Happy Alternatives

[LilimoLimomo]

Right now I'm devoting nearly all my gaming time to FF14 because despite the complaints I have with some aspects of the expansion, I am overall having a very good time. But here are some of the games I played recently when I wasn't playing FF14:

Elden Ring
Y'all know what this is. It's one of the best comedy games out there. An action RPG with tons of customization. A thoroughly unique world with interesting lore and an nuanced exploration of philosophy and the human experience. I'm looking forward to dipping my toes into the DLC.

Bloodborne
I never played the DLC for this back in the day so I was going through it before Dawntrail released. I played for a bit the other night when the FF14 servers were down and had a good time.

Tunic
If you fused NES Zelda, Dark Souls, and The Witness into a single game, that's Tunic. I won't say more than that because Tunic is best experienced going in blind, but I really, really recommend it.

Warframe
Besides FF14, this is my other "forever game". It's a co-op 3rd person acrobatic game where you go through levels and fight tons of enemies with melee weapons, ranged weapons, and the sci-fi magical powers of your body of choice. Warframe has the most delightful movement of any game I've ever played, such that doing something as simple as traversing a level feels great. The level of customization is so deep and nuanced that I doubt anyone won't be able to find a setup that feels like home for them, regardless of your skill at games. You wanna be tanky? You wanna be a glass cannon? You wanna be a healer, a controller, a mage blasting groups of enemies with spells, or some bizarre mix of any of these? Warframe's got you covered, and they just keep rolling out more content. And the world is extremely creative and interesting, with some great stories, including what I think is the best narrative reveal in any game I've ever played. And it's free, with some of the least predatory microtransactions of any game I've ever seen. Is the game's modding system unintuitive and confusing at first? Absolutely! That's part of why there's no shame in looking at guides or watching videos to understand the intricacies of these systems; in fact, I recommend it!

Baldur's Gate 3
If you have any interest in RPG's where you can be strategic and solve problems different ways, I'd be really surprised if you wouldn't enjoy this one. It's got a lot going on. I love the characters (even the characters I "dislike"), I love the interactions, the way the story flows, and the way that the devs have somehow taken something as complicated as D&D and - with a few tweaks - overall made it work in a canned video game with no organic DM. Everything is voice-acted!? And yeah you can pick your junk and cozy up to a bear if that's your thing.

Monster Hunter: Rise
Monster Hunter is a series where you pick from a handful of weapons with completely different play styles and then use them to hunt dinosaurs and dragons with up to 3 friends as well as your adorable dog and cat companions. Basically every mission is a boss fight in an open world where you chase these monsters around, tactically retreat, and wear them down until you either kill them or capture them, then build gear and weapons from what you collected during the hunt. Each monster has so much personality that it's a pleasure just to learn how they behave and inch ever closer to mastering combat against them. The combat can feel clunky at first, as it's in the Dark Souls category of big weapons actually being slow, but once you understand that every button press means making a commitment and you find the weapons that gel with you, it feels great; my great sword isn't just an extension of my body, it is my body. Plus there's a solid amount of customization you can add by upgrading yourself with various skills you can apply to your armor. Some people like MH: Rise more, some people like MH: World more. They're both great games, but I'm in the Rise camp, because I think the monsters are more interesting, the palette is more colorful, and as the more recent title it learned from some of World's strengths and ran with them to add even more. But both are great games.

[Sivante]

Right now I'm devoting nearly all my gaming time to FF14 because despite the complaints I have with some aspects of the expansion, I am overall having a very good time. But here are some of the games I played recently when I wasn't playing FF14:

Our lists actually have a lot of overlap. Power to the Fromsoft! I'll give Tunic a try.