2023 game plans

[Funkycorm]

Re: 2023 game plans

2023 Gaming Plans

End of 2023 Update


Starting to see some end of 2023 recaps so I thought I would share mine.


Sports Gaming:

Overall, much less of my time was spent playing sports games.


MLB 20: My futures Indians franchise is the only baseball franchise I am playing at this point. And even now, I am playing very little of it. For no other reason than I have not felt like playing baseball.

MLB 23: I bought it for the improved scouting and draft experience. They delivered on this aspect but not on gameplay. This was uninstalled off my PS5 by June and has convinced me the MLB franchise is no longer for me.

NBA 2k24: I spent a large portion of my gaming time the last few months making my 7 fictional draft classes and starting a MyNBA and playing into the future. I was actually going to stay in 2k23 but my wife bought me the disc version of 2k24 because she knows I am a Kobe fan.

WWE 2k22: I started and wrote up a universe early in the year. Right now, this is on hold but I will likely revisit this in 2024 as I have a lot I want to do in it.

Madden 24: I made my XP sliders for the game. But I haven't played much of it because of the draft class bug that lingered for a while. I reinstalled it recently and updated to the current version on my PS5 but haven't done much with it.



Sports games assessment:

Honestly, the only sports games I really want to play right now is NBA 2k24. Definitely part of my continual change in gaming patterns. Much less time was spent in sports games than in the past. I foresee this continuing in 2024.


I also don't really see myself spending any money on buying sports games in 2024. I play them less than in the past so I don't think they will be worth the investment to me. I have given up on the new MLB games and have already stopped buying FIFA and NHL. I don't see myself continuing to 2k25 and honestly, I don't know about Madden. I love making XP sliders, but the draft class bug, even though fixed, really put a negative spin on my Madden experience this year. Especially how I play the game. So I don't know about Madden. Way too early to make a decision on that.



Non-Sports Gaming:


Beat 3 games in 2023:


Hogwarts Legacy (PS5): Give this one an 7/10. The game is fun and I love the HP universe, but the side content got repetitive. I was close to 100% completion on the game with my Gryffindor wizard but set it down for the above reason.

Gotham Knights (PS5): 7/10. The combat is fun and the story isn't bad. Good game but not a great game. The side mission case files were fun but patrol got repetitive after a while with the same types of randomly generated crimes.

Marvel's Avengers : 6/10. This was a decent game. I give the combat an 8/10 because I got to play as one of my favorite Marvel characters, Iron Man. The story was ehhh at best getting a 4/10 and the gear system was only ok. Add Doctor Strange and the game would be better too. My son wanted me to play it because he enjoys it a lot. After I finished the main story, I put it down and uninstalled it.

No Man's Sky (PS5): Not really beating the game as you can't, but I did play this quite a bit during the first half of the year and it deserves a spot here.



Meet 3 PC Gaming Goals:


Farming Simulator 22: I made it 6 years into the game in No Man's Land and have a city starting to grow. I consider this a success and look to build on it in 2024.

Stardew Valley: The goal was to make it year 4 on a new farm and I fell just short of this.

Gear City: The goal was to make it passing my previous best of 1947. I did that by reaching 1953 and will try to start a new campaign again in 2024 and progress further.

Political Process: This is the definition of an indie game. Made by a single developer. I completed a campaign starting as a city council member in the state of Washington and making it to a 2 term president. I will do another campaign in 2024 as I didn't utilize the heir system in my last playthrough.


Overall, I did meet 3 PC gaming goals even though I fell just short on the Stardew Valley one.



Re-beat 1 Final Fantasy game:

I started Final Fantasy 7 but never got around to beating the game. I got sidetracked. Therefore, this goal was not successful.



YouTube/Twitch:

This fell to the wayside.



Dynasty Writing:

This also did not come to fruition.



Potential and Other Planned Purchases:

EA PGA Tour 23: I started a career but did not get very far.

Diablo 4: I absolutely loved Diablo 3 and before that 2. But 4 grew tiring fast and I didn't even get through the campaign before I stopped.



