My Extensive RPG Backlog

I recently watched a video on YouTube talking about how bizarre it is that we vilify the idea of not finishing games, and it made me think. Just how many unfinished games do I have in my backlog? Hundreds, certainly, and not something that’s possible to make a single blog post about. But if we were to shed some light on the fact that my attention span is the size of an igloo in the Sahara desert which is constantly being attracted to new RPGs, what would that look like?

Well, behold: Every RPG (barring many that I’ve forgotten exist) that exist in my backlog, yet to be finished.

Why? Ask my brain, it kept me up at night until I could finish this list.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

How far: Like, 20 hours?

Likelihood of finishing: Very high, when I return to it.

Baldur’s Gate

How far: I did the tutorial, then couldn’t figure out how to start a save game in the main game.

Likelihood of finishing: I’ll get back to it someday I’m sure.

Breath of Fire

How far: Enough to make a video on it, but not far.

Likelihood of finishing: Unlikely, though it is quirky.

Divinity: Original Sin

How far: Met the cat. In both playthroughs.

Likelihood of finishing: Decent, just need to find the time with my friend.

Dragon Age Origins

How far: I have joined the Grey Wardens on three separate save files.

Likelihood of finishing: Never, if I try restarting. Possibly, if I continue a save file.

Dragon Age Inquisition

How far: I’d wager halfway through the main story.

Likelihood of finishing: Maybe one day, but I’d need a fresh save.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

How far: Not far.

Likelihood of finishing: Unlikely, I dislike how the game plays.

Dragon Quest

How far: Like… 60%?

Likelihood of finishing: Decent.

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of a Forgotten Past

How far: 9 hours in. Over a year.

Likelihood of finishing: It’s a 120 hour game. But damnit, yes. I will. It’s what I’m currently playing.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

How far: Not started, but I bought this for after VII.

Likelihood of finishing: Idk!! Get off my case!!!

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

How far: I beat the Black Knight, is he called?

Likelihood of finishing: Eh. A new save is required. But one day.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age

How far: Like 60%? Again?

Likelihood of finishing: Tell Phil to put it back on Game Pass and I’ll get right on it.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

How far: Like 3 hours in.

Likelihood of finishing: Not on your life. Gameplay has AGED.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

How far: Most guildlines done, just need to do Mage’s Guild and Main Questline.

Likelihood of finishing: 100% going to do this.

Fable Anniversary

How far: Chicken chaser? Wot, do you chase chickens?

Likelihood of finishing: It’s on my list of one-days.

Fallout 3

How far: Hey look, a nuke.

Likelihood of finishing: Not high, this game is bleak and old.

Fallout 4

How far: I did the museum bit.

Likelihood of finishing: If I finish a Fallout game, it’ll be this one.

Fantasy Life

How far: I got up to a mountainous area!

Likelihood of finishing: Maybe one day.

Final Fantasy

How far: I wanna say halfway?

Likelihood of finishing: Pretty good actually!

Final Fantasy III

How far: I don’t remember. First town?

Likelihood of finishing: I forgot I owned this. But I’d like to finish all Final Fantasy’s someday.

Final Fantasy VII

How far: I blew up the reactor!

Likelihood of finishing: monkey puppet sideye gif

Final Fantasy VII Remake

How far: I did the motorbike bit and the bit after that bit!

Likelihood of finishing: Absolutely.

Final Fantasy VIII

How far: Wait, I own FFVIII?

Likelihood of starting: I mean… I probably should, right?

Final Fantasy X

How far: I remember reaching a village and doing temple stuff and talking about Blitzball.

Likelihood of finishing: AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age

How far: Sewers!

Likelihood of finishing: High, this game is like proto-14.

Final Fantasy XIII

How far: Hard to tell. Is it all techno-fantasy corridors?

Likelihood of finishing: I’m still curious, but it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Final Fantasy XV

How far: I think the plot is about to start. Aaaany second now.

Likelihood of finishing: I mean, I can’t play XVI soooo….

Horizon: Zero Dawn

How far: 10-15 hours? Big reveal just happened and we were about to venture forth into the wider world.

Likelihood of finishing: Idk man, my PS4 feels like dead hardware now…

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

How far: Almost halfway!

Likelihood of finishing: Pretty high! I love this game!

Kingdom Hearts

How far: Uhhhh The Little Mermaid land if I remember.

Likelihood of finishing: I would say good, but there are so many unique worlds I’d rather explore first.

Kingdoms of Amalur

How far: Not as far as my praise for this game would have you believe

Likelihood of finishing: Yeah sure probably

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

How far: Two Divine Beasts

Likelihood of finishing: Pretty dang high but not any time soon!

Mass Effect 2

How far: I think I’ve recruited my full crew, if not most.

Likelihood of finishing: Very high, especially now I’m watching Star Trek…

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

How far: “Wait, this is a monster taming game?”

Likelihood of finishing: Nnnnah.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

How far: A little ways past the first venture into the overworld map.

Likelihood of finishing: Fairly low, but I preferred it to the first game.

Octopath Traveller

How far: How do you even measure that? I got three people in my party.

