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: