The Best Time to Play Games

There were so many good games that released this year! This could be my favorite gaming year of the last decade and it was harder than ever for me to narrow a list down to only ten games because there were at least 17 or 18 that had a legitimate shot when I started trying to put this thing together a few weeks ago.

Naming my favorite game of the year was also extremely difficult because every game that made it into my Top 5 this year had a chance on any given day to take the top spot but in the end I had to go with the one game that brought me more joy than any other whether I was playing it myself or watching someone else do some dirt.

Before I get to the actual Top 10 here are some games that very nearly made the list:

Fire Emblem: Fates

Overwatch

The Jackbox Party Pack 3

Battlefield 1

Gears of War 4

Batman: The Telltale Series

Tyranny

So, without anymore jabbering here is my Top 10 games of 2016:

10. Stardew Valley

I always enjoyed the Harvest Moon series and after hearing that a game developed by one guy that was essentially a love letter to them was releasing on Steam I had to immediately pick it up and boy am I glad that I did. Hours and hours of enjoyment were spent farming, developing relationships with the eclectic group of town folk, and exploring the mines. I go back to this occasionally and have throughout the year, I don't see that stopping as we move into 2017 either.

9. Titanfall 2

Few shooters over the last few years have had such a quality mix of campaign and multiplayer as Titanfall 2. The speed and fluidity of the movement felt incredible and the heart in the single player made this a wonderful balance that everyone could enjoy.

8. Overcooked!

It is so hard to find things to play with an entire family these days so when something like this comes along I have to give it a try. I am so glad that I did too because Overcooked is one of the best couch co-op experiences I have had in quite a while. My wife and I spent a ton of time trying to make it through each new challenge while completely ignoring getting 3 stars because well... we just can't, haha. Nonetheless this is a wonderful game and it gets even better when my 5 year old grabs your freshly cooked fish and runs straight into the water with it.

7. Tom Clancy's The Division

If you would have asked me last year what game had the best shot to be at the top of my list for 2016 was I would have probably said The Division. I had huge expectations for this because it seemed so interesting and after playing it I can say that I really liked it which is why it made it into my top 10 but there were a few things that held it back from being higher. I wish the endgame was better and I never want to go back into the Dark Zone again but I still put over 40 hours into it and played it just a couple of days ago.

6. Final Fantasy XV

I can't believe I played FFXV this year. I waited so long to get my hands on this and was not disappointed once I finally did. I completed the main story in just under 40 hours and have put nearly a dozen more hours into running around and cleaning up the endgame. I bought the season pass and plan to play each new piece of content released. The combat is fast and fluid while the visuals are beautiful. The story is the only thing that held this back from being even higher.

5. Dark Souls III

If you go back through my previous lists you will see that I absolutely adore the Souls series. It is one of my all-time favorites and I play every single new entry the day of release. I can't get enough of it and would gladly play a new one every year. I am part of the problem... Dark Souls 3 felt like more of the same which was perfectly fine with me.

4. Sid Meier's Civilization VI

Just one more turn. That is how I feel everytime I boot up Civ 6 in Steam. I couldn't wait for this to come out and once it did I wasted no time in racking up a lot of hours in a very short amount of time. I will play this for years just as I have going back to the earlier titles in this long running series. This feels more streamlined and easily approachable which is perfectly fine with me.

3. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

An absolute masterpiece in storytelling. I loved seeing the series come to a conclusion (hopefully) in such a satisfying manner and honestly think this is the best looking game I have every played. Each new set piece was almost more beautiful than the last and everything from the voice acting to the action sequences were executed with the utmost precision. Any other year it would have been a runaway number one but a couple of things took me by surprise.

2. Doom

Surprise! A demonic presence has invaded this list. I had no idea that I would love Doom as much as I did but holy crap did that game blow me away. The combat was amazingly satisfying and I would have never imagined that I would be as invested in the Doomguy as a character or in the story as a whole. I can't wait for the next entry in the series when I can blow away more Imps with a shotgun while some hyper aggressive guitar blares in the background.

1. Hitman

I'm not sure what happened. I will say that I had never completed a Hitman game until this year. No game this year brought me more joy in terms of my own playtime and watching the Giant Bomb crew hilariously fumble around with than Hitman.The elaborate ways that you can take down some of your targets are amazing and I am still completing challenges to unlock new weapons and costumes to tackle the elusive targets with.

This, to me, is the first game outside of some adventure games to do episodic content the right way. I loved realizing each month that I had a new mission and new challenges to tackle. I would have never thought that this would end up as my number one game of 2016 but I am incredibly happy that it did.

By the way, if you haven't watched yet you really should go watch Vinny's run in the Hitsmas Game of the Year video, it is majestic!

Thanks to Giant Bomb and the Community for an incredible year and let us all hope that 2017 in gaming is even better than 2016!

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I'm reporting in from the Blizzard of '16 to let everyone know that I threw on a coat and scarf to wander about in the one-foot plus of snow we received in my area. Upon exiting my warm home, my wife was watching Amazon with my daughter by the fire, I immediately wanted to run back inside and finish another episode of The Man in the High Castle... but NO, I persevered for around 3 minutes or the length of time it took me to get to and from the mailbox and trash bin back to the front door. I returned a changed man, I had seen things (mostly just a ton of snow) but I knew at this point I needed more challenges in my life like those treacherous 5 steps leading to my driveway.

