-So, it’s almost the end of good ole’ 2014 and it’s almost time to say goodbye to another glorious year, leaving us with wonderful memories such as but not exactly limited to: Scotland voting for no independence, Brazil’s devastating loss against Germany at the World Cup, the attention-seeking ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the ever exciting Ebola virus as we prepare and secretly hope for a zombie outbreak, the intense Ukraine/Russia border tensions, and the depressingly tragic tale of the missing planes of Southeast Asia, as we welcome another glorious year of sugar, spice and everything fucking nice with this beautiful world of ours.
-And of course, with every end of the year comes everybody’s arbitrary list of what they personally think is so awesome and what’s not-so-awesome in the past year. And that also happens to include me, as well! YAAAAY! PEER PRESSURE! UNORIGINALITY! God, I really do suck! And what better way to put in my 2014 list than anime and video games, since that is all that’s keeping me relatively sane nowadays. Well, besides music as well, but who really cares what sick shit I listen to?
INTRODUCTION
-Okay, first things first, time for a very lengthy and boring explanation. You can totally skip over this if you do so desire. Anyways, due to real life, I don’t have the necessary time and money to watch every single anime or play every single game there is so I’m just gonna talk about what I experienced and what really mattered to me this year. If you don’t see your favourite listed anywhere down below, then it’s probably because I didn’t have the time to experience it or maybe it’s because it’s so mediocre and mind-numbingly dull that I simply overlooked it. Who really knows?
-Besides that, to save your time and in order to make it just a short and simple list, I’m just gonna write my lame justifications in a couple of sentences only. No one really pays attention even if I wrote an entire thesis on the matter either way. You probably just want to see the names and you’re going straight for the comments next, am I right? I guess I also do need to specify that this is MY list and thus, it is just my own opinions. That totally exonerates me from any and all angry criticisms.
-My God, that was an excruciatingly long introduction. It’s like I’m in court again! Okay, without further ado, let’s get this shitshow on the road, shall we? In no particular order, here is my super awesome and way-better-than-your-opinion 2014 list:
VIDEO GAMES
-A full year into the next-generation of gaming and all I could say was that this year was still pretty much a big ‘meh’ to me. Some might say that this is yet another terrible year for gaming, considering there’s been some major disappointments and some pretty bad controversies that happened. Hopefully, as time progresses and the new generation can finally settle in properly, we can get some pretty impressive experiences in the near future. Anyway, there are still some really good highlights this year but you’ll have to really dig deep into the pile. But at least, it’s better than just one big nonsensical pile of crap, right?
MY BEST VIDEO GAMES OF 2014
-Shovel Knight
This is the most pure-hearted experience of fun I ever had from a video game. It takes me back to a nostalgic time without all the micro transactions, disc-locked content, DRM crap, and all the Social Justice Warriors/Feminist bullshit.
-Transistor
This game has the goddamn best soundtrack I ever heard from an indie game, and easily beats everything else this year. I even swooned and fell in love with the main character of the game simply through the music and the music alone. That might be saying something… Like I’m a creepy weirdo or something.
-Far Cry 4
Far Cry 4 was the only shootbang videogame that I genuinely enjoyed this year. I’m not exactly built for the MLG life of Call of Duty, Mountain Dew and Dorito.
-Wolfenstein: The New Order
Okay, I lied. I really thought I would hate the seemingly basic shooting of Wolfenstein just like your average Call of Battlefields, but boy, was I wrong. What I found was a shooting experience that was aggressively gratifying accompanied by a surprisingly long and well-written story that’s not terribly generic and predictable.
-Titanfall
Okay, fine. I admit it… This year has been quite an enjoyable year for the shooting genre. Too bad there’s not much people playing Titanfall right now.
-Broken Age: Part 1
A nice return to form from Double Fine studios. And man, Frodo has such a nice voice, like ‘Sweet cotton candy clouds’ kind of voice, if that makes any sense. Hey, if you’re reading this, check out Elijah Wood in another great work, Over the Garden Wall.
-The Banner Saga
It’s like Oregon Trail but with giant horned men and lots and lots of snow.
-Bayonetta 2
I like this game not only because it’s a sweet-ass action game that scratches the itch that no character action game could in recent years. But because this is just a massive middle finger to any studio who’s both afraid of games with female protagonists and games with rather ‘extremely unusual’ qualities.
-Dragon Age: Inquisition
Hey, it’s no Game of the Year to me. But you can’t deny it’s still a damn good game, especially if you’re a huge nerd of RPGs.
-Bravely Default
Beating Final Fantasy at being Final Fantasy. Now this is the sense of fantasy and adventure that I’ve been missing from the Final Fantasy series. None of that stupid emo bullshit and annoyingly pretentious ‘Destiny is Destiny!’ crap.
-Persona Q
Man, I can’t wait for that new Persona game coming out next year. My life will be super completed the moment I get Persona: Dancing All Night. Heh…
-Dark Souls 2
A mediocre Souls game full of pre-release lies is still an awesome game in comparison to everything else.
-Wasteland 2
Now I’ll wait for Fallout 4 and pit these two games together in a super post-apocalyptic brawl for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
-D4
This game was pretty fucking memorable. Random readers, buy this game so SWERY will make more episodes of this weird masterpiece.
-Middle-Earth: Shadows of Mordor
Beats Assassin’s Creed at its own game. See what some actual innovation can do, Ubisoft?
-Freedom Wars
Gonna be a while before I can pay off all those years for good…
-This War of Mine
A truly haunting game that’s not even in the horror genre.
-Special Mention: Silent Hills Playable Teaser
I don’t care if it’s just a teaser, that it’s not an actual game, and the fact that the main game will probably look nothing like this at all, but goddamn, did it manage to complete its purpose of being a game that provided a truly horrifying experience. Consider it a special mention.
MY WORST GAMES OF 2014
-The Walking Dead: Season 2
Truly the worst Telltale game they have ever created. The first season was a bit ‘meh’ but this one really takes the shitcake. I preferred the Wolf Among Us this year, solely because I am a fan of the Fable comic book series.
-Assassin Creed: Unity
UBI PLZ GET YOUR GODDAMN SHIT TOGETHER. YOU GOT A LOT OF PASSIONATE AND HARDWORKING DEVELOPERS UNDER YOUR CARE SO PLEASE JUST STOP BEING MASSIVE ASSHOLES FOR A WHILE.
-Watch Dogs
See Assasin’s Creed Unity. Plus, stop downgrading the PC version of your games. Who in the right mind will actually think it’s a good idea to break your product on purpose?
-Destiny
Bungie, I’ll admit it! I’m not afraid to confess and speak out! Your game is absolute shit! But the weird part is, I had no expectations that this game was gonna be something really special and unique as the trailers and fanboys claim it will be. And yet, I was still shocked at how painfully empty and repetitively barren this game is.
-The Evil Within
Shinji Mikami, I is disappoint.
-Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13
It can be said that the ending of this game is simply the most ridiculous and the most incredibly dumb thing I ever saw this year. I was laughing for hours and hours on end just from seeing how stupid it was. But seriously though, can we finally be done with Lightning now? For all that is holy, please, please, PLEASE, be over and done with Lightning…
-Special Mention: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
I thought the first one was a modest but still enjoyable game, good enough to be considered the first ever success for the series foray into the 3rd Dimension. But what ever happened to the sequel? It’s… boring, especially compared to the first game. Now, I digress. This isn’t necessarily a bad game, depending on who’s playing it. But compared to the first game, this is such a shocking downgrade in terms of enjoyability. And it’s a terrible shame because there are some game assets here that just shows how talented MercurySteam is. So, best I can do, I’m just giving this a Special Mention.
ANIME
Now it’s anime time. AWWW YEAH, time for some poorly conceived opinions and obvious hate-baiting to get those super important clicks for my blog. But in all seriousness, this year for anime has also been pretty mediocre in general, with actually good animes coming very few and far between. I can only hope that next year is somewhat better.
MY BEST ANIME OF 2014
-No Game No Life
It has its flaws, like an unbeatable tension-draining protagonist and a lot of pretty uncomfortable fanservice. But fuck it, this anime is goddamn hilarious and I’m all ready for the second season. Come on, you fuckers! A second season of this and The Devil is a Part Time Worker!
-Mushishi Zoku Shou Second Season
Simply amazing. This anime right here is like the eye within the goddamn storm of high school animes and nonsensical moe bullshit. Everyone should check this out if they’re looking for some anime that doesn’t rely on any fanservice or trying to shill out products.
-Shingeki no Bahamut
Nothing dramatically new or original, but good execution and great animation make this anime feel super fresh and way better than most animes out there.
-Parasyte
I like themes of Duality and Humanity in particular when it comes to storytelling.
