Jump to content

 

When your backlog gets overwhelming...


mcbane111
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hey all.

 

So let's face it, we all have a backlog of games to play. But what I wanted to ask here was how to you decide which game from your backlog you're going to play next?

 

I have a few dozen games in my backlog and I can never decide which game to play and it gets overwhelming. So I just play something I've already played or continue playing something I finished long ago (eg. Neverwinter, Minecraft, etc.)

 

Also, how big is your backlog currently?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not counting duplicates (having the same game for different system), my unplayed backlog clocks in at 945 titles.

 

For those that don't believe me:

 

[spoiler=evidence]

http://i.imgur.com/BCRVU87.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pl9JQmg.png

 

 

 

 

When it comes to picking what to play next, I generally try to pick something that's a completely different genre than what I played last to avoid burn out. If I can't make a decision, I'll either go back to a classic title for a while or just pick at random.

 

As for trying to actually conquer the backlog, I gave up on it long ago and have accepted the fact that I've become a collector, as with a full time job plus other responsibilities, I simply don't have the time anymore. Still, I'm giving it my all to play as much as I can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Scotty
Not counting duplicates (having the same game for different system), my unplayed backlog clocks in at 945 titles.

 

For those that don't believe me:

 

[spoiler=evidence]

http://i.imgur.com/BCRVU87.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pl9JQmg.png

 

 

 

 

When it comes to picking what to play next, I generally try to pick something that's a completely different genre than what I played last to avoid burn out. If I can't make a decision, I'll either go back to a classic title for a while or just pick at random.

 

As for trying to actually conquer the backlog, I gave up on it long ago and have accepted the fact that I've become a collector, as with a full time job plus other responsibilities, I simply don't have the time anymore. Still, I'm giving it my all to play as much as I can.

 

:eek: Nice spoiler tag, too. :p

 

My own physical backlog is much less 'impressive' (for lack of a better term).

 

A quick count of my physical games suggests i have 10 unplayed/unstarted, that i would consider actually playing at some point. I've a few more that i played a few minutes of then switched off or even played many hours of but gave up the grind for whatever i was after doing and a few that i have no intention to play, parts of bundle deals/bought for collections sake, etc.

 

Digital backlog is a different story. I mean there's loads of GwG that i never actually played, plus many an impulse buy that got left untouched, then the constant Gold deals.....

 

I would usually decide on what to play next by just buying a new game and playing that instead. :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never again will I backlog in gaming.

 

 

As the OP mentioned, it can be a pain when choosing which title to go for next. Too much choice can become boring. When I just bought one game at a time, I enjoyed it so much better as I bought what I wanted to play there and then.

 

 

Sales can be a pain in the arse sometimes. I think I've owned Star Wars: Force Unleashed about 3 times for PS3 and 360, and never ever gotten around to playing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Digital backlog is a different story. I mean there's loads of GwG that i never actually played, plus many an impulse buy that got left untouched, then the constant Gold deals.....

 

PC's worse when it comes to digital though, as you've got all those blasted Steam sales and Humble Bundles. It's harder to control your impulses when you can get 10+ games for the price of a pizza.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey all.

 

So let's face it, we all have a backlog of games to play. But what I wanted to ask here was how to you decide which game from your backlog you're going to play next?

 

I have a few dozen games in my backlog and I can never decide which game to play and it gets overwhelming. So I just play something I've already played or continue playing something I finished long ago (eg. Neverwinter, Minecraft, etc.)

 

Also, how big is your backlog currently?

My backlog sits at something around... I think 30 physical games. Not sure about digital, but I have at least 40 which have not been played yet.

 

How do I decide? At the very moment I am just picking what I know I will enjoy. After I complete one or two more games, I will be boosting some older titles so I'll choose based on online achievements. Knock those out ASAP and then muck around with the single player stuff.

 

<screenshot>

What site is that screenshot from? I want to see how much of my life will be wasted! :francis:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Scotty
PC's worse when it comes to digital though, as you've got all those blasted Steam sales and Humble Bundles. It's harder to control your impulses when you can get 10+ games for the price of a pizza.

