Am I the only one who can't complete games?

  • Thread starter chzsln485
  • 47 comments
  • 1,738 views
chzsln485

chzsln485

1,245
I'm not even sure why, but delving into the enormous backlog of games I have reveals that I am unbelievably rubbish at completing games. I think it's because I get into the game, but come across a section I find difficult, get fed up of repeated attempts at it and the game gets filed into "never to be completed", it seems. Sometimes I think I just get bored of them and never ever return to them for whatever reason. I can probably count the games I've completed on one hand.

So, denizens of Console and PC Gaming, who out there also has a comically enormous backlog? Who else finds completing games as difficult as I do? What notable games/series have you never completed?
 
You are probably part of a majority even! I have the same problem and it's a couple of factors together: time restraint, loss of interest, and too much games available frankly.

There's always the ones you try and don't like at all, so it's normal they disappear into the closet (yet you should have read the reviews first
smiley-talk014.gif
), but many in my collection are quite good yet i never finished them. I played through red dead redemption and loved it, yet i stopped playing at the last stages of the game and never completed it, which is why it's important to force yourself to finish it before you move on to the next game in a similar genre. Now it's a bit silly to load up that saved game from 4 years back so i have to start from scratch again one day (if i ever do).

That's why now if i like a game i don't start with another one from the same genre before i finish it. You can combine playing a racing game with a shooter but if you started with a shooter and then start with another one there's a good chance you wont finish the first, and months later it's difficult to start where you left off as you forgot a lot of elements.
 
I've been gaming since PS1 and Gran Turismo 1 and own(ed) God only knows how many games. Number of games I finished 100% up untill now: 1 :D No, you're not alone my friend :)
 
I try to complete games (even got back to old PS2 ones now and then) and most I manage to get around 70-80% done or get the single player campaign completed but 100% competition I almost never get to..... I just don't have the time any more, back in my teens maybe but those days are sadly gone.

It's been made extra hard these days with silly multiplayer trophies and other nonsense tasks to complete, just a way of getting you to stick with a not that great game for longer.
 
mister dog
You are probably part of a majority even! I have the same problem and it's a couple of factors together: time restraint, loss of interest, and too much games available frankly.

There's always the ones you try and don't like at all, so it's normal they disappear into the closet (yet you should have read the reviews first
smiley-talk014.gif
), but many in my collection are quite good yet i never finished them. I played through red dead redemption and loved it, yet i stopped playing at the last stages of the game and never completed it, which is why it's important to force yourself to finish it before you move on to the next game in a similar genre. Now it's a bit silly to load up that saved game from 4 years back so i have to start from scratch again one day (if i ever do).

That's why now if i like a game i don't start with another one from the same genre before i finish it. You can combine playing a racing game with a shooter but if you started with a shooter and then start with another one there's a good chance you wont finish the first, and months later it's difficult to start where you left off as you forgot a lot of elements.
Click to expand...

I think too many games is a big part of it. Games now promise hours and hours of cinematic, complex gameplay that it just becomes impossible to spare time for all of them. With Steam, XBox Live and PSN, we can buy games as often as we want and download them straight to our machines without even getting off the sofa, so it's easy for a collection to grow faster than it can be kept up with. Sometimes as well, as you say, I don't mix up the genres much. Recently, I've had GT6, Forza Horizon 2, Forza Motorsport 5, Mario Kart 8, and F1 2013 on the go, and, being deluged with so many games of one genre, it becomes a monotonous drag. This can happen to the extent that it becomes a chore to play them, not fun, which makes your leisure time no more fun than when you're working...
 
Any game that I enjoy thoroughly gets completed, sometimes obsessively beyond the point when the savegame says "100%". Mostly platformers, racing games, and RPGs. Quality gameplay and compelling design go a long way.

Excluding games that I just didn't enjoy that much, and games with limited motivation to even play through the storyline in the first place (like GTA V), there are notable exceptions.

I've noticed there are games that I enjoy playing well enough, but as soon as I reach the final dungeon/boss, I put them down and never finish off that last bit. After all, I've already "completed" the game; there's not much else to see. I guess it has to do with the motivation the game provides for thwarting the big bad guy, what sort of closure you've already had in getting to that point of the game, and the sort of gameplay you can expect -- is it a thrilling climax where you can strut your skills, or a brutal gauntlet for the privilege of watching the credits roll?
 
