agsmith's Blog - Jan to Mar 24 (1 follower)

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I’ve always been a person who enjoys trying new and interesting ways to explore things. It baffles me that I didn’t start achievement hunting on Steam before 2023 when I did on consoles, but 20 completed games in a year is a testament to my enjoyment in the hobby. Today, I thought I’d reflect on the best games I completed in the year and why they kept me going.

3. XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within

I have had a long-running love affair with the XCOM franchise; the very first video game I received as a gift was the original DOS game in 1994. I also don’t preorder games as a rule, but when the reboot was announced, I told my brother I would make an exception because it was my birthday. I logged into Steam the next day to find the preorder had been gifted to me with a note—“Happy birthday! I hope it has multiplayer!” XCOM is easily the most challenging completion in my library at ~350 hours over nearly 11 years. To date, multiplayer servers are still up but not necessarily active. I have logged at least 30 victories over the single-player campaign and nearly as many defeats. The Enemy Within expansion adds new and interesting elements, an intriguing new faction, and significant replay value with much to explore. No game collection is truly well-rounded without a good strategy game, and XCOM is definitely the cream of the crop.

2. Monster Sanctuary

Monster Sanctuary is the only game of these three that initially did not get a perfect score in my review. Upon reflection, I will revise this. I lost interest in the “monster tamer” genre after the Pokémon franchise became unnecessarily bloated. Monster Sanctuary is directly responsible for reigniting the tamer fire within me. I’m a technical writer by education (not trade), and a complete guide to all 111 monsters in the game will be my next personal project. If I enjoy a game this much, why not revisit my review? I have sought out other monster tamer games since completing this one. The game is a love letter to fans of the genre, and it is beautiful in every artistic way—the story is engaging, the artwork is gorgeous and the soundscape is simply incredible.

1. Yakuza 0

Given my relative newness to the franchise, I hesitate to say the Yakuza series is one of my all-time favorites. However, Yakuza 0 absolutely elevated the games beyond just my radar and into a solid contender for my attention. The completion tasks can be a slog, especially for someone who is culturally American—I still hate the telephone club and lucked my way through mahjong and shogi—but the story and supporting systems are rock solid. I previously completed Yakuza Kiwami on PlayStation 4, and getting to play as Majima and discover how his relationship with Kiryu began was an interesting draw. The substories in this installment were uniquely engaging, and the side businesses of each character ate up a good chunk of my completion time. That’s not even mentioning the fact that I would shell out a bit of cash for a fully-realized Pocket Circuit racing game on par with a mainline Mario Kart game. There is so much to do and so much to see that I’m honestly looking forward to sinking another thousand hours or so into the other six installments that came in my bundle. Kiryu-san, you have my thanks.

That’s it for now. In the coming days, I’ll revise my review of Monster Sanctuary, but for now, I feel as though I made some solid choices for my first year as an achievement hunter on Steam. I’m looking forward to what 2024 brings.

I’m nearly done with the base game for Nexomon. I’ll still have the post game content and achievements to clean up, but this has me thinking about my next project. I won’t be taking on a new game immediately after completion; instead I’ll be focusing on Sleeping Dogs and cleaning up the middle portion of the Ace Attorney Trilogy. What to do in the mean time, though?

Nexomon has me thinking about another monster tamer that I have finished, Monster Sanctuary. I enjoyed the game a lot, and I even went so far as to create a spreadsheet to help me identify what monsters I had, what I needed, and where to go. I’ve noticed that nothing like this is readily available on most sites, so I will take the time to compile a guide. A well-written guide can actually go in my technical writing portfolio, so this seems like a win/win situation. I benefit by demonstrating writing skills in a tangible way, and I get community feedback on my efforts. The community receives a resource it is lacking. This is a solid use of time.

I’m cruising along in Nexomon, and I’m really enjoying the game. I sit down to show my husband the game today, and I come across the section where you play a volleyball match against Merida. I think this is incredibly creative, interesting and fun… or I would, if the input wasn’t bugged. I think I might be stuck here. The controller doesn’t respond when I press the button. My keyboard seems to have the same issue. I’m going to try loading the game onto my laptop later, but I’m not sure that will work. The forums on Steam indicate it’s a legitimate bug and not necessarily a lack of skill on my part. It looks like I may have some troubleshooting to do, or Nexomon will go on hold.

I’ve finished Yakuza 0, and I’m taking some time while the book club wraps it up as well. I’m working to polish up Batman: Arkham Asylum and Fallout: New Vegas, and I’m enjoying both games immensely. The serious tones of both games causes need for breaks periodically, during which I finished the first Phoenix Wright game. I’ll be returning to the trilogy later down the line, but at the moment, I’ve already started my next project while waiting on book club voting to end. Right now, it seems as though Sleeping Dogs will be our next game. I chose a quirkier game as my side project because of this: Nexomon. I’m blown away by the feelings this game evokes; I’m reminded of the way playing Pokémon Blue felt for the first time. Since I’m not familiar with the creatures, the game carries the same charm. It’s a bit more story driven, but the principles are the same: catch/trap monsters, defeat gym leaders/overseers, level up your party.

I’m grateful to have something colorful, quirky and fun to break up the drab scenery of the other two titles in rotation. The mood is much lighter with Nexomon. I think this will be perfect if the book club transitions to Sleeping Dogs. As I understand it, that game is a bit heavy.

Whatever the poll’s outcome, I’ll go back to trying to do a log. I missed tracking my progress through the book club games.