The point where it's ok to say "This isn't working for me, I'm done."

[Dalisclock]

I noticed I've been doing with this a few games/series to friends of mine and it made me wonder how common it is with others. Essentially, the idea is that with pretty much anything, someone will reach a point where they've got a pretty good idea of how a game plays, what they can expect, the tone, the plot, etc and if they reach that point and just aren't enjoying it, there's really no point it continuing on because it's not magically gonna get better. I imagine it might have originally been inspired by Yathzee once talking about how he's quit games at around 90% because he wasn't feeling it and he couldn't imagine that last 10% was somehow gonna change his opinion at this point.

Anyway, off the top of my head.

Dark Souls-If someone reaches the top of the church, rings the first bell and isn't feeling an urge to keep going, there's no shame in quitting.
Assassin's Creed(Series)-If you played 2 and didn't like it, there's probably no reason to play any of the others(except maybe Origins if the RPG thing appeals to you more).

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Doom 2016 - If you're not feeling it by the end of foundry the rest of the game doesn't get any more interesting.

Hollow Knight - If you get wall-jumping (Mantis Claw) and you still don't really like the way the game plays it's time to quit.

Red Dead Redemption - If you get the Mexico and you still don't care about the story.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

When you feel you can be doing something better with your time. You should probably spend a couple hours or feel like you understand the gameplay loop and mechanics. If the 1st few hours isn't enjoyable, then you should probably stop because 1) every hour of any game should be good (no bullshit like it gets good 20 hours in) and 2) what's the chances of it actually getting good enough to be worth your time?

Dark Souls-If someone reaches the top of the church, rings the first bell and isn't feeling an urge to keep going, there's no shame in quitting.

Once you figure out Souls, it literally never changes the game it is.

 

[Catfood220]

Assassin's Creed(Series)-If you played 2 and didn't like it, there's probably no reason to play any of the others(except maybe Origins if the RPG thing appeals to you more).

I would say that Black Flag is worth playing for the pirating goodness. Yeah, its still an Ass Creed game, but other than the times it forces you to follow someone, I pretty much ignored stealth and murdered anyone who came my way. It is the only game in the Ass Creed series I own or really liked.

 

[CritialGaming]

I mean I'll shut a game off within the first 30-60 minutes if the gameplay loop or the story isn't satisfying me. I don't see why I'd push through a game to see if it's good later, I don't have much free time to fuck around with anymore so I can't afford to push through something unfun to see if it gets fun later.

 

[Dalisclock]

Assassin's Creed(Series)-If you played 2 and didn't like it, there's probably no reason to play any of the others(except maybe Origins if the RPG thing appeals to you more).

I would say that Black Flag is worth playing for the pirating goodness. Yeah, its still an Ass Creed game, but other than the times it forces you to follow someone, I pretty much ignored stealth and murdered anyone who came my way. It is the only game in the Ass Creed series I own or really liked.

I was tempted to throw that in too but it has that weird issue where everyone likes it for the Pirating(for damn good reason) and not so much for the AC bits(also for good reason). So saying "If you like didn't like Black Flag...." doesn't feel like it works because while other games in the series have tried to recreate Black Flag, none of them are like Black Flag.

I mean, I guess the same could be said of 2 but 2 is a lot closer to what people think of when they talk about AC then Black Flag is. Even Odyssey outright brought back the "Conspiracy Web" from 2, but made large parts of it optional.

 

[Worgen]

I quit Getting Over It in like 10 minutes after I discovered I hated the controls and would rather use the time required to learn them for anything else. Which sucks since I was looking for a nice hard platform kinda game.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

This happened with The Long Dark, I managed one drawn out death then thought "you know what, that's all I the information I needed here." The minor story additions were nice for a survival simulator, but imagining further time in that game did not yield pleasant escapism thoughts.
Could say the same for most of those combo fighter competitive games too. The feeling of winning for me just doesn't feel good enough to justify the amount of time required to put into practicing them. Victory is so brief and meaningless, I mostly end up feeling depressed instead that the time wasn't spent more productively. Am fine with the soul caliburs and the mortal kombats for having tipsy drunk fun with friends though. Was even the best at SC to keep winning all the time, but didn't enjoy that feeling either. So kept regularly letting others win so they wouldn't inevitably get turned off of playing with me.

