Did your pile become less of a mountain? - 2011 in review

Yep. If I beat it or completed it, I leave it on the list. If it was unfinished and I no longer own it, it gets deleted.

There is a formerly owned option, it looks like a ghost. Also, use Null if it's not ever going to be 'beaten'

But just marking them as formerly owned still includes them in your statistics. If I'm never going to beat them, I don't want them showing up as "unfinished" forever. That copy of Oblivion that I got rid of after eight hours? Yeah, screw that thing.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

But just marking them as formerly owned still includes them in your statistics. If I'm never going to beat them, I don't want them showing up as "unfinished" forever. That copy of Oblivion that I got rid of after eight hours? Yeah, screw that thing.

Use Null for 'never gonna beat' then. That removes it from unfinished / beat stats. Formerly Owned to remind you it was crap when you see it on some ridiculous sale.

Interesting. I've always thought of "Null" not as whether or not I would beat a game but whether or not the game was beatable by anyone at all.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Interesting. I've always thought of "Null" not as whether or not I would beat a game but whether or not the game was beatable by anyone at all.

Technically yes, you are correct.

Null - Not counted in your completion statistics. For games that just don't have a main objective to accomplish. From the classic and endless arcade games to modern casual games, sometimes the journey is not only more important than the destination, it's all there is. But be wary and don't let the timesinks that lurk in here hog all your attention!

But as you see, it's not counted in the stats, so I throw games I will not bother with ever again in there as to me, they're bad enough to not be able to be finished, or I have no way of playing them again.

Updated my list, added DiRT 3 and Batman Arkham City to it. Still not sure if I want to keep batman, it's still sealed, but I'm just waiting it out - it was a gift and I will either play it, use it to get a different game for myself or for a friend for Christmas. Just undecided ATM.

Watching the credits on Borderlands roll right now. It was fun but... Yeah.

I will hit the DLC later on, if I think about it - just glad to wrap the core game up.

trueheart78 wrote:

Watching the credits on Borderlands roll right now. It was fun but... Yeah.

I will hit the DLC later on, if I think about it - just glad to wrap the core game up.

Beware, the DLC is quite long. I just finished Everything but the Crawmerax mission in the Secret Armory and it took what seemed like forever, mostly because the map is set up so you have to travel from the center area to one far end for one mission, return and do another mission the same way, and there is no quick travel within the dlc.

In other news, I'm finished with season 2 (of 4) of Dirt 3.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

and there is no quick travel within the dlc.

Guess that seals the fate of the DLC for some time, thanks for the heads up.

trueheart78 wrote:

Watching the credits on Borderlands roll right now. It was fun but... Yeah.

Totally agree with you on this one. It was a case of the journey not matching the destination.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

there is no quick travel within the dlc.

This is by far the worst thing in their DLC packs if you don't have a ton of time for your gaming sessions. Especially Knoxx which has a very large highway you're supposed to use to ferry between zones. I was seriously hoping they'd fix this issue with patches, but they never did. Hopefully the sequel doesn't have this problem.

shoptroll wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

there is no quick travel within the dlc.

This is by far the worst thing in their DLC packs if you don't have a ton of time for your gaming sessions. Especially Knoxx which has a very large highway you're supposed to use to ferry between zones. I was seriously hoping they'd fix this issue with patches, but they never did. Hopefully the sequel doesn't have this problem.

My solution I came up with when reaching the final missions was finishing the task, save/exiting and reloading the game. Saved me a lot of time. But I still had to get to my destination to begin with. Also, I'm so tired of being nearly required to headshot everything in all of the DLC's. Zombie Island was for brain collection, Secret Armory most had a lot of armor and in Claptrap, the humanoids seem to Have armor plating everywhere except their glass heads. I enjoyed it a lot in Zombie Island because they were zombies and I got something from it, it was a mild annoyance in Secret Armory, I can't stand it now that I moved on to the Claptrap DLC. Thankfully, there are more claptraps and less humanoids in the last one.

