I have a habit of becoming a fan of something fairly early on and thinking of myself as a latecomer for many years afterwards. In Rooster Teeth’s case, I became aware of them around the time of the sixth season of Red vs Blue, their first show. To put that into perspective, I’ve been a fan of this company and some of its many productions for fifteen of the twenty-one years they’ve been around. Across their many shows, channels and podcasts, I’ve probably spent hundreds if not thousands of hours alongside these internet personalities and fictional characters throughout the greater half of my life so far. That’s not an easy thing to say goodbye to, even if I never knew any of people involved personally. In a parasocial sense, I’ve spent more time with these people than I have with some of my closest friends. That means something.
It hasn’t always been easy or perfect. There’s been loss. There’s been over corporatisation. There have been letdowns. Some of my favourites grew late into the people that I’d hoped they already were. But the internet has a long memory, and isn’t kind to those who make mistakes. Ultimately, I chose to stick around. Because contrary to popular belief, it is possible to condemn someone’s past actions, and to also acknowledge their growth and reward change. But we’re not here to talk about old smudges on the record.
I recently re-watched the first ten seasons of Red vs Blue, and while not all the comedy has aged like fine wine, I found myself grinning more often than not. I’ve often said that re-experiencing narratives at later stages of your life is important because you come to it as a different person, and take away something different each time. With this latest rewatch of Red vs Blue, I found myself marvelling at what was made with the technical limitations at play. My first exposure to Halo, the games which the series is filmed in, was through the show itself, and I wouldn’t play my first game until 2019. So to see this show through fresh eyes, knowing the context of the multiplayer maps they chose for specific locations and limitations of the software they used to machinimate, I found myself newly impressed. Not only that, but the shift from pure comedy to a comedic/drama focus from season six onwards is one rarely seen in stories anywhere, and the show only got bigger and better for it.
I was a latecomer to Achievement Hunter as well. It wasn’t until the seventh episode of Fails of the Weak that I finally decided to check out whatever this little Red vs Blue side project was all about. And while I didn’t know who this Jack guy was, this Geoff guy sounded awfully familiar. Was that Grif’s voice actor?! He was… a real dude?? That’s wild! And so began many years of Achievement Hunter fandom. I actually rolled my eyes when they started their Minecraft Let’s Play series because so many other people had beaten them to the punchline on that one. I remember when they started playing multiplayer GTA IV, which was an older game at the time, and all I could think about was how this was the kind of stuff I’d wanted to make for years, this was the way I played these games too. I remember being uneasy whenever a new personality was introduced, be they Michael or Gavin or Ray or Jeremy or Matt or Fiona or BK or countless others, only to go on to watch hundreds of hours of content from them, loving every minute.
There were already nearly a hundred episodes of the Rooster Teeth Podcast when I discovered that, so of course I had to go all the way back to the start. Which was such a long way. I remember listening through them to stay sane when doing gardening, one specific chore which I absolutely loathed. I associate certain games or certain areas in certain games with the podcast. I was playing an old RC racing game called Re-Volt while listening to Geoff and Gus talk about the achievement hunting bet which would eventually inspire Geoff to start Achievement Hunter itself. That conversation and those virtual racetracks are inseparable. I listen to a plethora of podcasts today, but the RT Podcast was my very first, and while I was at first apprehensive at the idea of listening in to a conversation from some random dudes I couldn’t even see, it has of course become second nature.
As an anime fan, I was curious about RWBY, and a little sceptical as well. The company was experiencing rapid growth at this point, and I remember feeling that they were growing too fast too quickly, and moving away from what we already loved them for. But I’ve tuned into every season of RWBY, and while those first seasons are certainly a little underbaked in terms of budget (remember when all crowds were presented as silhouettes?), one could not fault the effort and love poured into that thing from the very start. It’s been wild to see that show grow and mature much like Red vs Blue and the company itself has over the years, and last year I found RWBY Volume 9 to be particularly poignant and special to me personally. I really, really hope they get to continue telling that story.
Another Rooster Teeth production that will always hold a special place in my heart is Always Open. I only tuned into the occasional episode during the original run of this podcast, but I was present for every episode of the second. This podcast was like a healing balm for the troubled mind. Whatever was going on in my life, I knew I could tune into an episode of Always Open and hear friends having frank, open conversations about where they came from, the hardships they’ve faced in life, and how they’ve overcome them. (That and the occasional pussy slay joke.) Some of the topics about mental health, neurodivergence and bisexuality specifically have been really vindicating and self-affirming, and I’ll always keep them with me. Barbara, if you happen to be reading this, thank you.
I am also a regulation listener and comment leaver of F**kface. For those of you who haven’t heard the podcast, it has been fittingly described as being deep lore about nothing. I was beyond delighted when two of my favourite personalities and a familiar name banded together to make what has consistently been the highlight of my week. The amount of times I’ve struggled to keep a straight face in work while listening to some of the most absurd bollocks has been too many to count. The podcast feels “Old RT” in the best way possible, and while I was already a fan of Gavin and Geoff, Andrew Panton quickly became a new favourite. The man is uniquely qualified to make me laugh, I swear to god.
There’s so much else I’m not even mentioning, not even recalling right now. I wave my hand towards Off Topic, The Real Canon podcast, the old Inside Gaming podcast and channel, the So… Alright podcast, Extra Life, various others. It still hasn’t quite hit me that Rooster Teeth is going away, and I don’t think it will until a few weeks into closure. But I write this post on the back of watching the final six hour livestream in which many of the cast and crew got to share their memories and say their final goodbyes. I know I was not alone in crying at my monitor. For all its flaws, Rooster Teeth really was something special and I don’t know that I’ll ever be ready to say goodbye.
I dabble in content creation myself. Well, I say dabble. I sink a decent chunk of my free time into it. And it isn’t successful by most people’s measurements. It’s growing, slowly, but I’ve certainly put far more time into it than is reasonable compared to someone who would only care about success. And while Rooster Teeth is not the only online media group to have inspired me to want to do this from a young age, the sense of perseverance with which many of its hires poured their hearts into their passion projects certainly inspired me to keep going with mine. I hope I can continue to find them doing so with whatever projects they pursue next.
So thank you, Rooster Teeth, and everyone involved. I don’t know if any of you will read this. I’ll be posting it on the subreddit, but that is currently being flooded with similar sentiments. Because I’m not alone in being touched by your many shows and productions. I’m not alone in being inspired by the many wonderful people that made up the company, both on and off camera. So whether you see this or not. Thank you so much. For everything.
People often talk about seeing their favourite thing for the first time, and having an instant gut reaction to it, a reaction of need. “I don’t know what that is yet, but I need it.” I can think of a few instances in my life where this has happened to me. Seeing Minecraft’s pre-alpha gameplay back in 2009. Seeing the first 10 seconds of the Shadowbringers trailer for Final Fantasy XIV. It is an incredibly rare and special thing to find yourself at the cusp of a fascination which you know will satiate you for hours to come.
Like many DS-owning teenagers in the mid-to-late 2000s, one such moment of eye-catching wonder was when I set my eyes upon Dragon Quest IX. I’d never played a Japanese created RPG before, and I hadn’t grown up with Dragon Ball either. But Toriyama’s art style and monster design instantly jumped out to me and grabbed me. Now unfortunately, this story doesn’t continue with me then finishing IX, playing IV, V and VI, then VII and VIII and XI. It’d be a better story if it did. I blame the writer. Ultimately, I hit a difficulty wall in one of the earliest bosses in the game, and being unfamiliar with the genre, wasn’t equipped with the wherewithal to go and grind some more before trying again. I just gave up.
All the same, I’d spend many years afterwards looking for games which played like Dragon Quest, and while I found them, something was always missing. I had fun in other RPGs, but those first 5 or 10 hours with Dragon Quest IX always remained in the back of my head, like an itch waiting to be scratched. Meanwhile, Dragon Quest’s popularity skyrocketed in the West, culminating in more localisation and remakes of older titles and spinoffs. Eventually, many years later, Dragon Quest Builders caught my attention, and from there, my steady ascent into the world of Dragon Quest truly began.
It’s a journey which I am still very much at the start of. After playing some Dragon Quest Builders 1 on Switch and 2 on Game Pass, I played through a decent chunk of XI S, also on Game Pass. I began to truly fall in love with the series. I also picked up VII and VIII physically on 3DS when it was announced that the eShop was shutting down, and I feared that prices would skyrocket to unattainable highs as was the case with IV, V and VI on DS. I’m currently around 35 hours into VII, making it my most played Dragon Quest game so far, and despite this being one of the less celebrated entries in the series, I’m having as good of a time as I ever have in a Dragon Quest game. I’m also knee deep into Dragon Quest Builders 1, which I picked up again on Steam as it released on PC this year.
Dragon Quest is, of course, the culmination of many wonderful and talented people’s hard work, and I’m optimistic about its future even now. But I want to stress that the thing which was missing from other RPGs I tried over the years was the unique charm Akira Toriyama brought to the franchise.
In 2022, I decided that it was past time I experienced the world of Dragon Ball. I grew up on Bleach and Naruto, two shows and manga which openly owe a lot to the groundwork established by Akira Toriyama. So I decided to read the manga for both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. And once again, I found the same lighthearted yet often serious charm that I found in the Dragon Quest series of games. I didn’t grow up on the anime with everyone else, but I had such a fantastic time reading through the original source material for those shows.
It’s clear to me that Akira Toriyama had a certain kind of magic with his creative spirit, something which he shared with the world through years of dedication and hard work. We were so lucky to have him with us, and while the world will be a dimmer place without him, it will continue to be coloured by both the many vibrant works he left behind, and the countless other magicians he inspired and uplifted throughout his time with us. May his legacy last a million years.
