How do you finish games?

As one who owns a computer and knows what Steam is, I have a massive collection of steam games that are in some state between never installed and probably mostly finished with a few that I would even consider actually done. Typically, I just migrate from one game to the next, rarely actually putting in enough time to really finish games. The long and short of it is that I just jump from game to game or play a lot of multiplayer games so I usually just jump to the next game when its cheap or brighter and shinier.

How do you finish games? Do you march down the checklist and no game is finished until you have seen and done everything? Is a quick trip through the story enough? What makes you lose interest or just plain give up? Also, is the completionist mentality (that I once was apart of) a dying minority or still going strong in its own niche?

For me it depends on the game (and achievements). Most of the time I will try to do as much as I can in the game unless it is really just boring the crap out of me.

As for what to play I just kinda stare at my list until I see something I really wanna play at the time and go with it. I have left a few games unfinished, but only because I would get bored and go do something else.

As for the Completionist Mentality I think it has just become less severe. I would say I fall into that category... I did S-rank Deadly Premonition...

I try to limit myself to one or two games at a time. Otherwise I just get discouraged and don't finish any of them.

@RawknRo11a: Pretty much the same for me. When I start a game unless it's terrible or just not clicking with me, I finish the main quest or equivalent of before I count it as finished. Sometimes if I really enjoy the game and the achievements aren't grind-y or require me to play MP that I don't want to play or something along those lines, I will finish all the achievements. I also try to finish one game before starting a new one, otherwise I usually stagnate on one game and never finish it. As for picking which game I start next, I look at my games and whatever game grabs my fancy, I play. Easy.

Uninstall all your games side for the ones you want to finish. Take a break and come back when you really want to play a game, any game really. You'll look at your currently installed games and force yourself to play them because you don't want to bother re-installing all your other games.

I keep playing a game as long as i enjoy it. Once the enjoyment fades i stop. I'd say the enjoyment probably fades more or less 50% of the time before i finish the game.

I finish games the hard way, I will play at it, then play other games then come back then leave then come back.............. it's stupid! I don't do this all the time but I do it alot. I must admit that there are some games that catch me by the balls and I finish it seemingly too quickly, like Silent Hill Downpour and Lollipop Chainsaw, I was hooked, but right now I have about 150 games stewing on my backlog, I played at every single one of them but I have yet to go back.

So short answer, I dunno how I beat games, luck I guess.

@graf1k said:

@RawknRo11a: Pretty much the same for me. When I start a game unless it's terrible or just not clicking with me, I finish the main quest or equivalent of before I count it as finished. Sometimes if I really enjoy the game and the achievements aren't grind-y or require me to play MP that I don't want to play or something along those lines, I will finish all the achievements. I also try to finish one game before starting a new one, otherwise I usually stagnate on one game and never finish it. As for picking which game I start next, I look at my games and whatever game grabs my fancy, I play. Easy.

Not to sound too Bond Villain-ilke, but "we're a lot alike you and I"

i just try to finish the games. sometimes i'll come back to games that i never get to finish. sometimes i'll make myself play a game and then get into it.

I mostly play Call of Duty and sports games so there isn't really any "finishing".

I typically marathon games; 6 to 10 hours a day till they are either done or I don't have days available anymore. If they get put down for two or three days in a row then it is very unlikely I will finish them. Sometimes I will decide that I'm in the middle of too many games that I want to finish and force a deadline. Commit to completing X number of games from the list by the end of every two months and the games will start to get finished.

@MrSlapHappy said:

As one who owns a computer and knows what Steam is, I have a massive collection of steam games that are in some state between never installed and probably mostly finished with a few that I would even consider actually done. Typically, I just migrate from one game to the next, rarely actually putting in enough time to really finish games. The long and short of it is that I just jump from game to game or play a lot of multiplayer games so I usually just jump to the next game when its cheap or brighter and shinier.

How do you finish games? Do you march down the checklist and no game is finished until you have seen and done everything? Is a quick trip through the story enough? What makes you lose interest or just plain give up? Also, is the completionist mentality (that I once was apart of) a dying minority or still going strong in its own niche?

I don't move on from a game until I'm done with it (well ~80% of the time I do). Because I know if I do I won't come back. Usually I play well past the main quest until I stop having fun. That being said if it's easy to do or I really like the game I attempt to S-rank it. That hasn't really changed as that's what I've always done.

I would say completionists are rarer than used to be, because it's hard to maintain that drive to S-rank when you have a stack of unplayed games and well it's easy today to attain a lot of games inexpensively.

I know my pile of shame is huge. And I do have to ask myself sometimes if I should move on from titles more quickly than I do.

Completionist mentality going strong here, I try to play one game at a time and don't move on from it until everything is 100% done.

If I'm bored and don't like a game then 100% of the achievements equates to a completion for me, if I'm enjoying myself then it's once I've seen/done/collected everything the game has to offer.

It can be rather trying to strive for the S-Rank sometimes, especially when I have a stack of games waiting to be played, but I know if I move on I'll never come back to complete it. I like to browse my games and achievements from time to time and seeing some uncompleted games that I just couldn't stick with really bug me. Only time I'll move on is when there is some huge grind (Gears of War, Far Cry2, FEAR 2, Bad Company) but I make sure I slowly work on that, maybe for a few days in between starting new games every time until I get there. Speaking of, I'm so close to finally finishing off Bad Company, closing in on Far Cry 2 too.

I don't. It's a bad habit of mine. I play a lot of different games, but rarely finish any of them. The last game I finished was MGS:2 HD (for the umpteenth time) last summer.

i've never been a completionist, not finishing a game doesn't bother me, if I'm not "in" after a few hours of play I'll probably move on to something else.

if i am "in" however, i will play it to death, but i would never look up achievements or try to s-rank it, i've never s-ranked a game, because for me it's purely about that feeling of being lost in the experience, it's a roleplay thing i guess, nothing to do with beating the game.

Depends on the game, but in most games I wanna see the ending. I'm not a S-Rank-Guy, but when a game grips me, I play it sometimes just for achievements, like Saboteur for example.

I play till I get bored.

Usually that means getting about 90% through it.

I actually had this phase where I would start a game, find something I didn't like about it, and then never finish it because I was intimidated. It's only been recently that I have actually had the balls to come out of my comfort zone and started experimenting with different games, and attempting to play triple A titles.

It's all about self discipline for me, and just playing one game at a time. I do enjoy the games, but sometimes there are just annoying parts in games which make you want to slam the controller down and forget about it.

one leg at a time, just like anyone else.

For most games once I see the credits roll, It's finished.

But there are many many games in my list that are only half complete since I got bored and moved on, And there are also a handful where I have seen everything and done everything. So yeah... Lets just say I play games.

I only play one story based game at a time, and usually have one multiplayer game on the side. I just finished Sleeping Dogs yesterday by playing 1-2 hours each day until it was done. It's the formula I tend to follow. I rarely marathon anything.

I'm no completionist so that helps finishing games. I usually never find that extra fluff rewarding or fun in any way.

I finish games with a controller.

I have actually finished 80-90% of all my games. I don't like to not finish something I have started and bought for that sake. I also only play one, max two, games at a time and that makes it easier to finish something. Plus I don't care about getting everything in a game, cause I actually like to have fun when playing games. I know it's crazy.

I tend to work 2-3 games at a time excluding MOBA focusing on one that really hooked me the first few minutes. I beat games every time even when it's not so good like F.E.A.R. 3 just because I finished the first two. The longest that I've hold a game to complete was King's Bounty: The Legend which took me a year to get around and finish. Suffice to say I think I have much more free time than most of you but it's still not enough.

Depends. If the game doesn't have multiplayer achievements, I'll usually try to S-rank it as long as it holds my attention. Usually other games make me forget about my tries to S-rank. I was half-way through Spec Ops: The Line on FUBAR (props for no mp-achievements, also FUBAR is really Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition), when Max Payne 3 arrived in my mailbox. Holy shit how awesome that game is. Unfortunately, MP3 has ridiculous multiplayer achievements (typical of R*) so no S-rank, finished it on Old School though. So I'm gonna go back to Spec Ops. Off-topic rant end.

Usually for me I'll play through the campaign on normal, then see if there are any achievements that look easy to pick up.

I tend to bounce around to a lot of games as well though. Sometimes I just decide that I'll focus on one game at a time, and that's when I usually make some progress in my backlog. but it's easy to lose focus.

I basically can't finish games. I am literally an hour from the ending of Red Dead Redemption. No desire to play it. Even with games I enjoy a lot, I can't seem to finish. I have probably played about 10 or so different games in 2012, and I don't think I finished a single one. I guess I'm just getting too bored, which is pretty weird, because I beat every Call of Duty game I've played, and I have sunk hundreds of hours into multiplayer games.

I like to finish a game with a nice Seasonal Mead or Absinthe

Generally, I'm done with a game when I get bored of it.

MP games I play them for maybe 5 months close to 6 if there really good then I get bored and stop playing.SP games I try to take my time with and explore everything in the game play maybe 2 hours a day the most with them especially if it's a new game.After I beat the game I'll look for something else to play when I have no games to play I get bored as hell so I'll go back and replay some old ones.

I play one game until i beat it, depends if it gets tedious or not. I only ever play games i know ill play /finish, mainly ones with a narrative. I usually juggle a main console/PC game with a handheld one.

How do you finish games?

I play them.

I usually try and stick to one game at a time. Sometimes 2. I will play it whenever I get game time until I am bored to that game. Sometimes that will happen at random and I never finish games. Sometimes very good games.

@jdh5153: One wonders why you even bothered to post, then.....

I'm a minority, in that I don't consider a game "finished" until I've S ranked it. Usually, though, I'll go through the game, not even looking at the achievement/trophy list until the credits roll. Then I'll move on to something else for a while, then come back a month or so later and get some achievements.

It's mostly worked out so far.

I tend not to beat games, which I think is for the better because every time I do, I find the ending to be quite disappointing.

I'm easily distracted so I rarely finish games unless they really hook me. Which is sad because I have a huge backlog of games I want to finish eventually.

I'm not a completionist, but it drives me crazy when I pass by a random collectable that's a bit out of the way. For this reason it makes it really hard to complete a lot of open world games/RPGs.

I'm starting to miss linear one shot games...

I make them happy and then we smoke cigarettes... :O