Gaming Resolutions for 2021: Results Show!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

There have been a few threads here about what we want to see out of video game developers this upcoming year. That's all fine and dandy, but let's also ask - what do we want to see ourselves accomplish in the year ahead? This can be buying a new game, replaying an old favorite, or finishing off something already in progress. I'll start with my own "gaming resolutions for 2021"!

1. I completed Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, as my last game of 2020. And yes, it was long overdue. So, I've already bought it, but I'd like to play through Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice. I'm a longtime fan of the series, and it'll be nice to be "up-to-date", as English releases go.

2. Over the last year-and-a-half, I put an absurd amount of time (nearly 600 hours) into Fire Emblem: Three Houses, completing all four routes and the DLC. But my experience isn't yet complete, so I'd like to go back and play through Three Houses on Maddening NG, probably on the Golden Deer route.

3. I bought it last year, and made it a little less than halfway through before dropping it - which is a shame, because I generally enjoyed the game, and want to fully give it a chance. So I'd like to finish playing Paper Mario: The Origami King.

4. This one, I just received for Christmas, so of course I'll be spending time in it. But how much? Let's be optimistic, and plan to play through all three titles on the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a reconstruction of some of my earliest gaming experiences. 

5. The game, I believe, came as a gift, as did the first DLC pass - but the second one has been in my court, and I've just neglected to pick it up thus far. I'd like to acquire, and fully experience, the Fighters Pass 2 for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which includes, of course, gitting gud with the characters in question.

6. Last year, I completed a challenge run of Fire Emblem: Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, in which I only used "force-recruits". Just this past month, I attempted Thabes for the first time, but was forced to flee on the ninth understory. So, I intend to revisit, and complete, the post-game Thabes Labyrinth in Echoes - dragons, beware, for Saber has looped and wields a Zweihänder!

7. It's hard to gauge when you've "beaten" an open-ended game like Animal Crossing. I got K.K. Slider to visit, so am I done? Well yes, but actually no. There's so much more to do, but let's use an easy metric of accomplishment: I wish to complete the Museum in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, save for the Art section, which is up to the whims of fate. Get ready to be bugged, Blathers!

8. I generally enjoy Kart racing games, but despite owning two of the best around (in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled), I basically didn't play them at all this past year. So it's less of a concrete goal, but it'd be nice to spend more time playing my premier kart racing games. If I were to make a goal of it, maybe 100%ing CTR? Or at least unlocking all the characters.

9. I'd like to buy a new-to-me game in an unfamiliar franchise. I was thinking Catherine: Full Body, but I've also heard lots of good things about Hades, Hollow Knight, and Cuphead. Yeah, I realize these are all over the place in style and substance. So let's just say purchase, and play, a totally novel gaming experience.

Anyway, those are the ones I've got right now, though, I might choose to add more. What are your own "gaming resolutions" for 2021? Did you make any for this past year, and if so, did you keep them? Thanks for reading, and I really look forward to what y'all have to say!

Edited January 1, 2022 by Shanty Pete's 1st Mate
Updated title.

[Reality]

So

2019 - No resolution, but played a tons of RPGs

2020 - Play an RTS for every RPG I played in 2019 (probbably went 4 short in the end)

2021 - Play a Citybuilder for every RTS I played in 2020

 

Gotta keep the genres I play varied.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

Beat one path of TH on Maddening. There´ve been numerouse attempts and they all died.

[eclipse]

I will finish one of Berwick Saga/Vestaria Saga.  I've just been distracted by a lot of other things!

[vanguard333]

My usual resolution: finish the games I already have. The list of games I need to finish are:

1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (I've done 1.8 out of 4 routes so far)

2. The World of Light part of Smash Bros. Ultimate (currently about to face the eyeball with all the spiked vines)

3. Final Fantasy 7 Remake (currently at the part involving rescuing Tifa from a crime boss)

4. Ys VIII (currently on chapter 4)

5. Maybe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (I like aspects of the story, but there are things I like and dislike about the gameplay that bring the game down a bit, so I'm left wondering if I actually want to finish it. Currently in the really big city). 

[indigoasis]

Alrighty let's see...

