It also has a lot of intelligent writers taking personal angles on the games they play (again, like LB for film). And it has tools for journaling/tracking your play activity.
Over the past year I decided to sit down and go through my backlog. I charted everything and wrote down my opinions on each thing I completed. I have 54 things (mainly anime and games) done since late November last year, and thats not including the several books I've read. The biggest thing is not being afraid to drop stuff, I cleared out so many games by playing 20 minutes - an hour and dropping them. I always had this fear of "twenty minutes isnt a fair shot, I should give this more of a chance". But I realized that if I drop it when I'm not having fun, one of two things will happen: I'll get back to it when I'm more excited for it, or I'll never think of it again and not want to play. Both of which are much better than forcing yourself to get hooked on something you're not interested in at the time
The way I do it for movies is I shuffle my watchlist, the movies I want to watch, which is about 400+, and then i pick 1 out of 4 that appear at the top. Seen as all of these movies I have felt strongly that I want to see, I pretty much make my decision within 5 seconds based on what I feel like in the moment. Now I love movies again.
I clicked on this video because I thought it would help me stop adding movies to my watchlist, only to see me create a backlogged account and start a new list 😅😅
It's important to stop playing games when you've got what you wanted out of it, don't feel obliged to complete it or 100% it. I always have in the back of my mind the Reggie quote 'if it's not fun, what's the point?'
Great video, a bit too relatable. This past winter break I wanted to "clear out" my backlog and ended up realizing that rushing through games isn't nearly as fun as going at you own pace. In the end I reframed my backlog as a "Library" similar to your playlist idea. I really apreaciate the idea of splitting your backlog in half . I definitly have some games that I feel obligated to play, and this video helped me see that I don't have to play them. Thanks man!
Yeah glad you enjoyed it! Weeding stuff out really helped me a lot, the problem I need to fix now is getting 70% of the way through and then dropping it
Look at "clearing up" your backlog similar to "rushing through" life. Do you really want to go to school, find a girl, find a job, get married, have kids, enjoy life a bit, get old, be wise, and die as quick as possible? No. Think of people wanting to finish their backlog as simply a rat race. It never ends well and never ends up being fulfilling.
This topic hits home for me as growing up I was never allowed to play video games. I had to live through stories my friends told and through watching Letsplays on youtube. Just this last year at age 27 I bought a Mac and Steam deck. My friends were so excited for me so they all shared their libraries. Having NEVER played video games before I'm staring at a Steam Library of close to 700 different games and I'm shaken. I usually have 4 games that I keep in rotation so I don't drown in choice paralysis. Right now I'm running Balatro, The Evil Within, Path of Exile 2 and my forever game Elden Ring.
Heck yeah, Steam Deck is awesome! I like to only play a few at a time too - right now I’ve got Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and Neon White, then I’m getting ready to start Animal Well
HowLongToBeat is my jam. Set a goal of completing 50 games in 2024, and I surpassed that goal with 60. It wasn’t to finish my backlog, but because I was sinking all my time into multiplayer only games. After that journey (and it was a journey), I have a newfound respect for singleplayer games. I love em’
Man, this is far too real. Lovely video, felt like I was just sitting down with a buddy, discussing something we both struggle with and actually coming out with a solution.
Love this. I made a spreadsheet for my backlog over Christmas and started going through the process of abandoning some games I either didn't finish and had planned to go back to "at some point" or would likely never play. I put them in their own Abandoned tab and for each one, wrote out an explanation to myself of why I was abandoning it. I had a similar feeling to what you described - it was a relief honestly. I realised accepting that I will never be able to play every game or watch every film or read every book I want to read was really about coming to terms with the finite nature of my existence - I think that's why I found it so hard to finally start letting some go.
I impulse clicked on your video and was delighted by the self-helpy opening music and sound design when trailing off about Fallout 4. I will try your method of affirming it is okay to not play games and shuffling pools, o wise one.
For years, I've seen Middle-Earth: Shadows of War in my backlog, thought, "Oh I should play that... Wait, I should beat the first one before I do that." And as a result, I kept putting off playing a game I wanted to play because I felt obligated to beat a different game first. Then the other night I finally opened up Shadows of Mordor, with the goal of beating it and moving on. The only problem? I'd already beaten it years ago and just... forgotten. 😅
Ope! Yeah I feel that - I get a little ping of excitement when Ori and the Will of the Wisps goes on sale, until I remember I haven’t played Ori and the Blind Forest first
I’ve had to drastically reduce any time spent on storefronts/algorithms to negate the amount of games that I buy or think about. I find that by uninstalling or hiding apps and games from my devices, it does help as once they’re absent I tend to forget about them (I’ve basically written off most of my digital purchases). I even add extra steps to buy things in order to deter myself from doing it - I.e. removing card details from storefronts, enabling password each time per purchase - that way each time I do something it always has conscious thought behind it. I kinda miss the days when I was a kid and I had no choice but to just play what I had. Every new game felt special and didn’t feel like a stepping stone on some conveyor belt in order to play the next thing.
