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

Whew ok at least you've played them.

From the list... maybe Darksiders? There's been a lot of back and forth about that in various threads around here. Depending who you ask it's Zelda/God of War but much better/worse.

Or Deus Ex is another classic on your list that isn't marked as complete. That one is pretty important. Think there's some graphic update mods or something that can take the edge off it being a decade old, but the gameplay is still great.

m0nk3yboy wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

Sorry to hear about the loss of hearing. It is permanent?

Looks like it's going to be.

I had a test 8 weeks ago, and I had lost all high range, and most of my mid range in the right ear. I thought it was getting better, but when I went back at the end of last week, the results were the same.

Apparently there are two hearing scale tests. One measures actually frequency range, and that's the one that's cactus. There is a secondary test, which is called a discriminatory test. This measures how the ear is actually processing the garbled mess it's receiving. The fact that my 'understanding' of the sounds going into that ear is appearing to get better, and the fact that I still have that annoying constant ringing in my ear (coupled with intermittent secondary muscle twitches in the ear, which sound like cracked bamboo being hit against a hard surface) means the 'actual processing of what I'm hearing' may still get better.

Could be that this doesn't settle down for the better part of the next 12 months. As annoying as the constant ringing is, as long as it's there, the brain is still doing it's best to reconnect, and reestablish ways of sorting out the signals it's receiving.

They are sending me to see if a hearing aid will help in the short term, but the specialist seemed to think at present, I may not be the best candidate for one, maybe in 12 months time, but right now, it may just make it all too noisey, and might stop some of the good repairative work the brain is doing by itself.

Lucky me, this only happens to 1 in 10,000 people, shame I can't get those odds on the lottery! :)

Ears don't seem to be very fixable do they. I have some mild tinnitus in one ear but, luckily, it is quieter than the regular everyday noise for 95% of the time. I hope yours improves. It sounds like it could from what they've said.

Stele wrote:

Whew ok at least you've played them.

From the list... maybe Darksiders? There's been a lot of back and forth about that in various threads around here. Depending who you ask it's Zelda/God of War but much better/worse.

Or Deus Ex is another classic on your list that isn't marked as complete. That one is pretty important. Think there's some graphic update mods or something that can take the edge off it being a decade old, but the gameplay is still great.

I can definitely get behind Darkstalkers as a choice... (just don't tell anyone I said that).

I enjoyed it because it felt 'like' Zelda, but was different enough not to be. It has it's plusses, and it's minuses, but the plusses outweigh the minuses IMHO.

I wasn't expecting much, and I enjoyed it for it's alternate spin on the go here, go there, overcome environment A, overcome environment B style of play mechanic.

One of the few games I've completed on 360, and also one of the few I plan on going back and completing to the full 1000.

Higgledy wrote:

Stuff and things...

Thanks Higgledy

I successfully avoided buying Enslaved and BioShock over the weekend, but I failed against Costume Quest and Majin at 50% off each. However, I wrapped up Minerva's Den and Flowerz.

I'm trying to decide what to play next. It's down to Arkham Asylum vs. Muramasa. I've had Muramasa on the pile for longer, but I'm also on a big 360 kick. I'll mess around in Deadly Premonition until I decide.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I successfully avoided buying Enslaved and BioShock over the weekend [..]

GameStop has Enslaved for $13 this week and I've been quite tempted, but really, my biggest enthrallment is their "buy Super Scribblenauts and get the original for free" deal going on, and I don't know how long I'll be able to hold out.

On the bright side, I'm almost done with Dragon Quest 9 and then I won't have any active DS games that I'll be wanting to play, which is why the Scribblenauts deal is very enticing for me.

trueheart78 wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I successfully avoided buying Enslaved and BioShock over the weekend [..]

GameStop has Enslaved for $13 this week and I've been quite tempted

That was the same deal that tempted me. That's also where I ended up caving on Majin for $15.

Fable 3's campaign is done. There's too much to say, and it will likely be one of my longest reviews of a game ever. It's just...it wasn't just disappointing, man. They just took so much that worked and screwed it up.

