At the end of last year, Krikket of Nerd Girl Thoughts put together a list of ten games she wanted to tackle in 2020. I stumbled my way onto this post when she updated how she’s been doing with her endeavor in a blog post during Blapril, and I liked the idea, so I thought I’d try to come up with a shorter list of my own five to six games I’d love to knock off of my to-be-played list (or rather, technically, my massive Steam library) before the end of this year.

This might be a bit difficult, however, because I can be quite an achievement hoarder if I’m enjoying a game. I also play a lot of games with multiple endings/paths (*cough*otome*cough*), so I spend a lot of time going down those rabbit holes, as well. So this could go one of two ways: smoothly and carefree, or never actually finishing anything. I am shamelessly yoinking Krikket’s idea of both checking the average time to beat (I’m using a scale of “completion to full achievements”), and noting how much she spent on the game and when she obtained it.

I’m going to try to be flexible with myself, and see how I’m feeling once I come to what folks would call the “end” of the games, and evaluate if I’d like to explore more of it, or if I can put it down and call it a day. So then, what games do I choose to check off this year…

My Games to Tackle in 2020

I hope your feed reader can handle tables, because it was the easiest way for me to organize everything and get the images to work correctly (all my HTML-for-fun in middle and high school has paid off in life). If not, you may need to click through to the post itself.

	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All Time to beat: 18-21 hours // Purchased late 2007 for $24.99 Okay, this might be a tad “cheaty” since I’m already working my way through it, but I’ve had the dang thing since it came out on the DS in America and I’d really like to tackle it. As I mentioned in another post, I’m using a guide to work my way through it, and I don’t think I’ll be doing anything completionist with it, mainly because the DS version doesn’t have any achievements to go with it.
	Sweet Fuse: At Your Side Time to beat: 9-25 hours // Purchased September 2016 for $9.99 This one might also be a bit “cheaty” since I’ve already played some of the routes. I’m on my way to completionist this one (as I do with most otome), and I’d like to finally finish it.
	Life is Strange (Episodes 2-5) Time to beat: 14-18 hours // Purchased Ep.1 December 2015 for $2.49, Gifted Ep. 2-5 in 2018 This is yet another game that I’m only partially through. I played episode 1 on Twitch in 2018, but never played any more after that (mainly due to jerks in chat trying to spoil). I’d very much like to finish it, and I’ve been thinking of putting the playthroughs on YouTube. I’m not sure yet whether I will just finish the story or completionist it.
	The Longest Journey Time to beat: 17-21 hours // Purchased January 2016 for approx $4.99 I love Funcom games. They’re just so good with narrative, regardless of what they’re doing. So I’d very much like to start the Dreamfall Trilogy, finally! I contemplated adding the other two games (Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, and Dreamfall Chapters) to my list, but I don’t think I will quite yet. Maybe I’ll make them stretch goals, or prioritize the games to play with The Longest Journey last for the year so I can jump into the other two after this one is finished.
	OZMAFIA!! Time to beat: 22-40 hours // Purchased April 2016 for $29.74 I was adamant that I needed this game when it came out on Steam, so I picked it up… and then never played it. I do know why I never did (ex), but I’m going to rectify that now, and finally tackle it this year! It’s an otome, so I’ll completionist it. I have to—there’s CGs to collect, achievements to earn, and stories to unlock!
	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Time to beat: 29-46 hours // Purchased February 2015 in the Star Wars Humble Bundle ($12.00) Gosh, I picked this bundle up five years ago, and while I don’t know that I’ll ever play all of the games it included, I have been told time and again that this (and KotOR 2) are worth my time. I’ve been in a Star Wars kick as of late, working my way through the movie/tv chronology, so I figured why not finally give this a whirl. Will I completionist it? Not entirely sure, yet. I’ll need to see what I think of the game, first.

Stretch Goals

Assuming I work my way through all of these since they fall within the 18-40 hour range, I’d like to complete the following games.

	Dreamfall: The Longest Journey Time to beat: 12-14 hours // Purchased June 2018 for approx $7.29 Like I mentioned on Longest Journey, I’d very much like to complete the trilogy. Therefore I’m listing it out as a stretch goal!
	Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut Edition Time to beat: 21-37 hours // Purchased June 2018 for approx $7.29 Again, I’d very much like to finish the trilogy once I’ve started it!
	Amnesia: Memories Time to beat: 7-34 hours // Purchased December 2015 for approx $5.95 This is another otome I’ve been sitting on for a very long time, and I’d very much like to finally work my way through it. Plus I hear it’s kind of creepy, too, which I enjoy! I will do a completionist run, of course.

This is post 31/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

At the end of April, MagiWasTaken of Indiecator tagged me in the Quantic Foundry Gamer Motivation Profile. A lot of folks in the blogosphere have tackled it much faster than I have, so I figured it was about time to hop to it! The premise is to complete the Gamer Motivation Profile over on Quantic Foundry, and then answer some questions about your results. Without further ado, here’s mine.

The Questions

What are your results? Share your link, headline, and the graphs you received.

