2011 Wrap Ups: Now Loading: The Blog in 2011 Retrospective
By alpha99 1 Comments
JANUARY 2011 - 12 posts
January started off the same way it has for the last 6 years with the winners of my Best + Worst Awards. Metroid Other M was Most Disappointing of 2010 and Mass Effect 2 won Game of the Year honors. It was followed by another yearly staple The Last Remnants of 2010 post where I cover everything that was interrupted by the 2010 Wrap Ups special including introducing you to Now Loading Retro In-Depth. Next up was a finished article for Bothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, a fun, but slow paced shooter. After a bit of a delay because I was fiddling with the Archive Website I caught up by posting a bunch of impressions of games in a Now Loading Update. The next day I posted an ANGER filled finished article covering Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii. Soon after I posted a finished article for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit which is just a Burnout game in Need For Speed clothing which is why it is so good; this post also had a small update where I apologized a bit for the harshness of that DKC Returns article. Next in a serious string of finished articles I covered Bayonetta a game was apparently so AWESOME that it broke my brain... actually I just didn't feel I could give it due justice because while I enjoyed it greatly I mostly just button mashed my way through. After playing through a game with a detailed fighting system that I couldn't grasp along came the next finished article covering Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands with a battle system where you press down on the D-Pad to kill rooms of enemies in a split second. It finally happened again, a game so frustrating, so anger inducing, so intelligence insulting that I brought back the GAMER'S RANT! In Gamer's Rant #13 I listed the top 5 stupidest design problems of Metroid Other M. After two really slow years (2009, 2010) I finally hit the 600 post mark! To celebrate that I decided to take a look back at all of the Gamer's Rants and write retrospective comments about their topics. After all that complaining I wrote the finished Article on Metroid Other M an okay game with a few too many experimental gameplay mechanics. I haven't ever posted links to Month-In-Reviews in this article over the years, but I will because Month-In-Review January 2011 was the first in 2 years.
FEBRUARY 2011 - 10 Posts
February was about to start off a brand new series that would change the blog for the good, but first I had to share my new thoughts after finally taking the time to finish The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for only second time in 4 years. It was finally time! Now Loading Retro In-Depth #1 hit the Blog covering Black and it's various nagging issues. The next day in NLRID #2 I had finally completed Black and came away with the same feelings a decent game with too many small issues to be great. I continued on with NLRID #3 which covered my history and first feelings on black-sheep Zelda title Majora's Mask. I continued a few days later with NLRID #4: Majora's Mask #2 where I talked about saving the game and my initial feelings on the time traveling aspects. NLRID #5: Majora's Mask #3 is where the three day time limit gimmick really started to get to me and made me not want to play. NLRID #6: Majora's Mask #4 didn't even contain a proper update on my progress through the game just a comparison to what the time limit would be like in other games of its type. I complete Majora's Mask in NLRID #7: Majora's Mask Final + Next Game, it's a good Zelda game ruined by the frustrating 3 day time limit; the next game was Banjo-Tooie. I gave my introduction to the Banjo-Kazooie series and gave my first thoughts on playing Banjo-Tooie again in NLRID #8: Banjo-Tooie #1.
MARCH 2011 - 10 Posts
NLRID continued to dominate the blog with NLRID #9: Banjo-Tooie #2 where I list a walkthrough for just ONE SINGLE jiggy in Tooie. Too complex for the type of game it is. In NLRID #10: Banjo-Tooie #3 I have to give up on Tooie as it is just too boring to enjoy; I announce the next game as Neotopia 2 on TG16. In a slight break from all the NLRID action I pause for a moment to give my Impressions on Torchlight (XBLA), a great version of the game which at the time of that writing had bad frame-rate problems. In-Depth returned with NLRID #11: Neotopia II #1 where I introduce you to my history with the two games in the series. A few days later I was ready to update you again with NLRID #12: Neotopia II #2 covering some of the small issues caused by old-school game design such as bombing every wall of dungeon. The next day, Neotopia II was completed in NLRID #13: Neotopia II Final + Next Game in which I talked about the ending of the game hinting at Neotopia III which never came out; the next NLRID game was Skies of Arcadia: Legends. Which I begin discussion on in NLRID #14: Skies of Arcadia Legends #1. In NLRID #15: Skies of Arcadia Legends #2 I give more of my history with the game explain the ship battles element of the game. In a quick Now Loading Update I give super quick impressions of Okamiden and Shift 2 Unleashed.
