Huge thanks again to MANSCAPED for sponsoring! Get The Lawn Mower® 5.0 Ultra for 20% OFF + Free International Shipping with promo code “DARYL” at mnscpd.com/daryl And an even bigger thanks to YOU for all of the love and support behind the backlog project this year. It has been a journey I'll genuinely never forget
Honestly dude, thank you for all your hours and hours of work and growth for this video series. it's beautiful and full of so many truths. it might seem silly or hyperbole, but i honestly cried watching this. 😍🤓🥹💛🖤🧠❤️🔥
As an adult with a career, house and family, I feel you. The most I’ve ever been able to finish now as an adult is like 20-25 games a year and that was when I was working remotely during Covid. I learned some good strategies: 1) switch up genres (don’t do 2 open world games in a row) 2) don’t buy new games until you finish one it gives you incentive to beat the games you have, 3) only one game at a time until you are done it, 4) know what you like and just don’t bother with genres that aren’t you regardless of what others say 5) don’t play multiplayer games 5) try to do long game short game to switch it up
Well 20 to 25 games is already quite a lot for busy person in a year. My problem is that I do tend to buy new games always when I see good deals, should stop looking those deals all together. Then I jump between games but I usually come back to the ones I took break from and finish them eventually. 2023 I played more than ever, only worked 6 month of the year like crazy and took another half off. I did finish several games but my backlog is still big. But I dont anymore stress about it. I finish one by one and indeed try to prioritise games I really like. Alltho there is so many good games... :)
Reason im not a fun of rdr2. Too boring and waste of time. Even the infamous fixed cyberpunk never wasted my time. Mission design is so good you could do multiple missions for one hour. And the story is so good with every mission. But rdr2 most of the time is riding a horse when doing missions. It takes 1-2 hours to even do one mission. Just a interactive movie. Not a game. Don’t want to waste time interacting with random npcs. I already do that in the real world. I need a compelling story missions that will not waste my time.
@@Katniss0000 if you're not feeling it you're not feeling it. I'm the opposite on this, I don't find cyberpunk interesting but I'll rise around and interact with NPCs for houes in rdr2 if I have the chance.
As a person who truly loves many of the games you removed, no we are not let down or disappointed. Games are best enjoyed when you are ready to enjoy them, if you are not interested or looking forward to playing a game I truly believe you shouldn’t play it. I’m glad that you approached these the way you did, as I believe that if you ever decide to go back to those left behind, you likely will enjoy them much more for it
It's so frustrating when a youtuber plays a game they dont want to for the sake of a video, like of course you didnt like it- you were holding yourself captive
It would pain me more knowing he would have had a frustrating experience because he had to rush, than simply skipping or putting it away for later. I also love many of the skipped games and it's probably better that way. 0 is better than negative.
@@Chizypuff it's worse when i see them actively be like "what is happening?" or not enjoying a game because they dont know what to do and then they blame the game when in reality, they were so busy trying to make jokes or entertaining commentary, they didnt focus on the game and now have a lesser experience. but instead of reflecting, they blame the game. Their audience then blames the game too and no responsibility is taken
As much as I LOVE Disco Elysium, your decision to put it aside is a good one. I wouldn’t recommend anyone play it unless they’re in the space to really absorb it because it is a very dense game, it’s practically like reading a book. On another note, this has inspired me to take my backlog from just a random list in my notes app to something more organized lmao.
Yeah I feel like this kind of project isn't really conducive to the enjoyment of certain types of games that really demand a lot of investment and time to digest and engage with them.
I really enjoyed it from an investigation game and figuring out slowly what's happened to the main character before game start in the hotel. But it sort of slowed down for me and the real scope of the game kind took precedent over the feeling of investigating made famous by LA Noir. I had to take a break.
Video games are such a wonderfully diverse medium. The fact that Daryl could cross off Cuphead and Return of the Obra Dinn (two of my favorite games of all time), play Persona 4 Golden for 2 months (a game I literally played for 5 hours and shut off), and yet share my exact same thoughts on stuff like Portal 2, Death's Door, and God of War. It's incredible how gaming taste can be so similar and yet so distinct at the same time.
I really admire you for this video. People feel so much guilt and pressure to finish their backlog, but this entire endeavour reminds people on the value of time & choice. All of us need to strive for a little bit more balance in our lives.
What a journey, thank you for taking us with you. This has been a "man" video for me. On a different note, I think it's really inspiring how you juggle your personal life and your TH-cam channel.
Thanks for saying that. I might make it seem like it’s super tough in the video, but let me be clear, I love doing this and it’s one of the most rewarding things in my life ❤️
I am very disappointed in the lack of progress. If you were going to skip everything why make such a big backlog in the first place. Nothing but a gambit to get viewers attention. I stayed on after you left psych of play even though that was why I subscribed but after this shameful display I am unsubscribed.
@@robbiegeary4323genuinely, would you rather he speed ran every single game on the list, didn't get any enjoyment out of them, and obsessively played games like 13+ hours a day? I really appreciate the way he talked through his decisions on "saving this one for later" and "I'll never complete this one, but I gave it a shot". Did you watch the entire video? Go to 38:00 if you haven't. He talks about how he's feeling forced to play video games and not able to live in the moment. Give it another shot Robbie
@@robbiegeary4323 If your main takeaway from this marathon is: "LOL, this guy failed to complete about a hundred video games in a year", then you've missed the point of this video by a hilarious margin. You watched this video assuming every game must be completed? Lame. This is a psychology channel, the rest of us watched this video to see someone document their thoughts and experiences in trying to 'beat' their backlog, and whether or not it was even a good idea to try.
I basically switched to playing games on easy difficulty a few years ago, I've played SO many more games and enjoyed them a lot more instead of having to use the best builds, or playing in the more optimal way because I'm not skilled.
that is the way for me to have most fun. Play a story itself on easy, but then raising the difficulty when it comes to the after game content like hard side bosses and challenges etc.
Unequivocally, this channel has a charm unlike any other. Your story telling is not only entertaining, but engrossing. I care about what you're going to say and feel no need to skip anywhere, and that's rare for me as a dude with ADHD. Bravo, man. Your ability to carry a theme throughout the whole video and drive that point home in the end, what a talent!
Stand ovation. I'm a completionist, and there is a lot of people who thing it's a waste of time, but I really enjoy the thrill of seeing everything (or almost everything) a game has to offer, even if I know I will play less games because of this. There are pages that give you stadistics of how many hours you played a game, how much have you unlocked and even make leaderboards for you to be the best at this thing... a year and a half ago I started to feel like I wasn't having fun anymore, I was just playing to have a bigger number in a stadistic and playing easy and short games just for the sake of completing something, then I watched your Backlog video and everything clicked, I was using a lot of time to play things I didn't want to, so I made a list. Now I have my backlog organized in categories, is being a lot more fun, since I'm just playing what I really want to and I have played a lot of games I sleep on from decades ago. The list keeps changing based how what I feel playing or not. TLDR: If you make a work off of your hobbies, you will need a hobbie to have time for yourself out of the first hobbie. Is much better to do the things you really want to do, than do them for the sake of doing them.
This is real: not long ago i started to feel that i need to experience every game, movie, and a book i found interesting before i die and it turned into obsession where i just started games for the sake of trying new games, even if i felt nothing playing them. Hobbie of playing games turned into life mission that needed constant attention and work put into it. I felt tired, i felt like i was working two jobs. And then i just let go, just stoped playing games at all and started doing other things, and in just a week i felt excitement of returning to game i already started, the anticipation of "what going to happen next"? I lost long ago. I join your clause, if you tired of your hobbie, find another one, try new things, do nothing, sleep, waste time, return to old nostalgic tittles, just give yourself some time!
In high school, I had this literature teacher who wanted us to learn a whole poem by heart. The poem was "Ithaca", by Cavafy, and she even made us take this test where we wrote as much of it as we could remember. At the time, I remember thinking that forcing us to learn it in such a manner was actually counterintuitive and kind of stupid. Years later, I'm in a fairly demanding university course and I find myself going back to that poem and its message about learning to enjoy the journey and to never rush to your destination. That's a philosophy I've found applies to so many aspects of life, videogames as well. No matter what you may be doing in life, take some time to remember why you're doing it and, if possible, enjoy it
That was a pretty dope poem, thanks for sharing that with us. I ought to read more poetry but it’s hard to know what will strike a chord. I want the same from my poetry that I want from my major games - to fuck me up with that heavy dose of emotion or insight.
This video really hit the spot for me. I've been battling with OCD since I was a kid, realising that you don't have to complete whatever absurd goal you've set is healthy and that it's the experience that matters, it's made me approach life with a smile. Seeing one of my favourite creators share this idea, it really feels good man.
Hey there, not trying to offend you, but do you have real OCD or just the longing for order and completion? People on the internet always mix that up, but real OCD would be similar to having voices in your head that are constantly torturing you. If you do have OCD tho, I think I understand what you mean. Personally I add a lot of games to my backlog, because my OCD makes me feel guilty if I won't give these games a chance. That's why I have close to 200 games in my list now and it depresses me a little bit. I actually want to play them, but don't really find the time and I also can't enjoy some of the games as much as when I was a kid, because I have other stuff to do and the backlog is always on my mind. That's stressing me out. I miss the good old times, when I was able to play like 10 hours from day to night and be able to finish games within a week. This video helped me a lot tho. If I don't feel a game, I shouldn't be forcing myself to play it any further just because of my OCD and compulsion for completion. P.S.: Sorry for the long text mate.. 😅
@@rushernate2601 No offense taken, thanks for being respectful. It is indeed OCD. It's not exactly about order in my case, but impulses which if not completed, my brain starts fighting itself. I've made progress now and can accept at times that the impulses are not always what needs to be done. I hope you are in a good place with your own battle, friend!
@@rushernate2601 I totally relate to the guilt. I don't have much time as a young adult now and I realised that the backlog I had set was absurd. I think that if you give it some extra thought during a moment of clarity, you can clear your backlog out. And whenever you want to start adding impulsively again, remember that moment of clarity. I hope we can all clear out our backlogs and only enjoy the games (or art in general) we want (and actually enjoy them, not face them as chores). Have a good day friend!
@@savasgorm I wish you all the best aswell mate! Fortunetly I learned to resist most of the compulsions that force me to do stuff, but most of the OCD still happens in my head. Numbers, words, repetitions and the worst of all are triggers that activate some PTSD like imaginations and the anxiety of others getting harmed. Haven't found anything to help me with that and the depression that goes hand in hand with OCD. But I'd say that it got better overall. I had way more issues as a teenager. Sorry to send you such a large text, but may I ask if you have any tips or tricks? I'm not a fan of medication and most of the therapies don't really work, so I'm kind of exhausted and don't have any new ideas.
the way i was actually teared up at the end and the sentiment of "it's okay to not have played *everything* ever made" hits very close to home as someone who has that with movies. i'm studying in the industry with plans and hopes of being employed in the filming/media industry, i remember writing down the 100 movies everyone should see before they die and majority of the movies i didnt even care about but felt that i had to have them there *because* theyre iconic and classics. it felt overwhelming. but seeing how you progressed and actually started looking forwards to playing a new game really hit close to home. i do believe having senua as your final game in the backlog was a perfect way to end this whole journey. it's very poetic. anyway, all this to say, thank you for this video. it means a lot, and maybe now i will chuckle at the 100 movies list i made when i was 15 and toss it, watching what i enjoy and keep my own little log of movies watched in letterboxd and play the games i want, when i can and am able to. thank you.
When I first saw the title and thumbnail, I immediately found myself with this overhwhelming sense of self-doubt regarding my own backlog journey. You see, like many others you mention in this video, your original idea to attempt this is what sparked me to jump into my own library I've wanted to tackle throughout the years. However, after finishing the video and seeing your results, it actually made me feel... kind of proud of myself. Originally I started out in a similar way you did. I listed every game I was interested in trying to get through in 2023 and quickly began to whittle through them. But as I went on, I started to realize something. Not only was I not enjoying my time as much, but knowing there was a time limit hanging over my head began to become more stressful than anything else, just like it did for you. It was clear, this was the absolute worst way to go about this. So I set a new goal. Instead of just worrying about the backlog, I kept a list of everything I was finishing throughout the year. Games from the list, new releases, certain indies I'd always wanted to try out and even replaying some older favorites just for the fun of it. Whatever I felt like going for at that moment. And then... it started to click. I was having a great time, and I was finishing games left and right. I was having new experiences while still feeling immense accomplishment. Then I decided my final goal for the year would be 50 games altogether. I'm proud to say I'm currently sitting at 53 with still a month left to play what I enjoy. The reason I doubted myself when I saw this video pop up is because I'd immediately assumed you succeeded. That my number was paltry by comparison. But it turns out I managed to defy even my own odds by playing by my own rules. Man, does that feel good. So to you and everyone else who might be reading this, take this piece of advice: Don't just list the games you want to finish, but instead treat *every* game you manage to get through as another major accomplishment. Whether it's a something brand new, or your favorite game you've played 100 times growing up. As that number grows, so will that spark of joy that a lot of us might have felt we lost over the years. And when 2024 comes around, I'm doing it all over again. Who knows, maybe I'll break my record. But if not, I'll still have my log of the entire journey, and that means just as much!
The only answer to backlog content is whatever works for you. I get your approach and it is great it works for you. The most important thing is to enjoy gaming. In the last 10 years I have not finished more than 35 games in a single year (and this number dropped to around 20 in recent years). But I keep track of the games I own and play. Some of them I do not finish, some I do. This tracking showed me while I finish less games I play more titles than before. The enjoyment we get from gaming should always be the priority no matter how we achieve it.
53 games Jesus. I’m lucky if I fully beat like 4 lol. But mostly single player stuff isn’t interesting to me any more. I’ve played it all. I don’t need to play the 15th assassins creed, the 23rd call of duty, the 8th god of war or 16th Spider-Man. They just aren’t interesting anymore and most of them are waaaay too long and overstay their welcome. Lots of good indie stuff these days.
@@ancientflames A lot of it actually came naturally as I went on. Stuff that released this year like Hogwarts, Tears of the Kingdom and Mario Wonder were already on my radar and I knew I'd be finishing them. I knocked out some older NES games I'd always wanted to finish as a kid, along with a few Game Boy and GBA titles. Threw in some Dreamcast games I'd never finished over the years like Rayman 2 and Cool Cool Toon (now that it got an English patch). But I also focused on some games I was already close to finishing and just fell out of. A good rule of thumb for me was not only focusing on games I was starting fresh with. What I really enjoyed about this was being able to knock out some of my heavy hitters while still having more to look forward to next year. Kind of a good compromise. I'm actually a lot like you in the sense that I've basically played it all. Been gaming for 34 years and collecting for more than 20 now, so out of 1500+ games I've definitely beaten a huge chunk of them.
@@Taima Still going strong! I ended last year having finished 58 games, ranging from old classics I never got to complete, indies, new AAA titles and replaying a few favorites. For this year, I'm currently sitting at 53, so if I keep the momentum going I'm likely to beat the old record by the end of the year. A few newer games have already been conquered, like Astro Bot, Stellar Blade, The Thousand Year Door remake, FF VII: Rebirth, Princess Peach: Showtime! and Zenless Zone Zero. I finally completed Donkey Kong 64 after many years, Persona 3 with the Reload version that just released, Pikmin 1 and 2, and a few other notable classics. I'm really happy with the progress. I'll likely be grabbing the new Zelda later today since that series usually takes priority. Overall I'd say the system still works great!
