Gaming Goals for 2020

I think I have enough of a grasp of my gaming goals to finally post:

1. I want to learn EU 4 and Endless Space.
2. I’m going to take a tour of the best games from the last decade. Namely Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 3, and Red Dead Redemption. Maybe not finish them all but want to put in at least 20-30 hours on each.
3. I’m really going to limit new purchases. Right now I’ve just got Cyberpunk, Vampire 2, and Crusader Kings 3.
4. Will continue to play one small indie game a month.
5. I’m giving up and embracing my MMO addiction. I’m having fun in Swtor and both the WOW and ESO expansions look fun. Just looking to manage it better.

So, the first quarter of a certainly wild year is in the books! How is everyone doing with their goals?

Here's my update...

Update on January to March 2020 Goals
• Keep reminding myself of this mindset: Fun, Creative, Connected
- Pretty good, although March was nuts.

• Complete Witcher 3 (CRPG Game)
- Failed. Garg. I blame March, but it was looking rough before that.

• Complete Ys Origin (JRPG Game)
- Failed, but I'm okay with this. I wasn't really sticking on that game.

• Reach 50 Subscribers on YouTube Gaming Channel
- Success! Now at 84, but I've been stuck there for a while because of March.

• Continue Creating Content for Football Manager YouTube Playlist (3 episodes per week)
- 50-50. March derailed me, but am ready to dig back in now.

• 30 minutes of Game Design per day
- Success! Missed only 5 of 91 days in the first quarter. Making good progress, finished a big (for me) game.

• Stretch Goal: Create a YouTube Playlist for one different strategy game (about 20 hours total)
- Fail! Not even close.

And...

April to June 2020 Goals
- Keep reminding myself of this mindset: Fun, Creative, Connected
- Complete Divinity Original Sin 2 with the CRPG Club
- Complete Bravely Second: End Layer with the JRPG Club
- Reach 100 Subscribers on YouTube Gaming Channel
- 30 Minutes of Game Design per day
- Create a YouTube Playlist for one different strategy game
- Release at minimum one episode per week for Football Manager Playlist

I've got a loose road map to lead me to the release if The Last of Us Part II (which is now three months later *sob*) Whether I stick to the plan or not it's nice to have a bit of structure. The games are:

Nioh (I'm part way through)
X-Com 2
Hollow Knight (I'm on Hiatus)
Persona 5

Ironically enough, rereading my post above, the release of TLOU2 now, itself, has a loose roadmap with no specified time of arrival. To sate my desire for that Naughty Dog goodness I’ve replayed The Last of Us, the dlc Left Behind and Uncharted 4. I’ve also started an Uncharted: Lost Legacy play though but am hoping not to play it too soon in order to eke the experience out. Of the games I listed:

1. Nioh I was enjoying this game and got to a fun level with a trick house full of ninjas and a giant, spear wielding toad boss. After beating that boss I felt very satisfied with the time I’d spent in the game and called it a day. I may go back sometime.

2. X-Com 2 has been moved on down the list of priorities.

3. Hollow Knight I was stuck on a difficult boss and didn’t know if a) I had the patience to learn the boss or, b) if I could beat him, would have the enthusiasm to press on further into the game. I’m glad to report I did beat him (very satisfying) and I am enjoying playing on. So pleased.

4. I’ve added Dark Souls 3 in here. I’m really feeling the souls-likes at the moment and am half way or more through this game so I’d like to finish it and the DLC.

5. Persona 5 or X-Com 2 can go here depending on how I’m feeling after DS3

LastSurprise wrote:

I don't have many big goals for this year, but I do think I need to play a little bit less. Looking at my PS4 numbers, and then numbers for individual games on other platforms, I think I was close to 1,000 for the year -- which strikes me as enough time that other things in life might have suffered from inattention.

I threw this goal right out the window after learning that I was going to be staying at home indefinitely.

The Baldur's Gate epic run through is underway. And I'm playing two at the same time.

