Great list, Sparky. Although there's absolutely no overlap between our top tens, I'll do my best to come up with some stuff to say.
I still need to check out the original Watch_Dogs, and reading that you found quite a bit to like in that game has elevated my hopes slightly for having a good time with it. The way you describe the sequel building on its foundations reminds me of how the Assassin's Creed series started out last gen. Here's hoping Ubisoft don't oversaturate the market with annual sequels (although I think they would struggle to pull it off, as the demand for these games doesn't seem anywhere near as high as it was for AC at its peak).
I'm really excited to check out Hitman this year, although I'm worried that I've kind of missed the boat by not playing it on release alongside the rest of the community. I figured I might devote myself to an episode every weekend over a six-week period, just so I can really explore each level as fully as possible. Hopefully my schedule will allow for me to do things like that a bit more this year.
I really, really want to check out I Am Setsuna, even more so after seeing it so high on your list, but I'm having real trouble justifying paying £32.99 (around $45, I believe) for a downloadable title. There was a four-day sale on it not too long back I gather, which brought the price down to just over £20, and I definitely would've bit at that price but I wasn't aware of the sale until after the fact. Ah well, I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled and my ear to the ground until the next price drop.
Happy New Year Sparky, here's hoping 2017 is even better for you than last year, both in terms of great video games and your writing pursuits (The Ghost at His Back is lined up to be my first read of 2017, and I'll let you know what I think when I'm through it).
Nice little write-up duder. Looking forward to the rest of the week's instalments.
I wish I'd played some of the games listed here so I had more to say. The more I see people praising Hitman, the more convinced I become that I need to check it out. It looks to have the same emergent, sandbox-esque qualities as Metal Gear Solid V, so that seems like a shoe-in for something I'd really enjoy playing. Maybe I'll be able to pick up the whole first season cheaply through a Black Friday deal, or failing that in the January sales. You've also reminded me that I really need to get around to checking out Disgaea at some point. Sparky_Buzzsaw sent me in the direction of Disgaea D2, which I've downloaded to my PS3, but haven't yet started playing. I must rectify that, since the gameplay seems right up my street.
@strangestories: Thanks man. Nuzlockes are pretty great, I took some time out from my "gotta catch 'em all" quest through 2014 and 2015 to embark on a couple of them myself. It's a great way of forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and getting better acquainted with the 'mons you'd usually overlook. The emergent narratives they produce can be really rewarding too. I'm stoked for Sun and Moon too, I have (by sheer coincidence) got a day off work on the 23rd, so I'm planning to devote as much of the day as possible to it.
@ryuku_ryosake: Thanks for the tip duder, but I'm better off sticking with Y on this one, I think. I know a fully completed copy of ORAS offers better chances to level up, but I haven't played enough of the post-game in Omega Ruby to unlock those opportunities. My go-to strategy for Y is just to spend a ton of time in Victory Road. I have a level 100 Greninja which can OHKO everything in there, and that combined with the Exp Share and a multitude of Lucky Eggs should be enough to provide a steady stream of levelling and evolutions.
@majormitch: Thanks Mitch. Funnily enough, your brother was one of my inspirations for embarking on this crazy endeavour. He's @wess on the site, right? I remember reading his blogs on the subject way back when.
@mento: It's good to be back. I didn't mention this in the blog itself, but hot damn, those Dragon Quest games have subtitles worthy of your own pun-tastic masterwork. 'Luminaries of the Legendary Line', 'Sentinels of the Starry Skies', and so on. I've got the first two Suikoden games from the PlayStation Store. I had a friend in secondary school who spoke very highly of them, so I'm looking forward to finding out what all the fuss is about.
@arbitrarywater: It is terrifying, but it contains a lot of stuff that I had previously written off, so I need to go back through it and trim it down to a slightly more manageable size. The Backloggery also handles episodic stuff differently to Giant Bomb, so every episode is its own separate 'game' rather than all being lumped under one heading. I definitely need to check out that stuff with ZP and Gino, I'd been deliberately holding off on the podcasts until I could find time to read and listen to everything over the course of a few days. As for Sun and Moon, I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet, but I can guarantee that there'll be blogging of some kind involved. Maybe another Nuzlocke series? We shall see.
@sparky_buzzsaw: Thanks man, it's good to be back.I've always been fine with either Dan or Daniel, so stick with Dan by all means. As I said in the blog, it's more for the sake of consistency across my online profiles. Writing went out of the window for a few months due to falling in love, but this blog is my way of getting back on track in that department. Side note, I've got both the Rankin Flats novels downloaded to my Kindle and will be reading them ASAP. Congrats duder, that's a massive achievement getting your stuff out there. As a fan of the Wild ARMs series, would you say it's worth checking out the up-rezzed version of WA3 on PS4 if I enjoyed the first game?
@bobafettjm: @obsideondarman: Thanks guys. I've been away from video games for a while because of real-world stuff, so this is me taking stock of my 'Pile of Shame' as I prepare to dive back in. I daresay there'll be some culling going on at some point to bring the numbers down to slightly more manageable levels.
