KurrptSenate

I was wondering what type of gamer you guys were. Do you feel the need to complete a game before moving on to another title? Do you come back to it later and beat it? Are you like me, and rarely have the desire to finish a game?

Why?

cleaver

I wanted to complete Test Drive Unlimited but you never sent it to me

Shagrath

It really depends on the game. If it's an RPG and has a good story and battle system, then I'll probably want to play it through to the end. Other things like racing games or something, I might not finish every single race.

However, on the 360, I'm much more likely to keep going at a game for the stupid fucking achievement points. Call me shallow or whatever, but MS was brilliant coming up with that system, as I'm getting much more play out of my games in trying to get these meaningless points.

fumanstan

I'll play a few games at a time, but generally I don't end up finishing games. I probably only complete about 15% of the games I own.

I'd say most of it is because I reach a point in the game that becomes too frustrating to spend that much effort on, or I happen to start another game that I found far more engrossing then the current one. Once I try and go back, i feel less immersed and it's harder to pick up where I left off.

Of course, one of my goals this year is to finish a lot of the games I have sitting around before I purchase new ones, especially considering the price of games these days.

Demontooth

I'm playing COD2, COD3, and Gears of War right now. I plan on finishing all three. I probably finish 10% of the games I own.

Michael Corvin

I finish just about every game I purchase, assuming it isn't a total P.O.S.. Unfortunately with Achievements, "finished" means different things now.

Josh H

I try to beat games before going on to the next, but I'm usually playing 2 or 3 games at the same time.

Now that only applies to games I'm really enjoying. If I don't like a game I don't feel compelled to beat it. I just try to sell/trade it as fast as possible and move on to something I really like.

As for why...if I enjoy a game I want to keep playing until it's over. And also, I just like to get my money's worth out of games.

LivingINClip

I use to, but not anymore. Zelda is a prefect example, I kept willing myself and was never having any fun, until I finally just quit. The whole point of the game is to have fun, if you're not having that fun, then just go ahead and hang it up.

Flay

Ain't that the truth. I just finished F.E.A.R. for the second time on the 360 to pick up the No-death in the campaign achievement as well as a couple others.

My view of finished has been transformed from completing the single player into getting 1000 out of 1000 gamerscore points.

Josh H

I guess I should add that finish for me is just beating the game. I don't bother much with trying to get 100% in games, and wouldn't bother with achievements if I had a 360 as I just don't care about that stuff.

Too many good games out their and too little free time for me to spend that much time replaying ones I've finished to do pointless sidequests or get meaningless gamerscore points.

PerryD

Once the game isn't fun for me anymore, I stop playing. Sometimes that's just a couple levels into a game, most of the time it's around halfway, very few times I finish a game.

Demontooth

I haven't been sucked into the achievements yet. I see them when they pop up, but I just don't care....yet.

darkside

Some games I love completing and some I don't. Depends on the story and how much I pay for the game. If its something I pick up on clearance or cheap used I may just play it a few hours and not come back. Games I pay full retail for I almost always finish or if they suck I get rid of them.

I have a huge pile of unplayed games, but since I'm not getting a next gen system anytime soon I am going to dedicate 2007 to catching up on many of them. I finished Twilight Princess and beat Dragon Quest VIII again finally to see the best ending. With those two out of the way I will probably play Bully next. Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk will take priority though. Hell, I just remembered I haven't played chapter 2 of Sam and Max yet either.

BTW, I don't like the idea of achievements. I talk to people that basically sound like they are forcing themselves to play games or do things in games they wouldn't normally want to just for the street cred of the points. Yet another reason I have no interest in a 360. If the games end up being work, why play?

SmackDaddy

I'll simply stop playing a game if it gets too frustrating or is no longer fun.

There have been very few games that I actually felt compelled to finish. Those are Phantasy Star (SMS), Half Life (PC), Halo (Xbox) and both KOTOR games (Xbox). Currently, there is pretty much nothing that will stop me from completing Twilight Princess.

Josh H

While I hate achievement for that reason (and that the whole concept comes across as rather pathetic to me--who cares were they rank among other gamers in wasting more time on games) I don't think it is in anyway a knock against the 360.

It's just there for people that want to give a shit about it. I mean it doesn't make Gears of War any less amazing because you get achievement points. People that don't care can just ignore them and not put any effort in to trying to earn them.

UncleGramps

As others have mentioned, it boils down to whether or not a game is fun and/or compelling. If it's neither, I'll sell or trade it. If it's fun, or if the story is at least compelling enough to keep me interested in what happens next, I will generally have the motivation to finish the game. I don't usually go on all of the side quests or try to get 100% completion. I'll play through the main storyline, and then go for at least some of the extra stuff until I lose interest. As for achievements, I don't even try to get all 1000 points per game. Again, if a game stays fun and interesting, I'll keep going for more achievements, but once I start getting bored, the achievements alone are not enough motivation to keep me playing.

RichC2

XavierMike

I finish 95% of the games I buy. I've always been goal oriented, so yeah, I'm an achievement whore too.

fumanstan

Except Microsoft isn't forcing you to work. They're there for people that are interested in doing those little things as a means of accomplishment, which I don't think is too different to things where people will challenge to get a X number of points or beat the game under X time. MS just documents them

Don't like them, don't work for them. Not sure why it should lead to any disinterest in the 360.

story

I've started Zelda: Wind Waker three separate times and every time I get to the nearly-end part where I have to drive that flippin' boat through every square on the map to dig up Triforce I want to punch the game in its stupid face.

Brooklyn

I wanted to complete that one aswell, but no one seems to play the multiplayer tracks online

Neo512210

I agree I have gotten much more play out of my games these days. I used to rarely finish any game I owned. Now have been getting better at finishing games sometimes even twice. Partially cause of achievements but, I will not play a game i don't like or i get bored with. the achievements for me make me explore more of the game than i would normally do as well like in Tomb Raider Legend I never would have bothered with the time trials but I tried them for the points and it turned out to be fun and a challenge. I am all for getting the most out of a game especially at 60+ dollars otherwise i would be wasting my money.

Brooklyn

The completist in me understands the desire to try for the achievements, but
common sense always prevails in that (as said above), if it ain't fun why bother.
The points get you nothing and very seldom will another player bother to check
your individual title listings to see what you've done. They just amount to a
clump o' points next to your gamertag.

For me the fun usually stops when the points/achievements left to get pertain
to playing online ranked matches. I get that they don't want to include them
in player matches because then you could cheat with a friend to get them,
but I wish they'd make them all solely dependant on the single player gaming
experience. Far too often the ranked matches just aren't worth the time due
to the immaturity, whining or bitching of another player (or in the case of
Test Drive Unlimited, no one playing the multiplayer races). Sure you might
get a great game here and there, but to get the ranked online achievements
you definately have to swim through an ocean of shit. Just my opinion.

Brooklyn

That's actually not true (to an extent). The achievements do hurt the online
Gears experience in that ranked games are constantly reduced to bitching
matches because player B killed an opponent that player A downed and was
going to kill with a particular weapon to get another notch towards the 100
kills with weapon so and so achievement.

starseed1981

I complete every single game I buy, and I don't get a new one until the previous one is completed. I guess I'm a completion whore.