Merry Christmas! - The Haul

Now, we all like Christmas for various reasons, whether it's for the time with family, the great meals, simply getting a day off of work (In most cases), or a combination of all those reasons or something else.  But we all enjoy presents, all of us, and almost better than getting the presents is being able to talk about just what you got.  Not to gloat, of course, but just to show off the excitement we feel in getting something we wanted without parting with sweet sweet cash to do so.  It is a time-honored tradition after all, of talking about presents that you get, whether it be for your birthday, holiday or some other occasion; mostly because it's in answer to someone inquiring about your gains.

So to answer the question that wasn't asked here, I got quite a nice haul between my parents and siblings and couldn't be happier.  Honestly, I probably got a little too much, but I certainly can't complain nor do I intend to.  Nor will I suggest that I deserve it all, but it has been a fairly rough year so getting what I got was quite nice, not to mention that my actual Christmas day went quite a lot better than I had expected.  Without saying too much on it, my family hasn't all been in the best state this year (Which is part of why it's been a rough year, but not near the full reason) but we managed to get together today and really mend fences and be...well, a family for once and it was nice.  I was quite surprised by that really, and while the cynic in me is being cynical, I'm just going to roll with it.

I got a few games this year which were the main highlight obviously, but the above-pictured Sonic Generations was the real surprise here.  Three of the games I got, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3, Fist of the North Star:  Ken's Rage (Two more Warriors-esque games?  I'm obviously a madman) and Shadows of the Damned (in preparation for Lollipop Chainsaw of course), I knew about before Christmas unfortunately as I had to take part in ordering them since folks in my family aren't too well-versed in computer things and the first two games are fairly difficult to find in store.  Ken's Rage and Shadows were both used (only option, unfortunately) so they didn't cost a lot thankfully and I'm just glad to have them, but as I said the element of surprise had been lost on them.

When I went to GameStop with my dad to fix a screw-up with a present for my nephews (more online ordering, got a pretty bad case/game, managed to swap the game) and he not-so-subtly sent me back to the car while remaining, it was fairly obvious that there was at least something else in store.  Being an over-analytical ass, I saw some white in the bag that he carried out and (correctly) deduced that it was Assassin's Creed:  Brotherhood as it had been on my list, which again ruined a bit of the surprise.  But I couldn't tell if there was anything in that bag which sparked the fire of wonderment; really I think that's half the fun of Christmas presents, wondering just what they are.  At the top of my list of possible suspects were Alpha Protocol or Mass Effect 2 for PS3 which are both, thankfully, a mere $20 a piece and just one of them would have been more than enough. 

So as you can see, Sonic Generations completely and happily took me by surprise and I found myself in the delightful quandary of trying to decide between playing DWG3, Sonic Generations or AssBro.  It's a lucky dilemma to be in, let me tell you, and one I don't take lightly.  DWG3 won out, as I loved DWG2 dearly despite not playing enough of it, and as such I've been excited for DWG3 for quite a while.  At face value from a few hours of playing it I am a bit...conflicted, actually.  But that's exactly how I felt between the original and the sequel, so I figure it just takes a little bit of time to get used to how this one works.  If nothing else, I'm sure the new mobile suits and pilots will be enough to make me love the game (especially since I believe Duo Maxwell and Deathscythe made the cut) and can't wait to really get into it.

The other big thing would be the dearth of Gift Cards to GameStop that I received from just about all sides, meaning that my expectations for February's finances just got a whole lot easier.  To say that I got more than I expected is quite the understatement as I saw a figure on a list that was obviously for me because my dad is....not very good at being sneaky with such things.  This completely neglected to factor in my siblings adding to that total (as I didn't figure they would) or the idea that my dad could, er....forget that he bought the amount he was supposed to get for me and buy it again.  The first, I could probably think on, but the latter, well....that was just one of those happy accidents that never ever happen, I'd say.  And I am quite happy with the fact that it did of course.

It was really a very Merry Christmas over here as you can tell, and I hope you all have had equally wonderful Holidays.