I reckon I'm just about to quit playing the new Pokemon game. For those who haven't played it, don't take that as a negative - mechanically, it's easily the best Pokemon game there has been and has some great features. I'm not going to stop because it's a bad game.
It's just that I've clocked almost 90 hours in it and all I'm doing right now is building an Eevee team. And, when I finish that team, I won't really have anything to do with them. You see, the game kind of sort of maybe finishes with the Elite 4 battle and then leaves you wandering around with a couple of new areas, some new Pokemon and some new battles.
But there's no real end point. The game ends when you finally decide you can't be arsed playing any more.
So 90 hours (about 40 of which are probably tending to berries) and interest just drops slowly and it all fizzles out. That's an incredibly anticlimactic way to end a game. It's empty. Far from any feeling of achievement, it leaves me wondering what else I could have done with that 90 hours. Where are my fireworks? Where's my satisfied sigh?
Animal Crossing is kind of similar. I tended to it for at least 15 minutes each day for at least a year. Then slowly but surely, the weeds began to grow and I stopped picking them. Nintendogs, well at least I didn't put that much time into it.
I quit playing Star Wars Galaxies for similar reasons. Now, being honest, when I played it the game wasn't all that interesting to begin with but I always had this nagging feeling - so I build up this character, then what? What have I achieved? I imagine it must be the same with other MMORPGs. I mean, when you've put months and months into a character, it must be a very empty thing eventually leaving that work behind.
Strangely enough, something like SimCity or Theme Park, I find different. While the games don't have a definitive end point, you make your own goals and there is an immense feeling of satisfaction when you make a beautifully running city with everything where you want it to be and a great popularity rating. Why is that different to my own sense of satisfaction from having an Eevee team? I'm not sure actually. Is it that all that Eevee team requires is ridiculous grinding? There's no real fun in the making of it? I don't know.
I'm thinking of giving up games with no discernable end. They leave me hollow. Feeling I've wasted time. Or maybe it's the grinding games. Though most RPGs are filled with grinding, but they give you your fireworks ending to make you feel you earned something. Actually, I don't know what I'm giving up. All I know is that my time these days is at a premium and, when I play a game, I need to, firstly, really enjoy the journey and, secondly, have an achievable destination.
What about you guys playing MMORPGs? What do you feel when you leave them behind? What about other games?
It's just that I've clocked almost 90 hours in it and all I'm doing right now is building an Eevee team. And, when I finish that team, I won't really have anything to do with them. You see, the game kind of sort of maybe finishes with the Elite 4 battle and then leaves you wandering around with a couple of new areas, some new Pokemon and some new battles.
But there's no real end point. The game ends when you finally decide you can't be arsed playing any more.
So 90 hours (about 40 of which are probably tending to berries) and interest just drops slowly and it all fizzles out. That's an incredibly anticlimactic way to end a game. It's empty. Far from any feeling of achievement, it leaves me wondering what else I could have done with that 90 hours. Where are my fireworks? Where's my satisfied sigh?
Animal Crossing is kind of similar. I tended to it for at least 15 minutes each day for at least a year. Then slowly but surely, the weeds began to grow and I stopped picking them. Nintendogs, well at least I didn't put that much time into it.
I quit playing Star Wars Galaxies for similar reasons. Now, being honest, when I played it the game wasn't all that interesting to begin with but I always had this nagging feeling - so I build up this character, then what? What have I achieved? I imagine it must be the same with other MMORPGs. I mean, when you've put months and months into a character, it must be a very empty thing eventually leaving that work behind.
Strangely enough, something like SimCity or Theme Park, I find different. While the games don't have a definitive end point, you make your own goals and there is an immense feeling of satisfaction when you make a beautifully running city with everything where you want it to be and a great popularity rating. Why is that different to my own sense of satisfaction from having an Eevee team? I'm not sure actually. Is it that all that Eevee team requires is ridiculous grinding? There's no real fun in the making of it? I don't know.
I'm thinking of giving up games with no discernable end. They leave me hollow. Feeling I've wasted time. Or maybe it's the grinding games. Though most RPGs are filled with grinding, but they give you your fireworks ending to make you feel you earned something. Actually, I don't know what I'm giving up. All I know is that my time these days is at a premium and, when I play a game, I need to, firstly, really enjoy the journey and, secondly, have an achievable destination.
What about you guys playing MMORPGs? What do you feel when you leave them behind? What about other games?
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