GameLog 356-367

So much for starting a routine...

Need to add mobile games on here too as that's where more and more time is being spent.

March of War (50h) - F2P tactical strategy game that's quite polished for the F2P model. Dynamic world campaigns led by human faction leaders has made this more interesting than just the tactical strategy and rare units available on weekends work well on me too.

Marvel Heroes 2015 (48h) - F2P action MMO. Lots of little subsystems to get into, and enough loot explosion to mark it down for a LAN. Picked up the ultimate spidey costume for $30, but have found the free storm character to be more fun to play. Probably worth the investment overall but feels funny spending money on an aspect of the game that I don't play.

At the Gates (40h) - Closed alpha testing ..

Offworld Trading Company (25h)

Godus (20h)

Terraria (10h) - Still a fave for Cam, but getting into hard mode has made the early phase a little more boring.

Pixel Piracy (10h)

Hegemony gold (8h)

Invisible Inc. (7h)

Star Ruler 2 (5h) - Early access space RTS. Very different economy has me hooked at the moment trying to figure out a good build.

Blackguards (5h) - Picked up in a big sale and installed in a lull. Happy I picked up and played Banner Saga when this first came out as the static nature of the quest line is a little grating.

Mighty Quest for Epic Loot (5h) - Beta castle builder / raider in the same vein as notorious. Seemed to change the dungeon layout into a better model, but still feels like there's only 1 good solution.

Sunless Sea (4h)

Hack'n'slash (3h) - Arcadey Double-fine adventure game with the ability to change internal traits of the monsters you're fighting for a novel programming / puzzle / adventure.

Fallen Enchantress (3h) - Ben picked up the undead pack for some trade I'd long forgotten about. Plays a little differently but still too similar to what I remember FE to be like.

Firefall (2h)

Might & Magic: Duel of Champions (2h) - New Expansion.

Endless Legend (2h) Greig got interested in this one when he came down to visit. Got me back into it too. Waiting for it to be finally released though.

Dark Souls (2h) - Super frustrating attempting to play this on PC. 2nd go and same result

ToME (1h) - Another couple of chars to the RNG.

Racing Manager (1h)


The Bureau (.5h)

GameLog 325-355

30 weeks!

Every time I contemplated doing a post I felt that there was more pressing things to do. Now that I have a somewhat simpler job, it feels that I can start to get back into posting up the GameLogs. I still haven't done the 2013 recap, but I'm happy to at least get something started. My main fear was looking back in 2-3 years and lamenting that my experiences weren't logged.

As with the last post, there's going to be a lot of stuff missed. That said, it's going to be more accurate than I could do a year from now, and that's the main rationale for getting these done.


Mighty Quest for Epic Loot (100h) - Beta Castle builder / Raider in the same vein as notorious. Picked up a couple of good tips for my game, but also a couple of things to steer clear of. Overall solid, but it feels like it's already had it's big promotional spike and it's not even released yet.

At the Gates (60h) - Closed alpha testing ..

Terraria (50h) - A big session to restart from scratch and get into hard mode, and a constant call to play
from Cam when I get home meant that this one keeps racking up the hours. Now up to 330 in total, but a lot of that would be it running in the background as a server.

Might & Magic: Duel of Champions (50h) - Card game that got more interesting with a bit more dedication to PvP, but hit the paywall eventually.

Banner Saga (48h) - Great little story driven tactical combat game. Kinda wished it had a top score on it more than the way it finished, but happy with the overall experience. A game where you really need to go with the flow.

Might & Magic X: Legacy (42h) - Good return to the good old days of tough M&M. That said I appreciated less the amount of linearity there was in the open world caused by the tight gating of difficulty. Don't remember it being that tight back in 4-6.

Warlock 2: The Exiled (46h) - Really plays well and hones the 'Expanding difficulty' maps into a gated experience. Makes more sense than all the map being gradually harder the further away from home you go. My pick out of the current 4X crop.

Endless Legend (23h) 3rd game in a brace of 4X strategy games released in May. Even though it's early access and has obvious rough patches, it seems intriguing enough to keep my attention more than expected. It has that X factor already, so polish can only enhance what could be a

Age of Wonders III (20h) - 59h on steam, bet another that was left on while the PC was playing up. Seems a little snow-bally for my tastes, and even though others were recommending the random games instead of the campaign, it still left a little .. empty.

Tiny Dice Dungeon (20h) - Nice little time waster on both phones.

Football Manager 2014 (20h) - 39h on steam, but I'm sure I left it on a few nights when the PC was playing up. Tried starting a couple of low tier games in anticipation of the world cup, but it's lacking something that it used to have. Even though the systems are slowly changing, it seems a little more like there's less to really get invested in. I might be done with the "start from nothing" approach and look toward just taking a team I actually care about and see what story unfolds.

Game Dev Tycoon (15h) - Nice little game from 1st time developers themselves. 

Rise of Mythos (15h) - Kongregate game that I'd started before. New server and an Ok guild to get going. Lots of nooks & crannies to explore, but once the paywall loomed up without any real way of scaling it with time, I dropped it cold turkey.

Civilization V (15h) - New Venice civilization surprisingly engaging.

Starbound (9h) - Early access attempt at a grander Terraria. Lots of promise, but also lots of grind.

The Last Federation (8h) - From the creators of AI War and more importantly Skyward collapse, it takes the "Indirect grooming" approach to keep a chaotic system from imploding on itself. Works Ok, but the dev had made so many changes after release that it felt like a different game. Actually it felt more early access than most of the early access games I've played recently. That said, I really like the game for its Space Rangers feel.

Dungeon of the Endless (5h) - An interesting diversion from coming off the Endless Legend early access. I like the concept, but seems to be a crapshoot as to whether I make a level clear or not. Another one to fire up once completed.

Marvel Puzzle quest (5h) - Testing the limits of this Free to Pay game

Torchlight II (5h) - New co-op game with cam.

Starpoint Gemini 2 (2h) - Early access, but probably needed to be something to wait for. Hapy to load up again once released.

Path of Exile (2h) - Couple more games with Scott when he's over in Norway.

UnEpic (2h) - I know deep down it's trying to be roguelike, but I feel that all the minimalism misses out on the wanderlust.

Dark Souls (1h) - Press A the start?? No in-game menu to allow exit? Unable to tune the mouse? If I had an XBox I might be able to get into it, but I experienced a whole new level of frustration without even dying.

Magicka: Wizard Wars (1h) - Beta has been a little rough from an Aussie's perspective.

ToME (1h) - Couldn't get steam version to pick up my ToME account, even though it's been linked before. Played a game but quickly found that lack of perks provided by my account makes the game more grating than it needs to be. Shelved until another couple of updates.

GameLog 313 - 324

Been putting off doing a GameLog for a while mainly due to a site redesign coming up. Comments are now broken and there's other parts that needs a freshen up. Happy to stay with Blogspot for now, but am keen to completely redo the template.

Lots of things to be missed, but here goes ...

Warlock: Master of the Arcane (80h) - Armageddon map looked to add a whole lot more nastiness, but it still felt a little too easy once you get going. Tried a 1-city challenge on it and much more tense game. Final seal to fall and the mage guarding it seems almost impossible to take down with the set I have. Might just need to rush it and resurrect the unlucky.

Crusader Kings II (40h) - Fresh start and I'm already owning most of Scotland, Ireland and parts of France.

At the Gate (30h) - Closed Alpha testing.

League of legends (20h) - LAN stalwart. Slowing down the nightly need, but still ticking along. Alien Heimer skin!

Terraria (20h) - New patch has brought this one back into high rotation for LANs.

Path of Exile (16h) - F2P Diablo. Nice skill tree.

Card Hunter (10h) -After the month ended, it didn't really have the legs to keep me entertained. There's talk of expansions though.

Neptune's pride II (10h) - New release. Beginner game look to be Sandy's. Still in the 64 player, but only 1 planet left.

Tales of Maj Eyal (5h) - Seems easy for the most part, then an intense couple of turns when you know you're in trouble. Interesting how that's developing.

Long live the Queen (5h) - sounded like a better version of Persona or Princess maker, but the linearity of it got to me at the end.

Might & Magic, Duel of Champions (3h) - Sounded like an interesting CCG, but no single player past the initial tutorial. Little disappointing.

Legends of Eisenwald (2h) - Looked good, but still early beta or possibly alpha. Usually don't mind early release, but this seemed to just rub me the wrong way. Happy to wait a couple of months for it to get fleshed out.

Mount & Blade: Fire & Sword (2h) - LAN multiplayer.

Tower of Saviours (2h) - Moved distributors ofthe game and it took at least 1.5 hours to set up alternate accounts to keep the same save alive. Way to kill off a game!

F1 2012 (2h) - pre-race racing before the real F1

Hurl (1h) - VR Jumpy!
 

GameLog 310 - 312

Card Hunter (40h) - Browser game that looks and feels like 1st Ed D&D, but plays with a rather interesting card mechanic.

