Game #40: Undertale

Undertale
Platform: PC
Duration: 8 Hours

What a unique, charming little game. The combat mechanics are very cool and the game keeps coming up with new challenges and twists. This title bleeds personality from every screen. I really don't want to go much into it because it will spoil things, but I completed the "True Pacifist" ending and was thoroughly entertained. By the way, this game is pretty damn funny. Something I think is hard in this medium.

It's ten bucks, and you can beat it in a few sittings. I hate "artsy" game critics who scoff at AAA titles and just praise indy games to no end that are filled with design issues. This though, this is a great game that really impressed me and I don't typically like indy titles.

Oh, this game is challenging as shit too. Hope you are good at bullet hells.

Game #39: Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider
Platform: Xbox One
Duration: 15 Hours

There were multiple moments in this game where I felt it was just yelling "GRAPHICS" at me. Like, this is a beautiful game, particle effects everywhere, physics objects, solid 30 FPS, but I would be lying if I didn't think it felt excessive at times.

Seriously though, this was a very fun game. Story starts a little too fast but quickly slows down and hits a good stride. Pacing felt very solid between exploration, puzzles, stealth, action, and "run motherfucker!" segments.

Oh, and it has Tombs! That you raid! Actual clever puzzles!

I really like the direction the rebooted franchise has taken, and I genuinely believe they're better games than Uncharted. This one is definitely worth your time, but aside from your first playthrough you probably won't get much out of it. Grab it when it goes on sale.

Game #38: Xenoblade Chronicles X

Xenoblade Chronicles X
Platform: Wii U
Duration: 76 Hours

Probably my #2 game this year. This game did more to move the JRPG genre forward than any title I've played in years. I was talking a lot to Erika about this, and so many JRPGs just feel...like the same game. The past 3 "Tales" games have been mechanically very identical. Final Fantasy feels like it has been running in circles trying to find something new. Xenoblade though...they took inspiration from the Skyrims and Baldur's Gates out there. Hundreds of quests, and honestly the "filler" collect/kill missions are not the majority of the things you do in this game.

You explore, for hours upon hours this gigantic beautiful world. Exploration feels great, you constantly get rewarded with materials, money, map progress, experience. Story progress rewards you eventually with this badass giant robot, then suddenly even more of the map opens up to you. And then you hit that moment where you unlock the ability to fly with your robot and everything just feels...open. There are few games that can nail meaningful exploration but this one absolutely does.

Story wise, it is a very concise tale for a JRPG. It presents a very clear goal early on that you work to achieve throughout the twelve story missions. There are some great revelations, a few twists, but was ultimately very satisfying. The bulk of the missions in the game though either flesh out the backstories of your party members, or the citizens of the town. Some of them are very fucking cool though, and a few get really dark. Honestly I was very impressed with the quality of storytelling presented in the side quests.

As far as gameplay mechanics, combat was very fun. My robot was a fucking monster by endgame and on foot I was a badass Sniper. There were a few clunky systems like the sheer amount of crafting items and the awkward way you have to manage adding and removing people from your party, but as a full package I was happy. Online was also cleverly integrated into the game. Shared worldwide missions that everyone got rewarded for as well as some co-op raids. It was very clever.

This was a great game. After the letdown that was the Xenosaga games, I am happy the creator of one of my favorite game of all time has hit is old stride again.

Game #37: Magical Diary

Magical Diary
Platform: PC
Duration: 3 Hours

Was looking for something quick to beat while we had free play at work the other day. Decided to boot up this random dating sim I got in a humble bundle a while back.

Essentially, it's an anime dating sim in a knockoff Hogwarts. I ended up in an abusive relationship with a Demon who tried to take my soul. I kept trusting him though and eventually my roommates kicked me out and made us fail our group final because I wouldn't give up seeing him. I ran away from school to be his Queen in the underworld.

This game is weird. Here is my prom photo.

Game #36: Sword Art Online Lost Song

Sword Art Online: Lost Song
Platform: PS4
Duration: 32 Hours

The Sword Art games have nailed one thing, they portray the characters very accurately. In the absence of the show, they're a great fix for my SAO addiction. Game wise though they are just decent. Nothing particularly revolutionary, but solid game play that stays faithful to the show's mechanics.

I don't think I can look at this objectively since I like the show so much, but I enjoyed my time.

Game #35: Fallout 4

Fallout 4
Platform: PC
Duration: 69 Hours

Fallout 4 is a good game. I think with a few more months of development and some further iteration on some systems it could have been a great game, but that just isn't what was presented with the final product. What we got was a story that ends an entire act before the game does, an abysmal UI, a serious hit to player choice, and the trivialization of a number of classic Fallout themes. In short, it felt like a simplification of something who's complexity used to bring me a lot of enjoyment.

But I still had fun.

I've been trying to distill down why I still enjoyed my time with the game. I think the core gameplay is so familiar to me at this point that it is hard not to enjoy getting progressively stronger and blowing the crap out of mutants with my laser rifle. V.A.T.S is a fun system, that gets more rewarding as you invest perks in it. Crafting was interesting too, and it was cool putting the junk items to use. I mean, I don't think there has ever been a video game that made me excited to find an aluminium tray factory before.

I think this is like when I watched Star Wars Episode 1 as a kid for the first time. I enjoyed it, but I felt something was off. It was only later that I sat down and pieced together everything that was bothering me. Fallout 4 is the same. Well, not as bad as Jar-Jar of course, but still.

I think what bugs me is how this just doesn't feel like a Fallout game to me anymore. There's no way to play an evil character, just a sarcastic asshole. Power Armor, which took a herculean effort to earn in previous games, is now just given to you before the two hour mark and is just a glorified vehicle. Even joining the Brotherhood of Steel, which again took a lot of effort in previous games is now accomplished after completing a single mission and you get fast tracked through promotions constantly. Skills are gone. Creative solutions to problems are gone. The whole game just feels...simple.

It feels as if it was designed peacemeal across numerous developers and then just thrown together into one whole right at the end without a lot of integration testing. I'm sure the designer working on the Railroad quests thought it would be awesome to add in the ability to modify your clothes and hat slots as a quest reward, but I don't think anyone stopped to think if it would be a good idea to gate an upgrade that effectively triples your defense behind doing two side quests for an optional faction.

I mentioned it earlier, but the story? Ugh. It resolves way too quickly, the individual faction stories are incredibly weak, and the ending is a huge letdown. It completely killed my desire to replay this game.

Game #34: Call of Duty Black Ops 3

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Platform: PS4
Duration: 7 Hours

So some people still call me a masochist, but I continue to play through the campaign for every Call of Duty. It's a franchise I have worked personally on, so I feel it almost as an obligation to see how my kid has grown up. I touch base every year to see what sort of life choices it has been making for itself. Well if Black Ops 3 was my son, he would be a 19 year old wandering around Europe for a summer, trying to find itself. I hope my boy gains a sense of identity soon, because I had precisely zero fucking clue what was happening.

I don't know who I work for. I don't know who I am fighting. The game throws acronyms for organizations at me left and right without explaining what they mean or why I should care. It seriously got to the point where I was making up my own names and backstory. There was one group called the "Winslow Accord" that I was convinced was just a peace treaty brokered by the actor that played Carl Winslow in Family Matters.

One minute it's all future battlefields with robots and smart weapons, then I'm inside my own head, then someone else's head, then it's fucking World War 2 because we haven't done that in a while, then it's the original zombies level in the middle of a campaign mission. Like, please CoD, stop for a second. Breathe. Figure out what story you want to tell instead of vomiting visuals at me. This didn't even feel like a Black Ops campaign. I counted, there were precisely two connections to the previous games that I came across:

The badguy from BO2 was mentioned in passing once.
NOVA6 gas shows up and the threat is removed TWO MINUTES after it appears.

That's it. No Mason. No numbers. Just some snowy forest and robots.

Me ranting about the story aside (sorry, Black Ops 1 was my favorite campaign and I was disappointed to see it fall so hard) I did want to mention the gameplay itself. Gunplay is still top notch, and I enjoyed the addition of a custom character and the level up system in single player. The cybernetic abilities were overpowered to shit though. Those silly fire bees pretty much won me every encounter. It was by far the easiest Hardened playthrough I've done.

There is a lot of game in this box, and while MP isn't my thing, Zombies was still fun to dick around in and I did enjoy shooting things with my robot arms in campaign. I just might be the only person in the world who still hopes for a good CoD story. If you just want to fight off waves of enemies until you move forward to trigger the script to spawn the next wave, you will still have fun.

Game #33: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Game #33

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Platform: PS4

Duration: 68 Hours

(SPOILER FREE, as I would never take the joy of experiencing this game away from anyone)

Let me paint you a picture.

This is a game where I was able to do something as stupid as this:
https://www.facebook.com/trevor.page.90/videos/1128693890493326/
...and then turn around and bawl like a child 10 hours later and one of the saddest things I have ever seen.

A game where I can literally suck a donkey through a wormhole...

...and be absolutely terrified and on the edge of my seat as the world crashes down around me during the same play session.

This game is beautiful. Not in the visual sense (though it is a beauty in that department) but in the sense that it gives me great pleasure to see, hear, think about, and experience. This is what I hope for every time I launch a title, the thing that drives me to be a part of this industry. Let me come right out and say it. This is the best game I played all year, and is one of my top five games of all time.

I have played dozens of games this year which have felt somehow incomplete to me. Games that could have used more time to really refine and close the loop on some systems, or maybe clean up the UI just a tad (or at all, Fallout 4). Metal Gear felt FINISHED. Complete. Polished to a level I have scarcely seen. Everything you did in this game had a purpose and resulted in an increase in player power or was just plain fun. It presented a world where every situation was a puzzle and it was up to me to figure out the correct tool for the job. If I failed, I knew it was my fault and I just had to approach the scenario a different way. I learned from every mistake, every incorrect loadout, every triggered alarm. I got better because the game challenged me to do so without ever feeling unfair.

