Monday, January 1, 2018

Year in Review: 2017


Well 2017 was a doozy of a year, almost regardless of what aspect of the year you happen to be looking regarding.

2017 saw my own personal resurgence into the console gaming marking with Conklederp and myself acquiring a Nintendo Switch, and a semi-coveted Super Nintendo Classic.  During 2017 in particular, I felt that I have moved more away from PC gaming, partly because of the Switch purchase, but also because I am finding that my computer, for whatever reason, is having more and more difficulties playing games that I want it to be able to play.  From older games like Fallout New Vegas, Fallout III, to more recent games like The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, my computer either likes to not keep the game open beyond the first couple of seconds loading, or will randomly crash 5 - 35 minutes into playing.  And then there are games like DOOM that my computer maxes out at 15 fps even on the lowest settings, which is pretty much unplayable for that type of game.

Another reason I have found why I have been leaning more towards console gaming recently is because I want Nintendo to know that they have a customer who is willing to purchase third party games on their system.  Over Christmas, I purchased Oxenfree for the Switch, which was discounted 75% even though less than a week before, I had received it for free through GOG's winter sale.  I am looking forward to purchasing Resident Evil Revelations on the Switch even though I already have the first game in that series on the 3DS because I want Capcom to know that there is a market for Resident Evil games on the Switch.  I even pre-ordered project Octopath Traveler a few months back because the demo was what I have wanted from a JRPG for a long time, although Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia did scratch that itch quite a bit earlier in the year.

In other forms of gaming news, Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition continues to be the D&D is going to be interesting this year.  Beardsnbourbon (and his girlfriend), who is the head of our SoCal contingency (and Conklederp's brother) are moving out mid-west, about a mile higher than their current location, so we may end up just Google Hangingout in order to keep that group going.  Our PDX group is seeing one of our founding members move a bit further south due to purchasing a house, so hopefully monthly meet ups are still in the cards.  And we've managed to bring her fellow house-purchaser into the fold, so that is pretty great; he also plays a pretty mean barbarian.  Coupled with two couples in our D&D are now engaged, which is pretty damn awesome if you ask me.  Lots of things happening.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that both Conklederp and I, and Dr. Potts and Jane both bought houses in 2017!?  We are all now home owners because we bought fucking houses!!  That's is flipping crazy in the best kind of adult way.  I have found that in the last four months, half of which was spent being busy in the actual buying process and the other two were spent in a combination of doing renovations before moving in, moving in, cleaning up, and then doing touch up repairs.  It is all kind of busy, but it is a good kind of busy, or at least the kind of busy that makes you feel good at the end of the day.  Tack onto all of that the fact that I am now working more hours, which is indubitably a great thing, has also meant that keeping up with writing articles for you all (or just you) sometimes gets put on the back burner until after I get home from work and do other housely duties.

 For 2018. . .hmmmm.  I feel like that I am going to be playing the Switch a lot (I had better anyway), especially with Bayonetta 1, 2, & 3, coming out, along with, I hope, Dark Souls I, II, and/or III, and project Octopath Traveler, and Wolfenstein II, and Layers of Fear (again, which I have already played but damn it, I want to support my 3rd party horror games) and whatever Nintendo ends up doing with their Switch Online component.  Oh, and then the re-release of the NES Classic later this summer.  I am also finding myself wanting to play a lot more games through GOG Galaxy, partly because I was having an issue running Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs through Steam, but through Galaxy it ran flawlessly, so there is that too.  AND Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition currently has one more physical expansion out and another planned for sometime in the next three months.

The point is, I am somewhat more optimistic about 2018 than I past-tense feel about 2017, although 2017 did have a fair amount of good points considering the first four paragraphs here; but I guess I did leave out a bit of the negativity, but that is what I chose to do.  So there.  

Stay positive people, if you can.  And if you cannot, then find a way to do something about it.  Me, I have gotten back in to platelet donations on a semi regular basis.  Now stop calling me Red Cross, I'll make an appointment when I have the time.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

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