Unfinished Games and Games you can't get Yourself to Start

[hawk767]

I've always had a really big issue with completing games. The most common thread and reasoning for this has been addictions to multiplayer or competitive games. Anything from Custom Warcraft III maps, to League of Legends and Call of Duty, and most recently to Counter Strike Global Offensive. I will burn countless hours on these titles, or have in the past, and barely play any of the more focused singleplayer games.

At this point in my life, with a full time job, a nearly 2 year old daughter, a wife, and two dogs, I have to be a bit more selective of my games. Don't get me wrong I still play a lot of games, having my PC in the living area where we can still all be in one place really helps with this, but I find myself getting to have far fewer long gaming stretches than in the past. With the more sporadic play times I've found my time has become more focused and I actually am playing more games to completion, playing only a couple games at a time where as before I'd basically be playing game roulette each time I got on the PC or console.

The Topic

What games in the past have you played either once or many times, but have not completed, either from losing interest, having a lack of focus like me, or any other reason, and then in so many cases, probably returned to the game only to feel the need to restart. I could count so many games in that list, from The Elder Scrolls Morrowind, pretty much all of the classic DnD CRPG titles from Baldurs Gate to Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment.

I've also made attempts to start games like the original Fallout 1 and 2, made very little progress, then ended up moving to something else, more from a lack of dedication to the time investment, than a lack of interest in the product.

All of these games I've started multiple times, in the case of Morrowind, I've probably logged close to 100 hours across numerous characters, but have only once made it to probably a halfway point or beyond in the main story thread. I've always felt a sense of dissatisfaction from this seeming inability to  complete so many of these amazing titles, and games I thoroughly enjoy playing in the time I do, but have definitely found a groove in the past few years where completing games isn't as big of a thing as it was before, and I've definitely gotten away from spending all night playing match after match of Counter Strike, and more time playing through an interesting story instead.

So what are some White Whale titles that you have maybe started but never finished, or can't muster up the courage to start because of the time investment that will be involved. This is definitely the barrier of entry for me regarding a lot of these titles is, these will require a big time investment, am I sure I'm going to be willing to give these games the time right now, without getting pulled away by something else, another game or life in general.

Just thought it could spark some interesting reflection and discussion.

[kevininja]

I have the same problem. I've started so many games only to play a few minutes/hours and abandon them. Even games I really wanted to play like Life is Strange, Yakuza 0 and The Evil Within. I haven't really felt the urge to go back to them yet.

[chrismb]

Usually if I don't finish a game it's because it's too hard, like Heart of Darkness! I do finish most of my games tho, or at least I try =)

[98dgreen]

The original resident evil and all of the grand theft auto's except 5 and san Andreas

[bikingjahuty]

I am terrible about starting and not finishing RPGs. I'd say for every 8 RPGs I start I finish probably 1, it's that bad. Sadly it is a genre that I felt a lot more into when I was in my early teens and as time has gone by I find myself enjoying the genre as a whole less and less. That isn't to say that I do not like the genre, but it certainly takes an exceptional RPG to get me hooked until the very end.

[kashell]

Tears to Tiara II immediately comes to mind. I've heard good things about it, but it looks like it'll be such a time sink that I'd have to set aside all of my other games to dedicate the time.

[shepard11]

Recent memory for me is Mass Effect series got about 4 hours into the first game and was like what else could I be playing. Haven't gone back since.

[turf]

I'm bad to do this.  I'll get 75% through a game and get bored.  It's just what I do.  I'll move onto something else and never go back.  The latest one was GTA V.  I loved the game.  Then, Breath of the Wild came out.  I'd like to go back and finish it, but I don't know if I ever will.

[hawk767]

When I was younger it was a case mostly of, I was downloading so many games all the time, would play them for a bit, then download something else. Then eventually moving to steam and having money I'd be buying tons of games there to play eventually, and in most cases never play. Now finally living where I do with the shitty net I have, I can't quickly download modern games, so I've turned attention to collecting classic titles, and now I have all of these to distract me and keep me from dedicating the entirety of my time to one title.

Its an experiment I'm honestly wanting to try, pick one game, probably something like Baldur's Gate, and just make that my pc game, just focus on that for a good month or whatever it takes, and complete is, and see how I enjoy the experience, to really delve into the game and lore vs having to have my head wrapped around 5 games at a time.

