Gonna head right back to the start of the Year and Platinum Tales of Arise after I do the DLC to cap the year off. And with FF7 remake cleared I'll be at 24 games and that's a game every two weeks on average which would make this the best year or at least 12 months in gaming for me since Summer 2015 into summer 2016, not just in content vleared but how much I liked that content and enjoyed myself.

I wish I could bring myself to Platinum some more of the games I played cause I'm so vlose on some and I find them deserving of it but stuff like Hogwarts with 3 trophies that require three separate partial playthrough is a big nope. I platinumed the ones I really enjoyed the most and that's what counts.

Getting back around to platinuming Sekiro and Elden Ring was the highlight of the year, what great games they are a reason they're in my top ten. Stellar Blade was the stand out game above all else though, I'm sure as time passes and I do a fresh pkaythrough down the road to confirm, this game will get very close if not enter my top ten. Such a fun, addicting and incredibly polished experience.

Perhaps I may end up with more completions as I'm well into many games I may sit down for a weekend to just clear the ones that got left behind and tick them off for the sake of it before next year starts. There's always that tiring week between Christmas and New Years to clear stuff up. Whatever the case, many games await in 2025 that I've booted up and put on hold.

1. Tales of Arise  *65 hours - 10/10

2. Neir Replicant  *25 hours - 8/10

3. Project CARS 2 [4 lifetime goals]  *15 hours - 6/10

4. Dave the Diver  *30 hours - 10/10

5. Dirt 4 [Triple crown championship] *60 hours - 9/10

6. Cat Quest  *5 hours - 7/10

7. 13 sentinels Aegis Rim  *35 hours - 8/10

8. Elden Ring [NG+ & DLC] *30+ hours - 10/10  (Platinum)

9. Sekiro: Shadows Die twice *58 hours - 10/10    (Platinum)

10. Bloodborne [NG+4] *12 hours - 10/10   (Platinum)

11. Hogwarts Legacy *48 hours - 9/10

12. Lies of P *40 hours - 6/10

13. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty *38 hours - 8/10    (Platinum)

14. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon *3 hours - 6/10

15. Spiderman: Miles Morales *10 hours - 7/10

16. Nioh 2 *50 hours - 9/10

17. Vampire survivors *54 hours - 10/10  (Platinum)

18. Brotato *18 hours - 9/10 

19. Metaphor Refantazio *80 hours - 8/10

20. Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart *21 hours - 9/10  (Platinum)

21. Inertial Drift *4+ hours - 7/10 

22. Stellar Blade *75 hours - 10/10  (Platinum)

23. Dragons Dogma 2 *32 hours - 5/10

24. Final Fantasy 7: Remake *32 hours - 8/10

Total: 840 hours

Currently playing:

Astrobot 

Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Nine Sols

Ori and The Will of The Wisps
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Bayoneta 3
Super Mario Bros Wonder
Red Dead Redemption (playin now)

In order:
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Witcher 3 + both Expansions
Kirby Return to Dreamland Deluxe
Princess Peach Showtime
TLoZ: Tears of the Kingdom
Fire Emblem Three Houses
Pacman World Repac
Multiversus
Age of Mythology Retold
Luigi's Mansion 2
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Senuas Saga Hellblade 2
Halo 5 Guardians

Currently playing and gonna beat this year also: Halo 6 Inifnite
Will also play DQ3 remake next but won't beat it this year

First time with The Witcher 3 or a replay? What'd ya think if it was the former and if the latter, every replay never looses it's fun, masterpiece!

It was my first time,I loved it so much beat both expansions right after the base game! I know I'm late to it and it was in my backlog for years cos I knew it was a huge game.

Nice one. You'll feel the itch to return to it again, I'm going for my fourth pkaythrough, third for expansions when I can slot it in. Never gets old. 

I doubt that because theres still huge games I wanna play like AC Odyssey, AC Shadows, Ghost of Tsushima, Xenoblade Chronicles X DE, Tales of Arise, Expedition 33 etc

By the time I finish those and whatever else comes out, Witcher 4 will be out! Glad you are enjoing replaying it tho.
I did finish reading the Witcher books this year and looking forward to the next season on netflix next year.

