Happy New Year 2014! I can't believe how quickly 2013 passed by. It didn't seem that long ago when I was writing about the upcoming year and how it was "going to be a really good year". I'd say it was a good year, but not a great year. I really wanted to get more done in 2013, but didn't get enough done. I did learn quite a bit though. I learned the importance of mastering an audio track, I picked up a new DAW to work with, and I got a few remixes done.
Here are my Resolutions for 2014:
1) Get into the game industry. Find a job, essentially.
2) Give up writing on Superpad Unplugged, it's taking up too much time.
3) Focus on audio. Lots of ideas that wants to be heard!
Bonus) Complete over 123 games with a focus on these games:
-StarCraft 2 - Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm (PC)
-Final Fantasy VII / VIII (PC)
-3DS: Pokémon Y (3DS)
-Monster Hunter 3 (3DS)
-Animal Crossing (3DS)
-Persona 3 FES (PS2)
-Persona 4 (PS2)
-Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 (PS2)
-Final Fantasy X / X-2 / XII (PS2)
-Final Fantasy XIII / XIII-2 / Lightning Returns (when it releases) (PS3)
-Dragon's Dogma (PS3)
-The Last Story (Wii)
-Pandora's Tower (Wii)
Here's a reflection on some of the games I played through in 2013:
Dear Esther (PC) - I kept hearing so many things about this game and ended up being very disappointed and disgusted. It's an interactive narrative. You don't do anything other than walk forward and listen to someone talking.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (3DS) - It's an obvious money grabber feeding off the nostalgia of Final Fantasy, but wow I had so much fun with this game.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC) - I got through it, but never got around to playing Ys Origins because I got caught up with other games. I'm probably going to play Ys Origins soon. This was a great remake of the original, even though it's old itself as well.
Code of Princess (3DS) - I was a bit disappointed with the limited combos and attack abilities as well as having to deal with graphics lag, but the experience I got from playing the game was so good that I couldn't stop talking about it. I love the music!
Torchlight 2 (PC) - Wow, this was so much better than the first one! After completing it, I got a few friends to play with me and I have accumulated 111 hours on it through playing with them and with mods on.
Zombies. (PC) - I played this game last year? It felt like a long time ago when I finished it. The game wasn't that great and had many flaws, but the soundtrack was so incredible that I've kept referring back to the game when wanting to listen to high energy music.
Anarchy Reigns (PS3) - It wasn't the greatest of beat-em-ups I've played last year, but it certainly had one of the best soundtracks that I listened to all year long.
Sonic Generations (PC) - Best. Sonic. Game. EVER! No really, it's the best Sonic game I've played up to date. I'm playing the newest one on 3DS (Lost World) and I'm not very happy with it).
Cherry Tree High Comedy Club (PC) - I enjoyed this game way more than I thought I would and it left a really good impression on me. The game could've had more content and depth to it, but it was really fun for what it provided. I think it was the only reading-heavy game I played last year.
Fairy Bloom Freesia (PC) - The game was really short, but it had some of the most fluid combat for a 2D beat-em-up I've played.
Super House of Dead Ninjas (PC) - A simple concept with challenging difficulty reminded me of the old school 2D platformers from the NES days.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3) - I finally got around to playing it and this is how I'd describe it: It does everything right as an Action game, but it's not a Castlevania game. It simply has an identity crisis and can't figure out what it wants to be. It was at least better than the 3DS one that came out.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (PC) - I have to say that this iteration blew me away. It's so much better than Black Ops 1 in so many ways. The story was just as good, if not better, than the first; however, the gameplay was actually fun this time around! Multiplayer is much more balanced with higher quality. I'm sad that Call of Duty Ghosts have received such poor ratings, because I was thinking of getting it.
Skullgirls (PC) - I finally got to play Skullgirls, and it's a lot of fun! I didn't expect an indie studio to produce such a highly refined fighting game.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC) - I heard a lot of..."interesting" things about the game and bought the whole pack. I got through the first game and really liked it. The end part got a little ridiculous in difficulty, but the overall experience I got from playing the game was pretty good. It's almost like playing a single-player DayZ.
Krater (PC) - Ugh, I can't believe how much time I poured into this game. I had so many problems with the game and didn't like so many things about it, yet I was determined to complete it which eventually took 44 hours. The game could've been so much better, and the fact that I actually stuck with it shows that it does have some entertainment value in it.
Hatsune Miku Project DIVA F (PS3) - I wasn't planning on getting the game, but I ended up buying it the first day when I found out it released physical copies of the game. It's a pretty fun game and I like a majority of the songs.
Dark Souls (PS3) - I did it! Praise the Sun! After buying the game 2 years ago, I finally sat down and played through the game which took me 60 hours to complete. I also completed Skyrim which took about 40 hours? Something like that.
I don't know if I'm looking forward to any games this year. I guess Final Fantasy Lightning Returns and Dark Souls 2 would be among them as well as Super Smash Bros. I didn't really look into the games coming out in 2014 since I'm so focused on all the games I just got this year. I still have a pretty big backlog that I'm trying to clear through. I'm a little nervous going into 2014 since I'm a bit pressured towards getting a job now. I really don't know where I'm headed. I guess I'll figure it out, eventually.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Monday, December 30, 2013
The season is cold
At one point this month, the temperature dropped down to around 20 F with most days being clear and sunny. Most Decembers are cloudy, rainy and moderately cold and not freezing. It eventually eased up right before my sister came back home for the holidays. It's been a fun 2 weeks with my sister, her boyfriend and our friends back home. It definitely made it hard for me to say "goodbye" once again when they left since the last time I saw them was a year ago. Despite trying to relax this month, I did do a little bit of work and plan on finishing them up in the upcoming month. I really don't know what's in store or planned for me in 2014 as I need to find a proper job and start taking my work a lot more seriously. To do that, I think I'm going to have to give up writing on Superpad Unplugged because it takes up too much of my time each day throughout the past 3 years. It makes me a little sad to give up such a daily routine as it really connected me to the daily media of the videogame industry and has made me really appreciate the time, effort and quality that editors in videogame media put into what we read. But I really need to make this change because I had planned to produce 50 artworks and 50 audio projects and came up with 14 on each side. I feel pumped up and passionate about my planned audio works and so I want to put more of my time into that. Honestly, I'm a little nervous about next year. Can I get a job that I want at a place I'm happy at? Will I still be able to work on my own projects when working? With moving away from home, can I still do everything that I did at home such as playing guitar, piano, and console games?
In the gaming side of things, I finally completed Dark Souls after 60 hours of gameplay time! I had completed it the night my sister came home. To give a short answer to what I thought about the game: There were parts of the game I didn't like that I felt was poorly designed, but ultimately enjoyed the game a lot. I also finished Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS and returned it to my sister. Both games had their frustrating moments in difficulty and design flaws, but they were both fun. Looking back at my records, I actually completed a lot of games this month: Risk of Rain, The Angry Videogame Nerd Adventures, Orcs Must Die! 2, Divekick, Hatsune Miku Project DIVA F, Darksiders (FINALLY), Ninja Blade, Electronic Super Joy, DuckTales (NES), Castle of Illusion (Genesis), and DuckTales Remastered. I played a lot of fun games this month! I also acquired a lot of new ones due to the Steam Winter Sales that's still going on right now. I mainly bought a lot of First-Person Shooters and 2D Platformers it seems.
I immediately started up Electronic Super Joy when I got it since I knew it was a short game and I do enjoy platformers. The music is amazing, but I think they were made before the game was created and so I don't think they were made for the game specifically.
The game itself; however, had problems and I couldn't enjoy it entirely because of them. For platformers, it's better to be simple and revolve the game around the established mechanics. But the game kept changing them around. One level you're smashing down on enemies, others you're flying, then you can only double jump, then the level becomes sideways? Overall, the game felt like a mess and left a bad impression on me. There were some levels I genuinely really enjoyed though and the music made the experience exceedingly better. So far, I've gotten 22 games for myself with three more days of sales left. There are so many games I want to get around to playing, but it never seems like I have enough time to get to all of them.
It feels a bit sad that this year is almost over. The games that released this year were a lot better than I thought they'd be when the year began. The Nintendo 3DS in particular had a great line-up of games released this year. 2014 is shaping up to be another great year for gaming as well with the next generation of games on its way. I am so sad that Phantasy Star Online 2 did not release in the West and has yet to have any news on it.
In the gaming side of things, I finally completed Dark Souls after 60 hours of gameplay time! I had completed it the night my sister came home. To give a short answer to what I thought about the game: There were parts of the game I didn't like that I felt was poorly designed, but ultimately enjoyed the game a lot. I also finished Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS and returned it to my sister. Both games had their frustrating moments in difficulty and design flaws, but they were both fun. Looking back at my records, I actually completed a lot of games this month: Risk of Rain, The Angry Videogame Nerd Adventures, Orcs Must Die! 2, Divekick, Hatsune Miku Project DIVA F, Darksiders (FINALLY), Ninja Blade, Electronic Super Joy, DuckTales (NES), Castle of Illusion (Genesis), and DuckTales Remastered. I played a lot of fun games this month! I also acquired a lot of new ones due to the Steam Winter Sales that's still going on right now. I mainly bought a lot of First-Person Shooters and 2D Platformers it seems.
I immediately started up Electronic Super Joy when I got it since I knew it was a short game and I do enjoy platformers. The music is amazing, but I think they were made before the game was created and so I don't think they were made for the game specifically.
The game itself; however, had problems and I couldn't enjoy it entirely because of them. For platformers, it's better to be simple and revolve the game around the established mechanics. But the game kept changing them around. One level you're smashing down on enemies, others you're flying, then you can only double jump, then the level becomes sideways? Overall, the game felt like a mess and left a bad impression on me. There were some levels I genuinely really enjoyed though and the music made the experience exceedingly better. So far, I've gotten 22 games for myself with three more days of sales left. There are so many games I want to get around to playing, but it never seems like I have enough time to get to all of them.
It feels a bit sad that this year is almost over. The games that released this year were a lot better than I thought they'd be when the year began. The Nintendo 3DS in particular had a great line-up of games released this year. 2014 is shaping up to be another great year for gaming as well with the next generation of games on its way. I am so sad that Phantasy Star Online 2 did not release in the West and has yet to have any news on it.
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