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 May 2022

"I want to play lots of different games this year," he said.

"Oh look, the some Dragon Quest games I haven't played are on sale," he said.

"Hmm, people have said Dragon Quest Builders 2 is pretty good," he said.

"What happened to May?" he said.

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

1. Dragon Quest Builders 2 - So I had figured this would be the kind of game I might dip into here and there. I may yet do that, but I hadn't realized that the game is actually (or at least to start) a 60 hour Action-RPG. It's a game with a lot of flaws, in terms of controls, gameplay and story, but as you can see, I struggled to put it down. If you'd like to spend some time building things in a Dragon Quest world, this is the game.
   
   
   


2. Eastward - I stalled out a bit on Eastward, mostly due to Dragon Quest Builders 2, but also Eastward is a bit weird about progress in the story in the same way Earthbound is. When we were suddenly making movies with monkeys, I felt a little less compeled to pick this up.
   
   
   


3. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - The theme for everything else this month is, I decided to play Dragon Quest Builders 2 instead.
   
   
   


4. Triangle Strategy - Dragon Quest Builders 2.
   
   
   


5. Mario Golf: Super Rush - Dragon Quest Builders 2.
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for May:

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

Video Games of April 2022

April was a pretty quiet month. I don't have too much new or interesting to talk about. I am finding I miss my PC so it's probably about time to go and get that fixed.

The only even remotly interesting thing to talk about is that I've decided that I want to try to play at least 50 unique games this year. Currently I'm at 22. It's a very unimportant goal, but I feel like seeing more things sounds like fun.

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

1. Triangle Strategy - I finished my first play through. As I've said the last few months, the game play is outstanding. I think the construction of the story and the implementation of choices and the voting system are a little unweildly and not quite as fun as the might be. It's still worth playing if you like that kind of grid-based tactics game.
   
   
   
   
   I looked ahead to a second playthrough and decided that trying to get all four endings wasn't going to be worth the work. It looks like the "golden ending" is the only ending that's worth the time, so I've decided to do a second playthough with a guide.
   
   In new game plus, they introduced several new and interesting levels outside of the story and those have been excellent. Most of my playtime this month has been on those levels.
   


2. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - This has been a great game, especially when my brain isn't up to something more story heavy. Beyond playing for it's own sake, I got interested in which courses are the most popular in the online multi-player so I've been doodling a new program to calculate power rankings. (I haven't written about it yet, but may do a little later). So in addition to the intrensic joy of playing, I've enjoyed the extrensic happiness that comes from "I got more data."
   
   
   


3. Eastward - As far as I've played, Eastward is an artistic tour-de-force. The game feels very intentionally and carefully built, and the world feels very intricate and lived in. The story leaves me feeling slightly uncomfortable, in the way that is very remenisent of Earthbound and Mother 3, but more grown up .
   
   
   


4. Mario Golf: Super Rush - Lunch golf is good. Maybe not the best use of lunch every day, but 20 minutes of Mario Golf still makes me happy.
   
   
   


5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - This was a month where the top five has some pretty low numbers on it, so I played less than an hour of Breath of the Wild. Still, as always, I apprecate how after all these years, there are things I've never seen and that are great.
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for April:

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:

Blog Post: Games of 2021

It's the future and some how I'm still sitting here playing Nintendo games. I only played 4 games which were released this year, and three of them were by Nintendo. 2021 has been a bit of a weird year in terms of what I wanted to play, and I really haven't felt that compelled by most of the other games released in 2021.

Everything I played this year was "good," they're all solid games you might enjoy, but none of them have really impacted me that much.

The Good

New Pokémon Snap

I don't have a huge nostalgia for the original Pokémon Snap. I enjoyed the new one, it's certainly pretty. I *may* have not figured how how to play it to advance properly, so it felt a little flat to me. Overall, I did enjoy the safari model of travelling through environments and seeing "genuine" Pokémon interactions.

Mini Motorway

I liked Mini Metro, where you have to plan out routes for a metro system and try to keep up with demand as long as you can. Mini Motorways is a nice follow up, it's prettier and the way you eventually fail feels a lot more manageable. It really runs up against the part of me that loves city building and so after a little bit of playing I'm kinda frustrated that some idiot built their house right *there*.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

I only touched the 3D World remake. It's still pretty good, but it really doesn't compare to Super Mario Odyssey. Bowser's Fury was good, it has a real lightness of movement and interesting level design. I also like the idea of Nintendo turning out light weight, smaller games more regularly, so if I could play a new Bowser's Fury sized game every year I'd be delighted. Otherwise Mario games are pretty good if you like Mario Games and Bowser's Fury is a good Mario Game. 