Overall Assessment:


Overall I accomplished some goals but didn't accomplish other goals. My gaming patterns continue to change. The only real categories where I had any success was PC gaming goals and the non sports games goals. Though it is a step back from what I have accomplished in the past, I will continue my gaming goals for a fourth year in 2024. Though I will be making some updates to the goals to be more in line with what my gaming trends are becoming.

[LowerWolf]

Re: 2023 game plans

Feels like I barely played anything this year. When I've had free time, gaming just hasn't been a priority.

All games below are PS5.

PURCHASED

• MLB 23 - After rolling with MLB 21 for two years, I decided it was time to upgrade. But I just never could get into this year's game. I don't think I got more than 15 games into a franchise before quitting.
  
  
• Madden 24 - Someday, I'm going to learn to not preorder Madden. While the gameplay definitely felt better to me, there was - of course - a franchise-breaking bug at launch. There always is. So I decided to wait to start my franchise. By the time the draft glitch got fixed, I had lost interest. I am holding out hope that I finally start my franchise over the holidays and play this a lot in 2024.
  
  
• F1 23 - Bought this on sale over the summer. Installed it, but have literally not even launched it yet. Have no idea why.
  
  
• Mortal Kombat 1 - Pre-ordered the ultimate edition. Went through some of the tutorials but decided I needed to finish Aftermath from MK11 before starting the story. I still need to finish Aftermath.
  
  
• NBA 2K24 - A nostalgia purchase. I have fond memories of playing Live back in the 90s around Thanksgiving. So I picked this up on sale over Thanksgiving. Planning to start a Mavs (because of Grant Williams) franchise soon.

NEED TO FINISH

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits - This is still my favorite PS5 game so far. I think I'm down to the final boss, I just need to collect more rot to be ready for that fight.
  
  
• Jedi Fallen Order - Beat it on the PS4, but want to run through it again on the PS5 before buying/playing Jedi Survivor.
  
  
• Final Fantasy VII - Beat the classic PS1 version back in the day and was close to finishing the PS4 version. But now I want to run through the PS5 version before getting Part 2.
  
  
• Spider-man - Continuing the theme, I need to finish this before moving on to SM2. Was about halfway through the PS4 version before upgrading to the PS5 version and starting over this past summer.
  
  
• Gran Turismo 7 - Not really finish, just actually play some more.

CURRENTLY PLAYING
At the moment, none. Hoping that changes while I'm off over the holidays.

[JoshC1977]

Re: 2023 game plans

[*]Final Fantasy VII - Beat the classic PS1 version back in the day and was close to finishing the PS4 version. But now I want to run through the PS5 version before getting Part 2.

I will say this, FFVII: Square has announced that Rebirth is going to have a story synopsis from FFVII: Remake that will get players "caught-up" on the events thus far. Remake is an excellent game in its own right (I've played through it 3 times and plan on a 4th in January, mainly because I never actually finished the DLC), but given your familiarity with the classic game/story, you may not "need" to play Remake before diving into Rebirth.

That said, there's some specific aspects of Remake that might make a bit more sense if you play through it (it may depend though on how well the summary of events is done). I can tell you as well that my average playthrough (knocking-out the handful of side quests included) is around 40-45 hours - so it is "chunky" but not onerous.

If you're gaming less...(as it sounds like you were last year), diving straight into Rebirth (which is apparently going to be a massive game) might be the play....

[Ghost Of The Year]

Re: 2023 game plans

I am so looking forward to a "2024 gaming plans" thread, and being able to post I'm going to be playing EA's CFB in July. I just hope I'm not let down with a pushed out release date. If so, I might riot.

[LowerWolf]

Re: 2023 game plans

If you're gaming less...(as it sounds like you were last year), diving straight into Rebirth (which is apparently going to be a massive game) might be the play....

I still want to play Remake through in all its PS5 glory. What will probably happen is I'll hold off on Rebirth until a sale and use that time to run through Remake again.

I did play Kena a bit the other night, so I'm hopeful I'll get back to gaming a bit more over the holidays and then keep it going afterward.

