It reminds me a lot of Mardi Gras! I've gone back to my Valentine's Day theme because I love it so much lol.

And that's wild about Nier, I think I saw it on Reddit first and did a double take and then jumped to tell you.

I still owe you a proper long response, going to carve out some time tomorrow during the day to get in that!

....your theme is the stuff of nightmares.

And did you hear about the last Nier cheat being found? Apparently it just lets you skip the whole game

Haha, I appreciate the support for getting FFIX! Some favs you just can't resist. And hey, happy new year to you!

Happy New Year! Whateveer 2020 brought you, I hope 2021 brings infinitely better. Personally, it's nice to have a year that looks like it's going to start with a bit more hope in it. Look - there was some good and great in 2020, but it also held a lot of crap and some pretty hard moments in the final stretch, for so many. I hope the year wasn't too hard on you or yours and that you're doing alright.

Anyways, my gaming friends, this is about games. So, here is what I played (beat/complete) this year. A top 21 in 2020 if you will.

21. Persona 4 Dancing All Night
20. Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight
19. Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight
18. Minecraft Dungeons
17. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
16. Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered
15. Days Gone
14. Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition
13. Final Fantasy IX
12. The Last of Us Part 2
11. Astro's Playroom
10. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
9. Resident Evil 3 Remake
8. Ghost of Tsushima
7. Pokemon Shield
6. Spider-Man Miles Morales
5. Carrion
4. Bugsnax
3. Animal Crossing New Horizons
2. Return of the Obra Dinn
1. Final Fantasy VII Remake

Is Cross Code good? It's on Game Pass and apparently is one of the 'Optimized for Series X' games.

Merry Christmas, or whatever you're celebrating, to those who can see this! May the end of this year be kind to you and yours and lead into something great in 2021!

Hope you and your family are well. Merry Christmas, to you and yours!

Hey, no worries! Thanks for adding back! Happy Holidays!

You as well my friend!

An all Canadian division would actually be pretty fun, it's such a shame we likely won't be allowed to go see any games haha. Rekindle some of those rivalries that are long dead in the NHL but alive and well in the fans. That cross country hate! I'm excited. Wary about whether they can pull it off without the bubble as it was a disaster for the MLB but we'll see. Fingers crossed. How are you feeling about your off season moves?

I did get a Series X but I haven't actually gotten any games for it. Just playing GamePass stuff. The load times are incredible though and the thing is quiet and runs smooth as can be. Quick Resume is also nice as I've been messing around with Bloodstained, Forza, Control, and achievement hunting for the 12 Days of Achievements on trueachievements. It's kind of fun to be able to jump into Forza in about 5 second and run a race or two, and then load up Bloodstained and work my way to the next save point, and then jump into Control to clean up some stuff from the DLC. And it all happens almost instantly. No title screens and loading menus. The only downside is that there is stuff in Bloodstained I never learned how to do because the loading is too quick for the "Tips" to pop up.

I'm gonna wait on Cyberpunk for the next gen version and for them to iron out their shit. Otherwise there isn't really anything this holiday for me to get on the new console. Which works for me, this is a year of making accommodations.

I hear you on Isolation. I think the game really could have been about 8 hours shorter. It's a shame, because the setting is incredible and the story is actually pretty good. But there's a good deal of backtracking that easily could have been cut. I'm realizing as I get older how much a good editor would help so many games. There's this obsession with hour count but people can play a game like Smash or the OG Super Mario Bros or even replays of OoT where you make your own goals. The game doesn't have to be overly designed to be engaging long term. It just has to be fun. I replayed Dead Space without there being any replay value just because I love the game. Same with Alan Wake. It doesn't need to be 50 hours long for people to get 50 hours of value out of it.

We're staying in Halifax yeah. Travel is a no go and my parents are too vulnerable to risk it. But we'll do some video chats and have our egg nog and make the most of it! How about you? Any new holiday traditions that are Covid friendly?

Ohhhh Atreus is SUCH a pain right now. It has all three of us just infuriated and the last play session he ended up having an axe thrown at him roughly every 5 minutes

The amount of times he says "I don't know" makes me laugh. All I can think of is him saying that to everything Atreus says

I see your strategy of leaving a winter theme up from last year is working

The number of times I've yelped and scared the cats is hilarious.