A year in gaming - An effort to clear the 'backlog' of impulse buys

[alms]

I'll only buy them after either playing a demo representative of the complete game or either watching at least a couple of let's play videos on youtube to at least have a good idea of what I'm getting.

Good luck with that, I've found that if I only stick to demos or videos/reviews there'a fair chance to skip games that I end up loving instead. Save for a few lucky cases of love at first sight, plenty of times I played the demo, walked away unimpressed, then got the full game through some bundle and changed my mind. Maybe it's because some games need time to grow on you, or maybe it just takes me longer than the average bloke to figure out, that I don't know.

In other news, I finished Avadon (a game I would've never given a chance were it not for HIB) after ~62 hours. Yay! I liked the grand finale very much! - but I didn't manage to play the game the way I wanted, some enemies are truly so much more powerful than the rest that I couldn't get myself to pour more hours in it to figure out how to win (and I believe at least one was pretty much unbeatable given the choices that had been made). Pretty curious about Avadon 2 I must say - looking forward to it.

[Yachmenev]

I´ve been playing a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, as my backlog keep shrinking. I dismissed it earlier because I had more interesting games to play, but after beating The Witcher 2, Shogun 2 and Gray Matter, and putting 60 hours into Skyrim, I thought I would take DX for a new spin.

It does have an interesting story, a good setting, nice dialogues, a superb soundtrack, and it´s fun to get so many different possible routes on the missions.

But I´m not preparered to completely embrace it yet, because there doesn´t really seem to be a pretty linear experience, more so than I thought. If you can take different routes, the missions seem like they play out in pretty much the same order no matter how you complete them (have reached the second hub and played a few hours so far). And it seems like the only different playstyle choices you make, are if you´re playing stealthy or commando style.

So even if it´s a good game, it feels like a 20 hours experience that I will have no real reason to revisit once I beat it. And when it comes to action titles, I always prefer replayable games.

[DevinSmoth]

Due to scheduling and whatnot, I'm really only spending time playing Kingdoms of Amalur and Age of Empires Online right now. Of course, the latter of those I can't ever "finish" persay... so I'm playing Kingdoms as my single player game right now. It's a good game, and I'm really enjoying it so far, though I worry about ever finishing it just because it's so long. Ahh well... should be fun while it lasts, either way, right?!

And I wanted to add that I would agree with you about the linearity of Deus Ex. It's not really an open world game in any sense of the word. However, I was a huge fan of how it did with things, quite honestly. I really enjoyed that game. Enough to say that I would like to play through it again at some point soon, I think.

[Yachmenev]

And I wanted to add that I would agree with you about the linearity of Deus Ex. It's not really an open world game in any sense of the word. However, I was a huge fan of how it did with things, quite honestly. I really enjoyed that game. Enough to say that I would like to play through it again at some point soon, I think.

I´m not looking for an open world game in Deus Ex, but I want to feel that I would get something different out of replaying it, other than just going stealth or berserk in the missions, but I suspect that I won´t since it seems that I will get all different augments in one playthrough.

[allanschnorr]

Good luck with that, I've found that if I only stick to demos or videos/reviews there'a fair chance to skip games that I end up loving instead. Save for a few lucky cases of love at first sight, plenty of times I played the demo, walked away unimpressed, then got the full game through some bundle and changed my mind. Maybe it's because some games need time to grow on you, or maybe it just takes me longer than the average bloke to figure out, that I don't know.

I agree there's a chance I miss on good games doing that. There are some genres I really like, like platformers, and for those genres I'm willing to take recommendations from forum users and friends with a similar taste to mine into account.

[Jiiiiim]

Computer exploded but on the plus side the new one can handle all the games on my list which the old one was incapable of. New Vegas looks amazing. Meanwhile, 28: Eufloria

42-ish to go I think.

[Tikey]

I have killed my backlog. And not in the "I've finished everything" sense.
I purchased the 1c complete catalogue, mainly for a few games, but it also means that I have a huuuuuge number of games I'm never ever going to play.

I'm weak.

[SMiD]

I have killed my backlog. And not in the "I've finished everything" sense.
I purchased the 1c complete catalogue, mainly for a few games, but it also means that I have a huuuuuge number of games I'm never ever going to play.

I'm weak.

Tikey, WHYYYYYYYY!!!!!!???? Let this be a lesson to us others about how easy it is to fall astray. Stay strong brothers and sisters! The real tests are still ahead with the lure of the seasonal Steam sales. This is merely the calm before the storm; let us steel ourselves now for the coming conflict.

[allanschnorr]

Tikey, WHYYYYYYYY!!!!!!???? Let this be a lesson to us others about how easy it is to fall astray. Stay strong brothers and sisters! The real tests are still ahead with the lure of the seasonal Steam sales. This is merely the calm before the storm; let us steel ourselves now for the coming conflict.

I'm determined to stop buying bundles where I'm interested in only half of the games or less and cheap indie games I know little about.

Also If I'm strong enough I won't buy any games this summer sale. I really doubt I can achieve this, so I'll be happy enough with myself if I end up buying 5 games or less.

[SMiD]

I'm determined to stop buying bundles where I'm interested in only half of the games or less and cheap indie games I know little about.

Also If I'm strong enough I won't buy any games this summer sale. I really doubt I can achieve this, so I'll be happy enough with myself if I end up buying 5 games or less.

Good luck fellow backlog-clearerer. The summer sale will be a real test. Let's see who can get through unscathed.

[DevinSmoth]

Lol... well, Tikey, I know what you're saying. In the last few days, I've picked up Guild Wars 2, Indie Royale, Indie Fort 1, and the Indie pack on Steam, so I know what you're going through. Also, I've recently started trading off someof the games in my Steam inventory that I don't want, so I've acquired Duke Nukem Forever, and something else that I can't remember. Very exciting the trading thing!

I'm pretty sure that I want Scary Girl, Legend of Grimrock, the Starcraft 2 expansion, and Torchlight 2 still. But, I'm still playing thorugh some of my other games (ie at the moment, I'm doing Kingdoms of Amalur, since a friend was amazing enough to gift it to me, and Age of Empires Online). I am also working on the co-op campaign of Shank 1 while my brother in law is here to play it with!

Ahh well, I'm still having a great time, right?! That's what counts? My unplayed list though is getting much much longer faster than I can clear it out. I love you, Tikey!

[alms]

Devin what would you recommend for trading steam keys effectively ? also, risk-free and not too much micromanaging if possible.

[DevinSmoth]

Honestly, there's no risk-free way to do it... but most of these keys aren't worth that much anyway, so I just go with it. So far I've had pretty good luck, I have to say. That said, I will say that you can look at their Steam profile and many times they'll have people on there, posting that they've done successful key trades and the like with them before. For example, my profile has a couple of these types of things.

Just letting you know though, there is risk, and I dont' think that Steam is going to do anything if you do get ripped off. ;)

[sabrage]

If you're nervous about trading Steam keys, recruit someone trustworthy to act as a middleman for your transaction. If the other guy is unwilling to use a middleman, don't trade with him.

[Jiiiiim]

29: Cthulhu Saves the World

New Vegas is absolutely massive, isn't it? 30 hours in and I still feel like I'm only scratching the surface. So much to see, so much stuff that can pretty easily kill me. It's finally an open-world game I don't hate.

[Yachmenev]

So I beat Deus Ex: Human Revolution yesterday, and I can´t really figure out what I think of it. I think it´s a really good game design in terms of how most people won´t notice it´s limitations, and I enjoyed it, but it could have been so much more.

I did like the story, the graphical design, the characters, the music, and you got the opportunity to be quite badass.

