On November 1st of 2014, I moved from the Washington, DC suburbs to Seattle, Washington to start a new job in a different part of my company. At some point just prior to or during the move, I became very ill. Over the past month, I very nearly lost my best friend, a 13 year old beagle/corgi mix who's on the mend after emergency surgery and a few setbacks in recovery. That's a LOT of change in a relatively short period of time. While it's all worked out for the best, you know what helped with all the change and stress? Video games!
Obviously, packing for a cross-country move, making that drive, and setting up a new apartment while starting a new job cut into my playing time, but I still managed to try a lot of new games, revisit some old favorites, and dive back into PC gaming. Here's a partially complete look at the games I played and how they helped me adjust to new circumstances.
Playstation 4
Despite being a three-console household last generation, 90% of my games were played on Xbox 360. This has evened out quite a bit this generation, and I can't put my finger on why. I haven't upgraded my PS4 hard drive, and I'm constantly concerned about running out of space for the games I've downloaded and not finished. Shortly after getting to my new home, I picked up Far Cry 4 and GTA V for the PS4. The pull to play GTA V has been minimal since I finished it last gen of the 360, but I have booted it up a few times to see how pretty it looked. I was not disappointed. Far Cry 4 was my big time investment for most of November and December. I found it easy to get lost in the world but also a little frustrating; there were so many side quests and optional activities that I found myself occasionally paralyzed by indecision. I wasn't sure if I was ready or prepared for the next story mission but didn't have a burning desire to take the next outpost,hunt the next rare animal, participate in a race, or do any of the million other things dotting my map. I did eventually finish the game and miss the world of Pagan Min philosophizing over the radio to me about Kanye West.
Most of my other PS4 time until recently was with smaller games: I played a relatively large amount of Loadout for a few weeks before I could feel myself hitting my head on the invisible pay walls of the free-to-play model. That seemed to happen pretty quickly, which I think is mainly an indictment of my shooter skills more than anything else. Besides, it wasn't as fun as the few PC matches I'd played with a friend many months ago, prior to my move. I also jumped into Hand of Fate following the Giant Bomb Quick Look. I was really interested in the premise and was glad to see a QL since the game and studio were kind of an unknown quantity. I've enjoyed it quite a bit, and found it was a good fit for times when I had just an hour or two before bed or when I was too tired to jump into something meatier like Far Cry 4. I haven't finished it, but I can see it continuing to serve as a bit of a "chaser" for after finishing (Or getting burnt out on) larger games.
This spring, my PS4 has largely been a baseball machine, playing MLB The Show 15 or streaming Washington Nationals games over MLB.tv. The Show's Road to the Show mode has also filled the "bite size gaming" spot in my life recently, as I can fit in a game or two as a first baseman in the Rangers' system before I had to go to the DOL, take the dog to his new vet, or try to figure out the best way to get to a new grocery store. With new things to learn and new patterns to establish in a new city, it's nice to be able to feel like I'm making progress in something.
The fact that I'm feeling more settled has freed me up to dive into The Witcher 3, the kind of expansive, sprawling, time suck of a role playing game I've always loved. I'm just at the start of the Bloody Baron quest shown in the Giant Bomb Quick Look (and no, I don't mind spoilers for hour 8 or 9 of a game I'm going to play for dozens of hours) but I can tell this is going to be my go-to weekend entertainment for a while.
Xbox One
I am really surprised at how little activity my Xbox One has seen since the move. It's still my machine of choice for Netflix, HBO GO, and most video streaming services due to the voice commands. The 5 or so months I spent feeling pretty ill meant I frequently had to leave the room very quickly; the ability to blurt out "Xbox, pause!" on my way away from the TV and not needing to keep a controller turned on was a really nice feature.
The lack of activity really comes down to some poor game choices. Battlefield Hardline failed to grab me with it's (unsuprisingly) ridiculous story and mechanics that got real old, real fast. Assassin's Creed: Unity and Halo: The Master Chief Collection suffered from poor launches that put me off; even though I was a day one purchaser of both the continued problems made me simply unenthused to pick up either very much. I really, really tried with Unity but found myself in the same frustration loop as I was occasionally in with Far Cry 4...minus the interesting characters of intriguing story to pull me forward from those moments of paralysis.
