Commit to your backlog thread - 2019-2020

Page 6 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
733
136
2021 starts here: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/2021-backlog-thread.2589123/




Partially inspired by @DigDog 's thread here about playing through your backlog instead of buying new games, as well as @BFG10K 's thread here about games you played in 2018.

I thought it might be fun for those of us with large backlogs to make a specific plan to play our games for the year. We could report back and see how we're all progressing throughout the year. This thread is not about preventing you from playing new games (I'll probably get Sekiro and The Outer Worlds sometime this year, for example), it's just about setting a goal for your backlog.

Personally, I'm going to pick 12 games (~1 per month), but this is just for fun, so feel free to pick any number you want.

Anyway, here's my initial list (I may change games out if I find out I'm not really enjoying one), in no particular order:

Batman: Arkham Knight
Assassin's Creed: Origins
Horizon: Zero Dawn
God of War
Life is Strange
LIMBO
A Hat in Time
FEZ
Half-Life (I know, I know. I started this a few times over the years but never finished it.)
Snake Pass
Metal Gear Solid V
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 
Last edited:

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
7,016
136
Ended up starting Crysis Warhead and The Witcher 2 in tandem. Will likely make both games take twice as long but is also making each game more enjoyable as they're so different from each other.
 

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,255
403
126
Man I have so many games I bought and never played. Most were on sale but still. It's like collecting baseball cards or something.

I'm intending to complete Metro Exodus before Cyberpunk 2077 comes out in I think September. I'm only a few hours or so through it and haven't played it since I picked up Tarkov in early November (and haven't played anything else since).

I'd also like to at least make some progress on Kingdom Come Deliverance and Red Dead 2 but who knows.

I watched a recent MightyJingles vid on Elite Dangerous and that got me wanting to try that out again. Most Tarkov players are waiting for the upcoming wipe to happen (all player accounts reset) and I kinda am too so I actually installed Steam last night (since formatting my rig months ago lol) and downloaded and setup Elite. Did a few of the tutorials to refresh my memory and of course had a hard time killing the fricking second ship in the combat tutorial. God I'm such at games nowadays, it's frustrating.

But besides the possibility of Metro Exodus, I have a feeling when the Tarkov wipe happens in the coming weeks I'll be back to that solely. I dunno why I even play; it's such a difficult game and I'm hardly any better than I was when I fricking started over 6 months ago. Fml. But it's pretty awesome.
 

thetechfreak

Member
Jun 11, 2012
72
2
71
Halo MCC coming to pc has only increased my list of to play games. However I've played and completed all the games upto Halo 2, so can't wait.

Originally only had played Combat evolved when I was young. Rather glad the series is being ported.

Sent from my vivo 1807 using Tapatalk
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Waffling between starting Max Payne 2 (never beat MP 1, although I've played it at some point) and Darksiders 1.

Feel like playing an actual shooter instead of two hack n' slash games in a row, but Darksiders has been on the docket for a VERY long time, and I got the remastered version for free on steam.

Also got a bunch of new wireless Xbox controllers for the b-day, so it would be a good opportunity to to use those.
I loved Max Payne 1 and 2 when each of them came out.
Tried playing number 2 last week and it wasnt a great experience. Game needs to be updated so at the very least it supports widescreen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GodisanAtheist

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
Ok....so I made some backlog progress. I finished Stacking. Started it May 2013. Finished it May 2020. Lol.

It was actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be. A fairly easy puzzle game with some humor.

So then I started on Dark Souls III. Like many people, I rage quit after about 30 minutes. Sh*t that game is hard. But I started as a Deprived class, and I now understand that that decision made it a bit harder. Regardless, after many attempts at the first boss I defeated him. That felt pretty good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GodisanAtheist

UberNeuman

Lifer
Nov 4, 1999
16,937
3,087
126
Ok....so I made some backlog progress. I finished Stacking. Started it May 2013. Finished it May 2020. Lol.

It was actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be. A fairly easy puzzle game with some humor.

So then I started on Dark Souls III. Like many people, I rage quit after about 30 minutes. Sh*t that game is hard. But I started as a Deprived class, and I now understand that that decision made it a bit harder. Regardless, after many attempts at the first boss I defeated him. That felt pretty good.

Dark Souls III is the only one in the series I've managed to make it to the end. It was worth it.
 

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
733
136
Ok....so I made some backlog progress. I finished Stacking. Started it May 2013. Finished it May 2020. Lol.

It was actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be. A fairly easy puzzle game with some humor.

