When I got back into gaming specifically retro gaming, it was amazing. Because gaming was fun again I was carefree… with backlog I feel like gaming is stressful again… I just try not to think about it
100% agree. I just try to ply the games when I play them. The more I try to regiment the hobby it makes it less and less enjoyable and I don’t want to ruin it for myself
i've beaten 8 games so far this year being earthbound, super metroid, parappa the rapper, luigi's mansion, professor layton and the curious village, elite beat agents, mega man 2 and pikmin. most of these i emulated meaning they weren't technically part of my backlog.
I am glad I caught this video right after you uploaded, I have been looking forward to seeing how far you have tackled your backlog in the previous year (I do love the sheer variety of the titles you play every year). I am sitting here right now looking over what I have in my backlog and feeling very overwhelmed. I did not make as much progress as I would have liked during 2022, this year I'm setting my goals for at least eliminating what remains of my Xbox 360 titles, definitely 100+ right there. I find the best way of doing things is to make a list, with groups of three games each. Then I must play all three games to completion in any order before I can start the next group of three. It is best to have those three titles be three different genres as well to not get burnt out on any one type of game (i.e. racing, rpg, jrpg, sports) Hopefully, I am done with all of those this time next year. I am already looking forward to 2023's wrap up video, hopefully by that point, I can share with you some news of success on my part. I wish you luck on finishing you backlog, Sir, here is to an efficient and productive 2023 to us all. Edit: Typed all this during the video and posted, then the video ended so I had to come back to say BRICKS.
I followed your tips last year with a goal of finishing 50 games. It was going amazingly well until I injured my hands for months, but I still managed to finish 40! My hands are still recovering so I hope I can pass 50 this year! My tip is keep the feeling of accomplishment going. If you’re afraid you can’t finish a big game, go play something short. It still counts! Some of the most beloved games of all time are less than 5 hours long!
Ive been there, I hope your hands get better soon! Try to stick to turn based games if you are getting hand pain from playing, its what I did when my hands were all bad for like 6 months.
@@TotallyTubularJonathan Oh wow, did you get any special treatment or did anything in particular help? I’ve been changing my diet and strength training because orthos and physical therapy haven’t helped.
mine was like carpal tunnel and RSI. To be honest I just worked it out and stopped playing mouse and keyboard games for the most part since thats really what caused it to hurt in the first place. I will keep my mouse and keyboard play sessions pretty short these days.
I have always been trying to clear up my backlog of games but I actually started taking it seriously and writing down the games I’ve completed starting in September 2022. I’ve told myself I want to complete 1-2 games a month and I’ve been on track ever since. I’ve completed 12 games in 9 months so it’s going great. Just in case anyone reads this and wants to try my strategy, I’ll put it here. 1st tip: Everything in this video and previous videos of Tubulars, I’ve pretty much done or somehow changed it slightly so they are really awesome tips. 2nd tip: I love RPGs so right now I’m playing Elden Ring and so what I will do is complete a shorter non RPG game as fast as I can once a new month starts. Once that game is completed, I’ll continue playing Elden Ring just to keep chipping away at it until the end of the month and repeat that every month. I do this to make sure I at least beat one game while playing the big RPG in the meantime. 3rd tip: This isn’t really a tip but more of an insight on why I can’t beat more games in a month and maybe show you how to balance multiplayer with single player. So I play FFXIV and am in a raid group that takes up 3 hours for 2 days every week. (Wed and Thurs nights). MMOs do take up time but I love playing it. The rest of my free time is dedicated to completing games. Last tip: Handhelds help! I bring my Steam Deck to work everyday and play a little bit of the current game I’m playing on my lunch or if the game is not a PC game, at least I can play Elden Ring on my lunch and still chip away at it. Those are all the tips I got. Hope it helps someone. Good gaming everyone!
I watched the previous 2 episodes and this just popped up on my recommeded feed at 5AM right after beating my 7th game of the year (TES IV: Oblivion). It must be a sign!
