This thread actually motivated me to get going on Lego Star Wars again.

dle

Simple: I am lazy. Many typical conversations go along the lines of, "So have you played Burnout Paradise?" "Oh yes, love the game." "Did you finish it?" "No way."

Shiku

honestly, all my friends are so scared of getting old and chilling in a retirement home. whereas i am super excited because it will mean i finally have the time to finish all of those games!

foolalex

I just don't want that game to end, y'know what I mean?

excaleranth

@MajorMcMuffin: Why don't you want to finish it?

Zeouterlimits

Always in the last level, I feel like I have not got everything out of the game, and completing it would not be ok.

sometimes I even save then, do the last level/boss and restore the save to continue with the sidequests at a really slow pace.

HernanKowalsky

I can't even imagine making a list of the games I don't finish. Between just having bought my first house and having a girlfriend, I really don't have much time to just sit down and play anymore. Although the girl is away on business this week and I just picked up Bully for the 360, oh yeah it's on! Trying to see if I can run through it pretty quickly. Not really worried about getting all the achievements because I know that If I start doing that, then I will never finish it.

re4de2ye0

List of games I never finished (off the top of my head):

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Was loving it till I got stuck in the god damn water temple and never played it again)

Morrowind & Oblivion (Played the shit out of them, just never actually finished the story)

Every GTA game (See Morrowind & Oblivion)

Rainbow Six: Vegas, GRAW, Splinter Cell & pretty much every other Tom Clancy game.

Xenogears (there was way too much other fun stuff to do my freshman year of college ie get drunk)

Crackdown (had too much fun dicking around to bother beating it)

So I guess I tend to not finish super involving RPGs, tactical shooters/spy games and sandbox games but that doesnt mean I dont have loads of fun playing them.

Gray665

I usually just get a new game before I'm done with whatever is currently in my *insert game device of choice here*. I always intend to complete it when I'm finished with the new game, so I put the disc/cartridge in the box of the new game. That way, I can immediately pop back into the old game when I'm finished with the new one. Naturally, this train of thought leaves me with an entire collection of game cases with the wrong game inside.

Protector one

Gears of War = Got annoyed with the part where creatures drop on me from the ceiling and I don't like the lack of mouse and keyboard in the first place.

Lego Star Wars = Couldn't for the life of me figure out wtf I do in the sandcrawler. That is particularly frustrating knowing it's a simple children's game.

Heavenly Sword = I'm stuck on the second battle with the fish chick and she's pissing me off. It also doesn't help that Smash Bros arrived to take my attention away.

The rest of my games are fighting and arcade games. I almost always finish those.

dle

I try to complete all the games i can and like ofc. I think it only gives a true sense of achievement when i end a game.

FelicioLostHorizonPT

I only seem to finish games on my DS. As for my other systems I tend to get bored with the games I'm playin and usually find myself goin back to Halo:CE on XBC.

XtreemIkon

Then again, I never seem to go back to a game after the final credits roll. Once it's done, it no longer exists.

mcderek3000

I always complete games, even if I absolutely hated them (eg Just Cause).

mcderek3000

@evilonion: agreed. I'm bad for this. I probably have 20+ games sitting on my shelf that I've never finished.. Maybe 30+... which is kinda gross. They're all games that I'd like to play and beat, but I just don't have the time. My other problem is I'll play a game for a few weeks, and then get distracted by a new game, and then I can't come back to the old one because I can't remember where I was or what happened last. Also if anyone plays one of my games and does something that I wouldn't do and then saves it? The game is dead to me.

cio

If a game is great and keeping me riveted, I finish it. Otherwise, I don't. Usually if I don't finish a game within the first 60 days, I won't finish it at all.

crapsh00t

One of my worst habits is not finishing RPGs. Seems to match up with what's being said above. I have yet to EVER complete Final fantasy 5,6,8,10,12, Breath of fire 3 + 4, Chrono Trigger (!), Grandia, Xenogears. This isn't to say I haven't played them, in some cases a whole lot, it's just when I know the end is near I somehow end up starting another one. And the cycle continues.

CaptLtrl

I don't have much time to play as I used to years ago. I look mostly for the story to hook me and I like a game that won't frustrate the hell out of me or I'll more than likely give up for a while. Also, if a game is short, who cares as long as those 6-8 hours are packed with good memories and a satisfying experience. I think that's why I liked Uncharted so much. Fantastic pacing and just the right length for the time I have now to play games. I was totally satisfied and can't wait for the sequel.

Sparky13

I lose interest. You can't hold my attention with the same gameplay for 50+ Hours without a break. That's why I only buy 2 months of WoW of a time, I need a break.

ostartero

2 reasons...married and ADHD.

yep that about wraps it up, now time to not finish...

Seiven

Why would you buy or rent a game if you're not going to play it through to the end? The ends always the best part...

The real mental illness is in those 360 "completionist" gamers. Ever play Assassin's Creed? Anyone who scores 1000 on that is a sick, sick puppy.

Goodthymes

There are few games I haven't finished, including GTA3, and .... that's it.

artofwar420

Im blaming it on the rise of multiplayer games on xbox live. If i see a friend online playing a game that i own, i would rather play that than a single player game. One of my friends RROD'd and another was out of town for the week, so i was finally able to finish Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4. It was great to finally finish them, now i gotta finish other games, like Oblivion, may have to unplug my system from LIVE to do so.

CaptainCorny

RPGs are the only game I don't finish. I quit some of them midway out of complete apathy for the characters. In others I quit on the final boss if it's really hard (a lot of games come to mind here).

But the very few do I finish, I usually play multiple times.

All other games I finish, at least on Normal. Usually all the way up to highest difficulty.

Xiedo

Honestly, for me it's usually not wanting the whole thing to end. I'm lame, so I actually can't finish Daxter on my PSP due to sheer physical inabilty (the damn Queen!), but as far as GTA, Katamari, and all the other unfinished games, I just don't want to say goodbye. Sometimes, the pleasure of replaying levels until I get a perfect score is good enough to make me forget that there are no new levels to play, but not often enough.

kityglitr

I think most people don't complete games these days because there longer and there are so many games out. Every week there something else to buy, back in the 80's there was a handful of games worth owning a year and the rest you rented. I try to complete all my games, I complete probably like 65% to 70% of the games I own. There are like a 100 NES games I haven't completed because they suck and I bought a lot of them for less then a dollar.

Gon

It's the damn release cycles. You pick up five games from November to December and finish none.

hegemonyhog

I always loose my interest in the game when I buy a new one. For example: I was addicted to DOA4 which I got in November, and wanted to have all the achievements and everything, when I got CoD4 I completely lost my interest in DoA.

I have what many people call gaming ADD

ashn0d

I've thought about why I never finished games. At first I thought it was because I didn't want the game to end. But looking back, it's actually because the games don't hold my attention long enough.

The last 3 games I beat were CoD 4, Mass Effect, and STALKER. These games captivated me, the other ones I love but cannot muster up the nerve to beat them. Well it turns out I'm just bored of them (Bioshock, Halo 3, Assasin's Creed, Oblivion, etc.).

cametall

Call me a terminal case. Trying to get all the "unique" items on FFT as well as the medals/plane colors in ACX.

Frank

I'm currently trying to finish this World of Warcraft game but I'm about 1000 hours in and it doesn't seem like the end is anywhere in sight.

Zio

I've got a lot of games I haven't finished. I don't know if my attention span has gotten shorter or just that I have so many other responsibilities now that I am an adult that I don't have time. I haven't even gotten to 60 stars on Super Mario Galaxy, but I bought Twilight Princess and started on it. The last game that I completed was Max Payne. And I did that with a cheat code just to see the ending. Never did like the control setup in that game so it wasn't a joy to play, but I wanted to see the story.

Eltigro

I finish almost every game I start. Sometimes I hate my obsessive compulsive tendencies, but o well - I've never been able to do much about them. Most recent regrettable play through: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell...that last five hour push frustrated the hell out of me.

mtvernon

I just realized something very interesting (to me at least). Of the 120+ games I currently have, I was curious how many I have finished.

Here's the rundown:

23 PS3, 360 games = 20 completed

100+ GC, PS2, XBOX games = 32 completed

I had a glut on alot of great previous gen games since they where so cheap, example: Splinter Cell CT $5. Some are still unopened.
Now the PS360 games aint cheap, not 5 bucks cheap. So the obvious to you, just became obvious to me:

I'm cheap

I can't resist a (good) cheap game

If I play some of those last gen games for a while, I'll be saving money......remember?
I'm cheap!

Acute Gamer

I've taken a break from gaming due to just this thing. I probably only complete 2 or 3 games a year now. Last 06 I only finished Gears of War and Rainbow Six Vegas...probably bought like 20 games though. 07 beat Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Mass Effect and once again I probably bought like 20 games. I play them for a few weeks and get half way though them and trade them in for the next best game out.

I have since sold my xbox 360 and wii to take a break from the amount of cash flow I spew into games I don't beat.

On the flip side, I'm definitely buying the PS3 MGS4 bundle when it is launched. Hopefully, I can stick myself to only 2 games at a time this time around...not likely...but we'll see.

I think the biggest cause of this...is I was a huge xbox live fan. I have/had a core group of gamers that I would play with most nights. We would hop onto the newest and greatest Live title as they launched...Burnout:Revenge-->Gears of War-->Rainbow Six Vegas-->Call of Duty-->Halo 3-->etc etc etc (not in that order obviously)...now adays...great games are coming out too fast to keep up with them all! It's as simple as that.

Just my 2 cents...

starscream1101

I accumulated so many sidequests in my log in Oblivion that I determined I'd be well into my 50s before catching up to the actual story, so I eventually ditched. I still fire it up for its inherent NPC hilarity though.

I also have my Metroid Prime 2 game saved at the last guy, unbeaten. I hate him, soooo much. Why was there a beam 'ammo' system? WHYYY? Beat 1 & 3 though.

For me it's usually extreme difficulty or being overwhelmed with stuff to do that causes me to stop playing.

Thaddeus_McGee

@comedy: Oh, how I can relate... I watched half of The Wire's last episode and stopped. I have no idea when I'll bring myself to watching those last 45 minutes.

And I'm pretty sure that once they're over, I'll stare at the screen for a few minutes, then grab my Season 1 DVDs and watch it all again over the next few months.

I never thought I'd ever say this about any one show, but: Best. TV. Series. Ever.

me, my yoke + i

Only games I tend to not beat are JRPG's, they just drag on way to long and really most just aren't interesting enough in the gameplay to keep me engaged for 40+ hours. Though otherwise most other games nowadays are kinda... short.

Kyle81

I'm the same way. But it's more of a issue of time and the fact that I'm spending lots of time studying for JLPT2kyu...so yeah. Free time is not always there. Because of my studies, I have about twenty uncompleted games and three games still in their shrink wrap. ;;__;; But I intend to finish five of them over this break. Assassins Creed is done, DMC4 will be done soon, shitty God of Sword...I meant Heavenly Go....Heavenly Sword after that...then I want to finish the second and third Phoenix Wright Games...oh, and then there's the PS2 downstairs and my neglected Wii. :/

I keep buying games but I just don't have the time to finish them. Doesn't help that I enjoy spending my time watching anime, movies, and reading manga.

Oh, and play go on/off.

Yeah...free time....I want it back! Glad to hear I'm not alone in this endeavor.

ShinjiKinomoto

I only play to the end of the game once I have completed all of the worthwhile side quests and found every secret. I think it makes the game better because the end is "THE END", not "THE END + all that other stuff you missed". I need closure.

tiredluke129

I finish every game I buy and if I really love a game there is NOTHING like getting all 1000 achievement points. I am currently at 880gp on CoD4 and it hurts me that it isn't finished off yet.

bayonetblue

I played through Lost Odyssey right up to the final boss, and haven't touched the game in days. I can't bring myself to finish it. After completing every sidequest and learning every skill for every character, the idea of finally ending the game is a little depressing...

...especially considering that I already know I will obliterate the final boss in 3 rounds (most likely with full HP, too), since sidequesting apparently makes you way overpowered (or so I've read on LO boards). The Immortal One was a piece of cake, and he's supposed to be the über-difficult ultimate nemesis of the game, so I'm expecting Lord Eyebrows to go down after a couple of double-cast Levelers.

It's something I do for most long games. I play right up to the end, then I do tons of optional stuff and leave it there, sometimes for weeks. Which is ridiculous, I know...

I've also been known to abruptly lose interest: one day, I'm playing a game and loving it, the next, I look at it and suddenly wonder how I could spend hours and hours on it. And that's not just games, sadly.

me, my yoke + i

I try to complete all the games I play. Sometimes I'll actually feel sad when the conclusion unfolds. But that doesn't stop me from beating it.

kojirodensetsu

@DragonSphere: Ah the Webtubes?

They're probably to blame for all of this. I mean look at us all talking about not finishing games. We should be out there failing instead of just talking about it!:)

TokeYo

I'm very much the same way. Lost Odyssey, BioShock, Mass Effect, Paper Mario...almost any game with a story I have a hard time completing because I don't want it to end, usually because the journey has been so awesome. Also, I have to agree that fear of having the ending suck adds to the unwillingness to complete it, but the desire to complete the story wins out eventually.

I think the only game that I've played multiple times through to completion was F.E.A.R. just because it was so intense for that generation of games, particularly with a good pair of headphones while playing in the dark. I wish the expansions didn't suck so bad.

psychobaka

@TokeYo: that reminds me, I have a pretty bad habit of not finishing books as well. anytime i pick up and start readings ones I like, I end up putting it aside for books I need to read for my English classes. and then of course, with the free time left, I get distracted by the interwebz and playing games...

DragonSphere

I myself i stop playing a game when i get bored of it, I beat almost every rpg i've played. Now FPses i've beaten none..... wait mass effect but wait that's third-person and a rpg.

EaGle1337

I've had a hard time not finishing FFXII myself also, I think about going back to it all the time but I'm near the end and I just wasn't that compelled by the game as I have been in previous FF's. Now I know all that remains is most likely a gauntlet of enemies to get to the finish like the others, I dunno if it's going to happen.

Jericho114

Oh crap, I'm one too. I still haven't beaten Final Fantasy 8 and 10 - powerful characters, on the last level, no desire to fight the final boss... hahaha.

Highlander Wolf

@FallenAzrael:
You should complete FFXII, I put in 130 hours and fully levelled up everyone, killed yiazmat etcetera, so I put in a lot hoping for a good ending and it was just fine, really good graphics and the best storyline part of the game (though it was a bit lacking in that department). I would feel really incomplete if I didn't see it and it would nag at me everytime it's mentioned.

valleyshrew

actually, thinking about this further, i often feel this 'inability to part with the experience' but mostly when watching tv series. The Wire ended recently and i have to say it made me terribly sad... so i suppose rather than an inability to finish (as i normally do) i feel rather sad once it is finished.

comedy

If I invest more than an hour or two in a game then it's almost certain that I'll play it to completion. However I do tend to play a large amount of games on an ongoing basis(say 10-20 at a time).
Sometimes it might take a few dozen play sessions to complete a game but those could be spaced over several months, or I could finish a game in 2 sittings over a few days if it really grabs me. Then there are other games that I pick up on a whim and get instantly filed in my Maybe Someday pile.

I do pretty much the same thing with books.

TokeYo

@MrPerson: I'm afraid FFXII has been on my waiting-to-be finished list as well...last time I actually put any solid playing time into was well over a year ago (just 22 hours into the game!). Part of the reason I stopped was because my PS2 had broken down, I was using the one in my dorm suite to play (but I didn't want to hog the TV), school work kept me quite busy, and now that I have had a PS3 for a few months, I still haven't gone back to it.

I think a huge part of it is what other people have already mentioned: I just feel so "disconnected" with the story now after not playing it for so long; except for vague memories of side characters and a general sense of where the story going, I have no idea of any of the particulars anymore, the characters' backstories, etc. I could just start over again, but then those 22 hours of level grinding would be useless. As weird as it might sound, I think I'm simply overwhelmed at the thought of trying to get back into it - nothing a short "reset" couldn't fix, but then I'm terribly apprehensive of doing that as well.

DragonSphere

Dragon Quest VIII is the only one. I've completed all final fantasies from 6. I got distracted by other games and never bothered going back. I didn't complete gta's either but I never planned to.

@homerj:
"Most games have changed their goals from just completing levels, to collecting hard to find objects."

Yes, I think that's a big problem, I collected monsters in DQVIII for a while and I think I wanted to complete that part before I went to the no turning back point, but it was too tedious so I gave up.

valleyshrew

I'm intentionally not going to finish FF12, and here's why: I know the ending will blow.
I've not read any spoilers, and I can't ACTUALLY say for sure it will blow. I'm simply basing this on the fact that I've never been satisfied by a JRPG ending. FF12's story was so weak, I KNOW that it will be no exception.

FallenAzrael

I got about 60 games.. of them 60, i completed approx. 10-15 of them...

Flurp

I normally don't finish games in general. They either suck, bore me to death the longer I play or they are inconsistent in difficulty. I have been doing good though lately, I played through COD4, No More Heroes and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Then I unfortunatley met Mass Reject and Heavenly Sludge.

tazz77

There are very few games I haven't finished that I have at least started. The only two that even come off the top of my head right now are Ninja Gaiden Black and Zelda: Wind Waker. I guess you can throw in Super Mario Galaxy as well but I will finish it soon.

Personally, once I start a game I have a hard time pulling myself away, regardless of how good/bad it is. I just like completing the games I start.

I'm in the boat of never playing a game again once I have beaten it though. Unless it has some form of multi-player in it.

I must admit Achievements have helped me replay a ton of games this gen that I normally wouldn't but I have a reason to go back now. GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!

VonDante

@Sap_My_Sentry: Me too, I'm not spending hours on that slow sodding boat fishing for items. It seems to me they tacked that crappy fetch quest onto the end to hide the fact they cut the last two dungeons to finish it on time.

With all the GameCube re-releases on the Wii, I'd love an update of WindWaker with the last two dungeons finished and that fetch quest ripped out....

photoboy

Boredom/apathy is usually what makes me stop playing a game. For example, Eternal Sonata was a lot of fun but there's just too many long stretches of battling to get to the next cut scene/save point. It's fun, but given how much time you have to spend just fighting the same enemies over and over the novelty eventually wears off. They needed to cut the length/number of battles in each section or introduce a much bigger variety of enemies. I've just not been able to summon the energy to play it for a while, despite always quite enjoying it when I do...

Also I don't have much time to game so often I'm limited to catching 10-30 mins of play time, and RPGs just don't cater to me sadly. Games like GTA win big points from me because the game is broken down into short missions that don't last too long and let you save and quit if needed. I've heard Lost Odyssey can have well over an hour between save points! There's no way I'd finish the first disc if I had to put that much time in every time.

photoboy

@homerj: Oh yeah, I forgot I still haven't beaten WW. Stupid Triforce pieces.

Sap_My_Sentry

I have never beaten a Final Fantasy. I always get to the last boss and quit.

Rurik

I generally finish a game, because I want an ending. There are too many games to play, than to sit at one particular one for weeks or months.

What kills this for some people is that there is too much idiotic stuff tacked on to games to make people not want to complete it. Take Zelda: Wind Waker for instance. There was so much "gotta collect 'em all" in that game, that some people feel compelled to actually get them all. There are people that probably never finished the game because of it.

Most games have changed their goals from just completing levels, to collecting hard to find objects. When the goals aren't really all that possible, the user will just play something else and "come back to it" later. But later never comes, and you're sitting with a year old gamesave. Because seriously, looking around a world for some hidden object just isn't all that fan.

Is there another aspect of not wanting it to come to an end? Possible. But I'll call out Nintendo for making "collect 'em all" into an art form that really makes a game not really all that fan to finish. No one wants to sit in one world for 8 levels to collect different things.

homerj

GT 4, Dark Cloud, Red Faction, Dark Cloud 2, Shadow of the Collossus. All games I've been meaning to beat, but for some reason don't get around to it.

