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Leaving / A formal goodbye
« on: June 09, 2025, 12:46:13 pm »
wassup everyone? I used to go by Phoenix many, MANY years back. This account was created on September 06, 2011, when I was just 8 years old, and this is probably the oldest account I have that's still on an active website that I can access. I'm in my twenties now, and wow, how time flies!
Feral Heart to me, is a game very special to my heart. It's basically the place where I began roleplaying for the first time, and it even lead me down the road to being a furry myself. Although I don't associate with the furry community at all anymore, I still draw furry characters and lots of animals. I remember roleplaying characters of my favorite games like Okami and Pokémon, and I would even make a few wolves based off of the Fire Emblem protagonists. I made a Marth wolf with wings and I had fun in the temple maps. I even heard of some obscure series through playing Feral Heart that I think are pretty cool, like Wolf's Rain and Ginga (I had a Norwegian friend obsessed with that show, lol.)
This was back in 2011-2012 mostly, and I just... sort of fell off with this game. I moved onto DeviantArt, personal life stuff happened, and when I came across Feral Heart over the years, I kind of took a glance at the game, but didn't hop back in. That sort of changed this year, where I hopped on Feral Heart Unleashed under a new alias, and made a cute, fluffy wolf. It was a fun experience! However... a few things prevent me from truly committing to either Feral Heart or FHU, which is why I'm writing my goodbyes.
With Feral Heart, apparently, there were many major updates that removed the maps I fondly remembered from the game, and if I remember right, this is why the playerbase is so dead nowadays. Unleashed re-adds all of those maps... but it doesn't feel the same. At all. Even though it's the Feral Heart I remember, minus the old music and all, the community is a lot more... distant. I'm going to get this out of the way: I do not like Discord. In the context of private messaging close friends, it's okay, but as a main communication platform? It's not really to my taste, because it feels too fast-paced and chaotic. Feral Heart Unleashed, unfortunately does most of its main communication through Discord, and you can tell just by the attitude by the players who were on when I logged on. Nobody is really... doing much, like roleplaying (it doesn't help that the playerbase went from hundreds of players to... well, under a dozen), and if they are doing something, it's through a Discord voice call. I got some weird comments when I flat out told some of the players there that I do not wish to join a Discord, and would rather use the in-game chat. One of the players even told me that he doesn't like people who don't join the Discord and just "wander around". Which.... makes no sense to me? If someone doesn't want to chat, or be in a Discord all day, that's their choice, and they're doing no harm by playing casually in a pretty old game.
Now, since I'm running Linux, I can't really get the original Feral Heart going, unfortunately, so I can't attest to what the modern community on here is like now. Even then... the experience I got from being on FHU for a few minutes was kind of enough to deter me from playing Impressive Title-like games today. That experience I got of "join Discord or else" wasn't unique to FHU, I've already experienced it in several other games, and I'm sick of it. I'm kind of afraid to join FH (if I even get it to work), and have the same exact thing happen. So, I'm really just going to leave these types of games as fond memories to look back on. It's kind of sad I can't play them as much anymore, both because of the community changing too much, and because I'm an adult working full-time, but it is what it is.
I will still be around online, but I mostly stick to more indie communities, like personal websites and/or small forums that catch my eye. Until then... farewell, and who knows, perhaps I can come across another former FH player eventually?
Feral Heart to me, is a game very special to my heart. It's basically the place where I began roleplaying for the first time, and it even lead me down the road to being a furry myself. Although I don't associate with the furry community at all anymore, I still draw furry characters and lots of animals. I remember roleplaying characters of my favorite games like Okami and Pokémon, and I would even make a few wolves based off of the Fire Emblem protagonists. I made a Marth wolf with wings and I had fun in the temple maps. I even heard of some obscure series through playing Feral Heart that I think are pretty cool, like Wolf's Rain and Ginga (I had a Norwegian friend obsessed with that show, lol.)
This was back in 2011-2012 mostly, and I just... sort of fell off with this game. I moved onto DeviantArt, personal life stuff happened, and when I came across Feral Heart over the years, I kind of took a glance at the game, but didn't hop back in. That sort of changed this year, where I hopped on Feral Heart Unleashed under a new alias, and made a cute, fluffy wolf. It was a fun experience! However... a few things prevent me from truly committing to either Feral Heart or FHU, which is why I'm writing my goodbyes.
With Feral Heart, apparently, there were many major updates that removed the maps I fondly remembered from the game, and if I remember right, this is why the playerbase is so dead nowadays. Unleashed re-adds all of those maps... but it doesn't feel the same. At all. Even though it's the Feral Heart I remember, minus the old music and all, the community is a lot more... distant. I'm going to get this out of the way: I do not like Discord. In the context of private messaging close friends, it's okay, but as a main communication platform? It's not really to my taste, because it feels too fast-paced and chaotic. Feral Heart Unleashed, unfortunately does most of its main communication through Discord, and you can tell just by the attitude by the players who were on when I logged on. Nobody is really... doing much, like roleplaying (it doesn't help that the playerbase went from hundreds of players to... well, under a dozen), and if they are doing something, it's through a Discord voice call. I got some weird comments when I flat out told some of the players there that I do not wish to join a Discord, and would rather use the in-game chat. One of the players even told me that he doesn't like people who don't join the Discord and just "wander around". Which.... makes no sense to me? If someone doesn't want to chat, or be in a Discord all day, that's their choice, and they're doing no harm by playing casually in a pretty old game.
Now, since I'm running Linux, I can't really get the original Feral Heart going, unfortunately, so I can't attest to what the modern community on here is like now. Even then... the experience I got from being on FHU for a few minutes was kind of enough to deter me from playing Impressive Title-like games today. That experience I got of "join Discord or else" wasn't unique to FHU, I've already experienced it in several other games, and I'm sick of it. I'm kind of afraid to join FH (if I even get it to work), and have the same exact thing happen. So, I'm really just going to leave these types of games as fond memories to look back on. It's kind of sad I can't play them as much anymore, both because of the community changing too much, and because I'm an adult working full-time, but it is what it is.
I will still be around online, but I mostly stick to more indie communities, like personal websites and/or small forums that catch my eye. Until then... farewell, and who knows, perhaps I can come across another former FH player eventually?