmountable tasks and unavoidable clashes, adds more to its magical appeal and wonderful yet mysterious world-building. One-Punch Man – I laughed so hard with Saitama’s personality and abilities. Its creator is a genius! The deep sarcasm and parody it made for the other mainstream series around the more or less same topic have kept me loving the series. As there’s like three or four versions (anime, 2 manga versions and a life-action?) of the same material, I’m not sure where to start or how to harmonize them. I think it suffers from its own success. However, it’s great to see a dude like Saitama do the stuff he does, and how everybody around him is completely oblivious and perplexed by his being. I want to be like him, seriously. Being bald never has been this cooler! Shingeki no Kyojin – Wow, this can be coupled with another big hit like Fullmetal Alchemist OG & Brotherhood. The mysterious plot, origins and true motivations behind the antagonists make them realistically provocative. The philosophy behind them, the plot twists and the solutions to the main problem that drives the story are absolutely mind-blowing. I still need to be updated with the current events (the manga finished; I know) on the anime. It grinds my gears that they have the audacity to make a seasonal anime every year just to keep you intrigued despite all the spoilers already available. Sigh. Anyway, I’m not even willing to see the end until it is fully animated, so NO SPOILERS, please. Death Note – When this was a phenomenon around the globe, the premise was so heavily tempting and well-structured that the discussions about this series were endless. Who should've won? Was it justice, a tantrum, or the simple wish that lies deep down in all of us to be recognized? The anime was remarkable, and the music and the flow of the story were great. When VLC was a thing, to watch something, you had to download it, and this was the only way to catch up with it. My desire for balance in the world clicked, as with many, many other people who knew this anime from gossip and silly discussions from here and there. Really like it. TV shows: House M. D. – One of the first shows I engaged with. I watched a lot of this when I was in high school, and it inspired me to study my career in so many aspects. While I was choosing my future, medicine was one of the options, but this program showed me the intricate and complex issues any physician has to deal with in order to alleviate the pain of their patients. Also, the street-level philosophy presented in many of the seasons left me wondering and thinking beyond the episodes themselves. Like how the protagonists and his team manage to resolve extremely rare to even improbable situations with mere deductive processes, while sometimes the answer could be more obvious but their psychological tendency to worsen everything messes up things. Speaking of which, I had the opportunity to play a surgery simulator and despite being curious about it, and my family background revolving around the medical scene, tried Trauma Center: Second Opinion and tested if I was able to carry the bloodline responsibility and business. Thankfully, I wasn’t and turned my face the other way around. Medicine is for those with inherited talent and vocation, who can handle situations of literal life and death in your hands, and well… it's better for someone who truly wants to help you to enter into that scene. I remember watching the end of the series, where House just drives out on a motorcycle into the horizon. But this one requires a new rewatch as it's hard to remember innumerable things from the late 2000s. The Big Bang Theory – Another one I watched while in high school. The nerdy, romantic drama series about a bunch of super geniuses was cool, mostly because I was acquiring a lot of knowledge from classes and subjects going around the very same themes presented in this show. There are numerous references, Easter eggs and more in this fantastic series. It’s wonderful how the interaction between Leonard and Penny evolves through the series, and how the other characters managed to find their special others too, thanks to science and an unorthodox appliance to it. How other people forced them to strengthen their social skills and use their gifted intelligence to go beyond their starting points. While there are instances of obscenities, sometimes there are wholesome episodes and interesting topics around episodes. Suits – A more contemporary series revolving around a bunch of lawyers, especially two who team up to solve complex entrepreneur legal problems for big companies. The story starts with a famous, experienced and sharp attorney that finds a gifted and smart, but untrained and rebellious young boy who shows promise in the law field thanks to his photographic memory. While the plot derives hugely apart from this very premise, the drama is assured and problems granted. So, it will be part of the protagonist duo's job to solve those issues and move along the peripeties that law often represents, and human traits and behavior allow too. Took me like a year to finish it, more because when I started the final season wasn’t even out, so this marked one of the few shows that promoted me to “binge watch”; all this was before having a console so already I don’t usually do this anymore, aside from time to time. It’s fun, but after a while, the plot derives and the core story seems confusing and out of the point. Also, the ending, while satisfying, left more pieces to guess about and it wasn’t what the characters deserved at all. Anyway, I recommend it because everything happens around New York, LOL. The Office – A masterpiece over here. If TBBT seems to have good romantic drama, this one goes beyond. I loved the interaction between Pam and Jim, how he fights to keep her with him, despite all the struggles and problems they face together. Of course, there are doubts, problems and insane situations happening in a quiet town in Pennsylvania, but the laughs are assured. The cast is perfect, and many of the episodes have to do with their everyday work as clerks. While many of my show's pick-ups are referring almost to work, this definitely shows how to actually not behave like that in the workplace. Watched this while hunting down trophies in GTA V, so every time I remember this show the game comes to mind and vice versa. It was during a dark time of my life too, so this series left a great seal in my mind as I was going for the 100% and using this show to relax was counterproductive, but I managed to finish both in the end. The X-Files – A classic sci-fi mystery thriller; when I was a kid, one of the most interesting topics within fiction was supernatural phenomena. I’ve never, ever experienced any type of this, despite being a huge believer in that– deeply ironic considering my scientific background too; one of my silliest dreams is being able to see with the naked eye a clear, close UFO over the sky. That’s precisely what this series is about: to break down our preconceived paradigms and allow new data to shape our understanding of the unknown, instead of forcing them into fitting into the current model of explanatory engine. The show was at late night time, and sometimes the scheduling was awful so I just watched pieces of it over time. Finally, I’m currently watching it, and it certainly is a trip of nostalgia, excitement and satisfaction to see Scully and Moulder in their weird adventures once again. Movies: I’ve seen countless films. Many of which I even can’t remember the names of and what they are truly about and I can only piece things together from scenes or plot drives. However, trying to figure out which are my favorites is a hard task because there’s too many to name all of them just in 5 spaces. I’ll try my best to explain this as broadly as I can. Back to the Future (The Trilogy) – I can’t tell precisely what can be the second place for this list. But the first one is clear. This trilogy has mesmerized me since the first time I watched it. I know the dialogues, the scenes, the bloopers, the themes and the message behind them. Remarkably enough, every single time I play them a new single piece of detail gets noticed, and I realize how rewatchable these movies are. Seriously, especially on the first one, every time I look at it again it seems like something new pops out of it, and enriches even more my like for them. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of time travel; as Doc Brown says in the second part, “I built this machine […] to know possibilities of what could be and what’s the future of humanity; promises and hopes, and to answer the most important questions of all: Why?”. When I think about it, the only feeling left is to be flabbergasted. The lore of the movies expand into other media, but I can live with only the original source. Time is a complex matter in physics, and as a dimension its branches extend even more to our current comprehension about the observable universe. The movie also awoke my taste for cars, thanks to the flagship DeLorean and how it's portrayed. Definitively my favorite movie of all time. Mainstream as it is, as many people can claim the same, but everyone got impacted differently as to how they perceived the plot and the characters. Alien (1979) | Blade Runner | Terminator 2: The Judgement Day – Coming back to sci-fi, I include two movies in one spot. The first is a thriller space horror that many here can recognize easily. Remember when I mentioned my PSN ID? Well, guess what. The antagonist and titular enemy of the movie is called xenomorph. Not because lacks a definite shape like It, or like a slime creature that shifts into another being. It refers to it acquiring the physiognomy of its host in order to survive. One thing is to travel in time; but to travel in space seems to be harder. Moreover, the universe doesn’t seem to be friendly with life, as DeGreese Tyson can quote, and on top of that, to have a crawling beast roaming around your ship to kill and eat you. Ripley has been cited as one of the most inspirational women characters over the decades. Though, clever and enduring are some of her qualities, something that many other characters share with her, she must take her life and succeed no matter what, or she will die. Game over. The music, the design and atmosphere of the movie are unnerving yet addicting. Following that feeling is a police officer that focuses on killing androids. The cyberpunk theme, as magnificent exponent as BR shows, gives me an odd feeling of peace, relaxation and hope about the future. Not precisely a theme that the genre shows up, right? Well, the hyper-technological future seems quite promising in that regard. And while the T-1000 experienced time travel within its universe laws, the future shows two different endings but one common topic: the humanity, and by extension, your personal destiny for the age to come. How can I feel good while the portrayal in each of these movies shows a low life and pessimistic views about the future? Because they are fiction. While in reality we often see news about how terrible it is that the world around us is decaying, we still don’t know what will happen next. And that’s the point. I think a miracle could just materialize and all our visions about the future can change. Saving Private Ryan – A more realistic movie. The introductory sequence is one of the most legendary scenes on film. As crude, explicit and accurate as can be, this marks up a truth that many of us don’t dare to accept. We’re at war against many forces, and sometimes we are on a mission to rescue others for the sake of victory. Or on occasions, we’re the POW that needs that deliverance and liberation. The battle is raw and tolling, but it’s that or face a worse end. Nothing changes that. So, you must put on your helmet, grab your rifle and move on. The crudeness of war means we must be sensitive and acknowledge the importance of the situations that we’re constantly in. Rocky 4 | Kickboxer – Fighting and motivational movies that are required to keep up your morals. One of the reasons why we don’t succeed isn’t due to might or lack of power. It’s a lack of perspective. A failure, a defeat or a loss are the backstage of a win. That’s what makes us powerful. If you really want something, you’ll find reasons to continue, and if not, you're simply going to ignore it. You must be clear about your intentions and why you want this or that so badly. Then the fire to burn your engines will start to move towards that goal. But there’s no more noble task than to redeem or help your beloved ones against a threat. That’s what happens basically in these two unconnected yet parallel films with similar themes over them. Classics from the 1980s and a wonderful example that hard work always pays off. Die Hard with a Vengeance | Taken | The Transporter – This one is my favorite of all the series. Great actors, an ingenious plot and lots of accomplishments about chasing and running. It can be considered like an action thriller heist movie due to its themes and story. The puzzles within the movie and how the spectator is incentivised to solve them too is great, pretty much genius writing and script. Also, the plot twists are in place, leaving the viewer always guessing what will happen next. The chemistry between Willis and Jackson is one that you rarely see in film today, and the motives between them are so uneven that what unites them is the pure sense of justice and righteousness against innocent people. Easily one of the best movies I’ve ever watched and that I tend to see when I feel uplifted and energized. Recommended of course. The other two follow more or less the same premise; while the others are action thrillers, I believe that Die Hard is the predecessor in the genre and shows how the protagonist must deal against a group of criminals or terrorists in order to keep his and others' lives in peace and order. Top 5 