Video Game Customs

[Onimaru]

I have been playing video games for a very long time now, and in that time I have developed certain customs when playing certain games and I know some of my friends have their own unique customs as well.

Two particular games that come to mind are: Breath of Fire, and Harvest Moon. When playing either series, I will ALWAYS name my hero BILL (all capital). These were the first two RPGs I ever played where you could change the name of your character and I was probably about 11 or 12 when I played them and for some reason at that point in time I found something strangly humerous and ironic about epic hero's having an every-day name such as BILL. As for the all capital thing, well...I don't remember why I did that. I was probably to stupid to use lower case. Another strange habit is that I always name my dog in Harvest Moon Bow and my first chicken Rocky. Both of those are Breath of Fire references (Bow from BOF2, and Rocky the chicken-boss from BOF3). For all other games I will come up with a creative name for my characters or use the generic name given.

So what are you video game customs? Do you give you're hero any specific names? In the Suikoden series do you always choose a certain name for you're army/castle? If so, list them and give the reason why.
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[Demon Eyes Kyo]

Ah, one of these kind of topics, eh? I don't really have anything special. I ALWAYS name the main character with my first name, which is Alex. And in Suikoden's case I name my Castle/Army whatever sounds cool. But I've began the habit of naming my army and castle; "Vanguard" and "Crossbone." Originally I wanted to call my army the Crossbone Vanguard, but it was too long..so I just settled for Vanguard. Suikoden II is the only exception of that though, I named my army the Twilight Army and the castle Vanguard.
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Return that soul to God.

[Overdose]

I always seem to name my main characters Vincent if they do not already have an official name. I remember the case in Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King, Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifers Call amongst others. I do usually feel content with official names otherwise.
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"In the rain, I'm calling you dear, find my way, can't you see me standing right here" ~ I.V - X Japan

FOREVER X!!!

[Archy]

Suikoden Customs:
1. I try and get all 108 in the first run.
2. In the first run, I use the following names:

- Guy (For hero, 1st run)
- Orange (For the Army, 1st run)
- Castle (for the Castle, 1st Run)

then

- token awesome musician (last time I played S5, my hero was named Ozzy)
- Castle name of another castle in the game (Suikoden 5, I did it once with Stormfist or something similar as my castle name. Funny.)
- Army name of another army in the game (Suikoden 5 again, try naming your Army Godwin.)

Monster Rancher:
1. I spend the first few weeks not breeding. Rather, I get all the CDs I have, and insert them one by one. Once I get a chance to have more monsters bred, I'll stop breeding again, and start to combine to get the originals which I didn't get, or to get hybrids. This has easily lead to me collecting about 3/4 of most Monster Rancher monsters without any real difficulty.

FIFA:
1. In my first run as manager, I always use Manchester United.
2. In Manager mode, I only manage Premier League teams.
3. My manager name is alwys either that of a real-life manager not managing a club in a league I'm playing in - ex. Guus Hiddink, Sven-Goran Eriksson (well, not anymore since he's now manager of Manchester City, maybe I'll use Fabio Capello now)

That's al I know of, there's probably more though.
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[Ujitsuna]

[HarmonianHiccup]

Wow, I'm really boring. I don't have any habits like that!
Wait, no—my first sheep in Harvest Moon is always named Martin and my first cow is always named Bess. My chickens all have names based loosely on the word "Cheep."
As for the Suikodens, though, I have used different names for each one (usually the official ones, if they're available!)

Can I introduce a new facet to this discussion, though? I have customs that are not associated with any of the gameplay per se, but to the playing of video games themselves.

I always chew on my bottom lip if things get at all tense. (This includes any and all racing and fighting games.) Super Smash Brothers is the worst for that.

If I'm playing an RPG on a weekend night you will find me with pizza, popcorn and a Diet Dr Pepper, almost without fail. It's a crime to leave one of those out.

I play Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones at night when I'm trying to fall asleep. I have done this for roughly two years. O_o
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Proud Owner and Operator of The Hiccup's Speciality Grassland Atelier, the only place to find Electric Whiffle Bats!

[eXistence of Fly]

Usually I play through games first with 'original' names so as not to screw up whatever experience / enjoyment I might have gained from it, then since I play my games twice or more so that I can then screw around and walkthrough it to attain everything I screw with names royally. For instance, during FF8 where you are given the chance to rename Squalls ring to thus name the 'ultimate GF' first playthrough would be the default Griever and 2nd playthrough would be something retarded like 'Anthrax' , 'Starbucks' , 'Expletative deleted celebrity name / body part'. This is especially the case with naming buildings though that generally just stems from boredom in that a simple warehouse becomes a place'o'store or an armoury becomes the 'stabby-pointy shack'. There has not been a game where I have first played it and changed anything from the defaults, as far as RPG's go.

RTS wise, in specific Dawn of War, whenever I play as Eldar I always have no less than 25 Webway gates across the map, no matter the size, and my first research on them is always the Shroud. Without going into too much detail since it's the basics of strategy that number usually doubles as people expect it with Eldar so I always double up wherever I build them. I have not had a game where there has been less than 25 Webway Gates, it just makes it so damn easy to be cheesy and we all know how great cheesiness is. :D

Civilization, I always change the Nation description & leader name (especially in Civ4 unless doing a campaign) since, for example it's not exactly as if I want Ghandi hogging all my achievements or my cities being Indian now do I? To which it's some derivative of the Swarm of the Fly until I plague that land and whoever is foolish enough to attempt to stop me. :D

And finally FPS, UT Goty. Fly + Redeemer / Missile launcher = 100% Kamikaze. Without fail, I grab that weapon and either mass rockets or find a firefight and then incinerate myself and anyone in the vicinity. I don't bother doing anything but running in the direction of the combatants, firing and sitting back to admire my handiwork while I become 2 shoes pouring our smoke. This started off as more of a hobby since I can hold my own I just prefer to be a dick as far as FPS' go, and eventuated to necessity since fast paced FPS + arthritis don't exactly like each other. Call of Duty, I will empty my frag grenades within the first seconds of the match without fail. 1 In a random direction (usually diagonal) and one towards my teammates (you tking bastard!) mainly because the AI shits me so if I blow them up great, and if I'm playing with other people it wakes them up and gets their asses moving.
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[Phamex]

I really only play RPG's, but I'm so incredibly unimaginative that I usually recycle the names. I know when I picked up Suikoden I had just finished FF8 so my hero was named Squall. This would have been his name eternal except for the glitch in SuikoII. So I changed his name to Maximus, in reference to Gladiator of course.

As for SuikoII, I had no clue what to name Tir, and as far as Suikodens go I never know the canon name until after the fact. But! Using the handy dandy name generator I came up with Nicoli, which I modified to Nicolai. That is now all I ever use. Ever. The castle/army names are different all the time, I don't have a constant for those...yet.

Those are my only two "customs" as far as I know.
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[Fudozukushi]

Well if I'm playing an RPG that I get to name my super-awesome hero guy, then I'll almost always end up naming him after myself the first time. Additional playthroughs or new games can see the name changed to something along the lines of Dar, or as bold as Thun! Though whenever asked to create a profile for a Blizzard game I always make sure to use the name bob. Yeah, it's odd.

Back in my ealier days of gaming when you can change the whole parties names I usually went along the lines of

1st Male: My name
1st Female: Name of my first crush
2nd Male: Best Friend's Name
3rd Male: billy's name
2nd Female: An old friend's name

I also always rename "Shadow" of Final Fantasy VI into "Link" since during my first use of Shadow in the game that was what he was named. Rented game and all haha!
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Pizza Hut supports the rebellion!

[Thor McOdin]

RPG's

I used to name the main character after me. No matter what RPG it was (including Suikoden), my name was going to appear; no exceptions!

Nowadays, I don't name characters after myself, but rather figures in Norse mythology. So far, Thor, Odin, Loki, and Fenris have been used on a regular basis. Part of this has to do with the fact that they are gods/powerful beings that aren't immortal. Because of this, these names are perfect for any larger-than-life hero.

As for the castles in Suikoden, I first started off with simple titles (such as Paladin Castle). After a while, I began to name my fortress Dragon Castle after the football team I created in NCAA 07. I also use the name Juno quite often. This isn't an allusion to the Greek goddess Hera, but rather the English trance group known as Juno Reactor.

Sports

I usually make my own players and teams for kicks. When doing this, I make most of my players look like they either just got out of prison or are Viking warlords. I then give these ruffians names that are a bit more outlandish compared to say "Carl." Off the top of my head, Zeus Almighty is my award-winning Center!

Misc.

if there is a Japanese schoolgirl in a game, I use her. I have caught myself doing this in SSX3, Coolboarders, Tekken, Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and several other titles. Of course, Dead or Alive went a step further and forced me to choose between the Japanese schoolgirls! Eventually, this fad/trend/fetish of mine will cease.

As for customs as in "rituals," I try not to dive into a game until the weekend (sometimes Thursday). I am usually very busy during the week and playing video games would disrupt my schedule. However, once the weekend arrives (and I do end up playing games), I go all out. I get some soda or beer ready, order a pizza, and prepare myself for hours of gaming. Yeah...that sounds pretty nerdy.
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Not all ninja codes are brewed equally. Here at Shinobi, we use the choicest Bavarian hops that are ripened to perfection. One sip and we will have you saying...nothing.

[Sailor Sexy]

[Calvin]

In Genso Suikoden, on my first playthrough I do not use any guides, and I make little effort in getting all 108 stars on the first go. In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten all 108 stars the first time. I'm pretty neurotic about it, actually--its gotten to the point where I don't even want all 108 stars in my first go. I do this because I don't want the story ruined for me, and I want to experience my favorite game series the way it was meant to be experienced. However, in a bout of lunacy I have also somehow convinced myself that the "bad ending" is usually more fitting. Don't argue with it--my conclusion isn't really logic-based anyway. >_>

Otherwise, in the Madden games I always play as the Dallas Cowboys, naturally. On the first play of each game, I usually throw to my number-one reciever on a fade route on a playaction pass. On the second play, I either throw the ball short to the TE, or run the ball between the tackles. After that, I usually will have an idea of how the defense is playing my offense and will call plays accordingly. When naming created characters, I have a very strong aversion to naming them after real people. Its just wierd.

Oh, and when I can name my own character in an RPG, it is pretty much always Jimi. McDohl will always be known as JcDohl in my eyes.^^

I also tend to make the hero of any single game to be a powerhouse, no matter how much people say he/she may suck. I mean, he's the hero! Who'd follow a weak hero, hmm?
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I changed the number on my phone so you can't call me up at home, and you can't say those
things to me, that make me fall down on my knees.

[Ikano]

[kuwaizair]

after playing an emulated ff3 (wich now is on the DS!) I now should make the effort to have an ejay or Oonolo in a game, or I name characters random things that come to mind first. Like Ullet, dongar, molkar, cheese and porky<3
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few runes short of a set of 27

[Onimaru]