As expected Final Fantasy XIV took over my gaming time in 2019 so I completed very few games. I resolved to find a better balance and finish more games this year. Specifically I want to play more retro RPGs and finally get around to my surprisingly large Wii U library that I have not touched.
Finished Jan 2020. I started this years ago but my save got corrupted and I put it down in anger. I finally got around to reinstalling the game I was able to recover from an earlier point about a third of the way to the end. I wish I liked this more than I did. It has a dense story, but mechanically it felt lacking.
Finished Jan 2020. I played through this while I was home sick one day. It had nice art but didn't leave much of an impression
Finished Jan 2020. I had a 5 year old save file at the half way point of this game. I recall having a difficult time with this then. I thought the overworld was too confusing and the dungeons too difficult. I started over from the beginning and breezed through to the end in a few hours. The story did not make much sense to me. I'll have to check out the sequel some time.
Finished Apr 2020. Despite wanting to finish more games this is the first I've rolled credits in months. I seem to start a lot of long RPGs but not finish them. I bought a Nintendo Switch specifically for Animal Crossing. I nearly resold the console after how high the special edition console was selling for on eBay. I'm glad I kept it, the Switch turns out to be a nifty little console. Animal Crossing is great. Visiting family and online friends' islands has been a good relaxing time during the plague times.
Finished Apr 2020. Did a run through of this on the Switch. I've beaten this game dozens of times, so this was just a fun stroll through familiar levels. I used the rewind feature liberally, so it was a very casual play through.
Finished May 2020. I wanted something quick and easy so I played this off the Mana Collection. I played but not beat it on the Game Boy around when it came out. The controls are more challenging than the game itself.
Finished September 2020. This took between June and September to finish reading. After seeing this visual novel recommended by multiple content creators I decided to give it a read. Even though this is only the first half of the Umineko story, I'm engrossed. With the 07th Mod that replaces the art and adds the voice acting from the PS3 makes this a much better reading experience.
Finished October 2020. Debating putting this on the list. Played through on the Disney Afternoon Collection. Funny I still remember a lot of the levels even though I hadn't played DuckTales in 25 years. Used the rewind a few times just to save time.
Finished November 2020. Another hundred hours dedicated to finish the Umineko story. It is good read. The storytelling is far more complex than I would expected. Satisfying ending. This will stick with me for awhile.
Finished December 2020. After the long non-interactive visual novel I wanted a frenetic action game. Furi is a great series of boss fights. My only gripe (beside the pointless walking between levels) is how difficult it is to dodge. I doesn't go off when you expect it to. It triggers on button release, not on button press so it feels unresponsive. Otherwise good game and great soundtrack.
Finished December 2020. Picked this up on a whim because the theme song came up in a youtube playlist. Not quite what I was expecting. I was hoping for an action platformer, but it is an RPG with active time battle. On the harder difficulty the game was challenging enough to be interesting. You have really think about your turn as not to be interrupted by enemies. Traversing the world was fun, but environments weren't that varied. Characters and story were uninteresting hampered by the entire narration being written in verse.
Finished December 2020. With the disappointment surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, I wanted to play something in the cyberpunk genre. Technobabylon from Wadjet Eye has been in my backlog forever, so I played through it during the Christmas break. A traditional point and click adventure with pixel graphics, Technobabylon was a fun playthrough. The story is a mix of Blade Runner and Gattaca with interesting backstory.
