So with the release of Ultra Instinct Goku approaching, no doubt the most hyped DLC character since the game's release, I started getting reflective about Dragon Ball FighterZ. A lot of time has passed since the game hit the market and I started waxing nostalgic about the teams I've played over the course of it.

Back in those young days of season 1 I ran with two teams:

The first was Super Saiya-jin Goku, Super Saiya-jin Vegeta, and Freeza.

Why did I pick these characters? As someone who really didn't have much experience with .Vs style fighters, as opposed to one on one fighters I wanted a team that had strong fundamentals, and SSJ Goku was essentially the Tim Duncan (Ryu for those of you who don't get the reference) of Dragon Ball FighterZ.

I picked SSJ Vegeta because Vegeta is probably my favorite character in the whole series and if I can find a way to fit him into one of my teams I'm going to. Also during the early days of the game SSJ Vegeta was unquestionably the best character. His assist was leagues and bounds beyond any of the others pre-nerf and like Goku he had a good fundamental based gameplan. He was good for any position on the team, though at that point in time team construction wasn't one of my strong suits.

I picked Freeza because his style was unlike that of any other characters in the game at the time. In a game that's all about rush down, at the game's start, Freeza was the closest thing it had to a zoner. Eventually I put him in the anchor slot, but for a time he was the leading man on the team and Goku was in the anchor spot. It swapped about for a while, but ultimately ended up with Goku as the point character in the end. The reason being I wanted to lead with solid fundamental play and then resort to Freeza's less orthodox style to either throw another look at the enemy or slow their momentum.

How successful was this team? Well it was successful as in I had a lot of fun playing it and learning a .VS style fighter for the first time, but I didn't make it out of the Demon level rankings during that time, or the entirety my time playing this season entirely due to my lack of ability, but it was still a fun beginning. I played under the tag Dunksman Freeza during this time.

Later on I would remove Vegeta from the team and replace him with the game's first DLC character, Bardock. And so the team became Bardock/SSJ Goku/Freeza. Had a lot of fun with Bardock and did climb to my highest peak in the rankings that season, but still not out of demon rank. Anyway, after playing the game for something like 400 some hours over 3 months I got caught up in other stuff and didn't come back until season 2 was about to kick off.

When I came back my skills had definitely eroded from what they were, but I was starting in a much better place as far as to my base knowledge of the game and of this type of game, so I returned with some confidence. I decided at that point that I was going to construct a new team for this season, but perhaps construct isn't the right word, I still didn't really have a good idea for team construction in this type of game, and you'll know that for sure when I show you my season 2 team.

Jiren/Majin Boo/Base Vegeta

I was hyped for Jiren's release and it was part of the reason I got on board for season two. Unfortunately he was, not long after he came out, considered to be one of the worst characters in the game if not the worst. Still he had his bright points, mainly that his solo damage was pretty remarkable. His 2L doesn't scale like other characters lights and so he could hit like a truck. I wasn't a master of his counter moves, but I did them frequently enough to keep people honest.

Fat Majin Boo at the start of season was considered to be a pretty good character, but he got hit with nerfs pretty early in the season that crated his standings in the eyes of the community, but I freaking loved him. His fat throw was a great pressure tool that I abused the hell out of and he had a bit of a vortex based offensive style that could really make people throw fits. He was, without question, the character I was best with at any point in these first two seasons.

Base Vegeta was a, highly controversial, DLC character at the end of the first season. In early season two nerfs made him a low level character in the eyes of the community but by the season's end he was much more highly regarded again as it turns out he was still pretty nasty. I picked him because of my combination of loving Vegeta and the fact that I thought his specials were pretty badass. He made more than a few big comebacks for me that I had no business making.

During this season I fought under the team name: Dabura's Cookies.

How successful was the team? Well when the season started I spent three weeks in training mode before I ever played a match. I was immediately getting better results than I had all of season one and eventually worked my way up to the Super Saiya-Jin God rank. I would spend the rest of my time that season riding the escalator between Majin and SSJG rank. A huge improvement from where I started, but ultimately not what I was hoping for.

