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Hey y'all! Been a hot minute since I posted a journal not pertaining to commissions haha.

So now for a long long storytime.
There's gonna be links to posts on my socials regarding this as a heads up. A TL;DR version is at the bottom lol. Also I will be talking about some spoilery stuff in the game. It will be labelled, but keep that in mind if you want to avoid spoilers. The TL;DR version is spoiler free.

Back in December (2025) I decided to try out Warframe with my partner ShadowHazard. He has been faithfully playing the game since 2013, almost as long as we've been together, and he plays it nearly every day. So I thought, why not, maybe it's something we can bond over and play together since there aren't many games we both enjoy.

I hated it.

I couldn't figure out the controls, and everything was just overall very overwhelming.

For a shred of context, in 2006 when I was 11, my younger sibling and I received a Wii for Christmas; our first gaming system. We played a lot of simpler games. Spyro Dawn of The Dragon was the most "extreme" game we had played thus far (using that term loosely here).

In 2012 we got a PS3, upgrading to a PS4 when it was released the following year. We didn't have any sort of online access, so our gaming choices were limited. I didn't actually have any sort of Internet access to game with regularly until I bought my house in 2022, and even then we didn't have Internet Access until September 2025. But I digress. We played Skylanders and Minecraft together. We both played Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Assassin's Creed. And that was about the gist of our gaming. The only games I had ever played online were Webkinz, and sometimes Mario Kart when I could manage to sneak my DS to school and use their WiFi during lunch. That was it.

So I had little to no experience playing fast paced multiplayer games like Warframe. It was overwhelming and not being able to understand it right away left me frustrated and just not wanting to play it at all anymore.

Fast forward to about 2 months ago, when DE showed a little sneak peak of Follie. Lovely lovely Follie. My bi little neurons were activated. I had a sudden urge to try out Warframe again. The two are totally unrelated.

Anyway, I picked the game back up. My partner took me on missions, but because he is a LR2, he was killing everything on sight. I wasn't really learning anything and got a bit overwhelmed again. He then had the wonderful idea to taxi me to a Simulacrum, where I could practice stuff. I started understanding the controls a bit better after that but still struggled.

So one night, while my partner was at work, I tried a few levels solo. And just like that, everything clicked. I started understanding controls and how the game worked. I continued playing solo and replaying all of the missions on Earth to get better at the game. I even made it to MR 1!

I was hooked. Obsessed. Hyperfixated. All of the above. I continued to play lower levels on Earth and Venus, levelling up my weapons and my Warframe. At MR 2, Dagath was rereleased for the Lunar New Year, this year being the year of the horse. My partner took me to farm her parts. He had no need for her but wanted me to have access to another frame outside of Excalibur. It was hell, and I almost gave up, but I powered through it. And let me tell you, powering through to get Dagath was the best decision I have ever made. But more on that in a second.

After 2 weeks, I made it to MR 5. The very next day, my partner decided to gift me with some extra Prime stuff he happened to have. He gave me the Prime variants of Garuda, Gauss, Octavia, Sevagoth, and Yareli. I tried them all out once I had them all built. I found that Garuda, while powerful, was not for me. I'm not the biggest fan of her abilities or play style. I went ahead and got her leveled and put on the shelf to collect dust. Same with Rhino, who I had acquired on my own.

Yareli is super fun to play. She's a bit difficult to get the hang of but I do enjoy playing her. Octavia is fun too. Similar boat as Yareli.

But Gauss on the other hand, holy moly was he fun to play. He's fast and his abilities felt amazing to utilize. Not to mention the sounds were just top notch.

But even with all of that, I still preferred playing Dagath. And I have been maining Dagath since. I dunno just everything feels right when I play her. I don't know if it's because she was the first Warframe I got besides Excalibur or what, but all I do know is that I love her very much.

Now for something spoilery and a little sappy so heads up.

I never thought that I would be so emotionally invested in a video game. I never thought I could get so attached to a character either. Sure, I've loved a character in a game before, but never to the point of crying over them, and Jackie Welles in Cyberpunk does not count! (he totally does)

I just happened to start playing Warframe when Dagath's parts were available for the Lunar New Year this year, and my partner dragged me along with him to get them. Best decision ever. I love Dagath so so much, and I don't even know the lore behind her yet (no spoilers!).

But let me tell you, during The Second Dream quest, when Dagath collapsed, I was so scared. It was jarring to see her just suddenly fall limp like that. But then the operator dragging themself over to her and placing a hand on her, "bringing her back to life", I nearly cried. It was a very touching moment (heh) and my eyes got a bit watery, but I did not cry. That quest also, as I'm sure it did for most players, changed how I viewed things in the game completely from that point onward.

But THEN. That fucking scene with Stalker. My heart stopped. A few tears escaped, I will be completely honest about that, and I'm not afraid to admit that I cried. And if I hadn't been frozen with shock, I probably would have yelled out too. Talk about horrifying. My poor girl, stabbed, dead, and gone (as a first time player that's what I believed happened ). Absolutely gut wrenching man.

Without getting too sappy, everything that happened after that was just so... Beautiful, for lack of a better term. I know a few things that I probably shouldn't yet (not my fault I wasn't into the game yet and watched an edit) so the whole moment felt extremely bittersweet, but still. I loved it.

I just recently made it to MR 9 and that is currently where I am still at. And while I am slowing down now story wise as to avoid finishing the game too quickly, that doesn't mean I have stopped playing. I am doing Survivals and hours long Relic runs now just to farm up some materials, credits, and ducats. I fear with how attached I am to this game now that I may spiral into a very depressive state when I get to the "end" of the game.

I play games slowly so that I can enjoy every bit of story that it has to offer, as well as make sure I understand what's happening, so this game is going to take me a bit to complete. I did lock in for a few days last week and got 3 major story quests done (The Second Dream, The War Within, and The Chains of Harrow) because I really wanted to get to where I could play for Follie. Hoo boy is Follie's Hunt fun! It's super difficult but super engaging and fun too! At least for me haha.

I politely ask for no spoilers or hints at spoilers, as I am still playing through the game. I just finished The Chains of Harrow quest, and am now farming for a bit before continuing to The Sacrifice quest. So again, if you feel compelled to comment, please don't leave any spoilers or hints at spoilers, thank you! 🙏

Anyway! Yeah! I just felt like yapping about my current hyperfixation. Hopefully this wasn't too all over the place and was able to be understood slightly. If you've read this far you are a real one, and I'm so sorry haha.

TL;DR
I tried Warframe in December, played 2 levels, got too overwhelmed, and I didn't continue. In January when we got a sneak peak Follie, my gay little brain told me I should try the game again. I did. Everything clicked. Now I am obsessed with Warframe and it's all I can think about. I eat sleep and dream of Warframe.

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