 

Yeah, i heard about those steam game sales. Luckily for my bank account, i don't do PC gaming, except for the Total War games and even then, i only play 2-3 of them and rarely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have about 95 360 games in my backlog, 89 of which I haven't yet touched. I have many more games on PC and other systems. Even though I'm now at the point where I usually don't buy games (unless they are free) until I am ready to play them right away, I don't mind having a backlog. It's nice already having something you want to play and be able to "shop" inside your own collection. :)

 

I haven't yet run into the problem of not knowing what to play though. I always seem to have a running long-term plan in my head. For instance, my current plan is to play another character in Dragon Age Origins for fun and the rest of the achievements, then continue with my first playthrough of Fallout New Vegas, put in a bit more time into Brotherhood and possibly Oblivion, and then either play Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age 2 depending on my mood at the time.

 

Of course, if Fallout 4 comes out at any time during this plan, then everything else gets dropped.

 

By the time I'm done with a plan such as the above, I've either changed it to something else or I also have more games added on and would just continue with those.

 

I suppose if indecision did ever strike me, I'd just randomly pick something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since I started gaming three years ago, I discovered I had a love for the hobby, and have since acquired five consoles and a Steam membership. My current backlog is 279 titles, including four or five DLC stories. Based on the Main Story play through times on HLTB.com and an average of 19 hours a week spent gaming, it will take me just under three years to work through my backlog.

 

Games in my backlog include everything from recent triple-A releases to digital PS1 and Nintendo titles.

 

I manage my collection through HowLongToBeat.com and the SortIt app. When I'm deciding what to play next, I scroll through the game cover gallery on SortIt to see what grabs me. Alternately, I look at completion times and release dates on HLTB to see what games scratch the itch I'm feeling at the time ie. Do I want a classic 90s title for a change? Do I want a quick play through, a epic game that will occupy me for weeks, or something in between?

 

I'm big on data and lists. HLTB and SortIt help me find my next game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My backlog is around 40 Xbox360, 10 PS3, and 1 PSP games (physical). Digital games... I'm not sure. I've got a couple dozen games on Steam I haven't started, and then a few GWG downloads I have yet to touch.

 

As for deciding what to play next, I tend to go with whatever grabs me at that particular moment. Sometimes it will be a game I haven't done yet, and sometimes it will be one that I started but then put down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I usually pick my next game if it's different than my last. What I mean by that is when I finish a stealth game, I'm rarely gong to go straight to another stealth game. I usually go to something more action orientated (Max Payne 3) or a sandbox game (Mafia II/GTA IV).

 

My backlog has some 15 games in it. I would list them, but I'm too lazy, LOL.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently sitting on about 25 on the One and maybe 40-50 on the 360. I used to keep it pretty low but with GWG it has gotten out of control. I already know most if any of the 360 won't every be touched but I'm trying to work on the One's.

 

As for picking what I play next I usually pick before I finish the last one then throw that out the window at the last minute and randomly start something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me ive decided to pick a game, and use a month to playthrough it, mainly to make sure i dont rush it because i have to play the next one. Probably not the most efficient system considering how many games i have but its better then nothing.

 

As for how many games i have its around 100, i have about 60 physical games (which include stuff like halo and COD which i have decided i will never play due to online achievements to even get a decent chunk of achievements in) and 40+ digital games from sales, and GWG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just recently I have sold around 30-35 Xbox360 games so my backlog is around 15 games now (all of them digital).

 

I feel less stressed now LOL.

 

As for XboxOne, my current backlog is 4 games (Aliens: Isolation, Sleeping Dogs, Shadows of Mordor and The Witcher III). Hoping that I can start working of them in 1-2 weeks :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, the good old backlog. I have thought about doing something about that one for what seems like a long time now. But as some of you have mentioned I usually get stuck deciding what I want to play and end up doing nothing or going back to an old game instead.

 

When I start to factor in achievements as well and completion time it gets even harder to decide. I think my main problem is that I simply have ended up with to many choices. On the Xbox One I think I will only get games that I know I want to play almost straight away. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ha ha ha, I still have games for the PS1 that I want to play so I have no idea what my backlog is at currently.

 

Just looking at my 360 and One though I have something like 100+ physical games and 100+ digital games that I have never even played to go at. Part of my problem was that I would always buy new games at launch and leave them languishing around while I played crap games for easy achievements (I used to work at Blockbuster so could rent games for free and get 20% off new releases - hence the problem).

 

That went on for a few years until a couple of years ago, then I decided to only buy games I was going to play fairly soon. This year for example I have bout FF Type-0, completed it, and The Witcher 3 (which I'll be starting next). The only other game I plan to get at launch of Arkham Knight - which will probably wait for a while until I'm done with the Witcher, but I want it anyway.