The fact that....that was the final boss, instead of the mini-boss before the final boss, was even more disappointing. Fable: The Lost Chapters really was the highlight of the franchise, which is a damn shame.

Damn shame.

I should move onto something that's short, but I'm going to start on Dragon Age 2 tonight. God, I hope the game as a whole isn't as disappointing as Mass Effect 2 or the demo.

I feel like I've been doing a decent job of finishing games lately, but I haven't felt like I've done a good job of clearing my pile. Now I know why. Of the games and DLC I've bought since the start of the year, I've finished 50%. Of the games I bought prior to the end of the year, I've finished 11%. This is skewed somewhat because most of what I've bought since December are smaller DLC packs or WP7 games, but it still shows a lack of actual pile clearing. Boo.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I feel like I've been doing a decent job of finishing games lately, but I haven't felt like I've done a good job of clearing my pile. Now I know why. Of the games and DLC I've bought since the start of the year, I've finished 50%. Of the games I bought prior to the end of the year, I've finished 11%. This is skewed somewhat because most of what I've bought since December are smaller DLC packs or WP7 games, but it still shows a lack of actual pile clearing. Boo.

Just think of it as future pile progression. If you'd have waited three months to get to the stuff you've already played, it would still be there waiting for you, instead of not being there now.

It made more sense when I thought it...

So as promised to some friends, I got my tax return and bought a PS3. Amazon also had some great sales going on.

I am now the proud owner of Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2, and Demon's Souls and Yakuza 4 are in transit.

God I'm an idiot.

ccesarano wrote:

So as promised to some friends, I got my tax return and bought a PS3. Amazon also had some great sales going on.

I am now the proud owner of Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2, and Demon's Souls and Yakuza 4 are in transit.

God I'm an idiot.

Good job, idiot! Enjoy your new pretties!

Managed to eliminate Adventures of Lolo III and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (both for the NES) from the pile! Impressions here.

I am also considering Cyberball (NES) beaten, which I didn't have on my list, but it's barely worth mentioning as its concept is completely underdeveloped. It only allows single-game play mode. Really, even the ancient 10 Yard Fight had you play through a season to get the trophy. After winning two games on medium difficulty, I called it "done."

------------

Unfortunately, I also gave in to weakness.
I picked up Scribblenauts and Super Scribblenauts (DS) in Gamestop's deal which added the first in for free when purchasing the latter. I waited for Amazon to match the deal, but when they didn't, I sent GS money for the first time in over three years. The shame won't scrub off, no matter how hard I try.

Also, I traded five TF2 items for a copy of Star Ruler (PC) to a complete stranger. Let me know if you have an extra "Max's Head;" that's the one item that was a bit painful to see go away.

...at least I didn't bite on Enslaved despite its alluring $14.99 price point.

I'm looking for something to follow-up DQ IX as I look to wrap that up tonight. I'm not 100% sold on the afore-mentioned Scribblenauts deal, and am tempted to look at possibly another DQ game. I've beaten 5 and soon 9, and I've not got much else in the way to play on the DS.

trueheart78 wrote:

I'm looking for something to follow-up DQ IX as I look to wrap that up tonight. I'm not 100% sold on the afore-mentioned Scribblenauts deal, and am tempted to look at possibly another DQ game. I've beaten 5 and soon 9, and I've not got much else in the way to play on the DS.

Are you looking for RPG's in particular? And if so, does it matter what sub-genre/style or can it be any? Because Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume was about $10 new when I found it (hidden away in the corner of a GameStop), and I found it to be really fun and worthy of multiple play-throughs.

cyrax wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

So as promised to some friends, I got my tax return and bought a PS3. Amazon also had some great sales going on.

I am now the proud owner of Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2, and Demon's Souls and Yakuza 4 are in transit.

God I'm an idiot.

Good job, idiot! Enjoy your new pretties!

That reminds me, I need to actually play my PS3 at some point. I've played LIttleBigPlanet, and the Uncharted games, and that's about it.

ccesarano wrote:
trueheart78 wrote:

I'm looking for something to follow-up DQ IX as I look to wrap that up tonight. I'm not 100% sold on the afore-mentioned Scribblenauts deal, and am tempted to look at possibly another DQ game. I've beaten 5 and soon 9, and I've not got much else in the way to play on the DS.

Are you looking for RPG's in particular? And if so, does it matter what sub-genre/style or can it be any? Because Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume was about $10 new when I found it (hidden away in the corner of a GameStop), and I found it to be really fun and worthy of multiple play-throughs.

I'll look for that. I do have Final Fantasy IV, but I've not been able to get into it even though I used to enjoy it on the SNES so long ago. Really just not liking the re-design.

How about Infinite Space? Can't go wrong with Platinum Games.

I'm on chapter 7 (just over 21 hours) of Infinite Space right now, and while it has some cool stuff to it, it's also become somewhat monotonous to me. Every engagement is playing out the same. Close to range, fire normal twice as soon as you can and hope that finishes them off. Use barrage only when absolutely sure the enemy can't use dodge. Anti-air only when necessary.

Not being able to skip conversations you've had 20x already is also highly irritating.

I still like it, but so far it's not as great as I'd been hoping. Also, it can be quite difficult to find at a reasonable price. I ended up ordering mine from amazon.de.

EDIT: Ah...gamestop has it for $34.99

OK, I just did a mega update to my Pile on the spreadsheet based on the feedback from the crowdsourcing I did plus a few other things that I've gotten sidetracked by lately.

I started playing FEAR again for some reason and have already finished Extraction Point. I'm halfway through Perseus Mandate and will probably go on to FEAR 2 and its expansion after that. The spreadsheet has been updated appropriately.

I also just picked up Realms of the Haunting from GoG. I can't really call it a Pile game since I have finished it, but that was probably 15 years ago. I'll probably play it again at some point though.

Bought Assassins Creed Brotherhood for $30 today, and will be digging into it soon now that DA2 has been finished. Looks like I will be playing Final Fantasy 4 DS after DQ IX is finished.

trueheart78 wrote:

Bought Assassins Creed Brotherhood for $30 today, and will be digging into it soon now that DA2 has been finished. Looks like I will be playing Final Fantasy 4 DS after DQ IX is finished.

Enjoy Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, what a fun game and it really sucks you in and doesn't let you out, but its so awesome about it that you don't mind.

I've finally done some updating now that my gaming rig is up and running. I finished Stacking for XBLA, still have to play the Lost Hobo Kind DLC to keep my S-Rank on it, it was a lot of fun and is what I've grown to love about Double Fine games, lots of creativity and humor.

I've also done some purchasing, I was able to use rebate Visa cards to add to my Steam Wallet and I have pre-ordered and pre-loaded Portal 2. (It is my first pre-load, so I am excited to be up late with everyone else waiting for the game to unlock--the latest teaser videos and the comic have me very excited) I also broke down and pre-ordered L.A. Noire for 360 as a late birthday present for myself (since it releases two weeks after my birthday) from GameStop. I'm not proud of it, but I wanted that extra case!

The deal on the Magicka: Complete Pack yesterday on Steam got me, the recent deals on Amazon also are helping me clear my 2010 purchases list. I picked up Rock Band 3 for $19 and Enslaved for $15. A fair bit of purchasing, but there isn't anything on the horizon that I haven't already pre-ordered, so I should be quiet on the purchasing front for a while.

Still chipping away at Dragon Age: Origins Awakenings the game is finally getting going, I put it down for a little while and have come back to it refreshed.

trueheart78 wrote:

Bought Assassins Creed Brotherhood for $30 today, and will be digging into it soon now that DA2 has been finished. Looks like I will be playing Final Fantasy 4 DS after DQ IX is finished.

Try AC:B's multiplayer. I thought I'd hate it but I'm hooked and will probably be playing for a few months to come. It's worth experiencing even if you don't end up playing a lot of it.

Heavy Rain is already done. Talk about a fantastic game to justify my PS3 purchase with. I'm almost sad to be moving on to other things...in fact, I AM sad to be moving on to other things.

But to be honest, I wouldn't enjoy it so much on a second playthrough so soon. I need to wait like a year or so first.

