Games you like, but never want to play for some reason?

I was wondering if I'm alone in this weird thing. So there's a bunch of games I own right now that I love playing and really wanna finish, but for some reason, never actually want to play them. Dragon Quest VIII is an example of this. I started this game about 2 years ago now, and haven't really touched it in about a year. I'm currently about to get what I assume is the ability to fly, and I really wanna see where the story goes, but I just can't. I dunno why, I just can't.

I'm doing this with IX too. I'm currently really enjoying it, but each day it just becomes harder and harder to actually want to play it, even though when I am playing it, I'm enjoying it just as much as I did when I first started. (Also, off topic but, I currently have 5 fyggs, does anyone know how close I am to the end? Since it's Dragon Quest I assume I'm nowhere near the end, but just curious).

I do this with nearly every game I play and I have no idea why! Is anyone else like this, or am I just totally weird?

The best example of this I can think of is The Witcher - I LOVED that game, but every time I stopped playing it, I almost had to force myself to play again. Which was odd, because once I started to play, I loved it. There was one time that I quit for about half a year when I got to act 3, and then returned and beat the rest within a week. I don't know why, but it's the only game that I've ever done something like that with. I think it's just the very slow pace of the game that made me hesitant to play it.

I did this with uncharted 3

, i blazed through that game in 2 days then i got to the last level where the guys keep exploding. I tried it twice and i haven't gone back in around 6 months. I loved that game but just have no inclination to actually finish it for some reason.

Civ V? Might and Magic VII? Saints Row the Third? Actually, that last one has a potentially valid technical justification, but the rest can stay.

Amnesia games and Outlast. Rather watch someone else suffer than suffering myself.

I never finished 8 although I played a good chunk of it on two seperate occasions and quite liked it. Got a bit too grindy for me. That game could really use an HD re-release, that art style would probably translate well and I'd like to be able to play it again without busting out my PS2. Also, there's a point where you can fly? I don't remember that at all.

This happens to me too. I think its just about how daunting the game is. RPGs can be VERY difficult to get back into if you haven't played in awhile and that intimidation often stops me from playing even when I like the game.

I have so many games I've just reached the last level or close to it in but never finished. I've never once finished a game of XCom, but I've played that stupid thing for 90 hours or something ridiculous. My installed Steam list is pretty much nothing but games I really like yet have no desire to play for some reason.

Dishonored. Every time I play it I think it's amazing, but then I stop 15 min later and don't touch it for weeks.

Starcraft. I loved it, but haven't played in a couple years because good god it's stressful.

I can only play Civilization IV once a month these days, because I can only play Epic length games with an alcoholic beverage nearby and that often turns into eight hours of mouse clicking and consumption that doesn't even reach the end game, just the industrial age. Can't have that on a regular basis.

I also really like Final Fantasy Tactics and I have a crew in my save that is probably OP enough that I wouldn't have any trouble speeding through the end game but I've been at the beginning of Chapter 4 for over a year now after getting there in about a week. I really need to go back and play that.

I love Civilization 5, but I have played too much Civilization V.

Also I've been really tempted to get back into Skyrim in a big way recently, but I'm kinda scared of it for a couple of reasons. First, my original playthrough was so perfect, so complete, that I'm afraid of being disappointed by not being able to recreate the same level of wide-eyed enthusiasm I had exploring that world. Second, man, that game consumed my life for a good couple of months. I play The Elder Scrolls games as obsessively as other people play MMORPGs. It affected things in my life in a fairly profound way, often not for the better.

I'm the same here. Strategy games in general get me all hyped up and twitchy like a noseful of blow. I lose my shit over them. I dread playing XCom and Valkyria Chronicles - which are both sitting in my backlog pile - even though at the same time I really want to play both of them.

Shadow of the Collosus. Always wanted to play it, eversince it came out. Eventually got the HD version for free from PS+ bundled with ICO. I played through ICO, didn't quite enjoy that - and have yet to fire Shadow of the Collosus up.

