2017 - 12 Month Pile Program

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As the New Year approaches we find ourselves once again questioning our sanity as we sit next to an ever growing pile of unplayed games.

Some of us view this as a pile of shame, others a curator style obligation. Others are just hanging out for that broken leg that requires plenty of bed rest, but doesn't impact on our fingers and thumbs. Whatever way you view your pile, this thread is for those want help/guidance/encouragement to dig deeper into the "whys, and hows" of pile management over a long range, long term commitment to reduce, remove, or re-motivate their respective assaults on the pile.

Join us (if you dare), as we try to find a way to be at peace with our pile, and have fun doing so.

After all, isn't this all just meant to be "a bit of fun"?

Tools available to you:

Online management sites.
Some of us use sites, like Backloggery, or newcomer Grouvee to handle our piles. Pros and cons of each take up some discussion, but the main downside to Backloggery is that it has no batch modifications, and no 'export' function. Grouvee does a really nice job of auto loading your Steam Library, so if your Pile of shame resides primarily in that space, it's a good place to begin. I'll add more, as we find them.

Spreadsheets, spreadsheets, and more spreadsheets.
Be they Google, Open Office, or Xcel, making and maintaining lists has never been easier. Fully customisable, to meet your every need. Garden Ninja has also been hard at work creating a tracking spreadsheet for those that want to get really down and dirty with their respective piles. Feel free to make a copy of that file, and modify it to meet your own needs if necessary.

Using what you've already got.
Never underestimate the power of your own apps. Some of us have modified Steam's category features to help organise our piles. Hide, Long Term, Gifts Received, pick a category title, and work your own magic.
Danopian has some tried and true categories listed in our 2014 thread.
Kamakazi010654 prefers stealth management in their Steam list, using the 'hidden' feature to avoid clutter.

Things we've made
This section is dedicated to those who have taken up the challenge, put their money where their mouth is, and have actually given it a go at making an App that works for managing the pile.
Our inaugural contribution to this section is Garden Ninja, and an App affectionately known as Gomer.

Garden Ninja wrote:

As a reminder, here is the one I made and am using. I'm pretty happy with it now, and am about ready to release a 1.0 version (like, I'll probably do that tonight). I made it because I was sick of the spreadsheet, and wanted something that did just what I wanted. I don't really envision it changing much at this point, but I'm certainly happy to take feedback if people find it useful. It is a .NET exe, so probably Windows only, though I can look into making it work with mono if there is demand for it.

Community Support.
Hemidal has a Monthly Pile commitment thread, and we also have a Monthly Game Club run by SallyNasty, and an RPG club that runs Quarterly thanks to Damnable Bear.

Monthly Game Club as run by SallyNasty (Супер Sassy!) can be found here, "Where the Games come monthly, but the cheevos are forever!". Games are chosen through discussion in the main thread, and then breaks off each month into smaller nominated game threads. Spoilers/discussion guidelines are set each month, but the main ones are as follows.

1. Games should be at least 1 calendar year old. That makes it easy to find games that are either a) on most people's piles or b) cheap to pick up(I am thinking 10-15 bucks max).
2. Games should be either episodic or broken up into easily agreed upon stopping points (i.e. achievement for ch.1 or reaching certain checkpoint). I would like it to be about an hour to an hour and a half for each "assigned" session, no more than 5-6 hours a week needed to participate.
3. Games shouldn't be more than 20 hours.
4. No console exclusives. Has to be on Microsoft/Playstation/PC platforms.

January: Fallout 4 (not the whole game, just progress throughout the month)
February: TBA
March: TBA
April: TBA
May: TBA
June: TBA
July: TBA
August: TBA
September: TBA
October: TBA
November: TBA
December: TBA

Quarterly JRPG Thread as run by Damnable Bear (and his naked bingo calling, dood) can be found here. The thread has a running list (thanks to its members) of games they'd like to see completed! Each quarter, users will be given five (5) votes each to spend on these choices, or to add a new game to the list. Based on the number of votes each game has at the deadline, a cutoff will be put into place. (This is based on how many Bingo Balls Damnable Bear has.) Games above that cutoff will have one Bingo Ball placed into the Bingo Cage per vote. They then run the lottery and play the game that gets picked!.

Jan/Mar: First quarter sees Earthbound getting all the love.
Apr/Jun: TBA
Jul/Sep: TBA
Oct/Dec: TBA

Monthly Pile Thread: This doesn't replace Hemidal's monthly thread, it just complements it for those of us that want that long term plan in place, some realistic dissenablement and to stop the impulse purchases (links will be added for each monthly pile thread here).
January: Do You Recall Where You Left the Pile?
February: Coming soon
March: Coming soon
April: Coming soon
May: Coming soon
June: Coming soon
July: Coming soon
August: Coming soon
September: Coming soon
October - December: Coming soon

So, how do I start this process?

Pile depletion/acceptance can be a very personal thing, but here are a few good questions/processes to keep in mind.

Trueheart's Quartet of Contemplation (where it all begins).

trueheart78 wrote:

Hemidal's Law: Anything that can be added to the pile will be added to the pile.

I love the pile of shame threads, but I'm contemplating starting a support group of sorts that goes hand-in-hand with it.

It would comprise of 4 parts:
1. Listing the games in our collections that we want to finish.
2. Looking forward to the game releases for the year/months ahead and taking note of the games that we're going to buy and at what price.
3. Looking behind to the previously released games and take notes of the games we're going to buy and at what price.
4. Committing to certain games via and making sure we take part in the Pile of Shame threads.

Clockwork's Addendum (alternatively known as the remedy for recurring transgressions).

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I will not shop for games unless I actually plan to buy something and play it right away.

But remember Minarchist's musings...

Minarchist wrote:

Tackling the pile is a good thing, but taken to the extreme it can impede fun.

beeporama's pile dieting tips.

beeporama wrote:

m0nk3yboy (and all): like with diets, it seems like the best motivator varies by person. So, try some things and see what profoundly affects you.

For me, I found it most effective to plan out a year. I said "I can average X games a month, so I'll list the 12 months for 2013, and schedule games for each of them based on my pile and release dates." Things moved throughout the year, but the important thing was, the schedule had to be "ONE IN, ONE OUT." Can't add a new game without removing one. Can't just toss a game on the pile without knowing it would be at least 2014 before I played it.

Shoptroll's affirmation

shoptroll wrote:

Everyone say it with me: Friends don't let friends have Steam Wishlists.

And finally, the internal ramblings of one haunted by the pile...

trueheart78 wrote:

Conversation with myself
Gamer: "Ooooh... [game] is on sale?"
Brain: "Are you ever gonna play that?"
Gamer: "I might..." / "But people say it's great" / "But that's a fantastic price"
Brain: "When?" / "Do you even like that genre?" / "Wrong answer!"
Gamer: "Well..."
Brain: "No [game] for you! Come back 1 year!"

Been working out pretty well for both of us ;)

So, whether you are here to decimate your pile of shame, or have it over for dinner for polite conversation, and a discussion on "where they're at", this is the thread for you.

Naval-gazing ahoy!

So last year I changed a couple of things. In fact, I technically ditched the pile. Instead, I wanted to focus on games I played and purchased and looked forward to month by month, which would give me a better idea of my habits and also better help me when time came for GotY tallying in December.

I thought I shared the sheet in the other thread but couldn't find it, but here's what it looks like in December. You'll notice I stopped marking what I purchased at some point.

It's just raw data so you cannot see the mood shifts I have between May and September, where I get sulky, more interested in Anime/film and discover that JRPG's are the best game for that season. Particularly turn-based ones. But, if anything is clear, it's that I ended up grabbing way too many games and didn't play them all (in fact, you'll notice some games were purchased, like Republique, and then never played at all). I also took a much more carefree approach to abandoning games, which is ultimately what happened to Codename: STEAM, Legend of Legacy, Homefront: The Revolution, and Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, the only one being a "casualty" being Mirror's Edge. I want to go back to that because I simply wasn't in the right mood for it at the time. The other games... they just didn't click (I should note Codename STEAM isn't bad, but as I discussed before, no matter how I approached it or played I felt like I wasn't clicking with it. I always felt like I was playing wrong, and that just killed my drive to progress. I finished the first Robo-Lincoln fight, had a good enough time, and put it to rest).

What this, and the overall disappointment I have in Battlefield 1, has driven in me is a desire to be a lot more careful in my purchases. I know what I like, and getting caught up in hype or mild curiosity means I can either make a huge mistake or a surprising discovery. Sometimes, taking a chance is good, such as Doom. I was all set to skip Doom, but I'm glad I bought and played it.

For the most part, my new decision is to purchase one game per month. Now, there are a few reasons for this beyond what's listed above. It does force me to really consider what I want. This means the odds of buying a "well, I heard it's good, so maybe..." game is diminished, or odd curiosities that I know there's a chance for me to bounce off of. This does not mean I can only buy one game per month, though. Depending on how progress in that game is going, I may allow myself a second game. Or depending on release schedule. For example, my definitive purchase game in February is Horizon: Zero Dawn, but that doesn't release until the 28th. For Honor is two weeks earlier. I may permit myself For Honor if the campaign is short enough to complete in two weeks time.

But, this means it will be competing with Gravity Rush 2 from January, as well as my secondary choices there (Yakuza 0 and Valkyria Revolution). And even then, what if I decide instead to play Valkyria Chronicles, which I bought this year, so that I can instead prepare for Valkyria Revolution?

But this is still not the full picture. I might write about it in the depression thread, but I've been having a crisis of self-worth that has made it tough to write about games and work on my YouTube channel. One of the things I realized is that I have a lot to say about FFXV and haven't finished the game, but as much as I love Titanfall 2 I cannot think of how to write about it. But I have 60 hours in FFXV so far, whereas Titanfall 2, due to the length of the game, is less than 10.

Well, okay, duh. I made the decision long ago that the only games I was going to use for my YouTube channel were ones I'd already beaten once and could get a second playthrough out of. The obvious answer is "more time". So I want to free up time to really dig into games more. This means in January, before Gravity Rush 2, I want to revisit Titanfall 2. My next RamblePak video will be delayed because I want to go through Transformers: Fall of Cybertron at least one more time. I want to better know these games, because often a single playthrough isn't enough to really comprehend the systems and level design at work.

So that's another reason for one game per month. I want to free what time I can for more time to replay and write about games.

Will it work? I don't yet know, and part of me sighs at the prospect of getting only 12 new games in a year. Of course, there's an additional struggle of the Nintendo Switch releasing in March (someone joked about it, March 10th, Mar10, which is a Friday, kinda works). So... yeah, gonna have to see how things roll. Because as of right now, I want to make the purchasing change less for the pile and more for my actual productivity. I've played a lot of games this year, but I haven't written nearly so much on my blog and my YouTube channel has been silent since July. My front page offerings aren't much better, as I started the Idol Fantasy piece posted a couple weeks ago in August. I started that in August. There's no reason it should have taken so long.

In any event, 2017 is a mostly blank slate. We'll see if it turns into the mess that 2016's was.

Some pile thoughts.

Over the past year, I bought (*checks spreadsheet*) 45 games. 12 number of them were re-purchases so that I could have them readily available in a more convenient format (either in HD or portable). I bought 5 games at full price, but they were all portable games with the exceptions of Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U (which I expect is not going down in price… ever). In all, I added 33 games to the pile this year. I probably nulled a few, but did not keep count of those (but plan to in 2017), and stopped playing 1 because I was not enjoying it enough to justify beating it.

And yet, I only beat 15 games in 2016, and 2 of them were replays. I currently have 15 games in progress (one of them, Lost Odyssey, is a replay). I may be missing a few, now that I think about it. Most of them are über-long JRPGs that I play a bit of here and there. Of these 15 in-progress, I expect to beat 3 before the end of the year (they're fairly short, and I have two weeks off).

New console game prices jumped to $80 with the new generation (which coincided with the Canadian economy going downhill, conveniently enough), so that means I am not buying them on release day anymore (though I make an exception for portable games since $50 is fair enough in my book). I can afford them, but considering everything else I could play that I already have, it's not worth it for me. Even if that game is my most wanted games of the past ten years, The Last Guardian. One thing I started doing toward the end of the year is put a target price on games I have on my wishlist. TLG is at $50, and FFXV is at $40. It's OK, I can wait. Plus I want to replay Ico and finally beat Shadow of the Colossus.

The current pile count is 309. With a Steam sale right around the corner and PSN offering nice discounts, I expect to pull the trigger on a few things. (Especially since I just got a new PC, I may want to get something taxing just to test it.)

The plan for 2017 is to get that number down to sub-300. One thing I've started doing is checking HowLongToBeat, and adding the expected number of hours it takes to beat a game to my spreadsheet. Keeping that in mind, I plan to go after the shorter games. I have around 120 games that take less than 30 hours to beat. Those are the ones I'm going after in 2017. I'm not going to beat all 120, of course. I have a life, and I have very time-consuming creative side-projects, and I am hoping I can work on them a lot more next year. I also plan to get a new job because the one I have is driving me crazy, and I expect I will have to move to another province (probably Ontario). But if I can bring that number down to below 300, and keep it there, I will be a happy camper.

Years ago, I made a priority list, a schedule and everything, and I ended up ignoring all of that after a while, so I'm not going to do that again. I wish I had enough focus to just play one game at a time.

Also, I need to learn how to use Pivot Charts in Excel. That will make list maintenance easier. Or finally port Gomer to the Mac, like I said I would. Or create my own pile maintenance app with Ruby on Rails, like I told myself I would.

ccesarano wrote:

But this is still not the full picture. I might write about it in the depression thread, but I've been having a crisis of self-worth that has made it tough to write about games and work on my YouTube channel. One of the things I realized is that I have a lot to say about FFXV and haven't finished the game, but as much as I love Titanfall 2 I cannot think of how to write about it. But I have 60 hours in FFXV so far, whereas Titanfall 2, due to the length of the game, is less than 10.

