The best blogs of the year!
As we once again reached the end of a year, it's time to look back on the past 366 days (leap year, fool!) to see what it has brought us in terms of Destructoid Community blogs. And who better to summarize the year – recap it, if you will – than the Cblog Recaps team?
Over the course of 2016, just like in any other year, these fine lads and lasses have put in the work to give all of the blogs that get posted on Destructoid the attention they deserve. That's a lot of reading!
So before we get into things, let's extend a big thank you to the team. More importantly, let's also extend a big thank you to all of you people who put in the work to write some awesome blogs. Finally, remember to go read other people's work and poke your representative Community Manager to help them promote the best writings to the front page!
Now then, 2016. What is there left to say about 2016 that hasn't already been said? Well, you know what? 2016 was a damn fine year for video games. We've seen the release of at least three games that many people thought would never see the light of day, and it seems like Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian and Owlboy were all very much worth the wait. Paper Mario: Color Splash did the impossible by using the Sticker Star formula to make an actually good game. Both Titanfall 2 and Watch_Dogs 2 also provided massive improvements over their originals. Indie darlings such as Hyper Light Drifter, Inside and Shantae saw their release. And Overwatch struck the fear of 12PM into gamers the world over.
2016 was a year that may well live on in infamy, but perhaps its video games will live on even longer. And at the end of the day, isn't that why we're all here? To forget about the worries of the day and just talk about games with people who also like to talk about games? It seems so simple, but in a divisive world like ours it's really not. So once again, a big thank you to all of you who make this place what it is, and by all means keep on giving us your words about your favorite games of late. We'll be reading them.
- The Cblog Recaps team.
And so it ends, the terrible year of 2016. With four or three days to go (depending on your timeline when this is published), I wouldn’t be surprised if further terrible things happen before its finally over.
This is the year where an ongoing trend that marginalizes the middle class and further polarizes the haves and have-nots finally show results in the Brexit vote and the US election. These two events are the symptom of a much deeper trend, one related to technological and philosophical forces that are causing a steady decline in middle class income. Basically, it will only get worse. This is of course even without considering the potentially disastrous effects of probable climate change. Closer to home for me, things are even worse. The forgotten war in Yemen is depressing, and the well-known battles in Syria are the same. Oil prices are down, signaling a probable escalation in conflicts as a way to distract people form the shrinking funds and increasing “taxes.”
In my personal life, this is my first year in a new job. Someplace where I am not satisfied in my work, and where my time is steadily shrinking as I spend at least 11 hours of my day on the job. Also, I am now realizing what it means to be a third-class citizen in the country, where I have to work twice as hard as the rest just to get the chance of getting what my work deserves. At the start of the year, I suffered through seeing my grandfather shrink and disappear between my eyes. A powerful man, and someone who I idolized, withered away and literally became a shell of his former self. In some ways, his death was a relief. Yet, his memories still linger on, and I still grieve for him.
I guess it wasn’t an entirely bad year in video games, mostly because I am actually playing last year’s excellent games (I have not played any game released in 2016).
Anyway, the good thing is, next year can’t be much worse. Or maybe it can.
One constant that I enjoyed, but which did also occasionally put extra pressure on me, was the weekly Recap duty. Honestly, it does take some time doing these Recaps, and when everything else in your life isn't going as well as you would like, I sometimes get the inclination to half-ass it, which is a little evident in my last few recaps. One thing I never half-ass though is actually reading all of your blogs. Clearly, you put in enough time, effort, and passion into writing these blogs that I would feel bad if I didn't actually spend the time to read and comment. Even though the number of blogs reduced over the year, there were still some pretty good blogs to read through.
Well, that's it for the year. Please make the next a better one by reading more blogs, commenting, and writing your own.
2016, what a year. I shall keep this short. 2016 was a year where ignorance won out over scientifically proven facts, a year where everyone good seemed to die, a year that has seen the highest number of refugees since the second World War. It’s been shit. 2017 won’t be any better. It would be very easy to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the fact that we could help people but don’t because humans are lazy and selfish creatures by nature. I urge you not to, and instead ask you to consider giving to one of the many charities that helps those who suffer.
But Destructoid is not representative of wider humanity. Here, on this little corner of the internet, there exists a scale of mutual care and tolerance that does not exist in the real world. Unfortunately, the blogs have been in decline as of late, mostly because they are tucked away where most people cannot see them. Attracting new members into the blogs is therefore difficult, because I’d wager many of you do not even know we exist. So, the Community Blogs are right here. Type whatever game-related ramblings you desire.
For me, the year has been mixed. University has brought me many changes to my life. For a start, I’m so much busier. The start of the Christmas holiday was the first time in about two months that I had sat down to play games for actual fun, rather than as a mere reprieve from the churning out of essays. I’m also enjoying the second year far more than I enjoyed the first, for reasons that I choose to keep to myself. In last year’s recap I wrote “Next year should be good for me” and I was right.
However, this has also resulted in my blogging output plummeting, which is a shame, though I try to publish a non-recap every now and again. I think I also take the prize for least reliable recapper – the number of times I have sat down on a Wednesday to write a recap and gone ‘oh fuck I need to finish that essay’ is simply too high to count. But hey, I’ve managed. It’s a time-consuming thing to do.
Now then, onto a handful of my favorite blogs of the year. I have high standards and so I did not Topsauce many blogs. For the three of you who are worthy – well done.
What a year, huh! I only started recapping this year after StriderHoang passed away in a tragic rollerblade incident, but with how much has happened since...
Time went by in an instant, and yet so much stuff happened that it's hard to believe it all fit into a single year.
Destructoid has always been a special kind of website for me. While not as popular as something like IGN or GameSpot, I feel like the focus on community elements like the Community blogs (which, by the way, are nearly impossible to find when logged off now. Please change this!!!!) and Quickposts allow the website to have a more positive and comfortable atmosphere, if that makes sense. Through happier and through rougher days, it's that feeling of not having to take yourself too seriously on this website that keeps me coming. As 2016 comes to a close, I especially want to give a special shout out to Nekro, who just started to write for the front-page with articles that have just the kind of silliness I'm craving for.
Outside of the website, so much stuff happened this year! I survived one internship and two semester-long projects. Two video games that have been in development hell for years, Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian, both released very close to one another. On the Nintendo side, the Nintendo NX was revealed. I'm not yet fully convinced of the concept, but the internet pretty much exploded at that time. Plus, the company started going full speed ahead with mobile games, with Miitomo and Super Mario Run leading the way. A shit ton of interesting games released, which contributed to my ever-expanding backlog. Two new Star Wars movies! Homestuck ended! And Persona 5 got delayed -again-. A sign that the more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.
On the Destructoid community side of things as well, things were pretty crazy. There were about one million Ask Me Anything blogs and Quickposts by the community. The interesting thing is that a first wave came out around May, and it took until the past month to pick up again. These are always fun, and it's always neat to learn more about community members. I asked the same question a couple times to test you guys, he he he. A bunch of Quickpost trends started popping up, some more safe for work than others.
The Blog editor died, but got better. I died, but I got better. Blaze disappeared, then came back. Disqus is still on life support. Crazy world, huh! Anyway, let's keep going with my favorite blogs and writers of the year.
"It was a year with ups and downs." Does there exist a bigger cliché than that? I don't know, but I'm going to use it anyway: sometimes clichés are simply true.
Because it really was a year of ups and downs, at least for me in my personal life. At the beginning of this year, it seemed that I wouldn't be able to get my Master's degree until a full six months after I needed it. Then I made a few calls, laid out my case, and I could get it in February after all. Graduated cum laude, even! In March, I started a new job that was exactly what I've always wanted to do (and with great pay to boot). Then a month later I was let go for not being 'social' or 'communicative' enough, which was a massive blow not only to me, but to my parents as well. I later learned that the company never filled up the position that I was supposed to get, so in actuality it was more like they simply couldn't afford another employee.
I went to see a therapist for social issues anyway, and I learned a lot about myself there. I then applied for a PhD position at my old university, and I actually got the spot. From September onwards I've been working as a PhD researcher, with below-average pay but a lot of job security, and I now have my own place as well. However, just a short while after I got the spot, my dad was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in five years. His surgery went according to plan and the overall outlook is positive, but he has gone through a big trial and there is still some treatment to come. In the mean time, I met a cute girl at my new university position and even had a semi-date with her, but then I never managed to get something going with her afterwards.
And then there's all of the stuff that you've undoubtedly already seen in the news and that I'm not going to bother you with.
So yeah, ups and downs.
But even in a year like that, I still put Destructoid firmly in the "up" camp. For me, Destructoid is a place where I leave my worries at the door and just be myself for a while. I talk about what I want to talk about (mostly video games, of course!), I don't have to worry about being let go for not fitting in, and I can just hang out with like-minded people for a while. I even became a Community Manager this year, and that's an up if there ever was one!
I still don't know a lot of you half as well as I would like (because socializing is hard), but I've nevertheless learned a lot about you people from your Quickposts and blogs. I think the best blogs are the ones that you can tell had a lot of heart put in. It doesn't have to be personal per se, but if you put yourself in a story it always shows.
Here are a few blogs of 2016 which did this really well.
But honestly, I wouldn't have had to compile all these blogs this year, because OverlordZetta already did it for me. He listed 100 of his favorite blogs, and broke the Cblog editor in the process.
What a year huh? I’ve talked at length about the shittier aspects of this year, leading to it being considered one of the worst years in a while. And yeah, in terms of politics and celebrity deaths it’s been a pretty awful year. And as we deal with the consequences and the fallout, things are probably going to have ups and downs. But regardless, it hasn’t been a terrible year for me personally.
This year I finally graduated from college after 1.5 years of finding out what I wanted to do, and more than 2.5 years of some of the foulest agony and highest highs that chemistry/microbiology can provide in my quest to graduate a Micro Major. My graduation was mainly due to my own gumption and talking to professors to figure out what to get into.
It was a long hard road but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t one I derived enjoyment from when it was in my chosen major. So much so that I’m considering going back next year for grad school to climb more into academia. I followed up my graduation by finding a professional job after much searching, one that will help pay for said grad school. So I guess we’ll see where we are next year. It's been hard having to live away from home, but it has helped me grow and learn as a person, so it’s still valuable experience. Where it all leads, I cannot say. But I have a few notions...
And then there's Dtoid. Yes, things have happened on this site that have also been exciting or interesting.
At the beginning of this year Jed shared around news of a Discord server. I ignored it at first, as I didn’t have much interest in a chatroom per se, but eventually I bit and tried it out. There I met some people who I consider to be good friends now; people that I just wouldn’t have the level of closeness I would have had through Dtoid alone. I used Discord constantly, and still do, talking with buddies in real time and getting some good friendships to keep strong. It’s been a wonderful thing for me, and hats are off to Jed for getting the ball rolling. Even if that original server is dead, it has been made into a more community-open form and Discord is still a big part of my life. It helped my four weeks in a hotel not drive me insane, helped ease me into the less social form of life I have now (which I am trying to fix even now) and it’s been an amazing thing for me and hopefully for others. Torchman, HypnoCoffin, Malthor, LinkSlayer64, DeScruff, Nekro, TheAngriestCarp, Lawman, Vxxyman, TheBlondeBass, RicoThePenguin, Sarah Jane Farron, Robo Panda Z, RadicalYoseph, Amna Umen, and probably others who I am regretfully forgetting at the moment; all close buddies I’ve been brought close to by Discord.
I also became a recapper this year, which was an exciting thing in its own right. Getting more into the community of a site I love has been an interesting experience, and one that’s been interesting to watch evolve and shift to deal with changing tides or patterns. Additionally, it’s been interesting to see my buddies slot in: some others, such as Amna and Bass, are also Recappers now.
On to my collected Topsauces of the year!
Here's hoping for a better year after this one, or at least one as jam packed with good games as this one!
It's weird spending an entire year chugging through the weekly recaps. Even though some weeks I was burnt out, I felt shocked sifting through all the recaps I've done through the months, most of them having a subject I wanted to bite into hungrily. This includes one recap that went on for 4,000 words because I wanted to really dissect the PSX. I admit I still feel proud of it, even if it feels horribly snarky, cynical, and pessimistic; three characteristics that are natural to me, but I try to smother due to how I can end up destructive in the process.
Which if there was a year to maybe put on the fake grins, forced optimism and stick halfhearted thumbs up, it might be this year. I cannot judge if it was one of the worst years in a long time like others have, but the belief it is is a common one. What with Brexit, the US election, various celebrity deaths (including David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Terry Wogan), several terrorist attacks, and the passing of one of the most privacy-infringing laws in the west (called the Investigatory Powers Act). Even within our community we've had our ills. To be blunt, no matter if it actually was or is just our depressed collective conjuration kicking in, 2016 was simply awful. Just absolute shit.
So I had a quick little shuffle through my Topsauces and picked the ones that tickled my pickle. Naturally I couldn't pick every single one I loved or I'd be here until the end of time. I admit I couldn't even look through blogs I didn't recap for a very similar reason. So I tried to focus on the two things I love you for: diversity and soul. That no matter what, you find new ways to present things that all have one thing in common: you've all put yourselves into it. So here's to you:
Here's to another year of dick-jokes, nonsense, and dry-as-gin video game analysis.
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