Blog Archives
OldSpend vs NewSpend
A couple weeks back, the blogging theme of the week was looking at how much money you’ve spent on Steam over the years. I was not entirely interested at the time, but after navigating my way to the result, what I did find interesting were two distinct numbers:
“OMG I spent $2,846.65 over the course of… like 21 years!” Sure. I don’t consider $11.30/month over more than two decades a particularly noteworthy entertainment budget. Especially considering I played WoW for more than half that time. Certainly cheaper than (now) Netflix.
No, the interesting number is the OldSpend of $1,853.89. That number (already in the total) is defined as money spent before 2015, when there was presumably some updates to the backend systems. Which means I spent 66% of the total amount on Steam games in the first 10 years as compared to the last 11. That tracks with the rise of Humble Bundles, the decline of Steam sales, and so on.
Steam is still getting their cut of sales from these middlemen, but I did find it interesting nonetheless.
Steam Mod Supremacy
It has long been my opinion that Steam being the premier PC gaming storefront is not a problem for consumers. Indeed, I would argue that when Steam had a higher market share years ago, it was even better – more deals, more enhancements, and the same smooth experience. Monopolies are never ideal, but with Valve (and it being a non-public company) we seemed to have lucked into one of those Philosopher-King situations that ended up better than the alternatives.
What I am slowly discovering though, is Steam’s crushing presence in the game mod department.
Project Zomboid recently came out with a new build, and seeing a spate of Youtube clips of it has renewed my interest in the game (after 6ish years). However, a lot of those clips also talked about all of the mods that are still “required” to fix some of the rough edges to the game. Seeing as I had bought the game on GOG all those years ago, I naturally headed over to Nexusmods and… huh. Definitely not the same options available on Steam. Maybe there is just not a lot of updates yet? Went to the official forums to see if mods are listed there, but that was useless. Finally, I started Googling around to see how I could download Steam Workshop mods and use them with GOG. Short answer: don’t bother.
I’m not saying this is an impossible situation. I could probably just, you know, play the game as-is. If I dedicated more time to the endeavor, I could also probably figure out a solution to how to get Steam mods working with my GOG version of the game. For a moment, I did actually consider purchasing Project Zomboid on Steam, “subscribing” to a bunch of the mods to get them to download, copying the files when they show up in my Steam folder, and then refunding the game. Or just take the L and purchase the game on Steam and start using it from there. It’s even on sale at the moment for like $14.
Here’s the thing: it’s incredibly clear to me now that if you EVER suspect you may want to mod a game, you need to buy it on Steam. Do all games have Steam Workshops? No. Are there games in which Nexusmods is the definitive place to be? Yes. But there will never be a situation in which the Steam version of the game is penalized from a modding perspective, whereas the opposite is true.
And that sucks.
Prior to this moment, I preferred having all my games on Steam because it was convenient, and easy to track time played. However, I was not opposed to taking advantage of those Epic Game Store coupons they used to have, or when something only launched on GOG or whatever. Now? I do feel trapped within the ecosystem. Well, “trapped,” with golden handcuffs and all. But I’m starting to realize that perhaps I was only looking at first-order monopoly effects, and blind to the second-order ones.
Of course, the ideal solution here would be for Steam to make it easier to download Steam Workshop mods without having to own the game. Or at least making it more straight-forward.
In the absence of that though… well, full Steam ahead.
End of Year: 2024 Edition
Just like 2023, except with more oligarchy.
Workwise, I remain one of the most-senior members of my overall department. In the coming months, I am going to have to get a pretty difficult certification to maintain my present job title, likely to detriment of my organization. After all, once I have the official certification, I can officially… just go anywhere else. On the other hand, the job market isn’t all that great and not slated to look any better. Also, at this point, I’m kinda all-in on the pension. Theoretically, I could retire at 57 with full benefits!
Family is doing well. Wife is trying to get student loan forgiveness before the regime change fucks everyone over, and we should be successful. Kiddo is in kindergarten at a private school, because school shooting fears. No, seriously. Welcome to America!
Anyway, let’s talk videogames. Ones in bold have been completed.
