STEAM Backlog Project 2012-2017

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:20 am

Finished Red Solstice Single Player.

Decided to play Fable: The Lost Chapters, never played it before, and the general look was... tolerable. Seems Lionhead / Peter Molyneaux was really into good vs. evil stuff, as you can go both ways.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 5:22 pm

Poly Bridge came with my March Humble subscription..and it's not my type of game. I just don't find it fun. I also played through the first episode of Life Is Strange and I'm not 100% sold on it yet. There are some story elements I really like, but others feel off. It's probably the dialogue, but I *think* I'm going to keep playing. I've only put about two hours into it, but I could also see just completely walking away from it at some point. I don't quite feel the hook.

EDIT: RIVE too. Not my type of game at all.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 3:03 am

So far, Fable just feels like a console port that wasn't quite done right. Characters look cartoony (but that's its own charm), despite the serious story about a child losing mother and sister in a raid, and later, found sister blinded but survived. I'm pretty well armored up with chain mail and I already got an obsidian greatsword which is pretty dope. My problem is with the combat mechanics. They have attack, and block, and they mapped block to MIDDLE mouse button! Who the heck holds down middle button in a game? Block also is used with move keys to create roll/dodge moves. Without them you'll end up taking a lot of hits that you shouldn't have to.

And it doesn't seem to like controllers, despite being a Microsoft product! (I'll have to check again)

I'm not sure I'll finish this one, but at least it's interesting variation on RPG.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:48 pm

I never played the board game from Games Workshop (1987) that Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night is based on, but I'm rather enjoying whatever version is on STEAM. Clearly it's designed to likely be best on an iPad (or similar device) but it's a fun diversion even if I swear the AI dice roller is cheating. I actually looked into trying to buy a copy based on playing this, but the prices are all crazy so I'll just have to enjoy this version. Thanks JetFred! Every now and then, working through backlog produces a winner.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 5:49 pm

Ah, I tried that game as well, and Lord of Night sequel. They're kinda fun for a short run.

Turns out Fable has a "HD remastered" version called Fable Anniversary that has controller support.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:47 am

I am about 2/3rd done with Fable (just finished Arena, went all the way) and almost done with Ghostbusters (down to final battle).

Fable's combat mechanism for PC was designed rather badly. Mouse Middle button to block? Really? Had to remap it to a different mouse button, as combat at the higher levels require a lot more blocking. I'll need to try the boxing league again, as I failed to pass level 3.

Ghostbusters managed to stay somewhat fresh by giving you FOUR weapons in your proton wand... the standard proton wand (with capture beam and tractor beam) with optional meson dart, the stasis shotgun / beam, the slime sprayer / tether, and near the final, a blaster with two separate settings. Some ghosts are more vulnerable to one type than the other. You'll also end up using the PK meter a lot to find artifacts (collectibles) and as a plot device (as you also collect ghost scan settings).

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:25 am

Yeah, I don't think I'd play for hours and hours at a time, but Chainsaw Warrior was an interesting variation on the Fighting Fantasy-style books (and now games). Would recommend.

Last night I spent a few hours with Craft the World - a title I know is mentioned here every once and a while in a positive light. It's fun, but it's not my thing. I picked it up on the cheap during the Xmas sale figuring I'd give it a whirl and all it did was re-affirm that I'm just not into crafting games. Or at least the games where crafting needs to be done in a specific way or I'm not interested. This one was a little too micro-manage-y for my tastes and it seems like eventually I'll be trending towards keeping track of a dozen or more little dudes hammering away at something. Ultimately I don't find these games relaxing enough to invest the time, but I guess if you're into the whole crafting and digging experience this delivers.

