PixlBit

2017 was a pretty good year for me, personally, all things considered, and a great year for video games. Nothing really changed much for me aside from getting used to my job and having things go fairly smoothly from there, unlike 2016 where I crashed and burned at work, then emotionally, then physically. 

2018 is a decent year so far, but it's too early to tell what kind of year this will be for myself or video games overall. 

So, gaming:

The only games I've bought in 2018 so far have been Shadow of the Colossus and Night in the Woods (which I'm aware released February of last year), with some PS+ titles for good measure and a plan to get Dragon Ball FighterZ at some point. 

SotC is pretty, but I'm already slightly lost on the path to Colossus #2 and I'm not sure how I'll feel if you return to the castle every time, because while the game is beautiful this is a feature of Zelda II I really hated. But I enjoyed The Last Guardian and I've been meaning to play SotC since 2005, so this is the best way to do it and at $40 I was able to buy it and Night in the Woods for the price of one game. 

This leading-lines shot is making me want to do some in-game photography.

2017:

Speaking of Night in the Woods, I'm liking it ok so far, but I don't think I relate as much to the main character as people praising the game seem to. Oh, I certainly remember going home to live with my parents after college, but that was after graduating, and I pretty much have never "done crimes." While the Bea character can be a bit of a bitch at times, I think I relate to her a bit more in some cases. Also, I don't love how many loading screens there are for everything, even if "loading screen" just means a 3-second gif of the main character's sillhouette. 

How I feel every time that short loading screen comes on

There is a pretty fun hack-and-slash not-really-roguelike minigame on the main character's laptop with some pretty cool music that I enjoy playing. I also like playing bass except for the parts with giant columns of x's or o's, since I just press the button rapidly but the game apparently wants some level of timing there. 

DemonTower

I've enjoyed some of the dialogue and secrets you can find, but it is annoying that in order to see all the dialogue, I have to climb telephone poles and walk on the ground and walk through the subway every damn time. I'm a completionist, so mileage may vary there. 

The telephone pole you climb outside your house. 

So far I have mixed feelings, but I'm only on chapter 2 or 3, so we'll see where it goes. 

Dragon Ball FighterZ will just be one I get to when I get to it. I've said before I don't really care about DBZ, but I do love Arc System Works. 

Me: Sleeping on Fighter Z

 Gravity Rush 2 was I believe the first thing I rented from GameFly this year and I enjoyed the city you land in a bit later on in the game as well as some of the characters, but some of the side missions were very "fetch quest-y" and I felt I was missing some stuff from the last game in how characters interacted with each other. 

Not my image, but there's a photo minigame in this one I really want to try again

Having since beaten Gravity Rush Remastered, I think the sequel doesn't rely as heavily on the first game as I thought, but now I'm excited to return to the world when I have a chance to. 

Resident EVII is the scariest demo of all time. Of all time. I played it a couple times to try and get the "good" demo ending, but even when I knew what was coming, certain things just raised my blood pressure to unhealthy levels and I had to stop. I don't understand how anyone could play this with a VR headset and headphones and remain sane, but I guess I can see the appeal for horror fans and thrillseekers. 

Anticipation: The most frightening thing in the world

It was the most effective horror game I've played since Eternal Darkness, and that's exactly why I didn't buy it. 

Yakuza 0 began as a GameFly curiosity rental, because it vaguely looked like those Shenmue games every Dreamcast fan seemed so wild about, and it's wound up being far and away my GOTY for 2017. 

I was captivated by the Godfather-like main story about the yakuza, the actually-fun minigames like disco dancing, pool, darts and bowling, and the hilarious substories as well as the yakuza characters you play as that seem to only pick on people who kinda have it coming and actually exhibit moral codes unlike GTA characters. 

Law of averages says the guy on the left was stealing from an innocent woman

After completing the game, I'm on a mission to complete everything to do with running the real estate and cabaret club businesses for each character, which are basically their own full storylines in themselves (I've completed both story parts already) and once I'm finally done raising this final store in Kamurucho to S-rank, I'll be spending all my money on upgrading both characters' fighting abilities to the limit, seeing what else I want to complete and maybe going again on Legendary mode. with a New Game Plus.

