Yes that’s crazy. The game has the Electronic Arts label and the servers are still operational. It’s not exactly the same servers but some people invested time and money into migrating the data without any guarantee that the player would login ever again.
And given that she is in the middle of the Shrouded Isle extension map, next visit will probably be in a few years. I bet she will still be exactly the same, unaffected by the time going on.
My wishlist is Final Fantasy Tactics, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, and Xenogears. A Xenogears remake likely isn’t ever happening so I’d be happy with a remaster, and it’s practically an open secret at this point that an FFT project is in development. It getting the Tactics Ogre Reborn treatment would be lovely, but what I really want is an orchestrated soundtrack. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get cancelled. 🤞
As a genre, 4X is still kicking around, but I’m not even sure if SMAC is beloved enough to get the treatment. Good voice acting would be essential.
I’d play NFSU in modern graphics! But apparently linear games are not allowed any more and it always has to be open world and come with seasons and DLCs and all that.
The entirety of Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty made less money than the first paid mount skin in World of Warcraft. That’s why companies don’t make linear games - because people will buy the microtransaction that required 1/1 000 000 effort of the game for more money than the game made.
I am slowly buying and playing through the old NFS games. I just bought Carbon and I’m going to go pick up MW before it comes in. I love the Underground 1&2 but Most Wanted was special for me. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
Factorio. The new dlc hooked me into a 5h gaming session at one eve. I cant remember when i did that the last time in my life. Probably with 15? But be warned, the game isn’t called cracktorio without reason.
The most important setting for me, was to set the enemies as passive. So you can kill them off when you need place and they will never attack themselves.
I was going to immediately mention Hollow Knight but I see someone already did. Second thought: Tunic. It’s been a long time since a game hit me as hard as those two.
For pure fun addictive gaming: Factorio is absolutely nuts. 2D survival craft platforming action: Terraria is still king.
For space empire building check out X4: Foundations, after almost 10 years under development it’s absolutely amazing (but a huge timesink haha)
Oh and if you’re into semi-hard-scifi basebuilding you could give Stationeers a look. Sunk quite some hours into that one.
The learning cliff of the X games is pretty intense but totally worth it. I made it through and just look at me now! I, err… wasn’t going to do anything better with those hundreds of hours anyway.
Yeh, it is unfortunstely a micro USB controller but it cost me £4 with a recharable battery pack inside so I’m not gonna complain at all. Just didn’t know where it had come from! Thanks for the reply :)
So up until very recently, the monster hunter games had a theme of living in balance with the environment and monsters were only hunted to help control manageable numbers or if some had gone out of control. Then they were apparently specifically told to tone down their environmental messaging to appeal to a wider audience.
When I did this quitting thing from MMOs and FOMO inducing gachas that you describe, I suddenly
got a non-dead-end job
got a girlfriend
got a promotion
travelled around Europe
girlfriend died
travelled around Europe some more
got another girlfriend
ended up in Canada
got married
got kids
stuck in dead-end job again without promotion for the past five years
I still think it was worth it to quit though. My mind just gets stimuli from the seemingly simplest things, like looking at a beautiful tree on the roadside, brutalist architecture, interesting conversations that I focus on instead of my mind wandering onto the next mount or raid boss I will have to tackle.
And when it comes to gaming, if I want to satisfy my itch for twitch and a bit of adrenaline, roguelites scratch it the best, without the long term commitment to playing them for days or even hours.
But what works best to keep sanity is exercise, and with riding a road bike at least twice a day I can combine elevated heart rate with zoning out and Zen for stress relief really well. It’s simply meditative.
I think of the twelve years I’ve spent playing MMOs fondly, lots of memories were made. But I would never do it again. And it has nothing to do with self-control, and willpower to not start it again, although quitting cold turkey definitely required both. But it had everything to do with the realization that it’s a trap that’s a poor substitute for real life, even if real life has dealt you shitty cards.
I can spot the hazy, reality-disconnected look of addicts from a mile away. The self-deluding statements when the topic somehow gets brought up. And I can do nothing but feel a bit sad for them, and hope that somewhere, someone manages to gently nudge them on a path that helps them escape from this trap.