Thoughts:
*The game does present choices for you, but what they are is really challenges. You got put in tough situations where you have either man up or take the easy way out. It´s either being a hero or a failure/lazy.
*The augmentations are good, but to few. You can more or less max out a character in one playthrough, making the choices there less interesting. This was probably my main dissapointment with the game.
*Perhaps you should have been required to visit a LIMB clinic or Sarif HQ for some augmentations? It really doesn´t make sense that you can upgrade anything on the spot as long as you have enough praxis points.
*The sidequests aren´t that many, just enough to keep you occupied for one playthrough. But they all make sense in the game and the story. Every quest is given by a person that you meet for a good reason.
*The architects behind secret compounds, and the security officers in them, really must check their vents better.

In terms of pacing and content I do feel that this is something of a masterpiece that the designers can be very proud of. There is never more than you can handle going on, but always enough to keep you interested, and it hides it´s limitations pretty well. I just wished that there were more choices in quests and augmentations so you would feel a greater value in replaying it.

Remaining backlog:

Anticipated releases that I bought but haven´t finished
Skyrim
Fallout: New Vegas DLC packages

Games being saved for coop
Renegade Ops DLC
Trine 2

Games bought on sale
Alpha Protocol
Back to the Future: The Games (ep 3-5)

Classic games rebought
Bully
The Last Express

Games bought this year
So far only the Steam release of Pixeljunk Eden, and since it´s not a game I want to rush through, I don´t coun´t it to the backlog.

[Jiiiiim]

Slow, steady progress continues, I'm maybe down to one of these a week at the moment but WE MUST PREVAIL AGAINST THE BACKLOG

30: And Yet It Moves

31: Fallout New Vegas

58 hours on Vegas in the end, loved it loved it loved it.

[allanschnorr]

Besides the effort to clear the backlog, I can't resist and I still buy new games, but something has changed: now I play the games I bought almost immediately. I bought Botanicula, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and Lone Survivor in the last few weeks and already finished the first two. I'm playing Psychonauts now, Lone Survivor will be the next. I also finished Spacechem (only the main levels, I won't try the challenges for a few months at least), Auditorium and Beep.

I got Auditorium as a prize for backing Auditorium 2 on kickstarter and I loved the game. Those guys at Cipher Prime seem to be really good at creating puzzle games with addictive gameplay and nice visuals. I got Fractal in an Indie Royale bundle and liked it so much thanks to it simple gameplay and nice, clean visuals, that I tought they deserved more for that game than what I paid.

Beep is a nice platformer. It doesn't start really well, as it only becomes interesting after you finish the first worlds, but it is great fun in short amounts.

[DevinSmoth]

Well... with my brother in law in town lately, I've been doing a lot of multiplayer and co-op. Much of it has been in things like Blur (which doesn't have a co-op campaign) and Age of Empires Online (which has no ending), but I did finish the co-op campaign in the first Shank. In fact, I remembered why I liked Shank in the first place and got myself Shank 2 as well, which I'm part of the way through now on my own. I hope to finish that up here in the next week or so, maybe... though he still hasn't left yet.

That said, I did play the Guild Wars 2 beta some this weekend... and the Diablo 3 one last weekend, and they were interesting. I was also working on reviewing Warlock: Masters of the Arcane for the website I work for... so I've played some of that.

All in all, I have to admit that I'm not getting very far with the whole clearing out my backlog thing, but I hope to put some more time in it soon. My brother in law won't be gaming much in the near future after he leaves here, so I'll lose that distraction from single player games. Hopefully, I'll be able to get to several that I have on the list that look like fun, including Space Marine, Shank 2, and whatever else comes my way!

[agentorange]

Finished The Witcher 2 and The Missing Link. But playing TW2 made me want to go back and play the first one again... I really need to finished King Arthur so I can move onto the sequel, which I bought on release and haven't even touched, but goddamn the game erects a massive wall of difficulty about 20 hours in, and it's just a pain in the ass to play it at this point.