2016 - The 12 Month Pile Plan

I'm probably not gonna get the 2ds anyway. Even if I could sell my current 3ds to cover some of it I can't justify the cost right now.

I did play a bit of EOU last night and I can play it without discomfort. I just have to prop it on a pillow on my lap and avoid the instinct to hold on t with my pinkie. So I'll just do that.

Not as convenient and it means I probably won't play it in bed but it works.

Garden Ninja wrote:

Not as convenient and it means I probably won't play it in bed but it works.

Have you tried getting a grip for it? I know they exist, and I've been tempted to get one for a while for extended Monster Hunter sessions...

Yeah I have. One of the ones I tried was decent comfort wise but broke pretty quick. But if I remember right, that was largely due to it being semi permanent, so maybe if I just treat it that way from the start it would work.

I just looked that one up and it covers the stylus slot, which is probably why I tried to take it back off in the first place. So I'd need to attach it with a string or something so I don't lose it. Hmm.

Bubblefuzz wrote:

So that PS3 hit list along with ECT (Estimated Completion Time)

Mass Effect 2 (35.5 hrs)
Red Dead Redemption (26 hrs)
Tomb Raider 2013 (14.5 hrs)
Bioshock Infinite (13.5 hrs)
The Last of Us (16 hrs)
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (3 hrs)
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (7 hrs)
Heavy Rain (11 hrs)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (30 hrs)
Beyond: Two Souls (12 hrs)

...

... and maybe Dishonored deserves my time? mmm...

Aye caramba, there are 3 to 5 of the top 10 games of the last generation in that list. I definitely recommend RDR, which is the most unique open world game on the PS3/X360 and the only Rockstar game that ever did something for me. The Last of Us is the game Naughty Dog wanted to make all along, all the while making the Uncharted series. As is Tomb Raider, just in a different way. Mass Effect 2 is the best BioWare game since the Baldur's Gate era and up until today. And Brothers you can (and should) finish in one afternoon and be well rewarded in every sense a game can.

If you want to cut a few: Deus Ex: HR doesn't measure up to Dishonored (unless you care for cyberpunk over steampunk), Heavy Rain and Beyond won't do much for you if you're not into the Telltale-style of adventure games and FC3:BD is only FC3 with a neon aesthetic and corny humor. Lastly, Bioshock Infinite doesn't stand on its own all that well, but for fans together with its DLCs it creates a mindblowing continuity with the two predecessors.

PS: play Dishonored.

I entirely disagree with Luggage. The only thing in that list that's can't miss is Deus Ex.

I do not entirely disagree with Luggage, but there are some things I gotta call foul on. Mass Effect 2 might have better shooty shooty and have some really good characters, but it's also the game that "ruined Mass Effect", depending on your definition (and my definition is "abandoning exploration and making the villains complete numbskulls in an effort to make it more mainstream friendly". Yeah, sure, characters are great, suicide mission is a nifty idea that should have been saved for the third game. But God damn, I'd rather just replay ME1 and write the rest of the story in my head).

I didn't get a nards punch to the feels with Brothers, but it was certainly a good game with a really contrived plot twist that was followed up by some pretty beautiful stuff.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a much more efficient, and therefore better, version of Far Cry 3 with a layer of awesome melted all over it.

ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm not quite sure what to do. I recently traded a stack of games in to Gamestop and accumulated a decent stack of store credit. I spent some of it on Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam but have enough leftover to buy basically any other game I want. On top of that, I have a coupon for $10 off anything physical in the store that expires at the end of this month (no download codes, no pre-orders).

...wut?

That's...odd. I think in this situation, you can basically spend it on a non-game item (an Amiibo, one of the toys they have in there, a peripheral/accessory), or just let the coupon whither because $10 isn't saved if it forces you to buy something that costs more money (unless it works out to cost exactly $10).

The store credit should be good forever, but the coupon...hrm. If there's nothing in the store you'd want, then I'd say let it expire and wait for something you really (really) want.