I have a complicated relationship with Diablo IV, and some of it is my fault. Some of it is not. Having recently rebooted the game for the first time since the start of Season 1, I found myself thinking about these things again.
Firstly, I loved the main story of Diablo IV, and the gameplay. You may remember that I placed it as my third favourite game of the year, and I stand by that. But even when playing through my favourite experience in the game, I found faults. Whilst the story shone brilliantly at certain points and the atmosphere never failed to hit, I did find the pacing a little wonky. Some Acts were more intriguing than others. Some felt unnecessary. But crucially, making my way through the story was an experience marred by unforgiving level scaling problems, much the same of which could be found in WoW: Dragonflight. Namely, you started the game feeling powerful, but as you levelled up, acquired new gear and abilities, packs of monsters did not melt before you; they became a slog. And in an action RPG like Diablo IV, this is a cardinal sin. In my opinion, that gameplay lives and dies on difficulty tuning.
The next issue I had with the game was its endgame. Namely, that the level cap was 100, for seemingly no reason, and that it was an excruciating grind to get there. I’ve heard that, in recent patches, they’ve significantly reduced the time it takes to reach max level. Good. My first and main character is still level 62, because I got bored repeating the same things over and over again. And that’s worth a mention, too – this is a Diablo game! It’s meant to be fun to repeat activities over and over again. But when you make such little progress every go-around, the treadmill effect is hard to escape.
The final nail in the coffin for me was seasons. I’m someone who does enjoy cosmetic rewards and meta-progression by way of a good Battle Pass, and I think that if this were implemented into Diablo III with its art style, I’d probably have a great time with what was on offer. But Diablo IV is a different beast with different aesthetics, and in my opinion, cosmetic armours are a hard sell for a world like this. The designs aren’t bad, they’re just… boring. Especially when the armour set for each class shares a base theme. I don’t want to collect a Necromancer set that looks like the Druid set – I want two separate and distinct sets! I can’t speak too much to the actual gameplay mechanics of the first two seasons because, after so long bashing my head against the endgame wall of the base game, I was fully burned out.
Here are the armour sets for season 3. Granted, these do look cool, but look at that homogeny.
So, okay. That was a lot of whinging. Why are we talking about this now?
Well… because lately I’ve been seeing Josh Strife Hayes play a lot of Path of Exile, and so I gave that game my yearly try-and-bounce-off. And so, instead, I decided to reinstall Diablo IV and approach it differently:
Firstly, no season 2 character. Season 3 starts next week, and if I try to powerlevel through season 2 for a bunch of rewards I’m not that keen on, I’m going to bounce off the game harder than Path of Exile. Instead, I’ve loaded up my main character on the Eternal Realm, and am just taking my time getting reacquainted with my Ice Shards Sorcerer. No rush to level 100. Fear of missing out was a big part of why I found the original endgame grind to be such a grind. All I could think about was how I loved this game and wanted to see all of it alongside everyone else. Sod that. Taking it at my own pace this time.
Next, stop giving a shit about battle pass rewards. Going forward, I’ll approach seasons the way I do in Diablo III – not as a set of tasks to unlock new shinies, but as a reason to roll a new character, try a new build, interface with the game in a new way, and get some bonus rewards along the way. We just found out that Season 3 is going to be based on Zoltun Kulle and mechanical constructs he left lying around in vaults, and that’s something I’m looking forward to getting into.
Finally, I’m not going to look up a build guide this time. Earlier, I referred to my main as an Ice Shards Sorcerer, a build I resorted to after my homemade lightning build was failing to pack a punch. I maintain that there’s some fun to be had in working towards a build from a guide – my Ice Shards Sorcerer does wreck shop – but that’s not how I played Diablo III. Back then, I’d bake up my own builds, take them as far as I could, and only then would I pivot to looking something up. I’ve yet to interface with Paragon boards without consulting a guide, and it’s something I’d really like to try figuring out myself.
The thing that really stood out to me when I booted up my Sorcerer the other day was how fun the game is to play. I thought, goddamn, how much extra crap was I worried about with this game when basic combat is this fun? And that’s ultimately why I wrote this post. To remind myself what the issues I had were, and how I can meet Blizzard halfway in overcoming them.
Hello, and welcome back to the blog post of the year in which I look back on everything I played for the first time in 2023 and slap it arbitrarily on a list of the top ten out of all of them!
Now, I am an avid gamer, but I find these posts a little difficult because I spend at least 60% of my playtime in any given year playing games I’ve already played to death. This year, that consists of World of Warcraft, WoW Classic, Runescape, Old School Runescape, Halo Infinite, and Fortnite, amongst others. I love a new experience, I really do, but I’d be lying if I said my brain wasn’t fed first and foremost by familiarity.
I’m also going to address an elephant which has bounded rudely into the room. Now, I’m writing this before The Game Awards airs tonight, but we all know that Baldur’s Gate 3 is winning Game of the Year. (The best bit is, if I’m wrong, I can just edit that out.) So where, might you wonder, is it on Kristian’s list? Ah! He must not have played it this year. Well… not true. Head to my Steam profile and you’ll see that I spent not one, not two, but seven (point seven) hours in the thing. Bought at full price and everything. And yeah, you know, it was all right. It probably deserved to win Game of the Year. But it didn’t hold my attention for very long, so I’ll get back to it. As for the other elephants, I still don’t own a PS5.
As for personal “can’t quite justifying putting it on there” mentions, I purchased the PC port of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart this year, and have thoroughly loved what I’ve played of it… it’s just not enough of a playthrough to quantify as a game of this year at this point. I spent quite a bit of time in Forza Motorsport 7, enjoying that entry more than I ever have before, but we do one series entry per list. And Eldritch, the roguelike from 2013, deserves a mention as I’ve delved deeper into it than ever before this year. But it’s certainly not a fresh experience for me in 2023. Similarly, I’ve spent more time in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion than ever before. Finally, I really wanted to spend some more time with Sea of Stars, as I know it’d make it onto this list, but I only had time to progress one of two different RPGs far enough to make a verdict, and that’s our #2 pick.
Okay. My conscience is clean, my insecurities about game completion are at an all time high, let’s start talking about the top ten games I’ve played in 2023.
But First…
While this has been an exceptional year for those of us who enjoy games, it’s been an exceptionally bad year for the wonderful people who actually make them. This year has seen an absurd amount of layoffs across the gaming industry, primarily from companies who can afford to keep their staff, but are willing to make the lives of their very lifeblood difficult in order to boast record profits. Development studios have seen widespread layoffs directly before the holiday season, meaning that the people who worked so hard to bring these worlds to life have found themselves in a situation of uncertainty and financial instability before one of the most expensive times of the year. Game developers deserve better, and if you’re reading this as someone who makes games, I just want to take the time to personally thank you and acknowledge the hard times that are heaped upon you by your uncaring corporate overlords. I hope the gaming industry does better by you in the future.
10. Trackmania (Xbox Series S)
I’ve been a fan of the Trackmania series since back when I first laid eyes (and then hands) on Trackmania Nations Forever. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a game where you control a Formula 1 looking vehicle around user generated tracks, usually with despicably tight corners which need to be reacted to at lightning speeds. The aim is not to race against real-time solid opponents, but against real-time ghosts, all vying for the best time from start to finish before the server moves onto the next track. There’s also typically a single player campaign for you to try your hand at perfecting.
The issue with this latest installment of Trackmania, at least for the more hardcore players, is the subscription model. Trackmania, no subtitle, is now a free-to-play experience with dedicated user servers locked behind a subscription model. Free players can instead join official servers which rotate through official (or officially chosen) maps, changing seasonally.
I can see why people dislike this model, but as a more casual player I’ve simply been having a delightful time with a new (yet familiar) Trackmania experience. I’m still never going to reach first place in public lobbies, but there’s a weird zen that comes from learning a new track and shaving milliseconds off your previous best time. Plus, there’s a new mode akin to battle royale wherein you and your team have to navigate various difficulties of obstacle courses to be the last team standing, and that’s pretty damn fun too.
9. Ravenlok (Xbox Series S)
Sometimes, you just want to go on an adventure that isn’t going to take you half a year to finish. Sometimes, you want to finish that adventure in one or two sittings. And sometimes, you want an adventure that’s simple, not something so complex you feel like you’ve earned a university degree by the end of it. And that, my friends, is exactly what you should turn to Ravenlok for!
Ravenlok was a Game Pass discovery of mine at the time of its release, and I love everything about it. It tells a very Alice in Wonderland style tale of a young girl who discovers a fantastical world full of magic and mystery. The combat is simple, the boss fights are engaging but not too challenging, and the journey to 100% completion is smooth and rewarding. The voxel-sculpted land of Dunia is both intriguing and mesmerising.
It’s just a good solid fun adventure. Go and have it.
8. Watch Dogs Legion (Xbox Series S)
Watch Dogs is the kind of series that I never really cared for. The fantasy of being a hacker-magician has never really landed with me, and as for GTA-style open world games, I always preferred the wackiness of a series like Saints Row. However, when Legion was announced with its recruit-and-play-as-anyone system, a little light came on in my brain. Suddenly, this particular GTA clone wasn’t about being a hacker god. It was about being everyone. The fantasy of knowing that anyone I pass on the street could be a playable character with a full personality and backstory is exactly what was needed to get me on board. Just… not at launch, evidently.
It also helps that the game is set in dystopian London. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am far from being a patriot, but I must admit to a fondness for certain elements of my home country. I guess, if nothing else, it’s more personally relatable, especially as this game’s story hones in on a morally treacherous government, and the lens of paranoia and fear that a tabloid-addled section of the general public see the world through.