The "save for later" list is basically STUFFED with some of my favorite games of all time. Great to hear you're planning on giving them the time they deserve.
I have a similar backlog except it's physical books. Last summer I decided to pick up everything in my flat I hadn't read and put it in a pile. Genuinely a great move that got me back into reading for myself. I still bought a few books (which I had ruled I wouldnt lol) and read the handful I bought as gifts, but my pile is slowly, slowly decreasing. I'm happy to read again, and I'm happy to see my pile get lower. Not to mention, having those books feature prominently in my living space means that I am reminded of them and why I want to read them often. No time limit! It's a big pile, it'll take a few years before it's back to being a bedside table stack. It's a good habit to have, I think. I do also write my thoughts on each read. That moment of transition, packing up the finished one, taking a breather and picking up the next read, has become a little bit precious. if anyone is also doing this pls share your current read? Mine is Zola's Nana, some 8 years after I bought it haha (scattered thoughts oops. i hate editing comments on my phone)
I try to read at least one book a week. I don't have my breakfast until I finish 50 pages and before bedtime at night I finish reading 50 more pages. Physical books mostly but I also read on my e-Reader sometimes.
In a way we are blessed compared to previous generations. We can have a backlog of games, books, movies, and music, with a lot being easily available and reasonably priced (some even free).
I feel like this tackles the ever-growing systematic branch of a human's nature and desire to fight against time. Knowing how limited we are to its never ending power of consistency, no matter what you do the clock ticks away, and I think a lot of people are just looking for a way to make the best of every second so much so they lose actually relishing in it. This has inspired me to take a look back at my life in general and wonder less about how I spend my time, but more about how I feel about my time spent.
This is so real. There is just not enough time in the world to consume every game that’s being put out, and when time is thin as well as the abundance of games these days it makes it hard to actually press on when things get tough in a game, especially when you’re not into the story or gameplay. Games are supposed to be fun, and they’re best played when you don’t put pressure on yourself and simply play what you want. I also keep a spreadsheet of the games I own/how long they take/my notes on them and it’s so helpful. I’m sure it definitely helped you experience the most games in a year. Thanks so much for the video!
This was a nice experiment. But each of us might have different experiences. I fully agree and I will always be advocating for just enjoying gaming. My approach is: reduce on purchasing titles (well this does not always work with bundles, sales). I have a spreadsheet with a few sheets. Games I own. Games I think I want to play and with the priority (from play it for sure to maybe play it). This also includes not released games and I update the comments add and remove games from this list. One for cost of gaming (software only) where I note down each game, bundle, subscription I purchase. But the two I mostly focus on is games played and games finished. Games played is list of games I played but not necessarily finished with column “continue?” yes/no. This somewhat organically creates a backlog but does not create pressure. For example I sink many hours in SnowRunner but I have not finished it nice game to just jump into if I do not feel like playing something else (this also applies to many racing games I’ve purchased over the years). Some games are the ones I bounced back from or decided to drop even though I spent quite some time in them (AC:Odyssey). Than games I finished during each year including platform I played, score I gave them after finishing (to capture this point of time) and a comment. Which allows me to see which platform I play the most, and how many games I’m finishing yearly. In recent few years I see a trend that I play more titles but finish less of them. But I’m fine with it, I accepted it. I put the enjoyment as the priority. Have a nice time gaming!
To add to this; when you factor in every artistic medium, it becomes even more impossible. There are so many books I’ve yet to read that have been sitting on my shelf. And I have to decide that night, do I want to play that game or do I want to read that book? And the movies and tv shows that come out alongside everything. Not to mention all the music I’ve been recommended that I swear I’ll listen to one day, just not today. Music definitely takes the least amount of time out of all the mediums. But even just one 3 minute song will require a dozen listens over the course of a couple weeks (actually paying attention to it) to really appreciate what the artist was going for. I kept track of every game I played, every book I read, every song I’ve added to my playlist, and every tv show or movie I’ve watched this year. And what I noticed in this is that I’ve, on multiple occasions, gone back to stuff I’ve already experienced instead of trying something new. I reread Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon instead of reading the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Instead of playing RE2, RE3, or RE7, I replayed Borderlands 3 and Spongebob the Cosmic Shake. I’ve spent so long not watching the one movie my friend said would blow me away that I forgot it’s title because I wanted to rewatch the Truman Show for the millionth time. And of course, every year I lose more of my free time as the reality of being adult keeps creeping it’s way through. I’ll never be satisfied knowing how much I have left to experience, but I am satisfied with what I have experienced (even if that means reexperiencing it in place of something new).
Just finished the video after a few weeks of having it in my “Watch Later” backlog 😂 Gotta say, watching this was like an adventure itself, and I’m really happy you found the peace and a new mindset to enjoy actually beating games at a healthy pace. I went through something similar last year, in 2022, when I beat 40 games, which was half my backlog, and playing things I’d been putting off for years (Skyrim, HZD, Gravity Rush 2, Metroid Prime 3 etc). The thing I found that “freed” me from caring so much was accepting, like you did, that the number didn’t matter, but also: not caring about (in the case of PS or Steam games) trophies or achievements, which literally don’t matter. Once I stopped worrying about getting this trophy or missing that achievement, I enjoyed just, y’know, playing the game. So far this year, 2023, with this new mindset I’ve finished 20 games, on the way to finishing #21, and not really caring if I beat anything this year after that. It’s all about the journey, right?
@UnjustifiedRecs exactly, and I’m mad it took me a long-ass time to finish those wonderful games because I was so afraid of not playing the game “properly”, or missing something for some pointless trophy
@UnjustifiedRecssome people just like getting to every corner of the game? It's not a weird thing to want to do, if you really like a game and it has 500 achievements, why not discover all the little secrets and details in it.
@@koppy82 that's why i go for plats only after beating a game at least once and ONLY if i really enjoyed the experience. if i feel like revisiting the game to grab the plat will be a chore, i quit on that idea and move on to the next game. for me, trophy hunting has to be as fun as beating a game's campaign for the first time.
Damn I think that's my main problem. When I started gaming on the PS3, all I did was playing threw the story and enjoying it. During the PS4 era I discovered trophies and I liked the idea of collecting them, especially when I really liked a game. There's also a whole community around it. Later on tho, it became my main goal to get the platinum. I was still enjoying the games, but before I started them I always looked up a guide on what's the best way to get the trophies. It kinda made gaming a task and not as entertaining as it was as a kid. Also, the time you'd have to invest to platinum all these games would be like 4 times as high as if you would just play threw the campaign normally. Trophy hunting became a habit tho over the last 10 years and it's really hard for me to break it. But in the end I don't think there is another way to enjoy gaming as much as back then. I have to play games at a normal pace again and only if I really enjoy them and want to discover more if it, I should consider platinum it. That would save me a lot of time and should bring me more joy, because I'm not looking forward to check what's on my list, but rather be in the moment and take myself on a journey.
@@rushernate2601 yeah man, that's the way to go. if you enjoy whatever game you played, come back later on to plat it. if not, forget about it. i would go as far as to say that if you're not enjoying a game all that much, stop playing it altogether and move on to the next. the backlog will go shorter quite a bit if you do that and you'll only play what you really enjoy. playing games shoul never be a chore, we don't really have to finish every game. experiencing it for a while sometimes is enough. oh, and if you enjoyed a game but don't feel like playing it again only for the plat, wait a few months. that's what i did with games like hogwarts legacy and cyberpunk 2077. that way, you'll get to revisit a game you enjoyed and breeze through it while going for the plat, which makes things easier and more enjoyable.
Daryl, this video is hugely inspirational. Not only as a way to tackle your gaming backlog and trying a huge variety of games; but how to find a proper work-life balance. Seeing that part of the video with you having a regular 9-5, on top of doing this channel, playing the games throughout the year, plus all the regular things that life throws at you really highlights that proper dedication and attention to the things you truly want to do goes a long way. Hopefully after this video, people are able to live more in the moment than they previously would have; whether it be focusing on what they're currently playing, or life as a whole. (Also, this video brings huge "Man..." vibes so props to that!)
300+ games on my backlog, never had the idea to put them in a spread sheet until I saw one of your videos some 6 months ago, now I'm 19 games in, and I had some of the most fun ever in these 6 months
I'm so happy to have accomplished something similar (I completed 114 games since my beginning in 2017) BUT I told myself at the very beginning that I can't beat that backlog. That saved me so much trouble you've encountered. I was entirely focused on what I did experience and not what I was missing. I hope you will find some relief after this video. I will start Persona 4 Golden in a few weeks :)
I suffered many bad thought also cuz of the backlog battle. I'm not yet done but i clearly need to enjoy playing again. Instead of finishing for the sake to not have wasted my money on sales... At the same time, my taste have changed since i bought some of those games. So i'm kinda at a loss and i wish to sell everything and just playing on switch since i don't have a backlog on switch (3 games to beat only, already playing one).
Lol it's funny you mention Persona 4 Golden because I've been playing it in real-time which takes almost a year. Currently 244 days into it but fortunately it's much faster to beat when you play more than 1 day per day lol
this year i read Higurashi, a super-biblical length visual novel over the course of three months this year, and it just full made me realize that completing a whole bunch of games is less important that playing the ones that fill your heart
OMG a higurashi fan in the wild, I've read the entire visual novel like twice including the console only arcs, watched the anime like 4 times, consumed multiple video essays on it and even read the entire 150 ish hour vn marathon that's umineko although I didn't like it as much, it means so much to me to find someone who loves it out in the wild, it's like, at least #2 favourite anime/vn of all time for me, the progression from horror to hope in higurashi is unlike anything I've seen from other series
I've been thinking about doing the same, or just read the manga instead "to save some time". But I guess there are huge differences between the two media?
I haven’t read the manga, though I’ve heard good things. Though my actual suggestion is that its ok to read it slowly. its already broken up into 8/9 chapters and was originally released over the course of four years, so while its a lot of time, it also accommodates that
One thing that I did for my massive backlog (200+ games) I just deleted the document. That's it. If I really wanted to play the game, I would remember it. That massively helped me stop looking backwards and engage with the present gaming community and enjoy the games I play.
Honestly... making the list is SMART. Making an end date was the ENTIRE ISSUE. i made a list a few years ago of games i wanted to play. I got through that list, it took me a few years but i did. I simply had a list of games i wanted to play, not restrictive on the how long i had to play them. Pretty much exactly what you came out with. Enjoyment, its why we do what we do.
To reiterate your point about notes, I actually have been writing down my thoughts on every game I've beaten for about 7 years now and Im so glad I've kept up with it. The ability to get my thoughts in writing has both helped me remember the games I've played and has been an enjoyable form of journaling to remember who i was and what I thought at those times.
Yeah, a gaming journal is basically my takeaway here. I keep a list of titles, and a general journal, but mainly just notes to jog the memory. Something like this would be something new for me
That's awesome - I've been logging the games I'm playing for some time now, but couldn't figure out how to bring my thoughts together coherently in a journal. How do you write your thoughts down? Are you using bulletpoints or do you follow certain categories like 'graphics' and 'audio'? Curious to find out. :)
I'm also curious how you go about it. I think logging my thoughts upon finishing a game would really help me close out the experience, but I'd like to see what works for others.
@@Nookibo Thanks for your interest! When I started, I wrote out everything out as a mess of bullet points, but now I try to write things out with full sentences in a pretty informal, conversational style. I also usually provide a loose, qualitative rating at that end, with a -1 being an interesting bad game, 0 being a boring bad game, 1 being a decent game, 2 being good, 3 being great, and 4 being one of my favorites of all time. Either way, I don't really follow a format or standard categories like "graphics" or "audio", and I tend to just ramble about whatever thing stood out to me about the game. I find that if I try to make things too formal, I'll end up getting writers block when I come to a topic that I don't have a lot to say about. In that same vein, with games I really love and have a lot to say about, I usually just pick 2 or 3 things I like and write a paragraph on each, just to prevent myself from writing for too long. For me, my biggest focus has been making the writing process fun. I write something about every game I beat but if I'm not feeling it, I'll just write 2-4 sentences and call it a day. It's super important to me that the journaling isn't a chore, because that makes me more likely to keep it up.
@@Dahras1 Amazing! Thank you for your detailed response. I feel the exact same way thinking about the process, I would quickly lose interest if it tends to become a chore more than anything. Going to try out the way zu described! :)
You know. In a weird way, accepting that I couldn't experience everything like you did is precisely why I seek out so many weird experiences now. Knowing that we all have such limited time to see the things we love also gave me the weird revelation that there are works out there with thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears into their creation that maybe only 100 people will play and only maybe 5 of those will finish. Thinking about that, I'm filled with a kind of sonder about the transcience of art itself, and there's a desire there to really look for those small gems that got left in the vast desert and witness their shimmer even if (and especially if) I'm the only one that will. In a sense, there's this idea that there's nothing left undiscovered in this world, but that's not really true. There are millions and billions of unique sights that people have thrown away, because they're not grand firsts. I won't be the first to climb everest, but there are countless little hills that only I will see the view from the top of. And that feels weirdly important. So, yeah. That's why I play weird indie jank. Someone put their heart into making an experience for people to see, and it feels weirdly tragic if no one ever does.
@@enorma29 Sure. I'll need to go through my list and see if there's any I heavily recommend. A lot of the ones I enjoyed definitely fit in the "This game was life-changing, but I can't recommend it to anyone" category. I kinda have this theory that, if you play enough games, inevitably, your favorite game of all time will be a 7/10. Mostly just because the kind of experience that will speak specifically to you will probably lack broad appeal and will probably have Quality of Life elements you personally can ignore (like grinding in older RPGs). But yeah. I'll see if I have any really good ones I found and come back later. I know off the top of my head, Behold the Kickmen and Gnosia are two I've enjoyed heavily with almost no media or channel coverage. Gnosia's probably about to get a big bump with the incoming Sony and Microsoft releases though. That one is kinda special in that a decent number of people played it, but almost no one got the normal ending, probably less than 5% saw the true ending, and probably 1% total actually understood a lot of the deeply ingrained cultural and eastern religious implications of that ending. Some other ones I've enjoyed that aren't really covered much by media sites or channels (in no particular order): -Cat Quest I + II -Magic Scroll Tactics -This Way Madness Lies -Nowhere Girl -Necrobarista -Sword of the Necromancer (although, that one is VERY rough gameplay wise) -Toziuha Night -Mechstermination Force -The Legend of Dark Witch series -Sumire -Signs of the Sojourner -Glyph -Inmost -Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness -Subsurface Circular -Pan-Pan -Whipseey and the Lost Atlas -Meteorfall + Krumit's Tale -Conjury -Forward -Tiny Folks -Magic Research -Reventure -The Witch Spring Series -Psycard -Photographs -Million Onion Hotel -Strange Telephone -Dawncaster -You Must Build a Boat -Alter Ego -Irisu Syndrome Although, a lot of those are more low to mid obscure indies instead of super hidden gems with like 10 or less reviews. Those usually take some digging to remind myself I even played them. There's also like hundreds of really cool itch.io horror indie jank games. Itch.io is really a big go-to if you want to try weird and little projects. I also recommend finding out where the super cheap sales of your platform of choice happen and try picking up some dollar games that look interesting to you. Most of them will be trash, but 1 out of 20 times-ish, you'll find a gem that was worth the 20 bucks.
@@DairunCatesas a long time gamer whose favorite game became Starfield, I can agree wholeheartedly that my favorite game is in fact a 7/10 🤣 Thanks for the cool list of recommendations! even though I’m not the one who asked originally
I think there is a lot of wisdom in this comment, and I resonate with its message a lot, even though I cannot say I truly follow it when it comes to gaming since the games I usually gravitate towards are very time consuming RPGs like Baldurs Gate 3 or Persona 4, which means I spend a lot of time on those and don't get to see as many different games. But that's just another facet of it, we all have our own unique preferences, and its nice to think that for all kinds of games that creators put their love in, there will be at least some people who will fall in love with that particular thing, and the world would be less rich without it. It's not just games either, like, I am not expecting Slice of Life anime such as Kokoro Connect or Girlish Number to excite the masses like the big blockbusters do, but they certainly spoke to me personally, and I think that's already plenty.
I can't describe the emotion that this video made me feel. I also started my own backlog back when the first video was posted, and really wanted to complete them all. So many similar experiences happened to me just like in the video, and it was a truly beautiful ending. Thank you
Man…. Though much more of a casual gamer myself, I feel this for my reading backlog. I stopped reading for months at a time because I thought I needed to finish everything I picked up. DNF’ed my first book today, not because it was bad or anything- it just wasn’t my book… thank you for sharing your process with us!
This video made me realise why it is so much easier for me to get through my backlog of books than my backlog of games, even though books take me on average much longer to get through. It is because my shelf is a visual, organised list of the books that I want to read and that I have read. That having the overview, the physical thickness of the book telling me roughly how long it will take me to get through, as well as a feeling of progress when I put a book back on the shelf - whether or not I finished it or dropped it - it all combines to a much more organised and satisfying feeling. Compared this to my games library, which is spread across multiple platforms and digital stores, all a complete mess of hundreds of games, which I have VERY varying feelings on whether I will play or not, it is just a dark ocean of games, where only rarely a game will rise to the surface, where any new game bought which doesn't instantly catch my interest immediately sinks to the bottom, lost forever, out of sight out of mind. Or put another way: Thank you for sharing your experience, you convinced me to make a backlog spreadsheet!
Yo Daryl, I really have to thank you for the last video, it genuinely changed my life. I loved the video, it was one of the best I had ever watched and it inspired me to immediatly start organizing my own backlog just like you. Before your video, I had a few rough years with gaming, I could barely enjoy anything I played, and would almost never play anything for more than a few hours, I would rarely have fun and nothing felt good enough, I would only enjoy around 5 games a year and spend the vast majority of my free time desperatly trying to enjoy games while only making myself more miserable. Organizing everything in my backlog like you (and especially having to find a reason for each title to be there) forced me to think deeply about the reason I enjoy games, only because you inspired me to organize things in a similar manner to yours I finally managed to find out what I love. Before my own backlog, I got stuck in a cycle of experiencing games as shadows of my favourites, I would either perceive a game as how good it is at being Hollow Knight or how good it is at being Nuclear Throne, a few good roguelikes (like hades and streets of rogue) managed to make me happy, and a few amazing games (like pyre and outer wilds) managed to be so overwhelmingly good that I managed to enjoy them, but everything else felt like a slog that I would abandon a few hours in, a neverending cycle that made my life working to get free time and wasting it by being dissapointed with everything in my huge library. But through organizing everything and exploring my backlog I managed to find out that I truly enjoy games by focusing on what makes each specific title special, and that was the piece that finally made me love gaming again, I owe all the enjoyment this hobbie has been bringing me to you. The long lasting consequences of my childhood trauma only hit me at the end of 2021, and I was truly miserable until the middle of 2023 (when I finally managed to fix my life through therapy) I didn't have much to live for between the end of 2021 and the release of your first backlog video, I was hanging by a thread, but after it, I finally managed to enjoy gaming again, which gave me something to live for, which managed to help me a lot in my mental health journey. I don't think I would be nearly as happy as I am right now without that video. Up to this point I've beaten around 41 games, had around 27 "man" moments, abandoned around 9, and have around 50 in my backlog (which I hope will never run out of titles). I intend to have way more fun with this form of art and the life I managed to build with the strength enjoying it gave me, I can't thank you enough.
Hellblade is such a fantastic finisher for your journey. It is a masterpiece of a story but also I feel it needs to be played when the player is ready to absorb it and not just treat it like just another game.
Just wanted to say that I can't believe TH-cam isn't full time for you. Just subscribed to your Patreon to offset the costs a bit. I'm amazed by the quality of the videos you put out on such a time budget, I hope everyone who watches this grasps what an incredibly hard worker you are and how lucky we are to get so much amazing, quality content from you. Thanks
This is one of your best. Side note: I find it sad you have to keep a regular job when you're obviously so talented at creating content. I love your videos because it isn't just "this is the game and if I liked it" it's more "this is the game, this is how it made me feel and think"
I started focusing on my backlog this year. Told myself as a goal to finish at least 10 games before the end of the year and happy to say I accomplished my goal a bit early🥹. Gonna try to shoot for 15 games in 2024 🤞🏼. Thank you for making this video, it helps so much 💙
I am very disappointed in the lack of progress. If you were going to skip everything why make such a big backlog in the first place. Nothing but a gambit to get viewers attention. I stayed on after you left psych of play even though that was why I subscribed but after this shameful display I am unsubscribed.
@@robbiegeary4323 that's cool, he earned a subscriber out of me. The message of journey not destination is far more important than speed-running the consumption of entertainment. Slow down, enjoy, live in the moment and let the right thing come to you at the right time.
I appreciate you telling everyone the life/games juggle. I swear having dogs, being a husband and trying to keep up being active and having a job leaves so little time for gaming. Good to know others are in a similar boat.
After tackling mental health issues and reigniting my passion and joy for video games, I've also started chipping away at my backlog and I've learned it comes with a LOT of plateaus and it's OKAY to step away from it and play the games you want to play instead of forcing yourself down a list. Sometimes I needed to take a step back from the 100+ hour open world RPG experiences and just play some Deep Rock Galactic with a buddy or play House Flipper while I watched Netflix for a few weeks. Then after I got tired of that, I went back, and I found that just 100% more enjoyable instead of /forcing/ myself to do something, cause that's just a non-starter. Play what you want to play in the moment, stick with it, but ditch it if it's not bringing you enjoyment. You will have a much better time.
Like I wanna say "ILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR SKIPPING FF9" but genuinely I think it's where my hard nostalgia, patience and lack of pressure of having to beat other games comes in, this is a wild thing to do man bit you've inspired me to make my own spreadsheet with descriptions,hype ratings ect and it's really helped at times being someone with ADHD with other nurodivergent bits who gets bad decision paralysis. You rule dude :)
No I understand 😂 if it makes you feel better, I’m still planning to go back and play FFIX at some point. I definitely think it deserves another go with a walkthrough to make some of the tedious bits less confusing.
@@DarylTalksGames tbh I get it, it's my all time fave game and I love the experience but a guide is nice to have ESPECIALLY modern guides, I had the butchered Prima guides which somehow pur one in the UK wasn't as butchered as the NA one haha also I gotta say I love the message at the end of the video its profound without sounding pretentious and does hit different.
@sternj4314 Maybe it's just my experience, but I didn't need a guide at all outside of the optional bits like Chocobo Hot and Cold and Mognet. Those sidequests actually suck without a guide, but I thought the main story was pretty straightforward.
@@DarylTalksGames A lot of people consider FFIX the best in the series, a consolidation of all the greatest aspects of the games up to that point before the newer generation was to begin with FFX on PS2. I personally love the OST it's definitely some of Nobou's strongest work, but the game falls hard on the load times and pacing of battles for me. I've done all there is to do in all the FF series up to XV and IX is probably the only game in the series I have basically no interest in replaying. The thing that really kills it for me is the fact if you actually count it out (certainly back on PSone at least) to get into an encounter, excluding the running around to trigger it, takes 17-20 seconds. With this in mind, over the course of a playthrough, using just the mandatory fights alone you have nearly 30 minutes of literal zero control waiting for battles to load. JUST TO LOAD. For a first time player, you're going to grind some, get some levels and abilities to learn etc. You're just waiting and waiting and waiting and if you fail a fight it's just more time lost. When I already know how it goes and when there's practically no customisation with the game till near the end in terms of party structure, there isn't much difference from playthrough to playthrough. Frankly, the game just doesn't have enough for me to want to spend so much time doing nothing on it, especially as i have a terrible habit of wanting to get everything in a playthrough of anything i play.
man. the first backlogged video a year ago was one of my favorite TH-cam videos ever. And this is right up there with it. I do not kid. This is one of the greatest TH-cam videos ever to me. Can't wait to rewatch it one day
I'm tackling my much smaller backlog of 8 games right now and i finished 3 so far. I really dont have much time for gaming anymore but even so this has been a very fun journey for me and im so glad im doing it :)
This video brought me to tears several times. More specifically the quote your wife told you, and your ending monologue on Senua’s sacrifice accurately describing your backlog, but also life in general. Never waited a year for a TH-cam video, never cried watching a TH-cam video. Tears are still rolling down my face while typing this. You gave me clarity not just for my backlog but dealing with my busy life. Your wife is very insightful for giving you that advice and this video has done so much for me 😢❤ MAN..
Honestly considering you have 500k subs and great viewer rates making insanely gripping and well thought out content that few TH-camrs can contend with and still have a day job has earned an insurmountable level of respect from me. Gives me hope man.
Ah, yes, this _also_ seems like a very helpful video for someone dealing with a cluttered backlog like me. I’ll be sure to add it to my Watch Later playlist so I can go through it when I’m in the right mood.
Your last video inspired me to do this with my backlog .... of books. I pretty much had the same experience as you. I actually really like having a spreadsheet and I also write about the books that I have read. I also agree that not having a time limit makes it much more enjoyable. Wanting to just check of the boxes spoils the experience. This was a "man" video for me and I would like to thank you for all the work you put into your videos. Time always flies by when I watch your channel and I always really enjoy the time spent. Keep it up :)
28yo full time student, employee, and father. I fully understand that struggle of not finishing or playing games. If something doesn't hook me in the first two hours then it's just not meant to be. Ive been devouring the Yakuza series when I do manage to have free time though.
One of my most anticipated videos of the year. Your writing is always so emotionally strong. The reflection of your experience with Hellblade and your backlog was beautiful. I think you've open my eyes to entirely new perspective on taking on my own back log and I can't thank you enough. Do you have a backloggd account by chance? I feel like it's also a great way of organizing your backlog without having to bust out excel.
This comment will probably get lost in the shuffle but I have to say that out of all the games you took off your backlog, Tunic is the one that I think you should reconsider most. One of the most unique games that still has a strong sense of familiarity to it. Definitely a game that's better knowing nothing about going into it. Also, great video!
I loosely agree. I would say he should play 999 (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors) as top priority because A.) its one of the best games ever and that's a certified objective fact, and B.) he liked the much weaker AI Somnium files, made by the same director. "If he liked that, he'll love this" sort of thing. Tho with 999, I guess I also have to give the caveat that the DS version is the way to play, not only because the game takes advantage of the hardware for some fundamental story beats, but also because the steam version truncates or removes the narration and makes the whole game seem stupid in comparison. (I think you can get it pretty close to "right" version though with one of the options for how dialogue is presented). But Tunic would be up there and easier to get. It's definitely one you don't want to feel rushed on playing though, so maybe it is a good thing that he skipped it for now. Based on how he almost didn't like Outer Wilds (he definitely would have dropped it if he played it later based on how he talked about the game and this video), I would think Tunic would have panned out similarily but with a bigger risk of him dropping it.
@@MrWhygodwhy I've actually never heard of 999 so I'll take your word for it. I agree with what you said with Tunic though. Now that he has such a smaller, less overwhelming backlog, I think adding Tunic back to it would be a good call.
@@MrWhygodwhyi did scream when i saw 999 was removed from the list xD but if he was going to play the steam release then maybe it's not that big a loss because the writing quality easily declined without both DS screens
@@blissfulstatic2563 Nintendo really needs to get into the PC market and do a VC for DS on a dedicated emulator. I would support it. That system had a great/huge library and the retro market sucks these days.
Welcome to the FGC brother. Incredible video. I literally subbed to you after coming across the first backlog video randomly and waiting for this did not disappoint. Like many, I've long battled my own backlog of not only games, but TV shows, movies, books, and even more. I think I'm finally going to start slowly hacking my way through; no deadline, no commitment to finish, just trying to have fun so that at the end, I can say...man. Thanks Daryl.
I love the June(s) joke so much, and I'm glad that you played through P4G! From the beginning of the video and it's narrative, I was sure that it was just going to be thrown into a pile of games that are just too long to complete for a challenge like this. Hearing how much you enjoyed the game and how much it sucked you in reminds me of playing the game twice consecutively, myself! Finally, that "take your time" message reminds me of a video by yakkocmn I've seen on Persona 5, where a lot of the same sentiment was shared. Great video!
I just love how out of ALL the games you talked about in this video, TH-cam decided that yep, this video is about Shadow of the Colossus and ONLY about Shadow of the Colossus.
As an avid book reader, i never thought this would resonate so much with me. I, like many others have a to read as well and it is actually endless. With booktok and books blowing up on social media, I always find the need to read all of them. My experience with reading a book is so similar to yours of a video game. I guess this is the power of creative works. FOMO is a complicated thing, you get to read so many beautiful books and so many beautiful stories but you always feel the need of speeding through it. Love to see your story of attempting to finishing the backlog. This kinda motivates me to take my to be read more slowly and enjoy reading. (btw, glad that you like Fourth Wing, in case you want to read it, the sequel Iron Flame is already out)
Great video! A few years ago, I decided to set myself a goal and read 20 books for 2020. Turned out to be the perfect year to do this since everything was shut down. Felt the same pressure that you did to “finish” before the year ran out. Eventually learned the same lesson, I wasn’t enjoying it because I was forcing myself through the list and was stuck reading some books I wasn’t enjoying, just to make it to the set number. I’m glad I did it, though, because I read some great books that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and it turned what was a rough year into a memorable one. Thank you for sharing!
As a college student, it can be hard for me to find time for video games, and as a result I’ve rushed thru several games which ultimately did not bring me satisfaction. But this video has truly brought comfort to me. Now I can let go and enjoy not just gaming but life more fully. And what’s crazy is that my backlog only has around 25 games so it makes me feel much better about my personal situation. You’re a real inspiration Daryl. Keep up the good work.
I just watched this video today and realized I had never had a “man” game I’ve played. I then, also today, bought and played Superliminal and I’m glad to report that it was 100% a “man” game. I can’t put into words how crazy and awesome this game felt. If it weren’t for this video, I probably wouldn’t have bought the game in the first place. Thank you for getting me to open my gaming palate and giving me a “man” game.
Yeah Superliminal is awesome. if you want more "Man" games, try Nier Automata, Soma, Yakuza 0, Outer Wilds, or maybe Death Stranding. Unfortunately this kind of games are always hit or miss, you'll love them or get bored after 5 minutes.
If you have decent anime shenanigan tolerance, then definitely try 13 sentinels, and other JRPGs mentioned in the video. If you like hard games, and cool boss fight, try some of from software’s work.
