In addition to the community-aspects others have noted, the combat system is a bit slower-paced and extremely strategic. The jobs(classes) are all extremely unique and the sub-job system allows you to play them differently as needed. You can switch jobs on one character so you really grow attached to your specific character rather than making different characters for different classes.

You can swap-gear mid combat which gives you a lot of situational flexibility that makes it feel like you’re actively contributing to your success or failure. As an example you might have a set of great for a specific ability, or switch to defensive gear if you draw the enemy’s attention.

Additionally, the story is really nuanced and the side-characters are often very realistic in their choices, motivations, and there is a sense of consistency throughout the world that really makes it feel “lived-in” in a way a lot of other MMOs don’t bother with.

Honestly I could go on and on. It’s just a really special world and will stick with me for life. Even a few years out from playing I still get the itch to go back constantly. Vana’diel is like a second home for me.

FFXI ruined all other MMORPGs for me, because there is nothing like it and probably never will be again.

Final Fantasy XI and it’s not even close.

Hmm, I think I was responding within the context of some of the other replies, so I might have lost track of what OP said before responding.

from Episode One and Episode Two, along with ideas and experiments for the third episode that never came to be.

Emphasis mine. They mean HL2 Ep 3 was planned and canceled. Not HL3.

I will never be able to!

Bastion is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played, both art-wise and theme-wise. The entire end of the game was just chills and tears for me.

If only it wasn’t running Windows 11

Haha! That sounds like so much fun!

My wife, whose entire history with video games is Sims 3, Animal Crossing: NH, and Pokémon Go, played through this game start to finish and loved it. It wasn’t really made for “gamers”, it was made for Harry Potter fans that wanted to play a Hogwarts game. It didn’t succeed as a gaming revolution, it succeeded in bringing non-gamers to buy it.

Personally, I love that she got into it whether it’s mid or not, because it introduced her to a lot of the mechanics necessary to play “real” games in the future. And she had a lot of fun.

Actually, the last truly new content for FFXI ended in May of last year, but it’s still pretty impressive!

Civilization has settings buried in the menu like

New to Civilization (default)

New to Civilization VI

New to Civilization [Expansion 1]

New to Civilization [Expansion 2]

Disabled

Something like these options could go a long way -

New to Pokémon (all tutorials)

New to Pokémon on [Console] (tutorials specific to controls on that console)

New to Pokémon [Generation] (tutorials specific to new mechanics in that generation)

Disabled (no tutorials)

I used the Google to destroy the Google

Thanks, because I bought it after it got good and I’ve put 1000+ hours into it.

I don’t think it’s an overreaction - you have a line, and when it was crossed you switched.

3DS can emulate DS, my 2DS running homebrew can emulate DS, GBA, and everything prior. It’s pretty cool.

That was just eShop