Whew! February flew by. I think the whole crew can all agree that this was the month of LOST ARK, but we have dabbled in a few other games. Check it out!
Brodie:
Final Fantasy XIV: After no-lifing this for months, ramping down a bit for now. Still diving in to work on FATEs, gathering/crafting, and playing Triple Triad.
Lost Ark: Had some wild swings on this game: thought it was very cool at first, then got very cold on it just to switch classes and fall back in love with it, and now just a bit overwhelmed but continuing to move forward. Now playing as an Artillerist, which seems pretty wild.
Monster Hunter: Rise: Ol' Brodie can't play anything but games that are forever grind-fests. I love me some MH though. This was the first AAA title I picked up on my PC and I can't wait to dig deeper here. I love the verticality and the new movement mechanics. Just writing about this game makes me excited to play it - let go of me Lost Ark, I need to play this!
Elden Ring: Yes, against all odds I bought this. The reviews are absurd on this and, as I said in our discord, I don't want to be on the wrong side of history here.
Dorfromantik: A wonderfully pleasant board game-adjacent tile laying puzzler that's going to be my go-to if I'm having a bad day or stressing out. It's delightful. It has some very non-intrusive quests to earn more tiles - you basically place tiles until you run out. Anyways, a very nice game on all fronts.
Tabletop Roundup: Rallyman GT! Loved it on BoardGameArena, picked up a copy IRL. It's a very fun push-your-luck race game with a very cool "time trial" solo mode. This is going to hit the table often. I also now own a physical copy of Triple Triad! Now just figuring out how to play this with people given how it plays in the games. Picked up Quacks of Quedlinberg which has been an immediate hit. Played a handful of times with folks, very easy and fun bag builder. Latest BoardGameArena craze has been Bandido, which is a mega light goofy co-op puzzler where we try to build a maze that dead-ends. Finally, will be receiving my copy of Ascension Tactics today, and will update everyone next quest log with my thoughts!
Clay:
Pokémon Legends: Arceus: Well this game rules. It is archaic in so many ways, and Brodie wrote up a good article about its shortcomings. However, I do not care about those issues. I just loved running around and throwing pokeballs at everything in sight. The Pokedex is an addictive method of asking me to do digital chores, and I just love it so much. An imperfect, but brilliant experience for me.
Lost Ark: Only an insane person would play all the way through the main story two times during launch week when the game gives you free characters boosts after beating it once. So I'm insane, I guess! I adore the combat in this game, which is good since the story ranges from boring to absurd; I have never played a game that had me using a ballista to take down a demon, but then also had me get into a giant mech suit while destroying robots. The game doesn't know what it is, and I'm fucking here for it. I have a feeling my hours played will dip a bit now that Elden Ring is releasing at the
Vampire Survivors: Eat some garlic, smell so bad it kills everyone that comes near you! Oh also, shoot daggers, fire, bibles, and scythes out of your butthole as well because an army of enemies are coming for it! But seriously, this game might be the most satisfying bite-sized rogue-like I have ever played. It's no Hades or anything, but if I have 15-20 minutes to kill before bed time then this is on the short list of games to play alongside Storybook Brawl. Sometimes simple is better, and Vampire Survivors is a wonderful example.
...Shoot daggers, fire, bibles, and scythes out of your butthole
Sleeping Gods: Finally played this rather hyped up board game, and I was happy with it. I think the hype around it is overblown in many ways, and it isn't nearly as great as it could have been. But it's fun and provides a real sense of adventure. If you like the idea of a sandbox board game with a focus on emerging narrative, then you can do worse than Sleeping Gods. For my money I think Near and Far is a much better game, but it does lack the sense of scale found in Sleeping Gods. Good, just not great!
Mel:
Remember how I said that “THIS WAS THE YEAR OF THE BACKLOG”. Yeah, you can throw that whole statement out the window.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus: The beginning of the month I was all about the Arceus. I enjoyed travelling around the map and throwing pokeballs at wild pokemon’s heads. While the game is really nothing to write home about, I’m excited for the future of this franchise.
Final Fantasy XIV: That’s right. I made the plunge. I started off as a conjurer but realized at like level 15 that I wanted to do more damage. I switched to an arcanist and have not looked back. I am such deep shit playing this game. I’m logging in every day to do fishing quests and the mini cactpot. My life is ending. I know it and I don’t care.
My life is ending. I know it and I don’t care.
Lost Ark: THEN LOST ARK CAME AROUND. My time has really been divided between FFXIV and Lost Ark. At first, I was like, “Man this game is meh,” until I switched classes. This game has really sucked me in. It’s grindy as hell, but there is so much content for a F2P game. There are some seriously awesome dungeons that I did NOT expect to exist in the game.
Vampire Survivors: It’s soooo worth you time and money. I’m not going to say anything more than that. Just buy the game.
Storybook Brawl: I got a 2 hour tutorial from Dale on how to play this game and I am addicted. In 5 days, I have managed to accumulate over 24 hours of game play. Deck building really deters me from playing a lot of card-based games, but I love that I can play this game without having to do that.
Cookie Clicker: Still clicking those goddamned cookies.
Dale:
So, I've been pretty under the weather for the majority of the month, and that's led to reduced gaming. That said, I've still managed to put some time into these games:
Lost Ark: Without a doubt this is the game I've put the most time into. It's a UNBELIEVABLY generous free to play Diablo clone. It's... really good. Like very, very good. I've just made it to the end, so I can't really speak about that, but the process of getting to level has been a great time.
Storybook Brawl: Still playing this one a bunch. They keep releasing patches that continue to make this already great game even better.
Gloomhaven: Ang and I have recently gotten into the board game Gloomhaven, and it is truly wild. It's also, huge, and intimidating, and expensive, so I'm really glad we're enjoying it. If this sounds like your kind of jam I highly recommend checking out either Jaws of the Lion, or the digital version first, since this game can be comedically overwhelming.
Gunfire Reborn: What a little gem. It's an FPS rogue-lite where you play as anthropomorphic animals delving into different biomes while finding all sorts of insane guns. It's like Borderlands meets Binding of Isaac, and if you know me, you know that sounds like my shit. It's also way better multiplayer. I haven't played this as much as I'd like, since so many other amazing games have hit this month.
Vampire Survivors: This game is $3 on steam, and I've played it for 22 hours as of the writing of this article. If you haven't played this yet, you've messed up. It's pure dopamine injected into your brain stem. Play this game.
It's pure dopamine injected into your brain stem.
Gannon:
Lost Ark: This is going to be on my list for a while I'm guessing. I really enjoy scratching the Diablo itch without supporting Activision/Blizzard. Its honestly what I wanted out of Diablo 4. Combat is smooth and the gameplay is so varied there is always something to do.
Storybook Brawl: I keep meaning to push to 4k and I keep getting distracted by other games. Hope to give it a good run in March!
Final Fantasy XIV: Pretty much relegated this to Savage raiding 2 nights a week. I love this game but it’s definitely on the back burner.
Elden Ring: This game has dominated all of my play time since the release. I have started 3 different characters and love each and every experience. It’s no Mario-Dark souls crossover but it is the BotW-Souls crossover I didn't know I needed.
Vampire Survivors: This game keeps getting patched with new content and it keeps sucking me back in to get more achievements. Best 3 bucks I've spent.
That's all for February! Will the gang play other games next month? Or will Elden Ring consume almost everyone? We'll find out more next month! See you!
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