EDIT: I guess Space Run Galaxy is a PC game version of Galaxy Trucker? I don't know since I've never played the board game, but it's a fun distraction. It has elements that I think will end up frustrating me later on - the same elements that drive me nuts with Tower Defense games where you need to put *stuff* on the map in a specific way or purchase things in just the right order to be able to survive or complete the map. At some random point those types of games aren't fun to me anymore, but I do enjoy a few of them. This seems like I might be able to get a few more hours out of it, but who knows? It's still a solid game.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:31 pm

Once Piece Pirate Warriors 3 is...uh...something. I'm not familiar at all with this style of game, though I do have a very vague memory of playing a Dynasty Warriors game (?) on my Xbox360 quite some time ago. I guess they're they same style game, just a variation on the theme. It's definitely interesting and actually a bit relaxing in some capacity as you're essentially racing around and whooping ass as a super-powered fighter...pirate...rubber-man...something. I don't know, but my partner is a guy that fights using "three sword style", which (I think) requires one sword being held in his mouth. Yes, it was a freebie from my Humble Subscription, and I'm slightly intrigued after a few hours of play. It's been such a long time since I've played a game this different it's actually a bit refreshing. I honestly wouldn't know who to recommend it to.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:00 am

Finished Ghostbusters, it's fun, but the big battle wasn't nearly as tough as it was made out to be.

I started playing Battlezone Redux, and I don't remember the 2nd mission being so hard.

I defended the base with 6-7 turrets, but I apparently cannot get ahead of the transports.

I tried to assign the two other units as escort, but my controls seem to be twitchy and I can't do it.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 24, 2017 1:45 am

Ran into a bottleneck in Fable... the infamous "timed mission"... I have 5 minutes (no onscreen clock) that I need to fight through a ton of enemies to reach the archaelogist being carted off to who knows where. Unfortunately, these guys now have serious defenses that it takes time to hack through them. Wonder if running past them would work? Probably not. I'm getting a bit tired of this game any way, the hacking and slashing isn't really doing it for me.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:06 am

Decided to go modern, and started a new game in Splinter Cell Conviction. It did make things a lot simpler but didn't take away all the stealth bits. I enjoy the stealth kills and ambushes. Blacklist is more fun as it allows for more approaches, but the story in Conviction was better, IMHO. I'm about half way through already.

EDIT: Finished in 13 hours, and that's because most of the good missions are kinda long. And I didn't go for every challenge and whatnot. Interesting, and kinda makes me want to play Splinter Cell Blacklist some more.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Mar 25, 2017 10:10 pm

given up on the backlog for now. i want to play something specific, but i can't quite pin down what it is....

installed Will Rock (from CD-ROM) - i managed to get it installed and even running in Windows 10 with the v1.2 patch, Win XP SP3 compatibility mode and a noCDcrack, but i have disappearing textures/areas of the map (where big chunks of the floor just disappear if you look at it the wrong way). seems like a graphics driver issue, but there isn't much info on the web on getting this title to run on modern systems...

i uninstalled and reinstalled per this thread, but it didn't help.

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=42873

i'll post this in the Will Rock thread that i had created over a decade ago

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Mar 27, 2017 10:34 am

Got back to a different game, Panzer Elite Action: Field of Glory.

It's an action game where your tank platoon takes on gajillion enemy tanks and AT guns and infantry (and mines, and armored rail cars, and planes)

The BIK intro movies crashed the game, had to nuke them by editing the config file and got it running.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Mar 28, 2017 1:05 am

Finished Panzer Elite Action: field of glory, it's kinda painful holding down the key just to keep the tank moving. Also, the Sherman is amazingly top heavy that I flip the tank so many times (and had it barrel roll down a hill, it's hilarious) that surely they messed up the physics model.

Getting back to BattleZone 98.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:12 pm

Needing some hack and slash, I started on the Diablo clone" Realms of Ancient War". It's designed for a gamepad, in fact, Nice job.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:17 pm

Kasey Chang wrote:Needing some hack and slash, I started on the Diablo clone" Realms of Ancient War". It's designed for a gamepad, in fact, Nice job.

it controls like how i wish Diablo did - direct input for the character.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 8:29 pm

Almost reminds me of gauntlet, in fact.

EDIT: Finished first playthrough as wizard. Seems we can also play warrior or rogue. Wizard wasn't that bad, as fireball has quite a good range, and includes occasional knockback. There's also a separate knockback spell that also works on the giant enemies, but it's directional, and needs to be almost point-blank. Face the wrong direction, and the spell does nothing.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:17 am

Finished RAW as wizard, not sure if I want to slog through it twice more as rogue and fighter.

Started on Valkyria Chronicles. It's... interesting, though the idea of not knowing how much movement I have left gives me pause, and shocktroopers seems a bit overpowered, as putting a scout near a shocktrooper means it will DIE, even if the scout's in cover.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Apr 01, 2017 12:39 am

Started on Dark Sector. There was a fad of "old Soviet secrets and lone Western agent attempt to infiltrate it and found... worse". This one is "vaguely" reminiscent of STALKER, except you are the mutant, or at least, you're half-mutated. Most folks you're fighting are wearing full biocontainment gear. You got a glaive (flying triple blade boomerang) that you can use to chop limbs and heads off people. You can still use guns, of course. And the glaive learned a couple new moves as you go, but those are not integrated well. You're simply told there are new tricks you can do, like "fly" your glaive like a remote airplane (within limits), align a timing for quad-power hit (needed to open some doors and crates), tap the glaive to electrical source or flame source to ignite stuff (burn away alien tendrils covering doors) or electrocute stuff (to open locks) respectively. So far, it's just getting through mission after mission killing things, either the zombies, of the forces guarding the place.

The occasional emplacement HMG is useless. Can't seem to kill any one with it. My pistol is far more accurate.

EDIT: I'm about half way to chapter 4 (out of 10) and I already ran into an impossible boss, known as Colossus, but basically a huge mutated ape that throws rocks at you. Any way, one hit from him, and I'm DEAD. One hit. WTF? Time to enable a trainer... Here's to hoping my Antivirus don't kill my trainer first.

And how the heck are people supposed to know how to kill those bosses when there's no health meter either for me or for him? Apparently this guy has shielding, and I have to hit him with my glaive, but only after it's charged with fire or electricity. Then he falls off, then I run in and do a "finisher" move on it, then dodge his counterattack, then repeat it two more times for total of 3 finisher moves. Then it'll stay on the ground (and throw more rocks), then I can shoot it while keep throwing fire glaive or electric graive at it. Haven't seen it die yet, as I keep getting hit at this phase and one hit and I'm dead. Then I need to repeat from before I did the 3 finisher moves on it... Did this like 5 times already. WTF.

Finally got past that area. Kept rolling and shooting, rolling and shooting. Took a LOT of shots.

The game starts the zombie rush with a timebomb sequence (with infinite zombies) sequence. WTF? (Basically, you have to fight your way out of the room, and find the exit, in under a minute (fortunately it's right outside the room though it's not obvious)

Fought my way through that, beat two bosses (a mech and a helo) then I'm stuck at ANOTHER timed sequence, except this one had STUPID CONTROLS.

Basically, your glaive can be charged with electricity, and you need that to zap the door locks. However, the sparking panels now are hidden behind stuff and you can access it only by REMOTE CONTROL (called "aftertouch" in the game) the glaive except the controls are upside down! (there is invert Y-axis, but it's universal, so if you change that, you'll change your main character's control too!)

AND you get zombies bumrushing you (infinite spawn) while you frantically find your way out. And you need to do this four or five times in about 3 minutes. If you fail ANY of the parts and ran out of time, you die and restart the remote control flying that you suck at. Eventually you'll leave the ship, if you care to repeat.

And this part I can't even cheat with as trainers doesn't help with the timer. ARGH. This is where I rage quit.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Apr 08, 2017 2:19 am

Finished the main single player campaign in Homefront: The Revolution. For the final mission, I brought shotgun and LMG. Except I had the wrong scope on the LMG... The 4X is too close. Should have swapped it for Reflex or Holo, but too busy. Should have swapped to a different config. But I finished.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Apr 08, 2017 3:50 am

Finished HomeFront the Revolution: Voice of Freedom DLC. It was short, but it was exciting. You're playing as Walker, the voice of the resistance himself, in a prequel chapter to the opening, where you're trying to fight your way INTO Philly and you ran into a gang known as Nine-Oh (as they're based in 90th Street Subway Station) barring your way. I can see why they cut this from the game intro as it's pretty easy-peasy stuff as they don't want you to switch to Brody later. And it's short. I finished it in an hour, I think.

