GWJ Conference Call Episode 470

Donation Drive 2015!, Star Wars Battlefront, Rebel Galaxy, Grow Home, Twilight Struggle, Shadowrun Hong Kong, Big Pharma, Civilization Beyond Earth - Rising Tide, The Games We Played Most, Your Emails and More!

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This week the GWJ crew is joined by community guest Michael Foster (Skiptron!). We discuss a lot of games and the games we've spent the most time in.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind.

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Show credits

Music credits: 

High School Snaps - Broke for Free - http://brokeforfree.com/ - 52:37

A Beautiful Life - Broke for Free - http://brokeforfree.com/ - 1:10:20

Comments

'Grats Amoebic for becoming a regular guest host!

Regarding "time played" via Steam, I think these are the ones that come up top of the list for me...

Skyrim - 293 hours
Borderlands 2 - 189 hours
Fallout: New Vegas - 134 hours
*(Fallout 3 would be MUCH higher but that would have been my GFWL non-steam copy at the time)
Dark Souls 2 - 129 hours

Also of note - I have 43 hours in Darkest Dungeon, which isn't even officially released yet.

I don't even want to think what my World of Warcraft time would have come to were I able to log in and check.

Yay for Amoebic!

Also yay for Amoe-nda!

Actually really enjoying the bigger crowd this week, so far.

00:03:44 Donation Drive
00:10:02 Big Pharma
00:14:11 Destiny
00:19:05 Shadowrun: Hong Kong
00:26:00 Rebel Galaxy
00:30:16 Star Wars Battlefront
00:38:05 Twilight Struggle
00:41:53 Grow Home
00:45:00 Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide
00:52:36 The Games We've Played Most
01:10:20 Your Emails

Hong Kong is really great, and if you haven't played you should definitely enter the contest for the key.

And if you've never played the pen & paper and thus don't have a cool Shadowrunner name, then just share the name of your character from DMS or Dragonfall or make it up.

I think the playtime must have had a reset because according to Steam I have 31 hours into Fallout 3. There is no way it isn't my #1 game in terms of playtime.

I know my numbers for WoW, and the three Dragon Ages must be insane, but they're not up on Steam, so they don't count

That said:
Crusader Kings 2, Mass Effect 2, Civ 5, Europa Universalis 3, Mass Effect, and Pillars of Eternity are my top 6 on Steam.

Man, everytime I think of the title "The Static Speaks My Name" I get creeped out.

Why does the guy trying to organize for a 4-year old multiplayer game sound so dopey?

Edits: Top played games

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (314)
Dark Souls II (176)
Dragon Age: Origins (153)
Dungeon of the Endless (133)
Borderlands 2 (108)

I figured we might end up with a dedicated thread for this Steam hours thing.

Mine is below. I'm a rebel and posted my top 8 because I like numbers 6-8.

Elite: Dangerous would probably be on the list, but I don't play that through Steam.

1700 Altitude (really!)
347 Skyrim
161 Train Simulator
158 Rocket League
148 Fallout: New Vegas
134 Crusader Kings II
114 Space Pirates & Zombies
75 Mark of the Ninja

Congratulations on the ascension to regular-hood, Amoebic/Amanda! And Skiptron, great job as this week's very special guest. All around, the large crew was fun to hear.

I also really enjoyed the topic. It had me trying to remember my list before i was able to go back and dig through it. I wasn't surprised at any of my top few, mostly i found a few surprises way down in the list. There are a handful of games that i'd swear i never played that each have 7-10 hours logged. Then i remembered those damned steam trading cards, and felt ashamed.

Welcome to the roster, Amoebic/Amanda! I loved the bigger crew.

Given Amoebic's comments about Honkers, I am curious if she played Sleeping Dogs and if so, what she thought.

I can't name my top 5 Steam files off the top of my head, but I can name my top 1:

Civ5: >1000 hrs

Nice hearing Skiptron and Amoenda on this week.

My top 5 most played Steam games, which I am sure are extremely accurate:
Team Fortress 2 - 2262
Europa Universalis IV - 393
Victoria II - 227
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 221
Left 4 Dead 2 - 154

Left 4 Dead 2 surprised me; I have not played it in a long long time, but back in the day I guess we played quite a bit.

Being a bit of a nerd, I put all Steam play times into a spreadsheet and did spreadsheety things with the numbers.

28% of my games have 0 hours, although some of those are DLCs that Steam thinks are games (Dawnguard, CK2 Military Orders Unit Pack for example), some are old games I bought during a Steam sale to have if I ever do actually want to play them again easily (but probably won't), and some are just detritus from other packs that I only own because something good tossed in with other stuff (Half Life: Blue Shift for example).

Over 25% have over 20 hours and 11% of the games on my list have been played 50 or more hours; not sure whether to be proud or alarmed by that. Probably alarmed.

edit: whoops

Yay my email was answered! Always makes my day.

