Do you still complete games?

[RedShell]

And by that I mean achieving absolutely everything that a game has to offer, or getting all of the achievements/trophies.

The Your 2015 Gaming Diary thread has made me realise that I don't anymore, despite still playing a lot of titles.

Have games just become more difficult to 100% or is it a case of my skills slipping due to old age?

 

I remember once upon a time I wouldn't move on to a new game until I'd fully completed the one I was currently playing. If I did that today I'd have to stop gaming, or potentially keep playing the same game forever!

Part of me thinks that I could still 100% some stuff if I really put my mind to it, but these days I seem to just start playing something else as soon as I reach the credits on whatever I'm playing.

 

The free games on PS+ is another thing that's contributing to this I reckon. In order to play everything/most of what gets given out on that service, you kind of have to keep up the pace. That and I'm like a hungry dog, put food in front of my face and I have to eat it right away!

 

But yeah, anyone else noticed themselves completing less games than they used to? And if so, is it because you no longer can (for whatever reasons) or that you simply aren't bothered anymore?

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've never really been a completionist or one to get absolutely everything. It's even harder now to get everything as trophies are involved and now there are online trophies, too.

 

I usually prefer being able to get to the credits screen or end of a certain story. If there are little extra missions or cutscenes after you complete all of the sidequests or if it's something that helps the story, then I'd attempt to get that.

 

It's not massively important to me to go into a game and get absolutely everything. With Shadow of Mordor, I was close to the end of the game and realised that I had most of the trophies, so I thought, "why not?" and just went for the platinum.

[Happenstance]

I cant actually think of many games that I have bothered to complete 100%. There are a few early 360 games that I got 1000 achievement points for but I dont count them.

 

These days I'm lucky to even finish a game's main story. I've gotten really bad at playing a game for a while then getting distracted by another one and moving onto that. Looking at my shelf I think the only game I have completed this year so far is The Order: 1886. Thats a habit I really need to break otherwise I think I am going to fall right back into a gaming rut.

[Jimbob]

It's not overly important for me to complete games 100%, i did quite a few on the X360 and have done on various other games over the years. But these days, it doesn't bother me to not get everything. With trophies/achievements, if i complete the game and have a few left to get, then i go for it. Otherwise i don't tend to, and it doesn't bother me for not going that extra.

[Jonnas]

If the game's fun, I'll try to play it as much as I can (recent examples: Sonic CD, Teslagrad). If the game's fun, but I'm a bit saturated of it at the moment, I'll post-pone completing it (recent examples: Mark of the Ninja, Civ V). If the game didn't hold much of my interest to begin with (like Q.U.B.E.), or if the challenge sounds unfun (finding every weapon in Hitman Contracts, for example), I'll just skip that challenge without losing sleep over it.

 

Regardless, I don't feel too obligated to complete games 100% these days, and I certainly will only do it if it's fun. Leaving it for future replays also works. The only thing I feel obligated to do is to "beat" the game, or else I feel like I didn't truly experience what it had to offer. Completing it is just a bonus, like a DVD extra.

 

It's definitely interesting to compare it to our youth, where we had a limited amount of games, so we dedicated our time to play them to their fullest (getting 100% in an RPG, speedrunning levels in platformers, etc). Nowadays, we keep playing what is next in our backlog.

 

I often feel that, if any of us is disenchanted with games somehow, we ought to shift our philosophy a bit. Playing something new is fine and dandy, but sometimes, going back to a good game we played before and dedicate some extra time to it might be the best course to rekindle the flame.

[Mandalore]

Not very often anymore. The majority of my SNES and N64 games I'd call complete, but nowadays I have too many games, less time and less motivation. The only Nintendo games I can think of from the current systems are Super Mario 3D Land and Pilotwings Resort.

 

As far as the other consoles go, even when I do feel like going for completion, lousy 'Achievements' usually get in the way. Tomb Raider is a recent example, I was going to go back and collect all the items and stuff, then I realised there are multiplayer achievements which I'll never get. That killed that idea. In general, Achievements and Trophies just kill my natural sense of achievement.

