My official 2017 goal was to complete 14 out of the 17 games on my list, and my completion number ended up at a lowly 7. Blame tokusatsu, podcasting, and laziness. I pledged that I wouldn't do an 18 in '18 list if I fell short of 80% completion, and I will stand by that. I'm no longer incrementally increasing the number my annual gaming targets.
New plan! I have less time for video games than ever, but I still want to attack my backlog and hit new releases in some measure every year, and I'm FAR from giving up on my gaming habit. Instead of my "# in #" format of gaming goals, I decided to keep my 2018 to a much more reasonable number. I ended up settling on twelve, but I'm aware that I haven't even gotten to above ten target games since 2012. So I may need additional motivation: If I complete fewer than 10 out of these 12 gaming tasks, I will further scale back my annual gaming goals.
I've divided these twelve games into four groups: 2018 new releases, Nintendo backlog, PC backlog, and Sony backlog. Each of those categories has three games represented in the lists below, even if some of the "backlog" games are 2017 purchases as recent as this month. The list is presented alphabetically and not separated by group. I've put under an hour into each of these games, with the majority of them having a personal time investment of zero seconds. Also: I am not including Monster Hunter World or Mega Man 11 in the lists below, even though I will be purchasing and playing both games.
MH World may not have a definite "ending" and as such it'll be weird determining if I've "completed" it or not. Mega Man 11 isn't coming out until December 2018, which is a narrow window indeed and at this point not even a guarantee that it'll come out in 2018. So those two are out. There's also the matter of games I'll definitely buy, but I'm not sure will be out in English next year, like Octopath Traveler (or whatever it's renamed to). The three 2018 games below are three that I'm definitely buying and are most certainly releasing next year. Probably. At least I hope so. Anyway, the list:
2018 Gamers' Dozen
I love a large number of Batman comics, cartoons, and movies. I've only played one Telltale game at length (The Walking Dead Season One) but finished it and enjoyed it quite a bit. Telltale tackling my favorite superhero seems like a cool match, and I'm interested to see their take on Gotham's grim guardian. I've heard it goes some wild places and has excellent voice performances. I'm only doing the first season of the game for this exercise (season two's official title is "Batman: The Enemy Within"), but I may yet pick up the second after I finish. Shoutout to my guy Peter for gifting this game to me in late 2016; I almost put it on my 2017 list.
The second of three adventure / puzzle / visual novel games on this list, Broken Age seems to represent the best of current Double Fine and former LucasArts (witty humor, great characters, tremendously imaginative settings and concepts) without my biggest caveats of theirs (antiquated UI and obtuse puzzle solutions). I played Grim Fandango earlier this year and it made me more interested in playing other high-rated adventure games of its ilk. Broken Age fits that bill.
I miss Igarashi-style Castlevania games, and Bloodstained is unapologetically one of those in all but name. I love the art style, the look of the main character, and the type of game it's trying to bring back. I gave to Iga's KickStarter a few years ago and was a little disappointed it didn't make its 2017 delivery date, but now I'm more stoked than ever for its release in early 2018. Hopefully I'm not too distracted by Monster Hunter World during that time.
Persona 5 has come and gone, and Dragon Quest XI inherited its former title of "Sollosi's Most Anticipated Game." Also continues an amusing streak of three straight Gaming Goals posts with a Dragon Quest game present. I love Dragon Quest, I've played all of them except for the Japan-only Dragon Quest X, and Dragon Quest XI looks like exactly the Dragon Quest I want. Beautiful, colorful world with large maps and classic Dragon Quest designs. Damn straight I'm playing this thing right away. Dragon Quest.
God of War
I miss God of War. I very much enjoyed the first five GoW games (two on PS2, one on PS3, two on PSP), from their graceful combat to their massive-scale environments to their gnarly interpretation of Greek myth. I never played Ascension, but the new God of War looks like a series reinvention, with a new setting and new base gameplay. I'm fascinated. It'll be my first God of War excursion in seven or eight years.
I miss God of War. I very much enjoyed the first five GoW games (two on PS2, one on PS3, two on PSP), from their graceful combat to their massive-scale environments to their gnarly interpretation of Greek myth. I never played Ascension, but the new God of War looks like a series reinvention, with a new setting and new base gameplay. I'm fascinated. It'll be my first God of War excursion in seven or eight years.
I haven't beaten a 3D Zelda game since 2012, when I finished both Twilight Princess and Wind Waker in the same calendar year. That's not because I have a particular aversion to them, but I don't have the overwhelming affection for them the way longtime fans of Ocarina of Time do; I typically prefer 2D Zelda. Regardless, I received Breath of the Wild as a gift this week (courtesy of my friends at RPGFan) and I think I should get over myself and play a new 3D Zelda. The one I chose is possibly the most acclaimed video game of 2017.