favorite music bands/group/artists/composers/ost? A hard question, too. I’m weird when it comes to terms of music. This can be the most ambiguous answer I would bring, since it can’t fit a definitive genre or artist list. To be honest, if I like a song, it will stick with me for weeks or sometimes months. Can be rock and any derivation from it, but in this regard, I can mention a few bands along which can be at the top like Iron Maiden or Green Day, and from there many others which are more or less mainstream in punk, hard, ska, progressive or trash rock – to mention a few: Pearl Jam, Black Sabbath, Scorpions or DragonForce. The second genre I usually listen is hip-hop and pop; artists may vary widely. Since the 2010s the music boom was mainly performed by Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Pitbull or a more obscure singer David Tavare and the like. On the other hand, 2Pac, Akon, Flo-Rida, The Notorious BIG and many other rappers can be added to the list, even the super commercial Bad Bunny (I’m not a zoomer, but he has good tunes here and there). They are classics now, and you can recognize them within the cringe kid’s videos from the garbage that TikTok is. Not saying those singers are bad; on the contrary, I listen to them now and then, but their focus changed drastically as time passed. Music from the 80s and 90s can fall into this description, like Bee Gees or even trance music that resurged early in the 2010s like Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Dash Berlin or ATB. On the third side, video gaming music is incredibly isolated and private that just a track of a single game can stick with me; I do enjoy gaming music! But I’m kind of selective in that regard, so I'd say Nobuo Uematsu, Koji Kondo, Yoko Shimomura, Toshio Masuda, Shunsuke Kikuchi or Hans Miller. Sorry for this, but I honestly have a weird taste in music and so. LOL. This is, by the way, one of my favorite songs ever: Your favorite platinum and why? This is a hard one to answer. In all honesty, I think I haven’t got to that point. My profile has some titles, less than I wish to play and that are in my backlog already. Of course, there have been memorable games that have given me great moments, but all in all, there’s no Platinum no. 1 hitherto. “The One”, if it even exists, hasn’t come yet, but I don’t shut down possibilities, and I’m open to all outcomes. Likewise, trophies often hinder a bit the experience because they “force” you to play in some ways that can ruin the fun. This is highly dependent on everyone, but once you know a game has several playthroughs, some backtracking or grinding in a specific way to earn the Platinum, well… then you can’t properly say that was “oh, look I loved it so much, wow it must be GOTY already. OMG, just look at it is perfect”. No, that never happened to me so far but again, I try to enjoy every game I play so much and then the Platinum should come naturally from that perspective. Your least favorite platinum and why? Ugh. I wanted to play it by the hype it has, plus the fans’ “praise” around the author’s work, but this isn’t the type of game I would like to play again; at least, not like this one. It hurts me that I have Detroit: Become Human in my library so I’m worried about it too. Instead of just explaining why in depth because it is so disgusting personally, I’ll let an expert tell you why this stinks so much with the precision it needs to be addressed: Have you ever been tempted to switch over to the Xbox/Nintendo/PC gaming ecosystems? I actually come from those ecosystems! Sony has been the latest, and I can say that while each of them presents solid aspects and features that make them unique, there are huge and deep differences between them that create segmented communities and allows usual misunderstanding among each other. That’s precisely the essence of competition, and what that allowed is the then so-called “Console Wars”. From one side or another, each one of those platforms has its pros and cons, evidently. I don't consider myself a complete fan of them, but I can acknowledge what makes them special and why people buy them in the first place. However, in recent times I believe that Sony has influential reasons to keep itself as a king onto this generation as I'd explained earlier within my past on Nintendo and Microsoft, hence Sony being the one that closed the circle finally; but on the very other side of the fence the PC gaming was also a good part in my introduction into my gaming lifestyle even today. My whole experience on that focused on Zoo Tycoon, Age of Empires and several other classics that have shaped the industry–in fact, many of the games released for PS1, Genesis and TuboGrafx16 back in the day I played on an emulator on a PC, so I have these kinds of fond memories too about them; but honestly, on Sony's side I can aggregate that I do respect and understand its story and backgrounds. Furthermore it stems from my late introduction into its community, motives, and focus as a fan base and development philosophy. However, I think that Sony has made a wonderful effort on making it a flexible, open and optimum platform all this time. Let’s see how they go with PS+ Premium too. I usually play on other platforms, of course. I don’t restrict myself to enjoying exclusive titles from another company or this hyped game announced for this or that console. That’s where entertainment’s magic lies: you can find your own free path to achieve satisfaction, by the means you see more fit towards your needs. And I can say that video games have always helped me to overcome hardships, forget pains and endure what life keeps ahead of time for me. If you could have one game from any gaming generation be remade or re-released, which one would it be and why? Chrono Trigger. No doubt about this one. It’s one of the best, if not the best, RPG ever created. I played it on mobile versions, despite having the opportunity to play it on console, but the experience anyway was so sublime and exquisite that I was even playing with 32-bit pixels, the adventure and gameplay feel so fresh, intuitive, engaging and ineffable that until now, its OST is easily one of my favorites ever. This and this are the best tunes on the game. I played in early 2016, way before owning a new console, and what a fortune it was to do so then because I couldn’t even imagine playing this wonderful title. A game entirely designed on 3D hyper new graphics, like its cousin FFVII managed to envision in the last few years. If SE could re-make that game, they can do it with the time-traveling quintessence for role-play. And now for the question, itself… Early this year, Square Enix announces the release of Chrono Cross, which well, isn’t exactly the sequel I would have expected but it's an indicator of the possibility for a remake. For decades, fans have discussed this wet dream and while there are pros and cons to this, I think that it is a necessity to bring back this jewel to life