[Grazza]

Funnily enough StreetPass and Miiverse have made me want to complete games more. Take Etrian Odyssey I and II on the DS, for example. I beat the post-game boss in both, but wasn't bothered about 100% completing the inventories. Fast-forward to Etrian Odyssey IV on the 3DS, however, and I wanted to make sure I had every "trophy" and achievement for the sake of StreetPass. I've StreetPassed a lot of people with that game (far more than the relatively small amount of discussion about it on the internet would suggest) and it's nice to see how everyone else has done as well.

 

Sticking with that series, I haven't, however, beaten the post-game boss of Untold yet. It's extremely hard and requires more setting up than the original. Nor have I even seen the credits of III yet - it's a great game, but maybe I just haven't really had time to concentrate on it.

 

That said, I don't 100% complete everything. Even though Fire Emblem: Awakening was very good, I was happy enough just to play the main game.

 

More recently, Miiverse has influenced me in wanting to post "achievement" screens. I 100% completed New Super Mario Bros U and Majora's Mask 3D, the latter of which is probably the first Zelda I've done that for (strange considering how much I've enjoyed most of them when they were new). Shantae and the Pirate's Curse provided much enjoyment, with me keen to get all the wallpapers so far (there's still one to patch in). And it's only recently that I had the desire to get all the Par times in Mighty Switch Force 1 & 2 - I'm slightly fonder of the 3DS versions because there are less levels and I felt skilled for completing them.

 

In fact, perhaps that's the secret of it. If a game is great fun and getting 100% seems achievable and worthwhile, I'll be much more inclined to do so. If the game is not so good (and maybe too long and too difficult), I'm happier to move on to something new.

[Blade]

I used to complete everything when I was a kid but that was because we didnt have much money so I had games for birthdays and christmas.

 

Nowadays I have a massive backlog and I am lucky to even get to the end credits of a game. I would like to platinum a game but some of the trophies seem like proper time sinkers.

 

Also we can't have this thread without mentioning @Hero\-of\-Time! I have no idea how he does it but he gets through games extremely quickly, not just getting to the end credits either but actually completing them and thats with going to work and having a social life too! Amazing! I'm just envious that he gets to experience so many games.

[RedShell]

Cheers for the replies, glad to see I'm not alone on this.

 

I often feel that, if any of us is disenchanted with games somehow, we ought to shift our philosophy a bit. Playing something new is fine and dandy, but sometimes, going back to a good game we played before and dedicate some extra time to it might be the best course to rekindle the flame.

Great point.

That's something I'd like to do more of, even though I'm rarely (if ever) disillusioned with games, but the fickle nature of being an avid gamer and the desire to always play something new prevents me from doing so.

 

Also we can't have this thread without mentioning @Hero\-of\-Time! I have no idea how he does it but he gets through games extremely quickly, not just getting to the end credits either but actually completing them and thats with going to work and having a social life too! Amazing! I'm just envious that he gets to experience so many games.

The guy is a legend. :awesome: I'm also impressed by his ability to multitask while gaming, either with TV or another game!

[Rummy]

I generally try to be - at least to the extent of doing all the main things that will then unlock something else(that I may, or may not, 'complete'). I've still not finished it but my NSMBU play through was hitting all 3 coins as I went along per level, and finding all the secrets I could along the way too. I'm currently on MM - I'll definitely be doing that as much 100% as I can before fighting the final boss too. Recently finally polished of ALBW - however given it'd been so long since I played and I had MM soon waiting I didn't feel the inclination to go through and get the few remaining hearts and octobabies I didn't have.

 

Last game before was Fantasy Life, that's a bit of a harder one to 'complete' so still lots to go there I guess. Still got Smash to go, that I'm hoping I might one day do most things in though I may not get 100% accomplishments(don't think I did all the challenges in Brawl either). Played Kirby Triple Deluxe recently - go to 95%+ completion - which is acceptable to me as a level of 'complete'.

 

Can't think what else I've played to apply completionism to, but yeah...I think I'm generally a 90%+ kinda guy, if I won't get the 100%. I don't count achievement-style-things in there though.

 

I used to complete everything when I was a kid but that was because we didnt have much money so I had games for birthdays and christmas.

 

Nowadays I have a massive backlog and I am lucky to even get to the end credits of a game. I would like to platinum a game but some of the trophies seem like proper time sinkers.

 

Also we can't have this thread without mentioning @Hero\-of\-Time! I have no idea how he does it but he gets through games extremely quickly, not just getting to the end credits either but actually completing them and thats with going to work and having a social life too! Amazing! I'm just envious that he gets to experience so many games.

