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[zkylon]

Just beat Mass Effect 3 today. Ending wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Now I'll be concentrating mainly on Atelier Meruru with sprinkles of Forza: Horizon, Borderlands 2, and Dragon's Dogma.

Give it time.

Just beat To The Moon, fantastic game and such an emotional ride. Wholeheartly recommend it to everybody.

So out of my round of buys, I just gotta finish Clash of Heroes. I've been making slow progress, but I feel I can't play much of this game without getting tired of it. It's just perfect for short sessions, though, so that's how it'll go.

But before that, next on the shortlist to beat is Analogue: A Hate Story. Bought it sometime ago and being a Christine Love fan and having loved the demo, I really want to try and beat this game quick before the GOTY voting ends, since I'm sure it'll earn a spot in my list.

 

[Ledsen]

I'll recommend To the Moon too, with a caveat: the writing is consistently poor. Still a very unique and fascinating story that takes a few cheesy turns but manages to stay interesting until the end, and I admit that I choked up a bit

 

[zkylon]

I'll recommend To the Moon too, with a caveat: the writing is consistently poor. Still a very unique and fascinating story that takes a few cheesy turns but manages to stay interesting until the end, and I admit that I choked up a bit

Videogames are weird in that dialogue is considered writing but story planning and development isn't.

Taking those two into account, I gotta say the writing in To The Moon is amazing. As for the dialogue itself, I found the banter between the docs was pretty fun and I thought everything else was just as great. There were a couple things I didn't like but overall I have no idea where you're getting "poor" from.

 

[RpgN]

Things have been slow lately. There have been no time to play games with all these tests around, next two weeks is going to be more busy :/ Just playing quick games here and there for a couple of minutes and getting around DLCs of Escape Plan (vita) for instance.

Speaking of Vita, it's a unique situation for me to be in. Having played every single game to completion (besides Rayman Origins on purpose) and getting more out of them with post game content. It's relaxing to be on top of things, being able to play whatever you feel like and can buy new games as they arrive.

I hope that will apply to other systems soon as well. I'm hoping to work on 3DS software and be more up to date on it since it's possible. I've already played a good amount of games and the backlog isn't bad, but somehow things keep coming unexpectedly for me to continue on working it out. There are some really cool games on it, I'm dying to play them already!

 

[Ledsen]

Videogames are weird in that dialogue is considered writing but story planning and development isn't.

Taking those two into account, I gotta say the writing in To The Moon is amazing. As for the dialogue itself, I found the banter between the docs was pretty fun and I thought everything else was just as great. There were a couple things I didn't like but overall I have no idea where you're getting "poor" from.

You're right, I should've said dialogue, but obviously you understood what I meant. I felt it to be of somewhat low quality, with awkwardly constructed sentences and unnatural dialogue exchanges. No character had their own distinct voice, and even the children spoke exactly like the adults. I got the impression that the writer is not actually a writer by trade, but simply someone who came up with a story and wanted to tell it, without any experience in writing believable characters and dialogue. Taken for what it is though, it's still a great accomplishment and I really admire what the developers were trying to do. Tackling the subjects they did would be a huge challenge even for an experienced writer. I wouldn't dream of begrudging them the success they had.

 

[zkylon]

You're right, I should've said dialogue, but obviously you understood what I meant. I felt it to be of somewhat low quality, with awkwardly constructed sentences and unnatural dialogue exchanges. No character had their own distinct voice, and even the children spoke exactly like the adults. I got the impression that the writer is not actually a writer by trade, but simply someone who came up with a story and wanted to tell it, without any experience in writing believable characters and dialogue. Taken for what it is though, it's still a great accomplishment and I really admire what the developers were trying to do. Tackling the subjects they did would be a huge challenge even for an experienced writer. I wouldn't dream of begrudging them the success they had.

Really? Personally I felt they were for the most part alright, specially the back and forth between Neil and Eva, but I did notice some of those "awkardly constructed sentences" and whatnot, I'm only saying it wasn't really the standard but rather the exception.

Might be a subjective thing, though, but in any case the game's great and the story it tells is touching and bold and we both agree it's one worth experiencing.

