A Month in Gaming
Usually I keep subscribing to an MMORPG, even if I’m not playing it that much. I like to have options in case I decide to log in on a whim. Especially if an absent friend returns to a particular game presenting an opportunity to catch up. However, the current economic climate is no longer something that I can ignore. Although far from having a low income, the current ongoing increase in the cost of living is becoming apparent, so I have been fiscally prudent and cancelled my monthly subscriptions to Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Lord of the Rings Online. Both have provided me with a lot of entertainment over the last three to four months but until new content becomes available, I can happily dispense with them for the meantime. Not only have I saved £17.98 on subscriptions, I shall no longer be making ad hoc purchases of in-game currencies. Something I have been doing a lot more than usual of late.
Usually I keep subscribing to an MMORPG, even if I’m not playing it that much. I like to have options in case I decide to log in on a whim. Especially if an absent friend returns to a particular game presenting an opportunity to catch up. However, the current economic climate is no longer something that I can ignore. Although far from having a low income, the current ongoing increase in the cost of living is becoming apparent, so I have been fiscally prudent and cancelled my monthly subscriptions to Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Lord of the Rings Online. Both have provided me with a lot of entertainment over the last three to four months but until new content becomes available, I can happily dispense with them for the meantime. Not only have I saved £17.98 on subscriptions, I shall no longer be making ad hoc purchases of in-game currencies. Something I have been doing a lot more than usual of late.
May saw the release of Sniper Elite 5 and as ever, I have found the game thoroughly engrossing. I have written a more substantial review elsewhere but I just want to reiterate how this franchise is the complete opposite of the fast paced insanity and lightning reflexes of Call of Duty. I find taking my time in Sniper Elite, tagging all targets and waiting for as long as it takes to make the right shot, is immensely satisfying. All too often, modern gaming is excessively frenetic, bombastic and overwhelming. Sniper Elite is the antidote to this. I also made a brief return to Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout recently. It is still fun in small doses and the cosmetic aspect of the game is a major contributor to that enjoyment. As a Prime Gaming customer (part of being an Amazon Prime subscriber), there are frequently free outfits to claim each month. Despite having played this game for two years now, I still haven’t achieved being the “last player standing” and thus won a complete tournament.
I surprised myself recently by reinstalling Guild Wars 2. Again I’ve written at length in the past as to the point of returning to a game that requires me to spend time in a zone I loathe. However, unlike some other MMOs that require you to tinker with your client once it’s downloaded, or update a plethora of third party addons, installing Guild Wars 2 is really simple. The game launcher downloads at a reasonable rate and once done, you can jump straight back into the game. It even remembered all my personal settings. I quickly found my favourite character, a human ranger, where I left them in Queensdale and jumped into an event that used to be part of the “Champion Train”. I noticed that everyone now has mounts and was briefly tempted to look into this. I suspect that it will require a grind of some kind, so I’m going to nip this flight of fancy in the bud, immediately. Plus, why do I need a mount when I have a flying carpet?
Over the forthcoming summer, I intend to tackle some of the games I have amassed across various platforms such as Epic and Steam. The first title I intend to explore is Jedi: Fallen Order as it has enjoyed a lot of praise and flown in the face of EA’s numerous claims over the last decade that single player games are “finished”. I’m also tempted to play through another Assassin’s Creed game, as I enjoyed Black Flag so much last year. I recently spotted that I had a copy of Control: Ultimate Edition, which has piqued my curiosity as I have no idea when or where I got a copy. This is what happens when you arbitrarily claim any free games offered to you. Hence I’m not lacking anything to play in the months ahead. It will be a pleasant change to be able to write about something new in the next instalment of “A Month in Gaming”, rather than the usual MMOs.
A Month in Gaming
The last installment of A Month in Gaming was at the end of April. I have decided to update this recurring post less often to ensure that I have more to write about than just cataloguing my generic activities in The Lord of the Rings Online and Star Trek Online. The only downside of such an approach is that it invalidates the title but that can’t be helped. Fortunately, I have done more than usual over the last two months. My daily schedule has changed temporarily and I now have a little more leisure time available. Hence I’ve dabbled with several new games as well as using my Nintendo Switch more often. I also took part in a “tag team” playthrough of XCOM 2, which was a very interesting experience. And I finally took the time to go through all my games libraries on the various different platforms to catalogue exactly what I have. I found a few hidden gems but the majority is just “filler” that you find in most video game bundles.
