Biggest time sinks

[Erik_Twice]

There are cool games, there are games with replay value. And then there are time sinks, games that you play again and again for years without getting bored. This is a thread about those games that ask you for one more turn and you can't say no, about those games that look "normal" to everybody else but to you are more fullfilling that one hundred Halos and Final Fantasys.

So, what are your personal videogame timesinks?

I think my biggest time sink is OpenTTD and Transport Tycoon in general. I have sinked thousand of hours in that game and I never get bored. I'm trying to build a network that spans the whole Europe map, yes that one that is so incredibly big. When I'm finished I will be officialy awesome.

Yes, Phantasy Star Online counts. For some reason I think it's more time sink than other MMORPG.

[Yukima]

Pokemon.

Pokemon Gold and Silver / HeartGold and SoulSilver to be exact. I'm not one of those hardcore competitive battlers, but I like replaying the story a lot, and imagine in my head how the story plays out for my character (Johto is my favorite region, with awesome music!). And it's always cool to have a Lv.100 Typhlosion that can waste everything!

There are also a few RPGs I love replaying at least once every summer/winter vacation - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (so I can listen to the music, and so I can play an easy RPG without worrying if I'd leveled up enough!) and Sailor Moon: Another Story because of how awesome it is.

[Limewater]

I think my biggest time sink is OpenTTD and Transport Tycoon in general. I have sinked thousand of hours in that game and I never get bored. I'm trying to build a network that spans the whole Europe map, yes that one that is so incredibly big. When I'm finished I will be officialy awesome.

When I think of time sinks, I think of games like Travian or other dumb browser-based games, where you play compulsively but hate yourself for it, and regret ever starting.

But I also played the heck out of Transport Tycoon, though not the Deluxe version. My brother and I got it for $5 at a Best Buy sometime in the mid-nineties, and we played the heck out of that game. I didn't even know that OpenTTD existed. We haven't been able to play it in a long time since it didn't work with XP.

Thanks!

[Luke]

Ninja Gaiden NES. It never gets boring. Same for Yar's Revenge.

[fingersmaloy]

Not sure if I've had enough time with this for it to count yet, but the other day I played through Bulk Slash on the Saturn three times, basically in a row. Never got old. I could probably play through Shadow of the Colossus any number of times and never get tired of it too. One of the few games I've cleared in one sitting. And then done it again (Bulk Slash being another one).

[jrod1986]

Harvest Moon, it's pretty awful that way.

[Gnashvar]

I agree with Harvest Moon it's madness but addictive, I also spent endless hours trying to finish as many quests as possible in Morrowind.

[fastbilly1]

Ive got a few:
- Harvest Moon - namely 64 but Rune Factory is growing since it is Zelda+Harvest Moon.
- Pokemon Red/Blue and Gold/Silver - I have given up on learning about the other 200+ pokemon but the first two games can suck my life away.
- Civilization 2 - I can still sit down and play that game for six or seven hours without noticing and Ive been playing it almost since release.
- Half-Life Deathmatch/TFC & UT99/2k4 - Even with just bots I find myself popping a few hours into these games like they were nothing.

Out of all of them, it is a toss up between Civ2 and TFC for which one has taken away more of my life. There were times in highschool and college when I would play TFC until the wee hours then pop into Civ2 for a bit, then bed.

[Limewater]

Oh yeah, nethack. It is very easy to lose a lot of your life to that game.

And, really, I can get lost in any half-way decent open-ended sim for a really long time. Though, I really start to feel bad if I spend too much time playing games.

[Incognito D]

- Civilization 2 - I can still sit down and play that game for six or seven hours without noticing and Ive been playing it almost since release.

This, and for me, football management sims - I think I've burnt myself out on them though, I can't seem to play them anymore.