2016 - The 12 Month Pile Plan

This seems like a topic relevant to this crowd: Did you learn anything about yourself as a player this year?

October Update
I finished Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. I got this when there was a 3DS/Wii U humble bundle, earlier this year (I think?) It's the only game from that bundle that I actually played.

I bought and finished Mafia III. I got the season pass also, so I'll be playing more of it in the next few months.

I also Fallout 4 + Season Pass when it was on sale on PSN.

I had planned to play Resident Evil Revelations this month also but didn't even launch my Wii U except for Shantae.

I also got back into Destiny. I was planning on letting my PS+ sub lapse but I'm considering re-upping just for that.

The rest of the year is probably mostly going to be Witcher 3, Fallout 4 and Destiny. I also have about a dozen games on the backlog that I might play here and there. Though backlog is a pretty loose concept for me lately so I won't be fussed if I don't get to them.

I spent the entire month playing Legend of Heroes Trail of Cold Steel 2 and Rocket League (still) I did manage to finish off couple indies Abzu and Beyond Eyes and make a little progress with Atelier Shallie.

My plan is to finish Legend of Heroes this week (final dungeon atm) and finish up Atelier Shallie by the time FF15 rolls around. All while trying to make time for my Rocket League habbit along with new release pick ups such as World of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest Builders.

Added:
Silent Hill 1 (PS3) - got this to play on Halloween but I ended up being pretty busy this month
Gone Home (Steam) - thanks again to Mateo for the steam key

Beat:
(nothing) ;_;

Made Progress In:
Silent Hill 1 (PS3)
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
Tomb Raider (Steam)
Pokemon Soul Silver (DS)

The good news is that I didn't have to move out afterall. My landlord found a new job in a different city and changed his mind. The bad news is I still didn't really make a lot of progress. Half the reason why is I was just plain busy but I found that I was more likely to turn on netflix when I came home. Easier to veg out and watch shows lately than to play games. :p

October update:

Added:
Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival (PS4)
Shu (PS4)
God Eater: Resurrection (Vita)

Completed:
Freedom Wars (Vita)
Shu (PS4) - A great platformer, BUY IT NOW

Made progress in:
Suikoden - I'm making an effort to keep going with the JRPG playalong but find this game to be really boring

My plan is to finally start one of the Disgaea games, buy World of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy XV in the next month or so, and clear some games that I have started and set aside (several Lego games, FF Type-0).

I'm making my October report from my tablet so bear with me here.

Added:

  • The Elder Scrolls 5 : Skyrim - Special Edition (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif)

Finished:

  • Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey - Book Four (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif)
  • Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey - Book Five (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif)
  • Big Pharma (Steam) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif)

Dropped:

  • Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif)
  • Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif)
  • Sly 2: Band of Thieves (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif)

Also played:

  • Heavy Rain (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif)

Remaining games: 42 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) (40 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif))
Progress (Games): 24 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) + 8 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif) - 32 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif) = 0
Est. remaining hours: 398 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) (387 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unplayed.gif))
Progress (Est. total hours): 196 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/beaten.gif) + 66 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif) + 14 played IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/unfinished.gif) - 278 IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif) = -2

Backloggery says 14. The Serious Crap® from August rolled into September, and then October with some relief, but not much. I did manage to wrap up Dreamfall Chapters and play as much of Big Pharma as I ever will though.

I hope your serious crap gets better soon, Eleima.

Eleima wrote:

Dropped:

  • Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif)
  • Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif)
  • Sly 2: Band of Thieves (PS3) IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/new.gif)IMAGE(http://backloggery.com/images/null.gif)

Aw. Too bad you didn't like Sly. That's one of my favorite series, though I can see how it might be an acquired taste.

October update...

Pile in:
Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U)
Dragon Quest VII (3DS)
Carmageddon: Max Damage (PC)
Costume Quest 2 (PC)
Dishonored (PC)
Overcooked (PC)

Pile out:
River City: Tokyo Rumble (3DS)

Oof.

Put Tokyo Rumble out to pasture which is one of the fastest turn-arounds this year which was cool. Kinda in a weird spot right now with a bunch of stuff I want to play coming out (Owlboy! World of Final Fantasy! Final Fantasy XV! Pokemon!) but looking at the backloggery history I'm reminded I've got a number of games that are still in progress which is unfortunate. Plus on a whim I started logging back into Kingdom of Loathing to start playing semi-regularly again for the first time in like 18 months which is all sort of not great for the pile.

