2023 – Year In Review

Games Finished

• Metal Gear Solid 4 – my favorite Metal Gear to date. So good, and a satisfying conclusion to the modern Metal Gear (Solid Snake) arc. Now to finish Peace Walker and the prequel Metal Gear (Big Boss) arc.
• Marathon trilogy – been trying for a while, finally had to use some cheats to get through Marathon 1. And I’m glad I did cause while that game is good, it has some rough edges and I don’t feel even slightly guilty using mild cheats (like save anywhere, and jumping to clear 2 BS puzzles) now in hindsight. Marathon 2 and Infinity on the other hand are nigh-perfection. Best sci-fi story in any game series as far as I’m concerned. Amazing gameplay that is far more than a Doom-clone. Innovative firsts in an FPS like vertical mouse look, weapon reloading, dual wielding, secondary fire, grenade jumping, deep narrative storytelling, friendly NPCs, underwater sections, and probably more that I can’t think of.
• SOCOM: US Navy SEALs – finally played this tactical FPS gem that I have been missing out on for too long. Having read a number of Navy SEAL and other special forces memoirs, this game does an excellent job of portraying how ops really go down: unpredictably. The attention to realism and great AI (for the time) really sell this one, along with banter between your comrades that make you feel part of a special forces team. As a long time classic Ghost Recon fan, it was a treat to see a totally different approach to making this type of game.
• Destiny – Bungie’s return to the ideas of Marathon. IMHO this game sets the standard for a co-op game. So well made and high production values in presentation and story. Though it lacks some of the magic of Marathon.
• Castlevania II + Aria of Sorrow – I used romhacks to get through CVII finally, just for some minor QoL stuff, but really damn good and I’m sorry I maligned it for so long. Aria of Sorrow is a worthy successor to Symphony of the Night which I had on my GBA back in the day. I beat it later on emulation, and then decided to beat it again after beating SotN for the 12th time or so. IGA’s Castlevania’s should be played in order since each one tends to subvert the previous game’s conceit in subtle but satisfying ways.
• Ultima – one of the most influential computer games of all time. The first Ultima is a short playthrough, and I found it worth it. It was refreshingly simple, but satisfying.
• Dragon Quest/Warrior – Japanese Ultima basically. More accessible, better presentation, but less creative and more grindy. finally finished this one using an experience/gold doubler romhack. Still required a ton of grinding.
• Front Mission (SFC) – damn, the first Front Mission gets pretty damn dark story-wise. I found the game a struggle because while I enjoyed the tactical battles, the tediousness of customizing your Wanzers between battles sucked.
• Final Fantasy V – continuing my Final Fantasy playthrough. V is to IV what III was to II: a refocus on deep gameplay. When I’d played V before I was overwhelmed by the depth of the gameplay systems. I kept at it this time and have to say it was super satisfying planning your party development over the course of the entire game in preparation for the final dungeon and boss based around the very deep job system.
• Mystical Ninja Staring Goemon (N64) – besides some tedious dungeons, this game is like a cross between Zelda OoT and Mario 64, and it is great and hilarious. There aren’t enough games where the villains are just trying to share the magic of musical theater with the world.
• Metal Slug, 2, X, 3 – made some serious progress in the Metal Slug series. I’m not quite up to 1CC status, but I’m at 9CC status which I think is pretty good (for me). Got my son addicted to these too, they are just too much fun.
• Mega Man, 2 – I love to hate the Mega Man series (to date, MMX is still the exception). I’ve always bounced off Capcom games much like I bounce off Blizzard games. I decided to show my son why I hate Mega Man 1 since he was asking about Mega Man. Well, I started playing it and before I knew it I’d beaten it and then played 2 and beat that. Not saying that I love the series yet, but this could be the start of something…
• Super Mario Kart (SNES) – my son got super addicted to Mario Kart 64, I wanted to convince him that Super Mario Kart for the SNES is worth playing too. Before I knew it, I’d gotten gold on all the cups again, so much fun to replay this one.
• FromSoftware
  • Shadow Tower – a spin-off of the King’s Field series on the PSX. This game aesthetically and thematically is closer to Demon’s Souls but still first person. What a great game, loved this playthrough. This game cemented to me the idea that critics should be ignored if a game sounds interesting to you. I found countless FromSoftware fans online saying this game sucks cuz there is no music and how frequently weapons wear out and such. I think they are wrong, this game is great (yes, you have to switch weapons and armor a lot).
  • Armored Core – in the run-up to AC6 release, I accelerated by AC series playthrough, ploughing through the remaining games. Each game stands on its own as a worthy play, offering something new and unique (yes, even Nexus and 4). Of course, I didn’t anticipate finishing Verdict Day before August when 6 would be out. But, I did. Then, somehow, I just didn’t feel any desire to play 6. So, I haven’t bought it yet. Weird, it is like the desire evaporated, or I just got burned out. Or, perhaps, I want to finish other games in my FromSoft playthroughs to feel better informed for when I jump into 6 finally (which is going to happen).
    • Silent Line
    • Nexus
    • Last Raven
    • 4
    • For Answer
    • V
    • Verdict Day
• Star Fox, 2 – A Fox in Space is f’in great. Watch it, then play Star Fox (or better yet, vice versa). I decided to try SF2 for the first time and it is fantastic.
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island – I rented the crap out of this game as a kid. And as an adult I finally could own it and beat it. And I’m happy I did. This is now one of my favorite Mario games and I feel it is criminally underrated.
• Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins – another criminally underrated Mario. Six Golden Coins came out after Mario World and incorporates many of the ideas, but make no mistake, it is one of the most original and creative Mario games with so many fresh and unique ideas. So much fun. Don’t pass it up just because it came out on Game Boy (like I did for years).
• Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 – wanted to get into this series for a while, Wario Land is amazing and a great playthrough. Kind of a bridge between the Super Mario Land games and the later Wario Land games.
• Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon – I still haven’t beaten Ritual of the Night, which I feel bad about since it is so good. But, Inti Creates’ Curse of the Moon is shorter and tons of fun. A throwback to CVIII in many ways and highly replayable.
• The Chameleon – Merlino Games rules. The Chameleon is a short, but highly enjoyable and highly personal stealth adventure.
• Wing Commander – finally beat it. I know Star Citizen is controversial, but I want to believe. And Chris Roberts games are just so damn good. Wing Commander kicks all kinds of ass once you get the hang of it.

