Post #20 - Till I Collapse
Greetings and salutations readers, and welcome back to another meaty blog post that feels about a month past due.
I hope that everyone that reads this in the US had a happy Thanksgiving holiday and is, like me, counting down to the holiday season. There is a slight sarcasm in my voice as I type this evening since a) I'm already over budget for the kids' presents, b) trying to catch up the blog from the Extra Life fundraiser a few weekends ago, and c) just a tad stressed out about both A and B.
Extra Life 2019 RecapMy Extra Life campaign ran from 8 am Saturday, November 16th to 8 am Sunday, November 17th and included multiple games from my backlog, including my annual 8-team knockout FIFA tournament with my buddy Dan. $50 was raised during my Game Day, and as of right now, the total is at $1395! I was able to stream everything I played using the Twitch app on the PS4 (and did some backlog trimming, more on that later), and noticed something very obvious after the fact -
I AM FUCKING BORING. Seriously, looking at myself for hours without saying damned near anything is awful.
Once some friends came over and started playing games that weren't 4+ years old, I noticed that I held a few viewers' attention and had a small back-and-forth with viewers. I enjoyed streaming (albeit watching myself to cut up highlights was painful at best) and realized that I need people to interact with to pull out my social side. Here's to hoping you might subscribe and drop a comment next time I stream games from my backlog.
Aside from looking at myself and trying not to develop a social anxiety disorder, I trimmed out what I thought were the highlights from the stream. Feel free to watch through them and criticize me openly and often. Clips range from my initial reactions from South Park: The Fractured But Whole, playing Minecraft with my son (the F***ING microphone audio didn't record, so damn angry), Rocket League with some friends, the final from my annual FIFA knockout (not season!) tournament with Dan, and footage of me "taking a 15-minute break" at the 22-hour mark of the 24-hour marathon playing Donut County.
https://www.twitch.tv/collections/OqtDqB5H2hUgowBacklog UpdateWell, this is going to be awkward.
When I first started this journey almost a year ago, my process was simple - play games I own from my backlog from oldest to newest; play the games I like and skip the games I don't. Clear as crystal. Readers, don't shame me, but I broke my own rule. GASP!
In preparations for Extra Life, I didn't know what I wanted to play, so I went ahead and downloaded a handful of games that were on my list that looked interesting and that I thought would be good for streaming. So, with that, here's the sliced up list of games that were/on my backlog and my thoughts.
Borderlands 2 - Released March 24th, 2015Borderlands 2 is that 'soul food' kinda game that, no matter who you're playing with or if you're playing alone, is just so enjoyable that you simply don't care. Even though the game came out about 5 years ago and it's a proper sequel released just this year, it was one of those local couch co-op staples that were nailed to my XMB for Extra Life. 2-player split-screen was still as fun as it was nostalgic, and the jokes didn't feel crusty old - I'll definitely finish this game.
One of many. Guns.
My BFF 4 ever!
Tropico 5 - Released April 28th, 2015Tropico 5, from the title alone, didn't give me any sort of concept as to what this game was about. Once I fired it up, I realized that it was a Simcity-like game where you play as a President of a small island town that, I presume, you build up to a bustling city and deal with any issues that arise. I knew I was in trouble when I had a hard time completing the tutorial; the controls felt difficult and "God-like" games like The Sims and Simcity aren't really my style. I've watched a few reviews on it to see what I'm missing and I'm happy that the game appears to be a good looking game. If you like sim-based games, this is something to consider.
Heavy Rain - Released March 1st, 2016I knew the name Heavy Rain going into the game, but I had no idea how artistic and visceral the game was. The story that I've played has definitely got its claws directly into me - the initial scenes hit me in the feels ala "The "Last of Us" but not quite as hard. I'm enjoying the fact that all three characters are unique and currently, completely separate. I have no idea where the story will go but am very interested in the world (especially Mr. VR Glasses/Glove man).
You're welcome?
South Park: The Fractured But Whole - Released October 17th, 2017There are games that I know I'll like. There are intellectual properties I know I like. There are sequels to games I think I'll like; South Park: The Fractured But Whole is all of those things. I'm about 4-5 hours into the game and I'm actually surprised at how big the game feels; from the size of the 'combat floor' to the much larger RPG elements than it's successor "South Park: The Stick of Truth" - everything feels much, much better. Everything from the absurd storyline to destroying your fingers in the mini-games to have a perfect shit on a toilet shines brightly. I worry that the side quests will be required in order to progress through the main campaign, but I don't foresee those to be boring in the slightest.
Hilarious opening to the game.
Donut County - Released August 28th, 2018It's not very often that I'll purchase a game strictly on recommendation alone, but after Jeff Bakalar recommended Donut County on multiple episodes of the Giant Beastcast when talking about how much his young son enjoyed it, I couldn't help but buy it for my son (and subsequently play it during the waning hours of Extra Life). This indie game has a very unique character you play as (I won't spoil it, as it'll only confuse you without any context), and the story and mechanics of the game are simple yet interesting enough to keep me entertained. I burned through this game in a few hours and have zero regrets doing it - if you enjoy a quick, fun 4-5 hour game or have a 4-5 year old that you wanted to introduce to video games, look no further than Donut County.
The ending of the game, pretty fun stuff.
Wow, You Read This Far? Thanks!Well, when I said this blog post was meaty, I wasn't joking. There's a certain irony that I'm eating the last of my Thanksgiving leftovers while I type this since I feel particularly stuffed physically and this post feels wonderfully bloated because of it. :)
I'll be back at some point to follow up on my statuses for Borderlands 2, Heavy Rain, and South Park: TFBW. These games aren't small and time is at a minimum already (going into the holidays is going to be rough), so I'll hopefully be able to give a small blog bump on my status before the end of the month before things get really stupidly busy.
In case I don't see you before then, have a great holiday season and see you next time!