How distracted are you by new games?

[hanselthecaretaker]

So I have enough on my plate with the following unfinished games from current gen alone:

- The Old Hunters (Bloodborne DLC - currently planning to finish first)

- The Witcher 3

- Kingdom Come: Deliverance

- Metal Gear Solid 5 (well, first chapter and most side quests done at least)

- Dark Souls 3 + DLC

- Frozen Wilds (Horizon Zero Dawn DLC)

- Mafia 3

- Mad Max

- Wolfenstein: The New Order

- The Evil Within (also have the sequel but haven?t started that one at least)

- Infamous: Second Son


Those are the most notable, with a few smaller titles I got for free month off PSN+ that range from interesting to meh.

Now the more I see of Red Dead Redemption 2 the more I want to get it now instead of waiting for the GotY Edition like originally planned. Well, that?s still the plan but damned if it hasn?t put a bit of a damper on everything else I?m playing. It?s the big new shiny thing that I know I?ll love once I get into it just because highly detailed/emergent anything is a big + to me. The biggest thing that assuages my yearning is all the bugs I?ve heard about and knowing how in a year I can get all the DLC and the most polished version for like half the price of the base game currently. Maybe even a PC version release date.


How do new releases affect your gaming plate, if at all?

 

[CaitSeith]

Sometimes it affects me, although I'm more easily distracted by re-releases of games I have already finished 5 times in the past (Flashback, Dark Souls, Skyrim) than new releases. Heck! I try to remember the last new non-re-release game I bought a new game on release month and I draw out a blank (except for Delta Rune, but that was free)

 

[Hawki]

Generally not.

I've got an "electronics list" in my documents folder (similar to a reading list, which I also have in the same folder) that at this time of writing is 266 pages long. Every so often (well, maybe more than that) a game, a movie, a TV show, whatever, will be added to said list. So on one hand, I can't really get overwhelmed or distracted because it's super organized. If I choose something from the list, I'll go through it until it's complete, whether it be a movie, a season, or a game.

On the other hand, I will say I am distracted in the sense that there's always something new being released, and I just don't have the time to get round to it. Games are a massive time sink. There's a thread where people ask for the best games in the last decade, and many games listed are ones that I've never played. So, it is distracting in that sense, but I have the self control to not instantly play/purchase every 'big thing' that comes out.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

*looks at the loooooong list of games I've started but never finished because something cool and new came out*

...VERY distracted.

 

[Saelune]

Not very. My current obsession is Barony, an indie rogue-like from 2015. Before that I was finally 100%ing Sonic Generations, and while I have neglected it, I was trying to beat DOOM...3.

 

[Dalisclock]

To an extent, but my backlog is so dang long that I've usually got something else I'm playing at any given time. At best, if I'm really excited by something, I'll pick it up new and make it the next on the list, but almost nothing has excited me that much in a while.

Though a new game that's inexpensive at launch and/or fairly short(4 hours vs 40 hours) has a much better chance of getting played sooner instead of later. It's intimidating to play a 40ish hour game so I don't normally get to them for a bit. Even RDR2 is gonna have to wait until I play the first one, and RDR will have to get in line.

OTOH, Deltarune just came out, is like 3 hours long and free and I really liked undertale and know how these games are best without spoilers, so yeah, that got shoved to the front of the line.

 

[Catfood220]

I try to finish games that I have started but *looks longingly at Valkyria Chronicles 4* sometimes it doesn't happen. I was loving Valkyria Chronicles 4, but my brother bought me Spider-Man for my birthday so it was rude to not play that, then RDR2 came out. I did manage to finish Spider-Man before I started RDR2 though. I think I will try to play both alternatively, otherwise VC4 is going to get lost in the shuffle.

