2018 - 12 Month Pile Program

Sooo, there was a bit of windfall in May, as well as some bad luck, and lack of time due to some of that bad luck so no games - save for one - got played through.

Games beaten and/or completed:

Minecraft Story Mode Season 1

Games acquired/added to the pile:

Disney Afternoon Collection (PS4)
Little Nightmares (PS4)
Hard Corps: Uprising (PS3)
Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition (PS4)
The Swords of Ditto (PS4)
Sundered (PS4)
Mortal Kombat XL (PS4)
Nex Machina (PS4)
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (VITA) - yeah, I bought it a handful of days before it getting stolen... and I only beat two levels... -
God Hand (PS3) - had this on PS2. No longer have a working PS2. Purchased again because of reasons.

Bad luck:

Someone breaks into my locker at work and steals my Vita (as well as a laptop and some BJJ gear). Investigation still pending (cameras were on, but us "civilians" do not get any info until investigations end). Medical emergencies for family members make the bad luck hit a peak... issues skirted, but still lingering. Thankfully those directly affected are doing better.

Summary:

Every bit of good luck in life seems to come with barbs of some sort (if you want to look for some kind of pattern). Also, purchasing and playing ("playing") games is a form of therapy for me, clearly.

May 2018

Added:
Nothing (*gasp!*)

Beaten:
Nothing

Made progress in:
BattleTech (~20 hrs)
Persona 5 (~5 hrs)

Not a ton new this month. I'm really digging BattleTech and was able to make a decent dent in that. Put in a few hours with Persona 5 as well. That game is interesting but I'm wondering if I have the stamina to keep up with all 100 hours of it. I'll see how the summer goes. Otherwise, I'm just happy I didn't end up spending any extra money on games this month. That's pretty rare for me.

brokenclavicle wrote:

Bad luck stuff

Ugh -- sorry to hear that! I'm glad you were able to use gaming this month to relieve some of the stress. That always helps me as well.

May update:

Added:

Hacknet Deluxe (PC)
The Flame in the Flood (PC)
Mini Ninjas (PC)
Dark Souls 2 (PC)

Played:

Dark Souls 2 (PC) - Made a start, but not sure I'm really ready to dive into another Souls game just yet
Goetia (PC) - Wife was in the mood for a mildly creepy game, this is hitting the spot
Pillars of Eternity (PC) - Going to be at this one a while
Breath of the Wild (Switch) - I should really consider not buying any more games in 2018...

Finished:

Dark Souls (PC) - Didn't complete all the DLC content, but satisfactorily concluded.
Finding Teddy (PC) - Simple, cute little point-and-click game, just obtusely puzzley enough for me and did not outstay its welcome.

Finished:
God of War 4
Fran Bow
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Another weak month for the pile (or strong if you are the pile I guess). God of War 4 and PoE Deadfire were pretty large though.

Added:
A few games from Humble monthly, which I might actually play some day:
Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth
Kerbal Space Program

May update:

Added:
Nothing!

Finished:
Ni No Kuni 2 (PS4)
Lego Marvel Super Heroes (PS4)--finished the platinum trophy with my son

Played:
Mercenary Kings (Vita)
Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom (PS4)

I have two sets of levels left in Mercenary Kings so might finish in June since I have some travel Vita time coming. Shiness is...taking its time to get its hooks into me. I like the animation but there are a lot of buttons to press and I'm not really sure what I'm doing. Rainbow Skies comes out at the end of June and that is all I have on my list until the end of the year when Kingdom Hearts III (maybe) releases and possibly the new Tomb Raider game if there is a crazy sale around the holidays. Lots of pile work to do yet this year!

May Report~~

Added:
(nothing!)

Beat:
Assassin's Creed: Unity (Steam)

Made Progress In:
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (PS4)
Resident Evil 7 (Steam)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U)

Planned games to beat in 2018

Spoiler:

Assassin's Creed: Unity (Steam)
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD (PS4)
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -a fragmentary passage (PS4)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (3DS)
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Wii U)
Banjo Tooie (X360)
Nier (X360)
Stardew Valley (Steam)
Life is Strange Before the Storm (Steam)
Resident Evil 7 (Steam)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam)
Persona 5 (PS4)
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (PS4)
The Witness (Steam)
Pikmin 3 (Wii U)
Child of Light (PS4)
Freedom Planet (Steam)

It's been two months since I added anything to the pile However, it probably won't last since my birthday is coming up in a few days but it's a nice feeling none the less.