Sap_My_Sentry

I can't indentify at all with "inability to part with the experience". There are far too many games where I'm all too eager to part with the experiance. The rest, I tend to finish.

IronsUK

I finally beat Final Fantasy 12 the other day. My in-game clock read 93 hours at the last save, mainly due to the amount of Hunts I got absorbed in: These things offered truly challenging, barely-knuckle-through fights... And then when I got back to the main quest, I was overpowered. So much so that I happened upon two bosses that are actually parts of much harder sidequests, and had challenging fights against them - I only just managed to beat the Earth dragon, thinking that was the proper way to go.
This backfired when I reached the final two dungeons of the game. Good lord, they were long and dull and filled with mostly identical enemies for four to five freakin' hours each. That's right... Unless you rush through, the final two dungeons equate nine hours of playtime. After I'd finished the last dungeon, I was thinking, good LORD! This game has to be over soon!
Of course, it was. And I still like the game. But, man, the final stretch is painful and filled with a ton of identical rooms. It's like they wanted to make it an endurance test to see if you would finish the game.

MrPerson

My problem is that I finish just about every game I start, even if I begin to hate it part way through. Nowadays I limit myself as to what I play, especially since I pretty much only buy games anymore.

Some games I simply can't get enough of, most of which have already been mentioned.

Absent Blue

when i wasnt that much into games, i lasted weeks to complete a game, i played FFVIII like for one year, on and off, but now, that im really into them, if a buy them, i'll finished them, but now, great games come out at the same time, maybe its me, but i need to get into one game at a time, i bought mario galaxy, assassins creed, redident evil:uc and CoD4, and i completed all of them till january, and another thing, i dont know if its just me, but when im playing a game for the first time, i want to finish it quickly, maybe im have an anxiety disorder =/

Genok

Guilt as charged.
To do list:
Finish FF8,10, and 12, gear of war, oblivion, COD4, Patapon, Disgaea, Twilight Princess, Guitar Hero III, Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed, and a bunch of others.

VishusBurn

@Sustenance: You didn't beat Okami? Man, that was one of the rare few that was so damn compelling I couldn't STOP myself from getting to the ending. And neither should you, because the ending is just as sweet. (And the boss is kind of easy.)

THE Comatose Turtle

Generally, I quit playing games when I stop being surprised and entertained by the plot, and can see what's going to happen. Most game "stories" these days are so formulaic, that anywhere from halfway to 90% through the game, I know exactly what's going to happen, and I generally find out about something newer and shinier coming out so I go get that and play it instead.

coyo7e

Once I'm a few hours into a game, I'll usually see it all the way through. If the first hour or two doesn't totally hook me, though, I'll usually abandon it.

J. Kyle

Who's ever played Civ long after 2050 in game? I remember at least one such occasion, I won a Diplomatic Victory, but I had just started to take over the world, and I wasn't about to stop until everyone was Greek!

I've played a few games right up to the end and then stopped before finishing them though. I still haven't completed Fallout 2, and I don't really want to.

MajorMcMuffin

I think, for me, its that so many games come out in certain time frames. In the 90's, there were only a few games that I would actually be looking forward to and go out and buy. These days, there are triple A titles coming out so often that many of the games I buy get overlooked.

During the holiday season, its so hard to actually play all the games I want to and actually beat them. I usually stick with the one that engages me most and work my way down.

An example is, I have FF3 for DS and havent beat it, and its not that the game sucks. Its because something else came along after I bought it and I never went back. Now if I go back, I get the feeling that I'm not quite up to speed on everything and lose my way.

Anyways, just my 2c.

Massiah

There are some games that I don't know if I've beaten or not. For example, Burnout Paradise. Have you won when you get your burnout license? Or the elite license? Or all the cars? The credits roll when you're only 50% done with the single player game, not even to mention the multiplayer aspect. When should a normal person stop playing (not the OCD completion obsessed gamerscore horders)? I don't know how to beat that game.

cudthecrud

Gears of War. Went straight into multiplayer, did it for 2 months, sold it again, and bought Halo 2 again to tide me over til Halo 3. It worked.

Communist_Gamer

I have the exact opposite disorder. I complete everything as completely as possible. Jeanne D'arc, for instance, which I've been playing a lot lately since I just got my PSP a few weeks ago. I beat the game a while ago, but I'm still addicted to it, for my quest to achieve level 99 with every character and fill in every question mark in the skill binding chart is yet to be complete.

baked ham

i had so many games that i had been put off playing because i thought they were mediocre. now i am going through them all and pinkie promised myself that i will not buy another game until i finish all the ones i have.
[slackerchic.blogspot.com]

slackerchic

Too many games get released, and by trying to milk maximum enjoyment from all of them, I end up finishing none of them. Not to mention that long games I've really liked, like Okami and Dragon Quest VIII, I took the "not wanting to end the experience" thing so far that I abandoned them in their last 5% of gameplay. Besides, SO many games ramp their difficulty up to "frustrating" in the last sections - I HATE that. If we're good enough to make it to the end, at least give us a chance to freaking finish the damn game!

