Thursday, March 16, 2017

2016 Portfolio

New for 2016

All my written pieces for 2016. See the first post for more details about the Mentonomicon.

An article that explores the open-world genre, and how dispassionate certain games of that genre can be about its optional content.*
Article describing how Indie games have taken the very specific "Legend of Zelda" mold into various directions.*
Part of the "SoundTreks" series, which looks at games through the lens of their music. This chapter covers the games of video game composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, known for his collaborations with famed game director/designer Yasumi Matsuno.*
An article that discusses the difficulty of critiquing how a game is "fun", as well as the emergence of games that aren't necessarily aiming to be fun.*
An article that attempts to explain the appeal of ConcernedApe's Stardew Valley by going through its features systematically.*
An article that explores how various open-world games make their worlds feel alive, with regards to NPC schedules and the like.
A short piece on how the recurring iconography/themes of Final Fantasy can help ground its more out-there entries and spin-offs.
An awards blog for the best games of 2016.*

Sunday Summaries 03/01/2016: Fallout 4 - A new feature for 2016, to ensure I'm writing something every week. Sunday Summaries briefly summarizes my week, my thoughts on the week's new releases, my recent wiki work and more detailed sections on the games I've been playing.
Sunday Summaries 03/04/2016: The Witcher 3 & Lumino City
Sunday Summaries 10/04/2016: The Witcher 3 & Sideway: New York
Sunday Summaries 17/04/2016: The Witcher 3 & Teslagrad
Sunday Summaries 24/04/2016: The Witcher 3 & Viscera Cleanup Detail & InFamous Second Son
Sunday Summaries 01/05/2016: InFamous Second Son & Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Sunday Summaries 08/05/2016: May Mastery 2016 Week One
Sunday Summaries 15/05/2016: May Mastery 2016 Week Two
Sunday Summaries 22/05/2016: May Mastery 2016 Week Three
Sunday Summaries 29/05/2016: May Mastery 2016 Week Four
Sunday Summaries 05/06/2016: May Mastery 2016 Epilogue
Sunday Summaries 12/06/2016: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Sunday Summaries 19/06/2016: Rudra no Hihou
Sunday Summaries 26/06/2016: Dreamfall Chapters & Tales of Xillia
Sunday Summaries 03/07/2016: Tales of Xillia
Sunday Summaries 10/07/2016: Tales of Xillia
Sunday Summaries 17/07/2016: Stardew Valley
Sunday Summaries 24/07/2016: Stardew Valley
Sunday Summaries 31/07/2016: Stardew Valley & Cibele
Sunday Summaries 07/08/2016: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Sunday Summaries 14/08/2016: Metal Gear Solid V & Lumo
Sunday Summaries 21/08/2016: Metal Gear Solid V & Viscera Cleanup Detail
Sunday Summaries 28/08/2016: Metal Gear Solid V & Regency Solitaire
Sunday Summaries 04/09/2016: Metal Gear Solid V & Divinity: Original Sin
Sunday Summaries 11/09/2016: Divinity: Original Sin & Expand
Sunday Summaries 18/09/2016: Divinity: Original Sin & Gravity Rush: Remastered
Sunday Summaries 25/09/2016: Gravity Rush: Remastered & Dragon Quest Heroes
Sunday Summaries 02/10/2016: Dragon Quest Heroes & Batman: Arkham Knight
Sunday Summaries 09/10/2016: Batman: Arkham Knight & Dragon Quest Builders (Demo)
Sunday Summaries 14/10/2016: Final Fantasy Type-0
Sunday Summaries 23/10/2016: Final Fantasy Type-0
Sunday Summaries 30/10/2016: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow & Dark Souls III
Sunday Summaries 06/11/2016: Dark Souls III
Sunday Summaries 13/11/2016: Dark Souls III
Sunday Summaries 20/11/2016: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight & Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Sunday Summaries 27/11/2016: Hitman Episode 1 & Axiom Verge
Sunday Summaries 04/12/2016: Evoland 2 & Go! Go! GOTY!
Sunday Summaries 11/12/2016: Evoland 2 & Go! Go! GOTY!
Sunday Summaries 18/12/2016: SOMA & Let It Die
Sunday Summaries 25/12/2016: Doom & The End

Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 1 - The finale of the Metal Gear Solid reactions series, covering the last MGS game Kojima would direct.
Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 2
Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 3
Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 4
Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 5
Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 6
Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 7
Mento Gear Solid V: The Fandom's Pain: Part 8

