Personal backlog struggle

Hey Watch! Looking for your help
Time for my annual backlog clearing attempt. Bit harder this time around since what I view as front runners require tons of preparations.

The situation looks a bit like this:
The groups and the games inside them are sorted by personal order of preference. In bold are the reasons putting me off playing them right now.

Lots of Modding Research Required

• Fallout 3 (2nd attempt)
• Fallout New Vegas (2nd attempt)
• Skyrim

Need a controller, mine is malfunctioning

• Dark Souls
• Dark Souls 2

Would rather play closer to R3's release date

• Gothic 2 NOTR (replay)
• Risen 2
• Risen 3 (almost here)

Bloody DLCs

• Mass Effect series

Not full fledged RPGs

• Alpha Protocol
• Dishonored
• Hitman 5

Also got the following on the short-term list but I'm not considering them for right now since I would rather play them when my proper gaming computer isn't available :

Risen 2 would seem like the logical choice, imo.

Unless you think you have enough time to finish another RPG and still play Risen 2 before R3 is released.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Risen 2 would seem like the logical choice, imo.

Unless you think you have enough time to finish another RPG and still play Risen 2 before R3 is released.

That's the plan. I reckon I can finish 2.5-3 decent sized games until it's released and gets its day 1 patch.

Originally Posted by Kostas
That's the plan. I reckon I can finish 2.5-3 decent sized games until it's released and gets its day 1 patch.

Do you realize Risen 3 is only three weeks away?

Originally Posted by JDR13
Do you realize Risen 3 is only three weeks away?

Absolutely

Well I can tell that you won't be playing either of those Fallout games or Skyrim. At least not unless you plan on skipping a lot of optional content.

I recommend giving Dishonored a try if you decide to start with a non-RPG.

I know Skyrim as well as something else is beyond reach but I think 170-200hrs should be enough for F3+FNV or any of the other combinations. I'm largely going by my perceptions of the games' length though the forums +HLTB (2).

Originally Posted by Kostas
I know Skyrim as well as something else is beyond reach but I think 170-200hrs should be enough for F3+FNV or any of the other combinations. I'm largely going by my perceptions of the games' length though the forums +HLTB (2).

And you would do this between now and the time Risen 3 is released? No offense, but I think you might be underestimating those games a bit.

Unless, like I said, you plan on skipping a lot of the optional content.

You can spend a week alone on modding FO3/FNV/Skyrim

Nevertheless, given the imminent release of Risen 3, my vote would still be Skyrim. 1 week modding would leave 2 weeks to play the game - just about right for a sane person to grow bored out of their mind with the monotony of that game.

I wouldn't play Risen 3 on release. Going by the experience of the Risen series so far it is very likely that Risen 3 will only receive a single patch shortly after release. Might as well wait for that one and final patch before getting into it. It would allow you to first play a longer game from your list, too .

Originally Posted by Kostas
Hey Watch! Looking for your help
Time for my annual backlog clearing attempt. Bit harder this time around since what I view as front runners require tons of preparations.

The situation looks a bit like this:
The groups and the games inside them are sorted by personal order of preference. In bold are the reasons putting me off playing them right now.

Lots of Modding Research Required

• Fallout 3 (2nd attempt)
• Fallout New Vegas (2nd attempt)
• Skyrim

It would be quite the feat to get any of these modded and completed and then play risen 2 in time for risen 3.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Need a controller, mine is malfunctioning

• Dark Souls
• Dark Souls 2

I beat both of these and it took 340 hours but i"m very meticulous. BTW, all 340 hours were with M&K but I understand many believe a controller is necessary

.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Would rather play closer to R3's release date

• Gothic 2 NOTR (replay)
• Risen 2
• Risen 3 (almost here)

This would be my choice as I'm not sure how much longer you could wait and still have time to finish.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Bloody DLCs

• Mass Effect series

Never could get into these, so I can't recommend them.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Not full fledged RPGs

• Alpha Protocol
• Dishonored
• Hitman 5

All good games but if you only want to play "full fledged rpg's" then I don't really have anything to say to change your mind.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Also got the following on the short-term list but I'm not considering them for right now since I would rather play them when my proper gaming computer isn't available :

Spoiler – Rest

Fallout 1
VTMB
Arcanum
NWN2: Storm of Zehir
Divinity Series (sans Beyond Divinity)
Morrowind
Shadowrun Returns
Dungeon Siege 3(?)
Legends Of Grimrock (?)
South Park (?)

Just pick the one you *want* to play ?

I would also recommend giving Dishonored a try.

