Part 2, 2018 (
Part 1 here)
Game 35 - The Legend of Zelda - NES - Complted Aug 31st, 2018
After looking at the achievement list for this game, I decided I'd take a stab at doing all of the "first quest" achievements that could be done in a single run. Like some of the other Zelda games on RA that have similar achievements, I defeated a few of the bosses without getting hit but not all of them. I also missed a compass / map somewhere, I guess. Otherwise it was a good quick run. I only died once, in level 9 which kinda pissed me off but that's okay cause I'll try again at some point down the road I'm sure. Otherwise I got 41/54 of the first quest achievements, not bad. Zelda 1 is still one of my favorite NES games of all time.
Game 36 - Picross S - Nintendo Switch - Completed Sept 2nd, 2018
I've been playing this Picross game for a couple of months, but finally finished all the puzzles in both the regular and "mega picross" modes. Some of these were downright brutal in their execution, and I got to a point in the final puzzle (20x15) where I basically had to make an educated guess as to how to complete it - which is something I'm not particularly fond of in a Picross game. The puzzles themselves were overall pretty good, but the end results were super duper random and quirky. Overall, I'm happy with the $8 spent since I probably put about 60 hours into this game and I'm looking forward to picking up Picross S2 and getting started on that one.
Game 37 - Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna DLC - Nintendo Switch - Completed Oct 9th, 2018
I'm stuck in RPG land, which means I might not make the challenge this year but I'm playing some very awesome games. This is one such awesome game. While I didn't get the proposed "40 hour" experience out of Torna, I did put in about 25 and feel it was well worth the purchase. I probably could have done the full grind and beat the last few superbosses, but it got to the point where I was level 67 and needed to raise another 20+ levels without the benefit of having quests to turn in (since I had done them all). Really pleased with how this turned out, and totally reinforced the Switch for me as an RPG powerhouse. The story was familiar from the original game but regardless was still great. The music was great, the characters were great, really top notch all the way around.
Game 38 - Starlink: Battle for Atlas - Nintendo Switch - Completed Oct 17th, 2018
I bought this game digitally on the Switch because a) Star Fox and b) not having to mess with the toys and just being able to swap out the weapons in-game. I don't usually go for the action games, but I had a lot of fun with this one - much more than I thought I would. I found I was able to tackle about 99% of everything in the game with just the "basic" fire and ice weapons that came with the digital version, but I could definitely see the appeal of buying different weapons and pilots in the eshop. I liked the "open star system" design of this game and the fact that you can basically go anywhere and do anything, and I liked the light-RPG elements the game provided. I've been playing a lot of Switch games lately - it's just so easy to pick up and play and take the console anywhere.
Game 39 - The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset - Playstation 4 - Completed Oct 20th, 2018
I've been playing this here and there for a couple of months now, between other games and when I have time. I love ESO, it's probably one of my favorite games of all time - there is so much to do and see and get. My character has basically been soloing the game for the past 4 years now, and I'm just now to level 43 (of 50) after beating the Summerset campaign. I love how this built up a ton of story stuff from the other DLC chapters (clockwork city, morrowind, etc) and I love Razum-Dar's character in this as well as the main game. While I didn't think this was quite a good story wise as Morrowind, I still loved exploring the Summerset isles and joining the Psijic Order. Very much worth the price of admission, and there are some other dungeons, skill trees, and crafting that comes along with it. I also got a huge mansion for free just for owning this expansion, so that was awesome too. The introduction of the daily rewards in this game is also ace and usually has me signing in every day I can just to get them.
Game 40 - Diablo III: Eternal Collection - Nintendo Switch - Completed Nov 3rd, 2018
I picked this up so I could play some Diablo on the go, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with how well this ran on the Switch hardware. I've played through this game a couple dozen times, but I made sure to actually listen to the voice acting and story this time so it took a little longer than usual to finish. Around the beginning of Act III I swapped the difficulty up to hard, and finished the game at level 58. The game is still great, and there is an incredible amount of value in this package with the story mode, adventure mode, rift gates, post-game content, etc. Even though I've finished the main story, I'm sure I'll be playing this for a long time yet.