-Tokyo Ghoul
See Parasyte. There was some problems at the second half of the anime as it struggles to properly adapt the manga, but it was still memorable enough of a story to warrant a place as one of my favourites of this year.
-Terror in Resonance
All you need to differ between villains and heroes is just a matter of perspective.
-Garo: The Carved Seal
A surprisingly good anime. I didn’t expect much and the CGI animation takes some getting used to, but this is actually a pretty good anime.
-Knights of Sidonia
Again, the CGI animation takes some getting used to but when you actually do, you might enjoy this anime which is basically Attack on Titan in Space.
-Special Mention: Nisekoi
My guilty pleasure of the year! I hate this and every generic harem animes with a burning passion! It’s so dreadfully predictable but why can’t I stop watching this piece of shit?
My worst anime of 2014:
-Pupa
What the hell were they even thinking when they were making this?
-Akame ga Kill!
“Main characters are killed so soon! A random and sudden death makes it a good story, right? This is basically Game of Thrones right here! Akame ga Feel! Look how deep and meaningful we are!
Ugh, we have such complex characters! Let’s fucking pause everything and force into everyone’s throats about each characters’ backstories and beliefs! That’s basically how you do character development, am I right?
Hold on, hold on, hold on, are you saying this group that is outright terrorizing the innocents by enslaving and slaughtering them is fighting another group that is stopping them from harming said innocent people? Truly, a battle of compelling philosophies! Some Dante and Vergil shit right here! It’s not black and white at all because I’m telling you it’s not black and white. Yo, yo, we’re being super deep, you guys! Akame ga Feel!”
BEST COMEDY ANIME OF THE YEAR! HAHAHAHA! …This anime was complete and utter shit.
-Shirobako
Super extra dull, even for a slice-of-life anime. It’s funny how all the men are so varied in terms of personality and body appearances but most of the female cast, counting the main characters, are basically almost the same cute and beautiful people. They even have the same face! Why aren’t the SJWs and White Knights on this case?! Where’s the equality?!
-Psycho-Pass 2
Basically a ‘clean the slate’ button to prepare themselves for the movie.
-Sword Art Online 2
Even more terrible compared to the first season. The Gun Gale Arc and Sinon’s story was laughably horrible and the two arcs afterwards was plain dull, characteristically stupid and completely forced without any clear resolution, just to get those all-important ‘feels’ from the masses. Plus, I never noticed it before in the last season but Kirito is such a massive douchebag, especially in this new season.
-Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
I would’ve just shrugged this off as just some bad anime with some incestual undertones but I put it here specifically to tell you that this is a REALLY bad anime. What an absolute shite… At least Sword Art Online has an average at best first season, not that I’m asking for a second season of this masterpiece of a dull crap.
-Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Too stupidly pretentious for its own good. And I don’t like its approach to such themes like Depression, Trauma and Abuse. Pretty rage-inducing and sickening. Some might defend it but the first few episodes left a really bad impression on me that made me completely biased towards the rest of the episodes. I absolutely hate everything about it.
-Special Mention: Trinity Seven
Probably the worst harem anime of this year and that deserves a special mention. Unlike Nisekoi, this won’t be a guilty pleasure nor will it bring any kind of pleasure to me anytime soon.
-And thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat’s all. Did you agree with me? Did you disagree with me? Do you even care? Well, if this random guy from the Internet’s arbitrary list of choices happens to make you super angry in any way, feel free to sound off in the comments below. I’ll be sure to read them all out after you go and seek help for your anger issues.
Maybe…
-And before you go and get yourself admitted, why not tell me in the comments below about your own arbitrary list of what you really love and what you absolutely hate in the amazing year of 2014. I really do care about all of your opinions, honest! I swear on me gorgeous Mum!
-And with that, here’s to surviving another year, random readers! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
-Whelp, it’s almost time for me to get back to work now… Truly wonderful…
-About the blog, I may or may not get more active into it come next year. It’s gonna get even more busy with my real life and thus, it’s gonna get even harder for me to write about the random crap this blog is about. After all, I’m just doing this whole thing for shit and giggles. In all likelihood, I probably may not write as often next year but if a twinge of a smile (or a frown, depending on your tastes) crossed on your beautiful cheeks as you read my bullshit-filled words, then I feel like this blog has fulfilled its purpose and that’s good enough for me. So, I’ll try to keep writing and I’ll appreciate it if you keep supporting this little blog of mine, Random Readers! Thank you so much and a very Happy New Year to you!
P.S. Don’t forget to start dressing up like this, by the way.
Glorified Rants 