 

In terms of my backlog I got pretty hard on myself and sold/traded about 20 games I knew I would never really want to play and only had sat around for achievement purposes. Then I started going through all of the good games I'd missed, playing newer stuff in between, and made a good dent in the horror. I think last year alone I finished off 60+ arcade games that I'd bought in various sales but never touched.

 

So take your time and bounce between genres and games. I then got held up playing Halo MCC (the nostalgia) as that has so much to do, but I think I'll take a break from it soon so I can start whittling down the old stuff again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, the good old backlog. I have thought about doing something about that one for what seems like a long time now. But as some of you have mentioned I usually get stuck deciding what I want to play and end up doing nothing or going back to an old game instead.

 

When I start to factor in achievements as well and completion time it gets even harder to decide. I think my main problem is that I simply have ended up with to many choices. On the Xbox One I think I will only get games that I know I want to play almost straight away. :)

 

Exactly me. Although I have kind of made a start with my backlog. Started with Fallout 3. Problem is that The Elder Scrolls Online came out today and I've been waiting for that for a while and will be getting it tomorrow. So that's another one added to the ever-growing list ha.

 

And looking at all these posts - seems my backlog is extremely small compared to everybody else. I shouldn't be complaining I suppose afterall :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't hold any interest in playing games on platforms other than the Xbox One so my backlog is quite manageable at the moment. I had only played around 10 games on the X1 just 6-8 weeks ago but now I'm a couple of games away from having played and completed (100% - including DLC) 25 X1 titles.

 

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Far Cry 4

Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes

Sunset Overdrive

 

That's what I've got on my list at the moment. I could probably name another 5-10 titles that I wouldn't mind going back and doing but for now I've only got the games that I'll definitely be getting listed, and once I've got them out of the way I'll just take it game-by-game and try and get as many titles completed before the next wave of games come out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I start to factor in achievements ... it gets even harder to decide.

 

This is true. I hadn't included this in my game-selection rationale, but it is a data point and it does affect my choices.

 

I put off playing Captain America: Super Soldier for awhile because I knew it was an easy completion and I felt obligated to follow the collectibles guide as I played it...and I wasn't in the mood to follow a guide at the time.

 

I love achievement hunting, but I think I may need to focus less on it while I work through my backlog. I used to try for completions, but that makes games take twice to three times as long to finish.

 

I used to play more games on Veteran or Very Hard, but then makes the game more of a grind, so I dropped to Hardened/Hard. Now I've started playing a few games on normal to speed up the playthroughs, but I haven't quite come to terms with it yet.

 

Leaving achievements uncollected chafes.

 

Damn you game industry psychologists!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd say achievements are the only factor when deciding what to play from a huge backlog. Awesome point by, Reggiez.

 

Achievements have become like a second job. Most of them aren't actually fun to unlock any more, in fact in ways I'd say its killing games. Its only when you get to the end of your accomplishment that you can decide overall if it was worth it or not. Much like in a real job where trying to reach your target is 50/50 on whether the work required to get there is going to be enjoyable or just tiresome and repetitive.

 

Today I could have played Cod4, CoDMW2, CoDMW3, Aliens Isolation, Dishonoured, Batman Arkham series and so many others. But decided that I wasn't ready to play those yet because the amount of time required to achieve 100% completion.

 

On one hand I get real value and a big experience from my games. By the end I've done and seen all there is to do.

 

On the other hand though, I'm going out of my way to do s**t thats neither interesting or fun, just so eventually I can have 100% completion. If I stopped going for achievements there'd be no point in me ever buying games again. It would be like gaming was for me from the 80's until the PS2 days. I'd enjoy a few games, but never felt the urge to push myself to achieve everything so on most occasions I'd buy second hand or just borrow off a friend. Since being an achievement gamer I've bought near enough all my games brand new because I get so much value from them in terms or shear content.

 

I honestly think my gaming days will end when I give up on the 360. Maybe I'll play the odd emulator for my s**t PC, but I don't know if achievements have killed gaming for me, or if I've killed the hobby myself by doing stupid s**t I would in no way ever want to do otherwise. And apart from graphic enhancements, I think I've pretty much seen and experienced all there is to gaming.

Link to comment
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
 Share

×
  • Create New...