Commit to your backlog thread - 2019-2020

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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
 
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rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
I finished Dark Souls 3. That's the toughest game I've ever played.

So I decided to play something completely different - a causal, easy game called Snake Pass (a Humble Bundle free giveaway a few months ago).

Casual and easy - or so I thought.

Holy smokes this game is hard. It's basically a puzzle game where you are a snake. Game mechanics are snake mechanics. You have to slither, grip, and wrap yourself around bamboo, rocks, etc.

But I'm enjoying it. It's just not the easy experience I was expecting.

 

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
15,332
7,792
136
Almost finished Borderlands 3. Guardian Takedown can go suck an egg. Farmed weapons up to Mayhem 10 (cheated) so I could go back and kick it's ass on Mayhem 1. Hats off to anyone who can finish that level without respawning 20 times :mad:.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
Aghhhhhhman my Doom save got corrupted and I have to start the game over from scratch.

Luckily I was "only" 4 or 5 levels in and the game is so much damn fun that for the first time in as long as I can remember I just restarted the game (after dealing with the underlying issues that caused the corruption *looks at corrupted windows 10 update install*).

The game is about as good of an update on the classic formula as I could hope for.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
Finished Snake Pass. That is a fun, challenging, unique game.

Next up on the backlog list is going to be Risen 2. No solid reasoning behind it other than I watched a Pirates of the Caribbean movie a few weeks ago and I've been listening to a lot of Alestorm lately.

So I guess I'm in a pirate mood.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
Wrapped up Doom and PoP: both excellent games, strongly contrasting gameplay, tone, and vibe. Complemented each other while playing in tandem.

I'm thinking I'll give a Metroidvania a shot next : Hollow Knight or Ori & The Blind Forest. Heard both are great games but Ori is much more forgiving and easy to get into.

Otherwise, thinking of giving an iso-RPG a go, like Shadowrun: Dragonfall. My understanding is the game isn't that long and I'm in no mood for a 60 hour epic right now.
 

you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
5,677
916
126
pop ?

Wrapped up Doom and PoP: both excellent games, strongly contrasting gameplay, tone, and vibe. Complemented each other while playing in tandem.

I'm thinking I'll give a Metroidvania a shot next : Hollow Knight or Ori & The Blind Forest. Heard both are great games but Ori is much more forgiving and easy to get into.

Otherwise, thinking of giving an iso-RPG a go, like Shadowrun: Dragonfall. My understanding is the game isn't that long and I'm in no mood for a 60 hour epic right now.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
12,969
7,886
136
Aghhhhhhman my Doom save got corrupted and I have to start the game over from scratch.

Luckily I was "only" 4 or 5 levels in and the game is so much damn fun that for the first time in as long as I can remember I just restarted the game (after dealing with the underlying issues that caused the corruption *looks at corrupted windows 10 update install*).

The game is about as good of an update on the classic formula as I could hope for.

I'm still stuck on the mid-game boss. I doubt I'll ever get past that point.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
12,969
7,886
136
I guess the first of those, seems to be the first difficulty spike I encountered. Been stuck on it since I got the game,, years ago, go back and try again every 6 months or so, then give up again. I probably ought to get around to looking for 'cheats', I suppose.
Hell I never did defeat the final boss of Serious Sam 2, and, come to think of it, got stuck ages ago at a point in Serious Sam 3. This seems to be my way, since failing to quite finish the original Quake. (Oh, and also at least one PhD!....maybe there's a pattern here)
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
I guess the first of those, seems to be the first difficulty spike I encountered. Been stuck on it since I got the game,, years ago, go back and try again every 6 months or so, then give up again. I probably ought to get around to looking for 'cheats', I suppose.
Hell I never did defeat the final boss of Serious Sam 2, and, come to think of it, got stuck ages ago at a point in Serious Sam 3. This seems to be my way, since failing to quite finish the original Quake. (Oh, and also at least one PhD!....maybe there's a pattern here)

- The game definitely has its moments. I made it a point to put all my argent upgrades into increased Ammo capacity first, which I suspect smoothed out the difficulty quite a bit. I never had to try more than once for any of the bosses, but there were definitely some arena battles around 2/3 of the way through the game and some challenge trials that pushed me to the limit.

I'm guessing you were playing with KB+M, I don't understand how anyone could get past even the first couple encounters with a controller.
 

thetechfreak

Member
Jun 11, 2012
72
2
71
Receenly got around finishing Halo 3 in the MCC PC. Now, waiting for the last 2 games. It's absolutely been worth the wait.

Sent from my vivo 1807 using Tapatalk
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
Receenly got around finishing Halo 3 in the MCC PC. Now, waiting for the last 2 games. It's absolutely been worth the wait.

Sent from my vivo 1807 using Tapatalk

-I've wondered about waiting for the whole collection to drop or to play through the games as they release.

How was the general bugginess of the ports and do you have a recomended play order (chronological or main series then spin offs or...)
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,443
2,083
126
Far Cry 4 is way better. Don't waste your time with the 5th game though. Complete garbage.
following your recommendation, i have played Far Cry 4 and found it reeeeally better than 3 in every way imaginable. Better guns, better story, far better world map, better stealth, better UI, i have to say i really enjoyed it. The only issue i have is that my version came with some unlocked uPlay weapons, one of which was ridiculously OP. However, not long after the start you can unlock the PKM which is more or less in the same range of deadliness. I also really enjoyed that the game economy is really well balanced, money is always relevant but never excessively abundant or scarce.
Wingsuit got nerfed, which is ok, because it's supposed to be a parachute, not a spaceship.
the buzzer helicopter kinda ruins a lot of the immersion, but at least they are not everywhere.
 
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JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
733
136
Well...there goes my commitment. I heard the WoW expansion got a release date and I resubbed yesterday. While I get bored with WoW easily these days, I still quite enjoy the start of an expansion, so now I'm leveling alts and thinking about trying to find someone to carry me for the mount you get off the final raid boss of the expansion before the prepatch hits.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
I finished Risen 2 Dark Waters....talk about a game where the studio clearly ran out of budget......despite it's faults I enjoyed it.

Now I'm playing Borderlands: The Pre Sequel. 8 hours into it and...….does it get any better? Compared to BL2, which I loved, this game is meh. The characters aren't as memorable, the story isn't as good, and finding oxygen all the time is tedious.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
The game is definitely got some of that PS360 era jank going on where you have to run the game with a 4 core affinity since the thing crashes if it sees a 5th or more CPU cores, but otherwise the game has been remarkably stable and bug free for me... *knocks on wood*
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,715
7,004
136
Started playing Spec Ops: The Line in tandem with Prototype, largely due to its reputation as the "Apocalypse Now" of military shooters.

Going to give it a chance, just got through the first chapter, but the plot and characters must be gold for me to make it through this game. It feels like I'm playing Mass Effect 2 with literally nothing that made the Mass Effect series enjoyable.