Ambitions Afoot

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death. ~Robert Fulghum All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten 2004

I have played video games since my adolescence. As a young lad, I found them a great escape from the vast emotional turmoil of becoming a young adult. The stories would pull me in, but then I would keep playing the game because of the ability to modify it. My imagination of what the game could be beyond what was on the screen has always captivated me.

Modding games has also been a way to explore, learn, and be creative in the digital realm. I have spent more time modding games than playing games. There are people out there who do amazing work to make the game beyond what was originally thought of, and that has always pulled me to play the game more.

Now that I’m older and have a family, I find that if I want to play a game, it is to experience the story in the game. Gone are the endless hours of modding, but modding is not gone. It has a great community that has helped it become more accessible and easier to do than when I was growing up.

My ambitions for playing video games are simple. Just like reading a book, I’m interested in what lies within.

I have created a few rules for playing video games to help me keep on track:

1. Beat at least one video game a year. The game must be started and finished within 365 days of starting it.
   • Multiple games can be played in the same time frame.
   • If I cannot finish it within the 365 days, I must justify continuing to play.
   • Games I have already started and am returning to do not have to be restarted.
2. I will not play multiplayer games unless they are co-op games I’m playing with someone I know personally and have spoken to outside of gaming.
3. I’m not a hardcore player, so there will be no modding to make it harder. I will only mod it to make it more enjoyable per game.
   • The caveat is that I might modify the game to seem more challenging, and the mod might be described that way, but the core of it should be for fun!
4. Beating a game does not mean 100% completion. This means I played the game from the start to the end of the main plotline. If there are mods or official expansion stories, those can be played before or after the main story. They don’t have to be completed.
5. Once completed, I must write about it here.

The following lists of games are those that I have completed in my life.

• Game (System) Estimated Completion Date
• Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy) 1992-1999
• Pokémon Blue Version (Game Boy) 1998-2002
• Golden Sun (Game Boy Advance) 2001-2005
• Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64) 1996-2002
• Banjo-Kazooie (Nintendo 64) 1998-2001
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64) 1998-2002
• GoldenEye 007 (Nintendo 64) 1997-2001
• The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (PC) 1998-2001
• Burnout (GameCube) 2002-2005
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (GameCube) 2002-2005
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (GameCube) 2002-2005
• Enter the Matrix (GameCube) 2003-2005
• Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War (1998-2003)
• Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox) 2001-2003
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) 2003-2005
• Halo 2 (Xbox) 2004
• Fable (Xbox) 2005
• Halo 3 (Xbox 360) 2007
• Crackdown (Xbox 360) 2007-2010
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) 2008
• Overlord (Xbox 360) 2008
• Ace Combat 6 (Xbox 360) 2009
• Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) 2009
• Fable II (Xbox 360) 2009
• Borderlands (Xbox 360) 2010
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) 2010
• Fable III (Xbox 360) 2011
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360) 2012
• Halo 4 (Xbox 360) 2012
• Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360) 2012
• Tomb Raider – Survivor Trilogy (PC) 2013
• Battlefield 4 (Xbox 360) 2014
• Fallout 4 (Xbox One) 2016
• Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (Xbox One) 2016
• Battlefield 1 (Xbox One) 2017
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Xbox One) 2017
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox One) 2019
• Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) 2019
• Brave: The Video Game (Xbox 360) 2018
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (Xbox One) 2019
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Xbox One) 2021
• Gears of War 2 (Xbox One) 2018
• Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (PC) 2019
• Gears of War 3 (Xbox One) 2019
• Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox One) 2019
• Gears of War 4 (Xbox One) 2020
• A Plague Tale Innovence (PC) 2021
• Greed Fall (PC) 2021
• Rise of the Tomb Raider – Survivor (PC) 2022
• Bastion (PC) 2021
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Survivor (PC) 2022
• Fire Watch (PC) 2024

To be honest, the completed list is much longer than I thought! If I find others, I’ll update the list above.

The to-play list is in no particular order of video games that I wish to attempt to play. Who knows what my mood will be or how much time I’ll have over the next decade?

The following list of video games that I have played before, want to have my kids play with me, or modify are noted with the following.

