After-thoughts:

Well, let’s just say I didn’t even make it through one full day of playing this before calling it “quits.” It turns out, after all this time, the game was just too complicated for me to figure out on the “fly”. I was getting frustrated, and a frustrated streamer is never fun to watch… so I swapped games and went to play Megaquarium. I still hold fond memories of this game, but it’s been too long, and I completely forgot how “clunky” the user interface of this game was, and how utterly difficult the game was. Will I go back and play it again? Probably not. Will I still smile when I think about this game in the past? Heck yeah. Just not planning to play it again!

Afterthoughts!

I enjoyed the heck out of playing this game on stream. Which explains why it got two full days of play time on my channel. Since then, I’ve watched some other people play it and struggle figuring it out, but I definitely didn’t have the same experience with it. I can’t wait to see what else is added to the game (if anything? – although it still does seem to be in active development, so I hope good things are coming for it!) and I look forward to playing it some more in the future. Definitely on my recommended list if you need something that’s a little open ended and a little bit Zen.

If this looks familiar, then congratulations, you’re probably acquainted with the first video game I ever played. When I was quite young, my grandfather had a computer that had one game on it. It was known to me as “Adventure” – called that likely because that was the executable name that you typed to start up the game. Both my Dad and I got very into this little game, even though, at the time, neither of us knew anything about it. This is the game that taught me how to make and read maps, how to have a sense of actual adventure, and that I was going to always love games. If you’re wondering what the convoluted diagram that is the featured image – that’s one of the maps someone made based on this game. And yes.. it’s that complex. Despite the fact that the game I played didn’t have a single graphic involved, it sparked the imagination of my young mind… and is a game I’ve NEVER forgotten. (This coming from someone who has very few memories of a happy childhood.)

Sims 3 is another high point of the Sims Franchise for me. It was when I really started discovering and playing challenges, and – once I found out about challenges – it completely changed the way I played the game. It also marks the beginning of my Blogging “career.” This blog was actually established during the Sims 3 era, and if you’re looking hard enough, some of my old stories from back then (the ones I actually published) are still linked into this site (under retired or completed stories). It also marked the beginning of my love/hate affair with game modifications. I literally could not play Sims 3 without mods. To me, the game was unplayable without it – so while waiting for a mod to update or be fixed, I couldn’t play the game. (Which plays a huge part of my lack of mods and CC in Sims 4 – I just don’t want to come to a point that I cannot play the game without a mod). The game is still installed on my computer, and I *could* play it.. I just don’t. The memories of all the games lost to corrupted files, the long load times from back then, and all the bugs… *shiver*.. just don’t make me want to go back. Maybe someday.

I would be very remiss if I didn’t mention the classic game “Minesweeper” at least once in this year’s game retrospective. As I’ve mentioned, my early history with games was very limited. Tetris and Minesweeper, (and to a lesser extent Solitaire and Freecell) however, were part of my early game education. I very much remember competing with my dad for high score on the family’s computer. I could never beat him in solitaire or freecell, and rarely in Tetris, but for some reason, I COULD beat him in Minesweeper. So I did. repeatedly. I usually played on “Expert” and he had the worst time trying to keep up with me on times. (Which was a big thing, because he usually won at EVERYTHING!)

When Sims 2 came out, I was more than ready for it. I ditched Sims 1 without barely a look back, and was immediately in love with Sims 2. Someday, I want to get it re-installed on my computer, and mess around with my favorite town, Strangetown, some more. I wasn’t really into building back then, nor did I make my own characters very often, but man did the storylines behind Strangetown and Pleasantville pulled me in and I spent so much time playing the sims that came with those towns. I still have all of the original discs from all of the expansions for Sims 2 (and somehow I missed getting the Ultimate Edition).. so I’d need to literally get those discs to work on my PC to re-install it. Last time I tried, I ran into some disc errors, and lost my patience, so I never finished it… hence why this game is NOT on the list of games I will be playing this year. It did still need to be mentioned, though.

This is another game I’m fairly sure you’ve heard of, if not played. This game has been around for a long while, and has played a significant role in the history of games. I, personally, have been playing it since the days of Civ 2, and own pretty much every iteration and DLC ever published for the game. You could call me a little bit obsessed. For at least Monday, I will be playing Civilization 5, which remains my favorite of the series. I own 6, but it just hasn’t grabbed my heart like 5 did. There is a chance I might play 6 on Tuesday, however, just to give it another try.

After-thoughts:

Playing this game again brought back SO many memories. Good ones, bad ones, in-between ones… it was truly a fun revisit. It honestly made me put this game on the list for a future long-play on my Twitch Channel. There is SO much to love about this game, and the game of the year edition I was playing (un-modded) seemed to be WAY less buggy than I remember the game being when I played it originally. Again, a game I highly recommend!

Afterthoughts:

I honestly have sat here for the past couple weeks trying to figure out what to say in this wrap-up that I hadn’t said already, and I’ve come up super blank. It’s a great game, I enjoy playing it, and if you’re into management or building simulations at all, this is totally a game you’d like. Highly recommended!

If you’re into real-time strategy at ALL, you’ve played- or at least heard of – the Age of Empires series. It’s been a staple of that particular genre for a very long time. I was hesitant to back a new iteration of the game at first, but after watching some gameplay, and then trying it out myself on Gamepass, I went in with both feet. This is a GREAT version of the game, that not only improves gameplay, but adds some REAL history into it – making it an educational game. Which is something I really enjoy, and the videos and articles in game about the real history are well-filmed, and well-researched. It’s like watching a documentary that you can actually play along with. (Which, for me.. is a super good thing!) If you’re not into the history, I suppose you could skip those – but why would you play this sort of game if you don’t like the history???