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[entremet]

These days, I find myself treating games more as appetizers than entrees, to use a common restaurant analogy. Due to time constraints, I prefer sampling more games these days and I love love shorter games.

Doesn't mean I don't like a hearty entree. Nioh and BoTW have been those recently. And still love meaty games.

But I no longer feel guilt for dropping games. I treat those as appetizers.

But then there are games that are very rich, like dessert. I only have a few bites and revisit them later. These are the Souls games for me. They're definitely tasty, but I can't eat them daily. My average time for beating a Souls game is 2 years on an off. Other JRPGs are similar for me.

I find that treating games like this make me enjoy the hobby guilt free. It's not a obligation and I'm not obsessing about backlogs. It is a hobby after all, not a job!

How are you consuming games mostly these days? Are their appetizers, entrees, or desserts? Or are you in super time limited hors d'oeuvres world? Getting your gaming time when you can take in bit and spurts?

 

[Peltz]

Now I'm starving. Thanks OP.

I like open world or RPG-like entrees and arcade like appetizers/deserts.

I always have one long epic game I'm working on, along with countless smaller action titles.

 

[ErMerGerd]

I feast.

 

[DMONKUMA]

I love a good feast.

 

[Menitta]

Games like Assassin's Creed (well not last year) and COD are like McDonalds. Always there and you always know what to expect. Sometimes it'll be bad and they'll fuck it up, but still of some level of quality.

 

[Akuun]

I usually keep one or two light casual games that I can pick up and play whenever I want, and one or two big meaty games that I play when I have more time to spare. I guess the food analogy would be snacks and meals.

My current "snack" game is Fire Emblem Heroes.

My current "meal" games are Zelda and FFXIV.

Somewhere in between is Overwatch.

 

[petran79]

I'd rather treat video games like beverages.
Fighting games, shmups and arcades in general are like vodka and similar drinks. Tasty but only small sips since its very strong. Anything more and it will harm you.

Other games feel mostly like drinking regular wine, beer, juice, tea, coffee, milk etc
Enjoyable and beneficial.

But currently I play Rain World and it feels like tasting cod liver oil

 

[Autoignition]

I'm hesitant to use food metaphors for this, because I would consider myself to have a binge eating/gaming disorder.

Most games don't grab me anymore, but when they do, I become obsessive. I won't put them down in my free time, and I'll even think about them when I'm at work or out with friends. On the flipside, I have a "backlog" of games that I've only played a few hours in each, but because they didn't grab me, I know in my heart of hearts I'll never actually finish them. I may not even touch them again. All because they didn't trigger that obsessive binge feeling right from the start.

I get like this with shows and books, too. I think it's more of a statement on my ADHD than anything else. I can go literal months without touching games at all, but when that one game comes out and hits that sweet spot real good, it's over. I'm hooked.

Multiplayer games are a little different, though, because I generally have other people managing my time for me in those cases. I'll have a buddy who wants to play, and I can jump on and play for a few hours, and that's easy as a pick up/put down. I'm thinking of doing more joint gaming sessions for singleplayer games, too, because that's how I got through FFXV. It didn't sink its teeth into me, and I know I would've put it down and walked away after two hours, but one of my best friends was on PS+ with me playing right alongside with me, so that kept me going in reasonable chunks over the course of a few weeks.

 

[Geg]

I don't really like going straight from one big game (or, a meal or entree or whatever) to another so I want to at least go through a smaller one to kind of wind down in between. Like after finishing with Breath of the Wild I did another playthrough of Night in the Woods before starting Nier Automata.

Also what's the food metaphor for long-lasting multiplayer games that you can always go back to during lulls of other games to play?

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Expected a thread about Cooking Mama, Overcooked, and BurgerTime. Disappointed.

 

[True Fire]

I thought this thread was about eating game discs. Like some depraved Hannibal shit

 

[bennywhatever]

Yeah I can see where you're coming from. Like...

Appetizer: Metroid II: Return of Samus
Entree: Super Metroid
Dessert: Metroid Zero Mission or Metroid Fusion or AM2R

May not have time for an Entree but you can do an appetizer or dessert.

 

[NullPointer]

This is kind of what draws me to open world games these days. They tend to allow for all three kinds of dish within the one game, depending upon my mood and how much time and attention I've got available.

I might just dip my toes into a game for a lil bit, maybe do one side mission or explore for a bit. Maybe make some progress towards a main mission without actually doing the mission itself. Then when I have more time I'll just fully immerse, and do several of the big missions in a row. Sometimes in Horizon: Zero Dawn I'll know where I'm headed for the next story mission but I never fast travel so I might play through one or two legs of the journey, chaining from one campfire to the next until I've got to go.

Then there's the way I approach any souls game. Weekdays are for exploring a new area, finding out whats what, and leveling up. Weekends are for tackling the bosses. Once I beat the boss I'll use the following week days to go through the next area, etc.

Lately, in Wildlands an appetizer would be clearing a checkpoint or rebel hideout. Gathering some intel. An entree would be tackling a large base or facility, something that tends to take a few hours for the way we play. Dessert is how we end a session. Maybe its crazy parachuting or bum rushing some enemies and going out in a blaze of glory. Or just flying around in the helos and exploring new areas.

 

[CharminUltra]

Appetizer: Looking for Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild
Entree: Looking for Shrines in Breath of the Wild
Dessert: random exploration in Breath of the Wild