Overwhelmed New & Old Games

[digdug]

This topic is for the people that play and collect. Do you ever look at your collection and go WOW which game do I play next? I have close to 3k in games for both classic and new consoles. Every weekend I go out and buy at least 3 games whether they be for new or the older consoles. This weekend I finally had time to sit down and play some of the games I have amassed, and didn't know where to start.

DP, I have seen your room of doom do you ever have this feeling?

Do any of the rest of you have this feeling of being overwhelmed of your collection, and not sure what to play?

Dig Dug

[slip81]

I only have about 350 games and that happens to me all the time. I can never decide white to play next, so what I do is pick out 4 games or so and play nothing else till I finnish those and then I repeat the process.

[THATinkjar]

I have close to 3k in games for both classic and new consoles.

I would love to see your room of doom, my friend. 3000 games! @_@

[WanganRunner]

I have close to 3k in games for both classic and new consoles.

I would love to see your room of doom, my friend. 3000 games! @_@

I'm not sure if he meant $3000 worth of games, or 3000 games.

[digdug]

I meant close to 3000 games. I will screen shots up shortly after the room is completely put together just moved.

Dig Dug

[Moon Patrol]

I have close to 120 games, and I still don't know what to play. I stand and look at what I have, and try to decide... but its SO HARD!

[goatdan]

Yup. To fix this problem with myself, I started an Excel spreadsheet of which games I've played and what I thought of them, as well as a rating system for how interested I am in playing the game. Then, I went through all of my games, looked at them and rated them from 1 to 10 with 10 being something I absolutely wanted to play. It takes about an hour per collection, but it has really made me feel "on top" of my Dreamcast collection. It also gives me the chance to look up games that I have played and remember what I thought of them.

[digitalpress]

DP, I have seen your room of doom do you ever have this feeling?

I've heard others express this before but I've never felt that way personally. I have a short, running list of games that I want to play next in my head at all times. When I pick up new titles, some drop off the list to make way.

I do have the occasional impulse game where I just get an urge to try something that wasn't on that mental list. Those moments are usually inspired by people on this forum recommending or pointing out a particular game.

[eden]

My advice is to NEVER try and pick a game to play whilst under the influence of 'smoke'. I've only got around 300 games and I've spent the best part of 30 minutes before just staring, blankly at the titles thinking "What the HELL am I going to play???"
There is, also, the big backlog of games which I keep INTENDING to start (or even play for the first time) but never do. The problem with collecting games (esp. those as currently inexpensive as PS1 titles) is that the back-log of unplayed titles soon mounts up and, as time marches on, the number of sequels increases. So what do you play - Crash Bandicoot, Crash 2, Crash 3, Crash 4 (obviously not Twinsanity, it's balls), CTR? If you fancy a shmup there's a couple of fistfulls to chose from. Too much choice is, sometimes, no choice at all.
The other phenomena I often experience is that, because of the choice, I give perfectly good titles VERY short shrift. If, within a couple of minutes of playing, I haven't become engaged by the action I'll flip the disc out and shelf it - perhaps never to be touched again - and pop in something I can rely on. As a result there are some no-doubt great games on the shelf that I'll probably never get to play properly.

I'm a new poster so the things I've described above probably have technical terms already, I just don't know them yet. :D

Darren

[Sam]

I meant close to 3000 games. I will screen shots up shortly after the room is completely put together just moved.

Dig Dug

LOL - I love it when gamers say 'screen shots' when reffering to pictures. Guilty of this myself once or twice... and I work in a camera shop! x_x

[Sylentwulf]

I have roughly the same number of games (around 3,000) and I do it the same way joe does, except my mental list is actually a physical shelf :) I stick games on the shelf whenever I want to play them soon, when the shelf is full (which it ALWAYS is) I take a game off in order to put a new one on.

The shelf also almost consists ENTIRELY of current gen games that I haven't played yet. My classic gaming fix is usually done on my mame cabinet which has just about everything from the atari 2600 through the N64.

[klausien]

I have just over 1000 games and have the same problem. What's funny is how often I end up playing the same titles over and over again. Certain genres (shmups, racing) and even certain games within those genres, get so much more play time than others. I guess that's just the nature of things.

I also go through long phases where I can only find time to play twitch games as opposed to those that require even a modest time commitment.

