Completionist

When I was young there were very few video games I'd actually finish.

The first was probably Link's Awakening on the Game Boy, at that took me the span of three years before I completed it. Other than that, most games I played from age eight to fourteen were half finished then put to one side as I attained new ones. I've still not finished Final Fantasy 7, Tomb Raider 2 + 3 (though I finished the first using a guide, the whole way through) or Crash Bandicoot.

Not so much anymore. These days I tend to get through a game in a matter of days, usually because I'm reviewing it - but often because I know that if I don't, some cunt will spoil the entire thing for me. Today's blog isn't about games you can spoil though, it's about completing a game that doesn't really require completion.

Skate 2, as I've written before, is one of my favourite games of all time. Which is a bold statement to make considering the number of games out there. I have played it for far too long over the last year, but I've never fully completed it. Including DLC, there are 1500 achievement points available for Skate 2. I have 1450.

This score has been like this for the better part of the last year, and it's because the final achievement is the sort of thing only weird autistics who spend too much time playing the same game over and over can achieve. Weird autistics like me.

Having put of the last achievement for about ten months, I've decided that - as a sign of respect to black box for making such an excellent game, even if their achievement system is fucking stupid - I'm going to finally obtain that final achievement. To do this I will need to gain 1984 Experience points in online ranked matches.

If I grind away at the game type I'm best at, I can average about 20 Experience points per match. However: The only people playing Skate 2 a year after its launch, are fucking weirdos. This means I'm up against the creme de la creme of dodgy glitching bastards who have nothing better to do than cheat on a year old game.

Give or take the occasional bad day, I'm going to need to play about one hundred matches online to gain the required experience points. This can, and will, be done. It has to be done. I need to do it. So wish me luck, as I throw myself into a pointless chore, that could easily be avoided if I wasn't so bloody stubborn. My mind is set on this, and I'm going to need all the support I can get.

There will highly interesting updates as I near the promised land. If anybody's still reading by then.