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

RSPaulette wrote:

So what's the correct level of guilt with those additions to the pile?, he asked the community.

I'd leave them off the list. I think of the pile as the games that come to mind when you think of games that you haven't finished. If you mental list doesn't include PacMan DX CE or Kinect Sports because they're not finishable, then they don't go on the pile. Someone who plays for achievements might think of them as unfinished, but if you don't then there's really no point in having them on the list.

For example, I got EA Sports Active 2, but I didn't put it on the pile. In my mind, it's not a game that can be finished and put to bed, so it's not really a pile game. However, I have games like Europa Universalis 3 on my pile because even though they technically don't have any sort of finished state, I have an idea in my head of them as being unfinished.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'd leave them off the list. I think of the pile as the games that come to mind when you think of games that you haven't finished. If you mental list doesn't include PacMan DX CE or Kinect Sports because they're not finishable, then they don't go on the pile. Someone who plays for achievements might think of them as unfinished, but if you don't then there's really no point in having them on the list.

+1 for appeasement! Yay!

RSPaulette wrote:

So, half-confession/half-question: Do I have to add Kinect Sports and Pacman DX CE to the list?

...

So what's the correct level of guilt with those additions to the pile?, he asked the community.

You shouldn't feel guilty about those games yet. Focus your guilt on the games that have been hanging around near your console/consoles for months on end. Work your way through those games and by the time you're done 'Kinect Sports' and 'Pacman CE' will, in there turn, be a suitable focus for guilt. Unless of course you ignore your pile and start playing them first. In that case a generalised feeling of being a overwhelmed by the sheer number of unplayed games you have would be most appropriate.

Yay! 1/4 of the pile is clear!

However, I've managed to add... Egads! 15 games since the beginning of the year? Granted, one of them was free, four of them were games on my phone, and one of them was a DLC expansion pack, but... Damn. There's a reason I've promised to not buy any new games for the next three months.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Yay! 1/4 of the pile is clear!

However, I've managed to add... Egads! 15 games since the beginning of the year? Granted, one of them was free, four of them were games on my phone, and one of them was a DLC expansion pack, but... Damn. There's a reason I've promised to not buy any new games for the next three months.

So what's the process when one of us falls off the wagon?

5 would be falling off the wagon. 15 is falling off, hitting your head on the curb, and getting run over by the next wagon.

Yes, I'm ashamed.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Yes, I'm ashamed.

You should be. This clearly means you are an awful person.

Or something. (j/k) Out of curiosity, what were the new games? Maybe we can convince you that they suck, and you shouldn't play them...

Anyway, I made a bunch of progress on the pile this weekend: I knocked 3 games off the list.

  • Katamari Forever - I beat the main mode, and saw the credits. That unlocked a new mode called Drive, which I'll check out at some point.
  • Bulletstorm - I beat the campaign. Amazing game, and I'll definitely play it again. The story actually wasn't bad, either. I also want to try out the Echoes and Anarchy modes.
  • Pac-man CE DX - Picked this up during the sale. This doesn't really have an end, per se, but I got all the achievements, so I'm calling it "done", as far as the pile is concerned. This game is super fun, and designed around short sessions, so I'll be using it as a palate cleanser game for quite a while, I'm sure.

I had hoped to be able to finish Dead Space 2 this weekend also. I just started Chapter 12, so pretty close to the end. However, since Chapter 10, I've been having a nasty bug that causes an never-ending load screen after death, forcing me to quit to the dashboard and reload. At this point, the game is hard enough that (or I suck enough) that the game is basically unplayable, so I may just wait for a patch.

Garden Ninja wrote:

Out of curiosity, what were the new games? Maybe we can convince you that they suck, and you shouldn't play them...

