Do you play games partway through and then just stop?

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
I think that as I've gotten older I've lost a bit of my attention span when it comes to gaming. I have a number of games I've picked up (Steam weekend deals) and then either played and just stopped.. or not even played yet. Maybe games just aren't as engrossing as they used to be? I don't know. But I think I hammered out Crysis, Mass Effect, The Witcher, and some other recent games pretty quickly because I loved them so much. I'm currently forcing myself to play through STALKER:CS.

I was hoping that would not happen to me, but it seems I am the same way . I remember when I was younger I would play through the stupidest of games. Some that were so repetitive it makes me scratch my head now how I even did it. Things like super mario world.

Now though I rarely play all the way through a game. I start, get far enough to figure out what the story will be , and stop playing.

 

[marmasatt]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
I think that as I've gotten older I've lost a bit of my attention span when it comes to gaming. I have a number of games I've picked up (Steam weekend deals) and then either played and just stopped.. or not even played yet. Maybe games just aren't as engrossing as they used to be? I don't know. But I think I hammered out Crysis, Mass Effect, The Witcher, and some other recent games pretty quickly because I loved them so much. I'm currently forcing myself to play through STALKER:CS.

I was hoping that would not happen to me, but it seems I am the same way . I remember when I was younger I would play through the stupidest of games. Some that were so repetitive it makes me scratch my head now how I even did it. Things like super mario world.

Now though I rarely play all the way through a game. I start, get far enough to figure out what the story will be , and stop playing.

Agreed. I also am older and I'm finding now that I drop more games than I finish. I play all of the blockbuster FPS's. And I probably finish half of them and then trade or sell them off. Matter of fact, come to think of it, I rarely finish games now unless it's a stellar game. Look in my FS/FT thread. Haven't finished one of those listed, lol.

 

[mb]

Let's see... from recent memory:

Finished:
Half Life 2 (including the eps)
Portal
Bioshock
Doom 3
Quake 4
Zelda (wii)
Mass Effect (360)


Started, not finished:
Half Life 1 (I got it when it came out, didn't finish it then. Tried to play it again with the Source engine and still gave up)
Far Cry
Crysis
Call of Duty 4
Stalker
Oblivion
Super Mario Galaxy (wii)
Fable 2 (xbox 360)
MGS4 (PS3)
Chrono Trigger (ds)
Zelda (ds)
Dragon Quest 4 (ds)


There's probably a whole lot more that I've started but that's all I can think of for now. It's kind of sad.. all that time and money wasted. I remember when I was younger, playing FF7.. I played through the entire game two times in one summer, but I doubt I'd be able to finish it once today.

 

[KeithTalent]

Typically this does not happen, but 2 games I can think of recently were Crysis and HL2: Ep. 1.

I found Crysis boring, so I stopped playing it, while in Episode 1 I got stuck in one spot and could not get past it no matter how many times I tried, so I just gave up.

KT

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: mb
There's probably a whole lot more that I've started but that's all I can think of for now. It's kind of sad.. all that time and money wasted. I remember when I was younger, playing FF7.. I played through the entire game two times in one summer, but I doubt I'd be able to finish it once today.

I remember playing FF7 through from start to end several times one summer too. Probably had more to do with the fact that as a kid, you had a entire summer free, whereas as an adult, you're lucky to have three consecutive days free. Not so much age itself.

 

[drebo]

Games are getting harder to finish because they focus too much on graphics and little niche features and not NEARLY enough on actual gameplay or plot.

The last game I genuinely beat was Oblivion, but I had to force it because it ended up being so repetitive that I wanted to scream. I've been playing through Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and just finished working my way out of the stupid orc tunnels after you get fused with Xana. The orc tunnels just went on and on and on and on and killed my desire to play the game. Then I read a review about how to kill the last boss you have to kill a FLYING monster several times...well, being a pure warrior, that's just not gonna happen. So, I'll not be finishing that one either. I'm getting sick of first-person games. Give me a good old hack and slash isometric game like Diablo 2. Titan Quest is OK, but it just isn't as polished as Diablo 2 was. Let's get a remake of SmashTV!

I think strategy games are fun. I've beaten all of the Heroes of Might and Magic games up to HOMM4 many times.

 

[CU]

I didn't finish:
ViperRacing
Unreal
FarCry
Homeworld
X2: The Threat

Not because they weren't good just because I would run out of time or because I got another game before I finished the last one. I still have the saved games for all those games also, just in case. I was actually trying to finish FarCry a few months ago until I bought GalCiv II. Now I am playing that. I also just finished Doom3 within the past 6 months and I got it the week it was released. Atleast I am trying.