Between Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land, I've wanted to replay old Zelda and Mario games more than I've wanted to clear the pile. Still, looking forward to going into 2012 refreshed and renewed for some serious pile-clearing.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Between Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land, I've wanted to replay old Zelda and Mario games more than I've wanted to clear the pile.

And this is what we've been talking about adding to the pile goals.

Here's an odd request, but there's a reason for these group threads. Now, I know what I've defined in my pile wrap up for the end of the year (Metal Gears and Oblivion+DLC), but right now I'm really jonesin' for a strong female lead character, preferably with voice acting.

Having played a strong Lady in Dragon Age 2, replaying the Mass Effects this summer as a strong Femme Shep and having lead the Saints as a no holds barred Lady Boss, I'm wanting to continue this streak. Heck, the character I just finished Borderlands with was Lilith.

Any advice? I'd like to take advantage of if while I can -it's one of the few reasons I even decided to ask for Batman Arkham City from my friend I game-exchange with around Black Friday. It's still sealed, but I chose it because the Catwoman DLC intrigued me, and because they were out of Forza 4 and Saints Row 3 wasn't discounted.

Help a brotha out?

Look at my backloggery and / or my first post in this thread (page 1, first post after the OP) and see if there is anything that fits this bill (Final Fantasies, etc) or something I could even trade Arkham City in for.

Also, I'd really appreciate if the character wasn't a total pushover.

Beyond Good & Evil HD. Boom, done.

From your list, you could hit Fable 2 with the intent to play an evil Female character. I got a lot of enjoyment out of mine. She's no FemShep, but when she rips out an extended fart expression in the town square, it's pretty funny.

I really regret taking that irreversible potion...

I also agree with Min's suggestion for BG&E, but you've it marked as "no longer interested". It is on sale right now for 400 space bucks with a lot of other UbiSoft stuff, but I'm trying to avoid enabling.

If you're looking for a strong female character, I wouldn't get your hopes up about Arkham City.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Between Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land, I've wanted to replay old Zelda and Mario games more than I've wanted to clear the pile.

And it's amazing how things change in just four days. I've found that playing a Zelda game on the Wii and a Zelda game on the DS at the same time is just too much Zelda for me at once. I like them both, and I'm enjoying them both, but I'm wearing out on them much more quickly than I normally would. I expect that by the time I'm finished with them, my Zelda quotient will be met for awhile. Maybe in time for Darksiders 2!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

If you're looking for a strong female character, I wouldn't get your hopes up about Arkham City.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Between Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land, I've wanted to replay old Zelda and Mario games more than I've wanted to clear the pile.

And it's amazing how things change in just four days. I've found that playing a Zelda game on the Wii and a Zelda game on the DS at the same time is just too much Zelda for me at once. I like them both, and I'm enjoying them both, but I'm wearing out on them much more quickly than I normally would. I expect that by the time I'm finished with them, my Zelda quotient will be met for awhile. Maybe in time for Darksiders 2!

Now you're just self clocking...

I bought BG&E for 400 space bucks, will consider that after playing more Saints Row 3, traded in Batman for it

Rather fitting that I go first, then

Games in my collection I want to finish/watch the credits roll.
Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Sky (DS)
Final Fantasy IV (DS)
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360)
Borderlands -- Game of the Year Edition (360)
Burnout: Paradise (360)
DiRT 3 (360)
Dragon Age 2 (360)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (360)
Fable 2 (360)
Final Fantasy XIII (360)
Forza Motorsport 3 (360) *
Gears of War 3 (360)
Portal 2 (360)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (360)
The Beatles: Rock Band (360)
Rock Band 3 (360) *
Far Cry 2 (360)
Half Life 2 + Ep 1 & 2 (360)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) *
Saint's Row the Third (360) (Rental)
Beyond Good & Evil (XBLA)
Costume Quest (XBLA)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game (XBLA)
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (XBLA)
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (XBLA)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2) *
Katamari Damacy (PS2) *
Baldur's Gate (PC)
Torchlight (PC) *
StarCraft (PC) *
StarCraft Brood Wars (PC)
StarCraft 2 (PC) *
Infinity Blade (iPad)
Status: 16 of 34 (47%)

* = In Progress
/ = Abandoned / Sold
/ = Finished / Completed
2011 Releases I will be purchasing - list of notables
Torchlight (XBLA) no longer interested in this
Beyond Good and Evil HD (XBLA) no longer interested in this
Dragon Age 2 (360) - Release Day Purchase bought!
Portal 2 (360) - $40 or less bought!
Shift 2 Unleashed (360) no longer interested in
Gears of War 3 (360) - (awaiting finances) bought!
Forza 4 (360) - (awaiting finances)
Batman: Arkham City (360) - Traded in for Saints Row the Third
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (360) - Someone awesome gifted this to me
Status: 8 of 9 (88%)

2010 and Prior Releases I will be purchasing and at what price - list of releases
These are the games I will restrict myself to when the buying urge comes upon me, and for lower prices than I normally would purchase (unless digital). I will not necessarily buy all of these games.
Darksiders (360) I'm past the point of being interested in this
Just Cause 2 (360) - $10 or less
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (360) I'm past the point of being interested in this
NBA 2K11 (360) I'm past the point of being interested in this
NBA Jam (360) I'm past the point of being interested in this
Vanquish (360) I'm past the point of being interested in this
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360) - $30 or less bought!
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (XBLA) - $10 or less bought!
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (XBLA) - $10 (full price) bought!
Super Scribblenauts (DS) I'm past the point of being interested in this
Fable 1 (XBLA) I'm past the point of being interested in this
Fable 2 (360) - $10 or less received via trade!
Status: 11 of 12 (92%)

Side Goals
Dragon Age (360) - Play through a 3rd time as a mage I'm good at 96% skipping Darkspawn DLC
Status: 1 of 1 (100%)

Noteworthy Unplanned Achievements
Mass Effect (360) - 2nd play-through completed on Hardcore
Mass Effect 2 (360) - 2nd play-through completed on Hardcore
Mass Effect 2 DLC (360) - Completed: Kasumi, Shadow Broker & Arrival

I, trueheart78, solemnly pledge to take part in the Pile of Shame monthly threads. Even if it is just for one game, I will put forth effort to clear my ever-growing pile, one game at a time.

I also pledge to do everything within my ability to restrict my game purchases to those that I've listed, and, if I should falter, will shamefully add them to the pile in full sight of this support group.

Will you guys repeat the initiative in 2012? I've slowly started to discipline myself to work on the pile this year and think I could actually knock off a couple of big ones next year.

Luggage wrote:

Will you guys repeat the initiative in 2012? I've slowly started to discipline myself to work on the pile this year and think I could actually knock off a couple of big ones next year.

That's the plan. I don't know when Monkeyboy plans to put the new thread up. January, probably, but we're definitely going to be doing it again.

I wouldn't mind seeing it go up a week or two before January so I can hit the ground running (just in case Monkey is listening).

Minarchist wrote:

I wouldn't mind seeing it go up a week or two before January so I can hit the ground running (just in case Monkey is listening).

+1

Yeah, that was pretty much my thinking as well, as I have a few open ones from 2011 and the next pile ones already picked out.

Minarchist wrote:

I wouldn't mind seeing it go up a week or two before January so I can hit the ground running (just in case Monkey is listening).

I second - third? - the motion.

brokenclavicle wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

I wouldn't mind seeing it go up a week or two before January so I can hit the ground running (just in case Monkey is listening).

I second - third? - the motion.

I n+1 the motion

Simon, let me know if you need a hand setting things up for next year. +3 to the above.