Also, you can crush people by making parked cars accelerate, and that’s pretty fucking funny.
7. Cocoon (Xbox Series S)
Cocoon is one of those dream Game Pass titles. You see it on your dashboard and you think, huh. I’ve heard good things, it’s a pretty low time commitment, I’m down to solve some puzzles. And as you play, it continuously surprises and delights you with its atmosphere, environmental design, and puzzle solutions. I personally found the puzzles to feel mind-bending yet approachable, hitting the perfect balance of making me feel smart without making me feel like an idiot. I finished this game without using any guides, resorting to one YouTube video to find the one collectible I missed after the fact for perfection, and it was an immensely satisfying journey.
If you don’t know anything about Cocoon, you play as this little dung beetle that traverses worlds with the aid of… well, worlds. I won’t give too much away, but this game approaches worldbuilding in a uniquely vertical way. Think of the world you begin with as being the inside of a sphere. Within this world, like a Russian doll, you’ll eventually find another world-sphere. You can carry this world around on your back and use its unique abilities to solve puzzles, whilst also at times delving into said world to solve its puzzles. It sounds very complicated, but the game’s linearity really helps you stay on track, especially with tricks like removing paths behind you so you can’t lose yourself in backtracking too much when it won’t lead to a solution. The level design is super tight, meaning everything is there for a reason, which really helps when applying logic to solve puzzles.
If you need a little distraction that’s going to occupy your brain and charm you as you play, look no further than Cocoon.
6. Forza Motorsport (Xbox Series S and PC)
Hardcore fans of the genre will tell you that the newest Forza Motorsport makes a grave error in its car upgrade system, and I can see why. If you’re someone who loves tinkering with what’s under the hood, this system is grindy and restrictive. So, if you see this game catching a lot of flak, that’s why.
I, however, am a more casual fan of racing simcade, and I’m an RPG fan to boot. I find the car upgrade system to feel very rewarding, and while it introduces deeper problems for more players, I feel like it does solve the problem it sets out to address; my car collection does feel more personal and curated now.
When I was a kid, my sister would play Gran Turismo weirdly. She’d always drive the car in her garage with the least amount of mileage, ensuring they all had a similar amount of use. Forza’s level-up system reminds me of this, or of the fantasy of maintaining a full garage of cars which that style of gameplay entailed.
It’s also, to be frank, new Forza. There’s really not much to say about it. It looks prettier. It feels nicer. The multiplayer is better. The cars go vroom. And I like it very, very much.
5. Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom (Xbox Series S)
I can’t name you a single MMO with a flawless history. In fact, I think ESO has done a remarkable job of keeping players happier in their lowest points than most other MMOs. For me, anyway, ESO: Blackwood and its subsequent follow-up Deadlands were some of the biggest letdowns in the game’s history, and I’ve been there for most of it. (Blackwood did make it to my 2021 GOTY list, under the dubious reasoning that I had such a good time in older parts of the game that year.) This was followed by High Isle last year, which I was expecting to love and instead found… quite boring.
This year, Necrom felt like a fantastic return to form. For the first time since Markarth, and most potently since Morrowind, the main story questline kept me fully hooked. The return to Morrowind and the subsequent venture into Apocrypha took two of my separate favourite parts of Elder Scrolls lore, and combined them in such a way that would make any newcomer to the series think that they’d been created as two parts of a whole the entire time. Plus, the new Arcanist class, which I brought through my main story run, was an absolute blast to play, especially in dungeon content. Truth be told I was getting a little tired of my tried-and-true Stamina Dragonknight, so to embrace green with my Magicka Arcanist and laser beam my way through hordes of enemies was a delightful change of pace.
I’ve yet to check in with the game since the Endless Archive update, their first step away from the usual smaller story DLC in the second half of the year, but I look forward to trying it out.
4. Guild Wars 2 (PC)
For those unaware, I’m someone who very much rotates through several different popular MMOs. In a typical year, I’ll usually sink a decent amount of time into World of Warcraft, RuneScape, The Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV, and often some outliers like Star Wars: The Old Republic or Everquest II. For some time now, it’s been nagging at me that Guild Wars 2 is just about the only popular MMO left unexplored and outside my rotation, so this year, I set out to right that wrong.
If FFXIV has the “best community in gaming” crowd, then Guild Wars 2 has the “we’re not like the other girls” crowd. All I’ve ever heard about this game is how much of a different approach it takes to other popular MMOs, and having now played a fair chunk of the base game, I can attest to that. But are those differences worth making, or are they just zagging for the sake of not zigging? Well, from what I’ve seen so far, Guild Wars 2’s unique seasoning does make for a refreshingly hearty meal. That doesn’t mean the game is without issues, however. I personally feel like the hands-off nature of levelling between Personal Story missions and the lack of a focus on a more traditional dungeon experience can make levelling feel tedious at times, and is what caused me to drop the game for months between play sessions.
But most of what Guild Wars 2 does do differently is a joyful accomplishment. Building your character through weapon abilities and multiple specs at once makes classes feel far more versatile than your typical MMO, even if buttons maybe don’t feel as satisfying to press as in WoW. The focus on map completion, while potentially grindy between story missions, is nevertheless a satisfying pursuit of experience in and of itself when you’re in the mood for it. The lore options given to you at character creation are a delightful way of differentiating your Sylvari from another’s; what philosophy does your character prefer, what calling do you follow from your time in the Dream? And despite seemingly not being an overly celebrated part of the game today, the fact that these choices influence the initial quests you go on both enhances character identity and keeps things fresh for alternate characters of the same race.
I have a much longer journey to go on in my future Guild Wars 2 experience, but as far as the base game goes, I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far.
Update: After writing this but before publication, I ran into a repeating game-breaking bug which sadly brought my game progress to a halt. It’s never been fixed, has no clear solution, and only affects a seemingly random handful of players. Neither Steam nor Arena Net would refund me any content I bought for future play. I’m keeping its entry in my GOTY listing, as the fun I had with the game remains. I simply won’t be able to play any more of it.
3. Diablo IV (Xbox Series S)
I’m a massive Diablo fan, and discovered the franchise shortly after Reaper of Souls had been released for Diablo III. Since then, I’ve spent a huge amount of time playing the series (mostly III), exploring the lore and history of the world, and waiting on a sequel. This year, we finally got it, and as far as the main story experience goes, I couldn’t be happier. It was fascinating to return to Sanctuary after so many years away between games, and to explore the world from a different perspective, tonally. The game felt very much like it took the gameplay of 3 and the atmosphere of 2, both of them individually being some of the highest vaunted elements of the series as a whole. They meld perfectly, and I was thoroughly entertained as I took my Sorcerer through the events of the main story.
The highlights for me were Act II and of course, the final Act with its grand cinematic. I was a huge fan of Act II specifically, which takes you into Scosglen to meet with a man named Donan. I won’t give any spoilers, but the way that particular Act escalates into its final boss fight was a rare treat, especially as Acts III and onwards focused mostly on a more interconnected sequence of events. The final Act, of course, is a culmination of those events, and while the story toyed with some ideas that I’m a little disappointed didn’t get a full commitment, I’ll never forget my first time playing through it.
Now, I do have a bit more of a complex relationship with the endgame, the game’s seasonal model, and the direction the first expansion seems to be taking us in, but I ultimately want to spend this time praising the games I’m putting on my Game of the Year list. (A novel concept, right?) Suffice to say that this game could easily have been number 1 if the live service portion of the game had stuck the landing, but the fact that it’s still as high as it is should speak to the experience of the main story.
2. Yakuza: Like A Dragon (Xbox Series S)
As an outsider to the series, I always viewed Like A Dragon as being in the same vein as the South Park RPGs; a fun parody of the genre, but lacking substance and ultimately missing the immersive story elements that people actually play those games for. From the outside looking in, Yakuza: Like A Dragon seemed like a spinoff to the main series that was made to poke fun at RPGs in Yakuza’s whacky style, and little else.
Boy was I wrong!
Don’t misunderstand me, this game is partially that. Like A Dragon is choc full of comedic sidequests, direct references to Dragon Quest, and humorous urban analogues to traditionally fantastical quirks of the genre like classes, summons, and popular items like potions. That being said, all of this is interwoven with a legitimately serious and compelling plot that I did not expect to find here. Ichiban Kasuga, our unconventionally altruistic Yakuza protagonist, is the very definition of “loveable idiot”. He says some goofy ass things; he does some goofy ass stuff. And he has a heart of gold. I would fucking die for this man.
The turn-based combat, while not being the most groundbreaking in modern times, does nevertheless have its own quirk; battles take place in the open world, with characters moving in real time between moves, and happenstance placement can sometimes lead to attacks of opportunity, environmental damage, or carefully pre-planned AOE attacks being more or less effective. For instance, one of the most satisfying abilities in the game is Adachi’s Reckless Charge, where you’ll want to target the guy in the back and watch as he knocks down everyone in-between like bowling pins. This simple yet rare twist in the turn-based formula was enough to keep me in manual control of all characters in most of my fights, and felt fulfilling to play.
It should be mentioned that while I really wanted to finish this game, as of the time of writing I’m stuck at Chapter 12, where the pacing becomes a major issue. The chapter starts with a massive currency grind, which luckily wasn’t so bad due to the surprisingly fulfilling business sim minigame. However, after spending hours doing this, my progress ground to a halt once again as enemy levels scaled wildly above mine. Within an astonishingly short period of time, enemies went from mirroring my average party level of 35 to throwing a level 50 boss at me. When faced with grinding experience (this being the second time this has become an issue), I unfortunately lost motivation.
