gsmason - Tumblr blog

[gsmason]

My Games of the Year 2013

2013 was a year when I got a lot less gaming done as I became a father. However when I look back at games I've completed it's more competitive than ever. This is down to 1 fantastic quality of some AAA and indie titles this year and 2 me focusing down on what I REALLY wanted to play. I intend to continue this into 2014 So here's my top 10 with a couple of possible honourable mentions. Note at time of writing I haven't played - AC4, NFS Rivals, Dead Rising 3, Arkham Origins, Fire Emblem Awakening , Luigi's Mansion 2, Rayman Legends, MH3U (what a backlog eh!) Not sure this order is final but here goes 1. Rocksmith 2014 2. Zelda: Link Between Worlds 3. Hearthstone 4. Gone Home 5. Brothers A Tale of Two Sons 6. SC2: Heart of the Swarm 7. DMC: Devil May Cry 8. Grand Theft Auto 5 9. Bioshock Infinite 10. The Last of Us/Tomb raider I'll maybe elaborate on this list at a later date if I find time. Or I may adjust it after playing some other games. What a year

[gsmason]

Backlog update and next gen plans

So first things first backlog. Been quiet for a couple of weeks as work had taken over. Thankfully a couple of quieter weeks ahead. So I haven't really been back to Dark Souls or GTA5 and I've only played a little bit of pokemon Y. I have played through a fair bit of Magic 2014 on ipad and I think I may now be done with that. Hasn't fully captured the 'magic' of playing it in my youth. A lack of friends playing and true deck customisation are big factors. Also I got into the Hearthstone beta and that game seems great. It also is a lot more fast paced in terms of controls and gameplay whilst still seeming to have a lot of depth and deck customisation. I have also played through half of tearaway as I wanted to start reducing my backlog. Always pleasant fun so far and nice use of vita controls but not blowing me away. Will try and finish this weekend. So next gen. I'm still in the process of catching up on the xbox one coverage esp the Same coin and Weekend confirmed episodes. I am starting to sway towards a 'onesie' after previously being convinced Id go PS4. I like the look of Dead Rising and Killer Instinct and eventually Titanfall and Halo 5. I think Uncharted 4 and Last guardian are way off and no ps4 titles excite me. Kinect interface looks cool and we use skype and TV a lot. PS4 still looks great and I may well end up with both again. Going to get rid of my 360 and or Wii to start decluttering. Right time to crack on with backlog before it's 'one o'clock'

[gsmason]

Next Gen gaming (and new releases)

So next gen is about to become a reality but am I ready for it ? Of course not! First I still have a lot of backlog games to get through as mentioned before. Then there are a few remaining new release games like Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Batman Arkham Origins, Zelda Link Between Worlds. And a few that I might pick up on next Gen - Battlefield 4, AC4 Black Flag, NFS rivals I've pretty much decided I'm going PS4 next gen based on cross buy, ps plus, indie games and positive word on dual shock 4. I reckon I need at least a few months to clear my backlog and may get one in the new year. Hopefully at that point I'll only have a couple of games left to complete and I can quickly have a list of next gen and pc games like this Battlefield 4 FIFA 14 AC4 Black Flag Resogun (Bubbling under NFS Rivals, NBA 2K14, Driveclub, Killzone SF) Ongoing Rocksmith 2014 Starcraft 2 DOTA 2 Hearthstone (Bubbling under Audiosurf 2, Blood Bowl, Fighting Games, Civ 5) So time to clear the backlog and try not to add to it!

[gsmason]

Learning guitar #0 AKA Enter Rocksmith

I've now owned at least one guitar for more than a decade. That astounds me especially given how bad I am at it. I picked up a guitar after a late night drunken discussion at uni and started to teach myself. Whilst I have picked up the basics and learnt some stuff I still feel way behind where I should be. There are a number of reasons for this, mainly time and poor practice. There's little I can do about the relative lack of free time I have and in recent years I have started to prioritise what activities I give preference to. I realise I simply don't have time to do everything I want to and enjoy myself more if I stop worrying about it. Having said that I can do something about making the most of the time I do have. Too often I play songs I already know how to play and don't even necessarily try and improve or correct my mistakes. Saying that I have learnt some songs that a lot younger me would be surprised I can play. However I have reached a rut where I don't feel my skills are progressing. It's hard to know exactly what level I'm at and what to do improve. In an effort to push myself I have increasingly turned to the excellent Justin guitar website. I started going through the lessons starting even with the beginner ones and I'm nearly at the intermediate section. There are also lots of song lessons and I picked up Justin's rock songbook. However life then got in the way as fatherhood took over my life (mainly in a good way). The other 'learning tool' I had picked up several months ago was the game Rocksmith for PC. It is a learning tool but borrows elements of Rock band to create interactive learning. This looked great for me as I would receive feedback and be encouraged to improve. I would also be playing along with tracks which would help with timing and motivation. I really enjoyed what I played of Rocksmith despite there being issues that clearly needed addressing. So here we are, my son is now 6 months and I'm starting to get a little bit more free time. Rocksmith 2014 has just come out and it looks brilliant. My plan now is to mainly play through Rocksmith 2014 and also go back to Justin guitar stuff at some point. I will chart my progress on this here tumblr. For those about to rock.....

[gsmason]

Never-ending games

So in my discussion of my games collection I mentioned ongoing or never-ending games. These are games that I keep playing either to score chase or to play multiplayer. The big question is which games I'm going to stick with going forward. I think in the era of online multiplayer I've never really fully committed to being a regular player of any game. Sure I've had phases of playing regular starcraft and fifa as well as dabbling with shooters but nothing has stuck. Mainly it's time and the difficulties of keeping skills up and finding suitable opponents. I've never been great at shooters and this is the genre I feel like my skill level is most lacking. Especially as many shooters do a poor job of matchmaking and instead settle for team balancing. I've dabbled with halo 4 and played several hrs at least of bf3. Not sure I'll pick up battlefield 4 as the current gen version is likely to be 'lacking'. FIFA14 is a definite contender as my skill atrophies less between games due to a lifetime of football games. The matchmaking is also very good and I can hold my own against low to mid level players. There's also no levelling up or unlocks that affect the game like shooters. What I have played of strategy game multiplayer I have enjoyed as they don't rely on 'twitch' gameplay. I've spoken effusively about starcraft 2 in the past but since heart of the swarm I haven't had time to put into it. Strategy players also seem to be migrating towards MOBAs at the moment. What I've played of DOTA2 I've really enjoyed and it does have good tutorials and bots now. However there is a level of intimidation in having so much to learn and a potentially toxic community. There is something quite satisfying about these games though when you do start to master them. Speaking of which I still have a load of fighting games to get back to including Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat and the amazing Super Street fighter 4. I don't know many friends playing them though and I think I'd be crucified online. Score chasing games also make up a portion of my collection and are great to dip in and out of. They also sort of offer asynchronous multiplayer in the form of leaderboards. Games like geometry wars, pac man CEDX, trials, super meat boy etc. And then there's Rocksmith and the new 2014 edition. I absolutely want to get to this and I'll be posting soon about how it will fit in with me getting back to the guitar. So in order of likelihood of playing my ongoing games for the foreseeable future are 1. Rocksmith 2. FIFA 14 3. DOTA2/Starcraft 2 (I think this one will depend on how much I get into DOTA 2. More on MOBAs in another post 4. Score chasing in pac man CE DX and geometry wars What about shooters and fighting games? Maybe in another life brother (or next gen - also another post!)

