Blog: Video Games of July 2016

I spent a lot of July recovering from May and June and I definitely got a bit more time to play. I was also still quite busy for the early parts of the month. Generally I tried to play games to give me a bit more focused fun, aaaand I also played a lot of Pokemon Go.

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

1. XCOM 2 - I dunno. It just eats time without me even noticing really. I also started to accept that even when I'm not actually having a lot of success playing, getting a team out to fight a level or two is pretty fun. That also lead me to tryout some Invisible Inc (which I also quite liked).
   

   

   My first ever total party wipe.

2. Pokémon Go - So Pokémon Go has changed a lot since it first came out and I started playing it before it even officially launched in Canada. While a lot of people have said a lot about the game, it's a huge amount of fun and in the early days seeing people crowding together in groups to play. I think it really delivered on the promise of creating a Pokémon adventure in the real world.
   

   

   A Pokécrowd. 



3. Chrono Trigger - I'm pretty sure that Chrono Trigger is my favourite game of all time (top 3 for sure) and so once I was finished with my first course it was nice to be able to sit down and play it for a while (even if it wasn't all that much). I got most of the way through the main game (it's shorter than I remember) and then stopped waiting for the "perfect time" to finish the game.
   
   
   


4. Cities: Skylines - Hey have I mentioned that I really like building cities? I really like building cities. And Cities: Skylines is a great way to build cities. I didn't play all that much, but I really enjoy all of the phases of city building (although I do tend to get a little board in the later ones and keep starting over). This game is great, really well designed and well executed. It's a huge amount of fun if you want to play a city builder (and they keep adding really cool things too).
   

   

   Golden Hour



5. Civilization V - I was not ready to wait until October for Civilization VI, so I played Civ V instead. It's a lot of fun, but ... it's time to move on.
   
   
   
   

   

   I can't remember why I have a city in the middle of the bay, but I do!

Here's my total play time chart for July:

And here's my total number of times played:

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

Blog: Video Games of June 2016

I was very busy with my first teaching position in June and so had less time to play than I had in previous months. I also was quite stressed, so wanted to play games that would help me distract myself.

Here are my top five games (by time played) for June 2016:

1. Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor - In terms of a game that's easy to distract yourself Shows of Mordor certainly counts. It has a lot of things to do and the challenge in the game is moderate, so it's usually easy to go kill an uruk when ever you want. Unfortunately, "victory" comes very abruptly and the final boss is, ... not interesting at all. And while you can keep on playing after you defeat the final boss, the game becomes a lot less fulfilling.
   

   

   It's nice of the bad guys to let me know where they are.

   
   
2. Hearthstone - Looking back I'm not sure if this was already in the window where people were getting excited for One Night in Karazhan or not. Either way, playing in the new standard format made hearthstone more interesting again (and at least removed Dr. Boom from my list of cards I probably should have, but don't). It was also a nice thing to play when I had a half an hour to sit down and I played quite a bit while watching TV.
   

   

   It's a box ... a box of mystery and low level play.



3. XCOM 2 - I didn't play XCOM 2 that much, since it requires a little bit more thinking than I had on hand for June. Most of when I played was my continued trying to get a little traction getting better at the game.
   

   

   Nothing to worry about here...



4. Europa Universalis 4 - Certainly this is another game that allows you to distract yourself. I sort of declared that I wouldn't play again after my initial burst, but then was drawn back in some between listening to Hard Core History discuss the Persian Empire and Extra History discuss the Ottomans.
   

   

   Uh... I think I'm in trouble. 



5. Mario Golf: World Tour - I didn't play as much of this as I meant to as my lunch time game, but it's still a ton of fun.
   

   

   GameFAQs user ollist

Here's my total play time chart for June:

And here's my total number of times played:

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

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 150)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos, we celebrate, get a little loopy and then scribble our way to success.

• First, we have the history of the Gaming Historian. Norman celebrates 100K subscribers with the story of how he came to be doing what he's doing.
• Next, suppose you edited and posted 25 videos in 24 hours. Do you think you might feel slightly odd. Nah, I can't say I would either. 25 from Stephen Georg's Stephenvlog.
• Finally, Mary Doodles blows our minds again by taking a few random scribbles and turning them into yet another amazing piece of art. Yaaaa! Yaaaaaaaaa!

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 149)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos, we follow Norman Caruso, the Gaming Historian as he delves deep into the history of Wolfenstein, a video game series that changed the landscape. It's certainly left me wanting to revive my Apple II so that I can see if I play the original again. As a kid, I never managed to make it out of the cell.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3