I have been playing games here and there. Mostly it’s been EVE Online. Two long weekends and ½ day Summery Friday at work have me in better spirits. I’m making good progress in the writer’s workshop. I’m not where I’d hoped I’d be at this stage but I’m on track where I’m supposed to be in the course. I also invested in a very nice NordicTrack A2350 Treadmill to help burn off some stress. I’ve done the walking around the lake thing after dinner but I’ve never been a jogger. I was happy to find that after only the second day, I was doing 3 miles a day. They didn’t lie. Exercise/exertion is an AMAZING stress reliever. I kid you not. I can already feel the difference.
Feeling a bit better all the way around, I was in the mood for some brightly colored fantasy MMO gaming over the weekend. Unfortunately, I was thwarted on all sides. Saturday afternoon my brother and mother stopped by for a visit. Sunday both of my girls came over. Before they left, my nephew called to ask if he could come stay over a few days since school is out. When he got here we spent the next few hours playing Wii Sports game.
By the time the house was quiet again, there wasn’t enough time for me to consider logging into any fantasy MMO. I have EQ2 and Runes of Magic (ROM) as options. ROM does offer opportunity for quickie game-play because of all of the daily quests. But I wasn’t in the mood to just go kill stuff. And EQ2 – well can’t really knock out anything fun very fast. Travel alone takes up a chunk of time. I could do housekeeping chores of harvesting and crafting but I wasn’t in the mood for that so I skipped firing anything up. This highlighted for me that I don’t have anything real RPG worthy when I want a quick 30 minute fix that is fun and completes an objective. I still occasionally play Free Realms late at night but I just do cooking and harvesting mini games. I'm not all the interested in the quests or combat as currently implemented.
I started thinking about The Sims 2 which I’d uninstalled and then remembered that The Sims 3 is coming out this month. I hadn’t planned on buying it but now I might. While they’ve refused to figure out some way for players to do multiplayer there are lots of other fun things in this generation of the game. If I’d had TS2 installed, I could have had a 30-minute gaming session that was fun, colorful, full of RPG, where I could have achieved something in short time. Hmm, I might have to buy it.
You might want to give the combat and quests another try in Free Realms. It's not going to win any awards for innovation but it does what it does very well.
The members-only content is especially very nice with some very well done instances and fun combat jobs like the Archer.
Posted by: Winged Nazgul | June 01, 2009 at 01:24 PM
Is there a level limit before I can be something other than Brawler? The brawler is only level 2 and I'd want to be a Mage.
Posted by: Saylah | June 01, 2009 at 03:30 PM
Nope, no such limit.
Posted by: Winged Nazgul | June 01, 2009 at 03:46 PM
If you are up for a single player rpg game I strongly recommend Jade Empire (PC or XBox). It's rpg lite (combining action with rpg elements) but it has a wonderful oriental / steampunk storyline that can easily suck you in.
Posted by: mbp | June 01, 2009 at 04:05 PM
@Winged - Thanks. Next time I'll give that a try. FR has sucked my older daughter into the MMO scene. *GASP* I was telling Tipa that I showed it to her as a mini-game portal. She loves mini games. She's the only one of us that was not interested in MMOs.
I spoke to her a few days after and asked her if she'd found new games when she replied yes but they had her doing all sorts of other fun stuff like finding people, looking for items and killing stuff. My mouth fell open. I was like yer questing?!?! She had no clue what I meant by that but when I explained she said, "Yeah, I quest." I almost fainted. She's 26 and has REFUSED to play MMOs with us over the years. I think FR is going to usher in a new era of casual MMO gamers.
@mbp - Hmmm, we had Jade for the Xbox and I didn't get into it so much but thanks for the suggestion. I'll give FR quests another try since I'm a member. If that doesn't hit the spot the TS3 here i come.
Posted by: Alysianah aka Saylah | June 01, 2009 at 06:58 PM
Wizard is a lot of fun, especially when you get the freeze skill and get to freeze the monsters in mid-attack and they ice over. Nice! Setting the various Yeti on fire is great too!
As long as you have level one in Brawler or some other combat job, you can start the Wizard job by seeing Fizzlestick just north of Lakeshore area.
Posted by: Wade | June 01, 2009 at 07:09 PM
"I think FR is going to usher in a new era of casual MMO gamers."
I thought the same thing when I posted my first thoughts during the FR Beta:
http://wingednazgul.blogspot.com/2009/04/back-in-beta-saddle-again.html
BTW, ingame concert tonight at 4PM PST by The Dares performing the Free Realms theme song. This is set to go off the same time as their scheduled performance at this year's E3.
Posted by: Winged Nazgul | June 02, 2009 at 09:06 AM
I've just taken up Yoga and I'm loving it. I think it's going to be great for my stress and general well being. Sitting in front of a computer all day is killer for your body.
Posted by: We Fly Spitfires | June 04, 2009 at 02:14 PM
I know how you feel about stress. I recently accepted a new job, and drove from Idaho to Pennsylvania. I am staying with my wife's cousin and his wife/children for a few weeks until I find a place of my own. My wife and kids will be staying in Idaho for the next year because we don't want to rush a move out here and refuse to move the kids during a school year. So, I am starting a new job, in an area I am unfamiliar with, with people I have never met. Most of all, I really miss my family. Perhaps I need to start walking at night.
I hope you are doing well Saylah in these times of great stress...
I may be firing up an MMO again since I will have time at night/weekends without my family this next long year.
Posted by: RomaGoth | June 07, 2009 at 10:14 PM