The pressure of the backlog!

[nekunando]

Do you ever feel like the amount of unplayed or unfinished games feels like a noose around your neck when it comes to gaming?

 

I, like I'm sure a lot of us on here, have a vast library of games across a multitude of platforms and it often feels like a hindrance to me when trying to choose what games to play

 

It almost seems strange to even question how you can possibly have too many games but as I look through my games and feel like I want to maybe play through things like Goldeneye, Killer 7, No More Heroes, Metroid: Other M and Starfox Adventures again, I also see things like Xenoblade Chronicles, Resident Evil: Code Veronica X, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Okami, Tales of Symphonia and Viewtiful Joe, amongst many others, and it makes me feel like I should be playing games from that latter group as I've either never finished them or maybe they were never even started to begin with

 

Obviously, there is nobody holding a gun to my head and forcing me to play anything so there shouldn't be any reason to complain, especially when you consider that I bought most of them myself at some point, presumably with the intentions that I wanted to play them..

 

There's another part of the collection, though, with games that include Quake, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Body Harvest and XIII that I feel little to no desire to make my way through and find myself wondering what to do with them as they're mostly worthless and yet I can't really bring myself to give them away.. they're just.. there..

 

I often wish I could put all of these other games out of my mind and start to focus on getting the most out of the games that I really want to play but I almost pressure myself into forcing my way through something else just to clear it out of the way, much like I did with Resident Evil: Revelations. As a result, I don't think I appreciated that game as much as I could have and therefore felt quite negative about it coming away from it

 

How do you guys decide what to play next?

[Ville]

I usually go for the easier / more simple games, just so that I can get something done. A game beaten is a game beaten, and one more (B) mark in your backlog. I don't even bother with the more complicated / huge games unless I really wanna play them...

[Grazza]

I probably make it worse for myself by playing RPGs, which take months to complete, but hey, that's what I like more than anything else, so I won't change that. I'm actually doing well at clearing my backlog now - have just finished Etrian Odyssey IV and Shantae. When I've completed Oracle of Seasons and Etrian Odyssey III, I won't really consider myself to have a backlog.

 

One thing I do is sell almost everything when I've completed it. Sure, I've kept a few games here and there, but I wouldn't consider myself to have a collection as such. Also, I don't play a broad variety of games in all honesty, so wouldn't have something like Quake laying around to play.

 

Basically, I don't think you can help a backlog building up here and there, as there are so many games released, but I try not to have one across multiple systems and generations.

[Jimbob]

Depending on what format i've been playing. With the home consoles, i try to focus on one game on one console at a time. For example, if i've been playing a PS4 game and complete it, i choose between either my 360 or WiiU for my next home console game. Rinse and repeat. But that never works as i tend to play a bit on one, move onto another and back to the 3rd without ever really completing a game.

 

It's the same on the handhelds, i play a bit here and a bit there. I ought to get myself back into the mindset of play one game on one console, complete and pick another on a different console.

[Jonnas]

This only really became a problem when I became an avid Steam & GOG customer (notably, I literally just bought a few more games on GOG )

 

I try to keep myself to 2 games at a time, with an occasional 3rd. It's not so important how many games I complete, but how much attention I pay to them while playing (leaving a game unfinished is a no-no for me. I only do that if I'm genuinely not enjoying it).

 

I'd say a large backlog is only a problem if you truly don't have an inkling to play what you do have. It means you aren't acquiring games because you're interested, and eventually playing them will be a chore (when gaming is supposed to be a fun hobby).

[Goafer]

My current backlog:

 

 

The PS3 games are mainly ones that I play on and off every so often, but I do want to give most of the Gamecube games a good playthrough at some point, as well as the PS2 games. They're all games that I didn't really play first time round (apart from SoA, which I got 100% on when I played it on the Dreamcast and PSO, which I played loads of but never completed).

 

I'm currently working through DMC on the PS3, but will probably move on to the Gamecube games once I'm done. I do want to get the South Park game and Dark Souls 2 when they come down in price.

[flameboy]

Do you ever feel like the amount of unplayed or unfinished games feels like a noose around your neck when it comes to gaming?

