My Games of 2013, The Games that Weren't My Games

2013 was packed with quality games and while I only made a list of twenty (only, ha) I played a few more games than that and had my interest on others still, all of which got left off my GotY consideration for one reason or another.  As I've done in the past, this last post is to show off the games that didn't make it on my list proper and offer reasons (or, in some cases excuses) as to why they just didn't grab me since I -want- to talk about them in some fashion, but without playing them or without really enjoying them, it makes it a little hard.  A few of the games will make more sense as to that disconnect, so hopefully that'll help clear things up.  Regardless, this one's going to be a little meaty because there were a lot of pass-overs this last year.

Assassin's Creed IV:  Black Flag

I didn't play Assassin's Creed 4 last year for the same reason that I never played any of the previous Assassin's Creed games on the year they were released (save for maybe the original) - I just wait until they're on sale for $20/30 or in "Cheap Christmas Gift idea" range.  It's not that I don't like the Assassin's Creed games, as honestly I have a fondness for them, but rather I walk away from each and every one of them wanting.  Wanting what, I'm not sure of as it's certainly not more, but the games just seem to lack a certain something that I can't quite pin down and that's what keeps me from enjoying them anywhere near as much as the vast majority of others seem to.
With AC4 being hailed as "the most fun one yet" and whatnot, it was certainly alluring, however, especially with the knowledge that it was pretty good on PS4.  I still don't have one, of course, but it would undoubtedly be a good get and perhaps when I -do- pick up 4 it will indeed be on PS4.  Still, the knowledge that I would have to power though 3 first (and yes, I -would- have to, I'm one of those people) is daunting and certainly keeps me at bay, especially since Ubisoft has never released a 'Complete' version of 3 as I assumed they would.  Which is...very annoying, as the Tyranny of King Washington was something I was -really- interested in, but I'm certainly not going to throw down for it separately.  Still, there's no real rush and AC4 will always be there when I'm ready, which I daresay I can look forward to.

Saint's Row 4

This one....this one is almost painful, really.  Saint's Row is a series I have always respected, but have never gotten into because of the lack of ability to play the first one and yes I understand that's silly, shut up, not to mention the...lack of attention the port of Saint's Row 2 saw.  So I always sort of figured that when/if I ever got a 360 I'd dig into the series there since I could do a straight-shot, but that has become less and less appealing as time wears on.  And it became -especially- unappetizing as I realized more and more that I really, really want to play Saint's Row IV.  So really, I think a trip through Stilwater and Steelport are in my near future (as I own 2 and have 3 as a downloadable title...which means I'll just buy the disk anyway because I can't download it) in preparation for IV, because I really want to play another superhero game and I've heard nothing but good things for IV.

Tales of Xillia

This was another case of "I want to play the game before it (in this case, Tales of Graces F) before I dig into it" and that has gone about as well as every other instance of this particular problem.  I.E. Not very.  I've heard the mechanics in Xillia are much better than Graces, which would be my excuse for that particular line of thinking, but I've also been urged to eschew Graces for Xillia for the short-term pleasure of it.  I might just do it, too, because it's not like there's even a hint of over-arching story between the two games, and thus, I'm clear to jump into Xillia if and when I want to.  But throwing a long, sprawling RPG into my PS3 at this point is a dangerous prospect with Lightning Returns on the horizon, which I imagine will handle that duty quite well.  Or at least I'm hoping as much because I want to like Lightning Returns.  Still, Xillia is something that will get played sooner or later, especially since I -believe- the male protagonist punches things and, well, you all know my stance on -that-.

Bioshock Infinite

While just about every other game has a fairly complex reason behind why I didn't play it this year, Bioshock Infinite is fairly simple.  In all honesty, I don't know that I -will- play Bioshock Infinite, despite it being Game of the Year in the eyes of many and an awesome game in its own right (even if not GotY) in many more.  The issue here is that that's the same thing everyone said about the original Bioshock, and I couldn't stand that game.  There was simply some things in the mechanical and technical design of the game that I thought were seriously under-thought and poorly executed and if the story hadn't been what it was or the core of the gameplay hadn't been as interesting, it probably would've been pointed out and panned.  More to the point, I don't think Irrational Games has evolved -beyond- that design from what I've heard, and I'm really not interested in a game where "Hard" means "The sliders went left and right" in terms of health, damage and resource consumption.  Maybe I'm wrong on that and maybe I'll find out some day.  But last year offered none of those days.

Ni no Kuni:  Wrath of the White Witch

Ni no Kuni, like Tales of Xillia, had the problem of being a big, sprawling RPG at a time when I didn't have the time to go through a big, sprawling RPG.  (Also known as 'all the time')  I picked it up the first time I managed to see it because I (incorrectly) assumed it would become a rare item in short order, but I do believe I've seen it in stores almost every single time I've been to one since, so that wasn't a worry that I had to make.  Regardless, who would've expected that one?  I think my line of reasoning was perfectly thought out.
I've heard good things about the game, of course, and it's definitely something that I want to get into, it's just the matter of being able to do so.  I also believe that I want to get a bigger TV than the one I currently have to be able to fully appreciate the beauty that the game is prepared to offer me.  Because if nothing else, it -does- have that, and my dinky little TV that I've had for years probably isn't going to cut it.

DmC:  Devil May Cry

I sort of fell out of Devil May Cry with 4, having never actually tried it, so when the new one was announced in the way that it was, I felt fairly safe in continuing to stay away from the series.  I then continued to safely ignore it all the way until it was released and found out that it was actually really good and it was like a punch to the gut.  'Son of a bitch!' I said.  'Now I'm going to have to consider DMC 4 again!'  Or I can do the smart thing, ignore 4 and go right to DmC because 1) It's a reboot anyway and 2) It's a game that I really want to play.  It's the game I want to play because it seems like it's very, very fluid and fast and I want to get into that sort of game more and more ever since my dip into REVENGEANCE which is really my -best- exposure, I think.  I play a lot of action games, of course, but I've skipped a lot of the 'important' ones (like Bayonetta, something that will be remedied -eventually-) and the ones I do play, I don't feel like I ever take the time to try and master them, but merely do well enough to get by.  That's something of a skill that I want to get into, and DmC seems a good place to start.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

This one.....this is the one that hurts.  I -own- Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon.  I downloaded it and everything.  I can play it whenever I want and I don't remember, but I might have had downloaded even before voting.  But I just didn't play it.  I still -haven't- played it.  And I don't really know why.  Blood Dragon seems like it's a game that was explicitly made -for- me, because I loved Far Cry 3's mechanics and I love crazy, batshit absurd things and that is precisely what Blood Dragon is.  Like, to a T.  Blood Dragon is is Far Cry 3 grew a gigantic mouth and ate the entire 80s and a neon factory and goddamnit, I would be all about that.  I think the only reasonable explanation is that I'm waiting for a good break between two games that I have to play to play this since I'll need to take my time with it.  Hopefully if I finish with Lightning Returns before the Stick of Truth comes out...but I doubt that very much.

The Legend of Zelda:  A Link Between Worlds

As a forewarning, the rest of this post is all 3DS games and I guess that's kind of a good thing and a bad thing for the system in a sense.  Good that I considered so many games and bad that I never got around to them or, in the case of three of them, I just didn't really care for them.  However, The Legend of Zelda:  A Link Between Worlds was the former case, so there is that.  When the game was announced as a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, I was skeptical as hell because LttP is my favorite Zelda game of all of them and I wasn't about to accept anything less than its grandeur.  If you listen to the reviews, they'll tell you that it managed to match those peaks, but I'm still unconvinced because I just don't like the looks of it.  Or something.  I haven't pinned it down, but I look at the game and just feel something off with it, feel like there's something contained within it that I simply will not enjoy.  I'll find out someday, of course, because it's a Zelda game and if I don't buy a goddamn Zelda game when I have a 3DS, what else am I going to get?  Regardless, I'm still wary and I don't think that will be abated until I've managed to put time into it for myself.

