Blog: Video Games of November 2023

I spent a lot of November down with COVID, so I don't really remember the month and certainly didn't have a lot of energy to play. I'd planned to pick up Sea of Stars around my birthday and that turned out to be a pretty good speed when I had the energy for it.

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

1. Sea of Stars - Sea of Stars is a lot of fun. I think it stands up on its own, but it's also the modern extension of great SNES role playing games. It's certainly made with a lot of Chrono Trigger in it's heart and kind works as the sequel I'd been imagining, rather than Chrono Cross.
   
   
   


2. Dicey Dungeons - Dicy Dungeons has been the thing to play when I don't want to use my brain too much.
   
   
   


3. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - I started a new playthrough to look at the differences of the routes. I'm finding the overall story a little flat, and some of that is due to them trying to keep a dark and gritty tone. The game play in each mission is always fun, so as long as you don't think about the war crimes you keep committing, it's fun.
   
   


4. Stardew Valley - I found it hard to come back to Stardew Valley. It's still a good an enjoyable game and the core farming is enjoyable, but I found having played through all of the story years ago, I just didn't really connect.
   
   
   


5. Mineko's Night Market - I thought I'd try this out as something new in the farming / store management genre. It's fun, but not quite what I'd hoped. It's slow on its own and then has some fairly severe technical issues on the switch that make it frusterating to play.
   
   
   

Here's my total play time for November:

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

Video Games of October 2023

October was a complicated month, so I wasn't thinking too much about what I really played. I did install steam on my Mac and so that was nice to expand the pool, although there's not a lot that plays nicely on my 2016 mac.

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

1. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - I'm reaching the ending of my first play through. Maybe should have pushed thought quicker, just to let the story go at speed. ToTK has been
   
   


2. Dicey Dungeons - This has been pretty good for quick pick up and play situations. The number of different ways to approach the core concept of role dice and use them to activate cards is fun alghough, I would love a design my own deck and just play with things, even if it would be stupidly imbalanced.
   
   


3. Pikmin 4 - Continues to be solid and I appreciate just how much there is. Have drifted off in the last little bit, but I'm sure I'll be back.
   
   


4. Tactics Ogre: Reborn - It snowed, and just to confuse everyone, rather than playing Ogre Battle, I played Tactics Ogre. It's a little thin for story, but the actual combat in an encounter is always fun.
   
   


5. Hades - Still great. Does not like my Mac's keyboard.
   
   

Here's my total play time for October:

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: