Three months into 2021, I make a blog post. Well last three months have been a bit busy. Not about work, work was always there. I was actually catching up with an interest of mine, which I had long taken a backseat.
As a kid, I used to enjoy playing video games, the 2d ones, though they were not that accessible to us. I used to see friends playing mario, super mario, duck hunting etc etc. I did get a PC but apparently, it never played all the games.
Finally life became a little bit more serious around 1997 my computer got outdated shortly as PC's were making a huge leap. And then I was into engineering studies, I got a PC with a moderately okish video card, and played few games.
But again, games took a backseat, due to the advanced progress of hardware consumption by the games then. Games like GTA3 and Mafia weren't playable on my computer and I just gave up.
In the year 2010, with much debate, I got a new PC built - with a graphics card which was almost latest to that day worth 9k, NVidia Geforce. But again, I had to relocate to Singapore and my gaming interests came to a halt.
In Singapore, thought of a PSP - but again, monetary wise made me not put in 300 SD for a PSP and then again for mods.
Finally in the year 2018, I got a PS4, 500 GB one. And then I started playing. Few days later purchased GTA5. I played for sometime, completed 20% then lost interest in not only GTA 5 but also PS4.
Reason being, GTA5 had become so violent and vulgar that I could not play it in front of the HD TV. I had to play with full privacy because of the foul language being used every now and then in GTA5 and some of the vulgar scenes which needed more than parental discretion.
I did not have a monitor which supported PS4 output, instead of buying one outright, I decided to buy contraptions to connect my VGA monitor to PS4. Again I lost months. Finally I was able to connect my old monitor to new PS4. Success at last but again short lived.
Since I was working from home as well, I needed a monitor to work, connecting-re-connecting monitor for PS4 was not a smooth act because, the VGA to HDMI converter needed to be powered as well. So it was a huge chore wiring and unwiring.
I had loads of excuses for not playing PS4. Now enter the lockdown had sufficient time to gather myself and focus on playing.
But the final push came in the form of a video by Misha on youtube where Robert Kubica was driving a BMW on the Nurburging.
I realized if Robert Kubica can come through and thrash a car, on one of the longest and most difficult tracks that too single handedly, my excuses were just silly. If I really wanted to play, all my excuses were just bullshit.
I shared the Misha video of Kubica, to couple of people. But none appreciated the video rather watched it. But for me it was the turning point. May be they do not know what Kubica went through before.
After watching the video for a good 6-7 times, I could not resist ordering Dirt 4, Dirt Rally 2.0 was told to be difficult and unplayable. So got Dirt 4 which was a bit simpler.
Played career mode of dirt 4 like crazy and went on to complete career mode 94%. There are few rallies pending using classic cars and Group B cars on Dirt 4 which I am yet to complete.
I did not play classic cars because they are too slow and Group B cars are too fast. I cannot manage Group B cars from PS4 controller. I wish I had a steering wheel :). But again, wishful thinking.
While watching dirt videos on youtube, I came across a youtuber and a gamer TheRadBrad and after watching couple of his videos, I ended up on a video of Far Cry 5.
I was so impressed with the game and what it could do rather what I could do within the game, that I ended up watching almost 20 videos in 3-4 days. Finally when I checked out the price of the game, it turned out to be 1.2k INR.
It was a steal, such a huge massive game for 1.2k? OMG - I ordered it, I was skeptical that it would be difficult for me to play because of the PS4 controller. One of the reasons I left GTA5 mid way was because of my poor accuracy with aiming using controller.
I am a guy who uses mouse and keeps my hand grounded. So there is no question of Z axis for me. With controller my hand is suspended in air and there is an added Z axis which makes my hand float freely in the air. Imagine the joystick ball movement with a suspended hand versus mouse movement with your hands grounded on the desk. Mouse wins downright!
In other words, there is no support or frame to hold or rest my elbow so that I can take an aim. This hurt me badly. My chances to play were almost reduced by a good 65%. I had to counter this.
My friend even told me, this would always be a problem, and its something which you should have thought of before investing 30k in PS4. Well, at this moment, I was a bit confused on what to do.
But I had no option, after seeing THeRadBrad far cry 5 tempting videos, I had to play, even if it came at a cost of 100 hours of practice.
It did not need 100 hours of practice. But a good 10 hour practice made me comfortable with aiming and shooting using the controller.
I remember, initially i got spooked when I got shot at killed or got attacked by wild animals in the game that too in the dark. Imagine it all being dark, you get attacked and the controller starts vibrating, it was kind of scary. But then disabled the vibration and continued.
Meanwhile, my company sponsored me a monitor, with a budget of 12k and I got a LG monitor which is ultrawide and 25 inch. So there you go, I got a monitor which accepts HDMI input and had a spare set of speakers. Now only thing I had to do was to plug and unplug PS4 each time and I joyfully did that.
Two different spaces within my room one for PS4 and other for work and finally I was able to achieve what I had thought of. So over the last 2 months, I played and played and played.
Today as I completely finished Far Cry 5, I look back a bit emotional about the time, I spent on it, practicing, enjoying doing every possible act in the game.
That is the main reason, I could not read, nor write, I just used to work, play Far Cry 5, few days it was too over whelming, I got headache on couple of days because I played a bit too much. Rest of the days, I ended up getting dreams of the areas and actions of the game in my sleep.
But all in all, after Feluda series by Satyajit Ray, Far Cry 5 was something which kept me hooked, and I am going to miss all of the characters in it. Rook/Tammy/Pratt/ and my co-ops Nick Rye, Grace, Hurk, Boomer, Peaches, Cheeseburger and others!
I have a new game which I am checking out to buy. Sniper Elite 4 but again, its expensive, will have to wait for its price to come down. Have got a game Gran Tourismo 4 at Rs 796 which is rather less expensive and started playing it today. But Sniper Elite 4 it will be next.
In the meanwhile, I also checked out few games which turned out to be super expensive buy.
Mafia Definitive Edition 1.9k,
WRC8 - 1.8k,
Dirt Rally 2.0 - 1.8k,
Hitman definitive edition - 1.9k
Sniper Elite 2.2k
Red dead redemption - 2.1k
Snow runner - Not available in India - in US probably 40USD I suppose not sure.
Would love to play Hitman but who would pay so much price for an old title?
Until the price comes down, I shall play Gran Tourismo and probably read and write!
Cheers,
