Awesome friend Kim of Later Levels kicked off a cool video game backlog related blogging collaboration for February! The aim of the game is to love the unloved pile of video games that gamers constantly moan about. How many times can I use ‘game’ in a coherent sentence? That was probably close to the max.
Anyway, I’m in as the last minutes of February 2024 approach my local time! It’s been a busy month, but I can ramble about that in other posts, eh.
Also, alas! WordPress times sure have changed since I started blogging under a now long gone username. Back in the old days (circa 2015), community collaborations were everywhere in my circles. Nowadays a lot of bloggers seem to have mostly checked-out of the hobby (me included).
Pandemics, wannabe influencers trying to soullessly monetize anything fun, AI replacing human creativity, and it feeling like the end of days all the time sure doesn’t help spark fun writing ideas, that’s for sure! What a strange time to be on the internet.
The Backlog Backstory
I brought up the old days for a purpose it seems (good brain). When I first started a blog on WordPress in 2015 it was called ‘Conquering the Gaming Backlog’ so backlogs were a big theme for old me. I used to love collecting physical copies of video games and whining on social media about not having enough time to play them. Note the emphasis on the ‘used to’ part, by the way.
Today, I’m ready to do what past me would consider utterly unthinkable; sell most of her physical video game collection.
I’ll save most of the self-reflective rambling for future posts, but it’s safe to say video games are getting knocked down several spots on the things I truly care about list. Life’s short. I’ve realized I’m not gonna give a shizz how many video games I own or have played when my Game Over screen time comes.
Video games were/are still a fun hobby that has connected me to a lot of cool friends, though! Time to switch this up to the positive point of the Later Levels’ event: loving that backlog, baby!
Answering the Official Later Levels #LoveYourBacklog 2024 Prompts (TM)
There was a time when I religiously tracked how many games I had and how many I still had to play. Those days are – sadly for me trying to write this post – now gone. Time to guestimate!
Most of my physical games are in crates and roughly strewn about a shelf (due to lofty life goals I shan’t mention now). Thankfully, I do have my profile on VGCollect that should be mostly up to date so I’m gonna use that.
According to the spreadsheet I downloaded from VGCollect, I have about 127 games in my collection I haven’t played yet and be remotely interested in giving a go if I had infinite time. 👍
That gives me this fancy badge created by Later Levels!
Prompt time.
A game you bought on release but haven’t yet started
The North American version of Fire Emblem Fates: Special Edition for 3DS which came out on February 19th, 2016. If I’m remembering right, in typical Nintendo fashion Fire Emblem Fates was sold as two games: Conquest and Birthright. A third path was available via DLC called Revelations.
The Special Edition that I got has all three paths and some limited edition swag. Also in typical Nintendo fashion, it was sold in insanely limited quantities so I’m lucky to have gotten it.
To this day, I haven’t had a chance to open it, yet alone play it. My old lady eyes can’t comfortably 3DS anymore, and an unopened NA copy is worth some sweet cash so… I might be selling it in the near future. I can here past me screaming at me already… oh well! 🤑
An unplayed game with an intriguing storyline or mechanic
Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst is calling to the inner parkour person I’ll never be! The sometimes too realistic first-person platforming was amazing in the first game. I should probably get around to seeing what they did with it in Catalyst some decade.
A game you haven’t played yet due to its intimidating difficulty
My PlayStation 3 copy of Dark Souls II. I was crazy enough to platinum the first Dark Souls game a while back. These days, I just can’t summon the desire to go back into the brutal series. I’d rather be spending my time on more rewarding things, eh.
The game most likely to never be played
All 127-ish, but more seriously Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival. Not only am I not interested in the Animal Crossing series, I strongly dislike mini-game party style games like this one. I only bought it to get an exclusive bundled Amiibo figure. The addiction is real.
The most recent addition to your library
Palworld! I did play it briefly for it for two hours. All the misplaced rage its success created on social media made me insta-interested in the game.
I won’t dive into the drama-hype that has now died off. I will say it’s my first ever survival type game. The little legally distinct monsters are so cute and the dark humour elements rock. Hope I get to play it more some year!
The game which has spent the most time on your backlog
The earliest game I can remember wanting to finish is Super Metroid for the good old Super Nintendo. Little me rented the game a lot and played the intro on repeat. I loved Samus but couldn’t get very far. #MaybeInMarch adult me could finally beat this game! I do have it on the SNES Mini now. 🤔
And there ya have it! I did a collaboration thingy. Yay! I may be breaking up with my video game backlog more than loving it, but it was a nice dose of nostalgia to partake in a fun collaboration again. Big loves to Later Levels for hosting this event!
[…] Solarayo from Strength in Sarcasm […]
I notice that Unpacking isn’t included anywhere within your answers… just saying.
(Hope ProMo sees this!)
That comment is slander and it should be arrested.
No. Bashing Unpacking is entirely legal and encouraged on this part of the internet. Good day, sir!
Harrumph x3!!!
Thanks for summoning him 😆