Thursday, March 5, 2020

How To Beat The Backloggery Boss! (Monday Musings 79)

The Backloggery is an amazing site where you can add your entire game collection, and see which games you've beaten, and which needs completion. It's frustrating to see so many games not yet beaten, and this site gives you incentives to slay the Backloggery Boss. Indeed, it's a breath of fresh air when you see your backlog numbers reducing, and you also obtain achievement badges, which is a very nice touch!

They also have features that shows you trends of your backlog against games completed. Upon using these cheese strats, my unbeaten games percentages plummeted! I can't find a link on the site where it lists all of your badges in one place, so I'll make that suggestion!

If you find it very useful, make sure you chose a name that you really want, since you can't change your username as of this writing.
TheBackloggery Trends Chart

Here's my Backloggery link.

I love the site because it's so easy to add, edit and view games, so impressed that I donated to the site awhile back. You can easily add games under a Collection Series, which streamlines, so you can view games even more conveniently.

Given that I have a large backlog (when I started, it was over 100 games), and I felt overwhelmed, but digging into my usual ways of finding cheese methods to beat a boss, I found ways you can cheese and defeat the Backloggery Boss!


I would sell, give away and/or donate all physical copies of games that you never played and really feel that you'll never play again. Don't be upset about giving up these games, for you can borrow those games back from library, or rent from GameFly (my review link) which thus far I had a surprisingly positive experience.

By donating and giving my games away, my backlog was heavily reduced by at least 50%, and I got a nice tax deduction! This is a win-win - you no longer have the guilt of an unplayed game, and by selling or donating, you get money back, and someone out there is enjoying your game so it doesn't go to waste. Through donation and giving away strat, that takes out 50% off Backloggery's health.

I wouldn't include any free games you've gotten through your Playstation or XBox subscription, since there's no "guilt" if you never play those games ever again, since they're free anyways. I also wouldn't include games that you received free in a bundled console package, because often you buy these bundled packages because they're actually cheaper than the console by itself.

Therefore, delete those free games, unless you want to include them as a reminder that this is a game you want to play down the road. On the other hand, if you need a reminder that you own a game, you most likely aren't interested in playing the game in the first place!

Next, I was very upset since I purchased a lot of digital copies of games and DLCs which comprised a substantial portion of my backlog. Upon reviewing The Backloggery FAQ section, it was noted how ownership is unclear, especially since a lot of games are purchased digitally. I was then excited, after reviewing legal rules into digital ownership, that we do not technically own these games at all!

Therefore, I deleted all the digital games I purchased that I don't intend to ever play again! Digital copies also include any DLCs you purchased as well! Often, when I buy DLCs, I already finished the game, and would start on the next, never going back to playing said DLC. Therefore, you can also delete those if you know for sure that you'll never go back to those neglected digital games and DLCs. 

I can't tell you how refreshing that is, since quite a few digital games I purchased tend to be classic platform games, which I tend not to enjoy as much as RPGs, as well as iOS games that may not work on the next iPhone iteration (further, I refuse to buy any more Apple products due to atrocious customer service x 2), and hence will never play those.

Thankfully, Fortnite's Save the World was digital, so I can delete that game. Further, is this a finished game in the first place? I don't think Epic games ever completed it, instead focusing on Battle Royale, so there's no cheating here.

Make sure you label games that don't have an ending (such as Karaoke and Dance games), by labeling them as "Null", which will show up on your games collection list, but not counted toward your backlog. 

By removing the vast amount of digital games and DLCs, that left my Backloggery boss near death at 4.9% health. The remaining 6 games are physical copies that I can easily donate. I'm so tempted to give away or donate Witcher 3 as I don't foresee myself playing the game, given that it's been years since I was thinking of buying it, and then once it was on a huge discount, I purchased it, and yet only played at most 30 minutes! 

The remaining physical games I have are definitely games I will play which include only five, all on PS4: Final Fantasy X/X-2 Remake, Gravity Rush Remastered, Kingdom Hearts 3, Nier: Automata, and Nights of Azure 2.

With my strat of using GameFly, I will be renting games, and only buying a game that I want to play more in depth such as Sekiro. This will prevent the Backloggery Boss from resuscitating.

Clearly these strats are very cheese (which is how I tend to play games), but it works and isn't technically cheating!

Do you find these strats helpful or too cheese, and do you find it refreshing when you reduce your backlog?

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