Saturday, December 02, 2023

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
    Screenshot: Link stands on a snowy hill looking out on a mountainous landscape, while a korok looks at him squarely in the side of the head.

  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:




Friday, November 03, 2023

Books of October 2023

Reading

Here is my updated infographic for the books I've read in 2023 - October Edition.

Stats in October - (Year to Date)

Reading Stats

Books Read - 17 (99)Pages Read - 4873 (33232)

Books Read

A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas Komi Can't Communicate (Volume 25) by Tomohito Oda
Komi Can't Communicate (Volume 26) by Tomohito Oda The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths
The Confession by Charles Todd Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas
A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn Endurance by Yoshiki Tanaka
Komi Can't Communicate (Volume 27) by Tomohito Oda A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Briggs Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Stratagem by Yoshiki Tanaka

Collage of the covers of the 17 books listed above.October 2023 Covers

Authors - 10 (46)

Adrian Tchaikovsky - 1 (3)Agatha Cristie - (1)
Alexander McCall Smith - (2)Alexandra Rowland - 1 (1)
Angeline Boulley - (1)Ann Leckie - (2)
Anthony Horowitz - 1 (1)Becky Chambers - (1)
Brandon Sanderson - (1)Carlene O'Connor - (1)
Charles Todd - 1 (10)Connie Willis - (2)
Dan Moren - (2)Daniel O'Malley - (2)
Deanna Raybourn - 1 (1)Ed Yong - (1)
Elizabeth Bear - (1)Elle Cosimano - (1)
Elly Griffiths - 1 (3)Emma Newman - (1)
Fatima Ali - (1)Hiromu Arakawa - (2)
Ilona Andrews - (6)Isaac Asimov - (2)
Jim Butcher - (1)Louise Penny - (1)
Martha Wells - (1)Mary Robinette Kowal - (1)
Matt Parker - (1)Mur Lafferty - (1)
N. K. Jemisin - (1)Patrica Briggs - 2 (6)
Rick Riorden - (1)Robin McKinley - (1)
S. A. Chakraborty - (1)Scott Hawkins - (1)
Sherry Thomas - 4 (5)Stephen King - (1)
Tasha Suri - (2)Timothy Zhan - (1)
Tomohito Oda - 3 (17)Ursula K. Le Guin - (1)
Waubgeshig Rice - (1)Xiran Jay Zhao - (1)
Yoshiki Tanaka - 2 (6)

A word cloud of all the authors above with Tomohito Oda in the largest size.2023 Author Cloud - October Update

Publishing


Publication Range

Earliest Book - 1984 (1951)Most Recent Book - 2022 (2022)

Publications by Decades

2020s - 6 (39)2010s - 7 (34)
2000s - 2 (15)1990s - (4)
1980s - 2 (4)1960s - (1)
1950s - (2)

Books

Source

Borrowed From Public Library - 7 (60)Borrowed From Friends - (2)
My Audible Library - (3)My libro.fm Library - 5 (11)
My "Kindle" Library - (5)My Kobo Library - 5 (19)

Formats

Audio Book - 9 (49)eBook - 4 (29)
eBook (Comic) - 4 (20)Hardcover - (1)

Friday, October 06, 2023

Games of September 2023

I'm trying to focus on other stuff and be intentional with my play time, so my play time was down overall for September and most days I didn't play more than an hour. In trying to be intentional I'm trying to play things I find fulfilling and so I took a deep breath and installed Steam on my Mac Book. I'll eventually get my gaming PC fixed back up, but this will do for today (assuming the laptop survivies, it is a 2016 model).


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

  1. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - I spent a lot of my time in Tears of the Kingdom wandering around and finishing things up. I'm not sure that hunting almost everything down on the first playthrough has been that good of a choice, but as always the moment-to-moment game play is good so it's usually fun.
    Screenshot: Link dressed in desert garb runs past a giant dragon standing on a huge rock.

  2. Pikmin 4 - Pikmin 4 is a solid game. The only complaint I really have is that it's menu is on a different button than Tears of the Kingdom. It's a little bit conflicting because I *like* Pikmin 3 more, but as I said last month, I'm so glad to have this much more pikmin to play.
    Screenshot: Red and yellow Pikmin are blasted out of a dark cave. Their faces remain vacent.

  3. Final Fantasy XII - I didn't touch this much and I kinda didn't miss it. There are parts of FFXII which are pretty good, but it's slow and grindy and playing it never really feels that rewarding. I enjoy the concept of the game a lot more than I really like playing it.
    Screenshot: Ashe fights a dinosaur at the beach.

  4. Hades - Uh, so, I can play games on my Mac Book. I maybe *shouldn't* play games on my Mac Book, but I can.

    Scrrenshot: Zagreus arrives in Asphodel, flooded with lava and he stands by a large engraving in the floor of a skull holding a bone.

    Uh, please ignore the melting Mac Book.

    But seriously, Hades is still really good.


  5. Super Mario World - I'm not quite sure what's wrong with me that there are so few games that I really love the controls in, but I'm kinda fussy and sometimes Super Mario World is still somehow the game that fits.
    Screenshot: Mario swims down into a tunnel surrounded by grey stone.

Here's my total play time for September:



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




Sunday, October 01, 2023

Books of September 2023

Reading

Here is my updated infographic for the books I've read in 2023 - September Edition.

Stats in September - (Year to Date)

Reading Stats

Books Read - 10 (82)Pages Read - 3827 (28359)

Books Read

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky A Lonely Death by Charles Todd
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths Marple: Twelve New Mysteries by Agatha Christie (and a dozen more)
Planetfall by Emma Newman The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov Ambition by Yoshiki Tanaka
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

Collage of the covers of the 10 books listed above.September 2023 Covers

Authors - 10 (42)

Adrian Tchaikovsky - 1 (2)Agatha Cristie - 1 (1)
Alexander McCall Smith - (2)Angeline Boulley - (1)
Ann Leckie - (2)Becky Chambers - 1 (1)
Brandon Sanderson - (1)Carlene O'Connor - (1)
Charles Todd - 1 (9)Connie Willis - (2)
Dan Moren - (2)Daniel O'Malley - (2)
Ed Yong - (1)Elizabeth Bear - (1)
Elle Cosimano - (1)Elly Griffiths - 1 (2)
Emma Newman - 1 (1)Fatima Ali - (1)
Hiromu Arakawa - (2)Ilona Andrews - (6)
Isaac Asimov - 1 (2)Jim Butcher - (1)
Louise Penny - (1)Martha Wells - (1)
Mary Robinette Kowal - (1)Matt Parker - (1)
Mur Lafferty - (1)N. K. Jemisin - (1)
Patrica Briggs - (4)Rick Riorden - (1)
Robin McKinley - (1)S. A. Chakraborty - 1 (1)
Scott Hawkins - 1 (1)Sherry Thomas - 1 (1)
Stephen King - (1)Tasha Suri - (2)
Timothy Zhan - (1)Tomohito Oda - (14)
Ursula K. Le Guin - 1 (1)Waubgeshig Rice - (1)
Xiran Jay Zhao - 1 (1)Yoshiki Tanaka - 1 (4)

A word cloud of all the authors above with Tomohito Oda in the largest size.2023 Author Cloud - September Update

Publishing


Publication Range

Earliest Book - 1951 (1951)Most Recent Book - 2022 (2022)

Publications by Decades

2020s - 1 (33)2010s - 7 (27)
2000s - (13)1990s - (4)
1980s - 1 (2)1960s - (1)
1950s - 1 (2)

Books

Source

Borrowed From Public Library - 8 (53)Borrowed From Friends - (2)
My Audible Library - (3)My libro.fm Library - 1 (6)
My "Kindle" Library - (5)My Kobo Library - 1 (14)

Formats

Audio Book - 5 (40)eBook - 5 (25)
eBook (Comic) - (16)Hardcover - (1)

The Books I Read - November 2024

November was a bit weird. The Hands of the Emperor is long, but excedingly good. I'm continuing to find Anna Lee Huber a very engagin...