Friday, September 2, 2022

Gaming in 2022 so far

 

Gaming as a cat

It's been more than a year since my last post.  I thought about joining Blaugust but I knew I wasn't motivated to more than one post but I do have one post in me so I'm writing the day after Blaugust (seems appropriate).

Almost all of this blog has been about World of Warcraft so it's appropriate to start there.  I did resubscribe for the 9.2 patch.  I joined thinking I would go through the new content and then finally run through the other Shadowlands Covenants on my other characters.  That didn't happen.  However, I did finish the 9.2 quest content on Kanter so that's done.  Shadowlands didn't motivate me and it hasn't seemed to motivate many people however I think it has more to do with me than it does the game.  I'm still surprised by how much content I was able to motivate myself during Battle for Azeroth.

The games I've played the most over the last year have been on my tablet.  I play Microsoft Solitaire, Sudoku and Plants vs Zombie almost every day.  Not particularly involving, but it's a nice way to keep my mind busy when I'm not up to anything more.  I've also spent a lot of time playing Merge Dragons.  Like most free mobile games, at base it is pay to win.  However it has a few things going for it.  There are no ads unless you opt in for them to get rid of a timer.  You can get everything without paying, but it'll take more time.  Once you've played a while and have enough dragons, there is always plenty of content without paying for anything.  And they still keep adding things (like most successful free to play games).  I have paid for some gems and they've helped but it was more because I felt like I had enjoyed the content enough that they had earned it, particularly since they didn't earn anything from ads (since I didn't see any).

I am surprised at how little I played our Switch.  I did play a little of Breath of the Wild but it didn't really motivate me.  I also started 

Finally, I have been playing our PS5.  I was looking for a co-op game to play with my daughters and we settled on the original Borderlands remake.  All three of us are enjoy it and it does feel rewarding when you get a better weapon and my daughters both enjoy driving over enemies.  I've enjoyed Horizon Forbidden West but haven't played it recently.  The graphics are gorgeous and I enjoy the game play but since I have played frequently, there is always some struggle to re-remember the controls.  I'd guess I played almost half way through Death Stranding.  It was visually and aurally nice but I enjoyed the path finding more than the combat and it seemed like there was more combat as I went further into the game.  Finally, I'm probably 3/4s of the way done with Stray so I feel pretty confident that I'll finish it soon.  The play as a cat is great.  Between meowing, curling up, scratching things and intentionally knocking things over it really does feel like you are playing a cat.  Some things you do are totally un-cat-like but they are few enough it isn't too bad.  Stray also motivated me to pay for Playstation Plus Extra.  I was pretty much ready to buy it for $30 but for that same amount I could upgrade my membership and get both Spiderman games, Ghost of Tsushima, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla.  I've heard some speculation for the value but I feel I will get my money's worth and don't really feel a need to buy another game anytime soon.

I'm not sure if anyone is still reading, but I've given myself a summary of where I am in gaming, so I'll be glad to have it anyway.  Happy gaming and we'll see the next time I'll post. Definitely don't hold your breath.