@@Texelion+1 to NieR:Automata. Best game I've ever played. Definitely the saddest most depressing game I've experienced. Big part of why I love it too.
Thank you so much for this video Daryl. It really resonated with me and for the first time in a long time, I did not feel the pressure to play a game when I had some free time yesterday but to simply sit down and do nothing for a while.
Never watched any of your vids prior to this. Gotta say your format and editing is great and the inspiration you provided me to not only tackle but enjoy my own backlog is impeccable. Keep up the great work and i look forward to checking out what else you have in store for us
I think this is the most important video on TH-cam in recent years for me. I feel anxious because there are too many games I want to play, but I don't have time for them all. Moreover, lately I have often been thinking about death, about what I have spent and am spending my life on at the moment, so choosing a game has become an extremely difficult task for me, I don’t want to miss something important, but I also don’t I want to spend my time on something unimportant. I think creating a backlog and writing down my thoughts about each game in it will help me find the peace I need. And by the way, SF6 is a great game that I want to invest my time in, Chun Li is my love❤
Stumbled upon this channel as a recommendation and I couldn’t be happier. I’m not much of a comment person myself, but I just had to congratulate you for this masterpiece. You truly showed a passion for videogames on this one, in the best way possible!
As someone with a backlog list just like yours, I loved following this journey and especially the lessons you learned and shared. Shows the futility of the completion compulsion, sure, but also the value of the organization and letting your passions steer you. Well done!
I legitimately can’t believe you got to play Portal, Portal 2 and Outer Wilds in the same MONTH. Each of those games marks a chapter of my life with so much time in between
Lol when you put it that way, how does a man survive that many Man, games in one month. That seems like a lethal dose. Imagine playing like, MGS3, RDR2 and TLoU2 in the same month. Those are bigger games but god I’d die. It’d ruin gaming forever.
I saw VA-11 HALL-A on that list and was super excited to hear you talk about it. Maybe not today, but it look to be saved? This was genuinely a amazing video.
Last year, your first video about the backlog was one of the things that inspired me to attempt a similar challenge of whittling down my backlog. I made a similar spreadsheet of games that I needed to play, albeit a lot more simpler. I simply color coded the games that I had based on how urgent my interest was in playing them was, to sort of set an order to play them in. Now with how long it takes me to play games (I play games very slowly), I knew there was no chance in hell of me actually beating all of the games on the list, so I simply just attempted to see how many I could clear within the year. And I'm happy to say that I actually beat and finished a good chunk of the more urgent colored games, with only a handful of games that I stepped away from. My backlog is nowhere near done, and of course I added on more games over the course of the year, but this backlog challenge helped me so much. For one, I began to enjoy playing games a lot more again due to the sheer variety of games I was playing instead of just the same damn multiplayer games over and over again. Secondly, a large weight was lifted off my shoulders, not the entire weight, but a large amount of it. I no longer feel as weighed down by the size of my backlog and I'm at a point now where I'm pretty confident now that when I buy a NEW game, I'll actually be able to play it relatively quickly instead of letting it sit in a backlog for 5+ years. Another weird side effect of this was that I got back into trophy hunting near the end of the year. I think because of how much stress was relieved from the weight of my backlog, it opened up more time for "side game" goals. I now have a better ability at managing my gaming time so I'm able to take a break from the backlog every now and then to focus instead on getting a Platinum trophy or grinding in one of those dastardly multiplayer games. Over all, I'd say this was a huge success. And I share the same sentiment you had at the end of this video, I am now more excited to advance on to Part 2 of my backlog journey next year with all the amazing games I still have yet to play. Thanks Daryl.
Finally, someone else who has finished 13 sentinels aegis rim. I will defend it is to my dying breath its one of greatest work of literature ever created for one simple fact: Vanillia ware was literally able to create a great coherent story from 13 different perspectives and make you understand everything by the end. I still don't understand how this game is possible but it exists
I will say Daryl I’ve been wanting this video since I watched Part 1 in February. I’ve watched it a few times throughout the year and it’s amazing to think about how much time has passed. Phenomenal vid and I definitely believe that you can make TH-cam your full time job in the near future because your passion and creativity is present in every video you make
I still get chills when thinking of Spiritfarer. I cried many times playing it. Despite having beaten many other games there is still that little indie title that made me emotional like nothing else out there.
I need to give it another chance. I got bored and seemingly stagnated at some point like maybe not even midway through. I had early ship upgrades and farming and I felt like all I was doing was monotonous shit and it really agitated me because I was longing for that good emotional devastation juice
Daryl, you didn't fail. You evolved. Edit: I know I don't speak for everyone, but I think you did more than enough for not just yourself, but also your audience. Thank you!
I actually attempted to conquer my backlog this year also but quickly (within 3 months or so) ran out of the games that I was super pumped to play and found myself getting stuck in a rut. Thankfully I didn't have any external pressure preventing my from taking a break and reading some books instead lmao. Definitely taking the spreadsheet idea (was formerly just using notepad). I enjoyed the vid man.
Ironically I put this on my backlog and got to it just now. I loved seeing someone suddenly fall in love and gush over games that I loved: Portal, Mass Effect, and the Last of Us. So I’m a little sad you didn’t get to Obra Dinn, but I also wouldn’t want you to try it and get frustrated with it. It’s a logic game, and it reminds me a lot of Portal. It can be finished in about a weekend, and it’s one of the games I wish I could go back and play fresh. Because solving it made me feel smart. But I think that relates back to a point you learned. You can certainly try new genres, but it helps knowing what kind of experience you are getting. I don’t play horror because that’s not the experience that I want, and there are games I wait on because I want to savor the long adventure. I think that’s the main way one can determine if the game is worth finishing: is it providing the experience that I want right now?
Making an excel sheet for my backlog has scratched an itch within my ADHD brain. Its taken that overwhelming feeling that normally kept me playing my live service games or a Pokemon for the 100th time and has made me determined to actually tackle the 1000s of hours of games i have yet to play.
1. Absolutely splentastic video! Thanks for changing my outlook on how I live my life once again. 2. I was also consumed by Persona 4 Golden earlier this year when stressing about clearing other games in the backlog. I feel your “pain”. (It wasn’t pain, it was bliss)
Your videos inspired me to tackle my backlog. I felt alot of the same things you did and came to similar conclusions. I don't care about what other ppl think of the games i have played. I like what I like and I don't like what I dont. Learning to give a game an earnest chance and knowing when to abandon a game. Alot of this comes from knowing oneself more
I need to coment in portuguese to keep my feelings at the message but please translate esse canal é incrivel me inscrevi nele 8 meses atrás por conta do primeiro video de backlog e desde então me apaixonei, eu estou terminando esse video com lagrimas nos olhos e com vontade nova de aproveitar a vida e as experiencias nela, jogar, ler, assistir... vou começar minha própria planilha e deixar a sua leveza me levar no meu próprio tempo, obrigado
Think this was important to here during such stressful times. End of the year is just a big ball of rushing to get stuff done for the holidays or before the new year, but sometimes you do just have to sit down and take in everything happening now. Fantastic video, good to know my backlog can steadily be shrunken down if I choose what I'm feeling when I feel it lol.
I definitely got to this video too late. In early December, I reached my goal of hitting 300 platinum trophies before 2023 came to a close. It was supposed to be a challenge and also a sneaky way of getting through my backlog. I ended up sidelining the backlog for quick and easy plats, insta-pop plats and shovelware plats. I completely lost sight of what I was truly trying to achieve just so I could see the funny little platinum trophy number go up. Then I finally watched your backlog video and boy, did I wish I watched this before going headstrong into my challenge. This is easily my favorite video of all time from you and one that sticks with me weekly. This is my 4th time watching both backlog videos. Its helped remind me why I game and thats the "Man." moments. My first one ever was crisis core on the psp, the first game to ever make me cry too and honestly, its been so long since I've truly had a moment like that but I'm confident that won't be for much longer. Thank you for all you do.
Man I wish I had an eighth of the will to plat games like that. I’ve only gotten my first few this year, and two of them were easy ones. The main initial one was Final Fantasy XVI which I loved and it was basically not a chore at all, then Unpacking and Donut County. I’ve had Diablo IV pretty much dead to rights but haven’t been able to kill Uber Lilith, who I want to handle solo. Approaching the end of another season of dozens of hours wasted on a character who never got strong enough before I stopped playing like a month ago so maybe I’ll just let someone else handle it for me at this point. Edit: forgot to say that it’s a shame you couldn’t find the video sooner, but better now than another year passed. You can change your ways now lol.
I used just a note on google keeps before watching your video last year, and liked a lot, so I did a spreadsheet and I loved, but I didn't make a deadline, I just wanted to play more games than last year. I got it on september! Now I'm with 830 hours played in 2023 only, 52 credits rolled games and 7 games dropped... and about 500 games still on the backlog, lol, but it's ok, I will just put then up or down on the list according to how I'm feeling to play or not, and I will probably add way more games, but this is helping me to play more, so thank you 😁
thoroughly enjoyed this man! I am SO glad you ended this list with a huge Hellblade section, truly one of the most important games ever made. Regarding the backlist, dropping (MOST) RPG's has allowed me to start enjoying gaming again, I've found that I really enjoy those 3-12 hour linear stories, LoU, What Remains of Edith Finch, Cocoon, Jusant ect. Dropping games that don't hook youis ABSOLUTELY the way. Incredible video, absolutely incredible. Congrats!
This video makes me feel *MAN.* It was very nice to see this journey unfold, from the optimistic start, to the low points, to the struggle and finally the realization and conclusion at the end was perfect, easily could be a movie, I can see myself coming back to this video again and again for sure, thank you for sharing this journey. (Also, it would be cool if you made your new spreadsheet avaliable to see, without the time constraint, it would just be a nice, easy to access sheet that you can updated and add stuff to whenever you feel like) -Also cuz I want to hear your thoughts on a lot of the games you saved for later haha-
I gotta say, I think these 2 videos on the gaming backlog are the absolute best I’ve seen on the subject and your conclusion is a very healthy mindset to have. I’m glad to have witnessed this journey!
I'll add to the consensus and just say this video is a revelation and lends great perspective on life, let alone my own gaming backlog. Thank you so much for making this video and I'm looking forward to seeing more from your channel!
What I learned from this. 1) It's okay to have a backlog as long as you are playing what you want and are having fun 2) It's okay to walk away if you're not having fun 3) It's not important what others think are classics 4) How much I appreciate your videos
This video definitely felt like an adventure in of itself! Congrats on sticking with it and getting something out of it even if its not what you originally wanted. Ending with hellblade was definitely one of those serendipitous life things that kinda tell me “you’re on the right path”. I think ill try a backlog run too but ill only do 12 games for the year since theyll be competing with new releases, variable game lengths and just my life as it requires more attention away from games. Just the fact of setting out to achieve something is rewarding on its own.
Man. It pained me to see you abandon so many of my absolute favorites, but seeing the joy you found as a first time player of some good classics is heartwarming
As a massive fan of cultist simulator - completely fair game to drop haha It's one of those very niche titles that are definitely not for everyone and you need to be paying a lot of attention to the exact words being thrown at you, have a notepad at the ready, or just use a wiki. I like it because it gives me the feeling of being an occult researcher and the follow-up game (Book of Hours) captures this feeling 100x better. The stakes are lowered quite a bit (dying is very hard, for one) and you're given all the time in the world to figure out what you need in order to achieve an ending. Forgive my gushing, I'm just a big fan of the writing :)
I'm on the path to the mindset that I don't have a backlog, just a collection that's there for me to look at for suggestions, but as many of us, the acceptance is key for me as well. What a delightful video to spend an hour on, man!
I have been under so much stress because of my backlog sitting behind all the adult stuff I have on my plate. This video is so good and makes me believe I can actually do this. Great job!
I wouldn’t mind a video entirely on how you organized your thoughts during this adventure. I find organization very interesting. I’m very fun at parties
34 games in a year that is actually a good number. But then again, the important thing is to enjoy the journey and not feel rushed to finish everything. I myself did made a list of all my games (191 games) and slowly have been playing them at my own pace and at first I was exactly how you began, trying to finish everything as quickly as possible, but found out that going at it that way was taking the fun out the games.
Thanks for this video. It really does grapple with a lot of issues I have with video games at this stage in my life. Time, responsibilities, feeling overwhelmed, not being present. Feeing the need to consume to remove the feeling that something is missing. This video is about coping with being human more than dealing with an oversized games collection. I’m utterly inspired. Time to start and finish the 100+ henti school girl games I have cluttering up the hard drive.
This is such a beautiful and interesting video. It was so strange watching the backlog without any live context all year long and watching as games i loved got completed or dropped (R.I.P 999). Keep up the good work and ill hold onto hope that since you loved AI: The somnium files, that you might give 999 another chance someday.
Huge thanks again to MANSCAPED for sponsoring! Get The Lawn Mower® 5.0 Ultra for 20% OFF + Free International Shipping with promo code “DARYL” at mnscpd.com/daryl
And an even bigger thanks to YOU for all of the love and support behind the backlog project this year. It has been a journey I'll genuinely never forget
man did you really not play yakuza 0? that game is a MASTERPIECE! such a shame...
Can you please re-release the original backlog file?
It would help alot of people start planning and get game ideas.
bro got sponsored by manscaped 💀💀💀
@@adriangd5040also, did he mentioned "International Shipping"? Is he promoting for Singapore as well?
Honestly dude, thank you for all your hours and hours of work and growth for this video series. it's beautiful and full of so many truths. it might seem silly or hyperbole, but i honestly cried watching this. 😍🤓🥹💛🖤🧠❤️🔥
"If you weren't feeling it, you DON'T have to explain yourself"
WELL PUT. I need to remember this more.
Same people not just in life people ask me why I don’t like playing competitive basketball and in video games Skyrim
Dude there are no words for how amped I am to devour this video
Okay I just finished and all I cancel confirm it’s delicious
@@merakimerakimerakihell yes, I'm organizing all of my books. I NEED this video
"Amped" is one
Sammmmmmmmmeeeeee😂
Wow calm down
As an adult with a career, house and family, I feel you. The most I’ve ever been able to finish now as an adult is like 20-25 games a year and that was when I was working remotely during Covid. I learned some good strategies: 1) switch up genres (don’t do 2 open world games in a row) 2) don’t buy new games until you finish one it gives you incentive to beat the games you have, 3) only one game at a time until you are done it, 4) know what you like and just don’t bother with genres that aren’t you regardless of what others say 5) don’t play multiplayer games 5) try to do long game short game to switch it up
Not playing multiplayer games is the best rule I’ve ever made for myself. Their addictive designs and endlessness suck up all your time and joy.
Well 20 to 25 games is already quite a lot for busy person in a year.
My problem is that I do tend to buy new games always when I see good deals, should stop looking those deals all together. Then I jump between games but I usually come back to the ones I took break from and finish them eventually.
2023 I played more than ever, only worked 6 month of the year like crazy and took another half off. I did finish several games but my backlog is still big. But I dont anymore stress about it. I finish one by one and indeed try to prioritise games I really like. Alltho there is so many good games... :)
Reason im not a fun of rdr2. Too boring and waste of time.
Even the infamous fixed cyberpunk never wasted my time. Mission design is so good you could do multiple missions for one hour. And the story is so good with every mission.
But rdr2 most of the time is riding a horse when doing missions. It takes 1-2 hours to even do one mission.
