Well, looks like November isn’t much busier here at the Dojo than October was. I’m really hoping that changes soon, and I can get back in my stride. Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride. Ain’t nothin’ gonna hold me down. Oh no, I’ve got to keep on moving’!
Anyway…Since things have been quiet, I figured I’d at least let my readers know what I’m working on for the near future.
First of all, video game reviews! I plan on finally playing/finishing some of this year’s biggest titles, and will review the following games as soon as I can.
Marvel’s Spider-Man
God of War
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Red Dead Redemption 2
And of course, I plan on reviewing Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate when the time comes. Red Dead Redemption 2 will be a special case in which I will write separate reviews for its single player campaign and its upcoming multiplayer mode (if both are going to be released as their own entities, why not review them as such?). Also, I might finally get around to Detective Pikachu and Octopath Traveler at some point, but don’t be surprised if those two reviews don’t happen until 2019. Finally, I plan on playing through/reviewing the surprise kind of/sort of/somewhat (but not really) sequel to Undertale, Deltarune.
All those reviews should keep me busy for a while, but I hope to also have a few movie reviews written here and there. And as stated in the past, next year I suspect I’ll be reviewing more movies and older games, and maybe the occasional TV show. But I only plan on buying a small amount of 2019 video games. As much as I love gaming, I’m becoming less and less able to invest the ludicrous amount of hours modern gaming often requires. Sure, I’ll be getting Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Animal Crossing Switch, and a few others that I’m really excited for. But with the possible exception of Kingdom Hearts 3, I don’t see myself getting prominent games for the sake of reviewing prominent games anymore (and if I make an exception for KH3, it’s because I’m a sucker for Disney). Gotta choose wisely if a game’s going to take me forever to beat.
Yeah, I know. I complain about the length of modern games a lot these days. But it’s because of a valid reason… Modern games are too damn long!
As for what TV shows I plan on reviewing, well, it may seem cheap to start with some personal favorites, but the way I see it, it may make it easier to get into the groove of writing about something I haven’t before (in this case, TV shows). So I suspect Twin Peaks and Stranger Things might show up, among others. Maybe I’ll also give Castlevania on Netflix a looksy, and review it if I have enough to say.
To add a cherry on top, I’m hoping to finally write some top 5 and top 10 lists I’ve been meaning to get around to. While I don’t want to spoil what all of them will be, I may start with something like “Top 10 Nintendo Systems,” “Top 10 Nintendo Franchises” and “Top 10 Games from my Childhood” (as in, what games enthralled me the most during my adolescence, as opposed to which ones have held up the best since then).
Oh, and I’m hoping to finally get back into making sprites and studying game design, so depending on how quickly I start making progress on that, I will also try to update how that’s going every now and again. As I’ve stated ad nauseam, I’d like to make my own game, damn it!
Well, that’s about all I have to say for now. Sorry again for the slow updates. I hope to get the ball rolling once again as soon as possible. Hopefully now that I’ve mentioned some of these things it will help me get around to writing them faster (I’m in the process of writing my Spider-Man PS4 review, so I suspect that will come first).
Alrighty! Take care you handsome devils!
Wizard Dojo 
A big problem with games getting nowadays is the stigma that open worlds are the future, which usually involve super padded segments and a lot of optional content one might get sucked into at least try doing at first even if this isn’t worth it in the end, I think MGS5 is a perfect example of how that can go very wrong (sure, it fixed the problem of too many cutscenes vs gameplay but it created a whole new beast of a problem in the process). There’s also games that take their sweet time to begin and their structures lend themselves to be really long, Persona is pretty much an incarnation of both of these issues and it’s why I don’t recommend it to everyone because I know slow starts can be the bane of many peoples existance. At the end of the day it’s a matter of balancing things and making however long the game lasts feel worthwhile, a short game can still provide hours of content if it gives good reason to replay it (the Bayonetta games are one of the only ones that come to mind in this regard by having loads of unlockables that could have been DLC with any other company but Platinum kept this good tradition around), while a long one can feel like a chore and no longer feel like a fun way to pass time (I’ll point my finger again at MGS5 on this). Despite my previous criticism, I’d say Persona 5 is a good take on a long game, the story has notorious dips in actual points of interest (palace 5 being the absolute worst offender), but it still keeps you engaged by progressing with your confidants, improving your social skills and pushing through whatever issue is currently going on, it’s kinda surprising how addictive it can get despite being based on a lot of mundane stuff. On the other hand, short games can still feel like a drag despite their length, as much as I love the series, I had a hard time holding long sessions of Star Allies because of how monotonous the level design could get, especially compared to it’s recent predeccesors. Regardless of this, I’m thankful I’m super selective with what I play and that I’m probably not gonna focus on owning more than 1 current gen console at a time anymore, it can get too pricey and even then, at the rate I usually buy something new, it’s hard to justify spending twice on 300~ bucks machines.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well said. It’s frustrating how many people think “open world = good. Linear = bad.” It’s just different types of games.
