I was playing animal crossing this evening and looking at my island. I started playing March 11th? 2020, almost 2 years ago. In those 2 years the world has changed so much, there was a pandemic, I finished college, moved cities and countries, started and ended a relationship, have had relatives and friends pass away, have started a career and seen web communities like the yesterweb and this forum rise from the ground up, and now this business with Ukraine. Its been a LOT!
When I look at that animal crossing island though, its almost timeless, I remember it was spring 2020 when I placed a particular streetlamp, or selected the carpet I still have in my room. I think so much has happened in my life, its almost like playing a strangers game, yet its still mine. The person who first started working on that save file 2 years ago could never have imagined all that would happen.
The other day I found the memory card with my first animal crossing town on it from 2004, Iv no idea if it still works, but I'm genuinely scared to try, I'm not sure I want to return to that space that I made all that time ago, maybe its better to let it stay a memory.
I also lost a save file today, I had an old backup with a Skyrim save on it that was encrypted, but Iv forgotten the password so I deleted it
Old save files are strange, games are like other worlds, or at least dreams of other worlds. We can freeze them and return to them, forget them, find them or loose them forever. They have no right to exist, but maybe we never had a right to visit them in the first place, or maybe it was always just a happy accident.
How do you feel about old saves, or do you feel anything at all? Have you ever returned to an old save and had a weird experience?