This year has been a weird one in many ways, but I’m going to talk about it from a gaming standpoint today because I can. And because it makes sense after talking about the ten games that define me. I have played many games this year, more than I normally do. New games, I mean. (Not new as in totally new, necessarily, but new as in new to me. In other words, I was cleaning up my backlog. But, also, new games.)
Usually, I play a few new games and then stick to FromSoft games for the rest of the time. They are my comfort games (along with some casual games), and I return to them when I need to nurture my soul.
This year, I feel like I’ve played a bunch of games–more than I normally play. The one I want to start with is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive) because it’s going to win every award known to humankind, and I want to vent my spleen about it because once again, I am in direct opposition to it being the game of the year, and I am registerirng my protest here.
I have played the whole game, and I have written several posts about it. As much as I did not care for the game, I could not quit it. I should have after the first act ended, but I did not. Why? Well, for a few reasons. One, it had its hooks in me. I will admit that it has that ‘keep playing’ feel to it. Two, I wanted it to get better. I so desperately hoped it would get better. To sum up what I’ve said before, the prologue was solid, though overwrought. The end of the first act was a shocker and really effective, until I started thinking about it more. And until the second act happened.
The second act threw everything and the kitchen sink at me, and the story was a hot mess. Everyone is gushing over how great it is, and I’m just not seeing it. I saw the twist coming a mile away, and I kept hoping the story wouldn’t go how I thought it was going to go. Then, at the end, you have to make a choice between two miserable endings. And it was, again, what I thought it was going to be.
Everyone went crazy for Maelle (main character), but she left me cold. I’m not going to get into it in this post, but her character really ticked me off. Luna was my favorite, but she didn’t get much screentime. I could not stop thinking of how everything in the game felt forced. Such as, this thing happened because this thing had to happen in order for the following thing to happen. I know that’s the way plots work in general, but it felt very obvious to me in this game.
I don’t see what everyone else sees in this game. That’s fine with me, but it makes me feel a bit empty when people are gushing about it. I’ve stopped talking about it because I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum, but I really did not care for this game.
In a way, though, it’s sympbolic of me in a nutshell. I don’t like what other people like for the most part. I am not contrary for the sake of being contrary–I just like different things. Normally, I am fine with it, but it does feel hollow at times. Or rather, I feel lonely. I like to be in on things! I like to be able to dish the dirt with people! I do not like to be the naysayer, which I am far too often.
I played this game in April I think? And I was so divided on it. There were things I liked about it and things I didn’t. Most elements were on one side of the divide or the other–very few straddled the line. This was to be replicated in other games I played this year, by the way. There were things I really liked about them and things I really didn’t like about them–even my favorite games I played this year.
There were so many I did not like, and one thing I gave myself freedom to do this year was to just quit when I did not like a game. Now, I should have done that with Clair Obscur: Epxpedition 33, but I just could not quit that game. By the time I reached the end of the game, I was hating it. I will fully admit that’s my fault. I tend to gorge myself on one game at a time well past the point of reasonable. Then, I hate that game. Then, I either grow to love it in retrospect or leave it in the trash. In the case of this game, I don’t hate it, but I don’t like it, either. I can acknowledge it’s a good game and that it deserves some of the accolades, but it’s not my game of the year–by far. I don’t think it’s even in my top ten.
I don’t rank games in my end of the year awards; I just have different awards for different games. I give the awards funny/cute/silly names that are way too long and way too much of a mouthful. I usually give five to seven awards, and there’s always an award for a FromSoft game, even if a FromSoft game did not come out in the year.
Hey. I dan’t make the rules; I just make them. And, yes, I said exactly what I wanted to say with that.
I played a lot more games this year, I feel. Granted, several of them were casual or small cozy games which were easy to finish, but still. I felt I was experimenting more with games I might not necessarily like, and I chipped away at my backlog. Of course, I did add to it as well, but that’s the way of the backlog.
In doing my list of the ten games that define me, I remembered some games that were off the beaten path for me. Most of them were not in this year, but they still hold a fond place in my heart. I like to joke that I am into From games and cozy games with a sprinkling of other games, too. It’s more than a sprinkling, though. For instance, the term cozy games covers a wide variety of games in and of itself. Or it can. I sometimes use it and casual interchangeably, too.
We’re talking Solitaire, Hidden Object Games (HOG), Match-3s, Time Managements, and other sims for casual games. This is all for today. I might write another post on it tomorrow.