It took me an unusually long time to get to Layton Vs Phoenix. I love Professor Layton; I love Phoenix Wright; me buying and playing this game promptly after release seems like a no-brainer. But alas, not quite. Layton vs. Phoenix was an early 3DS game and I was a late 3DS adopter. When I finally got a 3DS in 2015, Layton vs. Phoenix had become slightly rare and was being sold online for $60. I had plenty of other 3DS games to distract me at the time, so I ignored it. Well, fast forward to earlier this year, I finally buy the damn game, used at a Gamestop for about $25. Took me long enough. I'll finally get to it sometime in 2018.
My list is overloaded with recent games this year, as Suikoden II is fourteen years older than the second-oldest game on the list. That's remarkable. I always had some PS2 thing or another on lists past and I've been doing these since 2011. Suikoden II is probably the most prominent non-Chrono Cross PS1 RPG I've left unfinished, and I have a PS1-on-Vita copy ready to go. It'll also be the first Suikoden game I put more than 5 hours into (I tried Suikoden I and III at different times during my RPG sampling career but wasn't seized by either). Hmm, maybe I could talk my RPGFan.com friends into a Suikoden II podcast... coming soon on Retro Encounter (?).
Tales of Berseria is perhaps the best-looking and best-received Tales game in a decade, but I have a nasty habit of buying Tales games without playing them - the newest one I finished is 2007's Vesperia, but I've picked up at least three since playing it. I'll try and play Tales of Berseria sometime in 2018 to see if I still have an appetite for the Tales series' brand of intense party combat and anime RPG nonsense. I'm leaning yes, but there's no guarantee.
Here it is again! The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot is the only returning title from my 2017 gaming goals list, which is slightly unusual as I have 10 unplayed games from that set and usually allow two or three to carry over to the following year. Anyhow, I'm still interested in the game, as I have zero Tomb Raider experience that isn't secondhand from sleepovers during the PS1 era. Maybe this is the year I finally put a Tomb Raider game on my resume.
Perhaps the most controversial (?) big RPG of 2017, a year dense with good RPGs, Xenoblade 2 is a (confirmed) slow starter with (alleged) great narrative and characters, but (possibly) an overabundance of RPG systems and (definitely) some questionable fanservice. I adored the original Xenoblade on the Wii, so its "true sequel" on the Switch is something I'm very interested in (I haven't played the Wii U's Xenoblade CX due to lack of a Wii U). I bought the special edition of the game at launch (just a few weeks ago!) but deliberately held off on starting it so I could finish some other gaming and podcasting projects. Perfect timing to make Xenoblade 2 part of my 2018 quest (parentheses).
What a strange situation. I didn't put Ys VIII on my 2017 list because I didn't think we were getting it in 2017. And when we got back in September, it came with a weird, busted translation that NISA pledged to fix soon. That was enough to get me to wait. Once Ys VIII gets its new translation patch, I'll throw it in my Vita and play through with gusto. I love me some Ys, and these Gaming Goals posts wouldn't be themselves without at least one Nihon Falcom game present.
Contingency Plan: if any of the 2018 titles above are delayed into 2019, I will replace them with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. I feel bad for never getting to that game after two years on the list. If more than one 2018 game is delayed, I will update this post with a second contingency plan game.
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So that's that! This is probably my last blog post of the year in what has been a very disappointing year in general for my blog and the world at large (but not necessary for video games or my personal life). Maybe 2018 is the year I break 80% on my list for the first time in forever? Only time will tell. I have fun writing and planning these lists, but I've only completed an acceptable number of games in 2011 and 2012. And yeah, that Dragon Quest XI image is too large for this blog's margins, but I don't give a fuck. Dragon Quest is worth it.
As for my other 2018 blogging and playing plans, I'm dozens behind on game reviews, and I have no idea if and when I'll get to any of those. I'm also five or six behind on Sentai reviews and another five or six behind on Rider reviews, so who knows about those as well. My big plan is to finish watching 20 Sentai shows by February and write a top twenty. My top ten Sentai blog post is the most-viewed page of this website. So look forward to that, and happy gaming!
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So that's that! This is probably my last blog post of the year in what has been a very disappointing year in general for my blog and the world at large (but not necessary for video games or my personal life). Maybe 2018 is the year I break 80% on my list for the first time in forever? Only time will tell. I have fun writing and planning these lists, but I've only completed an acceptable number of games in 2011 and 2012. And yeah, that Dragon Quest XI image is too large for this blog's margins, but I don't give a fuck. Dragon Quest is worth it.
As for my other 2018 blogging and playing plans, I'm dozens behind on game reviews, and I have no idea if and when I'll get to any of those. I'm also five or six behind on Sentai reviews and another five or six behind on Rider reviews, so who knows about those as well. My big plan is to finish watching 20 Sentai shows by February and write a top twenty. My top ten Sentai blog post is the most-viewed page of this website. So look forward to that, and happy gaming!
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