Finishing games

[crpgnut]

It is very rare for me to actually finish a game anymore. I start games over and over and never play all the way through. I've played 1/2 to 2/3 of Dragon Age, Divinity 2, and Sacred 2, King's Bounty, Eschalon and several others. I did finish Fallout 3, as far as the main quest goes but didn't complete every single map. The last game that I finished completely was Knights of the Chalice. It was shorter than most of these others in the list.

Div2 was my latest attempt and I don't think I'll finish. I did take 5-6 characters through Broken Valley and one all the way to capturing the Battle Tower but didn't feel a pressing need to finish it up. Dragon Age bored me silly with the party members. Party games without turn-based combat are never completed anymore. I hate the banter and micromanaging. Why do I have to dress everyone? Did they forget how to dress themselves once they joined me? None of my party members are giving me gifts, why am I supposed to give them some? Leliana and Shale were barely tolerable. The rest were just pathetic.

I'm in awe of the folks, like Maylander, who can finish a game multiple times with a variety of characters. I just don't have the time or the will to do that anymore. There was no real point with this post, I'm just rambling. I love the beginning of games, but it is rare for a game to keep me at high levels. Becoming all-powerful has lost its allure.

 

[Phonix]

Do you have fun? Is it fun to restart the game, before you have finish it? Yes, it seam so for you, so just keep doing it, because games is all about having fun, and there is no rule that say that you must finish a game.

I have my own personal rule, that I must finish a game before I start a new one, but somtime I do break that rule, then a game become relly boring. The reason I got that rule, is because games is quite expensive in Denmark.

 

[bjon045]

One of the key things I try to do to help with this is I limit myself to a maximum of 2 games installed at any given time and I have to finish one of them before I can install another game.

 

[Madigan]

I agree with Phonix, it's all about having fun, but a game that bares a great story will keep me in it till the end. Also, iv'e completed some games simply due to the exploration factor, Dungeon Siege is an example with it's blah story, but the visuals at the time were stunning and kept ne interested till the end, Nox and Gorasul the same. Then theres Games like the first two Gothics, Risen, Baldurs Gate 1&2 and of Course Planescape that were so rich in story and lore, to me not finishing them would be like laying down a good novel 3/4 of the way through the book.

I have a friend that is the same way, he has hundreds of games and i don't think he has finished 1 of them.

 

[Maylander]

Depends on the type of person really. I have very specific taste, and quite a lot of time on my hands, so when I do find games I enjoy, I find it interesting to explore every possibility in it.

I know people who are just like you. In their case it's basically down to the lack of time - they hardly ever have time to consistently play a game, and when they play a game in small sessions (i.e 1-2 hours) every other day, it's too spread out to get that feeling of being "hooked".

Nothing wrong with that. Just means you have better things to do. I don't, hehe.

 

[magerette]

I actually finish games a lot more now than when I first started playing them. Part of it is that I have more time, but part of it is that I'm more patient with both myself and the games. OTOH, I'm also a lot less likely to buy the kind of games I know I'm not going to finish, which is why I haven't played Oblivion, Fallout 3, Dragon Age and dozens of others. (And crpgnut, I pretty much know if it's by Bioware, I'm not going to have the patience for the NPC's. I barely barely made it through NWN2, which was only biowarean, not even officially Bioware. )

 

[Tragos]

I am not "finishing" games either , i am getting easily bored plus i suffer from chronic restartitis on RPGs . The only solution is playing games where the MQ can be ignored .
I too feel that becoming all too powerful kind of sucks because it makes game boring .

In DAO i finished Ostagar with my 2nd character and then the boring "deep roads" came into mind so i quitted and game got uninstalled .

 

[Thaurin]

You are not alone. I am the same way. I have stacks of games lying around for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. I never finished Risen or Dragon Age. I still have Fallout 3 lying around. I'm also still playing Mass Effect 2, but today I bought Final Fantasy XIII. I'm a serial gamer. Like you, I love the feeling of a new title and the first few hours of it. It's not even that the game gets dull or starts sagging, but I just lost the will at some point. It's almost that it feels like it's too much of an effort to play on, which is stupid since games are supposed to be entertainment (i.e. relaxing).

Those titles do always stay in the back of my head. Some day, I still want to finish Brutal Legend, Deux Ex, Tales of Monkey Island, Metal Gear Solid 4, Disgaea 3, Valkyria Chronicles, Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia, King's Bounty, and others. *sigh*

I think I need help.

 

[wolfing]

I use the "2 rules of 2".
- Try to only play 2 games at most at the same time. If a third game comes, I need to either finish or totally abandon one of the other two. I know that thinking "I'll finish it later" will never happen.
- Play the game fully on the second character. The first character I don't put much effort and time into creating it, he's just there for me to 'learn the ropes'. Usually I only play this one 5 or so hours, then I restart with the real character.

 

[crpgnut]

I actually can devote 4-5 hours a night, so it's not a lack of time. Stories in games never grab my attention. I am an avid, avid reader of fantasy and so the crpg stories always seem lame in comparison. I can't think of a single crpg that had a worthwhile story, for my tastes. I include BG2 and Planescape Torment in this. The Gothics were horrible. I'm not sure if something was lost in translation, but I could have cared less whether anybody, including my main character, lived or died in those games.

I think a lot of it for me is that I enjoy a character who is weak in the beginning. That's why expansions almost never work for me, unless they start from scratch. I absolutely hate high-level D&D and many games emulate their structure. Once my character starts whipping everyone, I lose interest. In Dragon Age, once I could take revenants on and win easily, the game lost its challenge. I'm much more likely to finish a "complete the map game" where there is a lot of stuff to find. I loved the spread openess of Div2 in Broken Valley. Sentinel Islands was much more compressed and the few minutes I spent in the Fjords had it looking very compressed. I played a LOT of Sacred 2, just for the clearing the map concept. Unfortunately, the combat in that game was way over the top and it wasn't even difficult. Just battle after battle, ad nauseum.

One game I did finish was the Witcher. I thought the gameplay and the story in that game did a good job. Maybe I need sex cards to keep me going I generally enjoy games with alchemy. That's one mistake that Div2 made big time. You don't do the alchemy or creature creating. You take it to somebody else who does everything for you.

 

[CelesteGB]

I'm glad someone started this thread. I've always completed games up until the past year or so. Since that time, I've found it hard to complete a game. I have quite a few console games, DS games, PC games, etc. PC games I do finish for the most part ( I still hope to complete KB but battles are getting soooo long in Demonia ) I started thinking of the console and DS games that I have finished (a very small amount) have had no random encounters. I also have a habit of quitting some because after 100+ hours, I'm really ready to move on to something else (those tend to be the ones with random encounters, which include a lot of console/DS games ) I think the fact that I have a huge interesting pile of unplayed games makes it easier to move on to something new

One of the features at gamespot I loved was a pie chart showing how much time roughly each person took to complete a game. I used that pie chart to determine if I was in the mood for something long or something quicker

Oh, and I only play one game at a time. I have been trying to play PC and DS concurrently but after I game, I've been reading instead of playing the DS…getting rid of those huge piles of books I have too

 

[crpgnut]

Interesting points, Celeste. I have found that I don't always complete books now either, though my track record is much better there. I'm also a one game at a time gamer. I don't have enough brain cells to split between two games. I generally read one book and play one game and alternate between them as I get bored/tired. I still definitely get my money's worth out of most games, I just don't finish. The start-over-itis is one of the reasons but not the only. I still play and finish MM3 and MM7 about every other year. However, I find it hard to drop down to Morrowind from Oblivion, even though Morrowind is better in several ways.

 

[Relayer]

My problem is that I buy a game I'm excited about, play it for a couple of days and then buy another I'm equally excited about so put the first one aside. Then I pick up some old game I come across that I'd forgotten about or wanted to try at some point and start playing that one. Then I come across a game disc of some game I loved but didn't finish for some reason...

And so it goes

Last game I played non-stop to completion was Resident Evil 4 in 2005!


