The Catch-Up Game

Thaddeus

A Nobody in Somebody's Clothing
Mar 20, 2007
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The Catch-Up Game

There?s a lot I could blame it on: wrapping up my Bachelor?s degree; living with new, foreign roommates who didn?t understand/frowned upon the six-plus hour gaming sessions; solar winds; not drinking enough milk to counterbalance the massive amounts of snacking I do, resulting in Oreo-overdose brain damage. But the truth is it?s always been a problem.

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Halfang

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Nov 5, 2007
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Don't worry, Thaddeus, you're not alone in this world of "omg this game is sooo great but:
1) I don't have time to play
2) My PC sucks/I don't have the proper console"

So we tend to get the game, thinking that ONE DAY you will be able to play it.
I know the feeling.

I'm just replaying for the 9283424 time "The Last Express".
 

Thaddeus

A Nobody in Somebody's Clothing
Mar 20, 2007
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oneplus999 said:
Have you considered just RENTING games instead? :p
No, actually; I've never been much for renting. It's part of the great foundation of personal neuroses that my life is built upon -- such as how I refuse to touch mustard and am intensely distrustful of people taller than me.

I just like owning the games. I'm what retailers would refer to as a "mark".
Or was I the only one calling customers that from behind the counter?
 

laserwulf

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Dec 30, 2007
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I feel your pain. Back in gradeschool I'd get maybe 3-4 games a year (birthday & Christmas), beat all of them, and get my high-scores absurdly high. Now that I can generally afford a game whenever I want, I have so many that I want to finish, and then some that I don't want to start until I finish at least one other. Achievements on Xbox 360 games don't help, either; it's not enough to get to the end of the game, I also want to earn all of them before I retire the disk to the game shelf. Maybe I just have a bit of OCD.
 

dan_the_manatee

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Dec 1, 2007
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I know the feeling. I never got to the end of Oblivion, and Mass Effect is needing an investment of time I just don't have at present. Portal, with it's short sweet replayable levels, has been on the 'box much more.

Bioshock though; just cowboy up and finish the damned game. It's fantastic, and I reckon it's GOTY for me. It's inspired me to read Atlas Shrugged, which is over 600,000 words long, so it must be good. Though how I'll find the time to read the damned book I don't know ...
 

moromete

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Aug 16, 2007
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I also am a gamer. And I work for 10 hours a day. And I eat. And I require at least 6 hours of solid sleep. And I have a girlfriend. And a deep addiction related to Rome Total War's Europa Barbarorum mod. I now how it feels to get other games and just let them rot on the shelf.

But I am fighting back. It just bought and finished both CoD4 and Crysis. Mt new game target is to finish Bioshock. Which I loved. For the exactly 2 hours I played it the day I bought it. Question: Am I glad all of the huss around it accompanied by spoilers is over? I am...
 

Dom Camus

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Sep 8, 2006
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The problem isn't that you don't play games, it's that you buy them too early.

I'm very selective with my gaming time. That doesn't mean I only play short games, it means I only play excellent ones. I wait until reviews of a game are out before I buy it. No, not the big site reviews written far too quickly. I mean reviews written by non-pros. People I trust. And I'm not looking for a rating, I'm looking for real info on the game. Then when I know something's good I buy it (often cheaper than when it was released) and enjoy it.

Anything I find less than great I simply put down and don't pick up again. It's failed, not me. Armadillo Run, Portal, Gumboy... good games make me want to find time for them. Bioshock? Didn't buy it. Once I discovered it was little more than a FPS I didn't care enough.
 

tarantulaboy52

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Jan 4, 2008
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I know the feeling. I have some 40 PC games, 20 SNES games, 14 Dreamcast games, 18 Gamecube games, 23 Xbox games, 17 Xbox 360 games, 6 PSP games, 6 GBA games and 4 Gameboy games. Of this collection of 148 games I have completed a grand total of 18. Just over 10%. Admittedly this collection contains games like Tetris and the Midway Arcade Treasures disc for the Xbox which are for the most part, infinitely replayable puzzle games. But that's still no excuse.

Of the ones I have completed the list of names is quite impressive. Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Resident Evils 2 and 4, Deus Ex, XIII, Max Payne 1 and 2, Medieval Total War 1 and 2, Rome Total War, Dawn of War, GTA III and Vice City and the list goes on. That must represent a good couple of hundred hours of gameplay in the first 5 alone. Immense satisfaction was gained from each one.