And it's pretty funny how I did it too. I snuck around, backstabbed everybody on the upper platforms, gather enough material to make 4 explosives, and I configed them into remote triggered version. The railcar with HMG was nasty, but it had horrible visibility, and it's no danger to me as I'm above it. I waited for it to come close to a roof I can jump onto, then when it came over, I calmly tossed 4 remote bombs onto it. Then I climbed back up, found a good defensive point, and calmly hit "detonate". KABOOM! Then it's time to grab a motorcycle and do the "Great Escape" as I jump through ramps and through subway cars trying to make it through the exit before the tunnel collapses.

THEN I get to shoot my way through a Nork checkpoint into Philly. How fun.

Tomorrow, the next chapter...

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sun Apr 09, 2017 1:30 am

Finished all DLCs in Homefront. They are definitely tactically challenging as they are straight forward adventures. Salvage is just for ammo and GTK components.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 2:13 pm

Technically this is NOT a STEAM backlog, as this game wasn't on Steam... John Woo presents Stranglehold.

Basically, you play HKPD inspector "Tequila" Yuen (ref; Hard Boiled) in his further adventures navigating his way through gang infested Hong Kong... and later, the US, when a cop got killed and his love and his daughter kidnapped. In typical John Woo fashion? You can slide down handrails, shoot weak points to drop things on bad guys, slide across tables, bullet time shot dodge, blow up drug labs, even "stand off" where you square up against multiple bad guys with chance to dodge shots.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:56 pm

I am horrible at these "style combos", so it's a bit of "meh" for me. According to the game, Tequila made 1272 kills through all the missions. (Ouch) and have shot down multiple helos, sank at least 4 ships, and took out two of the Hong Kong's triads while taking down a branch of the Bratva in the US as well.

The game is buggy in that sometimes it can leave you with no place to go when the script breaks. Once, in the islands off Hong Kong mission, I was supposed to be going through an enemy camp, blow up some drug labs, which also demolishes their "firing positions". When the explosion did not happen, I'm stuck on the stage. Next time I did it, a random shot blew up the stations and I was able to proceed. Yet another time, the laser barrier was supposed to leave a gap for me to go outside but didn't, so I'm stuck. Had to restart that mission portion and finally the gap appeared properly.

Some of these boss battles are hilarious. The Bratva lieutenant jumped out the window, and emerged moments later hanging onto a helo's side door while helo rose into view, firing a LMG. If he jumped onto the door he'd been chopped into pieces by the main rotor! But any way, barrage mode, yep.

The "style points" recharges your "Tequila meter" which powers up the special moves: heal, precision shot (like bullet-time sniper shot), barrage (berzerk mode), and "spin move" (tornado, kills everyone around you, even hurt boss a little)

At the very end you end up fighting TWO bosses... The main boss has a mean 50 cal sniper rifle, while hit big henchman dual wields shotguns. Add infinite respawn minions, and it's heck of a mess. Fortunately, it was much easier than expected when I basically tossed 5 grenades at the guy, then engaged barrage mode and mowed him down.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:06 am

The saddest part is piling up those style points doesn't really unlock anything useful except skins in multiplayer, as well as bonus videos and stills.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun May 07, 2017 6:19 pm

They Bleed Pixels - in a word: Nope.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sun May 07, 2017 8:25 pm

Finally started playing Darkstar One. Had this game for YEARS, even in hardcopy (long before I got steam).

EDIT: Finished Darkstar One, destroyed Skaa mothership.

It left me with the open world, except my turrets started shooting at stations when I autodock. WTF?! Oh well, that's okay. Next game!

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:18 pm

https://mashable.com/2018/04/14/entertainment-backlog/

It's important to remember that entertainment is just that: Entertainment. Movies, shows, games, books, podcasts; they're all there to entertain us and help us escape from the everyday stresses of real life. If you turn entertainment into a task, it is no longer entertaining.

