The 2021 Backlog Challenge

[Reed Rothchild | 9,511]

Shadowrun

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

On 3/21/2021 at 7:07 AM, fox said:

I thought the gameplay was fittingly tense, and very rewarding to sneak through an entire area unnoticed, or kill everyone with tricks and traps.  I felt like an urban Rambo.

If you are playing it like a military shooter, getting into gunfights and fistfights with everyone, it will become very run of the mill.

It does take awhile to get going.  Once you get Elle and hit the road, there are a lot more interesting locations, characters, and set pieces.

@Webhead123

After playing for a few more hours, I'm happy to say the game gets significantly better after you move outside of the city. I think the game would have benefitted greatly from condensing the first three hours into about 90 minutes. Corridor crawls through bland environments are not the game's strong suit.

As @fox pointed out, this is not an action game. If you try to play it that way, you probably won't enjoy any of the enemy encounters. That being said, the best stealth games still find a way to make combat enjoyable or at least intense and interesting. In this game, loss of stealth is basically a soft fail state and, in most cases, you have to do the section again. This type of trial and error gameplay has not aged well and feels like a way to extend play time.

Story hasn't really picked up for me yet as it keeps bouncing from cliche to cliche, but the acting is good and the graphics still look great in 2021. I'm excited to see how things play out.

[fox | 1,665]

Beat Super Mario 3D World and 100% Bowser’s Fury.  Great games esp BF, let’s hope the next Mario title is like that.

 

[fox | 1,665]

Also beat The Mummy demastered.  Pretty solid metroidvania with good sprite work and a banging soundtrack.  Enemy design and power ups are pretty uninspired, but it ends up being better than expected for a movie tie in.

 

[Gloves | 11,771]

It's not on the list but figured I'd share anyway, I played through Mario 3D world today. Enjoyed it! Going to play through the Bowser's Fury stuff now. 

[Sumez | 2,934]

Got back into my list a few days ago after having burned out on both Vagrant Story and Wasteland 2.

Played through the Game Boy Mystic Quest, which wasn't really as good as I've been lead to believe. It's designed mostly around the dungeons, which are kind of a one trick pony. The few puzzles are kinda dumb, and combat is pretty bad.

Not an awful game, but really, don't go out of your way to play it. It's better to start with Secret of Mana.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,511]

So we're about 1/3 of the way through the year.  Let's take stock of how everyone is doing:

@Reed Rothchild  9/20
This seems like I'm well on pace to complete my goal by the end of the year.  Except most of the ultra-long games I have not yet touched.  So by that note I'm probably well behind the pace I need.

@Renmauzo2/25
The fact that he beat both of those games in 2020 does not bode well.  Well, that and he's only beat 8% of his games.

@TDIRunner 0/7
On the bright side, he only has 7 games left.

@Richardhead ??/??
Very mysterious.

@Deadeye 2/12
Not much progress, but at least most of his remaining games are rather short.

@BortLicensePlate 0/43
Maybe he forgot...

@Gloves 6/52
Way behind pace, but he has been actively beating stuff every month.

@Jeevan 2/15
Got off to a hot start, and then disappeared.  To be fair, he's busy babysitting all of us in Survivor and on Game Night.

@spacepup 2/13
When tax season is over he's gonna kill it.  I can feel it.

@Splain 2/13
He still hasn't eaten the Dippin' Dots

@fox 4/??
It's hard to tell what he has on his plate since many of his games have a release date of TBD.  But does seem to be constantly plugging away at something.

@Abelardo 1/8
MIA since week one.

@Murray 3/20
Earthbound claims another victim.  Or, Survivor has stolen all of his gaming time.

@ifightdragons 11/85
Way behind pace, but he also has one of the highest number of cleared games.

@Sumez 10/43
Behind schedule, but it also sounds like he's retired some of the games on his list.

@AverageOliver98 2/32
A low completion %, and a rather imposing list of games, including 3 Xenoblades.  Yikes!

@ZeldaFreak 0/20
Probably just struggling to finish anything.  I hear he sucks at gaming.

@ChickenTendas 0/130
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Mumphy 1/24
We hardly knew ye!