[pietasterp]

Re: 2023 game plans

The posts in this thread have been really good. I feel like there is more thoughtful discussion/out-loud thinking about games in the last few pages of this thread than there is in all the so-called 'games journalism' out there put together. Especially appreciate the recent KSUowls, JoshC, and freaky posts - really enjoyed reading those.

I think it also helps that I've gone through a recent recalibration of my gaming of late as well, primarily as sports games have gotten increasingly monotone and centered around online casino gameplay, I've re-discovered (or just plain discovered) some genres of games recently that I have ignored over the years when the likes of NFL2K roamed the earth.

Anyway, appreciate the thoughtful posts here and just wanted to give people feedback that their efforts to type them all down aren't (entirely ) wasted!

[kingsofthevalley]

Re: 2023 game plans

Repost (this appears to be a more appropriate thread):

Updates!!:

Standing by for Phantom Blade Zero, Star Wars Outlaws, Madden 25 & NCAA College football. GTA VI will probably be a good one as well.

As far as current gaming, I spazzed out the past two weeks and went game craaazy! First there was a resurgence with my love for all things Macross/Robotech, classic show that I loved during my childhood. Did some research and found that while there aren't many games here in the U.S., Japan has a PLETHORA of Macross titles and they all look great!

Current gaming fix:

1. Macross 30 (Japanese import PS3). Just received the game, now standing by for the imported PS3 to arrive.

2. Purchased Armored Core VI, Gods of War, and Remnant II via Steam yesterday and I'm slowly getting hooked on Remnant II, amazing game!

3. Madden 24 every now and then.

4. Undisputed Boxing (Early release)

5. UFC 5 (begrudgingly lol), not really a solid release, but it has a career mode (even though it's super bare bones).

6. In anticipation of a PS5 purchase soon, I picked up God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Uncharted The Lost Legacy, Uncharted 4 A Thief's End, Watch Dogs Legion, and God of War (Remastered).

I also have a LEGION of other Xbox Series X titles that are collecting digital dust (wish you could do digital trades lol). Played a few minutes of RDR 2 every now and then, haven't touched Starfield since the first 10 minutes of play after release lol, and so on and so forth

[Kramer5150]

Re: 2023 game plans

On a serious whim, I was looking through the Christmas sales on the Xbox, when for some reason Hogwarts Legacy caught my eye...I have never watched any of the movies or read the books (and don't plan on it) so I know nothing of the lore.

There was just something I found interesting about the game, and after watching several vids and seeing the standard version is on sale for $34, thought why not?

I'm still very early on in the game, but so far I'm pretty impressed. As I mentioned I have no idea of the lore or anything to do with Harry Potter, which I feel lends to me having nothing to compare it to, so if something isn't "right" with this universe I have no idea...lol

With 2024 rapidly approaching, Hogwarts will probably be my last game purchase of 2023.

Looking forward to 2024, and tbh the only game(s) I'm looking forward to are Star Wars Outlaws and Assassins Creed :Red.

I have absolutely no interest in Madden anymore, WAY too many issues for me to take that game seriously, I might check out the College game, but not completely 100% sold on that either.

[LowerWolf]

Re: 2023 game plans

Jedi Survivor is now half off, so I added it to my Purchased list. I still want to play Fallen Order again before getting to it though.

[Funkycorm]

Re: 2023 game plans

On a serious whim, I was looking through the Christmas sales on the Xbox, when for some reason Hogwarts Legacy caught my eye...I have never watched any of the movies or read the books (and don't plan on it) so I know nothing of the lore.

There was just something I found interesting about the game, and after watching several vids and seeing the standard version is on sale for $34, thought why not?

I'm still very early on in the game, but so far I'm pretty impressed. As I mentioned I have no idea of the lore or anything to do with Harry Potter, which I feel lends to me having nothing to compare it to, so if something isn't "right" with this universe I have no idea...lol

With 2024 rapidly approaching, Hogwarts will probably be my last game purchase of 2023.

Looking forward to 2024, and tbh the only game(s) I'm looking forward to are Star Wars Outlaws and Assassins Creed :Red.

I have absolutely no interest in Madden anymore, WAY too many issues for me to take that game seriously, I might check out the College game, but not completely 100% sold on that either.