 

I, like I'm sure a lot of us on here, have a vast library of games across a multitude of platforms and it often feels like a hindrance to me when trying to choose what games to play

 

It almost seems strange to even question how you can possibly have too many games but as I look through my games and feel like I want to maybe play through things like Goldeneye, Killer 7, No More Heroes, Metroid: Other M and Starfox Adventures again, I also see things like Xenoblade Chronicles, Resident Evil: Code Veronica X, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Okami, Tales of Symphonia and Viewtiful Joe, amongst many others, and it makes me feel like I should be playing games from that latter group as I've either never finished them or maybe they were never even started to begin with

 

Obviously, there is nobody holding a gun to my head and forcing me to play anything so there shouldn't be any reason to complain, especially when you consider that I bought most of them myself at some point, presumably with the intentions that I wanted to play them..

 

There's another part of the collection, though, with games that include Quake, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Body Harvest and XIII that I feel little to no desire to make my way through and find myself wondering what to do with them as they're mostly worthless and yet I can't really bring myself to give them away.. they're just.. there..

 

I often wish I could put all of these other games out of my mind and start to focus on getting the most out of the games that I really want to play but I almost pressure myself into forcing my way through something else just to clear it out of the way, much like I did with Resident Evil: Revelations. As a result, I don't think I appreciated that game as much as I could have and therefore felt quite negative about it coming away from it

 

How do you guys decide what to play next?

 

 

Slightly shameless plug here but you should listen to my Year of Shame Podcast:

 

http://yoschallenge2.podomatic.com/

 

It's a monthly podcast I host of people desperately trying to clear their backlogs. I've found the whole thing very frustrating and tried to find increasingly new ways to deal with the problem taking votes etc.... have themed months. Lots of variety that way.

[Agent Gibbs]

i'm trying to avoid acknowledging how large my backlog is....

 

all PSN+ games since September, GTAV, Yoshi's NewIsland, Donkey Kong country returns 3D, Paper Mario Sticker crap, Metal Gear Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid 3D, Metal Gear Solid V, Deus Ex human revolution WiiU, South Park the stick of destiny, Deus Ex, Breath of fire V, Lego City undercover, Super Mario 3dWorld, Lego Marvel Super heroes, Darksiders 2, assassins creed 3, assassin's creed 4, Wipeout (Vita), Final fantasy X-2........i'm giving in the more i think the more i remember

[nekunando]

I'd say a large backlog is only a problem if you truly don't have an inkling to play what you do have. It means you aren't acquiring games because you're interested, and eventually playing them will be a chore (when gaming is supposed to be a fun hobby).

 

I'm sure everyone goes through phases where they're in the mood to play certain things, whether is be an RPG or a racing game, and there are a few games I have that I may not be particularly interested in playing right now but feel like a day will come where I will want to play them.

 

There are other games, though, that I picked up at a good price or was interested in trying out only to realise later that I have superior games that I could be playing and having more fun with instead.

 

Things like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Advance Wars: Dual Strike are games I acquired because I wanted to like them as they're highly acclaimed but, in reality, don't seem to be for me There are other examples, but who is to say that in another 10 or 20 years time my tastes won't have altered and I'll look at those games completely differently.

 

I've bought far fewer games in the last year or so as I've only been focused on obtaining ones that I want rather than what I should want. I'm starting to get past the point where I feel like I'll somehow be missing out if I don't have certain games in my collection. Something like The Wonderful 101 is supposed to be AWESOME and I almost feel like there is pressure to pick it up because I should like it. I never particularly liked the style of it and the demo did nothing for me so I haven't buckled yet Maybe I am missing out on something special so there may always be that little niggling feeling which makes me buy it some day when it is at an almost unmissable price, but then that is how the backlog grows

 

There are times when I look through my games and think certain games don't deserve to be there and it makes me feel like I just don't want it to even be breathing the same air as my other beloved games! I obviously could get of them, but maybe I'd regret it

 

Downloaded games are almost more of a problem for me as there are games that I have on my 3DS that were free, such as the ambassador games, and several of them are of no interest and even seeing their icons on my screen irritates me.. yet I just can't delete them

 

I'm almost tempted the create a thread for people to display games that they don't really want or need any more and see if we can swap games amongst ourselves or give some games a better home

[Hero-of-Time]

You should never feel pressure to play through a game. Everyone has their favourite genres and people have different tastes. Yes, it's good to branch out but you've ( nando ) been playing games for a long time and you know what you like and dislike.

 

In terms of backlogs, they don't really bother me anymore. I'm quite good at clearing games at a fast pace and in recent years I've also become a collector of them. As you know, at the moment I'm building my N64 collection up and sometimes I play through the games as I get them, other times I tidy them up and put them straight on the shelf, ready for when I do want to play them.