  • Tinker - This is a game that Microsoft is giving away free with GFWL. It's a cute puzzle game, but I'm honestly not sure that I'll finish it. As with most PC games, I tend to forget that I even had it and when I do remember it, think I'd rather play it on a console.
  • de Blob Revolution - This one I've finished.
  • Dead Space 2 - I pre-ordered it a year ago, and I haven't even started it. I was really into Deadly Premonition when it came out, and when I finished that up I wasn't in the mood for it so I started something else. Now my wife is out of town, and it's one she wanted to watch, so it's on a holding pattern until she comes home.
  • Ilomilo (WP7) - This one I've also finished.
  • Resident Evil 5 - The combat in Deadly Premonition made me want to play another game where you were confronted with unreasonable constraints for the sake of interesting gameplay. Since that more or less describes Resident Evil 5 in a nutshell, I went ahead and got it. It was $15. I haven't started it.
  • Hydrophobia - The price dropped to 400 pts ($5), and I couldn't turn that down. I've downloaded it, but I haven't started it.
  • The Harvest - This is a Windows Phone 7 game. I'm having trouble even finishing the first area. The loading times are so ridiculously long that it's a hard game to sit down and play unless you can devote some serious time to it. If I have that kind of time to devote, I usually play a console game.
  • Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter - I got a few recommendations for this one after complaining about modern FPS level design. It was 400 pts. at the time, so I figured why not? I haven't started it yet, though.
  • DJ Hero 2 - I've wanted this one for a long time, and the price had just dropped to $60 for the turntable bundle. I've been playing it between other games as a sort of palate cleanser. It's freaking hard.
  • Glow Artisan - Another Windows Phone 7 game. It's my go-to phone game right now, since I can mess around with the puzzles in quick bursts. I'm three puzzles from the end, but they've gotten a bit too hard for me, at least without the kind of focus and concentration I don't normally bring to time spent gaming on my phone.
  • Dante's Inferno - This one is done. (It was $15.)
  • Bioshock 2 - Just started this one. I didn't like the first one, but I've been very curious about the second one, especially given the positive impressions I've heard. It was $15.
  • Epic Mickey - Also just started this one. It's both better and worse than I've expected. It was $15. (Noticing a trend here?)
  • Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - I loved Pandora Tomorrow (I didn't know that was supposed to be the crappy one everyone hates) but wasn't fond of Splinter Cell. However, when this went on sale on XBox Live, I couldn't resist. I'm a huge fan of stealth games. I haven't started it yet, though.
  • Dante's Inferno: Dark Forest - DLC for Dante's Inferno. Save yourselves. God, it's a waste of money, but it's also done.

That's probably more information than you wanted. So, I got fifteen games/DLC and finished four. I'll probably wrap up Bioshock 2, Epic Mickey, and Glow Artisan this month; Tinker I'll likely play a couple more times before I abandon it for good, and The Harvest is also on life support so far as my attention goes. Serious Sam: TFE and Hydrophobia are at least short.

I've got 73 out of the 76 Dragon Age achievements for a 96% completion ratio (1675 of 1750) and this will be my 3rd game I actually 100%

Kind of exciting, really

ClockworkHouse wrote:

[*]Hydrophobia - The price dropped to 400 pts ($5), and I couldn't turn that down. I've downloaded it, but I haven't started it.

...Hydrophobia [is] at least short.

I had the same impulse buy myself, and I beat it at somewhere around four or five hours, give or take a week or so and a red-ringed XBox. Won't take you long, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the

Spoiler:

non-

ending.

Added Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (XBLA) to my list as it was a) on my to-buy list and b) is on sale for 50% off ($7.50 this week/600 space bucks)

Also added Dragon Age 2, since it's arriving today and my cc has been charged at this point.

Added Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks to my pile. Getting pumped for the new MK, and I was always interested in this action genre take on it.

I'm willing myself to ignore the deal on The Guardian of Light on the basis that if I have thirty unfinished games on my pile, I don't need to add one more. (My counterargument is that if there are thirty of them already, what's one more?)

I agree - what's one more?

So an update from me:

February wasn't my best month so far. I didn't spent too much on new games, but just wasn't able to power through anything in my backlog. I think I felt crippled by all of the different choices I had, and just kept jumping back and forth between 5 or 6 games.

But, I am pretty close to finishing up Bulletstorm (thanks Gamefly!) and I think after, I'll try out my old copy of Baldur's Gate II rather than playing Dragon Age 2. We'll see how that goes!

Alright then, here goes.

I must find (mah disk disappeared) and finish Mass Effect 2
I must finish Dragon Quest IX
I must finish Vanquish (It's under 8 hours, how did I not finish it in like 2 weekends)
I must play a bit more Pokemon: Heart Gold
I must start: Persona 3 PSP, and the Witcher, preferably prior to Portal 2's release date, and me caving into the 3DS.

Hmm.. Too many RPGs on that list.

El-Taco-the-Rogue wrote:

I must find (mah disk disappeared) and finish Mass Effect 2

If you're on PC, and can find your manual, you can register with EA Download Manager and download/install that version, to play without the disc.

@ClockworkHouse

I'll mostly skip the ones I hadn't heard of, or that you've already beaten.