again with the most powerful software and hardware available to date. Same mechanics, same story, but with modernized graphics and enhanced engines to adapt… The sky is the limit. Also, if the Dream Team OG could go back to produce at least the remake, the final product will be considered again, the crème de la crème. Oh, and have you ever heard about Chrono Resurrection? Yeah. That’s the point. On the other side, I can mention a closer tied position contender. EarthBound (or Mother 2 for other people), is a cult classic that Nintendo must address. But while I played a lot of 2D-sidescrolling pixelated games, I think this should be completely 3D rendered, and possibly with chibi styled characters. Nevertheless, what should be completely revamped are the fighting animations and sequences, more like to a Dragon Quest feeling like recently. How far are you willing to go for a platinum? Whatever it takes–I’m looking at you GT Sport! Although, why stop there? The white/blue bar should be filled! Damn it, if I see it partially filled it gave me aches and looks like a post-it note waving at the mercy of the air: it can easily unstick and fall over. Joking, but if I want to squeeze out my investment (in time and money) into that game and if it is in my library, I am entitled to explore and acquire the most value of it as much as I can. That’s what I believe. If you could give Sony direct feedback on business decisions in the last year, and the latest console generation, what would you tell them? In the last 5 years, Sony has been wild with their decisions so this answer could become incredibly ranting, but I'll take my shot and tell them the following: Do you want to be relevant in today’s market? Give players exactly what they ask you! Allow all regions to open your PS Now version because your “competitive” program for Premium will not even get close to Game Pass. Understand that you need to give open access games since launch day to Plus members, and stop with your DLC, trail test games since last year! Bring back titles to the PS3 and Vita storefronts and update their interface, it really sucks. Bring back the web browser store and enhance it by allowing us to find exactly what we’re looking for, not the add-ons or other stuff that I don’t care. Oh, and speaking of which, let us access themes and pics from that same browser! You should make the PS5 slim or even the pro versions already because you know? Its library is lame, and I don’t think to migrate yet until my very well-built PS4 stops working, which doesn’t seem soon. Meanwhile, you should implement Discord, optimize your mobile app and allow better user design within the legacy consoles altogether because you should start thinking about people who care about retro compatibility as much as your competitors do, for God’s sake! Sigh. That’s all. What is your favorite thing about PSNP? The community, by far. While PSNP can be a hub for many players, the branches of it are profound and wide. It astonishes me how anyone here can help you with any game; it doesn’t matter how old, obscure and underrated it can be. There’s someone who already plays it, and more incredibly, has mastered it to a degree that they can give advice on it. It’s like going down and down, and you can see how specialized people can be with any way of gaming: casual, hardcore, achievement/trophy hunting, competitive, and the rarest of all, speed running. People who love to help the other to get that elusive co-op trophy; people that tell you the META of a strategy game with statistics and all; groups that build up files and archive with information about details hidden from the player but affect the gameplay as whole and are shared with everybody; feedback from this or that game, how it is and how to beat it easily. Also, the guides are neat for giving you a general insight into what you’re required to complete the game and be granted your reward. It’s insane! One of the most noticeable aspects is the design of the site. It’s ordained and has a good appeal to the eye. It's easy to navigate and the capabilityty to make boosting sessions is one of the strongest features. With that, the site is really solid in the aspect to have a control on the way players show their advancements towards games and trophies. What is your least favorite thing about PSNP? There are many options that are lacking on the site. Firstly, the timestamps are a value given to the trophies' acquired times and the internal playtimes. This is hugely important. If a game takes me 2 years to complete as the etiquette says, but it took 2 hours of playtime per day to finish it I guess the total time will be reduced to 600 hours or 4 weeks (25 days) of total time in-game together. Thus, this is highly deceiving for many users, and can hinder the experience of the site to some degree. Secondly, as a matter of fact, the search engine could be heavily improved, as one could search directly for users, games and trophies in a single tab, and avoid the redirection into multiple subs like is currently shown. I use the site pretty often, and I can mention many other aspects that can be enhanced in my sight, but this ultimately resides properly in the community as a whole. Is there anyone in the PSNP Community you would like to give a shout-out to and if so, why? @AJ_Radio – Yo, I seriously like your cutting yet always on point comments about any topic, you seem fit to expose the ups and downsides of supporting a dangerous but wild spread point on gaming subjects. Also, I see a good fellow that grew up during the early times of gaming and the internet. It is great to have someone with such understanding about topics that everybody seems to have forgotten long ago. Such views are needed in a time when companies have become lazy, greedy and advantageous over the hype of many players, that will continue looking for better titles but more than often end up disappointed and frustrated; you give a glimpse of common sense and light to many. @Honor_Hand – Buddy, your posts are full of color, soul and solid dedication! Thanks for always providing quality material to inspire, share and lift players around the community. Also, it's great to see a fellow Latino in these lairs, as it's not so frequent to keep in touch with all. Hope you're doing well, playing at your heart’s desire as I believe, and having that wonderful spirit to always bring the best about everything around. Furthermore, thanks for your support and hope you get involved more and more with others as you seem to take care of many. See you soon and someday we can play together. Enjoy! @Mihold – One of the best partners out there, which only objective is to have a fun time together and grab trophies along the way. While not so active on the site, he is in the games he engages in and commits to its fullest for the sake of memories. Great companion, how could I not mention you buddy? Thanks for giving me a hand when needed, and when the urge was at stake. @MennoWoods2 – Thanks to you too, my pal, as you’re interested in the community and have shared good moments along the way. Hope you’re doing well, and hope we can play together once again soon! @Charizarzar and @Dreggit – Guys, I seriously appreciate the opportunity to finally be able to have this wonderful conversation and interview with this lovely community! You rock, and hope you’re having a great time doing and moderating this whole dynamic between all of us. May you play a lot and earn tons of trophies alike! Always wishing you the best in your lives, cheers. Community Questions I see that on your profile you also list your Xbox Gamertag. Between Xbox & PlayStation, what would you say is your preferred platform & is there any specific reason why? Nice catch! Yes, I added my GameTag recently. Xbox taught me the value of gaming hunting. They were the pioneers in making achievements (at least from a social, friendly and competitive standpoint) as a means of reward for doing literally everything within the scope of a game. Since I wasn’t in touch with Sony until recent times, Microsoft offered me the option of multiplayer, and I engaged in a few games on it. I even considered buying an Xbox One before my PS4. Thankfully, I didn’t. My preferred console right now is of course my lovely PS4 Slim. When I bought it, I immediately understood that I must start fresh on this new platform and make myself a name within the community, or at least to people who would care. Thus, when I started to trophy hunt, I pondered the possibility to go back to basics to my origins as a hunter, and finish my incomplete yet in-progress profile there. I’ve managed to finish like 4 games in that backlog in the past 10 years, 3 of which I played within the past year. This has its history of course, so given more people are leaning between both ecosystems, it sounded reasonable to add my GT here to brand myself noticeable if anyone would like to hunt there too. I have a few games which require a huge amount of boosting if you’re interested! LOL. Have you/do you want to publish a research paper into any biotech-related stuff? I’ve done it before. But just as an undergraduate while working on my final projects to get my degree. Both of my papers have been focused on food processing and metabolites production, which are the areas of my expertise. The first one was focused on the dehydration of coffee beans via instantaneous controlled pressure drop, where we were asked to perform the yield of such a process in order to keep all caffeine and nutritional elements of the beans while not interfering directly with any other biochemical properties. We actually wanted to publish it in a journal, and I think it happened, but my teacher had the control over that, and we just appeared as collaborators due to several legal issues, but I felt proud that we contributes to research in the field of improving several food technologies which could be adapted in several manufacturing production chains. And of course, I think anyone related to academia or research. and development to some degree, will more likely publish their work in a reputable magazine or site and gain some recognition for their efforts in the biotech area. Almost all my professors had a few papers already published, so they naturally boost us to do the same; I’ve been out of that circle for some time but I’m open to reenter into the scene and do my best job to a remarkable endeavor. Do you have any major ideas or themes for your game that you know would be a part of it? Sorry about this, but didn’t comprehend what you mean by this, LOL. What are your favourite animal(s)? I can classify them roughly by the habitat they live in, or the kind of animal. For birds, the golden eagle, the falcon and the penguin; for aquatic life forms, the shark, the octopus, the ray, the crab and the jellyfish; for terrain, the bear, the tiger and the fox (and this can include amphibians given their specific ecosystems) and the alligator. Given insects: spiders, beetles, dragonfly, snail and butterfly. I can’t really specify which could be my top tier, but I think the ones listed were the most significant during my early childhood and from what I’ve studied about them. ‘Interests: Philosophy (especially theological implications in daily life)’ - Could you expand upon this and maybe provide some examples? Are there any particular philosophical readings that you would recommend, and have they affected the way you live your life? There are situations that usually challenge our conceptions about what is correct and what is not. Complex moments with other people in which, despite acting sincerely and in the best way available at that moment, it is not enough. Theology is an independent branch of philosophy, since its framework of study deals with elements that overlap in order to obtain a convincing explanation about a phenomenon that, by definition and extension, is non-scientific (in other words, it does not fit in the contemporary paradigm of "the scientific", in which the definitions of its theoretical and application framework mainly underlie computable empiricism; that is, science is based on handling and repeatable properties, although sometimes this escapes a little from that border). That said, within the standards of Judeo-Christian morality and procedure, it is common to run into gray issues for which there is no direct solution. This is where my interest intersects with "theology in everyday life." I believe that much of what we do every day depends to a large extent on what we think about the things that happen to us. It is an almost unconscious process, but one that is powerful in the way we experience our lives. Since there are consequences for each of our actions, especially in those third parties that frequently have nothing to do with the central individual problem of each one, it becomes imperative to recognize the importance of our actions, and as a result of that, the way on which we reflect. This has certain psychological overtones, but expanding it to a broader topic, I consider it to be more of a deeply philosophical problem. How should I talk to my boss in this situation; Will he fire me if I tell him? Should I help my partner, who frequently speaks ill of me to others? Would I give a coin to the person that is begging on the street? Should I insist that my friend tell me about her problem even though she says she doesn't want to talk about it? Very mundane questions, you might say; even some kind of simple insecurity or so on, but if the mountain is made of little rocks then why not consider this regarding their importance in the big scope? There is clearly an ethical, epistemological and ontological weight in all this. It seems overly complicated, but a machine doesn't work in harmony without the smallest parts. We want to live calmly, in peace and security. However, we realize that maintaining that balance is often difficult. Since we are already in the game, even if