So then I started on Dark Souls III. Like many people, I rage quit after about 30 minutes. Sh*t that game is hard. But I started as a Deprived class, and I now understand that that decision made it a bit harder. Regardless, after many attempts at the first boss I defeated him. That felt pretty good.
My best advice with the Dark Souls series is don't rush and pay attention. Learning enemy tells is probably the most important thing you can do to be successful in that series. If you find a particular path just killing you over and over, there may be a different way you can go (biggest example of this is DS1 when you get out of the tutorial; many people head toward the graveyard with is significantly harder at this stage of the game than going the opposite way).
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
My best advice with the Dark Souls series is don't rush and pay attention. Learning enemy tells is probably the most important thing you can do to be successful in that series. If you find a particular path just killing you over and over, there may be a different way you can go (biggest example of this is DS1 when you get out of the tutorial; many people head toward the graveyard with is significantly harder at this stage of the game than going the opposite way).

Thanks. Yes, this is how I finally defeated the first boss in Dark Souls 3. I noticed his attack pattern and learned that after he jumped at me - that was really the only time I could hit him. So roll away from him, wait for his jump, roll in hit him once (or twice if I was feeling brave), roll out and run away for awhile. Rinse and repeat.

It's really frustrating dying over and over, but now that I understand that this is kind of part of the game (you're gonna die while you figure out the boss's attacks and patterns) I don't get as mad.

As I look back on my first few hours of the game.....I actually like how this game makes you sink or swim from the start.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
7,016
136
Just played and beat (?) The Stanley Parable this morning before work. Going to pick it up again and see if I can find a few more endings, before putting it down for good.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
7,016
136
Alright, my new thing is playing two totally different genres of games, one on my laptop and the other on my desktop, in tandem if the games lack Steam cloud support.

So I fired up Company of Heroes which I played hundred of hours of back in the day but never completed the campaign on my desktop, and the legendary Dark Souls:prepare to Die edition on my laptop.

Really enjoying both games so far, but be warned dark souls is one of the worst PC ports I have seen in a loooooong time and really needs a fan made patch called DSfix to get it to not horribly suck out the gate.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
I'm almost to the end of my first play through of Dark Souls 3. What a brutal, excellent game. I told myself I would quit after spending two hours trying to beat Pontiff. Days later, I told myself I would quit after spending 5 days trying to beat the Dancer.

But I keep going back for more.
 

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
733
136
I'm almost to the end of my first play through of Dark Souls 3. What a brutal, excellent game. I told myself I would quit after spending two hours trying to beat Pontiff. Days later, I told myself I would quit after spending 5 days trying to beat the Dancer.

But I keep going back for more.

One of my favorite things about Dark Souls is how everyone can have such different experiences with bosses. Pontiff was hard for me too, but I 1-shot Dancer and it wasn't close.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
One of my favorite things about Dark Souls is how everyone can have such different experiences with bosses. Pontiff was hard for me too, but I 1-shot Dancer and it wasn't close.
Definitely. There are so many different build combos, strategies, and weapons.

I watched a YT video of this girl with a very calm voice defeat the Dancer with a crossbow. She just ran from corner to corner of the room, fired, and ran. Took forever, but it worked. I found that really interesting.

My problem is that I'm too aggressive. My kids tell me that would work really well in Bloodbourne but in Dark Souls games you need to be more patient. I'm learning.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
7,016
136
I have to admit, I dunno how I'm going to do a game like Dark Souls. Early on, in Undead burg, slowly, methodically, make my way to a long bridge/castle wall.

Suddenly Taurus boss.

Run back, climb ladder, kill bowmen, Taurus jumps up after me. Confined space, nowhere to roll, get smashed.

Start all the way back by my Bonfire, 15 minutes away from Taurus. Exit game.

The game is fun after you begin to work with the controls rather than fight them, and understand more of the mechanics. But at this rate it will take me year to beat this game given the amount of playtime I generally have.
 

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
733
136
One of my least favorite things about Dark Souls is getting back to a boss. I feel like I'm unnecessarily repeating stuff I've already conquered. I guess that's why people eventually just sprint from the bonfire to the boss.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
One of my least favorite things about Dark Souls is getting back to a boss. I feel like I'm unnecessarily repeating stuff I've already conquered. I guess that's why people eventually just sprint from the bonfire to the boss.

Agreed. And I think the developers recognized this. There seem to be a lot more shortcuts to the bosses (or bonfires right outside their door) in Dark Souls III compared to the earlier games.
 

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
31,493
9,824
136
I have to admit, I dunno how I'm going to do a game like Dark Souls. Early on, in Undead burg, slowly, methodically, make my way to a long bridge/castle wall.

Suddenly Taurus boss.

Run back, climb ladder, kill bowmen, Taurus jumps up after me. Confined space, nowhere to roll, get smashed.

Start all the way back by my Bonfire, 15 minutes away from Taurus. Exit game.

