Blog: Books Read in 2019

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Blog: Video Games of December 2018

I was super busy for the bulk of December, but I enjoyed what I played and I feel set up to take 2019 on in style.


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

1. Civilization VI - Two months in a row at number one. I guess the game is ok. I think accepting that I'm just not a hard Civ player has really let me love the game as it is.
   
   

   

   Think of the launch filming parties!

   
   


2. Fire Emblem Awakening - I'm not exactly sure why I started playing this, but I did figure it would be something to play during Christmas, especially when I wasn't going to be near my PC or TV. As it turns out I got really hooked and I think this game is quite good.
   
   
   
   via GIPHY
   
   I get bogged down playing Fire Emblem because I won't ever let anyone die, so there are a lot of levels where I'll play for an hour and then reset because I messed something up. Being able to play without losing my fighters each time has been a real relief. That said I'm finding the running a bit hard in the later(?) levels of the game, but it's been a blast.


3. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - A whole year, we still love it and we're still playing.
   
   

   

   Two very dapper players.



4. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - We're not talking about it.
   
   

   

   Yes, yes this is a very old picture. But hey, Link likes that rubber suit.



5. Pokémon Go - I felt a bit like this Christmas wasn't nearly as interesting as years past, but as always fun to play.
   
   

   

   Daaaw, it's cute and pretending to be rare!

Here's my total play time chart for December:

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

Blog: Books Read in 2019

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Good Reads

Blog: 2018 in Games

Well three times means I mean it, I guess. I’ve now managed to track every game I’ve played (more or less) over the last three years. I’m enjoying the tracking, and I think, generally I’ve been a little more mindful when playing. I’m looking forward to 2019 when my thesis is finished, and I can open up what I’m playing.

This post is a wrap up of 2018, including a look at what I’ve played, what I’ve enjoyed and some thoughts about games I had this year.

Top Games by Time Played

In total I’ve played 42 different games in 2018 and played for a total of 568 hours. The game I played the least was Dragon Fly! on my phone. Mini Metro was in the middle of my pack at just above 3 hours and for the second year running, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was my most played game at 87 hours.

By play time, my top 10 games of 2018 were:

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 87
• Paper Mario: Color Splash - 55
• Civilization VI - 53
• Stardew Valley - 50
• Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - 49
• Pokémon Go - 47
• Europa Universalis 4 - 32
• Final Fantasy XII - 27
• Into The Breach - 25
• Mario Golf: World Tour - 20

I'm interested that compared to last year I definitely played more games. Although that might be that I got stuck in Breath of the Wild. So I played elsewhere a little more than I might have. On the other hand it’s interesting that I’ve still played more than 80 hours bringing me to 302 hours played total (with only the last 40 being me vs the stupid master sword challenge lizalfos). I love that game deeply, and even though at this point there are bits that ring a little hollower than I’d love, it’s still an incredible game.

A lot of the other playing hasn’t been as intentional I’d hoped. I played Color Splash and FFXII mostly as games to relax at the end of the day, but I do know what I’m playing and they’re not quite what I’d hoped for. Also every time I play a Final Fantasy game it drops in my esteem, FFXII is hella slow and my attempt to lean into that has not been as successful as I hoped (he said 27 hours later).

Civ VI and EU 4 were also not as intentional as I hoped, mostly played when my brain wasn’t interested in doing much else (even when there was much else to do) . In 2019, I want to get a handle on that and enjoy them significantly more. I stopped playing Stardew, because I didn’t want to play it the way I was playing Civ and EU 4, and hopefully Mindfullness 2019 (™) will push me back that way as well (although it also deserves a slow drip so you don’t push too hard into the virtual part of the world).

Amiibo Fest is great and part of my weekend ritual. PoGo is also a staple and even a motivation to … actually go outside (results less effective while cold). 

Top Games by My Rating

This year my favourite games were (in alphabetical order):

• Earthbound
• Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Stardew Valley
• Tetris
• Sunless Sea

As always I don’t look back at my scores from previous years, so this is a subjective view from late 2018. Looking back now I notice that Pikmin 3 dropped a little, but I’m also just mostly hoping that we get a new one. Bastion and Rakuen also weren’t included, but that’s because I didn’t play them this year. Tetris is a new addition, but, seriously, Tetris is good (I’m going to have to try to hunt down Tetris Effect in 2019).

Thoughts

I play games for a lot of reasons. I like to play games for the experience, for the art, for the escape and for the fun. 2018 was not the best year for me in general. I was very stressed and think I really didn’t do a great job of getting myself to the places I wanted to be, in a lot of different ways.

A lot of the games I played were much more for the escape than for anything else. That’s okay, but I’d rather be able to play for a lot of different reasons, rather than just that my brain is too tired to do much else. I liked all of the games in my top 10, to be clear, but a lot of them are good without being outstanding.

I didn’t buy games in 2018, and [as I already mentioned], I didn’t even play a lot of games released in 2018. I have to say that, while I feel like there are a lot of very good games, there aren’t a huge number of games that I really want to go back and play from this year. Celeste sticks in my mind, as do Dragon Quest XI and Octopath Traveler (and Tetris Effect I suppose).

I hope that in 2019 I’m able to play more and play for more reasons. There are a lot of games I’m looking forward to catching up on and I’m also excited to catch up on the Switch (and maybe the PS4) and to dive into a ton of really great games … or maybe I’ll just play the new Animal Crossing all year.