Just a interactive movie. Not a game. Don’t want to waste time interacting with random npcs. I already do that in the real world. I need a compelling story missions that will not waste my time.
Based, I do the same ❤
@@Katniss0000 if you're not feeling it you're not feeling it. I'm the opposite on this, I don't find cyberpunk interesting but I'll rise around and interact with NPCs for houes in rdr2 if I have the chance.
As a person who truly loves many of the games you removed, no we are not let down or disappointed. Games are best enjoyed when you are ready to enjoy them, if you are not interested or looking forward to playing a game I truly believe you shouldn’t play it. I’m glad that you approached these the way you did, as I believe that if you ever decide to go back to those left behind, you likely will enjoy them much more for it
It's so frustrating when a youtuber plays a game they dont want to for the sake of a video, like of course you didnt like it- you were holding yourself captive
It would pain me more knowing he would have had a frustrating experience because he had to rush, than simply skipping or putting it away for later. I also love many of the skipped games and it's probably better that way.
0 is better than negative.
@@TheOrian34! Ty q vs
@@Chizypuff it's worse when i see them actively be like "what is happening?" or not enjoying a game because they dont know what to do and then they blame the game when in reality, they were so busy trying to make jokes or entertaining commentary, they didnt focus on the game and now have a lesser experience.
but instead of reflecting, they blame the game. Their audience then blames the game too and no responsibility is taken
This is one of the reasons the backlog exists like I don’t wanna play Final Fantasy 10 right now but I will eventually
As much as I LOVE Disco Elysium, your decision to put it aside is a good one. I wouldn’t recommend anyone play it unless they’re in the space to really absorb it because it is a very dense game, it’s practically like reading a book.
On another note, this has inspired me to take my backlog from just a random list in my notes app to something more organized lmao.
For those who are in the right mindset though Disco Elysium is an absolute masterpiece. Genuinely changed my life
Yeah I feel like this kind of project isn't really conducive to the enjoyment of certain types of games that really demand a lot of investment and time to digest and engage with them.
I really enjoyed it from an investigation game and figuring out slowly what's happened to the main character before game start in the hotel. But it sort of slowed down for me and the real scope of the game kind took precedent over the feeling of investigating made famous by LA Noir. I had to take a break.
If there was one game i could take to an abandoned island, it would be disco elysium
@@caseys2cold yeah it cured my neighbours
Video games are such a wonderfully diverse medium. The fact that Daryl could cross off Cuphead and Return of the Obra Dinn (two of my favorite games of all time), play Persona 4 Golden for 2 months (a game I literally played for 5 hours and shut off), and yet share my exact same thoughts on stuff like Portal 2, Death's Door, and God of War. It's incredible how gaming taste can be so similar and yet so distinct at the same time.
Yeah there’s both shocking overlap in broad taste and massive disparities in individual enjoyment.
I really admire you for this video. People feel so much guilt and pressure to finish their backlog, but this entire endeavour reminds people on the value of time & choice. All of us need to strive for a little bit more balance in our lives.
What a journey, thank you for taking us with you. This has been a "man" video for me. On a different note, I think it's really inspiring how you juggle your personal life and your TH-cam channel.
Thanks for saying that. I might make it seem like it’s super tough in the video, but let me be clear, I love doing this and it’s one of the most rewarding things in my life ❤️
I am very disappointed in the lack of progress. If you were going to skip everything why make such a big backlog in the first place. Nothing but a gambit to get viewers attention. I stayed on after you left psych of play even though that was why I subscribed but after this shameful display I am unsubscribed.
@@robbiegeary4323genuinely, would you rather he speed ran every single game on the list, didn't get any enjoyment out of them, and obsessively played games like 13+ hours a day? I really appreciate the way he talked through his decisions on "saving this one for later" and "I'll never complete this one, but I gave it a shot". Did you watch the entire video? Go to 38:00 if you haven't. He talks about how he's feeling forced to play video games and not able to live in the moment. Give it another shot Robbie
@@robbiegeary4323 If your main takeaway from this marathon is: "LOL, this guy failed to complete about a hundred video games in a year", then you've missed the point of this video by a hilarious margin.
You watched this video assuming every game must be completed? Lame. This is a psychology channel, the rest of us watched this video to see someone document their thoughts and experiences in trying to 'beat' their backlog, and whether or not it was even a good idea to try.
@@robbiegeary4323 you wont be missed
I basically switched to playing games on easy difficulty a few years ago, I've played SO many more games and enjoyed them a lot more instead of having to use the best builds, or playing in the more optimal way because I'm not skilled.
Best decision I've made as well
i do it to make me feel powerful and destroy them..
that is the way for me to have most fun. Play a story itself on easy, but then raising the difficulty when it comes to the after game content like hard side bosses and challenges etc.
problem is, there are plenty of games that go so deep with their mechanics that a superficial easy walkthrough just doesn't cut it
@@AndiBraun93 depends on what you enjoy
Unequivocally, this channel has a charm unlike any other. Your story telling is not only entertaining, but engrossing. I care about what you're going to say and feel no need to skip anywhere, and that's rare for me as a dude with ADHD. Bravo, man. Your ability to carry a theme throughout the whole video and drive that point home in the end, what a talent!
Stand ovation. I'm a completionist, and there is a lot of people who thing it's a waste of time, but I really enjoy the thrill of seeing everything (or almost everything) a game has to offer, even if I know I will play less games because of this.
There are pages that give you stadistics of how many hours you played a game, how much have you unlocked and even make leaderboards for you to be the best at this thing... a year and a half ago I started to feel like I wasn't having fun anymore, I was just playing to have a bigger number in a stadistic and playing easy and short games just for the sake of completing something, then I watched your Backlog video and everything clicked, I was using a lot of time to play things I didn't want to, so I made a list. Now I have my backlog organized in categories, is being a lot more fun, since I'm just playing what I really want to and I have played a lot of games I sleep on from decades ago. The list keeps changing based how what I feel playing or not.
TLDR: If you make a work off of your hobbies, you will need a hobbie to have time for yourself out of the first hobbie. Is much better to do the things you really want to do, than do them for the sake of doing them.
This is real: not long ago i started to feel that i need to experience every game, movie, and a book i found interesting before i die and it turned into obsession where i just started games for the sake of trying new games, even if i felt nothing playing them. Hobbie of playing games turned into life mission that needed constant attention and work put into it. I felt tired, i felt like i was working two jobs. And then i just let go, just stoped playing games at all and started doing other things, and in just a week i felt excitement of returning to game i already started, the anticipation of "what going to happen next"? I lost long ago. I join your clause, if you tired of your hobbie, find another one, try new things, do nothing, sleep, waste time, return to old nostalgic tittles, just give yourself some time!
Dude is going on and on about how pressed for time he is, then turns around and goes, "Yeah, I should play a Persona Game."
💀💀💀💀💀💀
lol when he got to P4G in the video I said out loud “is he retarded?”
In high school, I had this literature teacher who wanted us to learn a whole poem by heart. The poem was "Ithaca", by Cavafy, and she even made us take this test where we wrote as much of it as we could remember. At the time, I remember thinking that forcing us to learn it in such a manner was actually counterintuitive and kind of stupid. Years later, I'm in a fairly demanding university course and I find myself going back to that poem and its message about learning to enjoy the journey and to never rush to your destination. That's a philosophy I've found applies to so many aspects of life, videogames as well. No matter what you may be doing in life, take some time to remember why you're doing it and, if possible, enjoy it
I ask this with a horrible sense of humor, but how much of it can you write from memory now? Can you reply with how much you remember?
That might be the most cruelly ironic assignment I can imagine, considering the message of the poem 😂
lol we had this but with The Waste Land. Hellish.
edit; went and read the poem and this actually seems pretty reasonable
That was a pretty dope poem, thanks for sharing that with us. I ought to read more poetry but it’s hard to know what will strike a chord. I want the same from my poetry that I want from my major games - to fuck me up with that heavy dose of emotion or insight.
This video really hit the spot for me. I've been battling with OCD since I was a kid, realising that you don't have to complete whatever absurd goal you've set is healthy and that it's the experience that matters, it's made me approach life with a smile. Seeing one of my favourite creators share this idea, it really feels good man.
Hey there, not trying to offend you, but do you have real OCD or just the longing for order and completion? People on the internet always mix that up, but real OCD would be similar to having voices in your head that are constantly torturing you. If you do have OCD tho, I think I understand what you mean. Personally I add a lot of games to my backlog, because my OCD makes me feel guilty if I won't give these games a chance. That's why I have close to 200 games in my list now and it depresses me a little bit. I actually want to play them, but don't really find the time and I also can't enjoy some of the games as much as when I was a kid, because I have other stuff to do and the backlog is always on my mind. That's stressing me out. I miss the good old times, when I was able to play like 10 hours from day to night and be able to finish games within a week.
This video helped me a lot tho. If I don't feel a game, I shouldn't be forcing myself to play it any further just because of my OCD and compulsion for completion.
P.S.: Sorry for the long text mate.. 😅
@@rushernate2601 No offense taken, thanks for being respectful. It is indeed OCD. It's not exactly about order in my case, but impulses which if not completed, my brain starts fighting itself. I've made progress now and can accept at times that the impulses are not always what needs to be done. I hope you are in a good place with your own battle, friend!
@@rushernate2601 I totally relate to the guilt. I don't have much time as a young adult now and I realised that the backlog I had set was absurd. I think that if you give it some extra thought during a moment of clarity, you can clear your backlog out. And whenever you want to start adding impulsively again, remember that moment of clarity. I hope we can all clear out our backlogs and only enjoy the games (or art in general) we want (and actually enjoy them, not face them as chores). Have a good day friend!
@@savasgorm I wish you all the best aswell mate! Fortunetly I learned to resist most of the compulsions that force me to do stuff, but most of the OCD still happens in my head. Numbers, words, repetitions and the worst of all are triggers that activate some PTSD like imaginations and the anxiety of others getting harmed. Haven't found anything to help me with that and the depression that goes hand in hand with OCD.
But I'd say that it got better overall. I had way more issues as a teenager.
Sorry to send you such a large text, but may I ask if you have any tips or tricks? I'm not a fan of medication and most of the therapies don't really work, so I'm kind of exhausted and don't have any new ideas.
I struggle with OCD too mate, it’s a journey lol
the way i was actually teared up at the end and the sentiment of "it's okay to not have played *everything* ever made" hits very close to home as someone who has that with movies. i'm studying in the industry with plans and hopes of being employed in the filming/media industry, i remember writing down the 100 movies everyone should see before they die and majority of the movies i didnt even care about but felt that i had to have them there *because* theyre iconic and classics. it felt overwhelming. but seeing how you progressed and actually started looking forwards to playing a new game really hit close to home. i do believe having senua as your final game in the backlog was a perfect way to end this whole journey. it's very poetic.
anyway, all this to say, thank you for this video. it means a lot, and maybe now i will chuckle at the 100 movies list i made when i was 15 and toss it, watching what i enjoy and keep my own little log of movies watched in letterboxd and play the games i want, when i can and am able to. thank you.
When I first saw the title and thumbnail, I immediately found myself with this overhwhelming sense of self-doubt regarding my own backlog journey. You see, like many others you mention in this video, your original idea to attempt this is what sparked me to jump into my own library I've wanted to tackle throughout the years. However, after finishing the video and seeing your results, it actually made me feel... kind of proud of myself.
Originally I started out in a similar way you did. I listed every game I was interested in trying to get through in 2023 and quickly began to whittle through them. But as I went on, I started to realize something. Not only was I not enjoying my time as much, but knowing there was a time limit hanging over my head began to become more stressful than anything else, just like it did for you. It was clear, this was the absolute worst way to go about this.
So I set a new goal. Instead of just worrying about the backlog, I kept a list of everything I was finishing throughout the year. Games from the list, new releases, certain indies I'd always wanted to try out and even replaying some older favorites just for the fun of it. Whatever I felt like going for at that moment. And then... it started to click. I was having a great time, and I was finishing games left and right. I was having new experiences while still feeling immense accomplishment. Then I decided my final goal for the year would be 50 games altogether. I'm proud to say I'm currently sitting at 53 with still a month left to play what I enjoy.
The reason I doubted myself when I saw this video pop up is because I'd immediately assumed you succeeded. That my number was paltry by comparison. But it turns out I managed to defy even my own odds by playing by my own rules. Man, does that feel good.
So to you and everyone else who might be reading this, take this piece of advice: Don't just list the games you want to finish, but instead treat *every* game you manage to get through as another major accomplishment. Whether it's a something brand new, or your favorite game you've played 100 times growing up. As that number grows, so will that spark of joy that a lot of us might have felt we lost over the years. And when 2024 comes around, I'm doing it all over again. Who knows, maybe I'll break my record. But if not, I'll still have my log of the entire journey, and that means just as much!
The only answer to backlog content is whatever works for you.
I get your approach and it is great it works for you. The most important thing is to enjoy gaming. In the last 10 years I have not finished more than 35 games in a single year (and this number dropped to around 20 in recent years).
But I keep track of the games I own and play. Some of them I do not finish, some I do.
This tracking showed me while I finish less games I play more titles than before.
The enjoyment we get from gaming should always be the priority no matter how we achieve it.
53 games Jesus. I’m lucky if I fully beat like 4 lol. But mostly single player stuff isn’t interesting to me any more. I’ve played it all. I don’t need to play the 15th assassins creed, the 23rd call of duty, the 8th god of war or 16th Spider-Man. They just aren’t interesting anymore and most of them are waaaay too long and overstay their welcome.
Lots of good indie stuff these days.
@@ancientflames A lot of it actually came naturally as I went on. Stuff that released this year like Hogwarts, Tears of the Kingdom and Mario Wonder were already on my radar and I knew I'd be finishing them. I knocked out some older NES games I'd always wanted to finish as a kid, along with a few Game Boy and GBA titles. Threw in some Dreamcast games I'd never finished over the years like Rayman 2 and Cool Cool Toon (now that it got an English patch). But I also focused on some games I was already close to finishing and just fell out of. A good rule of thumb for me was not only focusing on games I was starting fresh with.
What I really enjoyed about this was being able to knock out some of my heavy hitters while still having more to look forward to next year. Kind of a good compromise. I'm actually a lot like you in the sense that I've basically played it all. Been gaming for 34 years and collecting for more than 20 now, so out of 1500+ games I've definitely beaten a huge chunk of them.
@@FreakinSweet1987nearly a year on, how fare thee? Still keeping up that energy, or doing something else or maybe found a new thing?
@@Taima Still going strong! I ended last year having finished 58 games, ranging from old classics I never got to complete, indies, new AAA titles and replaying a few favorites.
For this year, I'm currently sitting at 53, so if I keep the momentum going I'm likely to beat the old record by the end of the year. A few newer games have already been conquered, like Astro Bot, Stellar Blade, The Thousand Year Door remake, FF VII: Rebirth, Princess Peach: Showtime! and Zenless Zone Zero. I finally completed Donkey Kong 64 after many years, Persona 3 with the Reload version that just released, Pikmin 1 and 2, and a few other notable classics.
I'm really happy with the progress. I'll likely be grabbing the new Zelda later today since that series usually takes priority. Overall I'd say the system still works great!
The "save for later" list is basically STUFFED with some of my favorite games of all time. Great to hear you're planning on giving them the time they deserve.
