RPGWatch - GOTY 2021 - Best RPG

Speaking of backlogs, I don't really understand how a lot of people seem to handle them. I wonder what the perceived upside is in going through them chronologically. In other words, if I have 10 games on my backlog and a new game comes out that I'm very excited about, why would I feel the need to play through those 10 games first before I play the one just released? Especially if I'm less drawn to some or all of the games on that 10 game list?

It's obviously fine to have a backlog. None of us have all the time in the world. But that's just it… if you keep putting things off out of some perverse sense of completeness, surely you can see that completeness can and never will be achieved (assuming you're not immortal and/or games don't stop being produced at some point), so all you end up doing is playing inferior games in favor of better ones?

I'm surprised that Solasta scored the silver medal. I would have thought that Wildermyth, Encased or maybe even ATOM would be in the top 3 instead of a 5E rules combat simulator with no story or other content (aside from tactical combat) worth mentioning.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Speaking of backlogs, I don't really understand how a lot of people seem to handle them. I wonder what the perceived upside is in going through them chronologically. In other words, if I have 10 games on my backlog and a new game comes out that I'm very excited about, why would I feel the need to play through those 10 games first before I play the one just released? Especially if I'm less drawn to some or all of the games on that 10 game list?

It's obviously fine to have a backlog. None of us have all the time in the world. But that's just it… if you keep putting things off out of some perverse sense of completeness, surely you can see that completeness can and never will be achieved (assuming you're not immortal and/or games don't stop being produced at some point), so all you end up doing is playing inferior games in favor of better ones?

I have a HUGE backlog of literally hundreds of games across all platforms (Steam, UbiSoft Connect, B.net, Origin etc.).

I don't really have an order in which I tackle the backlog. In the past, I've sometimes tried different "systems" for fun, e.g. I prioritized short games to get them out of the way and once I even tried an alphabetical order just for fun.

Nowadays, I just play what I feel like the most. I'm a complete edition guy so I rarely play games at or near release unless I know I won't be interested in the DLC anyway.
For example, I'm currently playing Far Cry 6 because I don't care about the season pass. Far Cry 6 is an example where I applied a "last in, first out" approach. I bought it rather recently and I'm playing it now because I was in the mood for it.

Playing through my backlog in order would be all but impossible. I'd need several weeks just to figure out the "correct" order by release or purchase date .

At the end of the day, I don't see a need to approach it scientifically, mathematically or in any other organized fashion.
To me, my backlog is like a huge library that I can pick and choose from depending on my current mood.
The only times I play games in order (for obvious reasons) is when I play through a series of games where it matters (i.e. story-driven games … with a series like Far Cry it is not necessary to play them in any order).

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Speaking of backlogs, I don't really understand how a lot of people seem to handle them. I wonder what the perceived upside is in going through them chronologically. In other words, if I have 10 games on my backlog and a new game comes out that I'm very excited about, why would I feel the need to play through those 10 games first before I play the one just released? Especially if I'm less drawn to some or all of the games on that 10 game list?

It's obviously fine to have a backlog. None of us have all the time in the world. But that's just it… if you keep putting things off out of some perverse sense of completeness, surely you can see that completeness can and never will be achieved (assuming you're not immortal and/or games don't stop being produced at some point), so all you end up doing is playing inferior games in favor of better ones?

What makes you think most people are doing it that way? I can't see that being the case unless someone is really OCD.

Personally, I play what I'm in the mood for. I would never make a decision on what I'm going to play based on release dates.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
I'm surprised that Solasta scored the silver medal. I would have thought that Wildermyth, Encased or maybe even ATOM would be in the top 3 instead of a 5E rules combat simulator with no story or other content (aside from tactical combat) worth mentioning.

I also thought Encased & Wildermyth would be in top 3 but then I completely forgot about Gothic mod and how people love Gothic series

Originally Posted by Moriendor
I'm surprised that Solasta scored the silver medal. I would have thought that Wildermyth, Encased or maybe even ATOM would be in the top 3 instead of a 5E rules combat simulator with no story or other content (aside from tactical combat) worth mentioning.

C'mon.

It does have a story, cutscenes, dialogs. Sure, it would not win a lot of points for its originality, but calling it a simple "5e rules combat simulator" is a gross exaggeration.

Not to mention all the great stories in user-made content in Solasta. You young kids with my crpgs have to have amazing stories. I'll set up a story for you, your group is a bunch of murder hobos and you are trying to survive and get treasure. Just the way Gary Gygax would want it in Against the Giants or Keep in the Borderlands.

I laugh at your pitiful stories and Crom will surely strike you down.

Originally Posted by JDR13
What makes you think most people are doing it that way? I can't see that being the case unless someone is really OCD.

Personally, I play what I'm in the mood for. I would never make a decision on what I'm going to play based on release dates.

I'm probably wrong! Anecdotally, I feel like I've read a lot of posts here to the effect: "I want to play game X but I'm going to hold off because I have far too many games in my backlog already". Playing whatever you're in the mood for is the only thing that's really sensible to me. Personally I tend to be drawn to the new, so it's easy for me to be seduced by a new game I'm interested in, but there are times when the most appealing thing at that moment is some game that's been out a while.

Originally Posted by hastar
not to mention all the great stories in user-made content in solasta. You young kids with my crpgs have to have amazing stories. I'll set up a story for you, your group is a bunch of murder hobos and you are trying to survive and get treasure. Just the way gary gygax would want it in against the giants or keep in the borderlands.

I laugh at your pitiful stories and crom will surely strike you down.

borrriiiingggg

You know how they say you can't take it with you? Well, you REALLY can't take a bunch of fake treasure in a game with you.

Originally Posted by vanedor
C'mon.

It does have a story, cutscenes, dialogs. Sure, it would not win a lot of points for its originality, but calling it a simple "5e rules combat simulator" is a gross exaggeration.

He said none "worth mentioning". And nobody ever does, except to say that it's there. You'd be hard pressed to find a Solasta player who tries to argue that the story/characters/dialogue are good, much less exceptional.

To each his or her own, but I didn't even buy Solasta, much less rank it in my top 3.

Originally Posted by Hastar
Not to mention all the great stories in user-made content in Solasta. You young kids with my crpgs have to have amazing stories. I'll set up a story for you, your group is a bunch of murder hobos and you are trying to survive and get treasure. Just the way Gary Gygax would want it in Against the Giants or Keep in the Borderlands.

I laugh at your pitiful stories and Crom will surely strike you down.

I thought most of Solasta mods are story-light and combat-heavy because of the limited feature of dungeon creator?

I need to feel connected to characters I play for me to create my own story, which didn't happen in Solasta. Wildermyth did a better job in that regard imo. But I guess its just difference in preferences/taste.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
He said none "worth mentioning". And nobody ever does, except to say that it's there. You'd be hard pressed to find a Solasta player who tries to argue that the story/characters/dialogue are good, much less exceptional.

To each his or her own, but I didn't even buy Solasta, much less rank it in my top 3.

Shame, shame, shame.

No-one's saying it's a top-tier game, no-one expected it to be.

But it is a perfect no.2 spot game.

You know, the kind of game any cRPG'er should be able to pick-up and play and enjoy for the cRPG basics presented in a perfectly adequate manner.

And to pre-empt the cheap reply, no, basic and adequate doesn't mean mediocre to the point of nausea, it just means it's fine. Good. Perfectly cromulent.

If we only ever played things we hold as personal perfection we really wouldn't play many games now would we. But, as cRPG specialists, as everyone here is, surely we all have 'room' in our itinerary to play some No.2s while we wait for the No.1s, right.

Thirst quenchers.

If there's no thirst at all the for the basics, that is varied character creation, character building, complex mechanics, combat and a fun story in a strange world with lots of environmental, monster and exploration variety, then what on earth can the genre offer you other than the odd game of interest.

Congratulations to the winners! I was only confident in WotR winning from all gushing I've read about it. Now I know what to pick up at the next sale. (I was pulling for Wildermyth, Solasta and Gloomhaven as those were then only one's I've played).

Didn't vote no internet access. Only agree with the first place winner Wrath of the Righteous. The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos is a mod not a commercial game.

Didn't enjoy the combat simulator Solasta: Crown of the Magister either.

I have the following priority for how I play games: anything that's a gift gets to the head of the line, and then I check to make sure an eligible title isn't expected to receive any more patches/updates. After that, games that interested me enough to buy, and then recommendations from friends/mates.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Speaking of backlogs, I don't really understand how a lot of people seem to handle them. I wonder what the perceived upside is in going through them chronologically. In other words, if I have 10 games on my backlog and a new game comes out that I'm very excited about, why would I feel the need to play through those 10 games first before I play the one just released? Especially if I'm less drawn to some or all of the games on that 10 game list?

It's obviously fine to have a backlog. None of us have all the time in the world. But that's just it… if you keep putting things off out of some perverse sense of completeness, surely you can see that completeness can and never will be achieved (assuming you're not immortal and/or games don't stop being produced at some point), so all you end up doing is playing inferior games in favor of better ones?

Not sure where you get the idea that anyone is handling their backlog like that. For me, when it's time to start a new game, I go through the backlog list, filter out anything that's not "complete" (ie: DLC/expansions/major patches still incoming), then normally pick whatever I think will be the most enjoyable out of what remains.

Of course this method requires occasional pruning of the list. If there's a game several years old on your list, then barring special circumstances, probably no reason to leave it there, you'll never get around to it. Don't know why somebody would keep a backlog of more than 20 or so games. Are you anticipating some major life event that's going to suddenly give you time to start "catching up" on all of them? This isn't 2010 anymore, it's no longer a wasteland of shitty console games and RPG decline, there's decent stuff coming out on the regular. You don't have to stockpile game names for the apocalypse

shame on me, didnt know about The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos
now i do !!

thank you RPGwatch !!

Originally Posted by Redglyph
Does that indicate fans of the Watch prefer to wait until a game is mature before playing it? Or that game had more bugs these last years? Or were they just not inspiring?

Generally when I hear that a game has significant bugs or major content / balancing updates (as was the case with Wrath of the Righteous, Encased, and Mechajammer) then I definitely prefer to wait. There's also the financial incentive…I'll probably pick up WotR and Encased when there's a sale with a good discount. Only reason I already own Mechajammer is I backed the KS.

Originally Posted by purpleblob1
I thought most of Solasta mods are story-light and combat-heavy because of the limited feature of dungeon creator?

I need to feel connected to characters I play for me to create my own story, which didn't happen in Solasta. Wildermyth did a better job in that regard imo. But I guess its just difference in preferences/taste.

For now that's still mostly true. As far as the limitations would allow, I tried to do make a pretty (short) story heavy module with my entry for the latest community contest map ; I can't promise the story is spectacular, just that there is one.

TA is still being hush-hush about but from the what the NDA-bound testers are allowed to hint at… the upcoming update that is planned to coincide with the release of their next DLC (release in a few months maybe) is supposed to add a proper quest system and dialogue to the DungeonMaker.

@daveyd It seems there are many people here with such sane reaction or caution when games are out.

Regarding Solasta and DM, that seems promising, I'm glad you're still following them and making dungeons.

The fact the game doesn't have a main character still makes it hard to identify and RP though. Of course one could imagine their main character is the first of the party, and if the custom quest created in DM takes it into account, the dialogues could be tailored to give that impression too (so you wouldn't talk to your own MC, for example).

I understand what they wanted to achieve by doing that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it put quite a few people off. I feel it creates a distance with the RP too.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
The fact the game doesn't have a main character still makes it hard to identify and RP though. Of course one could imagine their main character is the first of the party, and if the custom quest created in DM takes it into account, the dialogues could be tailored to give that impression too (so you wouldn't talk to your own MC, for example).

I understand what they wanted to achieve by doing that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it put quite a few people off. I feel it creates a distance with the RP too.

I still prefer this over a game such as the The Witcher that force you to play one specific very defined character. At least, I can pretend that I am one of my four characters.

I was surprised when I saw the voting list because I knew nothing about most of the games and had only played 2 (Solasta and Gloomhaven). Pathfinder jumped out as the obvious likely winner. Haven't played yet, and I suspect a large number of Watch community will spend the most time on that game in 2023 (interesting Watch poll maybe??). I went to Steam last week and checked out all the other contestants. I was tempted by Wildermyth, but ultimately 'none' made it into my shopping cart. I enjoyed Solasta, but couldn't bring myself to vote for it as something special. So I agree with some of the other commenters here that this was a down year, with Pathfinder being the shining outlier.

As far as upcoming games…Baldurs Gate III is a game I dread. I so want that game to be great, but I'm ~95% convinced it is going to be a horrible debacle. If I were master of the universe I would fire Larian and give the remaining budget to the Tactical Adventures team with a blank slate.