we realize it, it is necessary to investigate a myriad of aspects and collect the information until the conclusion that it leads us to, and accept its implications. Since religion has a driving force in behavior, it is necessary to analyze it and consider whether it has value in solving the problems raised above. Although depending on the school and branch of belief to which one belongs, the answer will vary greatly, it is better to focus on the one that is familiar to us. And from there, to challenge what is presented to us as immovable. Further reading can be this, this and this which are good introducers to the topic, as other books rely more on other profound issues that come from several other principles and schools of thought. Have you played any games in which biology is a prominent feature? For instance, the marine life in Subnautica is incredibly alluring. Indeed! Mention it earlier, but I think Metroid Prime has the most prominent feature as you describe it. Also, it maybe doesn't have as many organisms to explore but Trauma Center: Second Opinion can be included here, as it is a medical simulator. Likewise, Zoo Tycon can be considered a good example. Do you think there’s anything unique about the way of life in Mexico that other countries would do well to replicate? This is a great question! I think I can list at least two aspects that define my nation, or at least, my culture that I consider to be positive, and some people have highlighted here: Humor: I think this is the most obvious and most notorious, and something that is scarce in other parts of the world. While Hispanic-American culture has some overlap, humor is unique to Mexico. We laugh at literally anything. Basically, we don't take everything that seriously. There are exceptions, of course, but I think that the country is incredibly surreal, and that if you don't take it with humor, you would end up with chronic existential neurotic depression. I mean, if there is a holiday where death itself is caricatured, I think you can already get an idea of how we see things; we make fun of everything, particularly misfortunes. It would seem cruel to any foreigner, but it is the only remedy to see a bleak situation as a joke that you have to make sense of and find its punchline; that's how we actually take things. But I repeat, it is not always the way or the means to relate to other people, such as in the workplace. Cleverness: This is another characteristic that, I feel, is not shared by many other nations, except for a few in Africa and India. We tend to solve problems in a very unorthodox way, and in special cases, even absurd. I think this is closely linked to the previous one. If you merge both aspects, I think you get our gastronomy, art, music and the idiosyncrasy of the Mexican. A descendant in the United States would find it difficult to understand, since it is an almost daily and subtle issue in which one has to be exposed to grasp it. Mexico is a nation with a high gross domestic product, but the population in general does not have sufficient access to economically viable solutions, so when the need arises, ingenuity arises. I will leave some images here so that it is better understood: You need a shower, but it doesn’t work? Just add a bottle with holes in it and voila! What about a TV that doesn’t fit your room? Easy, make a hole in the wall and make it a flat screen by the way! You just don’t need AC. The planet can offer it to you, but it needs to be claimed. Have you ever talked with your students about video games, or maybe even about trophy hunting? I’ve tried to do so. But when I do, the conversation can escalate quickly and devoid from the point. They don’t have access to consoles in their homes, with few exceptions; however, they know to play on PC emulators, arcades (which we call “maquinitas” i.e., “little [game] machines”) and of course, mobile gaming. From what I know, and they have told me, Free Fire, COD: Mobile, Minecraft, Roblox, King of Fighters and GTA V are their favorites, and thanks to being constantly exposed to the cringe that TikTok is, they expand their knowledge unto other titles as well, despite rarely having contact with those in real sense. Dogs or cats? Hope this doesn’t hurt you: I prefer dogs more! They look cute, and they're loyal and silly compared to cats. Had one when was a kid, and dogs seem to be aggressive, majestic and sometimes complete dumbasses when doing their stuff. Waffles or pancakes? Definitively pancakes. Never owned a waffler, so it has been easier to simply make the mix and pour it onto the frying pan and cook them. Likewise, from time to time, they are part of my breakfast and they always draw a smile on my face. Any regrets on your profile? I can say with confidence that it is Driveclub. It has always annoyed and annoyed me that it is incomplete. While this may have a solution, I'll leave it to time to decide how I should handle it. A tragic choice, as my greed took a heavy toll on me even though I swear I paid for all of the DLC well before delisting. A little sad and embarrassing when I think about it. What’s your favorite book? As a child, I completely read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series; I loved the first and last book of the whole series. However, although I don't consider myself a literary man, I tend to read things here and there; depending on what I'm interested in a topic, in fact. But during high school, I became immensely interested in it and devoured some of the classics. Among my favorites are the mysteries and horror work of Edgar Allan Poe, Kafka's Metamorphoses, Moby Dick, the Divine Comedy and the Karamazov Brothers. And how can I forget The Catcher in the Rye, which left a deep impact on my teenage years. But all in all, Philip K. Dick's short stories are at another level of writing and storytelling. Furthermore, in the Spanish language, I have my favorites. The eternal classic Don Quixote de la Mancha tops the list, followed by Hopscotch, written by Julio Cortazar, Jorge Luis Borges' Aleph and Juan Rulfo's distinctive Pedro Páramo. Also, an obscure and somewhat well-known work is one called The Bricklayers, by Vicente Leñero. I have also read books on various topics, including real life, psychology and some other self-help (although I am not entirely proud, some issues are interesting to discuss and take good things from them). When did you first start gaming? My very first game was The Incredible Hulk for the SNES, a side-scrolling beat ‘em up platform title. If I recall correctly, and as far as I can make math, this happened around late 1997 or mid-1998. I was really young at that age, but managed to grasp quickly within the industry along the years. That game felt whimsical, and I wasn’t properly aware of what I had to do… Just move to the right, avoid the dudes with stormtrooper-like outfits and avoid being killed by their damage. It blew my mind, as you basically were controlling your own cartoon. At the