Success felt wonderful, and was incredibly rewarding. I still don't know how they managed to pull off providing such an amazing sense of increasing your player power while making sure I never felt overpowered. The game was just as balanced if I tried to complete Mission 2 after only a few hours of play as it was if I did side quests for 40 hours before starting it, yet in both scenarios I felt powerful in different ways. I can look back at the start of the game and think "Man, I am a badass." and have that same thought loading up my save now. Every system in this game feeds into a perfect progression loop, hell even the goddamn MAIN THEME of the game has different meanings depending on how far through the story you are.

Through the gameplay and your management of Mother Base, I essentially felt like I had created my own world. This was MY base. These were MY recruits. MY Snake was silent and brutal. MY helicopter played MY theme when I deployed. The whole game felt personal, which I think just served to pull me in even deeper to this experience.

Speaking of pulling me in, the story was incredibly satisfying to me, hitting some great highs and some incredibly saddening lows. I don't think I have ever experienced a game that tied the story in so well to game systems either. Sure some games may unlock new systems after progressing, but Metal Gear intertwines them so much that they never feel separate. I wish I could go into detail, but explaining it any more would give things away. Gameplay was not sacrificed for story, and story was not sacrificed for gameplay. They were both part of the same whole.

Look, if you're reading this you probably know me pretty well. I am a hard person to please with games and I really don't like riding hype trains. This is genuine, unbiased respect and admiration for the game. If it was shit, I would call it out, and being popular wouldn't save it (just wait for the Fallout 4 post.) If you have a love for games, you need to play this. It's that simple.

After beating this game, I felt a number of things. Pride in myself for finishing the journey. Satisfaction with what the last moments presented. But more than anything, I was sad. Like, REALLY sad, because I knew this was the end and I wouldn't get to experience anything like this again. I will miss Metal Gear terribly, but even through the sadness I was glad I went along for the ride.

Thank you, Snake.
https://gifsound.com/?gif=i.imgur.com/yUlM6WD.jpg&v=QiPon8lr48U&s=161

Game #26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 MEGA Ketchup Post

Holy crap am I behind on updating! Don't worry though, because I've been busy! Instead of doing 7 individual posts, I think I will just do one big ass update, though I will break off MGS5 into it's own post. So here's the quick and dirty for the past few gaming months for Trevor.

Game #26
Fairy Fencer F
Platform: PC
Duration: 17 Hours

Never heard of this series before, but I saw the OT on NeoGAF for it and thought it looked interesting. Plus it was a JRPG for $15 bucks so I figured I would get my money's worth out of it. Honestly, it wasn't all that bad. The game didn't take itself too seriously, combat was decent enough, and the story wasn't the worst. The game did cut a LOT of corners though that probably saved development time and padded out the story significantly. Example: Halfway through the game you travel back in time and go through all the same locations again. There is also only one hub town that is all menu based and cutscenes are all 2D. Recycling!

Game only has 2 waifus though.

Game #27
Croixleur Sigma
Platform: PC
Duration: 2 Hours

Japanese indy game. Basically you climb a tower and kill monsters in arcade combat. Has come combos. Not a lot here but they want you to keep replaying to chase down better times and combos. Kinda fun. Again, 2 waifus.

Game #28
Freedom Wars
Platform: PS Vita
Duration: 22 Hours

Freedom Wars kicks ass. Seriously. It's a third person shooter for the vita where you play a prisoner with no memory in a post apocalyptic setting and a sentence of 1,000,000 years. To reduce your sentence and work off your debt to society like a good person, you go do missions against other cities that are given to you by a teddy bear by shooting robots, cutting off their arms, grappling around, and carrying scientists to drop pods.

You aren't even allowed to sleep laying down until you earn the right and doing so without the correct entitlement adds 50 years to your sentence. 10/10.

Game #29
Destiny: The Taken King
Platform: PS4
Duration: 10 Hours

I am counting this one because god damn it I got a credits screen and that counts. I enjoyed a version of Destiny with an actual story. Itemization definitely feels better, the new Hunter class is fun, and the raid has some very great mechanics for a shooter. Their ability to deliver unique encounters continues to impress me. I will probably stick with it until I clear the raid on Heroic (one boss to go!)

Game #30
Rock Band 4
Platform: XB1
Duration: 20 Hours

There were two ways to return to the music game genre: Keep everything the same (Rock Band) or completely reinvent yourself (Guitar Hero). Erika and I have so much invested in Rock Band that we went this route. This game is straight up a blast from the last gen and still as fun as ever. Our Band, Giant Enemy Crab, reached Rank 9 in the world on the launch weekend. That's something I'm gonna be proud of for a long time.

Game isn't without it's flaws though. The legacy adapter took an extra week to arrive and doesn't work very well. A number of features have been cut from the game including online and practice, though they plan to support the game with free updates instead of coming out with a sequel so we'll see. And finally not all of the DLC is available in the store. Large track packs like Rock Band 1, 2, and 3 are missing as well as Green Day and Lego plus hundreds of stand alone songs. There were also licensing issues at launch which prevented the game from recognizing that I owned specific songs. It's getting sorted, but is still a bummer.

Game #31
Persona 4: Dancing All Night
Platform: PS Vita
Duration: 6 Hours

Fun little rhythm game. I was actually impressed how much work they placed on the story to justify dancing to kill enemies. Game forced me to play through the campaign on Easy though, which is bullshit.

