Blade Symphony - 2/20 hours

There are two things I know about this game so far - firstly, the AI bots are not going to be sufficient to keep me challenged for 20 hours, and secondly, online multiplayer is going to eat me alive.

Blade Symphony is a sword-fighting game where you have a variety of swords, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, wielded by one of four characters, who each have their own moveset that depends on one of three stances. I'm not super familiar with the genre, but it feels pretty deep to me.

And therein lies the rub. I'm easily able to overcome the AI, because it is incapable of recognizing patterns, and thus I'm able to spam the same move over and over again. That's not going to work on a human. Learning the nuances of the characters, the weapons, and the moves will be essential. I must learn to play the game mindfully, and not simply mash buttons and hope for victory.

It's going to be a long, painful road, made all the worse by the fact that I never really learned to lose gracefully. I mean, I don't think I'm a jerk about it or anything, but I always feel a little sad after a defeat, and I've been known to let that sadness build up inside me, poisoning my mood and shaking my confidence.

This is an undeniable character flaw. It would be absurd for me to be notably good at a competitive game after playing what amounts to a tutorial (seriously, single player mode is basically non-existent), and thus, there is no stigma or shame attached to me losing even quite a lot of matches. Yet knowing that will probably not help me. Takedown: Red Sabre managed to get under my skin, and I had absolutely nothing invested in it.

Maybe it'll be good for me. I know, on an intellectual level, that losing is both inevitable and healthy. Perhaps if I get some practice in, I'll even be able to do it cheerfully, and with gratitude for the opportunity to learn from my mistakes.

(I probably should have waited a month to play this game, so I could fail to achieve a New Year's resolution).