• {f} = Friends
• {k} = My kids will play too
• {m} = Modify
• {p} = Previously played
• {w} = Wishlisted

1. Cyberpunk 2077 {m, p}
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrime Special Edition {m, p}
3. Terra Nil {p}
4. Dave the Diver {p}
5. Immortals Fenyx Rising {p}
6. V Rising {p}
7. Inkulinati {p}
8. Untitled Goose Game {p}
9. Call of the Sea {p}
10. Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition {m, p}
11. Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition {m, p}
12. Baldur’s Gate 3 {m, p}
13. The Forgotten City {p}
14. Stray {p}
15. Hades II {w}
16. Valheim {f, m, p}
17. Battlestar Galactica Deadlock {p}
18. Age of Empires: Definitive Edition {p}
19. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition {p}
20. Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition {p}
21. Stronghold: Definitive Edition {p}
22. Disco Elysium {p}
23. Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition {p}
24. Batman: Arkham City GOTY
25. Batman: Arkham Knight
26. Pathfinder: Kingmaker {m}
27. Aragami {p}
28. Arise: A Simple Story
29. Ary and the Secret of Seasons
30. The Ascent
31. Ash of Gods: Redemption
32. Assassin’s Creed III Remastered
33. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey {p}
34. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
35. The Banner Saga {p}
36. The Banner Saga 2
37. The Banner Saga 3
38. The Collage Atlas
39. Control Ultimate Edition
40. Crusader Kings III – Tours & Tournaments
41. Darkest Dungeon
42. Divinity: Orginial Sin Enhanced Edition {f, p}
43. Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition {w}
44. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
45. Dreamscraper
46. Dredge
47. Dungeons of Hinterberg
48. Enderal: Forgotten Stories
49. Epistory – Typing Chronicles
50. Field of Glory II: Medieval
51. The First Tree
52. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
53. Hogwarts Legacy
54. Horizon Zero Dawn
55. Invisible, Inc.
56. Islands of Insight
57. Joe Wander
58. The Last of Us Part I
59. Lego Batman: The Videogame {k}
60. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes {k}
61. Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham {k}
62. Lego Bricktales
63. Lego Builder’s Journey
64. Lego City Undercover {k}
65. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 {k}
66. Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 {k}
67. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures {k}
68. Lego Jurassic World {k}
69. Lego Marvel Super Heroes {k}
70. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 {k}
71. Lego Marvel’s Avengers {k}
72. The Lego Movie – Videogame {k}
73. The Lego Movie 2 – Videogame {k}
74. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean The Video Game {k}
75. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga {k}
76. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga {k}
77. Lego The Hobbit {k}
78. Lego The Incredibles {k}
79. Lego The Lord of the Rings {k}
80. The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
81. Metro: Last Light Complete Edition
82. No Man’s Sky
83. Pentiment
84. A Plage Tale: Requiem
85. Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator
86. Potions: A Curious Tale
87. Praey for the Gods
88. Pyre
89. Red Dead Redemption 2
90. Sable
91. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
92. South Park: The Stick of Truth
93. State of Decay 2
94. Station to Station
95. Stronghold: Definitive Edition
96. Stronghold Legends
97. Stronghold: Warlords
98. Syberia – The World Before
99. Tactical Breach Wizards
100. Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure
101. Touch Type Tale – Strategic Typing
102. Transistor
103. Tunic
104. Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War
105. Wartales
106. Wildermyth
107. Manor Lords {w}
108. Lost Eidolons {w}
109. Reka {w}
110. Land of the Vikings {w}
111. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection {w}
112. Superfuse {w}
113. Hades II {w}
114. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered {w}
115. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 {w}
116. Baldo: The Guardian Owls {w}
117. Octopath Traveler {w}
118. Octopath Traveler II {w}
119. Split Fiction {f, w}
120. Judero {w}
121. The Thaumaturge {w}
122. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden {w}S
123. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II {w}
124. Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark {w}
125. Viewfinder {w}
126. Arcadian Atlas {w}
127. Season: A letter to the future {w}
128. Towerborne {f, w}
129. The Axis Unseen {w}
130. Broken Roads {w}
131. Archaelund {w}
132. Nightingale {w}
133. Realm of Ink {w}
134. Sworn {w}
135. The Night is Grey {w}
136. City 20 {w}
137. Pine hearts {k, w}
138. Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition (Xbox One)

It doesn’t mean I’ll complete or play it because it’s on the list. The ambition is to play at least one video game a year. The list above is just what I wish to play.

There are three reasons why I’ll quit or remove a game from this list:

1. If it makes me motion sick, then I won’t play it. A few games have done this, and I know it may be due to screen size and FPS amounts.
2. I will play all the games I start for at least five hours. Between five and ten hours, I’ll decide whether to carry on or drop the game if I’m not good at it. With all my other ambitions, I don’t have time to “get gud,” as the kids say!
3. If the game has really lost my interest in the same five to ten hours, I’ll move on.
4. If the game becomes overly violent and not pernient to the story.
5. If it becomes an endless game with no end or never has a story to start.

This is an ambitious list! Stay tuned!