Goal is to slow down a bit on the board games this year. Went a little nuts
in 2020.
Games finished
- FF XIV (PC) - My “evergreen” game on this list. Completed through patch 5.5
- Nier Automata (PS4) - March 2 -
A - Finished endings A and G, now working on 9S' playthrough, so there will be more. 9 hours (so far)
- Monster Hunter Rise (Switch) - April 2 -
A+- improves on MH World in nearly every way. Movement felt better, the monster battles were perfectly balanced, progression made perfect sense, etc. I’d knock maybe a 1/2 point off for the “main quest” only taking about 18 hours, but that’s a minor gripe. Completed all the village quests, didn't feel like messing with multi-player. Awesome, awesome game. 40 hours.
- Mass Effect 1 (PS4) - May 17 -
B- - A decent enough starting point, but definitely shows it's age. Feels sluggish and dated, but has an excellent story and sets things up for the rest of the series. 16 hours.
- Mass Effect 2 (PS4) - May 29 -
A - Still one of the best RPG's ever made. The opposite of ME1, in that it has a so-so main story, but incredible companion and side quests. The improvement in every aspect from ME1 to ME2 was remarkable. 29 hours.
- Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (PS4) - May 31 -
B- - Lots of fun if you have fond memories of the original, but probably a grindy, boring slog if you don't. I'm in the former camp, and enjoyed it quite a bit. 9 hours.
- 7 Wonders: Ancient Alien Makeover (PC) - June 5 -
B - A silly casual match-3 that was far more fun than it really should have been. 5 hours.
- Mass Effect 3 (PS4) - June 15 -
B+ - Great story dragged down somewhat by the random questing structure and crappy ending. Still, playing through all three games back to back was a blast. 32 hours.
- Dark Alliance (PS4) - June 29 -
C+ - Fun, but janky as hell and makes a terrible first impression. Almost gave up on it, but it got more fun the further I played. 10(ish) hours
- Trails of Cold Steel (PS4) - Aug 1 -
A - A pretty standard old-school JRPG elevated by an absolutely
amazing story. 42 hours.
- The Artful Escape (PC) - Sept 13 -
A - An short but incredible visual and audio feast. 5 hours
- Diablo 2 Resurrected (Switch) - Oct 4 -
B - Fun to revisit with a new coat of paint, but the systems show their age. 28 hours.
Currently playing
- Trails of Cold Steel II (PS4)
Abandoned Video Games
- Immortals Fenix Rising (PS4) - Quite fun, but the puzzles got too difficult and tedious.
- Warhammer 40k Inquisitor Martyr (PS4) - A super-boring version of Diablo
- Sakuna of Rice & Ruin (Switch) - Does a bunch of things (sidescroller, RPG, farming sim), but none of them very well.
- Diablo 3 (Switch) - Played through first 4 levels of Season, like usual
- KOTOR 2 (iPad) - Good RPG, but combat is SO dull now
- Atelier Ryza 2 (Switch) - Always wanted to try these, but never had. Should have stayed away, definitely not my type of JRPG.
- SWTOR (PC) - Got to level 50 and got bored. Again.
- Middle Earth: Shadows of War (PS4) - Hate the fact that the game gets progressively harder the worse you are at it.
- Grim Dawn (PC) - Always gets boring 15-20 hours in.
- Disco Elysium (PC and PS4) - Fantastic writing, but the fact you can spend 20 minutes in a dialog then immediately die because of an incorrect response and have to do the entire thing over again was tiresome after the 3rd or 4th time it happened.
- Trials of Mana (Switch) - Probably 3/4 finished, but it got incredibly dull
- Warcraft 3 (PC) - Fun to revisit, but I'm terrible at RTS
- Starcraft 2 (PC) - See above
- Hard Reset Redux (PC) - Surprisingly fun FPS, but didn't keep my attention very long
- Valheim (PC) - Gonna come back to this after it's out of EA
- Bravely Default 2 (Switch) - Promising start, but incredibly dull combat and story
- Nier Automata (PS4) - Burned out after the first completion
- Zelda BotW (Switch) - Tried, just can't do it.
- Outer Wilds (PS4) - Interesting concept, but too vague for me
- Doom Eternal (PC) - Fun, but I’m SO bad at it.
- Sword Coast Legends (PC) - Meh gameplay for such a cool setting
- Loop Hero (PC) - Interesting idea, but I couldn't get the hang of how to build effectively
- There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension (Switch) - Interesting meta-game idea, but the "glue the cell phone to the cat" puzzles were obnoxious
- Super Mario 3D World (Switch) - Kids erased my save file on world 8. Sigh...
- Guild Wars 2 (PC) - Got to mid-game, got bored.
- Dragon's Crown (PS4) - A quick time filler while waiting for ME to come out
- Clap Hanz Golf (iPad) - A really fun iOS version of Hot Shots Golf. Didn't feel like keeping my Apple Arcade sub just for this though.
- Psychonauts 2 (PC) - feels like something that should click with me, but doesn’t.
- Torchlight 3 (PC) - a completely soulless version of Diablo. As generic and dull as it gets.
- Spider-Man 2018 (PS4) - got much further than last time, but I still don't care much for open world games
- New World (PC) - Definitely not my sort of MMO with a strong PvP and WvW component.
- Spiritfarer (Switch) - incredibly well done, but didn’t really hold my attention.
- Beast Breakers (Switch) - Interesting mix of RPG, pinball, and brick-breaker, but requires a ton of strategy and ended up feeling very random.
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (PC) - I just need to stop buying these CRPGs, they never click.
- Greedfall (PS4) - Janky and boring version of Dragon Age Inquisition.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (PS4) - Decent story, but the combat and exploration were meh
- Skyrim Anniversary Edition (PS4) - Fun for a bit, but I don't have the interest to run through all of it yet again.
- Journey to the Savage Planet (PS4) - Platforming and combat got to be too much for me.
New Board Games
- Four Against Darkness
- Altar Quest
- Mystic Vale
- Roll Player (w/Monsters & Minions xpac)
- Small World
- Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle
- Lost Ruins of Arnak
- Quests of Valeria
- Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
- Jaws
- Survive: Escape From Atlantis
- Overboss
- Tiny Epic Tactics
- Middara Unintentional Malum: Act 1
- Descent: Legend of the Dark
- Dice Miner
- Fantasy Fluxx
- Marvel Villanous
- Destinies
- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King