I have spoken before, about how I used to be very into video games. However, about eighteen months ago, began slowly losing interest. For a long time, thinking I was ‘done with them, forever.’ Then I realised that I was missing out on good gaming time with my daughter and decided, somewhat impromptu, to get an ROG Ally.
I am honestly not sure if it was playing Battlefront 2 with my daughter, or remembering how much I liked the South Park RPG (The Stick of Truth), but I realised gaming wasn’t ‘over’ for me, I had just been doing it wrong. I played through the Stick of Truth, enjoying it as a nostalgic throwback to the first time I played it.
I think one of the myriad of things which turned me off gaming was engaging in gaming news, playing games I didn’t really like because they were supposed to be good, or someone had told me it was going to get good at the ethereal, ‘x hour’ mark.
I the most pithy way I can think to say it — I enjoyed gaming when I was enjoying games, not engaging with games as a topic.
recently, I have been playing Battlefront 2 with my daughter a few times a week and chipping away at RPGs before I go to sleep, and, I am having a rather nice time.
I gave some thought to when I was most happy with my gaming time over the years. When I really, deeply, thought about it, I had literally no negative memories, and a pile of positive ones, about Final Fantasy XIV.
You see, I didn’t stop playing FFXIV because I wasn’t having a pleasant time. I stopped because I was running a YouTube channel and it was destroying my content grind. My channel was in no way about Final Fantasy or MMOs. It was about Linux gaming and relied on doing something different every video, or stream.
But, you see, I have not been a YouTuber for quite some time. Actually, for a long time now, I have considered myself to be a writer. So, why wouldn’t I play FFXIV?
There’s a rather nice pre-made Mac port someone on GitHub put together. It also works on the Ally with no fiddling at all. There really was no reason not to at least have a check-in with the game. Sadly, the only way I don’t seem to be able to play is via GFN, though. This is because Square Enix likes to punish people for enjoying the game before it was on Steam, by only offering those with Steam licences the choice to play the game on GFN. ← I am somewhat annoyed about this, as you can likely tell.
I installed, resubscribed and loaded back in.
Oh my gosh! FFXIV is basically a dopamine drip.
I have been playing with some friends once a week and solo about twice a week for the last month.
While it is somewhat eating into my writing time, I have been quite a grumpy fella lately and an occasional break from my normal habits are likely good for me.
I didn’t go directly back to FFXIV either, I stopped off at World of Warcraft for a day or two (partaking in their trial) and quickly realised it was not engaged in it.
FFXIV stands out from other MMOs due to its strong story and, for me at least, its striking aesthetic. Instantly upon logging back in I was told, via a prompt in the upper-right corner of the screen what, and where, my next main quest mission was to be found.
This stands apart from World of Warcraft which made basically no effort to remind me where my character was in the main story, or, if indeed, there even was one.
I am not a ‘story guy’ in games. I far prefer to focus on mechanics and only take in enough of their story to have a rough idea why I am doing the things I am. Final Fantasy games always manage to pull you into the story, by having a darn good one.
XIV is no different in this regard. Even thought I didn’t recall the minutia of the plot, knowing there was one (and it is important to the world I spawn into) was enough to make me have a reason for my levelling, a reason to do the things the game asked me to do.
Whereas, WoW left me in the world without giving me a reason to explore it. I knew full well the endgame was the only major reason to be there. In FFXIV, the journey feels like it matters, rather than the destination, and, this made a massive difference to my engagement levels.
I intend to update you again soon on my progress in the game. Because I want to play mainly on my Ally, I have had to learn how to play with a controller. I think this has been a chronicle worthy event for me.
I’ll keep you updated on the progress ☺️