Every now and then I give the odd jrpg demo a whirl, but something about the start up logos being voiced by annoying twee assholes really grates against every value I hold dear, especially the homicidal, cannibalistic ones.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'd say any point is okay, even the point where you haven't even played it.

 

[BrawlMan]

I noticed I've been doing with this a few games/series to friends of mine and it made me wonder how common it is with others. Essentially, the idea is that with pretty much anything, someone will reach a point where they've got a pretty good idea of how a game plays, what they can expect, the tone, the plot, etc and if they reach that point and just aren't enjoying it, there's really no point it continuing on because it's not magically gonna get better. I imagine it might have originally been inspired by Yathzee once talking about how he's quit games at around 90% because he wasn't feeling it and he couldn't imagine that last 10% was somehow gonna change his opinion at this point.

Anyway, off the top of my head.

Dark Souls-If someone reaches the top of the church, rings the first bell and isn't feeling an urge to keep going, there's no shame in quitting.
Assassin's Creed(Series)-If you played 2 and didn't like it, there's probably no reason to play any of the others(except maybe Origins if the RPG thing appeals to you more).

I know I stopped caring about Assassin's Creed since brotherhood. After that it was just the same shit over and over.


Any "open world" game or sandbox games that copy the GTA formula.

Any of the dark souls games, though I pre-ordered sekiro. But that's because it's more of an action game, instead of an action-RPG.

Any COD title post cod 4.

Titanfall was just call of duty with mechs.

Fighting games sadly, I don't have much time to get invested anymore. I will occasionally crank out a fighting game I played in my childhood, but not much else. The scummy DLC practices most fighting games have nowadays does not help either. With that said, I do look forward to MK11 in the new Samurai Shodown.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Dark Souls-If someone reaches the top of the church, rings the first bell and isn't feeling an urge to keep going, there's no shame in quitting.

Meh, as someone who loves Dark Souls, I don?t like your statement, but it is a fair one provided strict caveats. Provided a new player actually has absorbed the available lore, is following along and generally knows what and why they?re doing what they?re doing (which is NOT where 99% of first-timers find themselves that early,) playing the traditional path to that point in the game, one has gotten the gist of basic combat, faced three bosses and gotten a quick feel for the interconnectedness of the world; if they?re not intrigued enough to keep going, I?m afraid the brain damage might be irreparable. My first time, I flipped Dark Souls a 3-year-long bird at the Taurus Demon; going back to it and powering through to see everything the game was and had to offer was tremendously worth it.

Assassin's Creed(Series)-If you played 2 and didn't like it, there's probably no reason to play any of the others(except maybe Origins if the RPG thing appeals to you more).

I would say that Black Flag is worth playing for the pirating goodness. Yeah, its still an Ass Creed game, but other than the times it forces you to follow someone, I pretty much ignored stealth and murdered anyone who came my way. It is the only game in the Ass Creed series I own or really liked.

^This. I did stop after Ass Creed 2, only going back to Ass Creed 4: Black Flag on threat of death from an insistent friend, and I actually really enjoyed it; but to be fair, I enjoyed it for everything about that WASN?T like Ass Creed, i.e.: the pirate stuff. So I think AC2 is a good place to stop Ass Creeding, and AC4:BF should be considered a stand-alone title, an anomaly in the larger Ass Creed experience.

 

[stroopwafel]

I usually give games a fair chance before I decide to stop playing. Like with Monster Hunter World, I really wanted to like that game but I just never feel like playing it and when I do I don't really enjoy it. Then there are games I enjoy immensely like the Street Fighter Collection so I think, wow, I haven't played a modern fighting game in ages maybe I just really enjoy the genre but no, just classic Street Fighter. Maybe it's the simplicity of those games and that it's more about timing and positioning rather than stringing impossible combos together. I feel like with modern fighting games they are just not fun for casual players. And even with more experience I think the classic games are better b/c the movesets are simpler and there is less room for exploitation. Modern fighters are too complex it's like you would have to spend all your time to master them.

There are also games I think are not for me but then end up buying on a whim at a sale. Like for example Valkyria Chronicles remastered. I thought oh strategy RPG and anime characters, I'm not going to enjoy this. LOVED IT. If I had known I would had bought it 10 years earlier. Speaking about 10 years ago when Demon's Souls came out I was like meh, From Software their games have great atmosphere but always shitty gameplay. Bought it anyway. LOVED IT. And it spawned some incredible 'sequels'.

Goes to show you never really know what you end up enjoying.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

When you're not having fun.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

When you're not having fun.

