Whatcha play'n?

[Kerreth]

Started up Dragon Age: Inquisition and I am an extremely handsome dwarf.



I'm 10 hours into it and I can't say much about it yet because I haven't done that much in the story. Once you get to the first area that isn't your homebase, it dumps a ludicrous Skyrim amount of sidequests on you. Unlike Skyrim, however, I don't feel like just dropping the game right away, since I'm so invested in the Dragon Age story already, what with playing the other 2 games and reading 2 of the books. Speaking of the other 2 games, I love that they introduced Dragon Age Keep as a way to construct a previous story and import it to Inquisition, since I played the previous 2 on 360 and am playing this one on PC. That said, I'm hoping some of the minor sidequests it asks you about don't matter too much, since I remember pretty much none of them. I remembered all of the major stuff, who lived, who died, who got their butts touched, but no, I don't remember if I saved some waitress in an inn, or found out about someone dying and told their loved ones, or something.

Also, can't decide whether I want that mage booty or Freddie Prinze Jr's low soothing whispers in my ear. Maybe I can get them to fight over me like that one episode of Bob's Burgers (I'm awful).

[Adol The Red]

Finally started playing Ys Origin after downloading it... I can't remember how long ago it was. I'm pretty sure it was why I got steam in the first place, though. Still, fun game so far. I love how Yunica can flail her axe with abandon. I think I also just love the solo playstyle of the older games (at least, the updated versions of the older games). It's not that I dislike Memories of Calceta or Ys 7, I just haven't gotten as into them as I did Ark of Nepishtim, Oath in Felghana, and Ys 2. I'm sure I'll finish them eventually, though.

Of course, that's when I play. Hit by another wave of gaming doldrums. I just don't seem to want to play anything, which is bad because I don't want to do anything else, either. Now I just kind of browse steam and not buy things. I don't know why I do this. For whatever reason I just can't seem to stay invested in games lately. Even the ones I'm excited about don't hold me for long. I've always been very mood based in my gaming habits, but I remember being able to stick to games. I think the last one I actually finished was Shadow of the Colossus, and that was a couple months ago at least.

I suppose it will go away eventually, but it brings me around to FF14. I am really conflicted, and I still haven't gone and renewed since the trial ran out. On one hand, the game overall is really fun and the world is really intriguing. There are so many nods to so many various FFs, but it also has its own charm. The attention to detail really draws you in. Also, Bear and Pie (and others) have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and help me learn things that are basic to long time MMO players but more or less new to me. It's one reason I feel a little down about not playing. And I want to be clear, it's not because I think it's a bad game. It's just more than that I haven't been in the mood to play things.

I think, when all is said and done, MMOs may not be for me. I like being in the world alongside other people. I like the occasional interactions. I especially love random group events like the FATEs, but those are my favorite type of group event. I've done one dungeon, graciously helped along by those with me. Everyone was trying to teach me things and being very helpful, and no one put pressure on me. Yet, when I think about doing another one, all I can think about is whether or not I'll play my role properly. I'm reluctant to ask other people I know to go through them with me because they are time consuming and everyone is already doing something, so I feel like I'm asking them to put aside what they intended to do in order to help me. On the other hand, I bristle at the idea of going through them with people I don't know at all. Trouble is, they're kind of the point. From what I know much of the primary story stuff takes place in dungeons. I think if they were a side thing, more optional group activity, I would be more into it. But if they were, it kind of defeats the point of the game.

In the end, when I think about going into dungeons, which I have to do to continue the story, I get stressed out and apprehensive. Maybe if I had some quests between the last dungeon, but it directed me straight to another one. I know for most people this is probably where the fun is, and like I said, the game is good. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do. I had a good time in other areas, and I appreciate how much effort was put in to help me along. But I'm also stressing out over a game, and it's starting to feel like work. So I really have to question whether or not it is for me.

But yeah, Ys Origin is awesome so far. Maybe I'll go back to it and keep playing, even.

[Pie]

Hey Adol, I think I can understand how you feel about not wanting to play anything, or really do anything for that matter. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I know it sucks when you realize that you haven’t stuck with and passed a game in ages. I’ve had times when I’d wonder if I’m even a “gamer” anymore because of it, but I think it’s just something to realize, that "times have changed; I’ve changed, my life has changed, and so has the industry.”

I still get excited about a few games once I get into them and even for games that I’ve played long ago, but even so, it still feels like you need a level of devotion to stick with and get through one.

I think that maybe Bear and I have trouble passing games because of “fatigue”. We were loving Borderlands 2; the game play is really fun and the story is compelling, but ninety hours in, Bear eventually just started feeling like he wanted something else and I can’t blame him, ninety hours is a huge time investment. XD It was a lot of the same kind of game play in a relatively short amount of time (I think maybe three weeks?). There’s also the fatigue of when you play a game for a long period of time, even if your play sessions are well spaced out, the feeling of wanting to switch it up for awhile.

