Finishing Games

friznit · Post by **friznit** » October 19th, 2007, 10:33

You lot are impossible. You keep raving about games to the point I feel obliged to go and get them, for I am weak and have no self determination. Like Bioshock and STALKER before that, now Portal. And yet I feel I should finish HL2 and maybe play Ep1&2 before Portal or it'll all be out of sequence. But I have yet to finish a single player FPS since perhaps Duke Nukem 3D which iirc I used God mode to see me through to the end - I get bored way too easily. I have a HDD full to the brim with unfinished titles that I feel I cannot put to rest because I have yet to do them justice.

In fact I very rarely find a game that maintains an enduring interest to see me through to the finale. It is only the occasional strategy game (Total War series), the odd adventure type (KOTOR), and such titles as ArmA and Freelancer that have, rather incongruously, carried me to the final credits. And yet bizarrely I am hooked on Eve, a game that has no ending at all.

Is this a common occurrence or do I suffer from a latent, previously undiagnosed computer game related form of ADD? Do people habitually finish a game because they feel obliged to, because it is there, to get their full money's worth, or because they genuinely enjoy every moment of it?

Gunslinger42 · Post by **Gunslinger42** » October 19th, 2007, 10:40

Apart from HL related games I also seem to never finish single player first person shooters.

Mostly because they fuck up and I can't be arsed with them anymore. Latest examples being STALKER and Bioshock. STALKER had big horrendous graphical glitches (which were probably due to my old card) which put me off playing it, Bioshock also died a few times (again due to my old graphics card I believe) but Bioshock also seemed to enjoy corrupting the saves, the save I have now is about two hours behind where I was actually up to and I just can't bring myself to do the same two fucking hours again.

As for the likes of Episode 2 and Portal, I completed them (and in a short time span) because of how great they are.

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » October 19th, 2007, 10:41

I use to finish off games because I felt it was sort of a requirement since I'd gone to the effort of obtaining said game. Last couple of years I've done it for joy. If a game doesn't grip me one hour in, I tend to write it off as either rubbish, or not of interest to me.

Stuff like Dawn of War: Dark Crusade I've played though several times on campaign mode using the various races because I think it's a great game. Same with C&C Generals: Zero Hour and I've finished UT a fair few times because it introduced me to the joys of sniping people all the way across a map. Conversly I've never found half life gripping, nor starcraft (although Sc2 has me griped by the squido), and I can point out numerous RTS and FPS games I've bought/swept that just put me right off (Earth 2160, Rome: Total War, Alien Vs Predator 2 to name a few) and got swiftly removed from my HD.

So long story short, what I finish, I tend to replay over and over again, what I don't like you can see at the bottom of my xfire list with 2 hours or less.

Post by **HereComesPete** » October 19th, 2007, 11:24

I haven't finished bioshock. Or stalker, or neverwinter nights 2, or darkstar one (it's a bit shit) or x3, or fear or sniper elite and I've enjoyed them all, I do have borderline adhd, the doctor decided ritalin wasn't worth it, mostly I put it down to 'ooh' (thats not 'oo' from typhoo 'oo', thats different) I see new and shiny and want.

Forget everything right now though and play portal, it has the most win ending I've seen on a game for a VERY long time. I'm one of the thousands of people who get intense motion sickness of the valve engine games (TeeF excluded thank fuck) and I played this game to the point where I couldn't open my eyes properly, and I thought I was actually going to blow chunks on my legs, and I kept going, I HAD to, the story demands it.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » October 19th, 2007, 11:26

As I have less time gaming than I used to I too rarely finish a game unless it really grabs me.

DOOM 3 - Started years ago when it came out, picked it up again from Steam but still no where near the end.
F.E.A.R. - Never finished, still mean to at some point.
STALKER - HD failed on me on the 2nd to last level, havn't got around to reinstalling it.
Bioshock - Not had enough gaming time to finish yet, EP2 came out and my attention went Valves way. I am close to the end and aim to try and finish this weekend (If I finish ep2

)

Loads of others I install and do enjoy but just don't seem to deserve gaming time over better games, examples include Titan Quest, the last Broken Sword game etc.

I still intend to finish all the above games, but for some this good intent has been around for years

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » October 19th, 2007, 11:36

Think the only games I havent finished have been the splinter cell series, I just got bored of them towards the end. If the game doesn't hold my interest I won't complete it.
Sometimes completing it takes ages as I play it in little hourly chunks.

on another note: My Dyslexia handling methods are playing funy buggers on me today with this topic title, I keep reading it as 'Finishing Moves'

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » October 19th, 2007, 11:58

Is this a medical condition confession thread as well?

I'VE GOT THE GOOD AIDS !

Post by **HereComesPete** » October 19th, 2007, 12:24

Surely ro-bo does not need aids of any kind?

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » October 19th, 2007, 13:09

well, i haven't finished a bunch of games either. STALKER is still on my desk unfinished, but mainly because i took me too long to get some decent weapons and kept dying because the enemies where too powerful. i didn't have time enough to finish bioshock yet, but plan to do so next week, as i'll probably be home during that time. others include grim fandango, call of cthulhu, silent hill 4 and probably some others as well. anyway, the mikkyo method of hourly chunks applies for me as well, although in my case it's more because i get either headache from playing too long (multiplayer games rarely do that me for some reason) or because i get frustrated. or sometimes just because it bores me. another possible answer is that you're just getting older. but in the case of 5punk this is unlikely.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » October 19th, 2007, 13:39

Mr. Johnson wrote:another possible answer is that you're just getting older.

While this is the most likely cause, I still hate you for suggesting it

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » October 19th, 2007, 14:37

I generally finish as soon as possible.

Only games I've started and not finished recently are Stalker as I built a new pc and lost the saves I had entering Pripyat, and Bioshock which is waiting for me to finish at crimbo when I go home from uni.

But they do have to grab me to a degree, I don't like slogging through games I don't enjoy, case and point being DoW:Dark Crusade, was playing it on normal, had a number of territories, but it was just attack, defend, rebuild, defend defend, attack, defend, repeat as the npc's got wiped out.

amblin · Post by **amblin** » October 19th, 2007, 15:20

Post by **deject** » October 19th, 2007, 15:45

I try to finish every game I start unless it utter shite, or I get massively frustrated. The only games I've started and not finished are:

Homeworld (hated it, never finished the tutorial)
GTA 3 (got frustrated)
GTA San Andreas (got pissed off after losing my saves)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (showstopping bugs FTL)
Syberia (bored to death)
Fallout (getting killed after 3 minutes by a bunch of incredibly powerful scorpions? yeah I think I'll pass for now)

Pretty much every other game I've played I've at least played all the way through

Post by **fabyak** » October 19th, 2007, 16:12

deject wrote: Fallout (getting killed after 3 minutes by a bunch of incredibly powerful scorpions? yeah I think I'll pass for now)

Until you get some decent guns and/or mates to batter the hell out of them for you just run away, they don't have that many moves so can't chase and attack. Give it another go, it's pretty good!

MrGreen · Post by **MrGreen** » October 19th, 2007, 16:12

Lemme see

Psychonauts - got stuck, didn't want to touch walkthrough.
Far Cry- Crygens. Nuff said.
Oblivion- Bored, downloaded level 45 save game, p00ned everything
Shadow Of The Colossus- Fucking fifteenth beast.
Bioshock- Had the ending ruined for me, save game promptly broke
Dark Messiah- Got bored in the arachnid sections

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » October 19th, 2007, 16:22

MrGreen wrote:Far Cry- Crygens. Nuff said.

Oh yeah, forgot that one, exactly the same for me.

Post by **Roman Totale** » October 19th, 2007, 16:43

Quake 4 - generally shoddy game, got bored and cheated to the end (doesn't count though).

Prey - just shit, probably played for an hour at most.

Serious Sam 2 - meh

Neverwinter Nights 2 - rage inducing bugs and just general shitness

Black and White - just thought it was shit really

Post by **deject** » October 19th, 2007, 17:05

Yeah Serious Sam 2 just didn't have the same charm the first 2 parts did.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » October 19th, 2007, 17:11

deject wrote:Yeah Serious Sam 2 just didn't have the same charm the first 2 parts did.

I conker. It just didn't grab me at all, yet I'll happily go replay the other two.

Post by **FatherJack** » October 19th, 2007, 22:41

For me, a lot of what makes the difference between carrying on and giving up, is how much you have to repeat. Games with the save-anywhere function are good, but you can get yourself into an unwinnable spot if your health is low and you only use one savegame - the new Orange Box games combine this feature with a brilliantly intelligent autosave, that take you back to just before you did something daft, like destroy all the items you needed to progress.

Prey tried to make it so you didn't die - but the death minigame was actually 387 times more tedious than just dying and reloading a save. F.E.A.R was just a rather tedious game - I found myself far-too reliant on the slo-mo feature to progress, and unlike Max Payne or Bloodrayne (which also have the feature) I found myself pretty much in slo-mo all the time.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R I did finish, though not without a cheat or two (the weight level was just broken). Once I'd figured out how to not keep killing myself slowly with radioactive implants it became more fun - so much so that I even went back to a vastly earlier save just to get the item for the "correct" ending. I hated it in parts at first, but when I started it again (incompatible savegames FTL) and got the armour hidden in the start village it was much better. I was a frequent visitor of the loading screen, though.

Doom 3 I couldn't beat the final boss, which was annoying, but Quake 4 I completed. The single player ladders of the Unreal Tournament games have probably been the most frustrating to complete - mostly because the bots on your team always seem to suck and you have to try and cap+defend flags yourself. Blood 2: The Chosen stands out as the game I least enjoyed completing - not only was the final battle a virtual clone of a mid-game battle in Unreal, but there were some seriously annoying monsters in the preceding levels that would grab on to your head.

With RPGs (particularly console ones) I often sit with a printed-out FAQ next to me, not so much for tips, but so I don't miss key items or characters as their playtime is typically 30+ hours, I'm think I'm unlikely to play them again. Curiously though, I often do replay them - finding it quicker and more fun to start again and do it "right" the second time. Oblivion has already claimed a ludicrous amount of my time, and while I completed almost everything in it, I never did it "properly". I stayed at a low level by mostly using skills counter to my chosen class, so there are still shedloads of monsters and armour in the game I have yet to see.

I've never finished a non-console strategy game except for Mech Commander, yet continue to buy them. For this reason I prefer ones like Dark Crusade and Supreme Commander where you get to use the ultimate weapons simply by building up and playing a map for long enough - rather than progressing further into the game. They are also the #1 genre for me to come back to and carry on where I left off after a long time.