PARDON ME, i must gush over some numbers.

I haven't gushed over something like I'm about to gush in a really long time. So I apologize for any massive amounts of CAPSLOCKING or anything I do here.

I just returned from Florida and Disney World the other night and that will get a whole billion posts in itself (lol) but this is about something that is long overdue for me to fangirl relentlessly about on here.

For the past few weeks I have had my nose jammed in my Nintendo DS playing a little game called 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors. Now, this is the type of game called a "visual novel" - this basically means there is a shit ton of reading. I don't mind this, although I know some folks do, which is why I'm throwing the warning out.


These are your 9. Most of them like being dicks occasionally. You're Jumpy Junpei, the bro in the middle with the kickass vest.

Another crazy thing concerning me and this game... I adored (so so so hard) BioShock 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Alan Wake, Epic Mickey (which I'm still in the middle of), Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Rock Band 3 and so on. But I really have to say that 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors is my 2010 game of the year.

Sure, there's a lot less "playing" in 999 than there is in the other games listed above, but one of the most important aspects of something I'm playing is the storyline and the characters. If I don't care about the plot or don't give a flying shit about any of the characters then the game loses everything for me. I'm probably one of the only people in the 2010-999-GOTY boat (and everyone else will probably hate it, lol), since so many amazing things came out this year, but seriously... this thing kept me awake at night.

Other things that happened because of this game:
- I read up on the history of the Titantic, Olympic, Britannic/Gigantic
- I did math problems on my own accord without being forced to (while not playing the game!)
- read up on Prosopagnosia
- looked at the origins of the premises (fiction or not) of ice-9 and Morphogenetic fields/Rupert Sheldrake
- thought damn long and hard about Locke's Socks/Ship of Theseus, etc.

I was slapped across the face with my first ending (there are six - my first was the KNIFE ENDING, if anyone has played XD). I didn't see it coming at all. It just happened. And when it happened, it was 2 in the morning. It was a pretty horrible ending and I curled up under my blankets in bed afterwards and stared at the ceiling, working through digital roots in my head and probable scenarios on how exactly this ending could have happened. The stabby noises in the ending might have helped keep me awake too. :|

I was thinking about it on the way to work the next morning. That day, on my lunch break, I played more. That night after returning home from work - played more. That night in bed, more. Once I got all six endings... the way everything pieced together from each ending and conversation (BESIDES ALL-ICE, I JUST-- I CAN'T EVEN LOLOLOLOLOLOL) was so perfect. RECENT M. NIGHT NEEDS A HINT FROM THIS GAME, MMKAY.

When I started the game I was kind of "meh" about the characters, thinking a couple would grow on me and a couple would just be there. But I ended up loving them all. Santa, June and Junpei are at the top of my list and my god, some of the dialogue in this thing is so so so precious.

- "The jury's still out on whether or not it was the work of a pervert, but there's a hole in it."

- "Hermes, herpes... whatever."

- "I'd rather sink to the bottom of the ocean than escape with this sausage-fest."

(Nintendo DS games always have some of the best storylines and characters and crap - I'm looking at you Phoenix Wright/Professor Layton/Hotel Dusk~ <3)

Really, if you saw my twitter, you could see I was pretty much peeing my pants of fright and jumping up and down with excitement and EVERY. SINGLE. DAMN. THING. I could go on for hours about this game, but I'll try to contain my herpderp for now. But like I said on there: "Very rarely do I come across a book/game/show/etc. that eats away at me until I finish it. Where it's one of the only things on my mind. I can think of four things that fall into this category off the top of my head: The Long Walk, BioShock, Lisey's Story and Silent Hill 2."

I mean, these endings came up and the characters dropped all these damn perfect story/knowledge bombs - my jaw was sweeping the floor so hard, I was having flashbacks to when James Sunderland watched that videotape or Alex Shepherd realized what he was to his family or when I met Andrew Ryan for the first time - jdsfjakjsdjfksdfjjk THIS GAME.

It's definitely in my top five, possibly climbing into the top three. I've already gotten all the endings but I CAN'T STOP PLAYING IT. I JUST KEEP GOING.

(I WILL NEVER STOP HAVING NIGHTMARES ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS IN THIS GAME -- "I'm sorry, did I stutter? I KILLED HER.")

P.S. I know I always crush on fictional characters - but oh man, Santa, THIS MAN I CAN'T EVEN-- he curses more than I do and HIS DAMN HAIR IS MAGICAL. HIS OUTFIT IS TOO. His snark wins everything though. Something else that wins? THIS MAJOR SPOILER. And once I knew what was with the two of them THAT SCENE HURT EVEN MORE. XD

SO YEAH, IF YOU LIKE READING AND STUFF. 999.