• Get around to completing the other routes of Three Houses. I've only finished Golden Deer, and started on Blue Lions and what will be Silver Snow when I get to that decision
• Get Altena, Norne, Sophia, and Petrine to +10 merges in Heroes, which I would expect to get done within the next few months at the least
• Port Xenoblade Chronicles X over to the Switch... This isn't a resolution for me by the way, it's for the developers
• Actually play through Final Fantasy 8
• Get the stuff I should probably get in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 before starting New Game Plus
• Play New Game Plus of Torna: The Golden Country and max out everyone in the party
• Do everything there is to do in Age of Calamity
• Beat Link's Awakening (I got it for Christmas, and I've got 6 dungeons done already, so this one is pretty easy)
• Improve my aim and movement in FPS games (this is really just for TF2, and I think I'm semi-competent as it is, but there's always room to grow)

That's about everything that comes to mind right now. Other non-gaming resolutions I have include to finish reading through the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (I'm on the last book right now, actually), really start writing the story idea I have in mind, and figure out what I want to major in for college.

I wish everyone luck in their resolutions!

[L3xandr3]

1- Finish up my current playthrough of Octopath Traveler.

2- Get back into Let's Playing Civ5, maybe play some of the many FE Civ mods (Stopped because my Mic broke, and then I lost my YouTube channel). Also get back into Modding Civ5. I don't care if it's an old game, it's still great!

3- Maybe attempt 112% and All Achievements Hollow Knight.

As a side note:

7 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

9. I'd like to buy a new-to-me game in an unfamiliar franchise. I was thinking Catherine: Full Body, but I've also heard lots of good things about Hades, Hollow Knight, and Cuphead. Yeah, I realize these are all over the place in style and substance. So let's just say purchase, and play, a totally novel gaming experience.

I very highly recommend Hollow Knight. It's an absolute gem of a game. Latter on the bosses get... Well hard is an understatement. The big 3 especially. I'm spoilering this, it doesn't spoil the story or bosses, just a little forewarning about the aforementioned big 3.

Quote

1 is highly patterned but very fast, lose your pace and you'll get ran over. Very fun fight, however, and very satisfying when you do beat it.

2 is both fast and brutal, with little pattern. It's also at the end of a small Boss rush.

3 is just BM, it's not as fast, but it's hard to tell what attack is what, except for 1 move having a sound tell, and the others can be seen before they fire. The biggest problem is the fact that you have a major boss rush before it, and losing to any of them boots you out of the entire thing. Vexing, but satisfying.

[Sooks]

You know what? You know what??

I’m going to at least try all of the classic FEs this year (as in, 1-5)! I’d say I’lol complete them, but Gaiden’s maps and Genealogy of the Holy War’s maps don’t look... appealing...

[Tediz64]

As far as gaming goes, let's see

1) Finish Tales of Zesteria. I couldn't get past the scene in the forest where you get the wind seraphim.  I just got tired of the game and all it's stupid mechanics. Our titles need to be leveled up,  our monster book has a star system, our equipment has a leveling system, our arte usage has a leveling system, our equipment has a synthesis feature with attributes added, and so much more. I got tired of the game with its many gimmicks. I got 40+ hours in and I can't remember the story cause I'm over here juggling tasks like finding points of interest for skits. And I thought tales of xillia was bad

2) start Tales of Beseria (I think that is how it is spelled. The one with a vampire supposedly)

3) Finish Tales of Vesperia and finally meet the ninja girl who is popular for I dunno what reason

4) get the new game in March being dropped from the Story of Seasons franchise

5) also get the new game in March from the Rune Factory franchise

6) maybe play Bravely Default 2 (since I already did one with Tiz and Edea)

And that's about it....I can't think of any other games I'm especially looking out for. Maybe do another run of Dragon Crown if I'm bored. I couldn't tell if it was official or not but word is Dragon Age 4 is confirmed. And a new Tales of Arise is anticipated. 

I know this is a bit off topic, but does anyone think the ps5 or new X worth the money drop?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

My backlog is literally hundreds of games, so every year I come up with interesting goals in an attempt to stem the tide of impulse purchases. Not technically a new year's resolution though since the date we start and end on is Nov 11, not Jan 1. But it's close enough. This year's goals are

• - Beat or Complete 32 Playstation games (games owned digitally on a playstation system do count) (progress: 5/32)
• - Beat or Complete 3 games with Tomb Raider in the title (progress: 0/3)
• - Beat or Complete 5 Ubisoft games (progress 5/5)
• - Revisit 15 games beaten in 2018 or earlier and complete them (progress 2/15)
• - Beat or Complete all remaining games in the following categories: WiiWare, Wii Virtual Console, Wii U Downloads, Game Boy Advance, and Playstation Vita (progress: the first three are finished, 2 Vita games and 4 GBA games remain)
• - 500 or less Unfinished games. (progress: I am further away from this goal than I was in November)
• - Complete one game each whose title starts with the letters, B, A, C, K, L, O, and G (progress: B and A are checked off)
• - Beat or Complete nine of these ten randomly selected bounties: Bad Dudes, Rocket Power Team Rocket Rescue, Medal of Honor (1999), Perfect Dark Zero, L.A. Noire, Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll, suikoden III, Ascend: World of Kul, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, SonSon (progress: first two are cleared)

Though a lot of these are intentionally vague because I generally don't like "calling my shots" on specific games to play each year, since my cravings change so often. There are some games that are on my mind for the near future. I'm in a final fantasy mood right now and could see myself going after any of the following 2, 3, 7, 10-2, and 15. I'm also interested in trying out some challenging mods for some beloved games, like Paper Mario Master Quest, Final Fantasy 10 Hardcore, maybe something for Fallout New Vegas. I dunno, I'm keeping my eye out for things that are interesting. I haven't been big into ROM hacks since maybe 2010, so I'm not up to date on the craziest projects that people have been cooking up. I've also treated myself to a wonderful new PC, that will hopefully allow me to join some friends on more game nights throughout the year.

[NSSKG151]

• There's two new games that I want to play when they come out this year. Trails of Cold IV for Steam and Cyber Shadow which I will also probably play on Steam
• Start playing the other half of some YS games I haven't gotten around to yet. I still need to play YS Seven, YS VIII, YS Origins and YS IX.
• I want to get back to Sonic Mania someday and play through the games as the other characters. I only cleared the game once two years ago as Knuckles but I didn't even collect all the Chaos Emeralds.
• There's a difficult romhack called Pokemon Radical Red that I would like to try out.
• There are some games the past two years I played a little bit of but never finished and I occasionally think about going back and finishing them. Someday I would like to finish King Knight, Devil Survivor, Fallout 4, Cadence of Hyrule and Octopath Traveler

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

- Beat or Complete nine of these ten randomly selected bounties: Bad Dudes, Rocket Power Team Rocket Rescue, Medal of Honor (1999), Perfect Dark Zero, L.A. Noire, Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll, suikoden III, Ascend: World of Kul, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, SonSon (progress: first two are cleared)

Well, I hope President Ronnie was grateful for the help! But I was never aware of a "Rocket Power" video game - how was it?

On 1/1/2021 at 5:11 PM, L3xandr3 said:

I very highly recommend Hollow Knight. It's an absolute gem of a game. Latter on the bosses get... Well hard is an understatement. The big 3 especially. I'm spoilering this, it doesn't spoil the story or bosses, just a little forewarning about the aforementioned big 3.

Thanks for the tip! I think I'm gonna hold off on purchasing any new games until I've finished one or two I already own, but I will keep this endorsement in mind when picking.

On 1/1/2021 at 7:59 PM, Sooks said:

I’m going to at least try all of the classic FEs this year (as in, 1-5)! I’d say I’lol complete them, but Gaiden’s maps and Genealogy of the Holy War’s maps don’t look... appealing...

Good luck! I bought FE1 on the e-shop as it came out, but the quality of life is so low, I had to drop it. Genealogy, though, is among my favorites despite its age. And I really ought to give Thracia a proper play through sometime.

On 1/1/2021 at 5:07 PM, indigoasis said:

Beat Link's Awakening (I got it for Christmas, and I've got 6 dungeons done already, so this one is pretty easy)

Maybe I should do the same. Although, my Link's Awakening is the one that came out through the e-shop, for 3DS! Still, would be nice to beat it.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

49 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Well, I hope President Ronnie was grateful for the help! But I was never aware of a "Rocket Power" video game - how was it?

Just a poor man's version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. It's one of those licensed games aimed at kids, yet bizarrely high on the difficulty. Those score requirements on tournament stages are rough, you really need to math out which tricks net the most points in the time you have, since there's no point degradation for using the same move over and over like in Tony Hawk. But yeah, other than the difficulty, the short little story mode left no impression on me beyond dredging up some very slight memories of the show.

[Sooks]

9 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Good luck! I bought FE1 on the e-shop as it came out, but the quality of life is so low, I had to drop it. Genealogy, though, is among my favorites despite its age. And I really ought to give Thracia a proper play through sometime.

I didn’t have any plans to continue fe1 after getting it on the switch eshop as well, in my opinion the first chapter is quite dull, but I felt compelled to play the next chapter and then I was enjoying myself, most of the maps are pretty good imo. The same thing also happened with one of my favorite games, Stardew Valley, where I didn’t have a good first impression, but a whim told me to keep playing.

[SSbardock84]

I'll buy a PlayStation 5 . . . I hope. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

We're a bout one-eighth of the way into 2021, so I thought I'd assess my progress!

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

1. I completed Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, as my last game of 2020. And yes, it was long overdue. So, I've already bought it, but I'd like to play through Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice. I'm a longtime fan of the series, and it'll be nice to be "up-to-date", as English releases go.

Haven't begun this one yet.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

2. Over the last year-and-a-half, I put an absurd amount of time (nearly 600 hours) into Fire Emblem: Three Houses, completing all four routes and the DLC. But my experience isn't yet complete, so I'd like to go back and play through Three Houses on Maddening NG, probably on the Golden Deer route.

I've done a little theorycrafting, but no actual play yet.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

3. I bought it last year, and made it a little less than halfway through before dropping it - which is a shame, because I generally enjoyed the game, and want to fully give it a chance. So I'd like to finish playing Paper Mario: The Origami King.

Yet another I need to go back to. Maybe I should knock this out before, say, buying 3D World plus Bowser's Fury?

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

4. This one, I just received for Christmas, so of course I'll be spending time in it. But how much? Let's be optimistic, and plan to play through all three titles on the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a reconstruction of some of my earliest gaming experiences. 

I've made solid progress on this front! I 120%ed the first game, and beat Ripto on the second before setting it down. I've really enjoyed the game, although it's gone faster than what I remember as a kid.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

5. The game, I believe, came as a gift, as did the first DLC pass - but the second one has been in my court, and I've just neglected to pick it up thus far. I'd like to acquire, and fully experience, the Fighters Pass 2 for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which includes, of course, gitting gud with the characters in question

Not yet. I played with some friends when Sephiroth came out, but otherwise, I just haven't been into 5ma5h lately.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

6. Last year, I completed a challenge run of Fire Emblem: Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, in which I only used "force-recruits". Just this past month, I attempted Thabes for the first time, but was forced to flee on the ninth understory. So, I intend to revisit, and complete, the post-game Thabes Labyrinth in Echoes - dragons, beware, for Saber has looped and wields a Zweihänder!

This is the one-and-only resolution that I can firmly declare "accomplished". Granted, it was also the easiest and quickest I set forth. I made it through Thabes the second time in... probably under 4 hours. Still some quite challenging moments. Bow Knight Gray got the final blow, with Hunter's Volley.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

7. It's hard to gauge when you've "beaten" an open-ended game like Animal Crossing. I got K.K. Slider to visit, so am I done? Well yes, but actually no. There's so much more to do, but let's use an easy metric of accomplishment: I wish to complete the Museum in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, save for the Art section, which is up to the whims of fate. Get ready to be bugged, Blathers!

...Festivale was today, and I completely forgot until just now. Goddamnit.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

8. I generally enjoy Kart racing games, but despite owning two of the best around (in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled), I basically didn't play them at all this past year. So it's less of a concrete goal, but it'd be nice to spend more time playing my premier kart racing games. If I were to make a goal of it, maybe 100%ing CTR? Or at least unlocking all the characters.

I had the chance to play CTR with my sister, who lives an ocean away! I love the social aspect, so I'm hoping to keep this up with her. And I did some single-player, getting further in Adventure Mode, at least.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

9. I'd like to buy a new-to-me game in an unfamiliar franchise. I was thinking Catherine: Full Body, but I've also heard lots of good things about Hades, Hollow Knight, and Cuphead. Yeah, I realize these are all over the place in style and substance. So let's just say purchase, and play, a totally novel gaming experience.

Not done this yet. And it's the most open-ended here, so I don't have a plan for it yet.

So, have I been playing anything outside of my resolutions? Yes! I thought I was totally satisfied with how far I'd gotten in Celeste, upon beating "Farewell", but 'twas not to be. I beat Core-B, thus opening the C-sides and golden berries. Which are sure to bully me relentlessly. 

Oh, and I'm fairly deep into a Sacred Stones (vanilla) playthrough, over emulator. Hard Mode, Seth-less. I'm just before the desert chapter on Eirika's route. I've beaten the game a few times over, but honestly, it's been years.

So, how is everyone doing? Are you keeping pace on your resolutions, or have other interests taken your time? Let me know!

[vanguard333]

15 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

So, how is everyone doing? Are you keeping pace on your resolutions, or have other interests taken your time? Let me know!

I currently am on my last university term, so I've been busy with courses and an honors project, but I only have three courses this term including the honors project, so I've been able to set aside a bit of time once a week to play one of the games I need to finish. I'm currently on chapter 6 (the last chapter) of Ys VIII. Once I'm done with that game, I'll finish my Verdant Wind playthrough of Three Houses, move on to one of the other games on my list, then go back to Three Houses for an Azure Moon playthrough, etc. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

20 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

So, how is everyone doing? Are you keeping pace on your resolutions, or have other interests taken your time? Let me know!

It occurs to me that, since the previous post six weeks ago, I am still playing Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity. Wow, that's the backlog gaming equivalent of showing a funny photo to a friend, only to realize you're wearing the same T-shirt now as in that photo. How embarrassing. Thankfully, it's not for much longer, as I surely have less than a dozen remaining korok seeds and materials left to collect for 100% completion as the game defines it. My game file claims I have just over 70 hours of playtime, which is less than ten percent of the amount of hours it would take to achieve everything in the other Hyrule Warriors game, so I'll be happy to spend these last few minutes cleaning up before any sort of DLC announcement washes away my sense of achievement. I'll also appreciate having that game cartridge slot free on my switch, so that I'm no longer asked "you're still playing that game" when it's time for the bi-monthly smash bros meetup. If my switch were a house, Smash Bros would be the legal homeowner, with the rest of the games classified as dependents.

My previous post also mentioned I was in a rare final fantasy mood. I spent it on the most taxing game I could think of that I had yet to play: FFX-2. I'm noticing that, among the many things I have to say about it, not one thing is a complement regarding the game's quality or design. My goal is to think of something before the game is finished. It's the last final fantasy game before Square became Square-Enix, what a way to go out. Even reading up about the development history is a headache.

As for my backlog goals, depressingly little has changed. Just two more entries on the "revisit games to complete them" challenge. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, a completionist double feature. While I have the gamecube out, I'm looking at some other favorites that I'd like to nab 100% on. Pikmin 2 is perhaps the most tantalizing, but there's also Mario Superstar Baseball, a game i was strangely obsessed with growing up. There's a single player mode where you recruit individual team members and complete character-specific achievements.

Oh and a lot of Tekken 7. At first I was just really enamored by being able to essentially play street fighter in another fighting game by picking Akuma, but I stuck around long enough to dig into the game's mechanics. Beating on CPUs in Treasure Battle while listening to podcasts has been a zen activity in the last month. Then spending the acquired gold unlocking dumb outfits and the ability to watch those glorious PS1 era Tekken FMV cutscenes. It's been a perfect steam game to let off some steam with.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

My game file claims I have just over 70 hours of playtime, which is less than ten percent of the amount of hours it would take to achieve everything in the other Hyrule Warriors game, so I'll be happy to spend these last few minutes cleaning up before any sort of DLC announcement washes away my sense of achievement.

Oh boy, I can't wait for the Nintendo Direct to make our backlogs even longer! I'm not sure I'd be able to turn down, say, Wind Waker HD for the Switch.

1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

If my switch were a house, Smash Bros would be the legal homeowner, with the rest of the games classified as dependents.

I wonder what my metaphor would be? How about... Super Mario Odyssey commissioned the house, but he died shortly after it was finished (his ghost comes back from time-to-time, though). A couple of his children (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Maker) spent some time remodeling the house. Then Fire Emblem: Three Houses bought the house, raised three kids and a pet dragon there, and outside of a few vacations, zealously guarded against any intruders (like a different dragon, or a weird Australian badger who roots through their trash). Now the kids are grown, though, and the Professors are empty nesters on a long cruise. So Celeste plays her drums in their garage, while Tom Nook lets the neighborhood kids use the pool (for a modest fee, of course).

