Games of January 2023

For a bunch of reasons, January just hasn't been a time when I've really wanted to sit down and play much. I've mostly been poking at Tactics Ogre and picking up Xenoblade Chronicles more when I've wanted to play something with more story and activity.

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

1. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - I'm a sucker for Ogre Battle stuff, what can I say. The game is pretty satisfying, although I do wish it has an easy mode just to make moving through some of the game a little easier.
   
   


2. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - I'm enjoying the replay and trying to get through doing as little side content as I can. Doing all -- most of -- the side quests and stuff was really important to the world building, but as with all of the Xenoblade games it really ruins the pace, so now that I'm seen everything I'm hoping to get a better feeling for what the story feels like when you're keeping your pace up.
   
   


3. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - Vrooom vroom.
   
   


4. Super Mario World (Nintendo Switch Online)I had 10 minutes to spare and wanted to play something quick, responsive and fun. Super Mario World is one of the best feeling games I actually have installed on the switch.
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for January:

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

Video Games of October 2022

I'm not sure there's been a month before where I've only played 3 games, so that's novel. On top of that, between being sick and some other things, I almost totally lost track of what I did play so this is by far the roughest estimate of play times ever. That being said, my time in the tracker is almost exactly the same as my time on my Xenoblade 3 play-through so I must be kinda close.

So that being said, good riddance to October 2022.

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

1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Having realized how much character means to me in stories and games, I've really been able to lean into "The Ongoing Adventures of Eunie and Sena, Plus Their Other not as Funny Friends". I'm not sure that I played any "main" story at all during October, but the quality of the side stories has been really high. I have a couple of complaints about the coupling of the side stories to the main story and just mechanically I've been so high levelled for such a long time that the bulk of the gameplay has kinda stopped.
   
   
   
   


2. Mario + Rabids: Sparks of Hope - A fantastic game, that is exactly what it needs to be. The tactical combat is fun, interesting and low stakes enough that it's easy to throw yourself at something and see if it works. Breaking off the grid for movement has also been great, so I hope the folks working on XCOM (or Marvel Midnight Suns) are taking notes. The story is also charming and perfectly supports everything that's going on.
   
   
   
   


3. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe - You know the story here. Push button, receive serotonin.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for October:

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:

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:

Blog: Games of March 2019

I was pretty steadily busy in March and still holding out on getting to invested in playing anything while I had work to do. I didn't play anything particularly of note, although I probably did get deeper into Xenonauts than I'd planned. I also very briefly started trying to play a version of Simon's Cat branded Snood on the phone, but that has the standard addictive gameplay and pay-to-keep-playing model so I ditched that pretty quickly.

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

1. Breath of Fire II - I'm struggling to get through this a bit. Some of this game is really well done and some of it isn't. The translation is obviously awful, and it has a very SNES RPG habit of sending you to do something ... somewhere, so I've had to resort to a guide (well, several guides) to find a decent way to play. On the other hand, something does keep me playing and I enjoy the overall feel of the game.
   
   
   
   via GIPHY


2. Xenonauts - I got listening to a Podcast where they were talking about XCOM (the real one from '94). So I figured I'd fire up Xenonauts until I got frustrated and quit. So far that hasn't happened and I've been enjoying Xenonauts quite a bit.
   
   

   

   Nothing to worry about.

   
   


3. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - As (pretty much) always.
   
   

   

   Brother and Sister

   
   


4. Pokémon Go  - Also as (pretty much) always.
   
   

   

   I take it back. I'm slightly worried.

   
   


5. Mario Kart 8 - I needed something more tactile to play and this was really up my alley.
   
   
   
   via GIPHY

Here's my total play time chart for March:

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

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 132)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we try not to die in space, get a little angry and then drive off down a rainbow road.

• First, Belated Media talks about Alien and Aliens and the (very different) ways in which they're both excellent. I like Alien better (it has more SPACE in it), but rewatching this video I just want to watch them both again.
• Next, Pomplamoose is too mad to watch 30 Rock tonight. But they just need a little time to cool down.
• Finally, let's end by sailing off into the skies with Mr. Smooth McGroove singing the Mario Kart 64 Rainbow Road Theme a capella. This is one of those songs with a really specific association in my head, of a sleep over with a friend and racing on this course when we were super tired and falling a sleep. Definitely a great song to relax to (but maybe not drive to, if you're going to fall asleep).