How do you decide what to play?

[ElkinFencer10]

So I ask this for two reasons - half just as a general discussion on how each of us chooses what to play when and half because I'm inundated with RPGs and have no idea what to play. Just in the past week and coming week, I've gotten or will get Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters, Demon Gaze, Phantasy Star Portable, Valkyria Chronicles II, all three SNES Fire Emblems, Final Fantasy Explorers, and Moe Chronicle. That's a LOT of RPGs, and I really want to play all of them.

What do?

[Exhuminator]

As a general rule, I try to always make sure that every time I start a new game, it's in a different genre, and on a different platform than the last one. This really helps to mix things up and keep the gaming fresh.

Also it helps that if you beat a big fat RPG that takes 50 or 60 hours to finish, to take a break and beat some short action games for a while. I find running through some 8-bit games to be a great palette cleanser. (That's part of why I'm on this GB shmup kick lately.)

[BoneSnapDeez]

I just go with the flow, man.

Sometimes I get a new (to me) game and immediately have to play it.

Other times I get really deep into one specific console (like right now with the Famicom Disk System).

And occasionally I let other people influence my choices a bit - for instance, Together Retro or Together RPG......

[TEKTORO]

Play Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters, Valkyria Chronicles II, Then Moe!

Nothing wrong with buying a bunch of games but it becomes more difficult to decide as the backlog grows. Maybe try sorting your collection by genre this really makes deciding easier.

[MrPopo]

If a new game comes out and I really want to play it (such as the upcoming Fire Emblem Fates) then that bumps up to the top of the queue. If I remember that I'm a large way through a particular game I will pick it up and try to finish. And of course, if it suddenly hits me that I really want to play a particular game then I snag it. But when it's just "I need a game to play" I let Backloggery's fortune cookie be my guide.

[touchofkiel]

Choosing what to play has always been a big problem. So right now I'm going by - what game would I enjoy writing about? I've been itching to try out Suikoden, and I'm also feeling nostalgic for Wild Arms. And a month ago I bought the FFVII PS4 port.

Well, perfect! Three different RPGs that were released early in the PS1's life. (I'm skipping Beyond the Beyond for now... yuck). I'm not playing them chronologically, just going to play all three and that will give me the proper historical context, fresh in my mind, to write about them.

And hey, FFVII... that also lines up nice with another little 'project' for my blog - to play through/write about Squaresoft's PS1 days. So after that, I can easily start up with Tobal, Bushido Blade, etc.

But yeah, I'm not really that disciplined. That's why I try to do, and so my next game of choice comes naturally... but sometimes I'll just say "eh" and fire up some Etrian Odyssey instead. I can never resist Etrian Odyssey.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I set arbitray gaming goals - such as playing through every game created by a particular publisher, playing every game in a certain series or sub-genre, playing every game by a particular developer, etc. - and I use those to guide my choices when I have trouble choosing something. I also have some long-term gaming goals - such as beating every game listed in classic EGM's "best games of all time" lists - and I sometime s fall back on those goals to pick games (especially during the summer gaming challenge).

[Sarge]

Always hard. It's easier when you're playing shorter stuff, because you don't typically get the feeling that you could be playing something else, or the "wrong" game. I get that a lot with longer games when they start to drag.

I definitely like to mix it up, though. Granted, I've been playing a lot of NES stuff, but I've also been genre-mixing while playing a bit, so it's not entirely stale. And a lot of that is the newness of an EDN8 bumping it to the top of the queue, and not wanting to go into another open-world game. I just finished Dragon Age: Inquisition, and the other PS4 games I have are Metal Gear Solid V, The Witcher III, and Batman: Arkham Knight. I gotta mix it up! (And on top of that, I've still got XCX waiting in the wings.)

Really, though, just play the one that you want to play the most, and try your best to not feel like you've chosen wrong. But also feel free to shift to something else if the current game isn't working for you. It's not great for the backlog, sure, but the point of all this is to have fun, not feel like it's work.

But yeah, sometimes I still struggle, and I have some serious recency bias. Right now, I think Paper Jam is the current release that's bumped to the top, but even then, my NES gaming has taken priority, soooo... umm. Just roll with whatever you feel like, and if that doesn't work, juggle systems and games at random, and maybe even consider using some sort of randomizer and playing what pops out of that.

That was probably profoundly unhelpful. Let's just say I can sympathize and leave it at that.

[Ack]

I write out the names of games that I want to play on slips of paper, tie those pieces of paper around the necks of children, and then make them fight to the death in the bloody ring of honor I keep behind the abandoned library next door to where I live. Randomized weapons, no rules at all. Whoever survives, that is the game I play. This system has worked flawlessly for years, except that from time to time I run out of children.

[ElkinFencer10]

Always hard. It's easier when you're playing shorter stuff, because you don't typically get the feeling that you could be playing something else, or the "wrong" game. I get that a lot with longer games when they start to drag.

I definitely like to mix it up, though. Granted, I've been playing a lot of NES stuff, but I've also been genre-mixing while playing a bit, so it's not entirely stale. And a lot of that is the newness of an EDN8 bumping it to the top of the queue, and not wanting to go into another open-world game. I just finished Dragon Age: Inquisition, and the other PS4 games I have are Metal Gear Solid V, The Witcher III, and Batman: Arkham Knight. I gotta mix it up! (And on top of that, I've still got XCX waiting in the wings.)

Really, though, just play the one that you want to play the most, and try your best to not feel like you've chosen wrong. But also feel free to shift to something else if the current game isn't working for you. It's not great for the backlog, sure, but the point of all this is to have fun, not feel like it's work.

But yeah, sometimes I still struggle, and I have some serious recency bias. Right now, I think Paper Jam is the current release that's bumped to the top, but even then, my NES gaming has taken priority, soooo... umm. Just roll with whatever you feel like, and if that doesn't work, juggle systems and games at random, and maybe even consider using some sort of randomizer and playing what pops out of that.

That was probably profoundly unhelpful. Let's just say I can sympathize and leave it at that.

Haha, thanks, Sarge. It was more helpful than you think. One of the common things I'm seeing is not to worry about "choosing wrong," but that's not so much my problem. It's like multiple choice questions on an AP test where multiple answers are right but you have to choose the one that is "most" right. I don't think there is a "wrong" choice here - aside from Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters and Moe Chronicles, I know that I'll love all of these games, so they're all the right choice. But I can't figure out which one is "most" right. I'll probably go Valkyria Chronicles II or one of the SNES Fire Emblems first (or both since one's console and one is handheld, and I hate being productive during my planning period).

I've used Backloggery's Fortune Cookie before, but I usually have like five or six games specifically that I can't choose between.

If anyone else wants to chime in with how they pick games, I'm all ears.

Also, Ack, I am a teacher, so that's a very viable option for me.