Game #32
Tales of Zestiria
Platform: PC
Duration: 30 Hours

A "Tales" game that is only 30 hours long?! I was as surprised as you are! Tales of Graces took me about 80 hours from start to finish and even Xillia was about 50. When I reached the point where all the characters started talking about the final battle I was like "Yeah okay guys. Now go ahead and reveal the second planet we have to explore." but it never happened. Stabbed the big bad with a sword and disappeared after touching a dragon, the end.

While the story wasn't too awful, it was a bit weak. Combat was fun though, but that's part for the course with Tales games. What WASN'T fun though was the most convoluted item system of any JRPG I have ever played. All items have base stats and affixes, the affixes fall on a gird, forming lines with affixes adds bonuses, you can merge the items to transfer affixes and make new ones, but you have to do it 10 times in an area where you have fought enough monsters to get a blessed item that you then have to merge another 99 times, but stores only sell one item at a time. It's a nightmare.

Well that's everything except Metal Gear. That game deserves it's own post! Planning out the rest of my year though, that 52 game mark is starting to look kinda scary. Planning it out a bit...
33 was Metal Gear 5.
34 will be Black Ops 3.
35 will be Fallout 4.
36 will probably be Tomb Raider.
37 will be Sword Art: Lost Song
38 will be Xenoblade Chronicles X

...and that's all the big titles I can remember right now that I am planning on playing. That's 14 more I need to figure out and beat and it is already November! Well, shit.

Game #25: Hatoful Boyfriend

Hatoful Boyfriend
Platform: PC
Duration: 1 Hour

So in this game, you play a Human girl who lives in a cave and goes to a Pigeon School and has to date one of them. I found the fanciest one I could find and helped him realize his dreams of being a musician even though his high society Father would never allow it. Pretty standard as far as dating sim plots go.

There was also some stat mechanic that I never really understood. Honestly once you get over the whole "you're dating birds" gimmick. there isn't a whole lot here. I guess I learned I am not sexually attracted to birds, which is good news I guess.

Game #24: BattleToads Arcade

BattleToads Arcade
Platform: XB1
Duration: 1 Hour

Erika and I blitzed through this a few weeks ago on a whim. I had no idea you grabbed wolfmen and then dick punched them. This game is brutal and still pretty hard. A lesser man than I would make a dick punching joke about that "hard" comment, but I'm better than that.

Penis.

Game #23: Story of Seasons

Story of Seasons
Platform: 3DS
Duration: 55 Hours

No, this isn't that Zelda game.

So this game is from the team that originally made Harvest Moon, but Natsume has the trademark for that now and they have been making...questionable games with it lately so these guys broke off and made this game. If you have any love for Harvest Moon at all, you will love this game. I fucking loved it. There's all the standard farm and livestock activities (though with tons of quality of live improvements) as well as a ton of waifus and husbandarus to get. Then, they added a completely customizable farm and house, tons of crafting and decorating, and even a bunch of clothes to craft including a bear costume because why not.

This game is great for killing time. I mean, seriously, 55 hours to get to the credits (which roll whenever you get married). By then, I had the biggest house in the game, was fucking ROLLING in money and had over a billion dollars from selling clothes from my fields of flax. I don't know how my magic sewing machine kept up with everything, but I hope it wasn't child labor. I also owned every public field in the town. Not because I needed them, but because I wanted to exert my dominance over the other shitty farmers in town.

I'm not even past Spring in the second year. I could keep going with this game for a very long time. Buy it, seriously.

Game #22: Watch_Dogs

Watch_Dogs
Platform: PC
Duration: 17 Hours

If you were to make a checklist of every AAA cliche and then made a game based on that list, the end result would be Watch_Dogs. Open world, side activities and collectibles, a dark and brooding protagonist, incredibly complex tasks reduced to a simple minigame, a mystery you have to solve, a betrayal from a close friend, it's all here. If I had to sum up the game in one word, it would be "safe". Don't get me wrong, in the end I did enjoy my time with the game. It was nothing groundbreaking or new, but I was not bored during the playthrough.

Aside from the blandness, I think the biggest thing that bugged me was the storyline. Well, maybe not the story it was trying to tell, but more of how it accomplished it.

Here's an example. Someone is kidnapped and you make a deal to trace an IP address to get them back. So when you try to trace the IP your base gets attacked, so you set off to find another base, which your only lead is a crazy hermit, who you have to beat at poker so he trusts you, so you can get the remote to a bridge, so you can go to the island, so you can turn on the generators, so that THEN you can finally have a new base. It has now been two hours and you have not even started the task yet. This is also not a one off scenario, the story does this CONSTANTLY. I think it was about 10 hours of gameplay before I finally found the kidnap victim because the game just kept adding more and more little tasks to complete before I could actually do something important.

The gun system could have used a little work as well. I completed about 90% of the fights in the game with a pistol. I don't think I ever even used a shotgun or submachine gun once because I know how to aim. Saints Row also suffers from this problem a bit.

Also, I get it Watch_Dogs, you have to set everything up for the sequel, but the ending didn't have to be a string of videos going "this group is still alive and is mad at you".