I had up to 200 films downloaded on a couple USBs and never could decide what to watch. Now I have two empty USBs and only download something when I decide I want to watch it. And when I've finished I don't immediately delete the film or mark it as watched on Letterboxd (I don't believe the diary is a positive function for ones mental health), I just kinda forget about all that and delete/mark it when I remember.
I’ve been so thankful for shorter days indie games. Pikiniku for instance was the first game to make me laugh out loud but it didn’t take me more than a day or two. Having to play something that takes a month is tiring but then again, if it pulls me in and I’m enjoying it I don’t know why I’m so stressed about it. This video really sheds light on it, great work!
What a cool video! I always love to see everyones take on the backlog. Funnily enough, one of my goals this year is to finally try and beat Skyrim to understand its spot in the "video game canon."
My backlog used to intimidate me so much to the point that i would spend a lot of my freetime staring at a game thinking 'this will be my life for the next month or so am i even ready for this' or 'if i play this i will have to play the entire series' and that mentality was holding me back from experiencing so many of my new favourite games such as the yakuza series and elden ring. Now, i dont pay attention to my backlog and only just pickup the games i have an itch to play and dont put any thought into it and it makes enjoying games so much simpler
If I do a rough estimate on what I'd spend the money on instead of games, then games is a better choice. I'm a woman who never understood clothes or makeup, so when I justify game sale hauls to the man, I'll just calculate in other items rather than actual money. A damn shirt can cost 60 euros, some people buy that only to wear it once or twice, even though a much nicer looking shirt can be bought at discount for 10 euros. No regrets or guilt for choosing to splurge on games if it's taken from money that are from lifestyle priorities and not from savings! Honestly, I'm really happy with my backlog, it should be called "Collection & Backup library" where the only concern is that some of them might get too outdated to play in a few years, or Steam won't exist anymore. A lot of things can happen where there's suddenly less to no money to spend, it's good to keep at least 1 year worth of "random unplayed games savings" to choose from in such situations (now that they were bought anyway) instead of just blasting through them all within a short period of time.
Doesn’t stress me out, but I feel bad knowing I probably won’t experience everything. I’m really enjoying some games rn though. Fallout 4 & Skyrim are all time faves of mine, doesn’t reach the heights of my favourites like Terraria, Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Dragon Quest IX, Elden Ring, and Monster Hunter World, but they’re up there.
The way to get around this feeling is to realise that even if you PLAYED everything, you still wouldn't have EXPERIENCED everything from pretty much all of those games. You would have to play every game an infinite number of times through an infinite number of different mindsets to really truly experience everything. So don't feel bad about what you haven't experienced. Only feel good about what you have experienced.
On one of your last points - Skyrim is fantastic, absolutely revolutionary, and deep, BUT it's all of these things in the context of the time it was released (over 13 years ago...). If you were there on 11/11/11, you remember how incredible this game was, but if you're playing Skyrim for the first time 10+ years later, it might not have the same impact on you (it still might, but it might not) and that's fine. I find that with a lot of movies - watching movies that were released in the 50s, 60s, and 70s might not have the same effect today as they did all those years ago. You can appreciate them for the impact they had on the industry and still not enjoy them, that's fine.
I think movies hold up better, Seven Samurai was instantly my favourite and Roshomon & Yojimbo were up there too (although, Akira Kurosawa is a legend in the movie industry).
It was between Skyrim or Zelda: Skyward Sword at the time and I picked Zelda! “The Seinfeld Effect” is a real thing; Skyrim did stuff well in 2011 that’s been done better since then, and that’s okay. The games industry moves so fast, stuff can age really quicker - definitely faster than movies, I think. Maybe the interactivity has something to do with it?
The reason older movies don't have the same effect has nothing to do with quality and pretty much everything to do with cultural tastes. That's why you'll often find people that like old movies and dislike new movies, and people who like new movies and dislike old movies. There's no contrarianism, it's just fundamentally different tastes. In the aftermath of postmodernism and in the age of Tiktok I'm 100% certain aesthetics, film art, and cultural taste was better pre-70s.
10:08 I did that too by making a separate watchlist in my iPhone notes full of directors and movies I wanna check out so my LB has movies I vaguely maybe kinda wanna watch and my notes has movies I really want to have watched before dying, also combine that with only checking it out when I want to so I don't feel guilty when I feel more like rewatching an ozu movie for the 8th time
I have a pretty simple system on my side. I finish 3 games before buying one. My backlog went from almost 50 games(those I really wanted to play) down to around 12 in about 16 months. I keep it flexible but overall I just make sure I play more games than I buy.
