#(and honestly more often than not it improves the actual gameplay because it usually adds cinematic value)

[hzdtrees]

Fire-touched

[ommsims]

story process challenge

i was tagged  by @xldkx​​ to do this challenge, created by @herpixels​​​ , like a month? a month and a half? ago and it’s been sitting half finished in my drafts for nearly as long. *sigh* (regardless, i love stuff like this so even if it takes me forever to get to it, i appreciate the tags! 💕). 

i decided to answer all the qs because it took me damn long enough to get to this, so i might as well put some extra elbow grease into it (plus it was fun!). btw it’s all going under a cut b/c it is long. i apologize in advance.

1. My Writing Process - used to be a hot damn mess. literally word docs strewn throughout my pc. However, I recently switched to using Onenote (it’s what i use to organize my d&d campaign notes) and hoo-boy is it so much nicer. this is how it’s set up and it’s honestly night and day. i can have a page with outlines, a page to organize & order screenshots, and a separate page for drafting text, and i can easily toggle though them without having to switch windows? a big thumbs up from me.

When it comes to actual writing- I used to write my drafts in novel format, which i enjoyed but it made “converting” them into tumblr posts time consuming and frustrating. I ended up scrapping most of the text in the process, retaining pretty much only the dialogue. 

Anyway, nowadays I write in more of a screenplay format: dialogue only + key scene information with the occasional note to self. 

I do keep a master “arcs” page with key events and each individual character’s arc from beginning to end and secondary “outline” pages with slightly more detailed outline for each leg of the project. No screencaps b/c spoilers galore! 

My typical work flow process for a scene goes: (1) brainstorm scene ideas, (2) take screenshots, (3) organize screenshots into a rough storyboard, (4) add 1st draft of text, (5) edit photos, (6) edit text, (7) upload to "drafts” here on tumblr, (8) let sit for a bit (9) take a final look at things/proofread and edit as needed. It may sound counterintuitive, but i find it much easier to write dialogue for a set of images rather than attempt to take images based on prewritten text. I feel more comfortable editing and tweaking tone and content in the text this way. Otherwise, I get frustrated when I “can’t” shoot a scene exactly as it appeared in my head.

2. How I build my scenes - A lot of what i do is rooted in gameplay, therefore my sets are usually (a) play-tested and (b) not super pretty. I’ve certainly improved at decorating & building over the years but more often than not I download lots off tumblr and the gallery because I don’t have the patience, aptitude, or time to build all of my own sets. That being said, I frequently gut builds only to build a number of completely unrelated mini sets inside to reduce the number of times i have to replace lots. I also keep a list of “important locations” and where certain characters live / will move to, to help keep this all straight as there aren’t nearly enough lots per neighborhood or even per world in this damn game...

my least favorite part of scene building is actually decorating. lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love clutter. I honestly do. but fuck me if i expect myself to spend hours meticulously decorating a set, spend another 3 hours toggling back and forth b/w BB & live modes adjusting things to get rid of the damn routing errors. (yeah, yeah, i know i could ignore them, they’re not important, especially in those scenarios where i’m using a set for screenshots and nothing else, but idk. it really grinds my gears.) and then have to replace the lot like a week later because there aren’t enough lots in the game. *sigh*

3. CC/Pose Making - i do not consider myself to be a cc creator nor a pose maker but i do dabble occasionally. And to be completely honest i’d much rather spend my time doing other stuff, so it’s not high on my list of priorities atm. plus there are so many talented cc creators in this community; i can usually get by with what’s already out there.

4. Getting in the zone - Honestly, I do a lot of brainstorming for plot & dialogue in the shower. I don’t have any particular playlists to get me “in the writing mood” but I do enjoy listening to music as I work. Either instrumental stuff or simply artists/songs I like. If something just so happens to “fit” a scene I’m working on, one i’ve got planned, or even just gives me vibes for a certain character or group, I add a quick note to the top of said scene’s draft. Most of the time I stick it in the recesses of my brain and add a quick link when I finally get to the point of posting the draft to tumblr. For whatever reason, when I have one of those “oh this song is perfect for X” moments it’s essentially ingrained in my mind for the rest of eternity. 

5. The screenshot folder - this will most likely give some of you out there major anxiety. but i swear it’s an organized chaos. :)

yep. 32.9gb of screenshots & related things... 