Mario Golf: Super Rush

I think I've said it a ton, but Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on the Gamecube is one of my favourite games. I spent a lot of time playing it dreaming of how awesome it would be if it was built out to be a fuller, flashier game. Super Rush is *not* the game I dreamed of,  but it is pretty good. It's a well built golf game with fun courses. If that sounds like your jam then you'll probably like it. It has a single player "RPG" mode which I found to be underwhelming and the online modes are okay.

I appreciate the DLC support they've given the game. The big drawback to the game is they introduced a their speed golf mechanic where you sprint after your ball to hit it again as fast as possible. Even when you're not playing that mode, it still dominates the design in a way that's not bad, but a little awkward.

Blog: Games of September 2021

I'm discovering that trying to create an overall description of a month is kinda hard. In short, I played a lot of fun stuff in September. I finished off the Trials of Mana remake and quite liked it, enough that I wanted to start playing the original in the Collection of Mana. I guess the biggest thing for me was playing through Celeste and really working on developing the skills to get through a hard game. (Thanks PlayFrame!)

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

1. Celeste - I'm not sure the last time I felt really proud of myself for finishing a game, but finishing Celeste, I feel really proud. It took a fair bit of work and a lot of time doing the same thing over and over until I got better at it. I think there are some lessons there in how to practice. There are maybe also some lessons for someone in their late 30s who doesn't move enough, as this is the first game (in a long time) to put me in physical pain.
   
   
   
   I like when games give you a deep knowledge and bond with the spaces in the game and Celeste does a really good job of of linking you with the mountain in the game. There are screens I remember clearly and I think if you showed me any screen in the game know I'd know (more or less) exactly what was going on there. I'm playing through now to find all the strawberries and B-sides, but I've also taken the game up on its very open challenge to speed run it as well.
   


2. Battle Brothers - The brothers roll on. The only thing that's really holding me back is the bit where something seems to be cracking in my PC and Battle Brothers sets it off worse than anything else ... or maybe it's just that Battle Brothers is the game I'm playing.
   
   


3. Trials of Mana (Remake) - This game is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. I enjoyed playing, and the combat was fun if not a really complex system. I think with the option of six protagonists that all played very differently they were limited in how complex they could make the game, especially on a low-to-mid-tier budget. I've started playing the original in the Collection of Mana and I'm impressed at how well they honoured the core feeling of the game in the remake while polishing up the rough edges.
   
   


4. Super Mario Odyssey - I needed something I could play without the strain of Celeste or the headspace needed for Trials of Mana so I found myself picking up Odyssey again. It's still good. In fact, the more I play the more interesting things I find.
   
   


5. Mini Motorways - I had a few days where Mini Motorways really captured me. After a while, though, the bit where it's a randomized puzzle game and not a city builder really started to drive me nuts. It is beautiful and if you're there for hooking up elements in a puzzle you might love this game (especially if you loved Mini Metro).
   
   
6. Mario Golf: Super Rush - Super Rush was pretty good, but the shine has come off for me a little bit. Considering how much I still go back to Toadstool Tour over the years, there's just something that keeps ringing hollow with Super Rush. The new courses they just released are okay and the new golfers they've added are okay, but the whole thing is just missing some life.
   
   
   The online has been a real bust for me. I guess I'll do enough to grab the monthly prize, but it's just not that much fun to play against people, when the only correct move is to wait as long as possible for everyone else to take their shots. The alternative "Timed Golf" mode is too unreliable to play, so the whole thing is just poorly designed.
   

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 August 2021

Time feels like it's absolutely blowing by right now. Looking back at August I can't even remember what all happened, but I did play some good games.

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

1. Trials of Mana (Remake) - I picked up Trials of Mana at a point where I really wasn't sure what I wanted to play while sitting down on the couch. As it turns out I'm really glad I did. The game is fun. The combat doesn't have a ton of depth, but has enough that every fight is interesting enough. The story isn't great, but the story wasn't great in the original either. The game looks pretty good overall. I don't like some of the models they've chosen, but even those are fairly faithful to the '95 original. I don't know that I can totally recommend it, but I've had a lot of fun.
   
   
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - This game has just the right amount of challenge and decision making to give it some really nice flow. Sometimes it flows in a bad direction, but usually when I finish playing, however long I play I'm pretty happy. I don't quite know how to describe or encapsulate how that flow works, but I think it revolves around keeping the stakes of any decision low enough that a bad choice doesn't cripple you.
   