Hometown Story

I'm sure the faithful readers of the blog noticed the hype-filled lead-up to Hometown Story's release in which I assumed I was pretty much the -only- person excited for its release and simply couldn't wait to get my hands on it because I expected a wonderful experience akin to Harvest Moon.  I'm sure they also noticed that Hometown Story released and I said not a word about it following that event.  That is because Hometown Story is probably my Disappointment of 2013, right up there with the whole of God of War: Ascension and the actual gameplay design of The Last of Us.  I was just expecting...something from Hometown Story and I did not get it.  It's flat, it's lifeless and it's utterly without charm because of those previous two descriptors.  I wanted a game that didn't handhold you at all (like Harvest Moon) but was incredibly deep and rewarding in spite of that, and found something that was just incredibly shallow and under-thought.  Is it possible that I simply didn't delve into it enough?  Possible - I played it for a little while and just -nothing- was happening, so I stopped - but I highly doubt it.  It just....feels like a proof-of-concept or a beta or something, and I really, really wanted more than that, which is highly unfortunate.

Shin Megami Tensei IV

Shin Megami Tensei IV is the other game that I simply didn't get around to in one fashion or another last year.  I bought it Day One - got the limited edition with the art/strategy book and everything - but it's sat lingering in my game drawer with the rest of my meager 3DS collection since the day I bought it and I've only briefly considered pulling it out and having a whack at it.  The SMT games are...a bit intimidating to attempt because of the reputation the series has in being rather unforgiving and difficult and though IV appears to be the least challenging thus far, it's still noted as being punishing at the start which is precisely what makes it a difficult thing to get into.  Not to mention, my 3DS was more or less monopolized with Animal Crossing, Rune Factory 4 and Senran Kagura Burst, pushing out even Harvest Moon:  A New Beginning and the last 'proper' 3DS game that I've yet to get to included in this list.  SMT IV will get some play time of course, but like every other game in this list (well, most of them) it's all just a matter of -when- because I am unfortunately not made of time.

Fire Emblem:  Awakening

Ask just about anyone with at 3DS and they will likely tell you that Fire Emblem:  Awakening is a must-have title for the platform.  By all accounts, the game is apparently one of the best ones that the 3DS library has to offer.  I didn't see it.  I wanted very desperately to like Fire Emblem:  Awakening, to enjoy it whole-heartedly because it's a Strategy game and I just don't have enough good ones of those in my life.  Final Fantasy Tactics cannot tide me over forever.  I just...didn't, though.  I played battle after battle and found it more demoralizing than anything else - even playing on the easy mode where there's no perma-death, I'm simply confounded as to how you're expected to -survive- maps with all your characters intact, and I certainly understand that you're not given new units easily, so it merely appears as a game of diminishing returns to me.  I get that it's -not-, but I simply cannot corroborate that with what I actually played.

SteamWorld Dig

At first, I was simply convinced that SteamWorld Dig was a game that I just didn't get, much like I didn't get Machinarium.  However, as it went on and on, I feel like I understand the game, I understand what it's about....I just didn't care for it.  SteamWorld Dig, in my viewing, is basically just Terraria with a bigger focus on exploration and no building aspect to it at all.  A big part of the game is dig, dig, digging your way down to get valuable materials and the like, but all you get for your efforts are coins that you use to purchase upgrades....so you can more easily gather materials.  There's also dungeons to be conquered that give you more abilities to facilitate your collection of materials and it all just sort of builds towards you discovering some sort of secret at the lowest, deepest depths of the area.  It's almost paint-by-numbers but with an interesting concept of being able to mine just about anything, and while it plays smoothly and doesn't necessarily frustrate, it just is sort of...there.  I don't understand the amount of people enamored with it, nor do I think it's something I -can- comprehend.  The best I can say is that I didn't hate it, really.

And with that comes the end of 2013's installment of the Game of the Year posts.  Thanks for sticking around through all of them!  2013 was an absolute embarrassment of riches when it came to games if the fact that I still had 12 games to talk about -after- my top twenty, and that was after cutting a few from this post that didn't really have a lot of content to their breakdowns.  It's insane when you stop and think about it, and it's only going to be worse for 2014 thanks to the PS4 coming out.  But it's definitely not a bad problem to have in so many ways.

just so many games, what the hell

My Games of 2013, The Runner-Up and the Winner

By some stretch of luck or simple decisiveness, picking my top game of the year has not really been a difficult prospect the last few years.  Unfortunately, this was the first year where I simply didn't have a Yakuza game to place, which is all Sega's fault and damn them for it, and such a game would have made my pick this year -very- difficult.  However, in the end, there were two games that stood out for me this year for hilariously opposing reasons and you've probably guessed them already, which means you probably understand the silly juxtaposition they make.  Of course, if you're still a bit in the dark, I'm about to make it a lot more clear as to what I mean.

2.  Rune Factory 4

As I've never neglected to mention even once, Rune Factory 4 is literally the game that was the tipping point in my 3DS decision.  All of the Pokemons, all of the Animal Crossings, all of the this and the that, that all made the purchase tempting, but it was something I wasn't prepared to really consider until Rune Factory 4 was announced for a localization.  That clinched it and, in a way, I'm exceptionally happy that it -did- force me to buy a 3DS, as I've had a lot of fun with mine.  I still prefer the Vita by miles, but the 3DS is plenty capable in itself and it makes me wonder just what the -next- Nintendo handheld will be able to do, but that's neither here nor there.  What -is- here and there is just how enjoyable Rune Factory 4 was, and how disappointed I am that it's probably the last iteration the series will see.

Rune Factory, as a series, only seems to get better and better with each iteration and that held especially true with Rune Factory 4 which was such a marked improvement over even 3 that it was almost staggering.  Combat was refined, farming was re-thought and improved and hell, even the Relationship System was revamped between games.  It was a complete tear-down and re-build of what you'd expect a Rune Factory game to be and even though there were a few elements added that didn't quite reach their full potential (the party system, in my opinion, and the Storefront) it did so many things so incredibly right that I couldn't -not- love it.  There was a reason why I sunk an excess of 100 hours into it, after all.  Well....two reasons.  That it was fantastic was the important one.

The other reason was due to Rune Factory 4's one misstep.  There's a random event system in the game, which is a great idea actually, but the way it's handled is abysmal.  The Random Events occur randomly as the name suggests, but the chance of an event beginning on any given day has to be around 30% if not lower.  Thus you find that a lot of your days are uninterrupted, allowing you to simply focus on your duties or the story if you haven't cleared it all yet.  However, in the Events pool are the events that lock away Marriage to the candidates, meaning you have to unlock it as a possible event (by getting to the appropriate relationship level with that person) and even then, it's only added to the random event pool.  So you could, as I did, be stuck with your lover at 15 hearts (when the Marriage requirement is like 8-10 hearts) and all the proper furnishings, but still get your proposals turned down because the event hasn't flagged and allowed you to experience it.  More annoyingly, the event that kick-starts the third act of the story (the epilogue, really) is...well, a random event as well.

That would be more of a problem if Rune Factory 4 were a chore to play, of course.  It's not, however, and the amount of fun you can have playing it really does help to mitigate the frustration you might feel from playing day-in and day-out without hitting the event that you want or, indeed, an event at all based on the low chance.  It doesn't remove it completely - nothing could as it's a legitimately frustrating idea - but going "Damnit, no event, oh well, I can still do this, this, this, this and that today" at least distracts you and keeps you from simply spinning your wheels and waiting for it.  Use that time to get to know the incredible cast of characters that the game has to offer.  Train your combat skills with the new and improved fighting system.  Try and harvest materials that you then try to figure out crafting recipes for, or buy them and try to work up to being able to craft them with no difficulty.  Simply enjoy all of the bounty that Rune Factory 4 has to offer within its small confines, because it's a damn great game.

And now, without some sort of crazy build-up or further ado, I bring you...

Game of the Year 2013 - Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE

I'm sure this comes as no surprise. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that if you didn't see this one coming a mile away, you simply weren't paying attention.  I talked about Metal Gear Rising a lot and the bulk of that was simply stating and restating just how much goddamn fun I had with the game.  It bordered on 'indulgent' and if I was worried about not being able to put Soul Sacrifice down, I had to literally wrest myself from REVENGEANCE to actually get things in my life and my backlog accomplished.  At least with Soul Sacrifice, I would be gaining offerings and building up sacrifices and the like, making progress.  There would be no such thing with REVENGEANCE as I swear to you I could put an entire day into a Grey Fox run (Grey Fox suit, fully upgraded Fox Blade, no items) yet only play the first couple of (proper) chapters.  Over and over again.  Since a Grey Fox run literally provides me with what I've yearned for in an action game - the ability to simply cut something and have it fall apart.  That something being enemies, thanks to the Fox Blade's ability of being able to blade mode cut while..not in blade mode.