So with the raws from a single random scene selected, you can see i take roughly 10 screenshots per image posted. not terrible i guess but i’m working on it. Typically I take screenshots and once I’m done editing a scene I’ll move them from the general folder to a more specific project folder.

6. Captions - I’ll answer this in three parts:

for my townie story. not really. I prefer using the text box. I tend to write (& re-write) the dialogue for each one of these scenes several times over as I add more “scenes” into my drafts. It would be incredibly inefficient, time consuming, and would waste a lot more space on my pc to have to save .psds of each image just so i could edit dialogue when I decide: “oh hey maybe so and so needs to bring up X in this scene” and then change my mind an hour later.

for niko, noor, & co. I’m a text on image type gal here. don’t really know why, but it gives the project a different energy. ironically it makes it feel more laid-back to me. which i guess makes sense, it’s a much more light-hearted “story” than my townie project. which is, imo, very soapy haha.

for legacy stuff. all text goes below the images in the text box. reasoning: it’s gameplay, I don’t brainstorm, outline, or pre-write for this. I play the game, take screenshots, plug ‘em into my drafts and write some commentary / dialogue to go along with it.

7. Editing - i am a creature of habit and have not majorly changed my editing process in probably a year and a half (when I began using reshade and had to adjust my color correcting psd). it’s a super basic system:

drag & drop my “color correction” psd.

run actions in ps. (i made my own “all-in-one” actions to really streamline the process; i have different “actions sets” for my premades’ story and for other things that get posted to tumblr. even if no one else notices it, i like the little details that keep my projects separate and “identifiable”. 

voila. all set to upload.

sometimes i crop images, add “text effects”, or do more in depth editing (i.e. editing a phone screen or adding rain etc.) but overall i try and keep it simple for myself. 

8. Throwback - i posted an image of one of the first (but never posted) scenes I’d written for my townie project up above. but as for how would i redo a scene i’d already posted. well i’m currently re-doing my townie story so i guess i’ll just say you’ll see how it’s redone when i get to part 1! 😉

anyway, no tags because i’m so embarrassingly late to this party but if you hadn’t gotten around to this tag, wanted to do it but didn’t get a tag, or started it and left it to sit and now you’re thinking “oh god that was months ago should i even post this anymore?!?” consider yourself tagged by me and go ahead and post it for all to see!

[raivaryn]

Rai and the PoF preview

I jotted down some things on this demo because a lot of it struck me-- and for once, in a good way. Figured I’d post them, since this blog has been slacking in its original purpose. And maybe it’s still the anesthetics wearing off, but I actually have a lot of positive things to say about it!

-Raptor animations are lovely. Very natural, fun, and without being too cumbersome. That’s a hard balance to make but they did a good job. Some clunkiness in navigating certain terrain, but nothing egregious. I imagine these might be tightened up before the full release.

-COLOR. We've finally gotten a desert with bloody color to it, and varied lighting. The shadows, dark textures in and around buildings, even the dark fur on the brown dolyaks all have depth and are generally pleasant to look at. The areas all feel alive, from the sandy dunes to the farmlands and settlements. And seriously, the lighting is suuuuch a welcome improvement.

-Another big help to the liveliness and natural feel to the map is the varied terrain. I want to hope we'll see core maps take on some of the lessons learned here and be revamped, because this is such a stark difference. A good one, but still stark. The rest of the game deserves these updates imo.

-Dialogue.. still needs some work, but it's not as cringy as I’m used to. The events and some of the demo's story actually feel alright, too, and I appreciate some of the encounters having exchanges with the PC and other NPCs that sound more natural than I'm used to seeing.

-I really like riding the raptor in general, and the speed boon seems just about right for a mount. Wish we could PoV it, and not have to dismount when interacting with something though. Also might be cool if we could dismount without it returning to its pokeball, and we could call it over if we’re in range, or conjure when out of range. Maybe something we’ll see later?

-I honestly didn't expect so much aid from the devs with enjoying and experimenting in the demo. Those loot packs are an unexpected and welcome gesture, as is the ability to color our raptors. These kinds of little touches are technically unnecessary, and not the kinda thing we’re usually treated to before. But they imply a promising focus on QoL, and I'm pleased to see it.

-New staff seem willing and, possibly, able to improve a lot of the QoL and general gameplay. The demo feels like PoF will offer another layer GW2 needs to become a full, polished game. We're definitely seeing a continuation of running contrary to the "Manifesto", but unlike before, we really seem to mean business about it now. I'm hopeful this is a prelude to more improvements, with the new staff free to color outside the dated lines.

