Blog: Video Games of October 2018

October was a pretty head-down month. I didn't get as much done as I wanted, and didn't play that much either. I think my goal for November is to build a routine where I'm getting stuff done and enjoying my play time as well.

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

1. Final Fantasy XII - As with last month, I tried to fit Final Fantasy XII in as a "bed time" game of sorts. This worked out fairly well as the game does lack a certain amount of excitement. I've been thinking back to the train scene from the beginning of Final Fantasy VII, because it feels like XII is kinda lacking that kind of spectacle, let alone the character or charm of Final Fantasy VI. It also suffers from severe hero / protagonist dysphoria (which is a fancy term I just made up for the bit where the game is about Ashe and for some reason you keep playing as Van.)
   
   

   

   An now you will be killed by a bird, unless you remembered to do that side quest.



2. Pokémon Go - Baring a bit of snow at the beginning of the month, it's been nice to be out and about picking up stuff. Now I just want to work somewhere with a slightly higher density of pokéstops.
   
   

   

   You are getting sleepy, and pink.



3. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - Friends make the journey, and also working really hard to avoid getting eaten by a large ambulatory jack-o-lantern.
   
   

   

   Winners, but most importantly not eaten. 



4. Paper Mario: Color Splash - I needed more pictures of the game for my post, and so I had to play more. While this game certainly has a lot of issues, it's still a lot of fun to play.
   
   

   

   You're a key, Slightly Grumpy Toad.



5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I'm like a speed runner, but slow, and bad, and kinda unmotivated because the game is hard.
   
   

   

   Who's a good boy? Not Link he's never going to pet that dog.

   
   

Here's my total play time chart for October:

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

Blog: Games of July 2018

I was pretty focused on work and watching football in July, so ended up not playing a lot. Also Dan Floyd started playing Kingdom Hearts, ProJared started playing Illusion of Gaia, and Chuggaconroy started playing  Earthbound, so I've suddenly been watching way more than my usual allotment of Let's Plays. All this reduced the usual amount I play, but I've had a lot of fun with what I've played.

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

1. Paper Mario: Color Splash - I'm 100%ing this game (ish*) and so I've ended up putting quite a bit of time into wandering around and hitting things with hammers, when necessary. I've also been playing with my partner watching for the most part, which has been a lot of fun (plus *someone* gets to see all the jokes).
   
   

   

   My research would have gone way faster if I had a science claw. - Wait no, the other thing. Slower. Much. Much. Slower.

   
   
2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I'm still not good enough at the Master Sword Quest (well technically at fighting a pair of Silver Lizalfos) so I'm still just trying to git good.
   
   

   

   Look, I've been on the Sword Trials for a loooong time now.



3. Mario Golf: World Tour - Playing mostly on lunch. I'm surprised at how oddly they have the unlocks structured, none of the playable characters are available until after you unlock all the courses, and to unlock anything you have to complete some fairly tough challenges to get coins. I'm also a little disappointed that they implemented the club house, but then most of the actual content of the game has to be accessed through the main menu, a little more "role play" might have worked nicely.
   
   

   

   Sniper Luigi - Via Super Mario Wiki



4. Pokémon Go - Uh, yeah. Back on this train. Friends help. So does the rebalance in items. I think they've done really good work on this game recently, and I've really been enjoying this.
   
   

   

   Leveling Up



5. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - Another month, more coffee, Animal Crossing and Chill. The game has 12 months, which changes the events and the length of the game. We've been keeping ourselves to only playing the current month, which keeps the game fresh and fun (and makes us say "We should play one more time while it's still July".)
   
   

   

   Fancy Brother / Sister Game Day

Here's my total play time chart for July:

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

* I've decided not to get all of the cards as that just seems to be a bit more time than I'd like to spend on this game.

Blog: Games of June 2018

I travelled for 10 days in June and that - along with trying to get enough work done to travel - left me playing a little less than I usually do and it *slightly* modified the games we usually see on this list.

My top five games (by play time) for June 2018 were:

1. Mario Golf: World Tour - Between lunches and evenings on the road, I played Mario Golf on my 3DS a bunch. I'm in a state right now where I'm getting pretty good, and really enjoying it. I will say I think there are some weird game design choices for the game surrounding the actual golf, and I'm disappointed in how the spin is managed since you're limited to hitting the touchscreen without really knowing how much spin you have, or need, - as opposed to Toadstool Tour, where you can plot spin and then have to aim while you shoot.
   
