Blog: Games of September 2020

September was fairly unremarkable. I've focused on a few games as I've been busy teaching and working on some of the other projects I want to get done.

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

1. XCOM: Chimera Squad - I've really been enjoying Chimera Squad. It's got a lot of replayability, with enough differences between the characters to make every mission interesting. Honestly I'd love to see a few more investigations to take on, since this has been a ton of fun to play.
   
   


2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Didn't play quite as much as I have been. Between being busy with work and trying to get more other things done I've been spending less time on my island. I've also been increasingly disappointed with how little there is to do. 
   
   


3. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - This game is so, so good. I started playing again because my partner bought a copy for the switch (inspired a bit by all the time we've now spent yelling at Stephen & Mal). She's been playing and enjoying it and I wanted in on the fun. I'm over 300 hours in at this point and I'm still finding new things. The switch version feels a little better than the Wii U, but generally this is such a well put together game.
   
   


4. Cities: Skylines - Not a game I played a ton of, but being back to work my numbers are a little more focused then they are during the summer. Still I've been watching All the Stations, and I got excited to make myself a city with a really good rail network.
   
   


5. Golf Story - I think the replayability of this game is really good, I just haven't picked it up that much. It could also use the ability to bring your story mode character into the pick-up and play sessions.
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for September:

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

Blog: Games of May 2018

I played some stuff I really enjoyed in May, but also felt really unsettled about where I wanted to put my play time. I also found that when I did have time to play, I often didn't have anything I wanted to sit down and play. Also, I often found myself playing things when I really should have been focused elsewhere. So I'm trying to be more mindful again, and to take time to enjoy games after taking time to - you know - get excited and get stuff done.

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

1. Paper Mario: Color Splash - I was hoping to find something new to play when I needed an evening off. I've never actually played a Paper Mario game (I thought it was dumb to have a "2-D" game on the N64, but I had a lot of dumb thoughts back then). I've found Color Splash to be interesting, the world and the characterization are great (as is the dialog), the game play mechanics are pretty good, but the boss fights are really bad and the game is bad about respecting the time you put into it. I will say it's extremely charming and I'll enjoy finishing it.
   
   

   

   The Princess and her fixer.

2. Stardew Valley - As I often do, I've been starting days in May playing a day or two of Stardew Valley. As always, it's a relaxing and gently consuming game.
   
   

   

   A good day on the farm.



3. Cities: Skylines - I drifted back into to Skylines a bit with the Park DLC coming out (although I haven't actually picked it up yet). I enjoy the city building, but I keep kinda feeling unsatisfied a bit when I play. Still very good and very worth poking from time to time.
   
   

   

   The University District.



4. Civilization VI - As I said, May may just have been not the right month for me to really get into and enjoy anything. I played some Civ VI, but I'm finding that my mindset isn't right either to stick it out for the long term, and also to play well the way the game expects (and granted I haven't picked up the DLC for this either).
   
   

   

   So what we built the Hagia Sophia in the tundra.



5. Europa Universalis IV - While I haven't been playing it a ton, I have been enjoying EU4 quite a bit. I like the new mission system they've added in, and this particular play through I feel like I've managed to do a much better job understanding how the game wants me to play to really get the most out of it.
   
   

   

   The center of everything (but the outsides are mighty big).

Here's my total play time chart for May:

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

Blog: Video Games of September 2017

Well, it finally happened. I played something more than Breath of the Wild. Generally nothing grabbed me too much again in September so I tended to default to some basic choices. I did try to keep my streaks up in Pokemon Go, but other than that I didn't feel too attached to anything.


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

1. Civilization 6 - I figured at some point I'd sit down and spend more time with this game. As I think I've commented before, much as I like strategy games I'm never that good at them. I feel like Civ 6 is a bit more open to how you play, although it remains a little bit bland if I set the difficulty low enough to play well. And of course much as I did enjoy it, it managed to get to the top of the list through a couple of "just one more turn" nights.
   
   

   

   I am the mightiest (and only) navel power in the world and yet I can't keep the barbarians off my shores. 

   
   
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Still awesome. I'm still discovering new things. I'm still having fun. I'd like a little bit more story at this point, but I guess we'll be getting that before too long now.
   
   

   

   I was just standing here and then suddenly realized how beautiful this looked.

   
   


3. Kingdom Rush HD - My love of strategy games has a strong component of loving tower defense. Kingdom Rush is one of the best although (as noted above) I suck at it more than I probably should for how much I play it.
   
   

   

   The standard state of any Kingdom Rush game for me.

   
   


4. Pokemon Go - A few minutes a day keeps a game up on the list. Sadly I didn't really get time to deep dive too much on PoGo, but keeping my streaks alive was enough to get me logged in most days.
   