time, Marvel wasn’t the memorable behemoth that it is today; rather, it was an obscure, not so well-known company about comics and few TV shows, one of which I’ve already mentioned, Spider-Man. This game opened the Pandora's box for the ripple effect we have today: I’m a consolidated geeky gamer scientist with some degree in technology and so on. After that, I moved on to Super Mario World. That enhanced further my fascination with gaming into a deeper rabbit hole, and I became addicted to them. I played other titles on the SNES during its time, and that sole console laid the foundations for what will become my most beloved hobby and even a driving, living force around the waves of life’s uncertainty. Any pets? Currently, no. But I have had a dog, a few fish, chickens, turkeys and pigs. The latter were from my dad, and he had them for food purposes. Since my dog died like 8 years ago, I haven’t got any again, but I have sometimes considered it, though. Any sports you like watching? I love to watch football. Big fan of several teams from Mexico and the Euro league. I am looking forward to seeing the World Cup this year and it is an event that somehow always impacts my life; cosmic thing I could say, but the feeling of summer, the thrill of seeing your country compete against others and feeling how a little unusual event happens every so often has its magic. I also watch basketball, although from time to time especially when it's the playoffs. I have my favorite teams as well. When it's the Super-Bowl I get together with my friends to watch it, although I understand little about the dynamics of the game, but I do understand some concepts. What's your favorite part of the Krebs Cycle? Depending on how you list the steps, the most interesting is step 7: the formation of fumarate from succinate. Although it can be classified as the simplest of the 10 steps, I believe that the condensation reaction together with the hydrolysis of succinate is quite abrupt in the previous step when it is still bound to coenzyme A; but later, due to the dehydrogenase and the loss of two H+ for the ubiquinone, it generates an oxidation that makes the succinate weak and rearranges a double bond to generate the fumarate. Also, after this point, the reactions are simpler and the cycle is facilitated to close and restart the whole process. Quite mesmerizing, considering the addition of all the enzymes involved until this very point, specially succinate-dehydrogenase and the previous succinyl-CoA synthase. The wonderful chemical power that molecules have to attract each other and follow completely established rules is what amazes me about science. One could even define all these reactions with simple nuclear terminology, and the electronic principles would still be respected. How shocking is the reinterpretation of the same event under wholly different concepts? That question has challenged me for a long time. Are you thinking of buying a PlayStation 5 in the future? Probably. In the necessary extreme case that Sony releases the Spider-Man and God of War sequels as PS5 exclusives, then yes. What disappoints me a little bit is the opportunity that Sony had to advertise the PS5 as just P5, you know? They would have stylized it with a paradigm shift, but I think that's not what the company is used to, and they don't like to play it with those kinds of winks and such. In addition, the beginning of the current generation felt somewhat weak and that transition between consoles is not noticeable; somewhat blurry, to be honest. I'm interested, yes. But I haven't gotten to the point of actually considering buying it... I might even wait for PS6 and use backwards compatibility and skip it altogether, LOL. What is the most memorable gaming experience you've had when gaming with someone else? Well, I’ve had several experiences while playing online or local co-op. When I purchased my PS4, my friends insisted a lot to download Fortnite. It doesn’t need an introduction. So well, I did so, and I was hesitant to play it. All the surrounding hate simply didn’t appeal to me. But when I finally started to, my experience changed completely. I spent hundreds of hours playing with my friends until late at night, and there were good chats and laughs around it. It helped me a lot to cope with many things and was therapeutic. The state of the game had drastically changed since then, but from time to time, those same sessions to play just for fun’s sake happen, and I’m grateful that that goes on. What is the most memorable gaming session you had with another trophy hunter? I would say that I had two. The first was when COD: WWII was free on PS+; I’ve met several other hunters for this game, but I was left amazed about how people are so passionate about a game that they become legends within the community. Particularly, there was a guy who basically carried us on the base zombie map of the game, and he solo’d the stage while we just were helping in small tasks like training the enemies and waiting for instructions. That was incredibly new for me; I thought you were supposed to play the game normally and learn from trial and error, but he knew exactly how to do the steps for the Easter egg and we won in a single sitting. Then I realized that the COD community is huge, and they work collaboratively in order to beat every game; like the 360 no scope shot in multiplayer and EE’s speed running on any title. Absolutely insane in my opinion. This opened my interest in the series, and now I feel familiar with the themes and know what to expect afterwards. The second, as you can testify, was my run for GTA: V’s The Doomsday Scenario Heist. While playing it the first time, it was arduous, hard and frustrating. We spent like a month solely grasping the intricacies of what was required to succeed. We luckily had the help of other interested partners in doing so, but the experience overall will be one of the most memorable as it relied a lot on teamwork, future sight and good preparation along with communication. After that, I never saw the game again in the form I was used to. It seems repetitive and boring, but the fact that the Heist was designed that way and the trophies involved, show that Rockstar really mean that only a few will be able to reclaim the rewards for beating it. Is there any aspect of trophy hunting that should be improved by Sony? Yes! Since the release of PS+ Premium and the long-awaited retro compatibility with PS1/2/3, we should be able to play all those with their respective trophies. In the first two consoles, Sony should add like a retcon trophy system, in order to play classics that lack any remaster or remake at the time of this answer. Also, they should be aware of the trophy hunter community, and offer new experiences related to games released prior to the trophy system implementation. This will be a win-win scenario as I see it. Which game in your opinion has the best video game story? A good question, too. There are several