  • Dead Space 2 - This is a great game. I haven't finished it yet due to a game breaking bug. It doesn't seem to be common (none of my friends had any trouble), but if you find that the game suddenly refused to load a checkpoint, or you lose your weapons, just stop playing and wait for the patch. Oh, and awesome that your wife wants to watch you play!
  • Resident Evil 5 - This is is kind of a mixed bag, but I loved it. It definitely isn't anything like the originals, and it's much simpler, mechanically, than RE4 (which I didn't think was that great, frankly). And it isn't scary in the slightest, nor do I think it's really trying to be. It is, however, a really fun co-op shooter, with a fantastic weapon upgrade system (Automatic shotgun, with an infinite magazine? Yes, please). Definitely play it co-op though, since the partner AI is supposedly garbage. Hit me up if you got it for 360 and don't have a co-op partner already.
  • Hydrophobia - I've only played the demo, but it seemed really interesting, and I thought about picking it up during the sale myself, but realized I probably wouldn't play it for 6 months. However, I do plan to get it eventually, if for no other reason than to support developers who support their game this well (massive patch, and price drop).
  • Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter - I've played the demo and it was pretty fun. It's on my "To Play... Eventually" list, but honestly, it's pretty far down. It's probably also a matter of taste, since modern FPS design (mostly) doesn't bother me.
  • Bioshock 2 - I enjoyed both of them; BS1 had a better narrative, BS2 had better shooting mechanics. I saw in the other thread that you started this and were enjoying it. That's cool, but honestly a little surprising, since I don't think they are different enough to cause such different impressions. If continue enjoying the rest of the game, check out the Minerva's Den DLC at some point (I know, I know, enabling is bad). I haven't played it yet, but it is supposed to be really good.
  • Epic Mickey - I haven't played this, but pretty much nothing I've heard about it has been good. The art design and concept seems cool, but the gameplay is supposedly awful.
  • Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - I've loved the first four Splinter Cell games, even Double Agent, which people complain about more than Pandora Tomorrow. (I liked Conviction also, FWIW, but it's really a different approach to the genre.) Of them though, Chaos Theory was by far the best. They had really refined the mechanics from the first 2 games; it was still relatively "deep", but everything was smoother. I believe it was also the one that introduced a rating for each level. To get 100%, you had get every secondary objective and couldn't leave any trace that you were there. That meant no being spotted, no kills, and (I think) no knocking dudes out.

Hmm... not sure that helps much. Those are mostly good games. Epic Mickey is the only one that I'd say to straight up avoid, but that's based on reviews, not personal experience with the game. Hopefully it at least will help you prioritize what order you play them in.

Garden Ninja wrote:

Oh, and awesome that your wife wants to watch you play!

OOCT!

Resident Evil 5 - Definitely play it co-op though, since the partner AI is supposedly garbage. Hit me up if you got it for 360 and don't have a co-op partner already.

This is the only one that's I'm not sure about, really. I've heard from everyone that it's much better to play it co-op, but my gaming schedule doesn't really accomodate playing co-op very well. I play for about an hour each night after my son goes to bed, and he tends to stay up pretty late in exchange for sleeping past six in the morning.

Hydrophobia and Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter

Since these are so short, I'll probably try to wrap them up between bigger games or while I'm making my way through one of the epic RPGs I have in my pile (I have a few 80+ hour games in the wing). I'll get to them when I get to them, although I'll probably play Hydrophobia first since it's a game I've followed for some time.

Bioshock 2 - If continue enjoying the rest of the game, check out the Minerva's Den DLC at some point (I know, I know, enabling is bad).

There's a good chance this'll be done by the end of the week. Since I left myself a nice little DLC loophole in my prohibition against new games, I'll probably get Minerva's Den, too.

Epic Mickey

I want to like it, I really do, but it's telling that I'll have played through two other games (Dante's Inferno and Bioshock 2) after starting this one. It's on the death watch, which is really too bad because it has so much potential. The whole game just seems muddy to me. The levels are poorly designed, there's not much sense of progress, and the art design is frustratingly uneven: sometimes it's gorgeous, other times it's remarkably bland.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - To get 100%, you had get every secondary objective and couldn't leave any trace that you were there. That meant no being spotted, no kills, and (I think) no knocking dudes out.

That's the only way to play! Part of the reason I didn't like the first Splinter Cell is that it too often forced you into combat situations with no option to sneak your way out of them.

Thanks for your thoughts on the games!

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Resident Evil 5 - Definitely play it co-op though, since the partner AI is supposedly garbage. Hit me up if you got it for 360 and don't have a co-op partner already.

This is the only one that's I'm not sure about, really. I've heard from everyone that it's much better to play it co-op, but my gaming schedule doesn't really accomodate playing co-op very well. I play for about an hour each night after my son goes to bed, and he tends to stay up pretty late in exchange for sleeping past six in the morning.

If it helps, I played through this totally single player on the 360, and liked it well enough. Not nearly as much as RE4, which I totally Wii'd. My problems had a lot less to do with the AI -- which I didn't think was that bad, to be honest -- and had a whole lot more to do with the awkwardness of the Resident Evil-ness on the 360, which just felt weird/clunky as compared to the dreaminess of the Wiimote/Nunchuck combo, which simply clicked for me.