Steam (514.5h)
- Satisfactory [123h]
- V Rising [56h]
- Zero Sievert [40.4h]
- Nightingale [40.3h]
- Planet Crafter [34.5h]
- Core Keeper [31.1h]
- Cobalt Core [26.6h]
- Dungeon Drafters [26h]
- Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles [23h]
- Icarus [21.5h]
- Abiotic Factor [18.7h]
- Once Human [14.6h]
- Dave the Diver [14.3h]
- 1000xRESIST [13.3h]
- Kynseed [7.6h]
- The Bloodline [7.3h]
- Enshrouded [6.3h]
- Smalland [5.5h]
- Wall World [2.8h]
- Luck be a Landlord [1.2h]
- Tails of Iron [0.5h]
As in prior years, I am not including games I played significantly in the past. This omission really only effects Stardew Valley and Sun Haven, when I started new & modded saves of both about mid-year. Both games ended up getting their total playtime doubled as a result, actually, but ironically I never made past Year 1 Winter in either. Truly a testament to how poorly I pace myself in life-sim games.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was not omitted – I played zero minutes of it in 2024. It’s kinda embarrassing at this point, but also Patch 8 is going to coming out Soon™ and will include a dozen additional sub-classes. Waited this long, what’s another indeterminable amount of time?
Epic Game Store (118h)
- Cyberpunk 2077 [86h]
- Dead Island 2 [32h]
I just said that I don’t include previously-played games, but I think +86h on Cyberpunk 2077 deserves a mention. Aside from that, Dead Island 2 was the only other Epic game I played this year. which makes things all the more ridiculous that I have rather religiously acquired every free game offered each week.
Epic still has most of the heavy-hitting AAA games I have yet to start and/or complete. Alan Wake 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Death Stranding, specifically.
Xbox Game Pass (104.5h)
- Keplerth (26.5h)
- Control (19h)
- Frostpunk 2 (17h)
- Dyson Sphere Program (14h)
- Orcs Must Die! 3 (9.5h)
- Palworld (8h)
- Jusant (4.5h)
- Bramble: the Mountain King (4h)
- Nine Sols (2h)
- Diablo 4 (?h)
- Starcraft 2 (?h)
Game Pass has mostly been a pass for me this year. I stayed subscribed for the entire year, which is foolish, although the majority of that time was had at an absurd discount from stacking codes from last year. On the other hand, I can’t really blame Microsoft here. My “Play Later” queue includes Dead Space Remake, Lies of P, Tales of Arise, Persona 3 Reload, Octopath Traveler 2, ARK: Survival Ascended, Stalker 2, COD #whatever, and so on. Nevermind however many games arrived and then departed throughout the year that I have forgotten about.
Still, now that I’m back on a month-to-month plan, it may be worth taking a closer look at where I’m spending my time (and money). I think Avowed is the biggest title I’m looking forward to, and that’s in February. On the other hand, Game Pass continues to have the uncanny ability to push in surprise games I already purchased. Dead Island 2 showing up recently was particularly vexing to me.
Other Unmentionables
Yeah, I still play Hearthstone. Sometimes a lot. In fact, I would probably be embarrassed if there was any way to actually track the time spent throughout the year. One should never feel “embarrassed” for playing a game, of course, but in my particular situation, it is always at the expense of anything else I could be playing instead. Like, I would be sitting in my chair, staring at the list of titles unplayed, and then… close Steam and boot up Hearthstone as a sort of unthinking default.
It doesn’t help that Hearthstone itself is in a pretty miserable state right now. The latest expansion was a total flop, set intentionally weak presumably to help reign in power creep. But that only works when sets rotate, so everyone is still playing powerful cards from two years ago. There is a Starcraft-themed mini-set coming in January that may shake things up, but not if they want to keep power creep under control. In Battlegrounds, a new season meant they removed Quests/Buddies/Trinkets, which makes games less variable and more boring.
Another recent game without hour-tracking I’ve been playing a lot is Balatro (mobile). Again, not sure how long I’ve played, but I have unlocked all the decks and unlocked all the stakes on one of the decks (e.g. highest ascension). I started to do the same on another deck, and going from Orange Stake down to the basic one was eye-opening to me. Was it always this easy? Sure… probably after 100 hours.
What’s Next
I am going to largely rehash my goals from last year, with a caveat: I no longer care about “finishing” games and absolve myself from any guilt surrounding it. I go back and forth on this, of course, but at the same time I am realizing that I feel better about life when “done” games are no longer visible in my library. Did I beat V Rising? Nope. But I did play until I could derive no more enjoyment from it, so why let it keep taking up space? I’ve been good on this front already, just need to stay strong in 2025.
Games I would like to complete this coming year:
- Baldur’s Gate 3 (after Patch 8)
- Death Stranding (for real)
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Alan Wake 2
Basically… you know, all those AAA games I have in my library.
In any case, I hope everyone gets everything they voted for in 2025.
Impressions: Palworld
In case you haven’t heard the news, Palworld is doing gangbusters: 2 million copies sold in the first 24 hours. And now 4 million within three days. It even hit a peak concurrent player rate of 1.2 million players on Steam, which leapfrogged it past Cyberpunk 2077 and into the top 5 of all time.
That is insanely impressive considering it’s also on Game Pass and Epic Game Store, so that’s just a fraction of its total reach.
Palworld’s tagline is “Pokemon with guns,” which is basically just S-Tier marketing and nothing else. The reality is that it’s “ARK with Pokemon”… like completely. Each time you level up, you get Engram Technology points which you spend to unlock specific recipes on specific tiers. You also get Attribute points to level up one of your base stats like carry weight, attack damage, Stamina, etc. Even the building mechanism via the menu wheel feels identical. Which isn’t to say it’s all bad, just that “Pokemon with guns” is exploiting an information gap in the promotional materials that becomes apparent right away in the gameplay.
Having said that, Palworld does indeed make some good innovations in the general ARK formula. The biggest thing you notice right away is that Pals can be set to work in your camp. The work that Pals can complete differs based on their type – Lamballs hang around Ranches to self-groom their wool, Cattivas will work in your Quarries – but most of them can do basic stuff like wandering around and moving supplies to chests. The fact that they do anything at all beyond staying stock-still waiting for an mistaken Follow-All whistle makes Pals miles better than the dinosaurs of ARK.
Unfortunately, I cannot comment much further impression-wise because Palworld started to crash to desktop in 5-minute increments for me. Some Early Access releases are basically soft-launches of fully playable games (Against the Storm, etc), but Palworld is very Early Access in… let’s say, the more traditional sense. It’s been a while since I played something that lacked the ability to Exit the game. Like, you literally have to Alt-F4 to turn the game off.
…unless you are playing the Steam (or non-Game Pass) version. There has already been a patch v0.1.2 release to address various bugs, including some that cause crashes and also a bug that causes ambient sounds to not play. Which is a big deal, as the silence when running around is a bit conspicuous. Also, Steam players get an Exit button on the menu. For the Game Pass plebs like myself, such a patch has to go through Microsoft’s certification process, and who knows when that will go live. For how much Microsoft pays to have Day 1 releases on Game Pass, it’s a pretty big limiting factor for these Early Access titles.
Honestly, it almost makes me want to just buy the game on Steam. Almost.
As it stands, I’m pretty conflicted about playing Palworld further at the moment. The crashes to desktop notwithstanding, there are other elements to the game that are very early Early Access. Your base can be raided by AI, for example, but the two times I got the notification, the enemies spawned down a hill and never moved even when I started attacking them. One of the v0.1.2 patch notes mentions how the arrows recipe went from 1:1 to 3:1, which is significant reduction in terms of resources you have to grind – I have not yet found a Pal that cuts trees, so I’m still manually doing that. While the EA dilemma is something you always have to consider, it’s been a while since I had to weigh it against really basic functionality like this.
Of course, the fact that the scales had to come out at all is indicative that Palworld is on to something. Is it ground-breaking innovation? Nope. I described it as “ARK with Pokemon” before and it still really feels that way. But ARK peaked at less than 250k concurrent players on Steam, ever. Sometimes the derivatives end up being better than the original. Or maybe devs should be selling their games for $30.
End of Year: 2023 Edition
Tangentially related to 2022, with n+1.
Workwise, I ended up receiving a significant “market adjustment” raise on top of higher-than-normal raise at the beginning of the year. Both were sort of defensive moves intended to stem the bleeding/poaching of staff, and it largely seemed to have worked. I certainly stopped looking for other positions… for the time being. Truth be told, I’m a bit of a big fish in a small pond. With golden handcuffs. On the, er, fins. Excellent health coverage, 99.99% work from home, substantial pension, the job is both intellectually fulfilling and easy, and I don’t actively hate anyone I work with. It would take a lot of money to make me roll the dice on something else.
Family continues to do great as well. Kiddo will be in kindergarten (!) next year.
For this look-back, I’m going to list out the new (to me) games I played along with the hours logged.
Steam (425h)
- Dark Souls [62.9h]
- Baldur’s Gate 3 [61h]
- Dark Souls 2 [44.5h]
- Across the Obelisk [44.1h]
- Against the Storm [40.8h]
- Sun Haven [36.2h]
- Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus [28.3h]
- Elden Ring [28h]
- Green Hell [15.7h]
- Arcanium [15h]
- Craftopia [9h]
- Cult of the Lamb [8.3h]
- Days Gone [6.7h]
- Wildermyth [5.3h]
- Rune Factory 4 Special [4.9h]
- Littlewood [3.7h]
- Necesse [3.1h]
- Tunguska: the Visitation [2.7h]
- God of Weapons [1h 37m]
- Cryptark [1h 34m]
- Her Story [1h 25m]
- Barony [1h 17m]
- Blasphemous [1h]
- Paint the Town Red [41m]
- Survivalist: Invisible Strain [35m]
- The Planet Crafter [34m]
- Dead Estate [25m]
- Die in the Dungeon: Origins [17m]
Looking up the /played time and putting them in order really puts things in perspective. As ordering things tend to do. Hadn’t quite realized how much time I spent with Dark Souls 1 & 2, for example.
