As November begins, gamers can look at the calendar and get excited for what’s to come in this month. Just within the next week and a half, gamers have a plethora of games to look forward to including Need for Speed 3 (November 3^rd), Call of Duty: BLOPS III (November 6^th) and a double whammy of Fallout 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider on November 10^th with Star Wars: Battlefront a week after that. If you are a PC gamer, you can add Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void in the mix as well.

Even if your wallet can withstand the beating of purchasing many of these games that release this month, one should ask themselves, just because it’s there, should I?

When I look at the current roster of games I have yet to finish and considering what I still have yet to play, it’s kind of hard to not be tempted to get everything and just let them sit until you are ready to play them.   I must admit, I still haven’t played last year’s Far Cry 4 and still have yet to make time to play it as of yet. I may do so eventually but not right now. Thus it remains on the store shelf for now.

There is a simple reason  why I decide that I won’t be grabbing Fallout 4.   It’s due to backlog. Right now, the last thing I need is another long form game that will take months for me to complete.   I am one of the few that once I get a game I like to see through to conclusion and right now Fallout 4 is that game I know I won’t have time for.

See, I look at it like this. As much as many gamers love to bitch and moan about games being broken, the repetitive sequels, and other issues, we already know that once a game is announced that we want it no matter how bad it may be. We are living in a time when, once we pay 60 or more dollars for a game, beating it in less than an expected time period, (2 weeks or a month for some) may not justify the purchase.   Now, I admire people who claim that they have already beaten the new Halo 5 or Assassins Creed Syndicate games but for one, I don’t have that kind of time anymore to sit for hours and play a game straight through especially since I have a family, a regular job and other things to hold my attention. Also, by design, unless you are sticking with the main missions only, most games want you to wander its world to see all that there is to see and that has been the promise of open world games and some have delivered. Those games want you to take your time and even if you do, you still may not see everything. And that’s just it, if a game world is done well, it’s easy to lose 4 or more hours in a game trying to see and do all that there is to do. Also, can you justify your satisfaction of beating a game that you paid $60 dollars for in a relatively short amount of time?

With that said, 6 months later, I still have yet to finish Watcher 3 although I am very close, and I still want to play the Hearts of Stone DLC. I just got the new Assassins Creed game as well as the Uncharted collection, both of which are cutting into my Witcher 3 time. Also, I am playing PES 2016 and halfway through my season with Bayern Munich which I will be lucky to complete before the current real life season ends. Destiny TTK is side eyeing me right now as I have barely touched it since release and I just finished getting caught up with the TV shows on my DVR. Not to mention, there is thing called ‘real life’ which at some point, caused me to take a vacation away from home which I thoroughly enjoyed. And alas, I have not completed GTA V nor Diablo III as of yet and probably never will at this point. Then of course, I am looking forward to getting Tomb Raider and Star Wars before this month is out and trying to figure out where they will all fit in. These are First world problems indeed that i am happy to have!

Plus if most gaming outlets are correct, Fallout 4 is a 400+ hour game to play. Meaning, if one did simple math, and played Fallout 4, 5 days a week for 8 hours a day…it would take 10 weeks to complete. That’s great if you have that kind of time and if you gave up all your other games to do. And that’s if you stick to the missions.

Mind you, I not saying that I won’t pick this game up.   I am sure that I will at some point, but I know right now is not a good time to get vested in a game that will suck many hours from me that I know I may never complete especially with other games that I know I want to finish first.  It’s even a matter of asking myself when will there be a good lull in the gaming calendar which will allow me some time to actually focus on this game to get my money’s worth out of it.

It’s kind of weird though when you think about it, Even though some game stories have an eventual ending, many games, as long as they are, seemingly just aren’t meant to be finished. It’s very difficult to devote yourself to one game when there are so many others vying for our time and our dollars to play them.

As much as I want to grab Fallout 4 once it’s out (and to be sure, by the time I do get it, it will probably need patching and tweaking) I am already going in with the sad thought that it’s going to be a very long time, if ever, before I finish this game. Not to mention, there will probably be several other games that will probably be ready for release that will vie for my attention as well. If the average time to beat Skyrim was 75 hours, which it took me nearly a year and a1/2 to to do, then Fallout 4 may not see me completing it.

Good problems to have indeed.

I am curious to hear from you, what games do you have either in backlog or never to be completed list and why?