Beaten in 2018...

[Emperor Megas]

as is the case with most games wherein one plays as a female character (outside of Metroid.) Sex sells. Developers' livelihoods depend on it. They could make a statement and make a game where one plays a female character that is fully clothed and people who dislike objectification of women would be buying it, but would that make up for the millions of teenage boys and young men who don't want to buy a game where the woman isn't half-naked? Probably not. It'd probably be a poor seller and could put the company's stock in jeopardy.

I could be wrong and there could be millions of people who are clamoring for a video game with a self-respecting female character but just knowing the kind of people who are driving the electronic entertainment industry, I can't see it being a hot seller.
)

Could it be a matter of games that have hyper sexualized women tend stand out and get noticed more? By their nature I imagine they would after all. I've been gaming my whole life and not very many of the games I play with female protagonists are over-sexualized (I don't think so anyway), not that I would mind at all if they were (as I rather appreciate that sort of thing, honestly).

I mean, I don't go looking for either types of characters since my taste is fairly broad, but I tend to encounter more Heather Masons, Jill Valentines and Chun Lis, than Bayonettas, B2s, and Ivys. I suppose YMMV, depending on the games you play, but I don't think that a more conservatively dressed/mannered female character would translate to poor sales. Games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and (modern) Tomb Raider games sell pretty well, I think.

I'm not naive in that I don't realize that sex sells, but when you're dealing in fantasy themes especially, style is a pretty big draw, and celebrating extremes like power and sexuality plays well into these sorts of games. It's not unlike the hulking, over-the-top masculine characters in gritty war games.

Granted, you also get boulder punching, He-man'esque Chris Redfields, and flirty, China Dress in the field wearing Ada Wongs in series' that barely benefit from over-the-top (normal) characters, but in general I think there's a very healthy variety of female and male characters in gaming that don't fall into either extreme categories and still sell decently.

[Emperor Megas]

I think the only game I ended this year was Nier: Automata, and my goodness, what an AMAZING game. This was a once or twice in a console generation sort of experience for me. I can't say enough good things about this title. I loved the last Nier, like a LOT, but I only played though it once (so far). I've played through Nier Automata like 5 times now.

I also ended Zelda: Breath of the Wild recently, but I think it was before the New Year. I honestly don't remember now, but I think it was more than a couple month ago, so I doubt it was this year.

My gaming took a considerable drop off after celerystalker left, as most of the games I played last year were Game Completion Challenge picks. I plan on getting back in soon though. I've got my gameroom a lot more organized now and am getting more play focused (rather than just collect/acquire focused).

Since I loved Nier and Nier Automata so much, I've decided to go back into the series and finally play the Drakengard games to see where it all started and how the series has evolved. I'm almost finished with the first Drakengard game and what a terrible, boring, uninteresting, horrible controlling experience it is. I REALLY hope 2 and 3 are better, because this game is absolute shit.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed II (PS3) 03/04/18
2. Army of Two: The 40th Day (PS3) 03/08/18
3. Prototype (PS3) 03/25/18
4. Terminator Salvation (PS3) 04/08/18
5. Heavenly Sword (PS3) 05/03/18
6. Sleeping Dogs (PS3) 05/11/18

[Cornelius]

1. Assassin's Creed II (PS3) 03/04/18
2. Army of Two: The 40th Day (PS3) 03/08/18
3. Prototype (PS3) 03/25/18
4. Terminator Salvation (PS3) 04/08/18
5. Heavenly Sword (PS3) 05/03/18

What did you think of Heavenly Sword? I really enjoyed it, and some of the stages I thought were just fantastic. Mostly the Kat(?) ones (once I learned you can turn off the motion controls).

[AceAerosmith]

What did you think of Heavenly Sword? I really enjoyed it, and some of the stages I thought were just fantastic. Mostly the Kat(?) ones (once I learned you can turn off the motion controls).

I liked it. I thought using the Six-Axis controller to control the flight of arrows/cannonballs was fun. It did make it challenging. It looked good considering it was an early title. I wouldn't take the time to play it again but there were levels worth playing again - mostly the cannonball levels.

[AceAerosmith]

1. Assassin's Creed II (PS3) 03/04/18
2. Army of Two: The 40th Day (PS3) 03/08/18
3. Prototype (PS3) 03/25/18
4. Terminator Salvation (PS3) 04/08/18
5. Heavenly Sword (PS3) 05/03/18
6. Sleeping Dogs (PS3) 05/11/18
7. Prototype 2 (PS3) 05/14/18
8. Resistance 2 (PS3) 05/23/18

[Aussie2B]

1. Final Fantasy Legend II (GB) 1/28
2. Donkey Kong Country 3 (GBA) 2/7
3. Harvest Moon 64 (N64) 6/14

It took me practically a full year in real life to clear the 2 and 1/4 in-game years to get to the evaluation and credits roll, but I finally finished off Harvest Moon 64. That probably makes it sound like I didn't like the game much, but it was just life getting in the way that had me dropping it for months at a time. I actually enjoyed it a lot and am already looking forward to replaying it someday to pursue a different bachelorette and do everything much better (I didn't even get a baby born before the ending). Unlike in the SNES Harvest Moon, I could keep playing this file, but I've already long ago missed the chance to get a "perfect" file, so I'm just calling it quits here.

I've also just now realized I've really fallen behind where I'd like to be in terms of how many games I complete this year. Hopefully I can pick up the pace and finish off some others that are close to the end and some shorter ones.