And then there are the games I wanted desperately to like (Warrior Within, I'm looking at you), but the gameplay was so repetitive and frustrating that I just gave up, despite any merits I could have gleamed from the story or graphics or puzzles.

Sustenance

There are a number of games that I didn't finish because of frustration. When you want to throw the controller in frustration it makes you want to not go back to the game at all.

Golden Sun with the ability to carry over your characters from the first to the second gave you more incentive to finish the game at 100%
I am still waiting for a third though

nox

"When you put hours and hours into character development, quests, and skill honing, it's hard to break away from that experience with the conclusion of a game."

Perhaps this is why the MMO genre does so well. Since there is no real conclusion to an MMO (outside of server shutdown) people can keep playing a character without the fear of losing that character for a very long time. That is definitely food for thought.

As far as I go, I use to always finish my games when I was younger. But I attribute that to more free time and less of a selection when deciding what to play. When you only get one game every three months or so, you end up playing it a lot so finishing it was typically inevitable.

As I got older and could buy more games I ended up not finishing many games. This was due to getting new games so fast that I only had a few days to actually play a game before I had moved on to the next one.

Ultimately I have been finishing more games lately due to something incredibly shallow...
Achievement points! Now there are games I play because they are fantastic (would have still finished Bioshock without a single achievement) and there are games I won't play no matter how easy the points are, but I find myself playing through games and having more fun just because of that little blip that appears at the end of the level. Sure it is silly but I have found fun in some odd places because I have had points pushing me to get through a poorly designed level or through a boring section of story.

Now with my next kid on the way into the world soon, I am once again going to be stuck with few new games over a long time period so I might just have to go back and get busy on the great games I own that I somehow forgot to play. ^_^

wired_fenix

I feel the same way as you do, Tori. I feel most guilty about Dark Cloud 2... I loved that game, but I stopped playing for over a year when I got close to the end. Then my brother deleted the save game. Terrible. T_T
Skies of Arcadia sufferred a similar fate, sadly. I don't think my VM battery will have lasted this long to retain my data anyways.

Since FFX I've gotten better, since I actually finished that one and it had a really good ending. But even Mass Effect fell dangerously close to the wayside when I felt that climax coming on... Only my friend's urging and my desire to make about 5 more characters got me through it.

THE Comatose Turtle

I think it's been a large bell curve over my years of gaming. When I first started which was on the 2600 I don't think there was a legitimate end to a game such as galaga or pacman.

Though when the NES came around there was only a handful of games I could actual finish, since there was no save feature and I remember dying a lot, the games I can fully remember beating was Super Mario Bros 2 and TMNT 2 and a couple more, other then that there wasn't much.

The SNES had a large amount of games that I did finish, I've finished around 30 or 40 SNES games, of course this was when I was in the mindset to beat these games for good and not give up. A lot of them also had a save feature or a password feature which made things easier. Also I was younger so school and/or work didn't get in the way.

Nowadays I'm in the same place as you Tori, I don't finish much games, I start a lot of them but never get around to finishing them off. I've been trying to go back and finish a lot of games but thinking about it maybe it is the fact that if I do finish a game I may not feel like going back to experience that again. That and university plus work has consumed a lot of my time, though I have gone back and finished quite a few games in the last month so I'm pretty proud of myself there.

Jacktherip

Too damn repetitive. And too much filler thrown in to artificially lengthen games. I haven't played it yet, but from what I hear the latest Devil May Cry is a major offender.

Islandkiwi

Oh, reading through the comments I have thought of one reason there are games that I have never completed: user error at a lower level. I have deleted the wrong save, or reformatted the wrong drive, or uninstalled a game temporarily without copying the saves at least once. This has resulted in one game that I still want to finish but never have: Baldur's Gate 2. I lost other saves, but went back to finish the worthwhile games (some less worthy games were left by the side).

Swordmaster29

The only reason I won't finish a game is if it is too hard. I suck at most games, so I haven't finished many.
Just this week, I finished DMC!!
I gave up on it when it first came out. I couldn't beat the first boss (I suck, I know.)

Well, tried again, this time on Easy Auto (I know, I know!!) and beat it.

killer_meatballs

I think it's all of those reasons and more importantly pacing.

A good example is Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, for me. I was really getting into it, actually enjoying random battles (kinda), and was getting back into my old RPGing ways. But I just got to a point where the story wasn't really going anywhere fast, leveling took too long, and the demons weren't all that interesting.

By cutting, or better- improving- weak sections of games, I think I'd add many more to many collection of finished games.

I'd guess I finish about 1/4 of my games.

Krondonian

I can't relate... at all. I'd peg my completion rate at about 99%. A game has to be particularly offensive for me to stop.

Moonshadow101

i have completion issues not just with games but everything i get bored of just about everything after an hour or two.... i blame add

homeskillet81

This happens to me more than I care to share (Silent Hill 1 comes to mind *sigh*) My three reasons:

1) Games are too long AND because of that because less engaging.
2) Artificially prolonged gameplay (i.e. the fishing side quest in FFXII - FUCK that piece of random-ass shit!)
3) I get right up to the end and then don't finish them. However, I don't think this because an emotional attachment, but rather the fact that I'll have nothing to show for the hours upon hours I've invested.