Since the year is almost over, I though I'd post what I've finished.

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Doom 1 & 2 remasters
• Doom Eternal
• Various older games I re-played (e.g., Mega Man 2 & 3, Contra)

That's about it, really. I haven't played a lot in the way of newer games this year. Right now I'm playing through Horizon Zero Dawn for the second time since the remaster was released a few weeks ago (it looks amazing on the PS5 Pro).

Beat FF7 Remake.

First the combat is great on paper, it has th le bones of something that could be great if tweaked a little. Removing potions from ATB, introducing immunities and status effects sooner and some balancing of mobs health pools vs the damage they do and just refine it, take potions off of ATB usage. Second the games presentation is great even for the section of FF7 that is mostly shanty towns and garbage heaps but it's the OST that's really impressive, just really on point not to mention the whole 90's vibe the game gives off, if MGS is ever remade I hope they capture the 90's vibe as good as this This is not an RPG anymore and I think because of that the game shines In places where it becomes an action game with a heavy narrative however they have done so much to slow the player down and adding bits to pad for length the game feels stretched thin and often frustrating when character movement is literally slowed down or you have to squeeze through narrow points really often, one after another to progress. I spent 32 hours, did all side quests and I feel the side content should stay, it's really enjoyable and a nice change of pace to the main game aswell as the sidequests tying nicely into each other in latter chapters where they feel woven without being frustrating because of that, it felt very natural progressing through them or I got lucky in the order I did them but much of the main path could be trimmed down. There was no need to have the player make half of these treks and then to find that fast travel unlocks by the near end of the game is ridiculous. Everything to the point was just a diversion to extend the length of the game, setpieces are designed only to block the player and divert them on longer trips to an objective. VA is amazing, very fitting for the game as well ad the dialogue and feels campy while also really professional. Main bosses suck balls, they trigger cutscenes at certain chuclnks of health missing making for pointless fight and again pushing the player away from engaging properly with the combat system while removing conteol constantly or having big attack moments mean nothing cause the bosses HP can't deplete any further. I'd rate this game much higher if the padding was removed and zi really hope for a directors cut of the trilogy for people who own all three games cause I hear that Rebirth isn't padded but bloated.

As for the story *Spoilers* It's really good if you don't think about it too much, at least it was until late game when they explain what the whispers are. This is the most idiotic thing they could have done, they make the players path invalid cause it's at the whispers whim. There will have to be a very good reason for this but zi get the feeling that they didn't finalise the script before the production of Part 1 started and this is going to end up as a convoluted mess with a load of plot holes. Not once do they touch on Shepiroths plans but then expect you at the end of the game to accept Aeriths vague words on how he is the big bad, even going as far to say "He'll say he's for the planet but he's a bigger threat", wtf? He said nothing of his intentions. And this is where the whispers and destiny become a real problem, unless they are at Shepiroths demands then they should already know that Sephiroths plans are what need to be altered not to mention the fact that they are used as plot armour for Barret for no good reason but holy shit, they went and took Crisis Cores story and made that a nessessity for some aspects of the story, like anyone actually played that game. They really should have ignored all of that since this is a remaining they're going for. Some scenes are really cool, the flashbacks and flash forwards really well done and even the whispers until their intention was specifically explained. Can't have it both ways, you can't have Destiny be a driving factor, use foresight into the future and then have Aerith say "The future is always a blank page". So stupid.

8/10.

Glad I returned a fpurth time to give it another chance and finally got it this time, could have been a 9 had it been trimmed down and exploration and progression was more fluid instead of running into ladders and squeeze points every 30 seconds and rhe whispers had been left vague with no specific explanation, they almost ruin the story and will now but everything event to question and lead to some real Deas Ex Machina type shit. Thankfully, Rebirth and part three will be a fresh experience for me as I never got past the Shinra building in the OG FF7. I just hope some of the design choices are ironed out and the combat was more balanced on normal so you can engage with it without having to use your ATB to swig potions. Not sure I can do intermission cause Yuffie is far to anime but I will try and see it through.