Category Archives: Blog

It’s 2025!

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It’s been the better part of a decade since my last post, which itself was a long time coming. Thought I’d drop in some updates. And who knows? Maybe I’ll start updating here more frequently. I wouldn’t mind putting my thoughts and experiences with games and gaming down, if only because organizing my thoughts appeals to me.

Near the start of the pandemic we finished our basement and I (finally!) got my game room. Or, actually, a game room / office. I work from home now and I work from the game room. Anyway, I now have a home for my voluminous collection of games going back to the Atari 2600. And the amiibos. So, so many amiibos.

Rocket League®

I play a lot of Rocket League these days. It’s a fun, challenging game. The general attitude of your typical random player leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s a testament to the game that it’s still worth playing despite such nonsense. I’m not highly-ranked at all, but I’ve improved over the years and will likely play it for years to come, assuming it doesn’t collapse or something. Which, I mean, it could. I’ve got a small collection of pretty silly Rocket League videos over on TikTok.

I’m still collecting consoles, but I definitely use Analogue consoles for normal gaming. When possible, I have consoles running to both an LED and a CRT. I’ve got several consoles with ODEs (PS1, Saturn, Dreamcast, GameCube). And of course I have an Analogue Pocket, which is a solid product.

My son (13) enjoys old games and has a taste for analog tech, so he’s got my SNES hooked up to a small CRT in his room. He also recently got a record player and he loves vinyl records, which is interesting. Still, he is a teenager and definitely plays a lot of modern games, especially with friends. Which is great.

My daughter (9) plays console games a little less, but she loves Mario Kart 8. Minecraft as well. They both play that, actually, along with Roblox.

I’m not entirely comfortable with Roblox. I can ramble about that another time, maybe.

I play a weekly game with some friends that, at the moment, rotates between Borderlands games (currently Tiny Tina), Helldivers 2 and Rocket League.

In the tradition of Stack of Shame, I’m currently trying to “finish” God of War: Ragnarok and Balatro. Balatro has come to the fore for me lately, but I’ll get back to GoW soon.

Anyway, I’m going to try to regularly write here. I likely won’t adhere fanatically to the premise of the blog (finishing my backlog) in favor of just writing whatever I want to about video games and gaming culture. We’ll see!

After Final Fantasy?

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I’m probably somewhere between 50-75% done with Final Fantasy, but I’m already wondering what game to play after I beat it. I could go straight to Final Fantasy II, but I think I’d prefer to mix it up.

I might play Fez next. I played the first few levels and I really want to get back to it. I don’t know how well it will translate to blog entries, though.

Another game that I am itching to play is Oblivion. I played it years ago and got hooked. I don’t remember why I quit, but I know that I didn’t finish the main quest. But I played that game a lot.

I should also get to Dragon Age soon. I’ve been borrowing that from a friend for at least a year. Probably more like 2 years.

On the other hand, I’ll be traveling in a month, so I’ll want to be sure that I’m playing a handheld game at that point. Maybe Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime, Puzzle Quest or Professor Layton and the Unwound Future for Nintendo DS.

I’m fairly far along in Layton. I don’t think there’s much to write about with that game, though: “I solved this puzzle. Don’t want to give it away. Oh, and I solved another puzzle. Don’t want to give that away either”. Maybe the “one game at a time” rule can be bent for puzzle games?

I played a lot of Rocket Slime several years ago, but I’d start over now. I remember it being fun. Puzzle Quest is one that my wife played and enjoyed. I’ve never played it, as far as I recall.

Finally, there’s Chrono Trigger. I have attempted that game many times. I played the original on my SNES. I think I borrowed it from a friend’s brother back in the late 90s. I also own the Playstation port that was packaged with Final Fantasy IV as Final Fantasy Chronicles. As I said, I started it many, many times. I’ll probably get deja vu for the first half of the game. I really don’t remember how much of it I beat.

I actually did beat its sequel, Chrono Cross.

I’m leaning toward Chrono Trigger or Rocket Slime. Ugh, I don’t know. Well, I still have a while to decide.

Maybe I should come up with a way to play these systematically.

What This Is

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I have a lot of video games that I need to beat.

I wrote about my “stack of shame” twice on my blog: in February 2011 and in May 2012. In the year between the two I made almost no progress, beating only New Super Mario Bros.

Is this important? No. Not at all. But I’ve been obsessed on and off with video games since I was a kid. And I’ve been slipping in the last 10 years. I buy more video games than I should, and beat very few of them. I’ll start one game while in the middle of another. I do the same thing with books, but my track record with games is much worse. So this blog is an attempt to keep me focused and motivated on the important things. You know, video games.

I’m also a new dad, and my leisure time is very limited and valuable. I’ve spent too much of that time in the last few months zoned out. Video games are an amazing stress relief for me1, I just need a little oomph to keep at them sometimes.

This blog was inspired by the efforts of the CRPG Addict. My goals and rules are different, though. The main goal is to finish, if not all of the games in my stack of shame, then most of them. Here are the basic rules:

  1. No new games, until some as-yet-undetermined goal is met. I will only play games that I already own.2
  2. Hint guides, walkthroughs, etc. are okay. If I want to make quick progress, I’m not above sneaking peeks at these. I’ll try to keep that to a minimum where it makes sense.
  3. If I remember the basic plot and context of old game saves, I can start from there (for example, when I get to Final Fantasy XIII, I’ve already made it almost to the end).
  4. The game has to have an actual end. Not just a kill screen.
  5. I don’t need to complete a game, just beat it. That means I don’t need to get all achievements, trophies, etc.
  6. Game remakes are ok. I’m not going to insist playing the original version. For example, the first game I’m going to tackle is Final Fantasy on the PSP rather than the original NES version, though I do have both versions. I have issues.
  7. I’ve got to give each game the old college try. If I truly, deeply hate it, I can give it up after 10 hours of play.
  8. One game at a time.
  9. This is the list.

I really wanted to get that to 10 rules, but that’s all I’ve got for now.

Anyway, as I mentioned, the first game is Final Fantasy. I started it this past weekend, but I’m not very far yet. I’ll post about it soon.

  1. They got me through finals in college. ↩
  2. To my wife: You’re welcome. ↩