Well, finishing up the audio portion of my current project took WAY longer than I expected and I only stopped this past Friday. That means I haven't practiced ANY piano or guitar or worked through my videogame backlog much. I finished playing through 3 small games yesterday, but I still have a ton more left and Steam Winter Sale begins tomorrow. All in all, I'm glad I'm taking a break from work because I think it was starting to wear on me. I need to straighten up my daily routine, figure out my priorities, and just relax and play some videogames the next few weeks before I jump back into doing more work again. I still want to practice piano and guitar and see what I can achieve in a few weeks, but I'd like to put more focus on finishing games.
So The Videogame Awards 2020 streamed a week and a half ago and I haven't found the time to talk about it. It was pretty good, or at least I thought so. It seems the videogame community had some issues with The Last of Us part 2 winning so many awards when it was panned by the players so heavily at launch. I mainly liked it because it showed a LOT of games I'm actually looking forward to playing next year.
One of my biggest complaints about games this year was that there didn't seem to be any good cooperative games to play with my friends. So I was happy to see so many cooperative games get announced.
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…
This is the other NieR original game that we didn't get in the West that's all remade to the standards of NieR: Automata. I can't say I'm super excited, but I'll definitely be picking it up one day.
Century: Age of Ashes
I didn't care at first until I realized it was an Online Multiplayer game and not a Starfox clone. While I don't play Competitive Online Multiplayer games anymore, I'm kind of interested to see what this game is like.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Sephiroth
I would have never expected Sephiroth, at all. I was so flabbergasted that I just reacted with a "WHAAAAAAAT?!" upon hearing One-Winged Angel and had a stupid smile on my face the whole time watching the trailer. So Sephiroth is out now on Smash and I played 2-3 hours with him. He's a lot of fun! This reveal trailer is the most shocking and surprising one since Joker from 2 years ago.
Perfect Dark
Wow, Perfect Dark still exists! I never got to play any of the games, so I don't have a strong attachment to the series. I hope it comes to Steam PC!
Back 4 Blood
The developers of Left 4 Dead are back with their own spin of the Left 4 Dead formula and I am super excited for it!
Hood: Outlaws & Legends
This is another co-op game that seems like a mix between Vermintide and Payday. I'm very interested in this one.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
I've been burned by the past Warhammer 40,000 Third-Person Shooters, but this does look different so I'm willing to keep an eye on it and maybe try it out.
Dragon Age
While it didn't show much, at least we know the next Dragon Age is still be developed.
Endless Dungeon
A co-op, top-down shooter Rogue-lite. I'm skeptical of this one, but I'm happy for more co-op games.
Crimson Desert
The creators of Black Desert Online made a Single-player game and it looks amazing! I'm super excited for this one.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey
A friend and I are skeptical on this one, but we're keeping an eye out for it as a potential co-op game we can play together.
Outriders
Previously announced before, this is one of the games I'm most interested in playing next year. There's this fear from the community that it'll be bland and underwhelming, but I'm really hoping for the best. With Anthem getting so much flak, I couldn't convince my friends to pick it up with me. But I'm hoping this Third-Person Shooter will be the one we can play together. I'm just afraid my computer can't keep up with it.
F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch
And Action-Platformer previously announced that I'm keeping an eye on.
Ghost 'n Goblins Resurrection
I'm very shocked with this announcement. I thought Capcom had forgotten about this IP other than Arthur being in Marvel vs. Capcom games. I'm interested, but not excited because I imagine it'll still be frustratingly difficult.
Capcom Arcade Stadium
Wow, a free software to play a bunch of Capcom arcade classics? I'm happy with that!
Returnal
Previously announced, Returnal is an atmospheric Third-Person Shooter that really caught my interest when Sony was talking about what games were coming to the PS5.
Evil West
Okay, honestly I have no idea what this game is about or how it plays, but the theme has me interested.
Scarlet Nexus
I think I'm most interested in this game the most out of everything announced so far in terms of Single-player games. I'm more than likely going to pick this up at launch.
Yakuza Remastered Collection & Yakuza 6
I'm currently getting through Yakuza 0 and I love it! I've been hoping that Yakuza Remaster Collection & Yakuza 6 get brought over to Steam PC and it looks like that's going to happen!
Next Mass Effect
Then they ended the show with the teaser that a new Mass Effect is being developed.
Overall, the show left the biggest impression on me throughout the entire year of what to look forward to in gaming. I guess it shouldn't have been too difficult to do with E3 and TGS being underwhelming, EVO getting shutdown, and myriad of events being canceled this year; however, The Videogame Award could have just as easily left a bad impression as the ending note of this year (although it still seemed to have done that with some people).
I'm hopeful and eager to see what holds in store for us in the future of videogames. I only hope I have enough time to play through all of them next year.
November went by rather quickly and yet I'm still not done with my project yet. Finishing the last 2 tracks was a bit of challenge and finding the motivation to mix & master each track has also been difficult. I had a lot of plans and ideas I wanted to carry out in December as soon as I finished this current project, but it seems I'll still be finishing it up these next few weeks. What I really want to do in December is drop everything I was planning on doing and focus on learning one piano piece and one song and guitar. I've planned on doing this for several years now and never found the time to do it. Being away from practicing piano and guitar for so long this year, I feel drawn towards this old goal and make it a reality. I also want to spend time getting through more games before I inevitably get some more during the Winter Sales. I already pick up a decent amount of games this past weekend for Steam Autumn Sale, but I think I can finish a decent amount of them the following weeks.
I do miss watching anime as I haven't watched any since the start of October, but I don't know if I'll have any time. Genshin Impact, Phantasy Star Online 2 and Guardian Tales continue to take up a lot of time out of my day as I'm saving up resources to get new characters or level them up. My biggest concern is with Genshin Impact as it takes up the most time in my daily runs. I think I need to accept the fact that I may not get the characters I want and just play the game's story normally and enjoy it that way. Maybe I can just change it up in December I try to fit in watching anime as part of my daily schedule.
I just feel so torn as I was supposed to finish up my portfolio and start applying for jobs this year, and I felt so ready to do so. But this recent project really makes me believe it's worth delaying all that just a little so I can make it part of my portfolio as it'll look better than anything else I've done in a while. At the same time, I just want to be a bit selfish and not think about "work", "jobs" and "applications" and really try to learn that one piano piece and that one guitar song just for my own self-satisfaction.
The year is almost over, and it's been a strange feeling of it being very long and very short at the same time. It's hard to describe. A lot of awful things have happened this year in the world, and yet there was a lot of growth, change, and things that made me happy this year. I'll admit, there were times I felt depressed or lost this year and wasn't sure what I should do. It's been a whole decade since I've graduated from university and I've still yet to find myself in the videogame industry. All the tragedies, virus outbreak, wildfires, civil unrest, and economic struggle made me question if there was a better future waiting for us or if it was just going to get worse. I can only hope that 2021 is a turning point where the world not only recovers, but becomes even better than it was before.
I think I'm doing okay as I am right now. It would probably be a good idea to quickly finish up everything I need to apply for jobs and do it throughout December, but I can't seem to let go of the idea of trying to learn that one piece on piano and song on guitar. I guess I just want to stop worrying about the future and enjoy the present for just a month. In January, I hope to be busy and productive with all sorts of projects and job applications. But once I finish this current project, I think I want to relax for a bit.
