Mento

@rapid: @the_hiro_abides: @soulcake: Thanks for the suggestions re: the Warframe wikia. I'm still early enough in that I'm not concerned about gathering resources yet (though I imagine it doesn't hurt to get started early) and I'm just poking my nose into the mechanics to see what's out there. Hopefully all this "testing the waters" business doesn't come off as Babytown Frolics for veterans like yourselves.

I'm still not sure what my investment level will be but I do want to get to the point where I'm exploring other planets with other warframes at least. It sounds like making new warframes will take some work so I'll keep all this in mind. Maybe I'll make a beeline for the more interesting playable characters, especially if any involve firing actual lines of bees.

@arbitrarywater: 13 episodes sounds right in retrospect. Ep 11's preview clip certainly didn't sound like this season was close to a conclusion. I can deal with that; there's plenty more TV to watch this month and next.

I can certainly feel the grindiness aspect of Nioh already at the point where I'm at, some halfway through the story. The trophies made it seem like I'll need to go out of my way for a lot of them, especially those time-sensitive Twilight Missions. I am liking what the game's doing with side-missions in general though: the way some are chopped and screwed versions of main mission levels, others are in unique smaller levels, and occasionally it's just a single boss fight. I hope they keep that variation up, because they make for great little palette-cleansers between the game's more meaty main courses.

@relkin: Honestly, I think any goodwill I had for the bosses of NMH2 evaporated when I got to the last guy. Deeply unpleasant fight, even on Babytown Frolics difficulty.

@savage: That explains a lot. NMH2 wasn't anywhere near as weird as the first, and felt like it was going through the motions to some extent.

@liquiddragon: I did like the original, yeah, though I did play that one new to its benefit. That said, I've never really loved a Suda51 game; I just eventually find my way over to them because I appreciate how bizarre they are. Even Let It Die had its moments, which I didn't anticipate from a F2P online game.

@arbitrarywater: Definitely a looser blogging schedule this year. That way if inspiration strikes on a great new idea for a blog, it won't happen in the middle of a busy schedule of ongoing features and I eventually end up forgetting about it.

@zombiepie: Not to spoil too much, but there's the big canon ending that leads to XIII-3 and a lot of false "paradox" ones. That game is an enormous mess narratively speaking. Have fun!

1. God of War
2. Tetris Effect
3. Marvel's Spider-Man
4. Dead Cells
5. Hitman 2
6. Red Dead Redemption 2
7. Monster Hunter World
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

The trouble with stacking the list with AAA games, like I and many others did, is that Indies often put up a surprisingly good fight because more people in the room have played them due to their bite-sized lengths. I'm sure Into the Breach, Return of the Obra Dinn, Donut County, and maybe The Messenger or Yoku's Island Express will do well, but the staff might feel obligated to give higher spots to the bigger games for the scope of their accomplishment. It's why I suspect RDR2 will make it on there despite half the crew burning out on actually playing it.

Another thing I should've taken into account is that games released at the start of year typically don't shine as brightly because folk have had time to reflect on their foibles, or the experience of playing them has since slipped their minds. I remember Horizon taking a bath last year, in part because it was a February release and everyone had moved on and forgotten about it. With that in mind Celeste, Iconoclasts, Subnautica, Monster Hunter World, or Dragon Ball FighterZ might do worse than anticipated.

Finally, there's the ever-present Destiny Wildcard Minute feat. Bradtholomew T. Shoemaker. I don't know if an expansion campaign will qualify, but there's no ruling out a room-wearying filibuster to get it on the list regardless.

Locked by OP's request. Discussion has moved to this thread: https://www.giantbomb.com/final-fantasy-xv/3030-21006/forums/three-ffxv-dlcs-are-canceled-game-director-quits-s-1856777/

@arbitrarywater: I still haven't booted up The Bard's Tale IV yet, and I've just added Ni no Kuni 2 and Valkyria Chronicles 4 to my play pile. I'm looking to prioritize some more 2018 games over the next two months for GOTY purposes, but realistically I wonder how far into them I'll get. For all I know, I might still be playing Berseria when November ends.

@liquiddragon: Fatal Frame 1 has that issue where you don't get an infinite amount of the weakest film, right? They changed that for the sequels. I fought every ghost that showed up in FF2 and FF3 because I could always switch back to the weak 07 Film if I didn't want to waste the good stuff on a no-name spook.

It's sometimes hard to distinguish between random encounters and bosses, because the same ghost might attack a few times before getting "serious" (like the editor at the start). If you're down on film, you should probably try leaving the room (as in, triggering a transition): if the ghost follows you or the doors are locked, it's a story boss that you need to defeat. If it disappears it wasn't a significant foe, and then you can come back to the same room and keep exploring/solving puzzles until it shows up again. The game tosses random encounters at you every so often just to keep you on your toes, and they tend to be the same "Bound Man" types over and over. If you have film to spare though, I might fight the small-fry just for the upgrade points, especially if you're struggling. Otherwise, just keep an eye out for ground sparklies and try all the drawers and furniture to keep your supplies up.

Locking this down, I don't see it heading anywhere good.

Besides, Dave Lang established the official GB crew tiers years ago.