@Webhead123 3/15
Already has some of the harder completions knocked out.

@ThePhleo 0/44
Another large list of RPGs.

@Aguy 0/22
Another large list of RPGs.

@DoctorEncore 2/36
To be fair, his goal was to get to 5.

@Mr. CIB 13/32
Killing it.

@LutherDestroysTheGond 0/29
The open-ended nature of his post implies he has not beat any games this year.

@Jicsan 1/15
Another large list of RPGs.

@Shmup4/25
He beat Darkest Dungeon, and that's really the only thing that matters.

@AstralSoul 0/26
Another large list of RPGs.

@Makar 1/35
Another large list of RPGs.

@LifeGame 0/20
I know from the Switch thread that he beats a shit-ton of games, so perhaps he just hasn't updated this.

@monkeybut625 2/14
We hardly knew ye.

@peg 1/27
A gaming savant.  He must be off conquering other worlds.

@darkchylde28 0/6
At least it's a small list.

@FireHazard51 0/60
Maybe he forgot...

@0xDEAFC0DE 12/42
He was killing it until Survivor rolled around.

@nettenette 0/17
We hardly knew ye.

@acromite53 7/36
Not far off the pace.

@JamesRobot 2/33
Well, he beat the Kraft Dinner game, which I'm still not sure exists...

@Mega Tank 0/15
Obviously.

@Foochie776 2/11
Just knock out Marble Madness.  It'll take an hour or two.

@Californication 1/21
He's deep into all of these.  Maybe he's secretly 80% of the way there?

@BriGuy82 1/5
Some people go big.  Some people are realistic.

@RegularGuyGamer 0/11
Maybe he forgot?

@MagusSmurf 40/142
That count is two months old, which means he may be done by now.  This guy is a madman.

@FenrirZero 0/12
Another large list of RPGs.

@MegaMan52 1/50
On one hand, he did join up late.

@ScaryD 2/20
We hardly knew ye.

@G-type 0/5
Just pay your kid to beat them for you while you sit back and watch with beer in hand.  That's my endgame.

@Andy_Bogomil 1/4
I know for a fact that Andy is pretty good at games.  Really good.  So this should be nothing.

[Californication | 1,477]

Forgot about this.

Valfaris - boss

Pocky and Rocky - second to last boss

Contra - Level 6 boss

Kickmaster - last level

Vulgar - last level

I should really learn how to use save states to practice. I've got the analogue consoles, really don't have an excuse.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Californication

[ifightdragons | 234]

Haha, that status update cracked me up!

[Sumez | 2,934]

I love the comments. Thanks for keeping tabs on us Reed  

Edited April 28, 2021 by Sumez

[Jeevan | 8,910]

I'll get back to it when survivor is done good sir!!!!  I wanna knock at least a few more off the list

[Brickman | 3,983]

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

@Shmup4/25
He beat Darkest Dungeon, and that's really the only thing that matters.

Haha love it. It really has been my highlight so far.

I’m currently playing through Persona 5 Strikers, ToCS and a few others. I really should only focus on one game at a time.

[OptOut | 8,883]

3 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

So we're about 1/3 of the way through the year.  Let's take stock of how everyone is doing:

@Reed Rothchild  9/20
This seems like I'm well on pace to complete my goal by the end of the year.  Except most of the ultra-long games I have not yet touched.  So by that note I'm probably well behind the pace I need.

@Renmauzo2/25
The fact that he beat both of those games in 2020 does not bode well.  Well, that and he's only beat 4% of his games.

@TDIRunner 0/7
On the bright side, he only has 7 games left.

@Richardhead ??/??
Very mysterious.

@Deadeye 2/12
Not much progress, but at least most of his remaining games are rather short.

@BortLicensePlate 0/43
Maybe he forgot...

@Gloves 6/52
Way behind pace, but he has been actively beating stuff every month.

@Jeevan 2/15
Got off to a hot start, and then disappeared.  To be fair, he's busy babysitting all of us in Survivor and on Game Night.

@spacepup 2/13
When tax season is over he's gonna kill it.  I can feel it.