It's hard to pin down exactly what I liked about Metal Gear Rising, except to simply say "all of it" and by all of it, I really kind of do mean all of it.  The over-the-top cheese dialogue, the lightning-fast (ha!) action, the absolute visceral feel of actually cutting, of actually slicing and destroying, the astoundingly good soundtrack - it's all fantastic.  It was just the perfect slice (Ha- okay, I'll stop) of what I wanted and, honestly, what I needed when it came out.  There's not a lot else that I can say about it that I haven't said already without restating, so I'll give that a shot.

"Oftentimes, while playing REVENGEANCE, I only stopped playing because I knew I -had- to because of other obligations, or because I beat it.  Again.  It quickly transcended from "Game I need to play because I want to and I just bought it" to "Game I need to play because oh my god" and all the way to "Game I want to play forever because oh my god"."

-From Well, This is Something - REVENGEANCE Trophy List Mentions "PS Vita" (4/14/13)

"When I say it's probably my Game of the Year at this point, I say that with full knowledge that I've actually played quite a few new releases already this year with many more on the horizon.  I say it because there are few words that can effectively convey the fun and joy that I experience when I actually play it, though I suppose mentioning fun and joy is a good start.  Playing the game, actually playing it....is just a dream.  It's less about playing the game, about the mechanics, about anything than it is about using everything you have to just have as much fun as you can.  Every room full of enemies is a new chance to pull off some sort of amazing combo, if not in numbers, but in executions.  A chance to dismember every one of them in a different way if that's your thing, or a chance to find new and exciting ways to take them out as you get new weapons added to your armory.

The thing about REVENGEANCE is that, despite its fairly linear structure by nature, there's a staggering amount of freedom when it comes to the fights because of how freeform it can be.  Not only with weapons, with sub-weapons, but with little things like appearance and style as well as the Wigs that enhance your abilities in some fashion.  Throw on the Brown Wig and become a Grenadier.  Stun everyone with whatever's handy before you eviscerate them.  Stay back and pelt everyone with rockets because you have a rocket launcher in your pocket and you ain't even -care-.  Do whatever you want.  Do whatever makes the game fun for you because there is a way for that.  I cannot fathom someone playing REVENGEANCE and not, eventually, finding a way to play it that makes it an enjoyable experience for them."

- From REVENGEANCE is Officially Heading for PC (5/17/13)

"Like with the just mentioned Binary Domain, I didn't know quite what to expect, walking into REVENGEANCE, but I did expect something good.  Something fun.  And much the same as with that situation, I got a -lot- more than I expected, finding that at no point in my four hours of playing did I stop grinning, did I stop chuckling and getting excited by all of the wonderfully awesome things on the screen.  The game is beyond fun, it's beyond good - it is exquisite, and it's a whole different beast than I was expecting, but a beast that I've been wanting without knowing it."

-From CUT ALL THE THINGS (2/19/13)

With all that said, I'm fairly confident that it's obvious why I picked REVENGEANCE to be my Game of the Year for 2013.  There will be one more Game of the Year post explaining the lack of certain games on my list and then we'll be all sorted until next time it rolls around.  Thanks for reading in the meanwhile and congratulations Konami and Platinum Games for making such a fantastic game that everyone needs to look into, Metal Gear Solid and Action Game fan alike.  If you walk away from it disappointed, I just don't know what to tell you.

I may have a few choice words I would -want- to tell you, but that's a different story

My Games of 2013, Not the Top 5

Where my 'bottom' ten games of the list were somewhat strewn about in places that they perhaps shouldn't have been in, the list gets much, much better and more tightly formed and considered beyond that point.  Indeed, even though my tenth through sixth picks might raise a few eyebrows, I'm more than willing to back up my exact reasoning for their placements, whereas my 18th pick might've beaten out my 20th because "Eh, I liked it a little more, I guess".  That's...not exactly ironclad or anything approaching that quality, and while I don't really owe anything to anyone in regards to this, well, I kind of want to do it proper-like, yeah?  With that said, let's just get right into it, shall we?  This first step is a doozy.

10.  The Last of Us

Frequent readers of this blog know that I'm not particularly one to play the "This game is so popular, but in all reality, it sucks" game, especially because I'm not beholden to page views or anything of that sort.  I don't have nerd cred to accrue, nor do I care at being a 'hipster' or anything like that.  I just want to enjoy things and when I don't, I just find it incredibly frustrating because I'm fairly open - I'll enjoy your mechanically terrible game if it makes me giggle here and there or does something that makes my eyes go wide for one reason or another.  (Alpha Protocol springs to mind here)  I never expected that I would have to make these justifications when it game to Naughty Dog's latest game, the newest attempt at pushing the Cinematic Game envelope with The Last of Us.  But here we are.

I can sum up the whole of my problems with The Last of Us with a single word:  Clickers.  I understand Clickers.  I understand their implementation, their necessity and their nature.  I get why they're in the game, since blah blah blah, stealth survival, blah blah, sense of vulnerability.  I just loathe them because they suck every ounce of fun to be had in the game out.  There's honestly really no justifying "Fuck You" enemies in games unless those games are twitch-based and allow a nigh-instant restart, along the lines of Hotline Miami.  That I can eventually buy upgrades to make my death a mere inevitability to a Clicker rather than a guarantee offers little to assuage the frustration that they cause by merely existing, and especially existing in tandem with enemies that I can, and oftentimes had to, defeat with brute force.  Enemies that had the Oblivion gene in which one spotting me meant the horde itself was after me.  Including the Clickers.

The Last of Us, with that frustration in mind, simply didn't feel all that well designed in the gameplay portion of it.  Invariably, encounters were designed around Clickers being the thing to give you pause, and it's what they're good at.  However, being the proverbial elephant in the room that will fucking trample you when an Infected on the other side of a wall from it spots you because you're not a stealth master essentially says "Stealth or die" and without some -really good- stealth abilities, you're going to die more often than not and it just doesn't feel as fair as other games, even Naughty Dog's Uncharted series.  People complain about the 'Bullet Sponge' enemies, but proper implementation of Cover-switching, Headshots and Iron Fist assaults will get you through every encounter easily.  Clickers do not really offer the same amount of leeway that even a pair of shotgunners in Uncharted would.  At the end of the day, it's that sort of thing that prevented me from really lauding The Last of Us to a higher position, and it's honestly just a damn shame since the rest of it was outstanding.

9.  Senran Kagura Burst

Okay, look.  I know what you're thinking and stop it.  As I mentioned at some previous point in time, Senran Kagura Burst is actually fun and that never stopped being true for the entire time that I played it.  Despite that and despite what I said about The Last of Us, I'm sure many will consider it blasphemy that it ranked above the game.  I get that.  I'm not sorry, nor am I making a statement, nor am I trying to get that silly nerd cred or anything.  I had fun with Senran Kagura Burst and it had a surprisingly good story for what it was, and it was just a joy to play.  So obviously when contrasted to The Last of Us, which was a chore to play, despite an absolutely stellar presentation and story, then it should be a little easier to see why SKB got where it got.  It's definitely worth a play if you enjoy fast-paced action games and I cannot stress that enough.

8.  Ys:  Memories of Celceta

Memories of Celceta was my first experience ever with an Ys game, and it was about as positive of one as it could've been all-told.  It's yet another game that I haven't actually finished yet, but what I played of it was enormously engrossing and definitely the type of thing I could see myself powering through to -finish- in that I may very well be doing a "Platinum Get" post for it sometime in the future.  If I ever get the time to properly go back into it and such because all of the games.  Regardless of if I do or not, I will at least beat it and I will probably have to tear myself away from it for other games that will no doubt be begging to be played.  Danganronpa's on the horizon after all and I'm sure I'll put more than a few hours into that.  Of course, they're very different games, and the fast-paced action-RPG combat of Ys -is- definitely alluring when I'm in the mood for it.  Despite not being very combo-heavy or such, the combat -does- encourage you to incorporate a certain amount of flair which works out by simply making it that much more enjoyable.  So much so that you won't even mind fighting things over and over again while you're stumbling about lost in the forest.  Not that I know personally or anything!

