[Event] The PokeCommunity Game-Along

Well, today was a stressful gaming day since I played through both the pigeon deviant section and Zlatko which are, imo, the two hardest parts of the game. Miraculously though, I am still on track to getting the good end.

I actually finished Ys Origin about a week ago...and regretted it immensely, because it turns out there are a lot of completely different bosses in the final route and oh my god on Hard mode they're...actually really hard. Including the extra final boss which is ridiculously chaotic and awkward. This game verrrry much showed its age, haha.

I think we're close enough to the end of the year that I can ask this - would anyone like to see this return next year? It'll depend on a few things, but if I'm still here next year and people are interested, I'm more than happy to keep this running~

Against all the odds, I got the same ending. RIP Luthor :')

After days of trying to figure out what to play, I randomly got idea to play old PS1 game that I finished countless times - Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro. It was nice trip down the memory lane. Finished it in two days on the hardest difficulty. I was struggling at the start, because I was getting used to controls, but after that it was pretty okay experience. I should probably play the first Spider-man soon too.

Anyway, to give Dawn some kind of feedback... I would love to see this event again next year. It made me try games that I probably wouldn't try otherwise like Super Mario 64 or Tales of Berseria.

Let me also give you my opinion on each theme:
Free Choice - Not much to say about this one. It's fine, but I usually didn't have to think about what game to pick. I just went with whatever I would play anyway.
Retro - This was one of my favourites. Not because there are tons of retro games I would love to play one day, but also because I found even more games thanks to other users. I wouldn't mind seeing this one more next year or even seeing the opposite - picking up modern game.
Spin-offs - Since I don't know many spin-offs, I had really hard time picking up game for this one. But I think it was fine theme.
RNG - I think this is a lot better version of Free Choice, because it at least makes me think about what games should I put on the list. I would love to see more RNG and less Free Choice next year.
Swords and Sorcery - Another of my favourites. This is exactly the type of theme I would love to see more. Take one aspect like swords, magic or guns that can be applied to several genres.
JRPGs - Another of themes I would love to see more. Similar to Swords and Sorcery, but now allowing only specific (sub)genre. I wouldn't mind seeing more (sub)genres like Souls-like or Survival theme for example.
The Pacifist - Same as Swords and Sorcery.
Modern Warfare - Same as Swords and Sorcery.
Spooktober - Same as JRPGs.
Visual Novels - Same as JRPGs.
Hard Mode - Same as Swords and Sorcery.

I've been also thinking about some themes - Male/Female-led game, game from the year you were born, game from the year you joined PC, Medieval-themed game (or basically any historical period), Survival game, Racing game and more genres.

Janp said:

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Thank you very much for the feedback! It's always nice to know what you're doing right and wrong, especially with something as long as this has been! With participation dwindling as the months went on I was more than a teensy bit worried it was off-putting at times, haha.

Honestly, the second Free Choice month was primarily because I was worried that not everyone was going to be able to find a game to fit the theme (although I also didn't have time to write out what I had planned for that month; it was originally going to be later) and I wanted to give them a break and a chance to play something they wanted to - games are supposed to be fun, after all! Although RNG months could just as easily serve this purpose so that's something I would definitely take on board for the future.

At the moment my presence on this forum is probably going to be practically non-existent for most of January, but as the Game Along only needs updating once a month and occasional checks, I could still theoretically carry it on..if I can get enough preparation written out over the next few days, I may very well do this. There was another year-long challenge I had in mind for next year, too.
Some of those you list I actually have planned - for example, the female-led game was actually going to be October's, for Breast Cancer Awareness month

wasn't around for half of the challenge myself but I did enjoy it very much, definetly would try and be there for a full year xD


twas fun playing games again after a long time of not playing them, really enjoyed it

Took me all month to decide what to play bc I didn't want to play something new on hard mode and at the end I decided to just be true to myself and end this horrible year with my favourite game, so I replayed Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Final Mix (sigh @ kh titles) on proud mode. :) I just finished it up today (all three routes and the postgame plot) and it was nice to go back to it, especially after some of the reveals about its characters in the couple years since I last played. It also felt good to finish this challenge on time! I did every single month!

Thanks so much for running this all year! I could really tell how much thought went into coming up with the themes and I really loved reading your posts every month explaining the themes. It was honestly a highlight of my year, being excited to wake up on the 1st of each month to find out what the theme was and pick my game. I think my favourites were the swords and guns themes that sort of ran opposite each other. It was fun deciding how to adapt games to match the spirit of the theme. The RNG one was genius too, hahaha. I would absolutely love to see this return next year, if you're up to it!! I wish I'd stayed as enthusiastic about giving updates and making lil css posts about my games all throughout the year like I was at the start, but something something pandemic and sometimes I couldn't decide on what to play until the last minute anyway, so my spare time went to actually playing instead of writing updates about my play, ahaha.

Thanks for a really fun event! :>

Honestly, this was such a good event. It got me to really start exploring gaming a lot more and I had a lot of fun doing it. I hope we can continue in the new year.

Aaaand we're in to 2021 (at least where I am, and since this is my thread, we go by my timezone xD) so the 2020 Game Along has now official come to a close!

Thank you to everyone who participated, even if it was only for a month or two, and special thanks and congratulations to Cherrim, Janp, and gimmepie for sticking with it for the entire year! I am extremely grateful for your support and for your feedback, and I'm glad you enjoyed participating in the event as much as I did running it!

The new thread is here - we'll be going through 2021 with this as well! Hope to see you there :3