 

[Carlisle]

How have I missed this thread? My NY resolution is to go all of 2013 without spending a cent on video games for myself. So I'm certainly in for this challenge. So far so good, but I came close to blowing it all with that $4 Sleeping Dogs Steam glitch. I actually did get it, but it turned out one of my buddies gifted it to me moments before, so the copy I got is now a gift for someone else and doesn't count has having spent it on myself.

The only excuse I'm allowing myself in this challenge is peripherals. So if my controllers all break or something I can still get new ones and keep attacking my backlog which is one half of my reason for doing this, the other being to save some money.

 

[robertlebrone]

I'm up for this challenge. I've already polished off 3 games so far this year and I've got over 150 games on my Steam that I haven't beat or in some cases even played. It has felt really good to play through the games I have so far. I like the idea of the immediate play escape clause as well because I have a bad habit of buying games and just sitting there staring at the tile art in my games catalog. But if GTAV does not come out for PC this year then there is not a lot of games I'm going to want to play anyway.

I'd like to make a huge dent in my backlog before the PS4.

 

[Spierek]

Week 10:
Games bought - 1
Games finished - 7
Backlog - right here.
Now playing - Radiant Historia, PROTOTYPE 2

G-Senjou no Maou finished with every single CG; overall it's a very good VN with nicely fleshed out characters. Final Chapter, however, stands out for being much grander in scale as compared to the previous ones. The epilogue was awesome, too.

Spoiler

especially the "confession" and in-prison scenes

During this week I'm going to finally get 100% completion on Radiant Historia (I wanna see the true ending) while keeping up with my studies. It's not going to be easy.

Spoiler

also, my flatmates have bought a wii; that's going to be a pain in the backlog ; _;

 

[Ledsen]

Really? Personally I felt they were for the most part alright, specially the back and forth between Neil and Eva, but I did notice some of those "awkardly constructed sentences" and whatnot, I'm only saying it wasn't really the standard but rather the exception.

Might be a subjective thing, though, but in any case the game's great and the story it tells is touching and bold and we both agree it's one worth experiencing.

It is indeed!

 

[robertlebrone]

Finished Renegade Ops today! So that makes my 2013 total of beaten games 4! Fortune Cookie on Backloggery rolled my next game; Fallout: New Vegas. howlongtobeat.com has it listed as taking 30-50 hours so this is going to take a couple weeks!

It's really surprising to me just how fast you can beat a majority of games if you just focus on playing one at a time. I'm having a life changing moment these last couple weeks, lol.

 

[Katzii]

Week 6 Summary: January 13th 2013

MY BACKLOGGERY

Completed games: 0
Games started: 0
New games purchased: 0
Total spent on games since 01/12/2012: £15.71

Progress pretty much non-existent this week due to family matters. I've completed about half of Lomax over the weekend, and made a tiny bit more progress on Sonic Kart and Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Hoping to get my act together again next week.

 

[RpgN]

Guys, I messed up today. I bought 3 games I won't be able to play straight away. They're 3 DS games:

-Kirby Mass Attack (29 euros used)
-Dragon Quest Monsters Jokers 2 (18 euros new)
-Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble (14 euros new)

The first two games are one of the last few released games on the DS, those usually tend to have low stock when a system is about to be phased out. Viewtiful Joe is a very old game that is also hard to get hold of. I doubt I could be able to get hold of them for a cheaper price while guaranteed to find them again, so I didn't want to take any risk and just bought them.

Am I out of the challenge? I really want to continue because it helped avoiding regular releases and sales, but rules are rules?

 

[archnemesis]

That's why I didn't sign up for this challenge. I accidentally bought five games earlier today.

You're welcome to join us in the Backlog Blitz thread RpgN if you still want to reduce your backlog at a more comfortable pace.

 

[RpgN]

Thanks archnemesis, that would be a great alternative if I'm to be kicked out of this challenge. It sounds like you're a bit more in control when going with that thread, but this thread keeps gamers more sharp, so that's good too.

I didn't think I'd stick out long but it was nice to try. It did help with my buying habit and there are a good bunch of people here.

 

[archnemesis]

Judging from the pick-up thread posts you're doing a lot better lately.

 

[twinturbo2]

I, for the life of me, can't stop playing Forza Horizon. I keep meaning to start the Modern Warfare trilogy, Lollipop Chainsaw, Max Payne 3, Okami, Resident Evil 4... you know where I'm going here...

 

[Ledsen]

Guys, I messed up today. I bought 3 games I won't be able to play straight away. They're 3 DS games:

-Kirby Mass Attack (29 euros used)
-Dragon Quest Monsters Jokers 2 (18 euros new)
-Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble (14 euros new)

The first two games are one of the last few released games on the DS, those usually tend to have low stock when a system is about to be phased out. Viewtiful Joe is a very old game that is also hard to get hold of. I doubt I could be able to get hold of them for a cheaper price while guaranteed to find them again, so I didn't want to take any risk and just bought them.

Am I out of the challenge? I really want to continue because it helped avoiding regular releases and sales, but rules are rules?

You're out!

...but you could start a new challenge year from today I guess? I won't stop you

 

[RpgN]

You're out!

...but you could start a new challenge year from today I guess? I won't stop you

Lol? That doesn't sound so bad!

But I don't wish to bring further shame and disappointment to the hard working gamers around here XD I'm going to try harder but if I fail again in the future, I don't know what to do.

I suppose in the end, we're trying to help each other out and not to be too strict.

Thank you!

Judging from the pick-up thread posts you're doing a lot better lately.

Yeah, it really has been noticeable. I'm glad for that but at the same, it's a bit difficult to manage. I might join the other thread next year? Then, this pace can be kept while being a bit more comfortable at the same time.

 

[Glass Rebel]

I pre-ordered DmC: Devil May Cry but it'll be the only thing I play when it's released until I finish it.

 

[Keikaku]

Still doing fine here.

I've sunk just over 50 hours in Dragon Quest IX which was one of the games in my backlog. It feels good to be finally playing it! It's crazy to think that, while I'm fairly close to the end and probably a bit over-leveled for the end boss, I still have hours and hours of post-story content to do.

I haven't even touched the Grotto system in there and don't get me started on the quests/alchemy. Looking forward to getting as much of that as possible!

 

[vall03]

I'd like to ask, what if you buy a different version of a game? For example you buy Persona 3 even though you already own and finished Persona 3 FES? what about HD Collections and multiplatform games? will it count as failed or still on track with the escape clause?

 

[twinturbo2]

I'm almost 100% complete on the single-player portion of Forza Horizon. I really need to tackle the other games in my backlog...

 

[RpgN]

Games Completed:

Samurai Beatdown (PSM, Vita)
Sumioni Demon Arts (PSN, Vita)

Games Bought/Gifted:

Samurai Beatdown
Sumioni Demon Arts

Sony is going to give 6 PSM mobile games for free every week, Samurai Beatdown was the first one this week. The game was quite fun and happy that it was given away, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten it. Expect 5 more new games for the next weeks.

I've been anticipated Sumioni on the vita, having no other games to play (on the vita), I went ahead and got it. It helps that it's also a very short game.

Okay, some progress has been made. I've tested all the three games that were purchased for the DS and out of all of them, Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 held my attention so much...that I decided to continue with DQMJ1. The old save file was at around 1 and half hour, it's now at around 7 hours and half.

It's funny how Sony has been in such a giving mood since December. It's not making this backlog any lighter but I can't say I mind since the games have been worth it and they have been short for the most part. In the end, they're not affecting the backlog too much.

I'd like to ask, what if you buy a different version of a game? For example you buy Persona 3 even though you already own and finished Persona 3 FES? what about HD Collections and multiplatform games? will it count as failed or still on track with the escape clause?

As far as I'm concerned, those games should be okay and are part of the escape clause. You're trying to avoid ''new'' backlog, buying games you already own or already have cleared doesn't make your backlog worse than it already is.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

Ultimately for most people they set their own terms of what breaks this challenge. Most follow the general form of the opening post with the escape clause but I think a few have openly said they won't even use the escape clause. And I know my rules are much different in that I'm allowing myself digital non-Steam purchases but no physical games (until I got my 700+ games to under 200). While I've purchased probably six or seven games on the Vita, PSN, and Live Arcade in total I've also sold roughly 150 games if I was to guess. So I'm making progress towards my personal goal. And while tough I haven't purchased a single Steam game through both the Thanksgiving and Winter sales.

