Welcome to this special edition of RPGamer's Currents Column!
Happy New Year, everyone! I want to start off this year the same way I started off the last two years, with more gaming New Year resolutions from the RPGamer staff. First off, I want to take a quick look back at the New Year resolutions the RPGamer staff made last year and see if they stuck to their word. Secondly, I asked the staff for a new batch of goals and resolutions for 2012.
Emanuel "Risingsuntzu" Merino:
"Often times I feel pressured to play the latest releases so I can talk about them and keep up with the rest of the staff and community. This year I'm going to take my time with the games I'm playing and not rush out to buy every new release."
Did You Accomplish Your Goal?:
I actually did manage to accomplish my goal this year. I only played a handful of new releases in 2011 and instead focused on playing the dozens of games that I already owned. The few games that I did buy this year I managed to buy for $30 or less. It feels strange being stuck a year or two in the gaming past, but it also feels great to tear through my backlog.
Michael "Macstorm" Cunningham:
"It's a secret to everybody."
Did You Accomplish Your Goal?:
Yes, yes I did.
Becky "Ocelot" Cunningham:
"This year, I'd like to find a way to use gaming to keep in touch with my parents. They're retired now and live across the continent from me. In the past, I've had fun playing Scrabble and comparing arcade game scores with my mom, but it'd be neat to find something we could all play together. I'll be out there looking for stuff that's simple, multiplayer, and fun!"
Did You Accomplish Your Goal?:
Well, I was able to connect with my mom really well by joining Popcap.com and playing board and card games with her. I didn't see anything this year that I think my dad would want to play, however. Instead, I let him talk to me about how he's doing with
Microsoft Train Simulator.
Ken "CofLSilk" Staples:
"Finally complete the last two months of Persona 3 and Persona 4."
Did You Accomplish Your Goal?:
Oh god... can you change that to "Finally, finally complete"?
Nathan "TwinBahamut" Schlothan:
"It would be nice to finally get around to playing a few more of the PS2 games I have played and own and never played enough of, like Growlanser. I also want to complete the Valkyria Chronicles DLC I bought sometime last year. Though, I may be too distracted by its sequel to do that anytime soon..."
Did You Accomplish Your Goal?:
Ultimately, I indeed was too distracted by
Valkyria Chronicles 2 to go back and play the original's DLC. However, I was able to go back and play through several older games in my backlog, including
Final Fantasy XII. I even started
Growlanser Chronicles up again, though finishing it will take more time.
Glenn "7thCircle" Wilson:
"The only resolution I can think of is to finally play all of the games I've bought on GoG over the last couple of years, which is doable -- its only like 4 or 5 games."
Did You Accomplish Your Goal?:
Yup, I don't think I finished any of them because they weren't very good, but I played all or almost all of the GOG games I bought before 2011 and found out there were some good reasons why I didn't buy them when they came out several years ago. :)
Sam "Nyx" Marcello:
"I have the same resolution this year. I want to defeat some of my backlog again."
Did You Accomplish Your Goal?:
I did not succeed. I mostly ended up playing a lot of review games and new releases. So my backlog grew. I did however beat fifty-nine games.
Once again, it was fun getting together all of the resolutions for the Staff Participation section. I'm interested in seeing how we all fare this year compared to 2011. Now that you have heard what we all think, jump in to the comments and share your gaming ambitions for 2011 with us.
Until then, see you all next issue.
Emanuel Merino
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