12 Yrs♥F$✓#
This is something I haven't been able to wrap my mind around. With so many consoles out and sites like GOG.com & Steam practically giving away games for free, I've amassed a huge backlog of games.
Knowing that I sadly don't have time for them all, I have to prioritize and decide which games are worth my time. This has been a struggle to figure out for me.
Do you have a methodical plan of attack to get through your backlog? Do you just play the new stuff and forget about those old Saturn classics you always wanted to play? Please share ideas!
Knowing that I sadly don't have time for them all, I have to prioritize and decide which games are worth my time. This has been a struggle to figure out for me.
Do you have a methodical plan of attack to get through your backlog? Do you just play the new stuff and forget about those old Saturn classics you always wanted to play? Please share ideas!
12 Yrs♥✓#
I guess the only thing I really go by is what I feel like playing at the time, whether it be new or old. I don't have a method beyond that.
Though recently it has felt like each year I'll go through a phase. Like this year I played a lot of 90's shooters. Last year I made a point to finish as many of my half-finished games as possible.
Though recently it has felt like each year I'll go through a phase. Like this year I played a lot of 90's shooters. Last year I made a point to finish as many of my half-finished games as possible.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
I have a short list of games from my backlog that I parse through alphabetically. It's a simplistic approach but it's effective. It's only a guide line though to, so I always know what I should play next, but I will prioritize any new game that I really want to play. I also try not to play games with very similar gameplay back to back, so for example, playing Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity back to back was a big mistake because I ran into burnout and that probably impacted my experiences with Beyond Divinity.
I prioritize PC over consoles simply because it's where I own the most games, but I'll go into phases where I'd prefer to do some handheld gaming instead or something. Otherwise after I reach the end of my current short list of PC games I'll migrate to the consoles and knock out a few of those. At the end of the day it's all about just playing what you want to play, but having a backup system, like my alphabetical short list so you know what you can play if you can't exactly decide. Plus, never be afraid to retire a game if it's not panning out, obviously give it time to set in but if you really aren't gelling with it, don't waste the time.
I prioritize PC over consoles simply because it's where I own the most games, but I'll go into phases where I'd prefer to do some handheld gaming instead or something. Otherwise after I reach the end of my current short list of PC games I'll migrate to the consoles and knock out a few of those. At the end of the day it's all about just playing what you want to play, but having a backup system, like my alphabetical short list so you know what you can play if you can't exactly decide. Plus, never be afraid to retire a game if it's not panning out, obviously give it time to set in but if you really aren't gelling with it, don't waste the time.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
I've retooled my Replay tab to contain all of my "high priority" games. Basically games that are classics I've missed or things that just look like they have cool mechanics or something. I'm not very good about sticking to it, but it still helps to have it there.
13 YrsF✓#
The best way I've found to get through my backlog is to just get the list into any sort of order and stick to it. I have three lists: RPGs, other games, and speedruns. Then I limit myself to only 1 RPG, 1 or 2 other games, and 1 speedrun game. Then I play the one I'm in the mood for.
11 Yrs♥$✓#
As people may be able to guess from the "recently playing" thread, I have no plan beyond: "Play ALL the games!" My highest priority is generally whichever of the several games I'm in the middle of that I'm most in the mood for. If none of them seem appealing, then it's time to reevaluate things. If I haven't been playing something for a while and it's starting to feel like a chore or doesn't have anything compelling enough to make me feel like I need to get back to it, it gets retired. If it's won a spot in my heart, it can stay, and I'll try to pick it up again eventually.
Otherwise the selection process is fairly arbitrary and comes down to anything that sounds appealing at any given time. Been playing too many long, drawn-out games recently? Time to binge on short, fast ones. Too many AAA games lately? Time for some weird indie stuff. Too many quirky, unpolished games? Time for some high-budget blockbusters. Too many puzzle games? Let's go blow stuff up. Starting to look like a Michael Bay marathon? Let's get some visual novels up in here. Or even just pick something because it has a funny name and that's the kind of day you've had.