Books Finished

• Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey-Maturin series) – O’Brian is reading comfort-food for me. I’ve been reading the Aubrey-Maturin (Master & Commander) series since high school and I love escaping to the high seas of the 18th and 19th centuries in the pages of his books. These novels are second to none in describing the human condition, the triumphs, the disappointments, the strengths and weaknesses of the human character. I’m glad I still have so much of the series left to enjoy.
  • The Ionian Mission (book 8)
  • Treason’s Harbor (book 9)
• Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy and Larry Bond – the definitive what-if epic of WWIII in the mid-80s, long, but amazing read. This book is begging for a TV mini-series.
• Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski – continuing the Witcher series, it is so good, but makes the recent seasons of the show disappointing…
• Barry Eisler – turned on to his John Rain series by a friend, damn these books are addictive. Thrilling spy novels that are real page turners. Many are fairly short, but they are full of twists and turns and great characters. Also, amazing in audiobook format read by the author. Normally, that would be a bad thing since most authors are not great audiobook readers, but Eisler is a fantastic reader who does great voices for all his characters. Plus, a Scotch-drinking jazz-loving main character who lives in Japan is right up my alley.
  • A Clean Kill in Tokyo
  • A Lonely Resurrection
  • Winner Take All
  • Redemption Games
  • Extremis
  • The Killer Ascendant
  • Fault Line
• Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov – it was a struggle I must admit. Asimov’s works are amazing in their ideas and scope, but written rather dryly. Shame the show is mockery of his work, it was a good opportunity to improve the weak points of his storytelling while keeping the big ideas instead of throwing them all out in favor of non-sensical plots, drab characters with no development, pointless action sequences, and adding in psychic Jedis, clones, and AI cuz.
• The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi – a short read about samurai swordsmanship. Great applications for disc golf and life.
• Haruki Murakami – my favorite author, but I’ve exhausted his entire English-language library at this point. Can’t wait for the next novel to be translated. In prep, I re-read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
  • After the Quake
  • Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
  • Men Without Women
• Death’s End, Cixin Liu – finished the “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy (better known as “Three Body Problem” series). What a finish. Perhaps it goes off the rails at points, but like Asimov, Liu is just full of big ideas with questionable execution at times. Still, this was a fantastic odyssey and a worthy finish to the excellent series.
• Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein – I want to believe that Heinlein was not a fascist (and I think a charitable rendering would say he likely wasn’t, at least intentionally). Starship Troopers is an infectiously good piece of writing. It may have you partially entertaining its naïve civics lessons by the end. I recommend reading Halderman as a follow up for the perspective of someone who actually served in the military. Starship Troopers is begging for a video game based on the book and not the excellent, but very different film. Coordinated, tactical nuke-armed power armor orbital-drop raids just sound awesome.
• The Forever War, Joe Halderman – Starship Troopers may have you believing that military service is the greatest thing ever. Halderman’s Forever War will blast that conception with a neutron bomb. The Forever War is basically a cathartic retelling of the US’ involvement in the Vietnam War. And it is an amazing must-read.
• Solaris, Stanislaw Lem – the best novel I’ve ever read about space-exploration and mankind’s scientific endeavors. What will we find? Much like the cave on Dagobah: only what we take with us. A must-read.
• Blackwater, Jeremy Scahill – a journalistic exposé of the proliferation of Private Military Companies (PMCs) and their increased use (at tax-payer expense) by the US government. A fascinating, perhaps one-sided read. I do want to read Citizen Soldiers (Blackwater CEOs rebuttal), but I also don’t since this is pretty scathing and I want to believe it is all true. A good read to accompany MGS 4.
• Marrow, Robert Reed – my discovery of the year. I have a bunch of friends who are avid sci-fi readers (and one who is award winning sci-fi author), I can’t mention a sci-fi novel in their company without them giving me a witty summary and their thoughts. But, the names “Robert Reed” and “Marrow” give puzzled looks and responses of “who?” and “what?”. I stumbled onto Robert Reed by trying to look up Bungie’s influences for their sci-fi epics Marathon, Halo, and Destiny. Reed’s name came up and this book looked interesting especially after I read the precursor short story, The Remoras. What a novel! So many genuine and satisfying surprises and ideas packed into this book. And it is a well-written and exciting story to boot. A mysterious, ancient Jupiter-sized space ship that hides sinister secrets. Advanced humans who’ve defeated death through technology as the captains. And an epic story full of twists and turns that manage to come together in the end for a satisfying conclusion. I’ve ordered a stack of his other books to follow this one up. He’s a highly prolific virtual unknown. And generally only available in print as a result. But, it is so satisfying to have read something great that all those damned smug sci-fi know-it-alls in my life haven’t 😛

