Ever plow through a game you didn't like for the sake of completion?

[danzibr]

I love Shining Force and Shining Force II. So I thought hey, I'll play Shining in the Darkness. By golly, I do not like that game, yet I still find myself spending my precious little free time on it.

Anyone else do the same?

[AdmiralCheez]

I used to back in the day when I had free time, but not so much anymore. I'm more likely to just abandon a game now. Although, I will push myself through a game if I've already invested a lot of time in it. Most recently I pushed through the end of Mass Effect 3. It was just so much annoying combat...

[Winthur]

Look at my signature and then wonder why I only played Hitman: Absolution for long enough to beat it on Silent Assassin / Expert story mode, and then never tried to experiment with it again.

Aside from that, Half-Life 2 had that effect on me.

[Alent]

I have quite a personal list of these, since I generally try to finish games since aside from being a completionist, not knowing how something ends drives me nuts.

The ones that immediately come to mind are Phantasy Star 3, Banner Saga, Startropics, and Zelda 2.

[Pronounceable]

I used to. Then I grew older and wiser and stopped wasting my free time on things I don't like. I recommend it.

[Vitruviansquid]

Hell. I don't even complete the games I did like.

[factotum]

20 years ago I might have done that, but nowadays I don't see the point--there are plenty of games around I haven't played, why waste time on one I don't enjoy when I can just move on to something else that I probably will?

[gooddragon1]

Portal 1 and 2. I cheated.

[Spore]

I used to do that with games back in the day when I didnt have steady internet access. If you only have one game or toy, you keep yourself entertained with that. Nowadays I just google the ending on Youtube and uninstall. If I feel I am close to the end anyhow, I play it myself. Like in Fallout 4.

On an additional note: "Not liking" is a spectrum. I like Fallout 4 but it is a disappointment to Skyrim (and even other games where I didnt pour in so much time because when it comes to creating an RPG character I am quite the perfectionist).

[Sian]

Hell. I don't even complete the games I did like.

this to some extend ... although it might closer be "I rarely ever complete games, ever." ... some of it though might be that I prefer playing the type of games that doesn't have a clear ending, because they're pseudo-sandboxy strategy games such as Kerbal Space Program, EU4/CK2, Rimworld, Factorio and the like.

Something I'm very bad at through, is to continue a game from a save, and (too) often end up starting a new game, playing through the beginning all over again because i have some perceived issue with how I played it the previous time, or (in strategy games) feel that I've gotten to the tedious mob-up phase of the game, where its already won, I just have to convince the AI about it

[Spore]

or (in strategy games) feel that I've gotten to the tedious mob-up phase of the game, where its already won, I just have to convince the AI about it

That is really more of an issue with the game rather than your willingness to complete it. Victory conditions should be set convincingly. I don't care if the enemy has a measly farm remaining if the goal is to defeat Joan of Arc, not genocide the French on the map. Not that this disqualifies your post in this thread as the topic is twofold.

I remember distinctly that I was praising Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, as the victory conditions were set on the objective, not into zeroing the enemy.

[danzibr]

I have quite a personal list of these, since I generally try to finish games since aside from being a completionist, not knowing how something ends drives me nuts.

The ones that immediately come to mind are Phantasy Star 3, Banner Saga, Startropics, and Zelda 2.
Hmm. I liked Phantasy Star 3 and Startropics. Different strokes, I guess.

To be fair, Phantasy Star 3 is probably the worst in the series.

[GloatingSwine]

I have a platinum trophy on Final Fantasy 13.

I may need help....

[danzibr]

I have a platinum trophy on Final Fantasy 13.

I may need help....
Ha. I did the same thing. Grinding up to get all their weapons and beat that stupid gigantic beast thing, ugh.

[Giggling Ghast]

I will continue to play a game I only marginally like. But even if I'm mid-playthrough and absolutely not having fun, I abandon it. Sorry achievements! Many of you will never be unlocked!

[Alent]

Hmm. I liked Phantasy Star 3 and Startropics. Different strokes, I guess.

To be fair, Phantasy Star 3 is probably the worst in the series.

That's pretty much it. They pulled in a different lead designer and he took the things (Slow movespeed, Disconnected feeling in battles) that bothered me in PS2 and made them worse. Despite that, I cleared all four endings in one marathon sitting just because I wanted to see the rest of the story behind the final battle in PS2. (I somehow ended up doing the canon ending last by blind guessing on the binary tree.)

Startropics on the other hand wasn't bad per se, but something in the attack animation sequence mixed with the tile hopping just felt off and was so distracting that it kept me from enjoying the game, but I'd rented the game for the weekend, had the Nintendo Power maps for it, and I was going to get my money's worth out of that rental! :smallamused:

[BeerMug Paladin]

Sometimes I'll play through a game I don't like with a friend so we can snark at it. I played through such games for completion, mostly just to make fun of them. Zelda: Skyward Sword and Final Fantasy 8 are the only games I can think of that seem close to that criteria. Usually, when I choose to play a game, it's because I like it. Even if I recognize that it's not a good game, I can have fun with it somehow.

[Giggling Ghast]

Sometimes I'll play through a game I don't like with a friend so we can snark at it.

I can do that with movies, but not games.

[Avilan the Grey]

No. My problem is the opposite, actually. :smallredface:

[GloatingSwine]

Ha. I did the same thing. Grinding up to get all their weapons and beat that stupid gigantic beast thing, ugh.

Yeah, but I'm doing it again in 13-2*.

(which to be fair is a lot more enjoyable because you can use the battle system a bit more and you don't have to deal with FF13's cast who are a pack of joyless tossers).



* I am attempting to complete every Final Fantasy game. Only got 6, 12, and the sequels to 13 left to do.

[Kish]

Never, but I often plow through parts of a game I don't like for the sake of the parts I do like.

This can be as extreme as "I don't like any of the combat, but I'm interested in the plot."

[Zevox]

To an extent, yes. Not for 100% completion or achievements (which I don't care about even in games I like) or the like, but to be able to say I finished them, at least two come to mind.

The first was Fallout 3. It still surprises me how my desire to play that game completely evaporated the second my character hit the maximum level - seems the only motivation I had to play it was seeing the character build I planned out come to fruition. I was basically just before the end of the main story, though, so I made myself finish that just so I could say that I had.

The other was Portal 2. That one I can't even explain why I didn't like it, honestly. I liked the first one, and can't really identify what was so different between them that I reacted so differently to the second. But Portal 2 started to wear out its welcome with me probably under halfway through, and as I went on it just felt tedious and boring. But I kept playing anyway, because I'd heard it was short, and figured I may as well finish it. I wish I hadn't, it wasn't worth it.

[Psyren]

Never, but I often plow through parts of a game I don't like for the sake of the parts I do like.

This can be as extreme as "I don't like any of the combat, but I'm interested in the plot."

This for me - Dragon Age combat being an egregious example. Most JRPGs I've played fall into this category too.

[KillingAScarab]

* I am attempting to complete every Final Fantasy game. Only got 6, 12, and the sequels to 13 left to do.I haven't played 12 at all, but in my experience 5 has the story I enjoyed the least in that series. My first time through it, I also spent far too much time grinding ability points, and that removed much of the fun from the job system. Now, I do the annual Final Fantasy Five Four Job Fiesta, and the limits made me appreciate the combat much more. The story still desperatly needs a rewrite, in my opinion, but I like the game enough to look forward to playing it under that challenge for charity.