I applaud everyone that's making a solid effort, even if there's a few times where "rules" are stretched. It would be amusing if the escape clause had a limit of something like five. I bet that'd really add some stress for some people, heh.

My problem remains that I'm not playing a ton of my games, still. I should consider the backlog blitz thread for that.

 

[twinturbo2]

I was tempted to buy Magika since it's 75 percent off on Steam, but no. I must be strong, and it'll probably be that low during the summer sale anyways.

I'm installing Doom 3 BFG Edition at the moment, plan on getting to that and Quake 4 soon, and probably get back into Binary Domain, too.

 

[Spierek]

Week 11:
Games bought - 1
Games finished - 8
Backlog - right here.
Now playing - Radiant Historia, PROTOTYPE 2, NSMBWii, SMG2

The next update is going to be hard. I'll be getting my preordered DmC on Friday... which is the day when Global Game Jam and my exam period both start. In other news, I managed to beat Saya no Uta, get to the very final chapter of Radiant Historia (just some sidequests left and then I'm off to the final boss), and start several borrowed Wii games.

Hard times ahead.

 

[Katzii]

Week 7 Summary: January 20th 2013

MY BACKLOGGERY

Completed games: 1
Games started: 0
New games purchased: 0 (have been gifted "8")
Total spent on games since 01/12/2012: £15.71

Again, another slow week; I'm hoping that as of next week, I can put some more time into games. I've progress Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed to 17%, and I managed to beat Lomax (I say beat because although I have played the game through to the credits, I did have to use a flying cheat to get through later levels when I died to the point where I left off, if there weren't reasonable checkpoints). It was a charming game, but the controls seriously put a dampener on it.

I also got gifted Leisure Suit Larry: Greatest Hits and Misses by a good friend this week, which put eight games on my backlog. Thankfully, I've already completed six; I only need to complete the VGA remake of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards and Softporn Adventure. I also have to complete the CD talkie version of Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape up or slip out!. Unfortunately, this has boosted my backlog up to 402 again, but I will get there!

 

[Keikaku]

Just completed the main storyline of Dragon Quest IX. To my surprise, it affected me more than I thought it would and it's probably one of my more favorite RPGs now. There were a lot of poignant moments throughout the story and it has a simple but effective class/job system.

I had no idea how extensive the post game was before I started but from all that I've learned since...oh boy, do I still have plenty of game ahead of me! I spent 60 (thought it was 65 but I just checked and it's not) hours on the main storyline (I was a bit over-leveled) but, even so, my highest leveled job for any of my characters is only at level 47 out of 100. Don't even get me started on Grottos or Slime hunting!

What a game!

 

[Polk]

Games bought so far: 0 (1 gifted though)
Games beaten so far: 3
- Bastion
- WolfSchanze 2 (terrible FPS)
- Puzzle Agent 2

 

[twinturbo2]

I just backed the Kickstarter for the '90s Arcade Racer, but that won't come out for a while, so I don't think I broke anything...

I'll get to Modern Warfare tonight now that I updated to Windows 8 Pro last night...

 

[kodt]

I haven't bought any games this year...unless you count free iOS games.

 

[GalacticGravy]

I'm willing to participate in part. I will stop buying shit I have no plans on playing. Just 15 minutes ago i was just on eBay about to buy Mega Man Network Transmission for Gamecube for no reason. I would probably play it a tiny bit, but it's more of a "full Mega Man library" type thing.

I will buy some games like Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, but I will stop the bullshit purchasing of old games, or indie bundles that don't have one game I want.

 

[zkylon]

Been a while since I updated. Basically I've been slooowly chipping away at Clash of Heroes (the Fiona campaign completely killed my pace, it's really really bad), and mostly fooling around in GameMaker.

Other than that it's been mostly LoL and bits of The Witcher 2.