League of legends (20h) - LAN stalwart & nightly ARAMs with Sam & Co.

Tales of Maj Eyal (15h) - Getting back into ToME to prep for Notorious

Crusader Kings II (5h) - Still a struggle with Seniority succession. England has broken away and will be a long war to get them back in the fold.

Tower of Saviours (2h) - Still entertaining, but the gaps between being able to do something different is getting longer and longer.

F1 2012 (2h) - pre-race racing before the real F1

Terraria (2h) -More multiplayer with Cam.

Hurl (1h) - Ooooh Yeah!

GameLog 305 - 309

Crusader Kings II (240h) - Was a little ambivalent about Europa Universalis IV until I saw it had a CKII exporter. That led to another big playthrough as Scotland with a couple of artificial brakes put in place so I don't have the entire european world under rule by the time the expansion came out. Those locks fell off one by one with the need to keep going, so hopefully I'll play as a minor nation alongside the massive Scotland juggernaut in EU4. Been a while since I played and although I knew general strategies, I'd found myself rediscovering little tricks along the way. Will need to write them up or document them in some way before I finish this playthrough.

The Bo'ness clan has now expanded from a humble county ruler to the recent establishment of the Brittanic Empire. Circa 1240, so a couple of big power plays to go. Seniority succession should be good for the final score, but is getting to be a pain with no long term leaders.


 Shadowrun Returns (20h) - Finally finished another game! Found out later that the designer was the original Shadowrun guy, so no wonder it had captured the atmosphere of the original. Highly recommended, but you need to read all the flavour text to get the most out of it..
League of legends (15h) - LAN stalwart & Nightly FWOTD.

Tower of Saviours (10h) - Falling back to the hourly challenges and weekend gold runs, but still the best match-3 game out there.

Eador:masters of a broken world (5h) - On hold from the CKII juggernaut coming through again.

F1 2012 (5h) - pre-race racing before the real F1

Space Hulk (2h) - Plays like the board game, but a little lethargic. Will dig it out a again sometime.

Terraria (2h) -More multiplayer with Cam.

GameLog 299-304

Eador:masters of a broken world (70h) - Still plays well, and finally getting up in levels where it's starting to require level II units. The requirement for knowing your capabilities and the opponent's capabilities is still pretty high, unfortunately finding out whether you'll live is a savegame away. Contemplating replaying with autocombat turned on.

Tower of Saviours (50h) -Much better match 3 replacement for Candy Crush. In fact going back to candy crush is laughably random compared to the deep skill and strategy in each move of ToS. Monster choice (especially ally choice) makes a real difference too.

FTL (20h) - Another couple of runs. Still fun but I like the strategy I've built around Engi ships. Others aren't much chop, but would like to open up all of them for completeness.

Shadowrun Returns (13h) - Interesting story, and the writing fits right into the feel of the book / world. Pretty linear, but the story is keeping it going.

League of legends (12h) - LAN stalwart & Cam's goto multiplayer game.

Civ 5 (7h) - Couple of scenarios in ancient aztec lands. Quite interesting take on history, but didn't stay for the endgame.

Terraria (5h) -More multiplayer with Cam.

Rogue Legacy (5h) - Interesting take on the rogue permadeath where keeping the gold for permanent increases after each run, but losing any unspent gold upon entrance to the dungeon again, splits up the pain into more meaningful chunks. Bit contrived though. Would return to it if in the platformer mood though.

Company of Heroes 2 (5h) - Was really looking forward to it, but dropping right out of the radar now. I'm pretty sure I'll go back and at least finish the campaign at some point.

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 : Platinum (2h) - I had a feeling that the 3D had taken the mystery off Sawyer's classic, but the amount of variety is refreshing. Economic fun.

Star Conflict (2h) - Free2play space dogfighter. Useful, but not noteworthy.

Skyward collapse (2h) - Pushed into the middle ages during the steam sales, but got distracted by the new shinies.
 
Monaco (1h) - Tried 4 player at LAN and it still was mayhem. Very interested in trying 2 player though as I think that's be the sweet spot. Possibly worth another copy since Sandy has shown interest.

Gnomoria (1h) - poor man's isometric Dwarf Fortress. Without any updates from DF though, any mirage is still worth chasing.

Surgeon Simulator 2013 (1h) - Party games for LAN.

GameLog 297-298

Eador:masters of a broken world (22h) - Knife-edge balance between romping a map and being rolled. Everything's just got to go right or you could seriously lose the map or make it take 4 times longer to win. Begs to be save/loaded, but I'm resisting the urge unless there's monsters I haven't seen yet.  

