Happy new year, everyone! If I’m not much mistaken, this humble little blog will be 17 years old in May 2026, and this is also the 14th edition of my New Year’s greeting (the first was a whole lifetime ago in 2012). No idea how much longer I’ll be doing this, but then again I never set out to blog with any specific timeline or goal in mind, so I’ll just keep taking it one day at a time. Hope you all had a nice restful Christmas break and didn’t pig out disgracefully like I always do, haha haha… ha… (my head still hurts)
Here’s the full list of all the past “Happy New Year” posts btw, if anyone’s really bored.
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
This year I’m not gonna sully your eyes by making New Year’s gaming resolutions I won’t keep… even though I did attempt some of the games on last year’s list. I played almost all of Xenoblade Chronicles X, I’m still playing Triangle Strategy very very slowly, I started Monster Hunter Rise, created a character and then dropped it immediately, and the only reason I didn’t play Atelier Ryza 2 is because I hear Nintendo is coming out (has come out???) with DX versions of the Ryza series and so I have to wait another year or two for those to go on sale. Yes, I’m cheap, how did you know?
But I’m thinking that setting goals for the year may have contributed, at least subconsciously, to the pressure I felt to finish Xenoblade X last year, with less than optimal results, so 2026 is going to be the year of just playing whatever, whenever, no matter how long it takes me to finish it. Actually I bought a whole bunch of games on sale over the holidays, but I won’t say what they are in case that jinxes it. Okay, I’ll mention just one: Harvestella. Been wanting to play that for a while, even though I don’t know if I still like farm sims or not. Barring any grand cataclysm, I’ll be playing that sooner rather than later.
On the gacha game front, nothing has really stuck with me except Epic Seven and Love Nikki, and again that’s okay. I won’t force myself to drop them if I’m having fun, and I won’t force myself to continue the minute they become a chore. I dropped Chaos Zero Nightmare because it was super tedious and repetitive, but thanks to that I’m interested in card games like Slay the Spire, Chrono Ark, and Darkest Dungeon. Might try some of those this year but zero promises. Negative, even. I may have doomed them to eternal non-playability just by mentioning them.
Enough with the rambling, I guess? I don’t have to work until the 12th, but I’m filling the time with food, manga, food, food, sleep, sleep, and just a little bit of videogames. IRL my only goal is to read a few more books and practice a little more on the piano and I am doing exactly zero of that right now. Down with resolutions! Up with going with the flow! And that’s my mood going into the rest of the year. See you guys around!
Happy New Year, Kina! Glad to see you’re still gaming and blogging ^___^ I have a bit of catching-up to do when it comes to your blog, but I’ll get down to it. It’s still great to play browser games vicariously through your wonderfully detailed posts.
I can’t wait to read your impressions on Harvestella. I had a blast with that game, and spent a good 85 hours on it. I could talk about it, but I won’t spoil things for you. Xaiting for your review 😀
Also, I’m glad to tell you that my blog is back on air! Here’s the new URL: https://that-extra-level.blogspot.com/
Awesome! Welcome back, hope you are nice and refreshed after the blogging break!
A late happy new year to you, just recently discovered your website your reviews are pretty fun to read がんばれ
Many happy returns! Thanks for stopping by!