February’s Stats
aka. Where the sheep is weak and feeds the backlog, yet progress is made.
So I’ve been a bad sheep, I need to confess, not only I’ve bought 2 games during the Ubisoft sale earlier in February, but thanks to an anonymous octopus friend, I got tempted by a really good promo on the Xbox pass (2€ for 2 months) which included a few games I wanted to try in their “play anywhere” (ie. on PC through the windows 10 store) program. And I was weak, I resisted a bit but ended up caving in on the last day of the promo. At least, I feel like I already got my money worth with the time I sank into State of Decay 2 (more on that in the assassination reports), and plan to also give a try at least to We happy few (which I probably will never get on steam after the editor’s fucked move with the price of the game). I also wanted to play Gears of War 4 but it’s 133 Go to download and install so it kind of dissuaded me.
Anyway I still managed to make some progress with the backlog, slow but steady. What about you guys, made good progress in February?
Oh, and I almost forgot but I wanted your input on something I was pondering about last night. What is your personal stance on games that you’ve beaten/completed BEFORE discovering later achievements were added? Do you plan on replaying them eventually to make the achievements reflect the fact you did indeed play the game and not just arbitrarily marked it as done? (I discovered while browsing on completionist.me that it apparently happened to one of my SG wins, which I didn’t really enjoy playing through the first time around, and I am now frustrated as a result, which I realize is kind of silly/stupid). I was just curious if it happened to anybody else.
| Played | Finished | Completed | Backlog+ | Achievements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 152 + 50 |
ABC Challenge Progress (24/26)
Finished this month: 1Most Satisfying Finish
Most Exciting Addition
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Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
20 hours playtime
63 of 63 achievements
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Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
12 hours playtime
31 of 44 achievements
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MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
262 hours playtime
44 of 50 achievements
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Steep
11 hours playtime
no achievements
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Wargroove
61 minutes playtime
1 of 23 achievements
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Monster Prom
19 hours playtime
15 of 32 achievements
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Even the Ocean
9 hours playtime
9 of 21 achievements
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Lost Grimoires 3: The Forgotten Well
4 hours playtime
13 of 13 achievements
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My Time At Portia
39 hours playtime
18 of 91 achievements
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Noir Chronicles: City of Crime
4 hours playtime
20 of 20 achievements
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VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
16 hours playtime
32 of 34 achievements
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State of Decay 2
35 hours playtime
50 of 65 achievements
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Ogrest
86 minutes playtime
no achievements
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Double Fine Adventure
10 hours playtime
no achievements
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
20 hours playtime, 63 of 63 achievements
Adam picked this game for me for February's PoP and I have to say the game exceeded my expectations. It's a pretty good Zelda-like and I loved it so much I ended up going for a clean sweep of the achievements. Not only it was visually pretty, but it really gave me that snes-period Zelda feeling gameplay wise. Strongly recommended if you like the adventure genre.
Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
12 hours playtime, 31 of 44 achievements
I still don't really know what to think about this game. It was "interesting" to say the least, but gameplaywise it wasn't my cup of tea. My main problem with it is that I lost a lot of time navigating the small city every day to actually achieve what I intended to do. WHO makes games nowadays without a map when it would be more than useful. Also, the visual aspect of the game made me a bit dizzy at times, but nothing dramatic. Just a weird game overall.
Even the Ocean
9 hours playtime, 9 of 21 achievements
An interesting action adventure RPG plateformer, by the dev of Anodyne. Story wise, it was okay, even if a little bit weak around the ending. Gameplaywise though, it was pretty good in term of balanced puzzles and new mecanics being introduced along the way. Note that there is 3 possibilities to play through the game: playing only the story, only the dungeons or the full experience, which mixes both. For my first playthrough I went with the whole experience, and it was pretty enjoyable. Recommended.
Lost Grimoires 3: The Forgotten Well
4 hours playtime, 13 of 13 achievements
I really had liked both previous Lost Grimoires games, so that one was okayish but a bit of a let down. It's inferior to its predecessors, while not being fundamentally bad. Nice graphics, story as cliché as an Artifex game can be, but not enough hidden object scenes to my taste, and the game is way too short, especially for the asked price. This reminded me why I only buy AM games when they're bundled: while always raising the prices, they also make their games shorter and shorter, and it might be okay to some people, but I think it's a pretty shitty practice. Okay in a bundle, but still inferior to the 2 previous ones.
Noir Chronicles: City of Crime
4 hours playtime, 20 of 20 achievements
Another AM HoG from the same bundle, okay but not the strongest of their games either. Maybe more your thing if you prefer a noir/crime setting instead of a fantasy one. I don't mind either way, and I enjoyed playing it but like I said, not their best (not their worst either, it's more in the par area of what they produce) and only at bundle price.