Candy Crush Saga (14h) - Brain candy.

7 grand steps (10h) - Intriguing end of ages have kept this from getting a little predicctable. Got Sandy hooked too.

Kerbal space program (6h) - Attempting lunar orbits from the demo.

League of legends (5h) - LAN stalwart.

Terraria (5h) - I have a feeling that Cam's mates at school are now getting into this one, which has lead to more multiplayer requests. I'm finally out of my harcore character phase and have built a softcore to explore the current changes.

Warhammer Quest (1h) - iPhone game that I thought I'd get a little more mileage out of.

VR Demos (1h) - although the use of the Rift hasn't been as much as expected, it's certainly sparked an interesting array of questions.

GameLog 293-296

Eador:masters of a broken world (40h) - Plays like dominions 3 mixed with Heroes of Might and Magic. Some really interesting overland map decisions with simultaneous turn resolution, coupled with tactical hex based combat. Lots of weighty decisions and a difficulty scale that puts most 4x builders to shame. Lots of 3am's seen due to this one.

Candy Crush Saga (20h) - Light enough the get a couple of games in before work or on the way to bed. I'm not sure what it is, but F2P games like this don't really make me want to spend money. I see the ability to win levels without resorting to paying up for advantages a challenge, and one that makes me dig deeper to accomplish rather than relinquish cash to remove.

7 grand steps (7h) - interesting indie game with solid mechanics and a mechanical arcade machine feel. Works well and engaging enough for me to see the sun rise.

League of legends (5h) - consistent games with cam and still the LAN stalwart.

Skyward collapse (3h) - interesting concept and $5. Just what's needed from an indie title. I think I've glommed onto a winning strategy though, so it mightn't have the legs that I thought it might.

TF2 (2h) - oculus rift testing as well as Steam's trading card beta.

More from the missing 2 weeks?

GameLog 285-292

Hmm, 2 months last time, 2 & 1/2 months this time. Oh well, stretch the memory muscle.

Fallen Enchantress (35h) - New patch changed the way settlers are produced (locking them back to population again) and it's made a big impact on the way I play mainly due to freeing up the build queue for something other than settlers. Getting to a very nice place now.

Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes (27h) - Beta version is on steam. Big changes to the way you attract heroes, but still feeling like a Beta. Fallen Enchantress came together in leaps and bounds in the last incarnation of the betas, but I'm a little suprised how much they have attempted to rebuild things to give it that 'unfinished' feel again. Still, Steam achievements are a wonderful thing.


ToME (15h) - Couple more Characters into the ToME grinder. Still liking a dwarven alchemist and I'm sure it'd take me a fair way into the game if I cut out the stupid deaths. Due to the scripted outside world I'm finding there's more and more time between interesting choices at the start of the game, yet always a click away from getting in too deep and wiping.

SimCity (10h) - Seems more in-depth of a simulation than before, but still even easier to make massive amounts of cash. Lack of difficulty made this an early shelf.

Candy Crush Saga (10h) - Match-3 with varying maps for difficulty. The facebookiness has been toned down, but still present to get up levels every now & then. Starting to get to the point where you need to be lucky to progress.

League  of Legends (8h) - LAN standard, plus a FWOTD every now & then.

Warframe (6h) - Free to play FPS focusing on 3rd person viewpoint and parkour / ninja wall running and blade fighting. LAN group staple at the moment, but I'm still struggling to see how the whole upgrade path works.

Firefall (5h) - Bought into the beta on Greig's recommendation. An interesting over-the-shoulder FPS with dynamic quests. Probably still not as dynamic as I'd like, but better than nothing.

Stardrive (5h) - Indie 4x space game with real time elements. Feels like the interface need s little work to manage exactly what's going on at any point in time. Actually what it needs is an autopause once events occur like a scouted planet etc. Probably an EU3 / CK2 format would work. Also needs more ways to look after planet selection to see if they are taken or in a dangerous position.

Need for speed: Most Wanted (5h) - Present for EA's bungling of SimCity launch. Drives Ok for a racer, and might be worth a spot on the HDD for blowing-off-steam driving. Pity it isn't on steam though.

TrackMania Stadium (4h) - new version of TrackMania. Plays well, but probably much of the same to draw in any new crowd.

Civ4: Colonization (3h) - Found a mod to make it more like the original. Plays well so far.

Minecraft (3h) - Cam & Rachael's go-to game still. Set up a server so they can play with schoolmates.


Mechwarrior online (2h) - Enough time to kick it into gear for some LANs, but it looks like WarFrame has now wrestled the FPS mantle from it's grasp.

