Your 2025 Gaming Diary

[Julius]

A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! 

Somehow the year is now 2025, and you all know what that means...a new Gaming Diary thread to go along with our new Switch Successors™ coming later this year, of course! No doubt it'll be another year of AAA games of high and questionable qualities, a year for new niche and indie titles to be propelled to new heights, and of course, yet another chance to talk about the games we love - and those we don't - with a good dose of respect!

And maybe a little disrespect if you're on the level of Star Wars Outlaws, ahem...

Once again I find myself asking: does anyone else have any New Year's Gaming Resolutions for the coming year? Perhaps a particular game, series, console catalogue, or developer you're planning to dig into? Or some new and unique approach to how you play? Are there maybe some lessons you'll be taking away from your time spent gaming in 2024 to inform how you spend your time gaming in 2025? 

 

As we started off last year, I would also love to make a call out for people to share their List of Pledge Games for the year, if they'd like. Myself, @Hero-of-Time and @Jonnas made pledges last year of different shapes and sizes, and with different approaches to how we selected our games, but I think it's a great way to take aim at a particular set of games and cross them off your pesky backlog. Maybe there's a particular series you've been planning to get into, a sequel you let pass you by for whatever reason, or some little indie darling which has managed to embed itself deep into your psyche which you now have the urge to play. Heck, maybe it's even just catching up on some recent releases from the last couple of years that managed to sail on by! 

We used Topsters last year to create our lists, and I will be once again this year; to give an example of what your pledge list might look like, here's mine from last year: 

Whatever the case may be, it would be great to get more people onboard and make this something of a Gaming Diary thread tradition! Your list doesn't necessarily need to be 10 games - 3 and 5 also seem like perfectly nice numbers to aim for too - even if I do think it's a nice round number to aim for, and I definitely found it helpful as a guide to finally get to some of the games I've been meaning to dig out for so long. 

That's not to say I got to all 10 last year, mind you...but more on that in the 2024 thread later. It's non-binding, of course, and there's no real pressure to it – it's just a good bit of fun to share some of the games you intend to get to from your backlog, and hopefully just gives you that last little push to do so and share your thoughts on them when you're done! I'll be sharing my list later, after I've made my final post in the 2024 thread, as I have one final game that I rolled credits on just minutes before the fireworks started to shoot up at midnight – the pledge list for 2025 itself is something I've spent a good while pondering over the last few weeks, and I think I've finally nailed down, so I'm looking forward to getting it off my chest! 

 

Anyways, here's to 2025 and another great year of gaming! 

Edited Wednesday at 05:05 PM by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

First platinum of 2025 has been obtained.

I was actually hoping to have this finished yesterday but I ran out of time.

This is still probably my least favourite Dragon Quest game. The game looks gorgeous with the 2D HD look but gameplay wise it still falls short of the other games. Also, the new dungeon they added to this version was such a meh experience. They could have done something much better than what they gave us. My thoughts on the game haven't really changed from when I played the older version on Switch a few years back.

I had a nightmare with the Mini Medals. I finished everything in the game but I was missing 1 medal. I used a guide to try and find out which one I missed, only to see the guide I was using was incomplete. I rang in the New Year looking for this final medal but my efforts were fruitless. Fired the game up this morning and used a different guide this time. Still took a while to find it but I was very happy when it finally showed up.

[Dcubed]

I've actually got a quick one to add that I just played through today.

We're kicking off this year with...

Mouthwashing

This little indie horror came out suddenly out of nowhere towards the end of September last year, and I figured what better way to kick off the new year with a festive halloween title!

This is (mostly) a first person "walking simulator" game, where the narrative is the main focus.  There are some very light puzzle solving sections and a couple of surprise sections with some light gameplay of various types, but for the most part, you are walking, talking and soaking in the disgusting mouthwash atmosphere.  It is thoroughly a psychological horror experience, with some pretty disturbing subject matter that I can't delve too deeply into for sake of spoilers, but make no mistake; this is certainly more Silent Hill and less Resident Evil in that sense.

This inventory menu looks familiar...

The game's aesthetic is clearly inspired by Silent Hill 1, complete with PS1 era resolution wobbly textures, dithering and jaggies, and it was pulled off to great effect; giving the game an etherial nightmare atmos that leaves you constantly feeling uncomfortable.  Equally, the minamalist sound design really pulls you in and brings particular focus onto specific aspects of the environment and the story it's telling.

Like 1000xResist, the game also does a lot with a very small amount of assets.  There aren't a huge amount of environments, but the game really takes advantage of your familiarity with what few environments are used to mess with your understanding of the story.  Speaking of which, I'm a sucker for games with intentionally disjointed, non-linear and fragmented storytelling, so naturally I really liked the way the story was told here.

Really though, that's about all I can say without spoiling anything.  Mouthwashing is a game that is better the less you know going in, so I really don't want to spoil anything about the story; because the narrative and atmosphere is 95% of the game's total appeal.  But yeah, I enjoyed it.  It's sordid, twisted psychological horror told in a way that takes good advantage of the medium.  It's also short n' breezy; I played it from start to finish in about 3 hours, so you know it's all germ killer and no tooth filler!