My gamer motivation profile is “Calm, Spontaneous, Completionist, Independent, Deeply Immersed, and Creative”. Well that’s a mouthful. As Magi called out, Naithan posted a more in-depth document from Quantic Foundry that helped to explain the wording they chose. Of course, I couldn’t find it on the Quantic Foundry site easily, so I’ve linked to Naithan’s comment on Frostilyte’s post. As someone who loves this kind of psych stuff, it was an interesting read. According to that document, my headline (paraphrased from their bullet points and tables throughout) could be deciphered as

• Calm: Enjoys turn-based combat, games that can be paused, games that are relaxed and predictable, and low visual stimulation. (e.g.: Sid Meyer’s Civ, Myst)
• Spontaneous: Enjoys reactive gameplay with low cognitive loads and short time horizons. (e.g.: The Sims)
• Completionist: Wants to get all collectibles, complete all missions.
• Independent: Enjoys single-player games and soloable quests. Likes to be in full control. (e.g.: Lego Harry Potter, Hatoful Boyfriend)
• Deeply Immersed: Enjoys being someone else, somewhere else. Enjoys elaborate plots, and interesting characters.
• Creative: Enjoys expression and customization. Wants to explore, tinker, and experiment.

I included some of what I thought were applicable games from when I could pull examples from a chart, and I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I think I’m supposed to discuss that on a different question.

How do you feel about your survey results?

I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I am unsure how I scored so low on Social? I get that I’m not a Competitive person, but I also don’t understand why I only scored 48% on Community. Community in gaming is really the main thing that keeps me playing MMOs. And if there isn’t a thriving community, or many friends I can flock to that play it, then I am generally disinterested in it. I mean, for goodness sake, I ran a yearly festival in WildStar when it was around. If that isn’t high community I don’t know what is!

Which categories are the most and least accurate?

It seems I may have answered this a bit in the prior question. Least accurate definitely has to be Social for me. Most accurate is Immersion/Completion for sure.

Are there any major exceptions to your typical gaming motivations?

If I am interpreting this question correctly, it is asking what differs from my profile in the exceptions. With that, I’d have to say… some of the games they list for “calm”. You would think I’d like the Civ games. I honestly wish I did. But to me, they feel much more RTS-based/paced than I would like. And RTS and my anxiety do not get along. I mean, I haven’t tried playing the Civ games since I started my meds for anxiety/depression, though, so maybe with some time they’ll be more up my alley?

Do any of these motivations carry over to your non-gaming life? If so, how?

Oh, immersion for sure. I participate in LARPs. I love TTRPGs when I can get in on them. And I adore reading fantasy and sci-fi of all sorts. I like involved characters. I like unique stories. GIVE ME NARRATIVE.

Which games (in your experience) best satisfy your gaming motivations?

Narration-heavy games, especially dating sims/visual novels are typically my go-to. High-narrative games like Life is Strange also fall into my list. I think if I could find the time to dedicate to story-rich RPGs I’d play a bit more of them, but then they also fall into the highly-active games which don’t always suit me (which is accurate to my gaming profile).

How do the games above compare to the “suggested games” list from the questionnaire’s follow-up page?

According to the niche list, it’s mostly visual novel type games, or Animal Crossing. I don’t have a Switch so I’ve yet to actually play Animal Crossing (and it was never a game I got invested in as a kid because we had limited video game time, even on our handhelds), but I have been rabidly refreshing stock on Switches so I can play Animal Crossing. So I’d say it’s fairly accurate. It threw in some phone games on my list, which are not typically my cup of tea. I don’t care to do much on my phone, to be honest. It also included games like Sims 4 (which I do play, but have to be in the mood), and story-rich RPGs (Dragon Age) which I’ve mentioned I’ve wanted to get into, but I think I need to be in the right mindset to do so.

This is post 28/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

Apparently, when I picked up the COVID bundle (mainly for some comics), I also received a free month of Humble Choice. I got the email, and decided to redeem it and see what it was all about. I picked up:

• Gris: This was on my wishlist, but was one I decided not to pick up during the LudoNarraCon sale, so I obviously had to pick it up from Humble Choice.
• Hitman 2: I’ve wanted to try out the series eventually, and it was there, so I figured might as well get it.
• This is the Police 2: This is not up my alley at all, but it was on Manthing’s wishlist, so I gifted it to him.
• Opus Magnum: Another one not particularly up my alley, so I gifted it to another friend who had it on their wishlist.
• Truberbrook: It looks interesting, and it seems to be an alternate reality type of story, which I generally enjoy.
• The Bard’s Tale IV: This was another game that looks interesting to try, though at first it didn’t seem like something that would be up my alley. I think that since it’s turn-based rather than real-time, that will assist in my enjoyment of it.
• Driftland: Another one I had no interest in (RTS really isn’t my thing), but it was on yet another friend’s wishlist, so I gifted it to them as well.
• Molek-Syntez: Another one I could care less about, but I knew my best friend would enjoy it. So off it went to them!

I still haven’t decided what to use my last choice on. None of them thrill me. So I might just keep it at hand and spoil yet another friend or such later on with a final choice from April’s choices. So, did this free month sell me on picking up Humble Choice every month? Probably not, unless I can see choices ahead of time, even when I’m not subscribed (which it seems like I can do, as Humble lists them out on their blog). I may pick up a month here and there if enough of the games interest me, but I see it being something that rarely happens.

