Monday, February 27, 2017

Catching Up

I just had a rough week.  I’m not sure if it has anything to do with I’ve been handling myself this past month, but this has been the most ill I’ve been in years.  I realized that I haven’t posted an entry on this blog since the beginning of the year, so I decided to relax a bit today as I recover.

Last Wednesday, I had a dry throat and thought it was just from eating pizza for lunch.  I drank some more water and didn’t think too much of it.  Thursday morning, I woke up still with a dry throat and I started having allergies.  It had been raining all week long and that Thursday was finally a bright and sunny day.  That means pollen and spores would spread throughout the air.  I had itchy eyes, nose, and even inside my ear was itchy.  My eyes were watering, my nose was runny, and was sneezing like crazy.  I was thinking that maybe I’m just going through allergies.  I didn’t feel that great.  “At least I’m not coughing like I was back in November and December.”  I started coughing that evening.  “At least I’m not bedridden.”  That night, I felt really cold when sleeping and when I woke up, I realized my whole body was covered in sweat.  “Maybe I really was sick and not just allergies?”  Friday morning, I felt weak and tired.  After breakfast, I couldn’t bear to be out of bed anymore.  My legs were shaky walking up and down the stairs, my skin and hair were sensitive and in pain, I felt cold, and I started coughing more.  I was bedridden the entirety of Friday except for eating.  At that point, I felt like I needed to learn to shut my mouth and stop jinxing everything.  Saturday, I woke up feeling like I had a bad hangover.  My body was sore.  My head was pounding and I kept coughing up phlegm.  The more I coughed, the worse my headache got.  I eventually ate a Motrin pill and the pounding pain dissipated and came back later that night as a mild pain.  Sunday was showing signs of recovery as I didn’t have as much pain all over my body, but I still dealt with coughing.  I’m still coughing, but not as frequently.

I don’t know if this was a sign that I’ve been pushing myself too hard with exercise and work this month, but I feel like I don’t want to slow down the momentum I’ve been having.  I’m doing quite well with my workouts, though I wish to improve more on exercise for cardio, weight loss, and muscle toning.  In terms of work, I had finished 2 remixes and was almost done with the third one right before I got sick.  It feels nice to be so productive.  I spent most of January planning out my work for the year while trying to get through some games.  I was able to complete 16 games in January!  I don’t think I’ll be able to finish any games these next two days, so I only completed 6 games in February.  I’m surprised I even completed so many in January when I spent nearly 40 hours on one game (VA-11 HALL-A, which I will eventually talk about soon).

I was focused on my remixes and planning out my work for the next few months.  If I wasn’t working, I would be playing Fire Emblem Heroes on iPad and Nioh on PS4.


I want to stay focused on my work and turn it into what I’ll eventually do in the videogame industry, but I also can’t stop worrying about my health.  I still keep having small pains around my chest and abdomen while suffering from headaches (this is even before I got sick the past week).  I don’t know if my poor vision on my left eye or my teeth bunching up is affecting anything, but those are things I should get checked out as well.  Nothing for me to do except get another medical checkup.  Otherwise, I just got to push forward and do what I need to do.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Moving Forward

On the eve of New Years, I was playing Ultimate Chicken Horse with friends online.  We chatted and laughed as it struck mid-night and into the New Years.  We cheered and shouted “Happy New Year!” during our intermission between rounds and then continued played.  As casual as I seemed with the coming of 2017, there was a huge sigh of relief that I got through 2016 the next morning when I woke up.  It certainly wasn’t the worst year ever in my personal life, but it was a struggle to get through.

Copy-pasted from my Facebook note post:

Reflection of 2016’s Resolutions:

1) Live a better lifestyle. I need to seriously take better care of myself this year.
-Despite injuring my back and falling consistently ill, I took care of myself a lot better in 2016 and wasn’t in as bad of a condition as I was in 2015.

