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

I was a little afraid but I brought my laptop to the basement near the gaming collection and did an inventory after reading this thread. The results: I own 67 games that I have not completed or are sports/collections games--yikes. Several of these are PS1 Squaresoft RPG's that I got for a few dollars at EBGames years ago when they when they clearanced them out (Vagrant Story for $5.99? SOLD!). I have a nine month old baby now so gaming time has diminished a little bit but I'm going to take a shot at a few of these games. Unfortunately, I tend to like longer RPGs so this might be rough.

Games in the collection that I would like to finish:

3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
Burnout Takedown (PS2) * (almost done with this one)
Chrono Trigger (DS)
Dark Cloud 2 (PS2)
Demon's Souls (PS3) *
Disgaea (PS2)
Dragon Quest IX (DS)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (GC) * (yeah, I know but I am 2/3 through--gotta see how this damn thing ends)
Final Fantasy IV (DS)
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1/PSP)
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS) *
Jeanne d'Arc (PSP)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)
Lego Batman (PS2) *
Lego Indiana Jones (PS3)
Lego Racers (PS2) * (my older son and I are almost finished with this one too)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3) *
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (PS3) *
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PS2) *
Uncharted 2 (PS3)

2011 Purchases

Final Fantasy Dissidia sequel if it comes out in 2011
Possibly Uncharted 3
Team Ico Collection
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded

2010/Older Purchases - if the price is right and my pile is smaller
Valkyrie Chronicles
Ratchet and Clank: Crack in Time

I, walterqchocobo, 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.

Whew--I feel better already.

I was weak. Nightmare's AAR in the EU3 thread got me interested in the game. I already had the complete collection (thanks Steam :() but after playing a bit I broke down and bought the Heir to the Throne expansion to go with it. So I'm adding it to my stack since I'll probably make at least one play-through on it now.

This one doesn't count for the official pile thread, but I just wrapped up all the achievements for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit a few minutes ago, including the DLC. The top tier races were right at the edge of my abilities, so the game lured me to putting in some serious hours (40+). Next up will be the 2nd half of Lara Croft, so I meet my January obligations for the pile thread. After that I think I'll go back to Fallout: New Vegas.

walterq welcome to the fold, you're in the system as of this post...

Sally, I'll go in and update your entry later tonight (killing some time at work at the moment), and casktapper, congrats on the promotion to Junior Executive.

I'm getting ready to come out of the doldrums, and looking at my list, I can see a few games that I will be cutting from my want-to-beat goals. Splinter Cell a few others are currently being reconsidered.

oddly enough, the game I'm most excited to play after a not playing anything for a bit? Dragon Age Origins and playthrough number 3...

EA deals for XBL listed here. All titles running at 50% off.

Listed here for those of us that have these games listed as purchases if the price is right, or those of us that want to round out DLC at a reduced price. DO NOT USE THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO ENABLE. ie, Sally, is it cheaper to buy all Dragon Age DLC at 50% off, rather than get the ultimate for $35 (do you still have the original disk, etc)?

EDIT: What the hell... Cut and paste is better than open in new tab, taken from EA website:

The sale starts on January 18th, and you’ll be able to save 50% on all of these awesome titles:

* Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
* Dragon Age: Origins - The Golems of Amgarrak
* Dragon Age: Origins - The Darkspawn Chronicles
* Dragon Age: Origins - Witch Hunt
* Dragon Age: Origins - Leliana's Song
* Medal of Honor - Hot Zone Pack
* Battlefield 1943
* DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue
* DeathSpank
* RISK: Factions
* Madden NFL Arcade
* Hasbro Family Game Night: Battleship
* Hasbro Family Game Night: Scrabble
* Hasbro Family Game Night: Boggle
* NHL 3 on 3 Arcade
* MicroBot
* Madden NFL 11 Max Pack
* NCAA Football 11 - NCAA Power Pack
* Tiger 11 - Favorites Course Pack
* FIFA 11 - Live Season All Leagues
* Fight Night Round 4 - Champions Pack II
* NHL 11 - 20th Anniversary Bauer Boost Pack

This sale only lasts until January 24th, so don’t delay. Just head to Xbox Live to make your purchase.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/hLywl.png)

help

EVERYONE BUY LIKE CRAZY!

Far Cry 2 is done, at 33 hours 37 minutes and 96% completion. I'm not sure how I hit 96% - I thought I skipped more than that. After about 20 hours, I decided I didn't really care the side things (collecting all diamonds, rescuing all buddies, finding the tapes). I did all the phone tower missions that were available, but didn't get the achievement for it. Not sure if the achievement is bugged, or if the trigger for the next one is bugged, or if I missed the trigger altogether. Oh well. Once I hit the southern territory, I did a couple of side quests (phone towers, and gun store missions), but mostly concentrated on story progression.

The game is mostly awesome, but the second half kinda drags on. Maybe it's just that I played almost 25 hours of it (and little else) over the past couple of weeks, but it doesn't feel like there is enough variety or depth to justify the length, plus there are some annoying design decisions, and bugs. I enjoyed the story, mostly, but the main twist, and the character motivations at the end don't make much sense. Perhaps it's unfair to knock it for what it isn't, but I think it would have been a better game if it were less straight shooter, and more RPG.

Still, it's a good game, and I would recommend that people play it if they haven't already. Just don't feel like you have to go for 100% completion.

Next, I'm going to tackle Uncharted. I got that from GameFly. Not sure if were are tracking GameFly or borrowed games in these threads, so I'll leave it here in case we are. I want to try to finish that before Dead Space 2 comes out next week.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

walterq welcome to the fold, you're in the system as of this post...

Sally, I'll go in and update your entry later tonight (killing some time at work at the moment), and casktapper, congrats on the promotion to Junior Executive.

Cheers!

Also, I see that you have Dark Void on your list - I think I may be the only one to say this, but I really liked that game. Just wish it had a teensy bit more time in the oven. The collectibles are not too hard to find, but get a guide before you start just to make your life easier:) But don't worry - if you miss one, you can replay to get it later.

Also - you should be able to 1k the game in about 8-10 hours if you play on hard from the beginning. Don't worry; it really isn't that hard.

It has been a very busy weekend for me, Plants vs. Zombies and Defense Grid Story Modes are complete, though I do see myself replaying Plants vs. Zombies from time to time in order to play more mini-games and work on my Zen Garden. Defense Grid was a struggle though and I did user some YouTube videos for some assistance, but I wanted to finish it off and move on into more of my pile and since I only used it on the very last few levels, I still feel like I accomplished a lot. It has also given me a new appreciation of those who are really good at tower defense games.

I also completed my season on Madden '11 and won the Super Bowl after going 17-2 with my Philadelphia Eagles (Fly Eagles Fly!). I played on All-Pro and if I lost a game, I did not re-load at all and just took the loss. It was fun to win it all but I was a little bummed that there was not an achievement for winning the Lombardi Trophy. I may keep playing into a second season, a lot of the off-season options are pretty robust and could prove to be fun and rewarding. I do hope that in Madden '12 (or '13, I'd be OK with them taking a year off, especially if there is a work stoppage) that they do re-visit the Franchise mode and give it more personality and character like Manager Mode in FIFA.

I'm beginning to wish every weekend was a three day weekend! However, I do realize that I did pick games that I was close to completing out the gate, the real challenge will be to finish games that I've never started.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Sally, I'll go in and update your entry later tonight (killing some time at work at the moment), and casktapper, congrats on the promotion to Junior Executive.

Thanks. I've been on the boards for years, but now that I'm no longer playing WoW, I spend more time here than my old guild forums.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

EA deals for XBL listed here. All titles running at 50% off.

Listed here for those of us that have these games listed as purchases if the price is right, or those of us that want to round out DLC at a reduced price. DO NOT USE THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO ENABLE. ie, Sally, is it cheaper to buy all Dragon Age DLC at 50% off, rather than get the ultimate for $35 (do you still have the original disk, etc)?

EDIT: What the hell... Cut and paste is better than open in new tab, taken from EA website:

*grumble* I was actually missing 2-3 of the Dragon Age DLC packs when I started at the beginning of the month, so I missed out on this deal. And there's nothing else there that I'm really interested in. Wait, that's actually a good thing in this thread.

I've only got a couple more levels to go in Lara Croft, so provided I do leave the office at some point tonight, I should be able to wrap that up.

I finished up Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light tonight. I was surprised by how well the game held up without a co-op buddy to finish it off. That's the last game that I had nominated in the official monthly pile thread, so I'm on a freeroll from here out. I did also cross Hot Pursuit off the month this list, so I'm making surprising good progress considering I've been putting in 50-60 hours a week at work. Hmmmm...maybe that's I sign I need a life? I think I may try Undead Nightmare next

I am tempted to pick up Plants vs. Zombies, even though I already own it on Steam. Somehow I haven't gotten around to finishing it, and gamerscore might be the incentive I need to do so. We will see how well I can keep my eye on the prize (pile) the rest of the week.

I had a productive Monday and polished off both Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was pretty amazing all around. Rolling deep with my crew of Assassins was probably one of the most empowering experiences I've had in a videogame in a very long time. I didn't 100% it this time around like I did with Assassin's Creed 2, but I immensely enjoyed the story and the feeling of being a total and utter badass.