Writing can be super tough sometimes, especially when you don't have deadlines put forth by someone else. So many writers only want to write inspired stuff, like the cool angle on this or that game, but can't find that angle or the passion and just don't write. I'm one of those types. I don't write professionally, so I basically don't write anymore. I'm probably a mess because of it.

What's my point? Set a deadline and just write. It's not easy, in fact writing is one of the worst things ever, but later on it'll be tough to tell the difference between what you wrote when you were inspired and what you wrote when you were forced to get the words out.

Also, alcohol is not conducive to writing. Don't believe the hype.

For the most part, my new decision is to purchase one game per month. Now, there are a few reasons for this beyond what's listed above. It does force me to really consider what I want. This means the odds of buying a "well, I heard it's good, so maybe..." game is diminished, or odd curiosities that I know there's a chance for me to bounce off of. This does not mean I can only buy one game per month, though. Depending on how progress in that game is going, I may allow myself a second game. Or depending on release schedule.

I've tried doing something like this enough times I realized it's completely futile for me. One game a month just doesn't work for me because I'll choose the more expensive titles over cheaper indie titles and that's not always really the most enjoyable way to go. Instead, I find it's better to limit myself by money. Budget $60 or $100 a month to spend on games. Then I can get a handful of indies or two bigger titles. Or reup an MMO sub. Also, budgeting in general is a good thing.

The qualifiers you're listing are one of the reasons I don't like the "one game a month" mentality. It's too easy to find ways out. And make no mistake those qualifying statement are ways out. Completely logical, yes, but they're ways out.

///

For me, I find the best thing is to ignore the pile. I also somewhat ignore release schedules, at least compared to in the past. This Week Ahead threads are discovery threads for me. In a zen like state I let the titles wash over and through me. Okay, more like I let you all do the dirty work of listing games out and see what pops out. I am simply not as interested in everything anymore and that's because so many titles are so damn similar. I didn't play Watch Dogs? Oh no! I'll wait a few months for another Ubi experience or a couple years for Watch Dogs 2. Watch Dogs 2 is out?!? Oh no. I'll wait a few months... I'm finding I don't mind missing out on things much anymore. I'm now after the b-games. You know what's cool about b-games? There's rarely pressure to play them right when they come out. I'm living the long tail now. Long live the tail.

/ramble

The list of what I would like to play and complete during 2017, in no particular order:

Okami HD Platinum
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Platinum
Dark Cloud 2 Platinum
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Radiant Historia
Infinite Space
Persona 4
Paper Mario
Xenoblade Chronicles
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Axiom Verge
Dark Souls II SotFS Platinum (both PS3 and PS4)
Dark Souls III Platinum
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Retro Game Challenge 2
Sands of Destruction
Danganronpa
The Last Story
Pandora's Tower
Punch-Out!!
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Lightning Returns
Read Dead Redemption Platinum
Beyond Good & Evil Platinum
The Witcher 3

The list of games I will most definitely purchase as soon as I am able to, at release if possible:

South Part: The Fractured but Whole
Persona 5
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age HD
Final Fantasy VII Remake Episode 1 (assuming it sees the light of day in 2017)
Ni No Kuni II
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The list of games that I may purchase at some point during 2017 through sales or exchanges:

World of Final Fantasy
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 2
The Last Guardian
Nioh
Torment: Tides of Numenara
Yooka-Laylee
Cuphead
Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
Nier Automata
Paper Mario: Color Splash

My 12 month Pile plan is:

Play everything in my Steam library that wouldn't run on my old, crummy rig.

The last few weeks have been instructive for me. I've recently played Dishonored and its DLC, Ratchet & Clank, and the recent remake of Tomb Raider, and I've enjoyed them all. This is notable because all three were games I tried sometime during 2016 and hated. I didn't just try them and thought I wasn't feeling them. I hated them.

But with each game, I found an "in". With Dishonored, I struggled with the tedious beginning and unappealing character designs, so I started with the DLC instead to get a taste for the gameplay without all the introduction. With Ratchet & Clank I made an effort to use some of the weirder weapons that the series is known for. And with Tomb Raider, I pressed through a tedious opening sequence (and changed Lara's outfit) to get to a game that I'm now really enjoying.

I've since purchased Dishonored 2 and put Rise of the Tomb Raider on my Christmas wish list.

I learned a few things from this. One is that my first impressions of a game aren't always accurate to whether or not I'll enjoy them later. Another is that I enjoy games more if I can cut to the gameplay sooner rather than later. I'm going to try to learn from that this year and not only give games a second chance but try to think of what I can change within the game itself to get to what I enjoy.