I've never completed a game 100%. Got to 94.x% on GT4 when my file corrupted, and did all but two races in Burnout 3, but otherwise I've never been anywhere close.
 
Not alone I hardly complete games.. unless there arcade game's ... i personally know why I don't like to end a story if I don't see the ending it's not over.. shenmue 2 I got to last scene turned it off .. same with the last of us I am on probably the last level. it's also games are so Easy I lose intrest .. only car games keeps my intrest as I fight lap times not the cPu
It's probably why most people jump straight to online play and never try SP .
 
I've been a PC gamer since 2010 and I've bought a lot of games in that time. At the start of last year I made an effort to just play - even if only for a few minutes - as many as I could... So that probably says it all about how many I've finished! I think out of 650+ games I've completed maybe 40 and still have to try, um, loads.

It probably doesn't help that I'm drawn to games you can't complete, either, like Elite: Dangerous, Nuclear Throne and a variety of racing sims.
 
Probably only 5% of all gamers are completionists and I am not one of them.
Although I do have 2 100% games (GT6 and NFS Rivals) I also get to about 90% and just quit, Either it's just boring or one trophy that is like a bunch of other tasks before it.
 
neema_t
It probably doesn't help that I'm drawn to games you can't complete, either, like Elite: Dangerous, Nuclear Throne and a variety of racing sims.
Click to expand...


This is so true. Fighting games are a big problem for me in this context, especially (Super/Ultra) Street Fighter IV and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
 
I play it on easy but definitely do complete most games. I do replay the game to get some trophies but collecting everything and beating on hardmode to platinum, 100% is tiresome. I replay lot of old games every now and then and do not buy much games.
 
I'm the same way however, I've come to realize that games I do complete must be something special since I enjoyed them enough to see it through. Most recently, I completed The Order 1886 and sure it only took about 8 hours but the game was so engrossing that I never wanted to stop playing it until I got to the end. That's the mark of a great game for me. Last game I finished before The Order 1886 was Dragon Age Inquisition, even though that one took me about 60 hours, it was a great ride from start to finish.

mister dog
We should distinguish between completing a game as "the credits rolled" or getting 100%, because if it's the latter with all the silly stuff they throw in to collect on the side nowadays, I never get 100% neither and frankly I wouldn't want to.
Click to expand...

I consider complete when a campaign, story or set of goals was achieved and the end credits roll. 100% completion is something totally different to me, that's for people who have lots of free time, and that's just not me.
 
Count me in the group that sees credits rolling as different from 100%. The advent of trophies/achievements nowadays makes it a lot harder, since there's usually some ridiculous time-sink involved, and seeing those trophies makes some people more competitive with regards to actually obtaining them. In the earlier days of gaming, I'd beat a lot of games, but actually getting everything you could - like obtaining all seven emeralds in the first Zone in Sonic 2 on Genesis, or acquiring one of each item in FFVII - took so much more work, and there was no real way to prove it. You just did it for your own amusement, or with local friends.

With PS3, I've yet to completely platinum a game, though I've come close: I think I was only two trophies away in Portal 2 (one involved a silly online component), and I only need a speed run to do it in the remastered first God of War. I did get 100% of the trophies in MVC1, but as that's a) a re-release, b) a fighting game, and c) missing a platinum, it's not quite the same. And even then, I haven't completed all the challenges the game has to offer.

I do have the first four GT's all sitting at 100%, though, and I've been replaying the older Forzas more recently to try to max out my stats on those.

What does drive me nuts though, and is maybe a mild sign of OCD: having a game at 0% on my trophy list. It's only happened because I'll forget I'm logged into my GTP_ account, and open up a game. Just did it tonight to update GTAV before the move, and only clued in when it got to the brightness adjustment screen. Now it just sits there on the profile I don't actually play that game on, taunting me.
 
SlipZtrEm
What does drive me nuts though, and is maybe a mild sign of OCD: having a game at 0% on my trophy list. It's only happened because I'll forget I'm logged into my GTP_ account, and open up a game. Just did it tonight to update GTAV before the move, and only clued in when it got to the brightness adjustment screen. Now it just sits there on the profile I don't actually play that game on, taunting me.
Click to expand...

This bothers me so much and I've done it a couple times. :indiff: An update added a "hide" option but it seems to only apply to others viewing your profile. All assuming you're talking about PS3.
 
I'm not a completionist so often I just leave games without getting 100%. But really it depends on the game. If it's really good I'll try to get as close as I can to 100%. And I try my best to reach End Game. However I don't do trophy-hunting because most of it involves the amount of patience and skill that I can't really garner over a trophy. Back on my PS3 the few games that I came close to earning Platinum were GTA IV and GT5. Sadly I abandoned the trophy hunt for those games a long time ago. As for my PC, I have a pretty hefty backlog. I recently got a nice GPU so I'm able to touch on a lot more games now. But I doubt I'll be able to get them all as I'm busy with other things.

While I'm not well-versed in games, I know how to approach them efficiently. It just takes some time. The problem isn't that I lose interest in one game over time. It does happen, but it's not a serious problem. The real problem at the moment is time. I can deal with small indie titles like Hotline Miami but huge worlds like Skyrim take quite a bit of time to fully experience what they have to offer. When I first played Skyrim it took me hours just to become familiar with the lore and such. A game like the upcoming Witcher 3 really does tempt me to drop hundreds of hours into, but I know I can't unless I want to fail my exams. I can still play these sorts of games but I have to very careful not to play until 3 in the morning. Funny that my procrastination kicks in every time...

Side stuff like collectibles or challenges I could do unless I really don't want to play the game more. When I played Uncharted 3 I was completely enamored by the collectibles and eventually I managed to get a good set going. But for some reason I lose motivation in collecting everything or acing every challenge. It happened with Uncharted 3 and with Wolfenstein The New Order. I guess I felt it was a chore to complete them.
 
Last edited:
I see credits rolling as beat and then 100% as completely beat. Credits rolling are usually good enough for me, especially if collectables are involved. Most games that I have 100% for are either Game Boy games or PS1 games. There are a few games that I've completed but there are still many in my collection that aren't even close, mainly because a lot of the games I play, I don't play the "right" way. Certain games I'll just spend time goofing off in free mode, (like Need for Speed, I'll go for a Sunday drive and obey the traffic laws) using glitches to explore areas or for other games I only play online. I have other games that I haven't completed yet and actually want to. The reason I don't is because there's usually one game that I spend my free time playing and that's it. At this time, that game would be GT6 online. League racing takes up almost all of my free time.
 
Too much games, and literally not enough time to play them...and patience is not exactly one of my virtues! Good thing about this is that I personally often tend to 'find' those older games again after some months and want to play them again for hours (that is happening now with Forza Horizon 2). But what comes to completion... I just can't do it.
 
These are the only games I've 100%:

New Super Mario Bros.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Mario Kart 8
V8 Supercars 2.

Those games were way back before I was in high school (except Mario Kart 8).
 
Well, I've tried a couple of weeks ago to go for a Dragon Age 2 platinum but I found myself playing the game and looking at the laptop for clues about how to unlock this or that trophy. It's basically like a work and I'm not enjoying the game anymore so I gave up the trophy hunt.
Maybe I'll finish it oneday but I think I've lost interest.

I still think games should be stress relief not adding more stress.
 
The only games I 100%/platinum'ed were MW2, Minecraft and Far Cry 4. I have beat other games however, just never completed all there is to do.

Like others, it comes down to time and interest in the game. Usually if a game has competitive online achievements, I won't get them done.
 
Completing a game depends simply on how good it is for me.

Take The Last Of Us i love that game so much i finished it 4 times then take Rage i played it for 4 hours saved it and just never felt like going back into it and finishing it.

I'm not a 100% sort of guy either, the games i've nearly 100% (trophy wise) are GT5 and GT6 got 90% on both but don't feel the need to get to 100%
 
I have a massive backlog. I play mid way through games then go back to cod mp :P. Sometimes I don't like to 100% games because games where you have to make choices for trophies is stupid sometimes I don't like those choices. So I will only complete the game and not go back. For me completing a game is finishing the story. The rest is all add on stuff that I can go back to if I feel like doing so.
 