7.  Grand Theft Auto V

In a word, Grand Theft Auto V was simply surprising.  The multi-character aspect to it was surprising.  The improved, revamped multiplayer was surprising.  (As was the complete lack of ability to support it for a good month after it launched)  The much, much better story than IV and its sub-stories boasted was surprising.  And I think the amount of time I put into it was surprising as well - because it wasn't that much comparatively speaking.  I played Grand Theft Auto IV until I knew the city like the back of my hand.  And then I played The Lost and Damned and started The Ballad of Gay Tony.  I played Sleeping Dogs for hours after Platinuming it, not even counting Nightmare in North Point.  Grand Theft Auto V, however, basically had me for the main story, some of the side missions and then I was out.  The intention has always been there to go back, perhaps attempt the MP even though it sounds like something I would not enjoy and clean up a little more, but I've not felt that same tug to do it.

However, I think that's mostly in large part to me being more or less satisfied with exactly as much of the game I consumed, which is something that says more in meaning than I can say in actual words unfortunately.  Driving around as Trevor and being reprehensible then switching to Franklin and messing around in a more dignified manner before changing to Michael and treating him as a Real Estate Tycoon didn't get old.  Hell, just -switching- to the characters was an experience, since I always wondered just what transition I'd get, with Trevor's oftentimes being the most enjoyable and the ones to look forward to.  I just think I was gunplay'd out at the time and admittedly GTA V's isn't too terribly exciting, which is why I sort of fell out.  Regardless, Rockstar certainly knows how to pack a lot of fun into their games and GTA V was certainly no exception to that.

6.  Dynasty Warriors 8

This one can't come as a shock to anyone who's a faithful reader here.  "Unashamed enjoyment" is pretty much the descriptor for all of KOEI's Warriors games because the formula just does not get old for me.  I cut up swaths of mooks, I get a little half-history lesson while I do it (which lets me look it up and get the -real- history later) and that is all something that I quite enjoy.  Dynasty Warriors 8 offers a few improvements over 7 assuredly and while it didn't quite blow me away like 7 did, it would've been hard to imagine it doing so.  7 was such a departure, such an advancement from 5 (since we're not counting 6, given it went well outside the 'formula') that it's rather astounding and 8 was less a tremendous step forward and more of a refinement on an already solid base.

Its refinements were rather great, however - every character having their own unique weapon moveset finally blew my mind when I realized it and I still find it a little hard to believe.  Also the re-inclusion of Free Mode helped, though the absolute robust...ness of it makes trophy hunting a bit daunting since one has to finish every stage once or twice...and I think every -iteration- of said stage.  So you'll be playing them quite a bit.  Still, the solid mechanics make it easy to do so, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting the Complete Edition with Xtreme Legends on my Vita, where I'll absolutely have all the time to power through it all.

Not too much longer to go now.  The next post will highlight numbers 5, 4 and 3, while the last post will be the Runner-Up and my top pick of last year.  And...then I'll do the Games That Weren't My Games, but all in all, it's gone much more smoothly than last year, I think.  I quite like the new format, at least.  Much easier if nothing else, and I don't think I go on too much about any of the games, but rather say what needs to be said about them, so that's a plus.  Still, I have a year until next time to find out some other ways to tweak it until I'm absolutely positive it's how I'm going to roll!

I really wish people would stop looking at me like that when I said I liked Senran Kagura Burst

My Games of 2013, Not the Top 10

2013, like 2012 before it, was absolutely packed with games, and the hilarious thing is that 2014 almost seems worse in that regard, at least simply thinking and looking forward at the absolute glut of games we already know that will be releasing this year.  With a backlog miles long already and the knowledge of purchasing games in the future in twos or even threes, it's...daunting at the very least, and almost borders on masochistic, considering there is a real possibility of literally -not- having enough time ever to play these games that I have been and will continue to hoard.  It's not particularly pleasant one, and even though I tell myself "I'll make time for -that- game", it's been -days- since I played Warriors Orochi 3 even though it's literally in my PS3 and ready to be loaded up and played within the span of a minute or two.  Still, I managed to get to at least 22 games in some degree last year (new ones at least), which -does- inspire a little bit of confidence.

As I've mentioned previously, the plan here is to change the format of my GotY stuff to make it a little more fresh and enjoyable for me, but you as well.  Though I suppose you probably do enjoy me having a -lot- to say about every game on my list, but you probably don't enjoy the burn out that becomes evident as I go on and on and on with it.  Which is the part I don't like.  Which is what I'm planning on remedying this year.  For at least this post which will cover games 20-10, possibly the next one as well, covering 9-5 (or maybe even 9-4, leaving 3 and 2 for its own post and 1 for its own, not quite sure on that) and the "Games That Weren't My Games" post, I'm just going to have a staggered format showing the game itself with a paragraph or two next to it.  I'm thinking it'll flow and look pretty nice.

20.  Remember Me

I wanted Remember Me to be so, so much more than it was because it was a cyberpunk game about punching people, two things which we all know that I am all about.  However, I did ultimately find it lacking, even though there were parts of it that I did enjoy, and parts of it that I did genuinely consider to be good in the grand scheme of things.  Not enough things, unfortunately, and they weren't exactly good enough to prop up the bad parts, but I can't say that I was -too- disappointed by the end of it.  Just...mostly so.

Still, that I played 22 or 23 games that would qualify for the list and that Remember Me still made it on, albeit at 20, is ultimately a testament of appreciation to presenting a game with a unique aesthetic, a unique idea and a unique soundtrack.  Had the game tried to carry its lackluster story on the back of yet-another-cover-shooter, it would've been panned far more harshly than it was and rightly so.  At the end of the day, you can at least say that Dontnod tried something different, and they get an A for Effort.

19.  Deadpool

Deadpool is without a doubt the most enjoyable game that I don't really remember a damn bit about playing.  Memorable the game is not, at least in terms of the gameplay and the like.  As an experiment in making a game genuinely hilarious by way of breaking the Fourth Wall as a matter of course and having it be this huge joke that you are actually in on?  It's astounding.  The comedy is such a central core part of the game's basis, and it's a damn good thing that it is and that they put so much effort into it.  I'd suggest that if you're not grinning or chuckling at any point while playing the game, it's purely because the actual gameplay is just getting in the way of you and your laughs.  That didn't happen with me, but then again, I didn't play the game on Hard.

I don't recommend playing the game on Hard.  Unless you really want the trophies or whatnot, I suppose.  I might do it one day because I -did- enjoy Deadpool, but I imagine it'll be an infinitely less enjoyable experience all around.

18.  Guacamelee!

Guacamelee! is the first of quite a few games on my list that I just didn't really get to enjoy nearly as much as other people did.  I liked it - it was a good game, after all - and I definitely had some fun with it, but I didn't form any real attachment to it.  So after I beat it, that was it, I very easily breezed past it to whatever the next game was on my list.  I wasn't entranced by the magical story of a man and a mexican wrestling mask with mystical properties on his journey to destroy the man that killed him (he got better), nor the smooth gameplay that allowed me to piledrive chickens and lunge across the sky with my fist thrust forward, ready to assail anything in my path.  I liked it, I thought it was pretty damn good (definitely Drinkbox's best work), but that's where it ended.  It was simply a good game.  There's nothing wrong with that, obviously, but for me, it just lacked a bit of a spark, I suppose.  My lack of enthusiasm seems to be the minority opinion, however, which is absolutely fine.  I'm happy that people are happy with the game; after all, I was, it just didn't inspire anything greater in me.

17.  God of War:  Ascension

In all reality, that I put God of War:  Ascension above the previous games is a mistake.  While I found enjoyment in Remember Me, Deadpool and Guacamelee! (though not much in the former's case) I actively dislike Ascension based on my rather disappointing romp through a portion of it before I hit a game-breaking bug that prompted me to eject it from my PS3 and not play it again to this point.  I'm not even sure that I'm entertaining the notion of looking to play it again - I'm sure my problem didn't magically get fixed, leaving me with only the option to restart over again which I'm none too happy about.  Which would be fine if I didn't have a major problem with the way Ascension plays, as it is simply....less fun than previous games.  Perhaps it feels a little less fluid, perhaps I simply miss over-powered Kratos, or perhaps I simply hadn't found the 'click' yet - I just didn't enjoy it.