-Mob spawns seem more reasonable. You don't look across the map and see an endless, awkwardly uniform spawn of identical mobs. The creatures present feel like they are actually part of the world, and not just copy pasted over and over again to fill empty space and add “interest”.

-Related, less dense spawns makes this area so much less hostile to RP compared to most other maps. GW2 is not too RP-friendly when you roam outside instances and cities. I want to believe this is something they've had in mind, and if I were a more optimistic type, I'd hope they plan for more RPability in the world. Like, even just chairs. Anything, honestly. RPable maps that aren't hubs is definitely a welcome change.

-Mob motifs are coherent and interesting. They even have neat designs, and the shark's breach attack is maybe my favorite.

Demo feels like a breath of fresh air, without the hamfisted demand of investment from the player. I feel like a good part of this is the lack of familiar NPCs force feeding you exposition, while assuming (demanding) your investment. This lets us explore and experience things personally, and build our own attachments and interest as the story moves along.

The world is lively and colorful, with lots of room to run and play. Mobs encountered are often by player choice, and I appreciate that several aren't preemptively hostile. NPCs are going about their business in a way that feels more like world-building than just "here's a quest to do".

I'm looking forward to quests and puzzles based on mounts. Herding animals would be so fun, I think. I also want fire breath for my Buttercup. That's her name. She's my child.

It’s weird to feel positive about this game, after years of inane nonsense. My first “wow” moment wasn’t even in the demo-- it was in the character creator. The new human faces are CORE. That is an excellent show of good faith, even if it’s tough to forgive their absence to begin with. I’m definitely thinking the new staff is accountable for this welcome addition. They look great, and same with the new hair. It’s really something the game has needed, and I’m glad for the diversity.

[shenanigumi]

So I finished Kyoto Winds…

Here’s the comprehensive review I promised!! Keep in mind that I haven’t always paid the closest attention (as my first priority eventually shifted to managing the walkthroughs, since I can replay them anytime), but I’ll do my best to be accurate.

As usual, I’m biased as hell so you’ll want to take a lot of this with a grain of salt, but here we go, with the longest post ever…

Overall

On the gameplay – having been expecting to get to choose the route at the beginning, the fact that I had to navigate all the options and pick accordingly was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. I’ve always been a fan of choice-based gameplay, so really, the only sticking point I hit was Souma’s route. As you may have noticed, I had a bit of trouble figuring out which system of choices was required for me to get to his second appearance. Other than that, everything turned out fine, although the sheer number of options was a little bit overwhelming at first. | 4/5

On the art – fantastic, as always, although there are a couple CGs that look a little funny to me (for instance, I don’t think Kazama’s Ikeda CG looks much like him). I am admittedly also not a fan of the costume recolors in most cases, but it’s not like it gets in the way of my enjoying the game. Additionally, Demons’ Bond also seems to have influenced the Yase backgrounds. We all know how I feel about Demons’ Bond as it relates to Hakuōki, so I’m not too enthusiastic about the parallels, but that’s an entirely different story. | 5/5 – odd-looking CGs and a palette swap I don’t particularly like aren’t enough to knock a point off

On the translation – …ouch. Noticed a huge amount more typos, clumsily written phrases (like using ‘gruff’ to describe someone’s hands), faulty formatting, incorrect dialogue tags, out-of-place swearing (particularly concerning the word ‘bitch’), and plain OOC dialogue (especially from Amagiri) compared to the original. I also hear that Iba’s dialogue wasn’t well-handled either, and it makes me wonder about the accuracy of the ‘new’ lines as well. I don’t have a lot of faith in this one, so I’m going to say the original translation was definitely, and markedly, better. In part because it distinguished between “the Demon” (Hijikata) and “the demon” (Kazama) instead of inexplicably capitalizing the common noun ‘demon’ so it’s possible to confuse the two. Or ‘fury’, for that matter. Yeah, that just makes no sense to me. | 2/5

On the soundtrack – a few tracks are good, and most unremarkable, but on the whole I’d rank it roughly equivalent with the original. I am also a fan of the soundfont; electric acoustic is my jam. I’m also getting a distinctly Demons’ Bond vibe from a lot of them, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does tend to melt into the background so that I can’t really tell the difference between several tracks at first listen. Not that it’s a big deal, but the original stood out a little more to me, I guess. | 3/5

Now, onto the routes! Please note that though the ratings I give the new routes are based exclusively on this game, the ratings I give the six old routes are in comparison to the same routes in the original game, with 1/5 being much worse; 3/5 being about the same; and 5/5 being much better.

