I’ve come to the conclusion I hardly ever complete games. I’m not even sure why. I suppose some of it must stem from my years within online universes that have no ‘end’. That perhaps single player games just don’t grip me in the way they should, through one thing or another. Either way, looking through my Steam account it’s apparent I’ve a mountain to climb and there aren’t enough hours in the day to work through them…
I’ve purchased two games recently; Batman Arkham Asylum: Game Of The Year Edition (says who?) for £3 and The Witcher: Enhanced Edition for £11. I must admit, both games have momentarily gripped me, but The Witcher in particular turned me off much quicker than I anticipated. A relatively dull opening sequence attempting to be grand, combined with uninspired combat and even duller dialogue really doesn’t get the juices flowing. After establishing that Witcher’s are seemingly Jedi in different costumes (they’ve got force powers don’t you know) I really am struggling to continue, although I’ve been assured it gets significantly better.
As for Batman, well it’s great barring one major niggle. Windows Live. If I’d have taken the time to read up on the game beforehand (Steam sales are just too inviting), I would have avoided it like the plague, knowing now that the parasite has dug itself so deep within its inner workings. It actually took me three days just to play the game, simply because Windows Live wouldn’t login, meaning if I were to continue I wouldn’t be able to save my progress (not much point in that). This doesn’t even cover the absolute agony Windows Live forced upon me, just to install the updates.
It’s not surprising then that I’m reluctant to revisit Batman, even if the game is great. Battling the constant gauntlet of Windows Live — will it shut my computer down, will it update, will it login — is just too much, when all I want is to load a game and continue from where I left off.
And this is probably the reason why my Steam account is like a gaming graveyard, filled to the brim with great games that are littered with annoyances I cannot ignore.
You’ll be pleased to know I have completed some of the ‘classics’; Half Life and its episodes, Portal, Deus Ex, Black & White, every Command & Conquer, The Curse of Monkey Island and many more. Yet some I still begrudge not having completed, but cannot bring myself to play; Penumbra (too scary) Thief 1, 2 and 3 (too scary) System Shock 2 (too scary) Baldurs Gate (game save corrupted), Torchlight (a little too repetitive) Left 4 Dead 2 (can never find players with brains or convenient times) Sins Of A Solar Empire (micromanagement misery) Dawn of War 2 (another Windows Live loser).
But these are just the tip of the iceberg for games I’ve yet to complete. My pursuit of completing them held back by the smallest of issues. And despite a feeling of guilt, I’ve begun to look on it as my mum does books.
She has a terrible habit of skipping pages if she finds what she is reading dull, or simply puts the book down to never return. And although I would never skip pages or game content (mores the pity sometimes) I think I need to begin to acknowledge that if a game doesn’t grip me as it should, why continue? You wouldn’t eat a pie if you didn’t like the filling, after all.
This of course, is a very short sighted idea. Some games could improve significantly as time goes on and I’m willing to give The Witcher the benefit of the doubt, but at what stage should I cut my loses. Surely if a developer cannot grip the player within the first thirty minutes, there is little hope for the remainder of the games content and if it doesn’t improve significantly in later halves, the developer should seriously be given a slap on the wrists.
Thinking about it, I don’t actually know of any games I’ve played which have started badly and gotten significantly better, only the opposite; there are an abundance of games which open with fireworks and end with sparklers.
So in the midst of an MMOG drought, I’ve decided to complete my Steam list whether I like the game or not, starting with Batman (curse you windows Live).
I’ll see how far I get, otherwise I’m just going to delete the games off my list and forget the ever existed.
Email the author of this post at lewisb@tap-repeatedly.com
So true…the problem, for me, is compounded by not having much time due to family and work commitments. Even if I really enjoy a game, it takes me so long to get through it that quite often I get interested in something else, leaving the previous title behind through no fault of its own (Demon’s Souls and Fallout: NV being the most recent victims). And the tempting prospect of cheap PC games means I buy more games in a month than I can finish.