2) Work on “Quantity” while improving “Quality” in projects. I’m really happy with the higher quality work I’ve produced, but I need to improve work time and put out more if I want to get through all the projects I have planned.
-I am probably more disappointed that I didn’t get that much work done this year than the fact that I got turned down for the job I applied for this year. I put out 11 audio tracks in 2016, and that simply isn’t even close to how much I wanted to create. But due to injuries and illness, I didn’t get much done this year and it just feels like wasted time. I will say; however, I love what I created this year. It was also the very first time I saw an open position for “composer” at a company and went for it (though, I wasn’t accepted).
Here are some of my favorite works from 2016:
-Mock-up for “composer position”: https://youtu.be/6rRAEaYE0Jc
-Melty Blood Remix: https://youtu.be/_29W85BrUPg
-Love Live Remix: https://youtu.be/Ol03cFBaK8M
-Marvel vs. Capcom & Darkstalkers Remix: https://youtu.be/21cJTSmJd6Q
-Experimenting free chip-based VSTs: https://youtu.be/WmlJ8cBKoDc

3) Put out original work. There are various projects that aren’t audio specific I’ve wanted to do for years now and I believe they could help me with building a good reputation when looking for a job. So if possible, I want to work on those projects this year.
- I did create 2 original pieces of audio work, but that’s only a small fraction of what I had planned. Surprisingly, I did some drawings (well, more like within one month). I participated in INKtober and drew a picture with pen/ink each day throughout October. (Link:https://www.facebook.com/trenton.ng/media_set?set=a.10154705125154846.1073741829.512224845&type=3) It was a good break from working on Audio, but I kind of lost my groove right afterwards.


I had a rough 2016, but it seemed like everyone else in the world had it harder. I was still recovering from the barrage of health problems at the end of 2015 in the beginning of 2016 (heart palpitations, headaches, overactive stomach acid, blurry vision, anxiety, etc.). After recovering and starting some new projects in February, I injured my back in the start of March to the point where I couldn’t sit for more than 10 minutes without being in agonizing pain. This lasted about a month and a half. Around May or June, I started having stomach problems again. Throughout the year, we lost 5 family pets due to a deadly disease and it really affected the atmosphere in our home. It made me feel uneasy at home. More than any other year, I felt lonely. I generally don’t mind feeling lonely, but it was hard to deal with given the atmosphere at home. At the very least I still chatted with friends online and played online games together when given the chance. I wanted to distract myself with more work, but then I would have some sort of ailment prevent me from staying productive. Around autumn, I was suffering severe headaches and body aches. My mom said that it might be my neck having problems. I was also getting back into doing weights at the gym as I was told not to do after I injured my back until I’ve recovered. I slept without a pillow for one night and the headaches were gone. But then I had trouble falling asleep, woke up feeling dizzy, and still had body aches. We suspected it was my mattress and so I slept without a pillow for about 3-4 weeks before I replaced it. I now sleep a lot better (your mattress and pillow is a lot more important than you think). For the rest of the year, I had minor stomach problems and eventually had a small cold/flu (whatever it was). Despite all the bad things I went through in 2016, there were good things too!

I really liked how my audio work turned out and hope to improve and actually work on quantity in 2017. I played a lot of fun video games! 2015 was filled with disappointment and frustration. The games I played in 2016 were surprising, entertaining, and memorable. I replaced my mattress that I had used for 16 years. I finally got a full sized 88-key keyboard (which replaces my old keyboard I’ve had/used for 18 years) so I’ll definitely be working on recording piano arrangements this year. It’s only been 4 years since I got my last computer and there were games I couldn’t play past 15-20 fps on it and my dad offered to get me a new computer. I’m now playing the latest games on the highest settings and it’s glorious! My dad also surprised me with a Playstation 4 (of which I didn’t ask for, but he knew I always planned on getting one) just in time for me to play Final Fantasy XV (which I still haven’t had much time to play yet). Overall, the year was rough, but not the worst.