Bricks Last year, I barely got through any games, partially because I was so hooked on Slay the Spire (I'm still playing a little each day) and partially because my grandma passed away and we were packing her house which had a ton of stuff (it was insane how much there was). This year, I'm aiming to finish at least 20-30 games. I haven't gotten through that many games before in a year, but I've got a pretty big backlog and this seems fairly achievable. I made a spreadsheet on the games I want to play this year and looked up how long to beat each one and put that alongside the games. I even sorted them into 5 categories of length (from games under 10 hours to games over 60) and 1 category of unknown times because these games aren't out yet. There's only like 5 games that are coming later this year that I have, but I'm sure as the year continues, there will be others I'll be interested in. I'm currently playing Elden Ring and Pokemon Legends Arceus, although I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish Elden Ring. I'm enjoying it, but I'm having a hard time with the bosses.
With me, what I usually do is buy a game and then play it 2-3 years later. If I were to grind my back log, I'd make sure to figure out which games are short and which are long. By figuring out what games are short, psychologically, it feels as though banging those out would make the most sense. There are also games that I will replay ever year or so. I find games that I enjoyed so much that I want to go back and play again. You did bricks last time too lol
I find my best solution is to play games I've already started usually, or to do games I know I'll love or be hooked with, and to finish shorter games first if I can. JRPGs are out of the question. In the last 3 months (November 29th to now) I've managed to beat Postal 2, Neon White, Limbo, Gris, Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls, Silent Hill 2, Pac-Man World Re-PAC, and am in the midst of Xenoblade 1 and Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, while nearly finished with Far Cry 3. Xenoblade to me is an exception to my rule of absurdly long games, and Far Cry 3 was longer than I expected. I also don't actively try to 100% the games I beat. A single completion to me. A backlog for me is a game I bought that I am not in the midst of playing, so all new purchases go to the backlog and change if I do end up playing them. I have around 500 games to clear, and it can be a challenge sometimes, but for me playing some shorter games and clearing ones I already made progress in before seems to make this easiest. I also try to have a bit of genre variety, or else I'll get bored. Too much FPS and platformers back to back will suck for me. I hope maybe my words help anyone as well. The important thing is just to have fun y'all. :)
Same. I played a ton of JRPGs when I was unemployed (binged the entire Trails series and even 100% a couple of em lol) but now I don't have the time or energy. I'm focusing on shorter games now, especially action hack n slash ones because they're exciting/intense so I won't get tired and fall asleep when playing them during the work week. This year I've beaten Ninja Gaiden sigma 2 and 3 razor's edge, Code Vein, Lord of the Rings War in the North, Mitsurugi kamui hikae, Resident Evil 4 remake (100%), Stranger of Paradise (I spent so damn long in this game grinding endgame with my gf lol, 230hours 100%), Fatal Frame 4 & 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Tokyo Xanadu ( I rushed this one at the end), Obscure, Ryse son of Rome, Dead Island coop replay, Nioh coop replay, Signalis, Tormented Souls, Bright Memory Infinite, Metro 2033, Spongebob Cosmic shake, Turok 1, Bioshock 2 and Infinite, Elden Ring replay, Final Fantasy II, The Surge. Damn that's a longer list than I expected, I mostly posted them so I could see them in total not to bloat my reply to you btw lol
There are some games you can never finish, depending on what "finish it" means. Does it mean to beat the final boss once and be done? Does it mean to beat it with every available character once? Does it mean to reach 100% at least once? Take on some NeoGeo SNK fighters. Some are just to tough to really beat no matter how much fun it can be to try. Or when you do grow older, your job gets more busy, your sparetime gets calculated down to the beat of your heart. Everything starts to drag you down. Today it is so easy to build agaming catalogue, for little to nothing under the right conditions and just getting a game at the right time.
You don't need multiple tips, just one: Stop buying games! You have a backlog because you were interested in the particular games and you bought them for a reason. So just dive into it and have fun.