 

Total snap on that. Was def much more on it as a kid.

[EEVILMURRAY]

Complete? I try. Complete 100%? Rarely.

 

If it's something "confined", for example 100 coins on one level in Mario 64. Then I can give it a bash. But more expanded things like pieces of heart in Majora's Mask, can't be bothered to check every nook and cranny every day. It would just kill it for me.

[Hero-of-Time]

Also we can't have this thread without mentioning @Hero\-of\-Time! I have no idea how he does it but he gets through games extremely quickly, not just getting to the end credits either but actually completing them and thats with going to work and having a social life too! Amazing! I'm just envious that he gets to experience so many games.

 

The guy is a legend. :awesome: I'm also impressed by his ability to multitask while gaming, either with TV or another game!

 

Haha. You make me out to be some kind of machine. I simply enjoy what I do. It's just a case of managing my time well and doing this I love. Like Grazza said, if I enjoy it and I think it's achievable, then I will go for it.

 

A guy I used to work with used to say I live in some kind of weird time bubble where time just stands still for me. You couldn't fathom how I managed to have a full time job, go to the gym/jogging, watch films, go the the cinema, follow football and still finish the amount of games I do. That inverted song of time comes in handy sometimes.

 

I used to complete everything when I was a kid but that was because we didnt have much money so I had games for birthdays and christmas.

 

Nowadays I have a massive backlog and I am lucky to even get to the end credits of a game. I would like to platinum a game but some of the trophies seem like proper time sinkers.

 

I top paragraph certainly applies to me. I come from a large family and as such had very little growing up. Like you we only got games on special occasions, such as birthdays and Christmas time. This meant I used to play the same games over and over again, which I think led to why I like to get the most out of a game.

 

Your second paragraph applies to a lot of people these days. I think the older you get, the more money you have and then the more you buy. Sadly the drawback is that you usually have less time to actually play these games.

 

A lot of people try to keep up with joneses ( not just gaming, seems to be an everyday thing now, what with Facebook bragging and such ) instead of just being happy with what they've got and playing at their own pace. Instead of finishing games people are now getting halfway through something, seeing someone else play something different and then jumping on that game, instead of finishing what they started.

 

I often find it interesting to look through peoples trophy lists and achievements. You can gauge what kind of player they are by simply looking at what trophies they've got. There's a fair few players on my list you have started so many games but have only finished a handful. I'm not talking 100% here, i'm just talking actually finishing the game to the credits scene. Why continue to buy more and more new games if you aren't finishing what you've got sitting on your shelf?

 

I think the more games you have, the less likely you are to actually play through them all.

[Serebii]

I do my absolute best to, but sometimes it's either too daunting or I have to move on. I still haven't 100%'d Hyrule Warriors (has anyone???) and I gave up with Lego Batman 3...it's nowhere near as enticing as previous Lego games. However, as much as I can, I do 100% games. I very rarely never finish the narrative of a game at least.

 

Helps that I'm a freelancer and so have periods of time where I have little to do

Edited March 16, 2015 by Serebii

[Hero-of-Time]

I do my absolute best to, but sometimes it's either too daunting or I have to move on. I still haven't 100%'d Hyrule Warriors (has anyone???) and I gave up with Lego Batman 3...it's nowhere near as enticing as previous Lego games. However, as much as I can, I do 100% games. I very rarely never finish the narrative of a game at least.

 

Helps that I'm a freelancer and so have periods of time where I have little to do

 

Haha. That's a game I love playing but as soon as the DLC started to roll in I knew fine well that I was never gonna be able to finish it 100%. Soooooo much content. I dunno whether that's a good thing or a bad thing?

[Rummy]

Your second paragraph applies to a lot of people these days. I think the older you get, the more money you have and then the more you buy. Sadly the drawback is that you usually have less time to actually play these games.

 

...

 

I often find it interesting to look through peoples trophy lists and achievements. You can gauge what kind of player they are by simply looking at what trophies they've got. There's a fair few players on my list you have started so many games but have only finished a handful. I'm not talking 100% here, i'm just talking actually finishing the game to the credits scene. Why continue to buy more and more new games if you aren't finishing what you've got sitting on your shelf?

