Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2012, everybody.

I like the look of this date. It's visually very well balanced to me. Much more so than 2011, which might explain why it was such an off-kilter year for almost everyone I know. Not that I really believe in things like that. But it's still an interesting thought.

The New Year is one of my favorite holidays -- fresh starts are always appealing to me, as are the small rituals around the change: buying a calendar, gathering with friends, counting down the seconds to midnight, toasts and cheers and butchering the words to "Auld Lang Syne".

I don't like putting too much pressure around a new year being a change from the last, but I do enjoy looking at it as an opportunity to take a breath, take stock, let go of whatever things are dogging you from the last twelve months. 2011 was a transition year for me, with changes everywhere: at work, especially, but also a little in my personal life, my online life, my fandom life. So I'm looking at 2012 as a time to settle things back down, get used to all these new things and figure out how to move forward from here.

Cheers to all for a better 2012!

30 Days of DA: Reference post and Day One

I like these 30 Days memes. Something about answering questions posed by another gets me to thinking about things in new ways. Also, it forces a regular posting habit, which is always a good thing for me. I've wanted to do the Dragon Age one for awhile, but I was holding off until I finished my second time through DA2, to give me a more rounded picture of that game and its possibilities. That happened a couple of weeks ago; then I decided to wait for the new year. Now that time has come, so here goes!

Cross-post note: I will be posting shorter versions of most of these answers to Tumblr, then linking back here for the full-length entries.

Day One: Favorite Dragon Age game (ie: Origins, Awakening, Dragon Age 2)
My favorite game in the series so far is Origins. Awakening was fun, but not substantial enough for me to consider as full a game as the main titles. Dragon Age 2 was probably a better and more complex story than DA:O -- I love how it deconstructs the fantasy and heroic tropes that Origins plays pretty much straight. But in terms of the game as a game, Origins wins for me, hands down. I found it more fun and more engaging. I also appreciate the greater variety in the kinds of missions and characters and places -- and I don't just mean the repeating maps, but the epic sweep of the story and the settings. I'm particularly fascinated by the Grey Wardens: their history, the lore, the outsider culture they have created for themselves.

But even if that weren't true, I expect Origins would still get the nod for sucking me into the world of Thedas so quickly and completely. I haven't fallen in love with a source this hard and fast for a long time -- for a game, not since Final Fantasy X. If I had played DA2 first, I don't know that I would have been quite so compelled by the series. As it is, I have my first new fandom obession in six years, and my life is definitely the richer for it.

( Complete list of questions behind the cut )