My Resolutions for 2017:

1) Improve on quantity and quality output of audio projects this year. I have 4 remix albums planned already and started on 2 of them last year. I also want to produce original work I’ve had planned for years as well as record all the past piano arrangements I’ve created throughout my life thus far.

2) Further improve my health. I did well on exercise and diet in 2016 and it (mostly) paid off. I’m still considered medically overweight and I know it’s affecting me. I’ll try to eat less, sleep earlier, try new exercises, etc.

3) Practice instruments again. I’ve put so much time and effort into composition and production of music the past few years that I haven’t been practicing piano and guitar as much as I used to. Going through my old work and files inspired me to want to learn new songs on the piano again. I think it will benefit my composition skills as well.

4) Put out non-audio work. I had planned on doing other work other than audio-work last year, but I never got around to them other than drawing for INKtober. I really want to do some animation work, even if it’s just for fun.

5) Control myself with the purchases! Okay, I kind of went overboard videogame purchases and pre-orders last year when Amazon started offering 20% off new games. I will admit it was a good source of happiness for me, but I think I can afford to show some constraint. I will probably fail this resolution…but it’s worth a try~


Throughout 2015 and 2016, I did a lot of reminiscing and retrospect of my past. Sorting through my old files (organizing music, pictures, and projects) I was reminded of the good times I had when I was younger and also the difficult times. I was also reminded of the passion I had for art, music, piano, game development, and content creating in general. I felt inspired and felt it was necessary to remind myself of why I do all the things I do today in wanting to get into the Videogame Industry, working with music, and creating videogames. I’m ready to put 2016 and the past in general behind me and move forward in life to a (hopefully) great 2017 and future.

2016 didn’t go how I planned it to be, but how many years did I have post-college graduation go the way I want it to?  I mostly disappointed in not getting nearly enough work done throughout the year and so it felt wasted.  More than anything, I focused on my health because what am I capable of if my health fails me?  I did fall ill a lot in 2016, but felt I was in better condition than I was in 2015.  And so I will continue to strive for a healthier lifestyle this year and fulfilling the goals I set for myself this year.  I felt that 2016 was a year of reflection and motivation to inspire me once again where I feel excited about my work again.


The gaming side of things in 2016 was great though.  I was really enjoying the games I played throughout the year.  There were even certain games where I played them multiple times! (Of which I almost never do anymore because of the desire to get through more games that’s backlogged).  I played Mighty No. 9 three times, Another Metroid 2 Remake five times, and Resident Evil Revelations 2 eight and a half times!  I spent 81 hours on God Eater Resurrection and around 50 hours on Final Fantasy Explorers.  In turn, I only completed 100 games in 2016 as opposed to 133 games in 2015.  This wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that I acquired 151 games in 2016 which adds 51 games to the backlog.  I will try to show more constraint this year, but it’s going to be hard because there’s a lot of games I’m excited for this year.


I’d like to reflect back on the games that I played through 2016 and the ones that released as well as the games I’m excited for in 2017.

Games I thought would never release:

Overwatch (Formerly Project Titan) – Well, it was pretty evident that Overwatch was going to be released.  When Project Titan was announced as canceled, there wasn’t any disappointment since no one knew what kind of game it was.  But I felt really bad for all those involved in the project that spent years on a project that didn’t come to fruition.  But then they announced Overwatch.  It looked pretty cool with its pixar-esque cinematic trailer and flashy looking characters, but I wasn’t convinced.  When they released gameplay footages, everyone was quick to say it looked like Team Fortress 2 including myself.  But I love Team Fortress 2, so I was going to give it a shot.  I tried it out during the open beta and ended up liking it so much that I pre-purchased it.  It was probably my favorite game of the year.

Blade & Soul – I remember that many times Blade & Soul was about to release over the past 3-4 years and it never happened.  I would often say “I won’t believe it until I’m actually playing it.”  And then it released!  It’s a fun game, but the first half of the year was packed full of game releases that I pre-ordered that I didn’t get much time to play it.  The first week of release, the queue time to get in was over 8 hours!  I can easily get in the game now, but I’m so torn between the new games I bought during December that I’m not sure if I can find the time to play it

Black Desert Online – I was pretty shocked to hear that Black Desert Online was releasing.  It released shortly after Blade & Soul’s launch.  It wasn’t free-to-play, but what it offered was reasonable for a pay-once MMO.  So I bought the game and hardcore played the heck out of it for a week, which lead to the worst back pain I’ve experienced in years.  I was doing a new exercise during that time and having sat there the whole week with only that specific exercise (abdominal exercise, no cardio) caused a back pain so bad that I couldn’t sit for more than 10 minutes without being in agony.  So sadly, I didn’t play the game THAT much, but I put in a decent amount of hours and really enjoyed it.  I plan on playing it more this year, but not to the point where I wouldn’t get up off my seat for a week.

Tree of Savior – I was so happy to hear that Tree of Savior was releasing.  I played a good 28 hours on it before I got pulled away to play other games.  The art is beautiful, the music is amazing, and combat is satisfying, but the progression is so freaking slow!  I still plan on playing more of this game when I get the chance, but I hope it isn’t as grindy as time passes on and more patches are applied.

Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code – I played the Japanese version years ago, but kind of lost the drive to play it since there wasn’t anyone to play with, I couldn’t understand the dialogue for the story, and I had already played the heck out of the previous iterations.  But when it released for English on Steam, I immediate bought it and was excited for the game once again.  I really missed the music to the game and incorporated a lot of them to the list of music I wanted to remix in my Fighting game Themed remix album.  I got through half the roster for Story mode before I was distracted by other games.  I still plan on finishing it.

Final Fantasy XV (Formerly Final Fantasy XIII Versus) – Even with its release, I didn’t plan on being able to play FF15 because I didn’t have a PS4.  But when my dad surprised me with one, FF15 was the very first game I put in my shopping cart.  The game is beautiful and the combat is action-orientated, which I like.  There’s already a lot of talk about the combat being repetitive and boring with the story being stupid, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.  I have around 5-8 hours in?  It’s been difficult to find the time to sit down and play it the last month with my new laptop, newly bought games, spending time with friends and family during the holidays, and now preparing for the year’s worth of work.  But I should be able to play it soon.

The Last Guardian – To be honest, I’m not excited for this game and never was.  The game is similar to ICO, which I thought was okay compared to Shadow of the Colossus which I loved.  But I didn’t know they planned on releasing the game.  There was always so much hype around this game and then it had a quiet launch that a lot of fans didn’t know until it actually showed up on store shelves.  I’ll eventually pick it up one day and check it out, but out of all the surprising releases that I thought would never come out, this was the one I cared about the least.

DOOM – It’s been known that DOOM 4 (which they just call DOOM now) was in the works for a while, but it wasn’t until the past 1-2 years that they released news about it.  I wasn’t initially excited when I heard DOOM 4 was being developed because I thought DOOM 3 was really slow and boring.  But then they showed gameplay footages of the new DOOM and I was really impressed with the fast movements, glorious animations, and breathtaking graphics.  I was interested in the game but had no plans of picking up the game until I got a better computer.  But then I did get a new computer and decided to pick it up during the Steam Winter Sale and I’m glad I did!  It’s fast-paced, full of action, and consistently engaging.  I even tried out online multiplayer last night and really enjoyed it!  I didn’t finish it, so I didn’t exactly put it on my top 10 games I played in 2016.  But I might place it in 2017!  Hard to say though, 2017’s got some top contenders.


Still no Phantasy Star Online 2.  I’m planning on going back to JP servers sometime in 2017.


Favorite Games Played this year:
This was a really difficult list to put together compared to 2015 (which I barely had a top 5 to list).  I had fun with many games in 2016 which I’m happy for.

