JonCole

Backlog Busters

Recommended Posts

I'm starting a backloggery account (http://backloggery.com/HeerRood) and after just barely skimming the top, with Marios and Zeldas, I'm breaking 50 games. No wonder I can't get very excited for Zelda anymore, I've played a dozen of 'em within the last seven years! I'm also pretty proud of my full completion of GBA/DS Castlevanias.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I recently considered trying Backloggery again, but I just wish they could skim my Steam library and add those like... three-hundred games to the list. :(

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For now, it's a blast from the past as I dig deep to haul up titles from my youth, like MSX games Magical Kid Wiz and Knightmare. Fun to reminisce and have a list of everything you've played at some point. I'm at 150 games and nowhere near the end.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Dead Thread Redemption!

 

My 360 backlog is cleared. My PS3 backlog is cleared. My Wii backlog is cleared (pretty much). Not including some games on older generation systems, my Steam backlog is all that remains. I am within striking distance and if I can keep at it, I will finally be freed of all gaming guilt and will truly reach gaming nirvana.

 

My criteria is a little OCD. I consider any Steam game that I have not played and completed through the Steam client to be a part of my backlog. So several of these games have been completed before whether it was separately in ScummVM or on another console. Any games I have already completed through Steam or external shortcuts I added have been crossed off. For games that don't really end, my goal is to at least log 5-10 hours of playtime.

 

post-31977-0-06141300-1415217997_thumb.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I beat one game this year. Well, most of it. I still have The Shivering Isles. On the other hand, I haven't bought anything. That probably evens-out that I have > 200 games untouched yet.

Edit: Scratch that. I beat Oblivion last year, according to the Backloggery. This year I managed Max Payne and Trine. Which I vaguely remember doing. That sound you hear is someone realising they were twice as productive as they thought, ohhh yeah.

Edit: Scratch that. I also beat The Last of Us this year. Three times as productive.

 

I consider any Steam game that I have not played and completed through the Steam client to be a part of my backlog.

Counterproductive, no? I'm not playing TES IV twice because I own it on two consoles.

Take it from the guy who was twice (edit: three times) as productive as he thought he was. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Counterproductive, no? I'm not playing TES IV twice because I own it on two consoles.

 

Not in my case. Most of them are <5 hour games and I kind of want an excuse to play them again anyways. Arkham City is really the only longer one but it's been awhile and I always meant to play it again on PC.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm pretty pleased with my approach to my backlog.  I had to be loose about my definitions though.  I considered any game that I purchased or put on my wish list to be part of the backlog.  I didn't know for the longest time that I could accept Steam gifts into my gift inventory; I thought I could only accept them into my library.  So I've got a bunch of stuff that I never asked for just sitting in my account that I have no desire to play.

 

I started 2014 with the following to fire through:

 

3DS:

  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
  • Mario Kart 7
  • Splinter Cell 3D

Wii U:

  • Super Mario 3D World
  • Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
  • Splinter Cell: Blacklist

PC:

  • Batman: Arkham City
  • The Swapper
  • Mass Effect 1 and 2
  • Bioshock Infinite
  • Driver: San Francisco
  • The Walking Dead, Season 2

For me, I'm satisfied with writing off a game if I've "played it to my own personal satisfaction".  Usually, that means until the story line is complete, but sometimes, I just feel like I'm not invested in a game, so I have to know what the cutoff point is.  Of the titles above, I cut out Splinter Cell 3D (for being vastly inferior to its parent title, Chaos Theory), ACIV as I didn't care for the gameplay, and Driver: San Francisco as I had my fun with it but didn't care to move on.  Otherwise, I finished the story lines for all those above (MK7, I beat everything including Mirror Mode, but didn't get all of the kart customization options).

 

I did add a bunch of titles as well - Mass Effect 3, Mario Kart 8, The Legend Of Zelda: *.* (Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker HD), Metroid, and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D.  I fired through all except Wind Waker - I acknowledge it to be a great title, but I just couldn't get invested.  I think I have Zelda fatigue.  Maybe I'll come back to it in a year or so, once I've had a decent break.  

 

I had to just straight-up write off a few titles that I got through various Humble Bundles and Steam sales, about $25 worth.  It was a sad acknowledgment that I wasted money, but it was also remarkably liberating.  I've long held that the games I buy are meant to be played multiple times.  Every time I'd knock one off, another would surface and so I'd have to get to that one before I could justify playing Deus Ex again.  I'm so happy that I've effectively cleared up my backlog.  I have nothing that I have purchased but haven't played, and it's wonderful.  I'm just replaying Metroid Prime right now, and it's glorious.  No weight on my shoulders!  I can purchase Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker with no guilt when it comes out!

 

Some people really love the huge libraries, and that's totally awesome for them.  I can't get down with that though - a small stable of games is all I really need and want.  I don't have nearly as much time to play as I would like, so I like just going back to my old familiar friends.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My Steam library is 300+ games, plus Xbox 360 and PS3 games on top of that.

 

On the positive side, I've managed to keep to my goal of beating more games than I've purchased this year, even if my backlog has actually gone up in size due to PS+ and other freebies. With the help of buying a bunch of party games that I counted as "finished" when I'd played every game mode at least once, I've also crossed the "Beat a game a week" barrier which was kind of a secondary goal that I had in the back of my head. After being so fatigued with gaming back around February, this turned into an excellent year for games.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I recently looked through my Humble library and there were quite a few games that I was somewhat interested in that I didn't realize I owned, thanks to them being added after I bought the bundle. That combined with PS+ have resulted in a game library that's daunting to say the least. I just need to completely neglect my social life for a while and I can make some progress on this thing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The end of the year seemed like a good time to pull this thread from the grave. With a few last minute purchases, I managed to come right under the wire of my yearly goal to beat as many games as I buy. I ended up with 65 games completed and 65 games purchased. Of course, that means that the 36 games I received for free (presents, PS+, or flat out free games) actually increased my backlog some, but such is life I guess. 

 

Here's a list of the games that I "completed"

 

7 Days to Die
Alpha Centauri
Banished
Broken Age Part 1
Card Hunter
Crusader Kings: RoI
Dark Souls 2
DEFCON
Diablo 3: RoS
Divine Divinity
Divinity: Dragon Commander
Don't Starve
Dragon Age: Origins
Europa Universalis IV
EU4: Weath of Nations
Euro Truck Simulator
The Fall
Farming Simulator 15
Gangbeasts
King's Bounty: The Legend
Lethal League
Lunar Flight
Massive Chalice
Max Gentleman
Middle-Earth: Shadows of Mordor
Monaco
Mount your Friends
Nidhogg
Papers Please
Rogue Legacy
Sam and Max Season 3
Sentris
Shadowrun Expansion
Spacebase DF-9
Space Engineer
Starwahl
Star Wolves 3
State of Decay
Sword & Sworcery
Titanfall
Towerfall
Transistor
X-Com (the original)
XCOM: Enemy Within
Yahwg
Super Mario Galaxy
Rune Factory 4
Uncharted
Uncharted 2
Demon Souls
Thomas Was Alone
Lone Survivor
Proteus
Fez
Sports Friends
The Room
1000000
Device 6
Year Walk
The Room 2
Castle Doombad
80 Days
Desert Golf
Banner Saga
Sailor's Dream

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great job actually sticking to it Dewar! I don't think I've yet stuck to a gaming resolution. Nonetheless, I'm going to try it again. With my recent acquisition of a Wii U and desire to eventually get an Xbox One to complete my current gen console collection, I've resolved to formally "retire" my old consoles by completing some percentage of my backlog for each to my satisfaction. This is an admittedly broad goal, but I'm hoping it'll be attainable as a result. Right now I'm focusing on the 360. My goal is to burn through about 10 games during the next few months so that it can be pulled from my main entertainment system. There may be some place for it in the future, but I want to take it out of the rotation.

