Blog: Games of February 2018

February was another month of gaming where I played mostly for the quiet and the stress relief. I haven't really had a game I've wanted to sink my teeth/time into, but that's ok.


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

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I have to say trying to do my 100% run and my master mode run at the same time might not have been the most ... efficient way to play. Though as I keep saying, the amount of depth and detail is amazing. Everywhere I look I can see that someone has taken the time to make it special.
   
   

   

   How did they not manage to include a photo mode in this game?



2. Stardew Valley - Speaking of special, Stardew Valley has been the place I go to when I need to get away. You're character in game escapes the work-a-day world for the freedom of the farm and the game fills a bit of that in real life too.
   
   

   

   Spring in Stardew



3. Earthbound - Earthbound is a bit hard to play. I follow several people on line who love this game, and they have been inspired to create amazing things by this game (and the communities that built up around this game). I see what they loved, but at the same time, it's not the most playable game in 2018. Still, a little bit at a time, I'm filling in this chunk of my missed game history.
   
   

   

   Nothing unusual here!



4. Civilization VI - I picked this up again because I was thinking about it, thanks to the new DLC. I enjoyed Civ VI when it first dropped, but (as I seem to get to keep repeating here) I'm not *good* at it. I keep hoping to find my stride and go back to my Civ II days, but I haven't quite found it yet.
   
   

   

   Tundra Egypt



5. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - This isn't a game about competing. This is a game about relaxing on Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and a loved one. Don't forget to buy your turnips for the week.
   
   

   

   The cutest damn thing in Animal Crossing: Amiibo Fest is the bit where the hosts run around the station to wave good-bye!

Here's my total play time for February:

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

Blog: Games of January 2018

I'm pretty happy with what I played in January. If you've been following for a while I suspect you can guess which games are going to show up in my top five. I've been busy with work and pushing on my thesis so I haven't wanted to game for adventure, instead I've been gaming for relaxation and comfort. At the end of the day I've enjoyed another month of games.
My top five games (by play time) for January were:

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild  - So I'm moving in on the end of my 100% Master Quest play through. I have most of the shrines finished (I think I'm at 97 right now) and most of the side quests done (no idea how many, but a lot). I'm still loving every minute of it. I think this has been the right game for me at the moment, because it has so much depth I've been able to come back to it again and again, which works well with my plan to stay focused on my thesis as much as I can.
   
   

   

   A fine mountain stroll.

   
   
2. Europa Universalis 4  - History talk enevitably brings me back into EU4, as does spending too much time sitting at my desk and cold weather. So I've been back into EU4 trying to rule the world as the Ottomans (and trying not to get crushed but Poland and Austria).
   
   

   

   A fight for Cairo

   
   


3. Stardew Valley - Again on the deep winter gaming tip, I've been playing more Stardew. It's another great game for that regular returning and short play sessions.
   
   

   

   An event in the night.

   
   


4. Ogre Battle 64 - I am ... almost done. I started this play through in November 2016 and I think I'm going to finish my favourite game for the 2nd time. As I've said before I love this game, even though it has some really significant flaws. I think it ties into my theme for the month, it's a comfortable game and one that's easy to come back to time after time.
   
   

   

   A showdown of friends.



5. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - Again good Animal Crossing charm and good friends to play it with.
   
   

   

   A plaza of fun (and dry cats).

   
   

Here's my total play time for January:

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

Blog: Games of December 2017

I didn't get quite as much time to relax into over the holidays as I'd hoped, but I did still get to play a bit of everything.

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

1. Stardew Valley - Stardrew Valley is still beautiful. I wanted something soothing to play while I spent most of my time marking, this fit the bill. It's also nice that it comes in bitesized chunks. I started a new play-though and now Amri is building a very nice farm.
   
   

   

   Welcome to Old Man's Farm

   
   
2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Still deep and I haven't even played any of the DLC story missions yet. I'm about 20 shrines short and my plan now is to finish those and power up the armour as much as I can and then tackle the DLCs.
   
   

   

   Always a new vista.



3. Pokémon Go - A pokéstop a day keeps the streak up and the game going.
   
   

   

   It's a new generation, and a new electric rodent.

   
   
4. Ogre Battle 64 - Cold winter nights and a game that plays itself, what else could you need? Whiskey is a good addition actually.
   
   

   

   This is like the second to last battle in the game and the first one that actually feels tactical.

   
   
5. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - I got this for my friend and I have thoroughly enjoyed Amiibo Fest. If you like Animal Crossing, you might too. It brings a ton of AC charm and is a nice light game, and it has a really nice set of mini-games to play too. (We may have spent a little bit too long dropping cats in to the ocean ... I mean by accident).
   
   

   

   Welcome to Charmingville. Population, however much you're willing to spend on cards.

   
   

Here's my total play time chart for December:

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