Summary, shorter games (15-20 hours) far more engaging AND easier to part with.

7ucky

i have a particular approach to games: first time round, play through, finish it, don't go for 100% or anything.
IF it's worthy of a 2nd time around that's when i strive to do well.
also, quick tip: play it on easy... best choice ever, you get all the good parts of the game but very little of the horribly difficult choke points.

half of all the games i play don't get finished even a first time. and very few get a 2nd play.

give me god of war chains of olympus or prince of persia sands of time... or even cod4... short but brilliant

comedy

Also, I'm not a huge achievement whore. But they tend to help me in wanting to finish sub-par games and beat amazing games multiple times.

liquid_kore

"...inability to part with the experience..."

This is 100% true for me. When I think about finishing most games I see the final boss as "the end" to my experience, so for a lot of games I get damn near to the end and then... I just stop.

grecords

I actually finish MORE games than I ever did before. The only exception nowadays is when a game is just too difficult, or just doesn't hold my interest.

Although, if a game's too difficult, I still usually complete it by breaking it into chunks (play until I get stuck, come back to it in a couple of days, repeat.)

I'm doing that now with Ninja Gaiden Black, and I'm glad I'm sticking with it. It's improving my gaming skills in general, and I know the satisfaction of finishing such a notorious game will be immense.

ShaggE

I have a bad habit of getting about 95% of the way thru an RPG and never finishing, or replaying from the beginning a year later and finally finishing. I think it is usually because by the end of the game, there is nothing new happening to make me want to continue forward.

Also, if an RPG gets too difficult (some balance issues in Lost Odyssey) I tend to get bored and not WANT to finish.

Vegasadelphia

Games have been getting easier each cycle, so I don't think difficulty is a factor...
I think it has to do with volume and interest.
If a game isn't engaging enough then it can kiss completion goodbye.

Zeouterlimits

I like the feeling of completion after beating a game.

I quit games because they are slow, monotonous, have terrible controls, are artificially long with repeated "courier" quests, lack an intriguing reason to play, or are just plain boring.

AaronMD

The only games I usually don't finish are JRPGS. I usually get extremely into them for a while but spend to much time on side quests and level grinding that the game bores the crap outa me halfway through.

liquid_kore

I used to not complete any games in the old days, when games were tough as nails and had no saves.

But now? I complete almost everything I touch.

Ashurahori

I just don't plain have time. Also after putting in 8 hours in front of a computer (job) i really don't want to spend even more time in front of one.

Thanatos-

I only finish games I enjoy. I think New Super Mario Bros. or Mario Kart DS are my most challenging feats. Perhaps Seriously... and Mile High Club achievement wise.

MrMcdoobie: I don't do drugs

Unless I realize I don't really like it, or get extremely frustrated, I generally finish a decent amount of my games. I realized Lost Planet was kinda boring, so I stopped, I never really got into Oblivion, and then I bought Guitar Hero 2, so I completely stopped in it. I rented Advance Wars DS, but reallized I don't like RTS games, so I gave it back. Those are probably 3 games I've quit in, out of Most of the time though, I want to get my money's worth, and even if I don't want the game to end, I'll finish it to complete the experience. Generally speaking, I do my best to get play a good amount of time, and finish about 85% of games I become invested in.

PurpleMonkey

I have a problem completing games too. I think it is because of the amount of games being released. You usually can expect at least one really good game a month. Make that x50 around holidays. So, when another game comes out and I get it, I drop all other games and focus on it. I have a ton of games I need to complete. But, when I'm done with a game for once, I try to go back but I let friends borrow them or other stuff. It makes getting games for portables pointless. I got Zelda: PH to play on a plane for a trip, but I beat it before the plane ride.

mferrari

sidequests are actually frequently what prevent me from finishing RPG's these days. I have less time to play, and if side quests start taking up more of my gameplay time, then i'll start to lose track of where i am in the main story (as other commentators have mentioned). once that happens i dont care about the characters any more and then i cant be bothered to do the side quests.

happened to me with FFX, which i thought was a pretty good game, and almost happened with mass effect as well.

really, whats so wrong with linearity if the story's good?

booyagrandma

I used to be really good at finish games. Then came college graduation and work, and I find that I am putting in only about 10 hours a week (instead of about 40) playing video games. Match that with my love for epic RPG's (FFX, FFXII, and NWN2 are still on my "playing list"), WoW, and Civ IV, and I have a recipe for not getting to finish anything. What I REALLY need to do is take a week off, and play through the RPG's on my "playing list", and catch up, but somehow I don't think even a week would be enough.

Swordmaster29

This happens to me all the time. Mostly with RPGs though. With FFVI, I didn't beat it till 5 years after I stopped. FF7? I got it at launch and I didn't beat it until last year, believe it or not. I got to the last disc and just stopped.

But I've been getting better. As soon as I start getting the "Stop now" feeling, I push on harder than before.