Originally Posted by Kostas

• Fallout 3 (2nd attempt)
• Fallout New Vegas (2nd attempt)
• Skyrim

Skip them all. (Re)play when FO4 and TES6 are just about to be released.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Need a controller, mine is malfunctioning

• Dark Souls
• Dark Souls 2

Uninstall and install any MMO. You'll get a better grinding experience.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Would rather play closer to R3's release date

• Gothic 2 NOTR (replay)
• Risen 2
• Risen 3 (almost here)

Install now, play.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Bloody DLCs

• Mass Effect series

Won't go linking my posts about this, but don't buy Pinnacle station from ME1 nor any nonmissions/nonquests DLC. Pinnacle Station doesn't play any role in war assets, it's not linked to the story, you can't use the apartment from it in sequels and can destroy the game balance as it offers OP items for cheap. And it's a grinder worse than ME3 multiplayer.
Also don't buy Bioware Points on origin but on any key reseller store as Origin never puts them on sale.
Play as soon as possible, doesn't have to be now.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Not full fledged RPGs

• Alpha Protocol
• Dishonored
• Hitman 5

AP has can't save the game anywhere but on predetermined spots Nokia3310 system. Skip it till someone makes a proper mod for that. I didn't want to buy that game just because of the consolitis/phonelitis.
Dishonored is IMO a masterpiece and has a proper DLC system where DLC is a separate story and doesn't affect the main game. Buy, play, now.
Hitman 5… Never played any, so dunno.

Originally Posted by Kostas
Also got the following on the short-term list but I'm not considering them for right now since I would rather play them when my proper gaming computer isn't available

You probably should play Alpha Protocol at some point Kostas. It's a weird game… quite messy and annoying in some parts but with (as it has been said before) one of the best C&C systems in PC gaming.

Originally Posted by Drithius
You can spend a week alone on modding FO3/FNV/Skyrim

I've decided to bite the bullet and started watching Gopher's videos (for F3).

Since I'm more or less familiar with the moding processes it's compiling a final modlist (I need something to help me with the encumbrance limit) and going through the .inis and the rest of the engine tweaks that's putting me off.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Nevertheless, given the imminent release of Risen 3, my vote would still be Skyrim. 1 week modding would leave 2 weeks to play the game - just about right for a sane person to grow bored out of their mind with the monotony of that game.

Well that's hardly a shining recommendation

Originally Posted by Moriendor
I wouldn't play Risen 3 on release. Going by the experience of the Risen series so far it is very likely that Risen 3 will only receive a single patch shortly after release. Might as well wait for that one and final patch before getting into it. It would allow you to first play a longer game from your list, too .

That's more or less my thinking. I can wait a week or 10 days after R3 is released before diving in.

Originally Posted by sakichop
I beat both of these and it took 340 hours but i"m very meticulous. BTW, all 340 hours were with M&K but I understand many believe a controller is necessary

That certainly sounds way off my expected length. I'm a 90-95% type of gamer but though the DS games were 40-50hrs long and that mainly due to the difficulty.

Originally Posted by zahratustra
You probably should play Alpha Protocol at some point Kostas. It's a weird game… quite messy and annoying in some parts but with (as it has been said before) one of the best C&C systems in PC gaming.

I've actually played it before but stopped around the 2nd mission in Egypt(?). I can certainly respect a design decision but their checkpoint system (and it's buggy implementation) really messed with my save-scumming habits

Play Risen 2, it's a great game.

Well that's hardly a shining recommendation

Just remember that came from someone who spent years of his life playing EverQuest

That's like a black hole sucking your life energy and you're left with nothing to show for it.

As for Skyrim, I'd recommend using only a couple of the best mods. I'd go with Skyrim Redone - and a few of the visual enhancements, like the texture mods.

It doesn't take more than a few hours to set up, and you reduce the chance of technical issues significantly.

There are guides you can follow that makes everything quite easy.

Just stay away from the modding game - where you just need one more mod, until you end up with dozens or hundreds - which will all but certainly break the game somewhere.

Originally Posted by Drithius
You can spend a week alone on modding FO3/FNV/Skyrim

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Just stay away from the modding game - where you just need one more mod, until you end up with dozens or hundreds - which will all but certainly break the game somewhere.

No kidding. I've now gone through the process of watching the entire F3 modding playlist that Gopher had, thoroughly looking in the usual places for mod recommendations, lists and guides (Watch, Codex, Reddit, Beth forums, Nexus Forums) and generally creating and organizing a pretty messy spreadsheet of the mods that would interest me.

By now I've spent at least 7 hours and I haven't actually installed anything. I'm usually not an addictive type of person but I'm beginning to be quite annoyed by how this is closer to work than entertainment.

The worst thing is that IIRC the game isn't even particularly good..

I just restarted FO 3 and I'd say stick with NMC texture pack and FOOK which tends not to play so nice with other mods. The other option would be sub FWE for FOOK and add some other mods but there's a lot less need to go crazy with FO 3 modding than say Skyrim which is far more stable and can rather reliably run 100+ mods if chosen somewhat carefully.