I have a similar backlog except it's physical books. Last summer I decided to pick up everything in my flat I hadn't read and put it in a pile. Genuinely a great move that got me back into reading for myself. I still bought a few books (which I had ruled I wouldnt lol) and read the handful I bought as gifts, but my pile is slowly, slowly decreasing. I'm happy to read again, and I'm happy to see my pile get lower. Not to mention, having those books feature prominently in my living space means that I am reminded of them and why I want to read them often. No time limit! It's a big pile, it'll take a few years before it's back to being a bedside table stack. It's a good habit to have, I think. I do also write my thoughts on each read. That moment of transition, packing up the finished one, taking a breather and picking up the next read, has become a little bit precious.
if anyone is also doing this pls share your current read? Mine is Zola's Nana, some 8 years after I bought it haha
(scattered thoughts oops. i hate editing comments on my phone)
I try to read at least one book a week. I don't have my breakfast until I finish 50 pages and before bedtime at night I finish reading 50 more pages. Physical books mostly but I also read on my e-Reader sometimes.
In a way we are blessed compared to previous generations. We can have a backlog of games, books, movies, and music, with a lot being easily available and reasonably priced (some even free).
I feel like this tackles the ever-growing systematic branch of a human's nature and desire to fight against time. Knowing how limited we are to its never ending power of consistency, no matter what you do the clock ticks away, and I think a lot of people are just looking for a way to make the best of every second so much so they lose actually relishing in it. This has inspired me to take a look back at my life in general and wonder less about how I spend my time, but more about how I feel about my time spent.
This is so real. There is just not enough time in the world to consume every game that’s being put out, and when time is thin as well as the abundance of games these days it makes it hard to actually press on when things get tough in a game, especially when you’re not into the story or gameplay. Games are supposed to be fun, and they’re best played when you don’t put pressure on yourself and simply play what you want. I also keep a spreadsheet of the games I own/how long they take/my notes on them and it’s so helpful. I’m sure it definitely helped you experience the most games in a year. Thanks so much for the video!
This was a nice experiment. But each of us might have different experiences. I fully agree and I will always be advocating for just enjoying gaming.
My approach is: reduce on purchasing titles (well this does not always work with bundles, sales). I have a spreadsheet with a few sheets. Games I own. Games I think I want to play and with the priority (from play it for sure to maybe play it). This also includes not released games and I update the comments add and remove games from this list. One for cost of gaming (software only) where I note down each game, bundle, subscription I purchase.
But the two I mostly focus on is games played and games finished.
Games played is list of games I played but not necessarily finished with column “continue?” yes/no. This somewhat organically creates a backlog but does not create pressure. For example I sink many hours in SnowRunner but I have not finished it nice game to just jump into if I do not feel like playing something else (this also applies to many racing games I’ve purchased over the years).
Some games are the ones I bounced back from or decided to drop even though I spent quite some time in them (AC:Odyssey).
Than games I finished during each year including platform I played, score I gave them after finishing (to capture this point of time) and a comment. Which allows me to see which platform I play the most, and how many games I’m finishing yearly.
In recent few years I see a trend that I play more titles but finish less of them. But I’m fine with it, I accepted it. I put the enjoyment as the priority.
Have a nice time gaming!
To add to this; when you factor in every artistic medium, it becomes even more impossible. There are so many books I’ve yet to read that have been sitting on my shelf. And I have to decide that night, do I want to play that game or do I want to read that book? And the movies and tv shows that come out alongside everything. Not to mention all the music I’ve been recommended that I swear I’ll listen to one day, just not today. Music definitely takes the least amount of time out of all the mediums. But even just one 3 minute song will require a dozen listens over the course of a couple weeks (actually paying attention to it) to really appreciate what the artist was going for.
I kept track of every game I played, every book I read, every song I’ve added to my playlist, and every tv show or movie I’ve watched this year. And what I noticed in this is that I’ve, on multiple occasions, gone back to stuff I’ve already experienced instead of trying something new. I reread Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon instead of reading the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Instead of playing RE2, RE3, or RE7, I replayed Borderlands 3 and Spongebob the Cosmic Shake. I’ve spent so long not watching the one movie my friend said would blow me away that I forgot it’s title because I wanted to rewatch the Truman Show for the millionth time.
And of course, every year I lose more of my free time as the reality of being adult keeps creeping it’s way through.
I’ll never be satisfied knowing how much I have left to experience, but I am satisfied with what I have experienced (even if that means reexperiencing it in place of something new).
Just finished the video after a few weeks of having it in my “Watch Later” backlog 😂 Gotta say, watching this was like an adventure itself, and I’m really happy you found the peace and a new mindset to enjoy actually beating games at a healthy pace. I went through something similar last year, in 2022, when I beat 40 games, which was half my backlog, and playing things I’d been putting off for years (Skyrim, HZD, Gravity Rush 2, Metroid Prime 3 etc). The thing I found that “freed” me from caring so much was accepting, like you did, that the number didn’t matter, but also: not caring about (in the case of PS or Steam games) trophies or achievements, which literally don’t matter. Once I stopped worrying about getting this trophy or missing that achievement, I enjoyed just, y’know, playing the game. So far this year, 2023, with this new mindset I’ve finished 20 games, on the way to finishing #21, and not really caring if I beat anything this year after that. It’s all about the journey, right?
@UnjustifiedRecs exactly, and I’m mad it took me a long-ass time to finish those wonderful games because I was so afraid of not playing the game “properly”, or missing something for some pointless trophy
@UnjustifiedRecssome people just like getting to every corner of the game? It's not a weird thing to want to do, if you really like a game and it has 500 achievements, why not discover all the little secrets and details in it.
@@koppy82 that's why i go for plats only after beating a game at least once and ONLY if i really enjoyed the experience. if i feel like revisiting the game to grab the plat will be a chore, i quit on that idea and move on to the next game. for me, trophy hunting has to be as fun as beating a game's campaign for the first time.
Damn I think that's my main problem. When I started gaming on the PS3, all I did was playing threw the story and enjoying it. During the PS4 era I discovered trophies and I liked the idea of collecting them, especially when I really liked a game. There's also a whole community around it. Later on tho, it became my main goal to get the platinum. I was still enjoying the games, but before I started them I always looked up a guide on what's the best way to get the trophies. It kinda made gaming a task and not as entertaining as it was as a kid. Also, the time you'd have to invest to platinum all these games would be like 4 times as high as if you would just play threw the campaign normally. Trophy hunting became a habit tho over the last 10 years and it's really hard for me to break it. But in the end I don't think there is another way to enjoy gaming as much as back then. I have to play games at a normal pace again and only if I really enjoy them and want to discover more if it, I should consider platinum it. That would save me a lot of time and should bring me more joy, because I'm not looking forward to check what's on my list, but rather be in the moment and take myself on a journey.
@@rushernate2601 yeah man, that's the way to go. if you enjoy whatever game you played, come back later on to plat it. if not, forget about it. i would go as far as to say that if you're not enjoying a game all that much, stop playing it altogether and move on to the next. the backlog will go shorter quite a bit if you do that and you'll only play what you really enjoy. playing games shoul never be a chore, we don't really have to finish every game. experiencing it for a while sometimes is enough. oh, and if you enjoyed a game but don't feel like playing it again only for the plat, wait a few months. that's what i did with games like hogwarts legacy and cyberpunk 2077. that way, you'll get to revisit a game you enjoyed and breeze through it while going for the plat, which makes things easier and more enjoyable.
Daryl always delivers, but this truely goes above and beyond. This fills me with determination to tackle my own backlog and the piece to know I can.
Anyone who stares at their steam library should watch this video. Dont feel bad anymore man.
Daryl, this video is hugely inspirational.
Not only as a way to tackle your gaming backlog and trying a huge variety of games; but how to find a proper work-life balance. Seeing that part of the video with you having a regular 9-5, on top of doing this channel, playing the games throughout the year, plus all the regular things that life throws at you really highlights that proper dedication and attention to the things you truly want to do goes a long way.
Hopefully after this video, people are able to live more in the moment than they previously would have; whether it be focusing on what they're currently playing, or life as a whole.
(Also, this video brings huge "Man..." vibes so props to that!)
What part sounds like he abandoned everything and quit on games before there story kicked off
300+ games on my backlog, never had the idea to put them in a spread sheet until I saw one of your videos some 6 months ago, now I'm 19 games in, and I had some of the most fun ever in these 6 months
200+ games
completed 19 :D
I'm so happy to have accomplished something similar (I completed 114 games since my beginning in 2017) BUT I told myself at the very beginning that I can't beat that backlog. That saved me so much trouble you've encountered. I was entirely focused on what I did experience and not what I was missing. I hope you will find some relief after this video. I will start Persona 4 Golden in a few weeks :)
Good luck. Have fun. It’s a fun one for sure. It has some issues but what doesn’t.
Just started it 2 days ago, it’s really fun. The intro is quite long though, if you’ve played persona 5 it’d be a similar length to that intro
Hello sir I'm go and start this journey in persona 4 also in my vita .I played it once on PS2 haha
I suffered many bad thought also cuz of the backlog battle.
I'm not yet done but i clearly need to enjoy playing again. Instead of finishing for the sake to not have wasted my money on sales...
At the same time, my taste have changed since i bought some of those games. So i'm kinda at a loss and i wish to sell everything and just playing on switch since i don't have a backlog on switch (3 games to beat only, already playing one).
Lol it's funny you mention Persona 4 Golden because I've been playing it in real-time which takes almost a year. Currently 244 days into it but fortunately it's much faster to beat when you play more than 1 day per day lol
this year i read Higurashi, a super-biblical length visual novel over the course of three months this year, and it just full made me realize that completing a whole bunch of games is less important that playing the ones that fill your heart
OMG a higurashi fan in the wild, I've read the entire visual novel like twice including the console only arcs, watched the anime like 4 times, consumed multiple video essays on it and even read the entire 150 ish hour vn marathon that's umineko although I didn't like it as much, it means so much to me to find someone who loves it out in the wild, it's like, at least #2 favourite anime/vn of all time for me, the progression from horror to hope in higurashi is unlike anything I've seen from other series
I've been thinking about doing the same, or just read the manga instead "to save some time". But I guess there are huge differences between the two media?
I haven’t read the manga, though I’ve heard good things. Though my actual suggestion is that its ok to read it slowly. its already broken up into 8/9 chapters and was originally released over the course of four years, so while its a lot of time, it also accommodates that
@@ttamecco Oh I see, thanks for the response!
Tatarigaroshi is sooo gooood
One thing that I did for my massive backlog (200+ games) I just deleted the document. That's it. If I really wanted to play the game, I would remember it. That massively helped me stop looking backwards and engage with the present gaming community and enjoy the games I play.
Honestly... making the list is SMART.
Making an end date was the ENTIRE ISSUE.
i made a list a few years ago of games i wanted to play. I got through that list, it took me a few years but i did. I simply had a list of games i wanted to play, not restrictive on the how long i had to play them.
Pretty much exactly what you came out with.
Enjoyment, its why we do what we do.
To reiterate your point about notes, I actually have been writing down my thoughts on every game I've beaten for about 7 years now and Im so glad I've kept up with it. The ability to get my thoughts in writing has both helped me remember the games I've played and has been an enjoyable form of journaling to remember who i was and what I thought at those times.
Yeah, a gaming journal is basically my takeaway here. I keep a list of titles, and a general journal, but mainly just notes to jog the memory. Something like this would be something new for me
That's awesome - I've been logging the games I'm playing for some time now, but couldn't figure out how to bring my thoughts together coherently in a journal. How do you write your thoughts down? Are you using bulletpoints or do you follow certain categories like 'graphics' and 'audio'? Curious to find out. :)
I'm also curious how you go about it. I think logging my thoughts upon finishing a game would really help me close out the experience, but I'd like to see what works for others.
@@Nookibo Thanks for your interest! When I started, I wrote out everything out as a mess of bullet points, but now I try to write things out with full sentences in a pretty informal, conversational style. I also usually provide a loose, qualitative rating at that end, with a -1 being an interesting bad game, 0 being a boring bad game, 1 being a decent game, 2 being good, 3 being great, and 4 being one of my favorites of all time.
Either way, I don't really follow a format or standard categories like "graphics" or "audio", and I tend to just ramble about whatever thing stood out to me about the game. I find that if I try to make things too formal, I'll end up getting writers block when I come to a topic that I don't have a lot to say about. In that same vein, with games I really love and have a lot to say about, I usually just pick 2 or 3 things I like and write a paragraph on each, just to prevent myself from writing for too long.
For me, my biggest focus has been making the writing process fun. I write something about every game I beat but if I'm not feeling it, I'll just write 2-4 sentences and call it a day. It's super important to me that the journaling isn't a chore, because that makes me more likely to keep it up.
@@Dahras1 Amazing! Thank you for your detailed response. I feel the exact same way thinking about the process, I would quickly lose interest if it tends to become a chore more than anything. Going to try out the way zu described! :)
"The pursuit of everything (paradoxically) costs you everything." Damn! Well said. I always enjoy Daryl's videos so much.
You know. In a weird way, accepting that I couldn't experience everything like you did is precisely why I seek out so many weird experiences now. Knowing that we all have such limited time to see the things we love also gave me the weird revelation that there are works out there with thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears into their creation that maybe only 100 people will play and only maybe 5 of those will finish.
Thinking about that, I'm filled with a kind of sonder about the transcience of art itself, and there's a desire there to really look for those small gems that got left in the vast desert and witness their shimmer even if (and especially if) I'm the only one that will. In a sense, there's this idea that there's nothing left undiscovered in this world, but that's not really true. There are millions and billions of unique sights that people have thrown away, because they're not grand firsts. I won't be the first to climb everest, but there are countless little hills that only I will see the view from the top of. And that feels weirdly important.
So, yeah. That's why I play weird indie jank. Someone put their heart into making an experience for people to see, and it feels weirdly tragic if no one ever does.
exactly my thoughts
we gotta see more of them
@@enorma29 Sure. I'll need to go through my list and see if there's any I heavily recommend. A lot of the ones I enjoyed definitely fit in the "This game was life-changing, but I can't recommend it to anyone" category.
I kinda have this theory that, if you play enough games, inevitably, your favorite game of all time will be a 7/10. Mostly just because the kind of experience that will speak specifically to you will probably lack broad appeal and will probably have Quality of Life elements you personally can ignore (like grinding in older RPGs).
But yeah. I'll see if I have any really good ones I found and come back later.
I know off the top of my head, Behold the Kickmen and Gnosia are two I've enjoyed heavily with almost no media or channel coverage.
Gnosia's probably about to get a big bump with the incoming Sony and Microsoft releases though. That one is kinda special in that a decent number of people played it, but almost no one got the normal ending, probably less than 5% saw the true ending, and probably 1% total actually understood a lot of the deeply ingrained cultural and eastern religious implications of that ending.
Some other ones I've enjoyed that aren't really covered much by media sites or channels (in no particular order):
-Cat Quest I + II
-Magic Scroll Tactics
-This Way Madness Lies
-Nowhere Girl
-Necrobarista
-Sword of the Necromancer (although, that one is VERY rough gameplay wise)
-Toziuha Night
-Mechstermination Force
-The Legend of Dark Witch series
-Sumire
-Signs of the Sojourner
-Glyph
-Inmost
-Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness
-Subsurface Circular
-Pan-Pan
-Whipseey and the Lost Atlas
-Meteorfall + Krumit's Tale
-Conjury
-Forward
-Tiny Folks
-Magic Research
-Reventure
-The Witch Spring Series
-Psycard
-Photographs
-Million Onion Hotel
-Strange Telephone
-Dawncaster
-You Must Build a Boat
-Alter Ego
-Irisu Syndrome
Although, a lot of those are more low to mid obscure indies instead of super hidden gems with like 10 or less reviews. Those usually take some digging to remind myself I even played them.
