A lot of work got done recently, didn’t it? Well, that’s both thanks to me crunching myself a bit more to get the queue done along with newer stuff (including some sudden games that fell into my lap I wanted to cover), and with said newer stuff winding down, I’m now back to playing the queue games and finishing my notes on em. I got a few other misc reviews I’ve been working on to fill time in a week as I work on the queue, but otherwise I’m back to my dedication, even if I have a few worries. So let’s get into today’s update subjects!

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Queue Estimates: One month for everything?!?

My goal for the end of the year was to fully finish my review queue, and so far I’ve kinda done a bit of it, but largely have been yet again held back. Yet I did make some pretty big strides, slimming down the Switch queue, emptying the Xbox Queue and working on the Steam Queue. The PS4 one has remain unaffected though, and it wasn’t until very, VERY recently I got back on that train. Took a bit for me to get the PS4 out at my new place and for me to resume taking notes, but I’m at least back on that system, just in time to redo the Data Loss reviews.

So, what’s next on the docket? Well the same Switch stuff as before: RCG2, Citizens Unite, and Neo Atlas, plus some shorter stuff like The Fall, Tokyo School Life and Bertam Fiddle. I also wanna review Valis Collection III coming to Japan next month. Not much progress on these as I’ve been digging into… PS4 Stuff! Yes, my Valthrian Arc review should have gone up yesterday as of when this is set to go live, and I’m rather proud of how it turned out. Remaking that review from scratch was a big pain, but with how the game is very repetitive it didn’t take long for my thoughts to flow back to me. I even grew on the game a smidge. (Not enough to consider covering the sequel though)

Beholder and Omensight are next up as they’re very short, but then we get into the BIG games; the very long RPGs I’ll cover in my usual “play for several hours to experience all mechanics and form a recommendation” style, plus the ever-long-lasting Shenmue/Yakuza reviews that need a lot more depth to cover to the way I am satisfied. Yakuza 5, for anyone who’s played that one, is very long to experience every side game and character, and I wanna give a lot of that a good shake before forming my review on it. Thank god I do not have the means to touch 7/8/Gaiden.

Then it’s back to Crystar, which I bounced off hard for a pretty good reason I quickly remembered upon hearing discussion of the Switch port recently, and then the block of Spike Chunsoft stuff I’ve been guilty about since 2019. And my longest pending review with V3 now that I know the anime is useless junk to see first. As for the rest, we’ll see, but I’m pretty convinced if anything doesn’t survive the bet to clear before 24, it’ll be the bigger PS4 games. I will try my hardest, but if CSIV is a game i need a bunch of time to analyze, stuff like that will be bumped to 24. Especially when I juggle full time work on top of all this.

Lastly is Steam. A few small things are coming out I may add to the queue, but otherwise the two adventure games are nearly done with my note taking and I should have Arcade Spirits up soon. Fuga 2 is another massive game I wanna dedicate, but that’s absolutely getting done before the end of the year; I literally need to cover it for the GOTY awards! Thus, the 3 pending Steam games should be done, but no promises on if the two IFI games I wonder may have been codes will be added on later. Like I said, I don’t want any stone unturned as I believe in covering everything I asked for, especially with how badly I got derailed in 2019. I feel the idea of asking for a new review copy after not touching an older one is really stupid, hence why I’ve gotten much stricter on that front for newer titles. Still, I think I’ll have a good idea on how I’ll take codes going forward once the queue is fully cleared, and I hope you all will enjoy it.

Motivation and Caring

One thing I always get uncertain of when working on this site is the exact amount of people who care specifically about how I generally do things. I get lots of feedback about the site, but usually from off-site outlets. I seldom get comments directly here, outside of laughable spam attempts I instantly delete, and I sorta gave up on expecting people to care about my work enough to do that long ago. Still, I was surprised by how my Irem Collection prompted my first reader email in a long while, and I think part of why I seldom get emailed by readers is because I obscure it to prevent spam/flaming. Like I always say though, I can easily be contacted at Cohost or my Youtube Channel’s email address field. So again, thank you to the person who emailed, and for anyone who reads my stuff and enjoys it, even if commenting isn’t a priority. (I’m kinda the same with most of my stuff but I at least try to throw a like if I can) I do know from how many people see my reviews and from where, that a lot of real people find them useful, so I’m still happy to be making these nine years later.

That being said, the lack of direct feedback is the reason I often have doubts about my work. Things like “oh god am I going too rambly, or just right?” or “uh shoot did I cover this game well or was I too snap judgment on it?” Usually I’d end up trying to share in reddit communities or other places for that sort of feedback, but with how communities crack down on self-promo it has become increasingly tough to find the means to do so. Doesn’t help that sites like Cohost, as much as I like them, are very hostile to freelancers and have poor discoverability. Generally from my friends and PR/Dev pals though, I seem to be doing fine and people find my reviews helpful, so I’ll keep writing them as they are. Do let me know if I make any major grammar errors that bug you, as I really wanna improve on that and I don’t think my grammar check tool is the best. Thank you for helping keep SFG going with your support.

Video stuff

The video I had planned for the end of this month is possibly getting delayed…? At the very least it may not be edited by then though. It will be out before mid dec as I’ll be cancelling my adobe subscription then to budget as I take a hiatus from vids, but it’ll basically be my announcement of a hiatus and what I’ll do for Eternal Memories once the review situation settles down, plus how I changed certain uploaded content. That and announcing my Twitch plans for just casual backlog gaming! Nothing too crazy planned on that front though.

Conclusion

Yeah, we’re getting down to the wire, and there’s so much I wanna play but with little time. Full time work drains a lot outta ya and makes time go by fast. Still, I’m confident I can deal a big blow to the queue and be on my way back to the normalcy I seek after my 2019 losses, and while I had a bit of a scare this month that may have repeated said mental state, luckily things turned out fine. Whether you just casually read, see this from opencritic or via google search, thank you for checking out my reviews, and I’d love to hear if you enjoy SFG’s content as a whole. I truly do wanna improve on it anyway I can.