Likelihood of finishing: I’d love to. I’ve heard how the premise doesn’t really manifest though and that puts me off somewhat.

Persona 3 Portable

How far: I’m a few floors into Pandaemonium.

Likelihood of finishing: Well, they just announced a remake, so…

Persona 5 Royal

How far: I cleaned my room!!

Likelihood of finishing: I wanna do the earlier ones first. So… low.

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire

How far: I got to Mega Evolution, I forget when you unlock it.

Likelihood of finishing: Hopefully someday, I love how it looks and I tend to enjoy the remakes.

Pokémon Sun

How far: Second island.

Likelihood of finishing: Nah. Runs like ass.

Pokémon Violet

How far: Not far. Level 15-20ish area.

Likelihood of finishing: Same likelihood as GameFreak fixing the performance issues.

Tales of Arise

How far: I did the first act! Area! Zone! Thing! And I made it a decent ways through the next.

Likelihood of finishing: Fairly high. I love this game.

Torment: Tides of Numenera

How far: I finished the tutorial!

Likelihood of finishing: I uninstalled the game! It was overwhelming!

The Witcher

How far: Think I got a trading card of a naked lady once?

Likelihood of finishing: There are plans to revisit it with a friend sometime.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

How far: I finished the first main bit! This is becoming a pattern, isn’t it?

Likelihood of finishing: LEAVE ME ALONE

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

How far: FINISHED FIRST MAIN BIT

Likelihood of finishing: THIS BLOG POST WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

How far: Midway through the Jungle area.

Likelihood of finishing: I’m really feeling it!

Yakuza 0

How far: weakly I finished the first main act…

Likelihood of finishing: I need to lie down…

This blog post was meant to be a quick and easy look at my flawed attention span and the type of games I’m drawn to. While it’s easy to joke about the fact that I tend to finish the first act and then abandon a game, hopefully this list has given some idea as to the types of games I enjoy and plan to return to, and the types of games which I do not.

There are several games which would probably show up on this list a year from now, as there are plenty I still plan on playing. First and foremost on that list are games like Suikoden, Final Fantasy IV, the Fire Emblem series (if you can call them RPGs), and more.

Maybe I’ll even finish some!

A Fairly One-Note Month – Kritigri’s Month in Gaming

Some months, I jump around seventeen different games, spending a large amount of time in a handful and sampling the rest through various smaller gaming sessions. Other months – like this past July – I hone in on a single game and dedicate a large portion of my life to it. This month’s game is

RuneScape 3

And the problem is, I’ve talked about this game before. I’ve been playing it off and on for sixteen years now. It was my first MMO, and despite the various hiccoughs it’s had over the years with bad decision-making such as the extreme Real World Trade limitations or the abysmally received Evolution of Combat updates, I still prefer RS3 over OldSchool RuneScape, its 2007-era counterpart. I have dipped my toes into OSRS this month too, but I think I’m more of an OSRS YouTube content consumer than an actual player, myself. The RS3 creature comforts are just too good.

I do main an Ironman, though, which means I’m not allowed to trade with any players in any way, and I can’t access Treasure Hunter. That’s the big one. Despite starting in 07, I did eventually stop playing RuneScape around 2011 and didn’t return until 2013, which, blimey, felt like an age had passed at the time but now looks like no time at all. Help… time dilation… HELP-

Anyway, the second time I “stopped” was around 2019, when I realised that the 2013 account I made had benefitted so much from bonus XP rewards, Treasure Hunter outfits and Double XP weekends that I didn’t feel like my accomplishments were really worth much. I had so many fundamental issues with the microtransactional landscape of the game that I did what I rarely do in an MMO: I hung up my skillcapes and said goodbye for good.

But then at some point I realised that just playing an Ironman would make my accomplishments feel worthwhile again, so I spun up this account and that’s what I’ve been playing (with the usual breaks) ever since. This month, I started to learn bossing, finally taking on content such as The Barrows Brothers and the Dagannoth Kings, content which was last relevant sometime back when I first started the game. We’re making good progress!

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of a Forgotten Past

Speaking of old games with an absurd amount of content to tackle, this month I finally blew the dust off my 3DS and continued my adventures in Dragon Quest VII. I did so, of course, while I was grinding Runespan in RuneScape, and found that in doing so I achieved a perfect balance between two games capturing my attention at the same time. This may sound awful to anyone who hasn’t played RuneScape, but there are certain skills in that game which only require your attention once every few minutes or so, and it can feel quite rewarding to multitask due to this. Dragon Quest VII’s turn-based nature made it an easy choice to pair up with in this sense.

So, how far through DQVII have I made it this time, you ask? Why, ten hours in! I’ve been to a few islands, solved some troubles, witnessed some traumatic events which tested the limits of my childhood innocence, hired a dog turned into a boy, that sort of thing. It’s been quite fun!

In Summary

This month-

-hold on-

-sorry, had to click a tree. This month has been pretty much dominated by the least interesting game to talk about, so my apologies if things feel sparse. Maybe next month I’ll have more to talk about!