Square Enix Collective Bundle

I also pulled the trigger on picking up the Humble Square Enix Collective Bundle, which includes

• Oh My Godheads: I’m not particularly interested in this one, so I’ll probably add it to my spreadsheet of codes I won’t redeem for a giveaway somewhere at some point.
• Goetia: This one looked intriguing!
• Octahedron: I won’t play platformers, and the lighting from the trailer hurt my head, so I know I wouldn’t last very long in the game. I do enjoy the soundtrack, but again, this will end up in my spreadsheet of codes.
• Deadbeat Heroes: Nope, not my thing, to the spreadsheet it goes.
• The Turing Test: Yes! Yes yes yes! Oh my, yes! I’m looking forward to playing this one!
• Forgotton Anne: Okay, I know I just said I won’t play platformers… but this is really just an anime with visual novel and light platformer elements so I’m willing to give it a shot.
• Fear Effect Sedna: I’m intrigued and will try it, but I’m sure I’ll suck because I’m terrible at stealth mechanics.
• Black the Fall: Described as a game where you “take your shot at overthrowing a Communist State inspired by real world events”. Which is why I probably won’t touch the game, to be honest. The closer something is to real life, I’m not interested in it right now.
• Children of the Zodiarcs: The premise of the game is interesting, and I’ll give it a try, but I’m not sure how much I’ll actually play the game.
• Boundless: I will probably never open this game up, let alone redeem it.
• Tokyo Dark: YES! Anime cut scenes, visual novel, what looks like actually good localization, horror genre, and puzzles? SOLD! To be fair, I mainly got the bundle for this game alone.
• Battalion 1944: Yet another game that will go into the spreadsheet.

Are you digging any of the Humble bundles lately? I also picked up the Johnathan Hickman bundle when it was released, myself.

This is post 21/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

As I was catching up on others’ blogs, I stumbled upon Krikket’s posts about LudoNarraCon. LudoNarraCon? So I went to their website. They define themselves as,

… [A] digital convention celebrating narrative video games, hosted on Steam. An initiative of indie label Fellow Traveller, it aims to create a platform to showcase and celebrate interesting and innovative narrative games, replicating as many of the aspects and benefits of the physical convention experience as possible within a digital format.

Okay, how did I not know this was a thing until today?! Story-driven narrative games are my JAM! I’m glad I caught Krikket’s posts about it so I could make the most of the sale before it was over (most are still on sale, and demos are available through May 2 or 3, but knowing me, I’d forget all about it if I didn’t pick things up right now).

Goodies

So, I caved and picked up a few games and added quite a few more to my Wishlist.

Detective Grimoire: I picked this one up because it was cheap, but also looks to be a prequel of sorts to Tangle Tower, which I absolutely added to my wishlist.

Unheard: I’m typically not one for cop games, but this struck me as more detective-based than cop-based, so I picked it up, and am looking forward to trying it out.

Whispering Willows: The art style is what caught me on this one, to be honest. Though I’m also a sucker for horror games and female protagonists, so I figured why not pick it up on the cheap.

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy!: I had already added Nelly Cootalot to my cart when I stumbled on this one, and thought it was only proper to pick up the prequel. If it spawned a second game, then it had to be worth picking up the original.

Kind Words: I will never say no to games that play to my desire to cheer others up. And this game is specifically about, well, restoring our faith in humanity by being kind to strangers. I very much had to pick it up. Besides, the lo-fi seems to be pretty good, and I adore some lo-fi to help me concentrate but not fall asleep.

Monster Prom: Second Term: I’ve yet to actually play through Monster Prom (sorry, Bel, it’s just been sitting there after you gifted it to me. ), but I absolutely know it’s a game that I will enjoy. So I went ahead and picked up the expac for it. Maybe I’ll make it one of the games I try to dive into during May.

Elsinore: When Steam sales happen, and I plan to purchase more than a single game, I have a rule for myself: No games over $10 on sale. This was the one game I had to make an exception for. While Hamlet is not my overall favorite Shakespeare play (that honor would go to Taming of the Shrew), I very much enjoy it. I also love that Ophelia is POC. Time loop is also a genre that is of interest to me, so I very much had to break my rule to pick this one up.

Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet: Silly puns, pirates, female protagonist, and Tom Baker? SOLD! Actually, the trailer was what sold me on this to begin with. It was spectacular, and absolutely worth the laughs even if you don’t pick up the game.

Later Daters: Dating sim where you’re in an older-folks home. DONE. PURCHASED. If you know anything about me, you know dating sims/otome are quite possibly (okay, okay, they are) my number one favorite genre of games. So this was a no-brainer to pick up!

The World Next Door: I’ve been in a bit of a match-three rut since it gives me time to just… turn my mind off. I thought the art style for this one was interesting, and I won’t say no to some story mixed into my match-three, so I figured why not give it a try. Plus the art style drew me in, as did Krikket’s thoughts on her time in the game.

This is post 19/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.