May report:

Pile In:
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux (3DS)

Pile Out:
Bayonetta (Switch)

Spoiler:

And this is why I shouldn't make plans. Mayxis / Might & Maygic month went to hell. Played Bayonetta instead. Also vacation. I did manage to beat Bayonetta, twice! So that was cool.

June is all about finishing up Final Fantasy XV finally and hopefully knocking the DLC episodes out as well. That way I'll be all caught up for next year's season of new DLC episodes.

May 2018

May Completed
Zilch.

May Played
Slay the Spire
Into the Breach
Shadowrun Dragonfall
Stardew Valley
Monster Prom
Diablo 3
Guild Wars 2 (character creation paralysis)

May game time
Poor tracking means can only roughly estimate say 25 hrs game time total last month.

May Purchases
Northgard
Monster Prom
Diablo 3 (again!)
Skyrim SE
Guild Wars 2 (f2p download only for now, thanks for enabling you Euro Goodjers!)

Plan for June
Estimated game time - Up to 40hrs
It's 1st June and already I have purchased a couple more games.
Play Guild Wars 2 and a few other games whenever I get a chance. It would be nice to finish something!
A very loose plan this month.

Finally...

Game of the Month - January
Battle Chef Brigade

Game of the Month - February
Monster Hunter World

Game of the Month - March
What Remains of Edith Finch

Game of the Month - April
Slay the Spire

Game of the Month - May
Into the Breach

Time for my May report.

Added:

  • Monster Prom (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif)
  • Perceptions of the Dead (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)

Finished:

  • Mass Effect 2 (Origin) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) - Of course it was awesome, why do you ask?
  • Beyond Eyes (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) - Unfortunately, a resounding "meh" on this one. I wouldn't recommend it.

Dropped:
None!

Played:

  • Guild Wars 2 (PC) IMAGE(https://backloggery.com/images/mastered.gif) - Still an endless source of comfort gaming.
  • Mass Effect 3 (Origin) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) - Of course it is awesome, why do you ask?

Remaining games: 44 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) (42 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif))
Progress (Games): 26 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) + 5 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif) - 14 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif) = 17
Est. remaining hours: 495 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) (474 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif))
Progress (Est. total hours): 285 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) + 100 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif) + 11 played IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) - 127 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif) = 269

Backloggery is at 37, not too bad considering actual Pile progress has crawled to a stop. I've moved on to Mass Effect 3 and Guild Wars 2 is still awesome. That's just the state I'm in these days.

May 2018

Added:
Too much! I'm not telling! Okay, I will mention I picked up a used DS Lite to play GBA games. My portable gaming went from having a Game Boy when I was a kid to picking up a 3DS XL so I missed a lot (and yet the first game I played was a port of an SNES game I've already played...)

Finished:
Donkey Kong Country (GBA)
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - It took me several years to get through POE1 so that's quite a change since this came out this month. I guess I liked it better? But I kind of have mixed feelings about it, ultimately.

Dropped:
Dragon Quest Builders? (Switch) Maybe? I haven't touched it in a while... It's fun but I don't often feel compelled to go back to it.

Also Played:
Collar X Malice (Vita) - My first 'Otome' game. I don't really care about the romance aspect but I find getting to know the characters and the main plot mystery interesting. I'm on the last of five routes / bachelors. I like reading a VN before bed and the Vita is perfect for them.
Radiant Historia (3DS) - I like this but haven't put a lot of time into it because I ended up playing too many games at once! Gah!
Yakuza 6 (PS4) - Still plugging away at this occasionally, still like it a lot.

Pinkerton wrote:

May 2018

Added:
Nothing (*gasp!*)

Beaten:
Nothing

Made progress in:
BattleTech (~20 hrs)
Persona 5 (~5 hrs)

Not a ton new this month. I'm really digging BattleTech and was able to make a decent dent in that. Put in a few hours with Persona 5 as well. That game is interesting but I'm wondering if I have the stamina to keep up with all 100 hours of it. I'll see how the summer goes. Otherwise, I'm just happy I didn't end up spending any extra money on games this month. That's pretty rare for me.

How far are you into P5? As you can tell, I loved the game, and highly recommend sticking with it. It definitely suffers from pacing problems at different times though, and if you're only 5 hours in then you've probably only just gotten to the point where the training wheels really come off.