Doing pretty well :D Just finished BOTW all shrines, 2 DLCs, all challenges. Even went back to the Gamecube to play some NFS. Now on 3DS going through Hey Pikmin (it's pretty good!) and Ocarina of Time :D
Bricks, I do enjoy you pointing out mixing it up during the days and rather than binge one game all week to give it a break or so, just to keep things kind of progressing because sometimes long sessions can kind of turn off someone and sort of push them away from the game. Playing a game maybe alternatively can help maybe game A gets M/W/F Game B gets T/T and Game C and D can split the weekend but i get the idea your trying put out there.
I have really bad ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) where I can’t play a game longer than an hour at a time. I have to constantly change what I’m playing otherwise I can’t focus on the story or gameplay and have to do other things to occupy myself during cutscenes. I want to beat games in my backlog so badly, but it’s so hard to change my mental to focus strictly on one to two games at a time 😭
A well presented and well thought out video. It's not a simple one size fits all problem maybe I'm wrong describing it as a problem. I'm definitely going to watch this video more than once. I have a large (400 titles) Xbox 360 collection which is all on physical media. I see the collection everyday having a digital download would hide at least the problem well in part but of course it wouldn't mitigate the issue.
I quantify my backlog as franchises I want to get to. What is on the list is the first game, then when I beat that one, the next game in the franchise replaces it on the list. Sometimes I do series binging (I beat Mega Man 1-8 and Final Fantasy I-IX all in a row) and othertimes it takes me 5 years to even beat 1 or 2 entries, like with Touhou. Speaking of Touhou, that franchise is my understanding of "beating a game". That being getting the good ending. The entire franchise requires you to get a 1 Credit Clear to get the good ending, and with that done, you unlock the Extra stage. I would highly recommend the franchise, but make sure you start with Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom. It is one of the easier ones to 1CC and there aren't any intrusive gimmicks to learn on top of learning the base gameplay for the franchise.
Bricks! I have a backlog between various consoles and handhelds. I think I like your seventh advice the most as it helps me put down a game generally not intrigued in the first three hours. I was impressed I didn't enjoy Hades, and now I'm playing Death's Door with more enjoyment. I'm lucky to finish 10 games a year, but I may be purchasing at 30-40 games a year due to sales. I could probably finish more if I wasn't nose deep in college and work. Priorities, but I also love my entertainment.
bricks. I've been doing mostly backlog games and also playing some ps+ games to mix it up. I'm currently playing Odin Sphere Leifthrasir as i missed out purchasing on ps2 version but they remastered emade it into a wonderful action rpg.
I kinda relate. I'm always tired after work (9h shift) and I do Monday to Saturday, then Monday to Friday weeks so unless I've a 2 day weekend I don't play as much. Thankfully, I got my girlfriend to try a ton of my fav games so I like watching her play when I'm just too tired to play stuff myself
To tackle my "game catalog" I use a randomizing wheel app where I pick a bunch of games to put on the wheel and let the wheel decide which game I play next...if a new awesome game gets added to game pass or becomes free on epic....then I just add it to the wheel...I will admit you're right about how those services make the backlog struggle worse...but why pay for something if u can get it free??
You said you take game recommendations. My favorite game of all time is Life is Strange, and it's a series now with 4 games (and a sorta spinoff called Tell me Why). You should check it out. 😉 (Would make a great ranking video)
Another great tip and maybe an idea to put into the next video, next year. Is to not be afraid to play too many games simultaniously. A bad habit i used to have is that i wouldn't start a game because it would keep me to long from playing other games. I always had like 2 games simultaniously and if i didn't feel like playing them today then i wouldn't play anything at all. For some reason i didn't allow myself to play more than 2 games simultaniously. Now i don't have a limit anymore and have a lot more motivation to start new games because it doean't feel like a big commitment.
128 games in a year is insane - I consider my self a someone who plays too much - and I finished 31games in 2023. This took me 524h, which is already crazy if you think about it.
