Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Top 5 Anticipated Games of 2019

 Video games  7 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jan 012019
 

Happy New Year! 2019 is here, and we already have some great games lined up.

My most-anticipated games from last year didn’t work out too well… and that’s not even getting into my misguided belief that an unannounced Ace Attorney game might qualify.

(Seriously, when will Ace Attorney 7 be announced?)

But from the game lineup that has been announced so far, here are the five games I’m most excited for in 2019.

5. Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition

Tales of Vesperia for the Xbox 360 had already been on my list of games to play for quite a while, but I did regret that I’d never get to see the content from the Japan-exclusive PS3 version… until Bandai Namco announced Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch!

It includes all of the PS3 version’s content, and it’s getting a global release in January. I’ll probably get the Switch version, so I can take it with me if I want to.

4. Resident Evil 2 Remake

My feelings on the Resident Evil 2 remake have gone back and forth since its announcement. The remake of the first Resident Evil is one of my favorite games, and it’s exciting to think about Resident Evil 2 getting the same treatment.

Then it was unveiled, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The over-the-shoulder camera disappointed me a little, and I didn’t care about how dark or gory it looked. Until I saw puzzles, I wouldn’t be convinced. Since then, they’ve released gameplay videos that show locked doors, puzzles, and all the other little survival horror features I love.

Now I have faith in the Resident Evil 2 remake to feel like a modern version of a traditional survival horror game, and I hope it will spur Capcom to make more games in that style.

(With the puzzles… no matter how “unrealistic” they might feel.)

3. Luigi’s Mansion 3

Speaking of games I hope follow a particular style, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is supposed to be released in 2019 for the Switch, although we’ve only seen a tiny teaser for it.

I loved the original Luigi’s Mansion, while I didn’t enjoy most of the changes in Dark Moon. Since the Luigi’s Mansion 3 reveal included a shot of a very tall building, I hope that is the mansion that we get to explore during the game… and I really hope the game isn’t split into missions.

Are there too many unknowns for me to rank it this highly, considering how I felt about Dark Moon? Maybe. But if Luigi’s Mansion 3 plays more like the original, it’s definitely one of my most-anticipated games of the year.

2. Judgment

When the Yakuza team announced Judge Eyes for the PS4, titled Judgment in the west, I wanted it immediately. It earned a spot on this list from the very first reveal. A Yakuza series spin-off about a lawyer, with a thrilling story trailer and what looks like a fantastic amount of side content? Sign me up!

Judge Eyes is already out in Japan and seems to have been well-received. It’s due out here in Summer 2019, and I can’t wait.

But yes, there is still one game I’m looking forward to even more than Judgment, and you should know what it is…

…especially since it was on my list last year, until it was delayed to 2019…

1. Kingdom Hearts III

We are less than a month away from Kingdom Hearts III.

Even as someone who got into the series late, it’s crazy to think the conclusion of the Dark Seeker Saga is practically upon us. Kingdom Hearts III will be out on January 29 for the PS4 and Xbox One, I’ve been avoiding spoilers and trailers for a while now, and I have high hopes that this game will be incredible.

(Will I be disappointed if there is no playable Young Eraqus and Young Xehanort flashback? Yes. Will that be enough to ruin it for me? Of course not.)

Ending a long-running story like this saga can be difficult, but everything I’ve seen about Kingdom Hearts III fills me with hope that this will be the epic conclusion I hope to see.

Conclusion

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, Resident Evil 2, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Judgment, and Kingdom Hearts III are the five games I’m most looking forward to in the year ahead. Here’s hoping it goes better than it did last year.

What are your most-anticipated games of 2019?

Top 5 Games I Played in 2018

 Video games  7 Responses »  Tagged with:
Dec 312018
 

It’s the final day of 2018, and it was a great year for video games!

…Although it was a disaster for my five most anticipated games, since one was delayed, one was cancelled, one was different enough from what I hoped for that I didn’t get it, and one was a disappointment, leaving me only with Dragon Quest XI, which I hope to play soon.

So let’s take a look at the best games I played this year. As usual, these aren’t necessarily games that came out this year, just games that I played to completion this year.

Honorable Mention

This year’s honorable mention goes to the new God of War. Despite my best efforts, I didn’t beat it before the end of the year. It’s been a fantastic experience so far, though, so it’s well on track to become a favorite.

Now, onward to the top 5 games I played (and beat) in 2018!)

5. God of War (original)

All right, so even though God of War didn’t qualify for the list, God of War did! …And that’s not confusing at all.

Leading up to the new God of War game, I played through and reviewed all five games in the God of War Saga collection.

Now, it’s really hard for me to decide which one is my favorite. Ghost of Sparta might have had the best story, God of War II had the smoothest-feeling gameplay, God of War III had the best combination of story and gameplay… but the one my thoughts keep coming back to is the original.

As I explained in my review, it really felt like a Greek tragedy, and the way it captured that sense of mythology earned it a spot on my list.

4. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is the first half of The Nonary Games collection and a game I’d intended to play for a long time. Earlier this year, I finally played it, with its sequel to follow in the future.

999 turned out to be an exciting game with clever puzzles, intense storytelling, and a way of playing around with strange phenomena in urban legends in such a way as to keep a surreal sense of realism even as it delved into fantastic territory.

I spent the entire story wanting to unravel the mystery and learn the truth of what was at work… and while part of the ending fell a little flat for me, it was still one of the most intriguing, enjoyable games I’ve played all year.

3. Xenoblade Chronicles 2

I love the first two Xenoblade games, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 stands right up there with them. While it had some flaws (mainly due to the gacha-like Blade system), it was a great story with a good cast. For me, the good outweighs the bad, as you’ll see from my review.

But what makes it stand out even more is its DLC expansion. On top of the main Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which is itself a huge JRPG, we also got Torna ~ The Golden Country.

Like the main game, Torna isn’t perfect… but this smaller Xenoblade experience is a fun game in its own right, and as I explained in my review, it has a lot of features that feel better than the main Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Together, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and its prequel expansion created a standout experience.

2. Trails in the Sky

Early in the year, I finished Trails in the Sky. While it has a slow-paced story, I enjoyed the detective-like nature of the early parts and the way the stakes rose in the later parts, as well as its world and characters.

Technically, I’ve only seen the first half the story, so I’m looking forward to playing Trails in the Sky SC to see what happens next.

So why does the first Trails in the Sky rank so high on this list? It’s largely because of the twist. That twist. I still can’t believe I never saw it coming.

And at last, we’re ready to talk about the final entry on the list, the number one game I played in 2018.

Knowing God of War is out of the running, if you talked to me much at all this year, you probably know what it will be…

1. Yakuza 0

I’d never played anything from the Yakuza series before, but once I learned it was nothing like what I imagined, I decided to try Yakuza 0.

And what an experience it turned out to be.

I finished it after over 100 hours of gameplay divided between a fantastic story, a number of hilarious side quests, and plenty of mini-games to break up the pace.

Plot, characters, gameplay, side content… Yakuza 0 won me over at every turn. It left me eager to play more games in the series and confident in naming Yakuza 0 as the best game I played in 2018.

Conclusion

I played lots of games in 2018, and God of War (original), 999, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Trails in the Sky, and Yakuza 0 are the five that stood out to me the most, with God of War (2018) also proving to be an excellent game as I continue to play through it.

Which were your favorite games that you played in 2018?

2018 Writing Goal Progress

 Writing  No Responses »  Tagged with:
Dec 262018
 

Earlier this year, I set a series of writing goals to complete by 2019.

With the new year on the horizon, it’s time to take a look back and see how things went.

I set goals to:

  • Finish and revise A Prince’s Price.
  • Create an outline for the revisions of The Threshing Night.
  • If The Nightbringer has not been successful, turn it over to someone to critique.
  • Search for an agent for Agent of the Relari, Penteract of Blood, The Nightbringer, and The Time of Adversity.
  • Have at least 3 short stories either accepted or actively submitted to markets.
  • Join a new (paying) video game job.
  • Manage at least 2 side websites for passive income.
  • Participate in at least 3 book signing events.

I finished A Prince’s Price, revised it, and sent it to someone to critique, and now I’m making further revisions based on that critique. So while it’s not quite ready to go yet, I did accomplish what I set out to do.

However, I completely neglected The Threshing Night. In its place, I wrote the rough drafts for two new novels, one epic fantasy and one YA fantasy romance.

After some… missteps, I did find a new reader for The Nightbringer and have gotten some feedback already. Now I’m just waiting for the rest of her critique so I can begin editing.

I continued to search for an agent. Although I haven’t had success so far, I did get my first full request for Starlight and Steel (formerly known as The Time of Adversity).

Moving on to short stories, 2018 saw the completion of Darkling’s Beasts and Brews: Poetry with a Drink on the Side, which I have a poem in.

For the goal itself, I’ve had two short story acceptances I hope to reveal more details about soon, with two other stories I’ve been submitting to markets.

As a game writer, I handled the scripts for several mobile visual novels and also joined a few new projects, so things are right on track!

Now let’s take a look at the next goal, “manage at least 2 side websites for passive income.” Since I don’t like to have ads on this site, I thought it would be interesting to experiment with side websites to see if I could draw in passive income from ads.

Well, I am running two additional websites: KH Theories for discussions of Kingdom Hearts theories and Lovecraft Video Games to review games inspired by H.P. Lovecraft.

The “income” part of the goal has yet to work out, however. On the other hand, the sites are still small, so it will be interesting to revisit this next year to see if anything has changed.

Finally, I wanted to participate in at least three book signing events, and I did: one at In Your Write Mind, one at my local fall festival, and one at the local BookFest.

So not everything worked out, but all in all, it was a good year. If you set any goals for yourself for 2018, how did it go?

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