Final Fantasy XI. I’m almost exactly 1,000 hours into it, and only halfway through the storyline. I haven’t even touched end-game content. I’m playing on a free private server called HorizonXI that is well-populated and feels more like the game when it came out versus the modern day solo experience.
FF XI is still a thing? That was my first MMO ever, I loved that game. Met some of the nicest people. Good memories, I hope you enjoy the grind (blue mage main…)
I’ve also mostly enjoyed online multiplayer games, but I play a bit of everything. I think these are the games I’ve played most in order it must be:
World of WarCraft - Been at it since a year or so after it originally launched. Played a lot of Guild Wars 1 before that, and also lots of other MMO games before and in between, but WoW is the one I always keep coming back to. Longest break must’ve been like 6-7 years around the Cataclysm expansion, and then back at it at the end of Legion. It’s on the back burner now again because of another mediocre expansion, but I still check it out occasionally. I think I must’ve sank at least 5000+ hours (probably way more) into this game over the past 20 years.
Elite Dangerous - Been backing it since Kickstarter, had high hoped for the game and it was fun while it lasted. But I lost all hope in Frontier in managing this game. They’re only focusing heavily on microtransactions, currencies and paid early access content now. Must’ve been about 1500-2500 hours or something, but I’ve been out of this one for a couple of years now. I had high hopes for the future of this game, but Frontier is a master of promising glory and delivering disappointment.
Squad - Last, but certainly not least for me, around 1400 hours playtime (including the testing branch client). Got into this game right when it launched into early access on Steam. Was very tired of the themepark rides that Battlefield and CoD were turning into, but didn’t want to commit to Arma’s milsim style either. Squad fits in between perfectly. Also one of the greatest game communities I’ve got the pleasure to be playing with, never had so much fun with completely random strangers. The mandatory voice-chat really ties it together to create amazing and fun moments. This game really taught me that voice chat in games can actually be good, and not just kids spitting insults.
That said, I have a lot of games on multiple platforms, that I usually won’t ever hit a 1000+ hour mark on most of them anyway. Like I played Witcher 3 twice (and a half I think). But that’s like only 150 hours or so total. And this year’s favorite has been Helldivers 2 by far, but that’s only been almost 300 hours so far.
I’m well above a thousand hours on the first game. Then all my flying sims (MSFS, Xplane, DCS, Elite Dangerous) also have a very high hour count. But for civilian airliners most of those hours are spent AFK in cruise.
The original RuneScape developers and owners (i.e. Andrew Gower and his brothers) are back with a new game, at a new company, with an industry shattering $5.99/mo subscription price for all content.
No micro transactions, no pay to win, no outrageous DLC pricing, no bull shit … just a fun game with many similarities to OSRS but also modernizations, formula improvements, and lessons learned.
I tried it, and it was really hard to get into. There are some pretty big glaring flaws of the game right now that make it simply unfun to play, in my honest opinion. One of them is the fact that it feels like RuneScape classic, rather than RuneScape 2. For example when you do activities like fishing, you have to click each individual fish over and over again to infinity. Which doesn’t feel enjoyable. Combat is also rather clunky, and there’s little dopamine involved. I also distinctly hate the fact that you cannot do what you want with combat, like you cannot be an archer. You only get like three arrows and then you have to use melee. Also it seems like skills are only usable in one area, once you move on to the next episode, there are no areas to practice those skills anymore. So it’s really not fair in my honest opinion to compare it to RuneScape at all. Once you get into the forest, there is no fishing spot as far as I’m aware… I can respect that people like it but it’s not for me
I mean, fishing is more comparable to mining in RS2, there are other skills (typically refinement oriented skills) that have more down time between clicks.
Combat I definitely feel needs refinement. Though, I actually do like the fact that combat is not “I have a bow and I’m shooting something 1 tile in front of me and/or safe spotting.”
The skills are only trained in one area, but they have interactions across areas. You use resources gathered in the forest in town and in the mines. The weapons you make in the mines can be tuned to any other location (etc…)
A lot of this is to solve the long time MMO issue of “new content is released but it’s only for high level players and long time layers in general have a ton of advantages in the new area.”
