I just don’t game like I used to. Actually, I don’t know if I ever really overdid the gaming like I thought I did. I was looking through a case of all my old Playstation games and over half were unbeaten. Of those, there were many that I never played more than thirty minutes into the game. Of course, I have several hundred Playstation games, so I guess I did do an excessive amount of gaming in my early twenties. I’ve been tempted to replay several of them, but alas I will have to wait until I finish a few of my more recent purchases.
I used gift cards and birthday money to buy the latest Final Fantasy. I haven’t invested much time in a Final Fantasy (other than GBA and DS ports) since IX. I told myself to go into the game with no expectations, and so far that has worked in my favor. I’m still unsure how I feel about the game so far. It’s not bad, but it’s not mind-blowingly Final Fantasy good either. The fun combat system makes up for the lack of free exploration. I’ll just sit the fence on this some more.
Last week I finished Final Fantasy IV. Now that is a Final Fantasy. I guess if I want a more traditional Final Fantasy experience, I can play any of the older versions, which are all available on my favorite handheld.
I’ve also been reading up on XIV. I played very little of XI. I was early in pregnancy with my first child, and my hormones were doing quite the number on me. I chose the ‘frustrating at low levels’ Thief class. My friends had chosen the depressing Bastok as our home city. I had just finished playing the stress test for World of Warcraft, which I had been looking forward to for years. I switched to Warrior, but never got to level 10. I found the keyboard controls to be a headache. I probably would have eventually got a controller if I had played more.
I got to read the blogs and see screenshots of friends who played the game frequently. I knew the game was not bad, but I had so many things going against me that my personal experience was bad. I loved that could you only needed one character, with that toon being able to be any job and all jobs if you chose to dedicate the time and effort. The armor was so much nicer than the oddball stuff WoW comes out with.
With that said, I really want to give XIV a shot. I don’t know how feasible that is since it will probably be as focused on parties as XI. Being a mother and a fan of MMOs does not always mix well. I guess I will just have to wait and see…
When in doubt walk softly, but carry your biggest sword.
