Monday, June 05, 2017

Blog: Video Games of May 2017


I finished Breath of the Wild, and then I had to figure out what people do with their time when they aren't running across Hyrule. Apparently there are ... other games. In the end I played a bunch of stuff and was pretty happy even if there wasn't anything that took up all of the time.

My top five games (by play time) for May were:
  1. Hearthstone - I managed to play quite a bit of Hearthstone in half hour chunks in May. As always I'm enjoying it and possibly even getting very, very slightly better. I think the current state of the game is doing well in the "interesting choice" world of gameplay.

  2. Cities: Skylines - This is a great game and Colossal Order keep making it better. The new Transportation oriented DLC and patch have fixed some of the stuff that bugged me and I've really been enjoying playing again the last little while.

  3. Mario Kart 8 - Between needing something not too heavy to play on the Wii U and the talk of Mario Kart 8 on the switch, I jumped back into Mario Kart. It's been fun and I've actually been improving a bit.

  4. Rakuen - I'm working on a post about Rakuen, but I was really happy that Laura Shigihara's game has finally come out and so I wanted to play it right away. I didn't manage to 100% it so I'll have to play it again at some point, but this is a game that's really worth taking some time to play.

  5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I finished Breath of the Wild at the very beginning of the month. And then having played for two solid months I needed a break. I managed to play another few minutes later in the month, but I'm definitely going to need some time before I put in another 100 hours. I think I'll wait for the first DLC and see how that goes.





Here's my total play time chart for May:



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



Thursday, May 18, 2017

Blog: Video Games of April 2017

April was pretty much dedicated to Breath of the Wild. I played other stuff pretty much either to give myself a palate cleanse or because I was somewhere where I couldn't play (I played BotW on the WiiU). I haven't really dedicated such a long period of time to a game before (at least intentionally) and it was interesting to get immersed that way. There were definitely times where I felt like it was too much, and it did cut down on how much sleep I was getting but overall it was a fun month.


My top five games (by play time) for April were:
  1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - In short, I spent sixty hours playing Breath of the Wild and I'm not sure I spent enough time playing Breath of the Wild. There is so much game there and so much purity of fun that I'll be back before too long. At this point I've played 110 hours of that game in total and it's one of the best gaming experiences I've had. I'm not sure it's one of the best games, but I'll talk about that later. For the time being I'm waiting for a little bit until I feel like it's time to pick it up again. 
  2. Hearthstone - I'm not sure what's up with the current state of Hearthstone, but I'm really enjoying it at the moment. (And I'm still not any good at it, but I'm really enjoying it). I do think Blizzard perked up the competitive game and for us scrubs at the bottom of the ladder, I'm seeing a pretty even split between classes.


  3. Marvel Puzzle Quest - It's a game! On a bus! And it's fun!


  4. Fire Emblem: Awakening - I like my RPGs on the TV and so Awakening makes me kinda sad. For some reason even if I'm sitting in my game playing chair the 3DS still just doesn't feel quite right. Other than that I think it's a pretty good game with a lot of nice features added to the classic formula. (Although it's still freaking hard.)
    From GameFAQs user MasterBass

  5. Xenonauts - XCOM, real XCOM, is a great game. Xenonauts is a faithful recreation with a modern make over. It has a lot of the charm of the original and it is cleaned up some, but it also feels like some of the faults in the original were also recreated. There are a few spots where the game just feels really devoid of fun or interest. On the other hand there are plenty of times where it's a lot of fun and well designed. (Also it's quite freaking hard, I just seem to suck at a lot of genres that I love.)


Here's my total play time for April:

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

Friday, April 14, 2017

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 156)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos, we go through the five steps of trauma, remind ourselves just how awesome we are and then get dirty fighting about video games.

Sunday, April 09, 2017

Blog: Video Games of March 2017

Breath of the Wild hit in March. It's good. Like really outstandingly one of the best games of all time. Somehow I also played some other games, but really it was in an effort to get back to Zelda.

My top five games (by play time) for March were:
  1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The fact of the matter is that any time a new Zelda game comes out, it's extremely likely to be the game I played the most that month. So you shouldn't be too surprised that I played 40+ hours of Breath of the Wild, but even then you'd be underestimating just how really good Breath of the Wild is.

    It's so good that, really, I don't want to say too much about it because the more you discover on your own as you play it the better it will be. The game is intended to refresh that childhood sense of going on an adventure and it does it beautifully, taking you on a truly epic journey through the Land of Hyrule. Each time you see a new vista you get a chance to see a new amazing thing in the world, and the game constantly takes your breath away.

    If you can get your Hands on Breath of the Wild, play it, as soon as you can. You will be well rewarded
  2. Marvel Puzzle Quest - As usual, I've mostly checked in on MPQ when I've been on the bus, play for 20 or so minutes. The game is still great and I definitely miss when I haven't played for a day and it's certainly something to do while you're getting back to Hyrule.

  3. Hearthstone - Again I haven't played too much Hearthstone and largely when I've needed a break between jobs or on the odd occasion when I couldn't get back to Hyrule.



  4. Pharaoh - I like city walker games, and this one especially. It's also a game with a lot of nostalgia and coming back to it years later I'm enjoying being actually good at it. It definitely has some flaws and could stand for a modern recreation, but it's still great. ... and I played it at least partly so that I didn't burn out on Hyrule.
    From - GameFAQs User yutjrtf76

  5. Mario Golf: World Tour - Mario Golf is great. I play it at lunch. I tell you this a lot. You know what the world needs: Breath of the Wild Golf. Get on it Nintendo. Meanwhile ... Hyrule.
    From IGN


Here's my total play time for March 2017:



And here's my play time chart:

The Books I Read - April 2024

So I did find a way to automate a lot of the table generation for the post. I'm testing it out now, but it seems to be working. I&#...