Ok, where do I start...
TL;DR; version: Games like this is what keeps me in love with this dirty business for (looking at the calendar) damn, for 15 years already! And I still can't get enough of this stuff :).
Longread (well not so long but still):
It turned out to be much more than simply a yet another EN game for me. I knew I *want* to play it the moment Mrlenin notified everyone in our ever-sleeping Estonian swamp.
First challenge was to find the field team willing to devote 3 days for this. Few people replaces along the way, uncertainty whether we have the field team till the last week...
Then the HQ. Which we eventually gathered from several countries and time zones.
Then came the pre-game, which our kids thoughtfully enjoyed :), finally having the opportunity to teach their parents some Minecraft and play for many hours straight without being dragged away from the computer :)).
Then the crazy winter road driving to our place on Friday night.
And then came the game. Which was just perfect from start till the end! One beautifully long, never-ending, all-you-can-eat Encounter binge party for us. Codes, codes, and then some more codes, then puzzles, tasks, and more tasks, generously sprinkled with artifacts. We totally took our time on this game, playing for ~19 hours, as for us the Encounter is for long not about competing, it's about immersing in the process, while being among similarly crazy people of our species :). Also about putting our usual lives on hold for a few days and replacing the normal life's worries with "where is that damn code!" :)).
All in all it was a perfect retreat and the best reload one could imagine! I would not even attempt to list all the great moments we had during the game, it was just all one cool river of emotions in which we happily drowned.
So a huge, HUUUGE THANK YOU, dear authors!
For the weeks of anticipation, and for the game week full of fun and memories. Which will remain with me for many weeks to come.
