I find myself wondering that right now, as I contemplate purchasing Mass Effect. I had rented it long ago, though I felt rather bored and pretty lost during my short time playing through it. To be fair, I only spent an hour or two with it before dying and having to replay a large section (I think that's what happened anyway, and I wasn't about to go through it all over again). There was a lot going on in the game, and apparently it didn't peak my interest enough for me to give it another shot. Truthfully, I suppose I felt somewhat overwhelmed. Even as I was just trying to figure out the core of the game, I was encountering decisions where I felt like I just didn't know enough yet about what was going on to make my best judgment. That's nothing compared to all the really big choices I know I'd have to make long, and all the different branches and outcomes that could occur from it. I'll admit, as I play through games, I like to be able to see everything they have to offer. I was nothing to be missed or left behind. I want to experience games to the fullest. I want to see everything that is possible. In some cases, I think that greatly hinders my ability to play through games.

Take Fallout 3 for instance. I can without question tell you that Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games of all time. Absolutely my favorite game of this console generation, and it's easily pushed it's way into the ranks of my top five favorite games ever, which encompasses about 20 years of gaming. I have spent over 250 hours playing the game. Heck, maybe even 300 hours. And you know what? I've still never finished it. I rented it a couple times and spent a good 100+ hours playing it as a good guy, then decided to wait around for the inevitable GOTY edition. When t finally purchased the GOTY edition, my old file was corrupted with a graphical glitch (well, actually, I found out later that clearing my cache file fixed the problem, so it works now), so I started anew as a neutral character this time. I've easily reached about 200 hours in that playthrough. I've discovered almost every town on my own, often opting to explore entirely on foot rather than fast traveling. I've finished the majority of the quests at this point, but I still feel I have a ways to go. Then I need to finish up my original playthrough. Then finally play a third playthrough as an evil character. I've been playing this game on and off since it came out in 2008. I can easily see myself taking at least a couple more years to finally feel completely satisfied with my playthrough. Did I mention that I haven't even started any of the DLC? Then you got the fact that they released New Vegas, which I'd love to play through just as thoroughly. At this rate, these 2 games could be the last games I ever play in my life. I could be spending the rest of the decade trying to finish them. As much as I love the games, it's completely exhausting.

I know not everyone plays games to such an obsessive extreme, and I don't always myself, but when it comes to games I really like, I want to see as much as I can. I've never grown tired of Fallout 3. It's been a heavenly experience for me all the way through, and I've been fortunate enough to not really encounter much of any glitches. I had to clear my cache because of the graphics glitch, and had to restart once because my character got trapped. That's it. But the truth is, my enjoyment of this game has kept me from thoroughly playing many other games, or even playing them at all. Is that too far? You could argue that as long as I'm enjoying the game, it's okay for me to keep playing, but this is pretty extreme, I think. Truthfully, I'll probably pass on the final (evil) playthrough of Fallout 3, and probably just play through New Vegas once, but then I know I'll be missing out on a lot of great content and changes to the story.

I bought Mass Effect 2 for $10 in a Lighting Deal on Amazon last year. Haven't played it. Everyone says it's worth it to play through the grind of Mass Effect 1 to get the most enjoyment out of it, so that's held me back. Now I got my decisions branching between multiple games? As if I wasn't intimidated enough as it was, now I have so many different paths and outcomes. Then we have Mass Effect 3 on the way, which will only serve to up the ante of possibilities. The game is supposed to be catered to your personal experience, to reflect your decisions, so perhaps it doesn't necessitate multiple playthroughs, but everyone I know who's played it has or plans to play through it again on an opposite path. I feel like sometimes, games just gives us way too many options.

NO ONE MAN SHOULD HAVE ALL THAT POWER!