[Lord Raziere]

Nope. every time a game doesn't hold my interest, it just fades out of my memory and never gets completed, either because it takes too long (Dragon Age Inquisition) or because the puzzles are too hard and its not clear where to go (Golden Sun: The Lost Age, any Zelda game,) or because I die too much for reasons I can't fathom (most shooters) or because of that one last level that is just too hard (Mechassault)
and some of these games are ones I otherwise like mostly Dragon Age and Golden Sun.

Heck, I love pokemon, and I've never completed Pokemon Pearl or Diamond. never even got to the Elite Four in Sinnoh, because the game was just never interesting enough. I can't recall ever beating Kanto either (might have way back when but its gone from my memory now), the regions that I have completed are Johto, Hoenn, Unova, Kalos, Alola, because those are all fun to play.

Heck, I technically completed Skyrim by killing the final boss early then doing other stuff, but it quickly became apparent how little of a challenge everything was once you got into the 40s- no where near level cap- so I just stopped playing because its like, whats the point?

[KillingAScarab]

Heck, I love pokemon, and I've never completed Pokemon Pearl or Diamond. never even got to the Elite Four in Sinnoh, because the game was just never interesting enough. I can't recall ever beating Kanto either (might have way back when but its gone from my memory now), the regions that I have completed are Johto, Hoenn, Unova, Kalos, Alola, because those are all fun to play.Can't say I blame you for not beating Kanto. Generation 1 was terribly broken. So many moves don't work as they are intended to, or have conditions (such as Rage (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rage#Generation_I)) which make them useless. The inventory and box systems are annoying. The Safari Zone is a trap. Natural move sets are often really bad, most TMs can only be obtained once (unless you cheat), money is finite (unless you grind the Elite Four). The Generation 3 remakes fix many of the issues inherent to the original games, but it's still before the physical/special typing split which Generation 4 introduced.

I only completed Blue about three years ago for the first time, but only because I looked up information about all of those pitfalls. Once I knew the game well enough, I found it more fun to attempt self-imposed challenges. I have completed a monotype challenge using only bug types. Others do Nuzlocke (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Nuzlocke) runs, but with the Gen 1 critical hit formula (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Critical_hit#In_Generation_I), I haven't completed one, yet.

[Starwulf]

Not since I was a kid/teen. Especially not in the last decade, being a parent means that my time is limited, so if I'm not enjoying a game, it is dropped very quickly. Now, I will give it an hour or so of gameplay to redeem itself once it becomes unenjoyable, just in case it's a lull, but if by the time that hour is up I'm still unhappy, bye bye!

[Dienekes]

Closest I can say is Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and parts of Starcraft.

DA2 and DAI are interesting concepts and stories. The combat is absolutely ****. DA2 takes the cake with doing every encounter 3 times in a row to pad out the game. At least DA2 had the decency to try and make the combat fast paced, so even though you're doing every fight 3 times each of those times feels kind of fast and exciting. Kind of. Sort of. Not really. DAI doesn't even have that. As a tactical combat game it's hilariously easy and with poor controls. As an action game it's a boring slog of bloated hit point combat that's too slow. It's a mess.

But damn it, I continued each for that drip of story, characterization, and lore. I've invested so much into this fantasy world at this point it's almost a shame to stop.

Starcraft is a bit different. I absolutely love Starcraft. I just hate playing Zerg, they're pretty antithetical to my more deliberate style of play with a focus on fewer stronger units. But you better believe I've played through every single Zerg campaign mission on the hardest difficulty just so I know I can.

Interestingly, with all the pokemon talk. I only ever played the first gen. And seeing that it seemed to be making a bit of a resurgence (or maybe I just noticed that it never went away), I tried to play one of the newer games. Didn't even get close to finishing it.

List combat is not fun. I don't think it's ever been fun. I wonder why I beat Red as a kid. Probably because I thought my charizard was so cool.

[Psyren]

Closest I can say is Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and parts of Starcraft.

DA2 and DAI are interesting concepts and stories. The combat is absolutely ****. DA2 takes the cake with doing every encounter 3 times in a row to pad out the game. At least DA2 had the decency to try and make the combat fast paced, so even though you're doing every fight 3 times each of those times feels kind of fast and exciting. Kind of. Sort of. Not really. DAI doesn't even have that. As a tactical combat game it's hilariously easy and with poor controls. As an action game it's a boring slog of bloated hit point combat that's too slow. It's a mess.

But damn it, I continued each for that drip of story, characterization, and lore. I've invested so much into this fantasy world at this point it's almost a shame to stop.

Starcraft is a bit different. I absolutely love Starcraft. I just hate playing Zerg, they're pretty antithetical to my more deliberate style of play with a focus on fewer stronger units. But you better believe I've played through every single Zerg campaign mission on the hardest difficulty just so I know I can.

Interestingly, with all the pokemon talk. I only ever played the first gen. And seeing that it seemed to be making a bit of a resurgence (or maybe I just noticed that it never went away), I tried to play one of the newer games. Didn't even get close to finishing it.

List combat is not fun. I don't think it's ever been fun. I wonder why I beat Red as a kid. Probably because I thought my charizard was so cool.

+1000 this entire post, save for the Zerg bit (I was the opposite, I love Zerg's playstyle and slogged through Protoss just to get through their story bits.)

My major downside in Starcraft is that I hate micro, and Zerg dovetails very well with that because hordes of cheap and disposable units don't require nearly as much micro as big, expensive units that are costly to lose.

But yeah, fully agreed on the rest.

[BlueHerring]

* I am attempting to complete every Final Fantasy game. Only got 6, 12, and the sequels to 13 left to do.12 has a lot of extra content. If you're looking for 100% completion, there's a lot. Typically, that's all of the hunts, optional Espers and Omega. There's a bit of grinding involved to get there, and there's also having to explore the Great Crystal to get one of the last two Espers and fight Omega.

The Great Crystal is annoying because there's no map (Well, you could map it out yourself, or use a guide). You go through it in the story, but that's only a small part of the whole thing. It's kind of absurd.

But 12 does one thing really well, and that's atmosphere. You've got a few centers of civilization, but the vast majority of the game takes place in abandoned temples, ruins, and the like. It isn't something I noticed at first, but it becomes pretty obvious that the present day is a pretty big drop from whatever it used to be.

[GloatingSwine]

I haven't played 12 at all, but in my experience 5 has the story I enjoyed the least in that series. My first time through it, I also spent far too much time grinding ability points, and that removed much of the fun from the job system. Now, I do the annual Final Fantasy Five Four Job Fiesta, and the limits made me appreciate the combat much more. The story still desperatly needs a rewrite, in my opinion, but I like the game enough to look forward to playing it under that challenge for charity.

FF5's story has a problem common with stories where the villain's objective is to obtain some kind of ultimate power, which is that you don't really get a sense of what they want to do with ultimate power. The only one that ever avoided that was Kefka, and that was by a) getting it halfway through the game and b) being exactly the sort of sadistic sociopath for whom getting ultimate power is an understandable step on the road to hurting as many things as he can all at once for fun. You know why Kefka wants ultimate power, it's a bigger magnifying glass to burn ants with. Not so much Sephiroth, Ultimecia, or indeed Exdeath. What the hell is a tree doing to do with ultimate cosmic power?

Most of the games that use the job system tend to be mechanics-first though. Even back in days of yore when nobody in the west knew there had even been more than three Final Fantasy games 5 was the one that was popular for challenge play (like low level runs, IIRC there is only one fight in FF5 you can't avoid getting XP from) in Japan.

It's going to be interesting to see what they do with the rerelease of 12 that's having the license board replaced with the job system.


