BESTS OF 2016 / 2017 PLANS

2016 is over, long live 2017!

I'm a boring person so there's no #realtalk part to this, really. I'm gonna keep working, streaming, and playing pretty much like I've been.

Anyways here's a list of PLANS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR 2017. Following that will be IVAN'S PICKS FOR 2016.

~~ NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION ~~

I don't take these very seriously so it probably won't happen, but if there's one thing I'd like to do it's to actually MAKE something. I'm a voracious consumer, when I find something I like I devour it as quickly and totally as possible. It would be awesome to make something that other people could enjoy consuming for once.

The only problem is that I don't think I'm very good at coming up with original ideas nor following through on the concrete details on ideas that I do have.

That being said, I'd like to try maybe writing a short little VN or something. I have abosolutely no confidence in my dialogue, plotting, or even general writing skills, so that ought to be fun to attempt.


~~ 2017 GAME PLANS ~~

Here's what's definitely on the table for this year:
* Fairy Fencer F
* Bloodborne
* Quern
* Legend of Dragoon
* FFXIV Expansion
* Persona 5
* Tales of Beseria
* Nioh
* The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
* Valkyria Chronicles 3
* CIV 6

I'm sure I'll end up playing more than this or maybe cutting some of these, but that's my tentative gameplan!


~~ 2017 VN PLANS ~~

I'd like to take this chance to announce THE MONTH OF VN 2™! The tentative plan is for it to be VNs by March, but we'll have to play this by ear, depending on BOLTPLAYS and Pokemon Tournaments and stuff happening.

I'll have a silly little HOIP video up for this soon.

I might even have *2* months of VN this year, since New Danganronpa V3 is coming out later in the year and I think there's enough VN material to fill up nearly 2 months!

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Now here's IVAN'S PICKS 2016

~~ BEST TRIP ~~

1. San Fran BOLTCON 2016 - it was a blast, got to see lots of cool stuff and cool people, was generally awesome. I think having a slightly smaller group made it a little more fun for me, too.

1.5. AGDQ 2016 - got to meet Talon and Abe for the first time which was cool, hanging out and doing the escape room with everyone was fun, too!

2. Christmas 2016 - I played a lot of Catan with my family and we did an awesome Escape Room and had a great time.


~~ BEST VISUAL NOVELS ~~

1. Root Double - I'm a sucker for Scifi VNs and this scratched the itch for this year. A-Root was action packed, mysterious, and suspenseful. B-Root was kind of slow but a nice breakup of the non-stop happenings from A-Root. C-Root and D-Root then turned everything up to 11 and it all came together. It wasn't even during month of VN!

2. Ace Attorney 6 - The most unexpected turnaround of a series. I had almost written it off after the major disappointment that was AA5, but it still had plenty of life left in it. Ace Attorney 6 was great! Well written characters, complex cases, better investigations! Plus the new gimmick, Divination Seance, wasn't a gimmick at all, it was very well integrated into the logic of the cases.

3. The House in Fata Morgana - I had no idea what this VN even was before I read it after some recommendation. The atmosphere was melancholic and eerie. Like, actually eerie and unsettling not Corpse Party 1 "WHOOOAA GHOSTS JUMPSCARES" spooky. Plus, it never seems to end, like in a good way! It keeps layering more depth onto the story and making you care about its characters even as things seem to keep getting worse and worse for everyone. Plus it had the best main protagonist of any VN up here, Michel. Also not read during the month of VN!

4. The Fruit of Grisaia - A very different sort of VN than the kind I normally enjoy, the characters and writing were more than enough to make it work. The common route stuff is HILARIOUS. Some of the skits were makin me burst out laughin live on stream. The character routes manage to segue well from the comedic approach to a more serious tone without it feeling too jarring. Also, Akane's flashback segment is one of the most tense and gripping situations I've ever read!
Girl Ranking: Michiru > Yumiko > Makina > Sachi > Amane
Route Ranking: Amane > Makina > Michiru > Yumiko > Sachi

5. VA-11 HALL-A - A comfy little VN about bartending. Good characters, fun setting, neat little plot. A fun read!


~~ BEST GAMES I PLAYED ~~

1. Riven - I did not expect to play this, nor did I expect to love it as much as I did. This game was phenomenal and holds up super well, even now. The puzzles are almost seamlessly integrated into the world, the world itself feels perfectly real, it's just so dang immersive and I wish it never ended.

2. Dark Souls 3 - It's Souls 3! Much better than Souls 2. Same great gameplay you'd come to expect, great boss design, I enjoyed the level design as well...just really great all around.

3. Pokemon Sun Moon - Definitely the biggest departure from the typical Pokemon formula to date. The trial system worked well, the story was surprisingly good, the more open route system was awesome, too. Also, turning the EXP Share off gave the game a pretty dang good challenge to it. I wish there were more non-legendary Pokemon, since they had announced almost all the families ahead of time, but that's my only real gripe about it.

4. Disgaea 5 - Probably the best Disgaea game! The revenge system fits seamlessly into the existing systems and is just a really cool idea. Also, the changed Evilty system allows for like crazy amounts of character flexibility, which is really neat. Plus, it had a TON of Postgame stuff to do, to the point where I'm not even done yet! I'll probably keep playing on and off until I beat the final Baal at least. PS: Board Game character world was super cool.

5. Fire Emblem Fates - I only have played Conquest so far, and I'm not sure I have any strong desire to play the other 2 parts (please correct me if this is stupid @Bosscrab). The map design was great, the balancing was perfect. Maps were very, very hard (on Hard mode) without feeling impossible (EXCEPT the final map which I could not seem to clear for the life of me). If the storyline wasn't so pants-on-head retarded this might be #1, but that did kind of hamper the game for me. Still, this was a worthy Fire Emblem title, even if it doesn't unseat Path of Radiance as my favorite overall.


~~ BEST STREAMS I WATCHED ~~

1. Food Channel - 24/7 you can watch goofy cooking shows here. I don't really cook much, but I've definitely watched this channel more than anything else this year. Graham Kerr, A Taste of History, and Cucina Amore are just fun to watch.

2. DotA Tournaments - This includes BTS and the Majors. I love watchin a good game of DotA, even though I haven't played it in like years. Relevant Highlight of a BOLTWATCH of a recent tourney match: https://streamable.com/podc

3. Various people playing 999 - I watched both Bosscrab and Go1 played 999 and that was a lot of fun. I love that game.

4. Enopp - I love Majora's Mask, and he's the most unbelievable pecker

5. Siglemic grinding agility in Runescape - he never hit 99, RIP.


~~ BEST NEW POKEMON ~~

1. Mimikyu - It's obvious why. Great idea, great design, great mon.

2. CosmoG - Get back in the bag, Cosmo.

3. Wishiwashi - Great concept, great mini-Kyogre

4. Celesteela - It's a floating cathedral that can run BASICALLY ANY TYPE OF SET. Amazing!

5. Tapu Lele - Cute.


~~ BEST STAR TREK EPISODES ~~

1. Chain of Command, Part 2 - THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

2. I, Borg - Hugh is the best Borg, also it made them way more interesting than 1-dimensional, unstoppable foes.

3. Inner Light - Another great Picard episode, pulled off expertly

4. Relics - I loved seeing Scotty come back, and seeing TOS philosophies clash with those in TNG was very well done.

5. Frame of Mind - Very trippy episode where you think Riker's going insane, I really like it when Star Trek really mixes things up and almost feels like a different genre altogether.