That being said, I’m sure I’ll return to the game to complete it sometime soon. I’ve had such a good time with it, and it’s easily my biggest surprise of the year.
1. Starfield (Xbox Series S)
When Bethesda Games Studios first announced Starfield, I had the same reaction as a lot of others: Oh. This isn’t The Elder Scrolls VI.
How dare they.
But as time went on, I warmed to the idea. I’m a huge Elder Scrolls fan and a not-huge Fallout fan, but I’ve played games from both series, and they have so much shared DNA. Given that my main issue with Fallout is aesthetic and tone (I’m not a big post-apocalypse fan), I began to consider the idea that maybe their next game didn’t need to be The Elder Scrolls VI. Maybe a Bethesda RPG about space exploration would be entirely my cup of tea.
By the time of the Starfield Direct, I was pretty much sold. We’d had some previews of the game already by that point, and they hadn’t exactly blown me away. But this preview sold the true scope of the game, and by the end of the Direct I knew exactly what to expect. And Starfield delivered exactly that. I didn’t want Bethesda to reinvent the wheel. I wanted Bethesda to create a brand new sci-fi universe using their best tools, the tools with which they sculpted some of my favourite RPGs of all time. And did they do it again? In my opinion, yes. Absolutely.
This is the first BGS game where I’ve loved the main story. Critics will hum and haw about narrative until we all become dust, but for my money, Bethesda exceeded expectations. They managed to tell a story about unfolding the mysteries of the universe in a world where space travel had become routine; they managed to pull off the feeling of injecting magic into a universe that’s standard and rote to its citizens, yet its own kind of wondrous to us. And most successfully of all, the climax of the main story path culminates in one of the most interesting takes on New Game Plus I’ve ever seen.
This game also has the best shooter-based combat Bethesda have designed yet. It’s not just serviceable, it’s fun. There’s a wide variety of different weapons littering the countertops and bathroom stalls of Starfield’s many worlds, and while it’s certainly no Destiny, it’s also varied enough to facilitate different builds and strategies. I never find combat to be a slog or a chore. One of the main criticisms the game has rightfully received is the repetitive nature of the procedural generation of some worlds, but I think it speaks to the strength of the combat in this game that I’m perfectly happy cleaning out familiar looking mining outposts of familiar looking space pirates.
The exploration itself, as I’ve already touched upon, has received some criticism. Some people hate this game for it, and think it’s full of barren planets. Some people were expecting No Man’s Sky. But at 50 hours in, I’ve yet to grow tired of exploring even the more deserted landscapes. I’m someone who can very much get wrapped up in the immersion of a fictional universe. So, for instance, while some people land on Pluto and go, “ugh, it’s all just ice,” I land on Pluto and go, WOAH! I’m on PLUTO! LOOK there’s a little abandoned underground laboratory with frozen skeletons and shit. SO COOOL.
In a nutshell, Starfield is not a perfect game, and it wasn’t made for everyone. But it was made for me. I can acknowledge that Baldur’s Gate 3 is, objectively, the better game. I can acknowledge that Starfield has flaws. But all I ever really wanted from this game was a Bethesda RPG set in a sufficiently immersive and well-realised outer space setting, and that’s exactly what they delivered. I’ll be playing it for years to come.
2024
After a year so resplendent with top tier releases, it feels almost gluttonous to look ahead for more. Like, damn, I didn’t even play most of Baldur’s Gate 3 or get to try Spider-Man 2 or Super Mario Wonder, and I’ve never played a Remedy game and I still need to finish Breath of the Wild before considering the sequel, and that’s just The Game Awards nominees, sheesh.
But more games are coming! And here’s what I’m looking forward to next year, in order:
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
World of Warcraft: The War Within
Persona 3 Reload
Star Wars Outlaws
And unconfirmed but still on the horizon:
Dragon Quest III 2D-HD (and X Offline plsplsplsplsplspls-)
Starfield’s “Shattered Space” DLC
ESO’s next expansion
But to be perfectly honest, my brain is full of backlog-related thoughts. I’ve recently spun up a single player playthrough of Divinity: Original Sin and picked up its more famous younger brother on sale, so I’m entertaining the idea of a Larian marathon. I also want to make time to finish Yakuza: Like A Dragon and play Yakuza 0 – Gaiden, presuming they remain on Game Pass. In fact, just this month I made an entire spreadsheet dedicated to my gaming backlog (and other media backlogs too) – you can see that here.
Right, that’s going to do it for me. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s and play many new games in the months to come.
Over the years, I’ve played a bit of World of Warcraft. Today, I’d like to show you every single one of my characters! Why? Well, fun. One of my favourite things about WoW is the variety of races and classes, and the wide customisability in appearance across both character creation and gear sets makes it a near-endless font of creative tinkering.
Most of the characters you’re about to see don’t have their final transmogs, and are probably a bit messy, but if I went out of my way to try and find them all something to wear for this blog post, it’d never get written. So, without further ado, we’ll go in order of… my current character select screen order. Which happens to be the order of level, then realm.
Kritigri
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Balance Druid
Lore: His “lore name” is Korrus Starseed. He worked within the Emerald Dream for thousands of years until he was awoken to help with the Cataclysm crisis. He’s been an adventurer ever since. Brother to Tolidar, Jerrek, and Virizard.
Notes: He’s my main character. Always has been. Created him in Mists of Pandaria as a clone of my original character, Shadowmadman, who I played in The Burning Crusade. (I was younger then, and didn’t truly start playing until later.)
Dionaar
Race / Class / Spec: Draenei Shadow Priest
Lore: Sister to Aeonaar. “Fell” to the Void after fleeing Draenor with the rest of the Draenei after losing her beloved. Joined the Twilight’s Hammer for a while, but left after seeing her sister from afar and realising she didn’t want all life to end.
Notes: Boosted with The War Within pre-order.
Atraxes
Race / Class / Spec: Dracthyr Devastation Evoker
Lore: Was awoken alongside the rest of the Dracthyr and became an adventurer.
Notes: My one and only Dracthyr so far.
Ephemeros
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Marksmanship Hunter
Lore: Fell during the War of the Thorns and was raised as a Dark Ranger alongside many other Kaldorei. Rejoined the Alliance at the end of the events of Shadowlands.
Notes: Boosted with the Dragonflight pre-order.
Tamuul
Race / Class / Spec: Lightforged Draenei Retribution Paladin
Lore: One of the Draenei of Azeroth who was Lightforged after the events of Legion.
Notes: My Kyrian during Shadowlands.
Grimslash
Race / Class / Spec: Worgen Furry Warrior (ahem, Fury)
Lore: A Gilnean afflicted with the Worgen Curse, he channels his beastly rage against his enemies for the greater good.
Notes: My first melee-levelled character. My Necrolord during Shadowlands.
Temyra
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Beast Master Hunter
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: Temyra has undergone the most amount of change since creation. She was originally a male Night Elf named Kritimal, who represented my lore character Jerrek, Brother to Korrus, Tolidar, and Virizard. Gameplay wise, was also my “PvP Main” during Warlords of Draenor.
Arrokesh
Race / Class / Spec: Void Elf Frost Mage
Lore: Mostly unwritten, but he canonically weaves void magic into his frostbolts.
Notes: I used Arrokesh to play through The Burning Crusade’s Timewalking Campaign when those were introduced as levelling routes. Questing only. Was unable to finish the storylines of Outland due to the nature of Timewalking Campaigns. They need to fix that.
Netherwarp
Race / Class / Spec: Human Demonology Warlock
Lore: “Netherwarp” is the only name this man will give when asked. He’s never revealed his face publicly, inciting rumours about hideous scarring beneath the mask. He’s a man of few words, though he’s been seen conversing with his summoned demons by moonlight…
Notes: Boosted with the Legion pre-order.
Tolidar
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Arcane Mage
Lore: Tolidar, brother to Korrus, Jerrek and Virizard, left Night Elf society after the War of the Ancient to practice his arcane magics in secret. (Arcane magic was outlawed in night elven society at the time.) He returned with other Night Elf mages as this was overturned shortly before the Cataclysm crisis.
Notes: Tolidar was my first ever alt. He was boosted with the Warlords of Draenor pre-order, shortly before I reached max level on my main! I don’t love how Arcane plays these days, but besides Temyra, he has received the biggest glow-up with the new customisations added in Shadowlands. He was also my Venthyr character in Shadowlands.
Corvain
Race / Class / Spec: Human Arms Warrior
Lore: For the Alliance! Corvain’s blood runs blue with the soul of an Alliance veteran. A hero of the Fourth War, Corvain was among the most war-mongering, glory-hungry Alliance soldiers. Since the war, he has become a Stormwind guard, and is tentatively learning to embrace a brave new world free of factional hatred.
Notes: So… as you may have guessed, another PvP-focused character, this time during Battle For Azeroth. He was boosted with the Shadowlands pre-order!
Anthracitus
Race / Class / Spec: Dark Iron Dwarf Destruction Warlock (that’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it)
Lore: Once among those who revered the Firelord Ragnaros, Anthracitus tacitly agreed to return to Ironforge and the wider world on one condition: Could he still burn his enemies with fel fire?
Notes: Heritage armour is type-agnostic, so Anthracitus was levelled with plate-casting in mind. Look at him. He’s glorious.
Virizard
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Havoc Demon Hunter
Lore: Brother of Korrus, Tolidar, and Jerrek. Virizard was captured by demons during the War of the Ancients and tortured for millennia. This changes a man. His mind broken, he believed a raid by the Army of the Light to be a trick, and fled through a fel portal leading to Outland. There, he found the Illidari, and a new purpose. He sacrificed everything to defeat the Burning Legion. What have you given?
