Backlog, how do you do yours?

readyletsgo

I have a lot of games in my backlog, physical and download for PS2/3/4, Wii/U, Vita, GBA/DS/3DS, that it looks intimidating to me at times to pick and stick with one game to completion. So I end up playing nothing.

How do you guys do it? Do you have a system where you pick a game and actually finish it?

Built a gaming PC a few months back and haven't bought a game on it yet due to thinking I'll never actually get around to playing it since PC games are so cheap I'll have 100s more in no time (first world problem).

So, any advice guys on how to battle through my B/log?

Retr0gamer

At 1000+ games owned but not played I'm not one to give advice on this...

muppetkiller

I'm attempting to find a solution to this too so must subscribe to this thread lol.
My first step this weekend was not to buy anymore games..as a first step I bought Killing Floor 2 and Day of Infamy ... But I did manage to avoid Dark Souls 3 in Smyths which is on sale for 29.99 (ps4)
I think the biggest issue with getting through a backlog is multiplayer games. They are so easy to pick up and blast away 30-45min.
I'm going to devote at least 1-2 hours on single player games each week from now on and see how I get on.

Wonda-Boy

Having multiple games sitting there is a great contraceptive IMHO, if I was not up till the early hours most nights and weekends I would have about 30 kids!!!!

ionapaul

When I finish a game, I usually make a mental short list of the most interesting looking games in my backlog, hit Metacritic or the store page for that game in Steam, try to do a bit of analysis based on the feedback and reviews and pick my next game on that basis. Typically, for a game to make it onto my initial shortlist it needs to be different in game type and feel than the most recent game finished; I'd never start a new platformer just after finishing another.

For the Wii U, I've far fewer games (though still have a decent backlog!) so it's a much easier process. Likewise, I try to go with the highest rated game ahead of ones that weren't received as well.

readyletsgo

ionapaul wrote: »

When I finish a game, I usually make a mental short list of the most interesting looking games in my backlog, hit Metacritic or the store page for that game in Steam, try to do a bit of analysis based on the feedback and reviews and pick my next game on that basis. Typically, for a game to make it onto my initial shortlist it needs to be different in game type and feel than the most recent game finished; I'd never start a new platformer just after finishing another.

For the Wii U, I've far fewer games (though still have a decent backlog!) so it's a much easier process. Likewise, I try to go with the highest rated game ahead of ones that weren't received as well.

That's great advice. Looking at the highest rated games and then work back from there.

Is there any sites out there that would give you the average completion time? Without all achievements included. Just play time on single player?

I went a bit mad with RPGs for the DS (and 3ds) this year, now I have so many, no idea where to start with them, all long, but all 'gems'.

K.O.Kiki

"Sure, one more round of Overwatch."

gizmo

I play games at lunch time in work and in the evenings at home. Work games are chosen based on my Steam list fed into HowLongToBeat and sorting the output by the shortest time to complete. Home games is simply a matter of attrition, usually with a genre-based variation to keep things interesting.

While previously I could have counted the number of games I've quit before completion on one hand, that number has grown slightly as the number of rogue-likes in my library increased but to counter that somewhat, I've created a new category in my Steam library for games I'll come back to later after playing them for awhile.

Not being a big mulitplayer gamer knid of helps progression although I've recently gotten into Titanfall so that's thrown a small spanner in the works.

CiDeRmAn

I just pick one and stick with it for as long as it's IU interesting, then move on.
I have a short list in my noggin, right now Xenoblade Chronicles X is on there, along with Bayonetta 2 and Farcry 3.
It's tough though!

Retr0gamer

I just pick a game that interests me. Also helps to stick to one game at a time as well, you finish way more. Currently I have Etrian Odyssey 2, Trails in the Sky, Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenoblade Chronicles on the go as well as some dumb games for when I'm too tired such as EDF and Attack on Titan. It's an absolute disaster and I'm usually not like this at all.

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I have a short list in my noggin, right now Xenoblade Chronicles X is on there, along with Bayonetta 2 and Farcry 3.
It's tough though!

A short list consisting of a 8 hour game (which you'll want to replay at higher difficulties so add more to that), a 60 hour FPS and a 140-200 hour RPG.

I think my biggest problem is my favourite genre are RPG games which are rarely short time investments.

elekid

I've finally caught up with my backlog in the last couple of months. Its smaller than it has ever been and only contains recent releases for the first time ever.

I did a few different things to get to this point, and tried to change how I think about games in general.

The most important thing was to remember I play games because I enjoy playing them, not to try to mark as many as possible off a list as quickly as possible.

I got rid of a lot of backlog games that I bought because I heard other people say they were meant to be good but I actually wasn't looking forward to playing myself. Likewise I greatly reduced the number of upcoming games I plan to buy by thinking seriously about how much I was actually looking forward to each one, rather than feeling like I should try to play everything half decent that comes out, or that goes cheap on sale. Ranking each game you have by your excitement level, or asking yourself "If I could only play 50% of this list, which ones would I keep and which would I drop?" can be very enlightening.

To get through my remaining list I focused on one game at a time and played until I was finished with it, either way. I got out of the mindset that I have to 100% every game I play and I tried to avoid busy work in the likes of open world games. If I really liked a game I relaxed and took my time (I've spoiled so many good games because I was too busy trying to rush on to the next one). If it was an average game I blasted through the main story and moved on. If I wasn't enjoying a game I just quit and moved on. Can't afford to waste time on a bad game and no point feeling guilty about it. Often I'd intentionally play the games I was least looking forward to first to get them out of the way and reduce the list quickly, especially if I felt there was a good chance I'd end up quitting them before the end.

After all that I'm finally at the stage where the only games on my list are the ones I've been looking forward to the most, and I feel I can finally afford to relax and take the time to enjoy them properly.

I mostly play on consoles though, I'm not sure I could have escaped from an exponentially growing list of cheap Steam games

kunst nugget

I've decided to stop buying games recently as the list has gotten to the point where I'll never be able to finish them. I held off on buying a PS4 for a while and I'm going to hold off on it longer because I really don't need it. I've plenty to play on the PS3 and Vita that I'm not pushed on getting the PS4 anymore. Also, I had a minor accident and I've developed (or it aggravated my already developing) carpal tunnel syndrome so the desire to play isn't as great when the pay off can be a lot of pain the next day.

One thing I've been thinking about doing recently and I'll probably do over the next couple of days is getting rid of all the games on the hard drive of my PS3 and the memory card on the Vita and leaving only 2-3 games so I'm not spending 15 minutes trying to figure out what I want to play and then not being able to shake off the feeling that I should be playing one of the other games instead. Also, it might help me tackle the backlog of disk games that I have there that I never seem to getting around to playing.

Retrogamer mentioned RPGs being a time sink and it's one of the reasons I always end up avoiding them - and I never got into multiplayer games so that's never been an issue for me.

YouSavedMyLife

Multiplayer games are the real killer. I play a lot of league of legends are it soaks up so much of my time that could be spent on getting through my backlog of single player games. Generally I try to set one game has my "main" game. Normally an open world or story driven game like Fallout or The Witcher series. Then I'll have a few games on the side for when I get fed up with my main game. Currently I'm playing through MGS5 and have games like Human Fall Flat and Kingdom on the side. Roguelike games are also just as bad as multiplayer games for detracting from games with a true ending.

I also find I don't 100% games anymore. A few side quests here and there, a bit of exploration but a focus on the main plot will get you through a lot of games quick.

I used to use a random number generator for picking my games but I ended up being stuck with games I just wasn't into playing at that moment, so now I just play whatever I feel like playing at that moment.

I'm also quick to ddrop games as well. I think I'm about 60% the way through Assassins Creed Syndicate. I stopped playing it for whatever reason but don't plan to ever play it again. That's not gonna stop me from adding it to my "Cleared" games list on steam

-edit- Autocorrect Is the best and the worst thing ever

pablomakaveli

My advice is dont let it become a chore and just accept that you'll never clear you're backlog. I got to a point where is was playing games to try and clear it as quick as I could so I could start the next one. Doing that will kill the enjoyment. Just play what you think you'll enjoy the most even if its a game you've already finished or a multiplayer game.

CastorTroy

readyletsgo wrote: »

Is there any sites out there that would give you the average completion time? Without all achievements included. Just play time on single player?

http://howlongtobeat.com/

It even lets you import your Steam library. Though dunno if that's a good thing.


I'm currently trying to rotate through consoles/PC. So PS4->WiiU->PC->PS3->Wii->PS4
Keeping it up so far, though only one rotation done and back at PS4 again with Infamous Second Son. Next will be Twilight Princess HD maybe. Or Wonderful 101. Oh, I have Captain Toad as wel.. Dang it, this ain't easy.

And that's not even counting the 3DS/DS and Vita.

Need a new PC Graphics card so that will delay those games for a while yet

um7y1h83ge06nx

I'm currently using an Android app to help me called My Game Collection.

I find that playing a more intense game alongside a more relaxed chilled out game can help, so you can switch between the two depending on the mood.

I do find myself being drawn to games that are shorter on my backlog, the above app pulls info from How Long To Beat. That way I find myself avoiding brilliant games like Witcher 3. Yes I know I should play it.