APRIL 2011 - 5 Posts
April saw a huge drop off of posts because of the NHL Playoffs and with your team playing a game every other day its hard to focus on update the blog. Right off the bat to start the month I posted a special feature covering my anticipated games of 2011. 20 days later, 29 days later for an actual NLRID update I finally update with Now Loading In-Depth #16: Half-Life 2. Yup, I dropped the Retro aspect of the series to allow for more game variety and choice. I also gave luke-warm impressions of Half-Life 2. Next up was the first Finished Article in a while covering the highly enjoyable and brain teasing Portal 2. Lastly I dropped one more NLID update before April was out with NLID #17: Half-Life 2 #2 in which I find the game growing on me, a lot.
MAY 2011 - 9 Posts
May started Now Loading back on the right track with 9 posts starting with NLID #18: Half-Life 2 Final + Next Game in which I praise HL2 and get ready to move on to its episodes as the next game. A couple of days later I had finished both Half-Life 2 Episodes and shared my praise filled thoughts on them in NLID #19: Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and 2 Final + Next Game which also announce the next game as Paper Mario (N64). In NLID #20: Paper Mario #1 I discussed how playing a previous game in the series after playing the better Thousand-Year Door was going to tough as not to compare them. In NLID #21: Paper Mario #2 I discussed the bane of the Paper Mario series BACKTRACKING. NLID #22: Paper Mario #3 was just a short one covering the chapter structure of the game and my "fear" that final boss would be unbalanced like in TTYD. Oh boy, the start of the L.A. Noire saga of posts. I gave my Impressions of the game which didn't bode well for the future with repetitive cases and stupid multiple choice quiz like interrogations. Something made me snap and I rattled off 2 back to back Gamer's Rants, in #14 I continued to complain about the game's crappy mechanics and in #15 I complain about all the people who like LA Noire and deal with its problems because of the good story.
JUNE 2011 - 4 Posts
This month was really messed up by the NHL Playoffs as my team made the finals for the first time in 17 years so most of my focus was on that. I started the month of with NLID #23: Paper Mario Final + Next Game where I gave my final thoughts on a fun game and announced I would be trying a Dreamcast game next. The following Now Loading Update started off serious because I needed to defend the real Canucks fans and Vancouverites from unwarranted blame for a bunch of dumb drunks and anarchists trashing the city after the Canucks lost in the Final. I then talked about a play through of Mass Effect 2 that I finished with all the DLC missions. NLID #24: BioShock #1 was delayed because, first that Dreamcast game didn't work out and second the game that I had picked as a back-up turned out to be total garbage. So I picked a game that was less than total garbage BioShock.
JULY 2011 - 7 Posts
July was an average month for Now Loading and it started off with NLID #25: BioShock #2 where I talked more about XBL Indie game Total Miner than I did about poopy BioShock. I think this one line sums up NLID #26: BioShock Final + Next Game: God *bleepin'* damn! BioShock is ****ing terrible. The next game was turned out to also be a terrible choice: Secret of Mana (SNES). But first I had to give you an impressions article on Two Worlds II a decent open world ****RPG. I then posted a Now Loading Update about how I was inspired to write a 7th anniversary special after thinking back about the fact I had completed Final Fantasy X (and X-2) going on 6 years ago. Right after I began what would become a month long rough ride of regret with NLID #27: Secret of Mana #1 a game that has people blinded with nostalgia goggles. NLID #28: Secret of Mana #2 soon followed and it is where I finally got a taste of how clunky and busted Secret of Mana, the so called "cl.assic" is.
AUGUST 2011 - 6 Posts
August was taken over by me working endlessly on the 7th Anniversary Special an almost 9 page essay on the history of the blog. A Now Loading Update covering the recent announcement of Borderlands 2 which had me excited . Another Now Loading Update followed simply telling you about my progress with the epic 7th Anniversary article. Followed by yet another Now Loading Update which was also the 650th post this little update was still all about the 7th Anniversary Article which was now going to a be a three parter. Finally a break from the 7th Anniversary article and NLID #29: Secret of Mana #3 hits the blog and again SoM has me wondering: "why the hell do people like this game?". The month ended off with another Now Loading Update as I failed in completing Secret of Mana before my deadline to get Month-In-Review in.