Notes: He stopped being my “main” Demon Hunter when I needed a high level Horde character to see the other side of events in Battle For Azeroth, and Demon Hunters were, at the time, level 98 starters. Or something. Christ, I don’t remember any more.
Stalward
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Frost Death Knight
Lore: What if… Korrus Starseed did not wait until the events of Cataclysm to awaken from his long slumber? What if he was pulled from the dream earlier, to start a life of adventure before fate decreed he do so? Well, as it turns out, the Third War would not treat him kindly. He would, in fact, fall to the Scourge and be raised as a terrifying Death Knight. Thankfully, he would also break free from the Lich King’s domination to become one of the Knights of the Ebon Hold.
Notes: I had to log in to him to find some transmog because he looked so goddamn goofy. Unfortunately, Blizzard chose that moment to invade the side of the screen with some Breaking News. Damn it! Oh and er… never been able to get into Death Knight, myself.
Adamant
Race / Class / Spec: Dwarf Retribution Paladin
Lore: Adamant Stoutwhisker was determined to live a life of peace in Loch Modan, keeping his head down as the world grew steadily darker, sure that he wouldn’t make a difference beyond dying pointlessly in some foreign land. When an old veteran friend of his died in the Plaguelands, he ventured north to pay his respects, and was horrified to actually see the devastation of the land with his own eyes. When set upon by a group of Undead, he found his mace endowed with the power of the Light, and knew his journey as a Paladin had begun.
Notes: Adamant is a pretty cool name, right? Well, he used to be called Smotencore. It’s extremely rare that I reach into my wallet to pay for a name change, but I mean, come on. Smotencore. What was I thinking…
Smark
Race / Class / Spec: Draenei Elemental Shaman
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: Metzen help me, I don’t know what to do with Smark. The name “Smark” isn’t even lore-friendly, it was just my Runescape username for a bit as a joke when I typo’d “smart”.
Rindlebrook
Race / Class / Spec: Kul Tiran Human Enhancement Shaman
Lore: Lady Rindle Brook, known simply as Brook to most who knew her, was raised by foster parents when she was found abandoned by the shore as an infant. She spent most of her childhood growing up by the sea, and yearned to know what lay on the horizon. The Fourth War began as she entered adulthood, and the influx of adventurers from the Alliance with their stories of the world beyond only stoked her wanderlust. She harboured no second thoughts about leaving her home for a life of adventure.
Notes: I might just delete Smark, you know, Rindlebrook is far cooler.
Velledarra
Race / Class / Spec: High Elf Subtlety Rogue
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: If you haven’t played WoW in a while, they “added High Elves” by way of customisation options for Void and Blood elves. As such, she still turns purple in combat, and I don’t know what to do with her lorewise. Gameplay-wise, I’m using her to experience the Rogue Order Hall story in Legion Timewalking.
Aeonaar
Race / Class / Spec: Lightforged Draenei Holy Priest
Lore: Sister of Dionaar. Whereas Dionaar lost faith in the Light and embraced the Void, Aeonaar only became a more fervent believer in it, travelling Azeroth as a healer whilst searching for her sister. For her efforts, she became Lightforged.
Notes: Literally every character until now has been DPS, because healing and tanking makes me nervous. But Aeonaar is my character for learning healing! The biggest barrier to entry is the fact that, well, low-level healing is quite boring.
Kyzil
Race / Class / Spec: Mechagnome Marksmanship Hunter
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: I’m really not a fan of gnomes (or goblins), but mechagnomes? Well, sure, I could be a little robot gnome with a gun. Why not? His name is a reference to Kyzil Plateau, the area of the planet Veldin from which Ratchet (of Ratchet and Clank fame) hails. The robot dog is called Robomutt, after the robot dogs in that game.
Xaolei
Race / Class / Spec: Pandaren Windwalker Monk
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: I used to have a gnome named Elismyr who was my WW Monk, partially because that theming made for the least gnomish-gnome and partially because a gnome monk is hilarious. But then the Shadowlands customisations update hit and you could be a blue panda. A BLUE PANDA! LOOK AT HOW ADORABLE SHE IS!!
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<image redacted>
Race / Class / Spec: Draenei Fire Mage
Lore: redacted
Notes: Look, it’s not really that exciting, and I can’t really explain why it’s redacted. Let’s just move on, okay.
Julvira
Race / Class / Spec: Lightforged Draenei Unholy Death Knight
Lore: She was Lightforged, once. The embodiment of all that is pure and good. A Paladin of renown, a veteran in the Army of the Light. But in the final confrontation against the broken soul of her world, she met a bitter end. Now, she finds herself raised to fight once more, cut off from the Light, as a warped inverted image of her former self.
Notes: Lightforged Draenei Death Knights, I thought to myself. How stupid. But then, but wait, but oh?? Also, she’s the sequel to Arrokesh in terms of Timewalking Campaigns. She’s questing her way through Northrend!
Rudon
Race / Class / Spec: Dwarf Protection Warrior
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: The character I’m using to learn tanking!
Reticent
Race / Class / Spec: Void Elf Discipline Priest
Lore: Dedicated to learning how to control the Void, Reticent has devoted herself to the use of both it and the Light. She is far from the first Priest to dabble in such techniques, but she strives to use such control to better understand her condition as a Void Elf, and to help her fellow Ren’dorei.
Notes: Yeah I just made all that up, she was a Shadow Priest until just a minute ago. I think I made her when in a spur-of-the-moment “ah I just want a fresh start alt” before I last uninstalled the game.
Shinshanker
Race / Class / Spec: Gnome Assassination Rogue
Lore: Umm…
Notes: Erm……
Banktigri
Race / Class / Spec: Void Elf Capitalist
Lore: Excuse me, dear hero? I’m not sure that’ll quite fit in there! Oh my, you certainly know how to cram, don’t you? Well, while I have you, would you be interested to hear of a bank vault I have in my very own possession, completely empty, open to you and your family for but a small fee…?
Notes: This fucker’s day are numbered. Warbands, ho!
Zeverys
Race / Class / Spec: Blood Elf Havoc Demon Hunter
Lore: Lord Illidan knows the way. But Lord Illidan isn’t here anymore, is he? And so, Zeverys had to find her own way. And where was she to place her guidance but in the leadership of her Warchief, Sylvanas Windrunner? Not for very long, mind you. Zeverys is a Demon Hunter, not a murderer.
Notes: My “Horde Main”, at least, during BFA.
Honthir
Race / Class / Spec: Highmountain Tauren Guardian Druid
Lore: Hello! Honthir is very pleased to meet you!
Notes: Yeah okay I don’t really have a backstory for this guy, just a general impression that he’s super friendly. Anyway, I used my Battle For Azeroth pre-order boost on him, but the prepatch questing in Darkshore felt so antithetical to his character that I put him down and never really logged in to him again.
Raulka
Race / Class / Spec: Mag’har Orc Fury Warrior
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: I like warriors, okay? Also, I plan to have a “Horde side” fully fleshed out, one of each class like the Alliance etc. Providing they raise the character limit, because hoo boy…
Blight
Race / Class / Spec: Undead Affliction Warlock
Lore: The Forsaken now known as Blight was once a mage of some repute within the Kirin Tor. At least, he was until he expanded his research. The Wizard Council of Dalaran didn’t take kindly to his forays into the fel magics. When they refused to listen to his pleas, when they reacted poorly to his demonstrations, he soon awoke under the command of the Dark Lady to walk the earth again. She had no such qualms about his research, and he resumed his studies with vigor.
Notes: Come on, Undead Warlock. It writes itself.
Lokresh
Race / Class / Spec: Mag’har Orc Beast Master Hunter
Lore: When the Mag’har were forced to evacuate their home world of Draenor for the alien land of Azeroth, not all acclimatised so well. Lokresh found himself crippled with homesickness. Orcs were not the only living beings to be caught in the teleportation, however, and Lokresh soon found himself reunited with his wolf Lonefang.
Notes: I might turn this guy into my Survival Hunter. God knows I have enough hunters already, but I’ve yet to try Survival.
Taz
Race / Class / Spec: Troll Elemental Shaman
Lore: Taz’dingo!
Notes: So a lot of these Horde characters are kind of “template” characters. I know I want them to look like this, to be named this, to have the class/spec, but I’ve yet to really play them. Taz is the first of these.
Oh, and I didn’t realise why the name “Taz” felt like it fit so well until later. Eh. I’m keeping it.
Lombax
Race / Class / Spec: Vulpera Enhancement Shaman
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: The “Ratchet” to Kyzil’s “Clank”.
Zar
Race / Class / Spec: Zandalari Troll Feral Druid
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: The Zandalari Druid forms are so cool, it’d be a crime not to make one. I used to have a normal Troll Druid which I planned to learn Feral on, but this guy took his place.
Nolnarroth
Race / Class / Spec: Nightborne Demonology Warlock
Lore: Unwritten, but vague ideas about, y’know, using what he learned under Legion occupation for good / atonement.
Notes: I literally made this guy when I saw a Nightborne Warlock in the wild and went “oh! OHHH!”
Notes: Then promptly forgot about him! Golgore, I’m so sorry!
Delynara
Race / Class / Spec: Blood Elf Marksmanship Hunter
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: I think I created Delynara to play alongside a friend?
Staffen
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Arms Warrior
Lore: Not all those risen to be Dark Rangers showed skill with a bow…
Notes: My guild moved to this realm, so Staffen was meant to be my Ravencrest main.
Baelmar
Race / Class / Spec: Dwarf Windwalker Monk
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: Well, Staffen was my second attempt at a main on that server.
The other two characters on that realm are just name reservations.