   

   

   His name is Tiny.

   
   


5. Cities:Skylines - I do like city building. But, I also like pretty pictures of video games. I keep a rotating selection as my desktop, and, more than anything else looking at those pictures makes me play Cities:Skylines so I can go get more pictures.
   
   
   

   

   The roads are quiet this late at night.

Here's my total play time chart for September:

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

Blog: Video Games of of July 2017

July was a really busy month and so I didn't play too much, making it quite boring. My PC was also in pieces for most of the month so I was mostly down to console games. DLC 1 for Breath of the Wild also came out, so, you know, I mostly played that.

My top six games (by play time) for July were:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Master Mode has breathed (pun sorta intended) a whole new games worth of play into Breath of the Wild. Another 30 hours played this month and I'm still loving it.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Mario Kart 8 - Really in a different category at only 3 and a bit hours played, but still a lot of fun.




3. Pokemon Go - Between the update and it being summer, it's been fun to haul this out again.





4. Cities: Skylines - I've been hoping to start making cooler cities. Everything I make tends to come out a little bit boxy. So I've been trying to think a little more creatively and make some neater places.


5. Marvel Puzzle Quest and Mario Golf: World Tour - A bit of an odd tie at just over an hour, both of the games I tend to play on breaks in the office. Either way, more fun playing two games which seem to show up here quite a bit.

Here's my total play time chart for July: 

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

Blog: Video Games of May 2017

I finished Breath of the Wild, and then I had to figure out what people do with their time when they aren't running across Hyrule. Apparently there are ... other games. In the end I played a bunch of stuff and was pretty happy even if there wasn't anything that took up all of the time.

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

1. Hearthstone - I managed to play quite a bit of Hearthstone in half hour chunks in May. As always I'm enjoying it and possibly even getting very, very slightly better. I think the current state of the game is doing well in the "interesting choice" world of gameplay.
   


2. Cities: Skylines - This is a great game and Colossal Order keep making it better. The new Transportation oriented DLC and patch have fixed some of the stuff that bugged me and I've really been enjoying playing again the last little while.
   


3. Mario Kart 8 - Between needing something not too heavy to play on the Wii U and the talk of Mario Kart 8 on the switch, I jumped back into Mario Kart. It's been fun and I've actually been improving a bit.
   


4. Rakuen - I'm working on a post about Rakuen, but I was really happy that Laura Shigihara's game has finally come out and so I wanted to play it right away. I didn't manage to 100% it so I'll have to play it again at some point, but this is a game that's really worth taking some time to play.
   


5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I finished Breath of the Wild at the very beginning of the month. And then having played for two solid months I needed a break. I managed to play another few minutes later in the month, but I'm definitely going to need some time before I put in another 100 hours. I think I'll wait for the first DLC and see how that goes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for May:

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

Blog: Video Games of July 2016

I spent a lot of July recovering from May and June and I definitely got a bit more time to play. I was also still quite busy for the early parts of the month. Generally I tried to play games to give me a bit more focused fun, aaaand I also played a lot of Pokemon Go.

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

1. XCOM 2 - I dunno. It just eats time without me even noticing really. I also started to accept that even when I'm not actually having a lot of success playing, getting a team out to fight a level or two is pretty fun. That also lead me to tryout some Invisible Inc (which I also quite liked).
   

   

   My first ever total party wipe.

2. Pokémon Go - So Pokémon Go has changed a lot since it first came out and I started playing it before it even officially launched in Canada. While a lot of people have said a lot about the game, it's a huge amount of fun and in the early days seeing people crowding together in groups to play. I think it really delivered on the promise of creating a Pokémon adventure in the real world.
   

   

   A Pokécrowd. 



3. Chrono Trigger - I'm pretty sure that Chrono Trigger is my favourite game of all time (top 3 for sure) and so once I was finished with my first course it was nice to be able to sit down and play it for a while (even if it wasn't all that much). I got most of the way through the main game (it's shorter than I remember) and then stopped waiting for the "perfect time" to finish the game.
   
   
   


4. Cities: Skylines - Hey have I mentioned that I really like building cities? I really like building cities. And Cities: Skylines is a great way to build cities. I didn't play all that much, but I really enjoy all of the phases of city building (although I do tend to get a little board in the later ones and keep starting over). This game is great, really well designed and well executed. It's a huge amount of fun if you want to play a city builder (and they keep adding really cool things too).
   

   

   Golden Hour



5. Civilization V - I was not ready to wait until October for Civilization VI, so I played Civ V instead. It's a lot of fun, but ... it's time to move on.
   
   
   
   

   

   I can't remember why I have a city in the middle of the bay, but I do!

Here's my total play time chart for July:

And here's my total number of times played:

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