@Splain 2/13
He still hasn't eaten the Dippin' Dots

@fox 4/??
It's hard to tell what he has on his plate since many of his games have a release date of TBD.  But does seem to be constantly plugging away at something.

@Abelardo 1/8
MIA since week one.

@Murray 3/20
Earthbound claims another victim.  Or, Survivor has stolen all of his gaming time.

@ifightdragons 11/85
Way behind pace, but he also has one of the highest number of cleared games.

@Sumez 10/43
Behind schedule, but it also sounds like he's retired some of the games on his list.

@AverageOliver98 2/32
A low completion %, and a rather imposing list of games, including 3 Xenoblades.  Yikes!

@ZeldaFreak 0/20
Probably just struggling to finish anything.  I hear he sucks at gaming.

@ChickenTendas 0/130
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Mumphy 1/24
We hardly knew ye!

@Webhead123 3/15
Already has some of the harder completions knocked out.

@ThePhleo 0/44
Another large list of RPGs.

@Aguy 0/22
Another large list of RPGs.

@DoctorEncore 2/36
To be fair, his goal was to get to 5.

@Mr. CIB 13/32
Killing it.

@LutherDestroysTheGond 0/29
The open-ended nature of his post implies he has not beat any games this year.

@Jicsan 1/15
Another large list of RPGs.

@Shmup4/25
He beat Darkest Dungeon, and that's really the only thing that matters.

@AstralSoul 0/26
Another large list of RPGs.

@Makar 1/35
Another large list of RPGs.

@LifeGame 0/20
I know from the Switch thread that he beats a shit-ton of games, so perhaps he just hasn't updated this.

@monkeybut625 2/14
We hardly knew ye.

@peg 1/27
A gaming savant.  He must be off conquering other worlds.

@darkchylde28 0/6
At least it's a small list.

@FireHazard51 0/60
Maybe he forgot...

@0xDEAFC0DE 12/42
He was killing it until Survivor rolled around.

@nettenette 0/17
We hardly knew ye.

@acromite53 7/36
Not far off the pace.

@JamesRobot 2/33
Well, he beat the Kraft Dinner game, which I'm still not sure exists...

@Mega Tank 0/15
Obviously.

@Foochie776 2/11
Just knock out Marble Madness.  It'll take an hour or two.

@Californication 1/21
He's deep into all of these.  Maybe he's secretly 80% of the way there?

@BriGuy82 1/5
Some people go big.  Some people are realistic.

@RegularGuyGamer 0/11
Maybe he forgot?

@MagusSmurf 40/142
That count is two months old, which means he may be done by now.  This guy is a madman.

@FenrirZero 0/12
Another large list of RPGs.

@MegaMan52 1/50
On one hand, he did join up late.

@ScaryD 2/20
We hardly knew ye.

@G-type 0/5
Just pay your kid to beat them for you while you sit back and watch with beer in hand.  That's my endgame.

@Andy_Bogomil 1/4
I know for a fact that Andy is pretty good at games.  Really good.  So this should be nothing.

And ME. @OptOut. 

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

5 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

So we're about 1/3 of the

@FireHazard51 0/60
Maybe he forgot...

@nettenette computer took a shit and that throw out all the co-op games we were suppose to play.  I also spent a couple months getting the new game room set up with figuring out new TV and console connecting set up.  It's good to go now.  I have SLOWLY worked on two games.  I have beat two games this year!   They were part of @Jeevanbeat all of N64 library and not on the backlog list.

Spoiler

I swear deciding to collect all the Lego Dimensions and the whole PS4 library of PSVR games had nothing to do with me getting distracted and playing with my new toys that I spent A LOT of money on instead of playing with my old toys that I have laying around.......

 

 

I'll be better I swear.......I have to stop spending money anyways

 

[Jicsan | 589]

I got just one more month of virtual schooling my kiddos, then I should recover some of my free time and be able to tackle more on my list.  I've been playing Contra III a bit, but haven't gotten close to seeing the end.   Also I've been chipping away at Metroid Return of Samus.  I planned to play the Zelda Oracle games when the Analogue Pocket came... may have to find where my actual SP is for those. And yep, too many long rpg's on my list.  Lol.  

