2016. Well, really 2014. It's been a while.
Between then and now have been health scares (unrelated to pandemics), new relationships, across-the-world-moves, marriage, children, employment, health scares (related to pandemics), overwork and burnout, unemployment, and I still haven't tried balut.
For western readers, don't Google it. I'm not kidding.
As part of my pivot away from recent technical support mismanagement, I'm getting back into my blogging and/or writing and/or textual creativity. (I'll leave the poetry to talents like Internet of Words though, who I suspect won't be aware that she's responsible for me getting off my virtual, uh, couch)
I'm still gaming, but I'm more limited to SP-MMORPGs. Which is to say, the game is an MMO, but I'm just single-playering it up because honestly I don't have the spoons (or the time) to build up the new circles of friends/acquaintances required to get the most out them.
The most timely I've been lately was getting dressed up as a fancy penguin in Lost Ark while I completed what I think was the first story ark, I mean arc. Honestly it was an extremely well-polished title, but it was running up against the limits of my dexterity with the multiple weapon sets for the sharpshooter that I was playing.
Now, as an aging gamer I've discovered that having controls so complex is something that I find extremely challenging - it's like trying to learn to type on a chording keyboard, but the bus you're riding will explode if you go under 150 words per minute. And the keyboard is on fire.
I've run into this with some console ports in the past where to perform certain actions you needed to press the D-pad in a certain direction while simultaneously pressing one of the face buttons. There might have also have been a title I tried where you also needed to press one of the triggers - a three-button action - but I'd rather think that might have been something from a bad dream.
This is the kind of situation that isn't helped by having a full keyboard full of, er, keys that you need to keep track of. It's fine for a space simulator like Elite where you have the time to look down at the keyboard to find the control that arglebusters the flimflamometer*, but for an action title that requires constant attention while a boss character whales away at you it's not healthy to take your eyes away from the action.
I'm not sure if the complexity required to access all the verbs of a modern game is something that we'll one day be able to overcome, but I sometimes wonder if they've become an expected part of the gaming experience - another barrier for the self-proclaimed gatekeepers to point to with gleeful cries of "Git gud!"
Right now my primary exploring the shiny semi-cubular worlds of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which is a remarkable evolution from the adorable-yet-mumbly first title in the series. I've finished the first four episodes, and I'm looking forward to the rest. (My plan is to unlock freeplay for all of them, and then see how they play as open-world)
Cancellable hot take: the original game wasn't that bad, despite being based on the prequel trilogies. More cancellably: the first prequel was the movie I enjoyed the most of the three.
As far as other games go, I've been performing Wizard Chores (the minimum of daily check-ins) in aging MMO Rift for a couple of months now, mostly collecting daily unlocks and completing pet missions for artifacts which get almost immediately resold on the auction house.
I managed to get one character to 65 before running out of steam, and lacking the motivation to play on in the face of a massive increase in required XP. (The level cap is 70 right now, and will likely remain there until the game gets closed given the attention being given to it by their publisher, Gamigo)
I think that's where I stand in regards to my gaming of late. I've only a handful of four games currently installed on my phone, and they're all old and either premium titles without ads or I've paid to remove the ads - the limits in F2P titles leave me respecting those games about as much as they respect me as a receptacle where they can obtain free monies. I'm tempted to pick up some more games (to play on my 10" tablet - yay for aging vision issues), but there's really a limited number of interesting premium or pay-to-remove-ads/pay-to-unlock titles that are genuinely interesting to me. (Honestly I'm more likely to open an emulator, and take a hit of nostalgia)
But all in all I'm planning on making posts here a habit - possibly random ramblings like this, possibly reviews of indie titles that catch my eye, or at least thoughts about whatever I'm playing at the time. And maybe even something focused and long-form, should I find my muse. (And feel free to hit me up on Twitter where I frequently should know better)
Catch you** in a bit, maybe with some more thoughts about Lego Star Wars once I've made some more progress there!
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