Kills 99.9% of all germs!

  Hide contents

Mouthwashing

[Dcubed]

As far as New Year's Resolutions go? The big one for me is finally getting round to playing most of Nintendo's Switch lineup from 2022-2024 when Switch 2 finally comes out this year.

Ever since Bayonetta 3 and Xenoblade 3 came out, I've basically held off on playing any of Nintendo's big first party releases since I've been just so fed up of how poorly most of the games run on the current Switch 1 model.  So when Switch 2 comes out? I've got a big list of games to play, including Bayonetta 3, Pikmin 4, TLOZ: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Xenoblade 3, Bayonetta Origins, Fire Emblem Engage, Mario & Luigi Brothership and more.

As long as Nintendo don't let me down, and these games finally start running better on the new hardware, this is gonna be the big catchup year I've been waiting for!

Edited Wednesday at 05:00 PM by Dcubed

[Julius]

7 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

It's also short n' breezy; I played it from start to finish in about 3 hours, so you know it's all germ killer and no tooth filler!

 

In all seriousness, lovely write-up; it's been really nice to see Mouthwashed and so many other indie games recognised during end-of-year/GOTY discussions by a lot of outlets, channels and podcasts over the last month or two. Very curious to see how 2025 pans out and if that is capitalised on, and it definitely feels like the tide has started to shift in favour of more widespread indie recognition!

 

Quote

As far as New Year's Resolutions go? The big one for me is finally getting round to playing most of Nintendo's Switch lineup from 2022-2024 when Switch 2 finally comes out this year.

Ever since Bayonetta 3 and Xenoblade 3 came out, I've basically held off on playing any of Nintendo's big first party releases since I've been just so fed up of how poorly most of the games run on the current Switch 1 model.  So when Switch 2 comes out? I've got a big list of games to play, including Bayonetta 3, Pikmin 4, TLOZ: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Xenoblade 3, Bayonetta Origins, Fire Emblem Engage, Mario & Luigi Brothership and more.

As long as Nintendo don't let me down, this is gonna be the big catchup year I've been waiting for!

MAKE IT A PLEDGE

ahem. that's pretty much where I'm at with the Switch as well, which may or may not be reflected in another post of mine at some point maybe. I also think I'm just seriously lacking much excitement in terms of using the console, so yeah, I'm more than ready for whatever they've got ready to throw our way next  

Edited Wednesday at 05:03 PM by Julius

[Dcubed]

22 minutes ago, Julius said:

MAKE IT A PLEDGE

ahem. that's pretty much where I'm at with the Switch as well, which may or may not be reflected in another post of mine at some point maybe. I also think I'm just seriously lacking much excitement in terms of using the console, so yeah, I'm more than ready for whatever they've got ready to throw our way next  

Problem is that if I make it a pledge, Nintendo's gonna read it and screw me over by delaying the console until 2027... so best not jinx it

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

As long as Nintendo don't let me down, and these games finally start running better on the new hardware, this is gonna be the big catchup year I've been waiting for!

What if there are no improvements?

[Dcubed]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

What if there are no improvements?

Then I'm either gonna wait for an inevitable "next gen port" (Hi Bayonetta 3), or slap myself for being dumb enough to wait

[Jonnas]

21 hours ago, Julius said:

We used Topsters last year to create our lists, and I will be once again this year

Oh hey, when I clicked the link, the page still had my 2024 games on display. That's neat. Good memory, Topsters!

Anyway...

I've been thinking about what I want to tackle for 2025, and this is the list I'm most comfortable with. As with 2024, it is non-binding, and each title here represents a commitment to something specific (some might be obvious, some won't).

Let's see what 2025 has in store! Happy new year!

[Dufniall]

I haven't posted on N-E for a while but I've been meaning to pick it up again, so here we go! Especially with the Switch 2 being announced and released (hopefully!) this year it will be fun to get back into the conversation again with you guys.

 My first finish in 2025 is Call of Juarez: Gunslinger that I played on pc and Steam Deck. It's an FPS arcade shooter set in the Wild West, and has you chasing down famous villains such as Billy the Kid and Jesse James. The main gameplay is going through pretty linear environments shooting down baddies with your weapon of choice (pistols, shotgun, rifle or dynamite). There is a skill tree that unlocks stuff like being able to dual-wield guns or increase your ammo capacity.

The main gimmicks are a sort of bullet time that slows time and highlights targets, and a meter that when full lets you evade deadly shots. For the rest it is pretty straightforward shooting, with some QTEs thrown in the mix. Once in a while you'll have a duel where you face off against someone in a shootout. Here you have to fill two meters by adjusting your control sticks to increase your focus and draw speed. When your opponent draws you'll have to outspeed him which is easier the higher your meters are. It is a fun change of pace but not the best executed part of the game.

The campaign is pretty short, around 5-6 hours which is perfect. There's also an arcade mode that is just plain shooting without a story and going for a high score. Speaking of the story, it is nothing too special, but it is told in an original way. Basically the main character is sitting in a bar drinking and telling his tale while you're playing, and the rest of the bar visitors commenting on that. It leads to some funny stuff, like you're shooting down indians and someone comments "wait, there are no indians there" and the enemies suddenly change back to gang members.

