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I try to finish every game but don't always make it. I also tend to play 2-3 games at the same time which are of different styles or genres. For example I alternated gameplay sessions between STALKER and Divine Divinity, because sometimes I get tired of shooting things and just want to whack stuff with a sword, or visa versa. I takes a little longer that way but it helps keep me from getting burnt out on any one particular game. The only downside is when I do hit a sticking point in one of the games it's easier to simply focus on the other and move on to other games when it's finished.

For example, I have yet to finish Far Cry 1 because I have been stuck on the same section since last summer. Every time I fire it up I die 10 times without reaching the next checkpoint, then quit for a little bit. At first I would take a few days break from it, then a few weeks and now I'm at the point where I haven't started up the game since November. In my mind I'm still saying I need to finish it, but every time I look at the shortcut on my desktop I figure "Why bother, I'll just die a lot." I have completed 6 or 7 other games since I started playing Far Cry last year.

On the other side of the spectrum I have games that give me no trouble at all from a difficulty perspective, but I quickly lose interest and it becomes a chore forcing myself to keep playing. Sometimes I try to simply rush through the story and get it over with, this isn't always easy though because some stories keep going and going. I have escaped the prison, fought my way through the goblin city, saved the princess, killed the kings brother who was secretly working for the main villain, found the secret map to the Big Bad's hidden lair and am ready for the final boss fight. But wait, in order to open the hidden gate I must collect all 7 sacred plot coupons and join them together at the top of Mount Opposite-End-of-the-Game-World.

Dragon Age Origins was this way for me. The game just alternated between long slogs of terrible combat and long winded expositional dialogue. There were times when I would sit and play for over an hour and spent the whole time having a conversation. Dungeon raids took 5 times longer than necessary because every 3-4 groups of trash mobs my inventory would be full and I'd have to travel back to town so I could sell stuff. I eventually added a storage mod which helped a lot. I forced myself to finish that game, but Sweet Christmas did that ending take forever! First it's "Get a good night's sleep because the final battle begins in the morning" which means talk to everyone and their brother to gather info which may or may not be important but could effect how the ultimate battle ends. The next day you go into battle, which is just seemingly endless waves of easily dispatched minions for a while. Finally you get to the boss battle but first you need the obligatory "In case one of us doesn't make it, I want to thank you for all you did for me" speech from each individual member of your party. Gee thanks useless character I don't remember picking up and have never used once during the entire game, I'm glad sitting at camp for the past 60 hours of gameplay meant so much to you. After a long and drawn out boss battle you finally finish the game, with more long winded speeches and conversations with your party members about what they will do with their lives now that the game is over. I was never so happy to finish a game in my life. And thanks to the magic of DLC there is also Dragon Age Awakenings which takes place after the events of Origins and let's me continue the adventure. Yeah right!

I have yet to finish Beyond Divinity, as the gameplay is horrid and the main quest has come to a grinding halt. Apparently I need to do a bunch of side quests before the next stage of the main quest becomes available. And I really don't care about any of the side quests available. I'm not really sure how far I am into completing the game but I also don't care enough to bother looking at a walkthrough.

I have yet to finish 8-Bit armies but because it's not heavily reliant on story I have just pop into it for a few missions from time to time. Similar to how I play games like Unreal Tournament or Worms World Party which don't really have an ending.
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hedwards: Pacing and managing the difficulty increase are really important if you're wanting people to actually finish the games. Those shenanigans like they had in Super Mario world where you had to finish certain portions of certain levels with the correct amount of time on the clock ensured that the game would perpetually stay at like 95% completed.
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dtgreene: For that particular level in Super Mario World:

You only need to be fast if you want the secret exit. If you are not fast enough, you can get the normal exit, which will allow you to continue through the game; you just won't get access to a shortcut that skips part of the world at the expense of having to play one secret level. (Note that this is unlike the following level, which is the one where the normal exit leads nowhere.)

It's also not that hard to get the secret exit anyway. In fact, some players actually need to slow down in order to get the normal exit for that level. (I haven't checked, but I would imagine this becomes an issue in a 96-exit speedrun.) (One tip: If you collect a certain number of coins in the first section, the second section (which is the one you need to finish with enough time left) will be much easier; it may therefore be worth the time it takes to collect the coins.)
My understanding of it was that ti was that last digit that determined whether or not you got in there. Perhaps the source I was reading was wrong about that, but I'll have to take a look at that. It seemed a bit trickier than it should be.