The team order would change all the time and I never really settled on anything for a long period of time. It was during this season that I started becoming much better at using my assists in general and working them into combos reliably as well. I made a bunch of other improvements to my game including getting better at pressuring with air dashes and sometimes actually using reflect. Still had a lot of holes in my game though if you were going down a checklist, but that's a story for another time.

I once again played about 400 some hours this season and sort of drifted away after that right around the time GT Goku came out as a character. He, apparently, went on to lord over the game in a reign of terror until the season 3 patch came out.

When word of the season 3 patch hit and what it would entail, every character getting new assists and the trailers dropping for Kefla and Ultra Instinct Goku I started quietly preparing for the coming season intent on improving my standing in the game. I decided to form a whole new team this season as well, but I hadn't decided on any characters yet.

The Dragon Super: Broly movie was pretty awesome and towards the end of season 2 Dragon Ball Super Broly and Gogeta came out as characters in FighterZ. Gogeta didn't really appeal to me at all, but Broly's moves looked cool as hell. I decided to give him a shot.

Of course, during my time away from the game my skills had declined again, but I still retained some knowledge of the basic combo structure and play style of some characters this time. Mainly, SSJ Goku and Majin Boo. So this time I put DBS Broly on point and had Goku and Boo to back him up in casual matches while I learned the character.

Once I felt comfortable with Broly I moved him off point and to the the mid position (which he has since made his home) while trying to decide on my next character. It took a lot of soul searching, but I decided I was going to become a Vegito player. Vegito is to put it lightly, highly disliked among the community as a character. I'd say Bardock, Teen Gohan and Vegito are probably the 3 most hated characters by the community because their light attacks are *good* and I don't mean just *good* but *good good* that type of *good*. So I started testing Vegito on the point and backing him up with DBS Broly and Majin Boo.

Vegito, despite having the reputation of being a brain-dead character was a bit of a struggle for me to learn at first. He can break the game's combo structure by chaining medium attacks into light attacks and his opening gambit with light or medium and while that's a fairly simple thing to grasp learning the order in which he can toss those moves out was a bit of a hurdle for me, but I got over it quickly enough. In the earliest part of my time with him it felt like I was more or less treading water, but now I feel like he's evolved into the de-facto team captain as the season has worn on. I have my best tech and game-planning with him. Plus he has some stuff that lets him throw a wrench in the games conventions that can sometimes toss an opponent off balance.

The last character on the team was an out of left field thing, noted DBFZ Youtuber, Rooflemonger made a tips and tricks guide for Tenshinhan in season 3 and I found him to be the perfect addition to the team. Strong fundamentals and with the systems changes, specifically the limit break mechanic, he made the ideal anchor. He's the character I've put the least practice in with, but just playing really basic with him has served me well and he's pulled off an unbelievable amount of comebacks for me in this young season.

How successful has this team been? After an up and down start I caught fire and have made it into Super Saiya-jin Blue rank where I've held steady for a short time now. I've rounded off a lot of rough spots in my game and made huge improvements in my patience and blocking ability as well as crafted a team with real synergy between its component members. I think I have a fair shot at making Living Legend this season, if I get to that I'll be satisfied. Anything beyond? that would be insane.

Anyway, I just felt like writing about my time with the game. Maybe I'll do it again in another 3 years (heh).

EDIT: One last bit, for this season I've been going under the name Nine Eyes.

2019 was a kind of bizarre year in games. At the midway point of the year I thought the industry was in sort of a drought, but by the end I realized there was way too much good stuff for me to find the time to play it all. With that said let's get to it.

2019's 2018 Game of the Year

Celeste was my favorite game of 2018 and looking back my decision to call it game of the year last year was absolutely right, so this category needs some adjusting.

How about this wholly not contrived title?

