LONG BLOG
The Cost of Being A Jaded Gamer or Why I’ll Probably Never Play Overwatch
I think we can all agree that 2016 was a good year for games. We saw the return of Doom, Pokemon set the world on fire…again, Overwatch was a huge success and FF XV & The Last Guardian finally came out after a decade in development hell.
Yes friends 2016 was a good year for games. Though while I still have yet to play the games listed, I’m really looking forward to doing so. Except for one listed that I’m just not sure of. That of course is Overwatch.
Now don’t get me wrong it looks interesting but there’s something about it that make me hesitant to pick it. It’s not the gameplay or characters. I admit the reasoning is a bit stupid but one that I still think is valid. I’m just afraid that it won’t be worth the hype everyone has built up.
Look to be honest I’m not the kind of person who needs to pick up all the major releases right away. Sure if it’s a game I’ve wanted for a while and time & money permit, I’ll get a game at launch but most of the time I wait and usually don’t pick them up until a few months or years after release. I also don’t easily buy into hype, maybe it’s because I’ve been playing games for so long that I’ve become skeptical of highly praised games. But I will say that Overwatch is part of this phenomena I only noticed not too long ago.
It seems like every year there’s a least one game that everyone loves that I’m just not into. The first time I noticed this was in 2014 with Five Nights At Freddy’s. Now I didn’t jump into the game right away because at the time of it’s release school had started for me. So I had to wait another four months to pick it up. Meanwhile I had to hear from everyone about how it was the “scariest game of all time”. So when it came time to play it, my thoughts were the opposite.
Sure the first night was pretty tense and the first jumpscare got me but after that it just got repetitive and boring. I realized that it wasn’t as amazing as everyone said it was and I wasn’t interested in the then upcoming sequels either.
Then came 2015 and the release of Undertale, a sleeper hit that received near universal praise. Once again it came out around the time school started so, just like FNAF, I had to hear from everyone about how great it was for almost a whole year. And just like FNAF I didn’t really like it, the game play was lacking in depth and the story is very poorly written.
At this point I started thinking if maybe I was the one out of touch with gaming. There were other hit games in the past that I just wasn’t into like Uncharted 2 and Skyrim. Games that everyone loved but I just couldn’t enjoy. In fact the only games I do enjoy these days are much older. Before writing this I was playing Brutal Doom and Crash Bandicoot
I think it’s the fact that I know I’ll get enjoyment out of Doom or Crash Bandicoot but with Overwatch there’s an uncertainty. There’s a chance I could enjoy it but there’s a chance that I won't and I’ll be stuck with a game I don’t like. Of course my experience with FNAF and Undertale doesn’t help with this matter.
I know this makes me sound stubborn but my reasoning is sound and I wasn't always like this. When I was younger I used to be excited for new IP's like Jak and Daxter or Kingdom Hearts. However now that I'm older, money and time have become a huge factor and buying a new game is bigger decision than it used to be. I think we've all been to that point where we've been stuck with games we don't want and I'm tired of getting new games that might just sit on my shelf getting unplayed. In short, I really have become a jaded gamer.
Thank you for reading and until next time dear readers have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year!
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