Game things that made me happy in 2017, my worst year yet

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This blog thingy is, once again, semi-new to me. It's been far too long without a peep from yours truly, but there do exist some reasons for said absence. 

Well. Lots and lots... and lots of mental anguish, mostly. Some of you may have noticed that I've, at best, been around Destructoid sporadically until just recently. Before a few months ago, I was here all the time! However, some back issues arose, which then pivoted my depression slash anxiety into overdrive and I've been figuring out how to deal with that proverbial ball of twine ever since.

I've dealt with it using Tylenol + Advil, Neurontin, high-level painkillers, the works. Eventually, my relience on painkillers (most notably) became their own problem (something I saw coming) and I've had more than several breakdowns that resulted from the guilt of constantly lying or exaggerating to get them. I've only ever wanted to be as nice as could be, but it's never been harder to not be selfish when it's come to medicating myself. These past couple months, that line between selfishness and self-care has been so blurry admist the stress piling on top of me and I'm about ready to stop this nonsense before I actually need institutionalizing. 

As of now, I'm in a state far more fitting for being stuck here with you lovely degenerates. Stuck with suspicious white goo. I can finally talk about the video games I've been playing again with people outside my Facebook! I can finally e-hang with even more of my closest friends! I genuinely hope my rehibilitation begins here and coaxes on smoothly. 

It goes without saying that 2017 hasn't been the best year for me. In fact, I can't remember a worse year when it's come to my well-being. Video games, on the other hand, have been on the up and up! So, let's stop talking about the salty bad stuff and transition into the meaty good stuff! 

This isn't necessarily a GOTY list. Just some things that succeeded in keeping me distracted from my problems. Things that put a smile on my face. Things that inspired some enlightening Google Image searches.

Resident Evil 4

I played this puppy countless times when I had my ye olde GameCube. Not to completion, mind you. I didn't actually complete the initial campaign all the way through until a couple years ago, though I typically found it in me to get some hours in before probably dropping it for more Pokemon. 

Ever since that first time I made friends with a man flying a chopper and then shot a missle-shaped fist into the face of a cult-leading monstrousity, I knew I'd be back to RE4 many more times before I passed and turned to oil billions of years later. Earlier in 2017 was the first of these reruns and it was then that I started to appreciate this hunk government agent simulator even moreso. The brilliance of this game's pacing cannot be understated and should be studied in our Game Art & Design courses alongside other notables like The Last Of Us and Undertale. 

With hardly a single low point, it helped me tremendously. 

Gay Persona fanart

Source: ちーず子 via pixiv

If you didn't already know how insatiably boy-crazy I was, then I clearly haven't been doing my job and you can look forward to at least a few more Fetish Blog's throughout the year. I'll have to leave some room to continue discussing my rampant macro fetish as well. 

With this past year's release of Persona 5, gamers were given plenty of excuses to revisit the time-honored tradition of "shipping" their favorite fictional characters. Non-canon, but no less wholesome and/or sexy for it. I had, before, never seen such a crazy influx of boy on boy (on boy) action. While things, seemingly, couldn't be any more tough in the real world for me, there was no better time to be alive as a super gay Persona fan than this early-mid 2017. 

Source: zephyrine-gale via Tumblr

Source: ask-the-dirty-crime-gays via Tumblr

Mmm. 

Mmm yeah. 

Almost as if in direct response to the underwhelming nature of one of Persona 5's "Confidant" routes, fans poured their art juices all over these fabulous boys and even, to this day, are still letting that rainbow shine. 

Wherever there shall be Minato X Akira (I refuse to call him... "Ren"), I shall also be. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Hoo boy, this game was a special experience for me. 

Breath of the Wild swooped in and effortlessly dethroned Twilight Princess as my favorite Zelda, pitting me against a world that allowed me to truly choose my own adventure. Yeah, Ganon's important and I could literally take him on now with my stick collection and loin cloth, but I have Korok Seeds to collect and Shrines to solve!

And, maybe, along the way, I can (re)discover a little bit about myself.

For those few who missed it, Destructoid did a nice thing (with my consent) and front-paged a very personal blog of mine where I discussed the parallels between my tales on-screen with Breath of the Wild and my very real struggle with my gender identity. 

Even amongst our more dedicated blogging and qposting community, there will likely still be at least a couple quirked brows. However, I care not. Give the article a read if you want and keep on swimming!

Since then, I'm still sternly identifying as purely "male". It's what makes me feel most beautiful. Though, to not overexplain my situation, I simply yearn for an age where it's completely normal for a guy to wear stockings, a dress, or makeup. I'd love to experiment within the full spectrum of fashion and Breath of the Wild helped me with that, reconnecting me with a part of my childhood I had almost completely forgotten about. 

That a game like that comes around so rarely is such a travesty. 

Taking tasty screenshots in Super Mario Odyssey

Maybe I'll turn this bit into its own little blog where I'll more feel more inclined to post some of my better, though more spoiler-y, screens, but I'll suffice for a small summarization for now. 

It sort of goes without saying that Odyssey is awesomely fun to actually play, but getting that sexually-charged snap of Koopa Mario and a regular Koopa duking it out atop an ocean of hot soup perfectly-centured was just as fun!

Around 95% of my 130+ photo Switch Share library on Facebook is of Odyssey. Odyssey, Odyssey, Odyssey, home menu, Odyssey, Odyssey, Binding of Isaac, Odyssey, Odyssey, Odyssey. To be fair, I've yet to share any of my Morphite screens and who knows how many screens I'll take of my eventual Switch playthrough of BOTW, but I digress. 

I almost want to start my journey fresh with those upcoming photo filters from the free update. That's how important these are to me. I can spend half an hour (or more) with just one photo!

I've been into such things since I got my first gaming notebook back in 2012 and realized how much I might be interested in a career in photography. Validity aside, I plan on eventually using my best here within my future job portfolio, shaming all the more conventional photographers with my striking versitility. 

Every game needs a Photo Mode. 

If Mario can have one, so can you. You just gotta believe. 

Persona/Shin Megami Tensei in general

Source: mediseller via Tumblr

I mean, this applies to every year. But, nonetheless, the Shin Megami Tensei franchise continues to inspire me with its unique atmosphere, fanart, addictive mechanics, and impressive amount of spin-offs. 

I play at least a few of them every year, though I've still technically only beaten SMTIV and Persona 4: Golden (to say nothing of my 100+ hours in SMTIV: Apocalypse). I hope to change that up considerably in 2018. My goal is to at least finally complete Persona 3: FES, Persona 5, and Nocturne before I reset my resolutions to finally finally beat them in 2019. 

Perhaps I'll also get around to finishing fan parody PersoNO. 

Gameplay courtesy of yours truly.

This franchise is so dear to me, yet I've only been with it for the past 5 or so years. No other even remotely compares and I also hope, as 2018 rolls on through, that more feel inclined to research beyond Persona's 3-5 (as stupendously high quality as those titles are). These games are not only worth experiencing, but learning something from. 

Nothing too important, mind you. Mostly about the convenience of a Garu-deflecting demon and a physical MC build when taking down that bastard Matador.

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