I’ve been having a hard time finding a game to get into lately. Ever since I finished God of War: Ragnarök, I’ve been bouncing around from game to game a bit, trying to fall in love with something. Unfortunately, I’ve been pretty depressed lately and haven’t been able to really get into anything. So here’s what I’ve tried and what I’ve learned about myself along the way!
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age – Switch
I played Final Fantasy XII on the PS2 back when it first came out and I remember liking it, but not loving it. I figured it would be a good game to go back to and try playing again. I played for a dozen or so hours before ultimately realizing that I just wasn’t having much fun. I don’t care for the license system, and while I think the gambits are a cool idea, it just felt a lot like work. The other thing I didn’t love was the script. It’s got this old English feel to it, which I’m not a fan of.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – PS4
This is a game I played a couple years ago, right after playing Demon’s Souls. I stopped playing because I felt like it had a gameplay similar to Demon’s Souls, but worse. It just felt like a chore to play. I figured I’d go back and give it another shot with the benefit of a couple years of distance. I felt exactly the same way. The game just feels bad. The story seems interesting enough, but didn’t capture my attention enough to overcome my dislike for the game’s feel.
Elden Ring – PS5
I loved playing Demon’s Souls, so I figured I’d jump from Fallen Order to Elden Ring. I just don’t like open world games. I feel like, in most cases, they don’t respect the player’s time. When I was younger I may have liked to explore more and see everything, but now I have limited time to play and can’t go explore every corner of a giant world. I just want a good, tight experience. I’m not saying Elden Ring is a bad game, but it’s not for me at this point in my life.
Resistance: Fall of Man – PS3
I remember really liking this game back in the day, but meh, it really doesn’t hold up.
Resistance 2 – PS3
I checked and this is the least loved game in the series. I thought it started off well enough, but eventually I just lost interest.
So those are the games I started and gave up on. What I’ve learned about myself is that real life is open world and I want to get away from that. My job and my hobbies are not controlled experiences and require a high level of exploration and research. When I play video games, I want the exact opposite of that: a tightly controlled experience where every moment keeps me wanting more. I don’t particularly want to be the best at one specific game, nor do I want to explore a giant world. I want to live through a well-crafted story with fun gameplay. Oh, also… God of War: Ragnarök is amazing. 10 out of 10.
Kind of Antsy 