I guess you could say game-to-play-next selection process is fairly arbitrary (rereading my own post, I notice that I myself already said that), but my quick retirement policy churns through the crap fairly quickly to find the good/interesting ones. It's also very heavily biased toward the PC out of sheer laziness. I haven't even bothered adding my console games to this site even though I keep pretending I will, because it's just so much less effort to play more PC games than it is to pull out and hook up the consoles and pull games out of cases and stick them in and so on. I'm already at my computer, and I can just click on a game and it happens. Maybe someday I'll finish them if I rip all the discs and play them in emulators, at least for the ones that work that way...
Otherwise the selection process is fairly arbitrary and comes down to anything that sounds appealing at any given time. Been playing too many long, drawn-out games recently? Time to binge on short, fast ones. Too many AAA games lately? Time for some weird indie stuff. Too many quirky, unpolished games? Time for some high-budget blockbusters. Too many puzzle games? Let's go blow stuff up. Starting to look like a Michael Bay marathon? Let's get some visual novels up in here. Or even just pick something because it has a funny name and that's the kind of day you've had.
I guess you could say game-to-play-next selection process is fairly arbitrary (rereading my own post, I notice that I myself already said that), but my quick retirement policy churns through the crap fairly quickly to find the good/interesting ones. It's also very heavily biased toward the PC out of sheer laziness. I haven't even bothered adding my console games to this site even though I keep pretending I will, because it's just so much less effort to play more PC games than it is to pull out and hook up the consoles and pull games out of cases and stick them in and so on. I'm already at my computer, and I can just click on a game and it happens. Maybe someday I'll finish them if I rip all the discs and play them in emulators, at least for the ones that work that way...
12 Yrs♥$✓#
I just play whatever I feel like playing at the moment I decide to play games.
Games are entertainment, I'm not gonna fuss over what series to play next or start charting out my play schedule like it's some kind of job. I'm not worried about getting through my backlog. My backlog is there so I'll always have something new to play when I get tired of the sort of games I've been playing lately.
Games are entertainment, I'm not gonna fuss over what series to play next or start charting out my play schedule like it's some kind of job. I'm not worried about getting through my backlog. My backlog is there so I'll always have something new to play when I get tired of the sort of games I've been playing lately.
13 YrsF✓#
pheria
13 YrsF✓#
I flip and flop between systems.
Directly this may not answer your question, since my priority isn't based on desire much.
One of my approaches is having four "slots" (I've probably discussed it here a couple of times).
Slot 1 - NEW - The game with the newest release date in my backlog.
Slot 2 - RANDOM - A random game, usually chosen here or by backloggery's fortune cookie
Slot 3 - OLD - The game with the oldest release date in my backlog
Slot 4 - LONG - The game with the longest estimated time to beat in the backlog
Slots are played through sequentially, then when all four games are beaten new ones are assigned.
The idea is that you're always playing that shiny new release, as well as something retro (or possibly something that's just lingered around a while), something long (the benefit here is that you don't one day end up with a backlog full of long, intimidating games. And something random to make sure you catch a median case every now and then.
My other approach I've been trying lately is to play through by release date, oldest to newest. This one is appealing to me because it kind of goes back to the childhood feeling of having one game and beating it into the ground before another one shows up. You get the games trickled down to you in the same order they came out on the market. I find it kind of fun.
A third idea I've played around with is writing a program that uses a sorting algorithm (quicksort, mergesort, etc) but asking for user input for all the comparisons and the data set is a list of backlog games. For example, instead of taking a list of numbers and comparing them (is 5 < 12?, is 5 < 3?), you ask the user for input (Do you like Pokemon Blue better than Magic Knight Rayearth?).
The idea being that the sorted list shows a personal priority that you decided on in steps at a time.
The problem with that is Big O and the average number of comparisons for sort. The number of times the user is queried would grow VERY quickly, unless I haven't figured out the right sort algorithm for it.
It took a bit of searching, but I could find at least one executable implementation that had the same idea as me. They're using Quick Sort, but with a reasonably large backlog there's not going to be anything quick about it.