Hijikata’s Route

Hijikata’s the same Demon Commander we all know and love, only his relationship and dynamic with Chizuru are fleshed out a little more. Chizuru’s role as his page is given a little more of a spotlight, as is her exact role as his page, and her place in the Shinsengumi as a whole feels a little more solid because of that development. Since the game ends before they reach Edo, they’re not exactly a couple, but since his Memories of Love are included, we see Hijikata’s feelings as well. Overall, this route strikes a good balance, and a believable platform for eventual romance. Which, of course, is ideal on any Implied Canon route. (I was Not Ok with Yamazaki’s death and burial at sea, though. Like… my heart.) | 4/5

Okita’s Route

Okita hasn’t changed a bit, but the reasoning behind his actions is made a little clearer, and his brotherly adoration for Kondou is also stressed a little more. As a character, he feels a little more complete, and I was able to understand his actions a little better without having to guess at his motives (for instance, he repeatedly asserts that he doesn’t like it when other people make inferences about how he or Kondou feels). Because of that, his dynamic with Chizuru also got a little more development, and although the game ends before they’re involved, I can already see the basis for their relationship in the sequel. While OkiChi admittedly felt a little bit sudden in the original, this half-route did a good job of slowing down and zooming in so we can see the shift a little more. Or at least, I could. Maybe it was because I was looking for it. | 4/5

Saito’s Route

THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. This? Right here? Perfect improvement over the original route, adding to all the right places without taking anything away. It includes just enough extra background on Saito and Chizuru and how the two of them interact to make the ship believable. Their relationship is made softer without pulling either of them out of character, and the extent of their compatibility explored. Saito offers just enough reassurance, and Chizuru is just conscious enough of her place in the relationship and in the Shinsengumi, that their development reads as very natural. Excellent. Not much else to say, just like Saito. | 5/5

Heisuke’s Route

Hoo boy. Not a lot of new content and no new CGs, but it’s not like you can do much to improve on Heisuke’s route, anyway, since it was hands down the best in the original. The few things they did add fit in well with the original flow, nothing felt out-of-place, and I was actually enjoying myself quite a bit thanks to all that wonderful HeiChi… until Sen intervened in the conflict between Kazama and Heisuke. Rather than offer herself as the mother of Kazama’s children to spare Chizuru, like in the original, she instead threatens to banish him and his entire clan for interfering with the affairs of humans. However, quite generously, she offers him amnesty if he agrees to leave Heisuke and Chizuru alone. I was… angry. Still am, in fact.

But it’s not just because I ship KazaSen; really, it’s not. It’s because altering that scene threatens the integrity of the entire plot, when you consider that Kazama will eventually join Heisuke and Chizuru in rescuing Sen. Furthermore, her authority to banish an entire clan of demons is never explained, and her threat makes no sense anyway, considering that Yase has literally worked directly for the imperial court for centuries, so she has no business telling Kazama to stand down for allying with the Satsuma. Basically, retconning that scene makes no sense, and plotholes of that magnitude have never sat well with me. I had a bitter taste in my mouth for the rest of the route, which thankfully didn’t last much longer. | 3/5 – the adorableness of HeiChi barely manages to even out the fact that my faith in the plot has been materially damaged

Harada’s Route

Yes. Good. Wonderful development between the two of them, and although there aren’t too many additions until the route split, their relationship is more firmly established—and earlier on—which makes me a little bit more okay with the more mature direction their relationship is headed. Moreover, Harada’s reassurance that Chizuru is just a normal girl and not a monster was sorely needed in the original, and I’m relieved to see that kind of closure here. Otherwise, it was largely unremarkable (in a good way), other than the fact that Shiranui talks a bit more about Takasugi. Which, by the way, was awesome; I still consider TakaShira canon until proven otherwise. | 4/5

Nagakura’s Route

Definitely sweet and enjoyable! I played this one first, so I didn’t actually get all his scenes till I focused on the walkthrough, but there were so many d’aww moments, I lost count. Honestly, they really amped up the sweetness between the two of them (including modifying some of his In Days Past to be a little more romantic), and that kind of mutual innocence is really refreshing since Nagakura’s so… ya know… suggestive. But something feels like it’s missing, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think it might be Toba-Fushimi, honestly; I was fine up till then, but the last couple chapters feel kind of rushed in a way I can’t explain. Still a good route, though! | 4/5

Sanan’s Route

I… really don’t have a lot of feelings about this one. I wasn’t really expecting to, considering Sanan is my least favorite, but I expected my lack of feelings to be related more to that than the fact that there’s really not much to say about it. Like, there are still a lot of inconsistencies in his personality since so many of the scenes early on are accessible on all routes, and I can’t really get a solid grasp on who he is or what his relationship is to Chizuru. The best thing I can say about his route—other than that Kaoru makes an appearance—is that Chizuru’s feelings are at least clear. | 3/5

Yamazaki’s Route

He may not appear much in the beginning, but once he starts showing up a little more often, it’s priceless. Although the relationship doesn’t have a lot of time to develop, for some reason, it doesn’t feel rushed or incomplete. Somehow, they managed to devise a pairing that doesn’t need a lot of development to be believable; they’re simply naturally suited to one another from the beginning. The dialogue and narrative can get a little saccharine at times, but I was honestly eating it up. Especially when he was holding her hand. Who’d have thought that Yamazaki, of all people, gets the closest to becoming half of a legit couple with Chizuru within the span of the first game alone? | 5/5

Iba’s Route

I… ugh… just please get him away from me. As I’ve said, you’d have to work really hard to find someone with whom I’m less personally compatible, and because I already find it difficult to put myself in Chizuru’s tabi, I could not for the life of me get into his route at all. The man’s as Mary a Sue as you’ll find anywhere. The Long-Lost, Somehow-Forgotten Childhood Friend of Chizuru, whom she miraculously remembers throughout his route, Iba is Gallant and Pacifistic and Really Nice All the Time. In fact, he Can Do No Wrong, is Inhumanly Selfless, and wants nothing more than Chizuru’s safety and happiness at any given time. He’s also On Really Good/Personal Terms with All the Captains because he also used to frequent Shiei Hall for undisclosed reasons (other than being the son of a dojo master himself—oh yeah, and he’s a master at his style of swordplay, by the way, although he’s never killed anyone because of his Incorruptible Pure Pureness).

So basically, the dude’s already wormed his way into everyone’s hearts long before the route even starts, and that just strikes me as unfair. Basically, the route relies on their pasts to create chemistry and the foundation for a ‘believable’ relationship, instead of showing how they’re suited to one another in the present. Honestly, he creeps me out more than a little. Of course, independently of his character, the plot itself is fine—if a little bland at times. I don’t exactly appreciate the reused/paralleled backgrounds from Demons’ Bond, or the random demons’ arms that just kinda come out of nowhere and don’t seem to have an apparent purpose beyond being attached to Takeda and Iba (why are they even in Yase? how come they weren’t destroyed? what the fuck?), but those are personal grudges. Anyway, yeah, definitely not my favorite. | 2/5

Souma’s Route

After the amount of heartache I had trying to get his route, I remember swearing that he’d better be the best ever. I wasn’t particularly disappointed. Souma’s like… Heisuke’s mirror image, in a way. Both are awkward oblivious sweethearts, but Heisuke’s more fun-loving, while Souma is serious to a fault. In the same way I love Heisuke and HeiChi’s dynamic, Souma and SouChi strike me as very similar. They support one another, learning and growing together, throughout the route. It’s really refreshing to see Chizuru in a different ‘kind’ of relationship, too, considering that she’s Souma’s ‘senpai’ (well, his mentor in being a page) as opposed to being one of the captains’ inferiors. There are also quite a few backstory moments in this route, which I appreciated, although a few of them read as a little bit contrived; I’d have preferred they spread it out a bit. Also, Fuck-and-Run Miki makes a great antagonist, and I’m pleased to see more of him—although I was a bit disappointed to find Kazama once again assuming the same basic role as he does in Saito’s route. Like, can we have more Heisuke’s-route-esque ‘reluctant rivalrous allies’ banter? | 4/5

