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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2020 - Primed and Ready to clear some backlogs.
« on: September 01, 2020, 02:53:31 AM »
Ok, lets go, reflections on the month.
I really love the concept, my backlog of games is enormous and this fun little public challenge to complete our backlogs gave me the impetus to tackle a bunch of old games I otherwise would've continued to ignore. It helps that I'm unemployed* at the moment with little reason to leave the house, but I think the thrill of posting that I had finished some games to our small circle prevented me from jsut distracting myself for hours on end. Clearing backlogs is a productive way to waste time!
So now I'll quickly go through my full list, this time in reverse chronological order of games I beat, I'll give a quick sentence describing the game for the unfamiliar and my feels about each, including whether I'll ever play them again. I'll elso give some estimated playtimes but nothing will be super accurate because I only have my 3DS with me at the moment, actually I can get accurate playtime stats for that so 3DS games will have some real data.
Retired
All up, about 90 hours of gaming for the month. Which is a lot for me. I don't know what I would normally average.
Unplayed list of shame:
I am disappointed with myself that I didnt play these. I thought listing them would've made me publicly accountable, but the truth is none of these games even got touched. Many of these games are much larger, expansive games than those I did complete and I think some of them I had decided I would rather enjoy played at their own pace over time rather than consumed rapidly like the games I did beat. I pledge to finish them all before the end of the year though!
Anyway I think that's about it for me for Backlaugust. I'd love to do something similar next year. Too burnt out to go straight into Completember though. I might expand my thoughts on some of these games over at Pietriots so be sure to set it as your browsers homepage to check everyday because you're jsut dying to know about Ringo Ishikawa's existentialism or the duality of Rayman.
* If you're paying attention I mentioned in a previous post that I have a board meeting today and it's true, I sit on the board of my alma mater because I somehow won an election that 30 people voted in 3 years ago. And while I am compensated for my time, it's not exactly a livable wage. If anyone has any work opportunites please let me know.
I really love the concept, my backlog of games is enormous and this fun little public challenge to complete our backlogs gave me the impetus to tackle a bunch of old games I otherwise would've continued to ignore. It helps that I'm unemployed* at the moment with little reason to leave the house, but I think the thrill of posting that I had finished some games to our small circle prevented me from jsut distracting myself for hours on end. Clearing backlogs is a productive way to waste time!
So now I'll quickly go through my full list, this time in reverse chronological order of games I beat, I'll give a quick sentence describing the game for the unfamiliar and my feels about each, including whether I'll ever play them again. I'll elso give some estimated playtimes but nothing will be super accurate because I only have my 3DS with me at the moment, actually I can get accurate playtime stats for that so 3DS games will have some real data.
- Little Red Lie - Beaten 31st of August. 6 and a half hours playtime, 5 hours during Backlaugust.
Little red line is a narrative driven pixel art adventure game about the decade that followed the 2008 financial crisis. I didn't really enjoy it, it was beyond cynically pessimistic and just morosely bleak for the sake of it. It's actually well written but the subject matter is simply too depressing. Looks and sounds a bit **** too.
I do not plan to return to this game - Bury Me, My Love - Beaten 30th of August. 5 hours playtime of which about 2 was during Backlaugust.
First published for iOS, Bury Me, My Love is a text message adventure were you are a Syrian conversing with your wife as she attempts to claim asylum in the Europe during the migration crisis of 2016. This is really well done, and no where near as depressing as Little Red Lie despite the sensitive subject matter.
I will play this again to get a better ending - The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa - Beaten 30th of August. About 8 hours of playtime, 6 of which was in Backlaugust.
A small, focused open world life sim with the gameplay and aesthetics of River City Ransom. You play a high school gang leader in Japan who has to get his **** together before the end of school. Great game, probably mostly because there's nothing else quite like it. I wrote about it a year ago, yet even with the added time to finish it, I don't really have anything else to say about it. I doubt I'll play it again, but I will buy the developer's other game. - Retro City Rampage DX - Beaten 24th of August. Six and a half hours played, five hours during backlaugust.
A 2D GTA clone + 80s movie parody. While the game is a serviceable 2D GTA game I didn't enjoy the so-bad-that's-the-point, self aware satire. I doubt I'll play it again to get that save file to 100% complete. - Edge - Beaten(?) 23rd of August. Four hours played, three and a half during Backlaugust
Puzzle platformer where you roll a cube around some mazes. Was the subject of an incredible trademark dispute. Pretty fun little game. Still not sure I beat it because someone was saying you play through the credits and I didn't see that but I beat all the main levels and most of the extended levels and apparently different versions of the game have different levels. Will return to it to just play every last level. - Super Metroid - Beaten 22nd of August. 9 and a half hours playtime of which about 1 and a half was during backlaugust.
2D sidescroller where you play as a bounty hunter exploring the subterranean caves of an alien world. This game is incredible despite some poorly laid out controls at times Deserving of all the praise it gets. Will definitely play again, the goal being to have Samus undress for me. - Pullblox - Beaten 21st of August. 16 hours, 14 of those long precious hours played during Backlaugust.
