Late to the Party, Season 2 - The Struggle

Author’s Note: This post was written about two weeks ago.

I’m a little stressed out about how I’m going to write the debut of Late to the Party, Season 2, but I really shouldn’t be. In Season 1 it took me quite a few entries to find my footing and Season 2 will likely be the same. I just have to fight the battle, over and over again, until it becomes more of a dance than a desperate struggle. With that in mind, the first batch of games I’ve got lined up for Season 2 are all shorter games that shouldn’t take too long to beat even though I have a full-time job and other life responsibilities. I’ll train myself on these smaller games, and by the time I get to the big ones I’ll (hopefully) be ready.

Late to the Party, Season 2 - The Format

I’ve already finished the first game of the second season of Late to the Party, but at the time that I’m writing this post I still haven’t fully figured out how I want this new season of Late to the Party to differ from the old one. The approximate format of Season 1 was something like this for most of the entries:

Opening
My background with the game
Overview of the game’s story
Thoughts on the story
Thoughts on gameplay, game world
Thoughts on graphics, performance, and audio
Notable criticisms
Overall verdict
Closing

This format worked well in that it allowed me to neatly organize my opinions into separate paragraphs, but it also made for a rigid and inflexible way of writing about games. Much like the Greek phalanx, it was strong in some ways but weak in others. If possible I’d like to try to modify this format in Season 2 and find a way to more freely flow between the various aspects of the game that I want to talk about, and maybe incorporate some of the more personal elements I introduced in Replaying the Classics. I’d also like to add another segment or two to the discussion. Right now the addition I have in mind is some sort of brief overview of where the game came from.

Should I also add some type of score at the end of these writing pieces? That debate has been raging in my head for weeks now. I intentionally avoided putting any scores in Season 1 because I didn’t think of those writing pieces as game reviews, even though they had just about all the trappings of a review. Now that I’m at the cusp of Season 2 I’m split between the part of me that wants to give it a try and the part of me that thinks game scores are a gross oversimplification of a reviewer’s thoughts on a game. Maybe I should write up the score of a game and just see how it looks with the rest of the writing piece.

One thing that will absolutely remain the same from Season 1 to Season 2, however, is the variability of the length of the writing pieces. This was a good choice back then and I’m sticking with it now. With some games I need a few thousand words to state everything I want to say, while with others I only need a few hundred.

Late to the Party, Season 2 Preview

I played a good number of games last year for Season 1 of Late to the Party, but invariably there were a few from years passed that I missed, as well as newer games that came out during the time of Season 1. Therefore a second season of Late to the Party is in order, though it probably won’t begin until this coming summer. In preparation for Season 2, I’ve been brainstorming a list of potential games to be played. There’s no guarantee I’ll get to all of these, but below are the ones I’m interested in playing and writing about as of the time of the publishing of this post. More may be added in the coming months. I’m also limiting the list below to games that are already out or have known release dates in 2017. Games with uncertain release dates have been left off the list.

Battlefield 1
Titanfall 2
Watchdogs 2
Ni No Kuni
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Tekken 7
The Last Guardian
For Honor
Final Fantasy 15
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Gears of War 4
Mass Effect Andromeda
LittleBigPlanet 3
Quantum Break
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Kingdom Hearts 2.8
Injustice 2
NieR: Automata

In addition to these bigger titles, there are also a number of smaller downloadable games that I think I’m going to try to play. Normally I skip over downloadable games because they’re not available for rent, but I think it’s time to change that policy. There are some real gems in the downloadable world, and I think I owe it to myself to give some of them a chance. Like the games listed above, I don’t know for sure if I’ll play all of the following, but here are the downloadable games I’d like to try out.

Bastion
Valiant Hearts
Transistor
Child of Light
Inside
Oxenfree
Abzu
Infamous: First Light
Bound

Late to the Party Retrospective - The Lessons

We’ve now reached what is probably the most important part of our retrospective on Late to the Party: the lessons learned during Season 1. These lessons are both what I learned about on writing about games, and about myself. Here are some that came to mind when I was rereading my work and thinking over the whole experience.

Late to the Party Retrospective - The Results

We’re now on Part 3 of our retrospective on Season 1 of Late to the Party. In today’s post I thought I’d take a look back at some of the entries in the Late to the Party series that were notable for one reason or another.

Late to the Party Retrospective - The Method

Our retrospective look at Late to the Party continues with Part 2 today. In this issue I’m going to go in-depth with the methodology behind the process of writing the commentaries. Taking screenshots and gameplay videos for a commentary are a different process that I will not be covering here.

Late to the Party Retrospective - The Philosophy

With the end of Season 1 of Late to the Party now a couple of weeks behind us, it’s time for a short retrospective series on it. I’m thinking there will be a four entries in this retrospective, though the last entry will be pushed from this Friday to next Monday because of a post I want to publish on Friday for Inauguration Day. Today we begin with the philosophy behind Late to the Party, which I’ve mentioned parts of in various forms in the past, but it’s important enough that I’m going to state it again.

Late to the Party - Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until earlier this year that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition, which I will refer to as just Diablo 3 from hereon for obvious reasons. Today is also the final edition of Season 1 of Late to the Party, and with a game like Diablo 3 on the docket, you know we’re going out with a bang.

Late to the Party - Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until earlier this year that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. This post was intended to have been published a week ago, however my job had me putting in ten to thirteen-hour days last week, so I simply wasn’t able to finish the game and write this commentary in time for that. But, on the plus side, I can say that I eventually got it done. I guess this is a case of better late than never.

Late to the Party - Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, which was one of the free games available in November 2016 for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Downloadable games like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture are normally not available for rental unless they get a disc release in the future, and unfortunately this means I pass over most of them, but thanks to PlayStation Plus I got a chance to play a game that I otherwise would never experience.

Late to the Party - LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, referred to hereafter as just The Force Awakens.

Late to the Party - Overwatch (Origins Edition)

Author’s Note: Today’s post is #400!

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I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Overwatch.

Late to the Party - Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, referred to hereafter as just Catalyst.

Late to the Party - Infamous: Second Son

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Infamous: Second Son, referred to hereafter as just Second Son.

Late to the Party - Ratchet and Clank

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Ratchet and Clank.

Late to the Party - Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, referred to hereafter as just Black Ops 3. I must confess that I, like many others, have a certain fondness for abbreviating the name of the Black Ops series to “Blops,” but I try to maintain a slight veneer of professionalism with my writings, so I’ll refrain from using it here. This commentary will be spoiler free, and will be limited strictly to the game’s singleplayer campaign, which I played by myself.

Late to the Party - Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, referred to hereafter as just Black Flag. This commentary will be mostly spoiler free, though for the sake of story discussion I will spoil part of the ending of Black Flag’s immediate predecessor, Assassin’s Creed 3, and I will be assuming you have a basic knowledge of the Assassin’s Creed series.

Late to the Party - Driveclub

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a new series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Driveclub.

A new milestone: creating my first piece of cover art

Late to the Party - The Division

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a new series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Tom Clancy’s The Division, referred to hereafter as just The Division. There will be minor spoilers in this commentary, but nothing too big.

Late to the Party - Batman: Arkham Knight

I love video games, but it's rare for me to play them right when they are first released. Normally it takes me a somewhere from a few months to a few years to get around to playing to a game. I've got a considerable backlog of games that I've been meaning to play and it hasn't been until recently that I've been able to start chipping away at the list. With that in mind, I've created a new series of posts called Late to the Party, wherein I discuss the games that came out in the preceding years that I'm finally getting around to experiencing. Today's entry in the series is Batman: Arkham Knight.