jeffbase34

Last night, I was ready to throw in the towel on Tales of Vesperia. After 50 hours and about 60% complete, I am completely stuck on this insane puzzle level called Heracles.

Yet, the completionist side of me tells me to keep going at it. Study the whole area, and eventually, I'll find my way out of here. I would feel like I've just wasted hours of my life if I quit now.

But the problem with this level is the developers thought it would be great fun to toss in battles every 3 seconds. The enemies block the access routes so you can't just avoid them.

And if I clear an area, exit and come back, the enemies have all respawned. I've had to to fight the same battle over 100 times in this freaking level. I tried watching youtube vidoes of the level, but it's the same problem. I have to sit through 20-30 minutes of watching the same battles.

This is just not fun IMO, and a major stink of mine with JPRGs. Combine the frequent battles with lack of save points, and this game has been more frustration than fun.

So when a game loses the fun factor, do you give up? Have you ever invested a lot of time in a game, but couldn't beat it?

PopcornTreeCt

I've given up before. Typically, if the game gets hard I try the same part more than 20 times. That's it. Game over.

pinata242

Heracles is confusing. It's basically two halves that look almost identical. You shouldn't be needing to leave the area you're in.

Go to the ToV thread and I'll give you a hand. I played through that at least 3 times and nearly every time it confused me.



To your question, though, it's very, very rare for me to give up on a game. I'm pretty selective in what I play and I have a good idea before I start if I'll enjoy it or not. In fact, I can't even remember the last game I chose for myself that I didn't play til completion.

GoVegan

I'll give up when it stops being fun, but on kind of a cost-benefit analysis system. If I try a final boss battle 30 times, I'll be very likely to quit, but if there's an extremely frustrating and difficult bit in the middle of an otherwise fun game, I'll stick with it.

chess

I gave up on Assassin's Creed, not because I couldn't get past something but because when I did, it was usually dumb luck on my fifth try. I know the combat and stealth clicked for some people, but not for me.

There was also lots of yelling and cursing and lots of thoughtful comments about the "assholes who made this game". Eventually, I thought...hey, I'm not having fun with this and sold it.

Fortunately, the next game I played rocked.

Mr. Cinema

I'd probably take a long break from games where I'm stuck. But I do remember spending hours upon hours during the Summer many years ago on Tomb Raider 2 for PS1. That game drove me insane. I think I got to level 8 where you're being chased by a shark. That's the last level I ever played on that game. Couldn't take anymore.

JasonF

Not even when I break my computer.

I will beat Professor K!!!

emachine12

I haven't touched Condemned 2: Bloodshot in months. It was fun for awhile then I got annoyed by the deviation from the first game's formula. The breaking point was "final fight" that requires you to push buttons in time with prompts. After three days, I was done and it sits on the shelf collecting dust.

I also retried playing Guitar Hero III after getting World Tour. I almost broke the damn guitar again. I am never going to beat this game so screw it, I've moved on to World Tour.

The Bus

All the time. If I'm not having fun, I stop playing. It can be in the first level or the last boss, but if it's not fun, I stop.

Bandit03

I gave up on veteran mode of Call of Duty 3. I made it about half way through before I finally got stuck, which I tried to pass the part for about a week. That game made me so fucking neurotic; I have never cursed so loud at a game before. I finally gave up and beat the normal mode in about two days . I was really determined because I went through the veteran mode on COD2 and eventually COD4 when it came out

darkside

This is more and more the case for me. I have so much to play I am not going to drive myself crazy playing a game when the challenge kills the fun. Pictobits is a good example. I really like the game, but around level 12 it gets so hard that it just stops being fun. I just replay the first 11 to unlock all the music and I move on to something else.

Valkyria Chronicles was another one. I got stuck on the giant tank level and never came back to it. I don't care how great a game is supposed to be. If it stops being fun I move on.

Some games can be fun and hard, but it is tough. Henry Hatsworth and Prinny Can I Really be the Hero were fun and hard. Some games can keep me trying and some just can't. Hard but fair is tough to explain, but some games do that and some don't

Jeremy517

It is kind of funny that you stopped playing Condemned 2 due to a part where you push buttons in time with prompts, and then went and played Guitar Hero World Tour, where you... push buttons in time with prompts.

emachine12

Guitar Hero: World Tour prompts 1,000,000 > Condemned 2: Bloodshot prompts.

Thankfully, World Tour gives you a nice window to hit the prompt; meaning if you see red coming, hold the red button. Condemened 2 does not, it is one of the few games i encountered where you have hit the button at the exact moment you are prompted. You get at most 1 to 2 seconds to react but then the window closes.

When I play Resident Evil 4 on the Wii and get the prompt to press a button, I got five seconds at least to react and do what I'm told. Same goes or Guitar Hero: World Tour even with the hammeroffs and pulloffs, you can see the prompts coming and react accordingly.

I threw my controller many times when I was prompted to hit the correct button, I do so and the game still kills me because I was not fast enough. To make this shit even worse, instead of picking up where you left off, during the final battle with prompts, the damn game makes you do the entire fight sequence all over again until you get back to the prompts.

Fun left the building, took a plane to Lost island, and never came back after three days of trying to complete that insane part. No video game ending is worth this much of a fight, I don't care how bloody close I am to the end.

boredsilly

True, and most often these games are hard, but when you fuck up it feels like a mistake you've made, versus the game being designed in such a way that works against you. It's not a good example, because it's great, but in Geometry Wars 2 whenever I die it feels like it's my fault. So while the game gets really hard, really fast, it's always fun to come back and try again.

I'm in the midst of playing Lost Planet, and a few of the boss battles were really tough so far. I've had to try a few of them 10 or more times, but for some reason I never got frustrated.

But my answer definitely is I give up when it's not fun to try anymore. There is a good kind of frustration games can provide, and then there is the random battle from an RPG or rubber band AI frustration that I just have no time for these days.

Kelkee

I still cant beat Lou in Hard but the last time I tried I got farther than I had before. But after about 3-4 tries if I'm still getting cheap attacks I just quit. Its not worth the frustration.

With enough practice you'll beat it ... eventually.

slop101

I'll echo the "when it stops being fun" mantra. But it's different for each game - some games stop being fun after just 2 tries of the same obstacle, while others can take over 20 tries before you stop having fun.

starseed1981

Up until last year the answer would be never. I'm a total completion whore. If I pay for it, the thing is getting finished no matter what. I think the most brutal thing I ever went through was probably Manhunt (PS2). That last level where you are trying to infiltrate the mansion was painful, I actually only got inside thanks to a glitch in the game. I also remember Vagrant Story (PS) and Super Ghouls N' Ghosts (SNES) being brutal.

But late last year I realized that I wasn't really enjoying gaming anymore, so now I basically play for fun. I'm actually playing three games at the same time now (used to be one and done, one and done, etc).

jeffbase34

I am taking your new approach more now especially since I have Gamefly. Shift the focus more on having fun than beating the game. Besides with achievements, you could argue that you haven't truly beaten the game until you get all the achievements or beat the game on hard mode.

superfro

I give up all the time, but I also play a lot of crappy games. When it stops being fun, or the torture of continuing loses it's novelty, then I'm done.

xmiyux

I hardly ever finish a game.

When it gets the least bit not entertaining i scrap it.

Michael Corvin

I try and finish everything unless something is extremely frustrating. Even then it could just equate to one frustrating part in the game and be smooth sailing after you get past that rough patch.

That being said, I started Assassin's Creed a few weeks ago and played it pretty heavily for a few days and I cannot muster the energy to put it back in again. I'm also playing through COD:World at War(campaign) and it is mind-numbingly boring but for some reason I keep pushing onward. I can only handle 20-30 minute intervals of it which might be why I keep coming back.

lopper

I generally quit out of boredom rather than frustration. I'm definitely one of those people that prefers a good 8 hour game rather than a drawn-out 10-15 hour game (unless it's an RPG, of course).

Mikael79

When it first came out, I spent an ungodly amount of time on FFVII, and made the huge mistake of leaving Knights of the Round with Aerith (didn't read anything about her dying before it happened) and realized that it's pretty tough to beat Sephiroth without it.

My plan was to take a little break from it, and come back and beat it a week or two later. In the meantime, I lent my PS1 to my now ex-girlfriend's brothers, and they completely erased my memory card.

To this day, I cannot get the nerve to start that game all over again.

Lethal Nemesis

i sorta gave up on FFVIII. i hated the magic/junctioning system so much that i just tried to get through the game as fast as i could. unfortunately, by the time i got to the last boss, my party was so weak that i couldn't beat ultimecia, or whatever her name was. after a few weeks, i didn't care any more, so i borrowed a friend's gameshark, beat the game, and put it away forever.

starseed1981

Not to go off track or anything, but i'm pretty sure its impossible to have Knights of the Round Materia while Aerith is alive.