Hiya!

It was bound to happen sooner or later. My PlayStation 4 stopped working. I was updating the system software when, after I downloaded the patch and let my PlayStation 4 restart, it just couldn’t boot up. It was just giving me the vague error stating it couldn’t boot up. I was in a panic for a good hour or two as I desperately scoured online to see if there was a fix for it. There indeed was but the quickest solution was rather harsh as it meant resetting my console back to factory settings. This did mean all of the stuff I had on it was going to be wiped out.

This was a bitter pill to swallow as my PlayStation 4 still had a lot of stuff on it. Some of my save files from my favorite moments in games, such as Resident Evil 2 Remake, Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 1, Valkyria Chronicles Remake (yes, that’s a lot of remakes!), Nier: Automata and Nier: Replicant, were going to be erased. This also includes some of the games I have permanently saved in there, like Dragon Age: Inquisition, were going to sent into the great hard drive in the sky. Well, it didn’t matter in the long run as I could always reinstall those games in the future. What was more important was getting my PlayStation 4 up and running. So I followed the steps to place the system in Safe Mode and reset everything back to its default settings. It worked like a charm but, now, my PlayStation 4 was empty.

As I looked through the PlayStation 4’s almost 430 GB of free space, my eyes wandered to the pile of PlayStation 4 Blu-Ray discs I have next to it. It all of a sudden struck me that I haven’t played a lot of them in a good while. I mentioned having Valkyria Chronicles Remake, Resident Evil 2 Remake and Final Fantasy VII Remake in my system before I did the hard reset… but I hadn’t actually played them in a while. I just liked the thought of being able to play them at a moment’s notice. So, with my mind wiped PlayStation 4, I decided to remedy that fact and actually play them… and I’ve been having a blast!

The very first game I installed on my refreshed system was Valkyria Chronicles Remake. This was a game I played the heck out of when it was on the PlayStation 3 and it was also a game I played the heck out of on the PlayStation 4. I remember being really good at it and finishing each mission without much difficulty. This, apparently, was my mind playing tricks on me because there were a few missions I got stuck on. It’s not like I couldn’t beat them or anything like that. It’s just that I don’t remember them being that hard! I also didn’t realize, despite playing this game for hours on end, there were special Skirmish battles you can play as well as a hidden 3rd campaign with the Selvaria DLC mission if you can beat both missions with an A ranking as well as defeating General Damon’s tank! All of a sudden, I had something to aim for in a game I thought I got everything at!

Another game I reinstalled on my system was Resident Evil 2 Remake. This was another game I had on my system’s hard drive and never bothered to delete even though I haven’t touched it in years! I remember being obsessed with this game. I recall beating all of Resident Evil 2 Remake’s scenarios on the hardest difficulty as I’ve accumulated a lot of different tactics on how to get through all of the locations with minimal damage. I even wrote a piece of that here on the site because I legitimately discovered some tips and tricks all on my own!

It turns out, however, I basically forgot most of those tricks and tips I’ve amassed as, when I tried playing Resident Evil 2 Remake again after so many years, I became the scared little girl who played it for the first time all those years ago! My aim was all over the place. I kept forgetting to shoot at the zombie’s kneecaps instead of their heads because they’re easier to blow off. I didn’t even remember that moment when Mr. X makes his first appearance after you put out the fire. I knew I should’ve tried to bob and weave around him but, instead, I ran all the way down to the save room like a chicken! What a noob!

The last game I did install on my mind wiped PlayStation 4, oddly enough, wasn’t Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 1. I say it’s odd because it’s my probably my most favorite game I’ve played on the PlayStation 4. There was even a month or two when it was the only game I could think of! So you would think I would be chomping at the bit to replay it again right from the start. However, there is still one more game I really needed to put back into my PlayStation 4. That game is Street Fighter V.

I will admit I haven’t touched Street Fighter V for a good while now. The last time I played it was just after the last patch and, even then, I didn’t really play it for that long. It’s not like my fire and passion for Street Fighter has died down. Rather, it does feel like Street Fighter V has already been played out, especially since there are newer fighting games like King of Fighters XV and even upcoming fighters like MultiVersus out there on the horizon. Even so, I will always have Street Fighter V on the ready whenever I feel the itch to throw a fireball or, more accurately, zip across the screen and slam my opponent into the ground with an Izuna Drop from Claw. Of course, that will be the case until Street Fighter 6 hits the scene. For right now, however, Street Fighter V has earned a permanent spot on my PlayStation 4’s hard drive.

In a roundabout way, I’m kind of glad the update messed up my PlayStation 4’s hard drive. It made me realize I don’t constantly need a new game on that console as there are so many games I’ve amassed over the years which I haven’t played in a while. It made me revisit the worlds I got so engrossed in yet, because of how much time has passed, feels both familiar and still new. I managed to find new things to do and rework some of the techniques and even muscle memory I haven’t exercised for years. If you’re in a gaming rut because you’re simply waiting for the latest game to be available, I say pause and look through your old catalog of games. Maybe you’ll find something there that may rekindle some really good memories or even play something old yet still feels new.

Best of all, you already paid for it! So you might as well make full use of it all over again!

Byee!

What are the games you play over and over again? Let me know in the comments section below!