Haven’t been playing for a long time because I haven’t set up the xbox in a long while, but Borderlands 1. Have been playing that game on and off more than a decade now. I don’t think the base game (playthrough 1 only) on its own is 1000+ hours long, could be wrong, but it’s long enough, especially with the DLCs. I think I’ve beaten playthrough 1 and 2 with 2-3 of the characters and have yet to beat all the quests with any of them because of a certain DLC boss fight quest.
It’s a game I absolutely fell in love with. Started with the 2nd game, which my brother got, but I later got the 1st because I wanted to see how it was compared to 2 and I’m a bigger fan of the 1st game. Played the pre-sequel, it’s fun but not as good as 1 in my opinion, and have no experience at all with 3.
Monster Hunter. The first one I played, MH4U back in the 3DS days, I put 1,000 hours into. That was nearly 10 years ago, and I’m still playing the franchise to this day. Currently finally going through the Sunbreak expansion of Monster Hunter Rise on the PC, and noticing a marked improvement in my mental health over playing other games.
Wow, so many posts 😵💫 Sooo I think I’ll be the one to mention Elder Scrolls Online ^.^ I’ve got 1800 hours in that and miss it pretty bad v.v Am stuck on a laptop that can’t run it (nor much else) playably :-\ Anyway, it’s got many things to do. Three faction storylines, lots of side stuff (everything can be played at any level; people will take low-level characters into Trials and not even worry about it), crafting, character build funs deeper and more interesting than they seem, just plain wandering around peekifying all’ the Elder Scrolls places… Idunno, it just somehow kept me of all critters hooked for quite a while, which is very odd. I tend to get bored of things realquick 😅
I only have 800 hours in it but I suppose I can second (or, well, nth) Warframe? 😅
It’s not going to replace flat screen gaming. It’s hard to be in VR for hours, especially when you have to manage battery life, but I’ve had a headset for a year or two now, and it’s still amazing where it’s good. I’m better with smooth moving, but I still prefer teleporting, for headache/dizziness.
Tried Skyrim, couldn’t make it stick - VR just isn’t right for massive open worlds. Halflife Alyx is amazing - it’s the right scale for VR, the attention to manipulatable objects is amazing, and some of the puzzles just couldn’t be done in 2D. Blade & Sorcery is good, too.
Games I keep going back to are Beat Saber, because I’m old and need something to make me stand up and move, and Mini-golf, which is mostly a focus for hanging out with remote friends.
Interesting take regarding Skyrim. In my opinion, open world games are THE thing that VR is perfect for and sadly has way too few options.
I want to be in a virtual world. Seeing the sunset or just sitting down in a tavern in Skyrim and watching the people belong to some of my unforgettable gaming moments.
It is those closed, specialised games that are not fun to me. Give me more Skyrim worlds and less fruit ninja or beat sabre.
I can see that. If you just want to hang out in a space, then VR Skyrim definitely has some cool places to hang, but how long are you really going to spend in that Skyrim tavern?
When OP asks whether VR is a long-term option, that’s what I think. My favorite 2D games I have 500+ hours, probably a half dozen of them; I can still go back to those, some 10+ year old, and sink another 50+ hours. The only VR game I have more than 50 hours is the mini-golf game that’s glorified chat.
For me, VR as an experience has been really amazing. It’s a level of immersion that’s just indescribably better than anything 2D, but each of those experiences has had limited staying power, which I think is because the physical demands of VR constrain my playtime and focus. I can left-mouse-button all day, but my back gets sore if I stand for three hours. So I can handle beat saber because I treat it like a gym session, but the idea of VR walking 7000 steps to Skyrim’s Throat of the World…just no.
A note about battery life, Bobovr makes a great strap that has modular batteries. I don’t think they’ve made a full kit for the q3 that has multiple batteries and a separate charging dock for the batteries like they did for the q2, though… Happy to be corrected on this! Either way, they greatly extend playing time.
The strap itself is really comfortable and the battery helps counterbalance the weight of the quest itself. I know one of the q3 versions has a fan built in and the design lets you lie on your back and just watch movies.
Edit: seems they sell the s3 batteries separately and the charging dock now, nice. Wish it came in a whole kit.
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Aktywne