Anticipating the next game while you're still enjoying and nowhere near finished with the current one

I've recently gotten back into Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after a year and a half break and this time it's clicking with me a lot more than it did the first, both because I don't have to go through its endless tutorial and because I'm playing while I'm on a treadmill so its long encounters and slow combat aren't as much of a problem (since that time isn't being wasted.) I've started to eye Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and think about buying it even though it's still full price, I have a ton of content left with XC2 (I am on chapter 7 and I haven't played Torna though I do own it) and I really want to see the rest of that story. It's like being at a buffet and halfway done with your current plate while thinking about the next.

I'm also playing some Dying Light (the first one) online with a friend of mine. He bought a PS5 because he was able to get it for retail price and they're hard to come by, but he's not a huge gamer and hasn't been able to get into stuff on that system. However he is a huge horror fan and he likes social stuff more than solo so he's been loving Dying Light co-op and he said "Yeah, this is awesome! This is what's going to get me back into gaming. What else is out there we can play like this?" We're nowhere near done with the game and we got the Ultimate version on sale so there's tons of DLC and expansion content. We aren't going to need a new game for at least awhile, especially if we also go for Dying Light 2.

Does anyone else have this experience of enjoying a game and not being done with it but still thinking about the next in part because you're enjoying the one you're playing so much? What triggers it for you? I think it's not great because while it's good to have more stuff you want to play it's also important to focus on what you're enjoying in the moment. Also I've had that experience but then gotten sick of whatever I've been playing by the end and not really wanted to play the next game, at least not immediately, because I had my full of the first (again the buffet metaphor is relevant.)

What do you think about this phenomenon?

@bigsocrates: Not exactly the same since I've played them before but I am currently replaying the Mass Effect Trilogy through the Legendary Edition. Its actually the first time I've played the first game all the way through. I just finished it a couple a nights ago. Before I did though, I felt this great anticipation of playing through 2 again. So much so that a few nights ago I turned off 1 and booted up 2 for a bit. Didn't end up playing it for long because I told myself that I was gonna finish 1 so I could do a full trilogy character import.

Coincidentally, I also booted up XC2 awhile ago, after 4-5 years and 35 hours in, and that did not go well lol. I'll have to watch some tutorial videos if I'm gonna have any hope of diving back in where I was. But hearing all the positive buzz on XC3 almost makes me want to just can 2 and wait for a sale on 3 in the future. I'll probably give 2 another shot when I'm finished with Mass Effect, anyway.

It might not be quite the same but I get a variation of this from generally wanting to replay games that precede the newest release, because I like to roll from the previous stories directly into the next rather than have to rely on recaps or memory to catch me back up.

@spacemanspiff00: I loved ME 1 and finished it when the series came out but I didn't know what 2 would be like at the time. So I totally understand itching for 2 before you've finished 1, since 1 can be so janky. I do think the end game of 1 is pretty great from a story perspective, though.

How much did you play of XC2 when you booted it back up? I took less time off and I am pretty good at picking games back up but there are a ton of mechanics and it took me awhile to get back up to speed with them, though I didn't rely on tutorials or whatever. You may find that some of it comes back if you give it a chance, and the game isn't that difficult so I found I could sort of brute force my way through even before I remembered how to play it more properly.

@bigsocrates: Ya it was nice to finally see the first game's story to completion. I think I watched a youtube video of it a long time ago but most of it I had forgotten. I always forget how much side content is in these games compared to the main story. ME1 pretty much has you find out about Saren, touch the beacon, talk to the council, then do the 4 planets where you discover the plan and meet Liara. Obviously you meet other characters as well, but its all pretty short. Especially the Shepard/Liara relationship. After that its pretty much go to IIlos then back to the citadel to stop Saren. Some of the side stuff adds some extra tidbits to it all and sets up some future events, like encountering Cerberus, but I was rather thrown off how quick the main story goes.

I think that's what makes 2 the better game overall. You have more time with the characters and spend more time getting to the bottom of what's going on, even if the ending of 2 is not great.

I didn't play XC2 for very long. I checked out a side mission that was a few levels below where I was and even then the enemies decimated me. Admittedly, I didn't do much else besides that before turning it off. I'm sure if I went to an earlier area, and fought stuff that was half my level, it might help me rediscover things. Couldn't for the life of me remember how the combo phases and elements all work. I know I stopped in chapter 5 when I got stuck on the Zeke boss, I believe. There are some pretty good vids on Youtube that explain it all but I haven't made the effort to sit through any of them yet. I'm sure I'll miss something uber important if I just mess around myself lol.

Eh, honestly youtube vids on XC2 combat are only for if you wanna go too deep into endgame superbosses.

If you're just playing the story glance up at the upper right of the screen and make sure you aren't doing the same combo over and over and otherwise just do a few combos for each chain and you're good.

Eventually Something happens in the story that will make that an even easier process and you won't even need to think about it for the final few chapters of the game.

I have this problem all the time. Inevitably, halfway through the thing I'm currently enjoying, something else will catch my fancy and I'll switch gears. This usually ends up with me not getting back to the first thing for a long enough amount of time to pass that I have to head to Youtube to remind myself what was happening in the story. Thank goodness for channels like Gamer's Little Playground and Gamematics. The work they do of stitching together all the cutscenes/story moments alongside relevant gameplay where dialogue and important context is given keeps me from having to start games over every time I decide to go back to something.

It happened earlier this year with Guardians of the Galaxy, which I put down to play Mass Effect (I got all the way to the middle of ME3 and then started something else). It's currently happening right now as I've stopped playing God of War to get into Elden Ring. It's not like I got bored of these games and decided I'd had enough; I really want to finish them, but the new shiny thing is too enticing.

It's a sickness, really. I have two backlogs: one for games I've never played, and another for things that I abandoned after some significant number of hours (at least 2 or more) and am meaning to come back to one day.

All the more reason why I only buy a game or two a month in addition to rarely buying them at full price, instead of going "Oh! Shiny!" during Steam sales.

Yeah, there a a lot of games I get about half finished, and then buy the sequel on sale. Injustice comes to mind. I played through the story mode, but didn't really go to deep into it beyond that before buying Injustice 2 on sale.

Got Wind Waker before I finished Ocarina of Time, then Twilight Princess, then Skyward Sword, then BotW. Still haven't entered Ganon's Castle in OoT.

Somewhat related, I want to play more SW Battlefront 2, but keep opting for Squadrons instead out of fear the online community is going to dry up soon.

For me this is Yakuza series. 2 years ago I started Yakuza 0. I have yet to even get passed the 50% Mark. Yet every time I play it I do absolutely love it. At this point I own like 5 of the Yakuza games but at this rate I'll be dead by the time I finish them all