Sub-Zero

What video games did you make "significant progress" in, at least 75% completed, and then, for whatever reason, just stopped playing it?

During the Nintendo 64 days, I was probably 80-90% finished with Banjo-Kazooie and then for some reason just stopped playing it.

The Questyen

Back in my younger days all the time. I've played through a ton of FFVII at least twice in the few years after it came out and I've still never went back and finished it.

OldBoy

I, to this day, have never finished the original Super Mario Bros. on NES. Made it to last castle and never finished. Didn't bother to find a cheat...

Michael Corvin

My most notorious was Metroid: Prime on the Gamecube. Got damn far into the game and got stuck on a boss battle for a couple of weeks. I got my money's worth by that point so I walked away.

Fast forward a number of years and I grab the Wii remaster and decide to give it a go. Got back to that same boss and kicked it's ass in a couple of tries. The pointing mechanic must have helped. Anyway, that boss? The final one.

Then in the NES days, fucking Ninja Gaiden. Kicking you back three levels when you lose to the final boss was such bullshit game design. Never did finish that damn game.

MrX

Fallout:New Vegas

david12

Mario 3.

Mario 1 was doable. Mario 2 was the best challenge in games.. 3 was a true game.

Maybe I was never looking for the real meat when I was ten.

Nintendo 1 surely was a grind.

Can't wait to get my hands on the new Nintendo Classic. Hoping that My friends cream cheese bagels that led them to finish Metrioid n kid Icarus might be the trick. God willing.

Obi-Wanma

Final Fantasy 8. Twice.

Dan

Recently, I got all the way to the last level in Startropics for NES, but I just can't be bothered to finish it now. I was digging the atmosphere for the majority of the game, but it takes a big 180 right near the end. If it wasn't so damn hard, I'd probably try to finish it off, but for now, I can't do it.

PerryD

I think it was the first Jak and Daxter, towards the end of the game you had to run along some spinning gears or something, and after a few tries, I just gave up. Ico was another game that I was just loving then got stuck halfway having to so something on a windmill and I quit playing.

Adam Tyner

I got to the final stage of the final boss in Beyond Good and Evil on the original Xbox, and the reversed controls were too much for me to handle. I never did finish the game on that system. I wouldn't say it was a breeze when I replayed it this summer on the Xbox One, but it still only took a few tries for me to finally, properly finish the game. (I swear that death made me go all the way back to the flying portion on the original Xbox, while there's a boss battle checkpoint on BG&E HD, but I might be misremembering.)

Somewhat similarly, the grueling jumps at the very end of Rayman Origins drove me nuts. I did eventually go back and finish it a year later, but I shudder to think how many attempts that required.

I got really frustrated during one jump on Rambi in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Died over and over and over and over and over and over. I didn't pick up the game for a year after that, but once I did, I made the jump my first try.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Man I do this all the time. Mad Max, Witcher 3, Fallout 4... Whatever the new Batman game was. I am a serial non-finisher of games. I guess if I never beat em I feel that 60 bucks a pop is still worth it cause I can always go back and finish em...but I never do.

Maxflier

Red Dead Redemption and Demon's Souls are the most notable that spring to mind, but there has been many over the years.

majorjoe23

I took like 5 years off from Super Mario Galaxy 2 when my daughter was born. I finally beat it a few months back.

mewmartigan

Final Fantasy X. I put in 85 hours or so, got to near the final boss but managed to save at a point where I couldn't return to the world state and level up some more. I ended up watching the ending on youtube.

This may have also been the game that taught me in RPGs to create several saves and just move between them so I always had a semi-recent backup.

Music

This is true for me as well, it is rare that I "finish" a game.

joeblow69

System Shock 2 ... I got all the way to the near the end, where you get onto the smaller ship, then quit.

Then years later, when they came out with the version that runs on win10 with better graphics ... I got all the way to the same spot, and then quit

Gideon68

Wild Arms 2 - I think I was trying to get all the "Magic Tiles" before finishing up the game and just got tired and stopped.

fumanstan

I feel like i've done this with a lot of games over the years too. There's probably a few Final Fantasy games in there that I got far in and never finished, as with other really long RPGs.

Recently, Bloodborne is probably the newest game that I spent a lot of time on and realized I wasn't having any fun and hated the experience.

Mike86

I'm guilty of doing this quite a bit. There are points in games where I get stuck and then quit out of frustration and then just never go back. A game has to be really engrossing to me or I'll quit. I've never been the most hardcore gamer though (especially with the more modern stuff that can consume more time).

starseed1981

The most recent examples I can think of are The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and MGS V. With the Witcher it just started to feel like a chore about 2/3rds through. According to guides I'm about 95% through the main story but I just couldnt take it anymore. And with MGS V I didn't feel the need to redo harder versions of missions to get the true ending in chapter 3. I just YouTube'd it.

DRG

Every Assassin's Creed game I've played. I always enjoy messing about for awhile, then always hit a point where I just become instantly bored of it. I think the problem is I like wandering around the cities and parkouring for awhile, but the overall story structure with the Animus just turns me off. It prevents me from getting invested in the story/overall goal, so my interest fizzles once I eventually get bored of wandering around cities that all sort of look the same.

bunkaroo

I've tried on a number of occasions to finish Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for PS3 since I'm pretty far in but I just don't care anymore. I'm over hack and slash for the most part.

covenant

All the Fallouts. Elder Scrolls I always finish and keep playing for ever.

story

I could tell the exact same story, Michael!

The other game that springs to mind for me is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I reached a point where I needed to go around the ocean in that lion boat and find a bunch of pieces of Triforce. I hated going all over in that stupid boat. Found one or two, took forever. I said nope, I'm done. I've played through to that point at least twice and let it go.

I remember being the Technodrome and getting good inside to the last (next to last?) level of TMNT for the NES exactly twice. Ever. That was it. I don't even recall watching the ending on YouTube. Whatever, good riddance.

Some games, I've only done the multi-player, like Battlefield 4. I'm sure the single player is fine, but it's not important to me.

Adam Tyner

They thankfully fixed that on the Wii U remaster -- the navigation and what all you need to find.