The lights are on
Most everyone is familiar with the idea of a New Year’s resolution, but for the last few years I’ve tried to create very specific gaming resolutions to attempt to live up to. For example, two years ago my resolution was to have purchased every current-gen console and handheld by the time 2009 rolled around (and I succeeded!). This past year I vowed to actually open and play a significant portion of every game I purchased (uh…not so successful with this one). Over the last week, as I relaxed with family for the holidays, I racked my brain to come up with a worthy resolution to kick off a new decade.
Last night, as I finally got around to playing Left 4 Dead -- a series I had sadly mostly missed out on until now -- I stumbled onto the perfect New Year’s gaming resolution. In 2010, I am going to devote a steady portion of my gaming energy into catching up on games and series that are woefully lacking in personal play time.
That there is such an overabundance of amazing games to play is both the gift and curse of being a gamer. As somebody who writes about games for a living, it’s extremely easy to get caught in a cycle of only playing the latest titles and pretty much ignoring any game that I don’t get to within the first month of release. If I’m not seeing a game months in advance, I’m reviewing it. And if I’m not reviewing it, I’m probably trying to play whatever everybody in the office and online is talking about. It’s a vicious cycle that often leaves little time to fill in those troublesome gaps in my gaming knowledge.
But when I read our top 200 games of all time list in issue 200, I felt that familiar desire to expand my “games completed” list. It happened again when I helped work on our top 50 games of 2009 (which you’ll be able to check out in issue 202). Finally being able to devote some time to Left 4 Dead and the original Banjo Kazooie on XBLA this past week cemented in my realization: I need to find more time to play games that I’ve missed.
So how will I find the time for this addition to my already gaming-heavy lifestyle? That’s a good question that I’ll probably spend a nice chunk of 2010 trying to answer. I can say this for sure though: I’m going to get started right away!
Which brings me to: The First Annual Phil Kollar New Year’s Weekend Game-a-thon.
Of all the games I’ve started and never finished, the most shameful for me is Final Fantasy XII. The thing is, I completely loved FFXII for the 10 or 15 hours that I played it in the month after it was released back in 2006. The story was mature, the battle system was interesting, and the huge open world and quest system reminded me of the things I love about MMOs melded into everything I want from a Final Fantasy. In fact, I loved the game so much…that I stopped playing it.
See, FFXII was released right when I’d started writing about games more seriously, and with so much other stuff on my plate at the time, I decided to set it aside until I could really devote some time to it. It was a game I wanted to appreciate on every level, for all it could offer, and that meant playing FFXII solely for at least a couple of weeks. Maybe that would happen during my winter break from college that year? Or the coming summer? Or…
Yeah, it never happened. So despite being an adamant defender of Final Fantasy XII, I’ve yet to actually complete the game. That will change starting this weekend.
Beginning on Saturday, January 2 and continuing through Sunday and Monday (with breaks for sleep and work), a friend and I will begin a marathon session of Final Fantasy XII. It’s unlikely that we’ll finish the whole game over the weekend, but I’m hoping it will give me the momentum I need to propel me toward completing it before the looming behemoth of Final Fantasy XIII drops in March.
Do you also need to complete FFXII? Want to join in? You should! I’ll be live-tweeting the Game-a-thon on my pkollar_live Twitter account. I’ll be using the hashtag #ff12live for all posts related to the game, and I’d love to have others joining in as well!
What are your gaming resolutions for 2010? What games or series that I might have missed should I make sure to catch up on over the course of the next year?
I remember FFXII. I helped my brother get through that entire game (we had the strategy guide, and he doesn't like to read and play at the same time, which is where I usually come in). I helped him with everything, from getting all the Espers, to completing all the hunts, I feel as if I was playing through it as well. Sadly, I don't have the patience to play a FF game. I tried X, but my brother played so much of it (200 hours), that I just gave up and watched him. I was massacred by the first Judge fight in XII that I gave up there, too.
The one game that I really wish I could have is definitely ICO. Nothing more, really.
I really couldn't get into FFXII. I loved the world, and the story and characters were alright(Balthier was awesome). I couldn't for the life of me get into the combat system though. It made me feel like I was in an unpopulated MMO with the ability to make my characters automate themselves so that I didn't really have to play to grind. I got really frustrated at one point and turned the game off for good.
I've wanted to go back to it, despite the gameplay, and experience the rest of the world/story/characters. So maybe this is the point where I turn it back on.
I actually made a similar New Years resolution, but it focuses more specifically on the PS2. I have a bad habit of collecting games and not playing them. Out of my 115 PS2 games, I've only played maybe 20 of them. So my resolution is to at least play part-way through all of them, and all the way through the larger titles(or anything I enjoy really). Let's start with FFXII!
I never got around to finishing either GTA IV or Fallout 3, and it still pains me. I don't know how I'll get around to them with FFXIII, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2 and the new Splinter Cell coming out in the next few months.
Also, my gaming resolution for 2010 is to not shoot any more exploding barrels in games. Although that's probably impossible.
I loved FFXII - I must have sunk 60 hours into it. I thought the battle system was fantastic because I could program the characters to do what I wanted instead of hammering the basic attack option all day like a sucker. In my opinion there was more than enough depth in the programming options to make me feel like I was perfecting my strategy in a deeper way than I every had in any RPG. Sadly, I lost a few times to the final boss, decided to level-up but got distracted by some other game that came out.
Thanks for the motivation - I'll see if I can finally beat FFXII this weekend.
Earlier this afternoon I had a similar idea in mind.
I vowed to make Final Fantasy XIII the first FF game I complete.
I've already bead ffxii. great resolution though. mine is to beat Demon's souls.
Phil, same with me for FFXII. I started and never finished it. I re-started it two weeks ago and am about 12 hours in (what a coincidence!) and I'd love to join you in a marathon on the second of January.
Question though: you did backlog on 1UP FM, correct, so why not continue it vicariously with this resolution (which had actually been one of mine as well)? So, you should a weekly, monthly, whatever blog post about an old game you played and have the community continue with you and make their own blog posts. It would be great encouragement to actually play old games by playing along with other people and would foster discussion within the online community at GameInformer. I'd be down to do it.
Oh, and like I said, I've been consciously playing more old games and indie games as of late, which is one of my many resolutions to improve myself come the new year. My new rule of thumb is to play games only after they've been out many months, that way I won't be caught in the gaming press hype fever that dissipates the day the game launches. It's working for me so far. Games journalism could do with more looking back instead of always looking, looking forward.
:)
same thing happened to me while playing FF XII. i was loving every minute of it, and then after i was well into it, i just stopped. no real reason why either. i just stopped. i actually re-bought it not too long ago and was playing it and then haven't touched it since. weird phenomenon.
So you're resolution is to demolish your Pile of Shame by knocking down games one at a time? Mine too!
Over the course of 2010, I hope to finish at least 2 Legend of Zelda games, Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario Sunshine, and pretty much everything else I can cram in to power play sessions. If I have it, and I've yet to finish it, I'm probably going to try to beat it.
I am going to be putting some serious time into Diablo 2. I just bought it after an entire decade. I have a lot of time to make up.
Oh, and I have a strong dislike for the phrase "Pile of Shame". Why do people feel entitled to play every game that comes out, like it is a duty they must fulfill? I understand revisiting old games, but "Pile of Shame" makes it feel like a grind that MUST be accomplished and involves slogging through a lot of poor games...
I just recently got Valkyria Chronicles. I really hope I don't burn out on it, because it's such a good game. It is somewhat under appreciated as a game, but it's really cheap now and if you could pull yourself away from the fall games and stick with it until the games start rolling in late January...
I'm not sure what you have played and what you have not so I can only speak for myself. I've never played a Metal Gear Solid game. Even with all the rave reviews that the series has garnered over the years, I've still never got around to playing it. I'm sure I will someday though.
I felt the same about FFXII when I started. The story was mature, the combat was fresh, and the world was engrossing.
For me, the excitement died about halfway in. The story started to grind to a halt, becoming repetitive and seemingly taking a backseat to dungeon-crawling. The combat stayed fun and interesting, and I really enjoyed exploring the open world, but did I mention the awful dungeon crawls that come later in the game?
The repetition and lazy level design that popped up past the halfway point really took me out of the game and left me wanting more, especially after loving the game for the first 30 hours or so.
Good luck with your resolution Phil, and i can't wait to see what games/series you tackle in the coming months.
My resolution is to beat the games from my Christmas haul before moving on to any others. Also, to join in on the launch excitement of a few titles like FF13 or GoW3 by buying them at launch instead of waiting months down the line.
I hear ya Phil. Recently I've been playing old games I missed the first time around. RE: Code Veronica and Zero, Ratchet and Clank Size Matters,Twilight Princess, and Batman: AA are just a few of the games that I finally got to play through in the past month or two.
I often times feel this "pinch" to play everything I can. DLC muddies the waters when you've finished a game, and now have the opportunity to jump back in right as you purchase some other much-anticipated title. Truth be told, I usually find that mid-summer is a great time (unfortunately) to catch up on missed games simply b/c the roster of "top shelf" titles pales in comparison to the Fall overload of great games.
coolio
I always want to go back and play games I never finished or games that I have heard a lot about and never started but it never happens. I always get caught up into other newer games or even TV shows. i recently just started watching the show Lost again from the beginning but I am almost done with that and then I would def like to finish some games. Never finished FFXII, Resident Evil 5, or Assassins Creed. I would like to but there are also games that I never played that I need to like Bioshock, and the first uncharted. Finished the second one but just got the first one for christmas and I need to play it. Also just started playing God of War for the first time and it is really an amazing game. Just finished the first one on sunday and started the 2nd one last night. I hope I can get through all of these before all of these new games come out. Wish me luck haha
also never finished the new ratchet and clank, thanks to my ps3 breaking but i have a new one now and want to finish that.
I enjoyed the forty or so hours I got in FFXII, but life finds a way to distract me from really good games (mainly the wife and kid).