Switch Backlog Thread of Guilt

Right boys, yer man Balladeer has had a run-through of his backlog, and he's ready to do some cleaning up.

Balladeer wrote:

TWEWY (now stylus-enabled!) Not good enough (in this era) to justify a second playthrough over other games coming out.
The Gardens Between Done, but only because I was near the end.
The Messenger Got rid.
Mario Tennis: Aces (now that it's been tweaked beyond recognition, possibly into something actually good) Er... something decent, maybe?  But not good enough, it's out.
Yoku's Island Express I want to like this more than I do, I think - it's still super happy, but the pinball movement, i.e. the whole idea the game's based around, frustrates me more than it pleases me.  Still in the running for now.
Hyper Light Drifter I picked this up, died several times, and had a grand time doing so.  It's so beautiful and smooth.  Almost certainly coming back to this.
Yooka-Laylee (more of a forlorn hope to be honest) I did enjoy this, but stories of the later levels have made me cautious of getting too into this.
and I'd still quite like to buy Just Shapes and Beats. One step at a time, Balla...

So, the Ballacklog (rude - Ed.) now looks like this:

Active:

Okami HD - I still have a very soft spot for Okami.  It's a game that's good enough to warrant playing again, even with so many other games out there.

Next in line contenders:

Guacamelee 2 - I left this at an all-too-hard part.  I'd like to pick it up again, but I'm worried I'll pull all my hair out if I do.
Hyper Light Drifter - A quality-feeling game, also bloody hard.

Down the pecking order:

Yoku's Island Express - If once I finish Okami I need something easy and happy to play, this'll be my first port of call.
Yooka-Laylee - This is something I'd like to carry on with, but given stories of later worlds, I'm in no great hurry to.  May sit at the base of my backlog for a while.

Could buy:

Just Shapes and Beats - I've been good so far, but if it gets a sale I don't think I'll be able to resist.
Wandersong - Still heard good things, still not heard anything from anyone around here.
Tales of Vesperia - Honestly don't think I'll have time for another massive JRPG, but if I did, this is what I'd go for.

I'm happier with that.  Thanks for your game-finishing inspiration, Jas!

Fun fact - real magazine writers/ editors find it to be irritating, unfunny and pretentious when people ( -ed) themselves. Keza McDonald and Matt Lees (I think? It may actually have been Joe Skrebels and Matt Lees on regular features) were talking about it on Cool Ghosts.

Balladeer is a terrible writer

I wasn't necessarily calling out Balla - I've been known to use and abuse the ( -ed) myself - but since hearing that, I've not wanted to do it.

I have to say though, much as I love the Balls Man, Skrebs and Lees are a couple of my favourite writers ever and those are some BOLD words indeed!

Cheers Cappa!  And I'll be able to prove it with my upcoming 'Let's Talk Some Bollocks About Bravely Default' post.  I think you'll love it.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I wasn't necessarily calling out Balla...

I'm glad you said this, because I thought you were!  I'll keep it away.  It's a shame, because I picked it up from NGamer: I never presumed that it was genuinely the Ed putting those comments in.  Was it?

Same! And yeah, apparently it was. According to Joe, if a freelancer or someone tried to put it in themselves, it was considered poor form. They're supposed to genuinely be from Matthew or someone. Feel free to ( -ed) into my posts, just don't do it in your own (Oh the possibilities... - Ad.)

Balladeer wrote:

I never presumed that it was genuinely the Ed putting those comments in.  Was it?

I thought it was the writer chucking that comment in too!

It was a guy called Ed with his magical typewriter and you all know it.

I mean, that's the dream, right?

I've just punted FFIX right to the top of my backlog.  Just when I thought I was out...


EDIT for my sakes, as this thread is useful for keeping track of games and I don't want to buy anything new off the eShop until I've cleared out at least two games, in one way or another. Seven is just too many to keep going at once.

Active:

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - This is good fun, even on Switch. A worthy current game.

Next in line contenders:

Baba is You - I want to go back to this at a time when my brain doesn't feel so tired. So, never at the current rate.
Lapis x Labyrinth - Big dumb shiny fun, but at the same maybe a bit too dumb for me. We'll see.

Down the pecking order:

Okami HD - This has been so slow and I'm only halfway through and I've played it before, but I'm not sure I want to cull it for good.
Guacamelee 2 - Again, I left this at an all-too-hard part and that's put me off coming back to it, which is a real shame but I could never be happy with just the easy ending!
Yoku's Island Express/Yooka-Laylee - Still here, if I'm honest, on your recommendations alone GNamer. Yoku is a pain to control and its world a bit too freeform to explore, and I don't really want to have to struggle through Y-L's duff worlds to hit the good ones.

DoPo, but I think I need to introduce (to myself) a new concept: The Deep Backlog.

Essentially I've got five belting games coming up in September, all of which I'm more excited to play than I am to carry on with Okami, Katamari, Guacamelee 2, Baba, Lapis x Labyrinth and an unpatched Bloodstained.  I still want to carry on with all those, though!  They're fun games!  (Or rewarding games in Baba's case.)  I'm going to keep those titles in cold storage for a while, because I know that come February or March next year I'll be scanning the Big Releases schedule and struggling for a title I really want; and then I'll come back to these some time in 2020.

Anybody else got a bunch of titles they're planning to put on hold for a long while in (scary voice) The Deep Backlog?