Thanks, yeah I'm probably about five hours or so in. I'm right at the part where I've got Ann on my team and am getting ready to raid the castle of the volleyball coach guy.

I am enjoying the game I just hope I can find the time to make dent in it. It's a serious time commitment.

It is, and I rolled my eyes a little when I heard people talk about 120 hours, but that is accurate, especially if you're really trying to Take Your Time.

I will say that I think the game really takes off after you get Ann, and that by the end, I was surprised to find that Ann was one of my favorite characters! She gets painted as "the hot one" a lot throughout the game but there's a lot of depth, and kindness, in the way she interacts with the rest of the group. Also, though this was a game where every character is useful in combat and you need to use a wide range of skills, Ann was BY FAR my MVP at the end of the game. She gets crazy strong with some late-game abilities.

For this year I have the following:

Super flight no real end but got what I wanted from it.

Currently 5 hours into MadMax on PC.

Almost done with Serial Cleaner on PC

Started Dying Light but need to get back to it.

Rise of the Tomb Raider bounced off but want to get back to this.

If I can get past a lousy jump on Lifeless Planet

Need to play Fire Watch with the wife.

Playing the following with my daughter:
Lumino City
EPISTORY Typing Chronicles
Seasons After Fall
Yooka Laylee

I can’t stop playing Mass Effect or Guild Wars 2. Send help.

Eleima wrote:

I can’t stop playing Mass Effect or Guild Wars 2. Send help. :D

This is all I have to say to you....

Shadout wrote:

https://youtu.be/qIjUXyen27s?t=82
To the rescue.

You monster!
Also the Kaidan bashing is getting tiresome. =/ I get it every time I stream.
Well guess what?! I ain’t stopping!

Sorry!
Only way to win is not to play.

If nothing else, Kaidan (and everyone else) dies when you punch space kid in the face at the end.

Thanks to the suggestion here, I polished off Mafia III this month. And, thanks to the Fallout 76 announcement, I finally started up Fallout 4, and am several dozen hours deep into it. Unless I decide to take a break from it, that should be finished up in the next 2-3 weeks.

I think I've settled on my planned fall purchases:
August - The Walking Dead: The Final Season
September - Shadow of the Tomb Raider
October - Read Dead Redemption 2

There are of course other games I'm interested in, but I'm trying to limit myself to those.

I plan to replay the earlier Walking Dead seasons next month, as well as play the ones I never got around to. Otherwise I'm going to try to not buy anything else and continue focusing on the backlog or games I already own for the next few months. Granted, most of them are still absurdly long RPGs, but at this point, it just is what it is.

Nearly didn't play anything new in June, instead going back once more to Path of Exile and Diablo 3.
But had a strong finish by starting and completing 2 games the last day.

Finished:
Metro 2033
The awesome adventures of Captain Spirit
Finding Paradise

Some steam sale also happened this month, so new games:
Slay the Spire
King of Dragon Pass
Drox Operative
Darkest Dungeon dlc
Through the Ages

June Report~~

Added:
Yooka-Laylee (Steam)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
Finding Paradise (Steam)
Paper Mario: Color Splash (WiiU)
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (PS4)
God of War (2018) (PS4)
.hack//G.U.: The Last Recode (PS4)
A Bird Story (Steam)
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Farewell (Steam)
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Steam)

Beat:
Hidden Agenda (PS4)
Resident Evil 7 (Steam)
Finding Paradise (Steam)
To the Moon - Sigmund Minisode 1 (Steam)
To the Moon - Sigmund Minisode 2 (Steam)
A Bird Story (Steam)
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Farewell (Steam)
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Steam)

Made Progress In:
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (PS4)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U)
God of War (2018) (PS4)

Planned games to beat in 2018

Spoiler:

Assassin's Creed: Unity (Steam)
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD (PS4)
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -a fragmentary passage (PS4)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (3DS)
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Wii U)
Banjo Tooie (X360)
Nier (X360)
Stardew Valley (Steam)
Life is Strange Before the Storm (Steam)
Resident Evil 7 (Steam)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam)
Persona 5 (PS4)
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (PS4)
The Witness (Steam)
Pikmin 3 (Wii U)
Child of Light (PS4)
Freedom Planet (Steam)

Oh noooooo...something went wrong..very very wrong. I feel like June is always the worst month for the pile between my birthday and the e3 and steam sales.