I was ready. Ready for the terrors I faced in gaming this week. I've had nightmares of my Ethan Hawke-esque (I don't think I ate anyone while I was outside in the cold but it's really all a blur) trek to the mailbox but it was all to prepare me for zombies, Eldritch horrors, and a 15 year old PS2 game running on a PS4. So, here's what I played this week:

Resident Evil Zero HD

I did not play the Gamecube version of this game when it was released and had totally forgotten about it until the remake/remaster/Capcom was announced and having played nearly every other game in this very up and down series I decided to give this a shot when it popped up on sale on Steam. The very first thing that I noticed when I booted this up was that the graphics look extremely nice for a game of this age and design. I had an idea what to expect having seen the remake of the Gamecube version of the first RE last year (this is getting very convoluted) but I was still surprised at how nice the character models looked. The initial cutscene and the opening sequence on the train are both very well done and set up what the two protagonists are going to be up against while also showcasing a cool setting, the runaway train.

So, let's talk about those two protagonists. Rebecca and Billy are equally as terrible/OK as any other duo in the entire series. The voice acting does them no favors but if you played a Resident Evil game, ever, then you expect that. My favorite part of what I have played so far, which is around 3 hours, is that the main villain has a reasonable motivation and looks TOTALLY ridiculous. I mean honestly the design of that character just mashed together as many things as possible to come up with an antagonist that looks like a cross between Danzig and failed mid-2000's wrestler Mordecai.

I haven't finished it yet but I do intend to keep going and ride this train to the end of the tracks to see what it has in store. Sorry.

Darkest Dungeon

I bought this over the Steam Winter Sale because of the great word of mouth it had received during its Early Access phase and nearly jumped in a couple of times before a full release but decided to hold off. I'm not sure what has changed but I know that I love the look of Darkest Dungeon, the character designs are fantastic... the Jester has been the coolest looking character I have seen in the few hours I have been playing. The loop is pretty basic to this point, you wander through a dungeon and move slowly forward while going from room to room fighting monsters and trying to find gold and treasure. However, the combat quickly adds a few layers of complexity. Positioning is extremely important, if an enemy is too far away or blocked by the corpse of one of it's allies that you have already killed then a melee focused character may not be able to reach them but a ranged character may be able to hit them with a pistol shot or a grenade. There is also a hub area where you can recruit new characters or allow some of your party members to relax from the nightmarish journey they have been on... something that you will have to do because they will begin to slowly go insane with fear as your adventure gets darker and crazier.

Dark Cloud

I was a teenager when this was originally released on the PS2 in 2000 and always admired it from a distance as something that I would probably enjoy but never really had the time to fully engage with. I was busy playing Final Fantasy, Wild Arms, Star Ocean, etc. to really jump into another lengthy RPG. Now, I am an adult... with a family and less time to play games, so what better time to jump into a lengthy RPG from 15 years ago than now?!?!

I'm only a couple of hours in but already see the appeal, building your town back up while travelling into a dungeon to find homes, roads, trees, or even people in giant rock eggs is something that I can totally get behind. The characters I have met in the town so far are different enough to add specific personalities that can hold you over for the hours and hours it will take to beat Dark Cloud. I'm not sure what is ahead for me but I do plan to play this to completion. I hope I can stick to that because after the first time I played this I went into the PS Store and purchased Dark Cloud 2. I have incredible self-control, just ask my backlog!

Until Next Time

I originally intended to include my thoughts on Fallout 4 in this blog entry but that turned into a whole giant thing. When I sat down to write my opinion on it I ended up going into way more detail than I expected so I plan to make that my very first review here on Giant Bomb. YAY! I'm still working on it and hope to have that out in a couple of days, but we shall see.

A small tear rolls down my cheek when I see how large the aforementioned backlog has grown to be so I plan to use this blog from here on out to dig a bit into that and document my thoughts on the justified or totally questionable purchases I have made over the years. So, here are a few things I plan to play for the next blog:

• Transformers Devastation
• Mario and Luigi Paper Jam
• Binary Domain
• Time Clickers
• Time Clickers
• Time Clickers
• ...sorry I lost myself for a second there

Go Play Some Games

After such a long break from writing anything it's nice to get back into sharing my thoughts on the dumb things that I play. I hope whoever out there that reads this can get a bit of enjoyment from it and if you do let me know in the comments. I love interacting with all of the other Duders here and last year this blog series allowed me to do just that on a regular basis. I felt like I was getting into a bit of a groove with my writing last year when I went on hiatus so I hope I can get that back. Thanks for reading... and have a Happy Monday Duders!

WOW! It has been some year but 2016 is here now and 2015 can suck it. A lot has happened since I last blogged here at Giant Bomb. I had some health issues but seem to be doing much better now. Those of you (all 3 or so of you) who followed me last year saw that I blogged once or twice a week for a few months then fell off the face of the earth like The Witcher 3 (it's a great game!) during day five of the GOTY deliberations last year. Well, I'm back, and I plan to write more. YAY!!!!

The plan is to put something up every two weeks, although that could conceivably change at the drop of a hat... stupid real life. The old series "Happy Monday Duders" will return as a bi-weekly blog, as well as some supplemental single game blogs when I just can't contain myself. I am also hoping to drop some reviews on your heads like a crazed/drunken review fairy. Here is the first one Darkest Dungeon is super rad! Done.

Seriously, I really enjoy writing, it's an escape even if I'm not great at it. Interacting with people in the comments last year was awesome and I can't wait to get back into that again with some of you wonderful duders. The first new Happy Monday Duders since last March will be the coming Monday, 1/25/16, with these "quality" games:

• Destiny : The Taken King
• Darkest Dungeon
• Fallout 4
• and more of your favorite hits from the 80's like Take On Me by a-ha!

Thanks to anyone for reading this and I hope that I can make Happy Monday Duders and whatever other dumb things I write or do entertaining enough for someone to yell at me for being wrong.