I ended up putting the coupon toward a GOTY edition of Shadow of Mordor. That knocked it down to the same price as the regular edition, which I had been planning to get at the same price sometime soon. I just couldn't let $10 off of something go to waste.

ccesarano wrote:

I do not entirely disagree with Luggage, but there are some things I gotta call foul on. Mass Effect 2 might have better shooty shooty and have some really good characters, but it's also the game that "ruined Mass Effect", depending on your definition (and my definition is "abandoning exploration and making the villains complete numbskulls in an effort to make it more mainstream friendly". Yeah, sure, characters are great, suicide mission is a nifty idea that should have been saved for the third game. But God damn, I'd rather just replay ME1 and write the rest of the story in my head).

Fair points. Also, my judgement is based purely on the PC version and including the DLCs. I have no idea how well the shooting and planet scanning plays with a controller, let alone playing a "space wizard" class and what the game would be like without the Shadow Broker or Katsumi.
And talking about writing stories in our heads... third game?! What third game?

That being said and with a nod to ClockworkHouse, Bubblefuzz has a bit of a champagne problem there. It's a spectacular list of games and Investing time into any of them will be worth it.

While I am at it, update on my own efforts. This month was harder to resist and my wishlists on Steam and Amazon have grown, but still no purchases. I just finished "Thursday" in Heavy Rain and think I will beat it in the coming days. Edit: Apparently Friday was shorter than the other days, so I brushed of the last of it this morning. It has its flaws as well as strengths, some of which I covered in the "games I just finished" thread. I gave it a 3/5 for now, end of year review pending.
Up next: God of War 3

Left 2016:

  • Assassin's Creed: Rogue (PS3)
  • Dante's Inferno (PS3)
  • Demon's Souls (PS3) (32h - done)
  • God of War 2 (PS3) (16h - done)
  • God of War 3 (PS3)
  • Heavy Rain (PS3) (12h - done)
  • Nier (PS3)
  • Vanquish (PS3)
Luggage wrote:

Aye caramba, there are 3 to 5 of the top 10 games of the last generation in that list.

Aye, as it's my PS3 retirement plan... half of the list taken from backlog was made with the recommendation from Garden Ninja to only play Freaking Awesome games

Years ago now, I played the first Mass Effect when very briefly strayed from my PS roots, but didn't quite complete before getting rid and jumping back on the Sony train. So... yet another game I really got into but didn't see through till the end. Was tempted to replay on PS3 but read or heard you can do a quick catch up, making key decisions before starting Mass Effect 2 proper? If that's the case then that's the plan.

Red Dead, loved too but only got a short way into the story before getting sucked into multiplayer and burning out on it there. I think it's been long enough ago now to go back and play through the game properly.

Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider were PS+ downloads - So be rude not to at least have a crack - An hour or so into Tomb Raider atm, great so far.

Last of Us - This should be right up my street, I've been saving it for a rainy day for a looong time... When I think about starting, something in back of mind says save it for the right time, when I can get properly get stuck in, relatively uninterrupted... but that time hasn't come yet... not sure why (well lack of time, but that applies to all games). I can even see this one rolling over to PS4 and stumping up for remastered, maybe.

The other half the list are games have that intrigue me enough to take a look at before retiring PS3...

Never played a Far Cry game, thinking should give one a shot and the so the idea of a shorter version with added neon and 80s references appeals and have it anyhow via PS+. Brothers, short and seems interesting. Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, having just recently played through my first couple Tell Tale series and am now a fan, so thought these might scratch the same itch. And yep I'm a sucker for a spot of Cyberpunk... Syndicate on the old Amiga and original Deus Ex, on the Mac I think way back when... so Human Revolution - I'm on board, will at least give it a fair go.

... dishonored... mmm.... it's like £3 in Cex... seriously considering adding to the pile in time for the April play though you got going on.

Cheers for the input.

The only thing that might throw a spanner in the PS3 retirement pile plan works... No Man's Sky.