[O.G. CIB | 415]

@Reed Rothchild lol the comments were awesome! I e got to get rolling again. Took the last month off but starting back on Saturday. Thanks for this 

[ifightdragons | 234]

6 hours ago, Californication said:

Forgot about this.

Valfaris - boss

Pocky and Rocky - second to last boss

Contra - Level 6 boss

Kickmaster - last level

Vulgar - last level

I should really learn how to use save states to practice. I've got the analogue consoles, really don't have an excuse.

I use Analogue systems myself. None of their products have save states. You'll have to use an EverDrive 

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

7 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

 

@0xDEAFC0DE 12/42
He was killing it until Survivor rolled around.

Lol, so true. I have been slowly working on Kirby's dream land 2 and I'm now on the last level. 

[AstralSoul | 502]

I haven't even started mine lol. It's been a very busy year for me and I think I was too ambitious with my list. But we'll see maybe I'll tackle a few of them soon.

[G-type | 2,479]

8 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

@G-type 0/5
Just pay your kid to beat them for you while you sit back and watch with beer in hand.  That's my endgame.

It's a good plan, although he's pretty busy with Roblox, Earthbound, and Hollow Knight.

I shortened my list to just Super Mario 2, Thimbleweed park, and Super Metroid, but my game time at the moment is consumed by Survivor and the Atari High Score club.

[TDIRunner | 2,730]

8 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

So we're about 1/3 of the way through the year.  Let's take stock of how everyone is doing:

 

@TDIRunner 0/7
On the bright side, he only has 7 games left.

I'm just pacing myself.  

But in all seriousness, before you posted this, it was my intention to start with Mario RPG using my new Super NT.  I'm still going to try and do that this week.  

[JamesRobot | 5,788]

8 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

@JamesRobot 2/33
Well, he beat the Kraft Dinner game, which I'm still not sure exists...

Oh, it exists.  Just ask @Gloves.

[LifeGame | 760]

On 12/27/2020 at 10:26 PM, LifeGame said:

1. Blasphemous / done
2. Curse of the Moon 2 / done
3. Timespinner / 
4. Mario Deluxe / 
5. Sundered / 
6. Original Shantae (remake on Switch)
7. Trine 4 / done
8. Wonder Boy (remake on Switch)
9. Monster Boy
10. Final Fantasy X
11. Battle Kid 2
12. Snes game
13. Snes game
14. Snes game
15. Genesis game
16. Genesis game
17. Genesis game
18. Ninja Gaiden (NES)
19. NES game
20. NES game

Here is my update, thanks

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

9 minutes ago, LifeGame said:

Here is my update, thanks

Wait, you just put a place holder for a game on a system that you haven't beat?  I LOVE THIS IDEA!  I wish I could just said beat 5 games on PS3 instead of actually picking 5 games and later on regret I didn't pick another game because NOW I really want to play it.

Edited April 28, 2021 by FireHazard51

[glazball | 168]

I'm just nosediving into this thread all william-nilliam.  I am working through a backlog of PS4 games in the buildup to PS5.  I still own my original (OG, non-Pro) console and I wanted to give one last hurrah before it gets retired.

Right now I'm playing Okami HD, and I fucking love it!  What a beautiful, amazing game.  Part of me wishes I had played it on PS2 or Wii when it came out (it certainly would have been in my top 5 PS2 games), but better late than never.  It's simply stunning and very Zelda-esque.  I don't want it to end.

Backlog as of now:

1. Ghost of Tsushima
2. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
3. Days Gone
4. Gravity Rush 2
5. The Outer Worlds
6. Wolfenstein II
7. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
8. NieR: Automata
9. Samurai Shodown (2019)
10. Marvel's Spider-Man
11. Tales From the Borderlands - this game was funnier than it had any business being!
12. Okami HD
13. Metro: Exodus
14. Dishonored 2
15. Far Cry 5
16. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
17. Control
18. Cyberpunk 2077

I want C2077 to be the last game I play on PS4.  Yes, I know it will run better on PS5 but I don't want to play it on PS5.  If it crashes as much as it did at launch, it may very well kill my old PS4 so I'm saving it for last.

Edited April 28, 2021 by glazball