I nominate Road 96 for regular GotM...

... and the most excellent HuniePop for the 2015 extravaganza!

get another console if and when you can afford it and feel like trying something different

everyone will give you different opinions on what's better or worse but at the end of the day - have a look at the games and see what you prefer. I play primarily on PC, but also have a Xbox Series S and a PS5, which satisfy my console needs. PC isn't complicated unless you make it complicated (eg pirating software and emulating old stuff)... and if you're deciding between Xbox/Playstation I'd have a gander at the actual exclusives and see which ones interest you more... easy as that IMO.

and here's the obligatory wheel-spinning draft determination video

The most played section isn't displaying your completion times but the totally amount of time played. It uses progress if it's the highest value, otherwise it adds single player and co-op.

Anyway, only the categories that appear when checking completed (main, plus, 100 & speed runs) count towards HowLongToBeat times. It's a bit awkward because more games are fully co-op but I would put your time in single player and note that it was done in co-op. Maybe I could improve messaging, like Story/Campaign instead of single player but this was all designed 14 years ago when co-op and vs were extras to a single player campaign.

Co-op and Multi are really just to track optional time outside of campaigns. They are only prominently displayed when single player is toggled off. In that case, the data isn't even used to compare against your game list, only displayed on search and game pages to give a general idea how long players invest in those modes.

All that being said, I could also not include multiplayer in the calculations or only choose the highest one, everyone uses their fields differently.

Thanks for the explanation - can appreciate the thought process now and it works =)

Using something like "story/campaign" would help in this particular scenario, but then I think it would raise more confusion for other instances where it may not strictly be a "story" or "campaign" lol. Either way - I'm good with just noting the co-op/multi on the completion notes - makes perfect sense to me.

Thanks!

The 2025 draft is now live!

That's right we're kicking it off and picking the games for a brand new season. As always, there are a few simple rules to guide the draft process:
- Each pick has to be made within 24 hrs of the previous one (but realistically it's okay to take a little longer, especially if you communicate that you need more time).
- Autodraft is a good way to ensure you make your picks, especially if you're unsure of your availability.
- Feel free to ping the next player here on Discord with a friendly "@ hey it's your turn!"
- If you take too long and hold up the draft, then I will pick for you (kind of like an autodraft), so please always communicate if you need more time!

Other than that, I have the usual video of spinning the wheel for picks coming soon, but for now happy drafting!

Well, that time of year has come again and the 2024 season has come to a close!

The draft for 2025 will start in about 24 hours from this post (due to my availability), but for right now let's all put our hands together and congratulate @clumsy.penguin on their third win in a row!

Well done Rockhopper Rigmaroles you've done it again and handily secured the top spot with quite the lead of ~40 points ahead of second place :smile:

Let's all put our thinking caps on and see if we can topple the champ in 2025, but for now super congratulations again to @clumsy.penguin for winning the 2024 season!

A little thing I just noticed while looking at the year in review - apologies if this has already been highlighted...

Baldur's Gate III is displayed with 290h 44m, however my real completion time is half that - it looks like it's adding the "current progress" time to the completion time. Not sure if that's actually it, but there's definitely something wrong in the calculation somewhere =)

EDIT: I think I found the culprit - I also had it in the "co-op" time... which solves the previous question, but raises a new one....

What is the thinking behind putting in completions and co-op time?

My original thinking for BG3 (which I played through the campaign entirely in a co-op game), was that I have completed the game, and completed it in co-op, but if I just put in co-op time, it doesn't appear to act as a completion... or does it?

The completion page is a bit unclear on this =)

Additionally, I'd like to see a comment field for the multiplayer times, if these are actually meant to be used for completions.

I finally got around to playing through all the Itchmas games, so these are my thoughts:
(ranked in order of preference (number 1 being favourite of the group)

14: Delia: The Travelling Witch
I hate platformers, and the controls were pretty awful and floaty, so I did not like this platformer.
8:15, Retired

13: Pakke-Is
I really like the concept, but the unique controls didn't work for me and the whole experience felt clunky and slow.
15:01, Retired

12: Sheepy: A Short Adventure
I hate platformers, so this being above a game that isn't a platformer shows just how much I liked the overall visual and audio design.
17:50, Retired

11: Nightmare Kart
The amount of detail is impressive and I really like how the campaign follows the Bloodborne locations and story. At the end of the day though, it's a fairly boring and repetitive kart racer.
16:55, Retired

10: Arcane Beak
While this was a very small proof of concept, I really enjoyed the progression and gameplay. It's just a shame there weren't any twin-stick controls implemented, or this would have been even better.
11:36, Completed

9: Rental
It started strong and I enjoyed the aesthetic overall with the whole PS1 style game thing, but it was a bit janky in parts and the maze section was kind of boring.
16:03, Completed

8: | (pipe)
Fantastic concept and I loved the momentum building gameplay that encourages you to go fast and try things again and againa. Obviously a very short experience that is meant to be replayed many times. Not sure I'd play a whole game of it, but I liked what was in this little slice.
9:32, Completed about 3 or 4 runs.