 

I feel there's a bit of overlap here with a discussion about difficulty levels I once saw - why play on Hard if it's going to make your experience longer and less enjoyable(not always the case ofc) - for me I tend to play through a lot of games on easy, or have back in the day whipped through with cheats, and essentially it was just to get through and experience it all.

 

Now that I'm older with less time - what happens if I'm playing a game that I'm just not all that into/enjoying? Yes, when I was a kid I had to learn to love whatever I had given it was bday or xmas, but now I've got a lot of choice etc. If I start a game, am not really into it/enjoying it - why SHOULD I spend the time finishing it all off if I really don't want to? Couldn't I put that time to better use on another game instead?

[Agent Gibbs]

Not routinely no,

 

Generally i just play the main story and unlock the bits i want, having fun and not struggling to achieve awkward trophies...sometimes with certain games the trophies them self are so well chosen they tie well with the game. NiNoKuni had great achievable trophies, FFX also had them to an extent although time consuming - FFX had one trophy that was a pain in the ass more than any other - max all characters, doing 3 or 4 is achievable quite easily but all characters seems not much more, but it is and by the end destroys the fun

And that is why i don't achieve all trophies on most games, they often choose things that require grinding for hours doing repetitive tedious or 1 in a million to do tasks, its obvious dev's are just struggling to give trophies, so shouldn't

 

 

Aside from trophies, sometimes games loose something in the second half and become less fun to play, i've had this mainly in RPG's, from Pokemon to Tales games, sometimes they just tail off in the end with needless grinds to complete. Other times its like the dev's rushed the end and it becomes repetitive....and then there are TES games....arguably too large to ever 100% finish, unless its your only game for a year.

[Jonnas]

A lot of people try to keep up with joneses ( not just gaming, seems to be an everyday thing now, what with Facebook bragging and such ) instead of just being happy with what they've got and playing at their own pace. Instead of finishing games people are now getting halfway through something, seeing someone else play something different and then jumping on that game, instead of finishing what they started.

 

I often find it interesting to look through peoples trophy lists and achievements. You can gauge what kind of player they are by simply looking at what trophies they've got. There's a fair few players on my list you have started so many games but have only finished a handful. I'm not talking 100% here, i'm just talking actually finishing the game to the credits scene. Why continue to buy more and more new games if you aren't finishing what you've got sitting on your shelf?

 

This is something that I've noticed as well. A lot of people will play games just when they just launched, instead of leaving them for later. I can understand the appeal if it's a game/series we're excited for (I've did it for Golden Sun 3, and a quite a few Zelda games), but doing it as the norm, because the game is trending? I always found it weird.

 

I mean, movies are attractive at launch due to cinema theatres, accessible pricing, and strong advertising. However, games only have advertising and pre-order bonuses going for them. In fact, it's usually better to wait, when it comes to games (after public opinion was formed, after the price went down, etc.), and yet their commercial success is based off the opening weeks (sometimes, "week"). So, there are lots of people that play games mostly at their launch, enough people for this business model to make sense.

 

I suppose it has mostly to do with multiplayer, which makes sense. But still, kind of weird that it's such a widespread view even for single-player experiences.

[Hero-of-Time]

Now that I'm older with less time - what happens if I'm playing a game that I'm just not all that into/enjoying? Yes, when I was a kid I had to learn to love whatever I had given it was bday or xmas, but now I've got a lot of choice etc. If I start a game, am not really into it/enjoying it - why SHOULD I spend the time finishing it all off if I really don't want to? Couldn't I put that time to better use on another game instead?

 

Absolutely. However, I find it hard to believe this happens with the majority of the games on their list. If it was me, and it was happening this often, I would really start to question my purchases and maybe look into games a little more before actually buying them.

[Aneres11]

This year I have made a coscious effort to not start a new game until I have done everything I want to / feel I could do with the current game I'm playing.

And I am enjoying gaming so much more for it.

I used to be the type to have loads of games, start one, play a bit and then get bored or have my attention taken bysomething else that is out or new etc.

 

I personally feel like in trying to 100% games (for acheivement purposes more than anything), it makes the game that much more enjoyable (for me).

Like Resident Evil Re-make for example. I didn't 1000g that game, I got to around 850 with only the invisible run, knife run and something else to do. But I just couldn't be bothered playing it for a 12th time! My overall play time of the game was probably 30-40 hours which I feel more than warrants the price plus the good gamerscore I bagged from it. And, it made me love the game all over again.