YES, it was that good - it really was a roller coaster of a gaming ride. But could have also been that I had nothing else to play those few weeks.

But after skipping the PS2 in favor of the Dreamcast and Gamecube and not playing consoles much to begin with due to PC RPGs, I got a PS2 2 years ago. The PS2 library is HUGE so I'm playing catch up. On top of that got an Xbox 360 a month ago and add to that the WONDERFUL JRPG machine that is the DS and I may NEVER catch up.

As far as uncompleted PC RPGs, only put in about 6 hours in Drakensang, never finished NWN 2 (played until I acquired the keep, 3 times!), barely made a dent in Gothic 2 or BG 2's TOB expansion, got the M & M 1 - 6 compilation I've only "messed around" with... seriously, I have enough gaming to last me a lifetime!!!

 

[Relayer]

Oops! Correction: last game completed was FF XII last year, RE 4 was the one I finished before that one.

 

[Thrasher]

I used to be really fastidious about finishing 1 game b4 the next. Then it was only 2 games max at the same time (usually switching between RPG and FPS). Now, with the dullness of NWN 2, I have fallen down a notch and am playing 3 games in parallel.

BTW Assassin's Creed, never finished finding all the flags. Seemed pointless. Not finishing, a first for me! AC has given us that wonderful distinction of boring pointless gameplay achievements… And I love exploration type games. Good thing it was only $5.

 

[CelesteGB]

I always feel guilty when I don't finish.

Which reminds me, I tend to get lost a lot and then end up spending 1 hour getting where I want to go and having random encounters pop up every few feet. After 100 hours or so, I run out of steam Most of this applies to console games. If I have to grind, I want to choose when and if I grind

 

[Thrasher]

Don't feel guilty if you're happier not finishing. Fun is most important!

Speaking of random encounters, I have grown to detest games with this. My first disgust was with Halo. The last third of the game I rushed through to the end as fast as possible running away from tons of enemies just to finish and uninstall. Then playing the goldbox FR DnD games cemented it.

 

[chamr]

I'm in the same boat as a lot of folks here. The only games I’ve finished in the last few years are Eschalon, Dungeon Lords, the Chaos campaign for Mark of Chaos, the Human campaign for Warcraft III and the campaign for Kohan 2. Beyond that, dozens and dozens of games started but not finished.

While I acknowledge that the individual gamer's personality and amount of free time are influencers, I think it's mostly a function of flawed thinking in the game design community. Game designers have an inflated sense of how engaging their product is. I think 40+ hours of content is way too much in almost every case. Most of it is often repetitive filler, whether it's combat, fetch quests, or take the base missions. It's all been done before, and doing it dozens of times in your game is asking a lot of the player, even if you've developed the best game ever.

I believe there's an underserved market out there for really tight, beautifully paced games that only take 15 to 20 hours to complete. I'd gladly pay $50 for 15 hours of high quality RPG play where I felt like I was experiencing something new and exciting almost the entire time over $20 for 40+ hours of play where I felt like I was forcing myself to play through 80% of it to get at the 20% that felt fun any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Content volume does not equate to value for my dollar.

 

[azraelck]

I always screamed when I had a random encounter just a step or two from a rest spot in those games. Often times, it cost me a party member.

My rule is is that if it starts feeling like a job, then I'll stop and play something else. I play games to be entertained; to have fun doing things I couldn't do in real life. If it turns into a grind, a job just to get to the next area, then I'm not likely to keep playing. This goes for any game, not just RPGs.

I have gotten a bit better as I've gotten older about beating them, but I attribute that to experience. BG seems a bit easier after you've beaten Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight (one of the hardest games I've ever played from scratch and beat). Any side-scrolling platformer seems easy after beating Mega Man 2 (or any Mega Man game, even the 'easy' ones).

 

[Thrasher]

Don't get me started on Warcraft III. It took me a year to finish it with the expansion. People say it's a strategy game, but success is in it really depends how how well you you know all the million of keyboard shortcuts and how fast you hit them...