Welcome to May Mastery 2016 - Resumed this feature for another year. Each day I play through and provide impressions on a series of Steam games.
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 01: The Talos Principle (Croteam, 2014)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 02: The Talos Principle
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 03: The Talos Principle
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 04: Transistor (Supergiant Games, 2014)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 05: Transistor
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 06: Transistor
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 07: Downwell (Moppin, 2015)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 08: Abyss Odyssey (ACE Team, 2014)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 09: Abyss Odyssey
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 10: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (TheChineseRoom, 2013)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 11: The Book of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles (King Art Games, 2012)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 12: The Book of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 13: Ronin (Tomasz Wacławek, 2015)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 14: Ronin
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 15: Burnstar (Nerve Software, 2010)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 16: Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (DrinkBox Studios, 2012)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 17: Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 18: Dreamfall Chapters (Red Thread Games, 2014-16)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 19: Dreamfall Chapters
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 20: Dreamfall Chapters
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 21: Cargo Commander (Serious Brew, 2012)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 22: Cargo Commander
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 23: Among the Sleep (Krillbite, 2014)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 24: Hammerwatch (Crackshell, 2013)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 25: Hammerwatch
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 26: The Next BIG Thing (Pendulo Studios, 2011)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 27: Trine (Frozenbyte, 2009 - game played was 2012 Enchanted Edition)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 28: Trine
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 29: Super Motherload (XGen Studios, 2013)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 30: The Marvellous Miss Take (Wonderstruck, 2014)
Mento's May Mastery '16: Day 31: Ys: Oath in Felghana (Falcom, 2005/2012)

Welcome to Go! Go! GOTY! 2016 - A recurring feature, which looks at a group of 2016 games at the end of the year.
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day One: Inside
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Two: Headlander
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Three: Headlander
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Four: Grow Up
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Five: Grow Up
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Six: Let It Die
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Seven: Her Majesty's SPIFFING
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Eight: Stardew Valley (Revisit)
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Nine: Hitman (Revisit)
Go! Go! GOTY! 2016: Day Ten: Dark Souls III (Revisit)

Wiki Project: Legend of the PC Engine '89 - Continuing this series that looks into wiki "projects" I've completed and the games that they pertain to.
Wiki Project: Legend of the PC Engine '90
Wiki Project: Super '95 Q1
Wiki Project: Super '95 Q2
Wiki Project: Super '95 Q3
Wiki Project: Summer Games Wiki'd Quick 2016
Wiki Project: Super '95 Q4
Wiki Project: Legend of the PC Engine '91
Wiki Project: Legend of the PC Engine '92-'94

Mento's Alternative to E3 2016: Day 0 - A short daily series I create every year that occurs during E3 in which I cover something, anything, as long as it doesn't involve E3 at all. This year was a screenshot LP of Squaresoft's 1996 JRPG "Rudra no Hihou".
Mento's Alternative to E3 2016: Day 0 (Part Two)
Mento's Alternative to E3 2016: Day 1
Mento's Alternative to E3 2016: Day 2
Mento's Alternative to E3 2016: Day 3

The Comic Commish: Grim Fandango Remastered - Bringing this feature back for another year, as a means to thank those who have contributed to my work in some fashion.
The Comic Commish: Ys Origin

A deeper look at The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its plethora of tactical options for combat.
An explanation and exploration of the retro gaming-focused "chronogaming" projects across the internet.
To continue from May Mastery, an episode-by-episode look at Dreamfall Chapters. This blog covers Book 4: Revelations.
To continue from May Mastery, an episode-by-episode look at Dreamfall Chapters. This blog covers Book 5: Redux.
An article that explores Square's fascination with scenario-based games twenty years ago, and relates it to their present predilection for episodic games like Hitman, Life is Strange and the FF7 reboot.
An article on seeking closure on the open-ended Stardew Valley.
An article that looks at Dragon Quest Heroes, and how the "Musou" series can adapt to different licenses and franchises like a chameleon.*
An article that attempts to explain the plot of Final Fantasy Type-0, which is abstract even for its frequently bizarre franchise.
An analysis of FromSoftware's Dark Souls III, via its bosses and environments. Continues the "Bosswatch" series. (Part One)
An analysis of FromSoftware's Dark Souls III, via its bosses and environments. (Part Two)

List: "List of Games Beaten in 2016" - A list of all the completed games of 2016, including mini-reviews and ratings.*
List: "The Completionist's Lament" - A list of games that have so much side-content that someone like myself, who generally strives for 100% completion, is unlikely to play again.
List: "The Black Wind Howls" - A list of games that are effective in creating a sense of doom and gloom from end of the world scenarios, regardless of whether the player can prevent it or not.
List: "Trailer Blazer E3 2016" - Judging all 130+ trailers that appeared on the Giant Bomb site after June's E3 event.
List: "Favorite Games Without Quick Looks" - An effort to promote some games that were overlooked by the Giant Bomb staff.
List: "GOTY 2015 (Adjusted)" - My favorite games of 2015, with those I've played in the years since factored in.
List: "GOTY 2016" - The ten best games of the year. At least, of those I played.

