Actually, games are still fun.

Gaming is a lost mistress to me. It’s the proverbial beautiful woman who was once beautiful that and is now a chasm of fond memories? A new difficulty artificially superimposed itself into every game I play. “Substantial New Content” appears below “Balls to the Walls Insanity” threating to ruin exciting new experiences something different might bring. I hold onto the same genres, same play styles and try to recapture my youth every time I press the power button. My recent realization came when I finished Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together for the PSP. Don’t get me wrong, the game is fantastic, but as I play through it I keep referring to the protagonist as Ramza and I miss the awesome power of Orlando administering a whirlwind of unstoppable death.

Mass Effect is the same story. Literally. I’ve played through a couple of different characters between ME 1 and 2 and rarely do I deviate from the choices I made the previous time I finished each game. Regardless of how much variation any game dangles in front of my conscious mind, my id takes over and I’ve repeated my mistakes. I seem to press the repeat button and rarely experience anything new. Granted, I’ve gone through a major life change with the birth of my son and with no sense of loss I play much less, but it seems for the past few years that I want that familiar blanket that I can imagine is oh so much.

For all its flaws Heavy Rain was the genuinely exciting game I’ve played. It has rekindled a search that I once had almost given up. I think my problem was not exactly that I was afraid to play something I had to learn be it mechanics or lore. I think I was afraid of getting older and change in general. Now that I have baby boy I get much less time than I used to. Responsibility beckons, of course. I think this absence from the dark age of free reign has given back excitement to the games that I do play. I no longer rush through a game skipping the cut scenes just to finish it and then move onto the next. I used to be disappointed that I didn’t have to recharge my controllers once every few days. Now, just the prospect of picking up one of those controlers excites me in a way it hasn't in a long time. Now the giant bugs that die tonight don't need to die in vein; they might make my day just a little brighter.

Gaming is a lost mistress to me. It’s the proverbial beautiful woman who was once beautiful that and is now a chasm of fond memories? A new difficulty artificially superimposed itself into every game I play. “Substantial New Content” appears below “Balls to the Walls Insanity” threating to ruin exciting new experiences something different might bring. I hold onto the same genres, same play styles and try to recapture my youth every time I press the power button. My recent realization came when I finished Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together for the PSP. Don’t get me wrong, the game is fantastic, but as I play through it I keep referring to the protagonist as Ramza and I miss the awesome power of Orlando administering a whirlwind of unstoppable death.

Mass Effect is the same story. Literally. I’ve played through a couple of different characters between ME 1 and 2 and rarely do I deviate from the choices I made the previous time I finished each game. Regardless of how much variation any game dangles in front of my conscious mind, my id takes over and I’ve repeated my mistakes. I seem to press the repeat button and rarely experience anything new. Granted, I’ve gone through a major life change with the birth of my son and with no sense of loss I play much less, but it seems for the past few years that I want that familiar blanket that I can imagine is oh so much.

For all its flaws Heavy Rain was the genuinely exciting game I’ve played. It has rekindled a search that I once had almost given up. I think my problem was not exactly that I was afraid to play something I had to learn be it mechanics or lore. I think I was afraid of getting older and change in general. Now that I have baby boy I get much less time than I used to. Responsibility beckons, of course. I think this absence from the dark age of free reign has given back excitement to the games that I do play. I no longer rush through a game skipping the cut scenes just to finish it and then move onto the next. I used to be disappointed that I didn’t have to recharge my controllers once every few days. Now, just the prospect of picking up one of those controlers excites me in a way it hasn't in a long time. Now the giant bugs that die tonight don't need to die in vein; they might make my day just a little brighter.

That was beautiful I had tears in my eyes after reading that. It had so much feeling. Bravo is all I can say. BRAVO!

I'm confused, but glad to hear that a game came along that reaffirmed your love for videogames.

Yeah, I felt like that too. I'm REALLY....REALLY looking forward to Max Payne 3!

Let me just say that you have a good reason for confusing Final Fantasy Tactics with Tactics Ogre: they're pretty much the same game. Hell, Square hired the Tactics Ogre team to make Final Fantasy Tactics for them.

They never ceased to be fun, in my case.

Terran is still OP :P.

I don’t want to give the impression that I ceased to enjoy games entirely or that games themselves weren’t being made “fun” anymore. I think I just had a feeling of personal oversaturation. In all fairness I did work for a certain video game retailer that gave me access to most everything. It’s just nice that I don’t feel compelled to play everything right when it comes out just because it’s there and somebody likes it. Hell, I tricked myself to thinking Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard was a serviceable game at one point.