2019's 2018 Game of the Year that wasn't Celeste and that I played late in the year thinking it was a 2019 release when it wasn't.

Wandersong - I remember when I first heard about this game. It was just some random post I saw on Twitter. I liked the cute look of it and put it in the back of my mind as something I want to get around to playing at some point. As with many games on the my personal backlog of doom I just sort of forgot about it and moved on with my life. Then one day it showed up on Gamepass.

I didn't know what to expect aside from a very cute visual aesthetic coupled with a story about a bard out to save the world, but as it turns out what I found was an audiovisual tour de force with great characters and surprisingly clever game mechanics.

The aesthetic is more than just cute, it does things visually that are legitimately impressive in terms of portraying both scale and emotion. As the game plays out it never ceased to amaze me how much genuine emotion the rendering of a mountain or a city could pull out of me. It's something I'm not used to having happen to me in a videogame.

Of course as quick as I am to credit the look of the game for generating those emotions it had considerable help from both the writing and music. The writing of the central cast in this game, and some of the side characters, I think it might be the best I've ever experienced from the medium. Sometimes the game is hilarious or hopeful, and often, it's heartbreaking. It puts you through the full gamut but it always has you feeling something.

This is a game about music (among other things) and I'll be honest, I'm not really qualified to talk about music. I will say that I'm going to be carrying a lot of the more mournful melodies the bard makes in this game with me for a long time, but aside from that there is more than just sadness in this games music there is also a great deal of hopefulness or celebration.

I won't elaborate at length on the mechanics of the game except to say that my first impressions of the game ended up being wrong. Early on I was under the impression that all you were going to be doing in this game between exploring the world was a sort of rhythm game-esque matching of onscreen symbols, and while that remains a staple of the game it has more to hang its hat on than that. It's not long before the game starts working in new mechanics and light puzzles along with a few sections that are just total curveballs.

TLDR: Wandersong is really great and you should play it.

Quick List of non-2019 games I enjoyed this year that aren't Wandersong and are listed in no particular order:

Yakuza Zero, Rocket League, Ding Dong XL, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Human Fall Flat, Yakuza Kiwami, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Danganronpa 1,

Danganronpa 2, #IDARB, Super Blood Hockey, Yakuza Kiwami 2

Most Disappointing Game of 2019

I'll preface this by saying I actually enjoy these games for their gameplay, but man, what a freaking letdown. The original Borderlands was legitimately something unique and alongside my pal @fazzle we had a ton of fun playing through it together. Hell, I even enjoyed it solo. Borderlands 2 was basically Borderlands but more. It was fine for a sequel, but a bit disappointing since it felt like the first game had so much potential. I think back then I was hoping for Borderlands 2 to be the game that eventually Destiny ended up being.

The Pre-Sequel was a game done by a different team. I didn't play much of it, but it seemed fine.

This game though, don't get me wrong. I'm having fun with it, but it's such a massive disappointment that this game is basically just Borderlands again while bringing virtually nothing new to the table. So many years have passed since Borderlands 2 that to release as this site likes to call it, "another one of those games," is just patently disappointing.

The writing is somehow worse than ever. This game could have, and should have, been so much more than it is. It's a shame. I'll still have a good time with it, but man this could have really been something. I guess Gearbox decided to play it safe given what an unmitigated disaster their non-Borderlands productions have been.

Runner-Up: Untitled Goose Game

Okay, okay, please put down the pitchforks. I enjoyed this game well enough. It was cute and everything, but it just felt so static. It needed to have more variable ways to achieve your objectives. The way the conversation around this game was framed I went in expecting this to be a more family friendly Hitman, but instead it was a game thats charm helped cover up the fact that it was a pretty mediocre puzzler.

And with all that out of the way my top 10 games released in the 2019 Calendar Year.

10. Gears 5

As someone who has enjoyed the entire Gears of War saga, even Judgment, I was excited for this game. Gears 4 left the story in a cool place and I was ready to see where this game would take us. In the end I'm left ambivalent on this game.