12 has a lot of extra content. If you're looking for 100% completion, there's a lot. Typically, that's all of the hunts, optional Espers and Omega. There's a bit of grinding involved to get there, and there's also having to explore the Great Crystal to get one of the last two Espers and fight Omega.

Yeah, I know. I've actually done most of 12 before, I just never completed it. Waiting for Zodiac Age to do that one though.

I'm not necessarily going to go for 100% completion on all the games either. FF3 has that locked behind wifi content on the DS so that's out (plus grinding all the jobs to 99 would be ridiculous), and my seething hatred for the sphere grid in 10 would make doing that unlikely. (Though I'll happily try and get the platinum on the HD rerelease of 10-2 because although the story is cobblers the mechanics are fun, even though I did do a 100% run of that back on PS2).

The only one I've completed before that I'm likely to go back and specifically try for 100% on is 9. I never beat Ozma back on the PS1 so I might grab the steam version for a replay.

[Sajiri]

I had to push through pokemon white. Bored me to death but back then I couldnt fathom not finishing the main story of a pokemon game. As soon as I finished I put it down and never touched it again.

I tried to force myself through mass effect 1 so many times back in the day. I wasnt used to shooter games, I didnt have much interest in sci fi settings back then, oh and I was (still am) terrified of aliens. I kept starting that game intent to finish then getting scared and not playing it anymore. Eventually I made my husband sit there and watch me play until I managed to finish it, and by then I loved the game so much the next day he came home with ME2 and 3 for me.

[DigoDragon]

I will continue to play a game I only marginally like. But even if I'm mid-playthrough and absolutely not having fun, I abandon it. Sorry achievements! Many of you will never be unlocked!

I have been dabbling in Torchlight again after some 6 years only because I noticed there are a few achievements I didn't collect, but aren't difficult to (especially as I apparently have a character with a glitched ring that grants +62,000 HP). :smallredface:



Never, but I often plow through parts of a game I don't like for the sake of the parts I do like.

In the Monkey Island series, I tend to plot through the sword-fighting portion that usually shows up midway through the game. Collecting the insults to complete the boss fight is just tedious after hearing everything for the 4th, 5th time...



The only one that ever avoided that was Kefka, and that was by a) getting it halfway through the game and b) being exactly the sort of sadistic sociopath for whom getting ultimate power is an understandable step on the road to hurting as many things as he can all at once for fun.

I'll agree here.

[GungHo]

Far Cry 3 & 4
Assassin's Creed 3 & 5 & 6 (4 was actually fun, if only for the sailing & shanties)
Watch_Dogs

Whomever at Ubisoft decided that tidying up maps a great way to engage people hated compulsive people

[Wraith]

Blood Bowl, albeit in a specific way.

I learned how to play the game back when the only available version was in Dead Tree format, which meant if I wanted a game I was forced to interact with other human beings in a reasonably social environment, which taught me some key lessons in persistence, patience and - more often than not - good sportsmanship when I lost.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Blood Bowl players online nowadays are too young (or possibly just special-snowflakey) to remember such important values and have brought with them the "If I can't win by turn 3, I'll just give up" mentality that has come from a lot of other competitive online games, like Hearthstone, CoD and so on. Concessions over an early touchdown or injury to a positional player - easily recoverable and usually ignorable respectively - are rife, despite the fact that in Blood Bowl a concession will forfeit all of your gold and experience while at the same time keeping your injuries, so all they're really doing is spiting themselves.

I won't concede, and "give up". It's a point of honour that I am better than those people that, even if I'm 2 touchdowns down by turn 14 with my team tabled - the exception being if it's a new team and it's so badly mauled that it's a waste of time to try and salvage it when I could just remake from new, and even then, I'll tell my opponent that's what I'm doing instead of just turning off my wifi router, hard-crashing to the desktop and leaving them to wait through the 5-minute disconnection counter. There's a special circle of hell ready and waiting for people who do that, and there's a LOT of them.

Blood Bowl should be fun (if also frustrating and enraging :smalltongue: ) to play, and not just to win, and if it's not? Good manners don't cost anything.

[Psyren]

I haven't played 12 at all, but in my experience 5 has the story I enjoyed the least in that series. My first time through it, I also spent far too much time grinding ability points, and that removed much of the fun from the job system. Now, I do the annual Final Fantasy Five Four Job Fiesta, and the limits made me appreciate the combat much more. The story still desperatly needs a rewrite, in my opinion, but I like the game enough to look forward to playing it under that challenge for charity.

Yeah 5 had probably the most engaging combat in the early console era. Not because menu-based combat is appealing, but because of an additional aesthetic it delivers on, discovery. There are so many classes and powers in that game that all feel different, that you end up with dozens if not hundreds of potential combinations. You can replay that game so many times and still find new ways to play.


FF5's story has a problem common with stories where the villain's objective is to obtain some kind of ultimate power, which is that you don't really get a sense of what they want to do with ultimate power. The only one that ever avoided that was Kefka, and that was by a) getting it halfway through the game and b) being exactly the sort of sadistic sociopath for whom getting ultimate power is an understandable step on the road to hurting as many things as he can all at once for fun. You know why Kefka wants ultimate power, it's a bigger magnifying glass to burn ants with. Not so much Sephiroth, Ultimecia, or indeed Exdeath. What the hell is a tree doing to do with ultimate cosmic power?

To be fair, Sephiroth's motives were clear too. He wanted to save the planet by annihilating its most chaotic and destructive species (us.) His plan was insane and evil, but it was a plan.

Totally agreed on the others though.

[rooster707]

If I paid for a game, I'll usually finish it even if I don't like it that much. Can't think of anything specific, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten bored with games but felt obligated to finish them anyway.

[Dienekes]

+1000 this entire post, save for the Zerg bit (I was the opposite, I love Zerg's playstyle and slogged through Protoss just to get through their story bits.)

My major downside in Starcraft is that I hate micro, and Zerg dovetails very well with that because hordes of cheap and disposable units don't require nearly as much micro as big, expensive units that are costly to lose.

But yeah, fully agreed on the rest.

Yeah as seems to be repeating we have similar but surprisingly opposite tastes. Protoss all the way. In Brood War I enjoyed it most microing my reaver and shuttle drop off play. In SC2 I now get to play with disruptors and sentrys along with the old favorites of high templars and making sure my carriers are positioned just right.

And SC is so awesome because they allow me my finely crafter army of elite soldiers and you a mad rush of feral monsters and we both end up having fun.

[warty goblin]

Maybe if I'm really close to done I guess. But otherwise, no. That would be a total waste of time in a universe that contains as many good games as this one does*. I mean sure if I beat it, I could say I beat it, but does anybody ever ask? No. Waste of time.

*By which I mean a universe that contains Titanfall 2.

[GloatingSwine]

To be fair, Sephiroth's motives were clear too. He wanted to save the planet by annihilating its most chaotic and destructive species (us.) His plan was insane and evil, but it was a plan.

Totally agreed on the others though.

Then his plan changed into "crash Meteor into planet, absorb infinite cosmic power because reasons".

Now, there's an argument that that was Jenova, and that was just what Jenova did (like Lavos, Lavos was fine. It's just a space parasite that crashes into your planet and eats all its planet juice and you have to get rid of it, but that was clear in the plot.), but it was always confused who or what was speaking in Sephiroth's case.

[Flickerdart]

I had to push through pokemon white. Bored me to death but back then I couldnt fathom not finishing the main story of a pokemon game. As soon as I finished I put it down and never touched it again.

B&W actually had the most substantial post-game after Gen 2, with a whole bunch of unique cities. So that is a shame.

I ended up turning god mode on for the last part of NWN2 because it became so tedious but I wanted to see the ending. Turns out, Rocks Fall Everyone Dies.

