The Summer 2012 Backlog Challenge

Summer 2012 has encroached upon us all and so it is the time for many things. Some people would love to spend their summer abscond to some other country with a loved one. Some people would spend the summer visiting  a beach or major location within the country. Some people would spend their summer sleeping in all day to  feel rejuvenated for whatever calamitous activities they may partake in during the nocturnal hours of the day.

Others would rather spend their summer watching movies while others prefer to only read. Here at velocitygamer, the best thing to do to fill the summer time is to play video games. Of course, video games, the escape from life is what is habitually condoned here. However, some people have different gaming goals they set for themselves. These can range from the usual “I want to complete this entire series” to “I need to finish my backlog of games to prevent it from growing”.

Either of those is a fine way to apply gaming to the summer time, but I never actually did any of that fatuous stuff until now. The last years of my life, summer has always been a wonderful escape for me from the pressures and issues of life in society. I used to only play games during the summer. I didn’t care about getting new games much or playing a specific game.

I just wanted to play. I didn’t matter what game I played or how long I played it. My only jejune concern was that of playing games just to enjoy the very act of gaming in and of itself. This year though, due to certain circumstances, I need to complete games I have held off on completing for quite some time and felt the need to spice things up by setting a challenge for myself.

My mother has an abundance of money because of her well paying job and long work hours. This means I buy a lot of games, but do not think that means I just ask for every game I want. I’m not a complete ignoramus. Regardless, me buying so many games often leads to me amassing a backlog of games that must be burned through. I typically complete every single game in my backlog until I compile yet another one months later.

My current backlog has been sitting unfinished for around two or three months and a new game was added today. I will attempt to use the summer to burn through my backlog and then move onto playing games I want to, but don’t own yet. The games in my backlog are:

-Valkyria Chronicles(PS3)

 

I originally bought this game back for christmas of last year along with three to six others, and this ended up being the only game I have unfinished from that time. My only experience thus far stems back a week after christmas. I started a new game and stopped playing after completing the tutorial.

I believed I would return to it soon because I had friends over so we wanted to play something else together. More than four months ended up passing by and I never returned to. Earlier this month, I decided to begin the game from the start last month and played a few chapters past the tutorial. I haven’t played it since then, but Valkyria Chronicles is still fresh in my mind. I can certainly return to it soon and get into the groove of things.

 

-The Saboteur

Several weeks ago, I was stricken with boredom and asked my mother for a few games. I gave her a list of approximately ten games and she ended up getting me two of them. One of them was Singularity, which I have already completed and reviewed for the site. The Saboteur was the other one, and I have played less than two hours of it total.

 

 

 

 

-Gravity Rush

I had pre-ordered this game, so I should have gotten it on June 12th, however my mom being the procrastinator that she is, put it off and I only just received it on June 26th.

 

 

 

 

-Elite Beat Agents

I bought Elite Beat Agents, along with nine other games one day early in the year. I had been saving up money for a some time. When a friend asked if I wanted to go to the mall, I used the opportunity to take my money with me and just burn through it all in one go. Ten games total were purchased that day. Nine of them were psp games. Elite Beat Agents was the only DS game I bought.

 

 

 

 

-Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of The Starry Skies

I am stuck on the final boss fight. I persevered for a day or two. After that, I gave up and told myself I would return to the game. It is an excellent game by the way. Anyone looking for a traditional JRPG needs this game in their collection.

 

 

 

 

-Patapon

This was one of those games I bought with Elite Beat Agents, however it is not my first experience with it. I originally bought Patapon upon its release. I simply bought it again. I never did complete it, even back then.

 

 

 

 

-Mega Man Powered Up

This is the same situation as with Patapon. In the past, I made it up to Wily’s castle, and now I am still stuck there to this day.

 

-Mega Man Maverick Hunter X

Megaman Maverick Hunter X is one of the ten games I bought on that day, but the difference is I never owned it prior to that day.

 

 

 

 

 

-Army Corps of Hell

I bought a PSVita First Edition bundle, meaning I got my comely Vita the week before its official North American Release date with some extra stuff like a carrying case and a free copy of Little Deviants. I bought twelve PSVita launch titles which is the most I have ever bought for a system and Army Corps of Hell was one of those game I bought on the PSVita’s launch day. I’m still very early in. I would say I’m less than two hours into it.

 

 

-Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked

My first experience with this game in particular was a few short weeks prior to last summer with the original DS version. I bought it despite knowing a 3DS version was coming down the road, but I wanted an RPG at the time and couldn’t wait until August for the 3DS version to come out. I played it throughout the summer along with some other DS games. I enjoyed it immensely and played it whenever I had free time from other games. I never beat it because I got stuck on the first boss fight of the final day, which if you didn’t know, the game takes place across a period of seven days. I gave up on that first boss and never returned to it since. I eventually got around to buying the 3DS version and seeing as it had actual difficulty settings, unlike the first which didn’t allow you to choose. Perhaps I could use this opportunity to finally beat the game and experience the bonus end game content.

 

 

 

 

-Tales of The Abyss

I bought this on launch day on the 3DS and have amassed around an hour of playtime.

-Tales of Graces F

I got this on launch day,which was the same day as Mass Effect 3. Considering that Mass Effect 3 was the conclusion to the trilogy, I had to put my attention to that game first and slightly neglect Tales of Graces F. I have played it six to eight hours, somewhere around there.

 

 

 

 

That is my current summer backlog, but I am positive it will become bigger. My birthday is tomorrow and I want to cut back, so while I will be getting games, it’ll be less than usual. I’ll be getting Lollipop Chainsaw and Spec Ops: The Line. I suppose the most apt course of action to take would be to knock out my two birthday games first. After crossing at least 60% of those games from my list, I aspire to play through some series start to end that I’ve either played before or never have played.

I want to go through the whole Kingdom Hearts series. I have only ever played Kingdom Hearts 2 and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Considering I will be getting Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance upon release and that the game leads into Kingdom Hearts 3, I need to brush up on the series. That means I will be playing in this order(Not necessarily chronological order):

-Kingdom Hearts

 

-Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

-Kingdom Hearts 2

-Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

-Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

-Kingdom Hearts: Re: coded

 

Another series I want to tackle over the summer is the Playstation 3 Atelier series, consisting of three games. I own the third game because it came out recently, so I just had to reserve it. I still need to get on buying the first two.

-Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland

-Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland

-Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland

Those are my gaming plans for the summer in a nutshell. If anyone else has any thing special  or any challenge they’re undertaking involving games, please do sound off on the comments. The summer game drought is here so don’t waste it.