Mini Motor Racing EVO (2h) - Simple top-down racer for my birthday to bide me overuntil Company of Heroes 2 is released.

Monaco (1h) - Early Birthday prezzie. Almost bought a 4-pack. Looks like it can handle a couple of runs on the same levels to score-chase.

Neverwinter (1h) - Enough to clear the starting zone. Competing a fair bit for time in the F2P MMO space.  

GameLog 276-284

Hmm, 2 months without a GameLog. This is going to be guesswork for the most part, especially since hardly any of the games have steam stats to help.


ToME (25h) - With toME being crowned the Roguelike of the year again, and it making the final push to 1.0.0, I put a couple more characters into the meat grinder. Funnily enough it's only recorded my last couple of attempts maxing out at level 14, but I'm pretty sure I've dug further than that in previous incarnations. Speaking of incarnations, the count is now up to XXXV in the current build.

Mechwarrior online (20h) - Plays pretty true to the mechwarrior series with a Word-of-Tanks-like upgrade system. Looks like they have thinned out the night maps too, whish has made it a little more approachable. With the ability to group up to 4 players, it's also more welcoming for LANs, alsthough it does suffer from the same fate as WoT in that it's almost more fun playing it single player. There needs to be a way to easily see your lancemates in-game and share comms or some such (beyond skype). Light mechs FTW.

League  of Legends (15h) - LAN standard, plust a FWOTD every now & then. Probably watched over 5 hours of pro LoL too.

Minsecraft (15h) - Picked up  a 2nd account for cam, and also set up a server for both of us to play on. I'd been contemplating doing that for a while as the Minecraft fad hasn't pushed past the year 3's yet. It's a little more meatier than him watching me do hardcore runs too. Rach is in on the act too, and most days there is either one of them puttting in several hours of creative fun in one of their worlds.

with it a more multiplayer environment in th
Guild Wars 2 (10h) - Couple of LANs. Most have lvl 80's now.

Highborn (5h) - new turn based strategy with a somewhat comical storyline. Didn't see a difficulty setting, but it seems to roll over pretty easily. Picked this instead of getting my own copy of Unity of Command (played Greig's over the hols). I think it's filled the need, but I've got a hankering for Philip of Macedon or some other grander strategy.

2011 & 2012 Game Time

2011

Continuing on from the 2008 Game Time , 2009 Game Time and 2010 Game Time summaries,  2011 Game Time has been added to google docs for further analysis of the GameLogs. The spreadsheet can be organised by total hours to see the winners, or by order entered to get a more historical feel.

Top 5 Game Time 2011

Grepolis	389
Shogun: Total War 2	102
Sengoku	85
Terraria	70
Fantasy Wars	66

Grepolis claims another gong for soaking up my attention thoughout a VERY tough year for games while teaching. A couple of huge binges mixed in with consistent demands for my attention. Once again I can put down a lot of that to the guild I was in.

I'm glad Shogun placed up there, as it has been a standout for strategy in the past couple of years. The tactical battles are still much the same, but the overland map and campaign mode has been delightfully enhanced into a tough challenge on legendary mode.

Sengoku fleshed out the Japanese period, but it was really a filler for Crusader Kings II. 


Terraria just kept popping up as something to play with Cameron. I'm surprised at the number of hours it racked up, but still happy it made the list for a year it didn't appear in.


Top 5 Game Time 2012

Stronghold Kingdoms	523
Football Manager 2012	160
Crusader Kings II	151
Guild Wars 2	113
World of Tanks	90

The Grepolis crew moved over to Stronghold Kingdoms and it had the same effect on my game time, leading the count by a considerable margin. Once again the interaction with clanmates and added incentive of Sandy playing along kept this one high on the priority list for a long time.

I'm a little surprised Footy Manager made a return to the top of the list as I'd almost forgotten about the massive stint on this game 6 months after I'd bought it. 2013 version may suffer the same fate.

Crusader Kings II was one of the standouts for the year and kept my attention more than XCOM, Warlock, Fallen Enchantress and Shogun (again) that all just missed the list.

Guild Wars 2 was also buoyed by clanmates, but this time all the local LAN guys as well as the old QGL crew kept the interest up. Sandy continued long after I did, but the time was definitely well spent. New generation of MMO.

World of Tanks did a Terraria to creep into the list from continuous play rather than standout binges.  First wins kept it rotating slowly, but the lack of decent multiplyer hampered its ability to become a mainstay of the LAN.

GameLog 271 - 275

Final one for the year. Next up a Gamelog summary I promise ...

