2015 Wrap-Up PLUS Top Five

[xyzzysqrl]

So that's the year then. It was... good and bad, light and dark. There was death and reconnection and joy and such. Let's split this into two sections:

GAME-WISE -

In 2015 I completed 67 games and abandoned 6 for various reasons. That's almost a game finished a week, so that's a pretty good lineup. By not doing lengthy writeups, I actually made a significant, meaningful dent in my backlog. I feel kinda pleased about that! Of course, that backlog still exists and still grows more.

That's something I'm going to have to learn to live with, honestly. A couple of friends have even offered to mail along MORE games that I do not have, because they have no plans to play them ever. Their backlog becomes my own. I need to get the apartment declared an official gaming museum or somesuch, donations welcome.

I've also been doing a lot of streaming on Twitch. In general, if I'm playing a game, I'm streaming myself playing that game unless technical or logistical reasons dictate otherwise. I'm comfortable enough with this to say: If you'd like to know when I'm streaming, you can subscribe to the channel and watch.

I don't use a microphone or a facecam, I rarely type, and sometimes I run out of social energy and have to go lay down, but I'm almost always present if you'd like to type at me in an encouraging fashion.

I also want to push myself back towards screenshotted playthroughs, particularly of point and click adventures like Nancy Drew and the Sierra games. I want people to enjoy things, and I'm not sure I've been promoting that lately. Which is a lead-in to...

EVERYTHING ELSE -

...Which has been up and down. I'm usually safe. Happy. Loved. Well-fed, as the BF and I are learning proper cooking techniques and such. But I'm also depressed and angry a lot. I've been saying "I'm sorry, I'm not myself lately" for at least five years now. It may be time to accept that yes, I am myself lately and I don't like who I actually am. Attempts to become more of a "real person" and fit in better with society have largely been a failure. I am on the cusp of going "fuck all y'all" and declaring official hermithood, connected to the world only via the internet.

That said, I am still safe, happy, loved, and well-fed. It's hard to be too upset about things.

I don't know what next year will bring. More games, more joy. I'm going to keep trying to connect with people even if it feels difficult. I've got to keep reaching out, even if it's hard. Things can always get better.

Good luck next year, folks.

--

BACK TO GAMES FOR A SECOND

The five best things I finished this year, no particular order:

5. The Spyro Trilogy. One of the few platformers I've ever bothered to 100%, giving rise to PERFECT DRAGON. Masterpieces. Can't go wrong with them.
4. Wolfenstein: The New Order. I still don't understand this game on a tonal level, but it's the best put-together FPS of the modern era.
3. Etrian Odyessy Untold. I became a slave to this game for almost two weeks, crawling dungeons endlessly. Good, strong stuff. Need to play it again in Story Mode.
2. Freedom Planet. They're making a Freedom Planet 2 now. I am delighted. This isn't "A Sonic fangame", this isn't "Modern day Sonic", this is an artifact from a world where Genesis platformers never stopped getting better.
1. The Mass Effect trilogy. Yeah, even ME3. Particularly ME3, a far better game now post-DLC than it was at launch. Fantastic stuff. I'm looking forward to the next one with all my heart.

Speaking of which, there's so much to look forward to next year. Shenmue 3, FF7 Remake, Dishonored 2, Dark Souls 3, Dragon's Dogma PC, Mirror's Edge 2, Mass Effect Andromeda...

It'll be a great year for that, anyway.

Comments

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I'll be looking forward to more adventure reviews, definitely. (The OS doesn't matter hugely - I've got VMs for Windows 7 and Ubuntu that can be fired up in a matter of a few seconds) For me, I'm very much looking forward to the continuation of "Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise", and the third and final part of "The Journey Down". Still, I've got Broken Age and a couple others to keep me busy in the meantime, plus a veritable mountain of platformers and more.. =:/

Well-fed, as the BF and I are learning proper cooking techniques and such

Yay! Feel free to post the odd photo of your creations. ^_^ (My own, unfortunately, tend not to be overly photogenic, especially when they're more in the stir-fry line of things, let alone variations on a rice & beans theme =:) I've always felt cooking to be such a good, even practical, means of self-expression - you're able to come up with just what you're wanting at the time (and as spicy as you like!), rather than having to settle for whatever some factory's come up with, or can be delivered. Definitely a good step, imho. ^_^

Wherever your mood may take you, I'm pleased to see, nonetheless, that you remain loved and wanted by your SO. ^_^ FSM knows, I'd love to know just a simple, loving hug again. Ah well. I'm sure stranger things have happened - though my geographical rootlessness doesn't help greatly. Still, who knows?

[xyzzysqrl]

I have no idea why we would post pictures of food, even if it wasn't basically Hamburger Helper.

[read-alicia.livejournal.com]

Hooray denting the backlog. I always enjoy your streams! I watched some of your frustration with Rayman, particularly that part where you were stuck in the red monster's tummy. I kinda feel that your streams are the equivalents of your write-ups now.

Enjoy hermithood! And Happy New Year!

[xyzzysqrl]

As always, thank you for attending. I'm not sure WHICH monster you mean (lots of fire?) but it amuses me that I'm not sure. There was a fair bit of being swallowed by the end there.

Whatever I do, there will be more of it.

[vulpisfoxfire.livejournal.com]

Well-fed is a good thing. As I've told you elsewhere, I'd definitely suggest supplementing the hamburger stuff (HH has a suprisingly wide array of flavors if you have decent stores) with Tyson (or Banquet, though they're smaller) breaded chicken patties. They usually come in bags of 10, which for two people makes a decent number of meals. They're also pretty versitile..stock items here are chicken-pattie sandwiches with various combos of toppings (I tend to like throwing on some deli-type ham, swiss, and ranch dressing for a cordon-bleu sort of thing), 'naked' patty with sides like corn, stuffing, potatoes, or a small salad, and one of our favorite home-brews, chicken parmisagna (which I just spelled *horribly*) with the patty covered in spaghetti sauce and baked, then thrown on thin spaghetti with some cheese. Cheap, easy to make, fairly quick to make, and very filling. :-)