Finishing Games

[Spiritmaster]

Recently, within the past 3-4 months or so, I have noticed that I rarely finish the games I purchase.

Far Cry 3, made it to Hoydtt's island then stopped.
SWTOR, my ratattaki bounty hunter is stuck freezing her butt off on Hoth.
Guild Wars 2, made it to level 27, then stopped.
Dawn of War 2, did about 10 missions of the Eldar campaign then stopped.
Borderlands 2, made it to 41 Mechro, then stopped.

Now heres the thing, I'm really not sure why. All the above I had a blast with and I never really got the sense that I was bored with them. I just... stopped. I'll start thinking about it an remember how much fun I had playing them and start again for thirty minutes or so, then just stop.

Anyone else have this kind of thing happen to them?

 

[hazabaza1]

I find that I'll generally finish off games that I'm enjoying a fair amount OR games that have sequels that I want to play.

I doubt I would have finished Darksiders or Disgaea 3 if there wasn't another game ahead of them that I was looking forward to.

Most of the other games I don't finish are just dull ones. Don't give me enough motivation to do something, or just get tedious quickly.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well that's bound to happen around RPGs. You spend hours and hours customizing and leveling and grinding and getting sidetracked... and by the time you get back to the main storyline you wanna hurry up and get finished except you already got bored and have some other titles pressing. I personally hate not finishing a game. Inasmuch as I've been dragging a few now and then I always make it a point to finish them.

 

[tippy2k2]

I'm the complete opposite.

I have a rule: ONE single player game is played at a time. This helps me avoid getting bored with one that I'm playing and allows me to make sure I finish it. I will play games that I think are just alright instead of dropping it to play a game I'm really excited for strictly because I want to know what happens. The game has to be really bad or really boring for me to just plain abandon it...

 

[The Wykydtron]

Recently, within the past 3-4 months or so, I have noticed that I rarely finish the games I purchase.

Far Cry 3, made it to Hoydtt's island then stopped.
SWTOR, my ratattaki bounty hunter is stuck freezing her butt off on Hoth.
Guild Wars 2, made it to level 27, then stopped.
Dawn of War 2, did about 10 missions of the Eldar campaign then stopped.
Borderlands 2, made it to 41 Mechro, then stopped.

Now heres the thing, I'm really not sure why. All the above I had a blast with and I never really got the sense that I was bored with them. I just... stopped. I'll start thinking about it an remember how much fun I had playing them and start again for thirty minutes or so, then just stop.

Anyone else have this kind of thing happen to them?

Wait a level 41 Mechromancer then stopped? Does that mean the story of that game goes on for that long? I'm around level 25ish and it's looking like the game is slowly inching towards the last few areas. Then again it only takes one new batch of side quests and oops 3 hours gone.

OT: I have a nasty habit of reaching the final boss then stopping. It first started with Skyrim but I was increasingly losing faith in the game in general, shitty quest by shitty quest, and the really underwhelming Valhalla-esque boss arena was the last straw. However I was REALLY liking Catherine and I have to assume I was reaching the end somewhat, can anyone who has finished it tell me if i'm close?

Spoiler

Catherine is actually a succubus and the bartender is a creepy weirdo, the song Alone unlocks on the jukebox so I had to drink Vincent silly until it ended because lol Persona 4. I'm still in that bar giving Vincent severe alcohol poisoning. Almost ONE YEAR ON.

Oh and i'm stuck on the final boss of Dark Souls but I know how it ends so I've counted it as beating the game. I'm blaming the very small input latency for making that boss fight fucking silly. It's not just getting the parry timing right it's hoping the game will register the input immediately rather than missing half a second. What is this UMVC3 online?

 

[The_Echo]

I generally only stop playing a game if I get stuck, or get a new game. But I always come back.

It bothers me to not have finished a game. (I still haven't beaten Demon's Souls... [small]or Dark Souls[/small].)

 

[redknightalex]

Seeing as many don't actual finish games in general, it's not that far off that you wouldn't finish these games, even if you enjoyed them a lot. There are plenty of games that I love but never finish (Skyrim being the best, and worst, example of it). If I get distracted by another game I find fascinating, I'll forget about the game I was playing no matter how much fun I was having. I think its the novelty of a new game that causes us to move from game to game a lot. I do that with books and websites as well.

It also takes a lot of discipline to finish a game longer than 10 hours. Even shorter ones can be tedious as well. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for actually finishing a game. It's a pretty decent feat when you think about it.

 

[SonicWaffle]

OT: I have a nasty habit of reaching the final boss then stopping. It first started with Skyrim but I was increasingly losing faith in the game in general, shitty quest by shitty quest, and the really underwhelming Valhalla-esque boss arena was the last straw.

You didn't miss a whole lot. By the time a competent player reaches the boss fight they're essentially a god anyway, so it's an absolute piece of piss to bring down Alduin and dance on his corpse.

OT: I have a ton of unfinished games that I keep forgetting to go back to. Most of them I probably never will, because I suck and never have the energy to do anything too strenuous, which includes trying to remember how to play a game I last touched three years ago.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I stop playing if I'm just not having fun.... GTA4, Oblivion, Deux Ex HR etc.

 

[cerebreturns]

For me it's lack of immersion, but in a good way.

I used to sit on my computer 16+ hours a day and get lost in a game. I don't mean enjoy it, I mean completely lost.

There was 2 years where I basically felt like I was in Azeroth (WoW) and the real world had little in it then sleeping and eating for me, the real world felt more like a game.


As I got over the issues I had before, dissociating from reality, I learned that while I still love games, play them a lot, I no longer feel that total immersion, even in the best games.

Eventually I realize "this is a game...and it's fun but...let's go do something else"


I dunno, just my personal experience.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Of the sixty-some PS3 games I have, I've only completed seven.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I play about 10 hours then i'm done, after i've explored all the mechanics and gameplay there really is nothing else to do. like the 2nd island in farcry3 its just more of the first. Only game i always finish is splintercell, halo and mass effect series.

 

[Spiritmaster]

I play about 10 hours then i'm done, after i've explored all the mechanics and gameplay there really is nothing else to do. like the 2nd island in farcry3 its just more of the first. Only game i always finish is splintercell, halo and mass effect series.

Yeah I get the feeling thats probably it for me. Especially with something like Guild Wars 2 where you essentially have everything unlocked by level 10 (except for utility slots, but most people just pick passive buffs, so a new buff every 10 levels isn't much incentive to level), and it just gets old using the same 5 attacks for each weapon.

 

[Fasckira]

I have a habit of sinking hours into an RPG, building up an ace character only to get distracted by another game. Then when I come back to the RPG, I decide its too much hassle to resume and try and recall what I've done so I create a new character...

 

[DanielBrown]

Happens to me when I have too many games to play at once. If I start jumping to another game the trend will quickly continue. Currently trying to finish off some games so I can return to the others.

I have a habit of sinking hours into an RPG, building up an ace character only to get distracted by another game. Then when I come back to the RPG, I decide its too much hassle to resume and try and recall what I've done so I create a new character...

Did that constantly with Final Fantasy when I was a kid. Have played the first disc of FFVII-IX countless times, but only further than that a few times. Haven't even finished any of them iirc. Perhaps it's time I return to my childhood games...
It's pretty annoying. D:

 

[Username Redacted]

I...cannot relate to this issue at all. The number of games that I've picked up within that last decade that I haven't finished can probably be counted on one hand with Disgaea 2, Disgaea 3 and Psychonauts being the only ones that even come to mind.

 

[SweetShark]

Heh, you aren't the only one.
Right now I stuck REALLY BAD with my practice to draw.
It is so addictive that when I start a game.......after 2-3 days I forgot about the game......
But again I am glad I do that in my free time ^^

 

[Frybird]

Recently, within the past 3-4 months or so, I have noticed that I rarely finish the games I purchase.

[...]
Far Cry 3, made it to Hoydt's island then stopped.
[...]

Now heres the thing, I'm really not sure why. All the above I had a blast with and I never really got the sense that I was bored with them. I just... stopped. I'll start thinking about it an remember how much fun I had playing them and start again for thirty minutes or so, then just stop.

Anyone else have this kind of thing happen to them?

Hah, exactly the same thing for me. (And i'd guess many others).

It doesn't help that the end of the first island feels so...conclusive.
At the end of it, you get a bunch of setpiece moments, most of the story elements get sort-of-kind-of resolved, and the beginning of the second island looks very much like what happened on the first one, only that now you'll have to face a villan you haven't even seen at this point.

Given that i also accidentially spoiled the actual ending to myself, there is not much incentive to come back, even though i enjoyed most of the game so far.

------

But as for you, as i see it all the games you listed are pretty long (as in far over the 20 hour mark, except DoW2, but it sounds like you're currently playing the second expansion) maybe you are like me and tend to get bored on longer games.

Many people complain how short games are nowadays, but given that i personally have a lot of income to spare for new games, but hardly the time to play all of them, i actually appreciate games that i can finish within 10 to 15 hours as long as they remain fun to play (For example, i am fully satisfied with the length of Dishonored despite it being apparently it's main weakness) while at the same time i dread games from wich i can already see beforehand that they involve lots of grinding, subquests or expansive open worlds. After a while, i just want to have a new gameplay experience, no matter how well designed the one i'm currently playing is. But that's alright for me.

 

[xShredd]

Recently, within the past 3-4 months or so, I have noticed that I rarely finish the games I purchase.

Far Cry 3, made it to Hoydtt's island then stopped.
SWTOR, my ratattaki bounty hunter is stuck freezing her butt off on Hoth.
Guild Wars 2, made it to level 27, then stopped.
Dawn of War 2, did about 10 missions of the Eldar campaign then stopped.
Borderlands 2, made it to 41 Mechro, then stopped.

Now heres the thing, I'm really not sure why. All the above I had a blast with and I never really got the sense that I was bored with them. I just... stopped. I'll start thinking about it an remember how much fun I had playing them and start again for thirty minutes or so, then just stop.

Anyone else have this kind of thing happen to them?

Wait a level 41 Mechromancer then stopped? Does that mean the story of that game goes on for that long? I'm around level 25ish and it's looking like the game is slowly inching towards the last few areas. Then again it only takes one new batch of side quests and oops 3 hours gone.

Don't worry, you're close to the ending of the game, but after you finish it unlocks a 'True Vault Hunter' mode, which lets you play through the game for a second time with your existing character from your first playthrough. That's how he got that high, I finished the game somewhere around level 30.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

I generally finish games. I do get the sensation sometimes however that I'm beating a game because I'm compelled to beat it, not because I'm having fun. I hate this idea, but it occurs rather often.

I really hate it when I come across a game that I actively don't enjoy yet by my nature I have to finish it anyway. This essentially turns my enjoyable gaming pursuit into a chore.