 

There's loads of games I want to play through but I am much happier plodding with one at a time. I honestly think I have 'completed' more games this year alone than I did the whole of last year, and it's definitely a good feeling.

 

But some games I get to the end credits and I don't want to do any more. This is generally the case with Nintendo games more than the others, just because there never seems like much of a reward for going further than the end credits in those games.

[Hero-of-Time]

This year I have made a coscious effort to not start a new game until I have done everything I want to / feel I could do with the current game I'm playing.

And I am enjoying gaming so much more for it.

 

This is something a few of us on here have started to do this year and we all seem to be enjoying the games a lot more for it.

[Happenstance]

This is something a few of us on here have started to do this year and we all seem to be enjoying the games a lot more for it.

 

I think I managed to last about a month of doing that before I started playing multiple games again. I'm so weak!

[Rummy]

Absolutely. However, I find it hard to believe this happens with the majority of the games on their list. If it was me, and it was happening this often, I would really start to question my purchases and maybe look into games a little more before actually buying them.

 

I guess for me it used to be a little different, as I was playing a lot of different games for little to no money - especially in cases of Steam etc. These days I tend to pick up lots of games when I see a bargain - but then never get round to playing them. I got a PS3+50 games about 2 years back now for £300 or something silly(was a super good deal, traded in at CEX at better, maybe even traded in as Cash better too) - so in that event I'd end up having lots of games and not knowing what to do with them all.

 

Having said that, I never actually got round to playing them at all, and kinda see why the guy ended up selling them in the first place.

[Hero-of-Time]

I guess for me it used to be a little different, as I was playing a lot of different games for little to no money - especially in cases of Steam etc. These days I tend to pick up lots of games when I see a bargain - but then never get round to playing them. I got a PS3+50 games about 2 years back now for £300 or something silly(was a super good deal, traded in at CEX at better, maybe even traded in as Cash better too) - so in that event I'd end up having lots of games and not knowing what to do with them all.

 

Having said that, I never actually got round to playing them at all, and kinda see why the guy ended up selling them in the first place.

 

A lot of people seem to due this now, especially when it comes to Steam or even sales on the consoles. People buy the games with the mentality that they are indeed getting a bargain but it's only a bargain if you actual play the games, otherwise it's just shelling out money, no matter how small an amount, for games that are just going to sit there.

 

I think it's the equivalent of doing your shopping, seeing an offer that's not on your list, but still feeling the need to buy the product to save some money, even though you would save more money by not actually buying the thing.

 

By the way, i'm not saying I don't do this. I've been very guilty of this kind of thing in the past ( still do it now, from time to time ) but it's something i'm become very much more aware of and more in control of over the past year or so.

[Rummy]

A lot of people seem to due this now, especially when it comes to Steam or even sales on the consoles. People buy the games with the mentality that they are indeed getting a bargain but it's only a bargain if you actual play the games, otherwise it's just shelling out money, no matter how small an amount, for games that are just going to sit there.

 

I think it's the equivalent of doing your shopping, seeing an offer that's not on your list, but still feeling the need to buy the product to save some money, even though you would save more money by not actually buying the thing.

 

By the way, i'm not saying I don't do this. I've been very guilty of this kind of thing in the past ( still do it now, from time to time ) but it's something i'm become very much more aware of and more in control of over the past year or so.

 

It's such a weird flip round though ain't it? Growing up with limited funds/games so play them to death, become an adult and spend not-so-limited funds on plenty of games but never play any of them.

 

Having said that, I am trying my best not to buy anything(stopped loading steam for good part of the last year) and clearing my backlog. One hiccup to that has been MM, another potential is going to be MH4(and admittedly, circumstance allowed me to borrow GTAV the other week). Other than those though I'm really trying to work my way through things, and if I find the occasional bargain I'll not play it straight away. Due to MM I've bumped WWHD up next, but this is all going into different territory so I'll leave it here!

[Wii]

I've got hundreds of bargains still to play. I keep buying them but never get round to playing most of them. The only game I didn't complete was Xenoblade Chronicles and that was only because it was so good I didn't want it to end and I've never gone back to complete it even though there's probably only a few hours left.