Last year, I have shared my thoughts about my Anime Backlog. While I haven’t backlogged many shows in the past year, I admit that it’s a bad habit. Besides Anime, this habit also extends to video games since many people like myself want to play the latest games, particularly Japanese RPGs despite not beating a game at least once. This makes me wonder, why do people continue to build up a big backlog of video games by buying new ones despite not making an attempt to finish them?
If you consider the Anime backlog, I feel that it’s a lot easier to tackle since it only takes a few hours to complete a series and one don’t have to commit a lot of time to finish it. Sadly, video games and visual novels don’t have this luxury because a typical visual novel or Japanese RPG may take 40-80 hours to complete (more if you want to 100% it). Considering that video games (especially console games) are usually more expensive than Anime, light novels and manga when excluding sales, it’s a troubling trend. If video games cost this much, should one become motivated to finish them to get the money’s worth? I think there are other reasons besides time constraints why people don’t finish games.
I feel that one of the reasons why people tend to build a video game backlog is for the fact that Japanese RPGs have gotten more complex. Most video games these days now have multiple endings, ultimate secret weapons/costumes to unlock, missions to finish, items to make, trophies/achievements, etc. Because of this, most people feel that video games can’t be finished to 100% completion without some kind of guide as things like flags and hidden trophies are not obvious. As a result, this is one of the pet peeves I have with games that have multiple endings since some flags have time requirements or you will be locked out of a specific ending.
To make matters worse, the flag might not trigger at all even if you met the requirements. I have this problem in Atelier Meruru Plus for the fact that I cannot build the archives since a flag that grants that ability won’t activate. Because of that, I got locked out from certain endings and finishing certain end-game tasks. As much I enjoy the story from that game, I feel less motivated to get all the endings because of this reason. To make matters worse, you are usually locked to an ending if you get all the required flags, thus requiring one to play the game over again or carefully trigger them. Thankfully, some games are addressing this by allowing the player to pick which ending to view along with simpler ending requirements.
Most importantly, I feel that the constant stream of new Japanese RPGs is another reason we tend to rush through one game so one can play the next latest and greatest games. For instance, I would like to achieve most of the endings and beat all the difficult monsters in New Atelier Rorona, but there are other games I want to finish. To me, I feel that newer games are having priority over older ones, thus contributing to the backlog. This is true since I almost got to the final boss in Final Fantasy X and VII, but I never beaten it since I wanted to spend my time playing newer games.
On the other hand, there have been games that disappointed me that I stopped playing and never touched it again. Final Fantasy XIII, Paper Mario Sticker Star and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Gates to Infinity were some of the games I stopped playing after a few hours since it didn’t live up to the prequels. Because of this, I regret buying these games for the fact that I lost my motivation to complete them.
While having a backlog of Japanese RPGs and Visual Novels is not necessarily wrong for the fact that people have different ways of playing video games, it gives me an impression that we are being overwhelmed by so many games that one can’t possibly finish it. I feel that people need to ask themselves this question: if I buy this game, will I ever complete it some shape or form? Just like Anime, I think people shouldn’t buy more games than he/she can complete. While I managed to beat most of the Vita games at least once, I decided not to get anymore until I get all the endings I want to see. That way, I won’t end up in a vicious cycle of not completing many video games and be left with a huge backlog of games.
What are your thoughts about backlogging video games and visual novels in general? Do you consider not finishing a game once a bad thing? Feel free to share how big your backlog is and how you would personally tackle it.
Much of my backlog on anime and games are dwindling down now, so the only other problem I have is just reviewing them all, if I get around to it. Did have quite the backlog in video games years ago, but that was either due to 1.) Sales on stuff I really wanted and was cheap or 2.) Usually got tired enough of the game I was playing and the next release was behind it. Luckily, last year, I finished up most of the ones I cared for and sold off the rest. Only two games I’m currently busy with now are Ni no kuni (doing sidequest before I go to the final boss) and New Atelier Rorona (finished my 1st playthrough, but only got like about 3 endings and post-game was catchup time). Next import release isn’t till the 8/26 (probably skip on Atelier Shallie since it will most likely be localized), so I’m very content with what I have and want to finish those before Disgaea 4 and Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus get their stateside release. As much as I hate to admit it, probably going to take me 3rd playthrough on New Rorona alone just to hit the true ending requirements, depending if I get Gio’s friendship level high enough on this run before he joins. Don’t even want to think doing the post-game seriously fighting the monsters in the Tower and Makina domain.
The True Ending requirements in the Arland series are pretty absurd since one has to trigger all the endings just to see it. But I got closer to beating most of the Tower and Makina domain bosses, but I cannot beat the last boss, which is required for the trophies. But in general, I’m glad that the Dusk series are not like this although I’m glad that the Rorona remake at least makes getting the endings less painful. (Neptune has easier requirements to get all the endings although the Lily Ranking and Share grinding can be annyoing)
But aside from that, I didn’t mention, but sales to play a big part in growing the backlog for the fact that the games are cheap, particularly the Steam sales. This is perhaps a reason why I avoid buying anything from Steam sales as I know that if I buy it, I probably end up not touching or even come close to finishing. But aside from that, I tend to play games in Japanese only and avoid localized releases since I want to use my Japanese skills as much as possible. But since Atelier Shallie removes the time limit completely, hopefully this means that it will be easier to view all the endings and not worrying about missing an event just because one missed a time period or limit.
But aside from that, I have been doing a better job tackling the backlog, but it’s still big nevertheless.
Actually my reason is because I became more focused on anime than games over time. It has little to do with difficulty spikes and stuff like that…though I confess taking a breather after encountering a difficult boss or puzzle but it’s primarily about me liking anime more now. I still collect games and (hope to) eventually plan on finishing some of them.
It’s understandable for the fact that I get stuck on some of the bosses and i don’t feel like grinding for hours. But of course, since I only watch 4-5 shows a given season and I use games to practice my Japanese, I tend to play a different game. But I get what you are saying since Anime takes less time and is more convenient than video games.
Pretty much dood.