New Year, Old Pile

Here's the next set of goals for the Pile of Shame. I'm thinking of tweaking the formula a little (New Coke, anyone?) and possibly doing this as a quarterly list of games. As I posted here, I'll be going through most of 2008 without buying any new games, so I hope to make some significant progress on my personal pile.

This time I'm skimming from the top. Most of the current gen/PC games came out during the glut of new games at the end of the year. Before we get down and dirty with the old school, let's knock these out first.

As a friendly reminder, please go and update the Pile of Shame thread. There's probably a ton of new games that need to be added. I know my pile definitely hasn't shrunk any over the holidays.

[b]Multi-Platform[/b]
Call of Duty 4 (single player campaign)
Half-Life 2 - Mateo
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter - Mateo

[b]Xbox 360[/b]
Mass Effect - Vrikk (next!)
Halo 3 - ranalin

[b]Playstation 3[/b]
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

[b]Wii[/b]
Super Mario Galaxy - Hemi (next!), gtnissanfan, Certis

[b]Nintendo DS[/b]
Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations - Mystic Violet (next!)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Vrikk

[b]PC[/b]
Crysis - Podunk (next!)
Baldur's Gate II - kuddles

[b]Playstation 2[/b]
Odin Sphere - Edwin, rolanberry
Shadow of the Colossus - Trachalio

[b]Playstation[/b]
Final Fantasy IX

[b]Xbox[/b]
Fable
Morrowind - gtnissanfan
Armed and Dangerous - gtnissanfan

[b]Gamecube[/b]
Odama - Trachalio
Killer 7 - Trachalio

[b]NES[/b]
Super Mario Bros. - Switchbreak

My pile is {ableist slur}ly huge. On top of all the great single player games I've got languishing there, I've got TF2, UT3 and ET:QW that I've hardly had time to play, and I've yet to even dabble in Halo 3 and CoD4's online component.

I'll tackle Crysis this month, that should be doable.

I may be able to get at my PS2 games again now that our living room layout has changed.

I'm going to try and wrap up Mario Galaxy, but I'll definitely have some multiplayer gaming thrown in there. TF2 and COD4 (both 360 and PC). Get yo a$$ on Stan's or Live, Podunk. I need to snipe or stab you.

Hemidal wrote:

Get yo a$$ on Stan's or Live, Podunk. I need to snipe or stab you.

Yes, yes you do.

I need to finish Halo3 single player at some point...

Count me in for Odin Sphere. I should be getting it today in the mail from GameFly.

My piles finally been shrinking. Not because I've been finishing the games though. I'm starting to wise up and sell 'em back to EB. I know I'm never going to play 90% of them, let alone finish them, so why keep them around cluttering up my shelves?

Trachalio wrote:

My piles finally been shrinking. Not because I've been finishing the games though. I'm starting to wise up and sell 'em back to EB. I know I'm never going to play 90% of them, let alone finish them, so why keep them around cluttering up my shelves? :P

I'm going to need your gamer pack rat card, sir. Your card, SIR.

Hemidal wrote:
Trachalio wrote:

My piles finally been shrinking. Not because I've been finishing the games though. I'm starting to wise up and sell 'em back to EB. I know I'm never going to play 90% of them, let alone finish them, so why keep them around cluttering up my shelves? :P

I'm going to need your gamer pack rat card, sir. Your card, SIR. :)

Fine. Here!

Just to spite you I'm going to throw out my copies of Xenogears AND Castlevania: Symphony of the Night!

Take THAT!

Sign me up for Super Mario Galaxy.

And if you're taking suggestions for Xbox games to add to the list, I'm also working on Morrowind and Armed & Dangerous.

I got everyone else beat. I've decided that instead of continously picking up something new and dropping the previous thing, I'm going to finish every game on the past I really wanted to play to the end and anything I'm not really crazy about to drop and never go back to again. It's the only way I can stay sane with the neverending pile of games I never got around to is to close the book once and for all on past titles.

As a result, I just re-installed Baldur's Gate II and I can't play another RPG until I finish it. Luckily most of the other titles are from 2004 onwards.

Luckily, I beat Mass Effect the day my xbox was returned to me.

I'm having surgery on my arm this month so I don't think I'm going to be able to play any console games for awhile. As much as I'd love to complete SMG, it's not going to happen anytime soon.

Sign me up for Phoenix Wright: T&T. I don't know what else I'll be able to play.

kuddles wrote:

As a result, I just re-installed Baldur's Gate II and I can't play another RPG until I finish it. Luckily most of the other titles are from 2004 onwards.

It's on my shelf, too.

I never actually beat most of my favorite old RPGs. Maybe some day I'll find copies of Krondor and some Ultimas and just spend my winter gaming. Sorry, girlfriend.

Betrayal at Krondor was released as freeware at one point, wasn't it? So downloading it from a site like The Underdogs would be A-OK, no?

Edwin wrote:

Count me in for Odin Sphere. I should be getting it today in the mail from GameFly.

Hmm, Odin Sphere! Forgot I meant to play that. I think I'll make that my next goal, since I'm currently between games. Sign me up!

Should be caught up with names/games.

kuddles wrote:

As a result, I just re-installed Baldur's Gate II and I can't play another RPG until I finish it.

