Video Games

I had retired from video games due to lack of moderation, but Fallout 4s release had brought me out.

Strictly XBox only and tend to play the same game for 4 to 8 months straight since I limit myself to 3 to 5 hrs a week. I got Starfield on pre release and like it but am basically done and don't see 2 more months much less a decade of play.

Next up for me will be either Hogwarts or Cyberpunk PL. I played Cyberpunk 1 year after release and LOVED it and am excited to revisit since I know a lot changed. Maybe the game that made me care about story the most ever, thanks to Keanu. Baldurs Gate and Diablo 4 are on my radar, but not sure if I'll get to them.

Prior faves for me were Oblivion (which inspired my retirement), Fallout 4, Witcher 3, Destiny, Ascent, and Assassins Creed Odyssey. Never could make Red Dead 1 or 2, Valhalla, GTA, Batmans, Jedi, Elden Ring, Deathloop, or Skyrim work for me. I try to buy a pile of games on Xmas sale and have them last the year, to mixed results.

Haven’t been playing much lately but started up a Baldurs Gate 3 run with some friends a few days ago. Feel like that game is what I’ve been looking for for years, an RPG that can balance exploration and storytelling while also having functional multiplayer. I don’t remember the last big multiplayer game that wasn’t a shooter or base-building sort of joint.

I spent 100 bananas on Diablo 4. I'm not a huge fan. I loved that they went back to the classic style, but the game is just endless grinding for nothing. The super, duper final boss is just avoiding the 1 shot kill, regardless of how much health and armor you have. The PVP system is entirely broken, partly because it's not a PVP game. I found myself just Googling the best builds for each class because you really need it the more you progress.

The story wasn't bad though. I played for far longer than I intended because my two buddies really enjoyed it.


I'm half way through Valhalla. I liked the first few Assassins Creeds and picked it back up with Origins and wanted to stay current. I thought Odessy's story wasn't great and was rather repetitive. It was OK, but wasn't a big fan. Valhalla I'm finding to be a bit more boring. I got halfway through and stopped. I do intend to pick it back up again. Stealth barely exists in Valhalla. It's hack and slash.

I'm surprised you couldn't make Red Dead, Jedi or Skyrim work for you. I loved Fall Out 4, but Skyrim I feel is pinnacle Bethesda. My favorite Fall Out is probably 3 though. 76 was just a train wreck and Starfield might as well be "midfield". Elden Ring I found to be tremendous, but I can see why people have a hard time with it. It's purposefully hard and vague. I had spent 25 hours and couldn't figure out where to go and almost gave up. I'm glad I stuck with it, but yeah, it's tough. There's supposedly a super rich detailed story, which I've pieced together from the internet, but you only get the story in-game by reading item descriptions. No thanks.

I've heard great things about Hogwarts and really want to play Cyber Punk. I also want to play the new Spider-Man game.


My FAVORITES are as follows:

FF7 (original game, I think the remake is garbage)
FF6
Spider-Man and Spider-Man Myles Morales
God of War: Ragnarök (and the self title before it)
Fall Out 3/New Vegas
Jedi Fallen Order
Original Star Craft Battle.net edition
War Craft 2

Socom back in the day was my first shooter and absolutely loved it.

I feel like I'm missing a few others

I'm on my 3rd playthrough of BG3 now. I played the hell out of Diablo 4 on release and the first season. Got so repetitive and annoying that I quit before I hit lvl 100 on either the original eternal or season 1. Also love Valheim and will be getting back into it soon. I also play the OOTP Baseball games. Guess which team I always pick? I quit playing the pay to win Perfect Team within that though because ugh. I can't believe how many people waste thousands and thousands of dollars on that. It's probably what Ohtani plays now.

Oh boy I lost a lot of my life to OOTP 19's Perfect Team. I won't let myself buy any of the newer ones because they're too addicting. They have that same mobile game cocaine in them with the 30-minute sims.

It's very pay to win, but before they shut down the servers I had 3 wins in 4 seasons in the Perfect League without putting any cash in. The winning strategy to compete with the whales ended up being prioritizing elite defense, loading up on pitchers with high movement and control so the defense could do its work, and loading up on right-handed hitters & turning my home park factors up for righties and down for lefties.

My buddy has the current OOTP and it's even more pay to win now. Kind of a shame, but oh well, I'll take another reason not to buy it 😁

This experience has for better or worse shaped my team-building philosophy for actual baseball. Watching last year's team field was really brutal lol

It seems like as time goes on there are fewer games I enjoy, but I still like to game, at least between semesters! I really enjoy the Soulsborne games - I'm working on Elden Ring right now, which is great in spite of being open world, which usually is a recipe for disaster. Blasphemous II is next in the queue and also souls-like; I loved the original, so I'm hyped.

I'm also a sucker for story-driven games. I was moved by To The Moon and its sequels. Gris also stands out for being beautiful and moving. Soma came out eight years ago but I still think about it all the time. Even walking simulators like Dear Esther; gameplay really isn't important if they can tell a good story. I played Beacon Pines on the way down to visit family over the holidays and it was excellent - some well-written, charming cozy horror.

Speaking of horror, I love horror games. Basically anything Frictional Games touches is a must play for me, and not just because I liked Soma so much. The less action / more survival horror oriented Resident Evil games are fabulous - RE2 Remake is an easy recommend. I've enjoyed a handful of smart, subversive games like Doki Doki Literature Club and Inscryption, and I've even sunk a lot of time into online horror games. I have way too many hours in Dead By Daylight and I've been enjoying The Outlast Trials this winter.

I like shooters, but the genre feels like it has gone way downhill. Give me another actually good Battlefield game. Not a fan of the competitive shooters nowadays.

I don't play many roguelites, but I also have to call out Hades as an absolute gem. I wish I could go back and play it again for the first time. Thankfully there's a sequel in the works.

I basically went almost 20 years without playing, then got back into it. So many missed games, it's impossible to catch up. I literally have a few dozen games I've bought that I've even yet to play. Enjoyed the heck out of Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, that's only like 300 plus hours of game play lol. Then Fallout 76, which is better than people say given all the fixes. GTA 5 was epic, Red Dead Redemption 1 was epic. Forza Horizon 3,4 and 5 are a ton of mindless fun. Bunch of sports games, but they never keep my attention. Currently on Elder scrolls and Boarderlands 1 remastered, yeah I'm way behind! There's just no way to make up 20 lost years. Been thinking about getting a Playstation to go after some of their epic games, but I don't have the time. The new games, heck even ones over a decade old are just massive and take so long to finish. Maybe by generation 6th, I can finish up the 3rd and 4th generations, but that's unlikely.