I have every expectation on returning to Baldur’s Gate 3… someday. Originally, I was slowing down because of what I heard about Act 3 being buggy. But the reality is probably closer to what happened with me in Divinity: Original Sin 2: being too thorough. It’s how I could still be in the Underdark after 61 hours (!). Also, knowing that I would immediately turn around at the Act 2 prompt and go explore the Mountain Pass alternate route was a bit too much me. I mean, if you aren’t uncovering the fog on every square inch of isometric CRPGs, are you really playing them?
Epic Game Store (106h)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (Phantom Liberty) [62h]
- My Time at Sandrock [38.5h]
- Disco Elysium [4h]
- Surviving the Aftermath [1.5h]
Once again, can I just say how idiotic the Epic launcher is when it comes to gathering meaningful information from your games? I sort by “Recently Played” and it sorts by Recently Installed which is obviously not the same thing! And there’s no way to sort by install size. In any case, Epic has been doing better in the price department and will result in a few more purchases before the Winter sale is done. Still, not a whole lot of games played in comparison to Steam.
As you may have heard in the gaming press, Cyberpunk is indeed in the No Man’s Sky redemption club between the expansion release and the more-important 2.0 Skill rework. I actually started a brand new character to play through the expansion, and enjoyed myself thoroughly (as evident from the /played time). Still haven’t gotten around to finishing the game’s main plot though. The situation reminds me of Witcher 3 wherein the primary plot device is the least interesting thing going on.
Xbox Game Pass (302h):
- Wartales [76h 28m]
- Starfield [64h 54m]
- Coral Island [46h 18m]
- Far Cry 6 [20h]
- Everspace 2 [17h 47m]
- Potion Craft [12h 23m]
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps [11h 34m]
- Weird West [11h 33m]
- Farworld Pioneers [9h 20m]
- Common’hood [7h]
- Chained Echoes [4h 25m]
- Skul: the Hero Slayer [3h 41m]
- Atomic Heart [3h 38m]
- Redfall [2h 58m]
- Eiyuden Chronical: Rising [2h 51m]
- Remnant 2 [2h 3m]
- High on Life [1h 56m]
- Disney Dreamlight Valley [1h 32m]
- Homestead Arcana [1h 12m]
- Cocoon [52m]
- Death’s Door [45m]
- Dungeons 4 [30m]
- Eastern Exorcist [22m]
- Techtonica [??]
I, uh, really liked Wartales, huh? Hearthstone probably absorbed more time overall, but Wartales very clearly exceeds the total game time of any other item on the list. But guess what? If you said “I bet you didn’t finish the game” then you would be correct! It’s starting (ending?) to be a problem.
As for Starfield… man. What a disappointment. Bethesda was teasing some updates with “new ways to travel,” which is kind of a funny way of saying “new loading screens.” But seriously, what’s the point? Even if they added some kind of rover or fun new traversal mechanic, all that will do is get you over the nondescript terrain and into the copy/pasted POIs faster. Are they adding new Abandoned Mines, or is it the same one I saw on 13 different planets and our own goddamn Moon? It boggles my mind how these designers could experience the wild successes of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series and then completely forget why those games are any good. “What if we took our dense environmental storytelling and, like, divided it into loading screens lightyears apart?” What a waste.
On a different note, Game Pass itself provided 302 hours of gameplay for me over the course of the year, at an approximate cost of $120. That’s a pretty decent >2.5:1 ratio for entertainment by itself. In September though, I snagged three 3-month membership cards for $22.56 apiece, each one granting me a bonus month when I redeemed them. So, $67.78 for as much Game Pass as I can stand through most of 2024. Not sure if the “trick” will still work for others, but it certainly beat buying Starfield or Redfall for full (or any) price.
What’s Next
Playing more games, of course. Just not the correct ones, or finishing anything.
For real though, I am actually running out of space on my 2TB game drive and thus have an external motivation to complete (or delete) these games. Specifically, in 2024 I’d like to finish:
- Cyberpunk 2077 (for real)
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Death Stranding
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Starfield (sigh)
I’ve already picked up a few other games during the Winter sale (not listed), so there will be some competition to my clearly limited attention span. Or maybe its just a healthy reaction to something in my life no longer sparking joy. After all, I did officially become Old™️ this year. Well, middle-aged, anyway. Which certainly feels pretty damn old (apologies to those bloggers with 20+ years on me).
Here’s to hoping we all get older in 2024.
They Know Me Too Well
Steam put together a summary of games you’ve played over the year, and this was my result:
My favorite part is the random “Warhammer 40k” among the other genres.
Nevertheless, they ain’t wrong. If you had to gift me a game knowing nothing else, you’d have a good chance of getting something I’d like somewhere on those axes. Of course, I already have most games on those axes, so you’re better off just getting me a gift card.
End of Year: 2022 Edition
Just like 2021, except we all just gave up.
Workwise, I ended the year still at the same company but promoted to a more senior role. There have been a number of bonuses and raises offered company-wide, as management starts understanding that, yeah, this new labor market is here to stay. There are apparently some more raises in store for my specific department, but we’ll have to see how that pans out. Despite spending literally $15,000 in daycare this year, my family is doing perfectly OK. Which means I made it, I guess. My options trading and crypto are most definitely not making it, but I’m in a position where I can realize some losses and at least not pay taxes on the gains this year, while still having some upside exposure. It has to rally again someday, right guys? Guys?
Family is doing great. My kiddo is potty training like a champ.
Enough real life. Let’s talk games. First is the Steam lineup:
- Meteorfall: Kromit’s Tale
- Black Book
- FAR: Lone Sails
- My Friend Pedro
- Per Aspera
- Borderlands 3
- Before We Leave
- Raft
- Necromunda: Hired Gun
- Legend of Keepers
- Despotism 3K
- SOMA
- Core Keeper
- Satisfactory
- Sigil of the Magi
- Gordian Quest
- Rimworld
- DOOM (2017)
- Cardpcalypse
- Slay the Spire
- Noita
Although many of the games don’t necessarily have a defined “win state” (and many are Early Access besides), realistically I only finished Meteorfall, FAR, Per Aspera, and Borderlands 3. It was especially egregious with games like SOMA, wherein I played to the first area where the first monster appears, Alt-Tabbed to see what happens if they get you, realized that there is an EZ-mode with no real consequences, and then never actually booted the game back up again. At the same time, I have been trying to embrace the whole “Spark Joy” Kondo-ism a bit more than in years past. Play games when they are fun, stop when they aren’t. Just a shame that games stop being fun before they’re over.
For the Epic Game Store:
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Everything
- Final Fantasy 7 Remake
I… think that’s literally it. And again, I only really finished FF7R from that list. Going forward, I think I’m going to have to start making a concerted effort to completely ignore side quests and such for the more open-world games. Or maybe not. Sometimes the sidequests end up being much more interesting than the main quest for a lot of those kind of games.
By the way, the Epic Store interface is still embarrassingly shitty in 2022. When I go to my library and choose “Sort by Recently Played,” I would expect the games to be sorted by, you know, how recently they were played. But they’re not. You can’t even have the games sort themselves by most played. Ugh.
For Game Pass:
- Dreamscaper
- Amazing Cultivation Simulator
- Offworld Trading Company
- Citizen Sleeper
- Deathloop
- Grounded
- Sable
- Metal: Hellsinger
- Superliminal
- Unsighted
- Vampire Survivors
- Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Loot River
- Nobody Saves the World
- Tunic
- Sunset Overdrive
- We Happy Few
- Outriders
Once again, Game Pass is the de facto best place to try out games you wouldn’t otherwise play unless they were wedged in a random bundle. Of the list, Grounded was the clear winner here with a whopping 68 hours played… and I haven’t even beaten it yet. We’ll see if I ever pop back in.
For completeness’s sake, I also continued to play Hearthstone and Guild Wars 2 throughout 2022.
Looking at 2023, my goal is to actually sit down and play Red Dead Redemption 2, Disco Elysium, Death Stranding (played 7 hours and fell off), Chained Echos, Wildermyth, and… SOMA. Maybe Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Origins. And finish off Cyberpunk 2077 and Horizon: Zero Dawn. According to HowLongToBeat, that lineup is 256 hours all by itself (main stories only). Which is like 5 hours a week, so not unreasonable even if I pretend to be a responsible father figure. We’ll see.