Here it is:
https://leonid.shevtsov.me/en/a-human-driven-sort-algorithm-monkeysort
Directly this may not answer your question, since my priority isn't based on desire much.
One of my approaches is having four "slots" (I've probably discussed it here a couple of times).
Slot 1 - NEW - The game with the newest release date in my backlog.
Slot 2 - RANDOM - A random game, usually chosen here or by backloggery's fortune cookie
Slot 3 - OLD - The game with the oldest release date in my backlog
Slot 4 - LONG - The game with the longest estimated time to beat in the backlog
Slots are played through sequentially, then when all four games are beaten new ones are assigned.
The idea is that you're always playing that shiny new release, as well as something retro (or possibly something that's just lingered around a while), something long (the benefit here is that you don't one day end up with a backlog full of long, intimidating games. And something random to make sure you catch a median case every now and then.
My other approach I've been trying lately is to play through by release date, oldest to newest. This one is appealing to me because it kind of goes back to the childhood feeling of having one game and beating it into the ground before another one shows up. You get the games trickled down to you in the same order they came out on the market. I find it kind of fun.
A third idea I've played around with is writing a program that uses a sorting algorithm (quicksort, mergesort, etc) but asking for user input for all the comparisons and the data set is a list of backlog games. For example, instead of taking a list of numbers and comparing them (is 5 < 12?, is 5 < 3?), you ask the user for input (Do you like Pokemon Blue better than Magic Knight Rayearth?).
The idea being that the sorted list shows a personal priority that you decided on in steps at a time.
The problem with that is Big O and the average number of comparisons for sort. The number of times the user is queried would grow VERY quickly, unless I haven't figured out the right sort algorithm for it.
It took a bit of searching, but I could find at least one executable implementation that had the same idea as me. They're using Quick Sort, but with a reasonably large backlog there's not going to be anything quick about it.
Here it is:
https://leonid.shevtsov.me/en/a-human-driven-sort-algorithm-monkeysort
11 Yrs♥$✓#
Originally Posted by: pheria
I've considered doing something like that for other things I need to organize, but not my game list. I feel like you could do something a lot more efficient if it only needs to be mostly correct in the end, not perfectly well-ordered. You should be able to get away with a whole lot fewer comparisons that way if you have a lot of things to sort. Hold on while I think out loud into this text box.
Some kind of ranking system like Elo takes a while to be mostly "correct" but not as long to be sort of right. I know there are other similar things that are more efficient than standard Elo too. It's not quite intended for something like this, and I'm sure there's something more suitable than that, but it's probably better than doing a full sort with every comparison by hand.
You could also use some kind of sort that uses buckets like how radix sort does and instead of ordering all of the games relative to each other just determine which bucket they belong in (up to you how many buckets you use, whether it's five or ten or whatever), and then within each bucket the order is arbitrary (e.g. whatever order they ended up in there as you went through the list). The smaller the buckets/more buckets there are, the more effort it is to decide which one a game belongs in, but the more correct the final order is when you concatenate the list. That type of sort is fantastic if you want very few comparisons (and for its normal uses radix sort even does give you a well-ordered list).
You could also look into some of the sorting/rating algorithms for seeding recommendation systems that came out of the Netflix competition a few years ago. I know I found some neat stuff in there that I was considering using for my other types of media, but I don't remember if any of it would directly apply to what you're thinking of doing right now.
A third idea I've played around with is writing a program that uses a sorting algorithm (quicksort, mergesort, etc) but asking for user input for all the comparisons and the data set is a list of backlog games. For example, instead of taking a list of numbers and comparing them (is 5 < 12?, is 5 < 3?), you ask the user for input (Do you like Pokemon Blue better than Magic Knight Rayearth?).
The idea being that the sorted list shows a personal priority that you decided on in steps at a time.
The problem with that is Big O and the average number of comparisons for sort. The number of times the user is queried would grow VERY quickly, unless I haven't figured out the right sort algorithm for it.