I'm challenging myself to buy just two games in the next year. One of them is most likely Breath of the Wild for Wii U, but nothing it set in stone.

For my menu of things I'm most interested in playing, I have:

Spoiler:

PS4

  • Alien Isolation
  • Bloodborne: The Old Hunters
  • SOMA
  • Metal Gear Solid V
  • Resident Evil HD
  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
  • The Witch and the Hundred Knight
  • Dark Souls 3
  • Tomb Raider
  • Hyper Light Drifter
  • Doom
  • Dishonored 2
  • Fallout 4

Wii U

  • Xenoblade Chronicles X
  • Pushmo World
  • Paper Mario: Color Splash
  • Yoshi's Wooly World
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
  • Star Fox Zero
  • Elliot Quest
  • EarthBound
  • Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Golden Sun
  • Super Mario 64
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Secret of Mana

3DS

  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Etrian Odyssey Untold
  • Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
  • The Legend of Legacy
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

I expect to finish maybe half of those. There's a lot of gaming there.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

But with each game, I found an "in". ... I'm going to try to learn from that this year and not only give games a second chance but try to think of what I can change within the game itself to get to what I enjoy.

This is really good. I'm going to think about this while I'm sketching out my '17 plan.

Good luck, Clock and all!

Was Secret of Mana ported to virtual console? I feel like it was and I planned to buy it, but I don't recall doing so. It's a shame because I'm curious what you'd think of Evermore, which I need to make some time to really replay as well.

ccesarano wrote:

Was Secret of Mana ported to virtual console? I feel like it was and I planned to buy it, but I don't recall doing so. It's a shame because I'm curious what you'd think of Evermore, which I need to make some time to really replay as well.

I think it is still available on the Wii Virtual Console, but not on Wii U nor new 3DS It's also on iOS.

I'll have to boot into Wii mode to play it.

I'm going to try and keep this short and talk mostly about 2017. 2016 navel gazing is going to go in the other thread once I have a chance to sit down with Backloggery and shake some data out of it and, while I'm at it, shake some thoughts out of my brain for the past year.

Main goal this year is to toss out my usual plan of coming up with a list of targets in the backlog to try and tackle. It never works because I ended up playing other things and it stresses me out because I didn't complete my goal for the year. So I'm tossing that out and just going with the flow. If I feel like focusing on newer stuff, that's what I'll do, and if I feel like reaching for stuff of an older vintage that's ok too. After all The point is to have fun and enjoy myself.

So for 2017 I'm just going to continue focusing on limiting purchases. I hit a similar realization to ccess a couple years back and I think just accepting I like what I like and prioritizing purchases has helped me get the growth rate under control.

So here's my current top priority list (with handy release months for reference):

Spoiler:

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth+ (PC) (January)
Kingdom Hearts II.8 Final Prologue (PS4) (January)
Dragon Quest VIII (3DS) (January)
Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition (PC) (April)
Persona 5 (PS4) (April)
Chuchel (PC)
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS)
Flinthook (PC)
Ever Oasis (3DS)
Unavowed (PC)
Tacoma (PC)
Lamplight City (PC)
“Lady Layton” (3DS)
Final Fantasy XII HD (PS4)
Pyre (PC)
West of Loathing (PC)
She Remembered Caterpillars (PC)

That's a dance card I'm really pleased with right now. Switch will probably blow it up a bit, but I look at that list and it makes me happy and excited for next year.

As for stuff I'm interested in but not committing to an early buy:

Spoiler:

Yoshi Wooly World (3DS) (February)
Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) (February)
Nier: Automata (PS4) (March)
Birthdays: The Beginning (PS4) (March)
Prey (PC)
Mass Effect: Andromeda (PC)
Scalebound (PC)
Agents of Mayhem (PC)
Oxygen Not Included (PC)
Torment: Tides of Numenera (PC)
Battletech (PC)
Toejam & Earl 3 (PC)
Pit People (PC)
Full Throttle Remastered (PC)
Pikmin (3DS)
Mario Sports Superstars (3DS)
Hob (PC)
WipeOut: Omega Collection (PS4)
The Alliance Alive (3DS)
The Snack World (3DS)

There's also some exciting updates coming next year for some games I already have but I'm not as concerned with putting those in the schedule since they don't have release dates and those will be fun surprises to look forward to.

I'm also giving up on tracking Kickstarter rewards as that way lies madness. That ship has largely sailed and at this point I'll just be happy for the ones that do show up next year.

garion333 wrote:

Also, alcohol is not conducive to writing. Don't believe the hype.

It's also not conducive to programming either.

