An interesting game that's definitely very Kojima-y, if not particularly interesting otherwise besides that characteristic. Underneath its mishmash of Blade Runner, Terminator, Akira, and many other 80s sci-fi movies is a decent enough adventure game with great sense of mood and style (showcasing Kojima's interest in a more cinematic flair to his games), mainly let down by some weird quirks (why do I have to look/investigate things so many times before the game acknowledges the effort and moves on?) and a rough third act that only consists of the crappy shooting gameplay and a half hour long exposition dump.

A pretty clear step up from the previous Final Fantasies in terms of gameplay pacing and storytelling (both in terms of a well-rounded cast of characters that almost all have arcs throughout the story and an emotional core that was, for the most part, absent in the other games.) Final Fantasy VI (III in the West) is a story that was no doubt a revelation in the days when game stories were essentially just getting from point A to point B, and yet it still carries a lot of weight in today's video game climate with some surprisingly mature and nuanced subject matter (suicide, the end of the world, guilt and grief, etc.) It's the first time in my marathon that I have truly loved a Final Fantasy game, and I hope it continues!

More than just an optimization/tweaking of Breath of the Wild, it really is a pretty different, yet no less magical game. For all the changes made (story, overworld, dungeons, bosses, etc.), the really revolutionary stuff comes from the ultrahand and fuse systems and how the physics really react realistically to whatever Ultrahand monstrosities have been created by Link. Even being able to dive down from the Sky to Hyrule to the Depths in one fluid motion is some Nintendo witchcraft. A game we'll be dissecting and experimenting with for years to come, just like Breath of the Wild

A very good game, if one that I did not become as attached to as Earthbound. Gameplay's a bit improved with less problems with item storage and save points and rhythm based bashing to have more player activity in turn based combat. While the story is a lot more involved than Earthbound's with some strong emotional points (especially at the end), I do think the early chapters switching focus between characters feels more scattershot, and the shifts between quirky and serious don't feel as earned as Earthbound's (very quirky but gets quite serious at the end) or Undertale's (good balance between quirky and serious). Still a worthy game that everyone should play, and one that Nintendo should make widely available at some point, even with its more adult subject matter

I've had a weird history with Half-Life 2 before I finally finished it and its two episodes. The first time I played it (maybe like eight years ago), I enjoyed all of the introductory levels but got bored and stopped around either the early sewer level or the airboat level. Didn't really get all of the hype. The second time I tried playing it (probably about five years ago), I was actually enjoying it a good bit but got stuck in the middle of Ravenholm (not a good place to be stuck for sure) and it fell back into the backlog. Thought it was a good game and started to understand why so many people raved about it.

Now, I can finally say, that Half-Life 2 is one of my favorite shooters I've ever played. It's remarkable how every level is thoughtfully designed and manages to throw out something different every time to keep you on your toes. I previously talked about Half-Life 1's surprising amount of immersion, and 2's world is even more lived-in and interesting. Probably some of the best, most influential physics in video games to this day. Also, both episodes are pretty good (2 more than 1)!

I actually finished this in January, but I kept playing to complete the Pokedex. Loved a lot of the new Pokemon, the story's pretty solid (especially compared to Sword/Shield), the Terastral stuff is probably the first gimmick that I don't think is a bad idea (even if a lot of the trainers are pretty dumb in their use of it), and I like that you can hit the three storylines in a non-linear order (even if the level cap kind of curbs true freedom). Although I never ran into any major glitches, I do wish it was more polished, some more tweaks might actually make it one of the better Pokemon games.

My team: Skeledirge, Clodsire, Kilowattrel, Tinkaton, Rabsca, and Cetitan