Also - Rogue Galaxy. I always wanted to play that game, but not at full price. Waited for a price cut which never came. Now it's out of print, respectively my PS2s are all boxed up.

Xcom Enemy Unknown. Love it but can't be arsed.

Just about every game I've bought in the past 5 or 6 years. I was just thinking the other day that I can't have a top ten for the year because I haven't played enough games!

Like everyone here though, I love them when I do play them, it's just hard to fire one up for some reason.

Morrowind. Have all these brilliant visual overhaul mods installed and adore the game, but can never bring myself to click "play."

@cybertification: I would imagine because its so goddamn complex that you really have to think.

Oh man, I'm totally going through the same thing. Every time I think about starting a new character/playthrough, I feel like I'll never have this moment or that moment again. I'd really like to pick it up for the 360 and treat it as a relaxing-on-the-couch, unwinding-in-the-evening thing, but I dunno...

This is like every game I buy in a Steam sale. I always play like 1-3 hours and am like "This game was such a good purchase!" then never play it again. :(

Pretty much all of them at this point. I keep telling myself to play Civ and some more Skyrim, but never actually get on to do it. I think I'm just too busy this time of year and also adjusting to a new job.

Dishonored is the best one that comes to mind. That and From Dust

A lot of these games seem to be the kind that make you think a whole lot. The fun comes from some sort of well-formulated, satisfying strategy, but the mental exercises to do that sometimes seem like a little much.

For me, it's X-Com. I thought Fire Emblem Awakening was pretty good except when it was spawning in new enemies, and I've been playing Disgaea and I really like it, but I can't seem to get into X-Com for anything. Also, those old CRPG's seem super interesting but I have a super hard time getting into them.

EDIT: It also might be how long it takes to really do something in these games. Persona 4 is a game that I've played consistently for about 20 hours now and I don't doubt that it's due, in some part, to feeling like I get something done in the game every time I start it up.

Alpha Centauri - I started playing it years ago, but I never end up getting far. Basically, me is no good brain user :(

Persona 4. I have watched the ER twice and the anime once. I just can't bring myself to play through the game knowing everything that happens. Been in the same boat with Deadly Premonition, but the guys skipped a lot of side stuff so I'm tempted to go in for that. Just got past the lumber mill stuff and haven't gone back in a week or two. So who knows.

I think I'm pretty much like that with any long-term game. I took me about three years on-and-off to get through GTA IV, and I love the balls outta that one, cousin.

The Witcher is my hardest one. I play for a while, stop for a week, then waffle on getting back to it. By the time I do, I usually just restart because I forgot so much.

Yakuza 4 - I loved the other games and this game decided to take a risk by having 4 different protagonists, and so far i'm liking them but it hurts the overall pace of the story, so I lose interest in the game. But every time I come back and play a couple hours or so I enjoy it, because it's still a Yakuza game and there isnt anything else quite like it.

Skyrim - This is a really weird one, I must of spent over a hundred hours playing this game and I really loved the world, it feels much more like Morrowind than Oblivion which in my opinion is a much better game. But once I finished all the side stuff I lost the will to complete the game despite still enjoying it.

I beat The Darkness on the hardest difficulty three times in one day just to prove a point to a friend. Never wanted to touch it again since.

Oh and Bioshock, after beating it on Hard with Vita-Chambers turned off.

Dark Souls, love the game but I don't like any of the swords. Kills my vibe to play it.

Oh, the list is too long I don't even know where to begin.

There's a few games from this year that I could probably shortlist though; Fire Emblem Awakening, The Last of Us, Luigi's Mansion 2, Tales of Xillia, Tomb Raider (the new one).

I think I also started Darksiders like 3-4 times, never really got more than like a couple hours into it and stopped. The game just can't seem to hold my attention...

The new Splinter Cell. It is a great, great game. But it is also a very systems-based game. Everything has a system and the controls are kind of complicated for my dumbass brain. And then there's the trial and error. I really like that game and it's fun to play but it's just sort of strenuous for me. I can't just sit back and relax when I play it. I have to think about it and pay attention and all that and for some reason, lately, I don't want to do that. Maybe work has been hard on me or something.