7: A Good Gardener
At first I got a bit bored with this one and didn't complete it in one sitting. However, I went back the next day and finished off the story, which was well worth it. The gameplay does get repetitive and boring though, even if the overall experience is pretty good.
55:42, Completed

6: P.E. Noire
Loved this point and click, mostly because of the writing and the music. Really leans into the noir aspect of the title, and while most of the puzzles were pretty straight forward, I like that they threw in a bit of a head scratcher towards the end. Again, a very solid execution of a fun concept.
31:28, Completed

5: Creature Packets
Loved the aesthetic of this one and how grimy it felt in that little room. I'm glad the game didn't out-stay its welcome and went through each creature once, instead of more needless faffing about. I'd like to see the concept expanded into something with more depth, but as an initial taste, this was pretty rad.
18:58, Completed

4: What Never Was
Very impressive work for a simple little proof of concept, and I'm a sucker for these kinds of games anyway. I enjoyed the voice acting and the exploration elements a lot, while the puzzles were pretty straight forward.
33:17, Completed

3: LODGE
My own nomination, and happily one of my favourites as I love this kind of puzzle game where you get to explore and piece together all the bits along the way. Gave me Myst vibes, which is a very good thing... even if I needed a hint from chat =)
45:27, Completed

2: Off-Peak
I think I enjoyed this one more than anyone would possibly expect. It reminded me of games like BABBDI and Paradise Killer, which are both excellent in their own right, and this one brought about similar vibes with some cool world building and surprising moments along the way. I'm a little surprised by how much I enjoyed this to be honest.
48:10, Completed

1: The World Had Been Sad Since Tuesday
This one was probably always going to be my favourite, as it's a lovely and surreal take on a Gabriel Garcias Marquez story. That along is enough for me to fall in love with it, but I really enjoyed how the narrative played out and the simple progress through the tale. My favourite element of gaming in general is story-telling, and this was by far the best bit of story-telling this itchmas!
17:25, Completed

Howdy all 😁

This may be the last reminder to sign up for the 2025 season! All returning players need to create their publisher and all new players can sign up and also create their publisher.

Check this thread's previous posts for invite links and more details.

Hey everyone - it's that time of year again when we get close to crowning our 2024 champion, and when we organise everything for 2025!

It currently looks like we're in for a third win from @clumsypenguin, but there's always a chance and it ain't over 'til the final game releases! Don't forget to cash in those super drops if you have them, and use those counter-picks to avoid being penalised for leaving one empty.

Returning players:
If you have played in ANY of the previous league years, your username will be already listed on the 2025 league page. If you want to take part in 2025, all you need to do is create your publisher before the end of the year. Just login on the FCL site and visit this page to get yourself ready for the 2025 season.

New players:
If you have never taken part in previous seasons, you are more than welcome to take part and can do so by creating a free FCL account here. Once you have that sorted, come back here and click on this invite link, which will allow you to sign up for the 2025 season. Finally, you will need to create your publisher before the end of the year to secure your spot in the 2025 season.

Everyone:
- Sign ups will close at the end of the year (31st December 2024)
- Ensure you have created your publisher before sign-ups close.
- Anyone without a publisher at the end of the year will be removed from the league and unable to take part in the 2025 season.
- The 2025 draft will begin on 1st of January 2025.
- All league rules and settings are remaining the same as the 2024 season.

Of course, please feel free to ask questions if you have them, either in this thread, or in our Discord channel. I will repost the draft rules before the end of the year so keep an eye out, but otherwise please READ the highly informative posts on the forum thread, and/or watch some of the videos we already have out there.

On a more personal note, I have been very busy with work in recent times, so I apologise for not being as involved as in previous years, but it's been great to see everyone filling their rosters and still taking part. I'm really looking forward to a new season and seeing what hot games will come in 2025, but for now let's enjoy the rest of 2024 and see if anyone can possibly topple the carry-over champ!

I nominate Myst

my noms:

Wave to the People: itch / HLTB
LODGE: itch
From Orbit: itch / HLTB

I recently started listening to the podcast and am enjoying it immensely. I'm currently at episode 20 of season 2, so a long time to go still, but I must say I love the atmosphere and friendly banter amongst you all! I've started hearing Abotages voice thanks to the fantasy critic league segments, so already a bit prepped for season 3 :).

I've been using HLTB for quite a while to log my games (with some hiatuses), but I never knew there was such a fun community hiding in the forums. So the HLTB podcast is a great way to get new people into the forums too! (Although I'm still a bit lost at times with all the different threads going on).

