Invalid characterset or character set not supported The Trials of Actually Completing the Alphabet Marathon





The Trials of Actually Completing the Alphabet Marathon
January 21, 2015

I never really even planned to try for this thing this year. I've kinda gotten into this "I've bought a ton of games I actually want to play, so why spend time on stuff for arbitrary reasons" mode. And then I started out by clearing "S" and EmP came up with an idea that will get me "Z" and I suddenly got the idea that I should make a real effort to clear all 26 letters (and the damn evil #). I mean, I never won the Alphaolympics and since we don't really have 27 or so writers, that will probably never happen thanks to that goddamn tiebreaker that fucked me over that one year... And I never won the Summer Team Tournament and that also doesn't seem to be in the cards, so I might as well at least be able to say I completed this thing and am a true legend of all time in all fields known to mankind.

The first problem: I tend to play a lot of games at once, so regardless of what I'm in the mood for, I can play it at any time. I got a bit overboard at this (17-19 games going) and am trying to whittle that down to a more manageable 9-10. Currently it's 16 plus the game I have for EmP's project. Those games aren't kind to me, as those 17 will only turn into 9 letters. I've done "S", but am playing four S games (Spyro 2, Stella Deus, Super Mario Galaxy and Shin Megami Tensei IV). I'm writing my "E" review, but am playing three more E games (Eschalon Book 1, EvilQuest, Etrian Odyssey Untold) and have duplicates for a couple other letters.

On top of that, I feel like I should help out with Project 32X and both games I have an intention of playing just happen to be games under letters I'll be clearing in the near future (D and T).

On top of that, a couple of my systems will be of minimal use as things currently are. With the PS1, the only unreviewed games I own for it that are of letters I'm not currently working on are Front Mission 3 and FF Tactics, which means a maximum of 1 letter from it.

For the Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles (a current project) is the only game I have that will help me. For Steam, every game I own and haven't reviewed begins with E or A, one of which I'm doing and the other, I have a tentative plan for. At least with that, there are a few games I have on my "buy" list that can help me out (Pier Solar, Icewind Dale, Heroes of a Broken Land). For the 3DS, after clearing D (Dragon Quest IX) and G (Grinsia), I'll have two options: B (Bravely Default) and R (Radiant Historia).

At least the PS2 and 360 give me plenty of options, with various retro games filling in the blanks. But, man, the way I play games, I about need to plan doing this thing out about a year in advance, so I start out in a good way and not in a "well, after I beat these 10 dead weight games, I'll start making a dent on the board!" way.

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honestgamer honestgamer - January 21, 2015 (03:36 PM)
I've come fairly close on the Alphabet Marathon in the past, but I always fall at least a few titles short, for the reasons you mentioned. Even if I cover 60 games in a given year, it seems most of them will clear up 7 or 8 letters, at best, and then I'm looking for specific games to cover that take care of a tricky one like 'Q' or whatever. Then, if I play it "smart" and clear out the tough letters right from the start, I will of course find myself with a bunch of new games to review that begin with those letters... and little or nothing for the letters I thought would be easy.
jerec jerec - January 21, 2015 (08:00 PM)
I think it would be more impressive reviewing 27 games from the same letter.
overdrive overdrive - January 22, 2015 (09:47 AM)
You know, I could probably do that with "S". I'd probably never want to see another SNES game afterwards, but I could do it.
honestgamer honestgamer - January 22, 2015 (02:45 PM)
I just realized that I am working on three games I was thinking I might review soon/next, and they literally all start with the letter 'C': Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and Citizens of Earth. Seriously, this is the struggle I face!

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