I think it's funny the guess was a December baby... I am not the Game King... I get 5 hours or so a week for gaming with work these days. The baby is coming in late February.

I haven't played New Vegas yet and actually had not considered that, and I didn't know Just Cause was coming out. It seems everyone was cold on Far Cry 4, but I don't know it would compare to Just Cause to be honest I haven't tried any of those. It also seems MGSV was not even on the consideration list. Damned hype train always seems to get me.

Amoebic is such a great addition! Congrats on becoming part of the regular crew!

I don't know how people manage to log so many hours. My top games are

TF2 (74 hours)
Mass Effect 2 (41 hours on Origin)
Crusader Kings 2 (38 Hours)
Star Wars Battlefront 2 (37 Hours)
Dota 2 (36 Hours)
Spelunky (35 Hours)
Civ 4 (34 Hours)

Mass Effect 1 is up there too, but Origin seems to have forgotten the 30-odd hours I put in to it. I'm somewhat surprised that Mass Effect is the only story-based game in that list.

The only one I'm actively playing is Dota 2, and essentially all that time is since The International a few weeks ago, so that'll surely be my top spot soon. I've been searching for years for a game that I could Be Tight With (quoth the Game King) and Dota seems to be that game.

The Secret World - 259
Skyrim - 243
Crusader Kings II - 195
Kerbal Space Program - 161
Europa Universalis III - 144
Fallout: New Vegas - 138

  • Dragon Age Origins - 112
  • Fallout: New Vegas - 81
  • The Witcher - 57
  • Dark Souls - 55
  • Fallout 3 - 48

Something's definitely up with Valve games. I have no playtime for TF2. That should be #1. And L4D is only at 15. Yeah. 15 the day it came out, maybe.

I'm approaching 100 hours on Dragon Age Inquisition. And I think it's gonna be my rpg swan song. I'm just kinda done with games that long. If I'm gonna play an rpg, the Shadowrun games are more the length I'm interested in anymore.

Amoebic is a great addition. I usually go with "y'all" instead of "guys," but it tends to stall people out when they're reading.

A note on my child soldier obsession: you don't get the option to extract them with the crazy parachute system until late in the game, so instead, you have to load a bunch of them up a jeep, drive them out to the LZ and put them all on a helicopter. You can only move three at a time, and can stash several other in dumpsters and toilets (yes, you did hear that correctly). So you pull three out, dump three in unsanitary environments, usually have to tranquilize two or three others, if not the entire base, arrive back at the base just as some of the kids waking up, so you stun those again, load up the jeep, and repeat this process like five different times. I did this with every single child soldier I encountered in the game.

And no, those judo throws are clearly no gentler than the bone-cracking throws Snake puts on adults.

Mazal Tov Amanda for joining the regular cast - So great to hear a female voice and point of view on things!!!

My steam list (So so ashamed of game no. 1)

Adventure capitalist - 302
AC Black Flag - 204
FTL - 172
Dragon Age Origins - 145
Watch Dogs - 127
(Runner up - Pillars Of Eternity - 124)

Game of Thrones - Genesis - 0.1

McChuck wrote:

Something's definitely up with Valve games. I have no playtime for TF2. That should be #1. And L4D is only at 15. Yeah. 15 the day it came out, maybe.

I agree, I seem to not played any of the Half-Life Games, or the first Portal game at all...
Got my 11 year badge in July....

List: With MMOs
1,558 - EVE Online, Mind you I haven't played in over 3 years unfortunately...
587 - War Thunder
534 - Star Trek Online
299 - Modern Warfare 2 ( Multiplayer )
268 - Arma 2 ( AKA Day Z )

List: Without MMOs
299 - Modern Warfare 2 ( Multiplayer )
268 - Arma 2 ( AKA Day Z )
157 - DOTA 2
156 - Borderlands 2
133 - Dungeon Defenders

List: Other
0.1 Giana Sisters

Loving having Amanda as a regular. Also really digging the longer shows.

Steam times ;
Skyrim - 165hrs
Blood Bowl - 147hrs
Mount and Blade: Warband - 97hrs
Civ 5 - 97hrs
Euro Truck sim - 91hrs
++Easily burned 200hrs on ;
WoW
City of Heroes
Oblivion
Morrowind
SimCity (latest)
Completed all GTAs, they must be 50hrs a pop ?
I'm a bit of a gaming slut though, and will jump between titles at a whim rather than completing everything I own.

As for gaming injuries, I started to use my left hand for mouse at work which frees my right up for gaming at home. Humungo help !

Rabbit, your comment on Football podcasts... I am a regular devourer of ESPN's Football Today. RoFlo (Robert Flores) and Matt Williamson are very, very funny and have a punchy and fun style (similar to your own!). They deserve a place in my regular podcast rotation, and have some hilarious "drops" that make me laugh out loud every day.

