Gratitude? That's so last Thursday! But good things - even those that aren't flawless - are never out of season! I thought about making a traditional Thanksgiving list for the best stuff in games, but then I thought: what about things that aren't perfect? Aren't the bits of good they offer cause for celebration, too? Such as:

  • Deadly Premonition 2 came out this year. I bought a Switch for it. I didn't like it, ultimately - it makes some very bad storytelling decisions, and it falls down near-completely gameplaywise. It has a number of good points, though - the Louisiana setting; the dialogue writing; some of the characters, including, no joke, the kid sidekick - and I'm glad for a universe in which we could get more York.

    It also has skateboarding. Skateboarding is one of the areas where the game did not fall down.
  • Little Hope! Thanks here are not given with reservation; the only qualification is that many others seem very let down by this game, specifically...the ENDING. I thought it was one of the best games I've played this year - boasting terrific production values, some welcome refinements of the Supermassive QTE interface that integrate with other aspects of your gameplay to make "press X to not die" more accessible, and a truly involving story that works on multiple layers, with characters of whom I grew surprisingly protective. It's the best Western-produced attempt to make a Silent Hill I've played, and I don't make that compliment lightly.
  • I'm not sure how these characters are going to work, but I'm glad that Koei's making a real honest, headlining go of creating a Angelique game, one that appears to be showing due respect to the classic incarnation of the franchise. I've no idea how the final product will turn out, but we'll see.

  • I just started translating the Jennifer edition of the Clock Tower choose-your-own-adventure novels, and I made a small announcement on a Clock Tower forum. I thought it wouldn't gain much notice, given that Clock Tower franchise is no longer active and the translation just started, but the document has actually garnered a surprisingly solid deal of interest. That was really pleasant and welcome. I'm so often sending work out into the void, with recognition coming only months after the fact if ever, and while it's not why I'm translating, it is nice to get that appreciation once in a spell.

  • I got a translation credit in one of my favorite franchises. I am an official Phantasy Star translator. That happened last year, technically, and it's an unambiguously good thing for me, but I'm still grateful, so this merits inclusion on any list of thanks.
  • I've broken ties with Giant Bomb, but their content still got me through a lot. I don't like where they're going, but I'm glad for where they've been.

  • Regardless of individual reservations, the following content creators have given me plenty of videos I've enjoyed over the past year: Game Grumps; SNESDrunk; Nitro Rad; John Wolfe; Markiplier; Derek Alexander; James Rolfe & Mike Matei; Matt McMuscles; Pat Boivin; Dan Ryckert; supergreatfriend.

  • I am thankful for the good things I've gotten from Tumblr. There's a lot about the community as a whole that's too poisonous for me ever to go back to posting there, but it's the source of most of the fan-created content on my hard drives, and popping back in to talk to someone about their appreciation for their favorite "highly accessoried small man" from Uta no Prince reminds me that I've encountered a lot of good artists and authors and people on there.

  • That said: I am grateful that I have managed to establish an online blogging home of my own. Joomla has the typical open source problems (feature bloat; no thought to usability), but even me and my frames-era HTML can get reasonably modern-looking posts up with a single-digit number of revisions. As convenient as social media blogging platforms can be, there's no replacement for a space that's completely and totally yours.
  • Add comment

    Security code
    Refresh