Game 41 - The Elder Scrolls Online: Rivenspire - Playstation 4 - Completed Nov 10th, 2018
While this isn't exactly it's own expansion or anything, I feel like the 14 hours I spent doing all of the quests I could find in Rivenspire certainly counts as it's own thing. In fact, with the daily rewards system in place, I had enough experience scrolls saved up to always have an XP bonus while playing this region, and leveled myself up to 50 and started working on my champion levels. I wandered into this region after beating Summerset, and was sucked in by the Halloween atmosphere of vampires and gothic castles. The storyline for this area was actually really well put together - so much so that it feels like I should have paid for this area as an expansion even though it's just part of the regular game. When I finished it, the queen gave me a quest to go to the Alikir Desert, so the quest continues onward...
Game 42 - Jackbox Party Pack 5 - Xbox One - Completed Nov 16th, 2018
These games are always great for parties, and we've got my daughter and her boyfriend back from college this week so there are 5 of us that all love these games in the house now which makes things interesting. The standout game (for me and my wife, at least - the kids just roll their eyes) is the robot rap battles game. Split the room is also great fun especially with the full crowd (where super splits are possible) and we've played the YDKJ version in this about a dozen times. Although a bit on the expensive side for what is on offer, it's hard to find anything else that can provide hours of entertainment for 5 people for $30.
Game 43 - Super Mario Party - Nintendo Switch - Completed Nov 17th, 2018
Like I said, my daughter and her boyfriend are home from college for the next few weeks so we've been playing a lot of local multiplayer games. Super Mario Party is a great entry in the series, but the vs games are still utter and complete bullshit.
It's always fun to see what kind of random nonsense the game throws at us though. Personally, I prefer the rafting mode since rather than pitting us all against each other it promotes cooperation and everyone in our house responds really well to that aspect. We still haven't played all of the hidden boards or unlocked all of the little things, but we've still got a few weeks left before everyone has to go back to their busy lives so I'm sure we'll get in on that stuff eventually. My only real complaint is there wasn't an overwhelming amount of content for the price, but all of the mini-games are fun and like Jackbox it's hard to find that kind of value proposition for 4 people having fun for 20+ hours so far.
Game 44 - The Bouncer - Playstation 2 - Completed Nov 23rd, 2018
Somehow magically, I had never played this game before. I've always heard it was short and I had a few hours to kill today so I decided to boot it up. The game mechanics are clunky but they actually kind of work in a cheesy way. There were a few battles in the game that were pretty tough (especially the last boss fight) but overall I enjoyed it. I thought the plot was very "anime-esque" but I didn't count any points against it for that. Overall, pretty impressive visually given that it's several generations (and 16 years) old. Game looked a bit blown up on my screen but honestly, not too bad. I might have to dig into a few of my other Playstation 2 games on my backlog to try and round out this year's gaming.
Game 45 - The Elder Scrolls Online: Alik'r Desert - Playstation 4 - Completed Nov 25th, 2018
Originally my plan was to log in at least 24 days in November so I could get the Murkmire DLC for free, and once I got signed in I ended up spending about an hour in-game every day (because that's kinda how this works). So after finishing my quest in Rivenspire I got a hot tip that the people of Alik'r needed my help, so I came to the rescue. The quest itself was pretty good, fighting off necromancers and undead in the desert, and there were a lot of fun side-quests here as well. This game definitely has a huge amount of content, and again I played it all without doing anything multiplayer which was great. I also learned in sentinel that I can start training my horse for 250g per day, so that'll take a while to max out but it'll be worth it. Overall, pretty pleased with this experience, now on to Murkmire!
Game 46 - Diablo III: Eternal Collection - Xbox One - Completed Nov 28th, 2018
Ever since I started playing Diablo on the Switch earlier this month, my wife has been wanting to play through the co-op campaign with me again on the big screen. She's not much of a gamer, but I'm always happy to spend time gaming with her when she's able. It took us almost a month, but tonight we finally beat Malthiel and watched the credits roll. She played as a sorceress, and I went with the Necromancer (just like my Switch character, so this is my second time playing as a necro) and we had a blast. We were doing so much damage that we just kept bumping the difficulty higher and higher, and we were level 64 by the time we beat the game. Game plays great on the One, and I'm sure we'll keep going with our characters to do some rift runs, get the cube, etc.
Game 47 - ABZU - Nintendo Switch - Completed Dec 17th, 2018
So at this point I'm definitely behind on finishing games for the year, not sure if I'll be able to complete the challenge. I picked up ABZU on the Switch even though I've played it on the PC but I felt it was a pretty enjoyable experience. The Switch played the game pretty beautifully. Last night the power went out at my house for about 4 hours, so I decided to boot up ABZU and run through it before bed and waiting for the power to come back on. The game is still great, but without any fail conditions it definitely falls on the "easier" side of difficulty. Not complaining, because it makes for the perfect game to chill out to. The music is also super relaxing (most of the time) and my wife had fun watching and identifying all the different types of ocean creatures. Overall a solid experience to be had on a portable gaming system.
Game 48 - Katamari Damacy Reroll - Nintendo Switch - Completed Dec 21nd, 2018
I picked this up because I loved the original Katamari, and I loved the music and the nostalgia factor was worth the price of admission. Honestly though, the control scheme for the game totally ruined the experience for me. The game is pretty short so I resigned myself to finish it - especially because the final level is my favorite. I feel like I'm going to have these songs stuck in my head for a very long time...
Game 49 - World of Final Fantasy Maxima - Nintendo Switch - Completed Dec 22nd, 2018
After about 55 hours of World of Final Fantasy, I'm finally finished. I started this game (twice) when it first came out - once on the PS4 and again on the Vita but didn't finish it either time. Turns out, the game is pretty long, and the first few attempts I only made it about 1/5 of the way through the game. The Switch version, with it's portability and it's updates, made the game enjoyable enough to finish even if the main characters drove me up the walls sometimes. The "toggle fast forward" for battles was the game's saving grace, as I'm not sure what the developers were thinking making the battles in this game so fucking slow. Being able to toggle fast forward on and off, rather than having to hold the button down, made it tolerable but still pretty awkward most of the time. I enjoyed the "Pokemon"-like monster-catching mechanics but they fell a bit flat since I barely changed my party out the entire game. I'd call it a "slightly better than mediocre experience" honestly, but still an enjoyable and interesting game considering how much I love everything Final Fantasy.
Game 50 - GRIS - Nintendo Switch - Completed Dec 24th, 2018
I hadn't heard about this game until I saw the OT posted here on GAF, but it looked pretty awesome so I thought I'd pick it up. I loved the game, it's use of color, the music, everything. The game could at times be extremely peaceful and at other times very tense. When the turtle shows up to save you from the eel - that was my favorite moment of the game but it was filled with small moments like this that were really well done. It's also a relatively short game (took me about 2.5 hours) which is a bit steep honestly for the game's $17 asking price but overall a memorable and enjoyable experience nonetheless.
Game 51 - Kingdom Rush: Vengeance - Android - Completed Dec 24th, 2018
I may not agree with the series DLC practices, but I love these games and usually pick them up when they first release. I had my eyes on this one while it was in development and happily picked it up on release day. I've been playing through it on and off for the past few weeks, and it's a great game to pick up and play when I've got a few spare minutes. I loved the "twist" of being the bad guy from the original Kingdom Rush and fighting the king - having to work your way backwards across the map from the dark swamp to the kingdom villages. A really solid tower defense game, with a lot of good strategy and combinations of towers and heroes. Would definitely recommend.
Game 52 - Hidden Agenda - Playstation 4 - Completed Dec 25th, 2018
Everyone in my family was home for Christmas so we decided to fire up Hidden Agenda. We played through the game once a few years ago so we were kinda sorta hoping for a different outcome this time. Sadly, our character died in the same place in act 3 so obviously the narrative doesn't branch as far as we would have liked. We did see a few different and interesting angles of the story though, so that's pretty cool. We also earned a few more achievements that we didn't unlock last time we played through the game. Overall, still worth the price as a budget title, but maybe not as great with replays as I would have hoped.