The Steam release of KI has reminded me of something I’d forgotten awhile ago.
I’ve been playing KI for the better part of a year and a half or so. Maybe two. It’s been in this maybe last half a year or so that I set my sights on getting better than casually good at the game. Started grinding hard with the game. Studying my character, using the replays, utilizing the community, sets, yada yada yada. You get the general gist of it.
Somewhere along the line, I stopped having fun with the game and it became a grind. There was a point where when I lost, I wasn’t upset by it at all. I kinda smiled it off or committed that I was outplayed on a number of points. To some degree, that is still there. But there’s also a lot of frustration at my own level of play that has drowned that out. When I think about it, it’s not losing that bothers me; it’s that I expect better of my play than I displayed in any given game. And if/when i don’t hit that, that’s what becomes frustrating.
Then the Steam release came around and I’ve spent time watching streams of new Steam players just tinkering with the game, working through the dojo, exploring the characters, beating up their friends, goofing off and such. Or people like TotalBiscuit outright recommending the game to their audience. They were just playing and having fun, and somewhere along the line, I lost that. Just to have fun with the game. Guess it took a new group of people appreciating what I kinda took for granted. Just for that little realization, I’m thankful for a Steam release I’m probably never going to play. Kinda committed to Xbox cuz reasons. And I guess I still have a ton more to learn on how to be good at all.
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It happened to me in another game. But yeah, I could say the same applies in KI in certain aspects. However I can have some fun trying things in the lab. There was a time I would chill just playing shadow survival with characters I don’t main or practice. It was actually fun. I don’t think is KI ora Gears alone. This last years videogames haven’t been that fun as they used to be. I’m not blaming them, it’s maybe because I changed. There’s still a little flame left of the passion I used to have. The competitive side of KI was rewarding to me and even fun. But the fun I had playing Snow Bros, Adventure Island, Sonic Adventure 2 or even Gears 3 it’s hard to find it this days (talking entirely about the way I feel right now).
Still have my love for KI and play a bit with my boyfriend and some other players. And now spreading the word at my local conmunity that KI it’s out on Steam and some new players are trying the game for the first time. That’s cool, I hope they enjoy it as much as I did or even more 
Yep, always good to just see people trying things and going “Wow! That’s so cool!” It’s part of why I’ve really enjoyed interacting with the Singaporean players, who are mostly really new to the game. They don’t see everything in terms of optimization and percentages, and instead are just appreciating the crazy options and hype moments that happen from match to match. They’re all serious players so they’ll get to that point eventually, but for now it’s just mostly about how crazy and nuts and awesome the moment to moment flow of the game is. It’s honestly been really awesome to see.
And yeah, when the game becomes a slog, I strongly recommend taking a break. End of the day this crap should be fun, and if it isn’t, then it’s time to reassess.
going to steam is the best move they couldve made, shouldve been done a couple years ago
