Qwoft

I haven’t been gripped by a game in some time now.

Truly gripped.

But I felt close recently and it made me realize what I was missing. Like the fingers brushed through me with just enough force to remind me that something could grab hold and not let go.

I’m struggling to remember the last time it happened, and I think this has more to do with me than it does with the games I’m playing. My fear is that as time goes on, I’ll lose that feeling. That wonderful feeling of getting completely and totally absorbed into a game that you spend countless hours, days, etc. That it’s what you think about throughout the day, it fuels you to keep going through the parts that aren’t playing that game. The day to day activities you have to get done. While I’m working I think about it. While I’m cleaning, while I eat, or sleep and dream about playing the game.

I certainly don’t want that part of my life to be over, and it may have something to do with priority shifting as I’ve expanded my own hobbies and interests over time.
I’ve felt that pull, not to the extent that it has been in the past, while building decks and playing Magic the Gathering with friends. It’s something I had cast aside over 10 years ago and moved on to just collecting. But I gave it a chance and I couldn’t be happier.

Still though, that’s not what got me close to remembering. It was Ball X Pit. I popped it on while my lunch was cooking, then kept it on while I ate… and then listened to a podcast while I played. Until it was dinner time and all I was doing was playing the game. Just one more run, oh look I unlocked something new. Okay well now one more run with the new character, wow that went way better I bet I can beat this level if I do one… more…run.

Now there’s a few different kinds of The Grip, for me. This one was very similar to a Stardew Valley, just one more day. Oh look my crops are ready, can’t stop now. And then before I know it, time for bed was an hour ago.

There’s also the kind of grip that is story related, like reading a book or movie you just can’t put it down.

Thinking back, recent times I don’t recall a game that has done that. It’s few and far between, I remember Elden Ring being that way. And Red Dead 2.

There may be some others since then that have come close, but nothing quite to the same level and feeling. I think I’m not always chasing that feeling, but I can tell when the time is ripe. And it’s been long enough.

Recently I’ve been playing a few different things, as I mentioned in the last two posts there was an attempt with Tears of the Kingdom. And also Witcher 3, which has been going well. I realized I was starting to get tired of going for 100%, which was never really my plan but it’s how following the guide is working out to be. So I swapped to just main story and some side quests. I’m watching the show as well which helps me be fully in the Witcher world, something I never really got into before now.

Not just because I want an image for this post, but also because it is related to The Witcher 3.

Elder Scrolls Online is fun for some more casual times, they rolled out a battle pass system which I was immediately hesitant about. But the more I read about it the more I’m pretty happy with how they did it. Much better than the daily login rewards they had before and I’m much more engaged in playing again. But no new content out yet, which I didn’t expect until summer given the years previous expansions.

Hades II has finally come to Xbox and I’m all about it. But I know this won’t Grip me, it’s going to be a blast and I’m going to get my ass handed to me 6 ways to Sunday. But I enjoyed the first one so much, and the sound track is a straight masterpiece. I actually have avoided listening to the new soundtrack as well, I don’t know why exactly I guess it just went hand in hand, but I’ve started it up and now have updated my second most played playlist of all time. (Elder Scrolls Online takes the cake by a long shot, music to fall asleep and listen all night long to)

On the handheld I put away the Switch 2 with Legends Z-A, not touching that game again anytime soon. And although I played for an hour or two of Firered I put it down too so I could focus on Witcher. I’ll get back to it soon enough. But I actually felt the need for a Pokemon break as you can imagine.

So, during workouts I’m playing Megaman Battle Network Collection, finally. Bought that one a few years ago I think, fully intending to jump right in after Legend of Zelda. But if I’ve learned anything from playing all the Pokemon games and then all the Zelda games back to back, give it time to breathe. You can really wear yourself down going back to back.

I don’t have anything else on the horizon right now, no big plans. I’ll continue with Witcher, although I can feel myself needing another break after playing it for about a month and a half, probably another 50 hours in at this point. The game is huge, and I suppose I can push through to just complete the story as soon as possible. But that brings me back to the main point of this post.
I don’t really want to do that.

When I was a kid, I played games either as far as I could before the difficulty made me not physically capable of continuing, or if I lost interest because another game came out. The ones that Gripped me I stayed with all the way to the end regardless. Things like Kingdom Hearts, Pokemon Ruby. Ones I can look back fondly at.

I’ve been replaying mostly older games on the Youtube channel, and boy do I start out highly with memories of having fun with those older games. But not all of them can hold that level of enjoyment straight through to the end. Almost none of them can. There always hits a point of having to push through frustrating mechanics or fights, boring grinding, or other things that just aren’t as much fun. Part of this surely must be on me, I don’t actually have less time, because time is not a physical thing we can lose.
But the concept stays true, I need to spend a certain amount of time doing other things in order to play games at all. If I don’t work a job I can’t play the games.
Anyway, I started playing a game that I briefly expressed how fun it was in a previous post. But left it really vague.

That was a good while ago, and I’m not quite done with the game yet. But as it’s being recorded and released every week, I will say as of writing this it is almost about to start. Takes a while when you’re trying to stay a few weeks or months ahead. And although I haven’t played that game in a few weeks now, I needed to keep up with the others that are recorded so as to avoid a gap, which I didn’t manage to do, I’m really looking forward to getting back to it. It’s not The Grip or anything, but it’s as close as I’ve come to purely enjoying a game without losing that excitement as I play. (Even with one rather frustrating part, it was brief and that was on me, no spoilers)

I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m concerned for my future that as I grow and move away from video games being my one and only hobby, I could potentially lose
the main reason I play them. I don’t know if that’s possible, I certainly hope that I’ll continue being Gripped far into the future. But as it’s gotten more sparing, I can only look at what’s different. My life as a whole is different, there’s always some task that could be completed instead of playing that game right now. I work into my routine set times to play but it’s nothing like it used to be. Maybe it takes time to settle into the right mindset for being Gripped.

Maybe it’s because I have multiple hobbies I’m currently enjoying, so it spreads it out and not one of them can truly beat out the others for Grip.

Maybe it’s because I have an entire other lifelong passion I have thrown myself into that I’m actively working on bettering myself in.

I don’t think it’s the games themselves, but it’s something that has been bugging me for years now. Is it me? Is it something I can change? I don’t think it’s something I can force, I certainly have tried before but it just doesn’t work that way. Which of course leads me to think about the maybe, maybe, maybe that it could be.

All I know for sure is that I still have fun, even if I feel myself aware that it’s not as much fun as I’ve had in the past. That within itself is telling, if I’m always comparing what I’m experience now to what I have done before, the grass will always be greener.