Blog: Video Games of April 2016

April worked out to be a pretty stressful month for me, between being offered my first chance at teaching a Spring Semester course and moving. So, my game play fell into a couple of weird patterns mostly determined by how stressed I felt. For a while Pocket Planes was in my top five, and that's really a game I only play when I'm stressed.

My top five games (by play time) for April were:

1. Stardew Valley - Stardew Valley is really comforting, and it's nice to have a game you can turn to without having to worry too much about what's going to happen. So it was nice to have as an anti-stress game. It also has enough depth that if you're slow playing it (which I mostly am, with a few exceptions) it feels like it will last quite well. My only complaint remains, as I said in March, is that you have to play it in 20(ish) minute chunks since it doesn't save other than over night.
   
   
   
2. Super Mario Maker - I'm still playing more Super Mario Maker than I expected. I think, to some extent, this is due to it being the game with the disk in my WiiU, so it's easier to play than bothering to put something else in. It's also quite flexible, in that you can play for just a couple of minutes, or you can have a longer play session. 
   
   
   
   
   
   Nintendo has also done a good job in keeping new material coming and I've found it worth playing each of their new example courses since you get a new amibo sprite for finishing them. I'm still a little frustrated that there's not that many people playing new levels, but it's not enough to make me feel like putting the game down.
3. Hearthstone - I'm not winning quite as much as I was in the first few days of the Old Gods expansion, and I'm slipping behind on cards and the meta again. Still I have a lot of fun for a game I'm not good at (and I get a lot of joy out of the games I do win).
4. Chrono Trigger - I'm still touring my SNES collection and after Final Fantasy VI (3) this is the natural next place to go. I think my replay has convinced me that this is my favourite game of all time. 
   
   

   

   GameFAQs user MK8

   It feels beautifully choreographed, every fight and every conversation is placed in just the right place, and it feels like people worked very carefully on how players experience the game. Compared to how drawn out and unfocused Final Fantasy VI felt it's a real breath of fresh air.
5. Mario Golf: World Tour - Wanna play nine holes over lunch? Over the years I've played hours and hours of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and while I've never been an expert at it, it's up there on my list of favourite games (and probably the number one reason I turn the game cube). Even though it's been around for a while I didn't get Mario Golf: World Tour (on the 3DS) until last summer and didn't really play it that much until this month.
   
   

   

   GameFAQs user ollist

   
   Since I've been quite busy and trying to stay focused on work, I thought taking a good break at lunch and pulling out the 3DS was a good way to have focused fun. I think I'm even actually learning to be better at the game.

Other than that I haven't played too much worth talking about in April. I've definitely tried to focus a little better on the games that are important to me and play less of the games I have a harder time stopping (hi Mini-metro, although that may just be a natural fade).

Here's my total play time table for April 2016:

And here's my total number of times played:

And here's a chart of what I've played over the month: