Clark

August - Week 4 Update

Hey, it’s me again! Remember when I said I’d redeem myself in the last week of August? You probably don’t, but I actually did kinda pulled through with it. This week I’ve set a new high for myself in terms of completed games, having completed a total of eight games! Although to be fair, most of the games I completed weren’t even that impressive considering they’re just visual novels that require little to no effort and time, but they’re still a chunk out of my backlog, and improvement is always welcomed so I’ll be throwing a small celebration while I can.

Completed Games

  • Abrix for kids
    Abrix for kids

    13 hours playtime

    19 of 19 achievements

  • Beach Bounce
    Beach Bounce

    13 hours playtime

    10 of 10 achievements

  • Club Life
    Club Life

    15 hours playtime

    20 of 20 achievements

  • Highschool Romance
    Highschool Romance

    9 minutes playtime

    2 of 2 achievements

  • Last Days of Spring Visual Novel
    Last Days of Spring Visual Novel

    4 hours playtime

    9 of 9 achievements

  • Over The Hills And Far Away
    Over The Hills And Far Away

    15 hours playtime

    8 of 8 achievements

  • The Adventures of Mr. Bobley
    The Adventures of Mr. Bobley

    10 hours playtime

    8 of 8 achievements

  • The Walking Dead
    The Walking Dead

    23 hours playtime

    48 of 48 achievements

Let’s get the visual novels out of the way first: Beach Bounce, Club Life, Highschool Romance, Over the Hills And Far Away (SG Win!) and Last Days of Spring Visual.

A lot of titles, but to be frank the only one that really impressed me was Over the Hills And Far Away. I’ll be honest - I was initially tempted to skip through it and be done with it. But my curiosity led me back to it, and I have no regrets. The story was expertly written and beautifully told, and it was actually very moving and entertaining. The novel got me interested in the wars and I’d been reading up about it ever since I completed it. If you have it collecting dust in your library, I’d like to urge you to play it soon. It’s short and requires zero efforts from you aside from clicking. Also to keep the music and sounds on, as the music/sound effects helps the game to shine even brighter.

Beach Bounce, Club Life and Highschool Romance were all far less impressive for me. I was never that big of a big fan of these “look at my boobs” kinda games, although some of them do have a great plot. I quickly skimmed through most, although Club Life did catch my attention quite a few times. Pretty appalled by Beach Bounce though.

To my surprise though, neither of the games I mentioned earlier ends up taking the prestigious “Worst Game of the Week” crown.. as it belongs to none other than Last Days of Spring Visual. Times like these you’d wish there were actually boobs jiggling around your computer screen to entertain you, because the novel is just so bloody boring. The art style is ugly and lazy, the hardest decision I encountered in the game was choosing between hot chocolate and tea.

Moving on to the better games.. Abrix for kids! It’s not even much better, but I’ll take pretty much anything over Boring Days of Spring. A SG win, Abrix for kids was actually rather entertaining, and I have very little complain about the game. Having kids as their main target audience, the game isn’t hard and the achievements were very easy to get, excluding the two or three very grindy eachievements. My favorite memory of the game was walking 5,000 steps around an empty lot.

Coming up next is the hardest title in the list, The Adventures of Mr. Bobley! Showcasing incredible physics such as kicking a cement ball 500 feet into the air, the game was mostly a repetitive mess with very little interesting moments. The horrible controls didn’t exactly help, and the fact that they tagged the game as ‘Family Friendly’ sorta baffles me considering most parents wouldn’t put their children through such torture. tl;dr It was dull, tedious and annoying.

Last but not least - The Walking Dead! It was the biggest and the best title I played this week, and I’m frankly craving for more. I can’t say much without spoiling the story, but it was an incredible game and I’m really going to try to grab the second season next sale, and the third whenever it’s released. I’d also like to give a special shoutout to Quisty who was kind enough to gift me the 400 Days DLC, and char for the heads up on the missable achievement in the DLC. You guys rock.

Started Games

  • I am Bread
    I am Bread

    13 hours playtime

    2 of 35 achievements

  • Soul Gambler
    Soul Gambler

    5 hours playtime

    3 of 24 achievements

While I didn’t progress in other games this week, I did start two new games.

The first one is I Am Bread. It’s a very popular game so I’m sure most of you know what the gameplay is like. It’s very entertaining, although I have to admit it is harder than I expected. I’m still getting used to controls. I don’t plan to rush through it though - I’m probably not going to start hunting for achievements until I finish the story.