I've considered doing something like that for other things I need to organize, but not my game list. I feel like you could do something a lot more efficient if it only needs to be mostly correct in the end, not perfectly well-ordered. You should be able to get away with a whole lot fewer comparisons that way if you have a lot of things to sort. Hold on while I think out loud into this text box.
Some kind of ranking system like Elo takes a while to be mostly "correct" but not as long to be sort of right. I know there are other similar things that are more efficient than standard Elo too. It's not quite intended for something like this, and I'm sure there's something more suitable than that, but it's probably better than doing a full sort with every comparison by hand.
You could also use some kind of sort that uses buckets like how radix sort does and instead of ordering all of the games relative to each other just determine which bucket they belong in (up to you how many buckets you use, whether it's five or ten or whatever), and then within each bucket the order is arbitrary (e.g. whatever order they ended up in there as you went through the list). The smaller the buckets/more buckets there are, the more effort it is to decide which one a game belongs in, but the more correct the final order is when you concatenate the list. That type of sort is fantastic if you want very few comparisons (and for its normal uses radix sort even does give you a well-ordered list).
You could also look into some of the sorting/rating algorithms for seeding recommendation systems that came out of the Netflix competition a few years ago. I know I found some neat stuff in there that I was considering using for my other types of media, but I don't remember if any of it would directly apply to what you're thinking of doing right now.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
I'm having the same dilemma as the OP. My way of dealing with the many games on several systems varies, but currently it's down to time and comfort!
So I'm prioritising the few games I have left to play on PS3, and PC games on Steam that I can play with a gamepad, as my gaming PC is connected to my living room HDTV.
After that is keyboard & mouse only games for Mac on Steam, then the same for non-Steam games on Mac. As I work as a web dev and media designer and spend most of the day in front of a computer, these are quite a low priority for me at the moment.
Lastly are PC games that are keyboard and mouse only - mostly life-eating old RPGs, strategy games and point'n'click adventures. These are a very low priority for me as it involves installing Windows on my Mac and I can't be bothered. In fact, these games aren't even in my main Backlog, as I've added them to my custom list which I've called 'On Hold' and I'll probably never play them!
So I'm prioritising the few games I have left to play on PS3, and PC games on Steam that I can play with a gamepad, as my gaming PC is connected to my living room HDTV.
After that is keyboard & mouse only games for Mac on Steam, then the same for non-Steam games on Mac. As I work as a web dev and media designer and spend most of the day in front of a computer, these are quite a low priority for me at the moment.
Lastly are PC games that are keyboard and mouse only - mostly life-eating old RPGs, strategy games and point'n'click adventures. These are a very low priority for me as it involves installing Windows on my Mac and I can't be bothered. In fact, these games aren't even in my main Backlog, as I've added them to my custom list which I've called 'On Hold' and I'll probably never play them!
11 Yrs♥$✓#
Originally Posted by: neuroboy
Depending on the age of the games, the version(s) of Windows they'll run on, and the level of hardware access they require, there are a few ways to do that. Bootcamp does work the best, but I always found it to be a pain in the ass to have a separate partition and need to reboot. Some stuff will run reasonably well in Parallels/VMWare though. New stuff not so much, and sometimes things that do weird stuff with the hardware/OS also not so much, but the kind of stuff you're describing has a reasonable success rate. I usually used VirtualBox instead because it's free, even though it's not quite as compatible with some newer graphics stuff, but I ran XP in a VM on my MacBook using it a couple years ago, and it worked well enough to play a 2D RTS in multiplayer on game night with my friends when my Windows box out of commission, while all my usual OS X crap was still running too. WINE on OS X is probably better than it used to be too, but it was a bit of a mess back when I tried fiddling around with it way back whenever a few years ago.
Short version: Bootcamp is the simplest way to go and most guaranteed to work, but I had a lot of luck using VirtualBox for older and/or simpler games, and I preferred not having to shut down my entire OS X workflow and reboot just to play a game for a little while.
These are a very low priority for me as it involves installing Windows on my Mac and I can't be bothered.