You’ve tackled a problem I think many of us suffer, Lewis. I think we feel compelled to complete games we don’t enjoy or that don’t immediately grip us because we want to get our money’s worth, or because we’re just sick in the head and feel the need to be completionists; the latter could be due to wanting to tell ourselves or others that we have finished “X” game, or perhaps the rise of achievements.
Whatever the case may be, I sympathize. Steam lists are evil and unfair because you can never permanently delete games you don’t want on it. I hate buying some indie packs (call me horrible) that come with extra rubbish in them. I’m thinking crap like Space Giraffe. Maybe I’ll begin petitioning Valve to allow users to gift their own copies of games to someone else if they have owned it for a certain length of time (6-12 months?). Surely nobody loses out from that.
God… When I’m King, ya know?
This used to be a terrible problem for me in my youth but isn’t so much nowadays, which I believe is down to just being more informed about the games I play. As a general rule of thumb.. I just don’t spend my money on bad games anymore. Obviously there are times when I’ve bought a game and not been thrilled by it (Oh hai there, Killzone 3!) but even in these occasions I usually find myself finishing the game. From this generation, I can only recall being so disgusted by my purchase that I’ve not seen it through to the end a handful of times at the most..
This could also be helped by the fact that I’m not a huge PC gamer, so I have very little of the Steam sale impulse purchases that others seem to have. Then again, the games are so cheap when those sales hit..
A topic close to our hearts Lew. Non of us have the spare time we all once had as blue skied, wide eyed kids. Seriously, my aim is to pay my mortgage off and then go down to part time work so I can enjoy everything that I’ve not had time for over the years. As Armand says: The lazy man’s dream.
“I think we feel compelled to complete games we don’t enjoy or that don’t immediately grip us because we want to get our money’s worth, or because we’re just sick in the head and feel the need to be completionists”
I think I fit into both of these categories because I don’t like wasting money and I don’t like leaving things unfinished. I must note I have not a care in the world for achievements or trophies, I just like to make sure I’ve seen as much of a game as I can.
I used be quite a bad completist though which really ground my enthusiasm for a given game into a mushy brown paste. Over the last couple of years, as my time has dwindled and my list of Games To Play has gotten frighteningly bigger, I’ve had to cut my losses and move on if I’m not enjoying something anymore. It’s better for me and in many ways it’s better for the game. There have been too many games which I’ve persisted with and it’s left me on bad terms with them, despite me enjoying them for the most part.
Lewis, here’s the deal: you finish Braid and I’ll lend you my PS3 so you can play Heavy Rain.
Zing!
Edit: You’ve also got to bear in mind that the cheaper something is, the more disposable it becomes. Back before the net, preowned games stores and Steam, games were precious things to be savoured so we squeezed every ounce of play out of them. Now we’ve simply got too many and if we’re not entertained instantly, well, there’s another 2353 other games waiting.
As Harbour Master said: “We can’t possibly complete all of these games before the day we’re mulched into Soylent Green. And those we do manage to complete, we won’t have spent enough time on and won’t respect – they’ll be one night stands with no holding hands on a weekend trip to the funfair.”
Full article of his here. It’s fantastic.
I’m a terrible non-completionist. I always mean to complete stuff and I always get distracted. It’s rare that I finish games, though I go in with the best of intentions.
I was in the middle of Dragon Age 2 and am about to get distracted by Portal 2. Was in the middle of Enslaved and got distracted by Dragon Age 2. Was in the middle of Front Mission Evolved and got distracted by Enslaved. Was in the middle of Red Dead Redemption and got distracted by being blinded by a fucking hack eye surgeon.
I like finishing games… I just need more time in the day! And to stop buying dumb ones like Crysis 2…
God, Gregg, I had to check the article myself to prove that I wrote that. I really thought you’d got confused and pulled someone else’s words out of a hat.