I've got a few indies like Bury Me, My Love that I've not really touched part from a quick go after Fire Emblem Three Houses.

As the Switch is my least used I've now kept it simple finished Fire Emblem (okay only once), then it be Astral Chain which I'll in turn finish and move onto Link's Awakening and so on

It's if anything eg GRIS last year comes to Switch and just Switch console wise, then that will be added

My deep backlog is my Switch watch list.

This includes 11 games right now which are:

Blasphemous
Creature in the well
Chroma squad
baba is you
Darkwood
Slay the spire
Lumines remastered
Devil engine
Dragons dogma
mega man 11
Wargroove

----

As for games I actually own right now?

Not played yet

LA Noire - This is right down the pecking order as I'm just interested way more in other games.

Dark Souls Remastered - The fact I've played it once before puts it low on the to play list as well so I'll be leaving this if a big time drought happens.

Crypt of the necrodancer - Having a break from rogue-likes at the minute after the superb Cadence of Hyrule but I already know I'll enjoy this when I get to it.

Completely shelved

Odallus The Dark call - Final boss was stupidly hard which was a shame because the rest of the game was a very good classic Castlevania-like game.

Oniken - From the same folk that done the above game, not terrible but nothing that makes it stand out either.

The Swords of ditto - Only played this for a couple of hours so might be being a wee bit harsh on it but I think I own much better rogue-likes on Switch.

Games I recently finished

My friend Pedro
Mark of the Ninja remastered
The Messenger Picnic panic dlc

Games I will finish

Cuphead
Mario + rabbids Kingdom battle

That doesn't count! I hope it doesn't, or my backlog just got a loooooot longer. Sad to see Baba on there, especially given you just missed a sale. What are you currently playing then, Jas?

masofdas wrote:

As the Switch is my least used...

Really Mas? I'm stunned! You've never mentioned this before!

I was just messing about so nah watch list stuff doesn't count. I'm playing Mario + Rabbids at the minute, I got to world 3-1 the other night and it's good but there's been some battles where you can just brute force it without much thought. The boss fights have been quite good though & the cut scenes have thrown up some genuinely funny moments.

My backlog consists of:
Sword Art online: Hollow Realization
Sword Art online: Fatal Bullet

And I guess technically speaking Mario Maker 2, I haven't really touched the story mode and still have the odd idea for a level from time to time

Actually my PS4 would be my least used now but I've got a backlog of games that I do want to play, where on Switch it's games coming out not come out, I want to play.

And depending on December, January and February could have at least one game month all the way to Animal Crossing.

I have Splatoon 2 which I've barely played, and Mario & Rabbids which I've played even less of. Not sure I'll ever get around to it to be honest. Picked it up since it was so cheap (physical copy).

2/3 games is not a bad backlog at all. I am, in some ways, jealous. Here's hoping it all pays off at the start of next year!

...actually I don't hope that, it'll mean a dearth of new games I'm looking forward to.

The Switch has plenty I've yet to start at the minute, there's:

Skyrim
Moonlighter (which I really want to start soon)
Octopath
Puyo Puyo Tetris
Starlink
Sushi Striker
Crypt of the Necrodancer
The Flame in the Flood
Goetia
Golf Story
Kamiko
Membrane
Oceanhorn
The Office Quest
Oxenfree
Plague Road
Pool Panic
Rainbow
Safety First
Shaq Fu
The DLC for Shovel Knight
Splasher
Splitter Critters
Steamworld Dig
Transcripted
The Way Remastered

And if that wasn't enough there's still a few I've not finished, there's Dragon Quest Builders 2 which I've held off a bit because I know it's a big game and I was trying to play it alongside My Time at Portia which is also fairly meaty in length (I realise how that sounds but it's staying in there). There's also Baba is You which is easy enough to play alongside and then a few I might consider deep backlog that I've no real desire to play right now which are:

60 Seconds
Binaries
Pokémon Quest
Wargroove

I think the real issue I've got here is sale syndrome, I see a game on offer and can't help myself, I hear it's a big affliction for Steam users as well.

We have a... winner? Is that the term? Anyway, see today's tagline!

Gaming time has understandably become more limited lately but I don't help myself spending hours on Let's Go looking for shiny Pokémon (of which I've only found 2 so far, 1 of whom ran away).

Shaq-Fu first, I'd say.

~

My Deep Backlog isn't as massive as treesmurfs. For me, there's Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Flipping Death and a handful of SEGA AGES games that I'll hopefully get round to starting. There's others that I should return to, namely Cuphead, Ikaruga, Hyper Sentinel and the Castlevania Anniversary Collection.

That said, I've got a few games that I've played for a little bit and know that I'll probably not go back to, such as Membrane, Overdriven Reloaded and Snowboarding: The Next Phase. And then there's stuff that I'd be better off deleting - I see Car Quest and Mecho Tales here, and feel quite sad. 

I'm better with retail games. Bayonetta 2 is the only one I've not put at least a couple of hours into, and I'm excited to play that again someday.

I think I'm better with physical too but given a few of my unplayed ones are massive it makes me a lot less likely to start them.

Fortunately I've not see too many games in others' huge lists that I want to play soon, although I'd like to get around to Cuphead at some point.  I'll probably have a love-hate relationship with it though.

Treesmurf wrote:

Starlink
Kamiko
Oceanhorn

Start with these! Also because Kamiko is super short (like, an hour)