I’m scared to start certain games because I know they’re long, and I want to dedicate my time to finishing my second playthrough this month of the Mass Effect trilogy. Doing insanity rn, ME2’s combat is so awesome!!!
@@matthewdotwav Grave might end up being its own episode. I dont know that its something you can share space with. Im assuming you havent seen it yet and I dont want to ruin anything or taint your experience but its, its pretty big. Theres a lot there. Cheers.
I find it fun now, before when i played a lot of multiplayer games my back log would stress me out. Now i dont play multiplayer games anymore, I’ve beaten bloodborne after 5 years of me playing it in and off, mgs1-3, resident evil1-2 code veronica, wild arms, shadow tower, armored core, resistance 1-3, shadow of the colossus, silent hill 2 og, and gta 3. I guess my recommendation would be to go back as far as you can timeline wise and pick from there. older games provide me with the challenge of “new” controls and aesthetic and graphics lost to time. I appreciate the games not just for the gameplay but the state of the world and technology they were made in, and overall the fact that i get to now enjoy the games i always really wanted as a kid.
I have split my steam library into favourites, completed, played, and never played. My never played is bigger than I'd like, I'd like to at least give them a go. But mainly my analysis paralysis just ends up with me playing something that can start and end quickly. Which recently is balatro. There's almost too much inertia for me to pick up a longer title. Saying that. Recently started rogue trader and have put in like 20h. I think the combination of setting and gameplay makes me want to pick it up rather than feeling like I have to
The backlog to me is nothing else than a sort of pool full of games I know I'm interested in. It's always growing and I'm always breaking it up thinking about 1. the ones I already own and the ones I have yet to buy, and 2, the ones I'm dying to play and the ones I'm waiting for the best moment to play. And that's it. I would never see it as something I have to complete as soon as possible. In fact, I don't even want to complete it at all. For every 5 games I play I add 20 more, I almost literally write down the name of all the ones that caught my attention enough and I hope that never changes. Cause it means I'm still interested in videogames. Backlog isn't a checklist, is just an ever-changing menu you can update as much as you want. If you look at it right it's not even important in itself, the games are. Backlog's just a means to an end.
I started doing this with anime in a sense. I went to rewatch shows a pool of old shows, realized some really don't hold up and simply skipped them but glad that I did rewatch some so I had a better understanding of what the damn show was about. Paranoia Agent starts strong but falls off. OG Hellsing has aged but has style, Hellsing Ultimate is just trash and so on 😂. I like this playlist pool of gaming, I tried it last year when I confined myself to 1 device and 1 pool of games. I did manage to play and not necessarily finish all of them but it does feel good getting a little through it.
Evangelion in a nutshell. Highly praised, but arguably one of the worst put together shows of all time. After spending 2 hours researching an obscure videogame, I know it’s story and it’s quite good, but the anime is probably my only “disliked” anime after about 190 watched. You’re right about Paranoia & Hellsing (Alexander is iconic though), but I did appreciated the uniqueness of Paranoia’s depiction of mass hysteria and herd mentality.
I like the video… but I don’t think this approach will satisfy everyone. The reason why you can’t just not care about the backlog ever being completed is the same reason why you’re worried about it in the first place. I think the best approach is to want to complete every game, but never only playing backlogged games. I think having a scattered approach of new games coming out, backlogged and games you really want to play is the best method. It might take years, but eventually you’ll finish all your backlogged games, and you will be able to cross it off forever. I just don’t think pretending it doesn’t bother you to be a healthy solution.
No, caring about finishing a backlog whatsoever is unhealthy. You need to assess why you feel it is necessary for you to "finish" a backlog (impossible anyway for purely phenomenological reasons at minimum), and figure out how to overcome this desire. The desire is rooted in wanting what you haven't got, rather than appreciating what you have. You will always desire things, but you can mitigate the effect it has on you substantially by being more content with the experiences you've had and the experience you are having.
Just don't buy games you are not sure you will play. Sure it might be on a sale but if you never play it then it's simply waste of money. I always play one game until I complete it or just feel like I played it long enough if it's something that doesn't have an ending and then just move on to something else. So I basically never have a backlog, just an idea about the next 2 or 3 games I plan to play after I'm done with current one. For example at the moment I'm doing a veteran playthrough of COD WAW, then after that I plan to try out Hades with a controller because I know it's a good game but I didn't really enjoy playing it with a mouse and keyboard, then I'll most likely play some Need For Speed also with a controller because I usually play them with a keyboard pretty well so I just want to test out how it feels with a controller and that's it for now, that's all the ideas I have. As I complete these, I'll slowly think about what to play next.