Game #21: LIMBO

LIMBO
Platform: PC
Duration: 2.5 Hours

Not once did I ever limbo under anything. 0/10

loljk. Anyway, I will say that I think the best aspect of the game is the style. It's honestly pretty unique. I think it got in the way of some puzzles though because it wasn't entirely clear that I could interact with some of the things in the environment.

I still am not a huge fan of this game, even after finally completing it. There were really odd difficulty peaks and valleys throughout the game. Sure the puzzles got more complex as you went along, but complexity does not inherently add difficulty. Some of these puzzles, particularly the more complicated physics based ones, were pretty interesting. Some though, were just boring. Also there were "puzzles" that were just simple GOTCHA moments that were pretty annoying to encounter. It's like, yeah, okay, you surprised me with that second bear trap. I now know about this "puzzle" and will just avoid it next time. That isn't very fun gameplay to me.

Also I may just not be "artsy" enough, but I had precisely zero idea what was going on.

Game #20: Silent Hill: The Arcade

Silent Hill: The Arcade
Platform: Arcade Cabinet
Duration: 40 minutes

Joe Floro and I beat the crap out of this shooter at Round 1 this past weekend. We got like halfway through the second act before we realized we hadn't died at all, so we steeled ourselves against the terrible voice acting and fought Pyramid Head like 18 times.

It was easy enough and honestly there were some cool little segments (we shot people in bunny mascot costumes while they rode a merry-go-round and shot at us with shotguns.)

I will never play this again.

Game #19: Ducktales Remastered

Ducktales Remastered
Platform: PC
Duration: 2 Hours

Pros:

• Dat music.
• I actually haven't played a platformer in a while and it was quite enjoyable.
• 2D sprites look great.
• OG voice actors. 
• Himalayas.
• I got really good at the last level...because I had to reply it 3 times since the final boss kept crashing. Had to disable all of my processors except one to get around a 100% crash with multi-core systems. Real edge case bug, I mean who even has more than one processor?

Cons:

• The controls weren't as tight as they could have been. Felt a bit floaty.
• The hit boxes in this game were abysmal.
• Cutscenes were longer than a Metal Gear title.

Game #18: Dragonball Xenoverse

Dragonball Xenoverse
Platform: XB1
Duration: 15 Hours

I made a girl Buu. She is kawaii as fuck. Vegeta was my mentor until I blasted the shit out of him with his own Final Flash. I then defeated the God of Destruction, which even Goku couldn't do, and then killed the God of Space and Time.

10/10

The first picture is just moments after saving Trunks' bitch ass.

Game #17: Pillars of Eternity

Pillars of Eternity
Platform: PC
Total Playtime: 33 Hours

I have been bad. I have a backlog of games I need to update but its been a crazy few months.

So. Pillars. I was really looking forward to this one. I grew up on CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and I am super happy that Obsidian was able to make this game. I am also quite happy that it turned out to be a really solid game.

Unforgiving difficulty? Check.
Correct and incorrect customization options? Check.
So many inventory items that you spend most of the game sorting them all? Check.
More reading than a college English class? Damn straight.
Bioware style romances? NO AND I'M MAD.

This game hits pretty much every box on the CRPG checklists (except romances which I'm not bitter about at ALL). This definitely isn't a game that the 14 year old who insinuated he had sexual relations with my mother on HotS would be able to complete, or even really comprehend. If you have a more refined taste in games, you will enjoy your time with Pillars.

By the way, make sure you do every side quest ever. If you don't, the game makes you feel like a gigantic asshole about any unresolved plot lines.

Game #16: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Platform: PC
Total Playtime: Umm, a lot

"An MMO?! But Trevor, how can you 'beat' an MMO?" - Everyone who reads this ever

Well, when the MMO has a dedicated series of story quests and over an hour and a half of cutscenes to end the base game, I think it is pretty safe to say I "beat" FF14. There were even end credits! Also, shut up, I can do what I want.

I say this at the start of this blog, but I think I need to reiterate here that although I am an employee at Blizzard Entertainment, the thoughts and opinions expressed here are ENTIRELY my own and do not represent the company I work for.

So with that out of the way, I just have to say that I love this game. Ever since WoW came out and changed the entire environment for MMO's forever, most (not all) major MMOs that have come out have followed a pretty standard formula.

I call it the "It's like WoW, BUT..." principle.

Rift is like WoW, BUT it has a ton more character customization options and classes. SWTOR is like WoW BUT it has lightsabers. Conan is like WoW BUT it has boobies. Now I know this is a gross oversimplification, but for the most part MMOs for the past decade don't stray too far from the basic formula of WoW but with a unique spin on a few things. Now the unique things that these MMOs introduce are often better than the way that WoW handles things, but the rest of the basics never seem to match up. I think that is a big reason why nothing has dethroned WoW in ten years.

I know I have experienced this myself. I play most major MMOs and I start to get frustrated when there are similar systems like dungeon finder that just aren't as good as WoW's. Or, more often than not, it functions identical to how the system did in WoW maybe 2 years ago but while it has been iterated on in WoW, it has just stayed the same in the competition. If I wanted to play something similar to WoW, I would just play WoW.