Ascension made it on my list based on pedigree alone and that's really something I shouldn't have done.

16.  Dragon's Crown

Continuing the trend of "Games other people enjoyed far more than I did", Dragon's Crown makes it onto my list far lower than I anticipate it being on many other lists.  I did at least have the foresight to put it above Ascension, however, which is good because I enjoyed Dragon's Crown (and every other game on the list, obviously) but the question comes in as a measurement one.  Dragon's Crown seems to be a game where you enjoy it more the more you play it, sort of like a game of returns or a snowball effect.  At least, that's what I can glean from seeing other people talk about it, saying they've put 100-200+ hours into it and that it's so much fun and only gets better the more you play it.  Which makes sense that there's a fun game at base if it inspires you to put 100-200+ hours into it, but it's something that you have to -get to-.  So if, like me, you just played a very modest 20-30 hours of it, you're not going to walk away with quite the same feeling.

So basically what I'm saying is that I just didn't get enough time to play Dragon's Crown and it's mostly due to the fact that there's a -ton- of games to play this year.  It's a blessing.  And a curse.

15.  Killzone: Mercenary

I don't want to start a whole bunch of these with "other people dug this far more than I did", but it's a hard thing to do when it's very, very true.  I participated in the Open Multiplayer Beta and found it quite fun, as the mechanics are solid and it essentially does a far, far better job of showing what a FPS game on the Vita can be than Resistance: Burning Skies did, however competent that game was in itself.  I don't have enough experience to claim that Mercenary feels like a Killzone game in the palms of your hands, but I believe I've seen others more qualified to state as such, and what I played was good.  It felt like a natural fit, which is no small task (that wasn't a pun, I assure you) and it was highly encouraging for the upcoming Borderlands 2, if nothing else.  Also for the Bioshock game that is still coming out for the Vita because I gotta believe.

There were a few small things that I didn't like, such as not being able to save mid-mission and pick back up at that same spot (instead being forced to do the entire mission over again - one time I found that I saved almost literally at the end of it and I was less than impressed) which was further compounded by the fact that the missions were fairly long, or at least felt that way.  The other would be that it's yet another game that pushed Stealth Gameplay hard as a perk, yet when I'm spotted by one enemy, every single one has a pinpoint accurate knowledge of where I am and I'm suddenly in this intense firefight just because I missed sniping one guy in the head because I don't know, my reticule was right on his head.  Still, it was solid and gorgeous and I'm going to jump back into it one of these days.

14.  Beyond:  Two Souls

Beyond wasn't treated too kindly by the critics - it never was going to, being a David Cage production - but it could have been worse.  That's a statement on the reception and the game itself - it simply could have been worse.  We've all played Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy or at least know of it, and Beyond is leagues above that.  Does it reach the bar that Heavy Rain set?  Not quite, which might sound as a damning statement to those who didn't even enjoy Heavy Rain, but this type of game is clearly not for them, as snobby as that sounds.  It's understandable; Beyond and Heavy Rain are difficult games to like or enjoy because it turns the mundane into gameplay, and much of the extraordinary into cutscenes, which is precisely the opposite of what you'd expect - perhaps even want - in a video game.

Still, the bits of gameplay you spent as Aiden, Jodie's spectral companion, were especially interesting, as were the relationships that the story engendered in not only that pair, but just about every person Jodie comes across in her lifelong journey.  The fantastic acting segments from Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page make the game shine when it would otherwise merely sparkle and the interesting gameplay that evolves the story in different ways as you go on offers you a bit of attachment to it as it goes along makes you want to stay until the end.  I -did- finish Beyond, at least and at least a second run is in the future, if that says anything more than I've told already.

13.  Dragon Fantasy - Book II

The first Dragon Fantasy game was a game that I really liked as it was just a funny, neat little retro throw-back to the Dragon Warrior/Quest games of old, the first of which I played all the time in my childhood.  As such, it was just a neat thing to experience in that I admittedly had a lot of nostalgia to attach to the game and thus elevate it.  Then when I learned that Book II would be more akin to Chrono Trigger - one of my all-time favorite games - I was ecstatic, because I anticipated something similar.  I won't say that I'm entirely pleased with what I got as a result, and I will say that, much like Ascension, I worry that Book II got its spot on pedigree.  I like Book II, don't get me wrong, but it needed a little more polish to make it a little more mechanically sound.  This is from my brief experience playing it in the first section - I haven't managed to get back into it since.  I -expect- that it will grow on me as I continue on, because there is a lot of game left to it, but I similarly worry that it will not, which left me a bit conflicted as to where to put it.  Ever the optimist, I simply put it higher in hopes that it would earn that spot as I play.  Time will tell on that one.

12.  Killer is Dead

Killer is Dead is a game that absolutely and completely oozes style if nothing else, and it's something that I quite enjoy for it.  It also has a very interesting battle system that, while not quite what I'm used to, or perhaps what I expected coming from Lollipop Chainsaw, is very entertaining and fluid to enjoy. Regardless of that, however, you'd be hard-pressed to look at both games and suggest they came from separate studios because they both share unique art styles (that are different between the games), intense, fast-paced action and quirky, strange stories and characters.  Mondo Zappa, however, is particularly interesting for me, however, as he plays mostly the Straight Man while executing people and robots with a Katana and transforming his arm into a machine gun, freeze ray, laser cannon and a massive drill.

One thing I have to say is that, had I not bought the game new (with the DLC) and had I not been so careless to play one of the DLC chapters before an actual one, I would've been a lot more frustrated in the game.  That DLC chapter loaded me up with resources with which I bought some very needed upgrades and as such, the next few proper chapters were very enjoyable, what with me being a veritable killing machine that still had to learn the basics of dodging and perfect guarding.  So in that instance, the difficulty was just right, but if you don't have that luxury then it might necessitate a bit of grinding.  In a fun game like Killer is Dead, that might not be a problem, though.

11.  Animal Crossing:  New Leaf

Animal Crossing:  New Leaf devoured hours of my life, hours that I will never see again, and hours that I only mildly regret tossing into the black hole that is the latest iteration in Nintendo's Life simulation franchise.  As I cannot think of another way to describe it, even if that doesn't hit all the right marks.  I had an astounding amount of posts about the game, of which my Review of the game, the Gaming By the Numbers post I made about it and The Culling were definitely my favorite of the bunch, and in the end, I just could not suppress the amount of goodwill that the game engendered in me despite the fact that it was still very much Animal Crossing in formula and execution.  Which is, by all accounts, a strike against it, since Animal Crossing in formula means "Extremely front-loaded, entirely bare thereafter", meaning that you generally end up leaving the game unsatisfied because you just....stop playing it.

That happened for me.  I stopped playing New Leaf long ago and even Christmas Time didn't inspire me to jump back into it even though it really really should've since that was the precise time of game that I was waiting for.  Even considering that, I had no reason to go back.  No drive to do so.  I'd done most of what I wanted to get done in Kupolis and the remaining bits were more tedious than anything else.  However, it's due to the new additions that I enjoyed New Leaf so much and that I have something approaching hope for whatever the next game ends up being.  Because there will likely be improvements on top of those ones and that is very nice indeed.

And that concludes the bottom 10 of my Game of the Year list.  It was a hard order for some of them, and admittedly it could have used some shuffling, but my top Ten are much better lined up, I think, and I'm much more happy with their placement than the games here.  That's still just a really strong statement to just how many and how good the games were last year, and it's almost crazy to think that I had enough time to play them all, even for the limited amounts of time that some of them received.

yes, yes, I do quite enjoy that format, excellent

New Years Stats Time!

Do you like numbers?  Well, if you do (Like I do) you're going to love this post!  This year, much like last year, I'm going to share some specific numbers about Kupowered, if just because I -can-.  I certainly don't know if anyone's interested, but I think it's fun to do and it's my blog after all, so I'll do it if I like.  And I do.  So I do it.  It's been a trying year to say the least, so actually sitting down and looking at these numbers will be something that I'm doing for the first time as I write this, which I think makes it partly more fun for me since this is all new to me.  I get to look at the numbers and then figure out a way with which to express them in a way that isn't just A, B, C.  Or at least a little -more- entertaining a version of A, B, C like the last years post was.