SURPRISE SECOND REVIEW: Life is Strange is not good... it has begun.

I'll talk to you guys and gals later.

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I played some really cool stuff last week and want to get into it quick, but first, I watched my first F1 race ever on Sunday after I had to DVR it at 3 AM and immediately then purchased F1 2014 from Steam. It was great and something that I had never given a shot before Alt F1 started here on Giant Bomb, so I have to say thanks to Danny and @drewbert for turning me on to something new.

1. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

THOUGHTS: It’s more of the same and I love it. I was ready to jump back into this crazy, drug infused romp through insanity after playing the original solely on my Vita a few years back. This time around I picked it up on Steam and started playing last Wednesday. I bashed and sliced my way through the first number of chapters and fell in love with the gameplay and lucid nature of the characters almost immediately.

VERDICT: It is amazing. I don’t really have a ton to say about it because I am more interested in playing it. So, if you haven’t played the sequel or the original then I recommend fixing that as soon as possible, they’re wonderful.

2. F1 2014

THOUGHTS: This is my second ever F1 game after playing a little Nigel Mansell's World Championship on the SNES back in the day and I bought it after I saw that it went on sale Sunday after the first race of the new season. I read some fairly negative reviews saying that it was essentially just Codemasters copy and pasting F1 2013; that didn’t affect me in the slightest because I didn’t play F1 2013 so it was a total win for me. I’m not a huge fan of racing games but I have dabbled with them in the past, mostly playing the Need for Speed and Burnout franchises with a little Gran Turismo thrown in, but I have to say that F1 2014 is pretty good.

I started a career and went through a ton of practices and maybe 2 races and I thoroughly enjoy the feel of the driving. It seems to be precise without leaning too heavily on the simulation aspect unless you jack up the difficulty which as a casual racer is something that I will never do.

VERDICT: It’s accessible for casual racing fans and if you like F1 racing then you should enjoy seeing all of your favorite drivers included.

3. Helldivers

THOUGHTS: I really wanted to like this game. I completed a number of missions and enjoyed the feel of the gameplay even though it did get extremely tough for someone who was playing solo.

Then… I lost a ton of progress. I was upset. Very upset. 3 hours were lost because of a bug that erases your progress if your controller dies while you’re playing. Mine did because I paused the game while I grabbed a snack and when I returned the controller was off. I placed the PS4 into rest mode and when I came back, I was back at square one. I played a little after that I just lost a lot of the motivation to keep going after losing my character. I'm not saying that I will never return to it at some point but it may be awhile.

VERDICT: It’s fun but not fun to lose a bunch of progress.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Well, I had some good times last week and I had a not very good time so this week let us hope that all of my (and your) gaming experiences are excellent. I’ve been eyeballing a couple of games in my backlog for a bit now and while there is nothing that I plan to spend too much time on this week, except for more Hotline Miami 2, I’m going to try to knock a couple of them off.

• Finish Far Cry 4
• Gods Will Be Watching
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Max Payne 3

OPINION TIME

I’m really excited for E3 this year because every year when we start to get close to the show I run through all of the games and reveals in my mind that I would love to see and this year there are a lot of things that I’m thinking may be great. I believe that Microsoft will show off some footage from a new Gears of War, a series that I never fell in love with completely but always enjoyed, I think it could be a graphical showpiece for an XBOX One system that hasn’t truly came into its own yet and needs something to set it apart from the super successful PS4.

Nintendo seems primed to unveil a new console this year and while I am hoping that it is some hybrid handheld and home console I am not sure that is what we will get. The recent release of the “New” 3DS XL and hype for the upcoming Zelda may be enough, in Nintendo’s mind, to hold fans over for another year and they just may be right. Everything that I have heard has said that they have a TON of money in reserve and can afford the commercial failure of the WiiU so we may have another year with that gamepad. I’m fine with that because I still play a ton of stuff on it but it would be cool for the big “N” to shock the world with some new and hopefully innovative hardware.

All I want from Sony right now is more of Uncharted 4. I know it has been pushed back into 2016 but I can't wait for what is sure to be an awesome adventure. Two and three were a couple of my favorite games from the last generation and I am super excited to see what Nathan Drake gets into when the next entry finally releases. I am a tad bit hopeful that they show up with something really surprising though like a new Crash Bandicoot, a rebooted Syphon Filter, or an inventive take on the PaRappa series.

COMMENT REQUEST OF THE WEEK

What are you hoping is unveiled at E3 this year?

GO PLAY SOME GAMES

Thanks for the views and support that all of you have given me since starting this series. I really appreciate the great discussions that I have had with everyone and look forward to having even more. Have an extremely Happy Monday Duders!!!!

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Here we are again it’s another Monday and another rambling session for this old gamer/cool dad. I hope all of you had an incredible week doing whatever makes you happy because we all need to be happy. I spent time last night watching the Giant Bomb PAX panel and the Paxamania event and I am still occasionally laughing at some of the shenanigans that took place. RUN GFB took over and The UnderDraker is probably the greatest name for anything, ever. I would love to attend one of those someday just to be in the crowd to see it all live.

I shared a really personal story last week and the response that I received in comments and messages were overwhelmingly positive. Thanks to all of you who shared some stories with me or gave me some great vibes over the past week, it really means a lot to know that though most of the internet can still be an awful place, there is a community that can be so helpful to others. Keep being awesome Duders.

I vowed a week ago to shelve any talk of that company that starts with an “N” and I will stick to that because this week was all about me spending time with a couple of games (one of which was remade on a Nintendo console 13 years ago and then remade again on… forget it, I will mention the GameCube a couple of times). So, without any more yammering let us see what I’ve been playing.

1. Resident Evil HD Remaster

THOUGHTS: A few weeks ago I talked about my love of horror games and how I became a huge fan of the Resident Evil franchise during the PS1 era and haven’t really liked any RE games as much as the first two since. That is still true but I did thoroughly enjoy the GameCube remake of the original RE, so when I heard that it was being remade (a remake of a remake) I actually got excited that Capcom may finally be listening to the fans that made the series so dang popular in the first place. It has sat in my Steam library since release but last Tuesday I decided to fire it up and try it out.

The visuals have gotten a decent upgrade but the GCN version looked so good that it may not be as noticeable at first glance but I decided to go a step further and boot up my copy from 2002 and after a bit more inspection I can say that it is a major improvement in a lot of minor ways. The lighting, character models, and environments have all been made to look much better than they did 13 years ago which makes total sense. The ability to now play the game in full analog mode is something that I enjoyed possibly more than any other change made. The level of control you feel like you have over your character is increased significantly and makes the game fun to actually travel through and explore. Oh, and there is plenty of exploration to be done in this and every other Resident Evil game that I have played. The mansion has always been a cool setting.

VERDICT: I put close to 10 hours into it over the course of the week and it brought back the feelings that I had for it when I played the original. This is a great game and one that you should definitely give a shot. It’s one of the best survival horror games ever made and one that you will remember for years to come; especially the cheesy voice acting. It’s amazing.

2. Lords of the Fallen

THOUGHTS: I wanted to like this game, I really did. I played it for almost 12 hours and kept trying to convince myself that if I just gave it another hour or so that it would click with me the same way that Dark Souls did. That never happened. The art style, gameplay, designs, and feel of the game is extremely similar to a Souls game but it’s missing something. It feels so lifeless compared to the masterpieces that From Software created. Maybe it isn’t fair to judge it next to those games but once you play Lords of the Fallen for a little bit it will become impossible not to. I wanted it to be a game that would hold me over until Bloodborne came out but all it really made me do is turn my PS3 back on and play more Dark Souls 2. It is missing the heart that a Souls game has and most importantly the depth.

You are hamstrung in Lords of the Fallen in how you can build your character in ways that you aren’t in Souls. Sure you can build a character in Dark Souls 2 that is completely useless but at least you still have that freedom. Lords of the Fallen is a great idea but one that isn’t fully realized.

VERDICT: Play Dark Souls.

THE WEEK AHEAD

I bought Helldivers on Saturday but haven’t had a chance to check it out yet. I really liked Destiny and it has been described to me as a Destiny-esque game so I’m going to spend some time on my PS4 with that this week and while I’m at it I’ll probably also spend some more time with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare too. I have a few friends who have been bugging me to jump back in and try out the new maps and Zombie mode so that will most likely get some blog time next week.

• Helldivers
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Maybe something else????

OPINION TIME

I have been nice for a couple of weeks in a row in this section but over the weekend I tried to play something that I actually pre-ordered and in an earlier entry in this series became the reason that I have sworn off said practice for the year; Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It is still barely playable. We had a party of 3 trying to find a match which took 5 minutes (which is an improvement from the 45 it could take in December) but once we got in there we all experienced high amounts of lag and every second match or so one of us would get kicked from the game and we would all have to party up again only to go through the same crap. It is so frustrating that this is still happening nearly 4 months after release. I know the team says they have been working on it constantly but for the consumers who spent 60 dollars at launch only to get a game that still doesn’t work properly that’s hardly enough to ease the growing disdain for 343 as a company.

I really liked Halo 4. It worked as well as I could have asked on launch day and I felt that the single-player was actually really good. This made me look forward to the MCC when it was revealed because I wanted to go back through the campaign modes and get into some multiplayer matches with friends but, sadly, we still can’t suitably do what we wanted.

Fast forward to today when I see a report that there is actually an XBOX One bundle coming soon that has the Master Chief Collection as a pack-in. Are you serious? You are putting a game that is being killed on social media on a daily basis and is patched every couple of weeks because it doesn’t work into the box with a system. This is insane. How would you like to open up your shiny new console and pop in the game that comes with it only to sit for upwards of 15 minutes or more waiting to get into a multiplayer match? You would immediately regret your purchase because you would assume that there is something wrong with my new machine when in fact it’s just the game that came with it.

As those of you who read this blog on a regular basis can attest to I am an extremely positive person most of the time. I don’t usually go on negative rants about games or people or anything for that matter but this has blown my mind. I’m still hoping that I will magically boot up the game one day and it will work perfectly but based on the progress in the four months since it released, I won't hold my breath.

COMMENT REQUEST OF THE WEEK

We've gotten a lot of them in recent years so I must ask:

What is the best Remake/Remaster that you have ever played?

GO PLAY SOME GAMES

Thanks for the kind words over the last week, they all mean a ton to me, you guys and gals here in the Giant Bomb community are incredible. Please leave a comment below to get the discussion rolling if you want and now I’m going to go check out Helldivers, but first, I want to wish all of you a very Happy Monday Duders!!!!

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I spent most the past week entranced by a 4.88 inch screen staring down a game that I had never really given a chance before and documenting my ineptitude and eventual understanding of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate in two separate blog entries you can find here; part 1 is about character creation and part 2 covers the failings and successes of my first battle against an actual monster. The rest of the time that I had from last Monday to this one was spent with my family and the indomitable Frank Underwood and House of Cards, if you haven’t watched that show yet then you should now (after you read the rest of this blog of course), it is absolutely amazing.

I was able to pick up a New Nintendo 3DS XL on Saturday and must say that I am more impressed than I initially thought I would be. The C-Stick control helps so much with Monster Hunter and Majora’s Mask and the boot up time for the system and the games is much faster than the older model. I said the other day in a comment that MHU4 is playable on an original 3DS, and it is, but if you really want to play the game with the correct amount of precision then do yourself a favor and get a “New” 3DS.

I also want to thank everyone who has given me some fantastic advice about how to play Monster Hunter. The community has done a great job in offering me advice about the weapon that I have been using and the best ways to hunt and survive. It really is great to see such positivity from everyone and while there are people on the internet, who as someone once said, just like to watch the world burn. I know that I can turn to a group of awesome people here on Giant Bomb to heighten my enjoyment of the games I play. Keep being amazing Duders because you are all the absolute best.

1. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

THOUGHTS: There isn’t much that I can say about this game that I haven’t already said in the 2000 words that I posted last week but I can still muster a few. Do not make the same mistake that I did and overlook this series. I realize that it isn’t for everyone but for those that are willing to give it a chance you will find that it offers a deep and engaging experience that will keep you entertained with a variety of interesting mechanics and an impressive combat system. I have watched myself go from struggling to make contact with a Great Jaggi to now tackling expeditions with, somewhat, limited fear. I plan to keep the series chronicling my playing time with Ultimate going and should have another entry later this week for those that have enjoyed it so far.

VERDICT: Monster Hunter is pretty cool!!!! Play it.

2. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M (Demo)

THOUGHTS: This is a weird Fire Emblem and X-Com mash up with a little more action thrown into the mix. You move around on a fixed battlefield and pull the left trigger when you want to attack with your rifle. You can move freely but are will be restricted in attacks and movement tiles by a steam meter, once the meter runs out, you end your turn and the enemy takes theirs. You also can go into overwatch mode by conserving enough steam power after your turn to allow an attack. The in-game and cutscene are is really cool and the designs of the player characters and enemies that I saw in the demo were on the right track. I am a fan of both games that this one reminded me of and hope that the full game adds a bit more depth to what you're actually doing.

The voice acting is pretty bad but I do like seeing some historical characters in these insane fantasy scenarios fighting aliens using steam power in old London and none of this sentence would make any sense taken out of context.

VERDICT: It seems kind of cool. It wasn't enough to pull me in immediately and make me run out to make my pre-order but if it can be half as good as the games that it is imitating then I can see myself devoting some time to it later in the year. I'm going to wait on a few reviews but hopefully it turns out good.

THE WEEK AHEAD

I plan to continue to play more Monster Hunter but I am going to give everyone a Nintendo break in the blog as I move into playing some of the stuff that I have put on the backburner while I fueled my Mario addiction. I have had the Resident Evil HD Remaster in my Steam library since it released and will finally get to that while also giving Lords of the Fallen one more chance. I tried to play it a couple of months ago but just could not get into it but I want to like it. We’ll see what happens. Oh, and Screamride looks really stupid and I may see just how stupid.

• Resident Evil HD Remaster
• Lords of the Fallen
• Screamride

OPINION TIME

I really enjoy playing video games. I don’t talk much about things on this blog other than that and the occasional mention of my family but we all need distractions in our lives and gaming is the perfect way to escape from reality for a few minutes. Our personal lives are just that, personal, and we tend to keep them that way but sometimes there are topics that we feel compelled to share with not just those close to us but to everyone in case it catches the eye of the right person and helps someone.

I suffer from severe depression. I have for a while now and it all stemmed from a medical diagnosis that I received a few years ago that changed every aspect of my daily life. I lost the use of my left arm because of a rare nerve disease that also tends to shut down the use of my left leg from time to time. I can use my left hand just a fraction of what I could before but the one thing that I can still do with some accuracy is use a controller.

Depression is a terrible affliction but being able to distract from that is invaluable. My family has been incredible since 2012 when our lives changed and I appreciate them for that but sometimes when dealing with my physical and mental ailments I need to be alone and do something that I could do before all of this happened. I can’t play pickup basketball anymore (which was my favorite hobby and source of exercise) but I can still put on a headset and play something with my friends. It gives me the social interaction that I need occasionally. Gaming can bring us comfort and it has me. I also watch tv shows, movies, read, etc. but being able to somewhat physically do something is different. Watching videos and listening to podcasts here on Giant Bomb is another great way to forget about things because they center on my favorite hobby and they make me laugh.

Therapy has helped me and while I am no doctor; if anyone relates to this then I can offer an ear if you need to talk. All you ever have to do is send me a PM and I’ll listen. Sometimes that’s the best thing you can do for someone.

This is a little bit deeper than the things that I usually discuss in this blog but I know how much of an a-hole depression can be and I want to let everyone know that you're not alone.

Also, we would all be happy if we played for the Harlequins. Just look at that logo!

COMMENT REQUEST OF THE WEEK

Let me lighten this back up just a little (or not):

Has there ever been a video game series that you were intimidated to try to play?

Go Play Some Games

Thanks for being such a cool community.

Please leave a comment if you feel so compelled and more importantly have a very Happy Monday Duders!!!!

I’m back. I have slept only 4-5 hours each of the last couple of nights and it isn't because I have had a sudden onset of insomnia but rather I have been afflicted with Monster Hunter. I don’t have a ton of time to play during the day so I reserve a bit before I go to sleep at night to feed my new addiction. The first blog in this series earlier this week was all about my first hour or so with MH4U but now as a grizzled veteran of close to 7 hours I can definitively say that I have been missing out.

Do not let the fact that I have nearly 7 hours of playing time fool you; I am still only doing 2 star quests and find myself taking 35-45 minutes on every one of them just running around and mining ore, catching bugs, or picking up a ton of berries. I should have probably made more progress by now but I just cannot force myself to pass up items that I have no clue will be useful later or not. I haven’t dove into many of the armor forging aspect except to make an invincible hammer for my Palico that seemed pretty cheap and I have fed my Insect Glaive enough nectar to nearly hit lvl 2 but not quite. Everything that I just mentioned was completely foreign to me when this week started but now I feel like I have put a small crack into the impenetrable armor that is the Monster Hunter series.

Yesterday if you would have looked through my Quest List you would have seen a bunch of check-marks all the way down with the exception of 2 missions, Jaggi Alliance and The Stinking Seltas, I was scared to accept either of those because they were hunting quests and up to that point I have been perfectly content to just collect unique mushrooms or go fishing for some sushifish. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the hunting in the actual game even though I had played a small bit of the demo that was out that actually had you hunting a Great Jaggi. Was this going to be harder? Am I equipped enough to actually take down a monster in this game? I kept avoiding the inevitable and trying to find other things to do besides what the entire point of the game is.

Finally, this morning, I did it. I clicked on Jaggi Alliance and ventured forth, scared and unsure if I would survive what was ahead of me. The Guildmarm told me good luck and gave me some pointers as I transitioned into the wild to actually hunt a monster for the first time. Then I got embarrassingly lost. I had traversed this damn map twenty times already but as soon as the mission was to actually find a monster I froze and ran around the same 3-4 sections for almost 15 minutes. I’m an idiot.

Surely stumbling around like a drunken moron I wandered into a cut scene and there it was. A tutorial popped up that walked me through how to mount an enemy and stab it repeatedly by jamming on the X button to do extra damage and after that was over it was just me and the Jaggi (and my little cat dude, plus a bunch of small Jaggi’s, and some fly creatures). The real showdown though was between the monster and I; the fight was on. We both charged at each other. He bit in my direction and I mistakenly fired my bug into the side of a mountain, I focused the camera on him and took my first swing which missed horrifically, and then I ran to a ledge above him and tried a jumping attack but again missed by a pretty considerable distance. The Benny Hill music should have been playing the entire first 2 minutes of this fight because I’m not sure I would have even hit him if he would have been standing still.

Wait, it happened. After a couple of minutes of some of the worst gaming ineptitude since the late 80’s for me I made contact. After that it felt like something clicked. I strung together a really nice combo and eventually weakened the Jaggi who took off to another section but not before I missed twice with a paintball before hitting it as it ran away. I’m coming after you Jaggi. The fight lasted only eleven minutes and I never let my health drop below half because I was terrified that 8 dragons were going to crash down from the sky and obliterate me. That’s how Monster Hunter works, right?

After the killing blow had been struck and I had completed the sub-quest by total accident I had done it. I had killed my very first monster and it felt amazing. I know that the Great Jaggi is nothing and basically a tutorial monster but the sense of accomplishment that I got from dropping that fool like a bad habit made me realize what this game is all about. I loved the deep mechanics and the myriad of systems that I may or may not ever understand are there if I want to dive deeper but what will make me keep playing now is that desire to feel that same thing again. If taking down the first monster in the game makes me feel like the badass hunter that I am nowhere near yet then how will I feel when I actually defeat a huge hulking dragon after a dangerous battle.

I can safely say that I am now hooked on Monster Hunter. I am in no way an expert and there are so many things that I have no idea about just yet but I want to learn. I am also looking forward to any additions made to the game. This blog series will continue because I am loving every second of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Thanks for the advice and help that I have received here on the forums so far and after joining the group to play together I am looking forward to meeting up with a few Duders and stabbing some huge beasts until they fall over or just standing in front of “The Man” and dancing.

I’ve tried since the latest Monster Hunter released to convince myself that I don’t need the game. I bought Majora’s Mask 3D a few days ago and have already played it to completion but something kept pulling me to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. I downloaded the demo yesterday and 4 hours later decided that it was worth 40 bucks and my time so earlier today I went into the 3DS e-Shop and took the plunge. I now own the game and have been reading guides and watching YouTube videos for the past 2 hours to prepare. I’m scared.

I love the Souls series and the level of information that it withholds from you never bothered me so I think I'll be fine with that aspect of MH but there has just been something about the series that is extraordinarily intriguing to me but also daunting.

This initial blog entry will only serve the purpose of letting you all know that I will be documenting my time with the game to see if I become addicted like so many others or give it a good shot only to learn that it is simply not for me. I’m hoping for the former but over the course of my playtime with the game I will give updates in the form of new entries to this series every few days. I have only checked out beginner tips in videos and text to help me get acquainted with some of the more obscure elements to the start of the game and I’ve forced myself to not read or watch anything that will tell me the best starter class or weapon; I want to learn for myself how I want to play the game. So, here we go.

I create a character and get through the battle in the desert where you run around like an idiot and recklessly jump onto the back of a gigantic sand demon to save some guys’ hat; it was hilarious and actually super cool. After all of that ends you are in the hub area where the hat guy tells you he wants a steak, before I head out though I check around the area to acquaint myself with the various NPC’s and vendors to see what they have to offer, I then head over to the guildmarm who gives me the quest for the steak and I head out into the wild for the first time.

I have a basic understanding of how combat works because of the guides that I checked out on YouTube so this first section isn't too hard after I get as much stuff out of the blue chest that I can. The first monsters that you are tasked with killing are extremely easy, most of the ones that I attacked didn’t fight back at all, and I was able to complete this quest with ease in just 4 minutes. Even though it was very basic I still felt a huge sense of accomplishment as I placed the well-done steak into the red chest and am transported back to town. I pick up another quest to make a mega-potion for red hat guy and after another 10 minutes I finish it but not before fighting my first set of Jaggi’s. They actually attack me but still don’t pose any serious threat but I was able to get a feel for the animation priority in the attacks you perform. This is something that I have seen as a complaint from some other new players but being a huge fan of the Souls series as I mentioned above I have absolutely zero issue with and actually found myself really enjoying having to take a more methodical approach to landing successful attacks.

After the mission I am transported back to town where I am told that I can now take my Palicoe with me on missions. The Palicoe is a small cat that will accompany you on quests and can fight, as well as aid you in combat by healing you, I think this will be a really neat addition and should prove to be somewhat helpful to someone like me who may ignore my health bar sometimes in the early going. I finally found the Item Box in my house that I had completely ignored before now and looked through the weapons that are in there and decided to go with an Insect Glaive at the advice of @jjweatherman. I then just wander around for a couple of more minutes without picking up a new quest to see what the Gathering Hall is; it’s where you meet up with players to play online which was my understanding of it anyway. At this point I then head back to my house to save and conclude my time with the beginning of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

I can say that just after the short bit of the game that I have played so far I can already say that I have been missing out on this series and wish I would have started playing sooner because it seems insanely fun. I’m hoping to update with a new blog entry into this new series when I come across something new and cool so you can probably expect to see another one in a few days. Thanks for reading and wish me luck… I'll probably need it for what is to come.

[INSERT COOL INTRO TITLE HERE]

I wasn’t incredibly informed as it related to video games when I was younger. In the late 80’s and early 90’s the only information that I had access to when it came to what new games were coming out were Sears catalogs and ads from Walmart or other chain stores until I stumbled across a Nintendo Power. I talked my mom into buying me one and I took it home and read it from cover to cover a couple of times over. As the years went on I started finding more and more magazines like Nintendo Power that were maybe a little more informative and helpful in my search for new gaming experiences. I started asking for games that were a little more complex than the ones that I had played when I was younger and eventually read about something that I hadn’t paid much attention to or even knew existed in the past; RPG’s.

The first that I played was Final Fantasy II, which was in reality, Final Fantasy IV but since the previous two entries in the series hadn’t been released in the US at that time it was considered the follow-up to the original. At first I had absolutely no clue what I was doing because I had never played anything like this but after seeing a short guide on how to play in an issue of Nintendo Power it all started to come together. After that, I fell in love with a whole new category of games that I still play to this very day and that’s what this blog is dedicated to, the genre that changed how I play games.

A lot of guys with spiky hair and kids in green tunics have graced my gaming library over the years and I’m going to talk about a few things that I played this past week while also giving a little insight into what I plan to play in the future. Thanks for reading this entire (hopefully you did) month where I talked about a few things that I love in gaming. Well, let us begin…

1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D

THOUGHTS: I found this game to be extremely weird when I played it just after release and going back nearly fifteen years later that aspect of the game hasn’t changed at all. It is definitely the strangest entry in the console lifetime of Zelda but that doesn’t change the fact that it is still, in my opinion, one of the best. It took me nearly a week to learn the proper way to play the game in 2000, I didn’t realize that I needed to slow down time by playing the “Song of Time” backwards, or that you can skip ahead by playing it double, so I had a hard time adjusting at first. After I learned the right way to play the game to complete the dungeons and allow yourself the right amount of time to explore I was hooked.

The new 3DS version of the game goes a long way to improving your playing experience by explaining a couple of things a little better and giving you a much better way to track your quests and interactions with the people around Termina. I’m playing this with an original 3DS XL and not the new version with the C-Stick and I haven’t had any trouble in combat; Majora’s Mask plays exactly like the Ocarina remake on the 3DS from a few years ago which is definitely a good thing. The visuals are improved, obviously, from the N64 version and the 3D effect is excellent when you want to use it, which I rarely do with any 3DS game that I play.

VERDICT: This is one of my absolute favorite games in what is quite possibly my favorite video game franchise of all-time. I cannot recommend enough that it is a game that, even if you had trouble with it 15 years ago, you should go back and give another try or maybe a first try. Majora’s Mask was a risk, and a big one, by Nintendo who took one of their premiere series’ and did something experimental and cool with. A risk that I feel paid off big time.

2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

THOUGHTS: I played this game when it released back in the early 2000’s on the original XBOX and really enjoyed it. I remember that my playthrough took me around 30 hours and I did a ton of the side-quests and thought that this was the Star Wars game that I had always wanted. The story was interesting and the ability to play the game evil or good was a cool mechanic that fits so well into that universe. Darth Malak was a great villain and the storyline with him and Revan is extremely interesting and complex.

VERDICT: I booted it back up last Friday after getting it in a recent Humble Bundle and played a couple of hours just to see if it holds up and while the graphics may not look as cool as I thought they were all those years ago the narrative and certain gameplay elements will immediately make you think about Mass Effect. It may be a little late to jump into this one because of the drawbacks of age but there’s an entire Mass Effect trilogy that is a great extension of what Bioware was able to create with KOTOR.

3. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

THOUGHTS: Final Fantasy: Tactics is one of my absolute favorite games in the entire Final Fantasy franchise and I always wanted to play this remake on the PSP but I never owned one.

Luckily (maybe) I bought a VITA!!!! I actually love handhelds and have turned my VITA into my JRPG device. I own a number of classic PS1 era RPG’s and have replayed many of them because of Sony’s embattled machine like Final Fantasy 7-10, Wild Arms, Suikoden 1-2, and Vagrant Story just to name a few.