Here's my list of game that I've beaten 100%

  • GT6
  • NFS Porsche Unleashed
  • NFS Carbon
  • NFS most wanted (2005)
  • NFS pro street
  • Sonic rush
  • Smugglers run
  • Midnight club 1
  • Driver 1
  • Driver 2
  • Driver 3
  • Driver parallel lines
There's a bunch of others that are close to 100%, like GT5 and GT4, but I can't find the time to do the really long endurance races.
 
I have 100% completion on:

  • Burnout 3
  • Driver Parallel Lines
  • Grand Theft Auto 2
  • Midnight Club 2
  • Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition (Remix)
  • NFS Underground 2
  • NFS Most Wanted (2005)
  • Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (That sucked the game is glitched)
  • Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 (This one also sucked- while it wasn't glitched like TXR3, The final bosses were really tough to beat)
Right now, I've been working on NFS Most Wanted 2012 again because my stupid game save keeps corrupting single player and GTA 5. Well, I've mainly been playing GTA 5, and since I'm attempting to get the platinum trophy, I need to get 100 percent since that is one of the trophies. On a side note, I didn't even realize that I have 100 percent completion on this many games until now. :lol:
 
I've finally found a game series I actually have the motivation to complete - Metal Gear. After trying to decide what to play next, I popped Ground Zeroes back in and playing it for a bit, I thought "hmm, this is quite fun, but the story makes little sense. I should really try and play through the other games". I had tried MGS3 before, but between the clumsy combat, long cutscenes and incessant talking I could never get into it. I tried MGS3 again as part of the HD collection, and all of a sudden, after about two hours in, it just clicked. By the end, I was utterly captivated by the whole experience, like no game I had ever played before. From the plot, to the characters, the artistic flourishes, the writing, the genius humour and the way the games tackle serious and massive issues, like genetic engineering, nuclear crises, and so forth, it is truly an absolute masterpiece. It's gone from, in my mind, "that game where you crawl around slowly and people talk at you constantly" to potentially the most amazing series I've ever encountered - and I've only realised all this in the past week and a half.

I think this will, in future, impair my ability to complete other series, because I'll just think, "it's good but it ain't no Metal Gear".
 
chzsln485
I'm not even sure why, but delving into the enormous backlog of games I have reveals that I am unbelievably rubbish at completing games. I think it's because I get into the game, but come across a section I find difficult, get fed up of repeated attempts at it and the game gets filed into "never to be completed", it seems. Sometimes I think I just get bored of them and never ever return to them for whatever reason. I can probably count the games I've completed on one hand.

So, denizens of Console and PC Gaming, who out there also has a comically enormous backlog? Who else finds completing games as difficult as I do? What notable games/series have you never completed?
Click to expand...
I am the exact same way. My backlog of games is just beyond possibility of completion in my lifetime. Especially since I am a multi console gamer. If I ever get really stuck in a part or find myself not enjoying a game anymore, then I usually just trade it in now.

Its even harder to complete games these days because DLC seems to come out every few months and each time that happens, the game you had completed, now is incomplete. So I don't even bother trying for 100% in games.
 
Time to chime in.

If we're talking 100%/Platinum/whatever else there may be, then I have done it with DiRT 3 and...err...Oh, Toky-no wait I didn't do the arcade run....So DiRT 3 and nothing else.

If we're talking 'Roll Credits' finish, If I can get into it, and I'm in that type of mood, I'll make time to finish the story. Good example, Mass Effect 2 sat idle for 5-6 months before I went back and finished within the week. Assassins Creed 2 was a similar story, Brotherhood as well. Racing games can be an oddity, what is the line in, say for example, NASCAR Thunder 2003?

As for DLC, the stuff for DiRT 3 is the best that I've bought, and it wasn't worth the money, so I'm doomed to fail hitting 100% for the forseeable future. Not a big deal as I am crap at everything, playing games included, possibly amplified.
 

Latest Posts

Back