I think I've just about hit my breaking point with Dark Souls. It's a brilliant, wonderful game, but it performs so poorly on the 360 that technical issues regularly interfere with gameplay. If the new one wasn't coming out in just over a month, and if the sequel didn't already get ported to PS4, I'd probably press on. But as it is, I'm inclined to just wait until April to get my Dark Souls fix with a game that, if it runs at least as well as Bloodborne, will be a considerably better experience.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I think I've just about hit my breaking point with Dark Souls. It's a brilliant, wonderful game, but it performs so poorly on the 360 that technical issues regularly interfere with gameplay. If the new one wasn't coming out in just over a month, and if the sequel didn't already get ported to PS4, I'd probably press on. But as it is, I'm inclined to just wait until April to get my Dark Souls fix with a game that, if it runs at least as well as Bloodborne, will be a considerably better experience.

For what it is worth I think that, if you don't have the DLC, the game peaks before you get the Lordvessel. So if you have gotten there I think you have seen the best areas and boss fights.

So a problem I've had with games in the past is getting frustrated because I wasn't approaching the end quickly enough. They felt too long, or rather I was reaching a point where I didn't want to spend much longer on them. However, this is not to say they weren't enjoyable.

I make this clarification because if they weren't enjoyable why would I not drop them? I'm not devoted to completionism that much. However, I can tell I'm reaching that point with Fire Emblem Conquest. I know there are 28 chapters in it, but I want there to be more like 24 or 25 as I now enter Chapter 22. I've been thoroughly challenged, I've accepted the loss of some characters (including a good one in 21), and now I'm ready to be approaching the conclusion. I can feel that eventually this may grow to frustration with the game.

Part of this, I think, is that I cannot grind levels and therefore if I keep losing characters I'm screwed. I will not be able to complete the game unless I put it on Phoenix or something, which I don't want to do. So perhaps I should set it so characters return the next battle. But I feel a bit of "gamer pride" or whatever bullsh*t. Part of me thinks I should take a break, but if I do then the game will be dragged out until about April or so, maybe May. While normally this may not be a problem, there's the added fact that I try to get this stuff at least somewhat timely for my blog.

So I suppose I'm just trying to manage expectations in my mind as to why I feel like a game should be reaching its conclusion. Though in this case, I really do think 28 chapters may be too long. But, we'll see. As I said, it's feeling too long, but every time I play I'm enjoying myself.

ccesarano wrote:

So a problem I've had with games in the past is getting frustrated because I wasn't approaching the end quickly enough. They felt too long, or rather I was reaching a point where I didn't want to spend much longer on them. However, this is not to say they weren't enjoyable.

I can definitely sympathize with this since this is what happened with me towards the end of Prof. Layton & The Unwound Future. I would genuinely take a break from it for a week or two and play something else and then come back.

+1 on taking a break. I tend to switch around between 4-5 games so that I can let some lie for a bit if it starts to feel a bit like a grind or I get that "I just want to finish this and be done with it feeling." It can be tempting to just plow on and get more and more frustrated that the game isn't over yet but usually I end up more satisfied if I take a break.

Drop it for a few days, if not a week, then come back to it. That amount of time usually does the trick for me.

That's the funny thing. I had the opportunity to drop it for a bit. I beat Gravity Rush Remastered last night and, with just an hour before bed, didn't really have anything to do. I played a bit of Super Mario World, but ultimately I just wanted to play more of Fire Emblem.

So as I said, I'm enjoying it, it's not that playing it is becoming a chore, but I'm wondering if the game really is longer than it ought to be, or if perhaps I'm just feeling the need to move on to other games via external pressure (one being that I've only beaten a single game each of the previous two months, I'm going to have to start recording footage for a new video later this month, and I'd like to write about Conquest at least before it gets too out of fashion).

Oddly enough, part of why I want to finish is so I can go back and resume Codename S.T.E.A.M. However, after I completed the first Robo-Lincoln fight, I honestly felt a bit "done" with that game. "Okay, that was neat, no pressure to move forward". So it's technically two games by the same developer with similar styles, but one I cannot seem to put down while the other I feel obligated to pick back up.

I am just not enthused about anything I have to play right now.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I am just not enthused about anything I have to play right now. :?

I'm right there with you. I am in the middle of a couple games that are fun but not blowing me away. Work has REALLY sucked lately so I'm sure that is part of it.

walterqchocobo wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I am just not enthused about anything I have to play right now. :?

I'm right there with you. I am in the middle of a couple games that are fun but not blowing me away. Work has REALLY sucked lately so I'm sure that is part of it.

+1 to both these posts.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I am just not enthused about anything I have to play right now. :?

Played almost nothing the entire month of February. Didn't get a desire to play anything until Stardew Valley made me swoon, just 6 days.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I am just not enthused about anything I have to play right now. :?

I wonder if we trade moods? Because I don't have enough time to play about all the things I'm enthused about.

Already lose steam with Twilight Princess? I'm at the spot following the third dungeon. Been loving it so far.

walterqchocobo wrote:

I am in the middle of a couple games that are fun but not blowing me away.

Exactly! I'm having fun with Twilight Princess and Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, but I'm not eager to get back to any of them. It says a lot to me about my level of enthusiasm that I sat down to play something last night and ended up sinking a couple hours into Bloodborne instead of playing something new.

ccesarano wrote:

Already lose steam with Twilight Princess? I'm at the spot following the third dungeon. Been loving it so far.

As with the others, I'm enjoying it, but I'm not super excited about it. But this is also my fourth trip through the game. I played it one time on GameCube to 100%, most of the way through a second time on GameCube, and about half-way through on Wii. At this point, it's pure comfort food.

So, er, note to self I guess: just because stealth games are one of my favorite genres, doesn't mean I'll enjoy literally every stealth game.

I got Alekhine's Gun from gamefly, and it's not... good. Clumsy controls, crappy visuals, sound level problems, no auto save at all, incredibly sluggish panning on the map screen. I thought Styx was kinda janky but oof.

First mission, they dumb you into the map with now guidance about what the stealth model is, stealth vs shooting, legal vs non lethal. Just here's a bunch of enemies who will shoot on sight, and you have no distraction tools.

Turns out the stealth model is a Hitman, which is like my least favorite of the big stealth series. Only way I could get past the opening was find a dark corner just barely outside the vision cones and wait for the patrolling guard to come my why and chloroform him and take his uniform when he turned.

I'll give it another hour, in case it suddenly clicks, but most likely I'm gonna put this back in the mail tonight. I have several other stealth games I could play or replay.

But, this is what game fly is for: game tourism. Sometimes the tour sucks.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it takes for a game to hold my interest. For me, it boils down to three things: gameplay, story/characters, and environment/setting. I need to like two of those, love at least one of them, and not dislike any of them. It's rare for me to stick with something if I don't like some aspect of it, although it does happen.

That's helped me understand better why there are some games that I ostensibly like but don't feel all that enthusiastic about. Dragon Age: Inquisition is the one that's been on my mind lately and that inspired this train of thought. I like the characters, and I like the environments, but I'm indifferent to the gameplay, and I simply don't love anything in it. There's nothing in the game that puts me off, but there's also nothing that makes me think, "gee, I'm looking forward to seeing or doing more of that".

It actually surprised me to realize that story and characters play a part for me. I've always thought I was the kind of person who was really focused first and foremost on mechanics, but as I thought about it, I realized that story and characters weigh more than I thought they did. It's probably the weakest leg for me in that tripod of needs; if I keep playing something where I actually dislike any aspect of it, it'll be the story or characters.

There's kind of a priority order between those three things with environment being the most important and story being the least. That was another weird realization: games with unique and interesting environments rate more highly for me than ones with unique and interesting gameplay. That might explain why I continue to prefer AAA games to indies.

Hopefully, understanding this will help me make better decisions about what to play and what to buy. What keeps you all involved in a game?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Hopefully, understanding this will help me make better decisions about what to play and what to buy. What keeps you all involved in a game?