(I’m not really sure where I’m going, -kinda thinking out loud. XD;;)

One thing I notice about a lot of modern games versus older games is that the pacing has changed dramatically. As a huge fan of the original Wild Arms, I was really curious about and tried playing Wild Arms: Alter Code F a few years ago. After a couple hours of a somewhat disappointing play session, I popped in the original WA and played for an hour and realized that though the original was a simpler game, it was a lot more fun. The original was so succinct and straight to the point, it didn’t matter that it sported a mostly traditional JRPG system; it was fun because of the pacing. You can do so much more in so much less time; not necessarily because there’s less content, but because I feel a lot of it wasn’t shoved in your face, it didn’t push to be cinematic, and it left a lot up to the player to fill in any gaps and connect the dots; you can see, explore, and discover a lot more things at a faster pace.

I remember playing Final Fantasy 6 and being only five hours in and being at the part of the story where your party splits up and Sabin meets Cyan. So many neat things happen in the story up to that point. I’m not sure one can expect to experience or see so many things in only five hours of a modern RPG. Bear and I tried playing Xenogears again about a year ago and had BARELY done ANYTHING- in two hours, we only fought the first “boss” and Citan joined our party. The idea of completing the game was actually a little daunting, knowing how large the game is from my previous play through. I’m not saying that games becoming more cinematic in presentation is a bad thing, just that things are a lot different than they used to be.

I think that games have gotten much much longer and it might be attributed to the fact that creators are free to use a lot more memory, thus they have a lot more freedom of what they can cram into a game whether it being actual play content or artistry. As it’s been said, longer, larger and more content is not necessarily better. Even Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that he feels that many games have become too long.

Do you think maybe your feelings of not wanting to play anything and yet, not wanting to do much of anything else is possibly be related to fatigue? -not wanting to commit yourself to a game that you feel you might not have the stamina to pass, knowing that it’s such a huge time investment?

Anyhow, about Final Fantasy 14.~ XD We hope you decide to come back to the game. =) The point of the story you're at has pretty much three dungeons in a row, but that’s the only time it happens. The rest of the dungeons are actually pretty far away from each other in the story and in levels. I think it was probably a design decision so that the player has more of a beginning connection to and reputation in the other two city-states that you didn’t started out in.

Also, don’t feel so bad about asking for help with dungeons. I’m sure all of us in the guild would be happy to help. =D Actually, a number of us are probably excited to! XD I for one was looking forward to helping you with your first time through dungeons, it’s kind of exciting, kinda like watching a kid open presents on Christmas. =D I can understand the nervousness of tanking for the first time, I often feel it when I haven’t tanked in a while and/or when I’m doing a new dungeon, especially with strangers, but we’re here for you and can laugh and joke when we die. XD (it’s expected and it happens) If it’s too much stress though, then maybe you can try a role other than the tank. =)

Anyhow, I hope you come back. XD We’ll be there if you decide. =)

[Librari]

Piiiiiieeeeee 8D When did you start playing borderlands 2? Not having a gaming PC put me so far out of the loop, I can't even see the racing stadium anymore.

When you two get the itch to play it again, I would love to! Single player is too lonely and boring.

[Adol The Red]

I'm sure I'll come back to FF14 eventually, the game had too much going for it. I'm just not sure when. I think I burned myself out on it, so I'll just have to wait till the mood strikes me again. I do get what you're saying about modern games, and some of it is that. I also just go through periods of intense apathy, where I sit here with all this wonderful media and flat out don't feel like doing anything with any of it. During these times it takes a lot of effort to just do something, hence my sitting on the Steam store buying absolutely nothing.

I do get fatigued with games that have a lot to do sometimes, but with older RPGs I was grind-crazy so it took me just as long to get through them. Funny you mentioned Xenogears, too. I spent a lot of time at certain points of the game leveling my deathblows before I even had enough AP to do them, but it is my favorite game so for me that makes sense. That said, I burn out on it too so I totally understand that.

Really it comes down to how well a game can hold my attention and how much of it feels like filler. Also anything that starts to feel like work as opposed to fun gets shut down immediately. I have a lot of respect for the Dragon Quest series and enjoyed the ones I played, but as you go through those games the power of the enemies increases well beyond what you get for beating them, and it starts to wear on me. I'm also a big fan of most of the F.E.A.R. games, especially the second one, but there are sections in those games where you'll clear out enemies after a good fight, only for another squad to come in and fight you in the exact same place. It ends up feeling like padding rather than quality content.

For me it's mostly about maintaining interest . If I have a specific goal in mind I can often stick with games when I get fatigued. For instance, in an RPG I'll level up by fighting to reach a certain amount of money. What I want is the levels, but if I focus on another goal I can keep pushing through. Of course, some games are just huge. You mentioned Borderlands II. It's another game I've enjoyed and have yet to complete, but I have a different method for games like that. I don't expect to get all the way through it. Instead I play the heck out of it while I'm in the mood, and when I lose the mood I don't fret over it. I'll just do something else. It's the same with Skyrim or my Minecraft projects.