Depending on the age of the games, the version(s) of Windows they'll run on, and the level of hardware access they require, there are a few ways to do that. Bootcamp does work the best, but I always found it to be a pain in the ass to have a separate partition and need to reboot. Some stuff will run reasonably well in Parallels/VMWare though. New stuff not so much, and sometimes things that do weird stuff with the hardware/OS also not so much, but the kind of stuff you're describing has a reasonable success rate. I usually used VirtualBox instead because it's free, even though it's not quite as compatible with some newer graphics stuff, but I ran XP in a VM on my MacBook using it a couple years ago, and it worked well enough to play a 2D RTS in multiplayer on game night with my friends when my Windows box out of commission, while all my usual OS X crap was still running too. WINE on OS X is probably better than it used to be too, but it was a bit of a mess back when I tried fiddling around with it way back whenever a few years ago.
Short version: Bootcamp is the simplest way to go and most guaranteed to work, but I had a lot of luck using VirtualBox for older and/or simpler games, and I preferred not having to shut down my entire OS X workflow and reboot just to play a game for a little while.
11 Yrs✓#
BenInSweden
11 Yrs✓#
My Backlog contains essentially 2 types of games:
1) Those in my wishlist of wanting to play (whether I own it or not), and
2) Games that I own, due to a bundle or someone has bought it for me, so would want to play at some point.
And within that list there is essentially two categories of "home" and "away" games, since I'm required to travel about once every 2 months for at least a week, so I have to say to myself "Can this be played on my laptop, PSP or NDS?", if yes then it is put into the away pile, and I don't play it when I'm at home.
In each of those categories there's also the priority of if I own it, if I don't already own it, then generally it will wait until there is a sale on with that game (or humble bundle etc), only in certain cases (i.e. The Last Of Us and GTAV so far), where peer pressure (where I had many friends telling me I should play TLoU) or just a personal preference to play the game asap prevails and gets bumped up to the top.
Some games may get bumped down in priority due to a pending re-release (for example Final Fantasy X's Remaster for the PS3, even though I already have the PS2 version and was about 10hrs in).
Some may get bumped up because I've already started playing (maybe years ago), and am near the end (to get it out of the way).
I'm undecided on what to use the custom category for as any of above could be made into a category, and have their own uses (e.g. ones I don't own, so should check every now and again for deals etc - mainly for console ones as I have a steam wishlist set up, or "away" games).
I think even a basic "priority scale" like others have mentioned, for arbitrary list categorisation would help :)
e.g. for me
1-5 Home games, already own, ordered by preference to play.
6-9 Away games, already own, ordered by preference to play. (less games in the away list, so no need for as many levels of priority)
10 Games to buy.
1) Those in my wishlist of wanting to play (whether I own it or not), and
2) Games that I own, due to a bundle or someone has bought it for me, so would want to play at some point.
And within that list there is essentially two categories of "home" and "away" games, since I'm required to travel about once every 2 months for at least a week, so I have to say to myself "Can this be played on my laptop, PSP or NDS?", if yes then it is put into the away pile, and I don't play it when I'm at home.
In each of those categories there's also the priority of if I own it, if I don't already own it, then generally it will wait until there is a sale on with that game (or humble bundle etc), only in certain cases (i.e. The Last Of Us and GTAV so far), where peer pressure (where I had many friends telling me I should play TLoU) or just a personal preference to play the game asap prevails and gets bumped up to the top.
Some games may get bumped down in priority due to a pending re-release (for example Final Fantasy X's Remaster for the PS3, even though I already have the PS2 version and was about 10hrs in).
Some may get bumped up because I've already started playing (maybe years ago), and am near the end (to get it out of the way).
I'm undecided on what to use the custom category for as any of above could be made into a category, and have their own uses (e.g. ones I don't own, so should check every now and again for deals etc - mainly for console ones as I have a steam wishlist set up, or "away" games).
I think even a basic "priority scale" like others have mentioned, for arbitrary list categorisation would help :)
e.g. for me
1-5 Home games, already own, ordered by preference to play.
6-9 Away games, already own, ordered by preference to play. (less games in the away list, so no need for as many levels of priority)
10 Games to buy.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
Cheers for the advice... I've actually done all these things myself, including using Bootcamp successfully before. But after upgrading my iMac with an SSD and reinstalling OSX from scratch, I never got round to sorting it out again. I also figured that as I already have so many games to play on PS3 and my living-room PC, and plenty of Mac versions of games, installing Windows to play all that older stuff was currently unnecessary.
In the past, I had pretty good success rate getting older or less demanding PC games running on Mac using Wineskin https://wineskin.urgesoftware.com so might try that again for the odd game. But at the moment, the only PC game I really want to play that I can't play using a gamepad is Titan Quest, which I'm about half-way though. Unfortunately it runs like a dog on Wineskin.
11 Yrs♥$✓#
Originally Posted by: neuroboy
Back when I was fooling around with WINE, WineBottler was still new and Wineskin didn't exist. It did not go so well. I sort of got a couple things working configuring it manually instead, but it wasn't pretty. Sounds better now.
I'm very familiar with Titan Quest and the way it doesn't run well, having spent over 300 hours on it. Even running it natively, it can drop frames and get the "rubber banding" effect going in a few areas on surprisingly powerful hardware because they didn't have a chance to optimize some stuff in the engine before the game was released and the studio was shut down, especially some of the shader code. The fan patch does help somewhat, but it doesn't quite fix everything (but it fixes so many dozens/hundreds of other unrelated bugs that it's almost mandatory to use anyway).
I also feel like that was one of the games supported by a project someone had going that added controller support to a handful of PC ARPGs, but I don't remember what it was called. It think it might've come up on the Grim Dawn boards talking about input methods and whether WASD for movement (as opposed to all mouse, all the time) is ever acceptable in ARPGs, so I might be able to find it again that way if you're interested.
In the past, I had pretty good success rate getting older or less demanding PC games running on Mac using Wineskin https://wineskin.urgesoftware.com so might try that again for the odd game. But at the moment, the only PC game I really want to play that I can't play using a gamepad is Titan Quest, which I'm about half-way though. Unfortunately it runs like a dog on Wineskin.
Back when I was fooling around with WINE, WineBottler was still new and Wineskin didn't exist. It did not go so well. I sort of got a couple things working configuring it manually instead, but it wasn't pretty. Sounds better now.
I'm very familiar with Titan Quest and the way it doesn't run well, having spent over 300 hours on it. Even running it natively, it can drop frames and get the "rubber banding" effect going in a few areas on surprisingly powerful hardware because they didn't have a chance to optimize some stuff in the engine before the game was released and the studio was shut down, especially some of the shader code. The fan patch does help somewhat, but it doesn't quite fix everything (but it fixes so many dozens/hundreds of other unrelated bugs that it's almost mandatory to use anyway).
I also feel like that was one of the games supported by a project someone had going that added controller support to a handful of PC ARPGs, but I don't remember what it was called. It think it might've come up on the Grim Dawn boards talking about input methods and whether WASD for movement (as opposed to all mouse, all the time) is ever acceptable in ARPGs, so I might be able to find it again that way if you're interested.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
nalgas said:
Actually, I did try a similar thing by using JoyToKey when I first built the PC for my living room, but it really didn't work very well with Titan Quest, and I think the menus were just too small to see properly from my sofa. I think I'm gonna have to accept that if I want to carry on with that game I'll have to Bootcamp!
I also feel like that was one of the games supported by a project someone had going that added controller support to a handful of PC ARPGs, but I don't remember what it was called. It think it might've come up on the Grim Dawn boards talking about input methods and whether WASD for movement (as opposed to all mouse, all the time) is ever acceptable in ARPGs, so I might be able to find it again that way if you're interested.
Actually, I did try a similar thing by using JoyToKey when I first built the PC for my living room, but it really didn't work very well with Titan Quest, and I think the menus were just too small to see properly from my sofa. I think I'm gonna have to accept that if I want to carry on with that game I'll have to Bootcamp!