The last installment of A Month in Gaming was at the end of April. I have decided to update this recurring post less often to ensure that I have more to write about than just cataloguing my generic activities in The Lord of the Rings Online and Star Trek Online. The only downside of such an approach is that it invalidates the title but that can’t be helped. Fortunately, I have done more than usual over the last two months. My daily schedule has changed temporarily and I now have a little more leisure time available. Hence I’ve dabbled with several new games as well as using my Nintendo Switch more often. I also took part in a “tag team” playthrough of XCOM 2, which was a very interesting experience. And I finally took the time to go through all my games libraries on the various different platforms to catalogue exactly what I have. I found a few hidden gems but the majority is just “filler” that you find in most video game bundles.
Let’s start with MMOs. The new Blackwood expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online has provided me with a reason to return to the game. I have written at length about the companion system in another post but I would like to reiterate how it does provide a major shot in the arm for the solo player. I have ventured into several dungeons with Mirri providing ranged DPS in support of my melee combat and it has proven a most effective combination. Especially if you configure your companion with at least one healing skill. Alternatively you could equip either of them with a Restoration Staff and make them a dedicated healer. The companion system seems very flexible and I do hope that developer’s ZeniMax continues to improve it further.
In STO, I have levelled one of my new Delta Recruits and have now optimised their build and gear. The toughest aspect of fine tuning an alt in STO is reaching Tier 6 with all reputation factions. If you have completed this on one character, there is a 50% reduction in the time it takes on all subsequent alts. However, even with this benefit, it still takes 50 days and requires you to grind out a prodigious amount of reputation marks. The Summer Festival started today on the resort planet of Risa, so I currently have an alt permanently stationed there to undertake the repeatable daily quest and hence earn the new free Tier 6 ship. I have deferred returning to LOTRO for the present, preferring to keep Update 30 for the Autumn. At present I’m more interested to see what developer’s Standing Stone Games are up to and whether EG7 has any announcements pending for both DDO and LOTRO.
I have continued with the RPG GreedFall and try to have one major play session a week. The game supports mods, so I have one currently installed that removes the brown filter that blights the visuals. I appreciate that game designers like to use the colour palette to create an aesthetic that reflects the narrative themes. But this grimy veneer that has been applied does become tiresome after a while. Once removed the colours of the environment become far more vibrant. I prefer it when games make such visual affectations optional and allow players to toggle such features off if they so please. Adding faux film grain to cinematic cutscenes is another common technique and one that can be quite distracting. GreedFall is a very satisfying RPG, combining many of the elements found in BioWare games. It is the sort of game that provides “comfort entertainment”, as it feels very familiar and traditional.
Perhaps the most challenging game I’ve played of late is Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. This is mainly down to the fact that I’m playing the Switch version and using a pro controller. I’ve tackled other instalments in the franchise on the PC. The combination of the unfamiliarity with using a controller plus the absolute plethora of buttons, menus and actions has meant that my progress has been very slow. Plus when playing on a PC, I am sitting directly in front of the monitor. Using a large screen TV and sitting further away also takes some getting used to. Although I can see quite well, the incongruity of this manner of gaming seems to add to my sense of discombobulation. However, I shall persevere as I like this game and the naval combat is proving especially enjoyable.
In early May, I took part in an XCOM 2 succession game, in which each player undertook a mission and then saved the game and shared the file with the next participant. It was a very interesting experience as playing a turn based strategy game is somewhat out of my comfort zone. Broadly I enjoyed this experience but as ever there were a few caveats. Some of the missions in XCOM 2 have time sensitive objectives. Mercifully, I did not have to endure one of these. I don’t care for time based game mechanics and find them annoying rather than tense or motivating. And then there was the issue of incurring a fatality among your squad when undertaking a mission. Usually, I wouldn’t worry so much about such a thing but as this was a team undertaking, I felt a greater sense of responsibility to prevent this. Ironically, I failed but it is interesting how participating in a team activity changes your outlook and how you play a game due to a perceived sense of obligation to others. Perhaps I’m just not a good team player.
As I mentioned initially, I finally catalogued all games that I currently own and have been trying to draft a short list of the titles I would like to try this year. Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone and Elite Dangerous are the current favourites. Possibly 70% of what I own will more than likely never be played. In many ways this highlights the ephemeral nature of video games. Like popular music from time to time someone will create a timeless classic but there is also a lot of disposable content produced on a seemingly endless conveyor belt. And much of that seems to end up in my video game collection. I must admit, when I finally move over to Windows 11 as an operating system, I’m curious to see how well support for Android apps goes. I tend not to play mobile games on my phone or tablet and the biggest stumbling block of running them on my PC is the use of an emulator. Finally being able to try some titles from the comfort of my PC could prove convenient. Or it may validate my existing prejudice towards mobile games.