Bricks! I need to finish a bunch of games, but i’m really leaning towards PSP/PS1 games on my modded PSP. Ive got a solid couple of hundred games to get through and i think i managed to finish maybe 3 last year. Probably gonna aim for one a month and hope for the best 😂
I'm expecting my backlog to take me well into my sixties. 2021 I beat about 60 something games 2022 my son was born at the beginning of the year and I beat 20 games. All I can do is chip away at it slowly but have fun while doing it.
15 games in one month is honestly insane. If two of those were 10 hrs each thats like 20 hours in 3 days. No functioning adult has that kinda time. Gaming shouldnt be a chore, nor should we have to "force" ourselfs to play through something. If its not fun thats the games fault, not yours.
I've been battling my backlog for the past couple of months, my problem is that a lot of my games are jrpg and take a while to complete, I'm lucky if I manage to finish one each week
it's got to the point now where they are making remakes of the game I haven't got round to! now I'm looking at the old version thinking, is it even worth it? lol.
I was that way with Another Code and the Last of Us Remastered/Part I. I played both versions of the 2 mentioned games. I preferred the DS and Wii games compared to the re-imagined collection of Another Code for Switch. They both offer different experiences, so unless the original is completely obsolete I'd say try both. I also just recently play the original Metal Gear Solid when I've only played The Twin Snakes version.
Bricks. ....But I am going to get new games if I feel like it'll be a game I'll play and enjoy. Like Mario Wonder, I am getting that. I will finish it haha. But I am one of those two games a year person....*me playing Splatoon 3 and TotK for months....* Well, I did add Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town because I decided I will work on my backlog since RU-vid decided to show me these videos. I have a fun Backloggd account now for game journaling.
I have finally finished a very difficult game this year, I shocked that I finally did the impossible. I beat battle toads, after 28 years I finally see the ending. Not going to lie my parents love difficult games.
I'm trying to take a stab at my backlog for the first tim. I'm currently near to finishing my fifth of the year (Greedfall) and I use Playnite where I have a Backlog category. Playnite has a button that selects a random game from that category and that is how I choose the game to play next. By the luck of the draw, basically. I also have decided that, while I will strive to finish games, if I don't like the game I'm playing, it's okay to quit and erase it from the backlog. Takes me off the pressure of having to complete everything and possibly killing my motivation of clearing out my backlog.
Subscription games don't count on a backlog, because you don't own those games, therefore, they can't be on your backlog. A backlog is a list of games you own that you haven't finished that you want to finish.
I use a randomizer over all of the systems I own and then randomize by genre because I have so many games. I have almost 300 PS2 games alone and a lot of them I have never played. I also have gamepass, but that's it. I think I have close to 200 games in my Steam LIbrary and I have a PS3, 4, 5 and an Xbox 360. I will usually buy PC versions of the Xbox 360 games though. So a question I would ask you is how would you approach an open world game like Red Dead Redemption? That's going to take a while to beat. I feel like maybe I should have at least 1 game going in a specific genre at 1 time. So like 1 action game, 1 racing game, 1 rpg...like that. I do try to vary shooters to FPS and then 3rd person shooters just to have variety. And also I try to play some of my oldest games. Right now I have going, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Assassin's Creed 2 (on PC), Spider-Man on PS4, Ratchet and Clank (the original) on PS3, Forza Horizon 4 on PC Gamepass. I feel like I need to add an RPG to balance it all out. I also like to play PS2 games on my CRT tv and the last one I beat was Rygar (great game). But I am also playing Driver on PS1, Chaos Legion on the PS2, Front Mission 3 on the PS1 and Galerians (PS1). One game I struck from my list because I hated it was Herdy Gerdy for the PS2. I tried to get into it, but it was so difficult I just gave up and one of the Splinter Cell games was broken on the PC and I couldn't advance any further...Double Agent or something like that. Anyway, I am close to beating Assassin's Creed 2 and about 64% done with Spider-Man and i'm pretty far in Ratchet and Clank as well. Driver I think I am on the final stage...so i'm close on some of them at least.