There are others that need finishing, there doesn't seem to be a lot I'm interested in next year. 2019 may be the year of finishing games.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

So I have enough on my plate with the following unfinished games from current gen alone:

- The Old Hunters (Bloodborne DLC - currently planning to finish first)

- The Witcher 3

- Kingdom Come: Deliverance

- Metal Gear Solid 5 (well, first chapter and most side quests done at least)

- Dark Souls 3 + DLC

- Frozen Wilds (Horizon Zero Dawn DLC)

- Mafia 3

- Mad Max

- Wolfenstein: The New Order

- The Evil Within (also have the sequel but haven?t started that one at least)

- Infamous: Second Son

Wow, that's quite the list. Are any of those on PC, or strictly PS4? If you have DS3 on PC I'll totally co-op with you. I'm currently playing my first playthru of Bloodborne and really enjoying it. Just sad that the (borrowed) PS4 I have is offline (and I have no PSN stuff) so I can't have any jolly coop sadly, especially annoying with some super tough bosses. Makes it very different from my Souls experiences online on PC.

Take Mafia 3 and Evil Within off that list. They suck. They're so boring, utterly uninspired and simply not fun to play. Your time has value and those games fall far short of that. Second Son was great, but not that hard or long, you can blast thru it in a weekend or two. MGS5, I got bored of after one chapter. There're only so many things you can attach balloons to before it gets old. For the other games... KCD, TW3, HZD and MM, I've only heard good things about; TW3 in particular won every GotY award that year.

How do new releases affect your gaming plate, if at all?

Not really. Firstly, in the case or RDR2 since it's not on PC I'm not interested. I also rarely get anything on release. I have pre-ordered X4, the only pre-order I think of the year. The thing is, most modern games, certainly the AAA offerings from EA, ActiBlizz, Ubi, etc don't interest me. I don't do CoD, AssCreed or microtransactions in full priced games, so that rules out most of their shit. And there are thankfully enough good games, old and more recent that I'm not wanting for anything new.

I still like replaying old games too. I'd rather replay Mass Effect or might give Skyrim another playthru at some point, it's been a couple of years since the last, and it'll be a lot better than new AAA titles. RDR2 I'll play if and when it's on PC and on sale.

Cyberpunk 2077...that *will* be a preorder, a week off work, buy new hardware, tell the family to ignore me and set phone to silent. Everything else will be on hold with only bare minimum of hygiene and nutrition required for survival.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Not much. I rarely buy a game at launch, preferring to wait for a sale, and even when I do buy it, I generally don't start playing it immediately. I tend to at least hold off until I've finished what I was already playing at the time (or get tired of it). Sometimes I don't start a new game because it's the same genre as the one I just finished, so I switch things up and do something different first. Sometimes I hold off because I feel obligated to reduce my backlog a little.

The only recent exception was Monster Hunter World. First game in a very long time I bought and played on day one, mostly because I planned to play with friends and they wanted to get started right away. But ... it did make me put YS VIII on temporary hold. Still play MHW when the fancy strikes and my buddies are game, but less frequently and I've since continued my playthrough of YS (as well as Valkyria Chronicles).

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Spoiler

So I have enough on my plate with the following unfinished games from current gen alone:

- The Old Hunters (Bloodborne DLC - currently planning to finish first)

- The Witcher 3

- Kingdom Come: Deliverance

- Metal Gear Solid 5 (well, first chapter and most side quests done at least)

- Dark Souls 3 + DLC

- Frozen Wilds (Horizon Zero Dawn DLC)

- Mafia 3

- Mad Max

- Wolfenstein: The New Order

- The Evil Within (also have the sequel but haven?t started that one at least)

- Infamous: Second Son

Wow, that's quite the list. Are any of those on PC, or strictly PS4? If you have DS3 on PC I'll totally co-op with you. I'm currently playing my first playthru of Bloodborne and really enjoying it. Just sad that the (borrowed) PS4 I have is offline (and I have no PSN stuff) so I can't have any jolly coop sadly, especially annoying with some super tough bosses. Makes it very different from my Souls experiences online on PC.

Take Mafia 3 and Evil Within off that list. They suck. They're so boring, utterly uninspired and simply not fun to play. Your time has value and those games fall far short of that. Second Son was great, but not that hard or long, you can blast thru it in a weekend or two. MGS5, I got bored of after one chapter. There're only so many things you can attach balloons to before it gets old. For the other games... KCD, TW3, HZD and MM, I've only heard good things about; TW3 in particular won every GotY award that year.

