Riding The Tram. Hong Kong. By Kris Lo.

Miss Ho Sang,

My husband and I, just this last month, taught his dad to play Diablo 3. He’s gone from “Um, can you explain how to open my inventory again?” to almost being able to solo a 70 Greater Rift. And he said last night that he feels like he really knows what’s going on in our lives now that we chat a few times a week.

I had a similar experience. It’s been a couple of years, but I died on a battle where the AI I needed to protect was suicidal. Lost a good chunk of progress, and never went back.

haha...that was me on...enslaved, 3-4 times. I really need to go back to that and try to gun thru it in a weekend or so.

I quit persona 2, 3, 4, smt 4, dds, radiant historia, a ton of other unnamed Atlus’s games because I just couldn’t do it perfectly, get all the right persona, pick the right choices, manage the right relationships. After all the time that’s past its hard to go back and figure where I left off and where to go next.…

I asked someone on Kotaku if I should go back to the other Monster Hunters after playing World and they advised against it. They’re biggest reason was the quality of life changes made in the new game, better graphics, way less loading times, damage numbers, among many other things. Looking online, the general…

I also just started Injustice last month with big ambitions of getting good at it, but after a few play sessions, I haven’t touched it in weeks. It’s mostly because I’m busy with school and work, but also because I’m reading the comics and don’t want to know what happens, so I just play single fight (on easy) instead…

I think it’s meant to show Kratos moved on, not just from Greece, but mentally trying to abandon his old life of violence and hedonism and live as a mortal.

...you’re kidding right? Are you saying you’ve never played a linear game?

I loathe the idea that everything needs to be explorable. That really ruined Breath Of The Wild to me. It felt too aimless. It made the “threat” of Ganon seemingly pointless over time.

Seems like the focus is on challenge over story or exploration. Not really a bad thing, just different from the normal “Take your time, watch your numbers go up and easily plow through everything that comes against you.” And considering the length of this game, it hardly seems masochism.

I didn’t find it to be too stressful, you just need to prioritize and remember where different stuff is.

HAHAH so funny story.

I haven’t gotten too far into Nier: Automata but Nier and Drakengard 3 were kind of the same way. The first several hours of Nier are...abysmal. Then you have Drakengard 3 which is a really outstanding story *cough* at least if you can get to the 3rd ending. (and if you can suffer through the actual gameplay.)

There’s very little punishment for dying, since that’s the main gimmick of the game. The game teaches you how to become a better player, how to maximize the time you have available. It’s like speedrunning 101 but less punishing.

i just cant handle that kind of pressure. Timers are a sure fire way to make sure i avoid your game, but that’s me. Hey, if you enjoyed it, thats why we play.

I’ve wanted to play this game foreeeeever. Maybe after GoW I’ll finally pick this up.