Finishing New Games

[Doomsday519]

I find myself getting into a bad habit of playing newly released games but not finishing them. Worse, the fact that I will be close to the end of whatever campaign or story and just...stop. And it's not like I hate the games, I truly enjoy them. It's like a switch in my head that flips off after a while then I find myself retro gaming for a while til I buy a new game and continue the weird cycle. This year alone I haven't finished a playthrough of WWE 2K25 MyRise & the Bloodline story, Pirate Yakuza I abruptly stopped, Hell is Us I made a considerable amount of progress solving the mysteries & puzzles and weirdly enough it's been over a month and still know where I need to go next but haven't picked it back up. And currently playing Ghost of Yōtei which I find myself taking a break from despite really loving the game from the story to the gameplay. Not a single year that I can say was a "bad year" for gaming for me but I am seeing myself doing this more often.

In between all of that as I stated before, I go back to retro gaming as a comfort til I find another new game to play. I don't know why I do it but I do it. Is it an attention span thing? Is it some weird form of procrastination? Is it a need for not wanting "the story" to end? Or a combo of all of that? idk. I think the only solace I have with it is that again, I really enjoy these games anyway and I have the feeling I'm not the only one with this type of pattern/habit. I know there's more folks like me out there so maybe it's a sign of the times? Again, idk.

Anyway, thru all of this my goofy a$$ wants to buy the new Digimon game. I need some help

 

[χKai]

Tch, just part of getting old.
I couldn't tell you how many times I tried to go back and beat Crystalis again, but I guess I just don't have the patience or energy of my 12-year-old self.

 

[Vexicrypt]

Is it an attention span thing? Is it some weird form of procrastination? Is it a need for not wanting "the story" to end? Or a combo of all of that?

You are the only one who can answer all those questions for yourself. Think about how you feel about certain games and why they made you feel that way? What aspects made you stop playing, were there any reasons outside of the games themselves. Things like that.

Honestly, Yakuza games became so bloated with random mechanics and overall content that I can't even imagine someone finishing any of them. Same with Yotei, its just another open world to get burned out of. Modern games suffer from overcomplication, but still managing to stay primitive and shallow in their core somehow. Someone just desided that every single game needs RPG elements because people love loot rarity and stats, I guess. Sure, we had better attention span back in the day and more free time, but the games were also simpler. They didn't feel like a big commitment you have to stick with, to see it to the end. So what I'm trying to say is don't worry if you stop playing games without seeing the end credits. Who cares? Its not rocket science, nobody's life depends on it. Sometimes the best solution is just to let things happen. If you get tired of a game (or games in general) don't force it and do something else. And if I sound like a guy who touches grass and lives in the real world -- no, far from it. Videogames were my passion for as long as I remember myself, and thats the thing, you can burn out of literally anything, not matter how much you loved it. If money is not the problem here, enjoy it for as long as your brain lets you and move on when you lose interest.

 

[Advil Lavs]

I do this with all kinds of games, not just new ones. Mayne you've gotten stuck somewhere or not enjoyed it as much as you did in the start or some other game is more interesting than the one you're currently playing.
If you are having a good time then it's not that bad, if you're actually interested in the story of the game you dropped a little before the end, clear some time in the weekend and try to finish it.

 

[King Torro]

Is it a need for not wanting "the story" to end?

This is a big one for me, especially with games I'm thoroughly enjoying and to which I've gotten accustomed to. Mostly longer RPGs. When I finish a game that I'm enjoying extensively, it's done and it feels kind of bittersweet in a way. Happy and glad I experienced something really good, but also a bit blue that there isn't any more of the game's world / story interactions to experience.

I noticed this with a recently released major RPG that I enjoyed extensively, I slowed my gameplay down when I noticed the game started winding down and I then went to clean out sidequests and postponing story quests. Which has in the past knocked me out of a momentum for a game so I then had to halfway force myself to go and finish it and in the end, I was sad but satisfied.

Happens to me with more than just new games, but if I'm playing an older game there quite often is sequels to jump to.

 

[iamthemilkman]

This is my problem. I'll get a new game in the mail, play it for a little bit, then another game comes in the mail and the cycle repeats. And then sometimes I'll start a new game but I go back to playing old games.

 

[NOTthatHARD]

Modern games are too long, the gameplay is often overcomplicated and unrewarding and the stories and characters are so "dark and edgy" that we know the ending is not going to be worth watching; Also, most modern games show you everything you need to know about the gameplay in the first 2 hours, and the rest of the running time is just a repetition of those same 2 hours for the next 100 hours or more.

 

[Doomsday519]

Tch, just part of getting old.
I couldn't tell you how many times I tried to go back and beat Crystalis again, but I guess I just don't have the patience or energy of my 12-year-old self.

I 100% feel this at 34. I find myself still enjoying my time playing these games but no longer have the time, patience, and dexterity to "push thru".

Post automatically merged: Tuesday at 9:08 PM

If money is not the problem here, enjoy it for as long as your brain lets you and move on when you lose interest.

That's the attitude I try to have. My thing is I do not regret these purchases at all. Matter of fact I look at every game I haven't finished fondly. It's just that moving on thing I need to get down pat cuz I know if I can move on I can actually "go back" eventually which I have before.

 

[VampireFreak]

Depends on the game. My preferred genre is RPG, and I usually get invested in the story. That gives me an incentive to see the whole thing unfold to the end.

If some reason the story fumbles and trips on a banana well... I don't feel so sorry for not completing it.

 

[trickybus]

The way I see it, a game is "done" when I'm done playing it. I think finishing games is a bit over-valued especially for the ones that can easily take over 80 hours to complete.

I went through what you described with Hades. Loved the game, the story, the characters, everything but after I got to a certain point in the story, all my interest in continuing vanished. I thought about going back and finishing the game one day but decided against it. I've had my fill. I'd rather experience new games than devote too much time to a single, overly long experience.

 

[Doomsday519]

The way I see it, a game is "done" when I'm done playing it. I think finishing games is a bit over-valued especially for the ones that can easily take over 80 hours to complete.

I went through what you described with Hades. Loved the game, the story, the characters, everything but after I got to a certain point in the story, all my interest in continuing vanished. I thought about going back and finishing the game one day but decided against it. I've had my fill. I'd rather experience new games than devote too much time to a single, overly long experience.

I feel you on Hades. I actually finished the story of that game but for me it 100% required me to stop playing, going to play something else, then coming back to it. Other games it happened to me with that I eventually finished were Disco Elysium & the first Death Stranding.