   

   

   Fore! Lunch! Road!

2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I've slowed down a lot because I swore to myself that I would finish all of the Master Sword trials. The problem is that, I'm not nearly as good at this game as I probably should be having played almost 280 hours. Anyway, I've spent the last little while trying to git good, and I'm *slowly* improving.
   
   

   

   Gotcha. (Yes, I need to fix my WiiU's Internet)



3. Stardew Valley - Still love playing this in the mornings, although I'm into spring in my third year and as usually the game feels a little like its starting to run low on content. 
   
   

   

   Feast Season.



4. Europa Universalis 4 - Always easy to drop a few hours into EU4. Playing ironman has felt pretty good. My Ottomans are questing to control the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, while not getting crushed by the really large Russians and Polish Commonwealth - or the HRE - or Spain which controls most of France - or Portugal which controls the entire west of Africa. (I really like it when the game goes alt-history).
   
   

   

   Getting a little non-traditional. (Or why is Spain so BIG!?)



5. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - As I've said before, this is a weekend morning game for coffee and chill time. That being said, while some of the actual game mechanics are out of your control (think snakes and ladders), the design and charm of the game really stands out. Also, we've accidentally spent a lot of time dropping cats in to the water in the name of "getting more points".
   
   

   

   We're glad you're hosting Punchy. Sorry about the water thing.

   
   

Here's my total play time chart for June:

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

Blog: Games of April 2018

April was a pretty busy month, so most of my playing was turn off brain time.

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

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 56 hours in 2018, 272 hours in the year and a bit since it came out. I finished all of the shrines, finally and am throwing myself up against the master sword challenge now. My friend and I also had an interesting evening calling all the shrine names to each other (while trying to figure out which one I'd missed), which was also a fun time.
   
   

   

   Wonderful rewards. A simple scene.

   
   
2. Stardew Valley - The capacity this game has for a calm environment is great. I played a day (or two) before getting to work most days, and it's a good start to the day.
   
   

   

   Wonderful rewards. It can be as simple as words.



3. Into the Breach - Into the Breach is not always the most fun. It can be stressful and because the game is so well designed it's stressful because I made a dumb decision.
   
   

   

   Wonderful feelings.



4. Europa Universalis 4 - April was a month of pretty standard games, and so it's not terribly surprising that I ended up sinking some time into EU4. I watched a Let's Play from Gamers With Jobs and, as is often the case that put EU4 higher in my brain. I also think the modifications they made in the most recent patch - restructuring the national missions - has made the game a little more compelling and directed.
   
   

   

   Wonderful worry.



5. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - Weekend mornings: coffee and a visit to Festival Town (is that what it's called?). Also a free lesson in the powers of compound interest and exponential growth.
   
   
   

   

   Wonderful welcomes.

   
   

Here's my total play time chart for April:

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

Blog: Games of March 2018

I'm not sure how I feel about what I played in March, this year. In short, I played a bit more than I feel great about, and I feel a bit like I played without as much intention as I'd like to. I also feel like I played more than I should have given that my PC was broken / in the shop for the first part of the month.

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

1. Into The Breach - Wow. Into the Breach is great. It gives me the satisfaction of doing well as a strategy game without being so hard that I grind out and get frustrated. The certainty you have with how the enemy turn will play out is fantastic, and it's nice being able to make decisions (or mistakes) on your own term. I also appreciate its flexibility in challenge, it has three difficulty levels. Playing on easy isn't punished, but you also feel challenged to take on the harder difficulties. I feel like I've been able to learn and improve without just getting clobbered.
   
   

   

   Vek Threat: Kinda stoppable, if you're in the right universe.



2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I have played 265 hours of Breath of the Wild. I have found all 120 shrines. I've found around 300 korok seeds (so I'm like 600 short). For a little while the game was starting to feel a bit like work. But even then, I can still sit down and disappear into Hyrule for an hour or two, and really enjoy it. I'm still seeing things I haven't seen before and even when I have seen things before the game still keeps things interesting. I might have to play the DLC some time.
   
   

   

   Yes. I am charging towards to Bokoblin riding bears. No. I didn't live much after this.



3. Cursed Treasure 2 - Cursed Treasure 2 has a some things that really recommend it. First, it's available on the Web, so I could play it while my PC was broken. Second, it has an interesting set of challenges that keep the game interesting, and it has a meta game that leaves you with a lot of interesting choices. Finally, it's fairly quick to play so it's nice to have for a break when you need it. I've actually been enjoying it enough that I've been messing around with speed running it a bit, and can now play the first 3 levels in 4 minutes and 51 seconds.
   