I really enjoyed Void’s “Games of the Year” schtick over at A Green Mushroom, where there was a running tally of games played and how they sorted themselves over the year. I’ve always struggled with “justifying” creating a blog post about some of the random shit I try to play (e.g. Nobody Saves the World, Metal: Hellsinger, etc), even though personally I enjoy reading every single article by anyone still posting on my blogroll. So, heads up, there may be some experimentation with that format in 2023. Or maybe I just continue doing my own thing, which apparently continues to work.
Well, “work,” for given definitions of work.
…which I’m defining as being awesome. See you in 2023.
End of Year: 2021 Edition
Just like 2020, but with a little extra.
Aside from the still-raging pandemic, this has been a rather banner year, personally. Had some grueling work projects to grind through, but where they have passed, only I remain. For now. I’ve applied to some other places that are paying 30% more for the same job description. I’ve also taken up options trading as a side hustle, mainly because I got lucky with GME in January and now I’m an expert. I beat the S&P500 this year but also spent considerably more time developing ulcers in the process, so who knows with that. Think I might stick with something easier, like cryptocurrency.
Family is doing great.
Now, it’s time for what you really care about: my personal gaming habits for the year. First, Steam.
- Chasm
- Valheim
- Battle Brothers
- Card Hunter
- Trials of Fire
- Dead in Vinland
- Tangledeep
- Ring of Pain
- Raft
- Dishonored 2
- Fate Hunters
- ARK
- Dreamgate
- Dicey Dungeons
- Dream Quest
- She Remember Caterpillars
- Undertale
A bit more than the seven games I played last year, but many were kind of one-and-done. Or perhaps more accurately “tried-and-dropped.” One of the standouts is Valheim, which continues to get updates. I have not played any more Valheim since I stopped though, and I am content to wait until its full release (whenever that is) before paying attention again. I was also very impressed with Trials of Fire, but perhaps not enough to play it again after sinking 13 hours into it. Really liked Ring of Pain too.
Next is Epic:
- Celeste
- Axiom Verge
- Ape Out
- Magic: Legends
- Pathway
- God’s Trigger
- Outward
- Crying Suns
- Crashlands
- Hades
- Griftlands
- Tharsis
- Faeria
- Borderlands: the Pre-Sequel
- Death Stranding
- Loop Hero
- Inscryption
Epic’s twice-yearly $10 coupon insanity is finally driving me to spend more time in their ecosystem than any others. That and all the free games, but the coupon really sells the sales. I’m presently splitting my time between Loop Hero and Inscryption, with both being rather fun. Hades won all sorts of awards, but I was content with just beating it once. Griftlands was compelling for a time, even above other decking-building roguelikes, but it’s hard to stay as engaged when an average run is 7+ hours. Death Stranding is on the list for getting more attention, and I suspect I am still in the tutorial even after three hours of Amazon Prime deliveries hauling literal garbage around the haunted landscape.
Finally, we have Game Pass:
- Monster Sanctuary
- Neoverse
- Star Renegades
- Greedfall
- Supraland
- Deep Rock Galactic
- Second Extinction
- Frostpunk
- Slime Rancher
- Monster Train
- Halo: Master Chief Collection
- Grounded
- Control
- Solasta: Crown of the Magister
- Atomicrops
- Curse of the Dead Gods
- Library of Ruina
- Medieval Dynasty
- Subnautica: Below Zero
- Into the Pit
- Tainted Grail: Conquest
- The Riftbreaker
- One Step from Eden
- Crown Trick
- Unpacking
Laid out like that, were the 25 listed games worth $120ish to access during the year? Eh, maybe. Looking back, it’s clear that I got more overall value in 2020. Then again, presuming that I would have paid to play some of these games, I probably did end up saving money overall. In any case, some of these games will be on the 2022 list as they receive updates and/or I get around to focusing on them.
I am tempted to entertain the notion of identifying a Game of the Year out of the ones I played… but nah. Hades would certainly be a safe bet and conform with all the critics. It’s good and I certainly see the argument. Looking at what actually impressed me though, are games like Valheim and then stuff like Ring of Pain, Inscryption, and so on. I don’t usually play relevant games in the year they release, so it’s kind of a futile exercise anyway.
The gaming goals from last year:
- Continue working on the Steam backlog [Yes]
- …but don’t get bogged down with mediocre games [Absolutely yes]
- Maybe buy a Switch. For the wife. [Nope. Probably not even in 2022]
- (Re)Play through the Halo games via Master Chief Collection [Did Halo Reach]
- Give FF14 another shot [Didn’t, and now couldn’t anyway]
- Resist the urge to buy a new gaming PC [Success!]
