Getting out of a gaming rut

[Catatonic Nali]

Recently I've been feeling like I'm in a bit of a rut with gaming. For years I've been quite obsessive about achievements and it's been both a blessing and a curse. The major positives are that it scratches an obsessive compulsive itch that I have and I've met a lot of awesome people and made some life-changing friendships through the achievement hunting community.
However it does mean that I regularly spend more time on certain games than I would otherwise want to and it can be intensely frustrating.

As I get older and my leisure time becomes more precious this becomes more of an issue. Another big negative is that for this console generation and the last I've only owned Microsoft consoles (with the exception of a DS and 3DS) so I feel gutted that there are a multitude of incredible games out there that I've never gotten round to playing.

For this reason I've decided to buck my own trend, sack off the achievement obsession and spend 2016 catching up on a bunch of games that I've either never played, partially played but not finished or enjoyed years ago and want to revisit. These are some of the biggest gaps in my gaming history and I intend to fill them in over the next 11 months. I'm also thinking it will be nice to have a change of pace from playing on either the Xbox One or 360 so I've specifically chosen a load of titles that will require playing on a PS3, PS4, Wii U, PC and 3DS. However there are still a number of games that I will be playing on the Xbox One and 360 so I won't be entirely bereft of achievements.
This ties in nicely with the fact that I'm currently rewatching The X-Files in its entirety, which is one of my favourite TV shows and rereading Stephen King's Dark Tower novels, which is probably my absolute favourite piece of literature. I'm hoping to really maximise my entertainment time during 2016.

As of now this is the list of games I've put together that I'm intending to play. Including Dark Souls 3 because there's no way I'm missing out on that! I'm aware that there are probably far too many to get through in 11 months but I'm going to try. And really, what's the big deal if I overrun, right?

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Bayonetta
Beyond Good and Evil
Bloodborne
Chrono Trigger
Dark Souls 3
Dragon's Dogma
Earthbound
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
Flow
Flower
Gone Home
Hotline Miami
Hotline Miami 2
I am Alive!
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Ico
Journey
Life is Strange
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Metroid
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Colossus
Skylanders Swap Force
SOMA
Super Metroid
The Last of Us
The Legend of Zelda
TLoZ 2
TLoZ: A Link Between Worlds
TLoZ: Majora's Mask
TLoZ: Oracle of Ages/Seasons
TLoZ: Wind Waker
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

For the record if you're wondering why there are so many Zelda games it's because 2 of the Zelda games are among my top 10 all-time favourite games and I'd consider it to be one of my favourite franchises. However I've only ever actually beaten 4 of them despite having played virtually every one to at least some extent and this fact is one of my biggest gaming shames. Plus of course I can play along fresh with the show instead of relying on vague memories of a game I played partially 10 years ago.

For another record I'm not sure what order I'm going to be tackling these games in. All I know is that for right now I'd prefer to mess around with a system other than an Xbox One or 360. As I type this there is a bag sitting next to me containing a launch model PS3 along with a copy of the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus HD reissue so I guess that's where I'll be starting.

[AndrewBrown]

If you sign up for an account at The Backloggery, you can add all those games to a personal database. Then it has a tool called a "Fortune Cookie" you can use to randomly select a game from your collection. Might remove an element of deliberation from your project!

[Alex79]

Whenever I find myself in a gaming rut, it's usually because I've become too bogged down in partial playthroughs of big, long AAA games. When that happens I find playing through a few short indie games usually gets me back in the swing of things.

[NokkonWud]

I definitely understand where you are coming from and it's not always easy, but this year I too am intending to play through some classics that I perhaps should have played earlier or, as is more often the case, didn't click with me first time and intend to re-try to see if they do this time. I'll discuss a few of the ones I have jotted down next time we catch up online to see if they're to your potential tastes, but you definitely have a good list there.

I really wouldn't put a time line on trying to play it though, adding those kinds of goals and pressure (for as little as it means) is counter-intuitive and can cause these sort of problems. Especially as many of those are not short games and most deserve more credit than to be played through as quickly as possible.

If you still have your Mass Effect 1 save then I'd go with Mass Effect 2, it's one of my all-time favourite games for numerous reasons (I talk about this game at least once a week with my father) and it does benefit from the friendships you encounter in the first.

If there are any other classics you have on your mind but don't have, let me know, you're welcome to borrow them if I own it.

[AndrewBrown]

If you still have your Mass Effect 1 save then I'd go with Mass Effect 2, it's one of my all-time favourite games for numerous reasons (I talk about this game at least once a week with my father) and it does benefit from the friendships you encounter in the first.

I'm actually in the middle of replaying the first Mass Effect on my weekends right now, and I've started writing a pseudo-review of it and how it's... not really that great. It has aged very poorly, certainly in comparison to what came after, and its flaws are particularly glaring if you go for 100% completion (the majority of its flaws lie in its side content).

Playing the trilogy as a whole, in fact, it's difficult not to come way with the impression that it's not so much a "trilogy" as a two-part story (ME2&3) with an extended Prologue (ME1). Most of what happens in Mass Effect--unless you're particularly invested in the parallels between Saren and Shepard--are pretty incidental and Mass Effect 2 does a great job of introducing what you need to know from ME1.

If you have Mass Effect, it might be worth replaying just so you can disagree with me vociferously on my points. But, honestly, if you have the Genesis digital comic for ME2, the only thing you're missing from ME1 is a lot of exposition about the state of the galaxy and a rather tedious and poorly-designed shooting game.

[NokkonWud]

Yeah, if you want 100% you really need to know the structure, particularly for Wrex. It also struggles because it's not really a shooter, it's a pure RPG with shooting elements, something that was changed more with the sequel and fully with the 3rd.

That said, I still love the first game. It has the best representation of the Citadel for my tastes and I loved the story.

[AndrewBrown]

Its story is definitely its strongest suit. Biotics being ridiculously overpowered and everything else being kind of sad--not in comparison, just in general--doesn't help matters. A Biotic Shepard, Kaidan, and Liara all with maxed Lift can sleepwalk through the game even on Insanity. Oh, but the Mako. Don't get me started on the Mako. The Mako ruins an otherwise adequate, but flawed game.

It always struck me, less as an RPG, but as a game that couldn't decide if it was a shooter, an adventure game, or an RPG, so it tried to be all three and failed at all three. ME2&3 are more successful games because they embrace being a shooter with RPG elements.

[Catatonic Nali]

The Mass Effect games are more complicated than most of the others on that list. I have played both Mass Effect 1 & 2 around the times they launched and absolutely loved both of them. The reason I put ME2 and 3 on the list are because I still haven't played 3 and since it's been nearly 6 years since I played 2 I feel that I need to refresh my memory in the lead up to 3. I have started a 2nd playthrough of ME2 in the last year and have done the first couple of missions so I'll be picking it up from there.

There's no way I could possibly condone skipping the original game. I thought it was incredible and would easily name it as one of my favourite games of the 7th generation but I am aware that it wouldn't be for everyone and may not have aged too well now either. But I would still say if you had the option of playing it over the digital comic, you should do it.

[AndrewBrown]

It used to be one of my favorite games, too. Everytime I've played it intervening years, I've hated it a little more.

Quick advice on Mass Effect 3: Unless you want the whole experience of the original ending debacle, take the time and investment to get all of its DLC. It goes a long way towards fleshing out just what the hell that was.

[Catatonic Nali]

I don't think I've played the original since 2009 and I'd be tentative about going back in case it does sour my memories. ME2 at least still holds up relatively fine.

With ME3 because it's been so widely discussed everywhere for years I think that although I haven't played it I basically know everything there is to know about the game anyway. I feel like I wouldn't have been too bothered by the original endings but I do own all of the DLC and of course I intend to play absolutely everything the game has to offer.

[AndrewBrown]

My dirty little secret is the ME3 ending never bothered me that much. I was by no means satisfied with it, but... an SF epic with a disappointing, nonsensical ending? Why are people still surprised by this? It should have been expected.

[gallo_pinto]

I'm sort of in the middle ground between you two in regards to Mass Effect 1. I played all three of them for the first time last year and I think that playing through all three as a complete trilogy really enhances the experience. I completely agree that the gameplay of Mass Effect 1 hasn't aged great, the Mako is infuriating and a lot of the side content is just duplicated warehouses with different enemies inside.

That being said, I don't think you should skip it. I think that the best world building happens in Mass Effect 1. A lot more time is spent on the politics, the culture and the history of the galaxy. It does such a great job setting up the different races and what their relationships are with each other. The game also goes much deeper into Shepard's backstory and I felt I could customize her/him more than in the later ones. I also think that the Paragon/Renegade system worked much better in the first one. In Mass Effect 1, it's about following the rules vs. doing what needs to be done. The Rachni choice shows that well, because it wasn't presented as a good vs. evil and there was an argument for both sides. By Mass Effect 3, it was just a standard, hero vs. villain morality meter. And personally, I really enjoyed the story of the first human Spectre and I thought Saren was the most charismatic villain the series found.

So from a gameplay perspective, I agree that it's not near as much fun to play as ME2 and ME3. But from a story and atmosphere perspective, I think it's really worth it.

[James]

I'm doing something similar this year, Nali. Though, it's not so much a list of 36 games I feel I must play as 426 that I really ought to play, lest they sit forever untouched.

I've been clearing as many as I can (wow, 41 so far this year!) and will continue doing so until that number is 0. See you in 10 years or so.

(For what it's worth, the series to me is Mass Effect with an extended epilogue in ME2 and 3. )

[The_Rooster]

The only issue I had with a gaming rut has been Fifa. I buy it (disc) every year and it becomes a constant in my console and I tend to only play digital games as I can't be arsed changing the disc (lazy I know) so I waste so much time on a nothing game and miss out on some good stuff then just before the new one is out I trade it in. In that I have 3/4 weeks to play other games.

So this year to buck the trend I traded in the new fifa before Xmas (got it cheap anyway) and getting through some 'real' games now.

Some good games on that list remember I Am Alive being a highlight of my 360. Good luck on your travels through the catalogue of games, on some you will need it.