In California, we’ve been isolating at home for what seems like forever, but has only been a few weeks. I’m able to continue working from home, which is great, though pretty draining without all the social interactions and other disruptions a typical day at the office would bring. I joked with my colleagues that I need a vacation!
My game playing time has increased a little bit, mostly because my commute to work now involves a flight of stairs rather than a car drive of 30-40 minutes each way. Because of that, I’ve bought some new games and am playing several old and new ones at the moment.
Destiny 2
Of course I’m still playing Destiny 2, though less now than before. Destiny 2 is a very comfortable game where the gunplay and actions just feel right. Because of that, it was my go-to game that I’d play when could get a bit of time to play before bed. During the recent Iron Banner week, I played a lot so I could get pinnacle weapons to get my Warlock over light level 1000. Since then, I’ve not done much, though I did finally manage to fully upgrade the EDZ bunker.
Elder Scrolls Online
I try to log into ESO every day to get the daily reward, though this month, I’ve already managed to fail twice. There was a very short festival a week or so ago that I played nearly every day to try to get the rewards, and finally got the pig pet. My wife also plays ESO, so we occasionally go questing together.
Lord of the Rings Online
At the beginning of the quarantine (I know, I’m not really quarantined, but I call it that so I can justify quarantinis on weekends), I played a lot of LOTRO. I had just taken my Lore-Master into Beorning lands and was having a great time. More recently, however, I ran into some damn enemies that like to swarm me, so I died a few times too often and haven’t been back since. My LM and pet can usually handle 2 or 3 baddies at once, but this area had 4 or 5 going after me, and that seems unreasonable and un-fun.
Star Trek Online
All of the new activities in STO have been wonderful, particularly those with Jeri Ryan reprising her Seven role. I’m enjoying the First Contact Day celebrations, particularly the TFO to build and launch models of Zefram Cochrane’s rocket. If you like Star Trek and MMOs and you aren’t playing Star Trek Online, you should be!
Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire
I bought this on sale a few weeks ago and have been enjoying it quite a bit. There’s still too much micromanagement, but it is a very well done isometric view RPG. The skill trees are amazingly flexible, the quests are pretty good, and the interactions are well voiced. If you like single player RPGs, this one is great!
X4 Foundations
I loved Egosoft’s X series of space combat games years ago with X2 and all the incarnations of X3. I tried to like X Rebirth, but it bugged out on me and I gave up, plus it was quite different from the others. X4 is much more like the previous games, but with much more of everything. It is very daunting to get started, and there is almost no guidance to move you along. And, for the most part, that’s OK. You can fairly quickly start building your little empire of ships to make you money and earn reputation. I haven’t gotten very far, but it seems good.
Other games on my list
I have a huge backlog of games that I’ve bought on sale that I’d like to get to. Death Stranding is one that I have and haven’t started. Disco Elysium is another like that – everyone loves it, but I haven’t even started it. I bought EVERSPACE on deep sale because it looked interesting. It is, but is very easy to get killed, and since it is somewhat Rogue-like, that isn’t too great. I have lots more games that I’ve made progress in and should get back to, like Spiderman, The Division 2, and Borderlands 3, but I need to finish PoE II first! And then there’s No Man’s Sky… They’ve been adding so much cool-sounding stuff to that, yet getting back into it seems an overwhelming task. So much has changed since I built my character that I’d have to relearn everything!
I’m very thankful we have games to entertain us and help us explore other worlds during this time we’re stuck in isolation. Without games or books, I’d be pretty unhappy right now, but because I have plenty of both, I’m content. I wish the best to all my gaming friends during this challenging time! Live long and prosper!
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