I don’t see much of a point in identifying gaming goals for 2022, and this post is plenty long anyway. What I anticipate happening is buying a new prebuilt PC – prebuilt due to graphics card shortages and not being super comfortable replacing motherboards/CPU – getting a new monitor, and otherwise sprucing up my battlestation. After that, I’ll pick up Cyberpunk, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Red Dead Redemption 2 for $15-$20 apiece from the Epic summer or winter sale, depending on when a value prebuilt come available. Then, I will bask in the glory of #PCMasterRace or cry in an empty wallet.
Here’s to another year of running my mouth. And thanks for listening.
GW2: Full Steam Ahead
Guild Wars 2 is heading to Steam in November.
The details are sketchy at the moment, but it does appear that GW2 will have the same sort of account restrictions that Final Fantasy 14 had when it made a similar move back in 2014. Specifically, you will NOT be able to migrate your existing GW2 account to Steam, and you will likely be locked into the Steam ecosystem if you do end up spending any money. For example, you will need to purchase the expansions within Steam and not from other vendors or ArenaNet directly.
Speaking of expansions, ArenaNet also teased a 3rd one coming out in 2021.
But that isn’t the interesting bit though, is it? Why is GW2 coming to Steam in the first place, 8 years after its launch? Are the financials in that dire of straits?
Based on the above figures, things don’t appear too far off from their historical levels. Which, of course, is always a risk when it comes to NCSoft and their predilection to axing “just okay” titles (e.g. Wildstar, City of Heroes). If something happens to Aion, ArenaNet should start sweating.
In any case, perhaps we should not be surprised by the move to Steam. Like already mentioned, Final Fantasy 14 has been on Steam for quite some time. And if you missed it, even EA seems to have finally capitulated and are bringing over not only their hitherto walled-off Origin library, but even their EA Play subscription. At some point the math must have worked out: additional revenue from an expanded audience > Valve’s 30% (or whatever) cut on in-game purchases.
Interesting how nobody is heading to Epic… yet?
Having said that, I’m not entirely sure how successful the GW2 transition to Steam is going to be due to two systemic issues. The first is that GW2 is still using DX9, with no particular indication that it’s even possible for them to update. This is going to lead to some very negative Steam reviews (for what those are worth) for performance reasons. It’s 2020 and GW2 is still using single-thread drivers that came out in 2002.
The second is more insidious: ArenaNet’s insane Gotcha! paywalls. The Living Story updates that occur a few times a year are free… if you happen to log into the game and unlock them before the next one comes out.
Everyone else, including 100% of all Steam players, are going to face a screen like this one:
I suppose it could technically be argued that these are optional story content, but really the overarching plot in GW2 makes (even-) less sense if you are sticking just to the expansion pieces. You will be seeing completely new characters while your own character talks to them as if they have known them for years. Plus, there are certain maps and vendors thereon that make gearing up incredibly easy in comparison to the alternatives.
Steam already has a lot of “F2P” exploitative cash grab titles available, and I don’t think GW2 does itself any favors so obviously slotting itself into that crowd. But a lot can happen between now and November, so perhaps we will see a surprise bit of competence from ArenaNet. Either including the Living Seasons for free (ha) for everyone or bundling them with the expansion purchases (which should have occured from the start). We’ll just have to wait and see.
In An Age 
End of Year: 2025 Edition
Dec 31
Posted by Azuriel
Similar to 2024, with 100% more leopards eating faces.
Workwise, not much has changed since last time around… which is a good thing! I have put off the certification I needed, but procrastination won’t be possible in 2026. There are a few people who will be retiring in the next year or two, and I’ve been given the nod to take over for one of them. While the increased title will be nice, the pay bump is generally limited to 5% and is not really worth the added stress. Nevertheless, it is really the only form of advancement left where I’m at and I still have quite some time until pension-based retirement. Hope the world still exists in a recognizable state by then!
Family-wise, everything is fantastic. Wife managed to get her student (including graduate) loans forgiven literal weeks before Trump started fucking everyone over, so that’s good. The Little Man is making tremendous progress in 1st grade and overcoming all sorts of challenges that came his way. Also, he’s playing videogames now, so my life is just about complete.
Onto the games played this calendar year.
Steam (325.5h)
Under my normal “rules,” Abiotic Factor should not be on the list, as I played ~19 hours of it last year. However… seems a bit silly to not have it on there, no? The Steam Replay stats show that I had a 21-day streak of booting it up, with an overall count of 64 sessions. Which means that I played over two hours on average each time. Really a testament to how hard I fall for good survival crafting games.