Of the rest there are a few that are almost completed but I'm holding off completing them because I don't want them to be over. These include Crackdown, Bioshock, Fable, Halo 2 and Metroid Prime 1 and 2. I have this foolish notion that if I leave them alone then they'll somehow get longer. Unfortunately, by the time I come back to them I've forgotten almost the entirety of the plot up to my save. Why do the good ones always seem to be too short?

With some I do have a valid excuse. My 360 is currently boxed up for UPS to come and take it back to Microsoft so that it can have the life breathed back into it. That only accounts for 17 though.

As for the rest of the 148 games, most of them weren't that good anyway. True Crimes: Streets of LA for the PC was just a downright stupid purchase and I just bought Enter the Matrix because I had heard just how bad it was and I had to see for myself. I lack patience if games are just not as good as they claimed to be. Just Cause in particular is far too repetetive for me to ever be able to complete it even though I am neurotically thorough.

I am still determined to complete Ninja Gaiden though, even if it causes me to have a stroke and leaves me paralysed and dribbling for the rest of my days...
 

Phifty

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Sep 13, 2007
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I know how you feel, it can often be a pain to fit games in with the schedule of everything else, even when they are fun and I really want to play them.

I tend to not buy games until much later then everyone else, which means I'm behind on the times and have no idea what people are talking about, but at least I get to pay less...

I'm very embarrassed to say I've yet to even purchase Assassin's Creed or Halo 3, both games I really do want to play. I just don't have the time as much as I used to, and when I do I often feel guilty, because I should really be doing something else... like the kind of thing that has the potential to get me paid.
 

DickieKloybeara

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Jan 14, 2008
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The profanity that has come out of your mouth during late night gaming sessions is legendary Thaddo! I know what you mean about the "White Whale" of video games, mine has been FF5 for some time, I just cannot use a job system outside of Final Fantasy Tactics. Oh well.

I cannot believe you conned people into letting you write for them, don't they know who you are?
 

magregerschaffer

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Jan 15, 2008
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This Article almost brought a tear. I wasn't sure If I writing it or reading it. It's true, It's not about the games it's about the good times associated with them. We think that Somehow through buying a game we may feel happy again. It's difficult to keep up nowadays. The more titles you miss out on the more you feel left behind. Meanwhile everyone else is becoming pro at them. What am I saying? I still need to finish Doom3 and resident evil 4, it's been years. Hale Smash Brothers!
 

DickieKloybeara

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Jan 14, 2008
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magregerschaffer said:
This Article almost brought a tear. I wasn't sure If I writing it or reading it. It's true, It's not about the games it's about the good times associated with them. We think that Somehow through buying a game we may feel happy again. It's difficult to keep up nowadays. The more titles you miss out on the more you feel left behind. Meanwhile everyone else is becoming pro at them. What am I saying? I still need to finish Doom3 and resident evil 4, it's been years. Hale Smash Brothers!
I could care less about Doom 3, but Resident Evil 4 is amazing, and with so many console choices to choose to play it on, there is no excuse, get on that!
 

Fr331anc3r

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Nov 6, 2008
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I'm the same way Thadeus, but I don't find pain in my never ending stack of "uncompleteds" I find solace and comfort, in that, when I go back to a game, I can pick it up and it's like a brand new day, I think my issue was that I grew up on games without an end(Sim City, Civilization, various RTS', Tetris), so finishing a game almost hurts me, it's kind of like empty nest syndrome experienced by parents when their last kid leaves home, I feel like I lost a part of me.
 

SomeBritishDude

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Nov 1, 2007
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Thaddeus said:
oneplus999 said:
Have you considered just RENTING games instead? :p
No, actually; I've never been much for renting. It's part of the great foundation of personal neuroses that my life is built upon -- such as how I refuse to touch mustard and am intensely distrustful of people taller than me.

I just like owning the games. I'm what retailers would refer to as a "mark".
Or was I the only one calling customers that from behind the counter?
Im exactly like this. After a game is finished, I want to put up on my shelf and say "there, done". If it wasn't incredibly sad I would stick my games to wall and point them out to friends. "Thats Bioshock there, great game, completed in 4 days on hard you know. And theres Fable II, very easy game, got the hardest achievement the day after I got it. And theres Mario Galaxy. Yes, yes, all the stars, yes, all of them..."

Also I just like to know I can go back and play a game again whenever I want.

EDIT: But seriosuly, find space of Warrior Within. Yes, the change in tone is stupid, but if you let it the game will still manage to win you over in the end