January '19 Play Log
So now that the new year has begun, I’ve decided it’s time to set some goals. Previously I had said 3:1 beaten:activated ratio. I’m at exactly 1:1 right now (11:11 since December 1st), so that’s not exactly going well. In my defence though, Christmas, sales, VR, and whatnot have resulted in more activations that usual (I hope). I think I’m going to keep tracking that ratio, but instead of keeping 3:1 just make sure I really want a game before I buy/enter/trade for it.
Goals
I’m really hoping these goals aren’t challenging enough, because I would like to make much more progress on my backlog. I don’t want them to be unachievable before the end of the year though.
70% beaten SG wins ratio: I’ve been on SG a bit over a year now, and have a beaten/completed ratio of 50% (in fact I ended the year with exactly 100 games on my SG list). Not half bad considering I went a bit nuts at first and entered anything I had a chance at winning and didn’t look awful. Unfortunately that means there’s some less interesting games to play, but there are also some that look quite good. I hate marking games as won’t play so I’ll continue trying to avoid that, though it may seem silly.
Max 30 Wishlist Unplayed games: I’ve recently started using lists. One that I track is games I had in my wishlist at some point and have gotten through some means but haven’t played. There’s a shocking 41 games on it right now. I’d like to reduce that.
Much fewer abandoned games: I don’t have a specific goal for this one, but I have over 60 games I’ve started and abandoned. Some of these don’t have a ‘finished’ point, but most do. I’d like to get this down to a more reasonable level, maybe 40 this year?
ABC Challenge
Now that there’s a new ABC Challenge, I figure it’s high time I did the old one. As per my goals I’ve picked from SG wins, Wishlist Unplayed, and abandoned games. I may switch up a few as I go, we’ll see. I don’t have any X games and the only thing I could do for V was complete Viscera Cleanup Detail: Shadow Warrior as I had missed one achievement. I have every other letter though, and nearly every one of the games on there covers one of my goals.
First, a disclaimer that I was very young when this game came out. I played it partly out of curiosity, and partly because I (generally) like puzzle games. I'm not sure if this is just too dated or too difficult in general, but I really didn't enjoy it. It seems to have been designed with the intention of people spending a long time not just on how to solve the puzzles, but on how they work and where the next one is. Perhaps this was more interesting before we could just google everything, assuming people had more patience. Unless you are familiar with this game or are very good at puzzles and have a ton of patience I suggest you steer clear.
Pros:
- you can skip puzzles (if you can figure out how!)
- some puzzles are solvable without extreme amounts of frustration
- the lack of instructions adds a challenge (though it's not always welcome)
Cons:
- bad acting
- no subtitles
- unskippable cutscenes/animations
- no instructions for the puzzles
- several of the puzzles are very difficult
- It's not obvious there's a hint/skip book. I found it early on but couldn't figure out what it was for since I had just completed a puzzle. It wasn't until close to the end of the game (and after much googling) that I came accross instructions on how it actually worked.
- the 'hint' book just gives instructions (for at least the puzzle I used it for)
- perhaps it was because some of the puzzles can be done in different orders, but I found the 'story' entirely unclear
Verdict: 3/10
PA/SG win. I feel like I should have known I wouldn’t like this, though maybe I’m being too hard on myself. I always feel bad about winning games and then not liking them. Especially when there are clearly people who would have enjoyed it.
A decent cyberpunk terminator-type shooter with a boss battle every two or three levels. There is a story, but I find it sort of gets lost among the action. As much as I enjoy shooters, I think they're difficult to put a good story in because I immediately forget what's going on as soon as the action starts.
Word to the wise: keyboard/mouse is much easier to play on (this coming from someone used to controllers)
Pros:
- decent graphics (I played redux, apparently the original has slightly better)
- variety of weapons
- quicksave makes life much easier
- voice acting is pretty decent
- good soundtrack
- the hidden "secret" nano (xp/currency) is a neat addition
Cons:
- no quicksave on controller
- Redux has slightly graphics, but has dash (which the origianal lacked), you can't have both
- I foud it difficult to change weapons during a fight as you have to take your hand off the movement keys (I'm used to playing on a controller though)
- he makes the most rediculous noises - his groans of pain lmost sound mixed with moans
- you groan when something explodes near you/etc, even if it's not close enough to do damage (so you're groaning alot during fights)
- You always explode then groan when you die, no matter how you die. Sliced in half? Expload, then groan. Fall into a bottomless pit? Explode then groan. It's rediculous.
Overall my feelings were a bit mixed. I played on hard which I usually don't do. Great for achievements since most of them have one per difficulty. If I had used keyboard/mouse from the beginning it probably would have been better.
Verdict: 7/10
Another PA/SG win. Part of the reason this month has been less productive in terms of number of games beaten. I grudgingly give keyboard/mouse FPS control fans permission to say ‘told you so’. But only once. After that I’ll throw my still-sometimes-superior controller at them. I grew up on consoles so controllers are what I’m used to, plus now that I got a Steam Link I can play on my much larger TV. I really wish I had started with keyboard/mouse for this one though. I don’t usually play games on hard but I wanted to get more achievements. I wasn’t enjoying it because of the difficulty, but it was much easier once I switched to keyboard and mouse, which also allowed me to use quicksave/quickload.
A ripoff of Artifex Mundi HOGs but without achievements. Everything else is the same - grab random objects you have no apparent use for and then find a use for them, do hog scenes, and puzzles. Not saying that's a bad thing though. If you like HOG games and aren't there for the story you may enjoy it. Personally I found there where way too many 'why on earth would you ever consider doing this?' moments.
Pros:
- If you like Artifex Mundi games you'll probably enjoy this
- Voice acting is arguably better than Artifex Mundi, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it 'good'
- Has hints
- Has a complete walkthrough guide in-game
Cons:
- Some of the puzzles are too difficult
- It's often not obvious which item to use with what
- Story is not remotely interesting
- There's frequently no logic to the puzzles or what you're doing - it's not obvious that it serves a purpose until much later
Verdict: 4/10
Old SG win & ABC challenge. Honestly just played it to get it off my SG list. I’m sick of HOGs. If you enjoy them though this isn’t too bad, but I think Artifex Mundi is slightly better, especially with the story.
That’s it for now, hopefully a few more to come this month though. I’m 17 hours into Talos Principle VR, but with the DLC I’m probably not half way through yet so I doubt that’ll be done the month.
Does anyone use keyboard & mouse with Steam Link? I’d love to know how well that works, particularly from a comfort point of view.
Controllers are as good as keyboard/mouse, and sometimes even better for a lot of different games, FPS games are never ever one of them. It was funny last night, because I was sitting with a baby on my lap, trying to play insurgency, and with no access to my key board, thanks to the left hand supporting the child. So I had my controller doing movement and strafing in my left hand, and my right hand on the mouse to aim and shoot. Worked pretty well actually. But yeah I grew up on mouse and keyboard, but with most modern AAA games being optimised for a controller configuration it makes sense to play with one, and I find it superior in a lot of cases.
Wow I’m surprised a game would even let you use two types of controllers at once. The few I’ve tried either didn’t let you or using one messed up the other. I’m finding you’re right though. I don’t play FPS’s much any more, but I think going forward when I do I’ll go straight to keyboard and mouse. Too bad there isn’t a great way to do it in my living room.