Favorite Movies Watched

• Super Mario Bros – only movie I remember seeing in theaters this year. I guess the rest must of have sucked. Like everyone else, I had my doubt, but this was an enjoyably fun movie that checked all the boxes and more for a Mario film adaptation. I had to show my son the OG live action one from ’93 after we watched this one. He thought it was as stupid as I did growing up, but a kind of stupid fun.
• Once Upon a Time in the West – Sergio Leone is great and this is one of his best
• The Long Goodbye – I don’t enjoy reading Raymond Chandler, but I loved this movie
• Salvador – brutal film and a rough watch. But, informative for perspective on politics.
• Playtime – as an IT professional, this is an amazing watch: a satire of an advanced technology society. A dialogue contrasting ordered systems and chaos. Also, this is a cinematic masterpiece and so unique. So much told with so little dialogue and so many details packed into every frame without overwhelming the viewer (except when it suites).
• Tokyo Story – sounded super boring. I was wrong.
• Godzilla (1954) – sounded super stupid. I was wrong.
• Akira Kurosawa – I watched a ton of Kurosawa last year, this year I watched a few more, sticking to Samurai epics. So frickin good.
  • The Hidden Fortress
  • Throne of Blood
  • Seven Samurai
• With the kid – being a dad gives me the opportunity to watch kids movies and not feel weird about it. These were my favorite new-to-me kid’s films.
  • The Iron Giant
  • Kung Fu Panda
  • Soul

Favorite Shows Watched

• Star Wars Andor – Star Wars for adults. Basically a rough heist/espionage thriller.
• Star Wars Ahsoka – Stars Wars for young adults. I didn’t grow up with Clone Wars (I was too grown up for that when it came out, now I’ll probably go back and watch it with my kid). There is a lot of references I’m clueless on here, but it was entertaining enough to keep me interested.
• Willow – campy AF, but I liked it ok. At least it was different than all the other regurgitated crap on TV these days.
• Three-Body – the Chinese drama based on the sci-fi series by Cixin Liu. Really well done.
• A Fox in Space – a 2 episode (as of this date) YouTube adult cartoon. And really good.

