Key

Welcome to 2019 and also welcome to my new and hopefully improved gaming journal. My previous journal had been going since 2015 and I wanted to start over with a clean slate. I'm proud of the arcade journal for lasting as long as it did but I have so many plans for this one that I feel an all new thread is beneficial.

There will be theme months, deep look at, and more.

During the month of January, I'm already going to start with a theme month that will focus on the games I didn't get a chance to play in 2018. And trust me, there's a lot. It was a big year for gaming and while I tried to keep up, there were a lot that I missed. For all the other months, it's yet to be seen, but there will be some cool ****.

So sit tight and enjoy the new and improved "Kiii's Arcade" or now formerly known as "A Key to the Arcade on the corner."

Index For Theme Months, Deeper Look At's, Etc:
January 2019: Video Games From 2018 I Have Yet To Play
February 2019: A Deep Look Into The Beauty and Wonder of Open World Games
October 2022: Video Game Month
November 2022: November 64
December 2022: placeholder

Let's Talk About...Minecraft! (PS4 Edition)
Maps! Maps! Maps! [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]
Boss Fights [Part 1][Part 2]
An In Depth Look - Fallout 3 [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]
Buildings in Open World Games [Part 1] [Part 2]
My First Experience @ Pax [Part 1] [Part 2]
Music in Video Games [Part 1] [Part 2]
My Journey With...Runescape

Key

What seems to happen, especially when it comes to video games, is that get myself hyped up for a game amongst other gamers, but then I feel close to no motivation to try out the games I was hyped for. 2018 again was a pretty big year for gaming and I said this prior, but I didn't play nearly as many new releases as I would have liked to. Granted, a lot of the games I did play in 2018 were fantastic even if they weren't released that year. I want to start off this month by going over a long list of games that were specifically released in 2018, but I just never got around to playing. I'm going to be starting with a big one here with...

Sea of Thieves



Yeah, while this game has been receiving continuous praise, I've yet to dip my feet into it. Not entirely sure why as I do have the ability to play ot. Plus, sailing across the waters with your friends acting like pirates sounds like an amazing time. Double that with Rare being the developer behind it, again it's something amazing to expect. Thing is though, I'd much prefer to play this game on console but unfortunately I don't own an xbox. However, that may change as my younger brother has an extra one he doesn't want so that could help out. I imagine once I get my hands on this game, I'll not want to put it down. From what I've seen from streams and the like, Sea of Thieves is a game I must play, but I'll just be late to the party.

Key

Octopath Traveler

I'm actually a little bit surprised that there wasn't as much attention brought to this game that I think it deserved. I'm going solely based on what I've seen on streams and Youtube, and to me it seems like a genuine attempt at this genre while also having such a creative art style to push it through the top. Again, this is all based solely on what I've seen of the game.



I'm not actually entirely surprised that I didn't end up playing this game because well...I didn't buy a Switch. It was either buy a Switch or a PS4 and I went with the one that had far more promising games. But, I'll tell you, the minute I buy a Switch, I will be playing Octopath Traveler. It honestly wouldn't be too surprising if this game ended up on my game of the year list somehow. It definitely looks like the kind of game that I would love to spend hours playing. I haven't actually really heard any of my friends talking about this game either, so I suppose I did sort of forget about it. But yeah, this will be a game that I hopefully eventually play.

Key

Jurassic World Evolution



I don't know man, I love these kinds of games. The idea that you can manage an entire park with dinosaurs and upgrade as you go seems right up my alley, right? So, why didn't I pick it up? Well, honestly it was pure laziness. I could've picked it up when it had just come out, but I didn't really feel like getting too heavily into management sim game. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love games that fall into that genre category, but sometimes you just need a long break from them to appreciate them again. I had my time with Planet Coaster, and that was quite a fun time. But I still need time to play other games.

I will be buying and playing this game at some point. My only problem with management style games is that I'm terrible at continuously playing them. I get bored not easily, but sometimes quickly. Plus, I really have to be in the mood for it. But Jurassic World Evolution will most certainly be the next management style game that I pick up. Everything I've seen about it looks amazing and it doesn't seem like it got horrible reviews, so that's definitely two good signs right there. Plus, dinosaurs. I mean cmon, dinosaurs are ****ing awesome.

Key

Pokemon Let's Go: Eevee / Pikachu



I'll definitely be one to admit that I wish I had a Switch when this game came out because god damn it looks like so much fun. Everybody who has played it so far have said that it is a genuine part of the main Pokemon series for the Switch. And I mean, c'mon, other than Smash, people were honestly dying to see a Pokemon title on the Switch, and apparently Nintendo delivered.

Again, it's the unfortunate side effect of not owning a Switch which relays to the reason as to why I have not played it yet. But from what I've seen of it, it definitely seems like it's very well deserving of its praise. I remember the day it came out though because when I went on to Twitch, nearly everybody was streaming it, and so I figured I'd check it out. There's definitely a difference between playing the game and watching it. But, I did love that I was experiencing it with other people. At least until I can experience it for myself. This game is definitely on my "play before the end of 2019" list that I just made up. This and Octopath Traveler of course.

Key

Off Topic



Back when I was first getting into gaming, I wasn't entirely dead set on the idea of fully completing a game. Mostly because I was completely ignorant of what it means to even try to fully complete a game. Some people will say it feels a lot like a grind and to have to play one game for so long seems so aggravating. Well, the trick is to not just play that one game all the time every time. Split it up. Play other games. While only recently I actually started to try and unlock everything in all the games I've played, I think the first time I ever actually 100% completed a game was with my first playthrough of Ocarina of Time.

I remember just continuously collecting everything as I went through the story and eventually I had done everything I had to do. Including the side quests. The feeling of a full completion was definitely nice. But I hadn't really tried to fully complete a game again up until I played Shadow of War for the very first time. The amount of things you could find in that game really made me want to explore absolutely every little nook and cranny and unlock everything. Which I did, eventually. Would I say it was worth all the time spent? Absolutely! I'm one of those people that doesn't find gaming as a waste of time. Honestly, I find it to be more of a passion. When I play games, I don't just see a game in front of me, I see a piece of art. And to fully complete a game is to fully appreciate what that form of art has to offer. That's what motivates me to complete games. And especially games that I absolutely love. Shadow of War definitely fit that bill, but of course that's not the only game in recent times that I've fully completed.

Remember Spider-Man? Yeah, the game I've been raving about? Well, shy of one trophy, I've fully 100% completed the main story of this game, and am slowly working my way through new game+, which is legitimately a ton of fun. Going through the whole game max leveled and with all your upgraded gear on the hardest difficult is definitely some of the most fun I've had in gaming in recent years. But to be fair, this game on its own merits deserves praise for everything it did to break barriers and create a masterpiece of a game. Although God of War won game of the year, I think this one definitely could have taken it as well.

So, basically when it comes to fully completing a game, as I said, I find gaming to be a passion project, a work of art, something to really truly appreciate. And fully completing a game that I have already come to fully appreciate just adds onto that appreciation. Yeah, sure it can be a grind, but I don't mind that at all. It's some of the best parts because then you get to explore the games in their entirety.

MicShazam

Interesting. I can't say I share that perspective, but I kinda get what you mean and I respect that. But I still want to ask a hypothetical question:

Let's say there's this game coming out that you end up playing and it turns out to be both huge and the greatest game ever in most ways. There's a lot to do in the game, but 100% completion will take at least 100 hours. As it turns out, despite how awesome the game is, about 10% of the tasks needed for 100% completion are unimaginably tedious. Aggravating, tedious, boring as hell. And they'll take a collective 10 hours to get done.
These last 10% are off the main path of the game so playing through the main content is still amazing and flawlessly designed, but those 10% extra tasks are somehow total ass because the studio had to ship early. Or maybe they let their intern design some side missions.

Would you still do it? And find it worthwhile?

For me, that answer would be a definite no, but I'm curious what you would say.

Key

It really depends on if I get burned out on the game. Im no stranger to getting tired of a big game. Assassin's creed odyssey is a great example as that game is huge. I plan on full completing it but it's possible that I wont. My enjoyment on a game can change but some games can keep me going throughout the whole way.

To answer the question, yeah I probably would at least attempt to complete it.

Key

Console vs PC

This is not really an argument that I get myself involved in when it comes to video games, but now I've got the experience to at least shine my own personal thoughts on this outdated argument about whether PC or Console is better.

I've been solely a PC gamer for quite a long time. I'vw bought over 300 games on Steam alone and while that's slowed down in recent months, I still find the accessibility through Steam to be a beautiful thing. Steam alone, and yeah other companies are starting to make their own services to provide games, but Steam definitely takes the crown for really bringing PC gaming into the spotlight. With time, computers get more powerful, companies start developing more efficient parts and PC gaming just continues to improve. The only thing that can be somewhat intimidating is how many god damn games are on Steam at this point. While I love the fact that Steam gives upcoming devs a platform, it opens up the flood gates for hundreds of titles that deserve no play time. That's sort of the nature of things unfortunately. Every now and again youll find a diamond in the rough, but I find it more satisfying to buy a game you already know of and give it a shot. To be fair, I do buy games and almost never play them. That's Steam for ya.

Now with consoles, I grew up with them. First got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas and since then, it's just been uphill. In fairness, I had the previous Nintendo consoles growing up as well. That time frame was basically the start of what would eventually lead to a wonderful addiction and passion. Moving forward a couple years, I bought myself and Xbox 360. Didn't play it much. Moving forward I got a Wii U, and then finally I got myself a PS4. And I'll safely say that I don't think I've been as impressed with a console before I got a PS4. I'll tell you why: being able to sit comfortably on a couch and play a game on a big TV is so much better than sitting in a computer chair. Yeah I know, I could play my PC like a console, but why? What's the point? It's definitely a lot more relaxing as well as I'm not having to have my hands on the mouse and keyboard all the time. Not gonna lie, it's kind of nice. Now, it has taken some getting used to. I played the previous Fallout games on PC and then I played Fallout 76 on console. Dunno which I prefer but PC with Fallout feels way more natural. That's just my personal take though. It also helps that PS4 has a lot of great games.

So...where do I stand? Well, I'm taking a stand right in the middle. I prefer console a little bit more right now but I genuinely enjoy both immensely. Two separate experiences and it's nice to know that I have the option to play either. I don't think one is necessarily superior seeing as consoles are being built really really well. So, tough to say where this argument will lead in the future, but for now, I'm definitely pro PC and console at this point.

Plus, Dead Cells is on both PC and PS4 so I couldn't possibly choose.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

pc is my preference of course but console has it's purpose. recently got a switch and goddammit if mario party with friends isn't still a blast.

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