Well, if Dying Light is any indication, sometimes pure stubbornness.

But I think it also touches on those things you mentioned, though maybe "balanced" differently. DL has hints of brilliance in at least gameplay and characters, and then a bunch of junk cluttering it up. Apparently just enough brilliance to keep me playing through the frustrating/annoying parts.

Which one I prioritize probably depends on what kind of game it is. Like, gameplay might just need to not get in the way of an RPG, or other story heavy game, but an action game better have engaging mechanics. That's probably pretty normal, if I had to guess. There are definitely games made better by their environments, but I can't think of a game where a crappy environment was a deal breaker for me.

I'm much like you, Clocky. It's the holy trinity of gameplay, story/characters, and environment/setting, with story/characters definitely taking first place. I'll endure some pretty crappy controls/GUI/inventory if there's a great story, characters I get attached to, or a rich world I can get immersed in. Pretty much every game in my GOTY lists fits the bill.

Spoiler tagging because my response is long, meandering, and probably doesn't even answer the question:

Spoiler:

I'm pretty much a "Mechanics First" sort of fellow, though largely because most games simply do not have story or characters worth caring about. There are some games with a story good enough to carry you through the first time, but not enough on a replay (I'm looking at you, Walking Dead: Season One). Of course, even if I'm not enjoying a game I try to make an effort to complete it so I can write about it more properly, but when I sit down to game for leisure, or if I feel that occasional itch while at work, where a game has latched onto my cerebellum like a parasite, then it's a game that really has me.

Often enough, those are games that are excel mechanically. It's been long enough that I'm feeling the Destiny itch again, but I'm also still absorbed into Fire Emblem even though I'm probably beyond the 60 hour point now (my time got screwed up when my system failed to fall asleep when I closed the lid). Fire Emblem is most definitely all about the mechanics, with maybe a bit of enjoyment to some characters.

Murdered: Soul Suspect and Until Dawn are narrative games that I haven't tested with a replay yet. I would like to revisit their stories, but I'm not sure how the gameplay would hold up. Even so, to me, while they weren't as "mechanics heavy" as, say, a Platinum or Nintendo game, it was still their mechanics that helped draw me into the game, its setting, and its story. I think this is largely what has kept me from really playing too many more Telltale games, as I feel like they're tied too deeply to point-and-click gameplay of the old days, only with much more simple puzzles to complete. To me, those mechanics are out-dated in the same way turn-based JRPG's are out-dated to those that didn't grow up with them on the SNES or Playstation 1. Murdered and Until Dawn evolve and refine those elements and the manner in which the story is told, or at least in my mind.

I'm curious how Republique is going to turn out, as I honestly purchased it on a whim (it was cheap!). However, one of the reasons I haven't tried yet is because, when I power on my TV, I inevitably switch over to Pokken Tournament (which is also beating out Twilight Princess, though more because that requires changing the discs more hours in one sitting for worthwhile play).

In fact, taking that parenthetical and making it the subject, I think mechanics are such a heavy emphasis for me because I want a solid experience in as little as thirty minutes or as long as three hours. Most narrative games don't feel like you're getting a good experience if you sit down for just a half hour. They tend to be written as episodes, meaning you need to play them like you'd commit to watching a TV episode or a film. But I can play Pokken Tournament for ten minutes and be satisfied, or for an hour and be satisfied.

Ultimately, I think the only thing that doesn't factor in, or I put on the level of story/characters, is environment. Some worlds I'll stop and just admire for a moment, but I'd rather the game say "Yo, go over there, there's stuff to do". More, I'd love that stuff to be uniquely designed from the stuff I did way back that way. Elder Scrolls doesn't interest me because the A.I. is simple and the world feels so copy/paste. I loved Dragon's Dogma because I remember cresting the hill at night only to see goblins fighting two ogres, the hulking bodies glowing from the torches of the humanoids beneath them. I remember the cave that I first encountered a troll, and how it picked up and tried to run off with a female pawn. I remember fighting the Wyrm in the forest, as day gave way to night, and how it and the trees glowed ominously as it cast the mind-control spell on my pawns. In Elder Scrolls, you walk into a cave and watch as some enemy charges you upon first sight with the same awkwardly animated gait before swinging a weapon at you over, and over, and over again.

