Video Games of April 2023

April was pretty quiet in terms of games. I was mostly focused on making stuff and organizing in my own time. Plus watching more stuff, particularily "Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These" since apperently I really like lots of space ships, even if not accompanied by very nuanced stories.

My three games (by play time) for April were:

1. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - I'm still really enjoying Tactics Ogre. I think there's some mechanics I'm still a little fuzzy on, but the game has given me enough resources that I can push through most things.
   
   


2. Hollow Knight - I started a new play though and it's been a nice reminder that I am getting better at the game, however slowly. My other play through is pretty far along, but I'm certainly struggling and I find each time I restart I get a little better and a little more momentum.
   
   


3. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - Vrooom. Honk. Screeech!
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for April:

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

Video Games of March 2023

I played a weirdly low amount this month, but March was pretty busy and I didn't really have the time or energy to pick much up.

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

1. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - I'm continuing to really love this game. I think I've got a pretty good feeling now for how the game works, so the combat is feeling good. The story is also interesting, if a little dark. I'm not sure about playing for other endings, but it's nice to know I can jump in and do that.
   
   


2. Hollow Knight - Still having fun with this too, although definetly finding the edges of my skill. I'd like to find something that gives me the same feelings of motion and control without me needing me to spend so much time learning.
   
   


3. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - Vroom.
   
   



4. Final Fantasy IX - I've been trying to find something to play in the evenings to follow Xenoblade, but as it turns out this was not the month for playing in the evenings. I also found, for having only played the first hour, I'm baffled by how slow the game is. Putting the card game right up front and making it more or less manditory really derails the whole experience.

   I remember the begining of FF IX being really engaging with swashbuckling and adventure, but so far It's a clumsy kid trying to find tickets to a thing and wandering back and forth between 3 scenes. I think it's interesting how you only keep the high points of a lot of games (or at least I do).

   

Here's my total play time chart for March:

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

Video Games of February 2023

 February was pretty busy and I didn't really have much of window to sit down and play something big. Tactics Ogre ended up producing the bite-sized play I mostly was looking for. Towards the end of the month I wanted to play something a little more interactive and responsive and so I started poking Hollow Knight again.

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

1. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - I spent quite a while being foxed by a mission that I just couldn't beat. Then I finally read a walkthrough that suggested I go and grind money by going on a hunt and I've throughly enjoyed myself. Also hopefully made a ton of money to give me the stuff I need to beat the mission I got stuck on. The level cap is a good addition, but it does cut down on the smashing through stuff that sometimes you just want.
   
   
   
   


2. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Replay is going along at a fairly good pace, although the days have been pretty busy so I haven't settled to play much. Pushing through ignoring sidequests really does make the main plot more engaging, and the reduction in weird bad guys who are just hanging out reduces the number of questions about what's going on.
   
   
   
   


3. Hollow Knight - I've now played a lot of Hollow Knight, despite having not finished it ever. This time however I feel like I'm finally getting good enough to really get somewhere. I've been replaying the last 10 hours or so and now I'm finally setting out into the unknown again.
   
   
   
   


4. Sea of Stars (Demo) - Sea of Stars certainly looks like Chrono Trigger if it was made in the year 2023. I wasn't sure if it was an honestly good game or just something satirical (which I've had the impression that Messenger - the dev's previous game - is), but while the demo was definitely fourth wall breaking the rest of the game felt pretty good and it seems like the game itself is going to be fun to play. The RGB "puzzle" was a really neat inclusion.
   
   
   
   


5. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - Vroom vroom.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for February:

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

Video Games of September 2022

October has been a wild month, so I'll be honest that I don't really remember what my thoughts were about games back in September. That being said, September was definitely dedicated to Xenoblade 3, so really there's not to say anyway.

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

1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Back in August I mentioned how much I find characters to be the thing that ties to me a story and honestly the characters in Xenoblad 3 haver really hooked me. Eunie's the boss and Sena needs you to remember to use your mouth-words.
   
   


2. Hollow Knight - I've enjoyed messing around with Hollow Knight. I feel a bit like I may need to "git good" to really get everything out of it, but honestly, just wandering through Hollownest is a lot of fun.
   
   


3. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - As always; Push button, go fast, shiny colours.
   
   


4. Triangle Strategy - It's maybe not fair, but my quest to get the "good ending" is getting hung up on the game being just hard enough to require me to pay attention and my general irritation at how slow the game is.
   
   


5. Super Mario World (Nintendo Switch Online) - I've really been looking for quick games I can quickly play and which feel really good. SNES games don't *quite* feel like that for the most part, but Mario World is maybe the best.
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for September:

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

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:

Games of July 2022

Time is funny. When I play Eastward, it bends all of my expectation of time and I'm perpetually surprised at how little I played it. When I play Loop Hero it seems to go the other way and I feel like I played for a few minutes when an hour has passed.

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

1. Loop Hero - Loop Hero is pretty good. I'm not sure I'd have started playing it, but a few people online swore by it and it wandered past me when I was buying stuff on the Nintendo eShop. (I still need to fix my PC). It's a mix of RPG and Rogue-like and NES throwback nostalgia bait, but at it's heart it has a lot of interesting ideas and the game play is really compelling.

   

   I'm reminded of a short story Navigators by Mike Meginnis, which I listened to LeVar Burton read on his podcast. The stories aren't exactly similar, but there's something about the stories that we wove into games on the NES or Atari where we filled in a certain dark richness. Loop Hero puts that up front and I guess follows a trend for gothic themes right now. (Still waiting on Nona the Ninth.)
   
   



2. Hollow Knight - I really love the feeling of getting better as I keep playing Hollow Knight. I also really enjoy the depth of the story told in the game and shape of it in general.
   
   
   



3. Eastward - Eastward is a very good game. I pushed through to complete it and I'm really glad I did. As I've said I'm fascinated by how dense it is. I feel like I played significantly more Eastward than I did Loop Hero or Hollow Knight, but as you can see I didn't play that much. The story is good, if a little convoluted, but the characters really stand out. If you like the idea of a slightly dark adventure with good people in the style of earthbound, then I think you'll like this game.

   

   The combat feels like it's just on the verge of being really interesting. Even though it felt good to play, I found it to be a little limited, but I think there where quite a few things I didn't really understand how to use properly. When I finished the game, I wanted to play it again right away to really get good at the combat.

   
   
   


4. Triangle Strategy - I'm very slowly trying to work my way through to the "Good Ending". I'm disappointed that the game is so slow and the story ends up being rather frustrating (or maybe dull). The actual tactical game play is fantastic and I think the voting mechanic is really interesting. It's another really good game, but it's hard to play and doesn't pay off as well as some others.
   
   
   


5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I don't know why this is on the list again, but here it is. I guess I'll say it's possibly the easiest game to pick up and play.
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for July:

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

Video Games of June 2022

I like that in the chart of how much I've played, you can see the exact moment my brain released it's clamp on Dragon Quest Builders 2. Now that I can look around again I'm trying to get back to playing more games.

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

1. Dragon Quest Builders 2 - Playing in free-mode, after the story's finished hasn't been as compelling as the story mode, even though I found the story mode kept getting in the way of playing the game. I think this will settle in to be something I play every once in a while, but I also don't think I have the patience to build anything like the things I see in pictures from other players.
   
   


2. Mario Strikers: Battle League - I've always had a complicated relationship with the Mario sports games, aside from golf, and I've also found that the Switch Mario sports games have been just a little shy of the personality and interesting game play that I'd like them to have. Battle League feels like it's sitting right at the cross of these two problems, it's pretty hard and not that interesting. Playing with other people might help with that, but the league structure doesn't feel like it's working and I got my ass seriously kicked in the one online game I played.
   
   


3. Hollow Knight - It's been nice to pick Hollow Knight up again and I'm surprised how much better I am at it than I was when I first started. I've been enjoying the feeling of motion and freedom.
   
   


4. Mario Golf: Super Rush - As always, Super Rush tends to be my lunch break game when working from home. I'm enjoying that it seems to still have interesting things for me to get better at, even if it still feels a touch bland just like the other Switch Mario Sports games.
   


5. Eastward - If you asked me, without looking it up, I'd say I played almost as much Eastward as I have DQB2. It's a very dense and intense game and it feels like every moment you play is important and interesting.
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for June:

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

Video Games of February 2022

 

February was a weird. I mean, there was a lot weird in February, but particularly I lost that happiness and flexibility about playing that I was feeling in January. So I mostly played comfort games and at least I managed to be a little productive in the other areas of my life. I'm still not feeling right, but hopefully I'll get a little spark back before too long.

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

1. Ogre Battle 64 - It's been a little bit since the last time I played, but on Axe of the Blood God they've been talking lots of strategy games lately and I jumped back in. Also it snowed. Are you surprised?
   
   
   
   
   I tend to feel a little defensive about Ogre Battle, and it still has a lot of features that aren't as polished as they could be. This play through I'm trying to play a style that's a little different than what I usually do and seeing the game from that different perspective has showed me quite a few elements that are pretty cool. Also I kicked off the vampire story line by accident, so that was fun.
   
   


2. Hollow Knight - This game is pretty great. The more I play the more impressed I am and the better I get. 
   
   
   


3. Eastward - I've continued to play Eastward, and enjoyed it a lot. The dark Earthbound / Mother 3 vibes are strong and that leaves me feeling hesitant to invest in the characters or the world. I'm also finding that there's a bit of padding in the section in the 3rd town I'm in now, which makes me want to play a little less, but I'm sure I'll pick it back up.
   
   
   


4. Triangle Strategy - I'm sure part of the reason they're talking about strategy games on Axe of the Blood God is the forthcoming release of Triangle Strategy. Along with Ogre Battle, I loved Final Fantasy Tactics (made by some of the same people). It's a broken game with a lot of weird jankiness, but there's just something that is deeply satisfying about moving pixel characters across an isometric grid and getting to watch attack each other with cool animations.
   
   
   
   
   The little bit they give you to play in the demo for Triangle Strategy felt like it honoured a lot of that history, but have some good modern design. The demo does seem to have some technical flaws, but overall I'm pretty excited to play the full game later this week.
   
   Stephen Georg put out a tweet, transposing the name to "Strangle Tragedy" and that has stuck with me hard. Also it feels like it may be a synopsis of the plot to come...
   
   


5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I wanted to find something simple but fulfilling to play and I couldn't figure out what I wanted. Out of a bit of desperation I put Breath of the Wild in, spent a few minutes feeling like it wasn't as good as the remake of Skyward Sword, but after that, I was back in and I still think this is my favourite game. 
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for February:

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

Games of January 2022

Recently, I've been too worried about finishing games and trying to focus on what I play. I'm trying now to play as much and as broadly as I can. I've played 14 games in January and I feel really good about it. Honestly, this month has felt like one of the months I've been happiest and excited about the games I play. It's been great to pick up whatever game feels like it best fits the moment. I've found a new space in my heart for Mario Golf, space for Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 and a bunch of other games too.

I wanted to talk a bit Super Mario Party, even though it isn't in my top five below. My partner and I played a game one Saturday night and we really enjoyed ourselves. I originally picked up Super Mario Party to defend against the threat of niblings who might wonder why Uncle TJ has so many video games that they can't play, and then it's basically sat on the shelf ever since. We often end up playing single player games beside each other and I thought it might be fun to actually do something together. Super Mario Party filled that gap for us pretty well (and really it's the first video game we've played together since we gave up on Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival). I see why people have enjoyed Mario Party All Stars more, I'm really glad we played.

I played a little bit of Legend of Mana on the Switch, which I'm still not sure how I feel about exactly. I'll play more, but I'm reminded of how disappointed I was when I first played this. It has a very "unstory" story and the combat feels very odd - although now having played the intermediary step of Trials of Mana it makes more sense. It looks beautiful, but I'm a little unsure about the decision to upres the backgrounds, but leave the character sprites original.