Despite those minor busts, I've been very pleased with The Handsome Collection, specifically Borderlands 2. I loved Borderlands and its sequel, and The Handsome Collection came out at a time when I had been sick for a while, was still getting my footing in a new job and new city, and provided a familiar, comfortable thing to get lost in on the evenings and weekends. That kind of comfort was really, really appreciated. I haven't played it much recently, but knowing it's there on new consoles when I need it is calming.
Also reassuring was the release of Mortal Kombat X and the semi-regular reminder that I SUCK at fighting games. That said, I'm still glad I have the story of MK X (played on easy mode) for rainy evenings and when I need something different.
PC
I have a really nice desktop PC in my home office. This spring has been a good time to return to it for a few reasons. In addition to the new and old games I've been playing, I have a nice space for my recovering pup in this office, with his favorite mat to sleep on, or sometimes half-on, or sometimes just near. He's a weird dog.
Pillars of Eternity was my impetus to return to the PC. After backing it at a stupidly high level amid the Kickstarter craze, I was eager to see how it turned out. I've been pleased with it, despite only playing a few hours. For someone with no real history with Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, it's probably been the best possible exposure to a style of game I always thought I"d love, but never had the means to play until I got serious about PC games and built my own machine. The drawback is that as I've gotten more comfortable in my new city, I've wanted to spend less time at home and more time walking and exploring, so that's meant less time with this and other PC games.
I also jumped back into a few older titles: The Old Republic and Marvel Heroes 2015. My interest in TOR was rekindled by the good news and good will coming out of the Star Wars celebration last month and the game's May 4th promotions. It is, to borrow a phrase, an MMO-assed MMO, but I found something kind of serene and relaxing about hopping in, progressing a quest line or two, and calling it a night. IT also helped me justify the subscription fee I've paid since launch and continue to pay. I really wish I could have signed up for a lifetime subscription, a la Jeff and Star Trek: Online.
Speaking of Jeff, his recent forays into Marvel Heroes convinced me to try the game. It's fun. The number of currencies and crafting components will probably keep me from getting in too deep, but I hop in every day or so, get my daily reward of unintelligible currency, play part of a quest with either Hawkeye or Daredevil, and go back to doing something else. The daily reward thing has made me really think about the concept of "dailies" in games. I play at least 3 titles with some kind of daily reward or event: Marvel Heroes, MLB The Show 15, and Hearthstone. I find myself playing each of these a bit shallower than I might otherwise because I know I'll be back tomorrow, and sometimes because I see them as just a chore to complete: log in, click a button or two, and log out. Rinse and repeat tomorrow.
The pre-release hype for The Witcher 3 also convinced me to go back and try to play through The Witcher and its sequel. I was devastated to find out the original didn't use cloud saves and I had lost my progress from a few months ago in the prologue and chapter 1 following an upgrade from Windows 7 to 8. I eventually got over it and have played about a dozen hours of the original...although the true breakdown is more like, since purchasing this years ago, having played the opening hour 4 times, the second hour three times, the third hour 4 times, and the fourth hour once. I now find myself torn between wanting to play more of the original and being completely sucked into The Witcher 3. This isn't a bad problem to have.
The last PC game I've been spending time with is Invisible, Inc. I bought an Early Access code for this when it was still known as "Incognita" at PAX East 2012 or PAX Prime 2013. I played very little of it pre-release in part because I found it simply frustrating. I didn't understand systems and basic mechanics seemed to be missing. I couldn't figure out how to move the camera, which is a problem in a game like Invisible, Inc. I was still really excited when the game officially launched, and the positive word of mouth convinced me to give it another try. I'm still terrible at it, but I feel like it's now 80% my fault, 20% bad luck in procedural generation, and 0% the result of playing an unfinished game.
That's most of my past 6 months in gaming, minus my crippling iPhone Marvel Puzzle Quest addiction that I blame on Garry Whitta or the semi-regular Hearthstone well I fall into for hours at a time. It's been an exciting, challenging, scary, frustrating, and fulfilling 6 months. As things with my home, job, health, and pooch stabilize, I'm looking forward to how games will fit into my life as new titles are released, old games find new life, and I settle in even more to the rhythms of Seattle after 10 years on the East coast.
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