FINALLY! Some time for gaming

[Niode]

i have a similar problem but not with RPGs or adventure games, its skate! ive had skate for at least 6 months and have not gotten past the god damn Mega Ramp challenges!!! every time i get inspired to play it, i do and fail horribly! get frustrated and put it back on my shelf for a month.

Loved that game. Played it non-stop from start to finish (I 100% it apart from one stupid achievement on the 360 that requires you to get 50 video ratings or something stupid). Still crack it out and play it for fun. It's just cool cruising around doing tricks making up lines. Can't wait for Skate 2!!

[Hatta]

I forgot to mention I'm also in the middle of Starfleet Academy for the PC, and Jet Set Radio for the Dreamcast.

It's not just remembering where you are in games that's the problem, remembering that you were playing them at all can be hard enough.

[Ack]

I know how you feel, and the way things are going with Christmas, I may not even get to play much over the next few weeks. Still, made good headway into Gungrave and Carrier today, so I don't feel too bad.

[dsheinem]

I know how you feel, and the way things are going with Christmas, I may not even get to play much over the next few weeks. Still, made good headway into Gungrave and Carrier today, so I don't feel too bad.

Gungrave is lots of fun - the sequel is sitting on my shelf but I wanted to watch the short amine series between games first - but since I don't generally like anime - we'll see...when I get to it.

Starting tomorrow I have about a month of free time - hopefully a good chunk will be gaming related.

[cloudrat7]

Man, same thing happened to me when i played Panzer dragoon rpg and put it off for a few months..and also lunar for the psp, i didnt play for a few months and when i went back to play lunar i was stumped and gave up. totally wrecked my mojo..lol

[glynnahab]

Time for gaming?

I wish. I too have had to limit the number of games I take on at once due to an overly active social/family/work life. Getting married takes work (12 days left... and we're sweating it now... so many things to do). Then, after that, I've also gone from being a non-working musician to playing in two new bands. Factor all that in with a 50 hour work week and you get dusty consoles and a lot of unopened/barely-played games. Not to mention the time I waste online talking about games.

Right now, for me, it's Bully (Wii), Secret of Mana (VC), and Mario Kart 64. (I've been playing the last one with my son, and I really can't wait until he gets to open his Mario Kart DS present for Christmas. Mario Kart 64 isn't nearly the fun it was in the 90's. In fact, it actually kinda sucks.)

[Scooter]

I got stuck in Beyond Good and Evil, not sure if I'm going to bother finishing that one. It's awfully 'meh', IMO.

Oh, you have GOT to find a way to motivate yourself to continue. You absolutely CANNOT consider yourself a gamer unless you've cleared that boss level in which all the controls are reversed!

And I just bought two more games I don't know when I'll have time to play: Haunting Ground (PS2) and Perfect Dark (N64).

In the past year I've played the following games and have yet to finish them:

-Silent Hill: The Room: on the final boss level.
-Simpsons Game: About 3/4 of the way through. Love the story and the environment, the game play isn't entirely engrossing.
-Tomb Raider Anniversary: stuck on a boss level about half way through the game.
-Sega Rally Revo: Got about as far as my skills will let me.
-Re-Volt: Got about as far as my skills will let me.
-Prince of Persia games: I'm about half way through the most recent two PS2 games.
-Syphon Filter Omega Strain: never really could get started.
-Indigo Prophecy: just can't bring myself to play it more, don't really like the controls.
-Parasite Eve II: got stuck fighting a big boss with hardly any health and my earlier saves won't work. I'd have to start all over.
-Medievil II: stuck on a timed boss level.
-Death Jr.: stuck on a tough level.
-Metal Gear Solid ???: I can't even remember which one I got stuck on, I have a couple more PS2 games to finish.
-Destroy All Humans 2: just lost interest.

There are many, many more. Heck, I've got Genesis games I stared back in the day and have yet to finish. But I just keep buying more and more. The collecting seems stronger anymore than the playing! Wish it was the other way around. I don't think I ever did finish FFVII and there's no way I'm starting it over! Same with Shining in the Darkness.

I won't even get into the games I own that I've never really tried to even get STARTED in. I probably own around 300 games, who could play them all?!?

This year I did finally finish Panzer Dragoon Saga. I had started it years ago when the Saturn was newish. Recently when I went back to start it up again I found my game saves had been corrupted so I started all over. It took a few months but I actually played all the way through relatively quickly for me.

[MrPopo]

My problem is that now that I have a job I can afford to buy more games than I used to. In the past year I've picked up a total of 11 consoles, plus at least a few games for each. Way too much for me to get through, especially with my WoW addiciton kicking back in. At least the old consoles aren't getting much in the way of new releases, so I should be able to eventually finish those.

[blue_veilvet]

Recently when I went back to start it up again I found my game saves had been corrupted so I started all over.

I hate stuff like that. I had to restart Yoshi's Island and Illusion of Time because my savegames vanished. And I think it also happened to my Phantasy Star savegames. But at least it gives you the motivation to play it though at once

Wow, 40 is a bit much.

*cough* I struggle with 55 unfinished games at the moment. There was a time when I too had problems finding my way back into games, but this was mostly with older RPG. Since I began to heavily collect games in fall 2007, I have less problems with that. I usually test new games for a while and then only pick them up again when I have the time to really play them. In modern RPGs it is even possible to let them rest for a good amount of time, in Dragon Quest 8 for example I can always ask the other party members what was going on and what I have to do next.

And regarding the story it is enough for me if I remember roughly what happened. I really take it into account that I miss or forget some details. I don't think it takes away much of the pleasure if the atmosphere and the gameplay is right. And after playing so many RPGs, there is not really so much to get excited about with the storyline. At the moment I share a savegame for Tales of Symphonia with my girlfriend. The story is something about two worlds and a Mana tree and an Evil Goddess and awakening some summon spirits, nothing new really, and so I don't mind if she plays along while I study. I ask her sometimes what happened in the game and join in occasionally, and that's enough for me.

If you have so many games collected with hundreds over hundreds hours of gameplay I guess some story details or some hours played by someone else while you barely pay attention do not really matter.

I think it would be a good idea to note down where you are if you leave the game for a while in the shelf. I did that with Battle of Olympus. I noted down the passwords and clues that I got so far, so I can go on easily when I pick it up again. Because it is really annoying if you have to add even more hours of gameplay because you run around aimlessly and try to find out where you left off exaclty.

By the way, a friend of mine and me did a comic about this problem a while ago, hope it reminds some of your experiences.

[Ack]

Honestly, I've probably got close to 50 that I haven't beaten. In some cases, I just can't get into them no matter how much I try, such as Killer 7. Many of them are fighting games which I likely will never "beat," as there isn't much point(Ultraman for the SNES anyone?). Others are RPGs that I just don't have time for anymore.

Of course every now and again I get the urge and play another one, usually to completion, but sometimes it just can't hold my interest, or I'll run out of that precious free time before I'm done. At the same time, some of my games feel like an arcade game...I see how long I'll last on "one quarter" and that's that. A quick and fun experience, and it doesn't matter that I haven't beaten the game. I've spent time with it and enjoyed it.