Took a month off from playing Immortal Life because things got a bit crazy at work, but I’m back now. It’s very comforting to have found a low-pressure game I can just play for an hour here and there. No FOMO, no limited time events, no gacha drama, but still making steady progress every day. I said earlier this year that I wouldn’t rush through games but would stick to them as long as they were fun, but I didn’t think I could actually pull it off. I got lucky with Immortal Life, but it’s mainly because I’ve been super busy and haven’t had the time to really dive into other games that I’ve stuck it out this long.
When I left off, I think I was heading into the end game. I think. RPGs can always surprise you on that score, sometimes you’ve been playing for 40 hours and enter what you think is the final dungeon, but then it’s only disk 1 of 4. Somehow I doubt this game has that kind of volume, but you never know.
Nope, don’t understand a thing. But it sounds deep, right?
The reason why I think I’m near the end is because story revelations are finally, finally starting to come out. Although we haven’t figured out where the disaster that struck Guiyin Sect came from, Senior Xie Wentian revealed that the reason he saved us all was because my character asked him to. Or rather a future version of my current character, for timey-wimey reasons that don’t fully make sense because timey-wimey plots never do, was the one that asked him to. And so for timey-wimey reasons I honestly don’t understand, we’re trying to piece together and repair the box that future me must have used to time travel. And after that… umm. Something will happen for sure.
To repair the box, I need to conquer three dungeons, get a special seed from the bosses, plant it in the special seed spot and harvest the fruit. I’ve done the first one, still have two more to go. This means that if, for some reason, you really don’t like the dungeon exploration or the special seed growing gimmicks in Immortal Life—and both can be pretty annoying—you’re not finishing the game, sorry. Fortunately I don’t mind either, or rather I’m not ready to quit the game so I’m putting up with whatever they throw at me. But the flow of new seeds and fields dried up quickly and house decoration is pretty boring, so this game doesn’t have much to offer those who play farming games for the sim aspects. Speaking of which, I really like how there’s no romance in Immortal Life, but I’ll get to that some other time.
Quick point before I go: Brother Yang Ziqin did not turn out to be evil (I never really doubted you, bro), but he did address the elephant in the room: he never would have made it into the sect if disaster hadn’t befallen it. If virtually everyone hadn’t been wiped out, allowing him to take over, he would still be another failed applicant. An applican’t, haha, I crack me up. Naturally my character had to make soothing noises and say it’s not true, don’t worry about it, blah blah, even though I totally agree with the critics.
But I also think, so what? So what if you’re an opportunist? Seriously. It matters a little whether you get in through the front door or the back door, but it’s what you do once you’re in there that counts. It’s like if you married a widow, or if you got a job because the last occupant died. Yes, you’re profiting from someone’s misfortune, but it’s not like you caused it. And I’ll give Yang Ziqin credit where credit’s due: he worked like a dog to keep things together when it would have been easy to walk away. Maybe even some of the regular sect members would have walked away from a sect that could no longer provide resources and opportunities, but he hung in there and rallied a bunch of strangers to rebuild everything from scratch. I’d say he’s more than earned a spot as a disciple.
Aaand I don’t know why I’m bothering to defend or cheer up a game character. Maybe I can relate to Imposter Syndrome just a little bit, IDK. Either way, I’ve been invested in Brother Yang’s saga since day one, for better or worse, so it’s good to see some payoff in that regard. Looking forward to seeing what happens if/when we manage to avert the sect’s disaster through timey-wimey methods or if we manage to rescue any other survivors apart from Xie Wentian.
In other gaming news… Still playing Epic Seven for the 20 free summons a day (anniversary package) but it’s pretty boring. There’s nothing to do. I’m thinking of even skipping headhunt this year. I also got back into Chaos Zero Nightmare recently. I said I would check back in around the first anniversary to see if they had more content. They do and don’t in a lot of ways, but the real first anniversary starts tomorrow, so I’ll see what’s happening on that score and report back. Someone called CZN “Slay the Spire with waifus” so I really need to play Slay the Spire, I already own it anyway.
And that’s the update from me, still alive and well. I’ll try and post a little more often between now and January when work gets crazy again. See ya!