Pre-ordered The Cave, so I reckon that'll make my fun for a couple weeks.

 

[BlackBanditSho]

Sooooo difficult to stop buying. I've slowed down considerably. Dwindled down my backlog. But to stop altogether?? Digital Downloads, too? iTunes??

That's impossible.

 

[Ledsen]

Bought Lego Lord of the Rings to play with the gf. Not going to count that one, because it's not a personal backlog game but more of an activity for us to do together. In other news, haven't done more than an hour or so of gaming in the last 3 weeks. I'm in a huge slump.

 

[Ledsen]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46881062&postcount=2078

I...

this...


WHAT

 

[zkylon]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46881062&postcount=2078

I...

this...


WHAT

Asshole.

 

[Ledsen]

This will be my Waterloo.

 

[zkylon]

$3.75 for Mark of the Ninja...

I better beat The Cave fast.

 

[Ledsen]

Yeah, I better beat... Mass Effect 3... Which I've played 30 mins of...

 

[zkylon]

Yeah, I better beat... Mass Effect 3... Which I've played 30 mins of...

You were never even in the game lol

 

[Ledsen]

You were never even in the game lol

Well it sort of turned me off from the start, but now I'm stuck having to finish it because I do want to, at some point. That's why I've barely done any gaming since before christmas.

 

[zkylon]

Well it sort of turned me off from the start, but now I'm stuck having to finish it because I do want to, at some point. That's why I've barely done any gaming since before christmas.

To be honest, even if I think the game was bad way before the ending (which is very very bad), I really liked sending of my Shep. She deserved a better game than she got, sadly.

 

[Ledsen]

My progress since my challenge started on November 10th:

Purchases (beaten games striked out)
Syndicate
Far Cry 3
Hotline Miami
Book of Unwritten Tales
Mass Effect 3 (currently playing)

Bought for/to play with the gf
Scribblenauts Unlimited (not released yet)
LEGO Lord of the Rings

Gifts received
Krater
Book of Unwritten Tales: The Critter Chronicles

Backlog games beaten (games owned before challenge)
Dark Souls
Sword & Sworcery
To the Moon
The Walking Dead
Aliens Infestation (DS)

Total games beaten since challenge started: 9


The "purchased" list would've been A LOT longer a year ago. No bundles, very few games in the holiday sales. This has done wonders for my impulse control. Except when I suspect the gf might like them, I'm I sucker like that
I like that I've actually made a nice little dent in the backlog.

 

[mshlive]

Nearing the end of January now and I've purchased 0 games and managed to clear 7 from my backlog. I think I should be able to finish up another game before February, but I'm toying with the idea of getting MGS Rising on release so I'll have to clear that straight away if I do.

 

[twinturbo2]

I'm close to beating Quake II: the Reckoning. I should start on Quake 4 and Doom 3 BFG Edition.

I keep saying I'll start a game, but I go and play another one instead. Weird.

 

[Glass Rebel]

I'm in kind of a rut.

I finished DmC yesterday so I can strike that one off my list and bought the Amazon Arcade pack to gift MotN to my brother but now I'm stuck with 4 other games I'd eventually want to play but can't because of this darn challenge. Ledsen, tell me what to do

 

[Ledsen]

Well mr. Glass Rebel, I also bought the pack, if only because I had the $5 editors choice discount. I haven't redeemed any of the codes. I also don't know what to do, since i I keep them for myself I've technically failed the challenge. The only one I would want is MotN and maybe Deadlight, but the right thing to do would be to give/trade ALL the games away.

I might actually give a couple away and save the rest for trading, and not redeem any for myself. I'm sure all the games will be in tons of Indie bundles going forward.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Well, I went back to my entry post:

Exceptions:

1. Games I'll play immediately and finish in a reasonable time frame (rule of thumb: 1 month) or give up on for good
2. Games I get gifted by friends or fellow GAFfers
3. Games I gift to friends
4. Bundles, as long as I follow rule 1 for at least 50% of the newly acquired games (in case I already own some of the games or gift games to someone else)

I guess as long as I beat Deadlight and one other game in the next month I'm still good to go.