The first glaring number that stands out is 2012's post count total - 307.  A full year's posts would have been 365 and my post count last year was 349, a whole 42 posts more.  Still going by the "Every other day" rule of 183 posts (which I fell on a lot this year), I'm still up by 124 posts which, hey, I think is pretty respectable.  It's not 165 like last yeah, but the fact that I actually have two years to compare to one another is a miracle unto itself, I should say.  This is the part where I start wishing I could break down views by year but that's simply not offered in Blogger's overview (or if it is, I'm struggling to find it), so I'll just have to update the All-Time views which will account for, you know....All-Time.  Last year and the year before.  (I'm just realizing that it is technically 2013 so Whoops)  Still, that'll be neat because it'll still give me numbers to compare it to since I guess I just filter out the differences and that'll be the year not accounted for.  You know, with math.

Coming in at the top of the All Time posts is once again "Really Tired", which if you missed me explaining it last year, was simply me being silly and doing a silly post about dragons.  Silly posts are fun, but I don't intend to do them all the time even though that one ended up being rather popular because of a particular picture used in it.  Its post count currently sits at 5,071, up from 4,069 from last year's review meaning it's only been viewed 1,002 times last year.  Only.  "Guilty Pleasures - Yakuza 4's Hostess Maker" is still second with 739 views, up from 290 last year, meaning it's been viewed 449 times in 2012 - not bad at all.  Third place is where 2012 shone, though, with "Zone of the Enders 3 is a Thing in Development" coming in at 590 views for 2012 alone, simply because it was -in- 2012 only.  I believe I can safely say that means it was the highest viewed post of 2012.  Second to receive that honor was "Kupowered's 501st Post" which came in at 248 views for some reason!  Overall, that post came in 7th, however, behind "inFamous 2 - My Thoughts on the Story and Endings (Spoilers)" at 547 views, "What Went Wrong - Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon" at 414 views and "The Regular Show is Pretty Great" at 399 views.  Because 400 views would just be too easy.

Trying to use the Page View Graph this year is just as unfeasible as last year, perhaps even more so, so unfortunately, I won't be doing a month-by-month thing since, well, I have no idea when those are properly updated.  Trying to navigate the graph takes me from January 2011 to February 2012 which....isn't correct, so, yeah, it's a bit silly.  Raw numbers will suffice.  My "Pageviews Last Month" figure comes up as 2,457 views, which I suppose might be for the full month of December, or like half of November and half of December or something.  I bring that up solely because that figure is higher than any single month presented in last years figures (the highest being 2,297 views) which means it's about in line with things so I'm keeping steady.  Or, rather, perhaps 'last month' was a low month because my All-Time Pageview History number now sits at 46,580, a full 29,751 views more than last year and, in fact 12,922 views more than last years All Time History of 16,829.  This is where I wish I knew how to do percents so I could figure what percentage growth that is, but looking at the numbers just says "a lot" which is pretty cool nonetheless.

Clicking on the Audience tab brings up something rather surprising in the sense that things have sort of shifted via countries that view Kupowered.  Like, dramatically.  America is still at the top with a whopping 19,799 views (up from 7,987 last year or an increase of 11,812 views), but Russia came out of friggin' nowhere at second place with 5,589 views (up from 485 last year for a 5,104 view increase) which...should I be worried about that?  I don't know.  The United Kingdom pulls up third with 2,210 views (up from 892 last year for a 1,318 view increase) and it's not until we get to fourth place that Canada finally shows up at 2,155 views (up from 1,123 views for a 1,032 increase).  If you're interested in the rest, the full list is as follows:  (Country - Pageviews - Increase):  America - 19,799 - 11,812, Russia - 5,589 - 5,104, United Kingdom - 2,210 - 1,318, Canada - 2,155 - 1,032, Austalia - 1,576 - 695, Germany - 875 - 411, Indonesia - 775 - 636, Brazil - 606 - 470, Ukraine - 436 - 302, and France - 430 - N/A.  All this only adds up to 34,451 Views, so the rest of the  12,129 views is smattered across other nations in smaller numbers.  Firefox again is the most used browser at 19,171 (or 42%) of views, with Chrome and Internet explorer switching places this year at 11,398 (25%) and 9,162 (20%) respectively.  Windows is still the most widespread OS to be used to view at 34,413 (75%) where Linux has bumped up a little, coming in at 6,296 (13%).  Mac at 2,133 (4%) is the only other number to brag about with Android and iPhone representing 1% each with 872 and 634 respectively and the remaining five of iPad, iPod, PSP, PS3 and BlackBerry are all <1% with 350, 260, 179, 178 and 168 in order.

I haven't really made many new 'types' of posts since last year with the notable exception being, appropriately, "Gaming By The Numbers" of which I only have two posts for - Dynasty Warriors Next and Trails in the Sky.  These posts are basically just ones in which I take a game and turn it into full-on Number Porn somehow, either talking about the hours of time needed to do something specific, or just how easy it is to do something, taking into account the most 'profitable' means with which to do it.  Or you know, whatever.  It's number porn so it's about numbers in whatever form I can take them in.  Somewhat like -this- post and the last year's review, I should say.  Most everything else has been either a stand-alone thing, or part of a 'type' I established the first year, which is just fine, I think.  I don't need to make a whole bunch of different things for my posts to fit into and I probably established the most that I'll need in the first year, though there's always the future to tell.

Compared to 2011's three reviews, I did a surprising nine in 2012, which is still a really small number, but considering the amount of work that goes into every review, it's not something that I can do all the time unfortunately.  Those reviews are, in order of post date:  Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Alpha Protocol, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Resistance: Burning Skies, Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble, Sound Shapes, Gravity Rush, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and  Final Fantasy XIII.  Obviously, I linked them in case you wanted to check them out again (or for the first time, if you've missed them) and if not then at least it's nice to keep these things together for something in the future.  That number would have been ten, but alas, I still haven't finished the likely vitriolic review for Final Fantasy XIII-2 which is unfortunate, but that's just how these things go sometimes.  Still rather impressive for me, I think.

I imagined if I tried, I could pick up a few of some posts that I really liked this year (since I can't play Favorites), but really, I'm pretty happy with them all.  If anything, I remember the Gaming by the Numbers posts more than the rest for the simple fact that they were number porn posts and those are ultimately really fun to write.  While it's still recent, I do also still remember the two posts I made for a concept I dubbed a 'MoveShock' which is a theoretical controller that would combine a DualShock with two Move wands, offering a 'best of both worlds' scenario where one could expect to use both methods of input simultaneously instead of giving up one for the other.  I've rarely been as excited at a prospect as I was with that, and while I doubt it's going to happen, it's still nice to dream.  Because honestly, it's a pretty cool concept if it would work in the scenarios I put forth.

And that's about it for 2012.  It was apparently a year of highs and lows, but while I didn't like the year, it was still a rather productive one, all-told.  Hopefully 2013 will be a better year, both in me keeping up with posts and just....you know, being a better year.  It's got a chance as it is now, but it's only two days old so, well, a little early to be wondering, I suppose.  If you've read this and enjoyed it, then I thank you and I hope you'll stick around for the posts as they come this year.  I mean, again, number porn so your mileage may vary, but I certainly had fun with it!  Here's to 2013 kicking 2012's ass in all the relevant facets!

Starting on a Positive Note

Well, I am in a better mood tonight.  I was actually going to do a stats post and started it (I now have three posts that are just drafts and I feel -so lazy- now) but I am going to save that for tomorrow.  Hopefully.  Tonight, I'm just busy being overwhelmed by Persona 4 Golden that I literally spent the better part of like two hours if not more gushing over it with my buddy Haplo.  He's only experienced Persona 4 vanilla, but the experience is universal regardless, so long as I don't speak of the many many improvements Golden has made, thus tempting him further towards a Vita purchase.  (Because it honestly seems like there were a -lot- of things added and they're all fantastic.)  Regardless of whether it's Golden or Vanilla, it's a rather fantastic experience nonetheless.

Last night really wasn't so bad, in perspective, it's just that I let a years worth of negativity come crashing down on me over a catalyst that, really, wasn't so bad.  It was a little bad, sure, but things are what you make of them, and I've made it positive now.  Hopefully soon, I'll be making it more positive with someone.  That....was meant to sound nice...not weird.  I'm keeping it, though.  I don't mind coming off a little silly because I'm in a good mood.  A persistent one, which is strange considering the recent trend.  I'm hoping that keeps going - keeps on a straight line because I've been miserable when I'm down and only tepidly happy when I've been up.  It's been a real problem.

