VideoGame_Discussion

Just pick one that looks like it will be fun. If it doesn't grab you within the first couple of hours, move on to the next one. It's okay to not like a game, and it's okay if you never play a vast majority of them.

Prioritize a series or company that you know you’ll enjoy. Don’t try to play everything everyone else hypes- lots of bad / promoted opinions out there these days.

Orlandu wrote:
You're right. I used to try to force myself through a game or book that I started. But I became okay with quitting a game/book/movie/show in middle. These are things that are meant to be fun. If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right.

Feeb wrote:
I do typically go for what catches my attention, and not necessarily what's being raved about. But I will say this about hyped games, there were two very highly raved about games that I decided to play and I didn't regret it in the slightest. Hades and Slay the Spire. I'd say it was gaming time well spent.

But, on the other hand, Hollowknight was talked about a lot, and it just didn't capture my attention for long.

Hollowknight has a ridiculous following. I’ve seen it repeatedly ranked as best “Metroidvania” ever etc. makes no sense to me. It’s a pretty rote.

nonamesleft wrote:

I just buy games and then don't play them, thst way I don't have to worry about prioritizing them

benstylus wrote:

this is the way.

Feeb wrote:

It's so bad within the homebrew space for old games. Everything has to be overly positive.

benstylus wrote:
😅

nonamesleft wrote:
I pretty much played all the retro games I wanted to play. I usually take a day or two off work and beat recent releases. I'm probably one of the few people on this site without a backlog. So, I pretty much buy the recent releases and beat them within the month for the next release. Right now I am on Resident Evil 4 and might just skip 100% it since Dead Space Remake was so much better and wait for Minecraft Legends, then Dead Island 2 then Star Wars Survivors.

Gypsy wrote:
It's a shame because there are plenty of great games out there that are possibly overlooked because they don't meet those criteria.

I'm sure there have been many gems that people have overlooked.

@ued222 No gaming backlog? Impressive!

I just started playing games that I actually truly enjoy instead of playing games hyped by others, or games that I'm telling myself I should like (but actually don't).

As someone else said, if it doesn't grab you then stop playing. For me, when I do this, the list is rather small.

For example, I'm trying to give Dragonball Advance Adventures a go right now since it's hyped and I like DBZ... but so far it just seems pretty generic as far as gameplay and the level design is pretty uninspired/boring IMO. Gonna give it a little bit more of a go then will probably move on to the next Castlevania game in the lineup (aria of sorrow) which I'm sure to enjoy.

I keep a running list of all of my "to play" games for each system. Every once in a while, I go through the lists and any games that stand out to me as something I'd most like to play soon get added to my "top" list. My top list is divided into two sections, one for shorter games and one for longer games. Whenever I'm ready to pick a new game, I just look at my top lists and pick one, either short or long depending on what I'm in the mood for. I typically like to have 1 short game and 1 long game going at all times, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Snappy wrote:

Agree. Dropping stuff you aren't loving is underrated. I did this recently then fired up Bravely Default, which I am loving.

Gypsy wrote:


What is your icon Pikachu a cross with? Looks like Zoiberg's mouth with spider eyes.

The Beat a Game thread that I got sucked into in '20 and helped run in '21 and fully ran in '22 helped me pick. I competed for the most games, badges and unique platforms most years so I wanted to both beat many games but also on all or most of my platforms and across different genres. I tracked all of that in a document and found that nearly 1/3 of the games I beat those 3 years were on GamePass, so that covered the generally more recent and surely the Xbox/PC family, but then for my Sega, Sony and Nintendo platforms plus a few others I looked online for top games on certain systems and thought of games from my past that I always wanted to play or whatever.
I also learned to beat a game and move on. I used to keep playing and hunting things down - like for the first Assassin's Creed title I went and found all of the flags or Crackdown I found all of the orbs - that was a huge undertaking and generally a foolish waste of time. I've got a list now of like 30 games from the 266 I beat in those years that I noted I 'wanted to give some more time' and largely I haven't and likely never will, but that's okay.
GamePass is a sweet thing, but I can get selection fatigue from SO many options, not to mention a good 100+ GwG and other Xbox digital games I've acquired since the 360 era onwards that I wouldn't mind playing. That can stink and I've caught myself too many times just going through my library and thinking okay in the A's I want to play this, and I beat that and this looks good, okay onto the B's... Best remedy I've found is to just fire up a game. On the XSX quick resume is great and I can be active in several games, so just jump into a new one and give it a go.
Note I generally gave up on RPGs years ago, and actually wasn't a huge fan to begin with, I much more prefer 20hr and shorter games, I found the joy in 'checking them off of the list' and moving on. That said I play Forza Horizon 5 nearly every other day or a few times/week doing the latest weekly stuff and just playing around. I was growing tired of it and I knew I was playing it b/c it is so easy to jump in and mess around thanks to quick resume, but now the latest DLC dropped and I've actually tried to not get into it just yet b/c I know it'll suck me in and I've got a few other games going right now that I'd rather get time with.

Long winded way for me to say yep I feel ya and picking from so many games can stink. With over 1/3 of the games I've finished in the last 3 years being on the Xbox 1/SX (also beat some that weren't on GP) I wanted to focus more this year on Sony and Nintendo consoles and have a little. I set around a dozen goals for myself - done so each of the past 4 years and that's helped too with picking games, by looking to make progress or complete those goals.

The Retro Talkshop Thread and Frank's Game of the Month thread have been driving a big chunk of what I play since 2019. I had accumulated most of the hardware I wanted, and the means to explore their libraries, but had a helluva time deciding what to actually play. The timing worked out. In the past few years, only a handful of new games came out that really had me hyped.

The RTT has been great at surfacing games that were deep in my backlog (Ico, Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island, A Link to the Past, etc.), and both threads have introduced me to amazing games that I would have never touched otherwise (the Castlevania series, the Resident Evil series, Silent Hill, Stray, Marvel's Spider-Man, and about four billion Ninja Turtles games).

More recently, I've been trying to work through the small(ish) list of physical games I own but haven't played, or have lost the saves for. 2023's slate is also loaded with games I'm looking forward to, including some new entries to my favorite franchises. I still try to be a good captain and play through whatever the RTT votes for a given month, but my participation in Frank's thread has suffered.

Gypsy wrote:

I used to be in this local food Facebook group, the mods had this opinion that if it was a local business, you had to like it. Local businesses aren't immune from being ran by crapty people/provide crapty service just cause it's a local business.

Kommie wrote:

It's cool that people are making games for old systems, but the Indie stuff on Evercade have taught me the quality between games varies greatly.

For every great game like Micro Mages or Flea, there are some bad ones too.

I like John Riggs, but Yeah Yeah Beebiss II isn't much of a game.

KCPenguins wrote:

Basically just supposed to be a cthulhu looking Pikachu.

I use Trello to organize my backlog and track progress/next up

I normally try to focus on 3-4 games from different genres to keep things interesting. It takes me a long time to beat a game though. Usually my backlog is for cheaper games as I try not to buy new games if O can. If I buy a game full price I will usually prioritize that to get my money's worth (i.e. GOW Ragnarok, RE4)

kevolones wrote:
I hear that about prioritizing a game you buy for full price. When I bought Metroid Dread near the release date, I prioritized it. (Was worth it)