And you won't want to. The game is a 200-hour masterpiece. Don't forget to pick up Throne of Bhaal to complete the saga.

Trachalio wrote:

Betrayal at Krondor was released as freeware at one point, wasn't it? So downloading it from a site like The Underdogs would be A-OK, no?

Link

I think many of the ultimas were released freeware as well. I know IV at least was on a CGW disc I got back in the day. Barring that there's a compilation disc I have called "Ultima collection" with all games 1-8 on it you might be able to find cheap on ebay.

stupidhaiku wrote:
Trachalio wrote:

Betrayal at Krondor was released as freeware at one point, wasn't it? So downloading it from a site like The Underdogs would be A-OK, no?

Link

I think many of the ultimas were released freeware as well. I know IV at least was on a CGW disc I got back in the day. Barring that there's a compilation disc I have called "Ultima collection" with all games 1-8 on it you might be able to find cheap on ebay.

Absotively posolutely!

I need to finish The Witcher before I get on to the old title I listed on the pile o' shame. I'm really enjoying it so far, so it is the opposite of grinding.

I want to finish Phoenix Wright and Mass Effect. Shouldn't be too hard since I'm on the third case of PW and over halfway through Mass Effect.

Vrikk wrote:

I want to finish Phoenix Wright and Mass Effect. Shouldn't be too hard since I'm on the third case of PW and over halfway through Mass Effect.

Vrikk, which Phoenix Wright?

Orange Box, Halo 3, Project: Sylpheed (if I can get passed the level that launches my ship straight into another battleship after I repair and reload), Kameo, Stuntman, Flatout Ultimate Carnage. I think I'll try to beat GR:AW as well.

I actually just finished Baldur's Gate 2, for the first time ever. Been playing since November or December.

This is the flagship title for Epic RPG, I think. Super good. And I think I skipped half the content.

Now it took me to Throne of Bhaal, and it seems like it's another equally long game =P

As a suggestion that makes the game so much better:

- Install the Throne of Bhaal and the latest patch(not the beta patch), and then install the BG2 Fixpack, and the BG2 Tweakpack. They make the game much better.

And if you want some deeper questing, install the d0t-questpack (Just don't install the "Revised Hell Trials" component because it's supposedly buggy).

With those 3 things it is pretty much the best RPG I've ever played, including the old Ultimas, and Planescape. It has a great mix of action and choices and twists and it's not loaded with Fedex quests. NWN doesn't even come close, it's not even in the same zip code.

The beginning is pretty boring, but not as bad as BG1, because you don't know what the f*ck is going on, and then they throw you into this huge city/world.

Also, do not use Dan Simpson's BG2 gamefaq unless you're really stuck. It's the gigantic, 900k faq that details everything. The problem is that it spoilers things out of nowhere and ruins a lot of surprises even if you don't mean to read them.

Anyway, great game. Haven't geeked out like this for a long time.

Edit: No, I don't have a game to add to the pile. IF you wanna suggest something, just consider my machine is like 3 years old and has an ATI radeo 9800 =)

And no more RPGs for a long time, I need my social life back.

I'm feeling pretty good about my gaming tendencies in the past year or so. I'm finishing a ton and not feeling like I've missed any classics from the past few years either. The only games on Hemi's list I haven't finished are Phoenix Wright and Final Fantasy - they're not my kind of games. Just gotta wrap up Mario Galaxy (I have enough stars, but I want them all!) and I think I'll be all caught up.

I think my one shame would be dropping Persona 3. It bogged down a bit for me and now I'm not sure if I can step back in and know what the heck was going on.

My personal pile of shame is deep...and old.

Max Payne 2 old.

*HL2....half done. Need to finish episode 1, start episode 2.
*Need to finish off Portal. The last level is a PITA.
*Max Payne 2 (Xbox) is sitting here untouched.
*GRAW...I'm into the third level, but stymied by all the snipers.
*GRAW 2. Not even started.
*Rainbow Six Vegas? On to the mines...haven't gotten that far with it.

I'll make an effort to clear Half Life 2 and GRAW for January.

Hemidal wrote:
Vrikk wrote:

I want to finish Phoenix Wright and Mass Effect. Shouldn't be too hard since I'm on the third case of PW and over halfway through Mass Effect.

Vrikk, which Phoenix Wright?

The first.

mateo wrote:

*Max Payne 2 (Xbox) is sitting here untouched.

At least it's not Dead to Rights 2.

I still haven't beaten Super Mario Bros. I keep dying on 8-4.

MaxShrek wrote:
mateo wrote:

*Max Payne 2 (Xbox) is sitting here untouched.

At least it's not Dead to Rights 2.

Aren't all of those being used as shims for wobbly tables at Starbucks?

Games I own and want to finish

- I want to play through Half Life 2. Never played it before and just bought the Orange Box.
- Just Cause (I love this game, but I want to beat it)
- Viva Pinata (I know it doesn't really end, but I want to put more time into it)
- DOAX2 (the shame may be that I bought this on a lark with stray credit, but I'm curious as to how funny/bad it is)

Games I don't own and would like to buy a PS2 for and then finish (these are mostly classics that I feel I *should* play)

- Shadow of the Colossus
- Persona 3
- Ico
- Okami