Thursday, June 21, 2012

Game backlogs

This is going to be a pretty long post. It's a pretty serious problem (first world problem anyway). I can't think of a time in recent memory when I've had a backlog of games so huge that I didn't know how to deal with it. I saw it coming last fall when so many must have games were coming out within 6 weeks of each other. It started with the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus collection and ended with Zelda: Skyward Sword (with Dark Souls, Uncharted 3, and Skyrim in between). Then some other games were on sale for dirt cheap between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was doomed.

I have so many half finished games, some of which I want to play, others that I just don't feel like playing but still want to finish, and others that I started but don't care if I finish or don't plan on finishing (that last ground doesn't really count in my backlog). The list below will be primarily focused on the ones I want to finish, with brief mentions to those I'm not really set on finishing anytime soon (if at all).

Red Dead Redemption: I don't know why I stopped playing this. But I won it on a website contest and started it Spring of 2011. I got to Mexico (in the game) and was quite a few hours into it. Another game probably came out and distracted me. I don't remember which one. But I really want to get back into it. It's a fantastic game. I haven't even touched Undead Nightmare, the big expansion.

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus: I never played Ico, and I only ever got to the 5th colossi when I played it on the PS2. I loved SotC. But it came out at a bad time since another big game was coming out a week or two later...

Dark Souls: I love this game. But it took me away from the Ico/SotC collection. So I guess it's fair that I've gotten sidetracked on it twice. I'm currently halfway through New Londo Ruins. Dark Souls was first sidetracked by Uncharted 3 (which I finished) and Skyrim (which broke in the main quest but I later finished, minus a ton of side content). But it's high on my list to finish.

Zelda: Skyward Sword: This was the last big game last fall that I knew would be hard to juggle with the other ones. I started it, and was loving it. But the controls kept getting in the way. I felt like I was constantly fighting them. I eventually got sidetracked by the other games (Skyrim most likely, and maybe Dark Souls), and in January...

Final Fantasy XIII-2: I was really enjoying how they structured this game. I loved FFXIII, but I enjoyed the freedom they gave you in XIII-2. I played a solid 25 hours before getting sidetracked...again...

Around the holidays I found a few great deals on some games I had missed that people said I should play. Enslaved and Vanquish. So I got those for dirt cheap, played them for an hour or two and they got put back on the shelf. They were a lot of fun (despite triggering some major motion sickness), so sadly they're very low on my "must finish" list. 

After FFXIII-2, I grabbed Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. I loved that game and got maybe 6 hours into it. Then I got distracted again. I started craving something different (which seems to be the problem). So I grabbed another game I had wanted to check out. Darksiders. I played that for a few hours, then got sidetracked by Batman: Arkham Asylum (another huge game I had missed). I enjoyed that for probably 5 or 6 hours but distraction fell upon me again. I really want to finish Castlevania and Batman. Darksiders, not so much.

I think it was at that point that I went back to Dark Souls. I dabbled into Skyward Sword again briefly, which had me revisit a dungeon I had cleared already, and I went back to Dark Souls and was on that for a good while. Confident that I would finally finish it.

Then Diablo 3 came out.

And I haven't even talked about the PS Vita games in my backlog with Gravity Rush and the MGS HD Collection (which I also have for the PS3).

So you see there's quite a lot in my catalog that needs finishing. I don't know if I'll put them in a specific order and then tackle them that way. The GoW games are really tempting. Oh I didn't mention them yet? Well the HD Collection (PS2 games) and GoW3 arrived today. But that's my problem. I get a craving for a type of game, buy them, and set everything else aside even if I'm enjoying the heck out of them. I need to stay more focused. 

Anyone else have a hard time staying focused like me?