At what point do you give up on a game?

[Anapan]

I pick up and drop games all the time. If I'm having fun and gradually start having too much difficulty, I'll grind the levels for a while and keep coming back to it. If it ramps up too fast, I'll drop it if my dexterity reaches it's limit too rapidly to luck out on levels. My latience runs low after 10 or so tries without even seeing the boss. If it's only one unbalanced level I decide I can't deal with, I cheat.
I always make the change very light and limit it to 2 a game. There are many ways, but since I mostly play on consoles I usually hex edit a savegame to make the smallest change which won't affect the game's mechanics.
But yeah, if it's no longer fun I usually just drop the game and start another from my backlog.
RPGs are tough for me due to limited time, they're so addictive because they can turn from grinding to mechanics mastery in a snap if they're made right and you learn their tricks. If I screw up and forget to multi-save regularly backing myself into an unwinable battle (requiring more than 4 hours of repitition) I have a tough decision to make and lately it has been to just drop the game.
I really miss my youth when I mastered a bunch of really unforgiving and crappy games because my selection was so limited. The only eason I did it was because I had no idea the game was crap.

That'd be a good topic! "Which universally panned games have you spent over 30 hours playing or beaten because you didn't know any better"

[Forlorn Drifter]

I try not to give up, but I will if it is a really crappy game. I also give up on certain portions of a game if they aren't fun. No collectibles unless they are really easy, or I really love the game and I'm trophy whoring.

I do have problems when I marathon a series though. I recently ran through the Mass Effect trilogy, and sinking that many hours into such similar experiences with no breaks doesn't work for me most of the time. I was really dragging on ME3. On the other hand, it depends on genre. Beat 'em ups and brawlers or whatever the hell you call the 3D equivalent I can play forever without getting bored.

[the7k]

When the game is no longer compelling.

Some games just drag on for far too long and wear out their charm. Sometimes that's 20 hours into the game... sometimes that's 20 minutes into the game.

When a game becomes more work than a game and you get no benefit out of it, it's time to call it quits. Hell, that's probably true for all things.

[JohnnyBgood]

When I'm condisering I spent too much time playing on it. Usually, it's just before going to sleep on Sundays

[Sano]

I recall giving up on Elder Scrolls Oblivion out of pure boredom

I gave up on Zelda: Wind Waker at Ganon because I could never beat him

I gave up on the HL2 series of games because I just quit caring.

I gave up on the final mission on GTAIV because I could never get the final kill.

Don't want to say I've given up on Skyrim just yet, as I haven't given it a fair shot.

[Luke]

I give up on a game when it's like a bad relationship. May have been fun at first, but the magic isn't there anymore. I'm frustrated, angry when I shouldn't be, and want to easily walk away.

But I can't walk away, so as a protagonist in a Tyler Perry movie I won't give up. I am a strong black woman and I will not give up on beating any game, even Bayou Billy.

Never give up. Never surrender.

[Ziggy]

Most of the games I play now you always have to start from the beginning. So I just start playing and after about 30 minutes or an hour I am done. I played Castlevania Adventure Rebirth yesterday, got to stage 4 and just got tired so I turned it off. I almost never play any thing that ''saves'' anymore. I just wish I could sit for a longer time and beat some games.

Adventure ReBirth doesn't save, but there's a level select that easy to access. On the main menu, highlight "Game Start" and then hold right on the D-pad.

[wclem]

When I play a game and it becomes more watching than playing I tend to lose interest. I feel no compulsion to play a game overloaded with cut scenes or stupid, over engineered mechanics. The battle system in an RPG should be nothing more than attack/magic/item/defend. I hate when I have to hit the button, then navigate a menu, hit button, more moving around in a menu and on, and on. More than one sub menu is too much time being consumed on not playing.

[PinkPanzer]

Usually when I just lose interest in a game. I abandoned Legend of Legaia after 3 hours, Final Fantasy XIII after 30 hours and Banjo Kazooie when I got to its Ice World.

[laurenhiya21]

If I start dreading about having to play a certain game again, then that's usually when I'll drop it. I play games to have fun so if I'm not having fun anymore, why bother?

Sometimes I do keep playing longer than I really should though ><; Some games I'm just more stubborn about quitting I guess.