Definitely don't need any knowledge of HP to play Hogwarts Legacy. There are some fun easter eggs in it for the fans of the HP universe, but that is what they are, easter eggs. Mostly, oh that is cool moments.

[poulka]

Re: 2023 game plans

Yes I agree with this. I had never watched any of the movies, but I thoroughly enjoyed this game from beginning to end.

[peter42O]

Re: 2023 game plans

Hogwarts Legacy is such a great game. Never watched any of the movies nor read any of the books and I never will but the game, oh man, so damn freaking good. Out of what will be 20 completed games for 2023, Hogwarts Legacy is my 6th best game of the year. Highly recommended!!

[Executor]

Re: 2023 game plans

Exactly one week after my last post here I broke my foot some 400 kms from home, and I got stuck there for the next two months, so my gaming went basically nowhere until I returned home mid-november.

Since then, I never felt like continuing my Far Cry 5 playthrough and instead spent half a month playing with NHL 24 sliders. Of course, once I got them where I wanted them to be, I was so exhausted I put the game away and haven't come back since.

Instead, I managed to finish two other titles:

Cosplay Love

A romantic and quite frankly pretty simple visual novel about a high-society female cosplayer with 'forbidden' passion for cosplay, and an average Joe who just so happens to work for an accessory design industry and goes on to help the girl with fullfilling her dreams. This is one of the VNs that might not shake your heart & soul top to bottom like some others I played but if you want an easy, romantic escape, it gets the job done.

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars

If you ever wanted to try a souls game but were scared off by (real or percieved) difficulty and/or lack of difficulty options, this might be a true diamond in the rough for you.

Asterigos is an indie game with souls like elements with difficulty options (which in my opinion automatically disqualifies it from the niche of 'true' soulslikes, but hey...) and enough twists on some of the basic soulslike formulas to carve its own, cool identity.

Almost all aspects of the game (gameplay, mechanics, graphics, music, main story, sidequests, NPCs, level design, bosses etc.) vary from good to rock solid to above average.

Some level designs and bosses would make even From Software proud. The inspiration with the genre's top masterpieces is obvious and some designs are downright 'copied', like the ill-fated decision to allow teleportation between bonfires only after you complete approx. half of the game (a.k.a. the Lordvessel from Dark Souls 1).

Enemies and enemy placement are on a very good level and traditionally range from regular cannon fodder to tough guys to spongy annoying folks you constantly need to be wary about.

Boss fights - in the main game - are interesting, well designed, mostly fun and also relatively easy. I played on normal setting (out of easy and hard) because I figured if the game had no setting, this would probably be the difficulty the game would have been designed on, with no artifficial boost to either player or CPU. Only 4 of the main bosses (including the last one) and one secret boss (I either missed or locked myself out of second one) were more than two tries. Still, most of these bosses felt like a reward, not a punishment, once you reached them, and that's how it should be. For an indie game, that's certainly an accomplishment.

What drags the game down, however, is the DLC, both with its overall design and also with the design of some of the bosses I was able to reach.

First, to enter the DLC, you have to interact with 'shrines' scattered throughout the world, but only after one half (or maybe even later) of the game. So you basically have to remember where each shrine is, which is almost impossible given how structured some of the levels are.

Second, there are six shrines in the world, and you have to complete all of them (in whatever order) to unlock the rest of the DLC. That in itself would not have been a problem, but...

...third, of those six shrines two will lead you to two of the most stupid, annoying boss fights I have ever experienced in any game, let alone soulslike. One of those boss fights is not even a boss fight in its 'first' phase (or whatever that is), it's more of an agility jump/roll/dodge/dash-around mess of a gauntlet with multiple obstacles and phantom enemies charging at you from all kinds of angles at once. And the second boss fight might somehow be even worse.

Which is a shame, because the more traditional boss fights in the DLC I did complete were one of the best, and definitely one of the toughest, in the whole game. They made me really wonder how the DLC might have played out after all.

