Blog: Video Games of April 2017

April was pretty much dedicated to Breath of the Wild. I played other stuff pretty much either to give myself a palate cleanse or because I was somewhere where I couldn't play (I played BotW on the WiiU). I haven't really dedicated such a long period of time to a game before (at least intentionally) and it was interesting to get immersed that way. There were definitely times where I felt like it was too much, and it did cut down on how much sleep I was getting but overall it was a fun month.


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

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - In short, I spent sixty hours playing Breath of the Wild and I'm not sure I spent enough time playing Breath of the Wild. There is so much game there and so much purity of fun that I'll be back before too long. At this point I've played 110 hours of that game in total and it's one of the best gaming experiences I've had. I'm not sure it's one of the best games, but I'll talk about that later. For the time being I'm waiting for a little bit until I feel like it's time to pick it up again. 
   
   
2. Hearthstone - I'm not sure what's up with the current state of Hearthstone, but I'm really enjoying it at the moment. (And I'm still not any good at it, but I'm really enjoying it). I do think Blizzard perked up the competitive game and for us scrubs at the bottom of the ladder, I'm seeing a pretty even split between classes.
   
   
   
   


3. Marvel Puzzle Quest - It's a game! On a bus! And it's fun!
   
   
   
   


4. Fire Emblem: Awakening - I like my RPGs on the TV and so Awakening makes me kinda sad. For some reason even if I'm sitting in my game playing chair the 3DS still just doesn't feel quite right. Other than that I think it's a pretty good game with a lot of nice features added to the classic formula. (Although it's still freaking hard.)
   

   

   From GameFAQs user MasterBass



5. Xenonauts - XCOM, real XCOM, is a great game. Xenonauts is a faithful recreation with a modern make over. It has a lot of the charm of the original and it is cleaned up some, but it also feels like some of the faults in the original were also recreated. There are a few spots where the game just feels really devoid of fun or interest. On the other hand there are plenty of times where it's a lot of fun and well designed. (Also it's quite freaking hard, I just seem to suck at a lot of genres that I love.)
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time for April:

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

Blog: Video Games of March 2017

Breath of the Wild hit in March. It's good. Like really outstandingly one of the best games of all time. Somehow I also played some other games, but really it was in an effort to get back to Zelda.

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

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The fact of the matter is that any time a new Zelda game comes out, it's extremely likely to be the game I played the most that month. So you shouldn't be too surprised that I played 40+ hours of Breath of the Wild, but even then you'd be underestimating just how really good Breath of the Wild is.
   
   
   It's so good that, really, I don't want to say too much about it because the more you discover on your own as you play it the better it will be. The game is intended to refresh that childhood sense of going on an adventure and it does it beautifully, taking you on a truly epic journey through the Land of Hyrule. Each time you see a new vista you get a chance to see a new amazing thing in the world, and the game constantly takes your breath away.
   
   If you can get your Hands on Breath of the Wild, play it, as soon as you can. You will be well rewarded
2. Marvel Puzzle Quest - As usual, I've mostly checked in on MPQ when I've been on the bus, play for 20 or so minutes. The game is still great and I definitely miss when I haven't played for a day and it's certainly something to do while you're getting back to Hyrule.
   
   
   
3. Hearthstone - Again I haven't played too much Hearthstone and largely when I've needed a break between jobs or on the odd occasion when I couldn't get back to Hyrule.
   
   
   



4. Pharaoh - I like city walker games, and this one especially. It's also a game with a lot of nostalgia and coming back to it years later I'm enjoying being actually good at it. It definitely has some flaws and could stand for a modern recreation, but it's still great. ... and I played it at least partly so that I didn't burn out on Hyrule.
   

   

   From - GameFAQs User yutjrtf76

   
   
5. Mario Golf: World Tour - Mario Golf is great. I play it at lunch. I tell you this a lot. You know what the world needs: Breath of the Wild Golf. Get on it Nintendo. Meanwhile ... Hyrule.
   

   

   From IGN

Here's my total play time for March 2017:

And here's my play time chart:

Blog: Video Games of February 2017

February was a pretty unfocused month for games for me. I played a bunch of stuff, but definitely didn't have a dominant theme and I think that shows in that a lot of the easy, short play time games are at the top of the list again.

My top five games (by play time) for February 2017 were:

1. Marvel Puzzle Quest - Again a little bit each day put MPQ up at the top of my list. As always it's lots of fun, it's easy to play and it makes playing for 5-15 minutes a day pretty rewarding or playing for a couple of hours too.
   
