Do we need to finish games?

 I recently rediscovered the joys of Chuckie Egg, a game which I haven't played in at least 20 years. Now, apart from the realisation that i may be getting old, another thought struck me. I never completed Chuckie Egg. Oh sure, I played it for hours and hours with friends at school and clearly I enjoyed it for the memories to be so ingrained, but I never actually got to the end. Now, that is probably down to me being pretty naff at games at that age, but i think its more down to the fact I didn't play it to finish it. It was about the journey, not the destination. 

 Admittedly my ten year old self probably didn't have such lofty philosophies, but I never remember thinking I needed to get to the end on any of the games I played. Games like Flashback, Midwinter 2 and Stunt Car Racer could have ended in all manner of bizarre ways, I'll never know and frankly, have I lost out by not knowing? It could be argued Flashback needed to be finished to find out why his memory went and why he was being chased by those low polygon biker police dudes, but really.. does it matter? Midwinter 2 was a massive game at the time, and ill be honest with you, i have no idea how you would finish it, or indeed if it were possible, and why would you want to anyway, when there's mid-air vehicle swapping to look forward to (on a side note, am I the only one that thinks Just Cause 2 would make for a really cool Midwinter 2 game?). I think Stunt Car Racer was probably more than doable, its just one of those games that was more fun to play than to finish, and no, I never got to division 1, and yes, I am bitter.

 I find myself changing lately though, in the past year or so I have slowly given up my PC and forsaken it for the lure of the consoles, and with that switch comes the dreaded Achievement/Trophy. Now I find myself doing things I wouldn't have done two-three years ago, I feel dirty for it, but damn-it I need those Gamer Points, my friends are ahead of me and I need to catch up! If the leaderboard shows me in fourth place on a game, guess what i spend my night doing. If there's an achievement I haven't got that looks easy, I wont stop until I have it, even when it turns out it wasn't easy at all and in fact a pain the arse to achieve. The clearly inane achievements get loving too, I mean surely I need all those feathers or the designers wouldn't have put them in, right? And it goes without saying that the game isn't truly finished until Every..Single..Pigeon..Is..Dead.. 

Well, er, yeah so you see, this achievement based malarkey has had an affect on me, and I don't really care for it, but I cant help myself. I cant be the only one, surely there are others out there that were once like me, happy to just float along not knowing what happened when all five frogs made it across the road. No doubt all those people now sit there in badly lit living rooms, staring at the telly trying to get all those damn frogs across in less than two minutes. 

The way people play has changed a lot since they wrote those old games, in my opinion at least. People's need for instant gratification is partly to blame for this, but I think Achievements play a part to. I would like to pose a quick question for the multi-console owners out there. When a game comes out on both PS3 and 360, which one do you get it on? and do the Achievements have anything to do with it?

All this could just be a result of me being rubbish at games, but some of my finest moments have come from moments within the game itself, rather than the moment I complete it.

Now, if you don't mind, i have to go finish Chuckie Egg.    

 I recently rediscovered the joys of Chuckie Egg, a game which I haven't played in at least 20 years. Now, apart from the realisation that i may be getting old, another thought struck me. I never completed Chuckie Egg. Oh sure, I played it for hours and hours with friends at school and clearly I enjoyed it for the memories to be so ingrained, but I never actually got to the end. Now, that is probably down to me being pretty naff at games at that age, but i think its more down to the fact I didn't play it to finish it. It was about the journey, not the destination. 

 Admittedly my ten year old self probably didn't have such lofty philosophies, but I never remember thinking I needed to get to the end on any of the games I played. Games like Flashback, Midwinter 2 and Stunt Car Racer could have ended in all manner of bizarre ways, I'll never know and frankly, have I lost out by not knowing? It could be argued Flashback needed to be finished to find out why his memory went and why he was being chased by those low polygon biker police dudes, but really.. does it matter? Midwinter 2 was a massive game at the time, and ill be honest with you, i have no idea how you would finish it, or indeed if it were possible, and why would you want to anyway, when there's mid-air vehicle swapping to look forward to (on a side note, am I the only one that thinks Just Cause 2 would make for a really cool Midwinter 2 game?). I think Stunt Car Racer was probably more than doable, its just one of those games that was more fun to play than to finish, and no, I never got to division 1, and yes, I am bitter.

 I find myself changing lately though, in the past year or so I have slowly given up my PC and forsaken it for the lure of the consoles, and with that switch comes the dreaded Achievement/Trophy. Now I find myself doing things I wouldn't have done two-three years ago, I feel dirty for it, but damn-it I need those Gamer Points, my friends are ahead of me and I need to catch up! If the leaderboard shows me in fourth place on a game, guess what i spend my night doing. If there's an achievement I haven't got that looks easy, I wont stop until I have it, even when it turns out it wasn't easy at all and in fact a pain the arse to achieve. The clearly inane achievements get loving too, I mean surely I need all those feathers or the designers wouldn't have put them in, right? And it goes without saying that the game isn't truly finished until Every..Single..Pigeon..Is..Dead.. 

Well, er, yeah so you see, this achievement based malarkey has had an affect on me, and I don't really care for it, but I cant help myself. I cant be the only one, surely there are others out there that were once like me, happy to just float along not knowing what happened when all five frogs made it across the road. No doubt all those people now sit there in badly lit living rooms, staring at the telly trying to get all those damn frogs across in less than two minutes. 

The way people play has changed a lot since they wrote those old games, in my opinion at least. People's need for instant gratification is partly to blame for this, but I think Achievements play a part to. I would like to pose a quick question for the multi-console owners out there. When a game comes out on both PS3 and 360, which one do you get it on? and do the Achievements have anything to do with it?

All this could just be a result of me being rubbish at games, but some of my finest moments have come from moments within the game itself, rather than the moment I complete it.

Now, if you don't mind, i have to go finish Chuckie Egg.    

Hmmm, nowadays I feel that completing a game is finishing its single-player portion, playing a good amount of time on its multiplayer portion (if any) and getting around 2/3 of the achievements. The rest are usually those that would take up too much of my time, and end up reducing the fun I have with the game. I do also remember that when I was younger I couldn't finish a lot of my games, not because I lost interest or something, but because I just wasn't good enough at them.

Good Point. I think there are several things different. I use to get 1 game every 2/3months.Which meant that I spent a lot of time playing just 1 game. i now own so many games that I tend to jump from game to game without finishing any one of them.  Also i used to nothing else but go to school, eat, sleep and play games back in the day. Nowadays, I tend to fire up games that I can play in short bursts due to time-constraints.
 
Like I recently found out that although I own most every Final Fantasy out there (except 6,which ironically is the one I played the most back in the day) i haven't finished A SINGLE ONE since 7. Just because I have so much to do that I end up stopping halfway through. And since the story is important to me, i start over the next time I start playing. So I end up playing the start over and over again. 
 
So less time, more games is basically the formula. I find that I still only buy games that I like, but I now buy htem on the 360 instead of the pc because of points. it used to be vice verse since pc-games in general are cheaper. So achievements have ahd their sway on me, but I only buy games that interest me.  
 
Although I did buy Quantum of Solace for the PC the other day for points, but it was only 5 bones. But still.....

Im journey oriented and when the journey becomes a chore, I stop. I don't care how near the end I am. Quick note, devs, if you want me to never finish your game, make sure to put that mandatory fetch quest near the end to bolster total playtime even as it lowers your game's quality. As to your other point, I've never been compelled to do something I wouldn't normally think to do in order to get achievements. Occasionally I'll look through the list and see if anything sounds fun to do, but that's about it.

I tried to complete GTA SA and gave up on 92% into the whole game (yes, the WHOLE thing, not just the storyline).
I tried to go for 100% in GTA IV and its expansions EPLC as well. 
 
Games are not needed to be finished. They're meant for entertainment, not stress.

If I play a game, I HAVE to finish it. This does not mean completing it, or 100% it. I just have to beat the main story line. (because that is where the easiest points usually are =p )