Endless space (33h) - Didn't particularly like some of the distractions on launch, but it's turned out to be a rather refined, enjoyable version of Masters of Orion. I even caught myself thinking "This game really needs planet compositions based on star age/colour" before finding out it actually does have that. Beat it on hardest with a custom race, but it definitely has legs for the future. Multiplayer needs a way to have co-op against a team of AI's though.

Hegemony Gold (10h) - Greig had picked this one up on steam and it looked the most interesting thing to sink into during the holiday up north. Went North first, before heading east instead of the traditional south to Athens.

Fallen Enchantress  (10h) - Completed the campaign with my custom race, plus another partial game. Still playing well.

Unity of Command (5h) - Another pick from Greig's place. Mentioned many times on Three Moves Ahead, but only having one campain going at once doesn't lend well to sharing. Left Greig with map 3 done with 550 / 600 completion.

Notoriously databased (5h) - A fair few more playthroughs at LANs and New Year's Eve with my brothers. It's turned the corner from being a test into a more complete game in it's own right, along with specific bug fixes and tweaks to make it more streamlined.

AirMech (1h) - Snowball MMO.

Planetside 2 (1h) Snowball MMO RTS.

GameLog 264 - 270

Lots of other things getting in the way of GameLog reports. Some games are bound to be missed :/.


XCOM: Enemy Unknown (44h) - GREAT game. stalled 10 or so missions into hardcore impossible though.

Towns (43h) - Feels like a lightweight Dwarf Fortress. That's a good thing for movingon wit hthe game, but a bad thing in that it doesn't have much depth. Added a challenge to reach the bottom (and survive) as fast as possible. Got down there in just over a month with gold equipment for 1/2 of my villagers, but couldn't sustain any time down there. I've certainly enjoyed it more than others on the forums, but in the end it left me pining for a better interface on DF.

Fallen Enchantress  (15h) - Lots of changes even from the last beta that I played only a month before release, and the changes have transformed the game a lot. Monster AI seems a lot better now with a little less aggression and predictability. Enemy AI play quite solidly and is a refreshing challlenge over Warlock. Cranking it up to insane was, well, insane as they had about 20x production and resources. That said, I like a game that gives an impossible task as long as there's ways to scale as high as possible against it.

Beat it pretty well on challenging as my starting campaign, but there were 2 occasions where the AI was in a very good position and I had to re-read the situation and change strategies accordingly. I'd say it was refreshingly challenging and is probably going to be my comfort play level, if not one or 2 notches higher.

Current game is with a custom race and cranked a one notch below insane and am currently leading the scoreboard. Once again it felt refreshingly challenging and there always sems to be something bigger and badder around the corner to keep you wanting more out of your civ. This is similar to warlock, but has the end-game to match.

GuildWars 2 (10h) - Veeyar Bones, 65 Mesmer - Has a knack for putting me to sleep when playing it. Not sure why, but it's done it a couple of times. I think it's the level of mental intensity required.  Few more dungeons and play sessions at LANs.


Terraria (5h) - Cam's go-to game again, along with Mad God

Notoriously databased (5h) - Another playthrough once I put in the end-game. I won it, but I think the bounties and win state have tightened it up a lot and brought back some intentional interaction. Fortifications are still broken, but apart from that it's in a pretty good place at the moment.
 



Football Manager 2013 (4h) - picked it up at a great price, but other games and steam sales have kept it on the backburner. the challenge modes look very interesting, especially since the involver your own team.

Realm of the Mad God (3h) - More time with Cam.

GameLog 270 - 273

Another big slab of time without a GameLog ..

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (44h) - Lot of hype from the podcasts and websites I frequent made this a simple pre-order. Plays well in both a reminiscent way and an up-to-date

FTL (26h) - I thought I'd gotten into the kickstarter on this one, but it looks like I missed out. Still, made for an entertaining romp through randomly generated space with a near-complete game. Beat it with the Engi ship. Might be back to it ..

Warlock (20h) - Picked it up to pass the time until XCOM hit. AI still has problems spreading and got rolled by sheer economy. Could have won using any of the criteria, but put the AI out of its misery through conquest. Might be worth trying another one-city challenge for something like avatar victory.
 
GuildWars 2 (20h) - Veeyar Bones, 60 Mesmer - Still fun, especially at LAN ding dungeon runs or collaborative jumping puzzles.

Notoriously databased (5h) - More playthroughs and good discussions regarding the game. Added a couple more niceties to help smooth out play and am now working on a way to set bounties.

Pirates: Tides of Fortune (2h) - Level 39 - Finally someone wiped me. No incentive to rebuild.

