To All the Games I’ve Loved Before

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about gaming “comfort food,” those games that I can go back to time and time again, that invoke that flash of nostalgia through the sounds, the music, the characters. Mostly, I’ve been thinking what a damn shame it is that I never feel like I have the time to go back and play them any more. Now-a-days, my extent of revisiting them involves listening to the soundtrack and pining over the game like a lost lover as I look at all the new releases and old releases that I’ve still yet to play. It’a basically the Bumble version of video games – sure, I may find something amazing that is totally worth my while and will become another favorite, but nothing can ever quite replace those warm, fuzzy memories. I guess the big difference is that I remember my past video games a lot more fondly than I remember my ex-relationships. (Also, totally picked Bumble over Tinder or anything else because at least I get to pick which video games I buy; there may be some duds out there, but at least the ones I know suck can’t force me to play them!)

And, just like dating apps, the amount of new (and old, but new to me) options can feel totally overwhelming. Every month there’s such an expansive array of new games coming out that it’s impossible to keep up with them, never mind hitting that huge backlog. It feels like I can forget about ever picking up old favorites again unless they’re lucky enough to get a HD remake/remaster, at which point I can then happily pre-order and pick them up under the excuse that hey, it’s technically a new game now! (I can just hear the analogy of getting back with an ex, and I guess that’s technically accurate – could go great, could be a giant, flaming disaster…)

To all these dilemmas, I say no more! I’m picking up a new resolution this year (yeah, yeah, it’s basically April, little late for New Year’s resolutions, but so what)! At the end of the day, this is a hobby, and I want to derive joy from this hobby! I think it’s so easy in this golden age of video games to just feel bogged down and burnt out when basically every day there’s a new release begging to be played because someone somewhere gave it a glowing review, but in the name of Marie Kondoing this ish, I’m choosing to throw out the bits of this hobby that don’t bring me joy.

In the months to come, I’m going to embark on a journey to revisit some old loves (the game ones, not the people ones because just no) and share that experience here! Time to make that top ten of all time list, I guess.

 

So I’m going to be real honest here: mid-month sneaked up on me! Life has been fairly hectic and busy between work, social obligations, and keeping myself alive and healthy (physically and mentally). I really haven’t had a lot of time or energy for more than crashing into bed at night and watching youtube or something after finishing all the things I have to do. I didn’t even realize until Wednesday what the date actually was and that  oh shit! I have to post something! Considering I haven’t even had time to think about anything fun, I certainly didn’t have time to come up with anything smart or witty this time around. Granted, I did have a flash of an idea for something while laying in savasana this evening (yoga has been my lifeline lately!), but I think I want to let that percolate a little more. Today, though, I’m just going to keep it chill and chat a little about the fun things I have actually managed to do

Lamentations of a Kairi Fan Post Kingdom Hearts 3

Spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III ahead!

Let me start this by saying that I enjoyed my experience with Kingdom Hearts III very much! I didn’t hate the game, I was glad to finally get to play it, and for the most part I thought it was a wonderful way to wrap up the Xehanort saga. However, all that said, I had one major pain point through the whole game – the treatment of Kairi.