Friday Fun Pick! Avenyond

I actually got to play a game! And its even still Friday! This week, check out Aveyond, a terribly charming and extremly fun RPG. When I first started it up, I thought "oh this is so silly...but hey the music is really great!" Not having grown up with an NES, the canonical graphical style of the classic Japanese RPG holds no nostalgia factor for me. But I played along for maybe fifteen minutes before I was won over by this gem. The story, elegant UI and lacked of Final Fantasy style "SURPRISE! YOU'RE IT!" combat encounters hooked me like a hungry and short-sighted bass. The web-site boasts fifty some-odd hours of gameplay. After about an hour of playing I had barely made it through the prologue. So I can see their claims being likely. So, as with all these games, now I come to the point where I have played out my hour, really enjoyed myself and have to decide whether to fork over the $20 or not to continue playing. Now, this is a really neat game and I want to see where it goes. And given the copious amount of potential playing time, and the reviews I have looked at, it definitly seems worth the money. But here's the thing: once I take into account my own game playing habits, I know I will probably not get my "money's worth" on this game. This is actually a nice segway into something I've been thinking about lately. You have a whole generation of gamers who have grown up now, who have day jobs and families. And yet we're STILL gamers! How do we best construct a game that caters to our specific schedules and yet keeps in mind our desires for rich, deep gameplay? Hmmmm...