All in all a fun game, straightforward, nothing complex so it works great as a palate cleanser between or during other games. It's often on sale on every platform so worth picking it up for a quid or 2.

[Glen-i]

17 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Then I'm either gonna wait for an inevitable "next gen port" (Hi Bayonetta 3), or slap myself for being dumb enough to wait

I'm not sure I am understanding the thought process of a game getting a next gen port if the Switch 2 turns out to be backwards compatible...

Well, you know, unless it's Atlus.

[Hero-of-Time]

I've settled on my 2025 Gaming Pledge games. It's quite an ambitious list as a lot of these games are quite lengthy. I'll be happy to get through half of them.

• Dragon Quest Heroes II - After finishing DQ3, I still have the itch for a Dragon Quest game. I adored the first game but never got around to playing the sequel. Now is the time. 
• Dragon's Crown Pro - This is one I started YEARS ago on my Vita. I think I only played an hour or so on it.
• Grandia HD Collection - I've never played Grandia from start to finish. I dabbled with it a few years back and played the opening segment but that was it.
• Judgment - This is another one that I started but never finished. I dropped it after get a bit sick of the tailing missions. This is one where I will need to pick up from my old save. I went through the hassle of beating the Puyo Puyo challenges and there's no way I'm going through that hell again!
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Julius playing through the Resident Evil Remake got me thinking how I have never played through this game. I think it's the only mainline Resi game that I have never played. Possibly keep this one for October time.
• Secret of Mana - This is a game I have tried many times to get into. I'm always put off by the battle system. I fired it up on the PS4 yesterday evening (first time playing this version) and played a little bit of it and have started to get to grips with the systems. Plenty of grinding has been done so far. 
• Tales of Vesperia - Another one that has been on the backlog for years. It requires multiple playthroughs and so I've always put off starting it until I had more time. 
• Trails from Zero - This is my one PlayStation pledge that was left over from last year. I'll attempt it again this year.
• Wild Arms 2 - Love the first game in the series but I've got around to playing the second. It was never released in this country during the PS1 days and so I never got to play it back in the day.
• Okami HD - The announcement of the sequel got me thinking how I've had this sat in my backlog but have yet to play the thing. I actually also owned it on the Wii but never played it on that either.

As for other gaming goals, I've been thinking more and more about getting rid of some of my older games. I have a bunch of retro games sitting on the shelf that has now been re-released. Things like Pikmin 1 and 2, Baten Kaitos and Metroid Prime all have newer versions, the NSO takes care on my N64 needs and PS+ Classics has started to build up a healthy collection of games. In 2024 I played a couple of Gamecube games that I hadn't touched in 20 years. It was fun playing them again but if I wait another 20 years before playing them again I'll be in my 60's...or even dead. Plus, I do enjoy the QoL features that the modern releases offer, such as save states and rewind. I started getting rid of some of my Dreamcast stuff last year and this year it may be time to start thinning out the old Nintendo collection. I have an attachment to them so it's going to be hard to do but I imagine once I sell the first few games the process will be easier. A lot of my N64 collection is worth quite a bit so I should at least make some decent cash from it all.

[bob]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

I'm not sure I am understanding the thought process of a game getting a next gen port if the Switch 2 turns out to be backwards compatible...

Well, you know, unless it's Atlus.

It's going to get a remastered port with upgraded graphics and visuals, that will then run like arse on the Switch 2, so Dcubed can then complain and say he's going to wait until the Switch 3 is released to play it.

[nekunando]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I've settled on my 2025 Gaming Pledge games. It's quite an ambitious list as a lot of these games are quite lengthy. I'll be happy to get through half of them.

• Dragon Quest Heroes II - After finishing DQ3, I still have the itch for a Dragon Quest game. I adored the first game but never got around to playing the sequel. Now is the time. 
• Dragon's Crown Pro - This is one I started YEARS ago on my Vita. I think I only played an hour or so on it.
• Grandia HD Collection - I've never played Grandia from start to finish. I dabbled with it a few years back and played the opening segment but that was it.
• Judgment - This is another one that I started but never finished. I dropped it after get a bit sick of the tailing missions. This is one where I will need to pick up from my old save. I went through the hassle of beating the Puyo Puyo challenges and there's no way I'm going through that hell again!
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Julius playing through the Resident Evil Remake got me thinking how I have never played through this game. I think it's the only mainline Resi game that I have never played. Possibly keep this one for October time.
• Secret of Mana - This is a game I have tried many times to get into. I'm always put off by the battle system. I fired it up on the PS4 yesterday evening (first time playing this version) and played a little bit of it and have started to get to grips with the systems. Plenty of grinding has been done so far. 
• Tales of Vesperia - Another one that has been on the backlog for years. It requires multiple playthroughs and so I've always put off starting it until I had more time. 
• Trails from Zero - This is my one PlayStation pledge that was left over from last year. I'll attempt it again this year.
• Wild Arms 2 - Love the first game in the series but I've got around to playing the second. It was never released in this country during the PS1 days and so I never got to play it back in the day.
• Okami HD - The announcement of the sequel got me thinking how I've had this sat in my backlog but have yet to play the thing. I actually also owned it on the Wii but never played it on that either.

