Lord Spencer

Do you ever play a game with someone else? I don't mean someone playing with you, but someone who simply watches you play through a full game.

I started playing games at a very early age, but most of the games I played were platformers. At roughly the same time, my most vivid memories of gaming were watching my uncle play games on the PS1. I remember watching him play the Resident Evil games, Final Fantasy VII, Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, and other games. For the most part, I didn't play those games myself until much later (and some of them I still did not play until my PS1 REVIEWS series).

Watching my uncle play those games expertly was an immersive experience. I don't know what my uncle thought about it though. He did not have a TV in his room, so it was expected that he wouldn't have any privacy when playing his console.

In my own home, my siblings started watching me play games at the time I started discovering JRPG games like Wild Arms 2 and Grandia. My sister still remembers a lot of the games I played then. My brother is almost as big a gaming fan as I am.

These days, I rarely ever play a game with other people watching, with a few notable exceptions. My youngest sister, who is about 20 years younger than me and still in High School, has watched me play several games, and she is adamant that she wants to watch me play a few specific franchises. Mainly, she watched me play through the Ace Attorney and Yakuza franchises, and she watched my brother play the Resident Evil games.

With the Yakuza: Like a Dragon, she indicated that she may have lost interest in the story. However, she just told me that's not the case anymore. Also, she wants to watch a playthrough of Resident Evil Village.

Yet, as a girl in her final high school years, her schedule doesn't perfectly sync with mine. For instance, her finals are soon, and so I cannot actually start Yakuza: Like a Dragon yet, nor can I start the next game in the queue which is Resident Evil Village.

Still, this may be some of the last games she watches me play, and that's quality time that is unique between us. So I am happy to bend over my schedule a bit.

Does anyone watch you play games?

Check out my latest PS1 Review of Wild Arms 2, an improved sequel to the early PS1 classic, albeit one with an infamously bad localization. Still, it is worth playing today.

Also, check out my blog where I ask Where the Hell is Wild Arms? A retrospective blog where I try to figure out why the Wild Arms series died, and explain why it would be great to have it back.

Finally, check out my weekly updates on the games I am playing now. The information in brackets is how long I have been playing the games and how close they are to the checkpoint that decides whether I continue with them.

-Galerians (PS1) [2/3W, Pause]: I am either going to finish this game next week or I am going to drop it for no fault of its own.

-Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch) [5/6W]: The final areas of the game are so far a highlight in this game. It is still not an amazing experience like I felt the 2nd game had, but it is fun enough that it doesn't feel a drag to power through the game. The decision NOT TO CARE about collectibles made the game more fun, and I am still getting all collectibles in an organic and less stressful way. By the end of the game, I might recalibrate my entire experience with it, which I think was impacted by my negative mood in the last few weeks.

-Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Switch) [3/4W, FIN]: The mark of a great Metroidvania is that it pulls you into exploring and memorizing its world to such an extent that you can't stop playing the game. That happened to me with this game, which is a marked improvement over the original in its combat, platforming, and exploration. Its graphics, music, and creature design are still top-notch, although the Switch version suffers a bit because of that with noticeable and frequent frame pauses. Those minor technical blemishes did not affect my overall engagement with the game, which was simply too fun for me to care.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is easily one of the best Metroidvanias I played, and is a game you should try if you are fan of the genre even if you did not like the first game. Thanks to Riff Raff for insisting I try it out when I wasn't a big fan of the first game.

-Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS4/5) [0/5W, Pause]: As I discussed above, I am going to play this game once my sister is free to watch. I am also playing Resident Evil Village with her watching too. This means I will have to advance Nier Replicant in the queue, and that's a game I am definitely going to try and start this week.

-Upcoming Games in my Backlog in Uncertain Order: Various Games (PS1), Pokemon Sword (Switch), Part Time UFO (Switch), Resident Evil Village (PS5), Nier Replicant (PS5).

I used to watch my older brother play games, mostly content just experiencing it with him. My wife will watch me sometimes, especially if she knows I'm in a tough battle and wants to see me finally succeed.

Some of my younger cousins have watched me play various games during random family holidays; most memorably for me is when I finally made it through Limbo in fewer than 5 deaths while one of my youngest cousins watched on, entranced. I told him it was thanks to him being there (I had tried several times and it occasionally felt impossible), and I actually believe that. I feel I perform better when I have an audience.

Another notable example of this is when I was taking on Pantheon 5 in Hollow Knight, easily the hardest challenge in the game. Dozens of attempts were made, but I always did better during the times she was watching and ultimately succeeded one of those times.

Glad you loved Ori - I haven't tried either of them yet, but I know I'll love them and need to be reminded every so often that they exist lol.