   

   

   OK. 5 minutes. Go!



4. Super Mario Maker - I'm actually surprised I played this game this much, but it's kinda easy to get sucked in. I started playing again because I started watching StephenPlays again, and every weekday morning he plays a level from Mario Maker. It's interesting how much level design has changed since I first started playing. Some of it is really good, and I also think some of it doesn't really result in the much fun. Still it's been in my head, and I've been noodling around with a few ideas that I hope are fun.
   
   

   

   Welcome to the doughnut mines.



5. Ogre Battle 64 - In March I finished a play through of Ogre Battle 64. To the best of my recollection, that's the second time I've finished it. Yeah, it *is* probably my favourite game. It's something I've come to a certain amount of peace with, I can love Ogre Battle and think it's pretty flawed  at the same time. I just need to play it however it seems to work. Anyway, it's time to put it away for now and play summer things until the snow rolls around again in October. (**Coughcough** - insert comment about Calgary's unending winter 2018)
   
   

   

   I ... finished.

Here's my total play time chart for March:

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

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:

Blog: Games of 2017

This year, I've played 7 games that were released in 2017 and it's time in the internet's honoured tradition to talk about which ones were good.

This year I played: A Hat in Time, Fire Emblem Heroes, Halcyon 6: Light-Speed Edition, Kingdom and Castles, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Rakuen and Seedship.

I don't feel like there's anything missing from my list this year. That being said I've avoided getting a switch until I get my PhD finished so there are a lot of very good looking games that I will hopefully get a chance to play pretty soon.

Unlike last year, I enjoyed all of the games I played so I'm only going to break this set down into: The Okay, The Good and The Great. It's also worth pointing out that I've played widely divergent amounts of these games (I mean Breath of the Wild is in there, so really really widely) and for some, I probably haven't played enough to comment really intelligently. Still, I wanted to capture a snapshot of how I've seen the games of 2017 while it's still 2017.

The Okay

Fire Emblem Heroes

I feel a bit conflicted about almost all of the Fire Emblem games (and honestly all grid-tactics games in general). I really enjoy the gameplay, the world, the characters, and the feel, but I'm really, really bad at them for the most part. Fire Emblem Heroes is great because it takes the basic Fire Emblem concept and breaks it down into bite sized chunks. All the great weapon triangle strategy, none of the ongoing stress and worry.

Beyond that, though, there's not really much more here. It's okay. It's not bad, it's fun and playable but it kinda lacks any depth, so while it's okay to play I'm not going to choose to play it over most other games in most situations.

Halcyon 6: Light-Speed Edition

Halcyon 6: Starbase Command is an interesting game. It's old school RPG combat (parties of three slug it out in a menu), but with spaceships rather than wizards and warriors. It's also a XCOM style base builder and a fleet assignment strategy game. It's also a 2016 game, except that they did a such an extensive "overhaul" that they released the Light-Speed Edition as a totally separate game to "classic". That being said, I feel a little baffled about the changes they made, why and what the new game is compared to the old game.

Last year I wished I'd played more and I guess I'm in the same boat. The gameplay is good and apparently they've increased the tactical depth of the game which was one of my primary complaints. I can't say I've felt compelled to play too much despite enjoying all the game elements, maybe Black Hole Edition will suck me in in 2018 (I'm sorry, this is a bad joke and probably mean to the devs.)

Kingdoms and Castles

In Kingdoms and Castles you can build Kingdoms and Castles. Well medium sized towns and castles anyway. I've actually looked three times to see if this game is in early access, but I don't think it is. The upside of Kingdoms and Castles is that it's pretty fun to build cities and make your little meeples happy, the downside is that there's really not much to the game. Fortunately the devs are continuing work and are adding new stuff to the game. I just hope they're able to expand the game without upsetting the existing fun.

The Good

A Hat in Time

I backed A Hat in Time on KickStarter a very long time ago, and I was pretty sure it was never going to actually come out. Fortunately it did, and it's actually good. As has been pretty widely discussed it's interesting that A Hat in Time finally made it out in a year with so many other 3D platformers, but I think the devs have done a very good job of focusing making a unique game that involves a lot of different elements.