[thewelshman]

I generally don't start or return to a game for three reasons: Difficulty, length, and the amount of joy I get or don't get when playing. Sometimes difficulty, and enjoyment go hand in hand. Like most of us, I think I enjoy collecting more than actually playing the games. Recently, Sword Art Online: Lost Song, Operation Abyss, and Time and Eternity, have been the most difficult to try and resume. SAO mainly due to the fact the storyline is all over the place and I don't like the flying mechanic. Operation Abyss is a decent dungeon crawler, but it just wasn't keeping my attention. Time and Eternity is just a terrible game and I knew it was a terrible game going into it and is my fault. As far as difficulty goes, that's normally hinges on whether or not the trophies are a pain in the ass to get. A good example is platformers, and fighting games as I'm not very good at either type. Some games require you to kill a boss without taking damage. Length easily goes to to greater percentage of games I own that are JRPGs. Star Ocean: The Last Hope International is a good example of a game I own, but probably will never play. Spending 450+ hours on one games isn't on my to-do list. Mugan Souls is another one.

[kamikazekeeg]

I can quit some games pretty quickly if something annoys me.  Awkward controls drive me nuts and sometimes I'll deal with them, but I've kinda gotten to a point that if something doesn't work how I want, I'll probably just not keep going with it.

Sometimes certain elements or setbacks will kill a game for me.  I lost like 3 or 4 hours once in Tokyo Mirage Sessions because I forgot to save and Atlus clearly hates its gamers by not having a simple auto-save.  I don't need it to be Breath of the Wild lenient, but not having auto-saves or checkpoints in a game anymore, even if you can save at any point, is bad design.  Stopped playing for months.  Got back in, and right at the end, where I was feeling kinda burnt out on the grind and just wanted to beat the story, I came up against the dreaded Boss Gauntlet where you now have to fight the previous bosses, even the ones I hated, before I can get to the final boss, and when each boss takes awhile to beat, I was done with that crap.

So basically certain grinds, bad design, and awkward controls can usually lead to me not continuing with games.  The grind is what killed Xenoblade Chronicles X for me.

[emporerdragon]

I don't need it to be Breath of the Wild lenient, but not having auto-saves or checkpoints in a game anymore, even if you can save at any point, is bad design. 

Though, sometimes it's the autosave itself that makes you give up.

That's what happened to me for Fable III. Basically, the last third of the game has you preparing for an attack, with the ultimate goal of having enough money in the treasury at the end of the year. What'd happen is you'd make a financial decision and complete a story quest and the countdown meter would tick off another month. However, apparently, making the decree at the "121 days left" marker is the point of no return. As the game gives no hint that this is the end, I made the decision and was immediately warped into a post-apocalyptic setting with everyone dead because the kingdom's finances were tied up in real estate. Then the game autosaved (with only one save per file).

Even though there was only about 15-20 minutes of gameplay left, I was so pissed off at the game, I immediately popped the disc out and shelved the game. I eventually started and completed the game two years later, but that was a sour taste.

[kamikazekeeg]

I don't need it to be Breath of the Wild lenient, but not having auto-saves or checkpoints in a game anymore, even if you can save at any point, is bad design. 

Though, sometimes it's the autosave itself that makes you give up.

That's what happened to me for Fable III. Basically, the last third of the game has you preparing for an attack, with the ultimate goal of having enough money in the treasury at the end of the year. What'd happen is you'd make a financial decision and complete a story quest and the countdown meter would tick off another month. However, apparently, making the decree at the "121 days left" marker is the point of no return. As the game gives no hint that this is the end, I made the decision and was immediately warped into a post-apocalyptic setting with everyone dead because the kingdom's finances were tied up in real estate. Then the game autosaved (with only one save per file).

Even though there was only about 15-20 minutes of gameplay left, I was so pissed off at the game, I immediately popped the disc out and shelved the game. I eventually started and completed the game two years later, but that was a sour taste.

The problem is not exactly the auto-save, just that there isn't a regular save slot alongside an auto-save.  There's no good reason for a game nowadays or even really the past 10 years, to not have both auto-saving and regular save slots.  The only exception would be if a game can't be saved (An online MMO) or if not having control over your ability to save ties into a games difficulty or mechanics (Dark Souls).

[kashell]

That's interesting. I've never heard of someone considering a lack of auto-save bad design. I'm used to playing RPGs and the golden rule of "save often" so having an auto-save seems more like a convenience than anything else.

[doafan]

That's interesting. I've never heard of someone considering a lack of auto-save bad design. I'm used to playing RPGs and the golden rule of "save often" so having an auto-save seems more like a convenience than anything else.

That's because you are old school just like me