Sakamoto’s Route

Okay, so… I kinda love this guy, and it’s not all because he resembles Shiranui. He’s an interesting character, and it’s nice to have a route with someone who isn’t affiliated with the Shinsengumi but isn’t also trying to kidnap Chizuru. The thing is, although I wouldn’t say the ship feels forced, Sakamoto moves really fast, like probably faster than Harada fast, considering he’s technically got the first chronological kiss CG—just not on the lips. It’s also a little less clear how, when, and why Chizuru becomes interested in him. It might just be the fact that I like the character enough to let it slide, but I didn’t have any trouble suspending disbelief long enough to squeal at their cute moments. Even though I wouldn’t say it was an incredible route, it was honestly really interesting, because it follows a completely different path than I was used to, departing from the usual set of choices. (Also, any route with more Shiranui is fine by me. I’m a shallow girl with obvious motives; so sue me.) | 4/5

Kazama’s Route

Better than the original for sure, but that’s not exactly saying much. I do like that there are actual options for raising Kazama’s affection prior to the split, because it makes the entire concept of him having a route make much more sense. I can’t say that Chizuru’s reasoning in choosing to follow him specifically makes any more sense than it did before, especially considering that she could easily have chosen to accompany someone else (I’d have chosen Shiranui, to no one’s surprise). Speaking of which, I’m also not entirely sure how I feel about Sen taking them both to Yase without the slightest suspicion about Kazama’s prior intention to abduct her, or the fact that she doesn’t instruct Amagiri to chaperone, but I can live with it because it looks like there’ll be some semblance of an actual plot this time. Meaning that Kaoru and Kodo are in league to resurrect the Yukimura clan through furies, and Kazama and Chizuru are out to stop them. Considering that Kodo’s death felt like an afterthought in Kazama’s original route, I’m all for this change. I still don’t ship KazaChi in the slightest, though. I just… can’t. | 3/5

Final Assessment

Average Meta Score (art, OST, etc.): 3.5 / 5 Average Route Score: 3.75 / 5 Verdict: Pretty Damn Good Overall [Shenanigumi Approved – Except KazaSen’s De-Canonization]

From disappointment to elation, I’ve felt it all across the board, and shed more than a few tears at varying points (and this is before I even explore the bad endings). If you don’t have this game and you’re waiting to see whether you feel like getting it or not, I don’t have any advice for you. Whether or not it’s worth it to get the game or even the system is up to you, but I hope that was enlightening!

[squadaloo]

My year in games - 2017 (First half)

For the past few years, my interest in games had been dwindling.  Despite the long list of games I played in 2016, only a few lasted me very long and only a couple I found gripping enough to play more than an hour at a time.  2017 so far has had no less than 5 such games in which hours melted away while playing them.  Here are the games I’ve played so far this year:

Batman: A Telltale Game Series (PS4, Beat game once) - I received this for Christmas.  It’s my first Telltale game since I generally don’t enjoy interactive stories, and I found it pretty decent but not great.  First off, the game on the PS4 is marred by absolutely horrible glitches.  The game full on crashed no less than 5 times throughout my playthrough, and one option on the main menu (the one that lets you review your choices) causes the game to softlock without fail every time.  With that being said, the story the game tells is pretty decent and different for a Batman game with there being more Bruce Wayne than usual.  While I liked that aspect of the story, the Bruce Wayne presented here felt almost too...nice.  Like, I found it hard to believe he could be Batman even in his darker moments.  Also, I can’t confirm this without replaying the game, but I left feeling like my choices basically didn’t matter and the game was essentially funneling towards the same conclusions every time.

Planet Coaster (PC, Spent 70 hours on one park) - Planet Coaster is the closest anybody has come to making a truly great, powerful, but relatively simple to use theme park builder.  The management aspects of the game when I last played back in January left much to be desired and there were numerous annoyances I had with placing objects and with limited ride choices, but overall I was able to make what I felt was a beautiful park over the course of 70 hours.

Overwatch (PC, Spent 5 hours in Private Matches) - Yes, I finally got the game everybody and their mom has been talking about.  I’m generally not a FPS fan, but I did like Team Fortress 2 for its variety of classes, and Overwatch very much feels like an expansion of TF2′s idea.  With a wide variety of fun characters, you’re bound to pick a few you like.  Overall, the game is great fun with friends.  However, I haven’t played it as much as I’d like given I don’t want to play with randoms online because I suck.

Rocket League (PC, Spent 2 hours in Private Matches) - Bought this for a LAN party.  It’s fun for a few insane hours with friends and the variety of game modes keeps things interesting.  Ultimately though, I did get tired of it.  It seems like a game best taken in small doses.