   
   
   


3. Mario Golf: Super Rush - If Nintendo had a bullet proof network infrastructure, their new online play mode would have me pretty hooked. Since they don't it leaves me kinda interested. The online mode also illustrates how much their focus was on the running-around-the-golf-course mode compared to the traditional golf mode. Competitive matches tend to resolve into two or more people just waiting for everyone else to go. Unfortunately, the running-around-the-golf-course-mode stutters and chugs when played online.
   
   
   
   


4. Civilization VI - As always, I want to love this game the way I love Battle Brothers. I read Sid Meier's Memoir, and it left me wanting to play Civ, but perpetually the image of Civ I have in my head is more fun than the one I actually play.
   
   
   
   


5. Celeste - I started rewatching Carrie play Celeste on PlayFrame, as an exercise in seeing how someone who doesn't play much can take on a really hard game. I don't usually play those hard games, but I felt inspired. I'm having fun with it, although my hands do hurt.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for August:

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

Blog Post: Video Games of July 2021

July was a much quieter month than the last few. I'm still working on finding my happy point for balance between getting stuff done and getting stuff played, but generally I was pretty happy. I found myself struggling a little bit with finding a game to play to relax with, but with a little bit of energy Trials of Mana has turn out to be a delight.

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

1. Mario Golf: Super Rush - This has turned out to be a good game to play when I need something to pick up at lunch (as with World Tour before it) and it's been something good to play quickly. It's not great and definitely has a noticeable lack of depth, but the moment to moment play is fun.
   
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - Other than the bit where my PC seems to be having some issues, especially while playing Battle Brothers, this continues to be a great game the play. I'm continuing to learn more and more and the depth required to play well has been really compelling.
   
   
   


3. Trials of Mana (3D Remake) - I've stalled out playing Seiken Densetsu 3 a few times. It kinda lacks the drive of early Secret of Mana and also suffers (for me) from not *being* Secret of Mana, so it results in a lot of huh, that's good but different. The combat in is also, not terribly easy to read. The 3D remake is pretty good, I've enjoyed the combat and I think they've made some reasonable chances, streamlining some of the rough places in the original.
   
   
   


4. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - This took a little longer to finish than I'd hoped. From my perspective it provides a list of all the quality of life features that were eventually implemented in later games. On the other hand I *like* the story and the characters and compared to the games before it's much more dynamic and interesting. I think it was worth playing through, especially just after playing Path of Radiance, but I'm in a good spot to wait a little bit 
   
   
   


5. Peggle - I've ended up playing Peggle and Zuma when I've needed to get a break without getting up from the desk. (And really I *should* just be getting up from the desk.) Peggle takes a little bit longer to play than Zuma, so it ended up just ahead of it in the list.
   
   
   

Here's my total play time for July:

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

Blog: Games of June 2021

June was quite a busy month and a little unsettled, so I didn't play all that much. Honestly, there's just not that much to say about the month in terms of games. Still I did have some thoughts about the games themselves.

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

1. Battle Brothers - The game is great, but it's also very quick to pick up which is how it managed to get as much play as it did this month. I've probably spent too much time looking at how the very 'expert' players play, which sometimes feels like it's too much optimization. Still haven't had a 'successful' run, but it's been fun to play around in the world.
   
   
   
   


2. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - I'm feeling frustrated with how hard it is to keep everyone alive in the later missions and that's driving down how much time I play. I'm certainly glad they made later games easier to play, even if I think this one has my preferred story.
   
   
   
   


3. Mario Golf: Super Rush - Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is my favourite golf game. Super Rush hasn't managed to replace it, although it certainly is pretty and has a well designed video game golf mechanic. Weirdly the big thing I'm missing is the chance to play in tournaments. I'd love a mode where you can just play on tour after you finish the story mode (I haven't finished the story mode, so maybe this will have it, but I'm not optimistic). I do like the speed golf mode, I haven't tried the battle golf yet.
   
   
   
   


4. Peggle Deluxe - I was recently reminded of Peggle and threw it and Zuma on my Steam Wishlist. They went on sale for $1 each so I picked them up. (Not that I don't have other versions ... somewhere, but who knows). I've played a lot of Peggle over my life, and I'm pretty happy to have picked it up again. I'm still working through the "tutorial" which limits it a little, but hopefully it'll pick up speed before too long.
   
   
   
   


5. Zuma's Revenge - I've played quite a bit of the Facebook version of Zuma back when that was a thing. The full version is quite good and I've really enjoyed it. It's a nice counterpoint to Battle Brothers. I do really miss the old Popcap games though.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for June:

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