Donkey Kong Country Returns was a love-hate relationship. I loved it when I could finish a level without dieing 10 times in a row, but hated it when -- well, I'm sure you can guess when I hated it. It's a fun little platformer, though. When I finally polished off the last boss, I had a moment of relief realizing that, in a way, I still have it. Hopefully that finger dexterity holds up while I tackle the rest of my mountain...

Hi all, sorry for the lack of updating (especially Serenj and Sally).

Had a few unexplained issues that I'm only just starting to get ontop of. If all goes well, I'll have the Google Doc back up to 100% before the weekend.

Sorry to hear that monkey. Hopefully it clears up sooner rather than later.

Ok, ok, I got a little bit tipsy over the weekend and I may have found a deal on ebay for madden '06 and '08 both for 5 bucks shipped and I may have been weak. I guess I need to add those to the pile - but it wasn't my fault, it was Buddy Bushmill's.

SallyNasty wrote:

Ok, ok, I got a little bit tipsy over the weekend and I may have found a deal on ebay for madden '06 and '08 both for 5 bucks shipped and I may have been weak. I guess I need to add those to the pile - but it wasn't my fault, it was Buddy Bushmill's.

Does that even count? I don't play Madden so maybe I'm missing something, but why would you even want the old versions?

Garden Ninja wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

Ok, ok, I got a little bit tipsy over the weekend and I may have found a deal on ebay for madden '06 and '08 both for 5 bucks shipped and I may have been weak. I guess I need to add those to the pile - but it wasn't my fault, it was Buddy Bushmill's.

Does that even count? I don't play Madden so maybe I'm missing something, but why would you even want the old versions?

Spoiler:

Super easy achievement points, but shhhhh!

SallyNasty wrote:
Spoiler:

Super easy achievement points, but shhhhh!

I knew it had to be that

Thanks casktapper (and Sally in the loathe thread), no news yet, but the ringing isn't as noticeable today (could just be the added background noise of work though). Fingers crossed.

Monkey, hope you feel better soon and wishing you all the best!

All right, both my items for this month are down. PoP 2008 DLC and God of War 3 completed. I'll just update my own listing.

EDIT: Oh, I guess I also finished New Vegas, though I'm still playing it with 2 other characters. Still, it's story complete, and thus done from the pile.

I finished 8 games in 2010. But that's including Batman AA twice, once for PC and once on the 360.

I've already knocked down 4 in the first 20 days of 2011:

* Gears of War 2

* Braid

* Resident Evil 5

and just finished tonight:

* Shadow Complex

4 of my last 5 finished games were from the year 2008. My goal for 2011 is 16 games, and I'm already 25% of the way there, with 10 days still left in January. I should be able to knock out one more before the month's end.

In the past week I've finished up Killzone 2, Uncharted, and Kane and Lynch 2. Three of the shortest games I own but still a great start. Decimating this pile is becoming my new obsession. Next up Kane and Lynch 1.

I made a mistake. Instead of playing a pile-game I could finish on my 3 day weekend I started NCAA 11, and started playing dynasty mode. Now between that and My Player on NBA 2k11, I have two more "games that never end" to play all the time.

Really enjoying my Mage in Dragon Age. Will be working on the extra dlc after I wrap it up. Game still feels so fresh even the 3rd time through...

So EA has my number today. I got Deathspank and Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue on XBLA on sale for 600 points each and I caught a EA Flash Deal for NBA Jam for 360 for $20 bucks and free shipping. So I will admit my weakness and add these two games to my list.

I also see that LA Noire is coming out May 17th and I forgot to add it to my list of 2011 purchases, I have added it now.

All right, not a bad start for January. Heavy Rain and Kane and Lynch 2 are off the list. Although, I'm not sure Kane and Lynch 2 was ever on this list... it was on a spreadsheet of mine...

OK, back in the saddle! Still can't hear for sh*t out of my right ear, but I'm waiting to hear back from an Ear Nose and Throat specialist, so hopefully some insight soon as to what's caused all this bloody mess, or at the very leasat, a way to fix it.

Serenj, you're now in the Google Doc, sorry for delays and welcome.

Looks like you've all been doing really well in terms of making a dent in the biggness that is our collective shamefull mountain.

I'm anticipating an employer sponsored day of rest tomorrow (sick day for the uninitiated) so I will go through and mop up all the details in the document for completed, etc, cross reference with Hemidal's list, and being as the month is drawing to a close, look at adding in a list of the 'program enrolees' into the initial post, as well as a running total of goals met.

Enjoy