11 Yrs♥$✓#
The thing I found was specifically made for ARPGs and had a separate config for each game and translated analog stick movement into mouse clicks the correct distance from your character and things like that, but yeah, the rest of the UI is still a bit of a problem if you're on a TV.
12 Yrs♥F$✓#
Thanks everyone for your replies and suggestions. They were very helpful. I think I had been looking at this the wrong way. I was too focused on prioritizing the games that I already own rather than focusing on the games that I want to play, regardless of whether I own them or not.
I started a new list with the games I want to play broken down by system. It showed me for example there are lots of Genesis games I want to play, but not that many N64 games.
I started a new list with the games I want to play broken down by system. It showed me for example there are lots of Genesis games I want to play, but not that many N64 games.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
That's a good way to go about it, and I agree regarding not prioritising games I actually want to play - there are plenty of newish games I've bought or really want to get, but for some reason I am obsessed with trying to clear my older stuff. I guess the good thing about that though is that if I wait the new releases will be cheaper in the Steam sales next year, or there'll be a good value bundle version with additional content, and also any technical issues might be sorted.
I think my trouble is that I get carried away trying to clear games on one particular system at a time, mostly because I think I'm going to get rid of it - I've been doing that with my PS3, mostly because I've bought superior PC versions for a lot of the games I already have/had on that system, though to be honest I will probably keep it anyway for the PS3 exclusives I like that I might want to replay and because it's a decent Blu-Ray player.
Anyway, there are some really interesting perspectives about how to deal with the issue of priority here... And what's really great to see is that they are all so coherent, thoughtful and well written. This place makes me feel warm and fuzzy - it is something of a gem amongst gaming websites!
By the way, sorry for hijacking your thread with my off-topic discussion with nalgas regarding Mac shenanigans!
11 Yrs♥$✓#
Originally Posted by: neuroboy
And this is why the user pages are the same color as the off-topic section: as often as not, users are/get off-topic.
By the way, sorry for hijacking your thread with my off-topic discussion with nalgas regarding Mac shenanigans!
And this is why the user pages are the same color as the off-topic section: as often as not, users are/get off-topic.
13 YrsF$✓
Lithium
13 YrsF$✓
.
I have a backlog of nearly 100 games.....that doesn't include the 400+ games I play for fun when I'm in the mood and have no intention of completing. Of course now that I've gotten engaged and bought a house I have even less time than ever before. I can tell you that I focus on the following:
1. Games I'd rank as AAA titles are at the top of the list
2. Games I've started typically get priority to those I haven't
3. I usually focus on a handful of games at a time so if I'm not in the mood for one I'll play one of the others.
4. Next I tend to work backwards chronologically, but that's not set in stone.
5. I keep a list of incomplete games in alphabetical order by platform and color coordinated by priority (yellow=must beat, red=play at leisure, black=don't care, grey=beaten)
6. Every so often I will look through the list and assess how I feel about the games on the list. If I have no motivation to play the game I will change the priority to red to make room for new games coming out.
Don't know if this will help you, but just to give you an idea, my current handful of games I'm actively playing are Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (WiiU/3DS), Arkham City (PC), Trine 2(PC), Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox360), IloMilo (Xbox360), Killzone: Mercenary (PS Vita). This also gives me room to work on different consoles depending on the situation.
11 Yrs#
Leedsy97
11 Yrs#
I just play whatever I feel like, if a game starts to get a bit boring ill play another and then get back to it at a later time.
10 Yrs✓
BuntyHoven
10 Yrs✓
1. If you feel like playing something, play it.
2. If you have close to brand new copies of retail games you aren't sure you're going to enjoy, you may want to consider playing those first. Don't want to find out they're not for you after half an hour's play a year or two down the line when their resale or trade value has plummeted.
Apart from that, I stick roughly to release date order from oldest to newest, if not exactly then a calendar year at a time. Usually gives a natural mix, a feel for how certain games influenced those after them and helps space out games from certain developers/franchises etc.
