For the third year in a row, it’s time to bring back my corniest article idea: New Year’s resolutions (for gaming)!
More than ever, we are all looking forward to a new year, even though… the way the world is now isn’t really all that different from last month. Still, it’s important to establish goals to better oneself, even if it’s to become a more well-rounded Person Who Plays Games (I’m trying to avoid saying “gamer,” and it’s harder than I thought).
Before I get to this year, let’s check in with last year’s resolutions and if I achieved them:
BIG ONE: Play Final Fantasy XII (and see if that Final Fantasy magic is real)
Did I succeed here? Yes and no. I did not play one second of FFXII in 2020, in large part because I had expected the game to come out on Game Pass at some point, but it still hasn’t become available on the service. That part was a failure.
In terms of seeing if the Final Fantasy magic was real? I did do this, but in the form of Final Fantasy VII Remake, a genuinely spectacular RPG. My great experience with the game didn’t convince me to play through the entire franchise or anything, but it did allow me to share in the joy and wonder of this long-running series.
Try to actually play games with friends online (and not just say I will)
Not really. I played a bunch of Jackbox this year with friends, but I still didn’t spend too much time playing controller-based games with anyone. Weirdly enough, this year presented the most opportunities to do so, but I still failed. You can blame it on “Zoom fatigue” or point to how most of this year’s best games were strictly single-player, but in reality I just flat-out didn’t put enough effort into this one.
Seriously, I need to play some of this free shit
I actually did this! I not only chipped away at some great backlog games this year (Ape Out, A Short Hike, Minit, Snake Pass) but also made a more concerted effort to actually play new games I got for free (Treachery in Beatdown City, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, Journey). I still have plenty of free games I haven’t touched, but I feel less guilty about those now.
Give certain games a second chance
All things considered, I would say this was a success. As part of my continuing “research” into classic games (AKA replaying Super Nintendo games all the time), I revisited Super Metroid and FINALLY got into it and finished it. Now that I’ve played through the whole thing, I can comfortably say it’s one of the best games on the system, and I’m glad I understand why it has received so much praise.
I also finally played through Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!, the only game in the DKC franchise I’d never beaten before. I remember renting it from Blockbuster back in the day and just not enjoying the experience at all, despite viewing the previous two DKC games as masterpieces (and I still do). After giving it another shot, I still view it as the worst of the original DKC trilogy, but it’s still a very good game that introduces a lot of clever ideas and mechanics (I particularly like the layout of the overworld and its emphasis on boating).
BONUS: Do more Punished Notes and Punished Chat pieces
I did… a little better here? I did six Punished Notes in 2020, versus four in 2019, but the number of Punished Chats in 2020 was equal to the 2019 amount of three. I think attempting to do Punished Notes around individual games made this easier, and I hope to continue with this style of article in 2021.
Now that we’ve gotten those out of the way, here are my official resolutions for 2021:
BIG ONE: Try again to play Final Fantasy XII
Sure, I could have chosen another game for this (David and Amanda seem keen on having me play Hotel Dusk), but I figure it makes more sense to stay the course and play FFXII when it appears on Game Pass, which hopefully it does soon. Now that I better understand the appeal of Final Fantasy as a series, it’ll be good for me to go into David’s favorite game in the series with a little more optimism.
Avoid playing certain games just to pass the time
Whenever I have time to myself, my instinct is to immediately reach for a controller. Normally, this results in a good time, but occasionally I end up playing something I don’t really want to just because I have the time for it. Sure, it’s great when there’s a shiny new game to sink my teeth into, but sometimes I just play random Mario Maker 2 levels that are just average, or I get back into one of the old Halo campaigns even though I’ve played them a billion times.
I want to stop doing this. I want to avoid having games become the time-waster my parents thought they would be. I don’t wish to experience this hobby the way I watch reruns of Jeopardy or Chopped. This year, I’ll try to find better things to do.
Give more games another chance…
I’m really glad I finally got into Super Metroid in 2020. It was about time. As a result, I plan to do the same this year with previous games I never finished, such as the upcoming Mass Effect trilogy remaster or even Fallout: New Vegas. Maybe I was wrong to dismiss those games when I did, and maybe this is the year I become a convert.
…but also acknowledge when it’s time to walk away
By the same token, I also need to remind myself that it’s OK to put a game down if I’m no longer enjoying it. I played about half of the story missions of Gears Tactics recently, and while I had a good time overall, I felt no need to continue. Therefore, I gave up, and hope to never look back. If I get back into some old game I dropped in the past and still haven’t found that spark, I need to tell myself to walk away, lest I waste my time any further.
BONUS: Try a new kind of article type this year
In 2018, I started doing Punished Notes. In 2019, I launched Punished Chat. In 2020, I tried doing Punished Notes solely focused on a single game and all my feelings on it. This year, I hope to try something new, though I’m not sure what that will be just yet.
Honestly, most of these ideas just sort of come to me randomly. I started Punished Notes because I couldn’t decide between doing an article on Mario Tennis Aces or Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion. I did my first Punished Chat on a subject I know very little about, then expanded it to mostly be the foundation for me and David talking about The Witcher 3 too much. Maybe this next article type will occur to me in my dreams, where a distant voice will tell me to play through every Dragon Quest just do an article series about that (spoiler: I will never do this). Who knows?
Do you have any resolutions for this year, gaming or otherwise? Let us know in the comments, or just, you know, try and make good on those resolutions. Either way, it’s never too late to start bettering oneself, and you should always be proud of yourself for trying.