Ooh - not something I think about too often, but to name a few: Outer Wilds Halo 3 Super Mario 64 Shadow of the Colossus Metroid Prime A number of Zelda games can take up a spot depending on the mood; right now I’d say Majora’s Mask
i've watched only 15 secs of this video and i must say, if disco elysium is keep getting shoved aside because there is no "games to play" then that guy probably deserves its fate.
Aimed as constructive criticism with no intention of insulting your personal style, but I have to say, this video is way too rambly for what it is. There are so many videos on gaming backlogs and how to sort/play through them. Why do we have to watch through the first 5 minutes just to hear for the thousandth time what having a backlog "feels like". We know what it feels like if we clicked on the video, and since the idea/genre isn't exactly groundbreaking in the first place, you know we've heard the same spiel from a dozen other videos of this sort, so yeah, please avoid that.
Finally one who agrees on skyrim, idk why but I have tried playing it so many times because "I feel like I should", but it's just not fun to me for some reason, also the story is boring and yea idk.
The point isn't about it being 15 years old. Look at Dark Souls. It's not aged the same at all and is still better than the majority of games coming out today. Look at Castlevania SoTN. Sure there's Hollow Knight and what have you but nothing hits quite like SoTN. You're finna tell me Vampire Survivors is better and less "aged" than SoTN because it's newer? Fuck no
@@tjr930 I’ve tried playing games like the old metroid, axiom verge and others, they were too boring and not fun to play imo didnmt hold up. But Castlevania symphony of the night is that worth checking out? Even today?
Honestly depends whether you like metroidvanias or not. With SoTN, a big part of the appeal is the art, music and atmosphere. But the reason it's always placed near the top of best game lists is because it's a really fun metroidvania too. "Older" style so not so fluid and shiny and big as Hollow Knight for example, but me personally I don't think "art" or video games *age* in the way people think they do. For example the best period of anime to me is mid 80s to mid 90s. A lot of anime released here in my opinion is better than any of the stuff released in the last decade. With film I think some of the best ever and most unique movies are from the 1920s. At least 5 movies I can name off the top of my head I'd say are better than everything released in the 21st century. In 50 years people will still be playing and loving SoTN. Doesn't mean you have to like it of course.
@ Interesting I def agree for the most part, games is a bit tougher subject imo byt generally agree, love metroidvanias as long as level design is good and stuff i’m happy
Skyrim is boring, it has so much content that has almost no actual value to it, with some of the weakest combat in the industry. Anyway I'm doing a good job about my backlog, at least within gaming, my movie backlog is a bit slower, and my anime backlog hasn't been touched in a while. Good Time is not a good time, but it IS a good movie. Anyway backlog is a rainy day fund, you'll just play through it at your pace.
I’d love to get around to them! I have 4 and New Vegas, I do want to play them both even though they’re (from what I’ve heard) very different experiences
Quick shout out to Backloggd, a video game version of Letterboxd. It's great for processing your backlog into the smaller lists like this.
I’ll have to check it out!
It also has a lot of intelligent writers taking personal angles on the games they play (again, like LB for film). And it has tools for journaling/tracking your play activity.
yeah I was a little disappointed he didn't mention it, I use it all the time
Thanks!! I was searching for sth Like this
Truthfully, half the fun of having a game/movie backlog is seeing how long it gets
True true, the more options the better, I think!
YES baby
Just recently tackled some of my old games. To be fair, my backlog is filled with 10 20 hrs games, Skyrim and Witcher 3
Over the past year I decided to sit down and go through my backlog. I charted everything and wrote down my opinions on each thing I completed. I have 54 things (mainly anime and games) done since late November last year, and thats not including the several books I've read.
The biggest thing is not being afraid to drop stuff, I cleared out so many games by playing 20 minutes - an hour and dropping them. I always had this fear of "twenty minutes isnt a fair shot, I should give this more of a chance". But I realized that if I drop it when I'm not having fun, one of two things will happen: I'll get back to it when I'm more excited for it, or I'll never think of it again and not want to play. Both of which are much better than forcing yourself to get hooked on something you're not interested in at the time
The way I do it for movies is I shuffle my watchlist, the movies I want to watch, which is about 400+, and then i pick 1 out of 4 that appear at the top. Seen as all of these movies I have felt strongly that I want to see, I pretty much make my decision within 5 seconds based on what I feel like in the moment. Now I love movies again.
I clicked on this video because I thought it would help me stop adding movies to my watchlist, only to see me create a backlogged account and start a new list 😅😅
It's important to stop playing games when you've got what you wanted out of it, don't feel obliged to complete it or 100% it.
I always have in the back of my mind the Reggie quote 'if it's not fun, what's the point?'
Great video, a bit too relatable.
This past winter break I wanted to "clear out" my backlog and ended up realizing that rushing through games isn't nearly as fun as going at you own pace. In the end I reframed my backlog as a "Library" similar to your playlist idea.