Hi guys, I'm new to the thread. I am a habitual piler. I realized over the past week I have at least 5 and as many as 20 games on each platform I own that I've never completed. The reason usually is new shinies stealing the attention from older games, or not devoting enough time to handhelds, or just playing "comfort" games like sports or MP shooters.

There's no way I'll finish everything. Therefore, mandate one of my pile clearance is I will stop buying handheld games until I have finished the handheld game I last bought. I'm not taking iPhone into account, as that's a can of worms I simply don't wish to open. Too much cheap garbage I've bought on a whim. I am going to delete anything I don't think I'll play.

I figure the best way to handle this is one platform at a time, and I'm starting with the second biggest - Xbox 360. Steam is no doubt the largest, and I doubt I'll ever complete even five of those games, so that waits til the end or not at all. I just don't much enjoy playing on PC.

360 list includes:

Final Fantasy XIII (I'm 3/4 of the way done, should be another 10 hours tops)
Two Worlds II (half done? Not sure, I'm at 25 or so hours in the SP, finished the co-op)
Chronicles of Riddick*
Blazing Angels*
Resonance of Fate (Probably 1/5 of the way through)
Risen (about 8 hours in)
Castlevania: LOS (4 hours in)
Armored Core For Answer (6 hours in)
Crackdown 2 (co-op reserved for roommate)
DarkStar One (5 hours in)
Borderlands DLCs (all 4)*
Enslaved DLC (1 hour in)
and Vanquish challenge modes/God Hard mode^

* = no appreciable progress

Homefront and Red Faction: Guerrilla were on there as well, but I beat them over the last three days.

Hoping to finish this stuff at an average rate of 1 week per. Wish me luck

Edit: Blah, just realized the Gears 3 beta in 11 days is going to put a big dent in this plan. Still, I soldier forth.

Blind_Evil wrote:

...bunch o'games...

Welcome to the thread.

You may want to add yourself to the spreadsheet if you haven't already:

Had to add a game to the pile. The Bioshock 2 sale on Steam got me. This game had better be good!

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Had to add a game to the pile. The Bioshock 2 sale on Steam got me. This game had better be good!

It is!

I'm making steady progress on Arkham Asylum and have successfully avoided getting any new games in the meantime. I can tell already that it's the combat challenges that are going to take me the most time to complete. My aim is to get all of the achievements on this first playthrough except for the achievement for beating the game on hard. We'll see how I do.

I have friends bugging me to play Demon's Souls, but I wanted to save that until after Dragon Age 2. Meanwhile I've been saving Fallout New Vegas and Metro 2033 since they're big games as well, and my goal was one big game at a time.

This is gonna suck.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

Had to add a game to the pile. The Bioshock 2 sale on Steam got me. This game had better be good!

It is!

I'm making steady progress on Arkham Asylum and have successfully avoided getting any new games in the meantime. I can tell already that it's the combat challenges that are going to take me the most time to complete. My aim is to get all of the achievements on this first playthrough except for the achievement for beating the game on hard. We'll see how I do.

Yeah, good luck. I wasn't able to get close to a couple, but I wasn't concentrating on it. Plus it was trophies for me.

I've figured out why my 360 pile progression has sucked so much these last few months (apart from the related medical issues).

It's because identifying the games I will play for 2011 has created a need in me to want to play all the other unamed games still sitting in my pile.

To that end, tonight, when I get home from work, I will add ALL of my 360 retail games to the pile list, that way, no matter what I pick up, I'm moving forward. Avoid the forbidden fruit syndrome by making all fruit accessible.

Let's see how that works...

I've also been pecking away at my XBLA pile. So many titles with 0/200 in there it's not funny. I won't add those to the spreadsheet, but they'll pop up in Hemidal's thread as I crank through them. Some nights you just need a little snack sized portion of gaming.

I'm also going to tackle my three quickest games possible for May. I have languished in DO:A for far too long. I'm enjoying it (Dalish done, Circle of Mages, and The start or the Arl, just getting into Orzammar and hit over 60 hours of gameplaying time), but I really don't have the luxury to get into these big titles as I used too, and the completionist in me won't allow me to play these games with the minimal of investment.

I've also bought a lot too, will 'out' myself in full when I get to the list...