Favorite Game Releases

• Moons of Darsalon – like a long lost Amiga game. Think Lemmings but more action and you doing everything yourself rather than ordering the Lemmings to do it. Incredibly challenging, but super fun. And yes, the game and its creator will mock you a lot when you fail.
• It Comes in Waves – more Merlino Games. We don’t have enough games influenced by SW Shadows of the Empire and Dark Forces/Jedi Knight. This short little game is one of them.
• Moonring – ok, I haven’t played it, yet, but I will once I finish a few more Ultima games. A free throw-back RPG from Fable’s co-creator Dene Carter.
• Lunacid – glad to see more King’s Field-likes. This is one of them and it is really good.
• Fading Afternoon – “yeo” is an abrasive Russian dude (known for putting anybody who dares to give him feedback in their place), but he makes good arthouse games inspired by the River City Ransom/Nekketsu series. I can’t wait to play his 2023 release after I get through a few of his other excellent beat-em-up/life sims.
• The Finals – a last minute surprise from the Mirror’s Edge alumnus. This is the most fun I’ve had in a competitive FPS in a long time. Taking the best elements of battle royals and extraction shooters (neither of which I enjoy) and remixing them for something wholly unique with a heavy dose of large destructible maps, this is a game about the American dream: lots of guns and shooting people to turn them into money. It is quick, it is fun, it is chaotic, it is free, and I love it.
• Remnant 2 – Remnant 1 was great, an excellent mix of L4D/Destiny style co-op in a Souls-like. Plus a really creative Eldritch multi-verse setting. I’m playing Chronos now too (didn’t realize this was part of the series). So far, loving Remnant 2, especially the Bloodborne-inspired Losomn area.
• Cocoon – I love Jeppe Carlsen’s games ever since I fell in love with Limbo. As with all his games, they are moody, creative, full of satisfying puzzles, clean and a visual feast of minimalistic design, and universal in their mythic storytelling.

Favorite Vices

• Cigars – mostly smoked traditionally-inspired modern classics
  • Anything and everything by Curivari
  • ALR by Rocky Patel
  • Nasty Fritas
  • LFD Triple Ligero
  • Joya de Nicaragua Antaño
• Spirits
  • Surprisingly no Scotches on the list this year. Good Scotch is expensive, and it is hard to sample them and find one to my taste. I tend towards Glenlivet, The Macallan, Glenfiddich, or Johnny Walker. But, I’d like to branch out more and try things like Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Highland Park. I feel like I’m a bad Scotch drinker for having not tried these standbys.
  • Heaven’s Door bourbon – the smokiest Tennessee straight bourbon ever, has a Scotch character, but so well balanced and complex. Bob Dylan is killing it with this one.
  • Ten To One dark rum – an innovative blended dark rum, really smooth and fresh tasting with banana undertones. Perfect accompaniment for any cigar for when I want something fancier than Cayman Reef which is my usual staple.
  • Hercules Mulligan rum and rye – basically a ready-to-drink old-fashioned, ginger and bitters included. I’ll be sad when my two bottles run out. It is that good, far better than any ready-to-drink cocktail has any right to be.
  • Discovered I really like cocktails based on the Penicillin formula, something with a good smoky Scotch or Mezcal, citrus, ginger, and honey.
• Beer – I discovered I enjoy ligher beers like Pilsners and lagers a lot. I used to always go dark or hoppy, I’m branching out more.
  • Staples of the year:
    • Carlsberg Pilsner – Murakami turned me on to this one. Cheap and refreshing.
    • Modelo Especial (wish I could get Bohemia more often, it isn’t in enough stores)
    • Firestone 805 Cerveza and Double Barrel Ale
  • Special treat microbrews:
    • Firestone
      • Pivo Pilsner
      • Oaktoberfest
    • Topa Topa
      • Level Line – pale ale
      • Chief Peak – IPA
    • Wild Fields Brewhouse
      • Magic Swirling Sip – Scottish-style ale
      • Windswept Fields – German-style pilsner
      • Oktoberfest
    • There Does Not Exist
      • 100 Spires – Czech-style pale lager
      • Effigy – Czech-style pilsner
      • Moonset – Dunkel-style lager
    • Central Coast Brewing
      • Golden Glow – lager
      • Cervantez – amber lager
    • The White Lodge – Belgian-style wit, Holy Mountain Brewing

Resolutions

• Don’t feel beholden to playing every game series (and its influences) in order. Be more selective about the games and books and things I invest my time and attention in.
• Don’t rush playthroughs and be more mindful and less distracted when enjoying them. It is about the journey, not the destination. My Armored Core playthrough taught me this. Same with books. Appreciating artistic works shouldn’t be about checking stuff off your list.
• Make progress on the FromSoft fantasy playlist (KF, Evergrace, Enchanted Arms, Souls)
• Finish Peace Walker and get going on MGSV
• Finish FF6 and play the rest of Square’s SFC/SNES library
• Finish creating a SMBX episode with my son
• Play more new indie games
• Develop a Japan Studio playlist and research Sony 1st party games and its approach to supporting and influencing 3rd party development
• Finish the Destiny 1 DLC before they shutdown the servers 😛