Narayan

Gaming resolutions 2018

Last year I decided to focus only on SG wins. For the most part it went well, although I didn’t reach my desired quota (which was to play the same amount of wins as the number of games won in 2017). From time to time I got an itch to play games that I got for myself - usually pushing them away didn’t result in instantly picking a SG win, but simply procrastinating instead. So now, while I still do plan to stick predominantly to SG wins, I’m introducing some changes:

  1. I will try to play 2018 wins asap - either right after winning, or right after whatever I’m playing at that time. So by the end of 2018, the number of wins played & number of games won should match this time around, cause 2018 wins shall be the exact same ones played immediately. Hopefully at least :)
  2. I will then work my way through my past wins, trying to make up for the difference played/won from 2017.
  3. I will allow myself to play non-wins/ non-gifts in the ratio of 2 per 1 - I need to finish 2 wins, in order to start something of my own, so that my wins backlog always goes down from this point forward :)

And a bonus - list of most enjoyable games from the ones I’ve completed/ beaten in 2017:

  • The Final Station - the atmosphere, the presentation, gameplay, moderate difficulty, mysterious backstory, compelling exposition through the environment - all of those elements were to my liking here :)
  • Pony Island - I had fun, especially with the meta part. After beating it, I ended up with a smile on my face and it generally put me into good mood throughout. :)
  • Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today - once I’ve picked it up I couldn’t put it down, not until very late night hours after finishing it. It got me very invested. Great story, a bit blunt and to the point at times, but it actually fit the whole feeling of urgency the narrative tried to create. Looking forward to the sequel ^^
  • Valley - pure joy of movement (you can run down the hill, gain momentum to speed up significantly, and then jump really, really high), beautiful audio & visuals, intriguing story, overall very engaging.
  • Little Nightmares - The visuals are fantastic, even though unnerving ;) The sound, the level design, the creepiness, the atmosphere - truly outstanding. I’ve beaten it twice, as well as 2 dlcs. Eagerly awaiting the final 3rd one to release in January :)
  • Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - I must say it exceeded my expectations. There’s basically everything in this game - and trying it all out feels satisfying. :) Simply fun.
  • Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - wonderful, outstanding and gorgeous! The metroidvania aspect - flawless. Visuals, music, ambiance, story, attention to detail, everything is truly amazing.
  • Dex - I really liked it. In a sense it was like a book, that you just can’t stop reading until you devour it cover to cover, and then after you finish it, you find out it’s 5am in the morning XD I didn’t realize I was so hungry for cyberpunk. ^^> Aside from that, it was well put together. Overarching narrative was original enough, so it was very engaging to go through. The characters were well written, and there was enough ambiguity for the setting to feel compelling and worth exploring in detail :)
  • Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - imo one of the best games of its kind, if not the best. I don’t think I had this much fun in this type of a game since the first GTA (yes, the top-down pixelated one ;) Lots of laughing out loud moments (especially at the ragdolling pedestrians when I casually mowed them down while driving ;) and generally full of content putting me in a good mood. Beautiful locations, amazing cityscapes, all those neons, lights <3 and general layout - moving around the city felt very natural. The parkour only added to the freedom of movement feel. There was very little the player couldn’t do. :)
  • Vikings - Wolves of Midgard - it looks beautiful; the maps are not randomized segments of same-yness, but instead they are handcrafted, thus really pretty and immersive :) The environmental effects are great. And the music is oh so gorgeous. The combat is visceral, the attacks have weight to them, the skills are fun to use, and their upgrades are significant. And my main character was great - no nonsense kind of gal.
  • Samorost 3 - I was smiling basically the whole time I played it :D Beautiful music, outstanding visuals and plenty of warmth ^_^
  • Hob - it’s a puzzle/ open world/ metroidvania experience, and I’ve enjoyed this game quite substantially. Visuals are simply gorgeous. The atmosphere is great. The world is excellently crafted. Figuring stuff out is satisfying. And even though there is not a single word spoken, it gave me a lot to think about. :)
  • Figment - it was so joyful, and uplifting. The visuals are creative & colorful. The puzzles were fun, and while not hard, they were varied and engaging. Overall it was nice to play, and contained many aspects that made me smile most of the time, like for example bosses singing at you insanely catchy tunes while battling them. Hard to keep straight face ;) I had a great time with this :)
  • Slayaway Camp - I couldn’t stop playing till I beat the base game. It’s a very fun take on slider puzzle, with hilarious theme :D The puzzles themselves are smart. Lots of murderers & killer moves to unlock, and a minigame where you constantly just slaughter blocky people :D

I played many other enjoyable games this year, too many for the list to feel relevant, so I’ll stop at that :)

Lucky Thirteen

You’ve got a great taste in games, I must say! Dex and Dead Synchronicity are both sitting in my library, waiting to be assassinated, played and loved Slayaway Camp and Hob is on my wishlist because it looked very interesting to me :)

Happy New year and the best of luck with playing your wins! :)

Narayan

To fruitful gaming in 2018 then! ^_^
Happy New Year!

LastM

That’s a very good resolution. Giving yourself a good ratio between SG wins and games you bought for yourself is a pretty good solution and it does help to balance the backlog and the desire to play new shiny games.
I wish you the best of luck with your resolution.
On a side note, congrats on beating all the games above. :)

Narayan

Thanks! :D
Btw, I’ve read your 2017 summary, and wow! Congrats on an outstanding accomplishment! Such a massive amount of games! :D
Best of luck to you too (although, considering how efficient you are, you probably won’t need any XD)

tsupertsundere

That’s really smart, doing a best-of list to end last year and start this one with celebration and excitement!

I hope you win SG games this year that make you excited and eager to play them!

Narayan

Thanks! ^_^
Lately, pretty much every single win makes me excited to play. I just need to work on getting more efficient and eliminating distractions. I think I’ve gotten much better at pinpointing what would be fun for me overall. ^^>
Most games I’ve played in 2017 already were nice. It’s just that I wasted a lot of time on my old bad gaming habits too T_T

You are right - focusing on what’s exciting to come (instead of moping about past bumps in the road), is the better course of action :)
Happy New Year! :D

EvilBlackSheep

Sounds like great resolutions (and yet manageable) to me, best of luck with that I know you can do it!

Also, really great list of recommendations here, I’ve added some to my wishlist as for the ones we both played our tastes seems to be pretty similar :3

Best wishes for 2018 and happy gaming!

Narayan

I was definitely aiming at manageable :) Imo there is no point at aiming at something clearly impossible - that’s just wishful thinking not resolutions ;)
Happy new gaming year! ^_^

EvilBlackSheep

Yes, I was looking back at my “plan” for 2017 as I’m making my end of the year summary and I’m glad I only had a few simple rules. Even though I didn’t reach all my goals I managed to mostly stick to the lines. I think this year I’ll do something similar BUT with more realistic objectives :)

Blue Ϟ Lightning

that…seems like a great new years resolution I’m stealing it although I’ve already been following it
You have loads and loads of really nice wins!
Pony island was funnnn and the scene where it takes a random friend and pretends they are insulting you it took archi so I had archi yelling FOOOOOL at me and I couldn’t tell if it was part of the game or not xd

Best of luck with 2018 \o/

Narayan

So much fun games to play, so little time ^^>
Thanks for you kind words :)
I forgot about that part XD It probably randomed out someone I didn’t even know I had on my friend list XD So cool for you to get Archi :D
All the best to you too! :D