The @Hero-of-Time I know could crank that out by the end of January and still have time to contemplate suffering further combat tedium with Okamiden too!

[Julius]

Right then, after a lot of back and forth over the last few weeks and what feels like dozens of permutations, I have my 2025 Gaming Pledge ready to share. 

• Donkey Kong Country - long overdue, while I have played a few random levels from the game before, I've never played it all the way through or rolled credits on it. 
• Grand Theft Auto IV - in anticipation of GTA VI, whether it launches this year or next, I wanted to get some GTAs under my belt. I had thought about starting with the earlier PS2 games, as I do own the PS2 Classics released for PS4 prior to them being taken down for the Definitive Editions, but IV just screamed out to me more tonally from watching a few trailers while researching for my Pledge. It also gives me at least one less game to get through before VI, and I think getting through both IV and V (which I have hundreds of hours sunk into through Online but only a couple in the story mode) is pretty realistic. 
• Halo: Combat Evolved - no Xbox, but I do have my Steam Decj, and it didn't get much love last year outside of replaying Chrono Trigger. I've played a Halo before at a friend's house (couldn't tell youw which) but this feels like a gargantuan hole in my own gaming experiences representing Xbox that I'm going to need to see for myself. 
• Hollow Knight - it was a toss-up between HK and another indie game for this spot, both of which I picked up digitally as soon as I got my Switch back in 2019, but ultimately HK won out because it feels like it's more of a game from my backlog that I feel I need to get to, because so much of what I hear people love about this game is what I love about video games. Would like to get to the other indie, too, but more on that if and when I get to it. 
• NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - this has been sitting on my shelf for a good while now, and I've been really getting in the mood to revisit NieR in some way over the last few months, with the soundtrack constantly popping up in my Spotify recommendations. I know very little about this other than the whole need for multiple replays for the true ending and experience, so I'm curious to see how I feel about it. 
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - it's a JRPG with Ghibli charm and a Joe Hisaishi score to boot, I'm more surprised that I haven't got to this yet given my affinity for all of those things. I'm pretty sure this was on my bucket list from way back when I joined this place. 
• Portal 2 - loved the first game even if I did feel a got a bit long in the tooth towards the end, and all I hear is that 2 is bigger, better, funnier and has even better puzzles than the first. And yet another excuse to commit to booting up my Steam Deck. 
• Star Fox 64 - I don't think I've really played many on-rails or N64 games, and for a reason I'll get into below meaning that perhaps some more obvious choices weren't my go-tos, Star Fox 64 has ended up on this list. This franchise was in the middle of dying around the time I got into games and wasn't that big of a name for my generation growing up outside of Brawl, so I'm really curious to see how I feel about it. It's also a great excuse to commit to picking up the NSO + Expansion Pack at long last, and digging out my NSO N64 controller for the first time - which will be my first time using the controller in any way! 
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 - I've got great memories tied to THPS from when I was a kid playing them with my cousins, and picked this up at launch back in 2020, booted it up once and didn't really give it the chance to click. I can't wait to spend a quieter weekend with this one. 
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - and last but not least, the biggest commitment in this Pledge by far. I really enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3 with my friends, and while that's still pending a complete solo playthrough, after my time with KOTOR last year, it was time to commit to another big Western RPG. I went back and forth between this, Cyberpunk, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, Divinity Original Sin II, but ultimately this got the nod because I've got friends who also want to play it after all of us have bounced off the game a few times before, and it's the game I see mentioned most in All-Time Top 10s that I haven't seen credits roll on myself. It's been 7 or 8 years since I last tried to get into it, and I started playing it just last night with a fresh save and a fresh start.

Not so much a "goal" but just something I'll be doing, and tengential to The Witcher 3, myself and a friend are doing this thing where we aim to each complete the same game fresh to both of us (TW3); each play a game we recommend to the other (I recommended Shadow of the Colossus last year, while he recommended Days Gone...safe to say I get to recommend a longer game this time around ) with the person recommending having the option to replay the game if they want to; and we also want to play a game we both want to revisit, which this year we've already decided will be Ghost of Tsushima in anticipation of Yōtei releasing later this year. I've already got the Plat and so I don't think I'll be doing 100% of what is available, which means I'm kind of interested to see how the game plays when crit pathed, similar to how my experiences with Fallen Order and Spider-Man were much different when crit pathing those over the last few years during replays. 

When making my Pledge for 2025, I decided to have a fresh start, and so haven't included games left over from my 2024 Pledge - though I do still plan to get to those games if and when time allows for it. I also decided that I couldn't have any IP overlap with last year's Pledge, otherwise this list would probably just end up being Mario and Zelda titles, and while I'd like to get to more of those, I see the Pledge more as pushing me to play things which have either languished in my backlog or on a shelf for too long, or to have new experiences - and hopefully any new genres or IP I have got to from last year stick enough for me to want to experience more. Similarly, for some franchises I've been plugging away at anyways, adding them to the Pledge knowing that I already had every intent to play them anyways seemed like it went against my goals with the Pledge. 

And, speaking of which, that's exactly why a certain game isn't on the list which would otherwise have been a shoe-in - but don't worry, @Hero-of-Time, I have every intention of playing Resident Evil 2 Remake this year after loving the first so much. It's just a goal outside of my Pledge for the reasons above. 

Picking up NSO + Expansion Pack for the first time, while I don't want to commit to a hard number of games that I want to try get to, there are glaring holes in my gaming experiences when it comes to some of the biggest titles available on the service where I either haven't played them before or have but haven't rolled credits on them, and so while Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox 64 are the only representatives of my intent to get to more games from Nintendo's history - and we're talking some of the BIG name games on there that I haven't rolled credits on, N-E - I will also be aiming to experience some of NSO + Expansion Pack's big-hitters. 

Similar to H-o-T, last year I aimed to spend less on games, and while I did end up picking some games which ended up shelved or not played at launch, it was much better than it was in years prior. My intent this year will be to only pick up/pre-order games if I have the intent to play them next/at launch. Those games aren't going anywhere, and if they are - such as with limited physical releases - then I'll grant myself an exception where I deem fit. This also applies to games I own digitally and not physically in a way – I love my physical collection, but digital games are only going to be having me pick up physical copies if I find that I love them and want them on my shelves. 

Having games pile up the way they have - especially with how much I know a mess can impact my mental health and how clean I try to keep the rest of my apartment to combat that - ended up with my shelf looking like this and it causing an insane amount of stress even when just trying to pick a game:

So, the morning after the TGAs finished, I'd had enough and boxed up any and every game I knew I wasn't planning to get to or replay anytime soon, as well as anything I had already completed (outside of games I knew I might be planning to revisit or get in a random mood for): 

I can't even begin to tell you how mentally freeing it was, but hopefully the photos get that across  

Lastly, similar to last year, I'm still on the look out for more games to round out my personal Top 10, meaning potentially revisiting some games I've already loved in the past, and, ultimately, my main goal for gaming in 2025 is similar to what it was last year: and that's simply playing and experiencing more games than I managed to complete last year (21). Oh, and just to have fun doing so, and not being scared about jumping around a franchise's games if I feel like it, and dropping games like I did with Persona 3 Reload last year if it just feels like the right thing for me to do.  

That was a lot of yapping, but anyways -- thanks once again for sharing your Pledges @Jonnas and @Hero-of-Time, it was great following your efforts to get through your Pledge games last year and I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with your choices this year; curious to see if anyone else dives in with us! I'm also very curious to hear how The Surge ended up on that list Jonnas! And H-o-T, Secret of Mana very nearly ended up taking the JRPG slot on my own list, so it's nice to see it still be part of someone's commitments  and yeah, I really enjoyed Judgment, but man do the trailing missions suck...

Anyways, time for some food and then it's back to playing games  

(oh, and welcome back @Dufniall!)

Edited 19 hours ago by Julius

[Glen-i]

40 minutes ago, Julius said:

Picking up NSO + Expansion Pack for the first time

Oh? Well, that's interesting. Provided you're up for experiencing some multiplayer shenanigans. Four Swords is pretty short, and an absolute riot. Having to work together with three other people who no doubt would love nothing more then to stab you in the back for 20 rupees is an interesting experience.

Also, Mario Party, same principle, except no working together and everyone makes it very clear they want you dead.
Our little regular group normally have a man short on Fridays due to @Dcubed's variable work schedule, so if you ever want to dip your toe into a specific game, just give us a shout.

[drahkon]

Marsupilami: Hoobadventure

Ezpz game! Fun nonetheless.

DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake

Aside from the stupid post-game trials, this was awesome!

Also reached the end of (the) Gnorp Apologue. Highly recommended!

Edited yesterday at 07:47 PM by drahkon

[Jonnas]

On 1/1/2025 at 4:59 PM, Dcubed said:

As long as Nintendo don't let me down, and these games finally start running better on the new hardware, this is gonna be the big catchup year I've been waiting for!

Alright, so here's my take on this: you're just letting yourself down on this. You have the choice of playing these games now, or later, right?

Let's assume that things with the Switch 2 go as planned, and that they do run all of these games better, even simply as a retro-compatibility perk. Let's even use Pikmin 4 as an example.

Choice 1 - You play Pikmin 4 now

• Step 1: You have a good time with Pikmin 4, despite some rough edges;
• Step 2:  You inevitably replay it on the Switch 2 (short-form or long-form), and have a great time.

Choice 2 - You play Pikmin 4 on the Switch 2

• Step 1: You wait;
• Step 2: You inevitably play it on the Switch 2, and have a great time.

From a simple pragmatic perspective, both paths lead to the same result. The main difference is that, in one, you don't have to wait (and you even get to see what the first release's shortcomings look like for yourself).