Funny you should bring up Persona 5, as that’s kind of the game that really made me feel this way about long games. Don’t get me wrong, what I played of the game was very good, and I hope to get back into it, finish it, and review it at some point. But when I had spent around ten hours in the first dungeon (having to leave at inconvenient points to go back to the ‘real life’ parts and such), it kind of brought things to a halt for me. Again, I will go back to it, and look forward to it, but it really put it into perspective for me just how long games have become.
And only sticking with a single console seems perfectly justifiable. I can imagine doing something similar myself down the road.
LikeLike
That’s fair, I’m used to Persona length so I know I’m playing a game with an average length of 85-100+ hours, that can definitely be too long for some, but I think outside of the slow beginning there’s rarely a moment where I’m bored. I guess the difference I’m trying to point out is that a game being long isn’t neccesarily bad, but a game feeling long is the problematic part as that’s usually a sign it’s starting to drain you and overstay its welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yeah, I don’t think long games are bad just that it’s getting harder and harder to find the time for them. Again, I didn’t get too far in Persona 5, so hopefully when I get back into it I can get past the ‘slow beginning’ you mentioned.
LikeLike
Oh, I would definitely like to see how your progress in sprite creation goes.
Oh hey, you played RDR2. Guess that means you’re a gamer/not in a coma, eh? Joking aside, I probably will get into RDR2 before the end of the month. Without spoiling it, would you say it lived up to the critical acclaim?
By the way did you get a chance to try out DeltaRune? The first chapter was released recently as a demo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you very much! It was really fun making sprites, and I’m kind of kicking myself that I fell out of the groove of things. Here’s hoping I’ll have some kind of game sometime in the next several years. 😛
Haha! Yeah, that’s already become an infamous quote. Up there with “Like an anime fan on prom night,” though I suppose this quote is at least not reflective of the game itself.
Personally, I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying RDR2. It is a really easy game to get lost in. With that said, I don’t think it’s a perfect 10 or anything. There are just too many technical issues (and not simple things like textures taking a while to load. I actually haven’t had issues like that. But I lost a secret item from my inventory seemingly out of a glitch, and I can’t get it back). Also, the main story can get stretched a little thin amid everything else going on in the game. But with all that said, I do think the game is pretty great, and I can understand the praise. On GameRankings, it keeps switching between 6th and 7th place as the best reviewed game of all time (swapping with GTAV, and below three Marios and two Zeldas). I don’t necessarily agree with it being that high, since I think it’s technical problems are getting too much of a pass, but I also don’t mind seeing it there, since what it does well, it does really well. And the attention to detail is astounding.
I’ve downloaded Deltarune, but I haven’t played it yet. I am aware that it’s seen as a “demo” and “chapter 1” of the eventual game, but I still plan on reviewing it in its current state for two reasons. 1) it’s supposedly a pretty great standalone experience, and 2) According to Toby Fox, it will be a few more years before the full game is finished, and I’m impatient. I will review the full game eventually, of course. But I don’t see the harm in giving Chapter 1 its own review. hopefully I can get around to that review this month or early December.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I look forward to seeing you do that.
Yeah, it’s like the Cuphead footage: embarrassing, but ultimately not at the game’s expense. Honestly, it sounded like it was, from the beginning, a case of a game that got high scores out of obligation. I’ll certainly approach this game with a grain of salt.
That’s what happens when developers and journalists are too close to each other. That said, I do have to say it’s not quite as dire as the worst stuff film critics/journalists pen. I used to think that game journalists should strive to be more like film journalists, but I no longer want that to happen now. I’d say the current film critical circle is what happens when nothing is there to rein in the rampant egotism that arises when they’re left to their own devices; you get a lot of people making comments about why the general public has such a poor taste in films and that they’re stupid for not liking whatever critical darling is making the rounds. I remember back when Hereditary was released and one person writing for Variety, a major outlet, tried to cite the audience’s dislike of the film as proof of their lack of culture. It may sound unbelievably pretentious, and that’s because it was. If a major gaming outlet published something like that, they would never have heard the end of it. Because of this, I feel if the gaming critical circle is to improve, they need to forge a new path.
Argh, the full game is a few years away? That’s too bad, but good things come to those who wait, huh?
LikeLiked by 1 person