Stuck Between a Rock and a Not So Final Fantasy

It was easy in the beginning.  From December to Febuary, new gaming releases were like an endangered species.  So it was easy in that environment to focus my spare gaming moments to Final Fantasy 14.  Months passed, and I was hooked.  The game is pure magic and I even made it my number one pick for game of the year 2013.

 

Then March came and the flood gates opened.  Dangan Rompa, Professor Layton, Grounds Zero, Dynasty Warrors Extreme 8 and of course, Infamous Second son.  Yet even then, it was easy.  I simply didn't play these new games.  Sure, I started Dangan and am loving it, but since it's a hand held it's easy to play in small chunks.  However, with each passing day, the urge to start something besides Final Fantasy grew.  One day, it would be impossible to ignore.

 

That day came two days ago, when FF14 had to undergoe maintenance in preparation for a huge content patch (EDIT:  I wrote this two weeks ago, but only posting it now).  For one whole day we simply could not play.  I took advantage of that one day and opened up Infamous.  And I was hooked.  Re-hooked, that is.  After months of FF14 cooperating with strangers and friends I had forgotten what it was like to play a good single player game.  Infamous is that good single player game and it brought back all my repressed memories.  That's right, all of a sudden, I didn't want to play Final Fantasy anymore.  I wanted to play Infamous.  If not that, I wanted to play Dangan Rompa.

 

So I did just that.  The next day, when I should be diving head first into the new FF content, I was playing Dangan instead.  For the second day in a row I did not touch Final Fantasy.  And it felt GREAT!  No longer was I bound to do things dependent on others (such as waiting for a party, for example).  I could play Dangan at my own pace.  There was no pressure and no wasted time.  It was just me, my Vita, and a great single player experience.

 

Yes, I'm in trouble.  I always knew this day would come.  There wasn't a chance in hell I'd be able to stick exclusively with one game.  Simply coming this far in FF was a first for me and practically a miracle.  Now the day of reckoning has come.  Do I stop playing FF to start other games?  Do I put yet even more games on hold for FF?  Or can I strike some sort of balance?  Quitting games have never been a problem for me.  In fact, there was already one casualty.  Bravely Default.  I played over 25 hours of the thing and stopped.  Yes, it was the game's fault for being such a needy grind but it was ultimately my conscious decision to stop playing.  It was an easy decision.  But dropping FF?  That's not.

 

And it's because of my friends.  I still have a couple of good friends playing FF and I want to take advantage of that.  There's nothing better than playing the same MMO as your friends.  You can play with them or just chat with them but having people you know playing the same game makes the game that much better to play.  If I don't log on now, while they are still on, I will regret it when they are no longer.  Good memories are to be made now while there is still that chance.  And so it is that I cannot give up on Final Fantasy 14.  I did it once already, in September, and I don't want to do it again.  Because when I did it the last time, I let a friend of mine get so far ahead of me that, to this day, means I'm still unable to party with him for high level content.  Do I want to make the same mistake now?

 

I'm really, really pressed for a good solution here.  I know what must be done.  There must be a balance.  But I simply do not know how to do this.  Should I make FF14 a venture once every other day?  Every other week?  Only when I feel like it?  What if I don't?  There's just no easy choice.

 

I'll have  to get back to you on this.

P.S.  Since I wrote this blog, it's been off and on Final Fantasy for me.  It's actually not been so painful provided I can let that game go.  Every time I'm not logged on I'm worried.  Will my friends get ahead of me?  Am I wasting my monthly subscription by not playing the game?   If I can forget about these questions then It's fine for me to play something else for a while.  It's working out.  By the time I want to play FF, I'm all revved up.  When I get tired of it, I'm excited about playing other games.