Gaming Overload

I really don’t know if this is a typical problem for every gamer, but it almost always is for me, and that’s how many games can you play at once. Zenless Zone Zero and Trails Through Daybreak come out this week. I’ve already got a gacha game I play daily, Honkai Star Rail, and a bigger game, Elden Ring, to play. Just how many games can I juggle before I get burnt out, or have to drop one?

Since I grew up in the era of video game rentals, I wonder if that’s in part to blame for my bad habits. I had the luxury of being able to play a new game, or even two new games every week. I rarely finished games, since renting a game two weeks in a row almost felt like a waste. At that point, I should just buy the game, right? But why would I buy the game? I’ve already played half of it by then. 

My happy place as a kid

This weird dilemma left me with a long list of games that I played, but never finished, and never bought. As a kid it wasn’t much of a problem, since my attention span was shorter and many games were too difficult. But as a tween it was a weird position, and seemingly trained me to crave a new experience almost every other week. 

I’ve gotten better as I’ve gotten older, making a more concerted effort to actually finish the games I buy, but I’m still far from perfect. I should finish off a game before I buy a new one, or at least be sure I’ve bounced off a game. Instead, my childlike impatience tends to get to me, and I want to at least try out the shiny new game I’ve been following for months, or even years. 

The latest examples in this trend are Zenless Zone Zero and Trails Through Daybreak. Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ for short) is the latest gacha game from developers MiHoYo, the makers of my beloved Honkai Star Rail. I’ve played Star Rail almost every day for the past year, so there’s no way I can resist playing their newest game. The problem is, ZZZ is also a game that rewards people for playing daily. Can I really afford to juggle playing two different games daily, on top of whatever else I’m playing? 

Speaking of whatever else I’m playing, I still have the Elden Ring DLC to finish! I’ve truly relished getting my ass handed to me in new and different ways. I’ve reached the final boss, but I still have plenty left to explore, and I may need to in order to overcome this last hurdle. But I’ve played almost 100 hours of Elden Ring in the past month or so. That’s a lot of time to spend in any game, no matter how brilliant. 

Which brings us to Trails Through Daybreak, an entry in the long running Trails series. I’ve got a bit of a love hate relationship with these games, and while I like each entry, I rarely finish them. The last entry I played, Cold Steel 4, I didn’t finish as the plot became so grandiose and yet felt so poorly paced. The cast ballooned and it felt like each character had to say a line before we could move on to the next scene. 

This series also tends to build on things from previous games. Bringing back past characters, alluding to past events, or expanding on its world building. That’s a big plus for people who play each entry, which I haven’t. These games tend to be slower paced, the combat isn’t always my favorite, and they’re rather story heavy. I often bounce off these games, but then find myself coming back for more. 

With this latest entry, guess what, I want more! This game starts a new arc, so the knowledge of past entries tends to be a bit lower, and there seem to be some promising gameplay changes. I’m once again telling myself, maybe this time. Maybe this is the game that’ll motivate me to power through those older entries and finally understand this sprawling game world that’s been crafted. 

If I do take the plunge, unless I can polish off Elden Ring in the next few days, I may not come back to it. Big games like these are hard to bounce between, and a difficult game like Elden Ring requires a lot of muscle memory. I’ve learned the hard way over the years that if I lose momentum on a game, especially a long one, my odds of returning to it and finishing the game begin to diminish very quickly. 

What the right amount of games is tends to vary, based on what you’re playing, the size of the games, and just how you’re feeling. When I was playing Animal Crossing, I could pair it with another game pretty easily, on top of my daily gacha game. Sometimes when I’m busier, like weekends when I go to Tokyo, my daily gacha game is all I need. There’s no right answer, so I think finding that balance is really up to you. 

Then again, I have a decent sense of what that balance tends to be, and I still find myself ignoring it. I shouldn’t play ZZZ if I don’t want to risk giving up Honkai Star Rail, or having two games to check in on daily. I really shouldn’t start Trails Through Daybreak until after I finish Elden Ring, it’s not going anywhere, and there’s no huge rush. 

Though, knowing I can play those games in just a few days gives me a little extra reason to get through my week. It’ll be a fun reward to try out some new games over the weekend. Above all, gaming is a hobby, the only person who cares if I finish Elden Ring is me, and I may decide I don’t care all that much. 

What counts as gaming overload varies, but balance is important in any hobby. We’ll see how things shake out with these new games, if I manage to juggle them, or if I end up dropping any. Either way, I’m too excited for some new titles to wait, and if I leave some games behind, that doesn’t mean I love them any less. I can always add them to my backlog and return to them later. Oh, I never finish any games in my backlog? Don’t worry, I’ll tackle that topic later, probably.