Morivar
Race / Class / Spec: Undead Demonology Warlock
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: Before Blight, there was Morivar.
Lumulos
Race / Class / Spec: Blood Elf Holy Paladin
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: Made to play with a friend. Was curious about how you never see Holy Paladin healers. What are they like? Well, I still don’t know, really. Didn’t get far.
Galstann
Race / Class / Spec: Dwarf Beast Master Hunter
Lore: When out hunting one day, fetching food for his family, Galstann was attacked by a boar and gravely injured. He would have frozen to death in the snow, were it not for the intervention of a bear he later named Galmaw. Bears are not known to be altruistic creatures, yet this one saw him laying in the snow and pulled him to the relative safety of a cave, laying with him to warm him, until he could nurse himself back to health. The two have been inseparable ever since.
Notes: Galstann was my foray into an RP server. Joined an all-dwarf guild. It was pretty fun!
Eadrig
Race / Class / Spec: Human Arms Warrior
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: Eadrig was a challenge character of my own making. He was only allowed to level up through mining (or happenstance XP from self-defence on the way to nodes), and could only wear what a smithed for himself.
Shadowmadman
Race / Class / Spec: Night Elf Subtlety Rogue
Lore: Unwritten.
Notes: Here’s a full-circle moment. I went back and recreated my original Night Elf on my original server with his original name. Only difference is, I made him a rogue, as this used to be a PvP server.
RuneScape is an MMO rarity in the sense that it comes in two flavours: RuneScape 3, and OldSchool RuneScape. I, as a RuneScape player, also happen to be a rarity in that I play both versions of the game. This may be anathema to players who have drawn their line in the sand and enjoy frequently revisiting that line to scowl at players on the other side. What a load of bollocks. The only take we need is “both games fun, games different”. For most people, one or the other will appeal more to them. For me, they’re different enough to be considered two different MMOs at this point, and I’m nothing if not an MMO-surfer.
As someone who plays both, I’ve been finding things in both games which I often miss when playing the other. I thought it might be fun to compile a little list of what each of those things are.
It must be said, before we begin, that RuneScape 3 (RS3) and OldSchool RuneScape (OSRS) have very different design philosophies. RS3, in my opinion, favours story advancement, modernised gameplay, quality of life updates, and fundamentally, a moving of goalposts to accommodate easier and faster methods of experience gain. Most RS3 players chase level 120 capes, 200m xp caps, and various states of completionism. OSRS, by comparison, attempts to keep the “feel” of the 2007 version of the original game. This means a tighter lock on XP rates (level 99 is still a challenge, maxing is quite the accomplishment.) There’s less emphasis on story than there is on game design, to the point where every update is polled through the playerbase to avoid, well, what RS3 became.
Also, RS3 is kind of a microtransaction hellscape, which is why I main an Iron, who can’t benefit from that. But enough of the comparisons! Here are some of my favourite things from each game which I sorely miss from the other, gameplay balancing ramifications be damned.
OSRS: Skilling Bosses (Wintertodt, Tempoross, Guardians of the Rift (which is technically not a boss but shh))
Holy heck. They actually did it. The OldSchool development team found a way to spice up mundane AFK skills such a Fishing, Woodcutting and Runecraft by adding bosses or boss-like minigames to spice things up. And the rewards are both fair and wonderful. Resources for every kill, so you’re not just burning your way through levels with nothing to show for it, and a table of ultra-rare Unique drops which provide an appropriate boon to your abilities within that skill without breaking the balance. Plus, it’s something fun to chase after every kill. I got a Tackle Box from Tempoross, the fishing boss, after my first ever kill and that’s a 1/400 drop. It’s basically just storage for all fishing related items to save on bank space, and it was amazing to receive so early.
Crucially, the bosses are fun to do. They’re addictive. I don’t think I’ve touched a traditional fishing spot in the game since I unlocked and learned Tempoross. Even on a dry run, when I don’t get any drops I want after hours of gameplay, I’ve still had a good time and gotten lots of levels out of it. They are, in my opinion, the selling point of OSRS.
Now, RS3 is not devoid of skilling bosses. It has Croseus. But I’ve done Croseus, and Croseus is different. Whereas with Tempoross or Wintertodt you can just hop to one of the appropriate worlds and join the next mass-boss rush, becoming an infinitesimal decimal point from which there’s no risk of wiping the group, Croseus is a much more intimate affair. A group of around four players is required for Croseus, and, like in harder WoW raids, any of you can mess up and wipe the group. Nor is it focused on a single skill. It’s far less approachable than an OSRS skilling boss, in my opinion.
RS3: The Lodestone Network / Resting / More Forgiving Run Energy
I feel like I just got my first boo’s. Pfft, get a load of this guy, needing the Lodestone Network to get around. Real RuneScape gamers have to walk for 10 minutes to get to their desired location, and they like it that way!
Now, listen. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but running out of run energy and watching your character slowly plod along to your destination as the real world ticks past you is not the definition of difficulty. OSRS is not “more challenging” for making you wait as you amble across the landscape like you’ve got a projected lifespan of 960. It’s an archaism left over from the days when the game was a lot smaller, and the only way to make the world “feel” large was by limiting the player’s traversal speed across it. Jagex have literally admitted as much in previous peeks behind the scenes.
Walkscape kills the game for me, even as I’ve levelled my magic and agility and gained access to greater traversal options. It needs to be changed.
OSRS: Rooftop Agility Training Courses
It is absolutely absurd that Agility in RuneScape 3 still feels like such an incomplete skill. Whilst now more complete at higher levels, early Agility still feels like a scattershot of just a few courses to run, resulting in an agonising lack of progression feel.
Meanwhile, one of the earliest updates OldSchool RuneScape received addressed this very issue. Every ten levels, you gain access to a new rooftop Agility course, allowing you to experience popular locations like Varrock, Falador, or Canifis from a new perspective as you race across the roofs. Having a new course to unlock every ten levels outlines a clear track of progression throughout the skill, as well as something to aim for. Plus, the collectable currency Marks of Grace allows you to unlock an outfit which will ever so slightly help with Walkscape. Huzzah!
RS3: War’s Retreat (Specifically, Free Teleport, Bank & Portals)
RuneScape 3 has an area called War’s Retreat which you can teleport to at any time for free. It’s the PvM hub, featuring a bank and unlockable upgrades, like a prayer altar, a bonfire buff, extra portal unlocks and more.
Now, I’ve never been much of a Bosser in RuneScape, but I’m just getting into it in RS3 and War’s Retreat is a godsend. I’m free to grind the Barrows Brothers to my heart’s content, and not fuss about running through some food-spoiling swamp every few kills. It’s a massive timesaver, and one that I can’t see being a detriment to the challenge of the actual bosses themselves (bonfire buff not withstanding).
I’ve always said that I like games which are tough, but not punishing. Tough games give you a challenge, and punishing games add artificial difficulty in making defeat more frustrating by making you trek all the way back to where you died. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Dark Souls. You’re already tough. You don’t also need to be punishing.) (As if this blog post wasn’t controversial enough as it is…) (No, RuneScape bossing is not Just Like Dark Souls.) (FML.)
It sounds so simple, but the simple inclusion of a little system message when someone in chat either receives a new entry for their collection log, levels up a high level skill, or completes a quest works wonders for the feeling of community and connectivity. It’s something I miss greatly in RuneScape 3, which only shoots out system messages for rare boss drops. In OldSchool, every time someone in my clan recieves a Beekeeper outfit piece for the first time, everyone starts going “bzzzzz”.
I like it when everyone starts going “bzzzzz”.
RS3: Outfit Overrides
I KNOW, I know, slippery slope territory has been entered. RS3’s outfit overrides (your basic transmog system) is intrinsically linked to Jagex’s monetisation strategy, and we don’t want any of that in OldSchool. But if we were to instead have, say, the ability to override outfits with any equippable gear you’ve already earned in game, and kept away from purchasable outfits, I think that could be a wonderful thing. I’m tired of seeing swathes of people in boring grey graceful gear simply because it’s the most efficient way to get about.
And yes, obviously disable that stuff in PvP areas and on PvP worlds etc etc. That’s how it works in RS3 already so don’t @ me. squints.
OSRS: Zeah
I mean, okay, to be perfectly honest I’ve barely scratched the surface of exploring Zeah with my time in OldSchool. Most of my time in that game was spent pre-Zeah. But it’s an entire ass continent which doesn’t exist in RS3, and that slightly bugs me. Think of the opportunity! RS3 being a more lore-driven game, think of the chance to expand Gielinor and put an RS3 story-first spin on the place. Plus, it’d be interesting to see what they populated the continent with as opposed to OSRS, as the two games have different needs to meet.
This one’s a little further down the list because I don’t think RS3 should necessarily add in OldSchool updates for the sake of parity. But come on, man. A whole continent!
RS3: Sane Metal Smithing Scaling
Look, no, not the entire Mining and Smithing Update (have you heard of it?). I don’t think that would make sense for OldSchool RuneScape. But I think it’s beyond time to address the fact that, if playing as an Iron, you need level 99 smithing to make a level 50 suit of armour. It’s just not an option that’s on the table, and it really should be. (I got my Rune armour from Tempoross. It’s fine.)
To be clear, this problem still exists in RS3 for other combat style armours and weapons. Crafting sorely needs an update. I’m level 80 fletching and I can only just make a magic shortbow, a level 50 weapon. It’s bonkers. But at least smithing finally makes sense.