Gravity Rush 2 (PS4, Spent 30 hours beating the game and side missions, spent another 30 hours goofing around) - Much like its predecessor, Gravity Rush 2 is a game I love so much more than the sum of its parts.  It improves the combat from the original game by weakening your main gravity kick forcing you to rely on multiple other moves, adds more enemies, and new styles for attacking.  Flying around and controlling gravity is a blast.  However, not everything is perfect:  there’s a few missions where you’re in tight quarters and the camera becomes a nightmare.  It also has terrible stealth missions, and they are numerous.  The game is fun overall, but certainly doesn’t use its gravity flipping mechanics to their full potential.  Other than that, though, the environments are very pretty, large, and well realized:  I’d dare say the cities of Jirga Para Lhao and Hekseville are two of my favorite locations in all of gaming and I enjoyed just wandering around taking in the sites.

The story is very fragmented and feels more like a bunch of different seasons of a show condensed and often has plot holes that don’t make a whole lot of sense, but it does a great job of building characters you care about.  By the end of the game and the series, Kat and Raven pretty much became my favorite characters in any game because they were well realized, had arcs, and were overall just fun to be around.  Raven especially gets a shoutout because the game’s great partner AI actually does some of the character building for her.  Too often in games, you get a simple partner that helps you attack enemies around you and not much else.  Raven actively helps you achieve your goals:  need to pick up 7 people and take them to a location but can only pick up 2 at a time?  No worries, Raven will split up and take a few herself.  Need to sneak into a base, but there’s two guards in the way?  You attack one and she’ll automatically attack the other.  Start a super attack on a boss?  She’ll notice and if she’s not tied up fighting another enemy, she’ll join you.  It seems so simple, but it’s amazing how often things like this don’t really happen in other games.  It actually made me miss her the few times she’d step aside in the story.

The side missions also do a great job of giving you great nuggets of story, sort of like breather filler episodes in a TV show.  However, ultimately my love of the game really boils down to the final two hours of the game being absolutely phenomenal.  What it lacks in fully satisfying answers to questions it more than makes up with great gameplay and unbelievably satisfying character development.  I’ve never been more satisfied with the ending of a game in my life, and it is to date the only game to ever make me cry.  Oh, and the soundtrack is among the best ever.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, Spent 100 hours beating the game and every shrine along with other sidequests) - You know, ask anybody what they think about this game and they’ll pretty much all start listing the things they don’t like.  For me, it’s the rain.  It’s irritating and flat out denies you progressing at points.  The weapon durability, while not a bad idea, can also be irritating.  The dungeons, while a neat idea, could really stand to be longer and more fleshed out.  The final boss is too easy.

After they’ve finished listing their qualms, though, everybody pretty much says the same thing:  “but other than that, it’s perfect.”  Breath of the Wild is a game in which you almost never actively think about how great it is while playing it, but come to appreciate it more and more when you go to play other games.  I never once thought “Oh my God, this game is amazing” and yet I also rarely had a play session last shorter than 4 hours.  For somebody who rarely can pay attention to a single game for more than an hour at a time, I cannot stress how engaging a game has to be for me to sit down and play it for 4 hours at a time, and yet this happened constantly for about 2 weeks straight with Zelda.  Combat is simple, but always satisfying as you’re constantly reading attacks and waiting to get that perfect dodge to activate flurry rush.  One of my favorite things to do in open world games is explore, but one of my least favorite things to do is constantly backtrack.  The huge number of shrines (which are great in their own right) means I can explore to my heart’s content, but almost always just fast travel wherever I want whenever I want.  I cannot stress how much the fast travel system and climbing has ruined other games for me:  it feels so liberating to be able to go anywhere quickly.  The world is full of interesting characters and things to see despite how vast it is.  It’s an achievement.

In the past, I’ve found the story in Zelda games to be pretty weak.  They seem like the good basis for a plot, but outside of a few exceptions (Midna, Hilda, Spirit Tracks Zelda) failed to have truly good characters with solid arcs.  I’ve seen many people complain about the story in Breath of the Wild probably because its mostly told through short optional memories and hidden diaries, but honestly, I think it’s heads and shoulders better than any story the series has told so far.  It’s a story that’s truly about the Legend of Zelda:  it’s about how the characters respond to the burden of having to live up to the legend and I find that to be an absolutely brilliant idea.  I don’t want to get too deep into spoilers, but Nintendo said in one of their behind the scenes videos that their goal was to make Zelda “a character worth saving” and I feel they definitely succeeded.  BotW’s Zelda is easily the best character in the entire series with a full satisfying arc.

