Question of the Day, October 4, 2010

[Unia]

For me it's difficulty through bad mechanics and/or glitches. Typical situations where I stopped playing

- realizing I had gone past a point of no return before I was ready for it, but couldn't be bothered to load a way earlier save

- getting stumped because I had missed a major upgrade/better weapon/etc and couldn't be bothered...

- finally beating a difficult boss only to find out every level onwards will be populated with it's siblins

- running into a section inconsistent with the rest of the gameplay, for instance a long, hard stealth section in the middle of a trigger-happy shooter

- dying for the umpteenth time in the same spot by falling into a pit of insta-death, getting shot by an invisible enemy or getting stuck in the geometry

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

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.

Exactly what he said, when I'm not having fun it's time to stop.

 

[Feylynn]

All of the above.
But I forgive a lot of elements if it has any saving graces.

Bioshock 1, Great style, interesting narrative, lot's of variance in play style, worst game balance I've ever encountered, Terribly convoluted plot twist, no moral decision in the game, no personal influence on the plot, ridiculously pathetic excuse for multiple endings. Fatal Frame 3 had a better alternate ending and it was identical save for the credits also had photographs on them.

I finished the game and call it a positive experience despite my overeating bitterness based on it's unwarranted over the top reception.
Hating that much about the game I actually bought the second. (Which was a great move because it's 100 times better then the first in every way)

Valkyria Chronicles I still haven't finished the final boss because I have failed to defeat him 8 or 9 times and unlike faster paced RPG's that might as well be 26 tries worth of time.
I WILL go back and finish it, I just need the break to refresh my tolerance for being bad at things.

Fallen Earth however, I started it up, saw sub par graphics, the worst character animation since Oblivion, 2 or 3 glitches and an uninspired if not painful intro later I have uninstalled the game after 8 minutes.

The Gothic 4 Demo didn't last even that long.

So to actually answer the question instead of pose specific examples, I need to explain what can save a game. It needs style to save it's flaws. I reject great games because they have no style and thus no worth to me.
How do i define Style? Art. Musical, visual, Interactive (Extends to game play), Narrative, some undefined element that possesses an artistic merit. Whatever.

The biggest saves for a game are inspired characters, story, phenomenal graphics (The Folklore, Bioshock, Mirror's Edge, Final Fantasy XIII, Valkyria Chronicles type of graphics.
Brute forcing art with high system requirements and resolution only goes so far.) or just plain fun. If it has the game play it doesn't need anything else to be played, only needs more to be remembered and loved.

 

[Nemu]

Went with Other.


Boredom with a game is my #1 killer.
I can get frustrated with mechanics, and that'd be my #2, but more often than not, if I start a game and am yawning an hour or two into it, the game is ejected and inevitably collects dust.



Kinda like the X-Box that I purchased to play one whole game...

 

[Queen Michael]

Not knowing what I'm supposed to do. Running around and hoping that I might figure out what I'm meant to be doing - that's the kind of thing that makes me quit playing a game.

 

[syltman]

Well once I've wasted time loosing on a rts I get ridicolously mad and quit for a week or two.

 

[Littlejib]

Mostly why i stop playing games if jsut my sence of achievement, once you've done most of the stuff or another game comes out which is more what you envision as your prefect game.
For example i just finished playing fifa 09, not that i was done, i brought a 1/2 star team to the top of the premier league, after that what is there to do. I like cod multiplayer better than reach multiplayer because i'm good at halo, once the challange leaves the game, so do I.