 

I think that if you don't want to play a game that's sitting on your shelf, and you think you won't like it anyway, then just get rid of it. It's pointless playing through a game that you don't enjoy just because others do. Gaming is supposed to be fun and that's probably the best thing to remember.

[Grazza]

Things like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Advance Wars: Dual Strike are games I acquired because I wanted to like them as they're highly acclaimed but, in reality, don't seem to be for me There are other examples, but who is to say that in another 10 or 20 years time my tastes won't have altered and I'll look at those games completely differently.

 

If you don't mind me saying, I don't there's anything strange at all about not liking certain genres. Both those games you mentioned are strategy games, which (apart from a select few) is a genre I can't get into myself. The problem for me is that they get on my mind too much (like puzzle games). I want to go to sleep afterwards but can't stop thinking about which units to move where! The only one I loved was Fire Emblem Awakening, as you could play it on Normal/Newcomer and not care whether you didn't do each mission perfectly.

 

Downloaded games are almost more of a problem for me as there are games that I have on my 3DS that were free, such as the ambassador games, and several of them are of no interest and even seeing their icons on my screen irritates me.. yet I just can't delete them

 

I'm with you there! Retail games, I can sell. Downloaded games, however, I feel like I need to keep in case I need to prove my ownership later on (eg. a system transfer). But do I really want all those NES games, or even the lesser eShop titles I've downloaded? Not at all!

[nekunando]

I'm just about to go play Excitebike 64 before West Ham v Liverpool starts at 4pm

 

It's a game I completed ages ago but it's awesome and there are certain tracks that don't have a little flag beside them in 'Season' mode meaning that I may have won each season overall, but I didn't come first in those tracks. That sounds like a good enough reason to revisit the game and put that right with 'Tricky' Ricky Stern

[Jonnas]

Things like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Advance Wars: Dual Strike are games I acquired because I wanted to like them as they're highly acclaimed but, in reality, don't seem to be for me There are other examples, but who is to say that in another 10 or 20 years time my tastes won't have altered and I'll look at those games completely differently.

 

Something like The Wonderful 101 is supposed to be AWESOME and I almost feel like there is pressure to pick it up because I should like it. I never particularly liked the style of it and the demo did nothing for me so I haven't buckled yet

 

Yeah, this is what I was talking about. Don't buy games because they're acclaimed, buy them because they actually sound interesting for you.

 

I wouldn't buy Assassin's Creed, for example, it just doesn't interest me at all, and I won't try it out just because it got popular, or got good reviews. The same goes for those SRPGs you have: it sounds like they're not your style.

And then there's Wonderful 101. Don't buy it because you should like it. If you didn't like the demo, then there's no point.

[Ville]

Yeah, this is what I was talking about. Don't buy games because they're acclaimed, buy them because they actually sound interesting for you.

 

I wouldn't buy Assassin's Creed, for example, it just doesn't interest me at all, and I won't try it out just because it got popular, or got good reviews. The same goes for those SRPGs you have: it sounds like they're not your style.

And then there's Wonderful 101. Don't buy it because you should like it. If you didn't like the demo, then there's no point.

 

I disagree. I always thought the AC games looked really boring, but after digging a little deeper, I ended up buying 1 & 2. What do you know, the 1 was full of awesome Middle-Eastern cities, and the 2nd has you bouncing on the roofs of Italian cities. What I thought was really boring turned out to be historically and architecturally very exciting! (and the action is good too)

 

Same with the Metroid Prime games. "Blah, looks so generic." Still, got MP1 because of all the praise, and they are all but boring! Top notch exploration / fps games...

 

Of course, buy what you want, but from my experience, there's a reason certain games get a lot of praise. Even if you think they seem super boring based on screenshots / concept art, such games might just give you a big ol' surprise when you actually try them. Reviewers gushing on about a certain game usually means there's something to gush about...And no, I don't mean you should be forced to like every acclaimed game of course, but that negative first impressions can be deceiving as well.

[Jonnas]

I disagree. I always thought the AC games looked really boring, but after digging a little deeper, I ended up buying 1 & 2. What do you know, the 1 was full of awesome Middle-Eastern cities, and the 2nd has you bouncing on the roofs of Italian cities. What I thought was really boring turned out to be historically and architecturally very exciting! (and the action is good too)

 

Same with the Metroid Prime games. "Blah, looks so generic." Still, got MP1 because of all the praise, and they are all but boring! Top notch exploration / fps games...

 

Of course, buy what you want, but from my experience, there's a reason certain games get a lot of praise. Even if you think they seem super boring based on screenshots / concept art, such games might just give you a big ol' surprise when you actually try them. Reviewers gushing on about a certain game usually means there's something to gush about...And no, I don't mean you should be forced to like every acclaimed game of course, but that negative first impressions can be deceiving as well.

 

Fair point. But I tend to find that this is the exception, more often than the rule.

 

Metroid Prime never looked generic to me. Everything about it (the scans, the morph ball) made it look like it had more depth than your average FPS, and then it turned out to be that and even more.

 

Assassin's Creed looks like a sandbox type of game: a genre I very much dislike. It might be one with a really good, thought-out presentation, but at the core it's still something I never liked. A few minutes playing ACIII confirmed my thoughts.

 

That said, there' stuff like Timesplitters that just clicks with me despite what it looks like on paper. But like I said, an exception.

 

Maybe I should've said "Don't buy games just because they're acclaimed". True, there are reasons as to why they're acclaimed, but those may or may not resonate with you. And even if it's something that you might like in the right mood, playing it because others are saying so is doing it for the wrong reasons.

[RedShell]

I actually cleared @Hero\-of\-Time said, there's no point in playing a game you don't enjoy.

I've never been a fan of buying multiple games in close succession either, I'd much rather focus on a single game and finish that before moving on to another.

 

How do you guys decide what to play next?

Back when I had a backlog, I'd sometimes use the Fortune Cookie option on The Backloggery.

Have you got a Backloggery account, / nando /? If not you should get one and try it out!

 

: peace:

[Goafer]

I'm currently working through DMC on the PS3, but will probably move on to the Gamecube games once I'm done.

 

DMC done. I'm thinking of playing through Starfox Adventures next.

 

Thing is, I'm not sure I can be bothered with a long, story based game, but they're the only ones I really enjoy/have in my backlog.

[Ville]

Well, I only have 162 unfinished games in my backlog, so no biggie...

[nekunando]

Don't buy games because they're acclaimed, buy them because they actually sound interesting for you.

 

I don't want to have given the impression that I buy games because they're highly acclaimed

 

There are a few examples I have mentioned where that may have been the case, with Monster Hunter Tri and Xenoblade Chronicles probably falling into that category too (though how could I turn down the latter for £9.99 with the Red Classic Controller Pro included ), but the fact was that I was interested in trying the games as I felt there was potential for me to enjoy them

 

Monster Hunter Tri failed completely as I knew within the first hour that it wasn't for me. Xenoblade has potential but I'm not convinced I have the stomach to commit so many hours to it when I may find greater enjoyment elsewhere

 

If I have absolutely no interest in a game, there's no way I'd buy it no matter how many top marks it gets. The PS3 and XBOX 360 were supposed to have all of these amazing games that I was missing out on by only having a Wii but even to this day I can hardly find anything on those platforms I find appealing I now own a PS3, having sold my XBOX 360 in 2010 after owning it for less than a year, but one of the main the factors in me purchasing it was that I had been making use of my brother's old 40GB model last year so had picked up a few games, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Unchartered and Tomb Raider, that would be going to waste had I not replaced the PS3 after it broke towards the end of the year, along with a few downloaded games that include Journey. The other reason is that as we stand today on 7/4/2014, I have never owned an actual DVD player and the PS3 felt like the right thing to have in the living room for that feature, particularly when you consider the £99 price tag and the games I already mentioned.

 

Since buying the replacement unit, though, I actually haven't really played anything on it at all except for a little Um Jammer Lammy (I can't beat stage 3 ) and some PES 2013 with my brother. As I study the games displayed right beside me here, there's little compulsion to actually play anything on the platform. I'm sure I will restart Tomb Raider again, having lost my save file with the old PS3, and play Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, having enjoyed the first 2 games, but other than that I kinda sometimes wish the PS3 just wasn't even there

 

One game I am 100% sure I want in the near future, though, is Mario Kart 8 It looks AWESOME : peace:

 

Have you got a Backloggery account, / nando /? If not you should get one and try it out!

 

The only way I will clear my backlog is if I sell some of the games