For the most part, I had no problem with Sheva's AI, just

Spoiler:

don't give her any more ammo than what she needs/can use, else she'll use it all up.

Dragon Age: Awakening is done. I kind of gamed the last battle; I left my character well behind the others when they charged the Mother then used the various specials to clear out the tentacles and childers. When the childers respawned I left one (which kinda ineffectually gnawed on me the rest of the battle) and just kept pegging spells at the Mother from long range until she dropped. Must have chugged a dozen healing and lyrium potions along the way but hey, whatever works.

I doubt I'll be starting anything else on the pile this month; I'm staring at a copy of DA:2 that is just begging to be installed. It'll be interesting to see how the two games compare starting one so soon after finishing the other.

Stele wrote:
El-Taco-the-Rogue wrote:

I must find (mah disk disappeared) and finish Mass Effect 2

If you're on PC, and can find your manual, you can register with EA Download Manager and download/install that version, to play without the disc.

Unfortunately my households on 20 gigs a month, split between 3 avid Internet users, so a huge DL isn't really an option. Luckily, found the disk this morning

Put a fork in Dragon Age: Awakening -- whoo-hoo! Even though I'm achieving a pile-equilibrium (cleared that off to make room for DA: 2, it still feels like a sense of accomplishment.

I made a long overdue update to the google doc, adding most of the games I missed the first go round as well as a couple games purchased (Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Dragon Age II) and received via Goozex (Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Castlevania: Lord of Shadows). For posterity's sake, here is the rest of the list:

Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions
Dead Rising 2
Crysis
BlazBlue CS
Puzzle Quest 2
Mega Man 10
Penny Arcade Ep 2
DeathSpank: ToV
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Torchlight
Lego Batman
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Chronicles of Riddick
Little Big Planet
Tales of Vesperia
Monkey Island 2 SE
Fallout: New Vegas (Dead Money)

Added Rygar: The Legendary Adventure (PS2) to the list because it's short and I've put it off way too long.

I've been spending tons of time with Infinite Space (DS). It's quite good despite a few flaws.

Knocked off Mega Man 9 (Wiiware) last night...finally. It's a great retro experience, but viciously tough in a few spots too. My completion time was 11 hours, 56 minutes, and much of that time was spent farming 1ups and screws (to purchase power-ups with). Wiley's Castle is just nasty, especially since all segments have to be done in one go. If I never see the screen in which you have to jump upwards through 3 lava beams again, it'll be too soon. I must have burned over 30 lives on that one. When I finally beat the game, I had used all 9 energy tanks, the recharge-everything tank, and was using the "take half damage" power-up on the final boss. Yikes! At least the ending was amusing.

Since Mega Man had the slide (beginning in MM3) and Mega Buster (beginning in MM4), their absence in MM9 makes him feel rather gimped. I know Proto Man has them, but I don't see myself playing through again any time soon; especially not if I have to take double damage as Proto Man. This aside, MM9 is a great effort, and I'm looking forward to knocking off MMX from my pile and getting MM10 soonish.

AUs_TBirD wrote:

and I'm looking forward to knocking off MMX from my pile

Mega Man X is a great one and I've played it tons of times, but be forewarned, the last boss can be pretty tough with its mutiple forms - you will be farming energy in the area leading up to it.

Picked up Dead Space 2 for $19.99 tonight, so that's pile progress, it was on the list to buy.

Hooray--my first update!

Finished:

Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2) with all but three gold medals. Those last three races were tough.

Lego Batman (PS2) - definitely not as good as the Lego Star Wars games but co-op with my older son is still fun

Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS) - I spent 100 hours on this game and finished it off last night. I found this game to be much easier that the first FFTA game and should have played on Expert. By the time that I was about 15 hours in, it was clear that the AI was not very bright and I wasn't interested in restarting. Oh well.

Purchased:

Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded (DS)

Next up:
Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)
Uncharted 2 (PS3)
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)

Within the last week or so I've purchased Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Pokemon White, and Xenogears [PSN]. Purchased White to pass time for traveling portion of my heat-seeking vacation, picked-up Enslaved during vacation (because I thought I was getting a ridiculously good deal (instead of a standard price drop, oh well), and Xenogears because I wanted to know what all the hype was about (and now I know ;)).
In a similar vein, I've heard good things about a game called Parasite Eve, I curious if anyone here has played it, whether or not they liked/loved it and why (without giving away too much)?
Going on vacation and having guests has been really unproductive for the "Finishing games" department lately [*Heartfelt "shucks"], maybe I can off a few this weekend.

* wrote:
Spoiler:

Take with extreme sarcasm