Backloggin’ the Year – Sam’s Sojourn, Year End Wrap-Up

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Hello, I’m Sam, and I didn’t really play any RPGs in the last three months of the year (cue the sad trombone). I reviewed things for the site, but only one of them was actually an RPG. I ended up with tons of new RPGs that could use some love, but somehow found myself with a strong desire to play other things, which you’ll see below. I was in San Diego for a chunk of October, visiting one of my closest and dearest friends. Her and her husband took me to the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, and Disneyland. It was a lot of fun, and my goodness it was perfect weather the whole time. We also had downtime where we watched a lot of WNBA games, played Persona 3 Reload, and enjoyed each other’s company. I honestly cannot wait to visit her again soon!

I HAVE A CUTE DRAGON QUEST SHIRT!!!!!

Back home we also visited a local farm for a Hallowoof event, which Willow adored. She met so many other dogs, wandered a giant corn maze, and enjoyed the fall weather. November was much quieter, spent at home with Extra Life and the Jinkx and Dela Holiday Special being the highlights. December has been even more quiet as the weather has made it very difficult to go out and enjoy nature. I helped run a successful Staff Development Day at work and enjoyed the Christmas Market in the town square with my friends. All in all, I didn’t have as much gaming time, and what little I did have, it was more playing things that I was curious about. It means I have a huge stack of 2024 RPGs that I will not be getting to before RPGamer’s Game of the Year voting, but let’s just say I have a nice stock pile to get me through the winter, and before Like a Dragon and Suikoden show up to derail my gaming plans in early 2025, which I am jazzed about.

As always for this feature, I’m only going to focus on the games I haven’t written articles or reviews about. If you would like to read more of my in-depth thoughts on those titles, check out the following:

RPGs I Played

Lost in the woods.

River City Girls 2: Outside of Breath of Death, the only other RPG I tackled in these last few months was River City Girls 2. I enjoyed the first game a fair bit, but I found the price for the sequel was what kept me away for so long. It finally went on sale and I picked it up so that my roommate and I could play it. During the holiday season, we blitzed through the game, and it is leagues better than the first game. We can start off as Kunio and Riki this time around, but of course, my roommate and I chose our character counterparts, Kiyoko and Misako. The writing is still top-notch, everyone is insane in River City, and that is part of its charm. There are a ton of new sidequests and more skills, and while we got a few glitches along the way, we had a blast. The number of times we would attempt to recruit a new partner character before accidentally KO-ing them in the process never got old. It’s tons of fun and worth the play if you love beat-’em-up RPGs.

All the Non-RPG Goodness

Greatest musical of all time!

Somehow the latter half of 2024 turned into me playing little else than adventure games (and two RPGs! Two!). I got to stream Best Friend Forever during RPGamer’s Extra Life 2024 Streamaganza, and that was a lot of fun to share this cute dating sim with everyone. I also borrowed Alan Wake 2 from the library, and I think it may be one of the best games I played this year. I found myself invested in the story, and how the back-and-forth between Saga and Alan would work. There is so much chaos in how everything is presented, and that musical number with the help from Poets of the Fall was simply mindblowing. Even the stupid Koskela Brothers commercials had me pissing myself with laughter because they were so absurd, and yet the twist with them was fantastic in the end. I liked the first Alan Wake a lot, but I think the sequel truly is an epic experience that anyone who loves mystery and insanity can appreciate.

I also ended up playing through Celeste, which I adored, though I super duper sucked at it. Yes, infinity mode and you can judge me for my need to do that. I just wanted to enjoy the story because it’s one that many of my friends and coworkers praised, and they were 100% right. Also, that soundtrack is brilliant, and I loved how it accompanied everything that was happening throughout. The other title I got was a recommendation from a colleague at work, which was A Little to the Left, and it was a fun, quick, and quirky experience. Curse that cat for wrecking my stuff!

Whatcha Playing Now, Sam?

Beach babes… and Red.

I told myself at the end of November that I was going to finish Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and… it didn’t happen. I have reached chapter ten, and am in Cosmo Canyon. I adored the lead up to these events, and I am living, laughing, and loving this game. I find myself constantly getting distracted by the side content, and there is just so much in this game. I had a good laugh at the sidequest where poor Cloud had to chase chickens or the beach wear contest. My hope given this large failing is that it will be the first game I finish in 2025. I’d also like to go back to Trails through Daybreak, as I put a good dent into it while I was in California going to and from places. There are a lot of interesting characters here, and I’m excited to see where the story goes.

While I didn’t play nearly enough RPGs this year, I hope to get through another chunk of the backlog next year. Here’s to some fantastic RPGs in 2025, my friends!

2024 Final Game Tally

Games Completed: 33

# of RPGs Completed: 19

# of Non-RPGs Completed: 14

# of Games Purchased: 13

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