At Respawning, we’re always engaged in exciting activities. Each week, our team gathers to share what we’ve been up to lately. While our hearts beat for gaming news and writing reviews, we often find ourselves diving into captivating books, binge-watching TV shows, or, in Colin’s case, levelling up in Final Fantasy XIV.
We thought it would be fun to share our latest interests with you, hoping to inspire you to try something new. Let us know in the comments what you’ve been up to as well!
Colin
While it should come as no surprise, I’m currently playing through FINAL FANTASY XIV. I feel that when we’ve done these group posts before. I’ve always defaulted to talking about this game.
I’ve played it since the original release, but for some reason I just didn’t get involved with the latest expansion. I managed to get the newest class at the time to max level (90), but I didn’t complete the main story quest. What makes this incredibly weird is that the level requirement for the last quest I did was 83, how the hell did I get the additional 7 levels?!
So I’ve taken a common sense approach at getting ready for the next expansion, Dawntrail, which is set to launch on 2 July 2024.
I’ve picked up my trusty sword and shield and levelling my Paladin to level 83. This way I can pick up the story from where I left off – I should have plenty of time to get through the rest of the expansion and the updates. I’m so far behind…
Luke
I’ve had a weird week this week where lots of things have been happening. Over the bank holiday weekend I competed it a fairly local crossfit competition against 120 other teams of 4. Other than that however I’ve become insanely addicted to Rise of The Ronin which I’ve played nigh on every day. I don’t even think I’ve progressed the story all that much, I just keep getting caught up in all the open world nonsense like go here and kill this man, stroke this cat etc
Alexx
2024 has been absolutely barren thus far for video game releases that interest me, so it has freed up a significant portion of my time to replay some favourites of past years. Horizon Forbidden West, Final Fantasy XV and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey have dominated my console hard drives of late, and I recently started my third character on Elden Ring.
The lack of new games has also given me more time to pursue other interests such as reading, and so far I have reread the first three Harry Potter books for the first time in decades, with literary palate cleanses between them provided by Lovecraft’s Necronomicon.
Lastly I am rewatching House of the Dragon just in time for season two releasing in June, and watching it in 4K is a dramatic upgrade from the barbaric 720p NowTV caps its image quality at due to their fear of success.
I know the second half of 2024 has plenty of games in store that I am interested in like Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, but for now I am content plodding along immersed in old favourites, and I wish I’d taken the time sooner to give them the additional time they more than deserve.
Clarrisa
This week’s it’s been spicy books, what can I say, I binged ACOTAR and not looked back. Why have boring normal romance when you can have 
Romantasy . After having a discussion with a colleague at work who is all in with the cheap, quick and fun romance books she got me on to a series known as the bonds that tie. Look I know I’m going to be heavily judged but sometimes a girl just needs a cheap thrill okay. So there are 6 books in this story, basically a book for each character.
We have oleander our central bond and her five super attractive impossibly amazing bonds, basically think fated lovers. It’s a reverse harem and of course these impossible men are all more than happy to share her. Oh and obviously they all have different powers and they’re all the most special and amazing individuals with these powers. It’s an easy and addictive read, it’s not the next literary masterpiece that’s for sure but it’s fun, I’m currently halfway through book five, and I think we are getting closer to take down the big bad, so I imagine that my next week at least is going to be taken up by finishing this series, and then, on to the next.
Stu
This week has been all about driving for me! After passing my driving test on the first try last week, I’ve been taking my car everywhere. I even pulled a little prank on my mum, telling her I failed so I could surprise her with the truth when I saw her in London a few days later.
But driving isn’t the only thing I’ve been up to. I saw the incredible stage adaptation of Spirited Away at the London Coliseum, and it was absolutely mind-blowing! The puppetry was astonishing, the actors were perfect, and the set design captured the essence of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece perfectly. Everything about the production was spot-on, and it brought tears to my eyes. The performance was in Japanese with subtitles on the side of the stage, which was a great touch for the anime purists.
On top of that, I’m about to see Romesh Ranganathan live in Cardiff, so I’ll have more to share about that next week. It’s been a busy time for me! I’ve also started rereading one of my all-time favorite books, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It’s such a brilliant novel.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had any time for gaming, but I plan to get back to it soon. That’s been my week so far!