Blog: 2018 in Games

Well three times means I mean it, I guess. I’ve now managed to track every game I’ve played (more or less) over the last three years. I’m enjoying the tracking, and I think, generally I’ve been a little more mindful when playing. I’m looking forward to 2019 when my thesis is finished, and I can open up what I’m playing.

This post is a wrap up of 2018, including a look at what I’ve played, what I’ve enjoyed and some thoughts about games I had this year.

Top Games by Time Played

In total I’ve played 42 different games in 2018 and played for a total of 568 hours. The game I played the least was Dragon Fly! on my phone. Mini Metro was in the middle of my pack at just above 3 hours and for the second year running, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was my most played game at 87 hours.

By play time, my top 10 games of 2018 were:

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 87
• Paper Mario: Color Splash - 55
• Civilization VI - 53
• Stardew Valley - 50
• Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - 49
• Pokémon Go - 47
• Europa Universalis 4 - 32
• Final Fantasy XII - 27
• Into The Breach - 25
• Mario Golf: World Tour - 20

I'm interested that compared to last year I definitely played more games. Although that might be that I got stuck in Breath of the Wild. So I played elsewhere a little more than I might have. On the other hand it’s interesting that I’ve still played more than 80 hours bringing me to 302 hours played total (with only the last 40 being me vs the stupid master sword challenge lizalfos). I love that game deeply, and even though at this point there are bits that ring a little hollower than I’d love, it’s still an incredible game.

A lot of the other playing hasn’t been as intentional I’d hoped. I played Color Splash and FFXII mostly as games to relax at the end of the day, but I do know what I’m playing and they’re not quite what I’d hoped for. Also every time I play a Final Fantasy game it drops in my esteem, FFXII is hella slow and my attempt to lean into that has not been as successful as I hoped (he said 27 hours later).

Civ VI and EU 4 were also not as intentional as I hoped, mostly played when my brain wasn’t interested in doing much else (even when there was much else to do) . In 2019, I want to get a handle on that and enjoy them significantly more. I stopped playing Stardew, because I didn’t want to play it the way I was playing Civ and EU 4, and hopefully Mindfullness 2019 (™) will push me back that way as well (although it also deserves a slow drip so you don’t push too hard into the virtual part of the world).

Amiibo Fest is great and part of my weekend ritual. PoGo is also a staple and even a motivation to … actually go outside (results less effective while cold). 

Top Games by My Rating

This year my favourite games were (in alphabetical order):

• Earthbound
• Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Stardew Valley
• Tetris
• Sunless Sea

As always I don’t look back at my scores from previous years, so this is a subjective view from late 2018. Looking back now I notice that Pikmin 3 dropped a little, but I’m also just mostly hoping that we get a new one. Bastion and Rakuen also weren’t included, but that’s because I didn’t play them this year. Tetris is a new addition, but, seriously, Tetris is good (I’m going to have to try to hunt down Tetris Effect in 2019).

Thoughts

I play games for a lot of reasons. I like to play games for the experience, for the art, for the escape and for the fun. 2018 was not the best year for me in general. I was very stressed and think I really didn’t do a great job of getting myself to the places I wanted to be, in a lot of different ways.

A lot of the games I played were much more for the escape than for anything else. That’s okay, but I’d rather be able to play for a lot of different reasons, rather than just that my brain is too tired to do much else. I liked all of the games in my top 10, to be clear, but a lot of them are good without being outstanding.

I didn’t buy games in 2018, and [as I already mentioned], I didn’t even play a lot of games released in 2018. I have to say that, while I feel like there are a lot of very good games, there aren’t a huge number of games that I really want to go back and play from this year. Celeste sticks in my mind, as do Dragon Quest XI and Octopath Traveler (and Tetris Effect I suppose).

I hope that in 2019 I’m able to play more and play for more reasons. There are a lot of games I’m looking forward to catching up on and I’m also excited to catch up on the Switch (and maybe the PS4) and to dive into a ton of really great games … or maybe I’ll just play the new Animal Crossing all year.

New Year’s Resolutions 2019

I guess this is a thing I do now. So, here are a few things I thought about working on in 2019:

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General Resolutions

1. Be Slower - I don’t know that I would describe myself as hastey (especially because that’s not a word anybody uses), but I’ve found myself several times over the last year reacting in a way that wasn’t that helpful and that could have been avoided if I’d just slowed down. That way I can get more information, or I can react in a way that actually makes sense based on how I’d really like to react.
   
   Similarly, I think this extends my monotasking goal of last year. I want to slow down and do a thing until the thing is done (or done enough) and not keep jumping to something else every time I don’t want to do the thing.
   