Anyway, back on topic I've owned War of the Lions for a couple of years but never gave myself a chance to sit down and spend a little time with it to see how it holds up to the original and for the most part I really enjoyed the 3 hours I played last week. Even though it’s just a PSP game it looks great on the VITA and the combat still feels as good as I remember. The only issue that I could find is that the dialogue is a bit different; it isn’t bad just not what I remembered so I looked it up on GiantBomb.com and saw that it was rewritten in a more medieval style that is fine and some even say the translation is superior so while it threw me off a bit at first it isn’t necessarily a what I would call a drawback as I was able to adjust after a bit.

VERDICT: It’s a classic and the PSP version is totally playable, heck the PS1 iteration is still great, so I would recommend checking it out if you haven’t before.

THE WEEK AHEAD

As February draws to a close so does my theme of "things I fell in love with in gaming" so next week will be a return to me playing a bunch of random things and trying to knock off as much as possible from my backlog. Mediocre scores aside I would like to give The Order a shot but I don't have a copy and just can't bring myself to pay full price for it knowing what I get, (length has nothing to do with it) so I will hold off for a bit and will try to get to it by the end of the year, so for now I’m going to open Steam and see if there’s anything that I really need to play.

Also, I’m going to keep working on my Top 10 Favorite Games List and hopefully get it close to completion… I’m going to try to release it within the next couple of weeks and, for those of you that care, will give a firm date in the blog next week. Hopefully.

Here’s what I will try to play this week:

• Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
• Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (Demo)
• Nuclear Throne (Again)

OPINION TIME

In lieu of the fervor that the length of The Order: 1886 caused I thought that I should throw my opinion on the topic of “how long a game should be” into the ring. I do not care how long a game is. I would rather play a game that I think is good with what it has than a game (like Alien: Isolation) that drags on too long and eventually just wears me down so much that I don’t want to complete it. There are a number of short games that I have played over the years that I think are fantastic; Braid is a great example of this, it is rather short, but it’s also a beautiful game that tells a simple story and entertained me thoroughly in the time that I spent with it.

I spoke above about how I can’t bring myself to spend 60 dollars on The Order because of what I’ll get for that amount of money but that has nothing to do with how long the game is. Everything I’ve read from reviews to Twitter interactions have discussed how boring and drab the game is. I do not care at all to pay full-price for any game as long as it is a good one. Enslaved was a game that I bought on release for a premium because I heard that it was a fantastic experience and I have no issues with that purchase but it seems that a number of others did because, well, nobody bought it.

While the length of a game doesn’t matter to me it obviously does to a number of consumers out there and while I don’t subscribe to that notion I do totally understand it. Sixty bucks is a lot of money when you have to worry about food, water, and bills in this day and age so plopping down a weeks’ worth of groceries for something that you will only get a few hours of enjoyment from is a tough proposition for many. If you decide that you only want to pay full-price for huge, 30-60 hour experiences then that is your prerogative. Do what makes you happy. However, just because a game is short does not mean it isn't worth the money that it asks for because I can still remember nearly everything I did in Bioshock Infinite but can barely remember anything about Dying Light, a game that’s twice as long, that I recently played that tried to pad its’ length. I do remember some dumb things that some zombie did though... they're really dumb.

Make decisions for yourself though because you are your own person and you are awesome no matter what!!!!

COMMENT REQUEST OF THE WEEK

Do you prefer Western RPG’s or JRPG’s today and how does that differ from your opinion on that 10 years or 15 years ago?

GO PLAY SOME GAMES

I kept trying to come up with a title for the conclusion and that was the best I could do.

Thanks so much for the continued support. I love seeing the views and comments on this blog every week and hope that I can keep entertaining those of you who check it out every Monday.

So let’s keep this thing alive.

Please comment and add to the discussion. I love interacting with all of you and I really appreciate the positivity that I’ve seen in the comments. Thank you all so much and have an incredibly Happy Monday Duders!!!!

Mistakes Were Made Today

I kicked back today and decided to play a little Assassins Creed: Unity for the first time. Well, an hour later I found myself stuck under the ocean while townspeople walked in the sky above me... I could run forever by never made it back to land. I received a free code for the game so while it didn't hurt me financially I cannot yet say the emotional damage it caused. I'll probably return to the game at some point because I could have reloaded a save to restart the checkpoint to solve the problem but I was extremely bored by what I had played up to that point and running around underwater was rather amusing.

I wanted to make something out of my horrific experience AC: Unity so I decided to try to drag a number of you through some of your muddiest, darkest gaming memories. So...

What is the MOST broken (non-Early Access) game you have ever played?

I can't say that Unity is the most broken game that I have ever played because that distinction, for me personally, would go to Sonic: The Hedgehog on XBOX 360 from 2006. I grew up during the SNES and Genesis era and was a fan of the first couple of games in the series and I even, somewhat, liked Adventure despite how bad it was but at least it was finishable. I can't even begin to guess how many times I got stuck on geometry, fell through the world, or ran into some crazy, progress killing bug in Sonic '06. One of the stranger instances that I can remember involved me running through a level (since it is a Sonic game you ran a lot) and just before I jumped through a ring the entire screen went black; the system and tv were fine because I could hear everything that was going on but I couldn't see a thing. I didn't die during this entire ordeal and have no idea what was going on in the game but when the video returned Sonic was standing in a tree. I honestly have no idea...

The game was a nightmare and now I want to hear about your gaming nightmares.

Anyway, thanks Duders and have a great weekend.