Now, THIS was a great and interesting game. It's sort of a visual novel where you play as a barmaid in a cyberpunk future. From what I read it's in the same universe as 2064: Read Only Memories, but I haven't played that one yet. Along the way, as the story unfolds, you mix cocktails to try and please your customers, as well as trying to pay your rent at the end of the month. It was a really nice and refreshing game, pretty unique in it's genre and nicely executed. I'll be looking forward to it's upcoming sequel. Strongly recommended.
State of Decay 2
35 hours playtime, 50 of 65 achievements
This game is the main reason I got that Xbox pass promo thing. I played quite a lot of the first State of Decay, and I actually enjoyed it, even if it wasn't perfect, and was looking forward to play the sequel before it turned out to be a windows store exclusive. The reviews at launch were pretty mixed so I made myself a reason that I wouldn't get to play it. Now, I'm glad in the end I got to play it. It's not perfect, and it doesn't add much to the first game actually, it's looking better, sure (I haven't played the remastered version of the first one though) but it's more of the same stuff. Which is why I liked it, because I liked the first one. Nothing revolutionary, sure, but I had a lot of fun, and I've currently started a second playthrough with a few survivors from my first one. I guess I'll playsome more til I get bored with it or my pass expire, but it was worth it.
Ogrest
86 min playtime, no achievements
A cute little anime movie from the studio who makes Wakfu, in the same universe, which I know nothing about. I think it's mostly either for fans of the universe or younger kids, because I found it nice looking but pretty boring. Note that it only lasts 45min but I had to let it run a second time to get the remaining cards.
Double Fine Adventure
10 hours playtime, no achievements
One of the perks of playing a game on a non-steam plateform is that I finally got to watch that entire docu-series about the making of Broken Age while I was playing State of Decay 2. It was pretty interesting if you're curious about the subject, but if there is anything I learned by watching that, is that if Tim Schafer might arguably be good at writing game scenarios and what not, he shouldn't be trusted with money. Also, a reminder of how crappy steam streaming video system is, and that it's not a shame that it's being ended.
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Wargroove
61 minutes playtime
1 of 23 achievements
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Evoland Legendary Edition
0 minutes playtime
0 of 65 achievements
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Far Cry 5
0 minutes playtime
no achievements
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Steep
11 hours playtime
no achievements
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Far Cry New Dawn
0 minutes playtime
no achievements
Oh, and I almost forgot but I wanted your input on something I was pondering about last night. What is your personal stance on games that you’ve beaten/completed BEFORE discovering later achievements were added?
Personally, I very rarely return to games that I’ve already beaten. I put them in a “Replay” category here on BLAEO so I can go back and finish them/get the new achievements some day… so far, I haven’t replayed any of those games. Sigh.
One game that I actually did try to replay for achievements was Dear Esther, but it didn’t go well. I’m not really a fan of walking sims, so playing it once was more than enough for me. Just couldn’t bring myself to go through it again. Truth be told, it frustrates me a little, too.
From what I’ve been told, Dear Esther is far from being one of the best walking simulator too. I should start a replay category for when I notice it happens, but WHO in here got time to replay games they already finished when there is backlog lurking?
WHO in here got time to replay games they already finished when there is backlog lurking?
Exactly! All those unplayed games aren’t gonna play themselves.
What is your personal stance on games that you’ve beaten/completed BEFORE discovering later achievements were added?
Back then, I’d go back to play them. If I loved the game, I didn’t mind. If the game was just ok or if I disliked it, I’d grudgingly replay it to get 100% again. After it happened to several games at the same time, where they added new achievements through new DLC, I just went “screw achievements!” Never went back to 100% a game I’ve previously 100%-ed since then. Didn’t even bother to change the status from “completed” to “beaten.” I’m pretty much done with achievement hunting.
I’m more annoyed by when the whole set of achievements is added afterwards, especially when I didn’t like the game that much in the first place. The more it goes the more I’m feeling like I should care less and less about cheevos, but it tickles my OCD to let it go.
Ah, it happened with one of my SG wins. Although it was short, I didn’t really like it. It didn’t affect my average completion % so I just left it as it was. The only minor annoyance was that it looked like I just idled the game for cards. I’m still deciding on whether to delete the game, as well as some of my other SG wins, from my Steam library. I already deleted my SG account so having unactivated wins isn’t an issue now. (Edit: deleted the games after I noticed that I can now hide my SG wins list here.)
To be honest, if/when I leave SG, I’ll definitely go for removing a few games from my library, including some that I did finish, because I really disliked them.
The only minor annoyance was that it looked like I just idled the game for cards.