10) Trillion: God of Destruction (PS Vita) – This was one of the most unique games I played throughout 2016.  It’s a mix between visual novel, management simulator and rogue-like RPG.  Sadly, I never actually finished it because of how difficult it was.  I played through the game and tried to interact with all the characters and then watched all the endings on Youtube.  Despite not finishing the game myself, I enjoyed it.  You can read my full rant on it here: http://psoasuka.blogspot.com/2016/11/lets-talk-about-trillion-god-of.html

9) Mighty No. 9 (PC) – After multiple delays, the game finally released and disappointed many fans.  Mighty No. 9 was not what a lot of people had hoped for; however, I personally enjoyed it a lot!  I was afraid it was just going to be a straight-up Mega Man clone, but its unique mechanic to absorb enemies kept it engaging to me.  I played through the game twice and then a third time with the DLC character.  It certainly had its problems, but it’s so fun that I still plan on running through it a few more times before deleting it off my hard drive.  Full review here: http://psoasuka.blogspot.com/2016/06/mighty-no-9-review.html

8) Black Desert Online (PC) – I could have just as easily place Blade & Soul right here as well, but I think I spent more time in BDO.  BDO doesn’t have much in terms of a variety of quests or an in-depth lore that I really care about, but the combat feels satisfying and that’s what kept me playing.  BDO is, honestly, a huge grindfest of killing a group of enemies before moving onto the next mob.  There are other things you can do such as farming, fishing, trading and such, but I don’t have much interest in anything else but killing enemies and fighting bosses.  It’s a relaxing game to play if you just want to kill stuff.

7) Tree of Savior (PC) – Much in the same fashion as BDO, Tree of Savior is mostly about picking up quests to kill stuff and repeating it to get more experience points.  The game works fairly well with a controller and makes it feel more like a retail game than a F2P MMO which is nice.  If anything, the large array of classes and skills is what gets me hooked to the game and the desire to see my character grow.

6) Pokkén Tournament (Wii U) – I’ve always wanted a more action-orientated Pokémon game ever since Pokémon Stadium released.  Pokkén Tournament does seem to have a limited amount of characters to choose from (considering the amount of Pokémon there are now), but it’s pretty close to what I want from the game.  The game is simple enough to pick up and play right away, but has enough depth for some pretty intense competitive play.  Watching the tournament for EVO, I noticed that any odds can be turned around in this game for an ultimate comeback.  I wish there were friends I could play it with, but I had a lot of fun with Story mode.  I could definitely play it more since I mainly played Pikachu Libré the most and could have a different experience with the other characters.

5) Another Metroid 2 Remake (PC) – I honestly wasn’t expecting a fan-made Metroid game to be THIS good.  I played through the game 5 times and was still considering a few more runs but decided not to in order to get back to my backlog.  The game felt as if Nintendo themselves made it with a strong resemblance to Metroid Zero Mission.  The only thing I felt that wasn’t quite up to par was some of the audio work such as the music and some of the sound effects.  Otherwise, it was a solid game.  Unfortunately, the main download site was shut down a day after its official launch.

4) Resident Evil Revelations 2 (PC) – I was trying to finish up some other games before downloading and playing Resident Evil Revelations 2, but I had waited for quite some time to play the game and decided to just go for it.  I was going to play the campaign on normal difficulty, play a bit of Raid mode and then be done with it.  But when I finished the campaign, I felt like speed running the game on Easy.  When I unlocked an item after playing Easy, I noticed all the different items and modes I could play on and then ran the game on Hard, on timer mode, on invisible mode, etc.  I spent quite a bit of time on the game and absolutely loved it.  I’m not sure how I feel about the upcoming Resident Evil VII game.  It looks like the generic, western developed horror game that’s slow and boring (which I kind of felt when playing the demo).

3) God Eater: Resurrection (PC) – I had planned on playing God Eater Burst in 2016, but early in the year, they announced that they were releasing it on PS4, PS Vita, and PC along with God Eater 2 which was never released in the West.  So I waited and then decided to pre-order the game.  I was going to blast through the game and then start on God Eater 2, but I ended up taking it slow and enjoy the game (Logged in 81 hours).  It was one of the few games I spent a lot of time playing with friends other than Final Fantasy Explorers.  I really liked the story, characters, music, and the little things that they do that kept surprising me (like having your character suddenly talk in one of the cinematics).  This game definitely deserves to be on my top 3 for games I played in 2016 with its memorable experience.  I never even got around to God Eater 2…

2) Senran Kagura: Estival Versus (PS Vita) – This series just keeps surprising me.  Before Senran Kagura 2 Deep Crimson and Estival Versus released, my theory for each game was that Deep Crimson was going to be dark, serious, and violent based on the usage of dark red and black colors throughout the game as well as its grungy sounding music while Estival Versus was bright and colorful with a beach themed environment with happy sounding music.  I was wrong and it was the complete opposite for both games!  Deep Crimson was satirical, silly, and mostly humor based, which I was a bit disappointed with since I really enjoy the darker undertones of the series’ story.  Estival Versus presented itself as happy and colorful with the whole cast dancing on the beach and playing in the water.  But the underlying theme behind Estival Versus was about death, the way the characters deal with it, and accepting the passing of those they loved.  Without going into much detail, I was very emotional getting through the game.  The gameplay was solid, the story was engaging, the music is memorable, and I like the characters that much more.  I yearn for another Senran Kagura beat-em-up, but currently there is only one new Senran Kagura game coming out and it’s a Third-Person Shooter.  I hope it’s good because I really like Third-Person Shooters.  (I really like music rhythm games too, but they messed up majorly on that one).

1) Overwatch (PC) – Perhaps it’s a bit unfair to say that Overwatch is my number one favorite from 2016 when there were so many great games that I didn’t play from 2015 and 2016, but I think many would agree that Overwatch was one of the best games to release in that year.  It has a strong sense of design in characters, story, levels, mechanics, and community that makes it one of the most involving games of the year in every aspect.  Artists, musicians, writers, animators, and such fans love the universe of overwatch and have created countless content based off the world.  Casual gamers who normally wouldn’t play competitive online games gave it a chance and love it.  Lots of players went pro and participated in various tournaments throughout the year making it one of the most watched games on stream.  It’s a fun game and I think Blizzard did a great job of getting everyone involved and excited for it.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):
Bayonetta 2
Fairy Fencer F
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
Blade & Soul
Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code
Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm
Bravely Default
Undertale
Resident Evil 4 HD
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune vs. Zombies
Wings of Vi
Final Fantasy Explorers
Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late
Battleborn
Mobius Final Fantasy
HeroWarz

Bought, not finished or started:
Final Fantasy XV
Salt and Sanctuary
DOOM
Tom Clancy's The Division
Hyper Light Drifter
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
VA-11 HALL-A
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni
Let It Die
Darkest Dungeon
Megadimension Neptunia VII
Project X Zone 2
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
Pharaoh Rebirth+
Nights of Azure
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness
Fire Emblem Fates
Bravely Second: End Layer
God Eater 2: Rage Burst
Monster Hunter Generations
Starbound
The King of Fighters XIV
Toxikk
Seraph
Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls
World of Final Fantasy
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Pokémon Sun and Moon

Planned future purchases:
Dishonored 2
The Last Guardian
Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster
Minecraft: Story Mode
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Dragon Quest Builders
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Adventures of Mana
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Stardew Valley
Deathsmiles
Enter the Gungeon
Quantum Break
Dark Souls
Ray Gigant
Superhot
Homefront: The Revolution
Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-
Atelier Sohpie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
Mirror's Edge Catalyst
Kirby: Planet Robobot
7th Dragon III Code: VFD
Necropolis
I Am Setsuna
Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X
The Legend of Heroes: Trail of Cold Steel II
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice
MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death
ReCore
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Shadow Warrior 2
DoDonPachi Resurrection
Battlefield 1
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Yomawari: Night Alone
Titanfall 2
BlazBlue: Central Fiction
Owlboy
Xanadu Next
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization
Watch_Dogs 2
Killing Floor 2
Dragon Ball Fusions
Furi
Dead Rising 4
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
River City Tokyo Rumble

