What does "beating a game" mean to you?

[TSTR]

it's like, whatever you want it to be, man

[laurenhiya21]

Generally I just say I beat a game when I get to the credits or beat the last level (w/out cheating). I do generally try and get a normal ending or better (except when the bad ending is the good ending) but other than that I don't really impose any extra guidelines on what's beaten or not.

I haven't played any SHMUPs, but I probably would credit feed to start (if necessary) and if it was a bit easy then put on a limit or something, assuming I actually liked the game.

[Sarge]

I've been using save states quite a bit recently, but really only as a practice method. I often count it as "beaten" since I see the end credits, but I don't consider it legit. Y'all have already seen my pattern from there, I go for a legit run after I think I've got it down. Given that I have less free time than I'd like, save states are a godsend for practicing brutal sections of games. It compresses the learning curve. I mean, that's how I took out Battletoads, just lots of experimentation that would have taken me even longer had I not used them.

I'll also say that I have no problems with using save states as a replacement for passwords, or to save progress up to a point where you have zero difficulty getting to. Say, in TMNT on NES, it's trivial to reach the fourth area, and then you start getting whomped. I have no issue jumping forward to that stage and proceeding from there. I'll still usually try to put together a start-to-finish run, but I wouldn't say that run wasn't legit.

I very much like the "beaten, completed, mastered" nomenclature. Backloggery has a delineation between beaten and completed. Mastered is just one more on top, like a 1-life run in Contra.

EDIT: Oh, hey, forgot they have a "Master" status for completed games, too. It's a trifecta!

[Ack]

it's like, whatever you want it to be, man

I have the sudden urge to make a White Russian for you, TSTR.

[marurun]

Why isn't "pounding on the cartridge/disc with big sticks" an option for beating the game?

"Beating" the game suggests you defeated its challenge. There are additional challenges, like 1cc, but the fundamental challenge of a game is reaching the credits.

[Exhuminator]

Why isn't "pounding on the cartridge/disc with big sticks" an option for beating the game?

I appreciate the humor. But it isn't an option because I was hoping for serious discussion on this matter. (I have actually physically beaten games to death literally before though.)

Thus far it seems most of us have the same basic concept of what "beaten" means. I find this interesting.

[TSTR]

it's like, whatever you want it to be, man

I have the sudden urge to make a White Russian for you, TSTR.

ACC Basketball weekend round these parts. I'll have one today in The Dude's honor.

[Westane]

We have had this debate in many different threads over the years, and I hope that we can direct future debat here.

I have always used three categories to describe my gaming accomplishments:

Beat: (1) reaching the credits on any difficulty level using only the means made officially available by the game developers; (2) looping a game

Complete: doing and collecting every single thing you can possibly do in the game on the hardest difficulty possible and then reaching the credits

Master: Accomplishing some task in the game using a player-imposed limitation (i.e., reaching the credits without dying; looping a game on a single credit, etc.)

save states

But are save states actually cheating? Or are they merely using a form of time travel to make the experience more convenient?

It depends upon how you use them. If you use them to repeatedly continue right before the last boss, then it is cheating. (It is a great way to practice a dificult game, however!) If you use them to avoid having to write down a 40-character password or to continue from points where the game would otherwise let you continue, it is not, IMO, cheating.

This is basically how I feel 100%. If I see credits and I didn't cheat to get there, the game is beat. Also agree on Save States, which I had to use to finish Super Castlevania IV, but until I can do it on an SNES, I won't consider it beat...

[Nemoide]

I typically count beating a game as reaching the end credits without cheating. Using cheating *can* count in some situations. For instance after beating the first 90% of Mickey Mania multiple times I eventually just used the level select cheat to skip over all the stages I had previously beaten. TOTALLY COUNTS, IMO. On the other hand, I don't consider myself to have beaten Rhythm Heaven on the DS because the credits show up and say something to the effect of "YOU'RE NOT DONE YET: THERE ARE MORE SONGS TO PLAY" and IMO I won't beat the game until I've beat those songs!

Completing includes doing all the challenges the game sets out. USUALLY. In the PS1 version of Final Fantasy I they include a little "treasure tracker" that shows what treasures you could have gotten... I missed a chest in one dungeon. I DON'T CARE ABOUT EVERY SINGLE CHEST and it's not even like it's a significant item so I'm counting it as completed! IMO arcade style games like shoot-'em-ups aren't completed unless they're 1CC. In rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution I typically consider completion being getting an A or higher on every song on the hardest difficulty. (Yeah, getting a AAA on every song on every difficulty is PRETTY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE. F that.)

All these terms are kind of fuzzy though. I just count what counts for me! Getting upset over how other people define the games they've beaten/completed is kind of silly.

[mjmjr25]

All of these poll options and you left out the one option most discussed and polarizing in the other thread, "On one credit".

All of these other options after the first are what would be generally be called: "mastering", "no hit / no miss", "100 percenting".

Didn't vote as I don't agree with any of the options for most of my gaming and as dsh already said, it's going to be genre specific.