I feel sad. The back of my neck itches. My right hand hurts. It’s the evening. I am writing WRUP. I need to take out the recycling. One of my cats is meowing. I feel sad. I’m still itching. I just had to blink. Wait, there’s something in my eye. I blinked again. That got it. I’m scratching my neck. Now it isn’t itching. I feel tired. I need a new book to read. My sitting position is uncomfortable. I am moving now. Now I feel comfortable again. I just typed those sentences. My glasses have slid low on my nose. I am pushing my glasses back up.
My scalp itches. Now I am scratching my scalp. Now I am blinking. Tomorrow I will cook hamburgers. My neck itches again. My scalp itches again. Now I am stretching. Now I am reading back through the entry I have already typed. I just typed all of those things I was doing. Now I’m shifting my seating position again. I am checking the timer in an idle game. My forehead itches.
Bonus question: What’s the longest gap between a game releasing and you playing it (and enjoying it) for the first time?
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): I’ll be doing fall things, dipping into Guild Wars 2, and hopefully trying out a thing nobody can talk about, but we’ll see. Guild Wars 2 for sure. Finally got back around to actually finishing Bear Tales and now back to season 3 with me.
I’m having a hard time thinking of one here because I usually at least try a game at launch and like it, but usually not long enough to stay. Lots of games have won my heart that way, though. Maybe EverQuest II? I don’t think I bought it at launch – I mean, nearly everyone I knew played World of Warcraft instead – but I did play a bunch a few years after. And I liked it quite a bit. If not for LOTRO already filling my “cozy classic MMORPG” needs, I’d probably still be tinkering in it.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): I’m likely going to do a bit more Throne and Liberty (beyond what the column is asking for anyway) as well as a bit of social stuff in Final Fantasy XIV. But really most of what I’ll be doing is staring at the calendar for the Monster Hunter Wilds beta to begin if I’m honest.
I don’t really know the length of time specifically but I do know that I was an extremely latecomer to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Mostly I was avoiding it because of… well, that studio, but as it turns out, it was a pretty good romp!
Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): Some stuff in FFXIV and probably some single-player gaming, although I haven’t totally decided on that end. It’s going to be a difficult weekend, but a lot of them are these days.
So there are two answers, depending on how pure I want to be with my answer. Technically, the longest one I can think of is Tales of Berseria, which released in 2017 but which I didn’t play until 2020 at which point it jumped up to be one of my favorite games of all time. But Stardew Valley was a game I didn’t really get into until 2022, six years after its release… even though I did buy it on release, so it had just been sitting there barely played.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): My plate is overflowing with gaming options this weekend! There’s a ton of World of Warcraft stuff I want to get done, including really going through the 20th anniversary event to see what’s doable. I’m also taking a first look at Wayfinder and going through lowbie content on Dungeon & Dragons Online’s fresh start server.
Tyler Edwards (blog): Still playing WoW until my sub runs out in about two weeks. I’m finally getting around to leveling my rogue and doing the last few side quests needed for Khaz Algar Loremaster along the way.
Bonus question: That would probably be No One Lives Forever 2. I was (and still am) a massive fan of the original, but I missed out on the sequel when it was new for Reasons, and it took about 15 years for me to finally get around to playing it.
Every Saturday, join the Massively OP community and staff for What Are You Playing, our roundup of what MMORPGs and other games we’re hoping to play this weekend (with a bonus question or two for our amusement). Tell us what you’re up to! Go off-topic! And don’t forget to have fun!