There's also like hundreds of really cool itch.io horror indie jank games. Itch.io is really a big go-to if you want to try weird and little projects. I also recommend finding out where the super cheap sales of your platform of choice happen and try picking up some dollar games that look interesting to you. Most of them will be trash, but 1 out of 20 times-ish, you'll find a gem that was worth the 20 bucks.
SOMEONE UNDERSTANDSSSS
@@DairunCatesas a long time gamer whose favorite game became Starfield, I can agree wholeheartedly that my favorite game is in fact a 7/10 🤣
Thanks for the cool list of recommendations! even though I’m not the one who asked originally
I think there is a lot of wisdom in this comment, and I resonate with its message a lot, even though I cannot say I truly follow it when it comes to gaming since the games I usually gravitate towards are very time consuming RPGs like Baldurs Gate 3 or Persona 4, which means I spend a lot of time on those and don't get to see as many different games. But that's just another facet of it, we all have our own unique preferences, and its nice to think that for all kinds of games that creators put their love in, there will be at least some people who will fall in love with that particular thing, and the world would be less rich without it. It's not just games either, like, I am not expecting Slice of Life anime such as Kokoro Connect or Girlish Number to excite the masses like the big blockbusters do, but they certainly spoke to me personally, and I think that's already plenty.
I can't describe the emotion that this video made me feel. I also started my own backlog back when the first video was posted, and really wanted to complete them all. So many similar experiences happened to me just like in the video, and it was a truly beautiful ending. Thank you
Man…. Though much more of a casual gamer myself, I feel this for my reading backlog. I stopped reading for months at a time because I thought I needed to finish everything I picked up. DNF’ed my first book today, not because it was bad or anything- it just wasn’t my book… thank you for sharing your process with us!
This video made me realise why it is so much easier for me to get through my backlog of books than my backlog of games, even though books take me on average much longer to get through. It is because my shelf is a visual, organised list of the books that I want to read and that I have read. That having the overview, the physical thickness of the book telling me roughly how long it will take me to get through, as well as a feeling of progress when I put a book back on the shelf - whether or not I finished it or dropped it - it all combines to a much more organised and satisfying feeling. Compared this to my games library, which is spread across multiple platforms and digital stores, all a complete mess of hundreds of games, which I have VERY varying feelings on whether I will play or not, it is just a dark ocean of games, where only rarely a game will rise to the surface, where any new game bought which doesn't instantly catch my interest immediately sinks to the bottom, lost forever, out of sight out of mind.
Or put another way: Thank you for sharing your experience, you convinced me to make a backlog spreadsheet!
Yo Daryl, I really have to thank you for the last video, it genuinely changed my life.
I loved the video, it was one of the best I had ever watched and it inspired me to immediatly start organizing my own backlog just like you. Before your video, I had a few rough years with gaming, I could barely enjoy anything I played, and would almost never play anything for more than a few hours, I would rarely have fun and nothing felt good enough, I would only enjoy around 5 games a year and spend the vast majority of my free time desperatly trying to enjoy games while only making myself more miserable.
Organizing everything in my backlog like you (and especially having to find a reason for each title to be there) forced me to think deeply about the reason I enjoy games, only because you inspired me to organize things in a similar manner to yours I finally managed to find out what I love. Before my own backlog, I got stuck in a cycle of experiencing games as shadows of my favourites, I would either perceive a game as how good it is at being Hollow Knight or how good it is at being Nuclear Throne, a few good roguelikes (like hades and streets of rogue) managed to make me happy, and a few amazing games (like pyre and outer wilds) managed to be so overwhelmingly good that I managed to enjoy them, but everything else felt like a slog that I would abandon a few hours in, a neverending cycle that made my life working to get free time and wasting it by being dissapointed with everything in my huge library. But through organizing everything and exploring my backlog I managed to find out that I truly enjoy games by focusing on what makes each specific title special, and that was the piece that finally made me love gaming again, I owe all the enjoyment this hobbie has been bringing me to you.
The long lasting consequences of my childhood trauma only hit me at the end of 2021, and I was truly miserable until the middle of 2023 (when I finally managed to fix my life through therapy) I didn't have much to live for between the end of 2021 and the release of your first backlog video, I was hanging by a thread, but after it, I finally managed to enjoy gaming again, which gave me something to live for, which managed to help me a lot in my mental health journey. I don't think I would be nearly as happy as I am right now without that video.
Up to this point I've beaten around 41 games, had around 27 "man" moments, abandoned around 9, and have around 50 in my backlog (which I hope will never run out of titles). I intend to have way more fun with this form of art and the life I managed to build with the strength enjoying it gave me, I can't thank you enough.
Man….
You have been on a journey. Keep it up 🔥
I’m happy for you brother! Everyone needs that thing that keeps them going and I’m glad you found yours!
That’s awesome bro. I’m glad you were inspired and found reasons to keep going. I hope Darryl see’s this…! 😭😭😭
Fellow Pyre fan
Hellblade is such a fantastic finisher for your journey. It is a masterpiece of a story but also I feel it needs to be played when the player is ready to absorb it and not just treat it like just another game.
absolute masterpiece, my favourite game i played in 2023 along with SOMA
Just wanted to say that I can't believe TH-cam isn't full time for you. Just subscribed to your Patreon to offset the costs a bit. I'm amazed by the quality of the videos you put out on such a time budget, I hope everyone who watches this grasps what an incredibly hard worker you are and how lucky we are to get so much amazing, quality content from you. Thanks
This is one of your best.
Side note: I find it sad you have to keep a regular job when you're obviously so talented at creating content. I love your videos because it isn't just "this is the game and if I liked it" it's more "this is the game, this is how it made me feel and think"
I know, it’s one of my favorite channels on the site. It always shocks me when I remember he doesn’t even have 500k
Same here. He's up there with the greats for me like SummoningSalt, JacobGeller and Hbomberguy. It always excites me when he uploads lol
It’s so annoying
I wish our society rewarded hard and passionate work, alas capitalism
I started focusing on my backlog this year. Told myself as a goal to finish at least 10 games before the end of the year and happy to say I accomplished my goal a bit early🥹. Gonna try to shoot for 15 games in 2024 🤞🏼. Thank you for making this video, it helps so much 💙
One year of working on your backlog.. man I am SO PROUD that you actually did that 🔥
I am very disappointed in the lack of progress. If you were going to skip everything why make such a big backlog in the first place. Nothing but a gambit to get viewers attention. I stayed on after you left psych of play even though that was why I subscribed but after this shameful display I am unsubscribed.
@@robbiegeary4323ikr!!! Bro is coping hard af too lol
@@robbiegeary4323 that's cool, he earned a subscriber out of me. The message of journey not destination is far more important than speed-running the consumption of entertainment. Slow down, enjoy, live in the moment and let the right thing come to you at the right time.
@@robbiegeary4323In the original video he gave himself permission to not finish every game he played. So, its valid for me.
@@robbiegeary4323 Good riddance :)
I appreciate you telling everyone the life/games juggle. I swear having dogs, being a husband and trying to keep up being active and having a job leaves so little time for gaming. Good to know others are in a similar boat.
After tackling mental health issues and reigniting my passion and joy for video games, I've also started chipping away at my backlog and I've learned it comes with a LOT of plateaus and it's OKAY to step away from it and play the games you want to play instead of forcing yourself down a list. Sometimes I needed to take a step back from the 100+ hour open world RPG experiences and just play some Deep Rock Galactic with a buddy or play House Flipper while I watched Netflix for a few weeks. Then after I got tired of that, I went back, and I found that just 100% more enjoyable instead of /forcing/ myself to do something, cause that's just a non-starter. Play what you want to play in the moment, stick with it, but ditch it if it's not bringing you enjoyment. You will have a much better time.
Like I wanna say "ILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR SKIPPING FF9" but genuinely I think it's where my hard nostalgia, patience and lack of pressure of having to beat other games comes in, this is a wild thing to do man bit you've inspired me to make my own spreadsheet with descriptions,hype ratings ect and it's really helped at times being someone with ADHD with other nurodivergent bits who gets bad decision paralysis. You rule dude :)
No I understand 😂 if it makes you feel better, I’m still planning to go back and play FFIX at some point. I definitely think it deserves another go with a walkthrough to make some of the tedious bits less confusing.
@@DarylTalksGames tbh I get it, it's my all time fave game and I love the experience but a guide is nice to have ESPECIALLY modern guides, I had the butchered Prima guides which somehow pur one in the UK wasn't as butchered as the NA one haha also I gotta say I love the message at the end of the video its profound without sounding pretentious and does hit different.
@sternj4314 Maybe it's just my experience, but I didn't need a guide at all outside of the optional bits like Chocobo Hot and Cold and Mognet. Those sidequests actually suck without a guide, but I thought the main story was pretty straightforward.
@@DarylTalksGames wait for the rumoured remake imo
@@DarylTalksGames A lot of people consider FFIX the best in the series, a consolidation of all the greatest aspects of the games up to that point before the newer generation was to begin with FFX on PS2. I personally love the OST it's definitely some of Nobou's strongest work, but the game falls hard on the load times and pacing of battles for me. I've done all there is to do in all the FF series up to XV and IX is probably the only game in the series I have basically no interest in replaying. The thing that really kills it for me is the fact if you actually count it out (certainly back on PSone at least) to get into an encounter, excluding the running around to trigger it, takes 17-20 seconds. With this in mind, over the course of a playthrough, using just the mandatory fights alone you have nearly 30 minutes of literal zero control waiting for battles to load. JUST TO LOAD. For a first time player, you're going to grind some, get some levels and abilities to learn etc. You're just waiting and waiting and waiting and if you fail a fight it's just more time lost. When I already know how it goes and when there's practically no customisation with the game till near the end in terms of party structure, there isn't much difference from playthrough to playthrough. Frankly, the game just doesn't have enough for me to want to spend so much time doing nothing on it, especially as i have a terrible habit of wanting to get everything in a playthrough of anything i play.
man. the first backlogged video a year ago was one of my favorite TH-cam videos ever. And this is right up there with it. I do not kid. This is one of the greatest TH-cam videos ever to me. Can't wait to rewatch it one day
I'm tackling my much smaller backlog of 8 games right now and i finished 3 so far. I really dont have much time for gaming anymore but even so this has been a very fun journey for me and im so glad im doing it :)
This video brought me to tears several times.
More specifically the quote your wife told you, and your ending monologue on Senua’s sacrifice accurately describing your backlog, but also life in general.
Never waited a year for a TH-cam video, never cried watching a TH-cam video.
Tears are still rolling down my face while typing this. You gave me clarity not just for my backlog but dealing with my busy life.
Your wife is very insightful for giving you that advice and this video has done so much for me 😢❤
MAN..
Honestly considering you have 500k subs and great viewer rates making insanely gripping and well thought out content that few TH-camrs can contend with and still have a day job has earned an insurmountable level of respect from me. Gives me hope man.
I think when video games become work, it's not a good thing
Ah, yes, this _also_ seems like a very helpful video for someone dealing with a cluttered backlog like me. I’ll be sure to add it to my Watch Later playlist so I can go through it when I’m in the right mood.
lmao, genius
Your last video inspired me to do this with my backlog .... of books. I pretty much had the same experience as you. I actually really like having a spreadsheet and I also write about the books that I have read. I also agree that not having a time limit makes it much more enjoyable. Wanting to just check of the boxes spoils the experience.
This was a "man" video for me and I would like to thank you for all the work you put into your videos. Time always flies by when I watch your channel and I always really enjoy the time spent. Keep it up :)
28yo full time student, employee, and father. I fully understand that struggle of not finishing or playing games. If something doesn't hook me in the first two hours then it's just not meant to be. Ive been devouring the Yakuza series when I do manage to have free time though.
One of my most anticipated videos of the year. Your writing is always so emotionally strong. The reflection of your experience with Hellblade and your backlog was beautiful. I think you've open my eyes to entirely new perspective on taking on my own back log and I can't thank you enough.
Do you have a backloggd account by chance? I feel like it's also a great way of organizing your backlog without having to bust out excel.
This comment will probably get lost in the shuffle but I have to say that out of all the games you took off your backlog, Tunic is the one that I think you should reconsider most. One of the most unique games that still has a strong sense of familiarity to it. Definitely a game that's better knowing nothing about going into it. Also, great video!
I loosely agree. I would say he should play 999 (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors) as top priority because A.) its one of the best games ever and that's a certified objective fact, and B.) he liked the much weaker AI Somnium files, made by the same director. "If he liked that, he'll love this" sort of thing.
Tho with 999, I guess I also have to give the caveat that the DS version is the way to play, not only because the game takes advantage of the hardware for some fundamental story beats, but also because the steam version truncates or removes the narration and makes the whole game seem stupid in comparison. (I think you can get it pretty close to "right" version though with one of the options for how dialogue is presented).
But Tunic would be up there and easier to get. It's definitely one you don't want to feel rushed on playing though, so maybe it is a good thing that he skipped it for now. Based on how he almost didn't like Outer Wilds (he definitely would have dropped it if he played it later based on how he talked about the game and this video), I would think Tunic would have panned out similarily but with a bigger risk of him dropping it.
@@MrWhygodwhy I've actually never heard of 999 so I'll take your word for it. I agree with what you said with Tunic though. Now that he has such a smaller, less overwhelming backlog, I think adding Tunic back to it would be a good call.
@@MrWhygodwhyi did scream when i saw 999 was removed from the list xD but if he was going to play the steam release then maybe it's not that big a loss because the writing quality easily declined without both DS screens
@@blissfulstatic2563 Nintendo really needs to get into the PC market and do a VC for DS on a dedicated emulator. I would support it. That system had a great/huge library and the retro market sucks these days.
Tunic bored me after an hour. Tried 4 times counting get into it but I like how it looks.
Welcome to the FGC brother. Incredible video. I literally subbed to you after coming across the first backlog video randomly and waiting for this did not disappoint. Like many, I've long battled my own backlog of not only games, but TV shows, movies, books, and even more. I think I'm finally going to start slowly hacking my way through; no deadline, no commitment to finish, just trying to have fun so that at the end, I can say...man. Thanks Daryl.
I love the June(s) joke so much, and I'm glad that you played through P4G! From the beginning of the video and it's narrative, I was sure that it was just going to be thrown into a pile of games that are just too long to complete for a challenge like this. Hearing how much you enjoyed the game and how much it sucked you in reminds me of playing the game twice consecutively, myself! Finally, that "take your time" message reminds me of a video by yakkocmn I've seen on Persona 5, where a lot of the same sentiment was shared. Great video!
You could have finished the backlog in 1 year if you didn't intend and try to finish it in 1 year. That's the irony of life
yeah. the pressure ate away at the hours. it happens.
I just love how out of ALL the games you talked about in this video, TH-cam decided that yep, this video is about Shadow of the Colossus and ONLY about Shadow of the Colossus.