Another game I wanted to talk about was Actraiser: Renaissance. I didn't get in to the original Actraiser on SNES - despite loving Quintet's other games - because as far as I could see it wasn't a great city builder and I didn't like the idea of the platforming parts. Unfortunately, Renaissance seems to also not be a good city builder and I thought the platforming was awful. I picked it up because I watched ProtonJon play a chunk of it, since he thought it had too much city building in it, it might appeal. It didn't. Also, unlike Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - which we'll discuss momentarily, this game makes incredibly loquacious NPCs an absolute frustration and nightmare. 

Or perhaps I mean, "Oh, dearest, most venerable Lord, the people of this land which you so lovingly watch over, love you and and are so pleased to venerate you at this alter which you placed in a most advantageous position in our settlement and while so venerating, beg your assistance, oh Lord, to dispatch the vile monsters which do so plague our settlement, which you so lovingly..." *cough, cough, cough* I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me there. I'm glad I picked this up in the hopes that it brings Illusion of Gaia and the Turbo trilogy to light, but I can't say it's "good".

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

1. Hollow Knight - Dan Floyd from Playframe, loves this game and came to love this game over the course of his Let's Play. I'd been thinking I should at least try it out and honestly it's been a great part of my new play to play more games. It's been a bit of a struggle, but I went back and restarted after hitting a bit of a wall and I'm really impressed with how much better I am than when I first started. This is an outstanding Metroidvania and I am really enjoying it.
   
   
   


2. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - So, Skyward Sword was the very first game I really wrote about on the this blog. I was feeling silly having bought it again for the switch, since my Wii U is *right there*, but honestly I'm glad I picked it up again. It's a lot of fun and it's pretty and relaxing. (Hollow knight has been pretty in its own way, but in no way has it been relaxing.) I've always liked Skyward Sword - in fact it was my favourite Zelda when it came out - and honestly the HD remake has felt great. It has a few flaws, and the motion controls are not ... seamless, but it's a good time.
   
   
   


3. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - I'm pretty good at Tetris. I'm terrible at Puyo Puyo. I'm in love with this game. The original idea seemed a little dumb to me and I'd been avoiding this and the original Puyo Puyo Tetris since I don't really engage with multiplayer games that much. That was dumb and I am so happy I bought this game. There's way more than enough single player content for me here and the game actually does a reasonable job of teaching you, if for some reason you're only good at one of Tetris or Puyo Puyo.
   
   
   
   
   But the game play isn't what I'm here to talk about. This game has a dumb story. It's a game with 3 - 5 minutes of cut scene dialog before and after each level. The characters talk *a lot*. I'm here for it. I don't know why, but between the writing team and the localization team I'm grinning from ear to ear between levels because it's all so profoundly dumb. Nothing makes sense, no one makes sense and I am damned well here for it.
   
   


4. Mario Golf: Super Rush - I wasn't too happy with this game when I wrote up my end of the year thoughts. Pretty good, but lacking content and soul. I was wrong.
   
   
   
   
   I was wrong about the content anyway, they've introduced a lot of new courses and a few new modes and honestly there's a lot to really enjoy about this game. They also fixed their online mode so that it's not misserable to play - although the netcode is still a little bit janky. I've really enjoyed Mario Golf this month and it's been the perfect thing to pick up for 20 minutes. It's *still* a little short on soul, but honestly I don't mind any more.
   
   


5. Eastward - I've played about four and a half hours of Easward. I *feel* like I've played 20. I don't really know how to describe Eastward. It's an action RPG set in the post apocalypse (I think). It's an homage to 90s games and a pastiche of Earthbound. It's very upbeat while leaving my heart clenched that terrible things are going to happen. It's beautiful pixel art of an ugly world. I'm excited to keep playing and I'm really glad my current outlook on games makes it easier to digest each bit as I play.
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for January:

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