You ever start playing a game, and loving it, then stop for some reason, only to return months later and say, “Wait. What was I doing again?”
I happened to do exactly that a couple times in the past few years, but twice it was funny becasue of what happened, and why.
The first one was Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch. I got my hands onto Animal Crossing about a month behind everyone else last year, right when quarentine was just starting. I played it almost religiously for several months, then stopped, just because I got bored. My island wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to, and I got frustrated with it. Beyond that, I wanted to do something more, like play on islands that were set up like mazes, which I always found fun. But at the time, people weren’t making those, so I just said forget it.
Not too long ago, I happened to unintentionally open the game again. Now, I could have just jumped back into the game and fallen in love with my island and whatnot, and just finished it off and everything. But. I didn’t do that.
Instead, I started over. I deleted my data and went back to day one. I played every day for two months, building up my bells and slowly planning. Sure, not everything is done how I want it (can’t build a bridge were I want, but whatever). But I’m liking it more. And I have a few villagers that I absolutely love, so. I’m currently not playing for two weeks because I’m trying to get the sleep-messed hair style, and then I’ll jump back in to continue on.
The other game is one that I had considered jumping back into for awhile, but I kept on saying, no, you don’t want to. That was Pokémon Sword. When I originally got it (again, far after release date), I played it and loved it. I crafted a team of Pokémon that was well rounded. Thanks to the automatic EXP share, their levels were basically equal and everything. I ended up playing up until right after the original eight gym badges… then I stopped. And I don’t remember why.
The other night, I happened upon my guidebook for the game. I decided to boot up my Switch and play. It was then I discovered that I hadn’t playing since June of 2020. I knew it had been a long time, but over a year? That was insane. I fell right back into the game, slowly making my way to the end of my character’s journey… and got stonewalled at the Champion battle. My Pokémon are strong, and I have the type advantage, but I just can’t win. So I’m in a holding pattern for the next few days, waiting until a Mystery Gift with a level 70 Pokémon drops (or is that Oak’s Lab thing on Twitch comes back online. Whichever comes first.).
I’ve come back to games so many times in the past, and I am always beating myself up for not finishing when I was playing them the first time. One of the biggest games I’ve done that was actually Marvel’s Spider-Man. I’d originally finished the first act, then just kinda stopped for no reason. Came back about seven months later and beat the whole game to platinum in about three weeks (ignoring the DLC, because those Screwball Challenges can go to HELL). I’ll probably be doing this with Spider-Man: Miles Morales one of these days as well, as I have finished the story, but I haven’t completed it fully. It’s on the list.
Another one, and one that might be more surprising, is Lego Dimensions. When I originally played on my PS3, I loved the game. I played through the whole story, and had just started on the Level Packs when I got my PS4. So I switched over to that… and took almost a year to finally play through the Story Packs (because I hated both the Ghostbusters 2016 and The Lego Batman Movie packs, and was just not impressed with what they did with them.) It was only when I blasted through everything on my Xbox One that I finally went back and played the game to 100% completion. I finally did it on PS4, and not too long ago, because I’m worried my PS3 might be on its last legs, I finally got all the DLC trophies on PS3.
There’s one game that I’m still sitting on, and I’m just trying to get enough oomph up to actually play it. I started Lego Pirates of the Caribbean years ago, and beat the first film’s levels. But I just wasn’t enjoying it, so I stopped. About a year ago, I started again, restarted the file, and again beat the first film. And again, I stopped. I’m planning that this month, I’ll sit down and just power on through. I did that with Lego The Hobbit last month, so I’m hoping that being stubborn will get me through.
Coming back to games after having paused is hard, but in a way I love it. I get to reexperience them almost like new, but also know what’s going on. It’s fun, at least to me. While I do love blasting through one game at a time, this method also works well.
Until next time!
