Well, I refined my randomizer table and came up with something better and that works like a DnD Encounter Table. I also customized it for myself. This is a project for next year, I think. I'm so exhausted by my current plan (go through everything I own and weed out the undesired), I want to think ahead. So here goes.
I got to thinking about how to create a Random Encounter Table for PS3 games, because I always loved those things from my DnD days way, way back. Here are my results from the top 200 PS3 games on Metacritic.
Games Beaten
I didn't beat any games in July but man, I am so close on two of them. If I had had more time for games in July, there would be little blurbs here instead.
In revisiting my collection, I'm trying to keep it brief by not respawning unless I can't resist it. I restarted many times in Space Invaders Extreme, for instance. I wanted to respawn in Minecraft, but didn't. Sometimes I just want to leave something for later. Going back to one I've 100% completed is kind of downer. So these are this week's revisits.
Here's my "waiting for a car repair" blog about the 2011 games that I played relatively close to release date in order of Metacritic rating for that year. Also, I'm just noting the system I played the game on, not all available systems.
I downloaded every 2000s era game I owned digitally on Xbox and started going through them. I added a bunch to my wish list as well in case a sale comes up.
Yes, scouring through the store on Xbox (and other systems) has its rewards. I never know what stealth released title I'll come across. My eyes bugged wide when I saw the following collections.
The dreaded stealth gameplay got to me again in several new games I tried out this week. But I finished Doom Dark Ages, discovered some new Atari games, and got sucked into an old classic again.
My Twin-stick shooter fascination has branched into a genre that is similar but not exactly the same. What I played this week is more along the lines of isometric multidirectional shooters. Really, the only substantial difference is that you use a trigger to shoot instead of using the right stick to both aim and shoot. Overall, it kind of feels pretty similar but maybe with less of a bullet hell feeling. Anyway, here's what I got into this week.
I'm playing games from 2019-2021 this month (after I finish with ME: Andromeda), and so this is my 2020 list of favorities and ones I'd like to play if I get the time. The list is in order of release. It's as if these were the games I bought day-one - some, yes, but most no.
A half-a-day left to game, but I had some time to write, and so here's what I've played so far.
It was fun trying out a lot of NES games this month thanks to the NES collection on the Switch subscription service and a few available on collections on Xbox. I also had a few cartriges too for the original experience. Here's what I got to this week plus new stuff.
Ran the retro gauntlet again for console Gen 3 and started a new attack plan on modern gaming.
These darn brick-breakers, that is. I've been trying to play the earliest gaming styles on Xbox to coincide with my console Gen 1 theme this month. It's been a struggle, and compromises have been made, but it's also been fun, if at times frustrating. Gen 1 might get a miss from me next year if I do this again.
Over the Thanksgiving holidays I played quite a few games on Xbox. I'll try and list them below, but December, which starts today, is going to be nothing but Switch games, especially the Super Mario RPG remake I got last month. I've discovered that if I don't put the Xbox away, I will never get to anything else, so into a case it goes. I have plans for 2024, so I may not use it again until next September. More on that later. Onto the last two weeks' plays.
I love that feeling when a new game totally takes over game time. This happened this week with DPS Idle, a free-2-play autobattler. Who knew? It swept the field of everything else mentioned below.
November in my year-long trek through the years brings me to the 2020s. Somehow I miscalculated and didn't make December the 2020s, but whatever. December can be 2023 and no other year. So what about 2020? PUBG wins the revenue war with 2.8 billion and Persona 5 Royal tops the critics charts with a 95 on Metacritic. About the only game I've played a lot on these two lists (sales and critical) is Dragon Quest XI. Here's MY list for 2020.
One billion grossers for this year were: Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush Saga, World of Warcraft, GTA V, COD: Ghosts, and Crossfire. Tops critically were: GTA V, Bioshock Infinite and Last of Us. My wish list below has little to do with these. The ones I'd like to play now in 2023, allowing myself only 1 game per month, are as follows.
The 3DS was released this year. Minecraft came out of beta. The highest rated games were Batman: Arkham City, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Portal 2. Here's a list of what I put the most time into that year followed by stuff I played later and then a wish list.
Specifically the Irkens from Irk, and more specficially, Invader Zim, voiced by Richard Horvitz (Chaos in Skylanders). This 2001 animated TV series didn't even make it through its second season, but its still pretty good. It especially appeals to me for its angular design, wild humor, surrealism, and sometimes dark tones. Zim is assigned to take over Earth and he assumes the disguise of a middle schooler to hide his secret. Dib, a fellow student, is not convinced and seeks to expose him. Another selling point for me was the voice of Kevin McDonald from Kids in the Hall as one of the Almighty Tallest, co-leader of the Irks and Zim's boss. Oh, and there were more aliens in the games I played this week.
No, not real ticks, but THE Tick, the animated 1990s TV show based on the comic of the same name by Ben Edlund. I love this show so much: the big band swing style opening music, the humorous parodies of super heroes, the shear wackiness of the stories, and the loads of visual jokes that go on in the background or worked into a scene. It's smart, it's fun, it's silly; a perfect triple scoop icecream cone of a show. Oh, and I played a load of video games too. See below.
Got a late start, so I'm moving fast through what I played this last week.
Wed/Thurs is my weekend right now, so that's when I do most of my gaming. This is what I did this week.