The game is fun after you begin to work with the controls rather than fight them, and understand more of the mechanics. But at this rate it will take me year to beat this game given the amount of playtime I generally have.

I've slowly been working on Dark Souls 1 for....probably 5 years now? lol. I'll never finish the series at this rate. And if I do tackle 2 and 3, I'm just going to use a walkthrough. The games are too unforgiving otherwise, IMO.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
7,016
136
Ok, gave up on both Company of Heroes and Dark Souls for the moment. Both very fun games but somewhat punishing with a lot of redo involved if you f up (forgot how incredibly unforgiving RTS games could be if you make a mistake early on you can potentially softlock yourself late into a mission and have to restart).

Started playing through Doom 2016 on my desktop (absurdly well optimized game, manage a constant 144fps on Ultra with my sig rig using the Vulcan renderer) and will fire up Prince of Persia (the cell shaded 2008 reboot) on my laptop as a nice visually pleasing game to offset the perpetual grimdark of DOOM.
 

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
31,493
9,824
136
Completed Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark.

Didn't have it in my backlog when this thread was started, but it's a good little tactics game. I got the "bad" ending, as the "good" ending requires a little RNG during the final boss fight. not in the mood to repeat it, so i'll say a win is a win.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126
I want to finish They Are Billions, but every time I load it, I just... can't. I love the game but I think it's just such a huge time investment that I can't afford at the moment because you can easily sink two hours in a single map only to have your entire base wiped out because a zombie found a single tile that wasn't blocked off and snowballed your houses into oblivion.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,444
2,084
126
so, a few days ago i realized that i still owned Far Cry 3 from waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, and i had played it a bit, but for some reason (probably hated the characters) quit playing midway through.

So i went back in, L2 difficulty, and finished it. Turns out i had already played about half the storyline, and, the rest wasn't really amazing, but i guess it was allright.
The shooting is fairly decent for a Ubisoft game, the weapons are not garbage and the enemies are not bullet sponges, although, they do tend to die with a completely random number of bullets, sometimes it's a single bullet to the chest, other times it's half a mag to the face.
As you progress you learn some skills, most of which are as-standard in every other game, for example, reload while sprinting. By the time you have all the skills you actually need, the game feels like a typical scifi/modern shooter, tons of high-damage, low-hp enemies that make for a satisfying pewpew experience.
Some of the visuals are pretty good, but the game loooooves its "hallucination" visuals and overuses them everywhere it can.
The wingsuit seems exagerated and unrealistic, and while i'm no stranger to games that let you fly, it kinda takes away from the realism it otherwise tries to portray.
Your character can take far too much damage, and the stealth is again not really great, but not as bad in previous Far Cry games.
The story is ... decent. Some of the characters are nice, but not "amazebawls" like most reviews make them out to be.

The game runs like ass. It must obviously be my 4Ghz haswell, because i'd be really pissed off if i cant run on Medium settings, DX9 at 1080p with a RX 590 8Gb. Artifacts and texture popping *everywhere*.
i'd give it a 7/10 if you are really starved for some shooting.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,494
470
126
so, a few days ago i realized that i still owned Far Cry 3 from waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, and i had played it a bit, but for some reason (probably hated the characters) quit playing midway through.

So i went back in, L2 difficulty, and finished it. Turns out i had already played about half the storyline, and, the rest wasn't really amazing, but i guess it was allright.
The shooting is fairly decent for a Ubisoft game, the weapons are not garbage and the enemies are not bullet sponges, although, they do tend to die with a completely random number of bullets, sometimes it's a single bullet to the chest, other times it's half a mag to the face.
As you progress you learn some skills, most of which are as-standard in every other game, for example, reload while sprinting. By the time you have all the skills you actually need, the game feels like a typical scifi/modern shooter, tons of high-damage, low-hp enemies that make for a satisfying pewpew experience.
Some of the visuals are pretty good, but the game loooooves its "hallucination" visuals and overuses them everywhere it can.
The wingsuit seems exagerated and unrealistic, and while i'm no stranger to games that let you fly, it kinda takes away from the realism it otherwise tries to portray.
Your character can take far too much damage, and the stealth is again not really great, but not as bad in previous Far Cry games.
The story is ... decent. Some of the characters are nice, but not "amazebawls" like most reviews make them out to be.

The game runs like ass. It must obviously be my 4Ghz haswell, because i'd be really pissed off if i cant run on Medium settings, DX9 at 1080p with a RX 590 8Gb. Artifacts and texture popping *everywhere*.
i'd give it a 7/10 if you are really starved for some shooting.
Far Cry 4 is way better. Don't waste your time with the 5th game though. Complete garbage.