First off, thanks a ton for the shout out. I know I've been quiet over here for the last few months, for various real-life reasons that I'm planning to go into in my own return to the blogosphere very soon. I haven't been playing many video games either, but that also seems like it might be on the turn-around as I've recently gotten deep into (of all things) the retro PS1 JRPG Wild ARMs. It means a lot to know you value my writing to that degree, and I hope you know the feeling is mutual. Thanks, bud.
I have your novel downloaded to my Kindle, but I'm a little ashamed to admit I haven't opened it yet. I started reading A Game of Thrones about two days before you went live with The Ghost at His Back, and it turns out an eight-hundred-page novel isn't the quick read I was hoping it would be. I'm psyched to get stuck in though, it's my next reading priority, and I'll be sure to let you know what I think.
As a fellow writer with a novel in the works, reading about your creative process and how the book took shape was an enlightening experience. We work quite differently, I think, right down to the very origins of our ideas (you say yours begin with characters and dialogue, whereas mine tend to begin with situations and questions). All the same, I think I've gleaned some useful insight from reading this that might help me with the final push to complete the first draft of The Hawker, something that has once again fallen by the wayside as I'm struggling to make it through the final chapters and bring the book to a close. Reading about your decision to completely scrap the first draft and basically re-write the entire novel is terrifying for me, as someone who's very nearly at the second draft junction myself. But it worked for you, and more power to you. Hopefully I'll be able to approach my own second draft with the same kind of ruthless determination, with a view to making this story the best it can possibly be.
Bottom line is, major kudos to you for making it to this point Sparky. We may only be interweb-buddies (although I hope that changes one day), but your determination, dedication and diligence with this has been a real inspiration. You should be really fucking proud of yourself, duder. I know I am.
@arbitrarywater: I knew those would get you, ToEE in particular as I know you champion that game somethin' fierce. The way I'm looking at it, Baldur's Gate is THE D&D CRPG I need to play above all the others based on its reputation, and right now I don't even know if I'm going to enjoy it, so it doesn't make sense clinging to Icewind Dale and ToEE as nebulous 'maybe's. The good news is that they're all digital acquisitions, so if I do enjoy Baldur's Gate and want more of the same, there's always the possibility of reinstating them somewhere down the line. As for Zelda II, I've tried (and failed) to get into that game maybe half a dozen times. This is my way of admitting to myself that it just ain't happenin'.
@slag and @Sparky_Buzzsaw: Sorry to worry you guys. Truth be told I went for the title purely for the Valentine's/relationship metaphor. I didn't read it the way you did until this morning, with the benefit of a good night's sleep and some distance. It's a pretty foreboding title, I'll grant you, but I assure you all that I'm definitely not done gamin', not by a long shot!
I really admire you for doing this, duder. As someone with a largebacklog myself (although not quite large enough to support a year-long blog initiative), the thing I've struggled with most is letting go of games and admitting that there are some things I'll just never play. I've gotten better about that in recent months, but I still find it very difficult to 'retire' a game that I've spent money on and want to play on at least some level. Your ruthlessness is an inspiration to me as a fellow 'Pile-of-Shame-r'.
Coincidentally I'm playing through The Witcher at the moment. It's one of those games that's been on my 'to-do' list for a few years now, and all the recognition that the third game got at GOTY season has finally spurred me into action. I've put about twenty hours into it so far and I'm really digging the structure of the game and the tactical side of the combat. I'm playing from the over-the-shoulder perspective using a 360 controller and Xpadder, and it feels surprisingly natural to play that way. I'll definitely be sticking with it to see how the story develops from here, but as that's the biggest draw for me currently, I can equally understand why you'd be happy to retire it if that part of the game is already known to you.
Looking forward to reading more of these in the coming days, weeks and months. All the best with your ongoing endeavour!
The more of AC Syndicate I play, the more I start to doubt its position on my top ten games of last year. I've been revisiting it this week in a bid to push closer to that coveted 100% synchronisation, but without the draw of the excellent story missions to break up the busywork, I've found myself rapidly tiring of the territory control stuff to the point where I'm thinking about putting it down again. It's a shame, because I think the story stuff, the mechanical improvements and the unique mission design make for the strongest game in the series since ACII. I just... don't want to liberate any more children or maim any more Blighters, no matter how pretty the factories look or how satisfying the cane-sword is to use.
Also, I agree completely about the microtransactions. The fact they're forced upon you every time you boot up the game, as a sort of 'landing screen' before you can actually start playing, is particularly egregious. Before I hit side-activity burnout, I was contemplating investing in the season pass and checking out the Jack the Ripper DLC, but was reluctant to do so purely because I don't want to send a message to Ubisoft that this stuff is alright.
Welcome back to the blogosphere, duder! Good to see you back on the site and good to hear that you're doing well health-wise too. I'm looking forward to reading your take on Fallout 4 next week, I have a lot of conflicted personal opinions about that game and I find it fascinating to see how other people have reacted and responded to Bethesda's latest.
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