The second game is Soul Gambler. I haven’t played the game much, but the story seems to be very interesting from what I’ve seen so far. The achievements are a little of a nuisance to get from what I’ve read, but I’m hoping to finish it next week. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Summary

Although I do think that it could’ve been a little better, overall I think it was a pretty good week for backlog killing! I’m quite happy with what I’ve achieved this week, any step to the right direction is a good step. I didn’t start Tales of Maj’Eyal as I planned and said I would however, which was a shame. I do have the game installed and ready however, so I’ll probably try to start it this week.. maybe. It’s gonna be such a big commitment for me so I’m still a little cautious about it. I’ll have to start it eventually though.

If you’re still reading, thank you! ♥ Also thanks to Daerphen for the formatting tips.

char

Wow you did get a lot done! I’m really glad you liked The Walking Dead, it’s such a great game, I really hope season 2 is as good as the first. And thanks for the shoutout haha <3

Shax

I think S2 is better if you follow a “certain path” (that’s all I’m willing to say without spoiling anything) I feel if you follow the other path it wouldn’t be as satisfactory.

char

hmm that’s very cryptic, I hope I choose the right path once I get around to playing S2. I tend to play the nice guy so hopefully that’s the good path.

Shax

If it wasn’t cryptic it might ruin the experience for you, no point in that. Let me know once you play and finish it!

char

definitely, I’m ok with being left in the dark for this. I probably won’t play it for a while but when I do I’ll try to remember to give you my opinions :)

Shax

Btw mind telling me what you did in S1? In terms of keeping relations with other characters, how you feel about them etc

char

I pretty much did just about everything in S1 throughout multiple playthroughs, but for the most part I stayed on the side of characters that I knew were going to live for a while. So I was on Kenny’s side, except for when he killed Lily’s dad, which made him hate me even though I sided with him almost every other time. I liked Ben so I kept him around, Christa and Omar (?) were the people I entrusted Clem with, and I was always good to Clem, but sometimes I made decisions that upset her a lot. So to sum it up I liked most of the characters so I tried to stay equally nice to most of them, so I didn’t come off as an asshole.

Shax

Just go ahead and play S2 already!

char

I know I should! This will not be one of those games that sits in my backlog until the end of time :)

Clark

You’re welcome :D I’ve only heard great things about S2 so I’m quite hyped for it.

Baron Khazadson

I am impressed, even if a lot of those are somewhat shorter games, that’s a great dent in one’s library. Congratulations, seriously, from a fellow gaming hobbyist.My issue is that even when I have a lot of hours in a month to game, I invariably play the same ones, so kudos for not falling into that pattern:)

PS-I’ve got Tales of Mah’Eyal in my library too, and barely started it once upon a time.If you start it next month maybe I’ll do the same and we could encourage one another. No pressure if you decide otherwise of course:)

Clark

I’ll start Tales of Maj’Eyal with you! I’m probably gonna try to start it this week (which counts as the fifth week of August, sorta).
You can start it a bit later if you want, no problem. I’ll be watching out for your progress updates :]
I don’t know how far I’ll get in the game considering how massive it is.. but it’s always worth trying.

Baron Khazadson

I don’t know how far I’ll get in the game considering how massive it is.. but it’s always worth trying.
Yeah that’s been my reasoning for not starting it too. This weekend my sister will be in town for a visit, but I’ll hopefully be able to pick it up Mon or Tues. Good luck!

Baron Khazadson

The past week or so I’ve only had time to do my dailies in Star Trek Online so unfortunately I’ve not yet begun Tales. Wasn’t sure if you had but I didn’t see updates on your blog:)

Clark

Oh, that’s fine! I actually officially started it as of last week. I haven’t progressed in it much at all though - barely unlocking the Archmage, only three achievements in (I spent the first two hours dying and losing my progress, oops).

So if you wanna catch up next week or whenever you feel comfortable/have the time, you won’t be far behind at all :P

ShandyAndy

Impressive progress and nice format! Always great to read about other members successfully reducing their backlog. Provides inspiration for the rest of us :)

Clark

Thank you! :D

Spitfyr

Tales of Mah’Eyal is such a great game. I played it a lot years ago before it game to Steam. I never won… remember, dying is fun.

EvilBlackSheep

Congrats on the progress, it’s impressive :) You also remind me I’ve been wanting to give a try to the Tales of Mah’Eyal since forever, I really need to get to it.

(and wtf I am Bread has a STORY?? I thought it was just a gimmicky game)

Clark

Thank you! :]
And it actually does! I couldn’t believe it either, but it actually has a story mode. And it’s actually pretty entertaining too. I haven’t gotten far in the game, but from what I’ve read so far I think the story is going down the path of “a man gradually losing his sanity after continuously coming back to a wrecked home and a random piece of toasted bread”. Funny how a game about bread has more plot than some games..