To be fair, some games(most I'd say) are not instantly from title screen fun. There is some build up to get into the gameplay or story.

For me thought Its when I feel like I'm wasting my time. I know its popular, but Dark Souls 1 feels like such a waste to me. Its very poorly designed, glitchy, the controls are shit and laggy and the level lay out while yes purposefully obtuse, just not that good.
I loved Bloodborne and Dark souls 3, so its not a problem with difficulty. Its just it was the first one, not counting daemon souls, and it kinda' shows.

 

[Elfgore]

I quit Getting Over It in like 10 minutes after I discovered I hated the controls and would rather use the time required to learn them for anything else. Which sucks since I was looking for a nice hard platform kinda game.

Yeah, I don't mind a difficult game by any means. But Getting Over It has the most atrocious controls I've seen on-top of being difficult. It's like they don't bother to respond half the time.

Mine was Dynasty Warriors 9. I finished the first mission, which takes a few hours if you do side content and whatnot. I realized I was having zero fun. I put it on my shelf and never looked back.

 

[Dalisclock]

When you're not having fun.

At the risk of sounding like the "But it gets good at the 20 hour mark" folk, some games do have a little bit of a lead up before they start to click/come together/etc and this is usually the "Intro". Granted, a good game will get the intro out of the way ASAP and let you experience the full range of the game or have a sense of progression built in that keeps you playing so you get a steady increase in power and abilities while being exposed to new challenges.

I can appreciate a slow burn as long as it's going somewhere and it gets there at a reasonable pace.

 

[Dalisclock]

I know I stopped caring about Assassin's Creed since brotherhood. After that it was just the same shit over and over.

Brotherhood took the good stuff from 2 and started jamming a lot of filler in that continues to haunt the series. Taking down forts to unlock territory so you can....purchase real estate! Quoth Yahtzee "I thought I was here to kill Templars, not evict them"

And this mechanic would keep showing up over and over in some form or another for a very long time because somebody at ubisoft thought it was a very good idea to keep doing it. Revelations more or less was brotherhood with a less interesting plot and some new gadgets.

 

[Rangaman]

It depends on the person. Someone with ADD, for example, is more likely to get bored of a game with a repetitious gameplay loop than a normal person. Though I agree that "it gets better after the first 10 hours" is a load of horseshit. As for examples...

Zelda-If you beat the first dungeon and don't feel like going any further, that's a sign that you should stop.
Civilization-If you can't get past the Medieval/Renaissance era without quitting, the game's not for you
The Elder Scrolls/Fallout-Pick a road and follow it until you reach a town. If you hate the journey, you aren't going to have fun.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

When you're not having fun.

To be fair, some games(most I'd say) are not instantly from title screen fun. There is some build up to get into the gameplay or story.

Right, but that build-up isn't necessarily boring either. I'd say a good game knows how to get you pumped for what's coming before you're actually doing it. The bit before unlocking the open world, or getting rid of Roxas. I think once you're past tutorial territory and you've got a feel of how things are going to pattern out for the rest of the game, then you're good to decide whether you're into it. Like there's a sense of build-up within the first half hour of Resident Evil 4 that pays off once the bell rings in town. I'd still call that a quick burn as far as "getting a feel of the game" goes, even though you haven't been introduced to escorting Ashley, dealing with the Merchant or fighting bosses.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

When you're not having fun.

To be fair, some games(most I'd say) are not instantly from title screen fun. There is some build up to get into the gameplay or story.

Right, but that build-up isn't necessarily boring either. I'd say a good game knows how to get you pumped for what's coming before you're actually doing it. The bit before unlocking the open world, or getting rid of Roxas. I think once you're past tutorial territory and you've got a feel of how things are going to pattern out for the rest of the game, then you're good to decide whether you're into it. Like there's a sense of build-up within the first half hour of Resident Evil 4 that pays off once the bell rings in town. I'd still call that a quick burn as far as "getting a feel of the game" goes, even though you haven't been introduced to escorting Ashley, dealing with the Merchant or fighting bosses.

Oh I totally agree with you. A game should get to the fun as soon as possible, but my point is more a game isn't always instantly fun. Like hitting start on Bioshock and you're in the plane and it crashes isn't boring, sure, but its not overly fun. Likewise swimming to the lighthouse isn't overly fun. The game doesn't get 'fun' until you at least enter Rapture, and that's at least 5mins in.