OSRS Runelite: Quest Helper
Okay, so it’s not a vanilla feature of OldSchool, but the Jagex-endorsed Runelite client includes a feature called Quest Helper which gives you an excruciatingly detailed step-by-step in-game guide on what to do to complete quests. We’re talking tile-highlighting, NPC outlines, as well as the usual guide stuff in a tooltip like which items you need for when. As someone who finds quests to be an excruciating chore at times, this is an absolute godsend, and I miss it so much in RS3. Guides are helpful and all, but you still need to use your brain, and if you’re me, there’s plenty of room to misinterpret.
We’ll Leave It There
So that’s that. There’s dozens of small little things that’ll only come to mind when I actually do them, but for now, those are some of the biggest RuneScape version-specific features that I sorely miss when playing the game’s other half.
What did you think? Are you chuffing mad that I’d dare request that OldSchool be rid of some of its archaisms in favour of some more time-respecting modernisations? Does it chill you to the bone that I believe OldSchool has some better content than RuneScape 3? If yes to either of these questions, remember that this is just a videogame and I’m just some guy.
This blog post felt like such a good idea at the start…
Hello there! You may be expecting Kritigri’s Month In Gaming right about now. Or, more accurately, you might have expected it fourteen days ago. Judging by the fact that the title of this blog is not “Kritigri’s Month In Gaming”, I’ll wager you can already tell where this is headed.
They say that no good thing lasts forever, and that’s true of mediocre things too! I greatly enjoyed writing my monthly gaming blog series, but I’m an experienced enough blogger to admit defeat when it’s staring me in the face. In recent months, KMIG (which I’ve just acronymised for the first time and find hilarious) has become more of a chore than a passion, which is a little surprising given that there have been so many amazing games releasing lately to write about. But perhaps that’s the problem. They keep releasing near the start of the month, and then I spend all month playing them, and by the time I’m supposed to sit down and write about Starfield I’ve played for forty hours and don’t particularly want to think about it anymore.
But fear not! I have…. Plans. Look, there’s a capital P and everything. Basically, the main cause of the issue here is that the monthly time constraint is forcing me to write about games at a time other than when I am most passionate about them. With this in mind, I’m going to make a concerted effort to write more frequently about individual games at the height of my obsession with each one. As always, I’ll be steering clear of officious “reviews”, opting to instead give a casual opinion from where I’m at, whether or not I’m near the credits.
This is similar to what I did pre-KMIG (and pre-My Xbox All Access Adventure), and the main downfall of that was that blog posts came few and far between. But with Elon Musk spiking Twitter into the dirt, I’m finding that place less and less attractive to give my time and thoughts to, so I’ll try to replace the instinctual habit of writing threads about videogames with writing blog posts about them here, instead. Hopefully this results in a similar amount of blog posts, if not more.
If you enjoyed Kritigri’s Month in Gaming and are bummed about it going away, I thank you and apologise. I know it can suck when something you look forward to each month ends or changes. But burnout is real and it’s not just an old racing game. If it’s any consolation, there have been times when I’ve wanted to write additional content for this blog, but have held myself back due to the knowledge that I’d have to do more writing for the monthly fairly soon. So perhaps this will all work out for the best!
Right, yes, hello, sorry! I’ve been in space. But that’s a September thing and is strictly off-limits for the duration of this particular discussion. But yeah, space is… definitely…
Ah fuck it Starfield is incredible! Okay back to August.
What did I play before going to space…?
Baldur’s Gate 3
Oh, Christ, that’s right, I still haven’t sorted out that Mindflayer tadpole in my head. I should really get around to that.
Okay, so, Baldur’s Gate 3 is probably most people’s Game of the Year. I’ve personally sunk about ten hours into it and filed it under “come back later”. It’s objectively a supremely innovative and well fleshed-out videogame which sets a new standard for RPGs everywhere, but I don’t have a lot of experience in CRPGs and while I’ve greatly enjoyed my time with the game so far, I’ve yet to feel really “sucked in” like most people seem to be. This inevitably leads to a sense of feeling like the only person in the room who isn’t drinking the kool aid when fervent discussions about the game’s excellence take place.
It’s not that I don’t get the game, either, and I’m not having an identity crisis about it like I did when I burned out on Diablo IV. It just doesn’t tickle my pickle quite the way it tickles everyone else’s. Perhaps it’s my brain simply working differently to other people’s; whereas some people find the scale Baldur’s Gate 3’s systems and world tantalising and will delve eagerly into it for upwards of a hundred hours, I personally tend to favour RPGs which offer me an infinite wealth of branching paths to pursue at my own leisure within familiar systems, like that space RPG which we’re definitely not talking about today.
But it’s fun! I like it! I don’t regret spending the £50 to play it, despite the fact that I’ll surely get back into it by the time it’s gone on sale. The freedom of options the game gives you as you play is the closest thing to D&D anything has offered previously by a country mile, and that’s slightly magical.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Having played a little of Yakuza 0 and predictably bounced off it after Act 1 like an ADHD bouncy ball, I was curious to see more of that world. Picking up where I left off and trying to remember just where I was, what I was doing, and in this case how to do it, was not something which particularly appealed to me, so I opted to begin its turn-based cousin instead.
I knew Like A Dragon would pay homage to the Dragon Quest series and have a comedic nature, but what surprised me about Like A Dragon was how deft it was in dual-wielding both comedy and legitimate drama. I’d held off the game until now for fear of playing a shallow parody of the RPG genre, something I expected would be fun but offer very little substance. Instead, I was offered the kind of plot I’d expect to find in a mainline Yakuza game, where the comedic elements certainly exist but as a way of counterbalancing the dramatic plot.
This duality of tone is reflected in the gameplay, too. Like A Dragon is undeniably a parody of RPGs like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but it’s simultaneously a legitimate RPG in and of itself. I was concerned that bringing RPG elements into a modern world with a coat of parody would result in something tacky like South Park’s Stick of Truth game, but instead I was treated to turn-based combat which, while inherently goofy in tone and legitimately funny in execution, also packs enough punch to entertain me as thoroughly as any Dragon Quest battle.
So far, I prefer Like A Dragon’s gameplay to what I’ve played of the mainline series, and that’s something I didn’t expect at all.
Dragon Age: Origins
I was unable to afford Baldur’s Gate 3 for a few weeks after release, so I satiated my hunger by jumping back into Dragon Age: Origins, a game I’ve started multiple times but have never truly gotten my teeth into. Luckily for me, the game is built on an origin system, the likes you’d normally only see in an MMO. So while I spent my time in this game becoming a Grey Warden and then dropping it for the fourth time, I had my fourth original experience with the introduction.
This time around I played Ronda, a Dwarf of low birth who is scorned as Casteless, the dregs of Orzamarr’s brutally classist society. Over the course of her origin story, Ronda had to lie, cheat and steal her way through to the end to grab the attention of a Grey Warden, who saved her from certain doom by accepting her into the order.
The game has certainly aged, mostly in terms of writing, but a lot of the baseline DNA for which Baldur’s Gate 3 gets praised is here in spades. Plus, while the graphics have aged, I found myself admiring the impressive stonework of Orzamarr’s homes and streets, and found myself fully immersed within the story which was being told. The only thing that dulled my time playing was when I escaped the Dwarven underground, and undertook the ritual to become a Grey Warden for what felt like the fifteenth time. Next time I pick up the game, I’m promising myself I won’t start a new save.
Guild Wars 2
RuneScape, World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls Online and Final Fantasy XIV are what I would call banner MMOs, and they’re games which I started playing in that very order. I have sunk hundreds, if not thousands of hours into each one, and all the while I would occasionally hear snippets about Guild Wars 2, and how they did things differently. I knew that one day, as an MMO aficionado, I would inevitably be drawn to this final “MMO of Note” within my mind’s eye, and see just what the realm of Tyria had to offer me that Gielinor, Azeroth, Tamriel and Eorzea could not.
Well, I’m only about 20 hours in, which is absolutely no time at all with which to gauge an MMO. But I’m loving it so far! It feels so polished, and every changeup to the genre feels like a direct response to common hangups players have with other games. In fact, I found a lot of systems from early Guild Wars 2 to have been pilfered by WoW, mostly in Dragonflight. World Quests from Legion are obviously an attempt to emulate the Hearts system from GW2, and the ability to level alts purely through them from Shadowlands feels like an attempt to recapture that. Obviously Dragonflight took its banner feature from Guild Wars 2’s dragon riding, which I’ve yet to try for myself, but so much else from Guild Wars feels lifted for Dragonflight, some of it in ways I can’t quite put my finger on, such as world design. But the kicker is that it all feels so much more natural and enjoyable in Guild Wars 2. I’ll always love WoW for what it is, sure, but playing Guild Wars 2 made me feel a little embarrassed for WoW. If FFXIV is the game WoW should be competing with in terms of story, then Guild Wars 2 is the game WoW is competing with in terms of gameplay.
Speaking of gameplay, though, I don’t love the combat so far. The builds are interesting and dynamic, and I’m excited to make alts, but the button-pressing doesn’t feel good like it would in a game like WoW or FFXIV. I’d rate GW2 above ESO or RuneScape for combat, but it’s yet to truly wow me.
Anyway, I fully intend to carry my adventures in Guild Wars 2 through to max level and through every storyline the game has to offer. Comparisons aside, it’s really charmed me with its own vibrant world and lore, and I’ve heard good things about where it’s all headed. I’m excited to continue my adventure.
And The Rest
More RuneScape. Some Halo: MCC. Some Trackmania. And other bits and bobs which I won’t list in an archivist’s obsession.
I recently watched a video on YouTube talking about how bizarre it is that we vilify the idea of not finishing games, and it made me think. Just how many unfinished games do I have in my backlog? Hundreds, certainly, and not something that’s possible to make a single blog post about. But if we were to shed some light on the fact that my attention span is the size of an igloo in the Sahara desert which is constantly being attracted to new RPGs, what would that look like?
