Is that so, I can't leave the town until the last day? Oh dear, haha. I guess I got what I deserved from that. Pathologic has quite a story, but that experience was a parable in itself. I learned my lesson about trying to get out of difficult situations early and sticking through until the end. I'll try harder and be more diligent with my next attempt.

Yeah, I used to have a specific day, Retro Random Monday, where I used the Fortune Cookie all the time. To keep that spirit alive, I do a New Year Fortune Cookie Marathon where I play a random game from all my consoles.

I noticed you were playing Side Pocket because of the Fortune Cookie. I love that feature as it is a good way to get out of a funk or if you are being too indecisive.

Some gaming highlights of the year 2018.

This year I played less games than usual, due to me working hard on and eventually finishing my PhD thesis and all; but still it helped me to be more focused on what I play and pick games more carefully. Although by the end of the year I started picking games from a list using a randomizing roulette.

Best games of the year:
The best sudden game for me this year, and overall the best experience -- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PC, 2018)
An extremely enjoyable little thing -- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (WiiU, 2014)
Best games replayed this year -- The Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II: Hell on Earth (Ultra Violence difficulty. No saving. Pistol only starts.) (PC, 1993 & 1995; Gzdoom ports)
Best indie or whatever, just very enjoyable -- Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC, 2018)
Mandatory LEGO co-op with my kids -- LEGO Jurassic World (this one is actually better than a dozen of other LEGO games we've finished) (PS3, 2015)
The game that I expected to be good and it did deliver -- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3, 2008)

The longest beat (complete) game -- Final Fantasy VI (Android port) - oh my god, I spent almost a year on this game. Don't know why, but I just couldn't sit and play it. It's a good game, but I guess I'm tired of classic JRPGs by this point.

The hardest beat (complete) game --Sports Champions 2 (PS3). Oh boy, the final challenges for platinum sure were hard, tennis especially, but I did it. Also I should note here the final optional stage in Super Mario 3D World (WiiU) -- it can suck my D any time of day... Some levels in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (WiiU) were also not easy... But the hardest game to beat happened to me in the beginning of 2018 - I finally beat all minigames in WTF: work time fun (PSP) -- and this was a freaking disaster. I think I will remember Karate Champ and Buddha's Quest till the day I die.

The oldest beat games this year were Jackal and Side Pocket (both NES, 1987)

And I'm still playing The Witcher 3 which is so awesome... one of the best games I played in years...

This year I also started to replay classic and arcade games that I enjoyed before, without any cheats or saves, and eventually I hope to re-beat many those games.

Happy New Year!

Well, I tried playing Pathologic. I already had the 2005 version by the time you warned me about the translation. I had seen similar opinions about it online too, and I still decided to get the original. There certainly are some passages that were incomprehensible, especially if I was trying to understand details of the text.

I didn't give it much of a shot on my first attempt. I got caught up in what I thought would be an early ending when one of the NPCs suggested I leave the village on the 2nd day. I tried for several hours to make that escape work, but I couldn't figure out how to leave safely. I got frustrated after failing that so many times, and I dropped my playthrough. I will definitely go back to it some day, and I will try for a more regular ending later in the game to see more of what it has to offer.

I like MGS2 a lot as well. I have much of the spin-off games to play too, but I've taken a break from playing the series. At this point I'm very satisfied and fulfilled with what I've gotten from the MGS series.

I might be starting Pathologic this month. I heard it's rather challenging. Did you beat it without a guide? Do you have any advice for me before I start?

Thank You!

I can see why it was your desktop banner for a long time. Chun-Li does have the best banners.

Please tell me your thoughts on MGS4 once you beat it!

Liquit!

All the Arcade games I marked as instead of are because they either had other characters or routes I've not finished the game with. The characters thing is mostly personal preference, most arcade games just have minor character variations that I wouldn't blame someone for ignoring.

Normally I count the highest difficulty level as a requirement, but all the dip switch settings for time, num of lives, etc etc make that murky. And it's all just there to give arcade owners options to fine-tune how quickly they take your money, so I'm fine ignoring it. Doesn't feel much like the game designers intent to me, so I just leave it on normal.

I'm almost beating it and it coincided everyone wants to complete it at the same time