Playing games again

[schneefink]

Recently in Hollow Knight: After failing to beat the first pantheon I took a break for a few days (and even got halfway through the demo of another game, Black Book.) But I had fought fought Mato & Oro in the Hall of Gods a dozen times or so, and two weeks ago finally beat the first pantheon. Then I tried the second pantheon, and to my big surprise beat Sheo on my first try! Felt nice.
Then I tried the third pantheon, died, and decided to practice beating the God Tamer in the Hall of Gods first. God Tamer is so annoying >.< I have beat her a few times but never consistently.
Yesterday I decided to take a break and attempt the Path of Pain instead. I'm glad I managed to resist the temptation and never watched a video of anyone attempting it, like this I get to discover each part for myself (except the very last one, I did stumble upon a video of that and didn't click away fast enough, but it'll take a while until I get there.) I didn't even make it through the first section, but I did make progress, and I look forward to trying it again one day.
Afterwards I wrote 1k of brainstorming for a pre-canon Hornet fic (man there were a lot of shitty things in her life), not sure if that will ever be written but it was fun.

Today, after leaving the office at 7pm (I wanted to do less overtime in March, not more…) I spontaneously went and bought myself a controller. To try it out, what better game than the one I know and love best, which also conveniently features a training yard before every run? So for the first time in almost three months I played a round of Hades :)
It took me a while to get used to playing with the controller, and understandably I'm still less comfortable with it. Dash-strikes are much easier, but I'm not used to the movement, and aiming is harder too (especially for things like Charged Shot.) Fortunately I got lucky with my build, Zeus shield with Thunder Flourish, Zeus Aid, Splitting Bolt, Lightning Rod etc. Fishing seems easier with the vibration signaling, though overall I still have to get used to the vibrating. I think it also warned me about standing in lava?, hard to say, I was distracted.
It was so nice to be back there, in a way: I talked to everyone I saw and every character had nice things to say. I didn't see Meg or Than but I did see Pat.

There are a couple of games I stopped playing because the keyboard(/mouse) controls weren't that good (Outer Wilds, Aria of Sorrow etc.), I look forward to maybe attempting some of them again.

Comments

[dreamersdare]

Buying yourself gifts in response to work craptasticness is a valid expression of loving yourself and I fully support it!

Unrelated, I miss gaming. I fell out of the habit and now I just never have time for it (and no idea what I would play if I did...)

[schneefink]

I only started gaming as an adult a little over a year ago - the downside is that logically it's left me with less time for reading books ^^ worth it though.
Maybe you will find some time again once your thesis is done, fingers crossed :) What did you use to play?

[dreamersdare]

Mostly Xbox, a little PC. I was quite a fan of some of the old strategy/worldbuilding games, so things Total War and Civ on the PC. Also Diablo II. So much Diable II. Xbox, I tended to opt for first person story-based adventures for the most part. So, things like Assassin's Creed, GTA, Fable II (I loved that game SO MUCH), Overlord. There were a couple of soldier/military based ones as well, but I actually can't remember what they were called.

Also got really obsessed with Guitar Hero and Rock Band for a while...

There was a definite shift toward online gaming that seemed to be creeping in which was absolutely not my thing at all. I like to play alone, or with a carefully curated group of friends on a local network.

[schneefink]

Sounds like fun :) DD tried to get me interested in playing Civ, but I usually prefer games where I have to do less thinking ;)
I've only tried multiplayer once, Divinity: Original Sin 2 with my brother, and I have no interest atm in playing with strangers online.

[dreamersdare]

Well, I'm open to recommendations for games you think are worth a shot. Especially for PC, since otherwise I'll actually need to buy a new console... /o\

[schneefink]

I'd be delighted! *rubs hands*

Games I've played that I think are definitely worth a shot:
- "Ori and the Blind Forest" (and its sequel, "Ori and the Will of the Wisps" - the sequel is a bit more polished and has more combat and many people prefer it, but the first game is also excellent, is shorter, and has my favorite sequences.) It's an absolutely gorgeous metroidvania with fun exploration and challenging platforming and wonderfully fluid and fun movement. It has a beautiful but sad story too.

- "Hades," the game that got me into gaming. It's a roguelite, which I've since found out is not necessarily my most favorite genre, but Hades excels with a fantastic story and great story "rewards" after every death. Gameplay is exciting and varied, and it's also very pretty.

- "SOMA" if you're at all interested in SF existential horror games. Wonderful atmosphere, scary monsters, and an interesting story. (It also has an easy mode if you prefer not to be chased by monsters.)

- "Yoku's Island Express," a pinball metroidvania. It works! It's colorful and fun and very charming (and not very long.)

- If you like metroidvanias and exploration I can also recommend "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night," which is pretty, has fun and very varied combat, and I enjoyed the story too (might not be the most creative but still.) And, with some caveats, "Hollow Knight": it starts out slow and especially several earlier areas are, hm, less colorful than I prefer, it has challenging boss fights even early on (at least for less experienced players like me), and it's more an uncovering of a mystery/lore than an adventure story, but it also has many areas with gorgeous atmosphere and once you get some upgrades the platforming and combat are a lot of fun and I got very invested.

[dreamersdare]

Ooooh, thank you. I shall save this for looking at post stupid!thesis and pick one to try. Maybe SOMA. I do like me some existential horror.

[mllesatine]

What kind of controller did you get? I bought maybe three all in all and they all stopped working after a few months. They were very cheap models (is 30 € considered cheap) but I quit with the controller after that and started using a mouse.

[schneefink]

It's a Trust GXT 540 Wired Gamepad Yula that I got for € 19,99. Idk about comparative quality, but since it was an impulse purchase simply to try it out I didn't really do much research in advance. I went into the store, said I wanted a wired gamepad for PC, he said they have two kinds and they're equally good so I went with the cheaper one. I'll see how long it lasts! Right now my guess it that for most games I'll keep playing with mouse and keyboard - using different fingers seems more convenient than using my thumbs all the time - but maybe I'll change my mind once I have a bit more practice with it.