 

I have a ton of 360 games that I haven't completed or finished playing, but my goal is to get through (finish or put a serious attempt in and quit) the following:

 

Forza Horizon

Fable: Anniversary

Gears of War: Judgment (main campaign previously completed, want to beat again at a higher difficulty + complete GoW3 expansion campaign)

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

Soul Calibur V

SSX

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Halo 4 (legendary, Spartan Ops)

Dishonored

 

Once I'm done with that, I'll turn to the Wii and then the PS3. I already had to unplug my Wii to accommodate my Wii U, I'd rather just free up these ports and pave the way for the future.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been working toward beating Oblivion for that very reason, but I doubt I'll actually get to take the X360 off my TV stand since it seems to manage media apps so much better than either the PS3 or X1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I've decided to try clearing my backlog this year. I beat Xeodrifter the other day and just now beat Cave Story (after eleven years...). Woooo.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So my backlog hasn't moved an inch in the last couple months thanks to the monstrosity that is Dragon Age Origins and all of its DLC. I'm at about 138 hours and have knocked out the main game, the Awakening DLC, and 2 1/2 other DLCs. I'm working on Leliana's Song right now and have one more to go before I can finally call it a day. I love the game but Jesus Christ this is just a bit too much. The gameplay and combat is just not quite good enough to keep me fully engaged and interested for this long.

 

On the bright side though, I should be able to knock out like 10 more games in the same amount of time it will have taken me to finish DA:O. Glad I got this one out of the way early because it will be smooth sailing from here.

 

Edit: And this game crashed to desktop a ridiculous number of times. That has been very very frustrating.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, by the time I got to the end of DA:O, i didn't feel like playing any more, so I never touched any of the external DLCs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I felt like I was on a roll in wiping out some of my backlog, then for some reason I got it into my head to play Skyrim again and now it's unlikely I'll make headway for at least a month or so.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I completed Origins and Awakening (and as far as I could tell, all the sidequests in both) in about 60 hours total. How do you put that much time in?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That's what I'm wondering. I did it in about 70 hours and I felt like I was sorta slow.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

1. I'm very thorough with this type of stuff. Usually I will roam an area multiple times and scan every boundary to make sure I don't miss anything.

2. I died and had to restart A LOT. Like many many many times. There were some encounters I spent over 2 hours on because I just cornered myself with a really bad build apparently.

3. The game crashed to desktop a lot, especially in the DLC. So lots of lost progress there.

4. Some time spent idling while I was away from the game.

 

The 138 number is what Steam shows so I imagine my actual game saves are a decent amount shorter.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Of the 19 games in my Steam backlog that I posted back in November, I've knocked a whopping 3 off of the list: Psychonauts, Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition, and Dishonored (with 2 full playthroughs on this one).

 

Of the 16 remaining games, I decided to revisit some of the LucasArts ones next so I can rapidly knock a few more off my list and feel like I'm actually accomplishing something. I started Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition last night and I figure once I finish that (hopefully by the end of the week) I'll immediately jump to Monkey Island 2. Not sure where I'll go from there but I've heard a lot of good things about that Far Cry 2 game. I should probably get on that one soon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been doing pretty good at chipping away at my backlog. PS+ hasn't helped though, along with getting a bunch of games that you can't "complete."

 

How do you consider those games in relation to backlog? I play Hearthstone a little, and it's not like I'll ever get rank 1 and say "boom done it, I'm the best." So is it in my backlog? Similarly with things like Peggle, I suppose if I got all the trophies, it'd be considered done, but I doubt I'll ever do that. I still play it regularly, so I'm not done with it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have been very intentional about not purchasing any new games or downloading any of the free PS+ games until my backlog is cleared. The only game I've bought in the last 7-8 months is Destiny.

 

As far as games that don't end or that don't have a clear end, my aim is to put in about 5-10 hours of playtime.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I use HLTB so much now.  Usually when I've got a free evening and I want to find something in my backlog I can play through in a single session. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A good site for Bringing Down The Numbers is http://howlongtobeat.com/ which tells you roughly how long it's going to take to complete the games on your list. Can be useful if you fancy getting the smaller games out of the way first.

 

Whoa, this is awesome!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now