And that sucks.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:36 pm

Great article. I figured that out a few years ago. I backed out of any show I didn't really love an look forward to. I stopped playing games that I wasn't in the mood to play. If the purpose of a hobby or entertainment is to relax and have fun, anything that isn't relaxing and fun needs to go away.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:55 pm

Incidentally, my backlog all but disappeared. By doing all this (go back to the beginning), my goal wasn't to clear out games for the sake of clearing out games. Instead, it was to try and figure out what I really enjoyed the most -- as a way to help direct and influence future purchases. I was trying to get away from buying games just because they were on sale. Instead, I now purchase games that I think I am likely to enjoy, based on wading my way through heaps and heaps of games that were acquired on the cheap.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:54 pm

I know my tastes in games have changed since Steam first got started (and even more compared to the beginning).
So now I have what would be a lot of appealing games, ten years ago, but not necessarily now.
It's still hard for me to turn down new games that I liked in the past but now so much now.
And of course the freaking OO effect.
I would give a lot of these games away if I could.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:11 pm

Next year, I hope to focus on some deeper games: 4X, The Operational Art of War, etc., once I finish my schooling.

Dave Allen · Post by **Dave Allen** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:22 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:55 pm Incidentally, my backlog all but disappeared. By doing all this (go back to the beginning), my goal wasn't to clear out games for the sake of clearing out games. Instead, it was to try and figure out what I really enjoyed the most -- as a way to help direct and influence future purchases. I was trying to get away from buying games just because they were on sale. Instead, I now purchase games that I think I am likely to enjoy, based on wading my way through heaps and heaps of games that were acquired on the cheap.

My backlog has disappeared, too.
Once I admitted that (to me) just scouting out and purchasing games was entertainment, then the need to seek out some value in games I owned, but had not played, was resolved.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:48 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:11 pm Next year, I hope to focus on some deeper games: 4X, The Operational Art of War, etc., once I finish my schooling.

4x used to be my favorite genre and now I can't even stand play them. I have a huge backlog of 4x games that I know i'll never touch.

Pretty much stick to FPS and RPGs, but I would kill for a decent HOMM style game.

I've had to let go of games that I really wanted to finish. The stress of wanting to finish them made it less fun.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:54 pm

At one time I had nothing but military games. Now I'm having hard time getting into OPART 4.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:13 pm

I don't consider my library a backlog. Much of it came either early on in the days of the incredible Steam sales. I'd grab this and that for X cents just to have it available, or to replace physical disks. Another huge chunk came from bundles. I'll see a bundle for $2.99 that includes a game I really want. That game goes into my actual backlog. The rest in the bundle that look interesting just go into the library. Those that don't particularly appeal to me are given away.

I love that if I'm in the mood for a particular type of game, say a fantasy 4x, or a first person cyberpunk game, I likely have something that fits. That's the value of a library, and that's what I've built, not a to-do list.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:17 pm

I... do occasionally go back and play some games, but often I found they are simply NOT to my liking. There's a reason why I never played them or stopped playing them.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Thu May 24, 2018 8:58 pm

Steam Spring Cleaning:

With so many wonderful games out there it’s easy to have a backlog of titles that you always intended to go play, but for whatever reason never got around to… and the Steam Spring Cleaning Event is the time to change that. By diving into your Steam Library and playing games that you haven’t looked at in a while (or at all), you can unlock and level up the new Spring Cleaning badge. But this event isn’t just for those with a hefty backlog of titles to work through… as we said earlier, Spring Cleaning is a time of delightful surprises and so in that spirit the following games will be available to play FREE for the duration of the event (May 24th -May 28th)

Don’t Starve Together
Dead by Daylight
Cities: Skylines
Tyranny
Borderlands 2
Castle Crashers
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Left 4 Dead 2
Dirt 4

infinitelurker · Post by **infinitelurker** » Fri May 25, 2018 11:27 am

A month or two ago I forced myself to try out some of games I bought on Steam sales and never played. I installed and finished Mafia 2, then decided it was probably as good a time as any to install and finish Mafia 3. Now I feel like I'm on a bit of a streak, but a friend talked me into giving Path of Exile a try, which wasn't in my backlog. Time will tell if that holds on to my gaming time...