How do new releases affect your gaming plate, if at all?

Not really. Firstly, in the case or RDR2 since it's not on PC I'm not interested. I also rarely get anything on release. I have pre-ordered X4, the only pre-order I think of the year. The thing is, most modern games, certainly the AAA offerings from EA, ActiBlizz, Ubi, etc don't interest me. I don't do CoD, AssCreed or microtransactions in full priced games, so that rules out most of their shit. And there are thankfully enough good games, old and more recent that I'm not wanting for anything new.

I still like replaying old games too. I'd rather replay Mass Effect or might give Skyrim another playthru at some point, it's been a couple of years since the last, and it'll be a lot better than new AAA titles. RDR2 I'll play if and when it's on PC and on sale.

Cyberpunk 2077...that *will* be a preorder, a week off work, buy new hardware, tell the family to ignore me and set phone to silent. Everything else will be on hold with only bare minimum of hygiene and nutrition required for survival.

MGSV, Mafia 3, Mad Max, The Evil Within 2 and Dark Souls 3 are on PS4 out of the multiplat?s in that list, mostly because they were either *free* or heavily discounted. Having said that, I?ve always played MGS on PS and the entire SoulsBorne joint too, but also have started the original Dark Souls and Remastered versions on Steam. Oddly enough in a way I enjoy it more on PC due to being more up close and personal playing on a monitor, but my console gaming is done purposefully on a projector with 7.2 surround, and my PC room is two floors above. I?d like to rebuild my old rig for modern games to keep downstairs, but console gaming isn?t detrimental enough to their enjoyment for me as it is. Mad Max for example is phenomenal on a big screen with big sound, and to me the differences between the console version and PC aren?t troublesome.

I?ve always played The Witcher series on PC though simply because it feels better there to me and I still consider CDPR a PC- first dev. Same with Warhorse and Kingdom Come: Deliverance probably even moreso considering how well first person works in that game; it?s technically made for a monitor and plays great on PC with KB/M.

I must admit that I ultimately pulled the trigger on RDR2 last night. Had over half the $ already on my PS account and figured I?m missing out putting it off just for the GotY version. I loved the first one and am really considering putting everything else I?m playing on hold to play through its prequel/sequel, depending on how good it really is. I haven?t been able to satisfactorily get ?lost? in anything else I?m playing lately due to them all feeling so typically gamey, but Rockstar?s latest could possibly be the best remedy to that yet.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

*Long, heavy sigh*

To be honest, pretty much anything new is distracting.

Games, films, books, prey, buildings, drugs, music, bodily malfunctions, toilet roll, stalkers, spectres at the foot of the bed manifesting from a guilty conscience of a horrific past, etc etc. It's all rather stimulating the curiosity glands.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Eh? I get bored with games very easily. As soon as I reach the point where I go 'I could be doing something else' I stop. I've bought 4 games this year, Far Cry 5, Monster Hunter World, Ass Creed Odyssey and on the advice of pals in my game group, Red Dead Redemption 2. its okay if very slow and awkwardly controlled, which I think is a deliberate ploy to stretch the game time.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Eh, I usually wait to get something new, then put it into the backlog once I get it. If the game is something I am super excited for, I might move it to the top of the backlog, but few games perk my interest that much nowadays.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm only interested in a very small percentage of games each year, so I'm never really distracted by new releases or have a backlog. The new games I played this year were the Shadow of the Colossus "remake", God of War, Octopath Traveler, Okami for the Switch, Spider-Man, Dragon Quest 11 and Mega Man 11 both for about 30 minutes, Life is Strange 2: Episode 1, and Red Dead Redemption 2. And that's about it till the Spyro remake gets released. I'm actually kinda killing time with older games till then.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

...my console gaming is done purposefully on a projector with 7.2 surround, and my PC room is two floors above.

