There are a lot of video games I have not played. It is impossible to play everything that comes out today and I certainly didn't play (or even know about) all of the games that came out when I was growing up in the Nineties. In 2014, between having a PlayStation Vita, a PS4, and a new-ish PC, I felt like I was pretty much done with the PS3, that generation, and playing old games on old platforms. At the time, I was dabbling with a few random PS3 games like Tales of Xillia, but I wasn't that motivated to finish it. My original backwards compatible PS3 also died not that long ago, so I also accepted that I would probably never play or finish those random physical PS1 and PS2 games I have, like Persona 2: Eternal Punishment or Indigo Prophecy. It was all of these events combined which made me say things like "I'm never hooking up my PS3 again" and "I've accepted that I'm never going to play <Insert Random Older Game>".

However, something over the past few months changed my attitude towards playing old games. Maybe it's because I really enjoyed seeing the gang play through older games between Unprofessional Fridays, Metal Gear Scanlon, and random features like BioForge. Maybe it's because my brother and I have been talking way too much about Persona lately and I keep thinking "Man, I really should see what happens in Persona 4: Arena Ultimax." Maybe Jeff is rubbing off on me. Whatever the reason, I feel like there are more and more old games I would like to play, despite the inconvenience of hooking up older consoles or messing around with dated mechanics or systems, or at the very least know more about.

With that in mind, I have built a list. Or, I guess, three lists, since I couldn't make up my mind when I had to narrow everything down to one short list. This is The Old Games, a way for me to keep track of the games that have slipped through the cracks or games I always wanted to play, but never did. It is both a backlog and gaps in my gaming knowledge I would like to flesh out. Some of the games are not that old, but I added the newer games too so I wouldn't forget about some of the games I missed in 2013 and 2014.

The idea behind this project is I would like to try to play, or at least sample, some of these games I wish I had played. For the record, this isn't a Steam or PSN backlog of shame. In fact, some of the games listed below I have never purchased. And when it comes to things like Steam, I have come to accept the fact that I have made some not so smart purchases over the years. I know I will never play every single game I bought, so I'm not going to even try that. I can just look at my game library, roll my eyes, and move on.

If all goes according to plan, I would like to write reviews on the site for the games I have finished, or at least update my progress with another blog every few months to say how things are coming along (mostly for my own record, more than anything else). I'm also going to be a little loosey-goosey in the sense I am not going to force myself to play some game over another. (For example, when something like Night in the Woods, No Man's Sky, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, or Persona 5 finally comes out, there's very little that is going to stop me from playing them as soon as I can) In other words, this is probably going to go on for...forever. And while I would like to ideally play everything, I'm not against the idea of watching some play throughs or let's plays. (Especially for FFVI. The one time I tried playing that game..uh...it didn't go so great.) For a lot of these games, the main driving force is this sense that "I have to know" more so than I need to play every second of this game.

With all of that out of the way, here are the lists. The lists are ranked by priority, based on my own personal interest. (All lists are in alphabetical order)

The Old Games I Have To Play (Top Priority):

1. 80 Days
2. 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors
3. Bastion
4. Bayonetta
5. Clannad
6. Persona 4: Arena Ultimax
7. Saints Row: The Third
8. Shovel Knight
9. Steins;Gate
10. Super Mario Bros. 2

The Old Games I Would Like To Play (Middle Priority):

1. Crusader Kings II (Thanks Austin for showing this game off in that Playdate. It looks rad.)
2. Descent
3. EarthBound
4. Endless Legend
5. Final Fantasy VI
6. Indigo Prophecy (Yeah, I know...But still...I have to know. Even if it's nonsense, I have to know.)
7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
8. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
9. Sonic CD
10. Xenogears

The Old Games I Probably Should Play (Lower Priority):

1. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
2. Borderlands 2
3. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Might just watch the VinnyVania of this, if the GBeast plays through that game.)
4. Fez
5. Mass Effect (FYI, I did play through Mass Effect 2 and 3. I just haven't seen the first game)
6. Ōkami
7. Quake II (I haven't played any Quake game actually, but it sounds like this is the one, right?)
8. Star Wars: TIE Fighter
9. Suikoden II
10. System Shock 2

So there it is. 30 old-ish games I would to play at some point in my life. Oh boy....

In terms of my strategy on how I am going to tackle all of these games, I'm going to get some of the biggest games for me out of the way first. This includes two visual novels, 999 and Steins;Gate. (Especially with Zero Time Dilemma, the third Zero Escape game, is coming out sometime in 2016) I will also like to finish Persona 4: Arena Ultimax sometime before Persona 5 comes out. At that point, I will probably keep my PS3 plugged in and try out some other PS3 games like Ni No Kuni and Okami.

The Next Old Games I Plan On Playing:

1. Steins;Gate
2. Persona 4: Arena Ultimax
3. 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors