Hello,
I’m a newbie assassin, a new one ;)
This first post is for introducing myself and ask any advices you can give.
Oh, and english isn’t my mother tongue so don’t hesitate to correct me.
To keep a track for later, here is where it began: 
I join your crew for several reasons:
To sort my big backlog of 800 games which I plan to play all (or nearly because there are different editions of same game):
I don’t know for you, but I often don’t know what to choose to play. I spend too much time hesitating when I shouldn’t. I recently started to create lists (it takes a LOT of time) on the site to help me to categorize a bit my games. I’d like to know if you have a good method, here is what I tried:
I try mainly to difference games by their length. I use the steam store or HLB to get the duration of each game. I guess names are pretty obvious for me but I will try to precise a bit for you.
-Short –> ~less than 10h
-Medium –> more than 10h and it must not belong to the following lists
-Long/RPG/Story –> long game that are focused on story (Mass Effect, Shadowrun, …)
-Long/Puzzle/Strategy/Management –> it must be long enough and not to have a story or else it belongs to previous lists
-Potentially endless –> rogue, open world survival, etc …
I have 2 “tag lists”:
-Narrative only –> point and click, walking simulator, … These games are always forgotten when I have to choose to play a new game. I want to change that.
-Metroidvania –> my favorite game genre.
Plus 2 other lists for “later”.
-To try again soon or later –> games that I have stopped before the end, or games that I want to do once more.
-To keep an eye on (EA/Incomplete/Missing DLC/…) –> there is often a game that I want to start but I forgot it still misses a DLC or it’s still in EA, or my computer currently can’t run it (Arkham Knight…!)
When I started these lists, I quickly get the feelings that it is really a lot of work for not a perfect result, but I didn’t have better ideas. All suggestions are welcome.
Second reason. I’ve played a lot of games and when I look behind, I think I could write more reviews. And I hope that if I write some posts here about my future “assassinations” it will help me to find somethings to write to keep a trace of my feelings about the games I’ll play.
And last reason, I like to be entertained by others posts, and to read their impressions about games they have just played, and it’s even better when I know I have the game.
As I said before, all advices are welcome, thanks!
This comment was deleted about 7 years ago.
Welcome to BLAEO!
I was about to suggest the monthly theme, too. They can sometimes help you play games you wouldn’t normally play anytime soon :)
And while I don’t have any good advice for your lists (I tend to be rather chaotic when it comes to picking games to play next), I can tell you this: try to keep the lists as simple as possible. The more complex you get with them, the more of a hassle it becomes ;) Like, for example, your two “for later” tags could merge into a single “Revisit” tag.
Anyway, good luck with your progress!
Now that you say it, it seems obvious that I could merge these 2 lists…
I suppose I tend to be rather chaotic when I have to organize things ^^
I will certainly participating in the monthly theme. And I saw there is even a kind of ranking system to compete with others.
Thank you for your welcome :)
Welcome. For myself I don’t have plans at all but people usually suggest month theme and SG wins :)
Good luck with your beating backlog.
Thank you and good luck to you too :)
I think everyone has different approaches to sorting games into lists and deciding what to play. A lot depends on what I feel like playing, so I don’t like to make a list for each month.
At the moment, I have about 10-15 games installed that I enjoy. I also choose a few games that I gave up on in the past, or got in bundles and am not really interested in. I balance playing between them depending on what I feel like on the day, how much time I have, and how frustrated i get with them!
People have different approaches that’s why I’m happy to see that lot of persons answered me :)
I will try to finish my “unfinished” too, but once I put them away it become harder to start it again. I think about Skyrim (unfinished) that I really liked but I don’t know why it’s hard to start it again. I think it’s maybe because a fresh game always give this discovery feeling that I enjoy.
Welcome to BLAEO. I can’t really give you advice as everyone does their lists and plans differently. I personally don’t look at monthly themes at all even though I see it helping many people here. I play what I want to play when I want to play it. I can definitely change my mind and decide to play another game despite mainly focusing on one game at a time. In that case I play both of the games or take a small break from one of the games if I feel overwhelmed by it (Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun for example). I usually play long/hardcore game and 2-3 casual/short games inbetween before starting the next long/hardcore one.
My advice would be similar to what Lucky Thirteen said. Don’t complicate things, also don’t be too strict with your lists. Things can start to feel like a chore before you even know it. I’m kind of suffering from the same thing presently due to my strict completionist playstyle.
Welcome again and have fun :)
Till now I’ve played more or less the same way than yours, mainly one game at once. I’ve noticed that each time I have played a long game I searched short games before starting a new long game. That’s why I began my list focused on duration. But I agree they looks complicated for me too. I’ll search a compromise.
Thanks :)
Welcome aboard and may you slay many a backlog. When in doubt with spellcheck and grammar just enable Check Spelling if you’re using Firefox. I’m sure other browsers have some kind of equivalent as well.
Good idea with “Potentially Endless” category because I also find myself thinking how to cover properly something like roguelikes and MP-only titles.
Welcome! ^_^
Great idea making a screenshot of your starting point ^_^
If you have time, you could try “ranking” them. This was my solution before joining here, you can still see a table of how I assigned points on my profile.
It helped me not forgetting of what I most wanted to play.
Then I joined BLAEO and discovered monthly themes; I admit I kind of dropped the ranking method and focused on themes. Must be because I see it like a game in a game =P
I see your situation is not that bad.. I remember having 90% of unplayed when I joined =P
Whatever plan you’ll decide to follow, don’t forget to have fun! killing backlog can turn in a serious business in a moment.. just drop every plan and play “chaotically” for a while if you think it’s turning bad and not fun anymore :)
If you have enough space on your HDDs and a fast internet connection, you could play whatever you feel like in a certain moment. I kind of lack both so I need a bit of forethought.
Whenever you need help, we are here ;)
Good luck! ^_^
Your system looks great, these ranking points is a good idea, but it must be a lot of work too. I can’t believe you did that for your 1000 games?
Don’t worry I won’t take it too seriously, play “chaotically” is as I will always play. But sometimes I hesitating to much front my library. I want be efficient when I have to choose. And I want to put in light some of my forgotten games lost between others in same time.
My HDD is never close to be empty (chaotic, you remember? ^^), so I try to “clean” my HDD each time I’ve finished a game. I keep the save, and I uninstall the game. Last Final Fantasy game that I played really needed the space!
Not really =P
I automated most parts but I still need to fill some values (the most empty column is “howlongtobeat”). Started when I had about 400-500 games so now it’s easier as I have to enter games one by one every now and then :)
I know what you mean, I have 159 games installed right now! =P
Welcome to BLAEO :D and good luck in your fight with the backlog, we all need this…
Like some others have said, I find the monthly theme inspiring but I don’t strictly stick to it. Lately I try to tackle mostly games between my SG wins and games I’ve got gifted, but even that is not really a rule. I’d say play what you feel like and have fun :D
In any case, looking forward to read your reports ;)
I’d say I won’t fix definitive rules either but the grid view of steam library began to be too limited to keep in mind the games I have. So, list/tag/progress are a good way to sort and chose.
See you in the next report ;)
Welcome to BLAEO! :D That’s a big backlog you’ve got there :o
Personally, I check if I own any game of the monthly theme and play it. If I don’t own any or I don’t feel like playing it, I check my sg wins list. If none of these options apply, I search my friends’ reviews to see if there’s any game I own that makes me want to play it.
Hope that helps somehow in your battle. Good luck!
I love too many different game genres and my WL is nearly big as my backlog ^^
I will take a look at the monthly theme, good idea, I dunno how I managed to don’t see this part of the site till now.. oops
Thank you :)