Review: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (Bombservice, 2016)
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2015 Portfolio

New for 2015

All my written pieces for 2015. See the first post for more details about the Mentonomicon.
Wiki Project: Turbo Time (HuCard) - A thorough examination of the TG16's output, after another completed project for the Giant Bomb wiki.
Wiki Project: Turbo Time (CD) - Same as above, only covering the TurboGrafx-CD and its library. It's fortunately only half as large as the HuCard library.
Wiki Project: Super '94 Q1* - More SNES Wiki updates, only in quarterly form.
Wiki Project: Super '94 Q4* - The culmination of six months of work on the Giant Bomb wiki. My largest "project" to date.
Wiki Project: Summer Games Wiki'd Quick - A project to ensure that every game featured in the 2015 Summer Games Done Quick speedrun charity event had Giant Bomb wiki pages of acceptable quality.
What Is Lightning Returns? Part 1 - The first in a six part series exploring the utterly bizarre and mostly overlooked third game in the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. Intended for those who had already written the FFXIII games off.

 Mento Gear Solid 3: Snark Eater Part 1* - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Konami, 2004). An "Observation Logs" format LP, to continue with this series.

 Mento Gear Solid 4: Puns of the Patriots Part 1* - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami, 2008), To conclude the series.

 Pillars of Eternity: First Impressions - A three part series looking at Obsidian's 2015 Infinity Engine homage Pillars of Eternity. I explore how the game diverges from its inspiration as a veteran of Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale et al.

 Scenic Routes: Super Mario 64 (Part One) - A seven-part series that explores Nintendo's N64 launch game classic and its imaginative approach to creating challenges that work in a 3D environment. Inspired somewhat by Jeremy Parish's "Anatomy of" series.

 An Estival ST Festival: Fantasy World Dizzy (Codemasters, 1991 (ST version)) - A seven-part series that looks at games for the Atari ST, a system popular in Europe that also happened to be the first platform I ever owned. It turned 30 years old this June.
An Estival ST Festival: Wizball (Sensible Software, 1988 (ST))
An Estival ST Festival: Elite (Mr. Micro/Firebird, 1988 (ST))
An Estival ST Festival: Double Dragon I & II (Binary Design/Technos Japan, 1989 (ST))
An Estival ST Festival: Space Crusade (Gremlin Graphics/Games Workshop, 1992)
An Estival ST Festival: Buggy Boy & Chase HQ (Tatsumi/Taito, 1988/1989 (ST))

 ST-urday #001: Bubble Bobble (Taito/Software Creations, 1987 (ST)) - ST-urday is a weekly feature that continues to look at Atari ST games.
ST-urday #002: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (LJN/Ocean Software, 1992 (ST))
ST-urday #006: Cadaver (Bitmap Brothers, 1990)
ST-urday #012: Kid Gloves (Millennium Interactive, 1990)
ST-urday #013: Shadoworlds (Krisalis Software, 1992)
ST-urday #016: Wizkid (Sensible Software, 1992)
ST-urday #017: North & South (Infogrames, 1989)
ST-urday #018: Xenon & Xenon 2: Megablast (The Bitmap Brothers, 1988/1989)
ST-urday #020: Black Lamp (Firebird, 1988)
ST-urday #022: Drakkhen (Infogrames, 1989)
ST-urday #023: Seconds Out (Tynesoft, 1988)
ST-urday #024: HeroQuest (Gremlin Graphics, 1991)
ST-urday #025: Rod Land (The Sales Curve/Jaleco, 1991)
ST-urday #026: Night Shift (LucasFilm/Attention to Detail, 1990)
Mento's May Mastery: Day 01: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream - New variation for May Madness this year, focusing instead on trying to beat a smaller number of games for a more comprehensive analysis. These games are all "white whales" of mine.
Mento's May Mastery: Day 06: SPAZ (MinMax Games, 2011)
Mento's May Mastery: Day 09: The Room (Fireproof Games, 2012)
Mento's May Mastery: Day 19: Claire (Hailstorm Games, 2014)
Mento's May Mastery: Day 23: The Nightmare Cooperative & Lilly Looking Through (Lucky Frame, 2014 and Geeta Games, 2013 respectively)

 Mento's Alternative to E3 2015: Day 0 - An annual custom, taking the four days that comprise of E3 (including the day before the floor opens during which the majority of the conferences are held) and finding something else to talk about for those beleaguered by the industry hype machine. This year: N64 platformers, as an accompaniment to the above "Scenic Routes: Super Mario 64" feature.

 The Comic Commish: Harvester - A new year, a new season of The Comic Commish. Going to look at games that people have gifted me, many of which are gag presents.

 Welcome to Go! Go! GOTY! '15 - A new season of the daily blog feature that looks at missed games released earlier the same year for some last minute GOTY inspiration. This "Welcome" blog includes a contents page for the following.

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