2016 and what lies ahead

From a gaming perspective, I don't have much to comment on when it comes to 2016. I'm only just now getting around to a lot of this year's best games, and I'm not quite ready yet to throw down a GOTY gauntlet or do up any sort of an awards blog. This is kind of more of a rumination on a few great experiences and a year in general when I grew further and further apart from games, and not necessarily for bad reasons.

It's been terrifically hard for me to single out any game this year that feels as close to me as either Tales from the Borderlands or Witcher 3 did last year. That's not to say there aren't good games that I played this year, but nothing holds up quite so well as those. I don't want you to get me wrong here - I think the overall quality of games this year has been superb. But nothing's quite hit those storytelling nerves quite so hard as those two titles did.

That said, though, I've had some outstanding gameplay moments this year, particularly when it comes to multiplayer. Overwatch is simply one of the best multiplayer shooters I've played, period. It's accessible in that I don't actually have to be shooting baddies to be helping out my team, something that makes me wildly grateful. I'm a liability to every team in a FPS I play, but in Overwatch, I feel like I'm generally helping if I'm turreting it up as Tjorborn or spraying the general direction of the baddies with Ape Guy. I plan on trying out that area healer soon too. It's neat to have found a popular shooter in 2016 I can actually play, with a shelf life longer than a hot minute or two.

And that's not the only great multiplayer experience I've had, either. The Division is a bit problematic, particularly after a recent patch rendered the enemies hard to deal with when you're playing the late game solo. But wandering around while listening to the incredible novel Station Eleven (also about a plague) while teaming up with randoms to take on the gangs of the Division's New York was a great time. I wish the game had been more varied on all accounts - the character class potential feels samey, the enemies feel samey, the gameplay itself is very samey, and the game could have benefitted greatly from a wilder clothing selection - but damned if I didn't like it anyways. A huge portion of that is owed to Emily St. John Mandel's brilliant book, but not all of it. Ubisoft is definitely onto something with this formula, and it wasn't the only game from their corner of the world that surprised and delighted me.

Cue Watch Dogs 2, I actually really liked the original Watch Dogs. I get the problems people have with its protagonist, but it was a solidly good game all around and I really liked the base hacking and exploration. Watch Dogs 2 takes what I liked about that first and makes it a more bombastic, cheery-hearted good time. The crew of hackers on your side are a bit cliched, but they're all pretty charming and a little bit silly, which is cornerstoned by the terrific lead character.

But the best part of the experience by far has been meeting up with randoms online and trying to take on missions together. Finding someone and working with them only to discover we have two wildly different ways of approaching the base infiltration stuff is a hoot. It's not without its faults - it's too hard to get out of multiplayer once you've started and some of the MP elements can be too invasive when you're just roaming around. But thankfully a lot of the most annoying crap can be turned off in the settings, so it's not too bad.

From a single player perspective, I think my heart belongs to I am Setsuna, a delightful throwback RPG produced by Square. it's highly reminiscent of Chrono Trigger - and in a more modern sense, some of the Trails in the Sky games. There's a simplicity to its storytelling and settings that I like, and the turn-based combat, overworld exploration, and NPC interaction is just what I needed this year. If you're looking for a great way to pass the time solo with RPG comfort food, this is very much the game for you.

There are more games I want to talk about, particularly some of the more mediocre experiences I had this year, but we'll save those for a future blog, maybe when I've had a chance to play a couple more games before the end of the year.

I imagine the mods will want to skip this next section. Apart from my close circle of family and friends, they've had to endure the brunt of my bullshitting about my books, and for that, I sincerely apologize. It's become a running joke that I never shut up about them (sorry, @sweep).

Since February of this year, I've written four novels and published three of them, with the fourth set to hit sometime in January. It's been a batshit crazy year for me personally, and not just for those reasons, but it's something I'm proud of having done. It's been a weird experience, though. I'm pulling away from a lot of the things I loved for the last seven or eight years, and that's unfortunately included Giant Bomb. While I still try to catch an hour or so of the shows here and there, I'm terribly behind on blogs from all my friends here and I've only been browsing the forums for a few minutes at a time each day. It led to me stepping down as a moderator this year, something I don't regret, save for putting more workload on the other fine folks.

And it's pulled me away from games in general. At one point, right up until Black Friday, I thought for sure this would be the year I bought an Xbox One, particularly since they're so cheap. But I know that'd just be a mistake. Games like Forza Horizon 3 look great, but when I'm sitting around, I'm compelled to write something, or edit, or otherwise be working on the novels in some fashion. In a weird way, I've become something I've never been before - a workaholic.

And in another happy note, I've become pretty focused on losing weight too. It's not always as successful as I'd like, but I've definitely started to focus more and more on getting myself right this year, physically and work-wise. I'm down over fifty pounds (I gained a bit back in early November, but hey, I'm back on track now), and I can really feel the difference in how energetic I am. I'm not sweating as much, my clothes are hanging off me, and I'm in a good place to continue losing weight in 2017. I have no end goal in mind. I just want to get healthy.

And part of that "getting healthy" mentality is just not to sit around in front of a TV screen as much. It's one thing if I'm working, but even then, I'm trying to develop better habits, like walking around a track several times a day, getting my dog out for more walks, and that sort of thing. It's going really well.

I'm not sure what 2017's going to bring personally. I'd like to put out at least two new series of novels and continue to build on the one I've already created, but we'll see how it goes. For everyone who's been encouraging me and taking an interest in this whole nonsense, thanks. This is one of the best communities on the Internet and I look forward to bullshitting with you all more in 2017.

I'm in a good place right now, the best I've been in a really long time. So for all those who've been patient with me and endured my endless tirades about books or helped spread the word, I owe you, I really do. I'm going to try to do better in 2017 to keep my business stuff away from my personal life so hopefully this stuff isn't so pervasive in our conversations, but from my end of things, it's been a tremendously exciting year and I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes in the future.