I don’t think its so much the microtransactions as it is games with a highly competitive spirit. PvP games in particular. I don’t find myself having any negative feelings after playing a game like Zenless Zone Zero or Goddess of Victory NIKKE, but after about two matches of Dead by Daylight, a game with a notoriously toxic playerbase, I definitely feel worse than before I play, particularly if the matches do not go well for me.
Im the kind of player that doesn’t spend money unless I feel like something provides me value. Ive played ZZZ since release and haven’t spent a single cent, and NIKKE since its release and only spent $25 total. I have enough self-control to handle those games and can spot bad value in games like gacha games pretty fast. So for me it isn’t really about microtransactions, its definitely about competition with other players, and interactions with them. Playing a game of DBD, winning, and then having everyone (usually TTV streamers) call you names in chat or on their stream and report/mercilessly harrass you ( for winning in a video game, mind you) is a completly different level of toxic that I doubt many would be able to properly handle long term.
Its why I pretty much never recommend DBD to people.
I don’t find myself having any negative feelings after playing a game like Zenless Zone Zero
I agree with the rest of what you said but this part is crazy. Gacha games are so heavily monetized it’s wild. I played zenless as well up until a few weeks ago, that game is such a trash can. I used every single currency that I had earned in the entire game and couldn’t get The character I wanted. Some people spend as much as $2,000 on the game just trying to get a single character. That kind of gambling is even worse than what I’m talking about
Well the issue is that some people confuse a want for a need.
Wanting characters is great but the problem comes from being disappointed that you didn’t get what you want as fast as you thought you should. The true method of playing a gacha game is like running a marathon, its not a race and you take it slow. Play in your free time, down time, whatever. I don’t play those games as my main game, just as a side game. Sometimes I miss a day for the login or a special event or even a character that I really wanted but at the end of the day, its just a video game and I am not going to die without that thing or character I wanted. If I get it, its simply a bonus to the joy I get from playing the game already. I don’t play a game long if I don’t have fun with it at least more than when I don’t.
Some people don’t have self control, and I am not saying that the games are not monetized in a predatory way. But I view it no different from actual gachapon: capsule toys. You know, like a gumball machine, but the little plastic ball that has a random small toy or stickers inside. You pay, turn the knob, and you always win something, you just don’t know what. To me, I dont consider that the same as gambling like with a slot machine. That’s just my opinion, and I sure I am in the minority with that, and with my overall attitude towards gacha games in general.
Any lottery style game (let’s be honest, Gacha = Lottery) is psychologically harmful in my opinion because it trains you to gamble, there’s no other way around it. These games purposefully condition you to spend currency that you’ve earned, lose majorly, and then get rushes of dopamine when you finally win. They are designed to keep you wanting more. If you think I’m making this up, then read Got ya!: The Psychology of Gacha Addiction
Gacha games have mastered the art of making us eagerly anticipate each draw, activating our brain’s reward system and flooding us with dopamine — the pleasure neurotransmitter. It’s the chemical cocktail that keeps us engaged, excited, and coming back for more. Next on the list is the ‘just one more try’ mentality
There’s nothing remotely healthy about this at all, which runs completely contrary to what my personal goals are
Well as I said, it is my opinion and I have the self-control to be able to play and enjoy gacha games without being financially irresponsible. When I pull for a character in a gacha game, for example, I just skip the animation to go directly to the results. Not only is it faster but it also bypasses the “anticipation building” that the animation and sound effects create. I am glad you have learned for yourself how to have better mental health, but I am saying for me its not about MTX, its more about competition or competitive style games.
Don’t get me wrong, I still play competitive games. I love me some Battlefield 4, Forza Motorsport, Dead By Daylight (when the people I play against decide to not be serial harrassers), and others. Its just that I try to view it differently. Again, its only a video game and at the end of the day, I am not going to die over anything in the game, winning or losing or whatever. It can sometimes make me feel bad when I have a long losing streak or if I get harrassed, but when that happens I just turn off that game for a week or two and play something else. I don’t have to go to the extreme of uninstalling, but I can understand that some do and that’s totally fine.
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