Looking at the games you beat, it seems like something went very very right.

June update:

Added:
Rainbow Skies (Vita)
Burnout Paradise Remastered (PS4) - my college aged son will play this with me still

Finished:
Tembo the Badass Elephant (PS4)

Dropped:
Shiness the Lightning Kingdom (PS4) - maybe I'm really bad at games but I could not figure out the controls for this game

Made Process In:
Mercenary Kings Reloaded (Vita) - just have to beat that final boss!!
Horizon Zero Dawn - this game is very pretty and a good time so far although only a couple hours in

July will be dedicated to Horizon Zero Dawn and Rainbow Skies mostly. With Kingdom Hearts 3 pushed into 2019, I don't believe there are any other planned purchases for this year. We'll see how well I stick to this.

Shadout wrote:

Looking at the games you beat, it seems like something went very very right.

Well, it helps that most of them were around an hour or two each to complete but I guess that still counts for something.

June report!

Added:
Assassin's Creed Origins
Dragon Quest Heroes 1
Dragon Quest Heroes 2
Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5
Tomb Raider Def. Edition

Finished:
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
Grow Home
Monument Valley 2

Playing:
Assassin's Creed Origins
Dragon Quest Heroes 1
Kingdom Hearts 1.5 (JPRG Club)
Legend of Heroes Tear of Vermilion
WRC 4 (vita)

Ramblings:

Spoiler:

June was pretty rough for me, had a bunch of RL stuff bring me down, resulting in not alot of stuff accomplished in anything. Work got super busy which allowed me to splurge a bit on some games after holding out for a few months. I was struggling to click with any games early in the month so ended up finishing couple smaller titles. Bought Assassin's Creed Origins in the middle of June and it really clicked with me, something with the RPG mechanics and a pretty fun combat system, really clicked with me, I'm already over 20 hours into it and still really enjoying myself. Reminds me a bit of Horizon Zero Dawn. Picked up Dragon Quest Heroes 1 and 2 on sale, been playing that here and there.

Only one planned purchase for July and that is Shining Resonance. I'm hoping to be done or almost done with one of the other titles. I also would like to find some time to dive into Tomb Raider, I bought it 3 times now, and I think its time I actually play it

Added

The Surge (PS4)
Monster Hunter World (PS4)
The Last Guardian (PS4)

Finished

Nada.

Progress made in

Too many games. I've spread myself thin and am enjoying it greatly!

Time for my June report.

Added:

  • Assassin's Creed: Chronicles of India (uPlay) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Assassin's Creed: Chronicles of Russia (uPlay) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • We Were Here (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • We Were Here Too (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • The Black Watchmen (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Yorkshire Gubbins (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Purrfect Date (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Let`s not stay friends (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Gorogoa (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Quarantine Circular (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Loren the Amazon Princess (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)
  • Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)

Move along folks, nothing to see here, it's just a Steam Sale.

Finished:

  • Monster Prom (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) - What delightful fun.
  • Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) - Solid Telltale, really enjoyed it.

Dropped:
None!

Played:

  • Guild Wars 2 (PC) IMAGE(https://backloggery.com/images/mastered.gif) - Does it count that I finished Living Story Season Two?
  • Mass Effect 3 (Origin) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) - Getting near the end, should wrap it up in July.
  • An Octave Higher (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) - I haven't played much, but it's looking interesting so far!

Remaining games: 57 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) (55 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif))
Progress (Games): 28 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) + 5 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif) - 29 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif) = 4
Est. remaining hours: 550 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) (546 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif))
Progress (Est. total hours): 297 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) + 100 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif) + 33 played IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) - 221 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif) = 209

Backloggery is at 25. Okay, so definitely a step back, but that's to be expected considering that 'tis the season. I'm not going to agonize over it too much.

It was a decent month of gaming for me, even though I'm so far off my goals for the year it's not even funny. My game of the month was definitely Battletech, which I kickstarted during a bout of nostalgia and wasn't even sure I would like. Slay the Spire was fun as well and I managed to put about 15 hours in before putting it down. I also played a tiny bit of Persona 5 this month and am hoping to make a bit more progress in that during July.

Added
Slay the Spire
Jade Empire (for the GWJ CRPG club)

Finished
Battletech

Dropped
Slay the Spire

Played
Persona 5