A new event in Arknights came out and it was actually more difficult than I had anticipated. Even the early stages of the event seemed pretty intense. I was able to get through the stages fine but did notice an increased difficulty compared to other events where enemies seemed to be a lot tankier. So, I wondered how my friend who just started the game recently would fare.
I asked my friend to stream her gameplay for me so I can see how she clears the stages. This is one of my friends whom I had given one of my extra accounts to so she’s actually managing two accounts — her own newbie “economy” account and a beefed up “Hermès” account that I had worked on for over a year that is on par with my main account. The account is pretty decked with the entire Sui God squad lol. The luck on that account is insane. I think within 40~ pulls she had gotten both on-banner units from the latest anniversary limited time event. INSANE RNG! I wish my main account had that type of luck! It’s cool because she can see what the game is like on an account that has little to no resources vs an account that is pretty stacked. As I watched her clear the stages on the Hermès account, I was in disbelief, audibly laughing my butt off, because she only at most used 4 units to clear each stage lol. Meanwhile, in my own clears, I utilized my entire squad, capping out the deployment slots, in order to rain hell on the enemies.
I was completely blown away watching my friend clear each stage so gently and timidly! Each time she cleared, my jaw dropped lower and lower. I noticed how she stayed present the whole time, being responsive to whatever was happening instead of overpreparing and throwing down as many units as possible. I was like WTF is going onnnnnnnnnnnnn. I asked her, “How are you doing this?!? How are you clearing everything so easily with just 4 units at most? This is crazy!!!” She wasn’t sure how she was doing it but it was working and she was sticking with it. We had a really good laugh together. She mentioned it was easier for her to control a few operators vs a bunch at once, which would’ve been too overwhelming — totally understandable. There were definitely a few butt-clenching moments where it looked like enemies might leak through, but somehow everything was fine. I can’t say for sure if she thought it was as easy as she made it look — maybe she was sweating bullets the whole time and I had no idea — but boy was that IMPRESSIVE! (update: she let me know she was indeed sweating bullets, lmao!!!)
What’s also interesting is watching my friend place down units onto the map now vs when she first started and there was a huge difference. Her current way seems much more methodical and intentional vs when she first started where it was more panicked and chaotic, which I can TOTALLY relate to as that’s how I first started as well. Basically screaming any time something leaked through my door and caused me to fail the stage. I’m glad she’s been open to learning from guides to see how the veteran players do things and seems to be picking up a lot from what she’s learned.
This made me wonder if I need to go back to beginner’s mind. I have a strategic method of clearing stages by utilizing the full power of my squad, ramping up to wipe the floor with my enemies each time, but maybe it’s too much overkill? If my friend who is still learning how to play the game and still at the beginning stages of her journey can slowly but surely watch the fights and use the fewest amount of operators to meet the objectives, maybe I don’t need to bring all of that firepower lol. I’m sure it’s just a different way of looking at things but this experience was really eye opening for me to watch the game through her eyes.
This reminded me that sometimes things are simpler than they appear, that I might overthink solutions to problems, and that I don’t always need to bring the whole cavalry to every fight. Like, it’s okay to just be chill sometimes and not be so intense, and that being present to what’s happening instead of anticipating all of what could go wrong and preparing for worst case scenario could be a very viable solution as well. There’s no need to introduce so much unnecessary complexity. It makes me wonder where else in my life am I overcomplicating things when I can just stay present and deal with things as they happen without needing to over-prepare because “experience tells me it can’t be this easy” when it actually might just be that simple.
Anyway, I’m actually really stoked that my friend is playing the game with me. When I recommended it, I didn’t think she would stick with it as the game isn’t really for everyone. But I kind of knew that, with her big joocy brain, it could be a fun challenge for her. To my pleasant surprise, she’s been keeping up with it and seems to be having a good time. Hopefully she continues to enjoy it 🥰
I appreciate this friend a lot. One day, I lost track of things and ended up sending her 30~ instagram reels overnight and she responded to every single one of them 😫. I felt so bad because I had no idea how many I sent in total. I was just so excited to send her all of these funny reels that I think she would enjoy. Poor lady had homework to do for breakfast! I try to be more mindful about it now though. Also, what kind of friend responds like this?! She’s da best pee I could ever ask for 🥹
P.S. I would like to apologize to her doggos for introducing this game to her where her attention has been somewhat taken away from them. Apparently, they’ve been shooting their dookies up her wall, leaving her with precious wall art for her to discover upon waking. For such tiny dogs to be able to shoot up that high, at least 5 feet up, they must REALLY want her full attention…
