Video Games of August 2022

I set out to really invest time in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 this month and did that fairly well. I took a day off just before it got busy and it was nice to pick up something I could just play. Since then I've tried to play an hour or so at the end of the day and I think that's been a good way to play and it's helped me to structure my mind and life.

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

1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - I bought the first Xenoblade Chronicles during "Operation Rainfall" and played a little bit. I bounced off because what was then the MMORPG style didn't appeal and the story didn't really grab me. I ended up watching Chuggaconroy's Let's Play which was really impressive and touching and later I watched his Let's Play of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Neither game was for me, and I bought 3 mostly because it was the big JRPG coming out this year and people really liked it.

   

   As it's turned out, I'm really enjoying it. The story is interesting, I'm enjoying the combat and I love the characters. This year I've realized how much loving the characters in a game or book or show is the real indicator as to whether or not I'll love the media overall. I recognize that with JRPGS it's a matter of when, not if we'll have to fight God to save the universe, but the journey seems like it will be worth it.



2. Loop Hero - Loop Hero has continued to have a lot of interesting moments. I don't think I love the game (I don't love the characters for one thing), but it has a lot of combinations and moments that are engaging. I find generally with rogue likes there's an issue with the difficulty curve feeding the interest curve, but I think Loop Hero really has that nailed down.
   
   


3. Hollow Knight - The more I play the more invested I am in the story of Bug Knight. The developers have done a huge amount of environmental story telling and the difficulty (so far) has been just right to keep me picking it up. Doing a fresh play through I'm able to do so many things I couldn't the first time and the game really rewards taking the time to practice and gain skills.
   
   


4. Triangle Strategy - I'm still chugging along with Triangle Strategy. I hope that this will be there move games following this one, either in the series or out. I think a lot of the things in this could be better, but everything that's in it is good.
   
   


5. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - Push button, go fast, shiny colours; what's not to love? (Actually, I really miss the beautiful specularity that the original game had that seems to be missing from the crazy DLC package, but that's pretty minor over all.)
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for August:

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