Puzzle game where you rescue animals by pulling and pushing parts of a wall and jumping between them. Too be honest I didn't really enjoy this, I can respect the clever puzzle designs but there are so many levels and often it came as a relief to finish them instead of satisfying. I heard some psychopaths have played all the games in the series but that would be too much for me. Perhaps I will go back and play some of the levels I skipped but only if I want to suffer. - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - Beaten 19th of August Three and a half hours played, two and a half of those during Backlaugust.
Retro 2D platformer released as a companion to Ritual of the Night. Modern games have made me soft and weak. I played this on casual mode and still found it challenging. I don't have the patience to play it properly or to play through it multiple times for the real ending. I prefer the modern Ritual of the Night because I am a scrub. - The Starship Damrey - Beaten on the 18th of August. 2 hours played, all in one siting.
A game where you remote control a robot to explore a derelict spaceship to free yourself from cryosleep. Atmospheric and original with a decent plot but somehow I don't know if I can recommend it. I guess it's cheap so why not? I'll probably go back to my save file and knock over the final collectibles to get the last bits of story information out of the game. - Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~ - Beaten on the 17th of August. Just over an hour playtime, all in one sitting.
It's a visual novel, you're a detective who works on cold cases. I mean, not the best but not the worst. It's a shame this didn't become a franchise that jsut churned out stories every 3 months, which they totally could have, as teh characters had potential. But otherwise imagine you just watched a single standalone episode of NCIS or something and that was that. No reason to read through it again - BoxBoxBoy - Beaten on the 12th of August. Four and a half hours played, almost entirely during Backlaugust.
Puzzle platformer starring a box. I love a lot of things about this game, from the fun aesthetic to the simple but clever puzzles. Will go back and clear out some of the bonus levels - Boxboy + Boxgirl - Beaten on the 11th of August. No idea on the playtime though, maybe 6 hours, half of which was in Backlaugust.
As above. Will finish off the co-op levels with the gf. - Ever Oasis - Beaten on the 10th of August. 25 hours played, all in backlaugust.
Action adventure game with simple city building, set in an oasis inhabited by little pixie things. Fantastic game, perfectly balanced gameplay and well paced after a very slow start. Will probably go back just to explore the world some more and build out the oasis a little bit. - Rayman Legends - Beaten the 5th of August. About 10 hours played with maybe 3 during Backlaugust.
2D platformer with old school level design and modern trappings. I could probably talk more on Pietriots about the duality of Rayman legends, simultaneously a game for everyone and no one. Full of content yet undernourished. I might go back and grind out some of the levels I've missed, the music ones are fun. - Where the Goats Are - Beaten 4th of August. One and a bit hours played, all of which were in the one sitting.
A game where you're an old lady living on a goat farm living out the end of the world. A very engrossing hour and an example of evocative world building with so little to work with. I'll definitely have to play The Stillness of the Wind which is a kind of expanded remaster of this very experimental interactive story. - Dragon Quest Builders 2 Beaten one the 2nd of August, 80 or so hours played with only 6 or 7 during the month of the Backlaugust.
Minecraft clone with a cartoony story tacked on! Despite finding the game's presentation delightful, I found myself skipping all the dialogue in this game because there is jsut so much of it and it's so overwrought and boring. Luckily the building side of things is excellent. I will go back to fill out my list of rooms built and build out a pretty island
Retired
- World of Tennis 1920s
I was playing this game about half an hour a day during the start of the month but just burnt out. It wasn't clear how many more skill brackets there were or how they were calculated. I was up to Elite 3 and top of my club, whcih was one of the top clubs worldwide but for all I know the Champions rank (if it exists) was reserved fro the top ranked players worldwide and I had no more interest in playing or going further.
All up, about 90 hours of gaming for the month. Which is a lot for me. I don't know what I would normally average.
Unplayed list of shame:
I am disappointed with myself that I didnt play these. I thought listing them would've made me publicly accountable, but the truth is none of these games even got touched. Many of these games are much larger, expansive games than those I did complete and I think some of them I had decided I would rather enjoy played at their own pace over time rather than consumed rapidly like the games I did beat. I pledge to finish them all before the end of the year though!
- Ring Fit Adventure
- Detention
- Disco Elysium
- Xenoblade Chronicles X
- Star Fox Zero
- Terranigma
- Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon
Anyway I think that's about it for me for Backlaugust. I'd love to do something similar next year. Too burnt out to go straight into Completember though. I might expand my thoughts on some of these games over at Pietriots so be sure to set it as your browsers homepage to check everyday because you're jsut dying to know about Ringo Ishikawa's existentialism or the duality of Rayman.
* If you're paying attention I mentioned in a previous post that I have a board meeting today and it's true, I sit on the board of my alma mater because I somehow won an election that 30 people voted in 3 years ago. And while I am compensated for my time, it's not exactly a livable wage. If anyone has any work opportunites please let me know.