games which lack a proper-driven story, and you just focus on the gameplay and the story is just a secondary aspect that gives sense to what you’re doing. But I’ll argue that The Last of Us has left an impact on my way to understand games. There’s a reason why it is considered one of the best games ever. You can actually read a bit more on my thread that I made long ago while going for the 100% and my experience over it if you like! What's your go-to pizza topping? Ketchup. If you’re European, this is incredibly bizarre and weird. But yes, I top pizza with ketchup and sometimes with a sauce called “chimichurri”, which is a mix of mayo, a little mustard, pepper, salt and chili. Or it can be just mayo too. Is there a lesser-known Mexican dish you'd recommend? Pretty interesting question! There are certainly some dishes I don’t even know, so answering this can be tricky. But I can answer you with this one: Tortitas de huazontle are hand-made little corn pancakes mixed with a crushed herb with a smooth mint taste stuffed with panela cheese: they are weathered and bathed in a tomato or pasilla chili broth. I have tasted them once before. They taste like heaven, and are incredibly tasty. They are prepared commonly in the center portion of the country, so if you research a little bit you can find a decent place to try them Seriously, go ahead and go for a bite of joy. What's your favourite movie from the year you were born? There's a bunch of movies from that year. I can’t really tell which is my favorite but I can mention why I like them: Demolition Man: It’s quite interesting seeing this movie, as it mixes genres like futurism, fantasy, cyberpunk and police themes. The name of the two main characters shares parallelism with two major gaming icons. It was the debut role for Sandra Bullock, and helped Stallone to change his views about action movies into a more hectic and nonsensical style. It's great because you always wonder how will the world look like in several years on the future, and then you can compare your expectations vs reality. Also talks about a significant social issue and has this kind of mystery and you want to know more about the future. Schindler’s List: Another classic. I love war films, and this one hit hard. A great role that Liam Neeson plays wonderfully and I like how it deals with WWII. It’s a masterpiece, and the plot is sublime. One of the movies you should watch before die. The Secret Garden/Free Willy: Two iconic movies from the time, and incredibly well-designed for a broad audience. No violence, no swearing and no nudes and the movies still are enjoyable. The first made me cry when I first watched it, since it's a vanilla movie where kids are looking for a treasure in their eyes; and the second was interesting, as the memorable scene where the whale jumps out to be free is unforgettable. Super Mario Bros.: Should I explain this one? This blew my mind as a movie about a game I played into madness suddenly becomes flesh and bones. As odd as it is, it’s fun precisely because of that! And if you put a game where you beat mushrooms, the protagonist is a plumber who has a New Yorker-Italian accent, well, I think this is a very reputable live-action version of that. Do you have a special game in mind for your 50th platinum milestone? Yes! I want to make GT Sport the half spot in that milestone. Hence, partially why I haven’t really played recently. It should take a good amount of time to properly handle it. What are the best and worst things about being a teacher? I would say that both things refer to the students. Your labor resides in crafting and shaping competent people into a complex, uncertain and often misunderstood environment. What I have learned throughout this time, and seeing it now from the other side of the room, is that much is required of us for such small results. Students come from different social, family, economic and intellectual backgrounds. Dealing with it can be interesting, but it requires a particular preparation that not everyone has. The vocation and the right approach to teaching is something that goes unnoticed by most people. However, there will always be people who value the effort and commitment that is put into making someone learn. Some teachers enjoy their jobs, and others are just there because they had the opportunity. I have no doubt that they both take great care in what they do, some better than others, like everything in life. But something nice is when someone tells you that they understand a topic that you are teaching, and they manage to see the importance of learning new things. The school does not have to be a monotonous factory that only focuses on creating workers; It must be an environment where harmony allows recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of each person. This sounds utopian, but anyone who has attended a school can realize that not everyone wants or can think the same or in the same way about each other. If I crudely defined the good and the bad of the teaching profession, I think I would be doing a disservice to an occupation that I consider one of the most noble and necessary today. Saying the good thing would be to focus only on the benefits that the job offers, and the bad thing will be defined, as you can imagine when listening to the students during a common class. Ultimately, I think that the best you get along when you know the tremendous polarity in a group of people, is when you can consider that your work is important. That when time passes, some student remembers you and says that with you, they learned something that until that moment left a mark on them and under that precept they have continued and built their personal and professional life. Likewise, I consider that when one seeks to form perfect students, one is falling into a blunder. Some love to draw, some to read and research, some to sing and dance, and some just don't care. So, you must familiarize and adapt to the circumstances to get the best out of your group, and see that the most hard-headed manage to learn, even if it is something minimal during your exhibition or activities that you carry out with them. ____________________________________________________________________ Thank you to all who participated in asking questions in this interview! See you soon for the next one. Spoiler @ObsiEez @breakingthegreen @MrFudge @KenjiCBZ @MidnightDragon @DoctorDrPepper @MennoWoods2 Edited June 4, 2022 by Charizarzar 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ObsiEez Posted June 6, 2022 Share Posted June 6, 2022 Interesting read! Great to see another LoZ & Metroid Prime fan as well!. Still very impatiently waiting for Metroid Prime 4 lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver-I-Chariot Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 Great interview. You've got an excellent taste in movies 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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