An exception I have to this are genres that fell out of fashion or games by developers I like who are no longer productive. Save them for whenever you'll really appreciate them.
2. If you have close to brand new copies of retail games you aren't sure you're going to enjoy, you may want to consider playing those first. Don't want to find out they're not for you after half an hour's play a year or two down the line when their resale or trade value has plummeted.
Apart from that, I stick roughly to release date order from oldest to newest, if not exactly then a calendar year at a time. Usually gives a natural mix, a feel for how certain games influenced those after them and helps space out games from certain developers/franchises etc.
An exception I have to this are genres that fell out of fashion or games by developers I like who are no longer productive. Save them for whenever you'll really appreciate them.
13 Yrs♥F$✓#
I've been playing almost exclusively PC games for months now because I've been moving around a lot and don't have a proper TV anywhere for consoles. I have a laptop from 2009, so basically I go to my backlog, filter PC games, and choose from the older or least graphically intense ones that my computer will run smoothly. That's why I've been hitting up so many indies and old games I've missed in the past few months.
I did just get a PS3 and have gone nuts on eBay buying every game I ever wanted to play on that system. Once I get settled and get a nice TV, I'll be weaving console games into the mix again.
I just make sure to vary the genre. Recently I've done a sort of puzzle platformer, then a strategy RPG, then two point-and-clicks, then an FPS puzzler, and I'm just now starting an action RPG. With a persistent sci-fi MMO throughout.
I did just get a PS3 and have gone nuts on eBay buying every game I ever wanted to play on that system. Once I get settled and get a nice TV, I'll be weaving console games into the mix again.
I just make sure to vary the genre. Recently I've done a sort of puzzle platformer, then a strategy RPG, then two point-and-clicks, then an FPS puzzler, and I'm just now starting an action RPG. With a persistent sci-fi MMO throughout.
11 Yrs✓#
BenInSweden11 Yrs✓#
I've ended making a spreadsheet of my backlog, and let the priority of the list be decided by some math, I take the following:
HLTB Rating (0-100)
Metacritic Critic rating (0-100)
Metacritic User Rating (0-100) (if this or the critic one in unavailable, then I'll use another rating, e.g gamerankings/gamestats or average of reviews listed on Wikipedia)
My interest in playing the game (50-100) - arbitrary. 100 being absolutely must play the game down to 50 being only half interested in playing it.
Time Modifier (75-100) - <10hrs = 100, 10-20 = 95 .... 50+ = 75
Purchase Modifier (50-100) 100 = PC Purchase (since the platform with the most games in my backlog is PC) 80 = Console Purchase, 50 = Don't currently have
Sequel Modifier (0-100) Arbitrary figure to adjust down direct sequels that are better than the preceding game. 100 for all games aside from those that need bumping down to get somewhere below the previous game.
And take an average of all those figures to create a priority rating.
Whilst overkill for many, I think it gives enough variety for me to not completely be playing best->worst games, or doing a->z ending up playing game serials back to back, and should also mean I should only be playing games I already have for quite some time.
HLTB Rating (0-100)
Metacritic Critic rating (0-100)
Metacritic User Rating (0-100) (if this or the critic one in unavailable, then I'll use another rating, e.g gamerankings/gamestats or average of reviews listed on Wikipedia)
My interest in playing the game (50-100) - arbitrary. 100 being absolutely must play the game down to 50 being only half interested in playing it.
Time Modifier (75-100) - <10hrs = 100, 10-20 = 95 .... 50+ = 75
Purchase Modifier (50-100) 100 = PC Purchase (since the platform with the most games in my backlog is PC) 80 = Console Purchase, 50 = Don't currently have
Sequel Modifier (0-100) Arbitrary figure to adjust down direct sequels that are better than the preceding game. 100 for all games aside from those that need bumping down to get somewhere below the previous game.
And take an average of all those figures to create a priority rating.
Whilst overkill for many, I think it gives enough variety for me to not completely be playing best->worst games, or doing a->z ending up playing game serials back to back, and should also mean I should only be playing games I already have for quite some time.