   So the goal for 2019 is to go slower, think more deeply and keep in mind that whatever it is will still be there when I get to it.
2. Finish Things - In addition to going slower, I need to get stuff done. For a long time I was really bad at even starting things (and I’m still not *very* good at it), but I’m also really bad at finishing things.
   
   For 2019 I’d like to get better at finishing things in two ways. One if a job can be finished, I want to finish it as quickly as I can. For another, as an aspect of being slower, if a job can’t be finished I want to focus my energy on moving it forward so it can get done.
3. Be Comfortable - I think this is a bit of an aspect of being slower as well. I’ve found, in this last year especially that I allow myself to get very stressed, and so instead of being slow, I freeze. Instead of that this year, I want to relax in my own skin. So that even if things aren’t the way I want, I can keep moving.

Specific Resolutions

1. Finish The Thesis - Goddamnit.
2. Make Something Everyday - Partly freezing from stress, partly freezing from not wanting to distract myself from the thesis, but I haven't made nearly as much as I want to in 2018. In 2019 I want set myself a don’t break the chain challenge of making something cool and/or creative every day. It should be a tiny thing, but it should be a little bit of creative practice.
3. Finish A Project Each Month - As a concrete instance of finishing stuff, I want to give myself a goal of finishing a project every month.
4. Enjoy Good Stuff - Read more books, watch more movies, watch more tv, play more games, seem more art, listen to more music, look at more trees (and mountains and stuff). I want to push myself when I’m making a decision about my time, to lean towards enjoying something good.
5. See More Things - As with 2018, I have a lot of flexibility and I really ought to be putting it to good use. So I want to try at least once a week to do something unusual, so that I get to see more things.

And with that I hope we all have a wonderful 2019 in which we all get ourselves to the places we want to be.

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Blog: Games of 2018

This year I’ve played 2 games that were released in 2018. Into the Breach and Graveyard Keeper. I usually divide these posts into categories, but instead I’ll say I thought Into the Breach was good and Graveyard Keeper was okay.

For the record, my low number of 2018 games played is not a comment on the state of games in 2018, but a comment on the state of me in 2018. I will wrap up my thesis in 2019 and I’m hoping to be able to play a more of 2019’s games when they come out and to catch up on all the cool things I’ve missed in 2018.

The Okay

Graveyard Keeper

Graveyard Keeper is okay. I think it has good mechanics, but I just don’t like the world building or the style. Some of that is the bit where it leans into the gross and disturbing. (I’m okay with cutting people’s brains out, but less so with burning witches).

I also found outside of that it’s a little bland. I think that’s to do with the structure of the quests (each can only really be accomplished on one day a week, so if you miss it then you have to wait another week to move the plot ahead). If you’re just in it for the woodworking then this game is great, if you want a little more, then I’m not sure it has it. At least for me.

I did play a little bit recently when I turn it on to get the screenshot for this post. It looks like it has some more stuff added to it which should be fun.

The Good

Into the Breach

Into the Breach is good. As a puzzle strategy game it takes a lot of the guesswork and RNG out of playing and replaces it with your own damned decisions. I like how the missions are structured and how each one lasts just the right amount of time. The style is nice but the “meta-narrative” of the roguelike aspects (Into the Breach is made by Subset Games, who’s other claim to fame is FTL: Faster than Light) is a little light.

The game is always fun to play and there’s enough challenge to keep playing. I especially enjoyed that it lets you adjust the difficulty level without punishment which makes it fun to play however ambitious you’re feeling.

Blog: Books Read in 2018

Squirrels!

Good Reads

Looking Back at 2018 New Year’s Resolutions

Doing a resolutions post was a new thing for me, and I think the exercise was generally a good idea. I thought I’d take a moment to look back at my resolutions for this year.

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General Goals

1. Monotask - Mixed results on this one. It’s something I’m going to have to keep working on. I find especially as I get tired and overwhelmed by the stuff that needs to be done that it’s easy to lose focus and so I do more stuff, less well. I keep a pocket moleskin and write out my todos each day and as often as not I tend to fill a whole page with stuff that needs doing. Ideally I think i’d do fewer things but focus on them to get them done. (Also I’m editing two posts right now, so clearly Monotasking hasn’t quite taken yet.) 
2. Hold Fewer Opinions - I … think I succeeded? This feels like a thing that I’m going to work on for the rest of my life. 
3. Act more - Again I feel like this is a bit of a lifetime project. Generally I don’t think I did as well as I did at holding fewer opinions, but I have been trying to break stuff down into smaller pieces so that it’s easier to get them done. 