Welcome to Club Sunshine!

I have never even finished a 60-hour game before, but I can easily see myself pumping 100 hours to this game. A completely welcome surprise, though having played it for so long is making me notice all of its flaws. There really isn't much to the Real Estate Royale "game," a lot of this stuff is just grinding and I'm not really interested in completing minigame achievements in mahjong or the difficult-to-get-a-feel-for batting. Still, if you have any interest in this game at all, you'll probably love the main game and most of the minigames are addictive distractions. 

Disco Dancing: Essential to rising the yakuza ranks

Horizon: Zero Dawn was most peoples' competitor for GOTY with Breath of the Wild, but while I think the game is incredibly gorgeous, the hunts are satisfying, and the lore is intriguing enough for me to at least want to finish the main game, I'm not as taken with some of the side missions as others and the hunts can be a bit too much of a grind, with elemental weaponry really not doing as much damage as you'd think and your levelling up not making much of a difference in terms of combat.

Seriously, where do PS5 and XBOX REVOLUTION go from here?

Still, I will probably set it on easy mode and finish the story once I'm done with my other games. Then I'll put it back on normal for all the side quests, so I can get my "actually feel accomplished" satisfaction that way. 

Nier: Automata was a really interesting demo because of how many different gameplay styles were crammed into that one section of the game and the controls were smooth with some cool robot characters. 

Demo's boss

I wasn't a fan of the grimy industrialized setting and I have a feeling it might be a bit too anime for my tastes, but the more praise I see for it and the more I think about how promising the variety of gameplay in the demo was, the more I think I'll pick it up on sale at some point. 

Mass Effect Andromeda was a rental and because that's all it was, I don't know if I can really judge the game fairly, since the series is all about characterization and dialogue and I didn't really have time for that. The visuals and combat were mostly just average to me and nothing about the dialogue gripped me in a way that I had to keep playing, but I might get into the series yet ... some day. 

Not pictured: facial animation

Drawn to Death was a violent PS+ freebie that was a good, cartoony third-person-shooter mayhem distraction. Not much else to it but there didn't really have to be. 

Set this to punk rock music and imagine lots of bullets

Lego City Undercover had some decent referential humor, but again nothing I laughed out loud at like in LEGO Marvel Superheroes. I may have missed some references, but the ones I got weren't always great except for a Dirty Harry one involving coffee. 

There's an odd amount of anti-union/labor humor in the game

The game itself was fine; typical LEGO fare with some decent humor, but I felt a bit limited travelling through the world with cars and planes when I got used to flying through everything as Iron Man. Maybe if your character's jetpack lasted longer ... 

They do have car jumps like in GTA, which I appreciate

Anyway, I did complete the main game but we'll see if I re-download it to Platinum. It's a good LEGO game and probably my second favorite, but nothing really comes close to Superheroes for me. 

PaRappa the Rapper Remastered is a demo I thought I'd love, given how much I enjoyed Bust-A-Groove back when, but I couldn't get used to the timing to save my life and so I gave up on it. I might still get it on sale at some point just to have a dedicated ryhtm-action game, but I really just want Bust-A-Groove to come back. 

I did

Yooka-Laylee was a huge disappointment for me. Granted, I don't have much nostalgia for Banjo-Kazooie anyway, having mostly watched the neighbors play it on occassion and being annoyed at that steel shark level I always seemed to get stuck on, but the controls in Yooka-Laylee just weren't solid and it really affected one boss in particular you had to roll uphill to hit. 

"Tighter controls"

I could get behind some of the self-referential humor, but I felt it was overdone. Even Shovel Knight couldn't get me to love this game. It was a rental only for me. 

What Remains of Edith Finch is a bit overrated in my opinion, but still a good game. I really liked the variety of presentation for each Finch's story and it's an easy Platinum. My favorites were the horror comic book and the fish heads/kingdom stories. 

I've posted a Black Dahlia Murder music video in the past showing a similar style for the horror comic book story, so here's some footage of my other favorite level (MAJOR SPOILERS & DEPRESSING CONCLUSION):

Injustice 2 has some damn amazing graphics for a fighting game, especially in the story. I was talking to a run-club partner yesterday who mentioned DC characters being too dark to show his kids and that's a bummer, especially since I think making Gorilla Grodd a dark character just brings more attention to how silly this is. 

Still, I play fighters with story as an expected reward, so I loved the robust story mode and each character's individual endings, even if the Arcade mode is hard to find/not labelled as such and I even won a couple online matches ... no full sets of the 3/5 you have to get to actually "win," but I won a couple rounds.

Only DLC fighter pack I really want

My favorite characters to choose are Flash, Black Canary, and the Super siblings.  

Rime is a freebie on PS+ I have yet to download. Does anyone use external storage on PS4? I might need to get some, so I don't have to keep rearranging what games I have available. This should be a small download, but still. 

Tekken 7 is an addictive fighting game with an ok story. I've missed 3D fighters. I love that you can unlock all the ending movies from all previous Tekken games, and some of the character customization items are pretty funny and unlocking them in Treasure mode is fun. I want to see how far I can get in that mode with each character and this is one fighting game I may actually be able to Platinum, assuming I can win a handful of online matches. 

While I think Injustice 2 blows this out of the water in terms of story quality and content quantity, I prefer the fast-paced and smooth 3D gameplay in this game. 

My favorite character to play is the brand new Katarina, who is apparently cheap, but I don't play much online so don't @ me (i think I'm saying that right ...)

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is obvioulsy decades-old outside of the graphics and newly frustrating hit box, but I love the old school focus on just pure gameplay. Barely any story, just memorize the platforming and progress. Love it. 

Having said that, I do feel somewhat vindicated when outlets like WhatCulture point out the new hit box makes the original game more difficult in the remake. I've gotten past The High Road I think. but am stuck at a level a bit farther on. I plan to return to this game soon, but everything is on hold thanks to Yakuza 0. 

Not pictured: a controller about to be thrown

As someone who never got to play Crash Bandicoot games and only knew him as the original PlayStation mascot, I think these games are a blast and welcome most of the challenge. 

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was Julian Titus's GOTY, but I'm in camp "it has excellent presentation and combat, but the puzzles ..." Having said that, I don't hate the puzzles and they work with the story thematically, but they involve you getting in the exact right spot to solve them, which can be tedious and frustrating at times. This was especially true in areas where there were multiple floors, which I'm prone to getting lost in during gameplay and there are a couple segments where you have to run really fast or die that I had to retry a couple times too many for my taste. 

"I see things, as long as I stand in exactly the right spot and look at exactly the right angle"

I will admit I did not use headphones the first time through, which as has been pointed out is a game changer, especially in one area where your voices are giving you hints I didn't catch the first time. 

Overall though, it's a harrowing but rewarding experience, especially once you start walking through the horrific vision of Helheim and begin fighting Hela. If you actually have psychosis, I would stay far the fuck away from this, as some of the negative self-talk in the game reminded me of my depression and I can't imagine some of it doesn't cause PTSD in people who have suffered like the main character.

Yeah, it's not for everybody.

It's a draining, but worth-it experience in the end in very large part due to the presentation. If you're interested, I recommend it, if not only to support this indie-AAA game hybrid thing I think is a good idea going forward, but no shame in using a guide if you get frustrated by a puzzle or two. 

Sonic Mania is pretty much a remix of the trilogy and Sonic CD with some unique bosses, levels, and a light story thrown in. I really want to unlock the mode where you can just play Puyo Puyo, because that boss fight is one of the best things in the game for me, along with the studio and western stages I'm pretty sure are brand new here. 

You also have a two-player mode, but I wish they'd included vertical splitscreen and you have a fun Sega Saturn-looking special stage for Chaos Emeralds and an annoying special stage involving running over blue dots to turn them red and failing if you step on a red dot. There's also an extra boss once you go Super Sonic.

This is an excellent game for Sonic fans, but I've always seen the older Sonics as good-not-great, so that's how I view this game. Still a solid purchase for anyone who loves 2D Sonic though. Very easy to pick up and play and I'd highly recommend it if you have a Switch (I don't so I played on PS4). 