Well, behold: Every RPG (barring many that I’ve forgotten exist) that exist in my backlog, yet to be finished.
Why? Ask my brain, it kept me up at night until I could finish this list.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
How far: Like, 20 hours?
Likelihood of finishing: Very high, when I return to it.
Baldur’s Gate
How far: I did the tutorial, then couldn’t figure out how to start a save game in the main game.
Likelihood of finishing: I’ll get back to it someday I’m sure.
Breath of Fire
How far: Enough to make a video on it, but not far.
Likelihood of finishing: Unlikely, though it is quirky.
Divinity: Original Sin
How far: Met the cat. In both playthroughs.
Likelihood of finishing: Decent, just need to find the time with my friend.
Dragon Age Origins
How far: I have joined the Grey Wardens on three separate save files.
Likelihood of finishing: Never, if I try restarting. Possibly, if I continue a save file.
Dragon Age Inquisition
How far: I’d wager halfway through the main story.
Likelihood of finishing: Maybe one day, but I’d need a fresh save.
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
How far: Not far.
Likelihood of finishing: Unlikely, I dislike how the game plays.
Dragon Quest
How far: Like… 60%?
Likelihood of finishing: Decent.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of a Forgotten Past
How far: 9 hours in. Over a year.
Likelihood of finishing: It’s a 120 hour game. But damnit, yes. I will. It’s what I’m currently playing.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
How far: Not started, but I bought this for after VII.
Likelihood of finishing: Idk!! Get off my case!!!
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
How far: I beat the Black Knight, is he called?
Likelihood of finishing: Eh. A new save is required. But one day.
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age
How far: Like 60%? Again?
Likelihood of finishing: Tell Phil to put it back on Game Pass and I’ll get right on it.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
How far: Like 3 hours in.
Likelihood of finishing: Not on your life. Gameplay has AGED.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
How far: Most guildlines done, just need to do Mage’s Guild and Main Questline.
Likelihood of finishing: 100% going to do this.
Fable Anniversary
How far: Chicken chaser? Wot, do you chase chickens?
Likelihood of finishing: It’s on my list of one-days.
Fallout 3
How far: Hey look, a nuke.
Likelihood of finishing: Not high, this game is bleak and old.
Fallout 4
How far: I did the museum bit.
Likelihood of finishing: If I finish a Fallout game, it’ll be this one.
Fantasy Life
How far: I got up to a mountainous area!
Likelihood of finishing: Maybe one day.
Final Fantasy
How far: I wanna say halfway?
Likelihood of finishing: Pretty good actually!
Final Fantasy III
How far: I don’t remember. First town?
Likelihood of finishing: I forgot I owned this. But I’d like to finish all Final Fantasy’s someday.
Final Fantasy VII
How far: I blew up the reactor!
Likelihood of finishing:monkey puppet sideye gif
Final Fantasy VII Remake
How far: I did the motorbike bit and the bit after that bit!
Likelihood of finishing: Absolutely.
Final Fantasy VIII
How far: Wait, I own FFVIII?
Likelihood of starting: I mean… I probably should, right?
Final Fantasy X
How far: I remember reaching a village and doing temple stuff and talking about Blitzball.
Likelihood of finishing: AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
How far: Sewers!
Likelihood of finishing: High, this game is like proto-14.
Final Fantasy XIII
How far: Hard to tell. Is it all techno-fantasy corridors?
Likelihood of finishing: I’m still curious, but it wouldn’t be my first choice.
Final Fantasy XV
How far: I think the plot is about to start. Aaaany second now.
Likelihood of finishing: I mean, I can’t play XVI soooo….
Horizon: Zero Dawn
How far: 10-15 hours? Big reveal just happened and we were about to venture forth into the wider world.
Likelihood of finishing: Idk man, my PS4 feels like dead hardware now…
Immortals: Fenyx Rising
How far: Almost halfway!
Likelihood of finishing: Pretty high! I love this game!
Kingdom Hearts
How far: Uhhhh The Little Mermaid land if I remember.
Likelihood of finishing: I would say good, but there are so many unique worlds I’d rather explore first.
Kingdoms of Amalur
How far: Not as far as my praise for this game would have you believe
Likelihood of finishing: Yeah sure probably
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
How far: Two Divine Beasts
Likelihood of finishing: Pretty dang high but not any time soon!
Mass Effect 2
How far: I think I’ve recruited my full crew, if not most.
Likelihood of finishing: Very high, especially now I’m watching Star Trek…
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
How far: “Wait, this is a monster taming game?”
Likelihood of finishing: Nnnnah.
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
How far: A little ways past the first venture into the overworld map.
Likelihood of finishing: Fairly low, but I preferred it to the first game.
Octopath Traveller
How far: How do you even measure that? I got three people in my party.
Likelihood of finishing: I’d love to. I’ve heard how the premise doesn’t really manifest though and that puts me off somewhat.
Persona 3 Portable
How far: I’m a few floors into Pandaemonium.
Likelihood of finishing: Well, they just announced a remake, so…
Persona 5 Royal
How far: I cleaned my room!!
Likelihood of finishing: I wanna do the earlier ones first. So… low.
Pokémon Alpha Sapphire
How far: I got to Mega Evolution, I forget when you unlock it.
Likelihood of finishing: Hopefully someday, I love how it looks and I tend to enjoy the remakes.
Pokémon Sun
How far: Second island.
Likelihood of finishing: Nah. Runs like ass.
Pokémon Violet
How far: Not far. Level 15-20ish area.
Likelihood of finishing: Same likelihood as GameFreak fixing the performance issues.
Tales of Arise
How far: I did the first act! Area! Zone! Thing! And I made it a decent ways through the next.
Likelihood of finishing: Fairly high. I love this game.
Torment: Tides of Numenera
How far: I finished the tutorial!
Likelihood of finishing: I uninstalled the game! It was overwhelming!
The Witcher
How far: Think I got a trading card of a naked lady once?
Likelihood of finishing: There are plans to revisit it with a friend sometime.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
How far: I finished the first main bit! This is becoming a pattern, isn’t it?
Likelihood of finishing: LEAVE ME ALONE
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
How far: FINISHED FIRST MAIN BIT
Likelihood of finishing: THIS BLOG POST WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
How far: Midway through the Jungle area.
Likelihood of finishing: I’m really feeling it!
Yakuza 0
How far: weakly I finished the first main act…
Likelihood of finishing: I need to lie down…
This blog post was meant to be a quick and easy look at my flawed attention span and the type of games I’m drawn to. While it’s easy to joke about the fact that I tend to finish the first act and then abandon a game, hopefully this list has given some idea as to the types of games I enjoy and plan to return to, and the types of games which I do not.
There are several games which would probably show up on this list a year from now, as there are plenty I still plan on playing. First and foremost on that list are games like Suikoden, Final Fantasy IV, the Fire Emblem series (if you can call them RPGs), and more.
Some months, I jump around seventeen different games, spending a large amount of time in a handful and sampling the rest through various smaller gaming sessions. Other months – like this past July – I hone in on a single game and dedicate a large portion of my life to it. This month’s game is
RuneScape 3
And the problem is, I’ve talked about this game before. I’ve been playing it off and on for sixteen years now. It was my first MMO, and despite the various hiccoughs it’s had over the years with bad decision-making such as the extreme Real World Trade limitations or the abysmally received Evolution of Combat updates, I still prefer RS3 over OldSchool RuneScape, its 2007-era counterpart. I have dipped my toes into OSRS this month too, but I think I’m more of an OSRS YouTube content consumer than an actual player, myself. The RS3 creature comforts are just too good.
I do main an Ironman, though, which means I’m not allowed to trade with any players in any way, and I can’t access Treasure Hunter. That’s the big one. Despite starting in 07, I did eventually stop playing RuneScape around 2011 and didn’t return until 2013, which, blimey, felt like an age had passed at the time but now looks like no time at all. Help… time dilation… HELP-
Anyway, the second time I “stopped” was around 2019, when I realised that the 2013 account I made had benefitted so much from bonus XP rewards, Treasure Hunter outfits and Double XP weekends that I didn’t feel like my accomplishments were really worth much. I had so many fundamental issues with the microtransactional landscape of the game that I did what I rarely do in an MMO: I hung up my skillcapes and said goodbye for good.
But then at some point I realised that just playing an Ironman would make my accomplishments feel worthwhile again, so I spun up this account and that’s what I’ve been playing (with the usual breaks) ever since. This month, I started to learn bossing, finally taking on content such as The Barrows Brothers and the Dagannoth Kings, content which was last relevant sometime back when I first started the game. We’re making good progress!
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of a Forgotten Past
Speaking of old games with an absurd amount of content to tackle, this month I finally blew the dust off my 3DS and continued my adventures in Dragon Quest VII. I did so, of course, while I was grinding Runespan in RuneScape, and found that in doing so I achieved a perfect balance between two games capturing my attention at the same time. This may sound awful to anyone who hasn’t played RuneScape, but there are certain skills in that game which only require your attention once every few minutes or so, and it can feel quite rewarding to multitask due to this. Dragon Quest VII’s turn-based nature made it an easy choice to pair up with in this sense.
So, how far through DQVII have I made it this time, you ask? Why, ten hours in! I’ve been to a few islands, solved some troubles, witnessed some traumatic events which tested the limits of my childhood innocence, hired a dog turned into a boy, that sort of thing. It’s been quite fun!
In Summary
This month-
-hold on-
-sorry, had to click a tree. This month has been pretty much dominated by the least interesting game to talk about, so my apologies if things feel sparse. Maybe next month I’ll have more to talk about!
32 Bit Brain 