I don't care if a world is filled with tomes upon tomes of world-building, or secret crevices with cleverly positioned skeletons, or a hidden homage to when Conan gets the sword in the John Milius film. Being in the world is still boring.

So I guess for me, it's not so much a trifecta of parameters. It's more how good are the mechanics, and then how much are those mechanics enriched by the narrative and setting.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What keeps you all involved in a game?

A strong sense of forward momentum as I've discovered with Final Fantasy XIII. I put in about 10 hours into over the last week effectively where it rocketed right to the top of my gaming priorities over Diablo III and Marvel Puzzle Quest. The key I think is that in FFXIII I'm constantly making progress whereas in D3 and MPQ I'm stuck in the end-game grind/rut where I'm no longer making progress at a steady clip due to their structure.

Eleima wrote:

I'm much like you, Clocky. It's the holy trinity of gameplay, story/characters, and environment/setting, with story/characters definitely taking first place. I'll endure some pretty crappy controls/GUI/inventory if there's a great story, characters I get attached to, or a rich world I can get immersed in. Pretty much every game in my GOTY lists fits the bill.

Also this.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Hopefully, understanding this will help me make better decisions about what to play and what to buy. What keeps you all involved in a game?

I had initially quickly written a post that was basically just saying that mechanics are the sole reason for me to stick with a game. Once I started to think about it, I realized that some of my favorite games were pretty janky in terms of controls (the Drakengard series, Yakuza, The Witcher). In the same thought, I can also pick games that were extremely sound mechanically, but have minimum or nonsensical stories (Devil Daggers, Diablo, Super Meat Boy). So, what's the common thread for me, then?

I'm thinking that I'm more on a sliding scale much like the rest of you. If a game offers something unique/weird I'm definitely more apt to stick with it. Catherine is a perfect example of this for me--it has a combination of a unique gameplay mechanic (the dream sequences) in addition to having a weird story. So maybe I'd say that a game needs some sort of well-executed gimmick to get me to stick with it?

Garden Ninja wrote:

Well, if Dying Light is any indication, sometimes pure stubbornness.

I've also done exactly this for a few games (*cough*Dishonored*cough*, although certainly not as much as I used to. If there is one thing I have noticed about my gaming habits is that I am much quicker to drop a game if I feel like it is completely failing in just one area to the point of being detrimental.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It actually surprised me to realize that story and characters play a part for me....

Hopefully, understanding this will help me make better decisions about what to play and what to buy. What keeps you all involved in a game?

I figured out very early on in gaming that exploration and world building were important to me. I was gravitating towards Zork and Atari Adventure, and then Legend Of Zelda, rather than the better-looking or mechanically more interesting contemporaries. This has lead to being pretty graphics-focused, as I tend to go through games slowly, frequently just stopping and admiring the view as well as reading every little thing.

But like you, when I thought about it, I was surprised by a certain realization: sound is incredibly important. Music, sound effects, and quality voice acting will get me to put up with a lot; but no matter how good the story or gameplay is, I'll probably get bored if the sound design isn't on point.

Turns out gameplay isn't all that important for me. I'll play all kinds of genres or (up to a point) difficulty levels as long I'm exploring an immersive world.

Also, it turns out I'm way more interested in characters than story. Most people group them together, but-- perhaps from being raised on so many JRPGs-- turns out I've learned to put up with a dumb story if I like the (virtual) company.

I think it's good that we explore this subjective stuff both for ourselves and for others. I recently loaned some games to a friend and I found myself skipping what I thought were great games, and suggesting what I thought were subjectively "inferior" ones, based on his tastes.