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Perfect Ten: Why I still love Final Fantasy XI today
You know what's really funny to me when I think about it for more than five minutes? Final Fantasy XI is, at this point,...
Why I Play: Satisfactory scratches my MMO crafting itch
My first real exposure to Satisfactory was long, long before playing it or even being more than peripherally aware of it, because I really...
Why I Play: Stardew Valley is still something special
I'd been saving this for myself for weeks now. It was late Saturday when I finally decided it was time to stop waiting and...
Why I Play(ed): Remembering WildStar’s sunset, five years later
Time shouldn't zip along as quickly as it often does, especially when it taps us on the shoulder to look back and see how...
Why I Play: Five years in, Fallout 76 has become expansive, flawed, and engrossing
War might never change, but Fallout 76? That sucker has changed a whole lot since its debut five years ago.
For as long as I've...
Why I Play: Palia is cozy and fun, but why is it multiplayer – and where is it going?
On paper, Palia seems like it wouldn’t interest me. It is a lighthearted jaunt through a bright, cartoonish environment that involves building relationships with...
Why I Play: Six things that thrill me about Marvel Snap
At this point, I've now played more Marvel Snap than I have of my last digital card game obsession, Hearthstone. Since getting into it...
LOTRO Legendarium: On the occasion of Lord of the Rings Online’s sixteenth birthday
Sometimes the passage of time triggers disheartening moments when we feel things slipping away from us. The internet seems to nastily delight in prompting...
Why I Play: Pokemon Go (and why I shouldn’t)
I won't lie: Many, many problems with Niantic often cause me to re-evaluate why I continue to play Pokemon GO, especially in recent weeks....
Why I Play: Diablo III – From Reaper of Souls to today
In the first part of this Why I Play retrospective on Diablo III, I discussed the early issues that accompanied the game's record-setting debut....
Why I Play: Diablo III – From pre-release to Reaper of Souls
It's hard for me to believe that Diablo III's May 15th, 2012, release was over a decade ago. And despite its reputation of being...
Why I Play: Black Matter’s shooter Hell Let Loose scratches my RTS itch
I’ve been playing multiplayer shooters since I discovered DOOM 2’s dialup modem DOS commands, and it’s a genre I find myself returning to every...
Why I Play: World of Warcraft, 2022 edition
Have you ever watched The Good Place? If you haven't, I suggest you stop reading right now and go watch. Your life will be...
Flameseeker Chronicles: How the Elementalist saved Guild Wars 2 for me
First off, I know I'm not the usual writer for Flameseeker Chronicles, and I'm not ousting Colin or Tina from their spot; in fact,...
Why I Play: Returning to Diablo III in 2022
I don't know if there's a marketing term for this phenomenon, but Diablo Immortal did an excellent job selling Diablo III.
Popular streamers all caught...
Why I Play: What keeps me coming back to The Secret World
Now and then I'll allude to being the weirdo who's still playing The Secret World -- not Secret World Legends, but the original. I've...
Why I Play: Examining why Lost Ark has me so hooked
Lost Ark has hooked me pretty deeply. I’m just over 30 levels and five or so days into the game right now, which sometimes...
Why I Play: Returning to Guild Wars 2 and exploring elite specs after nine years
I have a strange history with Guild Wars 2. I fell hard for the pre-launch hype, and when it finally arrived, I loved it...
Why I Play: Monster Hunter Rise is still worth it one month later
It's been over a month since Monster Hunter Rise was released to the public. I was feeling good about the game during the press...
Why I Play: Multiplayer sandbox Eco is so much more than just an ecology simulator
I’ve been struggling to come up with a succinct way to describe Eco. The game was recently the subject of a Whatever Happened To...