[Sajiri]

B&W actually had the most substantial post-game after Gen 2, with a whole bunch of unique cities. So that is a shame.


I think for me I just did not like Unova, and I didn't really like any of the pokemon in that gen. I knew it was meant to be good post game, and there are always more pokemon available after the elite 4, but by that point I was just so worn out I didnt want to keep going. Also I was super mad that I preordered White so I could get reshiram, but then I get Zekrom

[Spacewolf]

Killzone Shadowfall fits the bill for me, god I hated that game by the end. Completely lost why people said it was so good, I hadn't played 3 so had 2 as my last point of reference which is one of my favourite FPS. Then I come expecting something similarly good and get this garbage, which is a shame because the story was actually not to bad.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I think for me I just did not like Unova, and I didn't really like any of the pokemon in that gen. I knew it was meant to be good post game, and there are always more pokemon available after the elite 4, but by that point I was just so worn out I didnt want to keep going. Also I was super mad that I preordered White so I could get reshiram, but then I get Zekrom

Well it is on the cover. I can understand that though. Not the "didn't like Unova" part though. Personally I thought Sinnoh was dreadfully boring, with the least amount of pokemon that I liked. After a few years I also completely forgot all the gym leaders except for the fact that the first one was another rock-type. It may not be a coincidence that after beating Pearl I was tired of the series as a kid, and I haven't beaten Platinum because of what it means to build a balanced anti-champion team in Sinnoh.



Edit: the closest thing for me is Rune Factory 2. I've never beaten it, not even close, but I've still sunk a lot of time into it for how much worse it is than its successors. It's as clunky as a game gets without being outright bad in design, since you can still figure out how to do everything and all. Its writing is shallow and not compelling. But it still has the charm of the Rune Factory niche; it feels good to progress, to fight monsters and do tasks for not only your own material things, but to acquire things for other characters who didn't ask for it as a quest reward, just enjoy when you give them something they like.

It's still much, much worse than 3 and 4, and most of my actual motive to play it is to get a more in-depth comparison (and to get to the point where I unlock the entire second half of the characters so I know what the hell to do in a small writing project of mine. That... probably isn't enough).

[Sajiri]

Well it is on the cover. I can understand that though. Not the "didn't like Unova" part though. Personally I thought Sinnoh was dreadfully boring, with the least amount of pokemon that I liked, I haven't beaten it because of what it means to build a balanced anti-champion team in Sinnoh.


Yeah I know its on the cover :P I preordered it before I really paid attention to the cover and that was when I was first trying to avoid too much info on pokemon games before they came out cause its usually more fun that way. But I mean, typically the title of the pokemon game you get corresponds with the legendary you get. I assumed that getting the game titled White would mean I get the White legendary (and when I actually picked up my copy and realised it had Zekrom I had terrible fears that were later confirmed)

[Knaight]

I've finished board games I didn't enjoy because bailing out half way through would have upset the game for the remaining players who were enjoying it, but that's about it. With single player games it's the opposite - I tend to get bored and abandon them, and rarely actually finish them.

[Winter_Wolf]

To be fair, Phantasy Star 3 is probably the worst in the series.

Probably? Man I played the hell out of PS3, all characters and all endings. It was definitely the worst of the original four. Still pretty entertained by it, but by comparison it's the least of PS1-4. Shame they didn't get around to a Sega Classics remake of it like they did for 1 and 2. Then again, Japan only releases and playing JRPG in not-English is rough.

But to the original question, I don't slog through games that fail to please. I just don't have the time or inclination. The list of things I do want to get done is long and frought with chores that must get done. I don't finish a book that proves unpleasing either.

[factotum]

I wonder how much of this desire to finish something you don't like comes down to sunk cost fallacy? e.g. "I paid money for this thing, if I don't get X hours playtime out of it then I wasted my money". I can kind of see why people would think that, but it didn't stop me walking out of the Inspector Gadget movie after half an hour once I realised what utter dross it was, and it hasn't stopped me sending badly-written or otherwise uninteresting books to the second hand shop.

[GloatingSwine]

I wonder how much of this desire to finish something you don't like comes down to sunk cost fallacy? e.g. "I paid money for this thing, if I don't get X hours playtime out of it then I wasted my money". I can kind of see why people would think that, but it didn't stop me walking out of the Inspector Gadget movie after half an hour once I realised what utter dross it was, and it hasn't stopped me sending badly-written or otherwise uninteresting books to the second hand shop.

It's definitely not financial cost. I've got dozens of games I played for half an hour, didn't like much, and stopped playing.

It's more bloody mindedness when you know you can finish something and at least want the grim satisfaction of victory even if the actual process isn't your favourite.

[danzibr]

Probably? Man I played the hell out of PS3, all characters and all endings. It was definitely the worst of the original four. Still pretty entertained by it, but by comparison it's the least of PS1-4. Shame they didn't get around to a Sega Classics remake of it like they did for 1 and 2. Then again, Japan only releases and playing JRPG in not-English is rough.

But to the original question, I don't slog through games that fail to please. I just don't have the time or inclination. The list of things I do want to get done is long and frought with chores that must get done. I don't finish a book that proves unpleasing either.
Man, I dunno. About III being the worst. I said probably because personally, for me, 4 > 3 > 2 > 1. The 3 > 2 is certainly questionable, but 3 > 1 might hold.

My biggest complaints about III are the dreadful walking speed and magic system. The multi-generational thing is incredibly cool, and I greatly liked other aspects. The few boss battles was a bit of a bummer.

[Winter_Wolf]

Man, I dunno. About III being the worst. I said probably because personally, for me, 4 > 3 > 2 > 1. The 3 > 2 is certainly questionable, but 3 > 1 might hold.

My biggest complaints about III are the dreadful walking speed and magic system. The multi-generational thing is incredibly cool, and I greatly liked other aspects. The few boss battles was a bit of a bummer.

The magic system was flaky, but did you ever go to the magic reassignment shop to tweak technique power levels? You could get one amazing tech, two subpar ones, and one that just sucked, but generally once you found your play style for that generation's characters you rarely if ever needed to change it. I didn't mix care for the UI or battle graphics/lack thereof. But really were just quibbling over personal opinion stuff. PS1 was my first ever rpg, so it's got a special place in my heart. I still think it's aged incredibly well.

Regarding throwing time after money, I used to do that with the mindset of "get my money's worth outta this thing even if I must suffer" but my wife just once asked me what the point of that was and once I actually thought about it, I realized just how stupid I was being. Then again I'm still buying games that I'll never ever play again just because I had fun with them back in the day when they were considered the cutting edge of gaming. Wizardry 6 was quite fun in my youth, but I just can't go back. It's so grindy, how did I not feel that back when it first came out? Even better/worse, trying to replay Bard's Tale 2-3. Ye gods.

[KillingAScarab]

I have another game to add to my list. X-Men: Destiny (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Destiny), Silicon Knights' final game. I played through it multiple times. Playing as different characters will really only get you different bits of voice acting, which is fairly well done. Despite having a number of choices to make between allying with the X-Men and the Brotherhood, you can still pick whichever one you want for the end game. Two of the characters aren't much more than stereotypes. So, that just leaves their slight differences in health and energy meters to combine with slightly different choices of powers for extending the gameplay. That, and trying to get some of the rarest powers which may only be unlocked on the hardest difficulty setting.

I really got the feeling that Silicon Knights was trying to design their own build-a-superhero game first and got the X-Men license later. There were some things it got right, so I don't think it is a terrible game, but the form this one took didn't seem ideal for X-Men. Acquiring X-genes to change your powers seemed more like something the antagonists of that story do.

