After fiddling with my 3DS for months, and finishing the great adventure that was Dragon Quest VIII (one of the GOATs everyone), I've decided to go back to my PS3 and knock out some titles that I've picked up over the past two years via PSN sales. The list I'm considering is as follows:
- Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (already played ~3 hours recently)
- KH 1.5 Remix, KH 2.5 Remix (have both)
- FF X/X-2 Remaster
- Atelier Escha, Atelier Shallie (have both)
- Uncharted trilogy
- Mass Effect trilogy
- Ni No Kuni
- The Last of Us
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Tales of Graces F (got 15 hours in but it's been months)
- Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2 (have both)
- Valkyria Chronicles
- Child of Light
I realize this is a hefty list that I probably will never finish - but if anyone had any particularly fantastic experiences with these games and want to recommend them to get through first, I'd appreciate it! The last PS3 game I played was Persona 5 this past summer, and it was 100 hours of (mostly) pure fun :) Thank you in advance.
Wow a year ago my backlog looked nearly identical to yours, though I've managed to make a decent amount of progress the last year so here are some tips based on my experience.
You can throw uncharted on very easy mode with all the aim assists and whatnot and fly through it, so i recommend that because its a really fun ride without too much time commitment. Like starring in your own movie.
The same goes for the last of us. Take the frustrating moments out by turning on easy mode and what you're left with is a great story and a beautiful piece of work from naughty dog. Turn the lights off, the sound up and enjoy.
Ni no kuni is great but I recommend playing through it when you have a few weeks to leisurely play through and enjoy the beautiful world, fantastic soundtrack, cinematics, and enjoyable characters. I love this game. It was the first game I played through when I got back into gaming after a 10 year break.
Mass effect is a bit of a time investment but worth the journey. Avoid planet exploring in the first one because it's a slog and can make you burn out. It has no real impact on the big picture and takes a lot of your time for not much return.
Play ffx. Just don't play ffx2.
Child of light is a blast, you can finish that in a couple days so just pick a down weekend and hole up.
The tales series is fine, they each have their faults. Graces story is a total cheese fest and had me rolling my eyes by the end, xilia has less than exciting environments, xilia 2 overstayed it's welcome IMO. But if you like jrpgs they give you the fix. I would play them after you've gone through ni no kuni. I just think a lot more thought and care was put into NNK and it shows, and if you happen to burn out on jprgs in the process of covering your back log then it would be a real shame for NNK to be a casualty of that.
I played through kingdom hearts 1.5 and though I finished it, it didn't really stick with me. I found myself bored often. I think it was the pacing. I am planning to tackle 2.5 this year in hopes of a more memorable and enjoyable experience. Give it a try though, it may resonate with you.
I would also second the above suggestion to alternate genres. This will help you avoid burn out and make each game more meaningful.
if you can cover the list you're going to have a great gaming year, that's a great backlog!