200 | 2018 gaming year in review + an interesting article

[straightforwardly]

► So, I wanted to do a gaming update for 2018 like I did for 2017, but… well. My gaming took a definite nose-dive this past year, mostly because of real life. I only finished five individual games this year, which is not really enough to make answering that questionnaire worthwhile. I did still want to post my list of which games I played, though, so I’ll at least do that.

Games I Beat In 2018:
The Blackwell Legacy (Steam)
Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS)
The Witch’s Isle (Android)
Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (Steam)
Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1)
The Witch’s Isle (Steam)*

* = replay

All Games = 6
Visual Novels = 0

I debated on whether or not I should put OZMAFIA!! on that list, but finally settled on “no”. I did beat it by backloggery’s definition (“seeing the ending credits”, which pretty much happens every time you finish a route in any visual novel), but personally, I don’t consider a visual novel finished until I do all of the routes.

It feels weird not listing Star Ocean: The Second Story as a replay, considering just how many hours I’ve sunk into it over the years, but I’d actually never technically beat it back when I was a kid. Honestly, the fact that this was the year that I finally sat down and played it start to finish single-handedly redeems this gaming year for me— that game is for me what Final Fantasy VII is for a lot of people, and it had always somewhat haunted me that I’d never beaten it on my own. I did get very close back then, and I had seen all of the endgame via my brother’s playthroughs, but I had a bad habit of restarting the game multiple times because I wasn’t happy with my main party and/or recruiting choices.

► As long as I’m talking about visual novels— a few weeks back, I stumbled across this interesting article: An in-depth look at what otome players want.

It’s based on a survey that this person did, and the results really rang true to me. Particularly their findings in regards to players who don’t self-insert versus those who do. If you’re interested in otome games, I’d recommend checking it out— it was an interesting read.

Comments

[samuraiter]

In-ter-es-ting. Lots of crunchy data, too. It's good to see that there's a fair diversity of tastes.

Now, I'm the rare guy who likes otome games, so I guess it's not surprising that I prefer not to have a self-insert character. Then again, when I play VNs in other genres, I have the same preference; I'd rather be a witness to somebody else's adventures than live through them myself.

[straightforwardly]

Yeah, I feel the same. I do sometimes play the more self-insert-y otome games (e.g., like with The Arcana, where I was really intrigued by the worldbuilding), but overall, the ones that get their hooks into me tend to be the ones where there's a more developed main character. I hate it so much when there's not at least a default name for the MC.