Now, I understand priorities are a thing, and what you described can just be an argument to shift priorities around. But it sounds like you're intentionally starving yourself out of principle, and that's more worrying. If you do wait for Pikmin 4, do it not out of some ideal principle of perfection (that you're not even setting for yourself, you're expecting it out of Nintendo), but because there's plenty of good stuff to go around now, anyway.

2 hours ago, Julius said:

I'm also very curious to hear how The Surge ended up on that list Jonnas!

So, something I didn't quite say, is that each game represents a 2025 Gaming Resolution, or a part of it. I won't say what they are just now (I'll let the year evolve and explain them as I cross games off the list), but I will say that I'll retain my two impossible 2024 resolutions: clear the NSO, clear the "Unfinished" games.

There are only 3 NSO titles on my pledge, and also only one "Unfinished" game: Bravely Default II. It's key that these two longform objectives make up just a part of my gaming in 2025, just like with 2024. If I overfocus on a goal or two, gaming becomes a chore, and I want things to flow a bit more naturally.

That said, I think I can come out and say the specific reason as to why Banjo and BDII specifically are on my pledge: even though the pledge is non-binding, not finishing it has consequences. In this case, two games from 2024 are occupying part of my 2025 pledge, space that could be holding newer experiences or ideas. I removed games from the shortlist to make space for BDII and Banjo, and it is important to remember that for a good while.

(I also didn't include Three Hopes. Hopefully the reason why should become apparent soon enough)

As for The Surge... I sure hope I can make a good story out of my reasons, when the time comes!

EDIT: Oh, and here's one fun thing. I actually played Portal 2 in a single night: New Year's. I no longer remember why I decided to do that, but I will always associate Portal 2 with the New Year. It's a fun one, and I hope you enjoy it. I certainly have thoughts on it (let's just say I disagree with one of the accolades you quoted), so I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions.

Edited yesterday at 08:19 PM by Jonnas

[Glen-i]

So, much like other people, my 2025 kicked off with me completing a certain game.

Flashy, Acrobatic, Useless!

No, I don't collect trophies. You're getting a screenshot. And some gorgeous key art.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a turn-based RPG developed by Artdink that released on all modern platforms in 2024. As the name implies, it's a remake of the 1992 (1988 in Japan) NES game Dragon Warrior III done in the HD-2D style Square Enix have been using lately.

The original game is a pivotal moment in RPG history... at least in Japan. It came out far too late to make any sort of impact in America, and it didn't even come out in Europe. By 1992, Final Fantasy IV had already released on the SNES, which meant that a 4 year old NES port was never gonna hold up. Which is funny, because the SNES Final Fantasy games owe Dragon Quest III big.

The game follows an unnamed protagonist whose father, Ortega, once left on a journey to defeat the archfiend Baramos, but never returned. With Baramos still at large, it falls to his kid to finish the job. Bad parenting, that.
These days, the story is nothing to write home about, but I think that's the wrong way to look at this. It's a 1988 NES game, there's only so much you can fit on to those tiny (Not physically) cartridges. It's a simple story, so it gets the job done. This remake adds some new scenes that elaborate on what happened to Ortega, but for the most part, it's similar to the original plot, only with voice acting, and no character limits. Good voice acting, mind, one particular scene right before the final boss was particularly heart-wrenching (And I think it acknowledged that I was wearing a certain piece of equipment, which is a nice touch).

Totally normal, no-one would ever guess

If you've played other Dragon Quest games, you'll know how this works. It's as traditional as turn-based RPG's get. This was the first game in the series to use a job system, so it's relatively simple, but effective. And like most Dragon Quest games, it oozes charm. Modern Dragon Quest trappings like a ridiculous amount of accents are abound here. It's just immensely cozy.

This remake adds a few other things. The most notable is the Monster Wrangler job, which can learn some abilities by finding friendly monsters throughout the world. There's also a new post-credits dungeon, which I didn't particularly enjoy very much, because it flies in the face of the job system. But I persevered, and got the meaningless item that doesn't do anything.

Game looks gorgeous, you all know this. The soundtrack is great too. That overworld music is just so damn good. And the West aren't getting fobbed off with Midi versions! With this game done, I've only got 2 more entries that I haven't played now (DQX likely isn't ever happening here). So I'm very much looking forward to when I+II HD-2D comes out. Bring it on, NES warts and all!

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

[Dcubed]

6 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Alright, so here's my take on this: you're just letting yourself down on this. You have the choice of playing these games now, or later, right?

Let's assume that things with the Switch 2 go as planned, and that they do run all of these games better, even simply as a retro-compatibility perk. Let's even use Pikmin 4 as an example.

Choice 1 - You play Pikmin 4 now

• Step 1: You have a good time with Pikmin 4, despite some rough edges;
• Step 2:  You inevitably replay it on the Switch 2 (short-form or long-form), and have a great time.

Choice 2 - You play Pikmin 4 on the Switch 2

• Step 1: You wait;
• Step 2: You inevitably play it on the Switch 2, and have a great time.

From a simple pragmatic perspective, both paths lead to the same result. The main difference is that, in one, you don't have to wait (and you even get to see what the first release's shortcomings look like for yourself).

Now, I understand priorities are a thing, and what you described can just be an argument to shift priorities around. But it sounds like you're intentionally starving yourself out of principle, and that's more worrying. If you do wait for Pikmin 4, do it not out of some ideal principle of perfection (that you're not even setting for yourself, you're expecting it out of Nintendo), but because there's plenty of good stuff to go around now, anyway.

Without wanting to make this thread about me and my strange choices, essentially I’m choosing to focus on other games while waiting for Switch 2 (which I am expecting to be coming out not too far from now).  I did expect it to have already come out by now (obviously that didn’t happen), but we can’t be far off the release at this point, so I would rather focus on catching up with some older releases I’ve not played yet, as well as multiplatform titles, while waiting to play better versions of these games on better hardware.

I’m not lacking for games to play anyway, despite holding back on Nintendo’s first party releases over the past couple of years.  Might as well wait it out at this point and focus on other stuff instead (like Clock Tower Rewind and UFO 50, both of which I am currently playing).

[Hero-of-Time]

13 hours ago, Julius said:

 

 

This picture upsets me in so many ways. I'm glad you sorted it out.  

11 hours ago, drahkon said:

DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake

Aside from the stupid post-game trials, this was awesome!

 

 

5 hours ago, Glen-i said:

So, much like other people, my 2025 kicked off with me completing a certain game.

There's also a new post-credits dungeon, which I didn't particularly enjoy very much, because it flies in the face of the job system. But I persevered, and got the meaningless item that doesn't do anything.

Hilarious how this ended up being one of the first games we all finished this year. I don't think anyone enjoyed the new post game dungeon, what with it's stupid job restrictions.

[bob]

14 hours ago, Julius said:

Right then, after a lot of back and forth over the last few weeks and what feels like dozens of permutations, I have my 2025 Gaming Pledge ready to share. 

• Donkey Kong Country - long overdue, while I have played a few random levels from the game before, I've never played it all the way through or rolled credits on it. 
• Grand Theft Auto IV - in anticipation of GTA VI, whether it launches this year or next, I wanted to get some GTAs under my belt. I had thought about starting with the earlier PS2 games, as I do own the PS2 Classics released for PS4 prior to them being taken down for the Definitive Editions, but IV just screamed out to me more tonally from watching a few trailers while researching for my Pledge. It also gives me at least one less game to get through before VI, and I think getting through both IV and V (which I have hundreds of hours sunk into through Online but only a couple in the story mode) is pretty realistic. 
• Halo: Combat Evolved - no Xbox, but I do have my Steam Decj, and it didn't get much love last year outside of replaying Chrono Trigger. I've played a Halo before at a friend's house (couldn't tell youw which) but this feels like a gargantuan hole in my own gaming experiences representing Xbox that I'm going to need to see for myself. 
• Hollow Knight - it was a toss-up between HK and another indie game for this spot, both of which I picked up digitally as soon as I got my Switch back in 2019, but ultimately HK won out because it feels like it's more of a game from my backlog that I feel I need to get to, because so much of what I hear people love about this game is what I love about video games. Would like to get to the other indie, too, but more on that if and when I get to it. 
• NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - this has been sitting on my shelf for a good while now, and I've been really getting in the mood to revisit NieR in some way over the last few months, with the soundtrack constantly popping up in my Spotify recommendations. I know very little about this other than the whole need for multiple replays for the true ending and experience, so I'm curious to see how I feel about it. 
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - it's a JRPG with Ghibli charm and a Joe Hisaishi score to boot, I'm more surprised that I haven't got to this yet given my affinity for all of those things. I'm pretty sure this was on my bucket list from way back when I joined this place. 
• Portal 2 - loved the first game even if I did feel a got a bit long in the tooth towards the end, and all I hear is that 2 is bigger, better, funnier and has even better puzzles than the first. And yet another excuse to commit to booting up my Steam Deck. 
• Star Fox 64 - I don't think I've really played many on-rails or N64 games, and for a reason I'll get into below meaning that perhaps some more obvious choices weren't my go-tos, Star Fox 64 has ended up on this list. This franchise was in the middle of dying around the time I got into games and wasn't that big of a name for my generation growing up outside of Brawl, so I'm really curious to see how I feel about it. It's also a great excuse to commit to picking up the NSO + Expansion Pack at long last, and digging out my NSO N64 controller for the first time - which will be my first time using the controller in any way! 
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 - I've got great memories tied to THPS from when I was a kid playing them with my cousins, and picked this up at launch back in 2020, booted it up once and didn't really give it the chance to click. I can't wait to spend a quieter weekend with this one. 
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - and last but not least, the biggest commitment in this Pledge by far. I really enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3 with my friends, and while that's still pending a complete solo playthrough, after my time with KOTOR last year, it was time to commit to another big Western RPG. I went back and forth between this, Cyberpunk, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, Divinity Original Sin II, but ultimately this got the nod because I've got friends who also want to play it after all of us have bounced off the game a few times before, and it's the game I see mentioned most in All-Time Top 10s that I haven't seen credits roll on myself. It's been 7 or 8 years since I last tried to get into it, and I started playing it just last night with a fresh save and a fresh start.

Not so much a "goal" but just something I'll be doing, and tengential to The Witcher 3, myself and a friend are doing this thing where we aim to each complete the same game fresh to both of us (TW3); each play a game we recommend to the other (I recommended Shadow of the Colossus last year, while he recommended Days Gone...safe to say I get to recommend a longer game this time around ) with the person recommending having the option to replay the game if they want to; and we also want to play a game we both want to revisit, which this year we've already decided will be Ghost of Tsushima in anticipation of Yōtei releasing later this year. I've already got the Plat and so I don't think I'll be doing 100% of what is available, which means I'm kind of interested to see how the game plays when crit pathed, similar to how my experiences with Fallen Order and Spider-Man were much different when crit pathing those over the last few years during replays. 

When making my Pledge for 2025, I decided to have a fresh start, and so haven't included games left over from my 2024 Pledge - though I do still plan to get to those games if and when time allows for it. I also decided that I couldn't have any IP overlap with last year's Pledge, otherwise this list would probably just end up being Mario and Zelda titles, and while I'd like to get to more of those, I see the Pledge more as pushing me to play things which have either languished in my backlog or on a shelf for too long, or to have new experiences - and hopefully any new genres or IP I have got to from last year stick enough for me to want to experience more. Similarly, for some franchises I've been plugging away at anyways, adding them to the Pledge knowing that I already had every intent to play them anyways seemed like it went against my goals with the Pledge. 

And, speaking of which, that's exactly why a certain game isn't on the list which would otherwise have been a shoe-in - but don't worry, @Hero-of-Time, I have every intention of playing Resident Evil 2 Remake this year after loving the first so much. It's just a goal outside of my Pledge for the reasons above. 

Picking up NSO + Expansion Pack for the first time, while I don't want to commit to a hard number of games that I want to try get to, there are glaring holes in my gaming experiences when it comes to some of the biggest titles available on the service where I either haven't played them before or have but haven't rolled credits on them, and so while Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox 64 are the only representatives of my intent to get to more games from Nintendo's history - and we're talking some of the BIG name games on there that I haven't rolled credits on, N-E - I will also be aiming to experience some of NSO + Expansion Pack's big-hitters. 

Similar to H-o-T, last year I aimed to spend less on games, and while I did end up picking some games which ended up shelved or not played at launch, it was much better than it was in years prior. My intent this year will be to only pick up/pre-order games if I have the intent to play them next/at launch. Those games aren't going anywhere, and if they are - such as with limited physical releases - then I'll grant myself an exception where I deem fit. This also applies to games I own digitally and not physically in a way – I love my physical collection, but digital games are only going to be having me pick up physical copies if I find that I love them and want them on my shelves. 

Having games pile up the way they have - especially with how much I know a mess can impact my mental health and how clean I try to keep the rest of my apartment to combat that - ended up with my shelf looking like this and it causing an insane amount of stress even when just trying to pick a game:

So, the morning after the TGAs finished, I'd had enough and boxed up any and every game I knew I wasn't planning to get to or replay anytime soon, as well as anything I had already completed (outside of games I knew I might be planning to revisit or get in a random mood for): 

I can't even begin to tell you how mentally freeing it was, but hopefully the photos get that across  

Lastly, similar to last year, I'm still on the look out for more games to round out my personal Top 10, meaning potentially revisiting some games I've already loved in the past, and, ultimately, my main goal for gaming in 2025 is similar to what it was last year: and that's simply playing and experiencing more games than I managed to complete last year (21). Oh, and just to have fun doing so, and not being scared about jumping around a franchise's games if I feel like it, and dropping games like I did with Persona 3 Reload last year if it just feels like the right thing for me to do.  

That was a lot of yapping, but anyways -- thanks once again for sharing your Pledges @Jonnas and @Hero-of-Time, it was great following your efforts to get through your Pledge games last year and I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with your choices this year; curious to see if anyone else dives in with us! I'm also very curious to hear how The Surge ended up on that list Jonnas! And H-o-T, Secret of Mana very nearly ended up taking the JRPG slot on my own list, so it's nice to see it still be part of someone's commitments  and yeah, I really enjoyed Judgment, but man do the trailing missions suck...

Anyways, time for some food and then it's back to playing games  

(oh, and welcome back @Dufniall!)

It'll be interesting to hear your opinion on Halo. It's one of my favourite games of all time, but I don't know how much of that is nostalgia. 

[drahkon]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I don't think anyone enjoyed the new post game dungeon, what with it's stupid job restrictions.

Yup.
I lowered the difficulty for that, cast Padfoot+Holy Protection all the time and fled every battle. For the "bosses" I used Blasto

[Hero-of-Time]

8 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Yup.
I lowered the difficulty for that, cast Padfoot+Holy Protection all the time and fled every battle. For the "bosses" I used Blasto

Yeah, Blasto was pretty much made for those fights. I tried fighting them normally but once they started unleashing 4 at a time on you, as well as casting omniheal, I just reverted to the Blasto spell. Awful dungeon and boss fights.