GameLog 267 - 269

GuildWars 2 (80h) - Veeyar Bones, 45 Mesmer - The pre-purchase and early access to the beta helped pick up on how good this one was going to be. The dynamic worlds are still Ok, butnot as impactful as expected. They do, however, fit into a wonderful puzzle of streamlined gameplay. I'm prety sure this is the new generation of MMO's and I hope it's going to kick on for a while.

Pirates: Tides of Fortune (10h) - Level 38 - fB game that seemed to have a good intro. Similarities to Notorious has kept me playing, although the insistence of inviting more and more friends to the game is getting pretty grating.

Notoriously databased (5h) - Actually got some time to play my web game at the LAN and with Sandy & Voidwolf for a few good stints. The game is maturing more than I expected, and rough edges (like player instructions) are being added that I thought I'd not bother about since it was a limited experiment on the larger design concepts.

So where's the steam games?

Nowhere ..
2nd time in 5 years of gamelogs where steam has had a clean sheet.

GameLog 264-266

Pirates: Tides of Fortune (30h) - Level 35 - fB game that seemed to have a good intro. Similarities to Notorious has kept me playing, although the insistence of inviting more and more friends to the game is getting pretty grating.

Fallen Enchantress Beta (20h) - New beta and a significant improvement. Not sure if it's coming off a lacklustre AI in Warlock, but the AI's have been performing much better here. The world itself has come alive a bit more too. Maybe not quite up to Warlock, but certainly holding its own now. Maybe just lots more quests would give it the final spark.

Kongregate: Chronicles of Blood (20h) - Veeyar 22 - fB game converted to Kongregate. What's keeping me in the game are the random drops and crafting. This combined with trading makes for an interesting path for developing your character.



Team Fortress 2 (12h) - New update for co-op mode. Not much co-op, but it's good to get back into 2Fort.

Left 4 Dead 2 (5h) - Picked up in a steam sale. Plays Ok for LAN, but didn't stick.


Realm of the Mad God (2h) - LAN game.

GameLog 261-263

Football Manager 2012 (40h) - Boston Utd (2015 League 2: 12th) - Finished the season with a strong mid-table showing, even though I was in with a shot of the title by the midpoint of the season. When the doldrums hit the team it toook longer than usual for them to shake it off and found ourselves 10 points shy of the playoffs. That's more or less where we stayed as hunting for new talent to take us up next season was my main priority. 
Kongregate: Chronicles of Blood (20h) - Veeyar 22 - fB game converted to Kongregate. What's keeping me in the game are the random drops and crafting. This combined with trading makes for an interesting path for developing your character.

Warlock (15h) - Some updates added heroes and it makes another interesting part of the game. The AI is still floundering though, I can't figure out whether they don't expand fast enough or get locked into massive troops and stagnate themselves, but by the time I want to go to war, I'm ploughing through them with no real resistence.

What I'd like is a ratchet system like Empire Deluxe where I can specify how much more of an advantage I give them, then the trick is to see how high you can put them and still eek out a win.

Sins of a solar empire (12h) -  Steam sale. Picked up a couple of copies to try out at LAN. One loong game over 7h, and a couple of multiplayer attempts.

Kongregate: assorted (10h) - Kong is turning out to be more alive than I thought, but is also bringing in major MMO's from the interwebs.


Kongregate: Berserk Cataclysm (2h) -Ticking over the attempts at taking my lands. Somewhere between Stronghold kingdoms and Chronicles of Blood in this game's lifecycle.

Stronghold Kingdoms (1h) - Popped in to see how my castles have withstood any attacks and they have done pretty well. Lot a couple though, so it's not on the gaming radar anymore.

GameLog 253 - 260

Hmm, 8 weeks of reports. Things are definitely going to be left out and times will be guesses.


 Football Manager 2012 (120h) - Boston Utd (League 2: 2nd) - Got a hankering for Management again and fired up the 2012 version I picked up a while back when it was on sale. 6 months unemployed to let the game settle, then accepted the first offer coming my way: Boston United in Conference North. Got them into the Playoffs that year, but didn't have the firepower to go up.

Next year was a completely revamped team and we finished 2nd only to be knocked out again in the 1st round of the playoffs. 3rd year we picked up another couple of gems and wouldn't settle for anything other than automatic promotion. We finished the season on 95 points, 15 clear of our nearest rival. 

Last season we were to bravely fight relegation, but after a mid-tier start, the team found their form and we moved up the ladder. Even I was a little suprised that we took over 1st, but the confidence in the team and our attacking style seemed to be working well. We've been having a poor showing in the cups, and with the League Trophy nearly in our grasp, we lose out in the quarter finals to an equally impressive FC Halifax who have risen along with us out of Conference North. Final game of the season and we're 1 point ahead. The stands are packed to see us win 2-1 and advance once again into the professional league.

Currently 4 games in with a somewhat understrength side. Hoping for mid table or possibly playoffs while the squad and stadium catch up to our rapid rise.


Kongregate: Berserk Cataclysm (40h) - An autoplay CCG with some interesting deck building choices. Cards are dribbled out fairly regularly to build some different decks, but the obvious advantages of rares over commons means that gaining cards is like levelling up. Unfortunately this leads into a direct pay-to-win option as the best cards are exclusively via the paid service, and having thousands of cards right off the bat is even more useful for the competitive side of the game.

World of Tanks (10h) - Some LAN attempts, but the 2-person platoon limiter is really pretty ordinary for any coordinated action.

Stronghold Kingdoms (10h) - Big long stints with nothing. Game over I'd say.

Kongregate: Chronicles of Blood (10h) - Veeyar 9 - fB game converted to Kongregate. Probably the best feeling action-point limited game I've played. Drop rates and proc rates are varied and I think I'm finally coming to an effective overall strategy with mostly PvP and some PvB planned.

Kongregate: assorted (10h) - Some new things appearing on Kong, but it still feels like it's playing second fiddle to fB and iOS

League of Legends (10h) - LANs and first wins.

Diablo III (5h) - Real money auction house is out now, but I can't see any evidence of anything selling on there. With Blizzard charging at least a $1 service fee per transation, I would say that its usefulness will be pretty bad for the general public. In beta people had a starting credit as well. I think this would have been a good choice to loosen up the AH. If there's no trading, then people are less likely to post stuff, then there's less liklihood of trades, etc. It has a real chance to turn into a ghost town.

GameLog 251-252

Diablo III (30h) - Plays way better than the beta, but always-on has had hiccups that really, REALLY frustrates me. I know it's more like an MMO in that regard, but when you've played previous versions that didn't require constant connectivity and server stability, this one just feel wrong. Was hoping to use the gold AH for hardcore, but it looks like there'll only be one for softcore. AH is almost ruined now anyway, so I don't think it'll add up to much.

World of Tanks (20h) - Ticking over in this one requires about an hour a day though.


Stronghold Kingdoms (10h) - Maybe 1/2 hr per day now. Just popping in to keep things ticking over.

Company of Heroes (6h) - Finally let me finish Carentan, and spent the next 5 hours playing and replaying then divided road scenario. Might finally be able to move through this one.


Warlock: Master of the Arcane (5h) - Tried a one city challenge. Think I've missed my window.

Kongregate: Mud & Blood 2 (3h) - Part of WW2 LAN. Reminiscing on it made me replay it a couple of times.

Kongregate: Monster's Den Chronicles (3h) - Newest in the seeries. Getting a slick interface, but the gameplay isn't different enough for people that have played the previous versions.

Kongregate: assorted (3h) - Kongregate is feeling a little old now. I'm not sure what's changed, but it doesn't feel as vibrant as it once was. I thyink it's the move toward Facebook and iPad games that has dropped off the flash-based industry, but there's enough new stuff to wander through.

GameLog 246-250

Another big stint without a gamelog. Getting precariously close to dropping the ball totally on them.

Stronghold Kingdoms (100h) - Finally weaning myself off this one. House 13 imploded a little just as Warlock and world of Tanks caught my interest. Still pop in once a day to pick up cards and keep things ticking over.

World of Tanks (60h) - New filler for time. Starting to get into the higher tiers where strategy and teamwork are needed.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane (50h) - Civ5 meets Master of Magic meets Majesty. Environment and random maps are awesome, but AI doesn't really match up.




Guild Wars 2 Beta (23h) - One beta weekend, but a really good feel about the open world content. Some were heralding the PvP or WvW as the shining part of the experience, but for me they felt too similar to the orinial, whereas the outside world was ahead of  other MMOs. I also really like the way it just gets out of the way and lets you play. So many little things that just make doing what you want, when you want, a breeze.

Diablo III Beta (5h) - Kept dropping every 2 minutes or so from connection issues in the beta, and was completely put off with the whole online-only mode it was offering. The recent launch issues only highlight this as an issue.

Realm of the Mad God (2h) - Multiplayer with Cam.

Terraria (2h) - Multiplayer with Cam.

League of Legends (2h) - First wins of the day when people ask me to play.