Hey Friends! I feel like I am stuck in somewhat of a rut. Right now I am playing Mass Effect 1 again and it is largely because it is familiar and easy to fall back into when I get home from work. I didn’t spend a ton of time on my most recent playthrough of this game and largely took the critical path. As a result I missed a lot of fairly important things like the whole Cerberus quest chain that takes place planetside. I don’t love the Mako or Hammerhead so I tend to avoid doing those missions… but in the first game at least you end up missing quite a bit of content by taking this stance. I am wondering how it will impact the later games because I think I have always skipped most of the planetary nonsense unless absolutely required. At this point I am staring down the barrel of the Virmire mission and I am not really certain what decision I am going to make.
I spent a good chunk of the weekend playing Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and I really need to return to that. The problem is when I get home from work I have not wanted to be up in my office… which is where my PS5 is currently hooked up. The living room is a communal space and I don’t have any of my devices hooked to that television as a result. So if I want to hang out downstairs… I am going to be playing something on my laptop which isn’t exactly conducive to console gaming. There are times I daydream about redoing my office and putting a couch up here… but that is never going to happen because I don’t have anywhere near enough room to do so.
Another console game that I really want to return to and finish is Final Fantasy VII Remake, especially now that is has added DLC. I went through the process of downloading the new PS5 version of the game and swapping over a save file from the PS4 version so I should be able to pick up where I left off. I also installed the Yuffie DLC so it is sitting there waiting for me as well. I was enjoying the game last time I played it so I could probably easily slide back into Midgar for some chill gaming. I’m coming to the realization that I need to just simply admit that I am a single player gamer and as a result should spend more time playing single player games.
I’ve downloaded and spent a very small amount of time poking around the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin demo. It is interesting… and I get the whole soulslike comparison. So far I like it considerably more than a traditional souls game because it has a difficulty slider. I hope to spend at least a little bit more time this weekend poking about in the game.
Lastly there is the problem of Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis. I don’t love the game… and I was really hoping that I would. I am not sure what it is about the game but I am not attaching at all. In fact I like it considerably less than I liked baseline PSO2. I am not sure if I can pinpoint why though, but the entire thing just doesn’t feel good to play right now. It might simply be that I am in the wrong state of mind to really get into it, but whatever the case it is… I’ve tried a Hunter and a Ranger and neither one really feels good to me. This is a little sad since I was hoping this would be the game to unite the tribes… at least for a little bit, but unfortunately that does not seem to be the case for me at least.
The challenge that I keep struggling with… is I am nostalgic about when I used to play games with other people. However I never can seem to be in the right frame of mind to play the game that the bulk of my social group seems to be playing. I’ve reached a point where it feels like I am too old to make vast changes in my circle of friends, and as such given that I always seem to be playing the wrong game… I am just going to always been the odd man out. I am trying to reach a point of acceptance with this and just move on with finding the joy that I can from the games that I seem to be enjoying. That realization however stings a bit.