You know what's cool about b-games? There's rarely pressure to play them right when they come out. I'm living the long tail now. Long live the tail.

*internet high-five*

ClockworkHouse wrote:

There's a lot of good gaming there.

FTFY

I've finished three games since my buying challenge started. Feelin' pretty good about myself.

Edit: Making it a goal to clear one more before the end of the year. We'll see if I can do it!

garion333 wrote:

I find it's better to limit myself by money. Budget $60 or $100 a month to spend on games. Then I can get a handful of indies or two bigger titles.

+ DLC

I might try this next year. £40 a month, along with PS+ subscription should do it.
Save some money and restrict pile growth. Also might mean dip into the pile more often if monetary limit reached and games bought don't hit the mark.

Also purchasing plan... This past year I've dumped a lot of hours into two never ending games - Overwatch and The Division. At the same time I've been put off purchasing or playing large single player campaigns that I'd quite like to experience, for example Witcher 3, Fallout 4 or pile games Fire Emblem Awakening, Persona 4 Golden. Mostly because of the intimidating length of those games, but the truth is if I'd not put so much time into Overwatch / The Division then I'd have had enough to complete at least one if not two of those other games have been interested in. As much as I've enjoyed OW and Division, I kind of regret not getting to play those other titles.

So for January I think I may purchase or pick up from the pile a long, long single player game and attempt to get through it, even if means end up setting up and playing for just one evening a week for a few hours and takes 6 months or even the full year to beat. Other shorter / indie / multi-player games can work around that.

I am having a really stressful and crap week, and it has been really hard not to stress purchase something.

I put that energy towards last minute Christmas gifts, but seeing [redacted savings] has me itching.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I am having a really stressful and crap week, and it has been really hard not to stress purchase something.

Do you have any other stress outlets? I mean, obviously the "healthy" channel is meditation or yoga or some other hippie crap; but a stress purchase might also be clothes or booze or music or something?

I ended up directing that stress into burning through the rest of Hyper Light Drifter. That's much more productive than blowing $40 on PSN.

But now there's today's stress.

I ended up directing that stress into burning through the rest of Hyper Light Drifter. That's much more productive than blowing $40 on PSN.

But now there's today's stress.

Hang in there, Clock. :/


Here's my go at a '17 plan.

My ground rules from previous years:

Spoiler:
  • Take things more in order, finishing games to satisfaction before moving on,
  • alternate 1 long game (> 15 hrs.) with 2-3 short games (< 15 hrs.),
  • buy fewer new games (10-15), plan ahead of time what to purchase,
  • don’t buy on release, wait for reviews, buy either with gift money or at 50% or less of full price,
  • buy bundles only if they include a game from purchase plan at-or-below sale price,
  • allow fewer interruptions by new games to plan (must come at least 1 long/short/short cycle later),
  • but allow a side-list of ongoing games that don’t require as much concentrated focus.
  • Gifts count towards purchase plan unless they're not on it, and follow above rules.
  • Moving games permanently to the "Don't Feel Like Finishing" or "Don't Care For" lists is allowed and encouraged, provided I've given it a fair shot.
  • Attempt to play only on weekends, and/or with people, and don't stay up past 10. Aim for max. 10 hours/week of gaming.

Purchase plan:

Spoiler:

Short list of wishlisted games I’ll plan to buy in 2016 (max. 7 or swap for new):
Top 4 released games on Steam/GoG wishlist as of 12/21/16:

  • Owlboy
  • Sorcery! Part 4
  • Shardlight
  • Dishonored DLC

Top 3 from eShop Wishlist:

  • Pokemon Sun
  • Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
  • Professor Layton and the Last Spectre

Short list of games I’ll buy on release or shortly thereafter in 2017, pending reviews (max. 7):

  • Slime Rancher
  • Hollow Knight
  • House of Many Doors
  • Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Factorio
  • Yooka-Laylee
  • La-Mulana 2 (I hope)

In-progress & plan to complete first:

Spoiler:
  • Pokemon X (3DS) - ½ done?
  • Candle (PC) - ½ done
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) - ⅔ done
  • Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U) - ⅔ done?
  • Dark Souls III & DLC (PC) - ⅓ done
  • Hyper Light Drifter (PC) - ⅓ done
  • Starbound (PC) - ¼ done?
  • Obduction (PC) - no idea how much done

Honestly, that could probably last me most of the year. But here’s what I’ll do after that, if I have time, and would slot in the new purchases as they came along:

Spoiler:
  • Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds (3DS) - shortish
  • Professor Layton & the Unwound Future (3DS) - short
  • Rune Factory 4 (3DS) - long
  • Sorcery! Part 3 (PC) - short
  • Sorcery! Part 4 (PC) - short
  • Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) - long
  • Life Is Strange (PC) - short
  • Mushroom 11 (PC) - short
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) - long
  • Sun Dogs (PC) - short
  • Firewatch (PC) - short
  • Dragon Age: Origins (PC) - long
  • Tomb Raider (PC) - short
  • Sunless Sea: Zubmariner DLC (PC) - short
  • Replay Longest Journey & Dreamfall (PC) - long
  • Dreamfall Chapters (PC) - short

Ongoing side efforts and/or games that don’t end:

Spoiler:
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
  • Stardew Valley (PC)
  • Cook! Serve! Delicious! (PC)
  • Terraria (PC)

Edit: surprise early Christmas gift of Steam cash from Mrs. Danopian made me reevaluate my priorities.

Spoiler:

She heard the Steam sale was starting and wanted to make sure I didn't buy stuff with other cash. Glad I made this list or I would've blown it all. Saving some for the releases I'm looking forward to this year.

Dropped Dishonored 2 after looking into the PC port issues, realized I'd have a better time buying the DLC for the original that I know is good and will run on my janky laptop. Decided against Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on the basis of middling reviews and the fact that I can go finish the second half of MGSV or play the Dishonored DLC or the special edition of DX:HR if I really feel the stealth itch. Bought an adventure game to play with my wife, and looked ahead to wanting to finish the Sorcery! series and got Slime Rancher on sale but will wait 'til actual release to play.

Tracking my Pile in 2017? Sign me up!

With just one night and morning left to go, I've so far survived the holidays without any stress purchases. Go, me!

But I've also discovered that I have a gap in my unfinished collection. Somehow, I don't have any open world action-adventure games that I haven't played yet. That's the genre that comprises a big chunk of AAA development right now—it's your Assassin's Creed, Shadow of Mordor, Arkham series, Mad Max, etc. genre—and I've played and enjoyed a few of them each year, but nothing is in the queue.

That gives me a good idea of gifts to ask for when my birthday rolls around and what to put my two purchases toward.

Well I got a PS4 in Oct. So the pile increased. But technically I had dozens of PSN games already from PS+.

Either way I'm starting to play.

Good news is just about everything I bought in 2016 got played in 2016. Not necessarily beat but at least had some fun with them.

There might be 1-2 exceptions from the summer Steam sale. But overall a good year for experiencing games. Hopefully this continues in 2017.

Although I'll likely either pick up a cheap Wii U or just skip to the Switch at some point.

I'm looking forward to getting back into my pile.

I have decided to have a "me" year this year.

I'm cutting my volunteer commitments back (more so, not starting anything "new") and I'm limiting what I commit to around the school as well.

I've not focussed as much as I should "around the home" for the last 4-5 years, and as such, a lot of things have gone unaddressed. Both the physical (in what needs to be done like painting, paving, general maintenance) and the emotional (relationships, friends, family).

Either way, balancing those two elements for so long has left no time for hobbies, be they virtual, or real. I'm going to be getting back into "making things, and playing things" as a way of recharging my batteries. My pile will be the main benefactor of that refocus.

Economic constraints have re-domesticated me in my purchasing practices. PS+ and Games for Gold will be my two big "regular" sources of new games to play, as will the increasing number of backwardly compatible titles appearing on my XB1's "games you own" list.

I may get the occasional new game, but I don't see myself getting a Switch this year, and I have a bucket load of WiiU titles to get me through that particular temptation, no matter how tempting it may be.

I'm going to play what I feel like enjoying, and stop if it becomes a chore. Life's too short, time for gaming, doubly so.

So for Christmas my sister got me a sentimental gift of an old VHS tape I used to watch over and over as a widdle kiddie called Dinosaurs (it had Fred Savage and claymation and awful music). She not only got the VHS tape, but converted it onto a DVD. I find this hilarious and awesome. Her brother-in-law felt bad because I ended up getting their kids like seven different things each and I didn't get a "fun" gift from them. So after nagging me about what games came out this year I didn't get to play I finally confessed to him Mafia 3. However, since he didn't have time to get me the game himself, he just gave me the cash for it. And I still feel guilty about it.

Now I feel like I'm in a conundrum. Both Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies and Phoenix Wright: The Latest One are on sale on the 3DS. I'm going to get them because I also have $150 in VISA gift cards from Christmas and I figured an eShop card would be fine for that. But part of me feels like I should get what he gave me money for, even though if I do it'll probably wreck with my pile. I'm tempted to instead get the Bioshock Collection since that won't impact my pile, but it still feels deceitful.

Honestly, I wish I never told him anything at all because I feel guilty either way. I liked my sister's present and it feels selfish to confess a game and be given money for it.

