The Queue: Running up that hill

I may have a lot going on IRL but in my mind, I’ve always been right here.

This is The Queue, our daily column where you ask us questions and we’ll give you the answers as long as we don’t actually have to fully get out of bed to do it.

It’s tough to say, because when I travel I am suddenly incredibly type A and incapable of relaxing, and if it were a birthday trip I’d want to be relaxed. If I said Paris, c’est une ville que j’aimerais voir, évidemment, I’d be focused on running around getting tickets to the Louvre (though I think it’s closed Mondays), and should I get a bus to Versailles, and I should definitely see the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees, and find a phenomenal boulangerie, and and and. It would be fun and memorable, but taxing. And I’m 42 man. I’d honestly prefer to spend a birthday just chilling and playing video games.

Though I suppose that doesn’t preclude, say, a mountain retreat with good wifi and good restaurants nearby. Maybe near an Onsen would be nice.

But then, the last time we went on a relaxed mountain retreat, we ended up hiking 2 miles up to Kuwohi, so maybe I should just stay home.

I got a huge bag of dirt and two new, slightly bigger pots, which meant a whole progression of repotting plants for most of the afternoon, like hermit crabs trading up for slightly bigger shells.

pictured: me, repotting every plant I own.

The Mr’s aunt also took me out for pho, which was super fun, and something I only very rarely do.

I have always had a soft spot for the Perky Pug. My Mage back in the day used her for a familiar instead of a cat or any other more Mage-y pets. It’s just a fun coincidence that they can also accessorize!

Probably something having to do with having to physics up the floppy ears, or helm clipping.

That’s the boring answer, but likely accurate.

Anneke, the holy Priest. I played on a PVP server til late Wrath. It was good times in instances but almost nowhere else. I had my hunter to basically bridge the gap with all the stuff I needed to get done out in the world, which I couldn’t do without a bodyguard or constant respeccing. My hunter wound up being a Justicar before Vanilla ended.

Objectively, Balatro. It’s a versatile little breath of fresh air. It’s simultaneously familiar and has tons of touchstones IRL and in game mechanics, but it’s just weird enough to be very innovative in its own right. It’s a game I think we all sort of made up as pre-video game kids, and yet with a codified ruleset that makes it fair (even if it sometimes feels VERY UNFAIR).

The game of my heart this year was Pacific Drive. It did have a few flat points, and it wasn’t one of those games I’d instantly recommend regardless of your tastes in the same way as a Balatro. You have to be somebody who really embraces the weird, the idea of the companion, and a bit of narrative dissonance — but a very thick, meaningful narrative nonetheless. It truly grabbed me in a way other slicker, less oddball games didn’t, and my core complaint is that, even though you can keep on slogging after the narrative is over and the credits roll, I would’ve loved it if it were just a bit longer (no matter how long they made it). I just think it’s neat.

And my most played that was released this year is obviously Spirit City. I don’t adore it in the same ways, and I’m not sure I’d actually even call it fun, but it definitely deserves a shout out for giving me the motivation to do things like finish the Queue in the middle of a holiday week when I barely even remember what time is.

Nailed it.