specific things that keep you playing

[suitepee7]

has anybody else found just one thing that keeps them playing a game they otherwise wouldn't? personally for me i've done this with Borderlands 2, skyrim and WoW, i wouldn't have played them unless the certain class/playstyle was introduced (i finally enjoy BL2 when playing as krieg, stopped playing a mage and went for archer/rogue in skyrim and rerolled monk in MoP). i wouldn't have played these for anywhere near as long if these didn't exist - in fact, i bought BL2 on release and only clocked in around 15 hours, not even rescuing roland for the first time, until i got krieg.

both of my examples are just for different playstyles that suited me better and allowed me to play more to my tastes - similar to no kill runs in dishonored or DE:HR - but it can come down to smaller things like specific weapons that just make the game so much better (looking at you farcry3 bow).

so yeah, what specific details have kept you playing a game much longer than you would have?

 

[Foolery]

The english dubbing on Sengoku Basara 3 Samurai Heroes keeps me pretty amused. I could play that for hours just to hear Japanese warlords spout nonsense at each other.

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

I kept playing Tomb Raider so I could watch Lara Croft's pony tail sway as she ran...
Well not really, it was more so I could saw people in half with that one assault rifle takedown. The pony tail physics in that game was amazing though.

Seriously though, I'd say Xcom would apply well to this. I don't usually play strategy, but I ended up completely finishing Enemy Unknown.
And you know why? I liked the NPCs. The soldiers, the scientist lady, the engineer guy, that other guy who doesn't do anything really... They were all so cool. I remember my immensely badass Israeli sniper guy with great affection. I have not forgotten my macho man heavy gunner Argentinian, who was the sole survivor of the tutorial level. I will forever honour the sassy psyonic Canadian assault lady, who was eventually involved heavily in the ending (you'll know what I mean if you've played the game). I was so fond of them that I resorted to shameless save scumming so that none of them would die (no hate please).
It was interesting actually, after my first playthrough I could never do another one. Because after the first playthrough the intro cutscenes don't play and you get a new set of people. The live is suddenly drained from the base; the game just wasn't fun anymore.

So yeah basically I only finished Xcom because of the characters. Christ that is a weird thing to say about a strategy game...

 

[suitepee7]

Seriously though, I'd say Xcom would apply well to this. I don't usually play strategy, but I ended up completely finishing Enemy Unknown.
And you know why? I liked the NPCs. The soldiers, the scientist lady, the engineer guy, that other guy who doesn't do anything really... They were all so cool. I remember my immensely badass Israeli sniper guy with great affection. I have not forgotten my macho man heavy gunner Argentinian, who was the sole survivor of the tutorial level. I will forever honour the sassy psyonic Canadian assault lady, who was eventually involved heavily in the ending (you'll know what I mean if you've played the game). I was so fond of them that I resorted to shameless save scumming so that none of them would die (no hate please).
It was interesting actually, after my first playthrough I could never do another one. Because after the first playthrough the intro cutscenes don't play and you get a new set of people. The live is suddenly drained from the base; the game just wasn't fun anymore.

So yeah basically I only finished Xcom because of the characters. Christ that is a weird thing to say about a strategy game...

i can't hate on you for that, because i do it too. i hate myself each time, but my hatred is overcome by a longing to have my 2 soldiers live forever. they were both in my intro mission, and survived against the odds on at least 3 more, and i couldn't let them die! i just started enemy within, and i already miss them =\

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

Seriously though, I'd say Xcom would apply well to this. I don't usually play strategy, but I ended up completely finishing Enemy Unknown.
And you know why? I liked the NPCs. The soldiers, the scientist lady, the engineer guy, that other guy who doesn't do anything really... They were all so cool. I remember my immensely badass Israeli sniper guy with great affection. I have not forgotten my macho man heavy gunner Argentinian, who was the sole survivor of the tutorial level. I will forever honour the sassy psyonic Canadian assault lady, who was eventually involved heavily in the ending (you'll know what I mean if you've played the game). I was so fond of them that I resorted to shameless save scumming so that none of them would die (no hate please).
It was interesting actually, after my first playthrough I could never do another one. Because after the first playthrough the intro cutscenes don't play and you get a new set of people. The live is suddenly drained from the base; the game just wasn't fun anymore.

So yeah basically I only finished Xcom because of the characters. Christ that is a weird thing to say about a strategy game...

i can't hate on you for that, because i do it too. i hate myself each time, but my hatred is overcome by a longing to have my 2 soldiers live forever. they were both in my intro mission, and survived against the odds on at least 3 more, and i couldn't let them die! i just started enemy within, and i already miss them =\

It's good to know I'm not the only one.
I thought of another game; Dragon Age: Origins. Basically I didn't think too much of the gameplay, the mechanics, the level design, and even the plot was kind of meh at parts. But boy were those characters interesting... They were the reason I finished the game, definitely.