Finally, I love to take certain genres/series/systems and have marathons. For instance, I'll just pull out either the Genesis or SNES drawers and go crazy, though those and the NES are probably the most neglected sub-collections in my collection in terms of play time. They are just tough to browse through due to the way I have them stored.

I also frequently go through my shmups on all systems, giving each either one credit, or going through the limited continues, just to experience them again. The Gradius games get this treatment often.

[Xexyz]

I have roughly a little over 300 games in my collection. I've yet toreally have a big problem deciding what to play next. usually, If I don't have a new game, I'll have a few games in mind that I really want to play when I'm nearing the end of my current rotation. This method has served me fine so far, especially since a majority of my games aren't large time commitments (I love shmups, beat em ups, fighters, short platformers, and many other games that don't require much more than an hour or two to beat).

The one gnere I have a hard time focusing on is the broad variety of RPG's. Only a few, such as Paper Mario: TTYD and FFT have managed to keep me entertained for the needed 30-40 hours required for completion.

[Slimedog]

Picking what to play next is half the fun of collecting. I generally play several games at a given time, but no more than one from a given genere. First I pick a system, then I slide each of the candidates half way off the shelf. Examining each game gives me an excuse to fondle the collection a bit. Once I've got it narrowed down to 5 or 10, I pick one.

The problem is that once I start a game, I generally beat it. There are times when I'm knee deep in 5 really average games, but there is much better stuff I'd rather be playing. Oddly, I play more frequently when I am polishing off a boring game than when I'm enjoying a really good fresh one just because I want to start something else.

[PDorr3]

I go through it all the time, but recently I have been forcing myself to sit down and pay games I had previously not played or beaten, but usualy it ends up in my not completing the game.
I recently played grandia 2 on ps2, but after 12 hours or so I found it very repetitive and stoped. I restarted final fantasy tactics adv yesterday and played it 7 hours straight, so I think I will be playing this one for awhile, after that I will probably play morrowind on xbox or if I buy conker on xbox I will play that.

[cowmando6]

This always happens to me! I have about 1200 games in my collection and it is difficult to decide on which one to play. I can never decide and sometimes end up not playing anything at all. LOL

[Trevor Belmont]

This happens to me every freakin' time I finish an RPG. I look over at the growing pile and I think to myself:

"So what should I play next? I have Suikoden II just sitting there; it needs to be played. But right next to it is Valkyrie Profile, which I lucked out and found in the wild. But then I have the Arc the Lad collection, the Lunars, etc. ..."

Basically it ends up boiling down to rarity. This might sound weird, but I feel bad if I'm sitting on a game like Suikoden II and it isn't being played because I'm going through a game that isn't nearly as rare/sought after.

I don't really debate as much over other games, but with RPGs, which I tend to only play one at a time, it happens every time.

[mills]

Every time I play a game, I play it all the way to the end, and then I quit. For some reason I dont like beating games cause then I feel like they are all over and not worth playing again, so I always quit and start over again......

[nate1749]

I can never or very rarly pick what I'm about to play next. I almost completely rely on the "What games are you currently playing" thread. If I don't have the games on there (currently I see burnout 3 a lot so I'll have to go try it) I'll do searches for threads on top games for a system.

Like tonight I saw a top 50 snes games thread (from 2002) and someone said to take fzero off and put rock n roll racing on. Forgetting all about that game I put it on and played it for well over an hour - great game.

DP wrote a long thread about looking back at 3do, the titles he mentions that have aged well are on my list of what to play next.

I wish games commonly had trailers just like movies. I generally buy lots so I've got lots of stuff I've never heard of.

Nate

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm, not really. I find that there are more than enough oldschool games that are really too hard for me to play, and only a small number of the games (like Front Mission: Gun Hazard, which I've just beaten) that are just as I like them. It's really trying to find games like that which I'm thinking about all the time :)

[TeddyRuxpin]

I'm up to 260+ according to my numbered collection list. 8-)

And I have that problem so much so that I never decide and end up playing nothing much of the time. @_@

[Gzilla23]

I have close to 300 games and I just pick a system grab about 3 games for it and try to complete them. I'm not the most skilled gamer unless its a sports title so I usually run into a good bit of action games and shooters I can't beat but I try until it is no longer fun. Plus I enjoy playing a game and writing a review for it and putting it up on GAMEFAQS. My opinion on a games all from a novice's point of view instead of the uber gamer.