So I dunno. I think I'll just try splitting my time between Costume Quest 2 and World of Final Fantasy for now and see how that goes. Maybe once I'm done with CQ2 I can join in on SallyNasty's Back to the Future game club. If this works maybe I'll see if I can get into a groove of interspersing longer games with shorter ones plus some multiplayer on the weekend. What could possibly go wrong?

2016 has been a major bust for me in terms of pile progress. I get to my PC in the evening and I just.... don't have the energy to get involved in a big story driven game or deep strategy game. I only tend to play for an hour a night, and the stop/start nature of my gameplay doesn't gel well with longer games. It's a small miracle that I was able to finish Witcher 3 last year, and I look at Dragon Age and can't see myself ever finishing something that long ever again!! I'm playing Total War in small chunks, which seems to work ok, but in general when I game at the moment I'm looking for short, repeatable experiences that don't require a great deal of me. These things aren't on my pile

@Clocky: hopefully, the Serious Crap personnified will be out of my house in 2-3 months so just a little longer!

@GN: to tell the truth, this was rational more than emotional. I hardly ever play my PS3 and they're just not my style.

I managed to finish two games this weekend. I can finally say I finished the first Dead Rising game I almost dropped it but I read somewhere that you have to get a few levels and the game tends to get easier. I stuck with it and eventually I started to enjoy it. I also finished Resident Evil 4 this game has so many ideas that went unused in the rest of the series.

Sure is quiet in here. How's this last few weeks looking for everyone?

Probably putting my list together tomorrow, as I don't plan on finishing Adr1ft before December. My November was surprisingly productive, though, even considering the whole surgery thing.

Not great. Looking back over the year, I have a lot of regrets. I played a lot of games this year, and I'm happy with what I played. I also dug into some games I've had for awhile but hadn't gotten to, including games I didn't think I'd enjoy, and I had a good time with them. But I bought a lot of things I wish I hadn't. There are clusters of games that I bought all at once and either am no longer excited about or frankly forgot I picked up at all. I repurchased two consoles because I regretted selling them before, but now they're collecting dust and only got used briefly before being forgotten again. I have things I haven't started, things I wanted to put more time into but haven't, and at least one game I wish I hadn't bothered with at all. I need a new plan.

Eleima wrote:

Sure is quiet in here. How's this last few weeks looking for everyone?

I'm proud of myself. I did not buy anything. I was tempted by Tales from the Borderlands and Twilight Princess HD, but I did not pull the trigger on either of them. All I had to do was to look at the list of 309 games I have in the backlog (not counting the 59 I put in the 'Null' category). (The fact that I have no space left on my Wii U also contributed up to a certain point, although I'm probably going to recycle an old external hard drive to remedy that situation shortly.)

I'm also doing really well resisting the call of Final Fantasy XV. I'm determined not to buy it until it goes down to the target price I've put on it (CAD40).

Eleima wrote:

How's this last few weeks looking for everyone?

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/EGkAu0w.gif)

Despite this being one of my better years (Backloggery says pile grew by 28, would've been 17 if it wasn't for the Telltale Bundle back in April) a lot of growth on the pile has happened in the last few months which has been a small source of anxiety lately. Like getting Final Fantasy XV in the mail today, but I don't feel like I should start it because I'm currently working on World of Final Fantasy which means I'll end up tabling World for a bit, or I'll start XV and jump back to World and table XV after a couple hours, or (and this is the likeliest outcome) something new will come along in a couple weeks and I'll table both of them. And I'm really more in the mood for Back to the Future: The Game tonight anyways. So why bother starting the new shiny? And why did I buy it in the first place?

Despite the above angsting lately, overall I've been pretty happy this year gaming-wise. But I'm not pleased I've got a mini-pile of started but unfinished games I attempted this year that I keep meaning to get back to. Not sure when I'll get an opportunity to start popping it, but I can't think of any games in that stack I regret playing.

So right after I said I won't be completing Adr1ft, I went and completed Adr1ft because I had the face-palmingly obvious revelation that you can't install a game off a disc if the PS4 is in rest mode.

My old man just sat through one night of me playing Doom (wherein I imagine he spent the majority of his time thinking "Now is that really necessary?") and tonight playing Adr1ft (which, if he were to ever play games, would honestly be right up his alley but he doesn't game and so he was either confused by the gamey-ness or bored), so no FFXV for me... but hey! Got tomorrow off for just this reason!

I'll actually probably wait until they're in bed and then start it. BUT! In any event, yeah, productive November. I'll write about it in more detail tomorrow sometime.

My yearly tally looks like this for now:

37 games cleared
12 games added (up until FFXV, and we can be sure that will be the end tally for added games at least as far as my own purchases go... can't vouch for gifts, though)

So a very positive end count this year. Makes me feel like I've accomplished... something... yeah.

Eleima wrote:

Sure is quiet in here. How's this last few weeks looking for everyone?

Crashed and burned, like 2016 as a whole. Best if I don't talk about it
I'm going to need renewed focus in 2017.

I'm really happy with what I played this year. Sure, I didn't get much done and I probably bought more than I played, but I feel like everything I played was really good and worth it! I'm happy I dropped FFXIV when it was becoming too stressful, and I'm glad I played both Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden.

bobbywatson wrote:

I was tempted by Tales from the Borderlands (...) but I did not pull the trigger on either of them.

Ooooh, but it's so good!!!!!

shoptroll wrote:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/EGkAu0w.gif)

Yup, seems about right.
In some weird, selfish way, I'm glad that I'm not the only one totally failing. The last three months were total failures for me, barely any games played and cleared. December won't be much different.
Thank goodness Demyx and Brokenclavicle are doing better than us.

Eleima wrote:

In some weird, selfish way, I'm glad that I'm not the only one totally failing. The last three months were total failures for me, barely any games played and cleared. December won't be much different.
Thank goodness Demyx and Brokenclavicle are doing better than us. ;)

Except I've barely "cleared" any games all year. I'm just happy with the ones I did.

Focusing on quantity over quality is a huge mistake I've made in the past.

I've been thinking a lot about challenging myself to not buy new games for a year. I realized that I'm caught in a similar loop to what shoptroll mentioned above: games I'm already playing are interrupted by new games that I get, one of those games get shelved for the time being, and by the time I'm ready to return to them I have a new game to play. I'm getting in my own way.

2017 would be a challenging year to sit out. Off the top of my head, I can think of four or five games I'm really excited for that will be coming out just in the next six months (not to mention the Nintendo Switch). The flipside of that is that I haven't managed to get to some of the games from 2016 that I was equally excited for, which makes me wonder if I'm looking forward to playing those 2017 games or just buying them.

I wonder if I wouldn't be happier waiting until next November and hovering up everything I missed during the year. It would certainly give me a chance to get impressions over time and to let the Switch build up a good library.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I've been thinking a lot about challenging myself to not buy new games for a year. I realized that I'm caught in a similar loop to what shoptroll mentioned above: games I'm already playing are interrupted by new games that I get, one of those games get shelved for the time being, and by the time I'm ready to return to them I have a new game to play. I'm getting in my own way.

I think where I get hung up in this thread is: how is this a problem? You played games you enjoyed right?

No amount of strategies on buying/playing games is going to help without getting to the root cause of why this bothers you, I'd think.

My November...

INCOMING PURCHASES
The Division (PS4)
Destiny: The Collection (PS4)
Oxenfree (PS4)

OUTGOING
Gone Home (PS4) - completed
Oxenfree (PS4) - completed
Journey (PS4) - Not completed myself, but the experience of sitting with my son as he played through to the end credits... I don't think I'll beat that playing on my tod.
Mad Max (PS4) - Dropped and traded.
Monster Hunter Generations (3DS) - Dropped & traded.

PLAYING
The Division (PS4) - Most of the time!
Overwatch (PS4)
Rhythm Paradise Megamix (3DS)

Father / Son - game time currently playing...
Journey - Although finished once, he wants to go again!
Zelda - Link to the Past (Wii VC)
New Super Mario Bros Wii + Mario Kart
Lego Avengers (PS4) - free play, still.

RESERVES List getting way too long, needs hacking back!
Destiny: The Collection (PS4)
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (PS4)
Rocket League (PS4) - demoted.
Banner Saga (PS4) - demoted.
Hitman (PS4)
Rebel Galaxy (PS4)
Uncharted 4 (PS4)
The Witness (PS4)
Walking Dead Season 2 (PS4)
Unravel (PS4)
No Mans Sky (PS4) - Will I ever go back to it?
Yokai Watch (3DS)
Rhythm Thief (3DS)
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
Radiohammer (3DS)
Castlevania IV (3DS VC)
Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) - One day, one day...
Hitman Go (Android)
Sorcery! 2 (Android)

November was a little rough on the pile for me...but the deals were so good! Just keep telling myself that.

