2013 - 12 month pile thread. Hello New Year, good bye pile!

Thanks for the LKS impressions everyone. Sounds like it is the sort of game I could get the kids to micromanage me on.

Daddy, make this happen for the next time we play...

Look kids, we now have enough X to do Y.

I'll keep an eye out for it, next time I'm in Toys R Us.

January: 3IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) : 1IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/null.gif) : 9IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/new.gif)

February:
IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif)eaten:

  • Super Mario 3D Land
  • Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy
  • One Piece: Pirate Warriors
  • Offspring Fling!
  • New Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Closure

IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/new.gif)ew:

  • Brutal Legend

Pile change this year: 0 (9IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) : 1IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/null.gif) : 10IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/new.gif))
Remaining Pile: 81

Broken even this month! Might break even next month too! I know I have two games joining my collection next month and I hope to start making a dent in my backlog of RPGs.

Mantid wrote:

January: 3IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) : 1IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/null.gif) : 9IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/new.gif)

February:
IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif)eaten:

  • Super Mario 3D Land
  • Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy
  • One Piece: Pirate Warriors
  • Offspring Fling!
  • New Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Closure

IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/new.gif)ew:

  • Brutal Legend

Pile change this year: 0 (9IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) : 1IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/null.gif) : 10IMAGE(http://www.backloggery.com/images/new.gif))
Remaining Pile: 81

Broken even this month! Might break even next month too! I know I have two games joining my collection next month and I hope to start making a dent in my backlog of RPGs. :eek:

In real life Piles of RPGs dent you.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Thanks for the LKS impressions everyone. Sounds like it is the sort of game I could get the kids to micromanage me on.

Daddy, make this happen for the next time we play...

Look kids, we now have enough X to do Y.

I'll keep an eye out for it, next time I'm in Toys R Us. ;)

LKS is a bit of a weird one for having the kids around, though. It's got some really oddball situations that are sometimes a bit dark/scary or even suggestive (in text) IIRC. I know you start getting sidequests to woo the princesses you save. I believe that's where the suggestive stuff comes in. Just looked and it did get a T rating.

Here's the ESRB extended description:

Content Descriptors: Crude Humor, Mild Cartoon Violence, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol

Rating Summary:
This is an adventure role-playing game (RPG) in which players control a young king whose goal is to expand his kingdom by defeating enemies and bosses. Set in a colorful, whimsical environment, the game allows players to send small soldiers to attack 'cartoony' enemies, including cows, snails, sheep, giant rats, and humanoid bosses. One boss creature has a fire-breathing attack, while a giant rat boss attacks with yellow gas and brown pellets, which are emitted from its rear. During the course of the game, characters make some suggestive comments (e.g., 'Sweat becomes sexy only after the lights go out') and engage in sexual innuendo (e.g., 'Princess Spumoni is so kind; she let me go to town on that big mound of hers…If I tried to eat anymore of that ice cream, I would've exploded!'). The central character also has multiple wives, one of whom has exaggerated-sized breasts and exposed cleavage. One cutscene depicts a boss character that slurs his speech and appears to be drunk. Holding a green bottle and slapping his 'beer belly,' the man offers a toast: 'I hope the whole world gets drunk…Cheers.'

Thanks for the caution. I think they'll be OK with that content. They both appreciate a good fart joke (the rat), and they have seen the buxom 'ladies' in Rayman Origins.

I can skirt around the innuendo too.

They also found Swarm entertaining too, much to my wife's horror.

And my 2nd Dragon Age 2 playthrough comes to a close. 45+ hours with the DLC, and I'm happy with how it all went.

That's one item off my list

I do not need Tomb Raider now. I do not need Tomb Raider now. I do not need Tomb Raider now...

F*ck you EB for sending me that 'Available NOW' email.

March update! I pretty much just worked on Ni no Kuni all month.

Currently Playing: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Beaten: Wedding Dash

Added: Earthbound

I mentioned this in IRC yesterday and thought I'd share if anyone wants to try something similar (Crossposted from the March thread).

My pile has grown quite a bit already this year, and it wasn't tiny at the end of last year, so I am going to start being aggressive about culling the less exciting games. To do that, I am going to run a heat of sorts. Here are the rules I'm setting for myself.

  • Every game in the pile is eligible
  • Choose a game at random with Backloggery's Fortune Cookie feature. No re-rolling, unless.
    • If there are multiple piles games in a series, and the fortune cookie chooses a later game, then choose the earliest game in the series instead (e.g. I have Assassin's Creed Revelations and Assassin's Creed III. If AC3 was chosen, choose ACR instead)
    • If is already a game you are putting a bunch of time into anyway.
  • Play upto the first two hours of the game. That should be enough to get a feel for the game.
  • Decide whether to drop it from the pile, or move it to the next round
  • If the game grabs you hardcore, keep playing if you like

So, first up...

Loading. Please wait... Rolling dice... Game found. Selecting [i]Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars (3DS)[/i] Error. Already playing. Please wait... Rolling dice... Game found. Selecting [i]Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (360)[/i] Error. Earlier game in series found. Selecting [b][i]Dragon Age: Origins (360)[/i][/b]

So, two hours of DA:O it is. I've switched platforms on this game twice (first on 360, then PC, now back on 360), so I'm starting over, which I've been hesitant to do, since it's content I've seen a couple of times already. Two hours won't get me to new content, but it will get me through the origin section and into the meat of the game.

... And this is the moment where I realize that I've shrunk the pile to a point where I don't really need to do something like that. Those of you who remember my flowchart and tier system from last year might understand how bizarre it is to realize that.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

... And this is the moment where I realize that I've shrunk the pile to a point where I don't really need to do something like that. Those of you who remember my flowchart and tier system from last year might understand how bizarre it is to realize that.

I've thrown so many items off the Cliffs of Pile Insanity™ that I'm strangely close to that point as well.

End of February update:
Finished:

  • Dark Souls (PC) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) - 101 hours to the end. It took me less than 2 months to put that much time into the game. That, for me, is a crazy new record. I've since not been able to resist the urge to load it back up when I sit down to play a PC game. I've put another 3 or so hours in. but in the meantime, I've been concentrating on the consoles.
  • Infamous 2 (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif)
  • Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif)

Added:

  • Closure (PS3 PSN) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) - PS+ game. I'll likely play it to the end.

We'll see if I can get through Wind Waker and/or something else this month.

trueheart78 wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

... And this is the moment where I realize that I've shrunk the pile to a point where I don't really need to do something like that. Those of you who remember my flowchart and tier system from last year might understand how bizarre it is to realize that.

I've thrown so many items off the Cliffs of Pile Insanity™ that I'm strangely close to that point as well.

I am getting close to this stage too. GTASC made me realise how the grind for Cheevs metagame was overly addictive and dangerous to your gaming choices. Buying a Wii for the kids reminded me how you could play 'just for fun' (three hours, without a cheev pop notification, what the hell?). Having my play time reduced by 2/3 has also made me more picky over where I choose to invest my entertainment hours.

I may just go through, see what I've yet to touch, then head on down to EB with the damage and cut my losses. May as well lighten the load, and get an additional 20% trade in value towards my Bioshock Infinite Pre-order.

I mean seriously, when will I realistically choose to play Pro-Darts Championship over Saint's Row The Third?

Most of you guys have already jumped on it, but the link to Hemidal's monthly commitment is in the OP, and just below as well.

It's Pile Madness

Enjoy!

I've just started in on Skyrim as part of my push towards getting back to playing the game. That as a yardstick alone is going to make it easier to jettison titles. I just went from one location, to another, at the very start of the game, stumbled onto a bandits' camp, then got lost in their 'dungeon' for almost three hours.

It's now well past midnight and I was only going to play for half an hour. What a game.

February

Added:

  • Anodyne IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/PWR2nAs.gif)
  • Antichamber IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/F3qc0gj.gif)
  • Knytt Underground IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/fTvYJOF.gif)
  • Krunch IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/PWR2nAs.gif)

Finished:

  • Infamous IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/5jOvouN.gif)
  • Outland IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/m9mwngN.gif)
  • Tomb Raider: Underworld IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/F3qc0gj.gif)

March

Goals:

  • Anomoly: Warzone Earth IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/fTvYJOF.gif)
  • BioShock 2 IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/fTvYJOF.gif)
  • The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/fTvYJOF.gif)

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I remembered to backup my BS2 saves, and to remember where I put them for my Win8 upgrade. I was half done with that game.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

I may just go through, see what I've yet to touch, then head on down to EB with the damage and cut my losses. May as well lighten the load, and get an additional 20% trade in value towards my Bioshock Infinite Pre-order.

I mean seriously, when will I realistically choose to play Pro-Darts Championship over Saint's Row The Third?

DO IT!

Achievement meta-games are fun, and I'm glad that I participated in TrueAchievements for awhile, but when they became the basis for when I chose to play a game and what I chose to play, I felt like it all just got in the way. I'd pass on games if they seemed like they'd be too hard to 100%, and I'd buy games I wasn't all that interested in because I could use them to rack up points. That's not to mention the pressure I felt to keep playing a game I hated because I wanted that higher completion percentage.

It was, like I said, fun for a time, but I'm glad I stopped. I enjoy gaming more without that, and I wonder if you might have hit that point, as well.

And I'm a big advocate for just dumping the pile, and if you can get some trade-in cash for it, all the better. There's no reason to feel obligated to play a game just because you bought it once upon a time and then lost interest. That's a sunk cost you're not going to get back, so just let it go.

January

Added:

  • Sleeping Dogs (PC)
  • Deadlight
  • Iron Brigade
  • Toy Soldiers
  • Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
  • Mark of the Ninja

Finished:
Zip, Zilch, Zippo.
I got all of the endings of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, but I'd already seen the credits a few times in December.

January overall
-6

February

Added:

  • Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (PC) - Magazine pack-in
  • Brütal Legend (PC)
  • Lollipop Chainsaw (360)

Finished:

  • Spec Ops: The Line (PC) - amazing!
  • Bastion (PC) - very good

February overall
-1

Year to date
-7

March

Goals:

  • Brütal Legend (PC/360)
  • Last Window: The Secret of Cape West (NDS)
  • Sword of Vermilion (Genesis via PS2)
  • Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
  • To the Moon (PC)
ClockworkHouse wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:

I may just go through, see what I've yet to touch, then head on down to EB with the damage and cut my losses. May as well lighten the load, and get an additional 20% trade in value towards my Bioshock Infinite Pre-order.

I mean seriously, when will I realistically choose to play Pro-Darts Championship over Saint's Row The Third?

DO IT!

Achievement meta-games are fun, and I'm glad that I participated in TrueAchievements for awhile, but when they became the basis for when I chose to play a game and what I chose to play, I felt like it all just got in the way. I'd pass on games if they seemed like they'd be too hard to 100%, and I'd buy games I wasn't all that interested in because I could use them to rack up points. That's not to mention the pressure I felt to keep playing a game I hated because I wanted that higher completion percentage.

It was, like I said, fun for a time, but I'm glad I stopped. I enjoy gaming more without that, and I wonder if you might have hit that point, as well.

And I'm a big advocate for just dumping the pile, and if you can get some trade-in cash for it, all the better. There's no reason to feel obligated to play a game just because you bought it once upon a time and then lost interest. That's a sunk cost you're not going to get back, so just let it go.

This I will do. I'm going to post a list, either this week or next, with the dumped game, and what I have in the genre, that is better than it. If the group would then indulge me, outlining if I have made a good choice, or if game X would be better to keep because of experience Y, that would be greatly appreciated.

I want to cross the 100K Gamerscore finish line on something special.

So the Xbox Live Ultimate Steam Game Sale is now wrapping up and I've fallen victim to 4 purchases:

1. DiRT 2 - $4.99
2. GRID - $4.99
3. Fallout: New Vegas - $9.99
4. Fallout 3 - $4.99

I'm already into New Vegas (about 8 hours), and with the advent of terrible NFS games and my complete and utter meh-ness for all things Forza, having a couple of good racers is something I have been jonesin' for.

Also, ended up renting Tomb Raider from the local RedBox this morning before work.

My dry spell (read: first 6 weeks of 2013) has officially come to a close.

Do I feel bad about these purchases? Nope, I actually feel quite good about them (I reserve the right to retract this statement at a later date and time).

Is it a bad sign that the last two times I've been playing Little King's Story I've nodded off while playing? Something about the soothing classical music and the wandering about the level puts me right to sleep... I may have to move on from this in favour of something more exciting. Or get more sleep.

Also, I picked up Liberation Maiden because it just came out on iOS.

February Report (A little late):

Nothing completed, nothing bought.

Early March Update (A lot early):

Purchased:
SimCity (PC) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)
Bioshock:Infinite (PC) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)
Crysis 3 (PC) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)

Completed:
Far Cry 3 (PC) IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/F3qc0gj.gif)

Bioshock: Infinite and Crysis 3 came with my new 7950, I decided that I'd rather have a new video card and play through my Steam backlog versus buying the new PS4 or the 720/Horizon. I also think it is a wiser decision regarding the pile overall.

Since SimCity is a hot mess right now, I will be trying to focus on Assassin's Creed III this month or Sleeping Dogs (if ACIII starts to drive me nuts).

gamerparent wrote:

Is it a bad sign that the last two times I've been playing Little King's Story I've nodded off while playing?

If that's a metric, then ME2, FO3 and FO:NV are all in trouble since I fell asleep playing those.

clever id wrote:
gamerparent wrote:

Is it a bad sign that the last two times I've been playing Little King's Story I've nodded off while playing?

If that's a metric, then ME2, FO3 and FO:NV are all in trouble since I fell asleep playing those. :D

I can't remember the last time I didn't fall asleep playing a game!

Honestly games, it's not you, it's me.

m0nk3yboy wrote:
clever id wrote:
gamerparent wrote:

Is it a bad sign that the last two times I've been playing Little King's Story I've nodded off while playing?

If that's a metric, then ME2, FO3 and FO:NV are all in trouble since I fell asleep playing those. :D

I can't remember the last time I didn't fall asleep playing a game!

Honestly games, it's not you, it's me.

Everything except racing games and Dark Souls will make me nod off given the right conditions. I lost sleep over Dark Souls and can't remember having troubles staying awake while playing it at all.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
clever id wrote:
gamerparent wrote:

Is it a bad sign that the last two times I've been playing Little King's Story I've nodded off while playing?

If that's a metric, then ME2, FO3 and FO:NV are all in trouble since I fell asleep playing those. :D

I can't remember the last time I didn't fall asleep playing a game!

Honestly games, it's not you, it's me.

Everything except racing games and Dark Souls will make me nod off given the right conditions. I lost sleep over Dark Souls and can't remember having troubles staying awake while playing it at all.

I've fallen asleep to some games, but it was usually due to the music being a bit too soothing, JRPGs being the most common offender. Heh heh, I remember waking up a couple of times in the morning to see Link onscreen before me, standing in the middle of a dungeon... just looking around... waiting. I like to imagine that he was thinking "Can we get the F*** ON with it already!?", as Navi had long since driven him out of his poor little gourd.

kstress71 wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
clever id wrote:
gamerparent wrote:

Is it a bad sign that the last two times I've been playing Little King's Story I've nodded off while playing?

If that's a metric, then ME2, FO3 and FO:NV are all in trouble since I fell asleep playing those. :D

I can't remember the last time I didn't fall asleep playing a game!

Honestly games, it's not you, it's me.

Everything except racing games and Dark Souls will make me nod off given the right conditions. I lost sleep over Dark Souls and can't remember having troubles staying awake while playing it at all.

I've fallen asleep to some games, but it was usually due to the music being a bit too soothing, JRPGs being the most common offender. Heh heh, I remember waking up a couple of times in the morning to see Link onscreen before me, standing in the middle of a dungeon... just looking around... waiting. I like to imagine that he was thinking "Can we get the F*** ON with it already!?", as Navi had long since driven him out of his poor little gourd.

In my case, my Little King was endlessly walking into a wall as I had drifted off with my left thumb pushing forward... I blame the music.

I think I'm going to have to leave Little King's Story off for a while. I'm losing interest. Going to plough through Rayman Origins and try and get that done before March 19 aka Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate day. After that... all bets are off.

Tomb Raider is wrapped and was totally worth the rental. $12 less than a ticket to the movies (I prefer IMAX :p)

Just polished off Bioshock. Yeah the boss was lame, but I'm a "it's the journey not the destination" person (at least when it comes to games) so I'm quite happy to have finally played it. Put a couple thoughts in the month thread, but really there's probably nothing I can say that hasn't already been said better by other people. Anyone know of any good writings about the game I should read? I've got RPS on the list of sites to read, and I picked up a copy of Kill Screen at PAX last year that I think had an article about the sound design by rabbit (which I skipped because spoilers). Anything else I should seek out?

Glad I'm going back to Starcraft II for a couple weeks. I think I need a change of scenery after all the pew-pew and so many things getting in my face.

shoptroll wrote:

Anything else I should seek out?

I realize you were asking about articles, but allow me to suggest: Bioshock 2. It caught a lot of flak when it was published for being an unnecessary sequel made by a new team with tacked-on multiplayer, but I feel that it, in many ways, surpasses the original. I wouldn't start it right away, especially because the couple areas were deliberately designed to replicate the feel of the first game, but add it to your list and play it when you get a chance.