Biggest disappointment of 2016:
Street Fighter V (PC) – For many people, Mighty No. 9, Metroid Prime Federation Force, and No Man's Sky were the biggest disappointments of the year.  But for me, Street Fighter V disappoints me the most and continues to do so.  I pre-ordered SFV and was incredibly excited to play the game.  I was well aware there wasn’t going to be a Story Mode yet and that many more content will continue to release as time goes on.  The first few nights of release, I spent hours trying to log on.  I noticed the graphics were a bit choppy and so I messed around with the settings until it was smooth.  I realized I had to set it to the lowest settings possible in order to play at a steady frame rate.  This wasn’t too big of a deal.  Finally getting into the game, I started with the mini-story mode and survival.  Every round or so, I would get kicked off the server and then it would crash which would have me exit the game in order to log back in.  The main draw to playing SFV for me (and perhaps many others) was the ability to gain Fight Money to spend on extra content without the need to pay real money (DLCs) to get new content.  But when you get kicked out of the server, you don’t get any Fight Money and your account is locked until you log back in.  I try to play with friends online, and it doesn’t connect.  When I did finally connect to one friend’s game, it disconnected me from the server after one match.  I tried playing with others online through match making and I can barely get through one round before it disconnects me.  Not to mention that some matches have people teleporting around the screen because of lag.  When the servers finally stabilized after a week of its release, I was finally able to play survival without disconnecting….much (still sometimes do).  But I was still unable to play with friends online.  What’s worse was that I couldn’t play against the CPU normally since it didn’t have a Versus mode against CPU.  I couldn’t play Versus mode either because the game doesn’t support Dinput and only Xinput, but when I plug in my Xinput controller, the keyboard doesn’t work (so I can’t play 2 players on PC).  I mainly had Survival mode as the only thing I could really play, and it’s stressful as well as unrewarding.  When the first character patch went live and patched my game, that’s when I couldn’t even stay logged onto the server for more than 5 minutes before getting kicked off.  I couldn’t even play the one thing that worked for me to earn Fight Money!  It’s been almost a year and I still can’t play without getting kicked off after 5 minutes.  There was only one occasion throughout the year where I stayed logged in the whole time, and that’s when challenge mode released.  I played for half an hour and still didn’t get kicked, so I was semi-relived that I could at least play some single-player content and get some more Fight Money.  But the next day, it was still kicking me after 5 minutes of starting the game.  I’m so over the game and disgusted with it.  I can only hope that all these issues get fixed one day so I can still enjoy it sometime in the future.  For the record, the base game itself is incredible and they put a lot of thought into making it new and fresh while still pleasing long time Street Fighter fans.  But when everything around it doesn’t work, I have no motivation to play it.

2017 Releases I’m excited for:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star
Nioh
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Tekken 7
Four Goddesses Online: CYBER DIMENSION NEPTUNE
Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone
Musou Stars
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Nier: Automata
Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon
Persona 5
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Horizon Zero Dawn
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
For Honor
Prey
Scalebound
Agents of Mayhem
Cuphead
Vampyr
Sonic Mania
Shenmue 3
State of Decay 2
Pyre
Injustice 2
Yooka-Laylee
Quake Champions
Days Gone
God of War
Red Dead Redemption
Star Wars Battlefront 2
Destiny 2
Below
Lords of the Fallen 2
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Ever Oasis
Valkyria Revolution
Tales of Berseria
Accel World VS Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight
Dark Rose Valkyrie
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Dragon Quest XI
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Freedom Planet 2
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Mary Skelter Nightmares
Metal Gear Survive
Nidhogg 2
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy


Here's hoping for a better year in 2017!