I don't even count most of my PS Plus and Games with Gold games as part of my backlog, just the ones I want to play.

Pickpocket

A very simple tip is to only have one game on your system at a time. That's great if, like me, you have a habit of starting a second game before the first is finished.

Nowadays when I flick on the PS4 there's only one game there. So it's either play that or sit and wait for another title to download, which isn't gonna happen.

Works for me.

Drexel

I tell myself my backlog will come in handy one day if I'm ever unemployed.

kunst nugget

Deleted more than half the games off my PS3 this evening and going to whittle it down more even more over the next couple of days.

Ol' Donie

All i do with my backlog is give it a light dusting every few months.

And, of course, add to it.

Pickpocket

Drexel wrote: »

I tell myself my backlog will come in handy one day if I'm ever unemployed.

Well I'm unemployed and mine is getting worse.

Pac1Man

I sold a lot of average games that I knew I wasn't looking forward to playing. That helped a lot!

I generally don't have more than one game on the go per system. At the moment I'm jumping between Yakuza 5 and Ace Attorney on the 3DS. Just finished the stupidly enjoyable Mad Max so those two offer a nice change of pace.

A backlog is not a target though. It's an arsenal of different sources of enjoyment depending on the mood.

SeantheMan

readyletsgo wrote: »

I have a lot of games in my backlog, physical and download for PS2/3/4, Wii/U, Vita, GBA/DS/3DS, that it looks intimidating to me at times to pick and stick with one game to completion. So I end up playing nothing.

I can't start bringing PS2 and games from 10-15 years ago into my backlog.
I kind of just stick to more recent ones that I've bought and try get to them....but as with 90% of people here...I don't and never will have the time to get through my backlog unless I win the lotto and make it a full time goal to finish all my games.
By which time I'll have no friends and my girlfriend will have long left me.

Retr0gamer

I think my problem is getting caught up in the hype with new games and playing too many of them. Like for instance I have started and sometimes finished games like Arkham City, Farcry 4 or the Assassin's Creed games. All fine games but also I don't think they are anything special. And while I'm playing them there's always a nagging feeling that I could be playing a much better older game or something far more interesting. I'm really finding a lot of highly rated games to just be plain dull and uninteresting so I'm kind of taking a stance where when I find this I just put the game away and null it on my backlog. When something genuinely amazing does come up like Doom then it's a different story.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Side quests, achievements and collectibles - ignore em, it'll change your life.

lawlolawl

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Side quests, achievements and collectibles - ignore em, it'll change your life.

Yeah, I gave up on the fluff that goes with a lot of open world games and I never achievement hunted. That stuff is invariably tedious and poorly designed and can really turn my opinion on a game I was previously enjoying so I just stopped doing it.

Multi-player games are a curse for me at the moment. I could have knocked about 20 games off my Steam backlog with the time I've spent on Overwatch in the past few weeks. Doesn't bother me too much though because Overwatch is really ****ing good.

Rorok

I do side missions, find collectiables boring and waste of time. The batman Arkham knight riddler trophies were exceptionally bad. Some achievements I just don't set the fun out of getting them, like in the Tomb Raider reboot, play the entire game again, just talk to all the characters when you can for that tiny bit of unimportant extra dialogue

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

pablomakaveli wrote: »

My advice is dont let it become a chore and just accept that you'll never clear you're backlog. Just play what you think you'll enjoy the most even if its a game you've already finished

+1, even if you played every game you have you'll always find another and go "oh that looks fun".
I find if I'm not interested enough that I'll watch a play through/speed run instead and take it off the back log. I put the games I'm not interested in and the ones I beat into a box. Don't think I've finished much this year but that's okay.

CastorTroy wrote: »

http://howlongtobeat.com/
It even lets you import your Steam library. Though dunno if that's a good thing.
And that's not even counting the 3DS/DS and Vita.

Can you add console games to that too or is it just steam? I was using backloggery.com but I wonder HLTB be better if I can do that, mostly use backloggery now to make sure I haven't got doubles :pac: . I use HLTB just to search often but that's all.

_Godot_

I own so many rpgs.

CastorTroy

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy wrote: »

Can you add console games to that too or is it just steam? I was using backloggery.com but I wonder HLTB be better if I can do that, mostly use backloggery now to make sure I haven't got doubles :pac: . I use HLTB just to search often but that's all.

Yeah you can manually add all your games and I think it gives you how long it takes. But with Steam, you don;t have to enter them manually

Charizard

My problem with my backlog is that I want to knock a few games off, but then I just a game I want comes on sale so I grab it and so the cycle continues. Another problem for me is I play games like Madden/Fifa/NBA and these games eat up a lot of time that I would probably use to finish others