[gsmason]

Backlog

So my backlog or 'pile of shame' has only continued to grow as the generation has gone on. There are more great games coming out than I have time to play. It's great that this generation has produced so many great games but it's frustrating to feel I've missed out on so much. Sometimes I wonder whether I should stop trying to play every great game and be more genre focused. I guess I already do this to some extent as I dont play every great driving game for example. As we approach the end of the generation I started to construct a definitive backlog list. I used the fantastic app game vault which tracks your collection and is easier to use on a phone than giantbomb. Essentially games are in one of several camps for me Completed Not completed (main backlog) Not completed (other) Ongoing Wishlist Completed games I don't need to worry about. There are few games I have time to go back to and usually it's if there's an expansion (Diablo 3, Xcom enemy unknown). In those cases I'll put them back in my main backlog. My main backlog is games I plan to definitely play before next gen. My other backlog (which I have seperated in game vault) is games I have acquired that I'm not as desperate to get to. In an ideal world they'd all get played but the reality is I may only get to a few of them. Ongoing games are games that I can play regularly - multiplayer etc and will be covered in a separate post. So after all that chat my main backlog is currently GTA 5 Dark Souls Luigi's Mansion 2 Rayman Legends Mark of the Ninja FTL Saints Row 3rd Far Cry 3 Pokemon White Pikmin/Pikmin 2 Fire Emblem Awakening Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Magic DOTP 2014 Okami HD Civilisation 5 Dawn of War 2 Uncharted Golden Abyss Noticeable games on the other backlog include Bully, Vanquish, Symphony of the Night, darksiders, sonic all stars racing transformed, sleeping dogs, psychonauts

[gsmason]

GTA 5 and FIFA 14 - two differently shaped but equally hot potatoes

So October is here (time is moving too quickly) and for me silly season has officially started. Yes I have now started playing GTA 5(couple of hours in) and FIFA 14 (also few hrs). Both of these games are huge and could keep me busy for a lot of hours. They are likely to be what I'm playing for sometime although both are on ps3. As I no longer have my games room/man cave I may well have a PC or 3DS game on the go as well. More posts soon on the following aspects of my gaming life Backlog Ongoing games MOBAs Next gen and new releases Rocksmith and guitar

[gsmason]

The Last of Us

Game of the year? Probably won't end up being for me but it was excellent. The writing was fantastic throughout and it may be one of the best written games I've ever played. I had a mixed experience with the gameplay and this wasn't helped by me stopping and starting it due to work and holidays. Some of the stealth parts I actually really liked which is unusual for me. The gun combat I got into by the end and if I could go back now I would play it differently and use the bow more. It definitely seemed they'd learnt a lot of lessons from uncharted but I still had a lot of cheap deaths. Yet another game that would have benefitted from less combat. Still great though

[gsmason]

Brothers A Tale of Two Sons - completed

I really enjoyed this although I'm maybe not feeling quite as effusive as some people I've read on twitter. Very interesting central gameplay mechanic and I really enjoyed the use of the controller. I think I maybe would have appreciated some trickier puzzles. A lively fairy tale world with a story told so well considering the lack of (recognisable) dialogue. Some very emotional and almost transcendent moments but not quite on a journey or flower level. Very good all in all, I'm definitely appreciating short form gaming now I'm a parent

[gsmason]

Gone Home - completed

Always compelling, beautifully told story with enough interaction to keep me involved. A highly recommended few hours

[gsmason]

Animal crossing New Leaf - signing off

I've enjoyed probably 20hrs or so of ACNL and don't regret playing it. A lot of the gameplay I enjoyed, as it was very stress free and easy to play whilst listening to a podcast. I even didn't mind the daily cycle of short bursts each day as it fit with my lifestyle. The problem I have with the game and the reason I'm leaving it behind is the lack of reward. Considering the hours I've put in I feel like I've had very little in return. The gameplay systems aren't involved enough to develop any mastery of them and the in game rewards of furniture are fine but I'm hardly ever at my house so don't see them. Maybe one day I'll be back and hopefully kalopsia will be in a reasonable state

[gsmason]

My plans for tumblr

Further to my previous post I’ve finally got round to thinking more about what I’ll do with this tumblr. It will be predominantly be about the games I’ve been playing and progress on my backlog. I plan to keep my thoughts on each game fairly brief and fairly off the cuff as I can't write and don’t have time to plan more in depth thoughts. To be honest this should fit well with the tumblr format.

I will also post some updates on my guitar progress especially when Rocksmith 2014 comes out

[gsmason]

First post

Just testing out tumblr. I may use it for reporting on my progress with the guitar and video games.