Other: Giving the finger to your customers. I played several Codemasters games until I saw the debacle that was the customer service. I played Ubisoft stuff until the Assassin's Creed debacle. I'm currently trying to avoid Activision (although not Blizzard).
Usually it would be faulty game mechanics, that's unforgivable. But a bad storyline, in a game that heavily relies on story, would make me put it down. Graphics I rarely care about, unless they are either too busy, making it impossible to see, or so poor you have the same problem. Still, I don't think I've ever given up on a game for that.
"Unclear instruction"? Well, I still think Morrowind is the best RPG I've played. So you decide.
But really, if gameplay is good enough, usually I can forgive a bad story, annoying difficulty curves etc.
Other--usually another shiny game comes along that makes me forget about the one I was just playing. If it has an exceptional storyline or is just really fun like Mass Effects and Oblivion, I'll see it through.
If it's broken or the grind becomes too great. Also if its really really unreasonably hard or does something dumb like setting you back an hour for dieing on one tough boss. That's pretty much it though.
Out of so many viable choices, I went with #1; story. That's exactly why I stopped playing FF8 back in the day. Or maybe that was the straw that broke the camels back... either way, the story hit a turning point for me midway through. It went into a downward spiral into crap-cental thereafter and it was in a certain flashback into the childhood of all the playable characters that the story hit rock bottom for me, and I said "screw you FF8." Turned the game off without saving, gave the disk the finger, and stowed it.
Think about it. I put up with the DRAW system for well over half the game. That was a game mechanic that makes me want to cry in frustration some times, just remembering it. But the story? That was the death blow.
I know that I usually stop playing a game when it gets boring. This usually occurs when the storyline is not interesting enough to keep me engaged or the mechanics become too repetitive or hard to use. Example: Final Fantasy 13
This is exactly what I was coming in to write. I voted other. Nothing makes me more irritated than when a videogame feels repetitive. I mean, games are meant to be played over and over again. If I feel like I'm just completing a laundry list of tasks before I've even finished for the first time, then there is something flawed about the game design. I loved both the first Assassin's Creed and GTA 4 at first, but then I started seeing the framework, the man behind the curtain. They got boring when they got repetitive. I'll probably eventually get back to GTA...
There has to be that special something that masks the inherent repetition of the game.
Haha, not enough time to play, lose interest...I suppose it would be gameplay mechanics, story, or some combination thereof...
Anyway, probably the most truthful problem that makes me stop playing a game is the lack of being able to save anywhere, or the lack of checkpoints, or badly placed checkpoints.
I mean, for example, I might be able to get through 90% of a level without having any trouble, then there's one difficult part, and I die and need to do the first 90% over again because the game doesn't let me save or doesn't have checkpoints or whatever. After trying 10 or 12 times, I decide to put it down and come back the next day. I guess one could say it's difficulty, but the actual thing I'm trying to do isn't hard - it's just time consuming.
Like, take something like Trackmania Nations Forever or VVVVVV. I'll keep at those even if it takes 100 times because screwing up has pretty much no penalty. It puts you right back in at the part you screwed up on - no run-backs, no "do the first 5 races again" or "start 30 screens back." And I'd rather a game be more like that. There's more action instead of frustration.
I mean, I know a lot of people who stopped playing FFX because at the Seymour fight, the save is right before a 3 minute long cutscene. That doesn't sound like much, but if you failed the fight (which takes a while to do), having to wait another 3 minutes before you start it can be pretty off-putting.
None of the listed options really put me off a game.
Seriously, hard games don't put me off, bad controls I learn to work with (even DEFENDER for the GameCube. Probably the worst acceleration controls I've ever seen in a flying game. Holding the right trigger down halfway accelerates. Holding it down ALL THE WAY stops. Terrible.)
Story, well, I've enjoyed games with no story...Game mechanics, hell, half the games I enjoy are fun because they're broken. Most of the games I enjoy the most I don't have a manual for and they're pretty open-worldish. I tend to learn and work at things on my own. It seems that doing that makes you better than someone who just follows the instructions anyway. Coming up with it yourself, I mean. Probably unrelated but I know that I end up playing a song much more clearly when I just listen to it and work through it myself instead of just finding a video on Youtube to copy...And it's the same with a game, to a point. Be taught the basics, and use critical thinking to improve. As long as it's fun to, right?
Bad voice acting and bad graphics has never stopped me from playing a game the first time. However, I'll be honest, and I guess this is a bit shallow - sometimes, I find it hard to play through games I used to really love because of how horrible they look in comparison to today's graphics. Like Duke3D I think still looks alright, but nowadays I play with the Hi-Rez pack and the Polymer lighting on EDuke32. Because, well, why not? Why have it look shitty when mods are made to make it look better? That said I'm technically not playing the original game, but when it's "the old game except improved in every way" I suppose I have no reason to play the original game.
When I get bored. That's about it. I can stand ALL of the above mentioned "reasons" for not playing a game. But as long as that unexplained, mysterious power makes the game interesting I will keep on playing it.
Definitely a combination thereof, all of them combined. It has to be a pretty crappy game for me to stop playing it, & I played through Buck Bumble, Glover, and KotOR2.
Repetative gameplay. This is why I dont complete most FPS's, if all im expectect to do is walk through a linear path shooting each enemy that pops up for 8hrs with a vague storyline being told to me through a headset then im putting that game down after an hour or 2
It takes a lot for me to stop playing a game, but the most common cause is that one of those points really make an effort to stand out or all of them are nibbling away at my enjoyment of the game.
Althoud I do my research,I never really pay attention to upcoming games unless I'm really interested. Other words,this is the first I've heard of Alpha Protocol.
When it gets boring. I often get shit for this but when a game gets boring and tedious and just generally NOT FUN, I put it on the shelf.
Like yeah the game was fun till now but now you gotta do this really dumb part that's going to make you punch the screen because it deviates from the game so much and is really just dumb.
The only game I've ever stopped playing was FF12, because 30 hours in I released the story was crap, the characters were crap and I was just going through the motions in it. I havent gotten 13 because I fear it'll be much the same.
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