With that setup, I'd probably be a console gamer too. I put my money into a GTX1080Ti and PC hardware, but I can see why you'd enjoy the console in that context. Out of interest, is 7.2 enough of an improvement over 5.1? Do the side-sats actually help? I love surround for immersion (and I LAMENT Vista getting rid of DirectSound and killing EAX, propritary tho it was. We've never had great positional, ambient audio since ☹&#65039 I'm going to buy a new monitor in the medium future, but not sure what to get. In the last 5 years something has changed with monitors and they now cost a small fortune, as well as having multiple competing technologies and standards.

I enjoy co-oping DS3 a lot, but as i said that's on PC and my borrowed PS4 is all offline so no co-op bloodborne for me...and I could've really used the help with Father Gascoigne and the Crow of Cainhurst. As of last night, I killed all but the last vanilla boss and made it to the second DLC lamp, which was completely brutal.

I must admit that I ultimately pulled the trigger on RDR2 last night. Had over half the $ already on my PS account and figured I?m missing out putting it off just for the GotY version.

Do it. Put the rest on hold, play it, get immersed in it and enjoy. While it's new and you just got it, it's the best time since the answers aren't all online yet. Put the rest on hold, they've waited long enough. Enjoy, tell us how you find it, would love to hear your thoughts on it once you've played it a bit.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

...my console gaming is done purposefully on a projector with 7.2 surround, and my PC room is two floors above.

With that setup, I'd probably be a console gamer too. I put my money into a GTX1080Ti and PC hardware, but I can see why you'd enjoy the console in that context. Out of interest, is 7.2 enough of an improvement over 5.1? Do the side-sats actually help? I love surround for immersion (and I LAMENT Vista getting rid of DirectSound and killing EAX, propritary tho it was. We've never had great positional, ambient audio since ☹&#65039 I'm going to buy a new monitor in the medium future, but not sure what to get. In the last 5 years something has changed with monitors and they now cost a small fortune, as well as having multiple competing technologies and standards.

I enjoy co-oping DS3 a lot, but as i said that's on PC and my borrowed PS4 is all offline so no co-op bloodborne for me...and I could've really used the help with Father Gascoigne and the Crow of Cainhurst. As of last night, I killed all but the last vanilla boss and made it to the second DLC lamp, which was completely brutal.

To answer the sound question, it basically falls under the law of diminishing returns kinda like HD visuals do. It really depends on how the audio mix takes advantage of it, because even 5.1 will pipe through the sides. I?d say the extra channels are more noticeable for the ambient, quieter moments where specific things stand out more than the bombastic loudness of action scenes. Some suspense/horror movies and games especially where you?re hearing voices or other environmental cues are great for it, but they aren?t always in 7.1 either.

Also I only have an extra sub because the board on my Infinity went bad and it was taking weeks for the shop to fix it, so I went and got an SVS to replace it. That was right around when the shop called to say my sub was fixed...! So I kept that one too but don?t even use it much. It?s interesting using them together though sound-wise because one is ported and the other sealed.

I must admit that I ultimately pulled the trigger on RDR2 last night. Had over half the $ already on my PS account and figured I?m missing out putting it off just for the GotY version.

Do it. Put the rest on hold, play it, get immersed in it and enjoy. While it's new and you just got it, it's the best time since the answers aren't all online yet. Put the rest on hold, they've waited long enough. Enjoy, tell us how you find it, would love to hear your thoughts on it once you've played it a bit.

Thanks for the reinforcement! I hope to have a chance either tonight or tomorrow night; definitely by the weekend.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I used to be. Nowadays not at all. I buy one game and I pretty much forget about everything else until I'm done with the one that I'm currently playing. It's better that way. Keeps me focused and it saves me money. It's retarded how quickly prices of games drop these days. And I get to play a patched version.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Eh... never really been that bothered by new releases. I only get hyped for about one game every six months to a year and as a skinflint, I tend to buy games for waaaaaay cheaper than release MSRP. Hell, the only reason I got Horizon:Zero Dawn was because it got bundled with my PS4 Slim (amounted to be being free). I was kinda excited for it when it released, but ultimately kinda *meh*, even though upon playing, it was pretty fun. Before Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, the last game I was genuinely anticipating was Dishonored 2!