The multiplayer suite is better than ever. I don't do a ton of multi in these games but when I feel like dropping in I always have fun. For a lot of people this is all that matters with this franchise and good for them they will have a great time.

The traditional Gears style missions in this game are as good as they have ever been and still a total blast, but the open world stuff. My god, the open world stuff. At first I was fine with it, but in the end you just spend so much time traversing a barren wasteland devoid of anything interesting and your reward is a micro-Gears experience when you find an area to play. I appreciate that they tried something different instead of just making another Gears, but they tried and failed. If they decide to do an open world again they need to find a way to populate it with stuff to keep players interested. As it is the traversal isn't fun and there's just so much of it.

The conspirator in me wonders if this empty open world was a way to pad the length of the campaign. We don't know what Gamepass has done to budgets, but it's hard to imagine it's a deal where Microsoft isn't bleeding money in the short term. Either way, this game is still fun but it could have been better. Here's to getting it right next time.

9. Apex Legends

These types of games don't really hold my attention very well, but alongside @fazzle I had a good time with this one. I was a huge fan of Titanfall 2 and this game has its smooth controls and fast moving gameplay. Would I have vastly preferred a Titanfall 3? Yeah, but this is still a fun game. I've long since dropped off, but I do hear generally positive buzz about the new characters that have been added and I still look back fondly on my time playing it. Maybe I'll return to it someday?

8. Mortal Kombat XI

I didn't get to play as much of this in multiplayer as I wanted to this year. I just got distracted by other games, but I had a real good with this while I was into it. I enjoyed the story and am excited by the opportunities the ending presents.

The actual fighting in this is probably the best it has ever been in the series. I think I could do without the borderline Final Fantasy summon length cut scenes for the desperation attacks at this point, but other than that I think this game felt super solid all around and again, hopefully I find some more time to play it.

7. Neo Cab

And now for something completely different! Neo Cab was a game that called out to me with it's cyberpunk aesthetic and near-future premise of a world where autonomous driving vehicles have almost completely taken over. The gameplay which is almost entirely having conversations with people riding in your cab, was filled with really interesting, sometimes bizarre exchanges that despite occurring in this cyberpunk future are still relevant in today's society. The overarching main plot, while not as compelling as many of your passengers own tales is interesting enough to drive the game forward.

I think it's also worth shouting out the game's graphical style. The camera angles and character art are very well done and definitely memorable.

Overall I can recommend Neo Cab as one of the better visual novel type games I've played in recent memory (alongside Doki Doki Literature Club).

6. Super Mario Maker 2

It's well documented at this point that the interface for level design in Mario Maker 2 isn't quite as smooth and snazzy as that of the original, and that this game is more a half-step than a true sequel, but it' still a lot of fun to make levels and drink of the bottomless content well that this game is. Anyone who knows Mario knows what you're getting with this game, and that's still a great product. Hopefully in the near future Nintendo does something to better serve the game's community, but I'm not gonna hold my breath on that one.

5. Tetris 99

I respect and love Tetris, and my appreciation of this game and its brilliance has only grown with age. I never imagined that this game would be Nintendo's entry into the Battle Royale field but I've loved every second of playing it. The fairly priced DLC pack adds a suite of single player modes to round out the package that makes this a great product. Also, I can think of no better podcast game released this year. Will definitely be playing a lot of this in 2020, and maybe just maybe I'll finally win a game. Certainly had more than a few heartbreaks at this point.

4. Cube World

Didn't have a good title shot so here's an image of some weirdos watching me sleep.

Anyone who knows me can testify that I often champion the virtues of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind as one of the greatest games of all time. It was the first game where I felt a real sense of wonderment at exploring and ever since then it's a high I've been chasing. Cube World? It doesn't quite reach that height, but it offers a ton of adventures to be had across multiple continents in a massive world. Unlike most games of its ilk the mechanics of Cube World ensure that no sooner do you reach the top of the food chain that you find yourself back at the bottom of it. The basic loop of the gameplay is discovering quests and completing them to build your gear up, but no-sooner do you become mighty and solve the mysteries of the area you're in it's time to go to the next area, and aside from certain specially marked items nothing you carry over from that zone you were in to the next has any real power. For some people this is a turn-off, a massive one, but for me it just means the adventure begins anew. This game is freaking awesome and people are sleeping on it.

3. Ape Out

Ape Out is short. The game takes no more than an hour or two at most to blaze through start to finish, but it's such a visceral experience. I think of the games on this list, this more than anything is on here because of its intertwining of gameplay and music. Playing this game I felt my very being merged with that of the titular ape. My only focus? Survival at all costs. This game is just so intense and certainly had the best "game feel" of any game I played this year. I need to play it again.

2. Dragon Quest XI S - Definitive Edition

One question I've litigated to myself, re-litigated, and litigated again over the years is the question of which Dragon Quest game, 5, 7, or 8 was the greatest in the series? With the release of Dragon Quest 11 S - Definitive Edition that question becomes much easier to answer, because it is not only the best Dragon Quest game I've ever played it's also the best JRPG I've ever played.

It plays to the same visual strengths that Dragon Quest 8 had in terms of the world being vibrant and the characters, particularly your cast of heroes and the enemies you face in battle, being full of life and personality. Honestly the strength of these things alone is enough to carry it into the top 4 games in the series, but it does a number of things to separate it from other Dragon Quest games and put itself at the front of the pack.

The crafting system in this game is brilliant, particularly here in the definitive edition where you can craft from almost anywhere in the world. It's not just gather a few items and forge an item from that, instead you can craft and or upgrade items playing a mini-game using the forge. As the game moves along you get new skills to make your performance in the forge more consistent. I really enjoyed this and thought it was a fun new pillar to consider when making my equipment decisions in the game.

The actual story is so much better than any other Dragon Quest, even VII, which I have a lot of respect for. The start is traditional enough, but the execution is superb and I feel like this game does a better job of raising the stakes than any other game in the series. Where it ends up going genuinely surprised me. They packed more and better adventure into this game than ever bfore, and that's to say nothing of the new material they added to the main story for this definitive edition and the fun subplot of the 8-bit world.

The combat system is very traditional Dragon Quest in that it's fast and offers a great deal of variety for approaches to combat. The character skill trees they used for this particular iteration of the game in place of the job system do a quality enough service of giving you some choice throughout much of the game, but are rendered somewhat moot by the true end game as you'll have acquired virtually everything. Even so the characters each have a unique feel to them and you can approach end game situations in any number of ways.

In almost any other year this would have been an easy choice for game of the year, but this year saw the release of a product that I think is transformative.

1. Ring Fit Adventure

I'm a running freak. Running has for a long time been my primary method of exercise, and really, the only one I've been able to stick to. Over the last several years I've ran 4-6 miles a day on 3-4 days a week on the regular with some significant periods where I'd do more than that almost daily. Treadmill, outside, often even in brutal winter conditions I'd go running. However, exercise, much like stocks, is something you should diversify. The singular focus on running had me deal with a lot of injuries over the years until I finally figured out how to listen to my body, and even then taking appropriate rest between sessions has been a struggle that has caused me undue anxiety.

Early in 2019 I tried to get into weightlifting, but balancing it and running and not having the funds to afford a true fitness professional in my life I found it to easy to injure myself, and much more severely, than I would in running. So I put down the weights after a few months and just went back to running.

When this game first appeared on the horizon I took notice, but didn't give it too much mind share since I figured this would be something along the lines of Wii Fit in that it's not a true workout, but as its release approached it sounded more and more like this might be a valid second pillar for my fitness strategy. It'd be something I could do on my recovery days from running.

As it turns out this has been an excellent low-impact addition to my fitness plan that I use even on running days. It has allowed me to scale back my running on certain days which has saved me a great deal of physical and mental exhaustion and helped me get a quality workout on areas of my body that running doesn't address. Perhaps more surprising than that is that the game wrapper for this fitness program is really fun.

Both the execution and presentation of this game is very strong, and it's that tandem quality that makes it feel less like work and more like a game. Much like a classic JRPG as the game unfolds your experience gains unlock you new skills and powers and you have to start making decisions about your exercises you have equipped at the time and your inventory of potions. Eventually you even unlock a skill tree, and then an expansion of it.

The world being so bright and colorful and the music being kind of catchy helps to distract from what would normally be a monotonous inside workout. The game has the good sense to someone provide context clues to your workout if it senses something wrong with your form in both voice and text on the bottom of the screen in-case your listening to a podcast while playing the game.

Even the game's goofy story is better than I dared imagine it would be, but honestly the fact that they managed to craft a product that lets me have fun while doing what would normally be an incredibly boring inside workout is an achievement. This could be a one-time thing or it could be the dawn of an era of actually quality fitness games, but no matter what the case, and no matter how much horrifying slash fiction this game's story mode results in, it's certainly my Game of the Year.

Haven't posted for a while. I seem to have completely drifted away from Mega Man Legends. Oh well. I've shaken the urges to play Street Fighter and KI nonstop and have been giving more time to other games, and more importantly, reading and writing. I'm also experiencing a bit of a resurrection in my anime interest.

I'm closing in on a platinum trophy in Saint Seiya: Soldier's Soul. One trophy left to go, but it's gonna be a hell of a grind. Oh well.

So I finished Shadow Lords for the second time, hopefully the Astral Plane stage actually stays unlocked this time. This time my team was Chief Thunder, Sadira and Fulgore. I dragged the game out many turns until I felt I was ready to fight Gargos, and this time I absolutely thrashed him. Thunder opened the fight, and he was all I needed. Gargos never had a chance. I did it on Challenging difficulty (rank 2 of 3) and actually posted a top 100 (72 at the time) score for the mode overall in this run. So I'm happy with how much improvement I saw over the last team that I finished with.

Kinda cool on SFV for now. Just taking my time with it and getting in a little practice with Rog each day to stay sharp for when my interest picks back up.

Killer Instinct's Shadow Lords mode got its claws into me in a big way and I ended up buying the full game, previously having only the first season. I feel like the Bombcast did the mode an injustice with their coverage and made it sound like some free to play cash grab. It's really well made, balanced, and completely worth your time and energy.

Nothing else has really changed much. Just thought I'd take the time to make mention of my love for that game mode.

Haven't blogged for a bit, but I've still been getting my gaming in. It's an exciting day, just a few hours away from Urien unlocking in Street Fighter V. Speaking of which, I've found my game again with Balrog and have been tearing up the online ranks. As of this post I'm at almost 4600 lp. My goal of making it to Super Gold rank seems at least possible to me. It could go south again soon, but even if it does I feel like I've made a ton of progress this week. Improving my consistency with throw techs has done wonders for my overall game.

Witcher 3 continues to dominate my non-Street Fighter gaming time. I'm really trying to take my time and not rush through it. Everything about it just connects with me and the things I love about these type of games. It's tough to resist the urge to just drop everything else and only play this, but I'm managing somehow.

My progress on Mega Man Legends has slowed, but I'm still playing it. Game is still a ton of fun but up against these two titans of time consumption it has a tough road ahead.

Last night I took Rashid through extreme survival and got the fight money I needed to get the "Priceless" trophy. That trophy was also the last one I needed to unlock the platinum trophy for SFV. As a trophy that currently is unlocked by 0.1% of players it's easily the rarest platinum I've ever gotten. I have a ton of fight money right now, even after Urien comes out this month and I buy him I'll still have tons left. I'm hesitant to spend any of it on things until I hear the pricing plan for season 2 characters. I'm half expecting the economics realities of a struggling game to force Capcom to jack the prices on season 2 characters. We shall see.