Purchased:
Complete King's Quest Collection (PS4)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4)
Ratchet and Clank (PS4)
Final Fantasy XV (PS4)
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (PS4)

Completed:
Letter Quest Remastered (Vita) - SOOO much fun
Code: Realize some strange subtitle (Vita)

Close to abandoning due to lack of fun:
Suikoden

Going to start:
Final Fantasy XV (PS4)
Disgaea something (Vita)

Unless there is a really good sale on something else that I'm interested in (I am Setsuna, Salt and Sanctuary), I think that I am finished purchasing games for 2016. 2017 will bring Gravity Rush 2 and Final Fantasy XII remaster so I better start chipping away at this pile in the meantime.

November Round-Up!

Games Completed:
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- Doom
- Battlefield 1
- Adr1ft
- Dishonored 2

Summary
Despite losing a business week of game time, I still managed to complete five f*cking games this month. Granted, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Adr1ft only took 2-3 play sessions each, but even then, Battlefield 1 was a week in and of itself, and neither Dishonored 2 nor Doom were short experiences. I did a lot of gaming this month.

Unfortunately, it did come at the cost of writing. I've been having difficulty getting myself to really write much of anything. I'm behind on my blog, GWJ, and my YouTube channel and every weekend I hoped to get to a library or something to force myself into that mental state, I either had a cold or severe back pain or a gallbladder being removed... or Extra Life, which is probably one of the reasons I was able to manage CoD and Doom this month.

What will December be like? Well, I am playing FFXV right now, have World of Final Fantasy, and Paper Mario: Color Splash... oh, and Gravity Rush 2 releases on Tuesday. So chances are, December is going to be comparatively terrible in productivity.

2016 as a whole

I learned a few things about me this year. One of which is I need to limit my purchases to what I know I'll be interested in and not things that I think would be fun because of writing about them or something. I should not have bought Homefront: The Revolution or Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, though to be fair, I was sincerely interested in the latter. But it got forgotten. I also should not have bought Battlefield 1, but I wanted to be part of the conversation. Now, sometimes it works out, as I am glad I played Doom even though I originally had no interest in it. But most of the time, I should only stick with what really sparks my interest.

I also confirmed that I have quite a mood shift in the summer, where I prefer television/film/anime over action-oriented and fast paced gaming. However, JRPG's are fine. In fact, that's when I'm most receptive to them. So while I probably won't get to I Am Setsuna before the end of the year, it might be worth it to save the game until June. Same goes for Persona 5, which I believe was delayed so that works out anyway. The plus side is that this is the first year I didn't have any "non-productive" months regarding my gaming.

As always, I need to work on my gaming/writing/YouTube balance because right now it's primarily gaming, and while I rarely feel guilty about time spent gaming, I do feel like I need to take that time and put it somewhere creative. Unfortunately it really is becoming all escapism because my job is just so absolutely mentally draining.

We'll see how next year goes.

November!

Pile in:
World of Final Fantasy (PS4)
The Last Door: Season 1 (PC)
Final Fantasy XV (PS4)

Pile out:
Costume Quest 2 (PC)

Two RPGs and a Kickstarter (AdventureX thank you gift I guess?) come in. Costume Quest 2 goes out finally, and I started Back to the Future. Ok month, and this looks like the last batch of new games (ignoring Kickstarter projects or holiday gifts) until early next year.

I'm still feeling kinda scattered so I guess my main priority this month is to figure out which long-form game I'm focusing on alongside BttF, and stick with it.

ccesarano wrote:

I also confirmed that I have quite a mood shift in the summer, where I prefer television/film/anime over action-oriented and fast paced gaming. However, JRPG's are fine. In fact, that's when I'm most receptive to them.

Interesting. Demyx and I have talked in the past about how Fall is JRPG time and Winter is Nintendo season. I can see Summer working well for JRPGs since I have a bunch of nostalgic memories of playing JRPGs a lot during summer break from school when I was a kid, so I assume that's the same case with you?

shoptroll wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

I also confirmed that I have quite a mood shift in the summer, where I prefer television/film/anime over action-oriented and fast paced gaming. However, JRPG's are fine. In fact, that's when I'm most receptive to them.

Interesting. Demyx and I have talked in the past about how Fall is JRPG time and Winter is Nintendo season. I can see Summer working well for JRPGs since I have a bunch of nostalgic memories of playing JRPGs a lot during summer break from school when I was a kid, so I assume that's the same case with you?

I don't play JRPGs but I also have seasonal gaming habits. If I'm going to tackle a big, western RPG then summer time seems to be the time I'm most in the mood for one. How strange. I also don't have any Nintendo stuff, but as the nights draw in I'm looking for more light hearted, casual experiences- Planet Coaster is just perfect at the moment and I've got an itch to play one of the Lego games.