2. Kerbal Space Program - I think I largely got back into KSP, because I keep some screen shots from the last time I played in my PC wall paper. There's just something about looking at some of the cool space ships of my past and thinking, I should play more. I played quite a bit back in 2012, but never really got to landing on other planets or building crazy interplanetary-ships and it all just kinda built up.
   
   
   It's a bit interesting since it's been a long time since I played, a lot of things have changed. It's taken a little bit to pick up again, but generally I've had a lot of fun with it.


3. Hearthstone - As with MPQ, I've been playing a little bit of Hearthstone at a time, but it's built up. (It also took over "lunchtime game" for me this month.) I'm feeling at a pretty good spot, I didn't get that many cards from the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan expansion, but it seems that they aren't too critical to (my part of) the current meta. Also I still love my Paladin Murloc deck and overwhelming people with Murlocs just makes me happy some days.
   
   


4. Earthbound - I'm still enjoying Earthbound, but it's a touch tough to get started playing some times. It's a little bit slow (ala all SNES RPGs) and it can be kinda hard sometimes. Still, every time I play, I feel rewarded. And Mato's Earthbound book is still really great (so I have to keep playing).
   
   


5. Rimworld - Rimworld is ok. It's even getting a little better than it was last year. It's also still in pre-release, so the fact that it's any fun at all (which it is) is fine. The problem with Dwarf Fortress-likes is that they tend to suffer from a lack of depth. With Dwarf Fortress it might take you two or three months to learn how to farm but once you do and you can reliably not kill all your dwarves (by starvation) then there's plenty of other things to turn your mind to (and an incredibly deep (literally) world to explore).
   
   
   Rimworld has a number of complex interacting systems, but it doesn't seem to really take them anywhere. I think the different types of "game narrator" AI will help with that, but the world still feel constricted to me and I'm not sure why I want to build a settlement.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for February:

And here's my play chart for the month:

Blog: Video Games of January 2017

I wasn't sure that I wanted to keep tracking the games I played in 2017. Still, in the early days of the month it was hard to stop tracking and it's kinda fun to see the graphs and totals build. So I kept on tracking and now I seem to have tracked what I played in the month of January.

January was a month where I didn't have a strong drive to play anything, so my play spread over a few games.

My top five games (by play time) for January 2017 were:

1. Marvel Puzzle Quest - For a game I usually play for less than half-an-hour a day, it's a little surprising that this is my post played game of the month. That being said a few minutes a day builds up over time and between time spent commuting on the bus and a few quite minutes in the office here and there it's been really easy to play.
   
   
   As I said before they do a good job of keeping the game interesting and updated and every time I play I feel rewarded (even without putting in money) and for a very simple game it's continually interesting and fun to play.


2. EarthBound - I started playing this in December (thanks to the WiiU Virtual Console) as part of my SNES Nostalgia. That being said, as you might know from a few other posts, I never played EarthBound as a kid. Who want's to play a game that stinks ... or an RPG that doesn't have swords in it (yeah I was a dumb kid).
   
   
   I think though, that this is a game well arrived at as an adult who has played games for a long time. It has a lot of concepts that really resonate more as an adult than it ever could have as a kid.
   
   I've also been motivating myself to play so that I can read the Legends of Localization: EarthBound book without spoiling myself. The book is a fantastic look at video game localization and I highly recommend it and the first volume in the series.


3. Civilization VI - Civ VI doesn't grab me as much as I think it should. It also doesn't really have the "one more turn" hold that I remember other games in the series having. It may be that I just haven't hit the right mindset or that unupdated with DLC Civ VI is still a little thin on material. I am enjoying it, and it still reminds me of the good-old-days playing Civ, but it doesn't really give me good days playing Civ right now.
   
   


4. Recettear - This game is weird. It's not that well produced, although not terrible and it turns out that the best way to play it is to ignore one of its main mechanics. Still, playing the RPG shop keeper is pretty fun. It could be way more in depth or dynamic, but it's still sufficiently fun to play that I've really enjoyed pulling it out to play.
   
   


5. Mario Golf: World Tour - Other than MPQ, Mario Golf remains my in office, lunch hour break game (you can't play it on the bus, you need to be more precise). It has great tactillity and it's really satisfying to play when you're playing well (and super frustrating when you're playing badly). I feel like it could have a deeper online experience (or a better explanation of the online experience) and I wish it had a little bit more of the Game Cube's course design. It's really enjoyable in short bursts.
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for January 2017:

And here's the total times I've played over the month: