Vortexeo

Maaaaan I just want this game in my hands now 😭

@garfreek it wasn't necessarily intentional, I think just a lot happened in my personal life. I had finished grad school earlier this year and after I graduated my motivation to play drastically dropped. I guess I wasn't prepared for how directionless life could feel after finishing school 😂

Spent a lot of time this year trying to make new friends, try new hobbies, etc. Really planning on picking gaming back up again next year though 👌

2024 was a very different year for me on a personal level, lots of changes and it definitely shows in my game time lol.

This year on my switch I played a total of 119 hours and didn't even play any new releases outside of the beginning of M&L Brothership.

By comparison:
2023 - 578 hours
2022 - 594 hours
2021 - 804 hours
2020 - 2077 hours
2019 - 1016 hours

I agree with others...they could've just added a single "Best DLC/Expansion category". I don't think DLCs should be nominated in the other categories personally.

Day one just like all the other Xenoblade games!

I can't believe this is real. The switch era truly has been the best time to become a Xenoblade fan 💯

LETS GOOOOOOOOOO!! WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS NEWS TODAY

I'm now almost 18 hours into Final Fantasy VII Remake and man this game really picked up. From chapter 6 to a majority of chapter 9 really felt like a bit of a slog but it started to get more interesting afterwards. Looking forward to playing more this weekend!

So I'm now 12 hours into Final Fantasy VII Remake and you know...I have to admit this game is kind of boring 😅. The original game was fantastic, even after replaying it earlier this year it's still wonderful. But with the remake, you can seriously feel where it's being stretched out. When the plot moves it's awesome but right now I have a tough time bringing myself to play for more than one hour at a time.

I'll be playing more Final Fantasy VII Remake. I think I'm about 8 hours in now. Chapter 6 felt a little annoying admittedly but I'm excited to see where this goes.

I'm currently about 6 hours into Final Fantasy VII Remake. I'm going to be playing more of that this weekend. I also want to try the Saga Emerald Beyond demo. Never played a game in the series before but this one did get my interest.

@Zaruboggan It's not a port but it looks like it is also going to be released on mobile as well.

I finished Crisis Core last weekend! It was actually quite a bit shorter than I was expecting and the encounter rate was pretty high but I enjoyed my time with it. Pretty much immediately after finishing it I started up Final Fantasy VII Remake. I have been wanting to play this game for quite some time but never got around to it. Now that I've replayed the original and finished Crisis Core, it feels like the perfect time to jump in lol. I'm only 3 hours in but so far so good.

I know Square Enix makes strange decisions sometimes but I have to say I love these free updates they give to some of their games. I recall Triangle Strategy also getting a pretty big free update last year.

I am actually almost done playing through the entire mainline series! The only ones I have left to play are V and XVI.

Here is my personal ranking so far:
IX > VII > VIII > I > IV > X > VI > XIII > XV > II > III > XIV > XII > XI

Last weekend I finished Tales of Zestiria and oh my God the second phase of the final boss was so hard lol. Took me quite a few tries to beat him 😅

This weekend I'll be jumping more into Crisis Core. I'm currently on chapter 4 and it's been pretty fun so far! I admit the encounter rate is a little high though.

You know for all the hate pokemon gets, I'm actually really glad they stopped doing third versions of games. I can't stand the definitive rereleases with no way to upgrade practice that Atlus does and third versions of Pokemon games were pretty much that.

Oh my god...RIP I just finished Tales of Zestiria yesterday.

It's really close between Super Mario Galaxy and Bowsers Inside Story for me

So I'm 27 Hours into Tales of Zestiria and I think the game is starting to lose steam. I didn't realize that the game gates main story progress behind finding all the Iris Gems so I've gotta go find the rest of them 😅. Idk how much more is left in the game but I'm hoping to finish it this weekend.

Outside of that I finally bought Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion. The game went on sale recently and given that I just finished my second playthrough of the OG FF7 in February, I figured now would be a great time to pick it up. If Zestiria really ends up dragging I may opt to play this instead.

@Fizza I can't really speak for the main series because I'm in the same boat as you lol. I also tried the demo for Monster Hunter Rise and wasn't really feeling it. That being said, I do think you will enjoy Monster Hunter Stories 2. That's the only game in the series I played all the way through (I even did post-game and online co-op as well). It's quite different from the main series but I thought it was really fun

Oh my goodness...my jaw dropped! RIP

Ah, I see this is going to be another crazy loaded year for RPGs lol. I've still gotta get around to playing the demo for this!

I think it's pretty cool that both the Saga series and the Mana series are getting new games this year. Never played a game in either series but the new titles look like pretty good starting points!

Last weekend I finished my second playthrough of Final Fantasy VII! I think I enjoyed it a lot more this time around so I'm really glad I revisted it! I also started Tales of Zestiria earlier this week. I've always heard how much hate this game gets but honestly it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm only 5 hours in though so we'll see if my opinion changes.

I'm now 20 hours into my second playthrough of Final Fantasy VII. I think it may be possible for me to finish it this weekend if I'm lucky.

As for Trails in the sky I decided take a break from the game. It's good but 26 hours in it still hasn't quite hooked me yet. I'll return to it whenever I get the urge to.

I really hate this practice smh. I loved SMT V but I'm not going to rebuy the whole game just for the new content.

