In 2015

First, I’d like to thank anyone who read, commented, and gave a thumbs up on my GOTY 2015 list. I feel a bit relieved that folks still took the time to read (or at least browse) through my list and the summaries I wrote for the ten games I chose that made the most impact on me in 2015. There was a ton of different circumstances that made writing this year’s list more challenging than last year that I won’t go into further detail than that. Despite all of the challenges, I still managed to publish my list within the final hours of 2015 and wrote to the best of my ability on why each game landed on my ten. It’s a small victory that I am trying to feel better about myself against a year where the constant stress from work and other life events shook up a good chunk of my confidence.

Each forthcoming year presents its own set of challenges that always make it hard for me to not only have the time to play games, but to be in the right mindset to do so as well. For many of us, gaming provides that essential realm of our own personal peace needed against a noisy world. In years past, I may have pushed myself too hard relying on gaming to provide the stress relief and at times, just compounded the stress even further. This year, I adjusted to step back once in awhile and tell myself that maybe this day isn’t good for gaming. On the days I did game, I am more mindful on getting my fill for a game and taking the necessary breaks. I also learned to not be too concerned with my backlog, though I am glad that out of the games I did go I have been able to see to its end.

Gaming was a significant part that helped me get through another tough year, and there were games outside of being released in any format in 2015 that I was glad to experience and finish, more so than a couple of games on my GOTY this year. I finally crossed off a big JRPG game that’s been a black hole on my backlog in Persona 4 [Golden]. I also got great experiences with Valiant Hearts, Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale, Driver: San Francisco, and Hotline Miami along with solid engagements with Puyo Puyo Tetris, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Binary Domain. I finally made the jump to the current consoles in purchasing both a PlayStation 4 and a X-Box One in November.

I even got in some great arcade gaming experiences tied in with my impromptu trip to Chicago in late September. I was nervous in publishing my experiences with Round 1 Arcade Chicago and Galloping Ghost Arcade in the wild (GB’s forums), but folks who commented on it had nice things to say about it and I am still slightly shocked that it was a highlighted blog on the week of when I posted it. From that, I’ll see to it to feel more confident on sharing some particular blogs out to the forums in the future. [In regards to Round 1 Arcade, my brother has told me that it’s been confirmed that they’re bringing a franchise over to one of the local malls in my area sometime in late 2016. If it is true, I’ll definitely share my thoughts on the place out to everyone.]

However, it wasn’t all fun with gaming in 2015. I had a rough Q1 in literally grinding through Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together which prompted me to take significant time off from gaming upon completion. Folks who read into my gaming summaries also saw I had a tough times with Hotline Miami 2 and Stella Glow. They were slightly better than the few games that were in consideration but did not place on my 2015 GOTY list: Picross e5 (which isn’t bad, but didn’t felt strong enough with it to place it in my top 10), OlliOlli2, Sayonara Umihara Kawase+, and Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm. At times, I also felt a bit frustrated that I was unable to play a lot of fighting games and did not communicate much with my online friends that I met through Giant Bomb this year. Not to mention my consumption of Giant Bomb content has decreased over the years since I joined the website back in 2012.

For 2016

Looking into the list of games that are expected to be released in 2016, I expect my gaming time will primarily be focused on the year’s already impressive crop of games in my eyes. In February, there’s Digimon Cyber Sleuth Story, Street Fighter V, ProjectxZone 2, and Fire Emblem Fates. I also have varying levels of interest in DiRT Rally, Quantum Break, Star Fox Zero, and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst that have locked dates in the months after February. Not to mention the expected releases of the following games that yet to have a date: Bravely Second, Cuphead, Dragon Quests 7 & 8, Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-, The King of Fighters XIV, The Last Blade 2, Melty Blood, New Hot Shots Golf, NiER Automata, Persona 5, whatever the localized name of SMTxFE is, Tekken 7, and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]. I’m certain there’ll be other games that have yet to be known yet I’m looking forward to.

I know I will not be able to get around to all of these games, but yet I hope the ones I do undertake this year will be great experiences. The challenge comes with how much will work and other things will affect my time and emotions state into digging into the future slate of games that I hope to get around to. What made work tough for me in 2015 was a combination of new personnel up top, the significant changes in operations, and the task of supervising work over a part-time employee. It’s been painful to undertake so much change and new tasks in 2015 and sadly I could see it being more time consuming in 2016, which is my biggest worry in a number of areas outside of less gaming time. The only saving grace I have is that I have reached my vacation hours limit at work, in which I will try to utilize more of this year amongst the continuous grinding of seemingly high-priority work items.

With a ton of games that I’m highly looking forward to this year, the games in my backlog from prior years will continue to ride the back burner. I always had hopes in eventually getting around to the games of years prior, which I will attempt to squeeze in into a busy 2016 gaming year, though I won’t worry myself in not getting around to them even though I feel bad on not being able to do so. I’m just concerned on the games I do play in that they are worth my time and effort to undertake. You’ll notice that a number of games that I’m looking forward to are fighting games, which I do hope that by the sheer number of them will help me reconnect a bit with my online fighting game friends and improve my fighting game skill a little bit. I know I won’t be able to chat with them much as it’s been the case the past two years, but maybe this’ll help me chat with me a little more often this year.

Outside of the goal in hoping to play some excellent games this year is my secondary goal in writing more with my experiences with games. I had a small great spell of writing in Q3 2015 where I dedicated to knocking out a number of older games from my backlog that concluded with Persona 4 Golden. I always struggled with grammar and writing structure throughout my education and I’d like to compensate for that and the lack of writing I do in my job by writing more on gaming. I hope that my writing doesn’t read too awkwardly for everyone. One writing project I hope to publish this year is my review on the surprise re-release of The Last Blade 2 on PS4/VITA, one of my favorite fighting and overall video games of all-time. I am currently debating on going forth with a series blogs in regards to my backlog this month before February comes around.

I am afraid of the continued trend of increasing and tougher work responsibilities along with other events that’ll not only prevent my ability and availability to play games, but also taking more hits to my confidence. It hasn’t been easy to tough to simply wash out the stress for work through gaming, hobbies, etc. I don’t expect this year to hand me any breaks but I will do what I can to still game, communicate with my online friends, and share more of my blogs/thoughts out to folks here on my Giant Bomb profile. I was against the grain from most folks in their admiration of gaming in 2015 as I wasn’t too interested in the year’s marquee offerings. But this year from an early glance looks to be more up my alley and I hope I can join in the gaming enthusiasm with everyone else this year.

Thanks for reading. Here’s to 2016.