Tales from the Backlog - Episodes Tagged with “Discussion”

Backlog Resolutions 2026

Dave Jackson — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0500

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Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server and make your own resolutions!- https://discord.gg/kAqSBb6jH2
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For the past few years, we've been making "backlog resolutions" each year- choosing a list of games from our libraries that we keep telling ourselves "I'm gonna play that someday" and....playing them! What a concept! Well, we're playing most of them. In what's becoming a yearly tradition, I'm joined by some friends to discuss our experience throughout the year.

Guest info:

CtrlAltNoob (she/her)- find her work at https://ctrlaltnoob.com/ and follow on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/ctrlaltnoob.bsky.social
Taylor/Athunderheart (she/they)- Follow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/athunderheart/ and BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/athunderheart.bsky.social
Soccr (any/all)- Follow on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/soccr.bsky.social

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Title Card
0:11 Introductions
4:45 Stats from 2025's Resolutions
7:11 General Thoughts and Experiences
21:31 Resolutions Success Stories
53:33 Patron Thank-Yous
55:37 Why Didn't We Play Them All?
1:25:57 Lessons & Strategies for 2026
1:40:59 Sneak Peek at Our 2026 Lists
1:59:40 Closing Thoughts
2:10:37 Guest Plugs

Music used in the episode:

Bless My Stars (Akitaka Tohyama - Beautiful Katamari OST)
a forty-six story motel (RJ Lake - El Paso, Elsewhere OST)
Mortol (Gameplay) (Eirik Suhrke - UFO 50 OST)
Bionic Bay (Francisco Javier Pérez - Bionic Bay OST)

Check out Dave talking about NieR: Automata on Pixel Project Radio https://linktr.ee/pixelprojectradio
Check out the King of Games 1999 FINALE on Retro Hangover https://linktr.ee/retrohangover

Social Media:
BlueSky- https://bsky.app/profile/tftblpod.bsky.social
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/talesfromthebacklog/

Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://linktr.ee/JackAllenCaricatures

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Backlog Resolutions 2025

Dave Jackson — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0500

In 2024, we began a new community event in the Tales from the Backlog Discord server- the Backlog Resolutions Challenge. A big group of us picked a list of games that had been collecting dust in our libraries and resolved to play them! This episode is all about how that challenge went- what worked, what didn't work, why most of us didn't complete our lists, and any adjustments we are making going into the 2025 challenge. If you'd like to join us, hop in the Discord server, make your list and start playing!

Guest info:

Matt aka Stormageddon, host of "Fun" and Games and Reignite podcasts. Find everything they do at https://djstormageddon.com/
Jared Moss, host of Play Along Podcast
Soccr

TIMESTAMPS

Intros/General Thoughts 0:13
Challenges 33:47
Break/Patron Thank Yous 53:43
Lessons Learned/Plans for the 2025 Challenge 55:03

Music used in the episode:

"Tinykin" (Tinykin)- Alexis Laugier
"BRIDGES" (Death Stranding)- Ludvig Forssell
"Catchy" (Picross 3D)- Yasumasa Yamada, Jun Ishikawa, Hirokazu Ando
"No.EX 01" (Xenoblade Chronicles X)- Hiroyuki Sawano

Support Tales from the Backlog on Patreon! or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi!
Join the Tales from the Backlog Discord server!
Social Media:
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Twitter
Facebook
Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://www.instagram.com/jackallencaricatures/ and his other pages

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

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...On Backlogs (with Matt aka Stormageddon & Marcus Stewart)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0500

To celebrate 3 years of Tales from the Backlog, I figured it was time to talk about the namesake of the show- The Backlog. Do we get FOMO as dozens of great games release every year? Do we feel pressure to complete the games we buy? What's the best approach to keep our habits healthy? All this and much more in this discussion episode!

Guest info:

Matt aka Stormageddon of "Fun" and Games and Reignite podcasts.
Marcus Stewart of The Indie Informer. Find Marcus on Twitter and Twitch.

Music used in the episode:

Pandora's Place (Yakuza 0)- SEGA Sound Team
Frozen Soul (Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere)- Tetsukazu Nakanishi
Yoga (Wii Fit)- Toru Minegishi, Manaka Tominaga

Check out Dave's guest appearance on Retro Hangover discussing System Shock 2!

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Support Tales from the Backlog

CRPG History & The Breakout Success of Baldur's Gate 3 (with Felipe Pepe - The CPRG Book)

Dave Jackson — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

During the first few months after Baldur's Gate 3 released, I heard a similar refrain coming from my friends and people on social media- people would say something like "I normally don't play RPGs like this, but I love Baldur's Gate 3! Flash forward 6 months and now Baldur's Gate 3 has swept the major award shows and broken into the top 10 most-played list on Steam. How did a game from such a niche genre break into the mainstream?

In order to answer this, I invited CRPG historian and writer/editor for The CRPG Book, Felipe Pepe, on to the show to talk about all of this. Topics discussed include:

How he got into RPGs and why we love the genre
The state and role of CRPGs through history, including discussions about Fallout, Ultima, Wizardry, Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, Morrowind, Arx Fatalis, Skyrim, Disco Elysium, Wasteland, The Gold Box Series, Shadowrun, Dragon Age, and many more games.
Why Baldur's Gate 3 broke out in such a big way
Recommendations for other CRPGs through history for new fans of the genre
The CRPG Book project

You can follow Felipe on Twitter, check out the free PDF version of The CRPG Book, or purchase a wonderful hardcover edition from Bitmap Books (all author's proceeds to go charity)!

Check out Dave's guest appearance on the "Fun" and Games podcast, where we did an Xbox 360 retrospective!

Listen to A Top 3 Podcast on Apple, Spotify and [other podcast platforms](atop3podcast.fireside.fm)!

Support Tales from the Backlog