[Rodin]

A major problem of mine is games that start out well but have systems that break after you get partway through the game. King's Bounty is a bad one for this - you often wind up hitting a point about halfway through where the enemies aren't challenging but there's a long way to go to actually finish out the game.

Dishonored has a similar problem - your powers are way stronger than the guards and so it becomes an exercise in grinding through the levels just to see the plot you came for.

[warty goblin]

A major problem of mine is games that start out well but have systems that break after you get partway through the game. King's Bounty is a bad one for this - you often wind up hitting a point about halfway through where the enemies aren't challenging but there's a long way to go to actually finish out the game.

Dishonored has a similar problem - your powers are way stronger than the guards and so it becomes an exercise in grinding through the levels just to see the plot you came for.

I often have this sort of problem, less with the difficulty of the game, and more with how interesting the game's systems are. If I've pretty much seen figured out the system after a couple hours, good luck keeping me around for another thirty. This has only gotten worse with the more games I've played, since most games are pretty similar to a reasonable number of other games, which I've probably played. So I'm not even really learning that game's system, just what's different about it from the previous game, which usually isn't that much.

[Velaryon]

I've done this with a few games, though in recent years my problem is more that I rarely even finish the games I do like, and sometimes never even start games even though I'm interested in them.

I can think of two examples of games where I made myself continue even when I wasn't really into it. The first is Suikoden IV. It was designed to be a return to form after the third game, which had made some cool experiments like having three main characters and seeing the plot from different points of view. Suikoden IV made a few advancements like adding voice acting during cutscenes, but in other areas it regressed to outdated concepts such as the silent protagonist with a blank slate personality. That's right, the same game in which they decided to add voice acting, they also made the main character have no personality and not speak. Go figure, right?

I could live with that though, if it was the only problem. After all, the trademark of the Suikoden series is having 108 characters that you can recruit into your army, so even if I'm stuck with one that has less personality than the grass on which he walks, at least there will be more interesting characters to make up for them. The problem is that the game takes FOREVER to get going. The early part of the game is full of generic, bland characters and a dull story that moves at a snail's pace. I slogged through it until it finally picked up, and eventually I started enjoying it, but even once it stopped being boring, the game wasn't as good as the others in the series, and it had a plot that barely made any sense.

Following that, I picked up Suikoden Tactics. This was stylistically a big departure from the other games in that it used the grid-style combat like Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts, etc. It also was billed as a companion game to Suikoden IV, meaning that it fleshed out some of the things that were poorly explained in the main game and helped fill in the massive gaps in the story. Problem was that, like many games in that strategy RPG style, it was punishingly difficult and very unforgiving of mistakes. Any characters who were killed in combat (unless they were essential to the plot) would be dead for good. And you could easily get ganked for reasons beyond your control, if enemies got a lucky critical hit or you made even the tiniest mistake like advancing one square too far on your turn. This made the game a chore to slog through, but since I was a huge fan of the series I made myself do it. Never again.

I'm quite sure I've done this with other games as well, but I'm unable to think of them at the moment.

[Inarius]

I used to do it when I was a kid and I would get at most 3 games a year. If I wound up getting a dud I would still play it to completion at least once just because I didn't really have a whole lot of options elsewise. When I got older I would play through games with bad gameplay just for the story they had, but these days I have less of a tolerance for that and will usually just google it and either watch a LP or read the plot if the gameplay is that offputting to me.

[Knaight]

I often have this sort of problem, less with the difficulty of the game, and more with how interesting the game's systems are. If I've pretty much seen figured out the system after a couple hours, good luck keeping me around for another thirty. This has only gotten worse with the more games I've played, since most games are pretty similar to a reasonable number of other games, which I've probably played. So I'm not even really learning that game's system, just what's different about it from the previous game, which usually isn't that much.

Have you ever given the Dominions series a try. Dominions 3 and 4 in particular (I favor 3, but I started on 3) have systems that are very good at not being completely solved quickly. Getting to the point where you can smack the AI around near effortlessly doesn't take too long, but multiplayer stays dynamic.

[Kitten Champion]

Three titles that I can remember.

The DMC reboot by Ninja Theory, which I hated in terms of the overall look, writing, and voice acting. It never got to that low point where I felt I could comfortably throw my hands into the air in frustration and just quit, but I never moved beyond disliking my experience either. It played fine I suppose, but that wasn't really enough to resurrect my mood from the dialogue.

Skyrim would be my second. It's arguable whether I did in fact complete it, but nevertheless I did the main story quest chain to completion as well as the Companions, Dark Brotherhood, Mage College, and Imperial/Storm Cloak conflict quests. I wanted to like it, but I don't. It's got too many visible seams and weird contradictory logic in terms of ludonarrative dissonance for me to feel truly immersed. The writing is fairly shrug-worthy beyond that, I didn't really care for the combat, and I just don't like leaning in towards omnipotence in RPGs. It was however, one of the two games I owned for the PS3 when I first got it and I didn't get anymore to play for a while so I spent a couple of weeks just doing whatever with it and hoping for the best. I will say, I did find it moderately pleasant to just walk at a relaxing pace through the world - particularly when I was cooped up indoors at that time - I just don't like fighting or interacting with anyone in the game after about twenty minutes.

Third game is Sonic the Hedgehog. I never played a Sonic game of any kind until one came in a stack of NDS cartridges I was given as a donation by a friend. I don't recall what Sonic title it was specifically but it was a compilation of older titles. I have a litany of complaints against it, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that I think the basic philosophy behind its gameplay is indelibly flawed and I want to do things to Sonic - the character that is - that the Geneva convention would hardily disapprove for the egregious offence of being intolerably 90's. I ended up playing it mostly to spitefully complain about it, which is sad I'll admit.

[KillingAScarab]

Third game is Sonic the Hedgehog. I never played a Sonic game of any kind until one came in a stack of NDS cartridges I was given as a donation by a friend. I don't recall what Sonic title it was specifically but it was a compilation of older titles. I have a litany of complaints against it, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that I think the basic philosophy behind its gameplay is indelibly flawed and I want to do things to Sonic - the character that is - that the Geneva convention would hardily disapprove for the egregious offence of being intolerably 90's. I ended up playing it mostly to spitefully complain about it, which is sad I'll admit.The only Nintendo DS collection I'm aware of is Sonic Classic Collection (http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_Classic_Collection). Reading that it contains emulated games, not ports, is disappointing. But, at least it doesn't follow the leadd of other Sonic collections. So many Sonic compilations require you to unlock games by completing other games or playing/entering-exiting them a certain number of times. That collection seems to at least allow you to play Sonic 3 & Knuckles without jumping through hoops.

The first Sonic the Hedgehog suffers from bizarre breaks in the flow of the game. Green Hill Zone is fast and fun to choose different routes, and then you have to slow down for Marble Zone. You speed up again for Spring Yard Zone, then you're trying not to drown in Labyrinth Zone. I haven't ever completed that game; I keep losing interest. I never had that problem with momentum breaks in 2, just some frustration with Metropolis Zone's enemy placement. 3 had... the barrel (http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Barrel_%28gimmick%29). That thing stopped me cold as a kid.

[Hunter Noventa]

The only Nintendo DS collection I'm aware of is Sonic Classic Collection (http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_Classic_Collection). Reading that it contains emulated games, not ports, is disappointing. But, at least it doesn't follow the problem which other Sonic collections had. So many Sonic compilations require you to unlock games by completing other games or playing/entering-exiting-the-game them a certain number of times. That collection seems to at least allow you to play Sonic 3 & Knuckles without jumping through hoops.

