Anybody that has followed this blog for awhile knows that we tend to have cycles of gaming and writing. I am currently going through a little downtime with MMOs. Perhaps it’s my subconscious prepping me for the intensity of 2011, the year of MMOs. I still have been gaming, even with MMOs. Yet, it’s been very different. I have not sat down for a long 2-4 hour session on a single game in quite some time. The seemingly endless Steam sale is only making it worse.
The games that are still on my short list all allow very quick bites of gameplay. I just beat Shatter’s story mode. It was a great buy for $2.50, and hopefully Steam will put it back up on sale. As that game left the short list, Super Meat Boy took its place. $15 is about $5 too expensive for my tastes, but the $4 I bought it for might as well have been free. The game is a fantastic, high-speed platforming romp. My favorite part is the combined replay of all my failures when I finally beat the level. It’s hilarious to see 10 out of 20 meat boys jump straight in to the nearest grind saw. Friend me up on Steam so you can see how much faster I am than you.
The other game I am playing, a tad late to the party, is Starcraft 2. I don’t ever plan on hitting the PvP circuit, but for some casual beat-the-computer PvP and a darn good PvE campaign, the game is really good. Each campaign mission is very different. Much of it is still amass an unstoppable force of men and iron, but there is usually a fun twist involved. I really liked The Dig where I got to man a laser that could turn any protoss unit to dust in a few seconds, but my favorite so far has been the slightest of nods to DotA in Breakout. In that mission I control a single unit as I become the unbalancer between constant fights between my allies and my enemies. I want to revisit that one in a later post. Either way, the usual mission lasts about 20 minutes, which is a nice solid bite of game time.
Which leads me to Lord of the Rings Online. Sadly, I have not really revisited my second-most-played MMO since the cash shop switch. I have most of Book 3 left to do, and I haven’t even set foot in the new zone, Enedwaith. I miss my kin, and I miss my character… yet. Yet, it doesn’t feel like it can provide small bites. Even with insta-load skirmishes, I just have not had the will to set foot back in Middle Earth.
I am fully aware of my self hypocrisy as I have enjoyed my time in some nameless beta, which plays similarly to Lord of the Rings Online, and, as always, Guild Wars. I seriously just need to force myself to log on to Lord of the Rings Online, but I guess I am fearful that small bites will eventually just lead back to significant time antes. I told myself over the summer that I just needed a break, but I have had one. Any longbeard MMO players know what I am going through? Perma-burnout? I still can’t bring myself to delete the icon from my short list.
Finally, Guild Wars. I find that my time in the game is becoming very insular against my quiet guild and the community at large. Except for the festival hits, like Costume Brawl, I am quite happy to be plugging along with my henchmen friends. There are plenty of guilds, though, that are absolutely thriving. Last night I killed the Alpha Tyrannus, which is the highest level creature in the game. We’re going to have some yummy dino-steaks at Gwen’s wedding. That was a nice little bite.
–Ravious
no reservations
Don’t force it, bro. Dat is not de way. Bro.
Just log in, go cook a nice meal for your family, and when you come back the load screen will be over. :D Then just wander around on your new elf-horse+flag.
Bro.
Some days you just need a snack. And breaks don’t have to last a defined time.
If you feel an urge, log in and check stuff out. If ennui or revulsion starts to creep up on you, back away and go do something else that actually feels fun.
Not even the best game lasts forever, despite what MMOs would want you to believe. I love CoH, but I haven’t been able to log in for over a year, just need new styles of gameplay.