Topic: How much do you plan what games you play?

Apologies if the title doesn't really convey the question properly, I was going to post this in the Chit-Chat Thread but it's a bit busy at the moment so I wasn't sure if I'd get a response. Let me explain what I mean - or, if you can't be bothered to read all this (and I don't blame you), just skip to the bottom for the actual question.

For several years I used to have (usually) four games on the go at a time, and would play them in a sort of rota: I would play two of them on one day, then the other two the next day, then go back to the first two, etc. This was good because I would always finish each game I played (unless it got too difficult or boring and I gave up on it) without taking long breaks from them and losing track of what I was doing in them. It would still take me a while to finish games as I only played each one for about an hour every two days, but I'd get there eventually.

It's not a perfect system though. If I got really into a particular game I might want to play it every day, but couldn't without disrupting my schedule. And if I didn't have time to play both games on a certain day I would feel guilty for not making progress towards finishing them. So for the last couple of months I've ditched the rota and I've just been playing whatever takes my fancy at any given moment. This is more freeing but it does mean I take far longer to finish games. I do still play RPGs and such that I'm in the middle of, but I tend to gravitate towards more pick-up-and-play games (Splatoon 3 and Overwatch 2 have been the main ones recently) or sometimes just wasting time on the internet instead of playing games. I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles X for months but it will likely take me well over a year to finish it at my current rate of progress.

But maybe I need to get out of the mindset of playing games to finish them. My worry is I'll end up starting lots of games, lose interest in them halfway through and then not be able to get back into them because I've forgotten what I was doing - but maybe that's better than limiting myself to certain games just because I want to finish them and move onto the next one? In particular, Xenoblade X's mission-based structure actually lends itself very well to just playing occasionally rather than constantly plugging away at the storyline, but of course not every game is like that.

So there are pros and cons to both approaches, but how does everyone else approach it? Do you have a limited number of games on the go at a time and play certain ones on certain days, or do you just play any game you feel like whenever you want? And do you see every game through to the end, or do you find yourself drifting away from them sometimes? Don't feel you have to ramble on for five paragraphs but I'd be interested to read people's thoughts.

I play what I want, when I want. Only game I've ever beaten is a Scooby-Doo game for a ps2 a few years ago. I've been trying to beat Steins;Gate:My Darling's Embrace, but most Steins;Gate games take over 24 hours to complete just one of the many endings.

@Eagly That was part of my thinking when I first started rotating games, I wanted enough variation that I wouldn't get burned out. But yeah, it's tricky to find the right balance to play a game you're into without abandoning other games and getting burned out on it.

@EllaTheKawaiiNeko I can respect that! Scooby-Doo games should always take priority.

@Dogorilla Yeah, I mad emy brother get it because I played it once when I was, like, 5, and 12 year old me wanted the nostalgia. I didn't beat it when I was 5, but now I did beat it.

@Eagly That's the other problem, there's just not enough time for all the great games and other media that exist. At the moment I don't even have a job or much of a social life and I still struggle to fit everything in!

If I have got a game recently, I normally play through to the end or until I lose interest. I play on a PS3 at weekends, though, pretty much without fail.

I usually have 2-4 games I play at any time, but usually 2 of them get the focus and anything beyond that is more "when I feel like it/remember to play it". Usually it'll be retail switch game, indie switch game, multiplayer switch game, non-switch game. Multiplayer stuff is the most random admittedly, because i don't often think to play more multiplayer of a game unless I'm still focused on the single player or have a specific person to play with.

And I will finish most games I like to completion, with very few exceptions (the only exception I can think of off the top of my head in the past like 6 years is Tokyo Mirage Sessions Wii U, and that's largely because I got a Switch the day after I last played it).

But the most planning nowadays is what game/s I'll get to next. Like I know exactly the next like 6+ games I'm playing, and nearly all of what I'll play before Tears of the Kingdom comes out. (mostly because I've already bought them all :V)

I have the ftp game, to strive to get better at, the side game, I can come back to if I don’t have much to do in the ftp game, and if I have a solo player game at the time, it’s solo player, and then about 30 minutes of ftp. But yeah in average I have about two to four games going at a time.

