What do???

With the Anthem demos behind us, and still around 9 days to go before even the early access launch¹ — I find myself in the position of not really having anything to play.

*cough*

Look, no-one ever accused me of being a completionist, OK?

My approach to gaming has certainly changed over the years. It used to be vitally important to extract every last cent of value out of a purchase. Now there are titles I was so excited about I bought day 1 and then… uh… never quite got around to even launching.

Much of the time when I get into a title, it isn’t even that I grew bored of it that makes me put it down. Simply that a new shiny comes along. Then another. And another. I can be a bit like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to these things. I know this about myself.

So this time? This time… I’m determined not to buy something just to fill in this wait. I’m going to attack my backlog, dammit.

I am absolutely spoiled for choice. I think that might even be part of the problem. But I figure I can stick to something from the backlog for 9 days, like, how hard could that be?²

Considering the Options

I went in for a year of the EA / Origin Premier Access thingo³ so that was a bit of an obvious place to start. I mean, I literally bought it instead of going in for Anthem directly so that I could try out the likes of Battlefield V, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Darksiders 3. Each a title I wasn’t likely to buy on its own — but when I can get access to them all for a year for only a little more than Anthem alone? … Well OK then, twist my arm why don’t you.

But really, this would be cheating a little bit. Taking an Origin Access game now would be adding on something new, not something I already have.

So I thought about the likes of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey which I was loving but haven’t finished. That’s fairly recent and exciting.

But I also picked up Dragon Quest XI. It was over fears that the art style would drive me away, but it’s a charming looking game in action. I’ve only given it- oh, 3 hours so far. In a similar vein, there is also Ni No Kuni II — but I think I actually don’t like this one. There isn’t much substance to it, despite having a very broad set of systems.

Jumping way back in time, what about Dragon’s Dogma? I loved my time with that game, I don’t even remember what distracted me away from it.

But no, it shan’t be any of these, fantastic as they all are. As sensible a choice, as they all might be for such a challenge.

The winner is: Elder Scrolls Online

“Wait, you’re picking an MMO? Are you crazy?” you may ask, following on with the very true statement, “You only have 9 days!”

And you wouldn’t be wrong. Many of these 9 days are going to be work filled too.

But the game still fits the bill! It’s one I’d given the side-eye to during the beta (it was… not good, at this time) but had been a bit curious about as it seemed to really be coming along and making positive strides post-launch.

When the Summer Set Isles expansion came out last year, including Morrowind and the base game in the package I was sold.

Steam tells me I was sold for 40 odd hours. But I believe some of this would be launcher open for further patching, not handled by the steam client itself. *shakes fist*

The Plan

I still don’t know exactly what character archetype / class I’ll play. Possibly something Ranger-ish. The Warden appeals if I do go down this path. But I do know I am going to clear out my old characters and start fresh.

Yes, I know – I know! I don’t have to. I could jump in literally to any part of the story, in any area, and it would level appropriately.

I just prefer to start fresh when I step away from an RPG for too long. It’s possible this is yet another contributing factor to my neverending backlog actually. Pillars of Eternity, for example? Restarted a fresh playthrough of that. Got to essentially the exact same point and put it down again.

I might be beyond help, guys.

I also don’t truly expect to finish this game off my backlog over this period. I might be crazy, but if so – not that far gone yet. But over this period, I’ll certainly post on my progress and at the end whether I would be interested in going back or not in the future.

1. I don’t want to hear about it if everything goes smoothly OK, I only want to hear your cries of anguish until I get home from work that day! Thanks.
2. Prediction: I will come to regret this comment.
3. I think I might be starting to see why I have such a backlog problem.