 

[papaschtroumpf]

I rarely finish a game, I lose interest and the story is rarely compelling enough. I didn't even finish BioShock!

 

[Daverino]

I find that I really get into a game and want to play it constantly. If I get distracted from it though, I sometimes won't pick it back up for a long time. I'm well into BioShock and I love the game. Someday I'll finish it. But I'll finish it all at once. It's not a game you can play 15 minutes at a time. Right now, my list is:

Not finished
BioShock
The Witcher
Oblivion
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Sid Meier's Pirates
FFXII

Not Started
MGS 4
World at War
COD:4
ThiefS
Fallout 3

 

[I Saw OJ]

Originally posted by: thujone
i think this is mostly due to the uprise of the "sandbox" style of game design. eventually i get tired of how much time i spend just running around to places and realize it's a huge game of carrot and stick that i don't really feel all that entrenched in other than getting that carrot.


after playing wow for years i need a game with a really engrossing story line.

I feel the same way

Recently finished NWN2 after quitting WoW just because damn it, I wanted to see what happens in the end (extremely disappointed btw)

Bought GTA4 pretty close to when it came out, played it like crazy for a while then realized I was doing the same shit over and over again and it quickly went on the shelf.

 

[n7]

Yup.

I basically cannot finish single player games, ever.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Fanatical Meat
Just wondering is this an age thing? When I was younger I got huge thrills from even simple games (atari 2600 anyone).

I think it has more to do with choices. If I had an Xbox with 1 game then I'd probably play the hell out of it. Right now I have a PC with hundreds of games spanning over 15 years and it's a bit overwhelming.

I think people get that same feeling when they have satelite TV and 900 channels. I know quite a few people who endlessly channel surf and never really watch one particular show. There are too many options and our brains can't handle it.

Tried playing Episode 1 for the hell of it a few days ago, figuring I just needed new scenery after playing HL2 so many times, but nope, I still get that annoying headache. Weird.

Shame, because I absolutely loved HL1.

Same here. HL1 is still one of my fav games of all time, but I can't stand HL2. I think it's the terrible story that kills me. HL1 starts right at the beginning. I'm involved in the experiment, I see it go wrong, I'm trying to escape, and I find coworkers along the way. HL2 is the exact opposite of that. For some reason I'm in a city infested with aliens or Germans or something. There's no explanation for why any of this is going on, I have no emotional connection with any of these characters I'm dealing with, all of the action is replaced with stupid puzzle garbage, my shotgun doesn't hold enough ammo, a significant portion of my enemies are those stupid head crabs from HL1 that nobody likes, and the path I'm taking is completely arbitrary. It's as if Valve had a bunch of awesome ideas but instead of picking 1 of those ideas they chose to blend them together into something that makes no sense at all.

Episode 1 was even worse. I have at least 2 hours of play time in that game and I don't even have a gun yet. It's one bullshit puzzle after another.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
Right now I have a PC with hundreds of games spanning over 15 years and it's a bit overwhelming.

This.

When you're a kid, you probably have pretty limited means of getting new games, so you try to get the most out of what you have.

 

[Hacp]

I try to finish any RPG I play. FPS, well I get motion sickness from fps so I tend not to bother.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Hacp
FPS, well I get motion sickness from fps so I tend not to bother.

Do you experience this with all games or just some games?

I thought FPS-dizzy people were all psychopaths until I played Fallout 3. That's the only FPS game to ever make me dizzy. I think it might have something to do with FOV.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I do this, a lot. But then I'll go back and start the game again at a later time.

 

[CP5670]

I always finish my games eventually, at least once. It can take me a long time though as I might put the game off for a few months before coming back to it.

Originally posted by: Chriscross3234
It's the same story for all three of them, I usually get really into it during the beginning/middle of the game and then I have something big coming up in RL that pretty much halts any time for playing. After that big thing is over, I try to get back into the game, but I feel like I have forgotten what has gone on in the game and I feel inclined to start over, but once I do start over I'm like "Goddammit, I don't wanna have to go through all this again" and then I get pissed and don't even touch the game for a year.

This often happens to me too but I don't really have trouble getting back into games after an extended period, as long as the game was worth playing in the first place.

Originally posted by: AmberClad
I'm starting to feel a lot less bad about the Half-Life 2 thing. For the longest time, I figured I must have been some kind of gaming deviant, and the only person on Earth who can't be bothered to finish HL2 :laugh:.

You aren't alone. I did eventually finish it, mainly just because people were talking about it on forums at the time, but found most of the game incredibly boring.

 

[PUN]

If the game has a great story line, I will finish the game in few nights.
These are the games I've finished recently:
Dawn of War 2
Gears of War 2
Witcher
L4D
Mass Effect
Fallout 3
COD 4

These are the ones that I am trying to force myself to finish:
Half Life 2
Crysis (played through half)
Command and Conquer 3

Games that I will either trash or sell sometime in the future:
Far Cry 1&2
Chronicles of Riddick 1&2
Demigod

 

[coreyb]

I havn't finished a single player game in years. Online games are just too appealing!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Typically this does not happen, but 2 games I can think of recently were Crysis and HL2: Ep. 1.

I found Crysis boring, so I stopped playing it, while in Episode 1 I got stuck in one spot and could not get past it no matter how many times I tried, so I just gave up.

KT

You must have had a mental block, brudda. I had only 1 complaint, and one let down with EP:1.

Complaint- Too short, I beat it like the proverbial rented mule.

Let down- When the grav gun no longer worked on combine forces.

The only 2 games I haven't finished in a very long time, are-

Fallout 3- This is merely a case of not wanting to play, until I can devote myself to it as it deserves.

FarCry 2- The only challenge seemed to be, unwavering perseverance for its own sake.

As to Assassin's Creed: I am one of the (evidently) small group that grooved on it. I perfected my timing on everything, and perfect timing makes for a enjoyable play through IME. I spent hours of play time on just picking fights, so I could beat down a whole gang of thugs or soldiers. I am looking forward to AC2.

I see many complaints about repetition and unbalanced difficulty. Well, you poor bastages would have faired poorly bitd. Those were key characteristics of most titles, perhaps perforce.

 

[Miklebud]

Only MMO's...

 

[Munky]

You guys must have really short attention spans or something. I remember playing COD4 and Bioshock, and I could hardly put the mouse down until I finished it. Same thing for Stalker, Prey, and Oblivion (still working on Oblivion, though). I guess because the game atmosphere and environment just pulls you in. Not like the original FarCry, that thing took me 4 years to beat because I just couldn't get into it. Started on a 9800p, finished on a 8800gt.

 

[coloumb]

KOTOR - dunno why - just didn't seem like fun after about an hour of playing.
Myst IV and Myst V - I literally fell asleep while trying to play those [Had no problems with Myst 1,2,3]
Anachronox - I recently re-install this and remember why - there is A LOT of backtracking. But I'm in an RPG mood lately [and I need something to fill the time at work] - so I may be able to finish it this time.

 

[Malladine]

Some great posts here.

This has been an issue for me recently. In the last two weeks i've purchased:

Demigod - played 1 single player tournament, 3 or 4 mp games and have sort of lost interest

Knights of Honour - stylish game, some different ideas. Played through the tutorial then started and restarted a campaign...now about 10 or 11 hrs into it and i'm confident I know how to win, on top of that the AI seems pretty dumb - bleh, lost interest.

STALKER - not sure about this yet, seems ok but extremely clunky, as someone in the stalker thread said...i'll stick with it.

Sword of the Stars - weird game, seems very simplistic for the most part. And the voiceovers and colours are terrible, big turn off.

Empire, Total war - ugh, static, samey, ugh.

Before that I bought Company of Heroes and the expansion, have hardly touched those. And Dawn of War II, I really enjoyed the SP, MP was fun too. COD4 was awesome, i played the MP only though. Come to think of it, 3/4 of the games I buy I buy just for MP

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Typically this does not happen, but 2 games I can think of recently were Crysis and HL2: Ep. 1.

I found Crysis boring, so I stopped playing it, while in Episode 1 I got stuck in one spot and could not get past it no matter how many times I tried, so I just gave up.

KT

You must have had a mental block, brudda. I had only 1 complaint, and one let down with EP:1.

Complaint- Too short, I beat it like the proverbial rented mule.

Let down- When the grav gun no longer worked on combine forces.

Yeah, I guess I'll have to fire it up again and give it a shot. I got really frustrated in that spot and just could not clear it no matter how hard I tried.

I will not be doing the same with Crysis, since it's just a snoozer.

KT