Red Cog's Game Completion Log: Game Completion List 2023

I guess the content of this list will be much smaller than the past couple years since I did individual blog posts for each one - if you are interested in what I thought for each game, you can just go to it's post directly.

In order of completion:

Wowie kabowie, 57 games in one year. I didn't even have a set goal for this year, but I do think having this blog pushed me to strive to finish more than ever before. Not that many people actually read it, and despite me sharing it out to people, it really is only for my own purposes, to collect my thoughts and practice discipline when it comes to seeing the games I play through.

Does this mean I finished every game I played this year and I only played the above games? Not at all. I without doubt played hundreds of games this year. Some more than others. Some only for moments, a round of something here or there, some for quite a bit, some I just didn't finish(yet), like Valkyrie Profile, The Legend of Dragoon, Cyberpunk 2077 and Nioh 2. Some I don't even put here because I'm not even sure they qualify as "completed". Usually a credit roll is enough to qualify a game but there are exceptions.

Fighting games for instance. If it has a singular story mode where you alternate characters while a narrative plays between battles, sure, I'd put it here, but does running through a single characters 8 match arcade mode count as completing the game? I don't think so. But sometimes they only have a basic arcade mode, so when do you count it completed, beating arcade with every character? I'll likely not ever do that... again. I think I did it with the original Soul Calibur and that might have been it.

Also some multiplayer only games, or trial/challenge based or music games don't even have any way of performing a credit roll except accessing it from a menu. When do I possibly account for those on this blog?

Considering how many older games I invested my time into this year, it was definitely a year of nostalgia, where I indulged in many of my more formative interests. Whether those were remakes, replays of games I have already finished, or yet to be completed games I fell off of or played only sporadically. Some of my non-game interests support this too. Back in January I got back into Kamen Rider by finally watching a newer with Zero-One. Loved it. Been watching random Kamen Rider stuff non-stop since. I watched Shin Kamen Rider 3 times. Movie of the year for me hands down and that's saying something because Godzilla: Minus One was excellent, and that's also just another nostalgic interest we have here.

To wrap it up, what is my Game of the Year? Once again, I have a hard time picking. I will say that I'm going to review my favorite games of all time list and see if Final Fantasy XVI, Void Stranger, and Witch Spring R deserve a spot. Okami and Super Mario RPG are already on there. Star Ocean 2 might be, but I think 3 is still my favorite, even though this version of 2 was amazing.

It's kind of odd, but I think the games I would most recommend others play, are just the classics Okami, and Super Mario RPG. The remake of Super Mario RPG is nice, but play it either way if you never have.

I can't really decide between the three new ones so... Final Fantasy XVI was the best AAA action rpg I played. Witch Spring R was the best turned based indie rpg I played. Void Stranger was the best weirdo puzzle game with amazing pixel art I played.

Spoiler for 2024: I mentioned some games I was currently playing/didn't finish(yet) to give myself some accountability. Maybe if I feel guilty since it's written out for the world to see, I will finish them. That said, Sea of Stars is likely my first completed game for 2024. Let's see how this goes!

Bonus: Some of those "Year in Gaming" stats provided by the platforms, even though I am super mad at Nintendo for cutting out December entirely.

Red Cog's Game Completion Log

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Game Completion List 2023

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