As an avid book reader, i never thought this would resonate so much with me. I, like many others have a to read as well and it is actually endless. With booktok and books blowing up on social media, I always find the need to read all of them. My experience with reading a book is so similar to yours of a video game. I guess this is the power of creative works. FOMO is a complicated thing, you get to read so many beautiful books and so many beautiful stories but you always feel the need of speeding through it. Love to see your story of attempting to finishing the backlog. This kinda motivates me to take my to be read more slowly and enjoy reading.
(btw, glad that you like Fourth Wing, in case you want to read it, the sequel Iron Flame is already out)
Great video!
A few years ago, I decided to set myself a goal and read 20 books for 2020. Turned out to be the perfect year to do this since everything was shut down.
Felt the same pressure that you did to “finish” before the year ran out.
Eventually learned the same lesson, I wasn’t enjoying it because I was forcing myself through the list and was stuck reading some books I wasn’t enjoying, just to make it to the set number.
I’m glad I did it, though, because I read some great books that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and it turned what was a rough year into a memorable one.
Thank you for sharing!
Damn I should’ve done that too
As a college student, it can be hard for me to find time for video games, and as a result I’ve rushed thru several games which ultimately did not bring me satisfaction. But this video has truly brought comfort to me. Now I can let go and enjoy not just gaming but life more fully. And what’s crazy is that my backlog only has around 25 games so it makes me feel much better about my personal situation. You’re a real inspiration Daryl. Keep up the good work.
I just watched this video today and realized I had never had a “man” game I’ve played. I then, also today, bought and played Superliminal and I’m glad to report that it was 100% a “man” game. I can’t put into words how crazy and awesome this game felt. If it weren’t for this video, I probably wouldn’t have bought the game in the first place. Thank you for getting me to open my gaming palate and giving me a “man” game.
Yeah Superliminal is awesome. if you want more "Man" games, try Nier Automata, Soma, Yakuza 0, Outer Wilds, or maybe Death Stranding. Unfortunately this kind of games are always hit or miss, you'll love them or get bored after 5 minutes.
If you have decent anime shenanigan tolerance, then definitely try 13 sentinels, and other JRPGs mentioned in the video.
If you like hard games, and cool boss fight, try some of from software’s work.
@@Texelion+1 to NieR:Automata. Best game I've ever played. Definitely the saddest most depressing game I've experienced. Big part of why I love it too.
Thank you so much for this video Daryl. It really resonated with me and for the first time in a long time, I did not feel the pressure to play a game when I had some free time yesterday but to simply sit down and do nothing for a while.
Never watched any of your vids prior to this. Gotta say your format and editing is great and the inspiration you provided me to not only tackle but enjoy my own backlog is impeccable. Keep up the great work and i look forward to checking out what else you have in store for us
Oh man, go check out his older videos as well. You’re in for a treat!
I think this is the most important video on TH-cam in recent years for me. I feel anxious because there are too many games I want to play, but I don't have time for them all. Moreover, lately I have often been thinking about death, about what I have spent and am spending my life on at the moment, so choosing a game has become an extremely difficult task for me, I don’t want to miss something important, but I also don’t I want to spend my time on something unimportant. I think creating a backlog and writing down my thoughts about each game in it will help me find the peace I need. And by the way, SF6 is a great game that I want to invest my time in, Chun Li is my love❤
Stumbled upon this channel as a recommendation and I couldn’t be happier. I’m not much of a comment person myself, but I just had to congratulate you for this masterpiece. You truly showed a passion for videogames on this one, in the best way possible!
As someone with a backlog list just like yours, I loved following this journey and especially the lessons you learned and shared. Shows the futility of the completion compulsion, sure, but also the value of the organization and letting your passions steer you. Well done!
I legitimately can’t believe you got to play Portal, Portal 2 and Outer Wilds in the same MONTH. Each of those games marks a chapter of my life with so much time in between
Lol when you put it that way, how does a man survive that many Man, games in one month. That seems like a lethal dose. Imagine playing like, MGS3, RDR2 and TLoU2 in the same month. Those are bigger games but god I’d die. It’d ruin gaming forever.
I saw VA-11 HALL-A on that list and was super excited to hear you talk about it. Maybe not today, but it look to be saved?
This was genuinely a amazing video.
Same, it was the one I wanted him to talk about
Last year, your first video about the backlog was one of the things that inspired me to attempt a similar challenge of whittling down my backlog. I made a similar spreadsheet of games that I needed to play, albeit a lot more simpler. I simply color coded the games that I had based on how urgent my interest was in playing them was, to sort of set an order to play them in. Now with how long it takes me to play games (I play games very slowly), I knew there was no chance in hell of me actually beating all of the games on the list, so I simply just attempted to see how many I could clear within the year. And I'm happy to say that I actually beat and finished a good chunk of the more urgent colored games, with only a handful of games that I stepped away from. My backlog is nowhere near done, and of course I added on more games over the course of the year, but this backlog challenge helped me so much. For one, I began to enjoy playing games a lot more again due to the sheer variety of games I was playing instead of just the same damn multiplayer games over and over again. Secondly, a large weight was lifted off my shoulders, not the entire weight, but a large amount of it. I no longer feel as weighed down by the size of my backlog and I'm at a point now where I'm pretty confident now that when I buy a NEW game, I'll actually be able to play it relatively quickly instead of letting it sit in a backlog for 5+ years. Another weird side effect of this was that I got back into trophy hunting near the end of the year. I think because of how much stress was relieved from the weight of my backlog, it opened up more time for "side game" goals. I now have a better ability at managing my gaming time so I'm able to take a break from the backlog every now and then to focus instead on getting a Platinum trophy or grinding in one of those dastardly multiplayer games. Over all, I'd say this was a huge success. And I share the same sentiment you had at the end of this video, I am now more excited to advance on to Part 2 of my backlog journey next year with all the amazing games I still have yet to play. Thanks Daryl.
Finally, someone else who has finished 13 sentinels aegis rim. I will defend it is to my dying breath its one of greatest work of literature ever created for one simple fact:
Vanillia ware was literally able to create a great coherent story from 13 different perspectives and make you understand everything by the end. I still don't understand how this game is possible but it exists
I will say Daryl I’ve been wanting this video since I watched Part 1 in February. I’ve watched it a few times throughout the year and it’s amazing to think about how much time has passed. Phenomenal vid and I definitely believe that you can make TH-cam your full time job in the near future because your passion and creativity is present in every video you make
I still get chills when thinking of Spiritfarer. I cried many times playing it. Despite having beaten many other games there is still that little indie title that made me emotional like nothing else out there.
It's pretty mediocre at best though
@@steveluna1627 bruh
I need to give it another chance. I got bored and seemingly stagnated at some point like maybe not even midway through. I had early ship upgrades and farming and I felt like all I was doing was monotonous shit and it really agitated me because I was longing for that good emotional devastation juice
@@Taima Well, monotony is a big part of this game. Either you're into it or not
Daryl, you didn't fail. You evolved.
Edit: I know I don't speak for everyone, but I think you did more than enough for not just yourself, but also your audience. Thank you!
I actually attempted to conquer my backlog this year also but quickly (within 3 months or so) ran out of the games that I was super pumped to play and found myself getting stuck in a rut. Thankfully I didn't have any external pressure preventing my from taking a break and reading some books instead lmao. Definitely taking the spreadsheet idea (was formerly just using notepad). I enjoyed the vid man.
Ironically I put this on my backlog and got to it just now.
I loved seeing someone suddenly fall in love and gush over games that I loved: Portal, Mass Effect, and the Last of Us. So I’m a little sad you didn’t get to Obra Dinn, but I also wouldn’t want you to try it and get frustrated with it. It’s a logic game, and it reminds me a lot of Portal. It can be finished in about a weekend, and it’s one of the games I wish I could go back and play fresh. Because solving it made me feel smart.
But I think that relates back to a point you learned. You can certainly try new genres, but it helps knowing what kind of experience you are getting. I don’t play horror because that’s not the experience that I want, and there are games I wait on because I want to savor the long adventure. I think that’s the main way one can determine if the game is worth finishing: is it providing the experience that I want right now?
Making an excel sheet for my backlog has scratched an itch within my ADHD brain. Its taken that overwhelming feeling that normally kept me playing my live service games or a Pokemon for the 100th time and has made me determined to actually tackle the 1000s of hours of games i have yet to play.
1. Absolutely splentastic video! Thanks for changing my outlook on how I live my life once again.
2. I was also consumed by Persona 4 Golden earlier this year when stressing about clearing other games in the backlog. I feel your “pain”. (It wasn’t pain, it was bliss)
Your videos inspired me to tackle my backlog. I felt alot of the same things you did and came to similar conclusions. I don't care about what other ppl think of the games i have played. I like what I like and I don't like what I dont. Learning to give a game an earnest chance and knowing when to abandon a game. Alot of this comes from knowing oneself more
I need to coment in portuguese to keep my feelings at the message but please translate
esse canal é incrivel me inscrevi nele 8 meses atrás por conta do primeiro video de backlog e desde então me apaixonei, eu estou terminando esse video com lagrimas nos olhos e com vontade nova de aproveitar a vida e as experiencias nela, jogar, ler, assistir... vou começar minha própria planilha e deixar a sua leveza me levar no meu próprio tempo, obrigado
Think this was important to here during such stressful times. End of the year is just a big ball of rushing to get stuff done for the holidays or before the new year, but sometimes you do just have to sit down and take in everything happening now. Fantastic video, good to know my backlog can steadily be shrunken down if I choose what I'm feeling when I feel it lol.
I definitely got to this video too late. In early December, I reached my goal of hitting 300 platinum trophies before 2023 came to a close. It was supposed to be a challenge and also a sneaky way of getting through my backlog. I ended up sidelining the backlog for quick and easy plats, insta-pop plats and shovelware plats. I completely lost sight of what I was truly trying to achieve just so I could see the funny little platinum trophy number go up.
Then I finally watched your backlog video and boy, did I wish I watched this before going headstrong into my challenge. This is easily my favorite video of all time from you and one that sticks with me weekly. This is my 4th time watching both backlog videos. Its helped remind me why I game and thats the "Man." moments. My first one ever was crisis core on the psp, the first game to ever make me cry too and honestly, its been so long since I've truly had a moment like that but I'm confident that won't be for much longer.
Thank you for all you do.
Man I wish I had an eighth of the will to plat games like that. I’ve only gotten my first few this year, and two of them were easy ones. The main initial one was Final Fantasy XVI which I loved and it was basically not a chore at all, then Unpacking and Donut County. I’ve had Diablo IV pretty much dead to rights but haven’t been able to kill Uber Lilith, who I want to handle solo. Approaching the end of another season of dozens of hours wasted on a character who never got strong enough before I stopped playing like a month ago so maybe I’ll just let someone else handle it for me at this point.
Edit: forgot to say that it’s a shame you couldn’t find the video sooner, but better now than another year passed. You can change your ways now lol.
I used just a note on google keeps before watching your video last year, and liked a lot, so I did a spreadsheet and I loved, but I didn't make a deadline, I just wanted to play more games than last year.
I got it on september!
Now I'm with 830 hours played in 2023 only, 52 credits rolled games and 7 games dropped...
and about 500 games still on the backlog, lol, but it's ok, I will just put then up or down on the list according to how I'm feeling to play or not, and I will probably add way more games, but this is helping me to play more, so thank you 😁
Man, the ending with Hellblade was masterfully done, great job on this. Seriously.
thoroughly enjoyed this man! I am SO glad you ended this list with a huge Hellblade section, truly one of the most important games ever made.
Regarding the backlist, dropping (MOST) RPG's has allowed me to start enjoying gaming again, I've found that I really enjoy those 3-12 hour linear stories, LoU, What Remains of Edith Finch, Cocoon, Jusant ect. Dropping games that don't hook youis ABSOLUTELY the way.
Incredible video, absolutely incredible. Congrats!
This video makes me feel *MAN.* It was very nice to see this journey unfold, from the optimistic start, to the low points, to the struggle and finally the realization and conclusion at the end was perfect, easily could be a movie, I can see myself coming back to this video again and again for sure, thank you for sharing this journey.
(Also, it would be cool if you made your new spreadsheet avaliable to see, without the time constraint, it would just be a nice, easy to access sheet that you can updated and add stuff to whenever you feel like) -Also cuz I want to hear your thoughts on a lot of the games you saved for later haha-
I gotta say, I think these 2 videos on the gaming backlog are the absolute best I’ve seen on the subject and your conclusion is a very healthy mindset to have. I’m glad to have witnessed this journey!
I'll add to the consensus and just say this video is a revelation and lends great perspective on life, let alone my own gaming backlog. Thank you so much for making this video and I'm looking forward to seeing more from your channel!
What I learned from this.
1) It's okay to have a backlog as long as you are playing what you want and are having fun
2) It's okay to walk away if you're not having fun
3) It's not important what others think are classics
4) How much I appreciate your videos
This video definitely felt like an adventure in of itself! Congrats on sticking with it and getting something out of it even if its not what you originally wanted. Ending with hellblade was definitely one of those serendipitous life things that kinda tell me “you’re on the right path”. I think ill try a backlog run too but ill only do 12 games for the year since theyll be competing with new releases, variable game lengths and just my life as it requires more attention away from games. Just the fact of setting out to achieve something is rewarding on its own.
Man. It pained me to see you abandon so many of my absolute favorites, but seeing the joy you found as a first time player of some good classics is heartwarming
As a massive fan of cultist simulator - completely fair game to drop haha
It's one of those very niche titles that are definitely not for everyone and you need to be paying a lot of attention to the exact words being thrown at you, have a notepad at the ready, or just use a wiki. I like it because it gives me the feeling of being an occult researcher and the follow-up game (Book of Hours) captures this feeling 100x better. The stakes are lowered quite a bit (dying is very hard, for one) and you're given all the time in the world to figure out what you need in order to achieve an ending.
Forgive my gushing, I'm just a big fan of the writing :)
Driving home from Thanksgiving with the family, now I have the GOAT channel with a GOAT video to listen to on the ride. What a GOAT
Safe travels!
I'm on the path to the mindset that I don't have a backlog, just a collection that's there for me to look at for suggestions, but as many of us, the acceptance is key for me as well. What a delightful video to spend an hour on, man!
I have been under so much stress because of my backlog sitting behind all the adult stuff I have on my plate. This video is so good and makes me believe I can actually do this. Great job!
I wouldn’t mind a video entirely on how you organized your thoughts during this adventure. I find organization very interesting. I’m very fun at parties
34 games in a year that is actually a good number. But then again, the important thing is to enjoy the journey and not feel rushed to finish everything. I myself did made a list of all my games (191 games) and slowly have been playing them at my own pace and at first I was exactly how you began, trying to finish everything as quickly as possible, but found out that going at it that way was taking the fun out the games.
Thanks for this video. It really does grapple with a lot of issues I have with video games at this stage in my life. Time, responsibilities, feeling overwhelmed, not being present. Feeing the need to consume to remove the feeling that something is missing. This video is about coping with being human more than dealing with an oversized games collection. I’m utterly inspired. Time to start and finish the 100+ henti school girl games I have cluttering up the hard drive.
This is such a beautiful and interesting video. It was so strange watching the backlog without any live context all year long and watching as games i loved got completed or dropped (R.I.P 999). Keep up the good work and ill hold onto hope that since you loved AI: The somnium files, that you might give 999 another chance someday.
Big props on this video Daryl. Hits hard and really makes you think. As a full time worker, studying with a kid, this helps.