7 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

I currently am on my last university term, so I've been busy with courses and an honors project, but I only have three courses this term including the honors project, so I've been able to set aside a bit of time once a week to play one of the games I need to finish. I'm currently on chapter 6 (the last chapter) of Ys VIII. Once I'm done with that game, I'll finish my Verdant Wind playthrough of Three Houses, move on to one of the other games on my list, then go back to Three Houses for an Azure Moon playthrough, etc. 

Cool, good luck with your classes! I've not played Ys, but Verdant Wind was my very first 3H route, so I hope you enjoy!

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Cool, good luck with your classes! I've not played Ys, but Verdant Wind was my very first 3H route, so I hope you enjoy!

Thanks. I'm really enjoying the classes (one reason being that they're both electives).

Neither have I; this is my first time playing a Ys game. I got interested in Ys VIII because I saw a trailer for the Switch port during an E3... I think four years ago, and the premise of the game fascinated me: a JRPG about an explorer/adventurer stranded on a deserted island from which no one's been able to escape, having to find the the other castaways and explore the island, all while the protagonist witnesses the life of a mysterious woman of a prehistoric civilization through his dreams.

I'll probably post a review of it on this forum, in which I'll undoubtedly compare it to Xenoblade Chronicles 1 a lot (I have a good reason why and it'll make a lot of sense when I post the review), but I have to say I'm enjoying it so far. That said, I've read up about the series, and I don't think this game will make me a Ys fan, as a lot of the stuff I like most about Ys VIII are, well, unique to Ys VIII. 

As for Verdant Wind, I have been enjoying it overall so far (and my playthrough of it was mostly finished before I got busy with university, moved on to other games, etc.), though I think i preferred my Crimson Flower playthrough despite how short and lacking in presentation it was compared to Verdant Wind. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Now we're a quarter of the way into 2021 already. How am I doing with my resolutions? Well...

On 2/15/2021 at 10:07 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Oh, and I'm fairly deep into a Sacred Stones (vanilla) playthrough, over emulator. Hard Mode, Seth-less. I'm just before the desert chapter on Eirika's route. I've beaten the game a few times over, but honestly, it's been years.

Not a resolution, but I finished this one a few weeks ago. Myrrh was even better than I remembered. Anyway, this laid the groundwork for me to start

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

2. Over the last year-and-a-half, I put an absurd amount of time (nearly 600 hours) into Fire Emblem: Three Houses, completing all four routes and the DLC. But my experience isn't yet complete, so I'd like to go back and play through Three Houses on Maddening NG, probably on the Golden Deer route.

Started Golden Deer NG Maddening just a couple nights ago! The Prologue was fine, but Chapter 1 was way harder, thanks to no battalions or ability buy-backs. I gamed over (game overed?) thrice, before beating it with Teach/Claude/Hilda/Raph/Marianne. And with the horror stories I've heard of chapter 2... not exactly looking forward to that one.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

5. The game, I believe, came as a gift, as did the first DLC pass - but the second one has been in my court, and I've just neglected to pick it up thus far. I'd like to acquire, and fully experience, the Fighters Pass 2 for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which includes, of course, gitting gud with the characters in question.

I bought the pass, and applied it to my game! And... that's it. I haven't beaten the new character's classic modes, or brought them online, or... anything yet. I just haven't been in a mood to Smash, I guess. So this one's a stalled work in progress.

On 1/1/2021 at 9:46 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

7. It's hard to gauge when you've "beaten" an open-ended game like Animal Crossing. I got K.K. Slider to visit, so am I done? Well yes, but actually no. There's so much more to do, but let's use an easy metric of accomplishment: I wish to complete the Museum in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, save for the Art section, which is up to the whims of fate. Get ready to be bugged, Blathers!

I played a little more, particularly during Bunny Week. And I managed to totally fill up the Fossil wing of the museum! Go me! Really a shame that they don't offer you a "fossildex", like they do for bugs, fish, and sea creatures. But oh well.

Those are the only real fronts I've made progress on since last time. Otherwise, a game I've gotten back into playing (albeit not a resolution) is Celeste. I've achieved a "full clear" of all the A-sides, and have beaten all the C-sides, save for 7 and 8. Plus, Golden Berries on 1A, 2A, and 2C.

How are y'all's resolutions continuing to go? I'd love to hear!

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I made a google document to track my progress on the backlog goals I mentioned. But depressingly little has changed since my post in January. It's not that I haven't been playing games, it's just that my selection may be a bit too cavalier considering how many of them don't relate to those goals. Or how many of them were jrpgs. To add on top of that, the goal to have 500 or less unfinished games is probably not happening this year. The news of the playstation store shutdowns prompted me to add fifteen more games to my collection, and maybe more as the months go on and I research what I may have missed. If they announce the closure of the 3DS and Wii U eshops as well this year, that could be another twenty games. Regardless I don't think I'll be catching up. Especially comparing against the progress of the previous two years. I'm buying too many games for how few I'm actually finishing.

Currently I'd say the only game I'm actively working through is Wild Arms 2. I looked up when I beat the first game and it was a year ago, on april 15th 2020. Wouldn't it be a weird coincidence if I finished the second entry exactly a year later? I didn't plan that but now I'd like it to happen. My backlog history is full of strange patterns like that whenever I look at my play history.

As for what I might play in the near future, I'm just combing through whatever's on my PS3 since the recent news had drawn my attention to it. Due to a side project I'm working on, my mind has been on Metal Gear Solid lately. There are actually six Metal Gear games I never played/finished sitting in my backlog. They are the original two for the MSX, Portable Ops, Peacewalker, Phantom Pain, and Revengeance. They all sound pretty enticing. I also want to pick back up Blossom Tales on my switch. It's an indie game that closely resembles A Link to the Past, but in the framing device of an old man telling his grandchildren a story. Sometimes the kids suggest a rather silly addition to the story, so there's a bit of an unreliable narrator hook. I like it! And I think I got about two thirds of the way through it back in March so I should take the time to finish it.

[eclipse]

I will make an exception for the necroposting rule in this topic, given the fact that OP apparently wants to keep track of our progress.

That being said, something something TWEWY, so my resolution is on hold.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 4/11/2021 at 1:12 AM, eclipse said:

I will make an exception for the necroposting rule in this topic, given the fact that OP apparently wants to keep track of our progress.

That being said, something something TWEWY, so my resolution is on hold.

Thank you for being understanding. I will do my best to post strategically, so as to avoid any incidental violations.

Also, I assume that acronym is for "The World Ends With You"? How are you liking it? That's a game I've not played myself, but I've heard good things if it.

On 4/10/2021 at 10:29 PM, Glennstavos said:

I made a google document to track my progress on the backlog goals I mentioned. But depressingly little has changed since my post in January. It's not that I haven't been playing games, it's just that my selection may be a bit too cavalier considering how many of them don't relate to those goals. Or how many of them were jrpgs. To add on top of that, the goal to have 500 or less unfinished games is probably not happening this year. The news of the playstation store shutdowns prompted me to add fifteen more games to my collection, and maybe more as the months go on and I research what I may have missed. If they announce the closure of the 3DS and Wii U eshops as well this year, that could be another twenty games. Regardless I don't think I'll be catching up. Especially comparing against the progress of the previous two years. I'm buying too many games for how few I'm actually finishing.

Currently I'd say the only game I'm actively working through is Wild Arms 2. I looked up when I beat the first game and it was a year ago, on april 15th 2020. Wouldn't it be a weird coincidence if I finished the second entry exactly a year later? I didn't plan that but now I'd like it to happen. My backlog history is full of strange patterns like that whenever I look at my play history.

As for what I might play in the near future, I'm just combing through whatever's on my PS3 since the recent news had drawn my attention to it. Due to a side project I'm working on, my mind has been on Metal Gear Solid lately. There are actually six Metal Gear games I never played/finished sitting in my backlog. They are the original two for the MSX, Portable Ops, Peacewalker, Phantom Pain, and Revengeance. They all sound pretty enticing. I also want to pick back up Blossom Tales on my switch. It's an indie game that closely resembles A Link to the Past, but in the framing device of an old man telling his grandchildren a story. Sometimes the kids suggest a rather silly addition to the story, so there's a bit of an unreliable narrator hook. I like it! And I think I got about two thirds of the way through it back in March so I should take the time to finish it.

