ambitiousmould said:
Hello fellow escapists, I currently have 2 problems that I need help in sorting out.
1) I recently noticed that almost half of my games shelf is taken up by first person shooters like BF3 (no CoD though). This made me feel disgusted in my self because, not only am I ashamed of such a library of games, but I don't even like most of them.
So, I got a group of friends together and swore a Broath, that I shall not play video games until I have sorted this out. My question to you is this: What new games should I buy (after trading in some old ones)? I am already getting Dragon's Dogma, rebuying ME2 (have the other 2) and rebuying Dark Souls, what else should I get?
2) I really want to get into some anime because I have heard about some that sound good, but when I watch it, I feel nauseous. It's really wierd, but anime to me is nauseating. I don't know if it's the art style or what. And I'm not trying to slag it off or mock it or be awful about it, because I want to get into it, but this wierd thing is preventing me. Any ideas on how to help?
Cheers
If you're worrying all of your FPS's will make you all "dudebro," I'm afraid you already crossed that line when you used the term "Broath"
No knowing what consoles you have really makes giving game advice hard, but if you're looking for more artsy experiences there's Flower and Journey on the PS3, Braid on the XBLA, and on Steam there's Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Bastion, Cave Story, Star Wars: KOTOR, Civilization V...you get the gist of it.
As for anime, there are lots of different genres within it and varying levels of fanservice, so if it's just one or two aspects of it that get on your nerves it shouldn't be too hard to find shows that don't hit those nerves. Baccano! is a great series you can watch on Funimation.com for free, you just have to make an account to prove you are 18 or older (it is quite bloody, but it's got amazing characters and a great story). If you want something in a similar vein there's also Durarara!!! It was made by the same studio, has sort of the same macabre/comedy/action/mystery sort of feel, but where Baccano is set in New York in the 1930s, Durarara is set in contemporary Japan. I recommend English for Baccano, and Japanese for Durarara (there are some terms they use that make a lot more sense if you read them in subtitles). Also, I recommend watching Baccano first, since there is a funny reference to it made in Durarara that you won't get if you haven't seen at least a couple episodes of Baccano.
Cowboy Bebop is also a great starter, if you want action but with less blood. English is a good choice for this one. Cowboy Bebop is a bit different from most anime in the way it's structured. Most anime comes in two varieties: either every episode is dedicated to the progression of the main story arc, or there is a main story arc but there are some episodes that totally ignore it and tell a story that has nothing to do with the main arc. These episodes are called "filler," and filler usually happens when the anime is being made in tandem with a manga series. Naruto is a good example of this: The anime can go through more story faster than the manga, so sometimes the anime has to stop and kill time so they don't reveal important plot points before the manga does.
Cowboy Bebop has a main story arc that is made known in the first few episodes, but most of the series is what basically equates to "filler." But it's not, really. While the episodes don't address the main story arc, that isn't really what it's about. Bebop is more about its characters than progressing some massive plot. The "main arc" really just serves as motivation for the characters and their reason for being there. The rest of the series is the story of their adventures together, and unlike most filler you will encounter those adventures are AWESOME. English is a good choice for Bebop.
If you don't mind lots of swearing, Black Lagoon is another great action anime. And if you want an action anime oriented around women for a change, there's Read or Die.
If you don't mind lots of fanservice and not-so-subtle phallic imagery, Gurren Lagann is amazing. It is quite pervy and proud of it, but it gets to levels of sheer awesomeness that is difficult to top. Lots of people say Japanese is the best for this one, but I like the English dub and Japanese equally.
If you want to get your feet wet in slice of life/romance anime, then I recommend Toradora. It's more character centered than most slice of life shows, and doesn't quite as prominently feature a lot of the tropes that drive people to dislike the genre (copious amounts of fanservice, too cutesy-poo, too moe[footnote]Moe is pronounced "mo-eh," basically a term that refers to girls who are portrayed as VERY feminine and cutesy and innocent.[/footnote], and shallow predictable characters). The characters are believable and have their own arcs throughout the series that flesh them out in very interesting and satisfying ways, and none of it feels forced or contrived. This one is only available in Japanese, at this point.
If you want something darker and more different, Ergo Proxy has a female character that (from what I've seen of it so far) is subjected to almost zero fanservice. She's dark but real, and the style is very different and engaging. This one is another action one, and a bit of blood as well.
My last recommendations are ones I've been avoiding because you might have heard of them before: Fullmetal Alchemist (though a lot of people I know prefer FMA: Brotherhood over the regular FMA series), Soul Eater, Death Note, and One Piece.
I know that's a lot of recommendations at once, but you never said what you liked or disliked so I tried to cover all the major areas, lol.
