Topic: What PS3 game(s) are you currently playing?

@Yousef- Indeed, I think that a lot of us more seasoned gamers have come to know precisely what our gaming likes and dislikes are. Years of trial and error and drilling down preferred experiences leads to that gradual curation you’re talking about. I keep lists of my backlog and the games I want and I can see the list evolve over the years, just like I can see how my trophy list of games played has also morphed. I had created a large master list of all the games in my backlog and then as I referred back to it and crossed games off, I started to see games that I was like “why do I want to play that game? I’d much rather spend my time playing these others” and so I’d gradually delete some games that I obviously had interest in at one point but can’t seem to manufacture any excitement for anymore.

But it’s key to force yourself out of your comfort zone every once in a while, imo. Otherwise you hit complacency. It’s like eating pizza, burgers, and tacos every evening. It’s tastes great and might be your favorite but it loses its special appeal eventually. It’s why some gamers eventually lose interest. Variety is the spice of life. And sometimes while I’m trying something different from my usual curated favorite list, I find a new genre that resonates with me. So even though we might get laser focused on our preferred types of games at this stage of our gaming lives, there’s significant value in staying open minded. You may end up playing games that you end up disliking or prematurely dropping, but the silver lining is that you may also find a new favorite after experiencing multiple failed attempts. 😉

(Which… unless I’m wrong, the idiom for silver lining comes from the way a storm cloud can look silver around it when the sun or moon is shining behind it. So it represents the positive side of what may initially seem overcast and gloomy. …or something like that. But maybe the cloud can look bronze or gold in certain settings? We could certainly advocate for the phase to be a platinum lining, for sure!) 😂

@Th3solution yeah, the whole comfort zone is a balance you need to strike. Go too far and you grow resentment, go not far enough and things get sterile.

The food analogy is quite funny as all those foods you listed are viewed as foreign, unorthodox or unconventional meal choices where I live. We often go for stews, rice or basic pastas. I also enjoy kebabs, fatayer, kabsa, sheesh tawoog, chicken 65, chicken tikka, shawarmas, chip butties and so on (but do keep in mind our versions of those are vastly different, makes sense cuz we created it)

Funny how the internet works… to the foreigner, you’re the foreigner! Aha!

One thing that helps us mature is coming in terms with our dislikes. We’ve grown to chase this romanticized fantasy that we can enjoy anything given the right time & place, but sometimes you do get that right time & place and the game would still not click with you. At that point, it is wiser to move on. Still, preservation is key (or is it perservation?), tenacity can lead you to great places, like the Jack Black band, Tenacious D (if you even know what that is), if you don’t….well…

Now thats the platinum lining!!! Lol!!

@Yousef- Yeah, I should have thought twice about my food analogy before sharing it because I do realize that the American perspective of favorite foods is quite illogical in some parts of the world. We talk about our favorite foods and favorite kinds of food, usually in reference to their origin, so people will say “I like Italian” or “I like Mexican” or “I like Thai”. But a few years ago I was among some people from Asia and asked what their favorite kind of food was and I got a blank look back, as it didn’t really compute. They explained to me that they ate just a core group of things every day, rice with every meal, and that’s just the way it was. Eating was more of a practical endeavor with essentially the same foods over and over. When there’s not much choice, then there’s nothing to really be a favorite over something else.

But it does sound like the Kuwaiti cuisine is varied and diverse enough to have different dishes to choose from. So hopefully my analogy makes sense. 😅

Alas, perseverance is key, so I’ll keep trying to make good metaphors that actually are comprehensible. 😉

@Yousef- The Dishonored 2 talk inspired me to get out my old PC and recover the save file I had on it there. At least I have it available to me now whenever I do decide I want to finish the game proper. I kind of feel like I'd have to before giving Death of the Outsider a proper go, and since I was already over halfway... maybe fourth time's the charm.

But yeah, it's weird. Honestly, when it comes to the mission design, lore and such of the second entry, I wouldn't even say that anything feels very different. Atmospherically it does, but I think the new environments are beautiful more than anything. I think the levels are somewhat overstuffed, maybe? I'm someone who likes to do and see everything in any particular place, and I felt a lot more overwhelmed doing so in the second one than I ever did with the first. I think the first's level design is just a lot more tighter and thought through. I know people praise the Clockwork Mansion for its inventiveness, and while it was cool seeing the whole area change on a whim the first time around, I quickly got tired of the whole gimmick. Maybe I'm just approaching the game wrong and should let go of my eternal need for exploration and just focus on getting the goal done as soon as possible. I don't know. With how much I loved the first, I think I'll be in a cycle where I keep trying it and bouncing off of it forever if I don't change something about my approach!

And as a Berliner, we have a shared love for kebabs! The go-to food after a night out of too much drinking.

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Preach! If only I'd have listened to that advice from you folks on here a lot earlier... I wouldn't have such a gap in my gaming history in a hobby I enjoyed and continue to enjoy so much. It really is key. I honestly don't know how the types of gamers exist that exclusively play their yearly sports and FPS game. I'd be so over it by now!