I play generally old(er) games and after AC:Ody (once I retrieve said PS4 Slim from storage), the next game I get will actually likely be Skyrim: SE of all things ('cos the PS3 version chugs like a turd). The most recent game I've played in the last six months is TW:R2 FFS... -_-

(B)ut my console gaming is done purposefully on a projector with 7.2 surround, and my PC room is two floors above.

Holy crap, I'd love to enjoy that one of these days, but damn my ears, because partial deafness sucks.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

To answer the sound question, it basically falls under the law of diminishing returns kinda like HD visuals do. It really depends on how the audio mix takes advantage of it, because even 5.1 will pipe through the sides. I?d say the extra channels are more noticeable for the ambient, quieter moments where specific things stand out more than the bombastic loudness of action scenes. Some suspense/horror movies and games especially where you?re hearing voices or other environmental cues are great for it, but they aren?t always in 7.1 either.

That's really interesting. I know most sources are 5.1, and understand that the extra 2.0 is usually a clever by the amp, likely some Dolby Prologic shennanigans, but i like the idea of how it can bring out those smaller, environmental sounds. Those things add up; I especially love it in music when the source and output are good enough that I can hear the nuance I know is there, but can't hear in my car or earphones.

I used to be. Nowadays not at all. I buy one game and I pretty much forget about everything else until I'm done with the one that I'm currently playing. It's better that way. Keeps me focused and it saves me money. It's retarded how quickly prices of games drop these days. And I get to play a patched version.

I think that's a really good approach, but I think it got away from me some time ago. Once the backlog got built up, the issue then became worse. Steam sales still happen so I'll pick things up, adding them on to the queue. Then I'll spend inordinate amounts of time in fewer, "grindy" games...not so much recently but I've put so many hours into Payday 2, Warframe, more recently Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. Each time I replay an older game it also makes the issue worse; I just "finished" a Gaige playthru of BL2 (from lvl 1 thru OP8).

I play generally old(er) games and after AC:Ody (once I retrieve said PS4 Slim from storage), the next game I get will actually likely be Skyrim: SE of all things ('cos the PS3 version chugs like a turd).

I really want to have a Skyrim SE playthru...my last Skyrim playthru was maybe 18-24 months now, but since the SE came out, I haven't spent the time to remod it. I have so many mods in my Skyrim install, trying to recreate it will take ages. It's so daunting, but I'd dearly love to play my modded Skyrim with the 64-bit memory addressing, which alone will solve 3/4s of the CTDs.

I understood the PS3 version to have a save issue IIRC. Didn't the saves get more and more bloated, slowing the game down more and more over time? I believe it was something along those lines.

Holy crap, I'd love to enjoy that one of these days, but damn my ears, because partial deafness sucks.

Oh, how affected is your hearing if I may ask? Do you heave hearing aids or anything? I don't know how effective they are, but you could consider the pseudo-surround "5.1" headphones that emulate surround pretty well. Being headphones you can adjust them much, much better than speakers where you'll wake the family, and you don't need a surround system or amp either.

I've always greatly valued just how much atmosphere immersive sound design can make to a game. Original BioShock, the old Soldier of Fortune games, the older Rainbow Six games...they sounded so good I would literally be ducking out of the way of video game bullets and ricochets. But Vista killed that :-( What are your experiences with video game sound in general, I'd love to hear your thoughts (no pun intended!).

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Related segue, I thought I'd list my backlog:

- Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2. And Tyranny
- Divnity: Original Sin 2
- The Witcher 3 + All DLCs
- XCOM2 War of the Chosen (burnt myself out on XCOM2 pre-DLC but think I can face it again)
- X4 Foundations. The only game I've preordered this year, because Egosoft are a great studio who make superlative space games

And on PS4, I bought all Uncharted games, Horizon Zero Dawn, Yakuza 0, Last of Us, the David Cage ones and currently playing through Bloodborne (which I suspect I'll NG+).
And I really want to replay Skyrim SE, maybe another Mass Effect OT playthru at some point too. And in the next year or two, whenever Cyberpunk 2077 that's going straight to the front. Not. Enough. Time.