How do you tackle your backlog/completion %?

[Misshandlad]

Just a curious topic on how you people are working on your backlog.

 

At one point in time I was at sub 50% completion, but decided I had the motivation to try to get it higher. Right now I'm sitting at almost 72% so I have made quite the progress since then, but still sitting at around 4200 unearned trophies.

 

Whats your trick to getting % up? I've tried alot of different approaches, with going back to old games and focusing on 1 game at a time. Also tried using the trophy advisor here on the site to get the high % trophies out of the way.

Right now I'm mixing new games with going back to old games. I know that for every new game you 100% your percentage is gonna go up as well, but just curious how other people are working on their %.

 

I know I am never gonna reach 100% since I have a lot of trophies that are impossible to get as of now, but still looking to get it as high as possible.

 

Feel free to remove or whatever if this has been discussed too much in the past.

[Vampirehunter145]

At this very moment, i concentrate on PS3 games with online trophies. After getting these out of the way, i will go for the games where i have a a good percentage of trophy completion. Better get what is about to get removed.

[funboy1246]

mine is utter chaos. i actually have 2 different lists. i consider anything im my backlog as a game ive either never played. or never even beat once. once i've beaten them they shuffled over to my other list. which is my games to plat or 100% list. i jump back and forth between the two lists. no real rhyme or reason. if you haven't noticed im not particularly organized lol

[FFATMA]

With a sigh and a halfhearted effort to make a bit more progress.

[HaserPL]

I let it tackle me instead lol

[BigHatPaul]

I'm actually working on this right now in my Trophy Checklist forum post. The way I'm tackling it right now is three ways:

 

Vita: generally easy going, quick completions. I typically play these in bed or on the go, not really looking for insane experiences on it at the moment (maybe on a holiday when I have time away from home)

 

PS3: Going back to when I first ever started playing the console and cleaning those trophies up. There are a LOT of platinums I won't be able to get anymore due to server closures, but some is better than none.

 

PS4: Free for all, just anything. I have PSNow, a lot of games I accumulated during a period where I felt like playing PS, but tapered off. I feel here to stay now, so I'm settling in with it. Hard to keep up, though, with PS Plus titles and PS Now churning out stuff.

 

Also in a Discord channel I'm in we challenge each other to do completions simultaniously. Makes it more fun to have a group playing the same things.

Edited August 19, 2020 by BigHatPaul

[gruffiiti]

Joining community events has been a good motivator to help knock out some backlog.

Oh... and keep the new games to a minimum unless Imma finish it.

Edited August 19, 2020 by gruffiiti

[JoniP]

I have a list of the easiest games in my backlog, and start from easiest. From time to time, I switch to a real game I want to play.

[ladynadiad]

Overall it depends on my mood at the time.  The main theme of how I do it though is setting goals.  When I started on this site my completion was below 70%, but I had a lot less games played.  I chipped away at incompletes and did my best to complete new games and over time my completion got to where it is now.  I find goals based on some sort of stat to be the easiest to work with.  Get the plat, get the trophy grade to a certain point, get down to X unearned trophies, etc.  Keep goals manageable, you'll have a harder time keeping motivation if the goals are always impossible to meet.  I go with short goals and longer goals.  Short goals as in stuff that is daily, weekly or monthly.  So for a daily goal I may set a goal to get a certain trophy that day or knock out an easy game that I could plat in one sitting or a game that only needs a couple of hours to wrap up like in your profile a great short goal would be to wrap up something like Back to the Future Episode 1.  A monthly goal may be a certain level of progress in a longer game and my longer goals are yearly, those I stick in my sig like some others do to hold myself accountable.  I also have a spreadsheet that tracks my progress and tells me how much of a completion boost each game is.  I have one sheet on it for the games actually in my profile and one for all the games I own.  To me the more stats I have access to, the easier it is to set goals.

 

I also find events on here to be helpful.  Lots of great events in the community events forum that encourage completing backlog games that range from lasting a few months to a year.  Some are just for fun challenges, but some also award badges you can put in your sig, on your profile or in your trophy checklist.  Some even have actual prizes to them.  Joining project platinums can also be a good motivation to complete the games in a series.

[Copanele]

The way I tackle my backlog is mainly community challenges + playing whatever  I feel like. Even jumping between games really helped.

I kinda split my backlog into Ultra Rares (for UR 2020 challenge) and the rest (Fall/Winter 2020/2021 backlog challenge for <25% completion, Bingo for the rest). So far it has been really fun since my backlog was an utter mess. Jumping from Street Fighter to Assassin's Creed to Batman Arkham Asylum to Crash Bandicoot has been a rollercoaster of fun, pain and clowns(mainly pain not gonna lie).

Managed to bring my completion from 67% to 88% and boy I am having FUN! Never gonna reach 100% due to that god damn PES2015 with the dead servers but regardless, I wish to see how far can I get  Also finished all the online based trophies for PS3 so I can take my sweet sweet time with them.

 

If I am being honest, I don't feel like starting a new game at all, I am enjoying too much the stuff that I have to complete so far  

[Baranov_925]

I dont care bout my completion percentage. I know that I can't plat every game that I have.

[Phlegeth]

I used to frit over it.  I've been raising it steadily.  It was at 38% and I've got it up to 53% right now.  I was looking at stuff to grab quick trophies.  But then I stumbled on Hakoom's profile.  He has more unearned trophies then I have total if I had a 100% profile and he has 92% completion rate and that just kind of put stuff into perspective for me.  I'm just going to play the games I want and how I want.  I'm going to aim for like 70% completion on them.  Seems like a decent number.  Finish the main story and optional objectives.  It came down to me that I was spending this money on games and not playing them and I was like, "Why?"  And I have to rule to beat 2 games before I get a new one.

 

Also, starting last February, everytime I buy a new game.  I get the "Press Start to Trophy" trophy.  That was when my list hit 38%.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Ilzaki

[Lorajet]

I just play whatever looks halfway interesting.  Doesn't matter that I have a bunch of games not completed.

[BigHatPaul]

39 minutes ago, Baranov_925 said:

I dont care bout my completion percentage. I know that I can't plat every game that I have.

[Helyx]

It's a delicate balancing act, but the things I take into consideration are (in general order of priority):

• Online PS3 trophies
• PS3 games with DLC (in case of delisting)
• Online Vita trophies
• Vita games with DLC
• Physical PS3 games (in case I break another disc drive)
• Borrowed PS3 games (including digital)
• Online PS4 trophies
• PS4 games with DLC
• Borrowed PS4 games

[Super_Mep]

Right now I'm trying to clean up my PS3 list. A lot of these games were played before I ever really cared about trophies so it's actually fun revisiting these games and getting the trophies.

The online trophies that are still obtainable I'm grabbing as quickly as possible but I'm focusing on one game at a time right now on each platform.

So if I'm playing PS4 I'll play the game I'm trying to platinum and same with PS3. Trying not to grab trophies in anything else to keep my profile clean and concise for now.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Super_Mep

[TaigaSupaWingz]

I would play a game I am looking forward to playing for a long time. Try and Plat it or get close to 100 percenting it without feeling burnt out. If i do end up burning out at some point, I would try and play a game in my list of not 100 percent games and try and finish some trophies. The main goal is to have fun and not feeling furious at the games. Every game has its quirks and fun points, I try and emphasize those points, by not letting the hard or difficult parts get to me. A recent example is my Playthrough and 80 ish percent of FFVII remake. I got Ghost of Tsushima right after I finished most of the trophies besides Hard mode, which some find to hard as balls. I had some difficulty with the mode, so i chose to play a new game or a game in my backlog I find fun and interesting. This way it feels refreshing and I feel more adventurous. If I'm not playing a new game, sometimes I got back and play some more open ended games like GTA online to relieve some stress. Not to complete the game, just to have some fun. 

 

What about you guys? 

[PhyrxianLibrarin]

I ended up creating a "Backlog" folder in my PS4 menu so I can plan out exactly what to play next. I tend to alternate between "games I bought and never played" and "games I started and finished but never platinumed", and only pick up actual new games when they're on sale. Once a game is platinum or 100%, I hide it from my library entirely so it no longer weighs on my mind.

 

At this rate that will probably last me until 2030.

Edited August 19, 2020 by PhyrxianLibrarin

[MrJAMBA]

Personally, the only time I ever have a backlog is when DLC comes out for my already finished games. It sounds obvious and maybe kinda stupid, but I only buy games that I know I will enjoy. 

 

I can usually tell based on trailers or sometimes pictures alone if the game suits me or not.

[Evil_Joker88]

Besides my personal interest i use community events here to balance between new games i play and games i repeat. While i play often until i reach the or even better all trophies, sometimes it's enough to play through the story and ignore the game even for a few years but i see some games are on 2nd try better than on first. The opposite is less likely but can happen also...

 

Sometimes i pick up games due to their name or rather first letter, the genre, 1 trophy or least amount of trophies earned so far, psnp rank below A. Server shutdown announced. Really depends on my mood

Edited August 19, 2020 by Evil_Joker88

[JoesusHCrust]

I'm such a sadcase! I actually have a spreadsheet to help me clear my backlog! I look at number of trophies needed to 100%, time to 100% and platinum difficulty level and then rank games based on these criteria. As I work through the games, I remove them form the spreadsheet and from my PS4 library. Removing a game from my library is always a great feeling! 

[gruffiiti]

I like to ask myself...  What would Joesus do?

[Zenpai]

I just play one game at a time. I like it better that way anyway.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Zenpai

[TrophyChief]

Good suggestions here. I’ll add that you have to be all in and committed to achieving your goal. Intensity and a burning desire will help pull you through. Helps me

[Misshandlad]

Thanks for all the input, it's really interesting to read all of your comments. Makes me even more motivated to maybe try out some of your methods. I really like the idea of having a spreadsheet, how weird it may sound because more often than not I go to my trophy list these days and just pick a game thats not 100% when I want to clear some old trophies. A spreadsheet would definately help with that.