We started here and wound our way through quarterly updates one, two and three. This is quarterly update four as well as a look back on the 108’s first year in operation. To sum it up in one sentence it was a partial success. The goal was to clear my backlog and to cut way down on the amount of money I spent on games. The first goal failed rather spectacularly. As it was almost inevitably bound to. The second goal was much more of a success and didnt waver much even in the face of thanksgiving and winter sales. The key factor in the success of the latter and failure of the former is the same, the changes quality free to play games (specifically TERA, Hearthstone, Path of Exile and Warframe) made to my gaming habits. (FFXIV: ARR didnt help either).
So how did the last quarter of the year go? How did October, November and December i.e. the months where most of the years major games are released and major sales are held go? Better than expected to to be honest. I did pick up a fair few games but as I just mentioned the years biggest sales were on so I got most of them for dirt cheap. I picked up Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil Revelations for around eighteen quid. Far Cry 3 for a fiver, Fallen Enchantress Legendary Heroes for seven quid and Monaco, Legend of Dungeon and Rogue Legacy for about seven quid between them. My most expensive PC gaming purchase was probably the twenty five quid I spent on a Warframe bundle (and that was 66% off, which was nice). Oh and I spent about a tenner on Hearthstone (and so much time). So thats around €60 on PC games over three months which is really good and I’m quite happy with. Sadly gaming wise the majority of my time was sunk into Hearthstone (F2P), Path of Exile (F2P), Final Fantasy XIV:ARR (curse you MMO’s!) and Warframe (F2P got seriously addicted to this in December and on into January). In terms of content cleared I’m happy to count Hearthstone, Path of Exile and Warframe as complete and FFXIV:ARR is more than complete enough for me. Ah wait I totally forgot the excellent XCOM: Enemy Within, while it bumps my spend total up by another twenty quid (got an excellent pre-order deal on it) it also increases my completed games by one which is nice.
Things went significantly worse on the console front. In terms of purchases I ended up buying Disgaea D2, The Guided Fate Paradox, 1 year of PS+ (got this on sale for twenty fiveish), One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 (on sale for a tenner) and Diablo III (PS3). Actually that isnt as bad as I thought, it basically works out to one game a month and as I bought then from the US PSN it worked out cheaper. About €120 in total (as I also picked up some DLC). Sadly not only have I not completed any of those games, apart from Diablo III I havent even played any of those games (dont ask the last few months have been weird and shit).
So for October – December I am counting as complete Hearthstone, Path of Exile, Warframe and XCOM: Enemy Within. Just over one game a month (as opposed to the ludicrous nine I should be banging through). On the other hand all of the games mentioned are pretty time consuming, I’d say I easily sunk over thirty hours into each (and so much more into Warframe). Not sure what to make of that really. In theory I could have used the time more productively, but crippling depression has a way of undercutting attempts at productivity. Fuck me, looking at this it also clearly undercuts attempts at wasting/leisure time as well.
Ah I totally forgot that I picked up Pokemon X as well. Curses.
The Key: Unplayed, Preordered, To Replay, To Finish, Completed
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Analogue: A Hate Story
Anarchy Reigns
Anomaly Warzone Earth
Asura’s Wrath
Atelier Rorona
Atelier Totori Plus
Batman Arkham Asylum
Batman Arkham City
Beyond Good & Evil
Bit Trip Beat
Botanicula
Braid
Chaos;Head
Chrono Trigger
Civilization V (Win a campaign on Hard)
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Crusader Kings II (Finish a campaign)
Danganronpa
Darkness II
Darksiders II
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
Dawn of War: Soulstorm
Dawn of War II
Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
Dawn of War II: Retribution
Dead Island
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Devil May Cry 4
Deus Ex:HR The Missing Link
Devil Survivour: Overclocked
Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention
Disgaea 4 : DLC Run (finished multiple times but bought all DLC at christmas)
Dishonored
Dragonquest VIII
Dustforce
Eador: Masters of the Broken World
Endless Space (Finish a campaign)
Ever 17: The End of Infinity
FTL
Fire Emblem Awakening
Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2
Front Mission 3
Gravity Rush
G senjou no Maou
Guild Wars 2
Half-Minute Hero
Hanachirasu
Hard Reset
Hitman: Blood Money
Home
Hotline Miami
Intrusion 2
Jet Set Radio HD
Just Cause 2
Legend of Grimrock
Lollipop Chainsaw
Lone Survivour
Magicka
Mark of the Ninja
Metal Gear Rising
Metal Gear Solid 3 HD
Muv Luv Extra
Muv Luv Unlimited
Muv Luv Alternative
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Omerta: City of Gangsters
One Piece: Pirate Warriors
Orcs Must Die
Orcs Must Die 2
Persona 3 FES
Persona 3 Portable
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Prototype 2
Radiant Historia
Recettear
Resonance of Fate
Saints Row: The Third
Serious Sam 3
Sine Mora
Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity
Sleeping Dogs
SpaceMarine
SPAZ
Steins;Gate
Stranglehold
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
Tales of Vesperia
The Last of Us
The Last Remnant
Trails in the Sky
The Longest Journey
The Walking Dead
The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition
Tokyo Jungle
Torchlight II
Total War: Shogun 2
Vanquish
Vessel
Virtues Last Reward
Warlock
Watch Dogs
Yakuza: Dead Souls
Ys Origin
Ys The Oath in Felghana
Unplanned
Bioshock Infinite
TERA
Marvel Heroes
Final Fantasy XIV
Hearthstone
Warframe
XCOM: Enemy Within
Path of Exile
Far Cry 3
Unauthorised
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Dynasty Warriors 8
Europa Universalis IV
Dragon’s Crown
Tales of Xilla
Disagea D2
The Guided Fate Paradox
One Piece Pirate Warriors 2
Diablo 3