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is yet another Lost Legacy game and if you've played 2-4, you've pretty much played this one save for the women taking the lead and Sully and Drake being absent. 

I dig the Indian setting and scenery and it's another absolutely mindblowingly beautiful title on PS4, but aside from a few chapters taking place in a more open setting (I found all the coins or whatever they were), you're not getting anything new. But you're still getting Uncharted, which is great news for fans of the series. 

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a game I was stoked for even when everyone said, "I don't really want a prequel and I hate Chloe." Well, I wasn't the biggest Chloe fan either, but I was really keen on getting to learn about Rachel Amber and the game made me feel a lot more for Chloe than I did otherwise ... maybe a bit cheaply, since it makes Max out to be kind of a dick, but we'll see what Farewell  has in store in March. 

As for the three episodes of this game, developer Deck Nine did a fantastic job recreating the world of Life is Strange and telling an even more emotionally gripping and personal story here. I love the Life is Strange games because unlike TellTale, they actually give you time to think about your responses and allow you to explore the environment outside of just looking at graphic pop-ups. Plus, I've grown to love some of the characters and I dig playing a game that's all about its story with just enough in the way of mechanics and player input/branching paths that I feel compelled to play through what-if scenarios and don't feel like I'm just watching TV with a controller in my hand. I do wish your choices impacted the main story a bit more significantly than they do, but I dig how wildly different you can make your relationships with some of the side characters. 

You can completely skip this D&D game which has an effect on later events. 

Case in point: I really dig this series and can't wait to see where it goes next. Oh, right, and the music is awesome, which is a huge part of why this game's emotional scenes work.

Knack II is a PS+ freebie I have yet to download. I might try it to scratch my 3D platforming itch before jumping into A Hat in Time, which I also really want to play since I LOVED Super Mario Sunshine and the idea of a Gamecube-era 3D platformer is super appealing to me. 

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was a demo I played after it was announced at E3. It was repetitive, the story and dialogue were cheesy and it felt a bit too easy until you couldn't defeat the "boss" of the demo. 

Seemed fine if a bit generic, but I wasn't interested enough in another 2D fighter to plunk down any cash at the time. 

The Evil Within 2 is one my best friend rented from Red Box cause he figured I'd like it. He's the horror fan, so I wasn't sure what the thought process was there, but I did in fact really love the initial mansion whose atmosphere and camera reminded me of Stanley Kubrick's work in movies like The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. I was interested in the story of this killer who photographed his victims and this etehreal alternate dimension where all of this was taking place. The glossy look and the mystery were extremely intriguing to me. 

Pictured: Interesting part

Then you go outside the mansion and it's suddenly a fucking zombie game where you're trying to rescue your daughter. It started resembling The Last of Us way too much with stealthing around zombies, crafting, and the open urban environments and I just ... dammit, I wanted my alternate universe mansion, not another zombie game. I put it back in the box after that. No late fees were accrued by my best friend in service of that game.

Pictured: Boring zombie part

South Park: The Fractured but Whole was another game I only demo'd. I couldn't tell if I was stuck or the game wasn't letting me past a certain area at one point, but I actually did decently well in the fairly easy turn-based combat here, where I'm notoriously bad at stuff like that outside of Pokemon and Paper Mario games. I like a bit of handholding in JRPG combat early on and for some elements of combat to be timing-based, so this was the closest to playable turn-based stuff gets for me. 

The grids system would take some getting used to, but was fairly intuitive

The reason I put it down was that the humor just wasn't working for me. I used to love South Park, but the toilet minigame and the vulgar humor just weren't working for me here. I guess I prefer the openly political and allegorical South Park and superhero parody wasn't really interesting to me, even though I'd pick up on a lot more references in this realm than I ever would the Lord of the Rings stuff in the last game. 

It just wasn't clicking with me. 

It does look exactly like the show though, so if the humor works for you and you don't mind turn-based combat on easy mode, I'd imagine you'll love this. It just didn't click for me. 

And so concludes every year of my gaming life from my birth in 1990 to this year. I'll be 28 this March 23. Hope you've enjoyed these blogs. 

Now to find all the stuff I know I played that was missing from Wikipedia's notable release lists ... Stay tuned.