I really apreaciate the idea of splitting your backlog in half . I definitly have some games that I feel obligated to play, and this video helped me see that I don't have to play them. Thanks man!
Yeah glad you enjoyed it! Weeding stuff out really helped me a lot, the problem I need to fix now is getting 70% of the way through and then dropping it
Look at "clearing up" your backlog similar to "rushing through" life. Do you really want to go to school, find a girl, find a job, get married, have kids, enjoy life a bit, get old, be wise, and die as quick as possible? No. Think of people wanting to finish their backlog as simply a rat race. It never ends well and never ends up being fulfilling.
This topic hits home for me as growing up I was never allowed to play video games. I had to live through stories my friends told and through watching Letsplays on youtube. Just this last year at age 27 I bought a Mac and Steam deck. My friends were so excited for me so they all shared their libraries. Having NEVER played video games before I'm staring at a Steam Library of close to 700 different games and I'm shaken. I usually have 4 games that I keep in rotation so I don't drown in choice paralysis. Right now I'm running Balatro, The Evil Within, Path of Exile 2 and my forever game Elden Ring.
you didn't have any friends to go to their houses to play with?
Heck yeah, Steam Deck is awesome! I like to only play a few at a time too - right now I’ve got Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and Neon White, then I’m getting ready to start Animal Well
i recomend resident evil, its the evil within but way better in every single way
HowLongToBeat is my jam. Set a goal of completing 50 games in 2024, and I surpassed that goal with 60.
It wasn’t to finish my backlog, but because I was sinking all my time into multiplayer only games. After that journey (and it was a journey), I have a newfound respect for singleplayer games. I love em’
Man, this is far too real. Lovely video, felt like I was just sitting down with a buddy, discussing something we both struggle with and actually coming out with a solution.
Thank you, I really appreciate that!!
Love this. I made a spreadsheet for my backlog over Christmas and started going through the process of abandoning some games I either didn't finish and had planned to go back to "at some point" or would likely never play. I put them in their own Abandoned tab and for each one, wrote out an explanation to myself of why I was abandoning it. I had a similar feeling to what you described - it was a relief honestly. I realised accepting that I will never be able to play every game or watch every film or read every book I want to read was really about coming to terms with the finite nature of my existence - I think that's why I found it so hard to finally start letting some go.
The playlist aspect is amazing, like i have games, movies and tv series available at all time according to my choice
I have had this problem for 3 years and I didn’t even know it is so widespread between gamers.Thank you for this video man, you really helped me.
I impulse clicked on your video and was delighted by the self-helpy opening music and sound design when trailing off about Fallout 4. I will try your method of affirming it is okay to not play games and shuffling pools, o wise one.
I've played less than half of my games in my steam library, this video is too real
For years, I've seen Middle-Earth: Shadows of War in my backlog, thought, "Oh I should play that... Wait, I should beat the first one before I do that." And as a result, I kept putting off playing a game I wanted to play because I felt obligated to beat a different game first.
Then the other night I finally opened up Shadows of Mordor, with the goal of beating it and moving on. The only problem? I'd already beaten it years ago and just... forgotten. 😅
Ope! Yeah I feel that - I get a little ping of excitement when Ori and the Will of the Wisps goes on sale, until I remember I haven’t played Ori and the Blind Forest first
I’ve had to drastically reduce any time spent on storefronts/algorithms to negate the amount of games that I buy or think about.
I find that by uninstalling or hiding apps and games from my devices, it does help as once they’re absent I tend to forget about them (I’ve basically written off most of my digital purchases). I even add extra steps to buy things in order to deter myself from doing it - I.e. removing card details from storefronts, enabling password each time per purchase - that way each time I do something it always has conscious thought behind it.
I kinda miss the days when I was a kid and I had no choice but to just play what I had. Every new game felt special and didn’t feel like a stepping stone on some conveyor belt in order to play the next thing.
I had up to 200 films downloaded on a couple USBs and never could decide what to watch. Now I have two empty USBs and only download something when I decide I want to watch it. And when I've finished I don't immediately delete the film or mark it as watched on Letterboxd (I don't believe the diary is a positive function for ones mental health), I just kinda forget about all that and delete/mark it when I remember.
I’ve been so thankful for shorter days indie games. Pikiniku for instance was the first game to make me laugh out loud but it didn’t take me more than a day or two. Having to play something that takes a month is tiring but then again, if it pulls me in and I’m enjoying it I don’t know why I’m so stressed about it. This video really sheds light on it, great work!
lovely video, it's very nice to learn other people mindsets on familiar things!
What a cool video! I always love to see everyones take on the backlog. Funnily enough, one of my goals this year is to finally try and beat Skyrim to understand its spot in the "video game canon."
My backlog used to intimidate me so much to the point that i would spend a lot of my freetime staring at a game thinking 'this will be my life for the next month or so am i even ready for this' or 'if i play this i will have to play the entire series' and that mentality was holding me back from experiencing so many of my new favourite games such as the yakuza series and elden ring.
Now, i dont pay attention to my backlog and only just pickup the games i have an itch to play and dont put any thought into it and it makes enjoying games so much simpler
great video, well edited, great commentary, love it
Great video. I feel this so much. Subbed!
Hey thanks for sticking around
Me watching this and then remembering I need to finish Persona 5 after hearing Beneath the Mask 🗿
Great video bro! Had me on the steam winter sale intro. Earned yourself a subscriber! You definitely deserved more.
Thank you so much, welcome aboard!
This was such a joy to experience!
If I do a rough estimate on what I'd spend the money on instead of games, then games is a better choice. I'm a woman who never understood clothes or makeup, so when I justify game sale hauls to the man, I'll just calculate in other items rather than actual money. A damn shirt can cost 60 euros, some people buy that only to wear it once or twice, even though a much nicer looking shirt can be bought at discount for 10 euros. No regrets or guilt for choosing to splurge on games if it's taken from money that are from lifestyle priorities and not from savings! Honestly, I'm really happy with my backlog, it should be called "Collection & Backup library" where the only concern is that some of them might get too outdated to play in a few years, or Steam won't exist anymore. A lot of things can happen where there's suddenly less to no money to spend, it's good to keep at least 1 year worth of "random unplayed games savings" to choose from in such situations (now that they were bought anyway) instead of just blasting through them all within a short period of time.
This was a great video, keep it up.
Man, you would love Backloggd. :)
good vid, and props for going against the crowd and saying how u feel on skyrim.
Doesn’t stress me out, but I feel bad knowing I probably won’t experience everything. I’m really enjoying some games rn though. Fallout 4 & Skyrim are all time faves of mine, doesn’t reach the heights of my favourites like Terraria, Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Dragon Quest IX, Elden Ring, and Monster Hunter World, but they’re up there.
The way to get around this feeling is to realise that even if you PLAYED everything, you still wouldn't have EXPERIENCED everything from pretty much all of those games. You would have to play every game an infinite number of times through an infinite number of different mindsets to really truly experience everything. So don't feel bad about what you haven't experienced. Only feel good about what you have experienced.
Great video! I’ll definitely have to try doing this (especially with my Letterboxd watchlist).
Appreciate ya, Gian, thanks for the love!
Outer Wilds Mentioned 🎉
always try to find a way to sneak in an outer wilds mention
On one of your last points - Skyrim is fantastic, absolutely revolutionary, and deep, BUT it's all of these things in the context of the time it was released (over 13 years ago...). If you were there on 11/11/11, you remember how incredible this game was, but if you're playing Skyrim for the first time 10+ years later, it might not have the same impact on you (it still might, but it might not) and that's fine. I find that with a lot of movies - watching movies that were released in the 50s, 60s, and 70s might not have the same effect today as they did all those years ago. You can appreciate them for the impact they had on the industry and still not enjoy them, that's fine.
I think movies hold up better, Seven Samurai was instantly my favourite and Roshomon & Yojimbo were up there too (although, Akira Kurosawa is a legend in the movie industry).
It was between Skyrim or Zelda: Skyward Sword at the time and I picked Zelda! “The Seinfeld Effect” is a real thing; Skyrim did stuff well in 2011 that’s been done better since then, and that’s okay. The games industry moves so fast, stuff can age really quicker - definitely faster than movies, I think. Maybe the interactivity has something to do with it?
@@matthewdotwav The Seinfeld Effect! I knew it had a name!
The reason older movies don't have the same effect has nothing to do with quality and pretty much everything to do with cultural tastes. That's why you'll often find people that like old movies and dislike new movies, and people who like new movies and dislike old movies. There's no contrarianism, it's just fundamentally different tastes. In the aftermath of postmodernism and in the age of Tiktok I'm 100% certain aesthetics, film art, and cultural taste was better pre-70s.
10:08 I did that too by making a separate watchlist in my iPhone notes full of directors and movies I wanna check out so my LB has movies I vaguely maybe kinda wanna watch and my notes has movies I really want to have watched before dying, also combine that with only checking it out when I want to so I don't feel guilty when I feel more like rewatching an ozu movie for the 8th time
I have a pretty simple system on my side. I finish 3 games before buying one. My backlog went from almost 50 games(those I really wanted to play) down to around 12 in about 16 months. I keep it flexible but overall I just make sure I play more games than I buy.
Cool video! You’re not the only one with Skyrim, I tired it last year and wasn’t able to get into it.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
I have 88 games on my backlog. After watching this video I made a new playlist of games I actually want to play. It has 8 games. Thank you.
i accepted that instead of having to play all these games im a digital game collector.