"Alexander's reason I identify with most with is inability to part with the experience"

I have a feeling that's why I stopped...Although I wasn't conscience of it.

romBox

i dindt beat the second metroid prime till last year... I have yet to finish the third installment.

tralfaz23

I don't know i sometimes just can't finish some games even if i tried. They only hold my interest for so long as well and it sucks. I get easily annoyed. I'm sad to say i didn't finish bioshock

[KU]Shindokie:Pon Pon Pata Pon!

@evilonion: No, that makes sense to me (I'm one to take my time finishing RPGs I'm enjoying, as well as any new Ace Attorney titles when I get them).

summerdrone

I don't finish as many games as I used to, either. I think it's because I have less dedicated gaming time (not a little, just less), and much more money to blow on videogames than when I was a kid. So I end up playing a game for an hour and a half everyday for a week, then I'm out buying a new one. So, if a game is beyond 10 and a half hours or so, I'm screwed.

Of course, for exceptional games, I'll definitely finish them. I just finished Lost Odyssey, which took me 60 1/2 hours, and I can hardly remember what it was like to finish a game that lasted so long.

baxterpunch

I rented it and it was poop. That's about it.

smitty1123

sometimes I will rush through the game so I can get the whole story aspect out of my system, only to go back again and try to explore every nook and cranny. (case in point: mass effect, bioshock)

mescalineeyes

The only games I do not finish are the ones that do not entertain me enough or are simply too difficult (which applies only to old games). This is a very low number of games. I find myself working on hard games that I have yet to finish from time to time. However, I usually finish everything I start.

Zero_Beat

Two reasons.

Frustration. If I get to a point that is just too damn annoying to play and that I have to constantly start over from the beginning, im likely to say screw it and move on. Case in point, the last level of Uncharted, which for me, totally ruined the game. Although I did muscle through it, it really pissed me off.

Forgetfulness. Any type of story driven game (Last example was Dark Corners of the Earth, which I REALLY wanted to play), I stop playing for a week or so and then I have no idea where I was or where I am supposed to be going. Inevitably, I need to start over so I can figure out what I was supposed to be doing, but who wants to play through hours of the same thing.

lonkley

Most games these days aren't good enough for me to feel compelled to complete, which is a real shame. It has nothing to do with the length of a game to me; most of my favorite games are relatively long, and I've completed them because they were amazing experiences that made it worth my while.

Xax

I always get so caught up on side quests and side missions, that I spend so much time on them that I get sick of the actual storymode.

Now with that said, I usually do finish, but I do have games ever so often that I just get sick of / lose motivation before I'm able to complete it (notables that come to mind off the top of my head: Odin Sphere, San Andreas). Another killer is if I buy more than one game at once. I can play more than one game at once, but for some reason, buying more than one at a time kills me.

bangbangblah

I like many a tradesman before me; like to blame the tools!

If I don't finish games it's because they get too repetitive.

I finish around 70% of the games I start, the rest I give up around 70% through when the drag becomes too much...

syl1985

For me is hard to finish a very long game,like FF or GTA,but I love them,sometimes you simple get bore for a while,it's normal,otherwise;if you suddenly stop to play some game,maybe you played for the hype or just curiosity,but don't have a good reason to keep on playing is enough to stop the most "AAA" title.

Sometimes something bad happen in your personal life and this affect inevitable the whole playing thing,sometimes the game itself saves you from a heavy depression,but in the end you have to enjoy and "feel" the game to finish to the end,don't matter if is Oblivion,GTA or FF6...(so long)

OT79

Oh, and another thing... if it's a game that I absolutely LOVE it takes me a lot longer to beat it because I start dragging it out as I get close to the end, because I simply don't want it to end. I know that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

evilonion

I've had Oblivion ever sense the Elite launched, nearly a year ago, it's one of only three 360 games I own(can't afford anymore) and yet I've only put in about 70 hours worth of game play into it. Versus last gen playing Morrowind, I put hundreds apon hundreds of hours into it. What's changed? Time, I have less now then I did back then. =(

SycoKiller

I am a complete freak. To date I think I have owned only two games I have never completed, in over 15 years of playing. (That of course excludes the shit that I should never have bought in the first place and quickly traded in, I'm looking at you FF X-2)

Sam

I finish almost every game, partly because I need to review most of them for my website and partly because I need to find out why stuff happens.

Also, I stopped reading your introduction after you said Mac and decided I like you :)

mescalineeyes

Really? It always struck me that developers started tackling this a while ago by just making much shortergames. Not all, but many.

Bernard McGraw

This is something that I'm trying to overcome. The problem for me is that on top of not having enough time to play the games I own, I keep buying more of them. I can't help myself. It doesn't matter how many times I swear that I won't buy another game until I finish the last one, if a new game comes out that I want, it's mine.

evilonion

That's funny, I'm the exact same way. Especially when it comes to RPGs.

Dopeski

i always stopped like one level prior to the end of the game..

dont know why though.

Priboi

i actually haven't beaten FFX yet...dunno why...i've got the time but every time i look at it something in me tells me to leave it for another day...

ironice