On the one hand, I find it incredibly entertaining, motivating, and awe-inspiring. I love getting lost in new worlds, lost in the lore of a well-written story, and I love being able to play and meet people across the world on games.

On the flip-side, gaming has always held me back from achieving my full potential. I will always turn to games if I am feeling bored, demotivated or depressed, and I have never found anything else that can cure those feelings for me better than games.

The problem too is that games are nowadays so good. There is an abundance of content and great games that it’s difficult to know where to start. I’ve tried to contextualise my gaming, and tried to give it some meaning.

For example, I’ve tried to go all-in on the Japanese RPG genre. This is probably my favourite genre in terms of the gaming style, but the games are SO long that finishing just one is a huge achievement.

I’ve also tried to play the best games in the world as rated by Metacritic, and follow the list down from there. This however leads to playing old games that in all honesty, aren’t up to scratch when compared to modern titles.

So I’m left at where I am as I write this, which is actually a very healthy attitude to games. And this is due to focusing on one title at once. Not trying to play 2-3 games at once. Not giving up because I get a little bored. Not changing characters and classes constantly. Just sticking with one character, on one game.

The game in question is Final Fantasy 14, which has all the elements I love in a game (MMORPG, Japanese style, huge open world, amazing lore, great community) and is still the best online roleplaying game out there.

I just wished I’d played it sooner, and that I had stuck with it 4-5 years ago when I first played. I stupidly have given up and come back to the game countless times, meaning I’ve had to go through the incredibly long and slow story (A Realm Reborn) a number of times, which makes up the first portion of the game. Now that I’m through that an into the ‘meat’ of the game, exploring new brilliant areas and in a group (Free Company) that I can chat to every day, I can understand what my relationship with games has needed to be.