The first Sonic the Hedgehog suffers from bizarre breaks in the flow of the game. Green Hill Zone is fast and fun to choose different routes, and then you have to slow down for Marble Zone. You speed up again for Spring Yard Zone, then you're trying not to drown in Labyrinth Zone. I haven't ever completed that game; I keep losing interest. I never had that problem with momentum breaks in 2, just some frustration with Metropolis Zone's enemy placement. 3 had... the barrel (http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Barrel_%28gimmick%29). That thing stopped me cold as a kid.

Sonic 1 is surprisingly hard sometimes. I only ever beat it with the level select code, because Labyrinth Zone 3 was just too rough. I never figured out the pattern for the final boss of 2 as a kid. I never had much trouble with 3 though, not even the infamous barrel gave me any trouble.

As for a game I beat once mostly to say I beat it, that would be Sonic Spinball, which is a truly nasty game. I liked the first three stages, but the last one was nightmarish. I only ever was able to beat it once.

[danzibr]

Sonic 1 is surprisingly hard sometimes. I only ever beat it with the level select code, because Labyrinth Zone 3 was just too rough. I never figured out the pattern for the final boss of 2 as a kid. I never had much trouble with 3 though, not even the infamous barrel gave me any trouble.

As for a game I beat once mostly to say I beat it, that would be Sonic Spinball, which is a truly nasty game. I liked the first three stages, but the last one was nightmarish. I only ever was able to beat it once.
Ya know, I don't think I ever beat the original, or 2. 3 and Sonic & Knuckles though, I played an awful lot of those.

Sonic Spinball... again, I played a lot, but I don't recall ever beating it. For sure my brother did, but he was a lot better at games.

EDIT: Oh right. Those barrels. They totally screwed me when I was a kid, but at some point I learned you can just hold up and down on the d-pad rather than trying to time your jumps.

[KillingAScarab]

I never had much trouble with 3 though, not even the infamous barrel gave me any trouble.I envy your ability to enjoy Ice Cap Zone/Hard Times (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPNgC3gBaq4).


As for a game I beat once mostly to say I beat it, that would be Sonic Spinball, which is a truly nasty game. I liked the first three stages, but the last one was nightmarish. I only ever was able to beat it once.I do enjoy Sonic Spinball, but I frankly have a very difficult time even with the 2nd board. It also has some questionable hit detection. On the 1st board I sometimes get past the caps on the tubes and end up heading to a different section of the board before I have cleared the way to the 1st emerald.

[Psyren]

I wonder how much of this desire to finish something you don't like comes down to sunk cost fallacy? e.g. "I paid money for this thing, if I don't get X hours playtime out of it then I wasted my money". I can kind of see why people would think that, but it didn't stop me walking out of the Inspector Gadget movie after half an hour once I realised what utter dross it was, and it hasn't stopped me sending badly-written or otherwise uninteresting books to the second hand shop.

Heh, I didn't even walk out of the steaming pile that was Airbender. If I go to see a movie it's because I literally have nothing else to do that day anyway.

Games are different though, if I find a game dull or unappealing to me then I simply won't finish. I installed and uninstalled Guild Wars 2 the same day because in the first 10 minutes of play I was handed a quest to collect 15 bear asses and I was like, "nope, done."

I think Kish's approach sums it up for me - the game has to have something that I really like for me to slog through the rest of it. My first time playing Mass Effect 1 is a good example - the combat was tolerable at best but man, that story.


Yeah I know its on the cover :P I preordered it before I really paid attention to the cover and that was when I was first trying to avoid too much info on pokemon games before they came out cause its usually more fun that way. But I mean, typically the title of the pokemon game you get corresponds with the legendary you get. I assumed that getting the game titled White would mean I get the White legendary (and when I actually picked up my copy and realised it had Zekrom I had terrible fears that were later confirmed)

Caveat Emptor :smalltongue:


Then his plan changed into "crash Meteor into planet, absorb infinite cosmic power because reasons".

Now, there's an argument that that was Jenova, and that was just what Jenova did (like Lavos, Lavos was fine. It's just a space parasite that crashes into your planet and eats all its planet juice and you have to get rid of it, but that was clear in the plot.), but it was always confused who or what was speaking in Sephiroth's case.

I think it was a conflation. He wanted to remove us because he saw as the planet's biggest problem; as a corollary to that, he wanted godlike power to prevent "Humanity 2.0" evolving from the ashes and starting the entire cycle anew. I could definitely see Jenova influencing that line of thinking - i.e. it convinces Seph to seek godlike power, and his own mind supplies a convenient (and barely sane) rationale for doing so.

I agree it isn't much, but it doesn't need to be - and it's certainly more than the meager crumbs that the likes of Exdeath threw our way.

[KillingAScarab]

I agree it isn't much, but it doesn't need to be - and it's certainly more than the meager crumbs that the likes of Exdeath threw our way.The thing to keep in mind with Exdeath is that he's a Saturday morning cartoon villain. He's Pure Evil, mwahaha, and is so Evil he will hold three of the Light Warriors hostage (rather than kill them) to discourage the fourth from attacking with an army (which he can repel anyway).

[JediSoth]

I wasn't that enamored of Dragon Age: Origins and I had Mass Effect waiting, so I plowed through DA:O as quickly as possible just to get it done.

I didn't dislike it, I just didn't love the game and have had no desire to go back to a more leisurely play through of it.

[Hunter Noventa]

The thing to keep in mind with Exdeath is that he's a Saturday morning cartoon villain. He's Pure Evil, mwahaha, and is so Evil he will hold three of the Light Warriors hostage (rather than kill them) to discourage the fourth from attacking with an army (which he can repel anyway).

His name even sounds like a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain. FF5 could totally be a Saturday Morning Cartoon. You've even got Gilgamesh to be a Sixth Ranger.

"Curse those Light Warriors! Yet again they've foiled my plan to become a gigantic evil tree!"

[GloatingSwine]

In the spirit of this thread I now have the platinum trophy for FF13-2. Despite being less humourless and crap than the cast of the first FF13 Serah and Noel are a bit dull, and despite the time travel the game is no Chrono Trigger.

I need to do something else before I try and do Lightning Returns.

[warty goblin]

I've finished board games I didn't enjoy because bailing out half way through would have upset the game for the remaining players who were enjoying it, but that's about it. With single player games it's the opposite - I tend to get bored and abandon them, and rarely actually finish them.

I confess I have not, though I know you've praised them before as being really excellent in sort of the same vein as Age of Wonders. Thanks for recommendation, I'll circle back to them next time I'm feeling strategic - which may unfortunately be a while, because I've been burned by a fair number of strat titles this year.

Civ VI in particular was a really big disappointment to me, the AI was horrible, and it was a completely incoherent mechanical mess. For example, I can build a sphinx with a worker on a tile, the Pyramids are built by a city on a tile and can be paid for either with production which accrues over time, or instantly with Gold, a monument uses the same currencies but is built in a city, ditto the holy site, except that is built on a specific tile. And then I can build upgrades for the holy site, which go in that holy site, but require the city's production, or direct purchase. So I've got four types of buildings with various levels of exclusivity, which either occupy a new tile or are an upgrade for an existing tile-occupying thing, built using two different methods, one of which is fueled by two (or three!) different types of currency. A sphinx takes a turn, a holy site, city or holy site building usually takes few turns, and the pyramids usually take a lot of turns, adding up to hundreds of years (nevermind that a pyramid would be built in one person's lifetime). What exactly is the distinction between these things that this jumble is trying to represent? Anything? Or is it just a hot, bloated mess of stuff the developers have thrown at the screen?

[KillingAScarab]

His name even sounds like a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain. FF5 could totally be a Saturday Morning Cartoon. You've even got Gilgamesh to be a Sixth Ranger.

"Curse those Light Warriors! Yet again they've foiled my plan to become a gigantic evil tree!"If you can learn to let go of expectations that the story would be closer to FF4 or FF6 (especially 6), the story can be somewhat enjoyable for how cheesy it is, especially the Game Boy Advance translation. Erin M. Ellis leaned hard into the Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic, with things like "Jeeze-Oh-Pete!" and making Sage Ghido reference Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It still rubber-bands a bit in tone, especially with Exdeath's catchphrase threat, but it's overall a script which has nearly as many exclamation points in it as the liner notes to an Aquabats! album.

I want to re-write it, but I haven't decided upon whether to completely remove Bartz' attempt to duplicate the ending to Superman: The Movie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_%281978_film%29) or to make flying an airship while he's angry actually accomplish something. I think it depends on how I would handle Krile.

[RazorChain]

Ever plow through a game you didn't like for the sake of completion?

Haha

NO!!

I don't even finish games I do like! So many games, so little time.

[Anteros]

I'm kinda plowing through Divinity Original Sin right now, and the game frustrates me a lot. There's just quite a few frustrating design choices. It's not for the sake of completion though. It's because I'm playing it with a friend who can only hang out once every week or two and he likes to play when he comes over.

[Flickerdart]

I'm kinda plowing through Divinity Original Sin right now, and the game frustrates me a lot. There's just quite a few frustrating design choices. It's not for the sake of completion though. It's because I'm playing it with a friend who can only hang out once every week or two and he likes to play when he comes over.

Divinity is frustrating because it's good and fun (especially jumping off the super-huge tower and taking 0 fall damage) until it suddenly runs into a stupid thing and then it sucks until you can get around it.

[factotum]

Divinity is frustrating because it's good and fun (especially jumping off the super-huge tower and taking 0 fall damage) until it suddenly runs into a stupid thing and then it sucks until you can get around it.

It's a very old school RPG in that regard (and in many others), which is why I like it--you need to find what stuff you're high enough level to fight, in order to gain enough experience to get past the thing that's too tough right now. It's not like typical modern RPGs where everything is scaled to your level so the challenge never varies.

[Flickerdart]

It's a very old school RPG in that regard (and in many others), which is why I like it--you need to find what stuff you're high enough level to fight, in order to gain enough experience to get past the thing that's too tough right now. It's not like typical modern RPGs where everything is scaled to your level so the challenge never varies.

That wasn't too bad of an issue. I mostly mean things like the anti-dragon shields, where all of a sudden it turns out that these shields are everywhere and also kill you. It took me ages to find out where I was supposed to go afterwards.

[Sian]

Civ VI in particular was a really big disappointment to me, the AI was horrible

Its a Civilization game ... if you expected anything else I'm more than willing to sell you the Channel Bridge ... Coding an AI for such a game is a massive pain, and it have always been the bit that Fixaris was weakest at.

For all its faults (and they're mainly in the AI and the UI, and how it delivers infomation) Civ VI is by far the most feature complete entry to the series since... ever really, only needing a serious spit and shine, but few if any mechanical changes. But even then It's probably first truely playable for most (either relative beginners who can't get past the UI problems, or strong players who recognize the limitations of the AI) not willing to accept those faults before the first expansion pack comes around (... and probably one patch cycle beyond that to patch whichever AI/UI inefficiencies they introduce in the new mechanics that said expansion pack includes)

[Anteros]

Divinity is frustrating because it's good and fun (especially jumping off the super-huge tower and taking 0 fall damage) until it suddenly runs into a stupid thing and then it sucks until you can get around it.

I think we're talking about different games. Divinity Original Sin is a turn based tactics rpg. I think it might be the same setting though. Not sure.

[Flickerdart]

I think we're talking about different games. Divinity Original Sin is a turn based tactics rpg. I think it might be the same setting though. Not sure.

Oh, yes! I was thinking of Divinity II: Dragon Knight Saga. I gave up on Original Sin around the first city.

[Anteros]

Oh, yes! I was thinking of Divinity II: Dragon Knight Saga. I gave up on Original Sin around the first city.

I don't blame you. If I wasn't playing it with a friend I would have given up on it by now for sure.

Still...there's not many good co-op games these days, and it's an ok time sink until we pick up the new Tales game.

[GungHo]

Oh, yes! I was thinking of Divinity II: Dragon Knight Saga. I gave up on Original Sin around the first city.

Original Sin was a great tech demo of what you could do with spells and items that create environmental effects in an tactical RPG. Unfortunately, it seems the story was written by cashier at Hot Topic.

[Avilan the Grey]

I think I will have to change my original statement: I realized I do this several times. Specifically every time I play through the mediocrity that is ME1 (not story, gameplay) in order to import the savefile into a good game.

[Flickerdart]

I think I will have to change my original statement: I realized I do this several times. Specifically every time I play through the mediocrity that is ME1 (not story, gameplay) in order to import the savefile into a good game.

There's probably either a save generator or a save file database somewhere. No?

[Avilan the Grey]

There's probably either a save generator or a save file database somewhere. No?

Yes, but I feel better if I actually go thru them all when I start a new character.

[KillingAScarab]

I decided to give Chrono Cross another try, but I think it is germane to this topic. I have already seen a playthrough of the game, so I know what they had to do to Chrono Trigger in order to allow this sequel to happen. I also know what they did out of what I can only call spite. What else would you call the Prometheus Circuit? It's just an excuse to kill Robo in four text boxes. It isn't just the story which is bad, though.

Due to some of the choices available in the game, I can at least choose a few party members I have not seen before. I'm torn between using Kid and Mel so I can steal twice per battle, and using NeoFio's 3rd level technique which actually isn't single-target. The first potentially gives me access to equipment, but the second ends battles faster. Shorter battles are something this game desperately needs. The element system is... interesting, sure, but charging it with physical attacks is not.

Also, being a PlayStation era 3D JRPG, it desperately needs icons indicating where the entrances and exits of map screens are located. This feature was a button press away since Final Fantasy VII. Did they just forget?

[Raimun]

No.

[At least seven more characters]

[warty goblin]

Thinking some more about this, I recall getting to literally the last mission in XCOM: Enemy Within, and quitting after a couple of turns. I cared zilch for the plot, and while I liked the tactical stuff OK, it was very heavily rooted in a loop of getting better stuff for the next mission. Absent that hook, it was really just the same stuff I'd been doing for basically the entire game. Left to stand on its own, and after doing that stuff for so bloody long, it was just plain not worth the bother.

[Flickerdart]

Thinking some more about this, I recall getting to literally the last mission in XCOM: Enemy Within, and quitting after a couple of turns. I cared zilch for the plot, and while I liked the tactical stuff OK, it was very heavily rooted in a loop of getting better stuff for the next mission. Absent that hook, it was really just the same stuff I'd been doing for basically the entire game. Left to stand on its own, and after doing that stuff for so bloody long, it was just plain not worth the bother.

I got to the last room of that mission in the base game (Enemy Unknown) and then stopped for pretty much the same reason. It helps that I already knew the ending - weirdly enough, from a bootleg novel based on the original game.