I’m scared to start certain games because I know they’re long, and I want to dedicate my time to finishing my second playthrough this month of the Mass Effect trilogy. Doing insanity rn, ME2’s combat is so awesome!!!
Nice nice! I just got the Mass Effect trilogy, I’m excited to play through them for the first time soon!
@ Awesome, make sure to take your time and always talk to your squadmates in between missions!
Oh you poor poor man. Grave of the Fireflies on your watchlist. I await the video you will inevitably make after seeing that one.
I’m trying to track down Come and See so i can do a double feature
@@matthewdotwav Grave might end up being its own episode. I dont know that its something you can share space with. Im assuming you havent seen it yet and I dont want to ruin anything or taint your experience but its, its pretty big. Theres a lot there. Cheers.
I find it fun now, before when i played a lot of multiplayer games my back log would stress me out. Now i dont play multiplayer games anymore, I’ve beaten bloodborne after 5 years of me playing it in and off, mgs1-3, resident evil1-2 code veronica, wild arms, shadow tower, armored core, resistance 1-3, shadow of the colossus, silent hill 2 og, and gta 3. I guess my recommendation would be to go back as far as you can timeline wise and pick from there. older games provide me with the challenge of “new” controls and aesthetic and graphics lost to time. I appreciate the games not just for the gameplay but the state of the world and technology they were made in, and overall the fact that i get to now enjoy the games i always really wanted as a kid.
I have split my steam library into favourites, completed, played, and never played. My never played is bigger than I'd like, I'd like to at least give them a go. But mainly my analysis paralysis just ends up with me playing something that can start and end quickly. Which recently is balatro. There's almost too much inertia for me to pick up a longer title.
Saying that. Recently started rogue trader and have put in like 20h. I think the combination of setting and gameplay makes me want to pick it up rather than feeling like I have to
Totally! I love having a good roguelike in the background, right now I’m coming around on really enjoying Spelunky 2
The backlog to me is nothing else than a sort of pool full of games I know I'm interested in. It's always growing and I'm always breaking it up thinking about 1. the ones I already own and the ones I have yet to buy, and 2, the ones I'm dying to play and the ones I'm waiting for the best moment to play.
And that's it. I would never see it as something I have to complete as soon as possible. In fact, I don't even want to complete it at all. For every 5 games I play I add 20 more, I almost literally write down the name of all the ones that caught my attention enough and I hope that never changes. Cause it means I'm still interested in videogames. Backlog isn't a checklist, is just an ever-changing menu you can update as much as you want. If you look at it right it's not even important in itself, the games are. Backlog's just a means to an end.
I started doing this with anime in a sense. I went to rewatch shows a pool of old shows, realized some really don't hold up and simply skipped them but glad that I did rewatch some so I had a better understanding of what the damn show was about. Paranoia Agent starts strong but falls off. OG Hellsing has aged but has style, Hellsing Ultimate is just trash and so on 😂. I like this playlist pool of gaming, I tried it last year when I confined myself to 1 device and 1 pool of games. I did manage to play and not necessarily finish all of them but it does feel good getting a little through it.
Evangelion in a nutshell. Highly praised, but arguably one of the worst put together shows of all time. After spending 2 hours researching an obscure videogame, I know it’s story and it’s quite good, but the anime is probably my only “disliked” anime after about 190 watched. You’re right about Paranoia & Hellsing (Alexander is iconic though), but I did appreciated the uniqueness of Paranoia’s depiction of mass hysteria and herd mentality.
How can one man be so wrong. It's probably the best put together show of all time. Genius I'd even say.
Love the Skyrim comment. I’ve been in the same boat. I “should” play, but I can’t get more than a few hours in an play something else.
My anime backlog looking at me like this 🤡
I like the video… but I don’t think this approach will satisfy everyone. The reason why you can’t just not care about the backlog ever being completed is the same reason why you’re worried about it in the first place.
I think the best approach is to want to complete every game, but never only playing backlogged games. I think having a scattered approach of new games coming out, backlogged and games you really want to play is the best method. It might take years, but eventually you’ll finish all your backlogged games, and you will be able to cross it off forever. I just don’t think pretending it doesn’t bother you to be a healthy solution.
No, caring about finishing a backlog whatsoever is unhealthy. You need to assess why you feel it is necessary for you to "finish" a backlog (impossible anyway for purely phenomenological reasons at minimum), and figure out how to overcome this desire. The desire is rooted in wanting what you haven't got, rather than appreciating what you have. You will always desire things, but you can mitigate the effect it has on you substantially by being more content with the experiences you've had and the experience you are having.
Ah, a fellow Skyrim hater, you're not alone.