SEPTEMBER 2011 - 17 Posts
September was the pinnacle of my blogging this year with 17 posts alone and it also featured the LONGEST post I have ever written in the 7th Anniversary Article. But first I had to get something off my chest and off my plate NLID #30: Secret of Mana Final + Next Game, I had finally done it after hours of clunky boring gameplay and a lame story I had finally finished Secret of Mana... it sucks; the next game would be Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. After all that hard work in August to get this epic article completed it was finally time for me to share it with you guys, Part 1 covering 2004-2005 hit on the anniversary date of September 3rd and Part 2 (2006-2007) and Part 3 (2008 - Current) on back to back days. I still can't believe it has been over 7 years that I have been doing this... amazing! NLID #31: Paper Mario: TTYD #1 was late because of the anniversary so I had already gotten pretty far into the game in just one update, but I did get to talk about BACKTRACKING. In NLID #32: TTYD Final + Next Game I had already finished my 30 hours with TTYD thanks to the anniversary break; the next game was Super Paper Mario. The next day I was ready to post my first thoughts of the different Paper Mario game in NLID #33: Super Paper Mario #1. I talk about SPM's over use of strange sequences and codes in NLID #34: Super Paper Mario #2. In NLID #35: Super Paper Mario Final + Next Game I had finished SPM, a fun little tangent in the Paper Mario games; the next game was a secret, but it was one of the best games I would play on NLID. That game would be revealed as Vanquish in NLID #36: Vanquish #1 which had me blown away after simply playing through the first act of the game. in between all the Vanquishing I took the time to quickly update you on my first impressions of Dead Island, a game I really wanted to love but couldn't because of too many issues, especially weapon breaking + repairing. The next day I had completed the amazing Vanquish and discussed the very few issues I did have with it in NLID #37: Vanquish Final + Next Game; the next game was Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Continuing the busy month was NLID #38: Enslaved #1 in which I explain Enslaved's interesting strategy elements and its interesting combat hampered by a cruddy camera. The next day I had finished Enslaved and discussed how I really enjoyed the gameplay and the story + characters in NLID #39: Enslaved Final + Next Game; the next game was Resident Evil 4. I started Resident Evil 4 HD and tried explain some of the benefits that I discovered about in NLID #40: Resident Evil 4. After coming off a little "pro-HD" in the previous edition of NLID I had to start NLID #41: Resident Evil #2 with an explanation, but followed that with some actual info about RE4.
OCTOBER 2011 - 9 Posts
October was an okay month, I don't think I accomplished all that much, I started lots of things but just didn't really get anything done. Though, oddly, it started off with me putting the finishing touches on Resident Evil 4 in NLID #42: Resident Evil 4 Final + Next Game; the next game was a stupid call that I probably should have waited on. While I was trying to decided what the next game was going to be I picked up Dark Souls and wrote a tiny Now Loading Update on it. I finally had decided to make the call and called upon Final Fantasy XIII in NLID #43: FF13 #1 which allowed NLID to surpass all of 2010 in posts and I told my previous thoughts on FF13. I actually put in some playtime with FF13 in NLID #44: FF13 #2 where I mostly talk about the waste of disc space that FF13; I really think that it's over 17GB size could have been avoided. I then got in a pretty pointless Now Loading Update where I mentioned Dark Souls for a second and that was basically it. In NLID #45: FF13 #3, the last NLID for 2011 I talked about FF13's battle system as if I was some kind of expert even though I only had 8 hours of experience with it. This where things started to go a bit down hill for me... I posted my impressions of Batman: Arkham City and then proceeded to get sick for about 3 weeks. In a Now Loading Update I talked about being sick and what I was going to do with NLID which was in jeopardy of being put on hiatus until 2012.
November 2011 - 3 Posts
The illness that I got wrecked me for the first two weeks of November and then I had to move to a new house so all that caused me to not be able post until 17 days in to November. The first post, a Now Loading Update, covered all about being sick and quick impressions of MW3, Skyrim and Saints Row 3. In the second post, another Now Loading Update, I talked about how Saints Row 3 was disappointing me on many levels.
DECEMBER 2011 - 3 Posts
December was set to be a big month as usual with the end of year stuff but for various reasons I decided to push those back into January so I really only updated twice. December started with a Finished Article on Saints Row: The Third where I explained why I both liked Saints Row 3 and found it very disappointing. In the last Now Loading Update of 2011 I explained in full my reasons for delaying the 2011 Wrap Ups special. Lastly I posted the schedule of event for the 2011 Wrap Ups to end December.
I was so happy to get a nice new fresh start with blogging this year, I really enjoy the Now Loading In-Depth method of updating it keeps me with things to write about and it keeps me playing games all year. As you may have read in the NLID Season 2 preview I taking NLID full force! My goals for 2012 will be to reach Post 700 (probably by the end of January) and Post 800 and surpass the record of 150 posts in one year which was set back in 2006. That was my 2011 in blogging, join me on January 11th for the Nominees for my 2011 Best + Worst Awards. Loading Complete!