However, I made it a habit to either not finish and shelve for later, or shelve for later outright, many of my DLCs (Horizon Zero Dawn, Far Cry 4, Code Vein, AC: Odyssey), so for now, Asterigos might just follow suit.

Overall, though, the game is an easy 8/10, maybe even more, and highly recommended. It is very cute, super fun, exceptionally detailed for an indie, deep in lore, can give you a real challenge if you want one, and you can tell it was crafted wit a lot of love and passion.

I wish the devs all the best and hope they can create either a sequel (there's definitely a lot of room for one) or something entirely different / new in the future.

[NYJets]

Re: 2023 game plans

A bunch of good deals on the PlayStation store now I grabbed last of us part 1 and the hogwarts game.

Considering I played through last of us multiple times already I really wanted to wait until it dropped even cheaper but I finally gave in. The graphics upgrade is impressive and adds a lot to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jrnlgrn]

Re: 2023 game plans

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars

If you ever wanted to try a souls game but were scared off by (real or percieved) difficulty and/or lack of difficulty options, this might be a true diamond in the rough for you.

Asterigos is an indie game with souls like elements with difficulty options (which in my opinion automatically disqualifies it from the niche of 'true' soulslikes, but hey...) and enough twists on some of the basic soulslike formulas to carve its own, cool identity.

Almost all aspects of the game (gameplay, mechanics, graphics, music, main story, sidequests, NPCs, level design, bosses etc.) vary from good to rock solid to above average.

Some level designs and bosses would make even From Software proud. The inspiration with the genre's top masterpieces is obvious and some designs are downright 'copied', like the ill-fated decision to allow teleportation between bonfires only after you complete approx. half of the game (a.k.a. the Lordvessel from Dark Souls 1).

Enemies and enemy placement are on a very good level and traditionally range from regular cannon fodder to tough guys to spongy annoying folks you constantly need to be wary about.

Boss fights - in the main game - are interesting, well designed, mostly fun and also relatively easy. I played on normal setting (out of easy and hard) because I figured if the game had no setting, this would probably be the difficulty the game would have been designed on, with no artifficial boost to either player or CPU. Only 4 of the main bosses (including the last one) and one secret boss (I either missed or locked myself out of second one) were more than two tries. Still, most of these bosses felt like a reward, not a punishment, once you reached them, and that's how it should be. For an indie game, that's certainly an accomplishment.

What drags the game down, however, is the DLC, both with its overall design and also with the design of some of the bosses I was able to reach.

First, to enter the DLC, you have to interact with 'shrines' scattered throughout the world, but only after one half (or maybe even later) of the game. So you basically have to remember where each shrine is, which is almost impossible given how structured some of the levels are.

Second, there are six shrines in the world, and you have to complete all of them (in whatever order) to unlock the rest of the DLC. That in itself would not have been a problem, but...

...third, of those six shrines two will lead you to two of the most stupid, annoying boss fights I have ever experienced in any game, let alone soulslike. One of those boss fights is not even a boss fight in its 'first' phase (or whatever that is), it's more of an agility jump/roll/dodge/dash-around mess of a gauntlet with multiple obstacles and phantom enemies charging at you from all kinds of angles at once. And the second boss fight might somehow be even worse.

Which is a shame, because the more traditional boss fights in the DLC I did complete were one of the best, and definitely one of the toughest, in the whole game. They made me really wonder how the DLC might have played out after all.

However, I made it a habit to either not finish and shelve for later, or shelve for later outright, many of my DLCs (Horizon Zero Dawn, Far Cry 4, Code Vein, AC: Odyssey), so for now, Asterigos might just follow suit.

Overall, though, the game is an easy 8/10, maybe even more, and highly recommended. It is very cute, super fun, exceptionally detailed for an indie, deep in lore, can give you a real challenge if you want one, and you can tell it was crafted wit a lot of love and passion.

I wish the devs all the best and hope they can create either a sequel (there's definitely a lot of room for one) or something entirely different / new in the future.

Your review sold me. Checking out the art style it reminds me of Immortal Fenyx Rising. If I'm going to play a "soulslike" game it doesn't always have to be dark and gritty.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Operation Sports mobile app