I finally finished playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (seriously, this game is well over 100 hours in game length if you do many of the side quests), and after playing the first two games in the trilogy, I think it is safe to say that XC3 is the best game in the series, and one of the best (if not, the best) JRPGs on the Nintendo Switch. I felt like XC3 is the sum of the best parts of XC1 and XC2 and improves upon them, which I will explain below:
I was meaning to write this post earlier in 2023, but I was dealing with a tailbone injury so I could not sit for long periods of time. I feel well enough now to talk about my five best games I have played in 2022. As mentioned in previous lists, this is not my best games that were released in 2022, but rather the games I played for the first time in 2022. Before I get into the list, I have one honorable mention:
When I was a more active user on Twitter many years ago, at the end of every year, I would write a few tweets about my year-to-date and my hopes for the next year. This continued in a similar fashion with my "best-of" blog posts at the end of the year. It is that time of the year for me to reflect on what went on in my life in 2022, and to think about what 2023 will look like for me as well. I think 2022 was overall a good year for me. It had the highlighted hallmarks for me in a year: the big job changes and the big vacation. There were also other memorable moments for me in 2022 that I have also highlighted in my blog. I will talk about all of that and more on this post.
I do not know why I did this, but I purchased Pokémon Violet on the day of its release. I have not been kind to the previous main-line Pokémon games, but maybe, just maybe, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet could be decent. I am a jaded Pokémon fan who just wants to play a universally decent Pokémon game. As of writing this post, I have finished playing Pokémon Violet, and I have some thoughts about this latest entry.