I've played a lot of the first world and some of the second world. I have to confess to feeling a bit frustrated, but 3D platformers have never really been my genre. I think I need to sit down at some point soon and try to take the game as it comes so I can really see the whole thing together.

Seedship

Seedship was a very late in the year pickup for me, but a friend started playing it, and it caught my attention. You play the AI of a a ship containing the last remnants of humanity and you must find them the best place to live. It’s a Twine game and you play by making the best of whatever choice the game gives you. Games usually last for 5 to 30 minutes and end when you find the best option before your ship totally falls apart (or your ship totally falls apart). Then the game tells you how your humans faired after you landed them and then you play again.

What I particularly enjoy is that while the game is really “hard” to win, each game is interesting with new situations and new outcomes. Additionally unlike a lot of rogue-likes the decisions often tilt towards the player, so when you make a choice you have a good chance of getting a good outcome, but in the aggregate your ship always tends towards ruin.

The Great

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I don’t think it should be too much of a surprise that I like Breath of the Wild. I’ve play ed211 hours of it by this point and it has all been really enjoyable. I think most of the things I wrote about when I summed up the game almost fifty hours ago stand and I think since then I’ve really gained an appreciation for the finesse and detail in their design. I’ve also gotten significantly better at the combat which has furthered my appreciation of the game.

I still miss larger dungeons and some of the story elements of older entries in the series, but Breath of the Wild is beautiful and stands on its own as an outstanding game. I think the level of trust it shows in its players is outstanding, and I think it demonstrates how passionate and skilled its creators are.

Rakuen

As I said in my write up on it, I’m biased, but I loved Rakuen. It feels like a SNES journey I took as a child, but dealing with grown up issues. The art is beautiful, the music is wonderful and the story is engaging. The game play is maybe a little thin on the ground but this game is focused elsewhere and that’s ok.

More diversity in games is good for games and for the people who play them. The more of the world we see and the more eyes we see the world through the richer we are. I’m thankful Laura Shigihara created Rakuen, spending four years on it and I feel richer for having played it.

Blog: Video Games of November

I wasn't terribly settled to any specific game in November, but I'm feeling relaxed and enjoyed a lot of different things.

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

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - As  (pretty much) always Breath of the Wild topped my list for the month. I'm trying on this play through (still my 2nd) to do an all shrines play through and I think I'm getting close. I'm curious if the Champions DLC will arrive before I finish.
   

   

   Thank you, Mr. Iwata.

   
   Breath of the Wild has held up to more than 200 hours playing and I'm still enjoying it. Sometimes I miss the tighter story of other games (I went to the Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses last night and was reminded of just how much fun those other games can be), but Breath of the Wild is always fun to play.
2. Europa Universalis 4 - A few times a year I just get the urge to take over the world as the Ottomans, then I give up. EU4 is interesting in how it always has things to do, so you get a version of the Civilization "one more turn" and when I first stop playing I always think of what the next thing I should be doing in the game. I find that this fades for me some the longer I play a particular game as I don't have quite the skill / focus / DLC for a more in-depth play through.
   

   

   I always enjoy it when the game really wanders of historical maps.



3. Super Mario 3D World - Other than Breath of the Wild this has been what I've turned my Wii U on for in the last little while. I've been enjoying dropping in for short play sessions trying to 100% complete the game. I will admit I was a little influenced by everyone enjoying Mario Ojddesy, but I'll get to that once the PhD is finished.
   

   

   Just a giant Bowser head, how bad can it be.

   
   


4. Ogre Battle 64 - I didn't start a new play through this year! That means that I'm surprisingly close to making it to the end, although whether or not I've been careful enough to actually get the "real ending" I guess we'll see. It remains one of those games which I mostly love, but which has some problems in execution. I keep hunting for a "perfect" version, but I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
   

   

   Zarus and I share a birthday!?



5. Sunless Sea - Sunless Sea is a lot of fun and I should play it more. There's a related game, Fallen London, which is free to play and worth checking out. Both games revolve around story telling in a dark, dystopian(?) steam punk, world where London was stolen by bats and delivered into the Unterzee.
   

   

   It's hard to capture a screenshot that really captures the game, but this is a lot of it all at once.

   
   In Sunless Sea you travel the zee trying to make a fortune, or a name for yourself, or just sense of the world. It is a rogue like sailing game and a story card game. It plays at a wonderful pace, and, if you give yourself to it, a story that will really grab you (maybe by the foot, in the dark, with an icy tentacle).
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for November:

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