THAT is my main issue actually.
That happens all the time 100% orange juice updates. They bring our new dlc and next thing I know I’m having to get them again but thats fine. However it also happened with 60 seconds and plague inc evolved. I disliked both of those games so the fact they brought out more annoyed me. I got them back to 100% then deleted them. However now I’m always wondering, will they bring out more? Will I be stuck with 1 less 100% just because I didn’t want their games in my library
Oh yes, DLC are another problem when it comes to achievements, especially when you don’t always wanna buy them all. I agree that it’s way more annoying when it’s a game you didn’t enjoy playing in the first place.
Looks like everyone gets lost in that damn small city. xD I don’t know why but it’s super easy to get stuck in a loop going no where when I just want to go back home and sleep. lol Especially in the intersection of yellow and red. The arrow points to a small alley way and you have to turn right and left to get to yellow district. For some reason I always get stuck there.
As for re-100% games, I don’t usually notice new achievements got added. The only case I noticed is for Scream Collector when they added a new level. And that is a welcoming change since I love the game~So I went back and 100%ed it again. :3
It reassures me I was not the only one. I could have completed the whole game in way less time, wouldn’t it have been for in game days spent just TRYING to reach a place (and not always managing) and then just looking endlessly on how to go home.
I really don’t mind when they add cheevos to game I loved, especially when it’s because of new levels, and not for just replaying the whole game. Like you said, in that case it’s usually more like a treat.
I’ve never cared about achievements (the only game I wanted to get all the achievements for was Achievement Unlocked), so I’ve never noticed if a game I own ended up getting more achievements later on (and if I ever did somehow notice, I probably wouldn’t care).
Well then I guess my question didn’t really concern you in the first place, but thanks for your input.
When new achievements are added, I will return to that game to re-gain my 100%. Even if that means I’m gonna have to sit through more hours of something like “This war of mine”…
You didn’t like This war of mine? That appart, I admire your determination. I was more talking about games who had no achievements when you played them. Then if the devs didn’t think about retroactive unlocking for things you’ve already done, it implies replaying everything if you want to unlock them.
Ah, well I would still re-play that game, unless it was something that would require hundreds of hours. I already had that situation with both Amnesia games :D And to make it worse, after they added 17 achievements and I got them all, months later they added one more with new difficulty settings lol. I still need to get that one tho, but I recently got a pair of new headphones, much better than my previous one so I’m willing to give it another go
And nah I didn’t like’d This war of Mine. It’s a game that is mechanically very shallow and wholly depends on “the feels” and it didn’t affect me. But I still 100% it because I already had some achievements when I tried it initially…It works pretty well as a game to listen to podcasts etc in background while you keep your hands and eyes busy :P
Generally if a game I’ve completed gets new achievements, I get back to it and get them, but it’s not something I have to worry about too much. Even though I’m close to completing 100 games with achievements, such thing happened to me literally only once, because most often I try to play games no sooner than 2 years after their release date, so that when I start them, all of the bugfixes, content updates, DLCs are already out and I can appreciate “the complete version of the game” from the start ;)
I was more thinking about a game that added the achievements all together after you play, hence you’d have to redo the same thing you already did to get them. That being said, your technique of waiting at least two years probably spares you with that. Which is also a really great technique when it comes to bugs/patches. :)
Yeah, I can’t stand when achievements are added (or supplemented) after I’ve finished a game, because I rarely want to go back. It’s happened twice with SG wins– they were added to Magical Brickout, including lots of really hard to get ones. Then another chapter was added to 140 so I had to go back and play it just to get myself back to 50% completion. The other half involve playing the entire game with backward/mirror controls, which wasn’t going to happen.
As I’ve said several times on BLAEO, Oceanhorn was one of my son’s favorite games (when he was 3 1/2) and he cried when we reached 100% and weren’t going to play it anymore. We called it, “The Boy Who Breaks Jars.”
I’m always amazed by how many “gifts and other wins” you have. You must be a very good sheep, or found another SG that you’re not telling us about. ;-) I’m guessing you’re a good sheep.
It already irritates me when a few achievements are added but when it goes from no at all to a whole panel of them that I should already have because i finished the game already, it’s way worse in my book :/ Especially for the SG wins where I’m trying to maintain some sort of completion.
It was really so good. Maybe you can play Zelda: Link to the past with your son, he’ll discover another boy who breaks jars. Also, rejoice, it seems like Oceanhorn 2 is coming \o/
I will deny all those accusations, I’m an evil sheep. I probably got all those other stuff blackmailing people.
Yep, that’s what happened to me with Magical Brickout…added the achievements after I’d finished. XD
That’s so great that Oceanhorn 2 is coming!