I also just finished the rough drafts of a huge writing project, and finally getting it all roughed out has jumbled my brain a bit. Now that it's done I don't know what to do, really, so I'm floating from thing to thing. I need to let it drain from my mind before revising so I can come back to it with fresh eyes. So I guess it's a combination of apathy, gaming fatigue, and that happy yet exhausted feeling that comes with finishing (at least one major step of) a huge project.

[Kerreth]

I've found myself taking several-week-long breaks from Dragon Age even though I'm in love with it and want to finish it... I'm well over 40 hours in and haven't even made a dent into Act 2, I've just been plugging away at those side missions. I should just hop into a main mission right away now, get my interest back up...

...But I've been playing a bunch of Heroes of the Storm, so...

God, I never thought I'd get into a MOBA, they're so intimidating, and HOTS totally was when I started. Pre-research is not a plus in my book and you need to do a bit to properly understand a lot of mechanics, since the tutorial goes through pretty quickly. (Also, I just can't even with Raynor, the guy they start you out with.) That being said, once I was able to get past that... somehow... and understand the maps and when to do things and stuff, I've been having a lot of fun. I'm told HOTS is a lot more accessible than other MOBAs, and me being able to get into it is probably a good indicator of that.

Also, I've mostly been playing as a little panda girl who heals people by throwing alcohol at them. (Okay, "brew," whatever). It's great.

[ThePaul]

Oh yeah, HotS definitely has the lowest Learning Curve of any Traditional Moba. Very recommended for those that don't want to learn builds before jumping into a match. (seriously, play HotS if you think build websites are cheating or something )

[Kerreth]

(also I still have 3 keys to get rid of if you wanna try it before the full release on june 2)

[Pie]

@ Librari- LOL awww- poor Librari. XD We haven’t touched Borderlands 2 in a loonng time now and I can’t see us going back any time soon since there’s so much Bear and I want/need to do nowadays. ^^; I know what you mean about playing it alone. D; After Bear stopped playing, I played alone for a while because I still really enjoyed the game; I started a new character and got a few hours in, but it wasn’t the saaaame. T-T and just stopped. Thank s for the invite to play though. =)

@Adol- I know I’ll probably get some hate for saying this, but I feel like Tales of Vesperia had a lot of “padded content.” -_- Bear and I loved the characters and the story was interesting for the first few hours, but then things ended up feeling really drawn out and convoluted. I don’t know what it was. So many things were happening, but a lot of it didn’t really feel like they meant much to me. ‘_’ Bear didn’t like the battle system, so the main thing that pushed us to keep playing was the characters, which fell through once we got to point after Raven’s big story scene and the mechanical walking fortress showed up, where Bear just straight up quit. ^^ Things just seemed to be happening without much reason and it felt like we’re just meant to accept it. It was disappointing.

Ugh- Bear and I had a couple places like your experience with the F.E.A.R. games in the Tomb Raider reboot. >o It made us want to quit the game.

[Adol The Red]

Heh, well, Tales games are certainly marathons. I can't say one way or the other on Vesperia since it's been so long since I've played it, but I did never finish it, so... The driving force for me was also the characters, and especially Yuri. Such a refreshing departure from a lot of typical main character tropes. I do know that it will be hard to go back to that game after playing Tales of Graces. I love the battle system in that game.

I think for me the games that did level pacing the best were the original three Legend of Heroes games they brought out on the PSP, the ones prior to Trails in the Sky. (I know they are not the original games, I just mean the first ones they brought over). What I liked about them was that you could simply go straight through them so long as you didn't skip any battles. Playing through the course of the games got me just enough experience and money to keep going, so I got to continue through my journey with decent challenge without stopping to fight a bunch of the same monsters. (I should note that I never finished the third one, so I can't say if it continues the pace. Though that one is the first to give you more characters than you can use in one party, so grinding might be necessary to keep everyone powered up.) The first one was especially fun, and the final boss was one of the most refreshingly challenging fights I can recall in an RPG.

If you are unfamiliar, the Legend of Heroes games are RPGs from some older Japan only system I had never heard of. Four of them were ported to the PSP, but I don't think they're bringing any more of them. Which is a little sad since the series usually does trilogies, though only casually linked (in my experience). Funny thing about the first three, which I believe are the 3rd,4th, and 5th. Their order is all over the board. For instance, they were released as , , and in the US, while their Japanese release order was Two, One, Three. However, the chronology of the games goes One, Three, Two (which is why it helps that they're only loosely related). At any rate, fun little games. They usually give you a main set of characters, with others coming and going as you move through the games. I seem to recall your position on the battle screen mattering, and I'd say it compares graphically to something like Lunar (off the top of my head, anyway).

Either way I recommend them. I played them in the order of the US release, and I think that worked pretty well. You can tell the second one is not quite as polished, but it's still good.