Well done on surviving the first week! It’s been very eerie at the moment, with the onslaught of bad news and rising restrictions. I cannot help but admire all those key workers out there, doctors, nurses, delivery drivers, police, shop assistants and many others all out there still working to keep life going. For our part staying home and keeping out of the way is a huge help. What better excuse to play some games?!
Easier said than done. We all get the Netflix paralysis from time to time, searching through hundreds of films and series to find nothing that takes our fancy. It’s the same with our game collections, particularly those who have ‘excessive’ number of games. No names mentioned! So what can you do to get past this? Here are a few tips:
Old Games, Old Saves
Which games have you stopped mid point for whatever reason and never gone back to? There will be at least one. As always I need to plead guilty right away. God of War I promise you I am coming back. The PS4 being our BluRay player makes it a little tricky but post work gaming I will be all over you. Gears 5, Borderlands 3 and PES20. All are local Co-op for me so will need to await Shifty’s eventual return to the flat.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Red Dead Redemption 2 and a whole bunch of other games without 2 in the title. Yes you are gathering dust rather than XP. Better make a list! How about my continuing experimentation with industrial levels of farming Stardew Valley? Bite the bullet and dive back in, even if it takes a while to get your bearings.
I actually did this the other week, diving back into FM19 and reloading my save with Suwon Blue Wings in South Korea, the day after I lost the Asian Champions League final. I technically quit it about 6 weeks off from it, bloody painful loss (we were awful in both legs of the final). Having gone back in with new vigour, another league title and that elusive Asian Champions League win I am now in Mexico with Tigres facing my biggest challenge yet! More on FM shortly. This has pulled me right back in and was well worth revisiting.
Old Games, New Saves
Part of the problem with new games, particularly new IPs is that learning how the game works can be tricky and time consuming. Why play something for a few hours to get your head around it when you can go to a timeless classic you know inside out and put a new spin on it? Civilisation 6 is a huge game, all in the series are. But how many of you have won by Science or Culture? It gives the game a whole different spin and breathes longevity into it.
Sure that's relatively niche for players. Here are a few ideas for which I will be trying out. Smash Bros Ultimate has World of Light as its main solo campaign. Starting out as Kirby players must navigate the world map, earning Spirits and sometimes new fighters. Once unlocked players can use whoever they want but let's lock this down a bit more.
How about a Pass the Fighter mode? Start with Kirby and then whoever you unlock next, you MUST use until you unlock someone else. Going to be tough (particularly for a Smash n00b) such as myself but with such a huge roster it’s a great excuse to try out every fighter! I shall let you know how I get on.
Sticking with Nintendo, Pokemon is a prime series for experimentation. I have spoken often and at length about Nuzlocke, catching only one Pokemon per area and releasing any that get knocked out. If that is too draconian for you how about limiting yourself to just one type of pocket monster? A Buglocke or Darklocke only using those particular types gives an interesting challenge, particularly in Gyms that you will be weak to. The beauty of these ‘modes’ is that they can be applied to any of the games and makes a second go well worthwhile.
On to sports Football Manager is the prime example of new saves. Picking a new challenge sounds tough but there are hundreds of ideas. Pick a trophy you want to win? Or a team or League you have never managed in? There are so many to choose from! South Korea or China are both excellent leagues to jump into. S.Korea encourages young players with lots of buying and selling. China has a tonne of money and lets you get some ridiculous players from around the world.
Argentina has a 30 team league structure which is so different to anything else, Brazil has so many games to play that you will get your money's worth from a league season. Both have amazing wonderkids to nurture and sell for huge profits! Let alone the plethora of Leagues in Europe. Anyone fancy becoming the ‘Norse Whisperer’? Winning the leagues of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Huge challenge and definitely on my list of ones to do. As mentioned previously my current aim is to win all five continental Cup competitions, one down so far….
Maybe it's time to jump back into Ultimate Team. Try building a squad of only African players? Or in the Master League on PES to win the League with Liverpool as they still have yet to win it….With sport rightly suspended it’s best to try and get your fix this way.
On the RPG front the classics of Elder Scrolls, Fallout series or Outerworld's are prime for a player chosen scenario. The toughest might well be Melee only! Limiting yourself to not even using a proper weapon but not even a ranged one completely changes up how you play. Thankfully Skyrim, Fallout 3 and the rest have specific upgrades for melee meaning it’s not only possible to play but thrive. It’s a little talked about role playing style but there are many others.
Hopefully that has given you a few ideas of what you can do. It’s worth googling your favourite game and seeing what ideas the internet has come up with. There is bound to be a fair few that take your fancy, giving you yet another excuse to dive into something you love once again! Once you come up with a few ideas you will get more and more. I would rate it as an actual skill, pushing me to do many more hours in games than I expect. Give it a go!
New Games, From the Backlog
Yes I know I am spoilt and have hundreds of games sat waiting for me to play. I have already begun to arrest this by firing up Octopath Traveler the other night. It’s a JRPG with turn based combat and a unique graphical ‘diorama’ style. It’s been on my shelf for a year so using a spare couple of hours (we have a lot of those now) picked the Merchant character and I am on my way.
It’s easier said than done, it helped talking to Adam (thanks dude!) whose talk of buying and playing it really helped me to want to play it. I also reread a couple of written reviews and one on YouTube that totally had me enthused within 5 minutes! I have a bunch from Christmas including Ni No Kuni, Dragon Quest 11, Bayonetta that are currently glaring out from my shelf at me.
I know it's not always as exciting finally playing something from your shelf rather than something new through the post but it will save you money and the postal service some effort! You can probably think of that one game you have sat waiting. Go read a review and then fire it up!
New Games, Splashing Out
It’s an unfortunate time of year to be self-isolating. Spring has finally begun and with it an upturn in the weather. Even now there is a lovely blue sky enticing me from the window. The crispness of the cool air is rather refreshing but must be kept to a minimum. On top of that new game releases are sparse though Doom:Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons are a must have! Both reviewed incredibly well.
For those with VR (looking at you C-man!) Half Life Alyx is out soon, with Gordon Freeman coming to us in Virtual Reality. Hopes are this will kick start Valve making great games again. For the rest of spring I have to take a deep breath, we have…. Resident Evil 3, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Minecraft Dungeons, Fallout 76 Wastelanders update, Moving Out, Wasteland 3, Maneater, Wonderful 101 remaster and the big one; Last of Us Part II all coming in the next two months.
That’s a good mixture and hopefully gives us all something to look forward to. Being relatively thin on great titles and having them spread out should mean funds will stretch well enough. I imagine some titles will be pushed back, there's no way that all the release dates this year will be made. But it's fine, they will come out eventually!
Plus all the Easter sales should be kicking in soon so keep an eye on any of the digital stores you prefer. Bound to be some bargains. I would recommend building a wishlist so that you can quickly see if any titles you want are on sale. On the PC gaming front 'Foundation' is top of my wishlist items. Saves so much time!
Player Beware
With all that there are a few things to think about. If you are playing more you will need to make sure any handheld consoles and controllers are regularly charged. Nothing worse than running out of juice and having to wait until it’s charged to get playing again. If you are an unfortunate Xbox player and require batteries for the controller make sure you buy some more in (if you don't have any currently stashed away). Remember to buy only what you require, no need to stockpile. They are still making batteries!
I am hopeful that we won’t see too many internet issues but who knows what the next few weeks hold. Download any games you need sooner rather than later (overnight is perfect timing) so you have them all ready to go. I always sing the praises of Game Pass for Xbox and have downloaded 5 more games just in case they take my fancy later. It is tough if you don’t have any external memory on your console so plan carefully what you need and make the best use of the space!
Finally I can’t believe I am saying these words but try to not overdo the purchases! Usually I would be all for buying the latest games and splurging in sales but maybe be a bit more considerate than me. It’s still early days and while the country is still trying to be business as usual we have no idea how things are going to turn out. We have already had economic turmoil in the UK in the past week or two. Might be worth being a bit more frugal just in case. I was going to buy a GameCube at the end of the month (becoming a proper retro nerd) but I will wait another couple of months and see what’s what. Remember there must be a few things to play already/
With the first weekend of many to come with the current state of affairs you have probably seen just how much time we are going to need to fill. Animal Crossing for the record is heavily addictive and I just completely lost my Sunday morning to it! This time sink (time black hole more like) is perfect, particularly with daily routines built into the game play. Will be a huge help to me to keep up my virtual routines as well as my real world ones!
As for all the people stuck at home trying to work there is plenty of great video game music to play in the background. This on Spotify is a great playlist! Work still needs to go on and having some different sounds will really help keep the repetitive days at bay. My greatest challenge is telling the days apart but thankfully Tom Nook announces the day and time at the beginning of every session of Animal Crossing. Problem solved!
Remember this is only the beginning, still trying to do fun things and having stuff to look forward to is important. Video games can seem as distinctly unimportant at the moment and you would be half right. There are more important things at play, lives are at stake. But on the flip side we still need to be virtually social, keep up our old routines and hold on to any normality we can. Games can do this.
So what to play right now? Honestly, whatever the fuck is taking your fancy! Stay safe.
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