Speaking of both rules and survival crafting games, I did leave off 7 Days to Die (Rebirth mod) and No Man’s Sky despite racking up about 40-50 additional hours apiece on them. The former has been getting a lot of very interesting updates on the base game lately, indicating a practically seismic shift in terms of dev attitude. For example, they brought back glass jars! Regarding NMS, I like what they’re doing with things, I just wish they’d put more than like three people on getting Light No Fire started.
Epic Game Store (10h)
Yep. How embarrassing is that? Epic is even offering Battlefield 6 for $49 plus 20% back and I still had to have a long think on it. I’m actually passing on BF6 for now because I don’t want to get into another time-killing game when I have so many single-player experiences waiting to be, er, experienced. Many of which are, in fact, on Epic. Perhaps playing Epic games will lead me to opening the launcher more…
Xbox Game Pass (228.5h)
As always, one has to ask “was Game Pass worth the subscription this year?” Unlike in prior years, I had no banked cheap subscription cards, so I paid $148 total (including December’s new $16.50 price). Based merely on the games played and the hours thereof… probably not. Granted, Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 retailed for $70 apiece, so technically just those two alone would have paid for everything, let alone Alters and Silksong. To say nothing of the other games I have installed and ready to go, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader. Or the others I have bookmarked like Hogwarts Legacy, Dragon Age: Veilguard, Grounded 2, and so on.
In other words, if the subscription wasn’t worth it, that’s really on me.
Game-wise, it’s a bit funny seeing two Obsidian games up there at the same time, e.g. Avowed and Outer Worlds 2. They share a lot of the same DNA, including how traversal feels in the world, but also some of the same foibles, e.g. problematic Legendary weapons, lack of romance options for companions. Once I get around to finishing Outer Worlds 2, it will be interesting to gauge how it feels in comparison to its brother. The answer may end up surprising you! (Hint: one game allows respecs).
Switch (unknown hours)
Yeah, buddy! Father-son game time! The Little Man has a long way to go in terms of solo play, but I really appreciated being able to play Odyssey with one person controlling Mario and the other the hat. Indeed, we straight-up beat that game a few months ago now, and have even restarted as my son wanted to play it again. This time, I’m a backseat driver at most (with Assist Mode on, of course).
Super Mario Wonder is another hit with The Little Man, but as a more straight-up platformer, it’s considerably more difficult. In Odyssey, you can get hit five times before dying, and even go hide somewhere to regain your health. If you drop down a pit in Wonder, you dead. Or rather, you will float back as a ghost and only lose the life if your partner can’t touch you within the five-second window. Still, the penalty is much harsher. And somehow we all raw-dogged this kind of shit back in the 80s?
The Switch has a lot of additional games at the ready, for when The Little Man gets a bit better and/or I have more inclination to play it by myself. For example, I have both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom on there. Oh, and Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 are on their way.
Guild Wars 2 (probably several hundred hours)
Yep, still playing every day since I re-re-restarted back in October. It’s probably the #1 factor in how little I have “accomplished” in terms of other game completion. Then again, if I were truly in the mood for whatever else, I probably would have just played that. I made time for Outer Worlds 2, for example.
As far as what I’m doing, well, I finally got around of completing the Secrets of the Obscure expansion story after months of slow-rolling it. I also started Janthir Wilds long enough to unlock Spears, as that seems to be a meta weapon for several classes. Chances are good that I skip Janthir for now and go directly into the newer Visions of Eternity, if only because that’s where most daily/weekly quests are pointing. Plus, you know, most people and/or most profitable activities.
Incidentally, I sprung for some gem store purchases a few days ago, after essentially talking myself out of a few Steam games. After all, if my argument is that spending money on games I’m not going to play immediately is silly, then that means spending money on games you are currently playing must be wise. That’s how it works, right?
Other Unmentionables
I stopped playing Hearthstone back in October and the streak of not playing continues. I even uninstalled it from my phone, freeing up like 8 GB of space. Still have it installed on the PC though.
Hmm… October. Isn’t that about the time I started playing Guild Wars 2 again? Surely a coincidence!
What’s Next
As always, I vacillate between “must finish games before uninstalling” and “stop playing when you stop having fun.” Last year was the latter, and this year will be the former. Sorta. I’m a reasonable guy. For example, I want to close out FF7: Rebirth because the final part of the trilogy is something I want to play. Elden Ring though? It’s been two years, so that is probably getting uninstalled. Anyway, the list!
Those are in order, although perhaps Death Stranding should be above BG3, I dunno. There are more games that I probably “should” be playing, but let’s be reasonable, shall we?
Posted in Commentary
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Tags: End of Year, Epic Game Store, Guild Wars 2, Steam, Xbox Game Pass