@wchigo: So far I have bought and tried to play through Tales Vesperia, Graces, Xillia and Abyss and I just can't finish them. I go through this every time a new Tales game comes out. No clue why, I guess I just find them a little boring?

Yeah, happens to me all the time with single player games. Examples that immediately come to mind are Assassin's Creed (finished 1 and 2 back2back but then burnt out two hours into Brotherhood. That was in 2011 and I still haven't played it since then), Ratchet & Clank (save file got corrupted 4-6 hours into A Crack in Time, so I haven't played that in about six months even though it's my favorite PS series), and Alice (I really love Madness Returns, but I stopped at one of the setting shifts and I just haven't gone back to it).

Probably the NBA games. I used to love playing them and still like them but for some time I'm not into playing them myself. Same goes for Wrestling games. I find playing them myself tedious.

For me, I'd say it was Skyward Sword or the most recent Tomb Raider....just feels like hard work going back in.

GTA V. Three quarters of the way and I've loved nearly every minute of it, but finishing it is a chore.

I have this with gaming in general. It's one of the few things I do that makes me feel like I'm truly living in the present - something that can make me feel both elated and on edge at the same time. Yet, any time I stop playing a game, I need a huge push to play anything again. It's like I'd rather just lie back and watch a Youtube video that I am only half-interested in (usually of somebody else playing a game - which is the most strange in the circumstances) than actually do something I love. It's like I have this odd belief in a "limited amount of game-time" and so I have to make sure if I am playing a game, it is the best damn game ever made so as not to waste it [this usually just results in me replaying Final Fantasy X over and over as it is my favourite game of all time].

That said, when I do play a game, I get really into it and spend hours doing so. I played Dark Souls, for instance, in about 2 or 3 fortnight bursts and racked up over 300 hours into it before I finished the main story (yeah, yeah - I'm slow at games and generally not very good at them - but that atmosphere blew me away)

Starcraft 2

Have you got to the Boat bit yet in Skyward Sword? I think that is my favourite moment in any Zelda game ever (and that's coming from the guy who has two of them in his top 5 games of all time - although, to be fair, one of them is Skyward Sword itself)!

@evo: Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about finishing it, the ending is absolute boring, plain garbage.

Wow, I'm surprised (and also kinda relived in a weird way) that so many other people have this problem.

@steadyingmeat: Yeah, I go through basically the same thing. Really enjoyed what I played of Abyss, though I hated the awful load times into battles when you run into enemies on the overworld. Eventually bought the 3DS re-release which fixed that, but found it a chore to play through the parts I already went through on PS2.

Didn't get very far into Vesperia, wanted to buy Graces F but couldn't find it (which is probably a blessing in some sense) and I actually really liked the story and characters of Xillia and was planning to finish it, but then got sidetracked by the slew of great releases on 3DS and well, sadly, I don't see myself going back to it. :/

@dixavd: I honestly can't remember where I am in the game...ok, that's it! I'm firing up the Wii, it's time to finish this!

Generally anything with a slow pace. Since I have substantial amounts of free time, I just get easily distracted if whatever I'm doing isn't taking full mental capacity. Though I usually get into those games/series/movies around weekends when I've actually been working. Being exhausted does wonders for keeping focus on something leisurely.

I did this with the original Deus Ex. I loved the story and the conspiracies but the amount of relationships I have ruined in that game by accidentally smacking them with my laser sword has stopped me from playing. I was also far into the game so I didn't want to restart.

Wow, the exact same thing happened to me with Dragon Quest VIII. I got almost all the way to what I assume is the final boss (dog), then just stopped playing. I really enjoyed that game but this was about 5 years ago now so there's no chance of me going back at this point.

Describes most of my backlog.

Majora's Mask was interesting for a few hours, then I never played it again. I liked the concept, but I guess it wasn't enough.