But, I'd already played through almost the entire game at that point, and didn't really feel like spending that much effort on the last bit.
I complete all i can, only a physicall problem or a game killing bug will halt me.
Don't play connected mind you, so my data isn't collected.
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blotunga: So that would add only more grind into a game which doesn't seems to have any purpose? Neah.. I rather stick to FNV and "forget" that F3 even exists.
Well it depends what you define as grind. You know, you dont have to collect every pencil and cup :)
But if you have both f3 and fnv, then tale of two wastelands project might appeal to you.
As of me, I am big fan of World of Pain, as it adds so many side areas to fnv that I cant imagine playing without it. For example the Xander Root bay or Sierra Madre underground tunnels. Same goes to DK Bullettime, I simply disable VATS straight. Even F4 VATS is basically console-compatible Bullettime.
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DampSquib: I complete all i can, only a physicall problem or a game killing bug will halt me.
Don't play connected mind you, so my data isn't collected.
Hey! In case you missed, there has been a new release of Project Zomboid, a silent version bump that didnt trigger the blue marker. But still it has an acknowledged 9mm reload bug on normal/realistic, which needs manual edit of file and will prevent joining multiplayer. So you might want to backup you current version.
Post edited February 02, 2017 by Lin545
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Lin545: Snip
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DampSquib: Snip
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Lin545: Hey! In case you missed, there has been a new release of Project Zomboid, a silent version bump that didnt trigger the blue marker. But still it has an acknowledged 9mm reload bug on normal/realistic, which needs manual edit of file and will prevent joining multiplayer. So you might want to backup you current version.
I did miss it, so cheers for the heads-up, comes of having too many games on the go, lost track.
Thanks :)
I intended to finish reading the OP, but halfway through I just couldn't be bothered
I don't see the problem. I don't care about finishing a game. On the contrary, if a game is finished before I am tired of it, I am pissed because it was too short.
Most games I play don't really "finish" anyway. I eam what does it mean to "finish" Civilization or Imperialism.
I'm not a hug fan of this whole "Gamers never finish games because we checked xbox live and steam completion data" type attitude.

I finish them, if they are worthwhile to finish.
Another thing that needs to be taken into account is that nowadays more than ever people are inundated with information 24 hours a day. Social media newsfeeds, constantly wired in with a mobile phone in hand 24/7, etc. and as a result people are more distracted than ever before in history and increasingly have difficulty focusing on any task whether it is work, personal, entertainment or something else for more than a minute/hour/whatever before the next shiny object comes along to capture their attention either briefly or for longer than that.

Another thing to consider is that from the second someone has bought a game - by definition they haven't finished it, and there is no set timeframe by which they must finish it in order to be counted as having finished it. Ignoring rare exceptions - games do not expire in the general sense, so people do not really fit into categories of "has finished it" and "will never finish it", but rather they fit into "has finished it" or "has not yet finished it" where the latter certainly has within it the possibility that they might some day actually finish it and end up counted amongst those who did finish it.

I own some games from the 1990s that I haven't "finished" yet, such as Bioforge amongst many others. Those games should be counted as "Has not yet finished them." or in many cases "has not played this game yet, but happy to have it in library for the future".

I/we haven't "don't finish our games", rather I/we "have not yet finished our games, be patient and don't judge us or put a stopwatch on us." :)
I always finish games.
just the main story usually.
When I was younger I could dedicate more time to learn every rule and build everything to my advantage. Now I am much more interested in distracting myself for half hour or so at a shot. So unless its a "casual" game i will usually never finish something. I guess the last game I did finish was Civ 5. Not sure whats considered finished there but I at least played till I won once.

Actually, even casuals I dont finsh anymore. I purchased Desktop Dungeon a year or so ago and havent "finished" that either. Lot of fun by the way, I just lack the attention span anymore.
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muttly13: When I was younger I could dedicate more time to learn every rule and build everything to my advantage. Now I am much more interested in distracting myself for half hour or so at a shot. So unless its a "casual" game i will usually never finish something. I guess the last game I did finish was Civ 5. Not sure whats considered finished there but I at least played till I won once.

Actually, even casuals I dont finsh anymore. I purchased Desktop Dungeon a year or so ago and havent "finished" that either. Lot of fun by the way, I just lack the attention span anymore.
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Even some of the casual games take pretty long to play. I've bought a lot of hidden object games at Big Fish Games. Some of those play just like adventure games with puzzles, stories, inventory, everything. Some even have FMV. Some of them took me 10 hours to finish. They cost $7 each if you are a member. Many of them are also sold in $14 collector's edition that have bonus game play that takes even longer.

And then there are games you can play infinite number of times like Virtual Pool, pinball games, card games, gambling games, multiplayer deathmatch, and other "quick hit" games. In these cases, if I've spent 20 hours or so on them I consider them "finished."
Post edited February 03, 2017 by keviny01
I for one never start a game without at least the intent to finish. And often once I've finished a RPG (my preferred genre) I tend to replay the game again, to see how much a different starting position or a better knowledge of the game gives me an advantage.

Which is almost certainly why I haven't yet started nearly as many games as I've purchased.