More importantly I've stopped floundering in competitive play and am at least treading water again. Rather than just desperately playing and hoping to get out of my funk I've taken a more proactive approach to working on improving holes in my game. Getting better at throw teching and not pressing buttons as much on wakeup and trying to read my opponents intentions better. Doing little things like that to try and get back to the form I was in a month or so ago. I can feel myself working back into shape.

The Witcher 3 is an incredible game and I look forward to my time with it each day. It's such a fantastic and fully realized world that's easy to lose yourself in. Like, it's so good I have to force myself to stop playing. Been a long time since an open world game got its hooks into me so deeply. Maybe Morrowind was the last time.

I've sadly neglected Mega Man Legends ever since having my favorite sequence of the game so far. Need to get back to it.

My inconsistent play in Street Fighter has continued. The other day I actually was so cold I fell all the way into Super Silver, but yesterday rebounded and fought my way back into Gold. During this cold streak I've been in my own head way too much. I'm not sure what it's going to take to get out of it, but I'm working on it. I need to get back to the little improvements focus I had, I've gotten too far away from that I think.

Mega Man Legends had an awesome boss battle sequence as I fought an airship from the deck of another airship followed by another boss, a giant mecha bat suit. Haven't played since I cleared that a few days ago, but I'm gonna be getting back to it soon. I can see why this game gets so much hype.

The Witcher 3 is absolutely amazing. It's starting to remind me of Dragon Quest VII in that it seems like there will be so many great adventures in this game that I will not be able to remember them all by the end.

So, Double Fight Money Weekend came and went. Everything started off as I hoped. For the first few days I was shooting up the ranks, I hit 4900 league points, an all-time high for me. Then it all fell apart because of a lack of discipline on my part. Greedy for more and more fight money and league points I stayed up playing..... and playing some more well past when I knew I should and I ended up going on the losing streak of a lifetime. I even fell below 4000 league points at times.

Since that time I've had trouble finding my form again, but I've gotten back above 4000 and basically where I was before the event started, but my game has lost the consistency I had found. Still, I feel like I'm picking up things here and there and starting to work my way out of it. Next time this sort of event happens though I'm going to know when to stop playing each night and go to bed at a reasonable time. You can only play so much of a game any given day before your performance starts to decline. I'm really disappointed that I let myself fall into that trap when I should have known better. Oh well. Just gotta move forward now.

In other news I'm still very much enjoying my time with The Witcher 3, but I might need to take a break to make sure I don't fall off on Mega Man Legends. Put too much work into it to just let it drift by the wayside.

My work schedule sucks. Street Fighter V's first double fight money weekend, hotly anticipated by, well, pretty much only me, is finally here, and of course, today, the first day, is the only day I'm off during the whole thing. Worse yet, it didn't start until 7 pm east coast time so I barely had time to participate. Still, the prospect of the extra fight money really wasn't what had me excited for this event, rather it is, for me, the fruition of a labor that started on July 1st with the release of Balrog.

Once I reached Gold, after a long struggle returning to fighting games after years off and having to rebuild my skills. I had pre-ordered the game under the expectation of playing as Blanka, but obviously he didn't make the cut and so I fell back on Ryu. A familiar character and one I enjoy playing, but I certainly wasn't planning to main him. I had Balrog pegged as my likely main when I saw the DLC plans and the day he came out I was right there putting the work in.

I quit playing ranked as Ryu right after I hit gold, it was a grind and the rage quitters were too much to handle anymore. I had been holding myself strictly to casual but the updated rage quit fix coupled with this Double Fight Money Weekend seemed like the perfect time to unwrap Rog. Looking forward to the next few days to see how much farther I can climb up the ranks. I'd like to think that Super Gold is an attainable goal, but we shall see.