I looked up Blossom Tales; it looks really charming and fun! I've never played "Link to the Past", but "A Link Between Worlds" is actually the latest Zelda game I've beaten, and "Link's Awakening DX" is sitting on my 3DS half-played.

Here I thought "ARMS" was an original Nintendo IP, but apparently it's an adaptation of a Sony franchise over two decades in the making! Who knew! I kid, of course. Sounds like a pretty cool game. But with the date past, I have to ask - did you deliver on the anniversary?

I guess the latest word is, the PlayStation Store is not closing to PS3 users after all? Looks like Sony reversed course. I don't have any Sony system newer than my PS2, so I don't have a horse in this race. Still, I do feel the anxiety about the eventual loss of shopping/online access for the 3DS, as it's a system I still use semi-regularly.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I looked up Blossom Tales; it looks really charming and fun! I've never played "Link to the Past", but "A Link Between Worlds" is actually the latest Zelda game I've beaten, and "Link's Awakening DX" is sitting on my 3DS half-played.

It was fun. I finished it up a few days ago since I was so close to the end. Some pretty tricky puzzles in the final dungeon though. The game relies heavily on block pushing puzzles where you can't push or move outside or rigid boundaries or else your work resets. There's also the sort of puzzle where you must step on every tile on the floor but can't step on the same tile twice. In Japanese they call those Hitofude. And they've been seen briefly in the Zelda Oracles games, as well as the eighth gym of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. 

As for how well Blossom Tales stacks up to top down zelda games, it's pretty good. I thought the dungeon items were pretty lackluster, sticking only to standard Zelda fare like boomerangs and bombs. I wish the overworld was a bit better connected rather than being sectioned off into four "zones". But you have fast travel from the get go, so it's never inconvenient as far as traversal. The game is short, but that keeps its rather simplistic puzzles from feeling stale. And seeking out side activities constantly rewarded me with heart pieces and other upgrades.

Quote

Here I thought "ARMS" was an original Nintendo IP, but apparently it's an adaptation of a Sony franchise over two decades in the making! Who knew! I kid, of course. Sounds like a pretty cool game. But with the date past, I have to ask - did you deliver on the anniversary?

I finished it on April 16th. A day late. But 2020 was a leap year. So maybe if you turn off the part of your brain that reminds you that April lies past February 29th, then you could say it's been a year exactly.

I've been wondering if anybody'd make the mental connection between Arms and Wild Arms. My friend and I are workshopping a project related to that.

Quote

I guess the latest word is, the PlayStation Store is not closing to PS3 users after all? Looks like Sony reversed course. I don't have any Sony system newer than my PS2, so I don't have a horse in this race. Still, I do feel the anxiety about the eventual loss of shopping/online access for the 3DS, as it's a system I still use semi-regularly.

Right. They reversed their decision this month. And it's anybody's guess when the PS3's store will shut down for real. I imagine not any year soon if Sony's really afraid of guys like me whining and complaining. But my guess is that they reversed the decision since there are still developers releasing games for the Vita in 2021 who were not informed of the store's shutdown until the same day we were. Bad look. If they do want me to shut about it, they should get to work on a classic games catalog for the PS5. Current Playstation CEO Jim Ryan has expressed genuine confusion at the calls for classic games and backwards compatibility. So you can be sure it hasn't been a priority for awhile. It should be. There's a lot of great history about to become inacessible unless you're willing to shell out hundreds for original hardware. No one should be.

The 3DS and Wii U eshops are another ticking time bomb. Because even though Nintendo began slacking on their virtual console offerings in that generation, they still made a lot of good, rare stuff available on those systems that wasn't there on the Wii. Original game boy or sega game gear games on 3DS, as well as GBA and DS games on the Wii U. I don't expect the Switch will get much more attention on the classic games front. Not unless they decide on a better model than the Switch Online subscription service. There's really very little money to be made in putting more games on there. The dark secret regarding the success of subscription models like Netflix or Microsoft Game Pass is that they take away content at the same rate that they add new stuff. But the catalogs are so enormous that almost nobody notices when the least popular things vanish. If that's the kind of model that nintendo wants, then they need to work much harder on their offerings.