Lol my heart skipped a beat for a second there

I really have no idea what to expect for this but I'm excited anyway lol

I'm nearly 10 hours into Final Fantasy VII and I'm so glad that I chose to replay it. When I first played the game a few years ago I don't think I really understood how the combat worked and I just used the cheats pretty much the entire time. (I don't think I even used summons the entire playthrough lol) I also recall needing a guide a lot because I couldn't figure out where to go. But on my current playthrough the experience feels so incredible. Nothing has felt like filler so far. I guess my experience with the other Final Fantasy games and the genre as a whole really helped.

I'm also 26 hours into Trails in the Sky now. While I am enjoying it I think my second playthrough of FF7 is really stealing my attention.

I'm sure I'll be very excited once this game releases but as of right now, I don't exactly feel impatient anymore. I've already waited this long so I don't mind waiting longer 😅

So I decided to replay Final Fantasy VII. It's been a few years at this point since I did my first playthrough and I've been meaning to revisit it before playing through crisis core. I've gotta say I love how good the game is right from the start. I'm only 2-3 hours in so I'm looking forward to playing more this weekend!

Last weekend I finished the Hearts of Stone expansion for The Witcher 3. I've gotta say, it was absolutely fantastic. It didn't feel too long and I was hooked all the way through. I'm considering jumping into the Blood and Wine expansion now or holding off until I get a bit more free time.

I'm also a little over 15 hours in Trails in the Sky I'll try and make some more progress this weekend.

@Coversnail I personally don't think that "Medieval JRPG" actually exists. People have talked about it since before Xenoblade 2 was even released and the only reason why was because of some concept art that was floating around. It's entirely possible that the concept art was just generic recruitment art.

I'm now 13 hours into Trails in the Sky and you know I don't think this game is as slow as I thought it was going to be. I've often heard it was going to be a slow burn and I can see why, but I was bracing myself for something far worse lol. I guess having played through ARR from FF14 has made me immune to slow burns 😅

Speaking of FF14, last weekend I managed to set it up on my steam deck and man. It's incredible! I might dive in a little more this weekend as well!

I'm sad everyone seemed to forget about brawls boss battles mode

I am 9 hours into Trails in the Sky and so far it's been pretty good! I also finally decided to jump into the DLC for The Witcher 3. I started with the hearts of stone expansion.

I'm really looking forward to seeing those discussions from the developers 👀

So I finished Final Fantasy VI last weekend and I gotta admit I was a little disappointed with the second half of the game. I didn't really like how the structure of the game changed, it just got a bit overwhelming. The final dungeon was amazing though and I still really loved the first half.

Earlier this week I decided to finally start my journey into the trails series after putting it off for so long. I'm currently about 4 hours into Trails in The Sky and so far it's been pretty cozy. I've often heard this game is very slow but I am enjoying it a lot so far. Estelle and Joshua are very likeable characters.

The Xenoblade games for me!

@Fizza has been etched into NintendoLife history 🎉

I think the last campfire would be a good addition to this list. It's a pretty underrated game that's simple and cozy. The narrators voice was very pleasant to listen to and it only took me 8 hours to reach 100% completion

Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish my school work before the weekend like I usually do so I'll have to finish that before playing anything 😅

If I get the chance I'd like to continue Final Fantasy VI. I'm 15 hours into the game and it seems like I have entered the second half. During the winter sale I also bought Final Fantasy VII Remake and Tales of Zestiria on steam. Planning on playing both on my new steam deck OLED after I finish FF6

I will be continuing my playthrough of Final Fantasy VI! Currently about 11 hours in and it's been phenomenal so far!

I somehow managed to get sick just a few days before Christmas so I was pretty much in bed a majority of the day yesterday 😅.

But I did start Final Fantasy VI. I'm about 5 hours in now and I'm already loving this game. It's got that good balance of humor and serious moments. I also picked up Vampire Survivors recently. Initially when I heard this game had roguelike elements I wasn't interested. For some reason though I got pretty curious about the game and picked it up. All I gotta say is this game has been so much fun lol, glad I decided to get it! 😂

Well, I finished Bayonetta 3 a couple days ago and I've gotta admit, it was a little disappointing. I don't usually play Bayonetta games for their stories but man it really didn't make much sense to me in this game 😅. I didn't like how much longer the chapters felt as well.

This weekend I have no clue what I'll play. I might start Final Fantasy V or Final Fantasy VI

Yes! I always look forward to these

This game piqued my interest the moment I saw it. Looking forward to the demo whenever it drops!

Well, last weekend I finished Final Fantasy III. I frankly could not imagine doing that last dungeon without the quality of life changes from the pixel remaster 😂. I can't believe in the original you could lose potentially hours of progress because there are no save points in the dungeon.

This weekend I'll likely continue playing Bayonetta 3. I'm currently on chapter 7 but you know for some reason I'm not feeling it as much as the previous game. It's good but I feel like the areas are much more open which admittedly isn't what I prefer when it comes to Bayonetta games. I will continue to play it though.

I don't think it was particularly big for Switch but for other platforms, it was pretty good.

You know I'm not gonna lie. I really don't understand the hate for the game awards. I've only watched this years and last years show but I thought they were both pretty good!