Simply put, the game is amazing.  Buy it.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch, Spent 95 hours playing an enhanced version of a game I played 250 hours of) - Mario Kart 8 is my favorite Mario Kart.  Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is for the most part, a better version of my favorite Mario Kart.  I was at first irritated about having to rebuy this game because I was afraid I wouldn’t want to play it very much.  However, the portability of the Switch quickly took that thought out of my mind as I’ve been able to play with people at work on my breaks and bring it over for LAN parties.  The game’s full of great tracks, great music, and great racing.  The changed item balance makes racing near the front of the pack much more fun and less frustrating since you can’t get screwed over by coins as much.  However, the middle of the pack is now Hell due to the double item system so it’s a bit of a trade off.  Overall though, I find myself having to think more while racing in MK8DX:  thinking about whether there’s double item boxes up ahead, whether I should save my item or risk it to try to get a new item, whether I want to hold this coin for a boo to take or not, and so on which I think makes it more engaging than vanilla 8.

Also, the new Battle Mode doesn’t suck.

Star Trek Bridge Crew (PSVR, Spent 3 hours total between online and single player) - I wanted to like this game more than I do because I like VR and I like Star Trek.  The core idea of the game is interesting:  you and 3 other people team up to take different positions on the bridge of a Starfleet vessel and go on a mission.  Indeed, in the one match I played online with random people, this idea was fun...except there’s the fundamental flaw that other people are awful and will ruin everything.  In my case, I got to listen to a guy hit on the female NPCs on the bridge for 30 minutes and divide them up on who on our crew would get who.  It completely ruined the game experience for me and I felt embarrassed to be playing.

There is a single player mode in which you’re just the captain, but it feels kind of boring.  It wasn’t long before the siren song of Mario Kart pulled me away from this.  I’ll probably return to it some day, though, since I still have plenty of missions left to try.

Nier Automata (PC, Spent 35 hours getting endings A-X and Z, as well as side quests) - This is a game I hadn’t heard of until Kotaku staff members mentioned in a post in late 2016 how it was a game they were really looking forward to for 2017.  The demo for it went up on the Playstation store at the same time as the Gravity Rush 2 demo so I figured “why not?”  Turns out the demo was fucking amazing, but I decided to wait until it was cheaper to buy since I had other games to play.

For those unaware, Nier Automata is an action RPG that is also a platformer, a topdown shooter, hack and slash, shooter, and whatever else it Goddamn pleases to be at any given moment.  Somehow, despite these shifts in gameplay, it manages to be mostly competent in all of them.  However, after an excellent prologue (as seen in the demo) in which it constantly shifts perspectives to keep things fresh, it becomes open world and spots shifting as much which I found to be disappointing as it was the thing that sold me on the game.  It’s also the first open world game I played after playing Breath of the Wild, and so going back to feeling restricted to having to walk to fast travel points, not having fast travel unlocked until partway through the story, and having to backtrack quite a bit was a shock.  It’s not bad at these things, but the lack of freedom was something I wouldn’t have noticed had it not been for Zelda.  Combat is fun, but can feel repetitive.  It’s fast and frantic which I enjoy, but the perfect dodge system feels a bit too easy to spam meaning I don’t have to think about each individual encounter the way I do in Zelda.

The story is difficult to talk about without going into spoilers, but I felt it was mostly great with a few moments of utter brilliance mixed in with some moments of frustration.  I do care about the characters and the voice acting is surprisingly well done, but the game I felt alternated between great twists and plot developments I could see coming from 20 miles away.  It’s hard to get into without spoilers, but to me, it also had a habit of undermining its most emotional moments with weird bits of execution.  Near the end (well, third and fourth ending.  It’s complicated), I felt the story started to rely on tropes I don’t particularly care for which started hurting my enjoyment of it, although its ultimate conclusion (the 5th ending. Again, complicated) was very satisfying.  It’s a very dark story, but somehow manages to balance it very well with a surprisingly great sense of humor.

Overall, solid game.

And that does it.  Thank God I split this year in half, or else I’d still have to talk about Splatoon 2, Sonic Mania, Metroid Samus Returns, Sonic Forces, and Super Mario Odyssey.  Plus there’s the games I may wait to get until things have died down like Horizon Zero Dawn and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.  Did I mention this year was a great year for video games?  Because it’s a great year for video games.