Just don't buy games you are not sure you will play. Sure it might be on a sale but if you never play it then it's simply waste of money. I always play one game until I complete it or just feel like I played it long enough if it's something that doesn't have an ending and then just move on to something else. So I basically never have a backlog, just an idea about the next 2 or 3 games I plan to play after I'm done with current one. For example at the moment I'm doing a veteran playthrough of COD WAW, then after that I plan to try out Hades with a controller because I know it's a good game but I didn't really enjoy playing it with a mouse and keyboard, then I'll most likely play some Need For Speed also with a controller because I usually play them with a keyboard pretty well so I just want to test out how it feels with a controller and that's it for now, that's all the ideas I have. As I complete these, I'll slowly think about what to play next.
My back log is only two games ask me anything
How
@@enessulejmani772 just don't buy more games and play what you already have
Should've at least mentioned the mosy potent backlog killer known to mankind as of right now - the steam deck lol 🤣🤣
You could play the Fallout London Mod for Fallout 4 its like a brand new fallout game but actually good !
I’ll look into it! Fallout’s modding scene is nuts
What are your favourite games of all time ?
Ooh - not something I think about too often, but to name a few:
Outer Wilds
Halo 3
Super Mario 64
Shadow of the Colossus
Metroid Prime
A number of Zelda games can take up a spot depending on the mood; right now I’d say Majora’s Mask
I also have never been able to play through fallout for some reason.
This video reminds me of the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
i've watched only 15 secs of this video and i must say, if disco elysium is keep getting shoved aside because there is no "games to play" then that guy probably deserves its fate.
Disco Elysium fans are the new internet plague
I wish I had a problem like yours
Aimed as constructive criticism with no intention of insulting your personal style, but I have to say, this video is way too rambly for what it is. There are so many videos on gaming backlogs and how to sort/play through them. Why do we have to watch through the first 5 minutes just to hear for the thousandth time what having a backlog "feels like". We know what it feels like if we clicked on the video, and since the idea/genre isn't exactly groundbreaking in the first place, you know we've heard the same spiel from a dozen other videos of this sort, so yeah, please avoid that.
Fair point, duly noted! Thanks for the feedback :)
Finally one who agrees on skyrim, idk why but I have tried playing it so many times because "I feel like I should", but it's just not fun to me for some reason, also the story is boring and yea idk.
The point isn't about it being 15 years old. Look at Dark Souls. It's not aged the same at all and is still better than the majority of games coming out today. Look at Castlevania SoTN. Sure there's Hollow Knight and what have you but nothing hits quite like SoTN. You're finna tell me Vampire Survivors is better and less "aged" than SoTN because it's newer? Fuck no
@@tjr930 I’ve tried playing games like the old metroid, axiom verge and others, they were too boring and not fun to play imo didnmt hold up. But Castlevania symphony of the night is that worth checking out? Even today?
Honestly depends whether you like metroidvanias or not. With SoTN, a big part of the appeal is the art, music and atmosphere. But the reason it's always placed near the top of best game lists is because it's a really fun metroidvania too. "Older" style so not so fluid and shiny and big as Hollow Knight for example, but me personally I don't think "art" or video games *age* in the way people think they do. For example the best period of anime to me is mid 80s to mid 90s. A lot of anime released here in my opinion is better than any of the stuff released in the last decade. With film I think some of the best ever and most unique movies are from the 1920s. At least 5 movies I can name off the top of my head I'd say are better than everything released in the 21st century. In 50 years people will still be playing and loving SoTN. Doesn't mean you have to like it of course.
@ Interesting I def agree for the most part, games is a bit tougher subject imo byt generally agree, love metroidvanias as long as level design is good and stuff i’m happy
Good video, but your background music is too loud.
Noted! Any particularly rough spots or just in general?
I see your point but this doesn't help if I'm trying to save money and I want to complete the games in my library before buying more.
you should mod skyrim its way more fun then, its both extremely fucking annoying and fun to mod
Skyrim is a bad game.
Oblivion > Skyrim
So I’ve heard, I wanna try it sometime
@@matthewdotwav And Morrowind is considered the best in the series.
Yakuza prolly fun asf
I’ve heard nothing but great things about the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series, I really gotta get into it!
Can this help with dateless life?
Look up HealthyGamerGG. Good luck
Tell us why you didn't like skyrim
If I ever do a second channel I’ll make a video about my thoughts on Skyrim - maybe I’ll give the game some more time as well
I like ur glasses
thank you! got em off Zenni for like $20, they’ve served me well
Skyrim is boring, it has so much content that has almost no actual value to it, with some of the weakest combat in the industry.
Anyway I'm doing a good job about my backlog, at least within gaming, my movie backlog is a bit slower, and my anime backlog hasn't been touched in a while.
Good Time is not a good time, but it IS a good movie.
Anyway backlog is a rainy day fund, you'll just play through it at your pace.
PLAY FALLOUT!
I’d love to get around to them! I have 4 and New Vegas, I do want to play them both even though they’re (from what I’ve heard) very different experiences