I don\’t mind gaming droughts so much these days.
It\’s not that I don\’t have time for games: I am young and out of college, unburdened by my work, and unlike an increasing number of my peers, unmarried and without children, mortgage, or car payments. I have plenty of time .
It\’s not that my taste has become more refined: I still like the same stuff I\’ve always liked. Shooters, puzzle games, and beat-em-ups are a load of fun, but give me an RPG or an exploration-heavy action adventure game, like Zelda, and I will play it so much I will forget to let my family know I\’m still alive. Oh, you don\’t like my hyperbole? Actually, Nintendo Enthusiast\’s owner, Menashe, gave me a stern talk just about two years ago, when I completely disappeared from the site, and from the internet in general, the week that Dragon\’s Dogma came out. But I think he understood how great the game is.
Back to why I don\’t mind gaming droughts: It\’s also not like I\’m entertained with my backlog of incredible games available through the combination of my Wii U, Xbox360, and gaming PC. Actually, the majority of it sits utterly unplayed on my shelf. Games that I know to be classics, such as Planescape: Torment, System Shock 2, Knights of the Old Republic, Elder Scrolls: Morrowind; and modern “must-play” games like Skyrim, The Witcher 2, the Batman: Arkham trilogy, and Far Cry 3, are all equally uninstalled and unplayed on my computer. I think I played Pikmin 3 about two hours on my Wii U, in spite of really liking it.
It\’s just that, as I\’ve played so many games in my life, and darted from promising new experience to promising new experience, from hype to hype, and from completely random disappointed to completely random pleasant surprise, I\’ve come to understand my gaming taste a little better. And knowing the difference between what I like and what I love has allowed me to swim against the current of hype when it doesn\’t suit me – and with it, when it does. And as it turns out, being stoic toward the hype cycle helps make droughts go by unnoticed.
\”I\’m here because I want to, OK?\”
So, in my case, what is it that I like? Going by how much I\’ve talked about Monster Hunter 3 Ultimateon this site, you could say that I like it a bit more than I liked Pikmin 3. Like I said before, I played Pikmin 3 about 2 hours, even though I like it a lot and plan to go back to it someday. Meanwhile, I am approaching 1000 hours of gameplay between Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and Monster Hunter Tri before it. How can I like that game so much? In short: it\’s a series of formidable challenges, with a large variety of weapons and skills, resulting in an endless quest for mastery; and it\’s an incredibly social game, so much that I play it at least twice a week online with my friends from this very site.
Let\’s move on to another example: Dark Souls. Between Demon\’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2, I have upwards of 600 hours of gameplay. The level of detail with which the world is realized in these games, as well as the variety of play styles they offer, in combination with the ever-increasing challenge found in both the single-player and the multiplayer aspects of the game, continue to give me reason to play them to this day. I await the last part in the trilogy of Dark Souls 2 DLC this coming week with bated breath, and am afraid of the feeling of closure it will bring.
Having started on Street Fighter recently, I already know it will be in my life for many years to come. Unlike the other kinds of games I mentioned, this is not necessarily a love that comes from my childhood. I did play Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, and many other fighting games growing up, yes, but I never really understood them well enough to get hooked on them. Somehow, however, they clicked during this past year. For some reason I suddenly began to understand the intricacies of the genre, and more importantly, I finally gave importance to the basics. Luckily, I also found myself among a group of people that play Street Fighter 3 and 4 consistently, and who are better than me but only enough that it won\’t discourage me, and that I can learn from them.
In other words, Street Fighter, much like Monster Hunter, is an endless series of formidable challenges with a highly social aspect, so that I can play it when I want to get better , and also when I want to hang out with friends . If Super Smash Bros. for Wii U does right by us with in-game voice chat, at least during private friendly matches, I will play it in the same way.
Finally, I want to talk a bit about how I spent two whole years playing through Xenoblade. When I first played the game, it was after a few years of it being a no-show at the E3 floor, after a period of uncertainty over whether the game would ever get localized, and after the energetic Operation Rainfall movement had called for the game\’s localization to North America (the game was promptly announced for localization in Europe and Australia, if I\’m not mistaken). So, I was quick to import the game from the UK, and pretty much expected a great game. It was more than that – It turned out to be one of the very best games I\’ve ever played, easily a contender with any top dog like Super Metroid.
Anyway, I played the game in “short bursts”: I put 30 hours in a week, then dropped the game for months; then another 40 hours over two weeks, then dropped it again; then another 30 hours later, then dropped it again; and so on, until I finally finished, after a total of about 200 hours of gameplay. I did as much as I could with that game. I explored everything. I talked to every NPC, and did as many sidequests as I could. I killed most optional bosses, except the highly difficult super-bosses available before the last point of no-return. It was a very emotional experience. From the beginning, it was sad, melancholy, yet joyous and hopeful. It was lonely, and I even learned to appreciate the short time spent around NPCs. I really don\’t think I\’ve played any other game like it, even among the JRPG gems of the past like Chrono Trigger (the comparison between the two was made often around the game\’s release).
How can I compare an experience like that to playing Wonderful 101, a game that I loved for its boldness and mechanical tightness, as well as its sense of grandeur and pure childish excitement, when I played that only for about a week before taking it out of my Wii U, never to be played again? Clearly there is something that games like Xenoblade and Monster Hunter can do for me, that even the most creative and surprising games can not.
If I have to make a wacky analogy, let it be this one: the gaming industry is like a huge ice cream machine. Here\’s the best vanilla ice cream that\’s ever been made; now here\’s the best chocolate one. Here\’s a strawberry one. Here\’s a cherry-chocolate one. Here\’s a wasabi-ginger one, for all the crazies out there. And you know what, I loved the best vanilla ice cream you gave me, but I don\’t care so much for the chocolate one. Yes, I know it\’s the very best chocolate ice cream ever made, but I don\’t care, I want more like the vanilla one. It doesn\’t matter if it\’s only the second best, or if it\’s second-rate or third-rate vanilla ice cream. I just like vanilla ice cream more than the others right now.
Anyway, understanding my gaming taste more intimately has come with great benefits. The biggest benefit is that I\’m no longer wallowing in uncertainty about what I will play next. I already know that Xenoblade Chronicles X will be my most played game for a year or two after it releases. I know Monster Hunter 4 Ultimatewill stay in my 3DS so long, mold will form around the cart. And I know that I must get a Playstation 4 to play Bloodborne, the spiritual sequel to Demon\’s Souls and Dark Souls.
Don\’t get me wrong, I look forward to Bayonetta 2 as much as anyone else, but I already know the drill: I will play it to completion for about a week, and if it\’s great, expound its virtues on our message forums. And I won\’t be lying – I will have truly loved the game, like I did with Wonderful 101. But in the grand scheme of things, it only serves me to bide my time while I wait for my true loves to come to me.
Perhaps the key here is that I\’ve learned what to expect from my games. I no longer expect my heart to be stolen by the kind of game that has never stolen my heart before. And I already know to open myself fully for the kind of games that have stolen my heart time after time, like Dark Souls, like Monster Hunter, and like Xenoblade.
The result is that I can wait patiently for the games that matter to me, instead of fretting from game to game, from hype to hype. At the end of the day, there is less uncertainty during game droughts, and more time to play the games I truly love.
Written by Alex Balderas
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