Either way, it is my first temptation of 2017. I know I'm getting those Phoenix Wright games because I'll definitely love them because I love the franchise. Perhaps it'd be best for me to just say "Hey man, I actually bought these instead, came out to about the same cost". I'm sure he'll be fine either way.

We'll see what happens at my Best Buy trip after work. I plan on snagging some Blu-Rays with my Christmas cash as well.

That's why I dislike getting gift cards for Christmas, ccesarano. Too much thinking involved.

Perhaps it'd be best for me to just say "Hey man, I actually bought these instead, came out to about the same cost". I'm sure he'll be fine either way.

If I were in his position I'd be fine with this.

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

So, my mother-in-law is nuts and extremely generous and pretty much wiped out my 2017 wishlist, and my wife and other friends gave me enough Steam cash to save towards the unreleased stuff:

Purchase plan:
Spoiler:

Short list of wishlisted games I’ll plan to buy in 2016 (max. 7 or swap for new):
PC:

  • Owlboy
  • Sorcery! Part 4
  • Shardlight
  • Dishonored DLC

3DS/Wii U:

  • Pokemon Sun
  • Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
  • Yoshi's Wooly World

Yet to be released:

  • Slime Rancher
  • Hollow Knight
  • House of Many Doors
  • Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Factorio
  • Yooka-Laylee
  • La-Mulana 2 (I hope)

Ignoring everything else and only buying those games will be hard.

I doubt I'll finish anything else this month, so here's where I stand since my game buying challenge started on 12/8.

PS4

  • Alien Isolation
  • Bloodborne: The Old Hunters
  • Ratchet & Clank
  • SOMA
  • Metal Gear Solid V
  • Resident Evil HD
  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
  • The Witch and the Hundred Knight
  • Dark Souls 3
  • Tomb Raider
  • Hyper Light Drifter
  • Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
  • Doom
  • Dishonored 2
  • Fallout 4
  • XCOM 2 (added as a gift)
  • Valkyria Chronicles Remastered (added as a gift)

Wii U

  • Xenoblade Chronicles X
  • Pushmo World
  • Paper Mario: Color Splash
  • Yoshi's Wooly World
  • Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
  • Star Fox Zero
  • Elliot Quest
  • EarthBound
  • Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Golden Sun
  • Super Mario 64
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Secret of Mana

3DS

  • Fire Emblem Awakening
  • Etrian Odyssey Untold
  • Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
  • The Legend of Legacy
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

Vita

  • Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate (added as a gift)

I knocked out four games in December. That was really satisfying. I also managed to make it through Christmas without buying anything despite an overwhelming volume of deals and sales. I just have New Years to get through, and then I'm in the clear for a bit.

ccesarano wrote:

Her brother-in-law felt bad because I ended up getting their kids like seven different things each and I didn't get a "fun" gift from them.

Seems like a nice guy, with good intentions. He probably felt guilty over the number of gifts you'd bought.

ccesarano wrote:

So after nagging me about what games came out this year I didn't get to play I finally confessed to him Mafia 3. However, since he didn't have time to get me the game himself, he just gave me the cash for it. And I still feel guilty about it.

Don't, he's clearly a nice guy who didn't realise the value the VHS/DVD had for you. He was looking to "balance the scales" from his perspective, and from a well intended place.

ccesarano wrote:

I know I'm getting those Phoenix Wright games because I'll definitely love them because I love the franchise. Perhaps it'd be best for me to just say "Hey man, I actually bought these instead, came out to about the same cost". I'm sure he'll be fine either way.

I think he'd be fine with this. He clearly just asked the wrong question (probably due to not fully understanding "games"). "What didn't you get to play this year", and "what do you want to buy that you'd love to play" are two different questions, but the gifts intention was clearly to supply you "with some fun".

ccesarano wrote:

We'll see what happens at my Best Buy trip after work. I plan on snagging some Blu-Rays with my Christmas cash as well.

Nothing nicer than free money, enjoy spoiling yourself!

I'm coping with not buying by fidgeting with my PSN wishlist. 45 games and rising.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm coping with not buying by fidgeting with my PSN wishlist. 45 games and rising. :P

95 is the limit. I am not happy about this arbitrary number limit to my wishlist. Wishes should be limitless!

brokenclavicle wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm coping with not buying by fidgeting with my PSN wishlist. 45 games and rising. :P

95 is the limit. I am not happy about this arbitrary number limit to my wishlist. Wishes should be limitless!

If it's any consolation Humble Store limit is 100. Which is irritating because I was trying to offload my Steam wishlist onto there to avoid people getting me stuff during the holiday sales, so I ended up splitting my PC wishlist between two services #FirstWorldProblem

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