Awesome! I hope you like it. It's so tempting to talk about it but that would defeat the purpose of going in blind.

• HD texture mod bit of a pain to set up but worth it.

Redemption is much better but has a dated game engine. Bloodlines was on the source engine so it stayed relevant and scaled up to modern pcs.

Don't google any info on the game, just get the game, the latest patch, and go get one of the fan made hi-res texture packs. There are major spoilers that will ruin one of the best parts about the game if you read too much about it (including in the comments here). Try to play it completely blind as a medieval vampire slaying game.

It's a bit like KOTOR1, it has a lot of flaws (janky movement/combat) but there are some amazing moments that just wouldn't be the same if you knew about them before they happen. KOTOR2 and bloodlines are good games but they are just standard games, kotor1 & redemption have some "holy shit" story moments.

The boss fights are the most relaxing part of healing in FF14 because the tanks go crazy on the trash pulls. I'm there thinking we have a good 10 mins before I have to really start paying attention. I have my hand in a bag of chips with the TV on the in background and then tank just runs off through about 4 groups of enemies. I'm left behind thinking "fuuuuuck, I actually have to work".

The way it works is that your character has their own personal goals at each location, but each location also has a bunch of faction goals. So whenever you go to a new place you have 2 main objectives, conquer the location for your faction and pursue leads on your personal goals.

Keep both of those things in mind when you play, it can be very easy to get distracted and try to complete all the quests at every location. Don't be afraid to skip a bunch of side quests and just push ahead to the main objectives asap. Those main objectives are what make the game interesting. Doing all the side quests will burn you out on the game.

2023 is looking like it will be a great year.

There's a website for buying private islands: The Widi Reserve.

My problem with primal was that I played it after horizon, I probably wouldnt have minded it if I played it first.

FC Primal is weird it's like if horizon Zero dawn didn't have the cool setting/story.

When I have a craving for a specific genre and haven't played the game in years. I can always stop playing it if I find it shit again the second time. Knowing the flaws before you start helps because you don't get fixated on them. Like instead of being annoyed how ff13 was not open world, I know it's going to be linear and it doesn't bother me. Replaying it with the right expectations stops me caring about the shit parts so I can focus on the good parts.

I'm sort of the same but I also played through it again and enjoyed it the second time. My expectations were rock bottom going into ff15 the second time, but that let me appreciate it for what it actually was rather than what I wanted it to be. I had a similar experience with FFX-2, hated it the first time then came back a couple of years later with zero expectations and enjoyed it.