Geek Babble- Attack of the Backlog

Here’s to blowing the dust off of Geek Babble in 2016 and beyond.

I realized I completed very few games in 2015. Meanwhile, my gaming backlog has only continued to grow, even as I dramatically cut back on game purchases. My lack of gaming is due to several reasons (new job, weird hours, spending fewer hours at home during the weekends), but the biggest would be the setback I suffered at the start of 2014. My 3DS and PSP were stolen along with whatever games were in the handhelds. Despite repurchasing both systems and the games, I realized I lost nearly 300 hours worth of game progress. I set out to replay the games, but it was difficult to rekindle my original interest. Shin Megami Tensei IV and Persona 3 Portable no longer excited me, despite attempting to play both games several times. So I found myself in a state were I spun my gaming wheels. Well, no more.

I have decided this will be the year where I put a dent in my backlog. The first part of my backlog solution is creating a list. Once I have decided what games I want to play, I will whittle down that list, one-by-one. Next, I’ll have a dedicated time to gaming. Given my current schedule, this will probably be limited to the weekends and the occasional week day. In my professional life I’m working on timeblocking, but this practice can also be used for recreational time. The last year has shown me that if you don’t carve out time for what needs to be done, or what you enjoy, someone else will gladly fill that time for you. The next step on my plan is to pick a game I really want to complete. Looking on my list, I have lots of games I’m almost done with, but stopped playing for various reasons. Fortunately, I have the perfect candidate to target for completion- Okami HD.

Okami is a game I started on the PS2, but stopped playing when I no longer had a backwards capable PS3. I bought the HD remaster when it was released and occasionally put a few hours into the game. Over the recent holiday break, I played a large chunk of Okami HD and reached the point where I left off on my PS2. I also discovered that I’m making faster progress in my second playthrough. The game is about 40 hours long, which is much shorter than the JRPGs I usually play. (As of this writing, I am about 12 hours into the game.) With persistence, Okami HD may will be the first game I complete in my 2016 backlog project.

For the next part of my backlog project, I’m going to take a page out of Drew’s book. What should I complete after Okami? This is where I am enlisting your help, dear readers. Should my next game be a long RPG or a shorter action game? I’m only going to include the games most likely to hold my attention, as my backlog is actually quite large.

Poll:

[socialpoll id=”2323863″]

Thinking about it, I’ve actually sunk almost 100 hours into Skyrim in 2015, but I have done very little of the main quest. I’m nearly done with Bastion, and I’ve managed to sink about 30 hours into SMT IV (I was 100 hours in when the game was stolen). If the poll results are inconclusive, the next game on my list will be Persona 4: Dancing All Night, much to my displeasure. (It’s not a long game, and I do want to see where the story is going.)

I will probably make time for Fire Emblem Fates when it is released in February, because I’m a huge FE fan. The same thing might happen when Persona 5 has a solid release date. Regardless of the new games, this is my road map to putting a dent in my backlog. Geek Babble is returning as a monthly feature*, so I will post backlog updates. Wish me luck!

*This does not include the times Alex or Geoff may borrow the column. Since I obviously wouldn’t be writing the feature, updates would not be included.

Related posts:

PSP RPG Ports Are All The Rage Geek Babble – Farewell to Backwards Capability Geek Babble: No Seriously, I’m Still Alive Geek Babble: Dancing All Night, Persona 4 Style!