So how does FF14 come into this? Well, all the pieces of it that are similar to WoW, actually are as good as WoW's iteration of them. There's a great dungeon finder, combat is similar and functional, and the quest system is nearly identical. Add on top of that a heavy dose of Final Fantasy nostalgia and a very strong story line where YOU are the focus, not the heroes around you and, well, you got yourself a game I have kept playing consistently since it relaunched. It builds off of what Warcraft has established already works, but it also feels like a wholly unique game.

I seriously cannot wait for the expansion. I am thrilled that this game is performing well and it really is a result of the dedication that their Devs pour into this title. Keep up the outstanding quality, and I will keep playing.

Game #15: Far Cry 4

Far Cry 4
Platform: PC
Total Playtime: 25 Hours

Was really not expecting this game to be this long. I also only completed about 52% of the activities and collections. I tend to not 100% open world games as I don't really like collectibles. PC was definitely a ported platform for this title, as the default controls are all over the place and took me a non-trivial amount of time to figure out.

So this game plays almost exactly like Far Cry 3, which is both good and bad. One new system though is a branching campaign where you can do good guy missions for the whiny guy, or more morally gray missions for the hot chick. I think that was done on purpose to get people to be evil since the large majority of players will take the "Good" route in games that offer a choice like that. Gear upgrades come by killing and skinning animals just like in FC3, though the pacing is incredibly weird this time. You can get the second highest tier of all of your gear within the first 5 hours of the game. I don't know if that was the intent, but I felt it trivialized the entire upgrade system when I was walking around kitted out like a badass so early in the game.

I wanted to call out something that particularly stuck out to me. Now I know I am playing a video game and at the end of the day, player enjoyment trumps realism, but there were two really glaring things that just didn't make sense to me.

•  While hanging on a rope attached to a grappling hook, you can detach the hook and throw it onto another ledge...while you're still on the rope. You won't fall, and you can keep climbing up like nothing happened. This isn't a bug, there are sections of the game where this mechanic is mandatory.
• You can silence a .50 cal Sniper Rifle. I would take out entire Outposts like a thief in the night with this silenced monstrosity and no one would ever know what was going on.

Also for a game that had unskippable cutscenes, the ending was so short and abrupt that I didn't even have time to skip it. The ending I got was an incredible letdown, and just left me feeling disappointed. Great gameplay, but the story never really got me engaged.

Game #14: Tales of Hearts R

Tales of Hearts R
Platform: PS Vita
Total Playtime: 31 Hours

So most people I know have heard of "Tales of Symphonia", a pretty popular JRPG from the Gamecube era. That game was great for its time and I beat it way back when, but that was the last "Tales of" game I played since I picked up Graces 2 years ago. Graces blew me away, and I really wasn't expecting such a great game when I picked it up on a whim for something to play. Ever since then, I have been working my way through the back catalog of Tales games, something Namco has been making a lot easier with recent re-releases. The latest one is Tales of Hearts R.

The problem with these re-releases is that the games have been getting better (for the most part) with each iteration. Going back and playing the older entries, while still fun, just makes me appreciate the more recent ones even more. Being limited to only one set of special abilities, a pretty basic story, and a comparatively small play time jump out to me as the biggest areas that are improved in future games. The play time alone was a pretty big shocker to me. For comparison, I completed Tales of Graces after about 80 hours.

Still though, combat in Tales games is always fun, even if this one was a bit on the easy side. I enjoyed my time with this game, and it passed the time very well during my flight to Japan.

Game #13: Homeworld 2 Remastered Edition

Homeworld 2 Remastered Edition
Platform: PC
Total Playtime: 9 Hours

Okay, much fewer bugs this time around. Probably because they didn't have to redo nearly as much for this campaign. Mostly just texture work.

I always thought Homeworld 2 was the weakest of the trilogy. It's still a great game, but the story gets all mystical and weird. The pacing in the campaign is also pretty damn brutal. There's about 5 missions in a row where you have to keep fighting off enemies until the moment the mission ends, then you are thrown into the next mission immediately and enemies fly in without a chance to rebuild your fleet, or even pause for a breath.

Aside from the pacing issues, resources were not balanced at all throughout the campaign. By mission 5, you have more money than you would ever spend since you have a cap on how many of each type of ship you can build. Since the game gives you all unharvested resources at the end of each mission too, you don't even have to have your collectors...collect. I had all twenty resource collectors do nothing but heal my ships. It felt like I was playing with a money cheat or something.

Still a great game. Still super difficult. Still great to play through again with the new visuals.

Game #12: Homeworld Remastered Edition

Homeworld Remastered Edition

Platform: PC

Total Playtime: 9 Hours

So after going back and looking at my previous entries, I realized I was treating this like a mini review blog. That was never my intent. So starting from this post on, I will be more focused on what stood out to me while playing the game and my thoughts on the memorable moments and systems. If you've never played the game I happen to be writing about you may be lost, but if you ever want to talk about it more, you know where to find me.

And now...on to the Homeworld post!

So a bit of backstory. My Dad's favorite band in the world is "Yes". Back in 1999 on a pretty standard trip to the computer game store with my Dad, he walks in and purchases Homeworld, solely for the fact that "Yes" has a song in the game. 14 year old Trevor watched his Dad play through the first few missions and was blown away. When my turn on the computer came up, I jumped in head first with no idea that I was about to play one of my favorite games ever. 

My Dad ended up beating the game and moving on. I, however, jumped into the online multiplayer scene. This was my first real exposure to clans, ranked ladders, and a "meta game" though no one called it that at the time. I learned about clan drama, helped develop new strategies, hell I even reached rank #3 in the entire WORLD when I was still 14. I love this game.

Sixteen years later (holy fuck I'm getting old) and here I am again with the remaster. Honestly, I felt like someone took a sharpie and drew on my child. While the game looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL and the remastered audio brought me to tears the moment I heard it again, the game was littered with so many bugs that it felt like it was trying to make me not fall in love again. From minor issues like  the loss of ctrl groups, shadow flickering, and pathing bugs to immersion breaking issues like a hard crash to desktop, 8 instances of a black screen, a mission that wouldn't complete, and some bad A.I. issues that were brand new to the remaster. This was an ordeal to finish, and I will probably be waiting to play through Homeworld 2 until a bug fix patch comes out.

Even on the credits, there was an image covering up most of one poor guy's name. Speaking of credits, they didn't bother paying for the license for the "Yes" song again. So I muted the game and played it on YouTube. Try as you might, Mr. Remaster, you can't stop me from loving Homeworld. 

Game #11: Akiba's Trip

Akiba's Trip
Platform: PS4
Total Playtime: 8 Hours

Yeah I beat 2 games in one night. I'm a baller.

This one was a bit of an impulse purchase. A friend of a friend did the VO for one of the characters and I had remember hearing about it a while back. Erika and I figured what the hell and picked it up.

This game doesn't take itself seriously, to the point where a good third of your dialogue options are internet memes. You can make your character look at stupid or as cool as you want. For example, I beat the game with headphones, a combat vest, a diva skirt, and sandals and I was fighting with a keyboard so you know, I was pretty damn fly.

There's a pretty large amount of weapons in the game, and each one plays a bit differently. Honestly though, most are garbage. Just grab a bat and beat the crap out of everything that moves. The game does a great job with its setting as well. Loading screens for Akihabara restaurants, animes, tons of local stores, it was pretty fun just wandering around.

There are also multiple endings and paths depending on which waifu you wanna get with. If you're just looking for a sensible chuckle while beating up hordes of anime people while looking silly, you could do a lot worse than this game.

Game #10: Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

Pokemon Alpha Saphire
Platform: 3DS
Total Playtime: 21 Hours

So, Pokemon Gold and Silver is the only mainline Pokemon game I never beat. Isn't that nuts? I have been playing Pokemon games for 20 years. Hundreds of hours spent capturing little dumb monsters and forcing them to fight other dumb monsters. I actually still have my Blastoise from Pokemon Red in Pokemon Y. I love that little thing, and I love this franchise.

I wonder why I can look past the fact that the game is largely the same year after year. Maybe because it's a lower price on handhelds? Maybe the pure nostalgia factor? I will say that it did take me a while to beat this one instead of blitzing through it like I did with Pokemon Y, but I still bought it day 1 and managed to complete it. This is one silly little fad I am still happy to have in my life.

I think I'll be spending more time in this one as there seems to be more post game content in this one compared to Y. Now to transfer over 400 Pokemon into this version.

Game #9: Hyrule Warriors

Hyrule Warriors
Platform: WiiU
Total Playtime: 10 Hours

So historically, I have never been a huge fan of Dynasty Warriors. I think the last one I played was back on PS2 and after like an hour or two I just turned it off. I understood the appeal of it, it just wasn't really up my ally at the time.

With Hyrule Warriors, I think I initially wrote this off as a cool idea, but not something I would buy. Reviews were super solid though, so I gave in. Honestly, this game is pure stupid fun.I was really surprised that I could be entertained for so long by just mindlessly blowing through thousands of enemies. I think the Zelda package around it went a long way towards my overall enjoyment.

The only real disappointment I had with the game was that so many of the story levels pretty much forced you to use Link, who wasn't really the most interesting character to play as. Ganondorf is a fucking beast, as is Princess Ruto. Once I had those two, I was wrecking on a whole different level.

Play as a stupid amount of characters, murder minions, kill bosses, get heart pieces. That's the game, and it was well worth my time. It is kinda weird to see Ganondorf use a hookshot though.

Game #8: Saints Row: Gat out of Hell

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell
Platform: PC
Total Playtime: 3 Hours

BAH! This was a short one. So technically, this game is stand alone DLC for Saints Row 4, picking up after the events of "How the Saints saved Christmas". While this one was a bit bigger budget than the other DLC packs so far, it was a little light on the humor compared to some of the previous outings.

In terms of gameplay, there are no real "Story" missions. You basically go around the open world completing the various challenges until Satan gets mad enough at you to advance the plot. Mechanic wise, you have multiple new superpowers, and an actual flight mode instead of just gliding. Flying actually feels really awesome, and the flight challenges were by far my favorite. Other familiar Saints Row challenges show up again like mayhem and fraud. You also get a new batch of weapons this time out, but once again dual pistols wrecks pretty much everything in the game if you can aim well enough.

More Saints Row is never a bad thing, and I always smile when interacting with the gang again. I just wish the trip was a bit longer, and the jokes more plentiful. I honestly just ended up missing SR4 more after playing this. I may go back and do another playthrough sometime this year. If you've never played it, the next gen bundle with SR4 and all the DLC + Gat is incredibly worth your time.

Game #7: Halo 4

Halo 4
Platform: XB1
Total Playtime: 7.5 Hours

If playing through the original Halo trilogy was a trip into the annals of FPS history, Halo 4 is like taking a time machine into the future to see the dystopian landscape of everything that is wrong with the genre now.

Crowded HUD? Check.
CoD segments where your character is flung around without your control? Check.
Final boss that's just a quick time event? Check.

Even in the first firefight I got into, I could immediately tell this was a completely different game. After killing the same enemies with the same guns for 3 games and knowing how many bullets it took, everything just felt off. Enemies take a ton of bullets in this game to die, making automatic weapons pretty much the worst choice in every situation. Headshots with the various semi-autos were the only really effective way I found to put down enemies at a decent pace.

Speaking of enemies, the new ones you fight in this game (The Prometheans) are probably the most annoying enemies I have ever encountered in an FPS. They constantly dart around, they have regenerating shields, they teleport away when their shields go down to let them recharge, and there's a unit that can just rez the rest of them that immediately flies away when you try and kill it. I liked using their weapons a lot, and they have a slick design, but damn were they a pain to fight.

So what did I end up enjoying? The vehicle segments were a lot of fun this time, especially the Death Star trench level. I really did like a lot of the new guns that were added like the Promethean guns and the single shot Human rifle. The equipment was pretty fun to experiment with and the game did a good job of making you try out each one before populating the maps with the more popular choices. It was also a very pretty game to look at.

Oh, and I am not going to talk about the story. After fully completing the game, I still cannot tell you why the Covenant were even in it to begin with other than to be a different enemy to fight.

I miss dual wielding :(

Game #6: Halo 3

Halo 3
Platform: XB1
Total Playtime: 4.5 Hours

Yeah, I was surprised at that playtime too. Maybe I was just confused thinking about plot holes instead of focusing on playing the game. Like really, how did Keys and Johnson get to Earth before me AND have time to establish a base since I left them behind on a Halo and I was already in orbit above Earth when Halo 2 ended? Man, I don't know. I had to stop thinking about that.

The game felt very final. As in, it was very obvious Bungie was saying goodbye to this story and most of the characters. As a result. it was overall a solid end to the trilogy. Mechanics were polished as ever, some of the new guns felt very fun to use, vehicles weren't a nightmare to control, it was the final iteration on systems that were introduced years ago and the game was a lot better for it.

I just wish the final fight wasn't against a stationary robot you shoot 4 times.

Game #5: Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment
Platform: PSVita
Total Playtime: 49 Hours 30 Minutes

Finally finished this one. For a licensed game, the developers had a very strong understanding of the show and the character interactions, even if the English translation was absolutely terrible. I had to sit and try to interpret the meaning behind all the incorrect translations and typos. Because I was able to look past this though, I found a very fun game with a stupid amount of content.

You play as Kirito, and can partner up with any of the main characters from SAO as well as two new ones introduced in the game. Leefa and Sinon also show up through some convenient plot to allow them as party member options. You can use any weapon from SAO as Kirito and each have their own talents, strengths, and weaknesses. Though if you use anything besides two swords you should be shot.

Combat is actually really well adapted and makes sense in the show's rules. Honestly it just feels like you're playing SAO, without you know dying when you fail. Hell, bosses even have last hit item bonuses, and people in the assault group can die permanently. Lots of stats and equipment to manage and max out, threat tables, skill points, combo attacks, it's all pretty deep. Aside from all the combat, there are a ton of side scenes with individual characters as well as the group as a whole. I've done everything from family picnics with Asuna and Yui to going on a quest to find some rare food for Pina. There are a few too many fan service moments, but you can kinda just roll with them and move along.

This is probably one of the best licensed property adaptations for a video game out there, it really is apparent how much of the show went into this title. It also helps of course that it was fun to play.

Game #4: Halo 2: Anniversary

Halo 2: Anniversary
Platform: XB1
Total Playtime: 11 Hours

So I was making my way through Kingdom Hearts 2 and my PS3 died 17 hours in :(

Frustrated, I went out into the living room and started up Halo 2. Erika joined me though, and we had some awesome co-op action.

The level design was light years better in Halo 2 compared to 1. Clear paths through levels without having to rely on constant waypoints. That's not to say there weren't any times at all that we both got stuck for a bit, but it was far less than Halo 1. Storytelling got kicked up a notch too, and there was a lot going on with both sides of the conflict and it was pretty easy to follow along.

By the way, the remastered cutscenes by Blur were amazing. It was worth it to play through the game for those alone.

I did play though this way back when, but I forgot just how much of a cliffhanger the ending is. Good thing I have Halo 3 on the same disc and ready to go!