At my current rate of 2 hours per day, it would take me 7+ years to get through 126 games lol. I need someone to teach me how to play through more games. Hollow Knight has been on my backlog for over a year, im doing something wrong lol
Its ok, Hollow Knight has been on mine for like 3 years. Ive lost track its been so long. One day we got this. And it will still probably be before SilkSong is out.
Bricks, How much time do you give a game that you aren't enjoying before you give up? I've heard from some that a game like Xenoblade Chronicles X only starts getting good 40 hours in. Do you have a method or formula on when to throw in the towel? Thanks!
oh honestly its a case by case basis. For Xenoblade chronicles X I was done after a few hours especially once I learned about the 40 hours to make it good bs
for me i only buy games i am going to play so my backlog is nonexistent but i have several lists of games i am yet to play and my steam wishlist consists of over 100 games if i start and abandon a game for more than a couple of weeks i decide its not worth my time and move on
I have a ton of games I bought and haven't played them yet which is really bad cause I got obsessed with one game that I can't stop playing but I'm gonna try to play them this year but it's really hard to when I don't know where to start or how to complete them..
If I drop a game after giving it at least a couple of hours then that's the game's fault imo. Some games call to me over time because that first taste obviously stuck but maybe I wasn't in the right head space or had enough time etc ( path of exile and borderlands 2 took 3 attempts over years before I got hooked and understood them), and I'll go back to those but If I ever forget I started a game, then that's on the game! especially as I rarely pay more than £6 for a game (why would you pay more with a backlog this big), I already got my money's worth. Having the luxury of owning so many games means you get to try lots back to back, and if I the game doesn't grab you its because its not good enough. that's fine.
Tip#6: dont buy new game Me: i dont. But i downloaded a massive p!rated games from ps1-ps3 to switch and PC recently. I got more than 1500+ backlog. Damn i cant i play all these til i die.
Wow...a guide on how to more efficiently cough cough "waste" your time and regulate your dosage so you don't burn out on wasting time. Isn't this timeline of ours not amazingly absurd?
My method is basically installing 4 or 5 games I've had on my backlog that I want to play (or maybe a couple new games I just got). And just cycle through them to progress. Sometimes I find a gem that I really like and I just spam it until I beat it, before I go back to others. If a game starts feeling tedious or bores/doesn't excite me, then I just uninstall it and replace with something else. These games I uninstall go to a separate head list, they stay in the "give another try" one. But if I've already tried em 2 or 3 times and they still don't do it for me, it just goes to the permanently dropped list. Maybe sometime in my life I play them, but in the near future I won't touch them (as I'd much rather play games I'm into). Last but not least, I also have 1 or 2 games installed that are my comfort food. Basically games I've already played the hell out of, but I still like playing. Whenever I don't feel like playing any of my unfinished games, I just go back to those ol reliables (pretty much Souls games, Resident Evil games or Stranger of Paradise). Oh yeah and I also have 1 or 2 multiplayers I play with friends or my girlfriend. These ones+the ol reliables don't help me progress my backlog, but at least it's still fun. I think making completing games for the sake of it into a goal would suck the fun out of gaming, making them feel like a chore. I just beat however many I beat. The plan is to play the games I've already bought and enjoy them.
Such a great video great tips I have so many thoughts do first off that's incredible you finish 100+ games the past two years you must have sacrificed a lot of time to do it. For me, the way I've been doing it is I I jotted down all the games in my backlog on my phone about 20 to 25 then I organize my games by first which games are less likely to be spoiled AKA most popular/old, then shortest games, then longest games, then the hardest games and then at the end the most niche games. One thing you didn't mention in the video is I think the hardest part of beating your backlog is not feeling like playing a game and distracting yourself with things like RU-vid tiktok TV music and other stuff. You have to commit to playing a game everyday or at least every other day otherwise new games will come out and make your backlog worse. I agree don't let it be a chore but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I personally have to finish a game if I started it even if I'm not enjoying it that much I just always enjoyed enough to finish and I need that feeling.
Had last year goal to beat 52 games, managed 87. This year try again that 52 goal, also should play less of Game pass games, that could be one goal for this year
