Well, I think it's finally time I wrote a blog about one problem I've been having throughout the entire year........I'm in a pretty bad gaming slump right now. This has been the year where I completed the fewest games since my busy college semester with little money (back in 2007). This comes after 2009/2010 where I completed the most games I ever did, started to finish a bunch of JRPGs again like the old days, and so on. 2011 saw a slight drop because of me increasing my anime watching, but I still managed to complete a good number of games.

So how has it all started? January 2012 was a slow buying month, but I did purchase FFXIII-2 and Soul Calibur V for instance. I was beyond excited about FFXIII-2 since I loved FFXIII a lot (compared to most). While I did complete FFXIII-2 and Soul Calibur V story mode, ever since then, the only games I beat were Theatherhythm, New Super Mario Bros. 2, a few characters on Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generation, and Starhawk single player. I did finish story/arcade mode in a few fighters/shmups, but they were super short anyway. None of the other games I purchased in 2012 have been completed, and I have not gone back to complete a game I bought previous years.

The day I got FFXIII-2 and Soul Calibur V was the last day at my job, since I got a new one and was relocating down to Virginia. I spent around a week packing up my apartment and then moving. I tried playing FFXIII-2 here and there, but never got much time into it. During my moving process and starting my new job, I ended up getting Twisted Metal, Jak & Daxter Collection, PS Vita w/ 12 games, SSX, Binary Domain, Hyperdimensional Neptunia, etc. March continued in game buying when I was barely playing many games since I was still trying to settle into my new place/job/area. I finally settled a bit in March where I finished FFXIII-2 and SCV single player. I played Twisted Metal SP and got stuck 2/3rds through on a boss. Then I got thrown onto working 3rd shift at work which totally screwed up my sleep/life schedule (also working most weekends). I still purchased games like XenoBlade Chronicles, a few more Vita games, Yakuza Dead Souls, Naruto: UNS Generations, Tales of Graces f, Devil May Cry HD Collection, Warriors Orochi 3, Asura's Wrath, Akai Katana, etc. In May is when my job started the 12 hour shifts on many days (9 at the shortest sometimes), and mandatory working half the weekends in a month (or 6 days a week). And because I disliked my job so much and it tired me out everyday, I in no way felt like gaming. I ended up watching some anime, but it was even hard to watch at times. I was also searching for a new job which took out gaming time again. So in May/June/July, I did pick up a few more games like .Hack//Versus (love it, but now stuck), Atelier Meruru, Record of Agarest 2, Saint Seiya Sanctuary battle, Sorcery, Dragon's Dogma, Theatherhytm, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Gungnir, etc. However, since I was in the process of moving again in the month of July, my gaming time pretty much stopped again. Before moving, I did dump a bunch of games at Best Buy and some at Amazon to clear backlog a little. Believe me, some of the games I never wanted to get rid of and wish I could fully play though them (like Mass Effect games), but finding the time is just......

After moving into my new place, I did purchase more games such as Kingdom Hearts 3D, Growlanser, P4 The Arena, LBP Vita, Project Diva f, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Kid Icarus, The Last Story, Ratchet & Clank HD Collection, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, BF3, etc. The good thing is I finally beat a few games like Theatherhytm and New Super Mario Bros. 2, but I still barely played LBP, KH 3D, Ratchet & Clank Collection, Project Diva f, etc. yet (when those are series I beat every one or put a ton of time into previous installments). I have a few games I haven't opened (like Kid Icarus), a bunch of games I only played once so far, and a CRAZY number of downloadable games I never once played or barely played (I barely played the awesome Sound Shapes yet).

Currently, I work 5 days a week. While it's nice I definitely have the weekends off, I don't arrive back from work until 5:30pm a lot, and typically go to bed 4 1/2 hours later. While 4 1/2 hours may seem like a lot of time, that time is usually spent on getting gas, doing laundry, cooking, some grocery shopping, running errands, etc. to a point I usually don't finish until 7pm. And from then I can either watch anime or play a video game. Since some days I'm just really freaking tired, I have no energy to play a game that I just lay down watching anime. And then when I decide what game to play, there is no freaking way I can ever decide what to play with all that I built up. I tried to get rid of some games to help relieve my backlog, but there's still a lot to decide on. I'll play one game, run into an issue (because my gaming skill has gone down a bit too as of late), or just maybe not enjoy it as much, I end up quitting and watch an anime instead. I use to be on top of downloading every demo on PS Store updates and keeping track of all the latest downloadable games on platforms. Honestly, I could not tell you what has been released as of late and sometimes it takes me a month to get around to trying a demo. I'd love to play a JRPG (my favorite genre), but they suck up a lot of time and I constantly think there's no way I can catch up to play the ones I really want to play (I really want to finish WKC II (people can laugh at me for that, but I LOVED the first one), ToGf, etc. So I try playing shorter games, but I have not finished them yet. I also have a crapton of HD collections to play of games I never finished on PS2 (to series I like).

In the meantime, I've tried really hard to cut WAY down on my gaming purchases. 2012 has been the year I bought the least games and the amount I'm buying the rest of the year is just over 12. Most all games I'm buying the rest of the year won't require much time investment thankfully (and most are definitely proven to be successful for me). One of the few games that would require time investment, RE6, I still cannot decide whether I should keep my preorder. I loved RE5 (only RE I beat), but I sort of doubt I'll be able to finish RE6. I did preorder a WiiU and I expect I'll play New Super Mario Bros. U (I do like 2D Mario games a lot). While you'd think I'd be saving money cutting back on gaming, I'm not because I have more anime preordered than ever (strictly because I followed the latest series more), and lots is being spent on two upcoming Anime Conventions (hotel, new cosplay, etc.). I am really try to cut my budget as much as possible because my last move (having to pay a termination fee for my lease) has really crushed my wallet. I am also trying to give Steam a short (where I got Torchlight and II) because I like how it works, but we'll see where that goes (I need to upgrade my desktop or get a new one, since my laptop is more powerful). I know Borderlands 2 is a good game and I enjoyed the first one (been far from beating it), but I pretty much guarantee it would be towards the back of my backlog and never get finished.

Right now I'm just trying to figure out how I can get out of my gaming slump. At least my 3DS seems reasonable because I kept its collection small and I'm beating games on it. I managed to get out of my short anime slump (moving sort of hurt it) by watching a bunch of 11-13 episode series knocking my backlog down a bit. Platformers seem to be my best option right now, but I'm trying to figure out a way I can play some games I beat this year, along with previous years. Plus, it would be great if I could finish XenoBlade and/or The Last Story. I tried gaming on every console I had (finally even played the Xbox 360 the other day), but nothing seems to be working.

What would people recommend I do? I still definitely like gaming and close to it, but I've been having problems finish stuff due to job and not being able to decide what to play. I honestly cut WAY back on going out with friends just to finish games/anime.