Backlog Busters

[Ben X]

Old school adventure gamers are fond of saying that their games took them months to solve. From my experience, that's 1. bullshit

You mean it didn't take you that long? Which adventures?

[Thyroid]

You mean it didn't take you that long? Which adventures?

CMI took me a few months, but I was eight at the time. Apart from that, 3 weeks tops (SMI, MI2). Most other games took far less.

[Tanukitsune]

In all honesty, every game I ever bought, I bought to experience fully, and to analyze and think about later. I don't mind the grinding, or anything, so long as I come away with solid footing to base my opinions on. I did the same thing with LucasArts and Sierra adventure games, and it's paid-off.

It's especially important to approach RPGs that way. RPG players can be so picky, and I really want to see whether their opinions, especially those about things staying the same, have any substance to them. Old school adventure gamers are fond of saying that their games took them months to solve. From my experience, that's 1. bullshit, 2. not a good thing at all. I want to see what aspects of RPGs work and what don't.

The thing about some of old adventure games taking months to beat is true, but that's back when people thought moon logic was acceptable and letting make the game un-winnable was O.K. too.

Frankly, many of the older games are a bit rubbish in that way, the objective wasn't clear and the rules of the games weren't clear. And we accepted them because we didn't know better, you don't realize how broken those games are until you play one that isn't broken.

I also like to experience the game as much as I can, and love to analyze what I love and what I hate and some grindfests are just a waste of my time, some games will make you grind in the same area for 20-30 hours fighting the same monsters again and again with no plot development, no upgrades, no nothing...

PS: According to your backlog, you have only played pretty decent JRPGs.... Lucky bastard!

[Thyroid]

PS: According to your backlog, you have only played pretty decent JRPGs.... Lucky bastard!

Ha! I bought every single one of them for dirt cheap, after a friend's insistence. Didn't find all the ones I wanted (Xenogears, Chrono Trigger), but I did get a decent haul.

[Tanukitsune]

Well, both of those are on the US PSN store in PSOne Classics section, and you can get your hand on US PSN card pretty easily if you live outside of the US!

[Thyroid]

you can get your hand on US PSN card pretty easily if you live outside of the US!

If only. Jordan's still a little behind the times. Maybe when I get to the US, though. At least I have a lot to keep me busy until then.

[twmac]

Sno!

RE: Borederlands. I have never beaten General Knoxx's secret armory or the one with tons of claptraps. I will be back in England by February and have a reliable connection so if you want a buddy for the ride we should make plans.

[Sno]

Sno!

RE: Borederlands. I have never beaten General Knoxx's secret armory or the one with tons of claptraps. I will be back in England by February and have a reliable connection so if you want a buddy for the ride we should make plans.

The only one i hadn't already played was the last one, which is to say i already played Knoxx, but i'd be on board for more Borderlands either way, sure.

What level is your dude? Which class did you play?

Edit: 360, right?

[twmac]

I was the sniper, I am pretty much max level (barring the additional levels added with the extra content).

Give me 3 weeks to sort my shit out and I should be on Xbox LIVE regularly.

[Erkki]

Aargh. I'm kind of burned out on games now, after the Steam sale. I played over 20 games, even if some for a really really short time, in order to get the achievements. Yikes!

I also grew my backlog. So not counting any earlier backlog (which is still rather long) only including things I got since September or so, I have these to finish:

Skyrim - 100 hours played, expecting at least 50 more

Witcher 2 - want to finish a second playthrough joining the other side

Dead Island

Batman: Arkham City

Red Dead Redemption: The Zombie Expansion

SpaceChem - I think I'm almost half way through, getting really complicated now

Cargo - Quest for Gravity

Toki Tori

The Cronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Trine 2

Divinity II

L.A. Noire

P.B. Winterbottom

Orcs Must Die!

At least some of them are something I'm not compelled to finish and I'll probably just nibble on occasionally:

Dungeons of Dredmor

Cthulhu Saves the World

HOARD

Avadon: The Black Fortress

Super Meat Boy

Binding of Isaac

Flight Control HD

Universe Sandbox

EDGE

Oh god... It feels like this will take a whole year to conquer. I hope 2012 won't see any new games released.

Man. I still can't get into playing any of these games much. I completed Cthulhu Saves the World and Cargo, but I just can't decide what to play from these rest of this list. Luckily I have a project to work on instead of playing games. But which game... Skyrim? Dead Island? Batman? Maybe I'll take something shorter first.

[Tanukitsune]

Erkki, Universal Sandbox is more of a toy than a game, it's mostly crashing planets into the sun for your amusement.

I've had a lot of "luck" with my backlog problems, a few of the new games I bought were from a genre I was new to and... I discovered that I don't like them!

I discovered I don't like tower defense games, and while I think I might enjoy strategy games, I don't think I can enjoy RTS games. I played both C&C 3 and Red Alert 3 and had to quit when I reached more or less the same scenario. No matter how much I spent on keeping my base defended, the moment I left the base, it took a lot of damage before I could do anything. After reloading and trying a few thing I could only think of slowly combing the area with troops, which sounded boring, so I quit.

And my wizard snobbery has taken down a few of the RPGs. (Sacred 2 seems pretty bad, I don't think I needed my wizard snobbery to quit that game)

But to counter it the European PSN has Final Fantasy sale and I decided to buy a few to give them a second chance...

My real big mistake was letting all the JRPGs and WRPGs pile up, while I don't believe in game burnout, I do believe their length is going to make more critical and likely to quit.

But I actually feel confident now, not many of the upcoming games seem to interest me and my list of older games I want isn't that big anymore!

[Thyroid]

My real big mistake was letting all the JRPGs and WRPGs pile up, while I don't believe in game burnout, I do believe their length is going to make more critical and likely to quit.

But I actually feel confident now, not many of the upcoming games seem to interest me and my list of older games I want isn't that big anymore!

This post made me list all my RPGs. I have a fairly big list, and you know what? I'll still play them all, and there is a high chance I'll beat them all too. It'll take me a decade or two, but I don't care. I still have a pile I want to get and play.

I've listed them in this .txt file for your convenience.

Kroms's RPGs 18-02-2012.txt

[Tanukitsune]

Wow, that's a lot! Here's a tip, skip Titan's Quest and play the expansion, I played Titan's Quest and then found out the expansion forces you to play the whole main quest again!

[Thyroid]

Yeah, I found that out recently. Apparently Immortal Throne also "spices up" the original game, but as far as I can tell it just makes it "darker".

[ThunderPeel2001]

The Binding of Isaac is an RPG?

[Tanukitsune]

Rogues are technically RPGs, right?

[Thyroid]

As far as I know, yes.

[Jon_Danger]

Kind of a really lite rogue-like though. More of a shooter? Action game?

[GameDreamer]

It's like a more shooter-centric version of Zelda. I guess

[ThunderPeel2001]

It's like a more shooter-centric version of Zelda. I guess

Is Smash TV an RPG? Hmm.

[GameDreamer]

Good point. I guess it's just its own weird thing.

[Irishjohn]

Hey guys, I have a question about D&D RPGs from the turn of the century. I guess this counts as backlog? Feel free to disabuse me of this notion if I'm pulling substances out of my ass.

I took advantage of the GOG sale, or most recent GOG sale, on D&D games yesterday. I now have Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape: Torment, two games that I never played but have heard a lot about.

I've played tabletop RPGs so I'm not really bothered by all the dice roll stats, and I get that they didn't do hover stat things then, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. In BGII, I released a fighter, couldn't find her a weapon, and then she died in the next room. I know I'm being a baby here, but is that it? Is she gone? I'm suddenly having flashbacks to saving ALL THE TIME.

Anyway, any advice on these games (mods, tips, tricks) would be great. In other news, I finally discovered QWOP. Not what I was expecting.

[castorp]

Hey guys, I have a question about D&D RPGs from the turn of the century. I guess this counts as backlog? Feel free to disabuse me of this notion if I'm pulling substances out of my ass.

I took advantage of the GOG sale, or most recent GOG sale, on D&D games yesterday. I now have Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape: Torment, two games that I never played but have heard a lot about.

I've played tabletop RPGs so I'm not really bothered by all the dice roll stats, and I get that they didn't do hover stat things then, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. In BGII, I released a fighter, couldn't find her a weapon, and then she died in the next room. I know I'm being a baby here, but is that it? Is she gone? I'm suddenly having flashbacks to saving ALL THE TIME.

Anyway, any advice on these games (mods, tips, tricks) would be great. In other news, I finally discovered QWOP. Not what I was expecting.

When you have never played one of the Infinity Engine-games, yeah, you should save often.* Think about lowering the difficulty.

If you have the resources (time!), stick with the games, learn their ways, it will be rewarding! They tell wonderful stories, have a great cast and nice tactical battles. BG2 is a huge game, very long, lots of great quest - sometimes it feels like the last game Bioware went a bit outside their box creatively. Planescape, mh, I even envy you a little playing this for the first time. Anyway, you probably heard all the sweet talk about the games, or you wouldn't have bought them.

One thing regarding Planescape. Don't bother much building a fighter. Put your points into Intelligence and Charisma, go with magic - you want a talker in this game.

As Planescape-modding goes, there is a great and very useful guide by this forums Thunderpeel2001:

Planescape: Torment - Best Mods/Increase Resolution Guide

There are most probably similar mods and guides for BG2.

*More experienced players might play without ever loading (except for their avatars death), even when the background-dice rolled especially cruel, but I never could see one of my party die, so, yeah, maybe even continue to save often. But if you stick with it you will get better and dying will become less and less of a problem.

[Irishjohn]

When you have never played one of the Infinity Engine-games, yeah, you should save often.* Think about lowering the difficulty.

If you have the resources (time!), stick with the games, learn their ways, it will be rewarding! They tell wonderful stories, have a great cast and nice tactical battles. BG2 is a huge game, very long, lots of great quest - sometimes it feels like the last game Bioware went a bit outside their box creatively. Planescape, mh, I even envy you a little playing this for the first time. Anyway, you probably heard all the sweet talk about the games, or you wouldn't have bought them.

One thing regarding Planescape. Don't bother much building a fighter. Put your points into Intelligence and Charisma, go with magic - you want a talker in this game.

As Planescape-modding goes, there is a great and very useful guide by this forums Thunderpeel2001:

Planescape: Torment - Best Mods/Increase Resolution Guide

There are most probably similar mods and guides for BG2.

*More experienced players might play without ever loading (except for their avatars death), even when the background-dice rolled especially cruel, but I never could see one of my party die, so, yeah, maybe even continue to save often. But if you stick with it you will get better and dying will become less and less of a problem.

Cheers for all the brilliant advice!!! Getting excited about it again now, particularly for Planescape.

[castorp]

Great!

One small mistake on my part. For Planescape, Wisdom and Intelligence are the important stats. Charisma comes third.