IGN article: Why Don't We Finish More Games?

Struck a chord wth me so I thought I'd post it.

http://psp.ign.com/articles/113/1135373p1.html

 

I finish almost everything.

 

Today's game price point (budget releases, bargain bin stuff, XBLA etc) is so low we just feel 'lets play another'.

 

Actually i disagree with that article. Well, in parts. Games are more expensive yes, but PCs and consoles now have Steam, XBLA, PSN... Cheaper games, but digitally distributed. Casual gamers don't care anyway, so for most people this is good.

Also, as much as i hate patches, sometimes you can't complain. Games are more advanced than what they used to be. Doom had patches during BBS / FTP / dial up connection days...

Still, even though games nowadays are advanced and graphically impressive, they became easier and shorter. Plus people just don't have much time to play single-player games when there's multiplayer avaiable. Just look at Halo,MW2, BFBC2, MoH, CoD:BO, MAG, Socom, Killzone... I know people that buy these games just for the multiplayer. And most of the ones that care about the single player, only do it for achievements / trophies.

Single player used to be difficult and last longer. No savegames, limited lifes and continues,... They even had cheats / codes. There was a feeling of being challenged and accomplishment when finishing them. Now the cheats became DLCs. Continues are long gone, since there's infinite lifes. Game Over screens are a thing from the past. It's easier to play through the game, with so much help become of the game design.

I'm not saying that what we have now is bad, just different. Plus don't forget the internet, multimedia phones, mp3,... all that helps people spending their time doing other things than playing a game.

 

Who said I ever really finished games when I was younger in the first place. =P

The amount of games i've actually finished is pretty low.

I do admit that now adays I might not play a specific game for very long and much of that is just time constraints. If there is a game I really really want to play, I'll play it through to the end. Much like back in march/april I played through and beat both Yakuza 3 & Yakuza 2. Next year I will 100% be playing Yakuza 4 till finished.

Also another thing to mix into this. I grew up playing arcades a lot when I was younger. I'm really use to playing the beginning of a game over and over again vs playing all the way through.

 

With a lot of games, what is completing the game? You could play a game like GTA IV or Pokemon and you can get to the end without too much difficulty but if completing it means getting 100% and all the Pokemon then that requires commitment. You could technically complete SSFIV in 10 minutes but I doubt if most people are going to learn every character to get all the endings.

I've been playing Pokemon Tetris on the Pokemon Mini and I have played it so I have unlocked all the sub games but I am still 40 pokemon short of getting them all and as this requires you to play 5 block games and to get 4 or 5 line tetrises it ain't going to happen for a while... In the last week I managed to get another 5 pokemon... whoopie...

Ironically the games I have completed have been the games I have not had to buy which have included GTA IV, GTA Liberity City Stories, Uncharted 2. Then again I have not really play that many games to the end that I have really enjoyed but I did enjoy Jade Empire and Tomb Raider.

Plus in the old day games were expensive so you tended to play one game to death before getting another, I think I managed to get 12 games on my first Master System but I bought that many games on the PS2 just last week.

 

I complete EVERY game I own. To me, completing a game means going from start to finish, NOT getting all the achievements. That's a bonus.

 

I have never finished an RPG EVER

 

It really comes down to having more games to play. As a kid when I only had money to buy like 1-2 games per year, I sure as hell at least tried to finish them. And I miss having cheats to get through single player games, now if I get stuck on a frustrating section, I'm likely to just stop playing the whole game.

 

You know, I used to kick ass in this respect, and during the last five years, my completion average has dropped significantly. I used to be very good at learning the game and finishing THE SHIT out of it. I used to play Through Zone of The Enders 2, or Metal Gear Solid or stuff like that in one sitting. I went through Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3 and Saiyuki and every TRPG I came across, and I finished a lot of great and long RPGs.

And now, I still haven't finished disc 1 of Lost Odyssey, and I all but abandoned Tales of Vesperia, Haven't gotten more than 80 stars in Super Mario Galaxy, etc.

Getting old really fucking sucks.

 

I blew through MGS4 last month in about 4 days. When a game is really good, you are going to finish it

 

I think this (for me at least), sums it up. I remember gaming as it was back in the day, from the perspective of a child. Back then I had much time and commitment to video games. For me as a kid it was one of the main topics of conversation with all of my friends.
But as I got older, got a job, family of my own and what ever, I found that there were many things which takes my fancy, so I now have a tendency to think 'Shall I keep playing XXX game.... No, I think I'll do XXX instead'.

EDIT: Either that or I'm just to lazy.:lol:

 

Dont you own a complete Saturn collection?

Anyway, since last year I've started going by the policy of not buying a game unless I finish one. Stuck to it for the most part, unless theres a sale I cant pass up.

 

same here. I dedicate myself to one game or two at a time.
And don't stop until I finish

 

That's such a good idea! I think I will try that.

 

I agree, when I as yonger i would play games to completion and beyond... but once i got expendable income, i would only finish a rare few...

Now that i'm trying to save money.. and have toned down buying game again.. i find myself begining to fiish more of them...

RPGs were a big problm as it was easy to lose track of what your were doing ec.

 

I was thinking that. Yakumo, if you've honestly finished all those dating sims, you need to get out more

 

I've had this discussion a bunch of times. Usually, I just stop having fun. And instead of trotting through it, I put in something I have fun with. Example: I typically do NOT like the campaign in most FPS titles, Halo 2 and 3 for example. Those had fantastic online multiplayer that I LOVED however. So when I want to "play Halo" why play the campaign that I do not have fun with, when I can play the multiplayer that I adore?

Metroid Prime frustrated me, so I turned it off and I put in Animal Crossing. So on, and so forth.

 

^^
Do you not play a lot of them, or you've played a ton and just never finished one?

I feel like that would be tremendously unsatisfying. Getting to the ending is the best part of an RPG, IMO.