Specific Goals

1. Finish my Thesis - Goddamint. I am closer though. 
2. Be More Engaged on Twitter - This didn’t really take. I still stand by my feelings last year, that the only way to actually improve Twitter is be be good on Twitter (or whichever social network). I found it hard to engage partly due to stress about all the other stuff I hadn’t got done and I think a bit because the community I want isn’t really there any more. 
3. Read More - I did that. 
4. Make More Stuff - I didn’t do that. 
5. See More Stuff - Another mixed result. I certainly didn’t take advantage of my flexibility as much as I’d hoped, but I did do a little. I also feel like I’ve managed to organize myself so that in the future I will be able to see more stuff.

My 2018 wasn't great, I wanted my thesis done, but teaching got in the way (sort of) and I got in my own way. That being said, I'm pretty close to being done, and, more importantly, I think I'm getting more comfortable being a person who has things to do.

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I have no idea who this cat is, but lets dance anyway.

Blog: Games of November 2018

I'm not super happy with how I spent my play time this month, especially because I found myself playing more out of frustration / burnout than relaxation or fun.

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

1. Civilization VI - Well, this is the game I play when I'm avoiding getting the stuff that needs to get done, done. I'm feeling behind on practically everything, and, embarrassingly, it's been much easier to pick this up "for a minute" rather than work. The problem is, that minute often expands out to be a lot more than a minute.  So my goal for December is to, a) relax, b) focus, c) get stuff done, and d) feel good when I do play.
   
   

   

   It has been created. Next Turn!

   
   On the not of the actual game, side I actually feel like I'm finally figuring the game out a little. I even caved and picked up the Rise and Fall Expansion. I'm not sure I'm actually getting good, but I have learned. Further I've accepted that not every game is going to be a game I enjoy playing until the end and it's okay to go back to the early game part where I was having fun. I also really the aesthetic of the game, the same thing I thought the first time I played is that it still calls back the things I loved from Civ I and II.
   


2. Ogre Battle 64 - While I'm accepting things, I'm accepting that I can love this game for the feeling it gives me even when a huge portion of it makes no sense.
   
   

   

   Happy Place.

   
   


3. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I still haven't beaten the Master Sword challenge. I have been trying to pick up some better techniques and skills and I feel like, except for the part I can't do, I'm getting good.
   
   

   

   Little Silver Jerks. 

   
   


4. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - As part of a routine of relaxing this game just keeps giving. It also has an incredibly slow reward system - costumes for the amiibo characters - which might just keep us playing for another year. Animal Crossing for life!
   
   

   

   Animal Crossing is mostly Animal Capitalism.

   
   


5. Pokémon Go - Between being behind and it being colder out, I've been playing a little bit less the last month.
   
   

   

   We're slow and that's ok.

   
   

Here's my total play time chart for November:

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

Blog: Books Read in 2018

Endings

Good Reads

Project 17: The Revenge of #NaFYoFuThMo - Update

Well, that was a bit of a bust. National Finish Your (by which I mean my) Fucking Thesis Month, only netted me about 3000 words. Suffice to say I haven’t actually finished my thesis. I wasn’t exactly planning to, but still I’d have like to have had more progress.

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I knew I had some other stuff to do that would hang up the writing, but still had high hopes of magically getting ahead. I’ve rewritten why and how several times now, but at the end of the day, the thing I need to put here is I can get to the end if I just keep stepping forward.

Beyond that, #nafyofuthmo is fun to say (say it out loud if you haven’t NAFF-yo-FUTH-mo). It’s also time I finished this thesis. I am going to wrap up the writing by end of January and to keep myself entertained, so I’m going to keep #nafyoing until I get done. I'm going to shoot for a daily(ish) update on twitter. Sometimes that will be new words, and sometimes it will be the other work and sometimes I'll have to do some other stuff, but I'll try to keep myself positive and on track.

I've got everybody and the stuff together. 3-2-1 Let's Jam.

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Blog: Books Read in 2018

Direction

Good Reads

Blog: Books Read in 2018

Story

Good Reads

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:

Project 17: The Revenge of #nafyofuthmo

Well I didn't exactly mean to still *have* a thesis to write at this point, but I do and it's time it got done. So I'm hauling out the power of the niftiest hashtag I've ever invented and I'm bringing back #nafyofuthmo (National Finish Your - by which I mean my - F*ing Thesis Month)

And also Cowboy Bebop gifs.

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So I'm way closer to being done than I was last year, so that's a plus. I'm mostly working on the system describing my demonstration systems and evaluating them. I'd love to get those finished by the end of the month. I'm setting myself the goal of 800 words each day.

One thing I've enjoyed is the permission #nafyo (if I may be so bold) gives me to take time to work, even if I won't get too much done in any session. At least it's worth it to sit down and get something done.

As last year, I'll be posting day-to-day updates on twitter and at least a wrap-up here.