Been more than a minute……

My last post was over a year ago around August of 2012, watched a lot of movies, a couple of books, a bunch of shows…. And it’s actually kind of cool doing this year in review thing because only the truly memorable stuff will be remembered

One of the best games I played this year was Ni No Kuni. The Collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Level 5. Before this game even came out, there were already tons of hype surrounding it, I don’t usually pre-order games full price thanks to CAG, but this was one game that I just had to play immediately, and have in glorious collector’s edition as well…….

Now after finishing the game, I can strongly say that the hype was well deserved. Not only was the game absorbing and the art style very attractive, the gameplay was very engaging, was there some grinding involved? Sure, it’s a JRPG after all, but damn if this game did not introduce me to the wonderful genre that is monster collecting…. Towards the end of the year I also picked up Pokemon Black, and after faltering in the beginning, that game sucked me in as well…… What really helped is the pick up and play dynamic of the game, so I can save anywhere and pick it up, also the mobility of the ds lite.

Next up is probably one of the best games I’ve played. EVER. Solid storytelling, gripping pacing, and some scary moments. Some very tense and violent moments, and some serene and beautiful ones too…..

This game spoil me in a sense a really good steak does, it’s hard to enjoy a mediocre game when you know there are game designers out there doing some amazing stuff. I really hope Naughty Dog keep making games and keep their hits coming, Uncharted, another cinematic game was also one of my favorites…… It was also very appropriate that I just watched the movie The Road and was reading the book World War Z while playing the game, it definitely put me on that same post-apocalyptic vibe.

I played some Dragon’s Crown on the PS3 and really dug the art style and the 2D dungeon crawler experience. Speaking of dungeons and one of the most recent games I played to date. Zelda Link to the Past was a very “puzzling” experience, pun definitely intended. Puzzling in a sense that I loved the puzzles and the exploration of the light and dark world, but I don’t know if it’s maybe because it’s the first Zelda game that I really devoted time to, but there was a couple of instances that I got stuck on…..

Looking back, I should’ve really stuck with it, and not given up and looked up a solution online. That earthquake medallion had me stumped……. All in all, I was already cheating since I was abusing the GBA emulator’s save state by saving before each dangerous situation. Maybe I was just playing it smart 😉

Going into 2014, I”m thinking of tackling my ridiculous backlog of games, and planning of not buying any new games, aside from some really cheap downloadable games using my xbox live balance and PSN+ membership. Speaking of…. It’s pretty nifty to be able to look through your achivements and trophy to find out which games you played the past year…. So here’s to 2014, and no next gen for me until atleast 2015!