It's a new year, though.  A new start.  I've got a real chance at something good, something overwhelmingly positive and it's growing more and more as I look at it and think about it.  With it comes a confidence, a decisiveness I didn't know I had that makes my mood rise more and more.  I talk with excitement, with happiness and passion a lot I like to think, and while that's real, this feels like something on a whole other level.  There's really not a whole lot I can say about it here, because it's not something I can fully elucidate, that I can form coherently into words that can fully appreciate this, but I'm sure the gist makes it clear to you.  It's certainly something to celebrate, however, and something to make the start of a New Year seem like a very bright thing.

Is it silly to attribute some of this to Persona 4 Golden, though?  I'm not quite sure.  It certainly compliments my mood well, adds a little bit of extra goodness to it, if you will.  Like a fine wine next to the best meal you've ever eaten - it's a supplement to the experience and only makes it sweeter, but it is lovely without it anyways.  The game is certainly wonderful enough - I can understand how and why some people claim it as one of their favorite games of all time; why others consider it a paragon of RPGs, because all that praise is certainly not misplaced.  Thankfully, I'm not done with it just yet, but I imagine even when I do beat it, I'm just going to jump back into it once more, doing a NG+ run that I will actually finish, unlike P3P.  I just enjoy it that much.

Happy New Year, folks.  For real this time.

I'm Looking Forward to 2013

So, now that we officially know the world isn't going to end in spectacular fashion at a time where many thought that it might and thus we're back to just wondering when it's going to happen, I think it's appropriate to look to the future.  You know, the future that is going to be there definitely for sure unless something happens that -nobody- expected, because I guess that is still a possibility or something.  Regardless, 2013 is going to be a thing, and from what we've seen already, what we know to expect from the year, it's going to be quite something to anticipate.  Here it is, only the end of 2013, and I already know of quite a few big games that will make 2013 a rather big year for everyone, which is saying something to be sure.  Not even just games that I am personally excited about, though there are those, but there are things that are just going to duke it out for GotY - that much is clear already.  If you think about it for a moment that right there in itself is fairly remarkable.

One such game of that caliber will assuredly be the above-pictured The Last of Us from everyone's favorite developers with the magic touch, Naughty Dog.  Boasting some of the best graphics that you'll ever see on a modern console and gameplay to match if the Uncharted games are any indication, TLoU is certainly going to be a ride unlike anything else the year might have to offer.  From what we've seen, it does seem to scratch the same itch that an Uncharted game might do (which is just as well, seeing as we likely won't see an Uncharted title in 2013 unless Bend Studios makes a Golden Abyss follow-up.....which I would adore) but it'll do much much more than that which is enough of a hook right there, personally.  That's no surprise, I'm sure, since you all know of my absolute love of Naughty Dog, but that adoration is well-earned and what I've seen from TLoU promises that my faith, my excitement, is in fact well-placed.

Something else rather tantalizing that the game adds to the mix is a focus on survival that hasn't been absolutely explained just yet, much like a multi-player aspect that is similarly vague.  Parts of me hope that this is, in fact, because they are going to share aspects - specifically that there might be a survival focus on one of the Multi-player modes because that could be really really fun and interesting.  Part of the survival bit is a little crafting system with which you can make some weapons and, presumably, medicine and other helpful things, not just destructive things.  From what I can tell, it's not the most advanced system, but neither does it need to be, and I'm sure it'll be robust enough to play a vital part in the game as a whole.  Really, there's just a lot to like here and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on my copy of the game.

Another game that is probably on top of most of the 2013 wish-lists or what have you that are out there is the recently explained Grand Theft Auto V.  Not only because of its pedigree which is quite extensive as we know, but because the scope of the game, as it has been detailed is huge and promises to really change what you might expect from a Grand Theft Auto game.  Whether or not they'll be hugely successful with the execution remains to be seen, as Grand Theft Auto IV was quite ambitious itself and, depending on who you ask, it didn't really live up to the expectations or the franchise in many many ways.  While it is hard to think of a game like Grand Theft Auto V possibly being something even resembling a disappointment, it certainly wouldn't be the first time, nor the most recent time, where a hugely-anticipated game turned out mediocre or otherwise disappointing.

With three different protagonists who all have been suggested to have their own 'lives' when you're not controlling one, the game is really breaking new ground in more ways than one.  It's also the biggest source of possible apprehension that I find with the title since I just have no idea how that's going to affect the overall game.  I believe sources indicated that the three would share assets (somehow) between them, so the reason to switch between them is really only to utilize their individual skill sets.  We don't know what those are just yet, but all three characters will be their own character fully and completely, thus giving you a reason to -want- to play as them, if only in theory.  I assume it will also affect other things, possibly contacts and the like, but the reason -is- there at least.

The part I worry about, however, is how three characters is going to affect the game overall.  The main reason that the three protagonists are like this is...well, actually it's to try and bait you further into the game, playing you against two of the other protagonists to urge you to find a 'favorite' of them to feel more of a connection with the game, ensuring you'll play it longer and more intently.  But the other reason is that three different characters have been created, have been developed and thought out by the teams and they want to make damn sure you play all three of them.  So to that end, I worry about how the story will be - will all three characters get their own 'story' told through a series of missions that end up coinciding at certain points?  Or is it just that you can play any mission as any character, but they're very clearly designed towards one character or another?  It's a hard balance that Rockstar has to draw with this set-up, and I can only hope that works well for them since GTAV has ever opportunity to be pretty fantastic.

Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE will allow me to cut all most of the things.

...

Yeah, that's it, really.  I mean, yes, there will be the special brand of Kojima crazy to it assuredly, as well as the Platinum crazy on top of that, and the game will be action-packed and wonderful, but I really, really just want to play with the Zan-datsu stuff.  And the rest of the game. 

But mostly the Zan-datsu stuff.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg here as there's all -sorts- of other things to be looking forward to in 2013.  DmC:  Devil May Cry, Ni no Kuni:  Wrath of the White Witch, Dead Space 3, Tearaway, Sly Cooper:  Thieves in Time, God of War:  Ascension, Killzone:  Mercenary, South Park:  The Stick of Truth and Watch Dogs among many, many other games are all slated for the year.  And that's just what we know about.  There's still plenty of time for things to get announced, finished and released before the end of next year, and at least a couple of those will likely be wonderful in their own right.

So while 2012 was a really fantastic year for gaming (if not much else for some of us), 2013 is shaping up to be quite a contender in its own right.  Just when you thought it was safe to bring your wallet out in the light again.

Grand Theft Auto 5 Coming Spring 2013

With every genre out there, there's generally one game or series that can more or less encapsulate what we all consider that genre to 'be' or at least used to be in some cases.  Basically the stand-out series that has steeped itself in the tenets of what that genre -is-, that we tend to associate it with the genre and vice-versa.  For First-Person Shooters it's (currently) Call of Duty (formerly Halo, formerly Doom, etc. etc.), for Role-Playing Games it's somewhat still Final Fantasy though pretty much by default, and for the Sandbox Game Genre, it's basically Grand Theft Auto.  There's competition, surely, but Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City and San Andreas basically cemented its place as the fore-runner of the genre with nothing else really coming along to seriously challenge the throne.  Saint's Row has come perilously close, thanks to its insistence on sticking to out-of-the-box shenanigans and parodies where Grand Theft Auto 4 strayed off course, earning it some ire, but it never quite made it, and it's hard to say that it -will-, with 3 being a mixed bag and no 4 in sight.

Being the fore-runner of the genre means that whenever a new installment is heading out to the masses, it's kind of a big deal because folks get excited for that thing.  I might count myself among those excited for the announcement of a release window for GTAV, but I'm not quite sure just yet, based on how IV did end up.  The funny thing is that I like IV, and I even have a few stories from it (one from the Multi-Player portion of the game if you can believe that) but it's not a game that can hold your heart or your vigor for long, especially when others come along that do what it does and better.  And it's because of those games that I just have to wonder how V is going to compare, as it's not a matter of simply being uncontested in everything it does.  It's going to come up short in some areas when based against other Sandbox games, simply because it cannot do everything, and it's mostly a matter of how forgivable those short-comings will be.  It'll likely be a matter of how well it does what it does well, really, and that's just something we'll have to see.