Alright, I'm down for some Steam shame.

Skyrim says 485 hours, but I know for a fact that it's low-balling me. I used an alternate launcher for a while there, and it wouldn't always register that I was playing.

Terraria: 270 hours

Borderlands 2: 70 hours

Fallout: New Vegas: 54 hours

Dark Souls 2: 52 hours

If we included time double dipped from consoles, Fallout 3 would be near New Vegas. Also, Mass Effect would almost certainly be on the list, since I played the first one through three or four times.

So here's my Steam list. I like my top 2-5, but I'm ashamed of my #1. It's the only game in the franchise I purchased, and only did so to play with a friend, who logged near to 500hrs in the game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer - 183 hrs
Terraria - 143 hrs
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition - 103 hrs
Left 4 Dead - 97 hrs on record
Borderlands - 86 hrs on record

And just out of the top 5 is Borderlands 2, which I burnt out on 1 hr into the Tiny Tiny DLC, which is more indicitive of my growing distaste for random loot drop mechanics than the Borderlands universe.

And not on this list, but tracked by Raptr app, which gives nearly the same numbers as my Steam listing above is Firefall, which I put in 222 hrs into pre-Steam and loved it until near the end. I would be happy to have that up top on my Steam list, and happy to put in more time into Terraria when I feel I have the time and energy to devote to saving my world from an unexpected encroachment of crimson in game to make it #1 on my list.

I never considered myself a "hardcore" gamer - I have neither the time nor money to play the majority of titles that come out. Now I realize what I am - a tourist gamer. I do finish some games - maybe 10 a year, and I have put 100+ hours in a few MMOs, but I don't think I have put more than 30-40 hours in any normal game.

I don't understand why the PS4 hasn't patched in a way to track game times (other than in-game) - it makes perfect sense to show that along with trophies...

Hooray for Amanda becoming a regular! Can't say I was surprised though. She's so awesome, it was only a matter of time.

As for the Steam hours thingie... Well, clearly, I've sunk way more hours in The Realm Online and Guild Wars 1 & 2 than I care to admit (at least 1k hours each, no joke, although the only one that I have any data on is GW2). There's also Oblivion, must've spent at least 600 hours in that one, and about 300 hours in Morrowind. I love my Elder Scrolls (see below).
And of course, I had to make a spreadsheet for my Steam games (they don't call me the Spreadsheet Seamstress for nothing!), so here's my top 5:
Skyrim - 280 hours
Mount & Blade: Warband - 278 hours (pretty sure I left that one idling a whole bunch though; but I'd still be at 150+ hours)
Team Fortress 2 - 173 hours
Borderlands - 80 hours
Plants vs Zombies - 72 hours (pretty sure I left that one idling though, I was surprised)

What's pretty impressive is the drop after the first couple of games (see the graphs for top 100 and top 50 games). And there are some games that shouldn't even be in there, because I only idled them for cards (Sniper Elite for example, or even Offspring Fling which is pretty high up there). Still, super interesting. As most of you who know me will attest, I love data.
Also, only 60 games in my 400+ library have zero hours in them.

Edit: for those of you interested, I used data from Steam Calculator, but Steam Gauge is also a pretty awesome tool.

dewalist wrote:

I never considered myself a "hardcore" gamer - I have neither the time nor money to play the majority of titles that come out. Now I realize what I am - a tourist gamer. I do finish some games - maybe 10 a year, and I have put 100+ hours in a few MMOs, but I don't think I have put more than 30-40 hours in any normal game.

I don't understand why the PS4 hasn't patched in a way to track game times (other than in-game) - it makes perfect sense to show that along with trophies...

To be fair, PS4 hasn't had a lot of things patched which would be helpful.

The 238 hours I've allegedly put into Marvel Puzzle Quest are a little frightening. Some of those were idle hours, but many, many, were not.

dewalist wrote:

I never considered myself a "hardcore" gamer - I have neither the time nor money to play the majority of titles that come out. Now I realize what I am - a tourist gamer. I do finish some games - maybe 10 a year, and I have put 100+ hours in a few MMOs, but I don't think I have put more than 30-40 hours in any normal game.

I don't understand why the PS4 hasn't patched in a way to track game times (other than in-game) - it makes perfect sense to show that along with trophies...

The Wii and Wii U (possibly 3DS) have the best time tracking I've seen. The system tracks each day's sessions (and if you play game 1, game 2, game 1 it will break it up like that per day and show 3 entries, but only show 2 entries if you play game 1, game 1, game 2) and then shows daily, weekly, monthly totals, or total play time and times launched for each individual game. The only thing I can't recall seeing is a central total time played list for all games.

Crazed Java wrote:

Man, everytime I think of the title "The Static Speaks My Name" I get creeped out.

Its super haunting.