Year 2010 is as lively as ever. I don't think there was another such year where I was able to find at least one masterpiece in each month. The overall number 18 is slightly less, but it only shows the continuing tendency for increasing charage share, and I blocked quite a lot of charage from getting into masterpieces just because did not see a story-driven plot or some spark. There even was one 10/10 game for me, and that does not come often.
Visual Novel Openings 2010 with songs just because I still into openings. And I seriously hate it when openings are interrupted with ads, so I try to cut out all such tracks from playlist, like Rewrite opening. And you know what - the same few companies demand ads insertion in their property everywhere. And they are such cheapskates that even monetize their own official channel openings, as if customers attraction is not enough. Basically, they are so greedy to insert ads inside ads. Here is a list of those shameful companies that I noticed so far and am going to hate even more - Key, Frontwing, Leaf. Shame upon you, cheapskates.
My list of masterpieces in 2010:
- Akatsuki no Goei ~Tsumibukaki Shuumatsuron~
- Comsome! ~Combination Somebody~
- Deardrops
- Evolimit
- Fortissimo//Akkord:Bsusvier
- Harukaze dori ni, Tomarigi o. 2nd Story ~Tsuki no Tobira to Umi no Kakera~
- Indigo
- Kashimashi Communication
- Ore no Tsure wa Hito de nashi
- Ouka Sengoku ~Nobunaga-chan no Koishite Yabou!?~
- Para-Sol
- Rune Lord
- Second Novel ~ Kanojo no Natsu, 15fun no Kioku~
- Subarashiki Hibi ~Furenzoku Sonzai~
- Tasogare no Sinsemilla
- Tsubasa o Kudasai
- Ushinawareta Mirai o Motomete
- White Album 2 ~Introductory Chapter~
Those who were following monthly issues already know the name of the game in 2010 that I evaluate as 10/10 - it's
Subarashiki Hibi ~Furenzoku Sonzai~. I'm still somewhere in the mids of playing it, but after weird introductory chapter it's such a fast-paced and ever-thrilling narration I doubt I've seen anywhere before.
Since there is no poll this year, let me at least provide an update on the results of the previous poll. 10 versus 5 votes support the idea that no video version of playthrough is needed. And because of that I'm in no hurry to provide reviews. But at the same time I like it to have videos to check things afterwards or find answers to questions, to compare real game lengths, things like that. Unfortunately, there are very few services that are eager to provide space for that:
- Niconico limits number of videos to 50 for free users
- Vimeo no longer has free plans, it's basically just a hosting now
- Bilibili demands to answer some 100 otaku questions in Chinese with majority being correct ones to gain access.
- Youtube ... you know, minus two channels
- Dailymotion has severe limitations on upload, but it's the amateurishness that kills. All my 720p videos only show there as 380p, and things change only after support ticket resolution. Then comes new video and it's again 380p. For one game I need some 100 one-hour videos, I'm not going to address support 100 times. And according to users, it's a problem that persists for years without any solution.
One video playthrough on average takes 15gb of space, so with clouds I can backup like... 5. HDD is not the safest and cheapest option, plus I'd prefer it to be accessible. So I'm going with two variants - another youtube channel with BGM cut, plus video insertion inside blog post. Those videos should be no longer that 100 mb and no longer than 15 minutes to not take up cloud space, so there will be hundreds of videos under each review, and I can only hope that blog itself is not shut down because of those videos, because finding pretexts for closure without explanation is the thing Google excels at.
Year 2013 exceeded my expectations. I was able to choose as many as 34 masterpieces, even one more than in fruitful 2012. Surprisingly, there's a better selection of chuunige as well - industry is absolutely alive and kicking. However, now it's truly the last year of abundance - sneak peek into 2014 shows the number of masterpieces being in the mid twenties. 
Year 2011 is a hurricane of great titles. My initial pick contained 20 masterpieces, but had to widen this selection up to 28 with some additional feedback since I can't sample it all on my own at the moment and there are genres I just can't force myself to play. 