Sundown wrote:

3. Fewer snap purchases. I've been good about only buying what I want to play soon, but I bought into the hype for some games this year that I didn't feel were worth it. Plus sometimes I but things on sale since it's a good deal and I never get around to playing them. I want to try to avoid that in 2020.

I think the only snap purchase I made was Age of Wonders: Planetfall, but then I actually played a round and started working on the campaign, so doing good there.

Sundown wrote:

4. More social gaming. This is a tricky one. I've mostly been a single player gamer since that fits my schedule better, but I still want to expand. The problem is always scheduling, and since we're expecting child number two next year, I'm assuming time will be at more of a premium. So I want to try to do this by finding some more multiplayer games (maybe like MHW), and also by getting more involved in the different clubs here, since it's much easier to play on my own time and discuss a game with others that way than only waiting on schedules to link up. Plus, some of the games they might play are on my backlog already (like Witcher 3).

Well, gaming time so far did fall off after the second child came, but this one is still a success so far. I finished the JRPG and CRPG club games for Q1, and I'm neck deep in Bravely Second with the JRPG club for Q2. Still going to start DOS2 at some point as well for the CRPG club, plus it was already on the pile. Plus, since I'm not able to go out and play board games with people, I've started up a once a week gaming night with some friends, where we play co-op games together. First up is Path of Exile, since it's free.

So this one is going about as good as I could reasonably expect.

LastSurprise wrote:
LastSurprise wrote:

I don't have many big goals for this year, but I do think I need to play a little bit less. Looking at my PS4 numbers, and then numbers for individual games on other platforms, I think I was close to 1,000 for the year -- which strikes me as enough time that other things in life might have suffered from inattention.

I threw this goal right out the window after learning that I was going to be staying at home indefinitely.

I'm going to go ahead and say that's completely fair.

Agathos wrote:

1. Play all of my holiday sale purchases by the end of January.

That's play, not finish! The latter would be impossible in that timeline.

Mostly successful. I took a long time to get around to Sleeping Dogs, which I started sometime in the summer. But I at least sampled the rest of them early. It was an experiment to see if I would be happier having a bunch of "started, need to get back to it" in my library instead of, "never played, don't know if I even like it."

On that note, I should go back and finish Gravity Rush 2 and Bloodstained, both games that I tried in January and that landed on, "I like it but stopped to play other things."

2. Finish some second playthroughs.

I replayed Breath of the Wild and Chrono Trigger (thanks, JRPG club!). Still need to do FE3H Blue Lions. And maybe finish that Horizon Zero Dawn replay?

3. Make a game.

I have a Unity project. I can drive my rectangular ship around with the controller and bounce off the terrain. Not sure I'd call it a game yet, but it's something. I've learned the Unity basics and am well positioned to keep working on it.

I haven't seen a 2021 thread. Do we need one? Or has 2020 taught us not to make plans?

Edit: oops, found it!

Agathos wrote:

3. Make a game.

I have a Unity project. I can drive my rectangular ship around with the controller and bounce off the terrain. Not sure I'd call it a game yet, but it's something. I've learned the Unity basics and am well positioned to keep working on it.

I haven't seen a 2021 thread. Do we need one? Or has 2020 taught us not to make plans?

Edit: oops, found it!

Yep, I just started it a few hours ago.

That's awesome that you've made progress with Unity. That's the engine I've been learning too. Fun times!

bobbywatson wrote:

Right now I'm thinking about just giving up gaming for some time, with the following exceptions:

Totally did not happen. I'd call that a major failure on my part.

bobbywatson wrote:

Instead, I want to focus on improving my art, making a webcomic (page 2 is looking at me right now, sitting half inked on my drawing table), and making a visual novel with my usual MHW friend (using the Godot engine).

That visual novel project vanished from my schedule, but I did finish the short comic I was working on (though I have no plan to make it available just yet).

bobbywatson wrote:

I'm also thinking about a career change, so I expect I may need to move and go back to school in August.

That did not happen either, which is actually a good thing. I think.

Is the 2021 thread up yet?

RawkGWJ wrote:

Is the 2021 thread up yet?

Yep!