As for myself, and this comes as no shocker I'm sure, I'm sure I'll end up basing GTAV against Sleeping Dogs, because I really really like Sleeping Dogs, and it certainly has some interesting takes on the 'formula' that GTA games tend to follow as a basic principle, as well as unquestionably being leaps and bounds above it in quality for some areas.  The melee combat for sure, and I'd argue that it simply covers all close combat things (meaning I'm counting melee weapons as well) better, where the actual gunplay is down to opinion.  (I prefer SD, of course for the slow-mo, but I'm willing to step back and say it's not perfect since it's not a 'focus' as it were)  I'd even venture to say that some of the things it does with driving, namely the action hi-jacks and the ramming are miles ahead of anything GTA IV or even previous games in the series, could hope to meet, and it's not something I look for V to implement.

Depending on what your opinion of IV was, V either has a little or a lot of room for improvement, and I certainly cannot see a future in which people lament that "X was better in IV", so all that remains to be seen is just how -much- of a leap in quality V is over IV.  Going back to the familiar haunt of Southern California (though not necessarily to San Andreas, Los Venturas or San Fierro) is a start in the right direction, but a tricky one as well, as that means it's going to get a lot of allusions drawn to GTA:  San Andreas, which some consider to be the best game in the series.  If you don't manage to fit in that amount of stuff that SA had, you're gonna get complaints probably even moreso than IV which is a troubling thought for sure, and based on IV's rather sparse (in comparison) landscape of things, that's going to be a challenge.  Buying property's basically a sticking point if you ask -any- GTA fan, so I would certainly hope that Rockstar is smart enough to include that, and in a way that's satisfying.  It'll need an overall economic re-shift for the mechanics, of course, since you're likely going to be making money off these properties, thus you'll need things to buy with said money and in consideration of how much you're likely going to get around a certain point in the game, but that's for forward-thinkers and balancers to worry about; just get it in the game and we'll be happy.

That's honestly really all I'm expecting out of GTAV in all honesty.  I know it's going to be a cinematic game, bordering on 'experience', and I'm sure Rockstar is planning on sneaking a little more parody into this one than the last, but other than that, it's really kind of a blank slate.  And that, more than anything, I think, is really exciting, since we've seen what they can do with the tools they have.  To see what returns from IV, what -doesn't- return from IV like the man-dates and to see what just comes in 'new' (like property ownership, and if I'm wishing, then customization) and to see what level of polish it all has is what's going to really have me looking forward to it, more than anything else.  Say what you will about the mechanics of any game they release - the recent ones generally have a level of polish on them that a lot of other studios really can't afford to have, and that goes quite a long way on its own.

Two Nice Vita Game Announcements

Remember Earth Defense Force 3 Portable?  Announced sometime around E3 and was pretty much completely overlooked because the world is a terrible place full of terrible people?  Yeah, you probably don't.  It's okay.  I mean, I posted about it, but I really didn't, nor do I yet, know exactly what an Earth Defense (I keep spelling it as "Defence" and I don't know why) Force game is like.  I have a rough image and such, and I could probably get a better understanding through some videos and the like, which is probably what I will end up doing now that I have a reason to do so.  Because, as you might have read already, Earth Defense Force 3 Portable, known over here as Earth Defense Force 2017, is coming to North America.  This is a triumph, as they say, since it's just one more game to throw at the nay-sayers that are going to spout off the "has no gaems" thing until....I dunno.  I really don't, since the Vita -has- a really impressive library (more impressive first-party-wise than Nintendo at least, which is -saying something-) and doesn't really deserve the flak it gets, but that's neither here nor there.

If you'll recall (or if you re-read the post I initially linked) whether or the game would actually get localized was about as up in the air as any one game could be.  On one hand, it's apparently a beloved franchise, even if it's not A quality, on the other hand, it's....very, very niche, so it's not going to sell gangbusters no matter what it's on.  Still, what this means is a version that is in English and no matter what, that is a plus for most of the world that is not Japan.  For instance, the game has only been mentioned as heading for North America so, say, angry PAL folks will still be able to import it and play it on their Region-Free Vitas.  Because they are region-free.  Unlike certain other handhelds that people are always complaining about not being Region-Free, but buying the hell out of them anyway.  They will also be able to understand it, what with the whole English thing going on.  As to -when- they'll be able to do this is up in the air, as the game has a release window of "Winter 2013" which.....seems like a long, -long- way away if you take it literally.  As in, Q4 2013.  Some have speculated this means January or February of 2013 which makes a lot more sense, but there's really no information about that out there yet.

Still, I suspect that no matter the release date, I have a while to fully get a grasp on just what this series is.  If I had to put a rough estimate on it, I would suggest that it is Starship Troopers, but on Earth.  I would also say that I have not seen Starship Troopers in like a decade and I should really try to keep up on my references instead of throwing them out blindly but....effort.  Anyways, as a wholly expendable mook, you seem to be mowing down giant space bugs until....you can't.  I guess?  It does seem like the sort of thing that would be fun for short bursts and especially fun in a group of friends, so if the price and delivery is right, I might just go for it.  I don't know what to think of on that front, however, as I really don't see it making it onto a Cart for its release over here.  But I also don't see a Digital-only release for it going over $20, which I believe is what some Japanese Cart games that are DD-only over here are going for.  Like Sumioni and Dokuro (if its price was even announced) and of that ilk.  I'm sure that'll be seen as a pretty good bargain for fans of the series and the price-point might hook some who otherwise might not be interested.  Like me.  It'll be interesting to see, certainly!

Also worth noting as an announcement is the announcement that Rainbow Moon will be seeing a Vita port which pretty much makes all the sense in the world, really.  As it is apparently billed as an RPG that will take a lot of your time.  I think we've all sort of come to the realization that RPGs are fantastic for handhelds since you are likely in a position to put a lot more time into that than you are a console unless you....just have a lot of free time to spend with a console of your choice.  If we could all be so lucky, I suppose, but my point is that, especially for short sessions of pick-up-and-play, RPGs work really nicely provided they aren't text-heavy as all get-out.  But on the Vita, that's not so much an issue since you can Home Button out and put the machine to sleep if you just cannot get to a spot where you can save your progress.  Which is mostly for older games, since new ones seem to have embraced the theory of being able to save anywhere since if you're playing on a portable, you're pretty much likely to have to pick it up and put it down a lot.

I could probably find a couple posts where I stated it, but when Rainbow Moon came out, I said that I would be interested in it if it ever made its way to the Vita, since I'm really not going to do a whole lot of RPG-playing on my PS3 I doubt.  Aside from Final Fantasy XIII when I pick that up, but, well, according to who you listen to, it's not much of an RPG.  (Canned laughter goes here.)  I barely have the time to play the games I have, and I really don't need to compound that by throwing another game that'll require a 60-hour investment onto the pile.  That pile, I should say since I more or less have -two- piles now which is absolutely, utterly ridiculous.  On my PS3, I have the backlog that I have been oh-so-steadily working through, whereas on my Vita, I have a whole mess of PSP RPGs that I can go through at my leisure, I suppose, as well as Final Fantasy VII all by its lonesome while I await either Final Fantasy VIII or Xenogears to be up in the Playstation store proper since I believe I have purchased both and just need to download them.  And I'm gonna, I assure you of that.

Something specific to note is that, unlike a lot of games that are featured between the PS3 and the Vita, Rainbow Moon will not have a sort of "Buy one, get one" deal.  It's unfortunate for folks that have the PS3 version and would prefer it on the Vita, but to put it in perspective, the folks handling the port, their developing partner SideQuest Studios will have to literally port the entire game, as Rainbow Moon was built solely for PS3 and didn't use a sort of cross-platform engine which makes it so easy for other games to release on both services.  Not to fret, as the developer knows that things change and the fans who already supported them were the ones that requested the port, so they fully don't intend on charging the same price for those folks who have the game already or who decide they like the game so much, they want to buy it for both at once.  Exactly what the price-point is going to be in any scenario is up in the air, and how flexible they'll really be allowed to be is questionable, but at least their intent is there.  Let's hope that them coming out and saying that doesn't bite them in the end.