[Velaryon]

I thought of a game I tried to plow through but never made it. I was a bit of a latecomer to the Xbox 360, so when I got it I wanted to play a bunch of games that had been out for a couple years at that point. A lot of my friends were really into Assassin's Creed (this was around the time of Brotherhood, so it hadn't quite become a yearly series at that time). Everybody told me that 2 was a much better game than the first, and that Brotherhood was in turn a huge improvement on 2, but I wanted to start at the beginning.

I couldn't finish it. The first game was incredibly repetitive and had lots of little things that were just too much of a pain to be enjoyable. In particular I got tired of guards chasing me for no more reason than because I was walking too fast. I spent so much time hiding from pursuit that was chasing me for absolutely no reason, that doing yet another assassination that was exactly the same as the last one.


As for a game I beat once mostly to say I beat it, that would be Sonic Spinball, which is a truly nasty game. I liked the first three stages, but the last one was nightmarish. I only ever was able to beat it once.

There was a time when I could get through the first three stages of Sonic Spinball all in one life. Yet I never once cleared the fourth stage. It was brutally hard. I have a friend who claims he beat it, but I never saw him do it.

[Draconi Redfir]

Battle of Giants: Dragons.

bought the game thinking it would be good. god was i wrong. the gameplay was extremely dull and boring, not to mention repetitive.

Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.
Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.
Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.
Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.
Fly to location, fight dragon, SMASH crystal. (for variety!)
Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.
Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.
Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.
Fly to location, fight dragon, burn crystal.

Congradulations you just beat the campain. Now do that three more times to cover all four elements in a half-assed plot that isn't even connected to any of the other campains you just finished.

I didn't want to let the game beat me, so i forced my way through and beat it in spite. haven't touched it since.

Also the dragons did this really annoying thing during their victory emote during a fight. They reared up on their hind legs, shook their front claws in the air, brought their head back, SLAMMED down onto the ground and.... AAAAND!!!! (You're thinking roar loudly in triumph right?) ... Shook their head back and fourth a couple of times and THEN roared in triumph. God it was so unsatisfying. YOU HAD THE PERFECT TIMING TO ROAR AND YOU SCREWED IT UP! YOU'RE A DRAGON. HOW THE HECK DO YOU SCREW UP THIS BADLY!?

[warty goblin]

I got to the last room of that mission in the base game (Enemy Unknown) and then stopped for pretty much the same reason. It helps that I already knew the ending - weirdly enough, from a bootleg novel based on the original game.

Wow, I figured crapping out that late was just an oddity on my part. But there's two of us! We should have a club or something.



I thought of a game I tried to plow through but never made it. I was a bit of a latecomer to the Xbox 360, so when I got it I wanted to play a bunch of games that had been out for a couple years at that point. A lot of my friends were really into Assassin's Creed (this was around the time of Brotherhood, so it hadn't quite become a yearly series at that time). Everybody told me that 2 was a much better game than the first, and that Brotherhood was in turn a huge improvement on 2, but I wanted to start at the beginning.

I couldn't finish it. The first game was incredibly repetitive and had lots of little things that were just too much of a pain to be enjoyable. In particular I got tired of guards chasing me for no more reason than because I was walking too fast. I spent so much time hiding from pursuit that was chasing me for absolutely no reason, that doing yet another assassination that was exactly the same as the last one.

I could never even get into the Assassin's Creed games. The controls were weird, I'm not really wild about stealth games in the first place, let alone stealth games where stealth = walk very slowly. The only challenge here is whether or not I get bored.

[Inarius]

Wow, I figured crapping out that late was just an oddity on my part. But there's two of us! We should have a club or something.



I could never even get into the Assassin's Creed games. The controls were weird, I'm not really wild about stealth games in the first place, let alone stealth games where stealth = walk very slowly. The only challenge here is whether or not I get bored.

Make that three of us, I got the the last mission of the game and just stopped. I didn't feel like finishing it even though I did have a decent amount of fun up to that point.

Also ditto to the Assassins Creed games. I tried the first an the third ones and they just never connected with me, despite me actually liking stealth games like Thief and Dishonored.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Also ditto to the Assassins Creed games. I tried the first an the third ones and they just never connected with me, despite me actually liking stealth games like Thief and Dishonored.

If by "third" you mean 3, then you managed to pick the two worst games (that aren't recognized as universally terrible anyway). Not saying that the Ezio trilogy tosses that formula, but, well, Dishonored isn't the most creative-thinking stealth game either.

[Anteros]

If by "third" you mean 3, then you managed to pick the two worst games (that aren't recognized as universally terrible anyway). Not saying that the Ezio trilogy tosses that formula, but, well, Dishonored isn't the most creative-thinking stealth game either.

Still, if they didn't enjoy the gameplay in those they won't enjoy the others in the series either. Assassins Creed at its best and Assassins Creed at its worst is still very much the same type of game.

[factotum]

Still, if they didn't enjoy the gameplay in those they won't enjoy the others in the series either. Assassins Creed at its best and Assassins Creed at its worst is still very much the same type of game.

I disagree to an extent. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is enormous amounts of fun to play, largely because a lot of it isn't the traditional assassination stuff--most of it is sailing your ship around.

[DigoDragon]

I'm working through Torchlight to collect the last few Steam achievements, and find myself starting to just plow through the level.s I still like the game, but I've pretty much done it all. Luckily it has a funny little glitch that passing down a trinket with a bonus to HP multiplies it exponentially instead of additively. So now I have a necklace with +24,000 HP and a ring with +32,000 HP that I can just pass around using the shared stash to just run to the end boss and mash the attack buttons. :smallbiggrin:

[danzibr]

I decided to give Chrono Cross another try, but I think it is germane to this topic. I have already seen a playthrough of the game, so I know what they had to do to Chrono Trigger in order to allow this sequel to happen. I also know what they did out of what I can only call spite. What else would you call the Prometheus Circuit? It's just an excuse to kill Robo in four text boxes. It isn't just the story which is bad, though.

Due to some of the choices available in the game, I can at least choose a few party members I have not seen before. I'm torn between using Kid and Mel so I can steal twice per battle, and using NeoFio's 3rd level technique which actually isn't single-target. The first potentially gives me access to equipment, but the second ends battles faster. Shorter battles are something this game desperately needs. The element system is... interesting, sure, but charging it with physical attacks is not.

Also, being a PlayStation era 3D JRPG, it desperately needs icons indicating where the entrances and exits of map screens are located. This feature was a button press away since Final Fantasy VII. Did they just forget?
I feel ya. I started Chrono Cross, gave up. Started again, gave up. Plowed through the first time. I just don't like that game. Plot, characters, magic system, graphics. Ugh.

[KillingAScarab]

I feel ya. I started Chrono Cross, gave up. Started again, gave up. Plowed through the first time. I just don't like that game. Plot, characters, magic system, graphics. Ugh.Chrono Cross could have been better on characters if it took more time to distinguish them. Out of the three mandatory party members for the start of the game, I took Nikki. While he had some additional dialog with Marcy and Fargo, including him in the party hasn't changed anything other than how I got into Viper Manor. Neither has there been a notable change by avoiding recruiting Leena, but Serge is listed as a "Silent Protagonist" on the status screen, so that isn't entirely unexpected.

Final Fantasy VI had different systems to play around with for its ensemble cast members. Pip and Sprigg are the only two which remind me of that at all. So, it comes down to their techs more than anything else; do I want to steal twice (and only a maximum of twice) per battle, do I want to attack all enemies before there are many elements which can do that, or do I want a character who is exactly like every other character? Dual and triple techs are also far less common than in Chrono Trigger, so there isn't even that to encourage me to experiment with those other characters. It's like playing a fighting game where almost every character is Ryu or Ken, and there isn't even an Akuma or a Dan thrown in.