I don’t have a problem you do!

I'll usually plan things out like this: games with daily incentives (Splatoon 3, Pokemon Unite, etc.), retro NSO catalogue and probably a bit of Pokemon near the end as well if I'm up for it. This plan is very much thrown out the window whenever I'm playing a brand new game though since I'll usually become solely addicted to playing that game and that game alone for at least a week (this was especially true for games like Pokemon Legends Arceus and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles which had highly engaging stories. No joke: I put 12 hours into PLA when I got it on release, I was OBSESSED).

I usually have 2 "main" games going at a time. One is usually more involved, like a story heavy RPG with long cutscenes and stuff that I play on days I have ample time to get into it. Then I have a more play in bursts type of game, like a platformer that I can make progress in when I have shorter play times available.
Then of course, I also have whim games that I play when I feel like playing (a lot of retro usually. Like hey, I want to play thru Mega Man 2 today, or something like that.)

I often get indecisive 'inbetween games' when I've finished one and thinking what to play next, but I always have one main game at a time, right now it's Doraemon Story of seasons: Friends of the great kingdom, but alongside the main game I have SO many Rhythm games that I try and pick up daily as well as multiplayer games like Splatoon3 and MHrise to spice things up, and stop things from growing stale.

I usually have one cart game and one download game going at a time. I try to make one deeper and more serious and one lighter and more pick-up-and-play so I can choose based on how I'm feeling at the moment or how much time I have. But then if I know I'm getting close to the end I tend to focus on that one for awhile until I finish it. Sometimes I'll even throw in a PC game or a 3DS game on top of my two Switch games, but that often becomes too much to juggle and I don't play them nearly as much.

Lately, I've been trying to go more all-in on a single game. Or maybe two games at most. Right now, it's Death Stranding and Quake 2. It helps if the two games are completely different. Keeps things fresh.

I do try to plan things ahead of time. Like, I know after Death Stranding, I'll dive into a few shorter games (Inscryption, Undertale, Outer Wilds, Pilotwings 64, one of the old Castlevanias) before I attempt another 50-to-100 hour behemoth. And I know that after Quake 2, I'll look into another game like it from the same era (probably Unreal). Makes things dynamic (because I can finish a few shorter games before setting a month or two apart for a single game) and coherent (because it's fun to compare, say, how Unreal and Quake 2 were moving away from the Doom formula).

I had been trying to keep 4 games on the go at once - one for Xbox, one on Switch, on on a handheld and one on a retro console or my ancient PC, but I'm finding that 1 game seems to dominate and the others go for really long spells without playing which means I'll usually forget most of what's happening in them - Monster Hunter Stories is my 'current' handheld game, but I haven't touched it in weeks (maybe months) because I've been playing Snow Runner on Xbox.

Going forward I think I'm probably going to pick a main and have a couple of pick up and play games on the go for shorter sessions

i have a folder on my switch called "Backlog"and it's sorted in play order, usually by length or genre.
i play about two or three games at a time and mix up the genres (dont usually play two metrodivanias back to back i.e.)

as of now the backlog is just 6 but Persona 5 is on it and that is longer than the other 5 games combined

I'll usually have one main story game that I'm playing and I don't start a new one till I'm finished, then I might have a few games I can play on the side like roguelites, rhythm games, etc. As for choosing which game I play, it mostly comes down to whatever I feel like starting at the time but I also tend to plan it around the release schedule to some degree. If there's a game I know I want to play day one coming out in the next week or two then I'll pick something on the shorter side to tide me over and if the release schedule is looking pretty clear then I might take the chance to play something a bit more substantial.

@SoManyHaveDied I also have a group on my Switch named 'Backlog' except it has over 100 games in it and I've given up on managing it at this point..

I have an obsessive nature with games, so when I start a game then I won't play any other games. It's how I judge how good the games are, because if I don't finish it or if the 'end game' content doesn't hold my enthusiasm then I will be weary of going into that franchise or type of game again. In fact it very much impacts what games I will buy, as an older gamer I don't have the time or inclination to want to waste time on things that are only so good for me personally.

I go back and forth. One game on the Switch, one on the PS4, and maybe one on my PC. different genres too.