Supplementary year end blog 2022
Doing more writing, that’s the name of the game! That’s what we’re trying to do! 2022 certainly was a year! I tried to do a little bit more than I normally do. And learn from experiences that I’ve never given myself before. (I know, I I’m going to bring something up that I briefly mentioned in the last blog. I’m clearly proud of it despite having nothing to show yet.)
you get a lot more bts stuff on the discord.
It being my first time directing anything you could definitely tell. My green nature of going “one more take” and making sure everything thing was going okay for everyone at every minute. Plus explicitly asking for the help of peers that have many more experience in the industry than I do… regretfully.
I do want to do more of that this year, I would also love it if I could do some acting as well. I went to school for a skill that I haven’t had any real potential to utilize. But the year just started, so let’s persue!
Anyway, The point of the blog this time around is to give mention to other things that I just didn’t want to stick onto a top 10 games blog.
I have always said how much I think the Last Remnant is actually a interesting game, despite everything. The game play is about pitting different groups of a large army against the enemy team. The formation determines the stats and behavior. The tug-of-war with a morale gage also determines your armies performance. Each individual’s level up goes towards the health of the team as a whole and specific abilities come out based on all of these determined factors of placement/health/morale.
Gameplay is what makes the Last Remnant absolutely fantastic. Story, not so much.
This game being originally made for the Xbox 360 and probably the first time Square Enix has used the Unreal engine has shown it’s age animation wise. The story itself is filled with unnecessary drama and convenient plot contrivances that make otherwise important moments pointless. But the game’s overall experience is what it feels to have a triple A company throw together a B-rate video game.
It has enough charm to be so bad it’s good.
(Let me know in the comments if you just want to see a Remnant stream anytime this year. It’s honestly been a while since I’ve touched it so it will go well.)
My favorite soundtrack of the year goes to Triangle Strategy. Which sadly never made it to my list because I never got to play as much as I would have liked. But a consistent joy with Triangle Strategy as well as the games before it (Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler) have been an absolutely stellar soundtrack.
Many battle ballads are just the perfect songs to have in the background to get work done. And despite it’s dumb name, the title track is just an all around epic worthy of being in that Strategy RPG wheelhouse. (especially if you listen to the version with lyrics here.)
“Hi!”
The game I wish was a lot better is Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Well, I think I’m even being a little harsh here. Because it’s not necessarily a bad game, and it does have it’s scary moments. I think what it is, is that the released product is just not what I expected at all. Instead of being a horror game all the way through you’re wandering around Tokyo in an open world format, solving quirky sub quests along the way of stopping the big bad from accomplishing his goal. It’s less about being scary and more a buddy detective mystery. And the use of abilities never made me feel like I was in any real danger, even for those moments where they took my abilities away.
I think it’s got enough things going on where it’s worth playing, you might even love it purely for the weird Japanese humour. But it not being the game I would have wanted, you’d be doing a better service to yourself to just wait for a good sale if you are interested.
The game I wish kept my interest, was Phantasy Star Online 2.
Being a fan of the original one back in the day, I think I definitely overhyped myself. Never even bothering to touch the game until it was brought over by Microsoft (like 10 years later?), I soon realized it was bogged down by all of these things that, of course, would flood a Free to play MMO.
The big visual update it got this year was enough to get me back in for a little while. Yet with every other MMO I play, once things start getting aimless I lose big interest. It happened just as quickly with PSO2: New Genesis because I didn’t really understand what I was supposed to do, or how I could progress. It’s uninstalled for now, but if there’s enough interest with a group of friends to just fuck around, then sure I’ll download it again and see what’s new.
What do we have this year to look forward to?
I don’t think that far ahead in terms of games I’m looking forward to, and what you’d even expect of me for another GOTY list. I think Fire Emblem Engage being on the horizon is the first thing to look forward to. The Fire Emblem franchise as a whole is pretty interesting despite my getting into it late. (Frankly, I hated the franchise for the longest time, it wasn’t until Awakening on the 3DS where it finally clicked for me. The Echoes remake of FE Gaiden is still the BEST in the series as far as I’m concerned.) Engage has gone back to the weapon triangle, which is the big thing I’ve hated about these games, but another game getting rid of weapon durability is the right thing to do. Also, the player character design this time around just looks like an asshole.
The BOTW sequel Tears of the Kingdom is also a game that will be released and I couldn’t be happier that it’s this year. Breath of the Wild was everything I’ve wanted out of a Zelda game and for it to get a direct sequel is an exciting thing. Luckily I haven’t been hyping myself up too much about it.
And finally Starfield. I know enough about Bethesda experiences to know what I’m going to want out of it. It being made with Creation Engine 2 means, people are going to expect a lot of improvements with the gameplay design and I’m sure means people are going to want to see less jank. Depending on what you come to a Bethesda game for, jank could be the charming factor for why you love those game. BUT it doesn’t mean the game SHOULDN’T be improved. What they’ve shown has piqued my interest, and I will definitely pick it up on PC, cause if I know my Bethesda games, the Mod community may just come out with some super cool shit.