Hey that's awesome - glad you're enjoying it =)

There are currently some future plans in the works so definitely stay tuned - it's a great community and there are many more voices to hear in later episodes!

Only one that interests me here is Inside, which I have finished a couple of times and is an exceptional game. Highly recommend it to anyone who likes games =)

I nominate the infamous FMV powerhouse: Harvester

The end has come and the season finishes up with this final episode where @pokepaw and I take a look to the future. What are we keen to finish? What’s been sitting on the backlog begging to be played? What new releases are we looking forward to in the future?

Thanks to everyone who contributed and helped support season three and make it fun. It was a blast to put together, but all good things must come to an end. Who knows what will happen in the future, but for now, it’s done!

Thanks for listening.

In this penultimate episode of season 3: I have been battling insane robotics, meditating with pixel art, and tweaking hardware in search of stability, while @pokepaw
continues to catch them all, and till the land in pursuit of abundance and anime.

Then we have a special showdown to decide who really is the crowned champion of our guessing game. So far we’ve each won a round, but can a final battle sort the wheat from the chaff? This isn’t Stardew Valley…

Wow, very first nomination for GotM and bam! It wins. And I have no idea why since I know almost nothing about the game except it's been on my backlog for a while. Hope this wasn't a terrible choice. Have fun everyone!

[EDIT : shouldn't it be listed under my post or is it because the thread is linked to 'Bully' and not to 'Scholarship Edition'?]

Correct - it will only show stats for the game the post is linked to - which in this case is Bully, not Scholarship Edition =)

Due to circumstances well beyond our control, there will be no episode of the HLTB Podcast this week - life just had to go and get in the way, preventing us from getting a new episode in the bag.

While I'm sure this comes as quite the disappointing blow for many of us, the penultimate episode of the season should be fresh and ready for next week - with some fun stuff to start wrapping everything up.

We hope you'll come along for the final episodes when they are done, but unti then, play some games or something and like... have fun! :D

The time has come! @pokepaw’s tenure as educational administrator is at an end, but at what cost?! Has she done enough to justify the hard decisions and moist frogs that frequented the journey? Are we finally witnessing the liberation of indentured students?!

Meanwhile I have made it to the end of my own journey, but even a murder case in court seems poultry by comparison. Add to that some hard moral decisions and wartime carnage, and I still don’t seem like the worst dictator we’ve seen.

Finally, the topic this week turns to the HLTB Game of the Month, which I am definitely a fan of and have a lot to speak on and in no way leave it all up to @pokepaw.

Enjoy the episode!

Only got a couple hours in on it but here is the WIP to give you a general idea:



So Far:
Support for Add / Removing from Lists
Support for updating Platform and/or Storefront

Musings:
Right now you can select any lists, any page, swap between them, etc. basically full freedom to move throughout. You can check anything on any of those views. It will keep track of the count at the bottom and then you can take action. I'm trying to decide if this will end up being confusing for people. It has the benefit of being incredibly flexible but I want the user to understand they are deleting everything they have checked. The alternative is only allowing you to work with what is currently on display.

There will be more work done on UI design. It already looks a bit different than the video. Maybe something like "Updating 23 Games from Playing, Backlog & Completed" to explain that it may be more than you are currently viewing. There is no select all because I want the user to explicitly choose which items to update so there are no accidental changes.

the check boxes being on the right feel weird to me - but might just be me - I would expect them to be on the left as with other systems =)

Is it a myth? Is it real? Can you actually do that amazing thing in that popular game? This week we’re talking about the rumours and myths that make up gaming folklore. Has the internet taken away the mystery? Or are there still exciting surprises to be had? We raise some questions, but do we manage to answer them?

Plus, @pokepaw continues her spiral into darkness as she manipulates students for her own benefit, and rules her colony of beavers with an iron fist. Before diving back into an old favourite for some more Otome adventures.

Meanwhile I have been trying some new things and making new friends after finding them in a strange new world. I’m still convinced that I have nearly reached the end of the ongoing courtroom drama, and have been avoiding nightmares while fishing for gold in the fog.

All this and more in this latest episode!

Welcome to the shortest episode description, because I am tired and the words aren’t working.

This week we talk about games, and videogame preservation.

Enjoy!

Come sail the seven seas this week as gaming piracy is up for discussion, with all its swashbuckling and spicy takes. Is there a moral imperative to bend the rules from time to time? Or is it simply misguided righteousness in this topsy-turvy world of easily obtained loot and booty?

Before that though, @Pokepaw and I work through a short list of games we’ve been playing and finishing, as is tradition. @Pokepaw continues to apply pressure on her students, design epic rodent-built towns, and play with a never ending parade of cats. Meanwhile I have finished my final race, uncovered complex hidden murder mystery facts, and pondered the existential meaning of cooperation.

Strap yourself in… and bring on the feedback!

I nominate: We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie