Topic: Completing Games

Hey guys,

I have managed to get in a decent amount of gameplay time over the last year and a half due to lockdowns etc. And along the way I realised I was finishing more games than usual (thanks to the Yakuza series, mainly). So last year I started to make a list of the games I was finishing and them created a HowLongToBeat profile so that I could log everything.

For some reason in my long gaming career I always seem to get maybe halfway or 2/3rds through a game and then just leave them, perhaps for the newest shiny thing that has come out. And then of course when I do feel like returning to them, I am lost and have no context and get put off (usually the case with RPGs).

Achievements actually encourage me to keep playing to complete games, but this hasn’t helped with non-xbox games. But now tracking all my completions; i’m really enjoying actually ticking games off.

I even went back over my achievement history (thanks TrueAchievements) and added all completed games (e.g. to credits) to my HowLongToBeat and tried to add any others without achievements from memory (which is insanely hard).

It has encouraged me to go back and “finish” certain games. E.g. I had left Ocarina of Time 3D at the shadow temple since 2011/2012 but just went and finished it all up. And I realised I had never completed a Metroid game despite playing a few; so went and bought Zero Mission on Wii U and completed it. Among others.

I just wondered if anyone else here:

1) struggles to actually finish games. Not because they are hard but because of lack of motivation or time I suppose.

2) uses howlongtobeat or tracks their completed games in a certain way?

It's interesting to see a topic like this because I've actually been completing a lot of games this year that I didn't think I would ever get around to. For example, games that I've bought a decade ago but never played through until now, or games that I've started playing but taken numerous breaks from. I think my biggest achievement so far is finishing up Fallout 3 because I played through it in 2016, spent probably 50 hours and stopped playing it right before the final mission since I wanted to go through the DLCs first. I finally finished it last week after all these years.

I don't really use HLTB to log my games completed but maybe I should. The only thing I've been doing that's similar is write the games I've completed on this forum. It's not exactly the same thing but I don't feel like taking gaming too seriously where I keep track of all the games that I've finished.

But yeah, I think it's such a wonderful feeling whenever you finish a game that's been in your backlog for such a long time. I think these past few months alone have been nice in that regard as I've cleared up a good amount of games. Right now I'm going through Mafia: Definitive Edition (backlog for one year), Jak 3 (backlog for nine years) and Resident Evil 2 on PS1 (backlog for roughly 3-4 years I believe). Going through the older games in my backlog is very rewarding and I think this is what's motivating me to keep playing them. It is weird because I feel like I'm constantly completing games now and if I start something up then I'll most likely finish it. This wasn't the case at all years ago.

Game Club has also helped to keep that motivation going. I haven't missed a single month's game so far this year and it's nice that the majority of the games we've played are ones that have been in my backlog. My Xbox One backlog especially has mostly been growing the past years, so it's nice to finally be able to make a dent in it.

Thanks for the response buddy I have noticed you were posting about your completions in the couple of threads we have here; e.g. The Medium. That is another one that I have left maybe 2/3rds through but I wasn’t enjoying it as much as you seemed to.

There is something about ticking these games off that is satisfying. Fair enough about not logging everything; I get it. It’s just something I wish I could look back on what I was completing and when. Achievements, Trophies and Steam/3DS/Wii/U gameplay Logs helped me go back to 2006 but anything before that I wish I had a record of. So thought I would start now at least. Though in terms of looking back it works better if you’re not forcing completions and they just came naturally. Like when I completed Pokemon Red for the first time etc.

Plus I can look at a list of a series of games and see which ones i’m missing.

Also yea I have over 100 hours in Fallout 4 (apparently) but haven’t completed the main storyline. So that will be another one to re-visit.

@K1LLEGAL Yeah I mean, if logging works for you then go for it! I do find it fun from time to time to go through my trophy or achievement lists on PlayStation and Xbox respectively and see how many games I've completed thus far. Too bad that Nintendo still doesn't care about implementing a system like that.

Out of curiosity, are you a fan of Resident Evil or Silent Hill? I find the gameplay loop in these games, just like with The Medium, to be incredibly addicting. A place is locked, so you go to another room where you find an item that unlocks another place where the final item for unlocking the first place is located. It's just so addicting! I picked up RE2 on a whim on my Vita and I found myself playing it for an hour yesterday, lol. These games are just so good. But maybe you don't find them as compelling?

@LtSarge Yea unfortunately I haven’t managed to get too into those loops. I’ve never played a Silent Hill, but I went through the remakes of Resident Evil 1, 2 & 3 last year on Xbox. I loved the action but the puzzles weren’t for me unfortunately and I confess I did end up using a guide for some of each (especially 2 because I was crapping my pants) which of course ruined the experience a bit.

I've been pretty inconsistent completing games recently. Stuff I actually buy I tend to finish, but with the games I try on Game Pass, which I've been playing more than purchased games recently, I definitely feel like my tolerance level is a lot lower than it would normally be in terms of sticking with something if I'd actually paid for it.

The second Ori game, for example. I've played the first game and apart from some frustrating platforming, really enjoyed it, but I reached a point in the second game where I stopped playing for some reason - probably to play something that was leaving Game Pass - and just haven't had the urge to play again, even after finishing something else. Same with the last couple of Game Club games - ReCore I gave up after I got to a point where I'd have to grind to progress and Psychonauts from this month. I've played the first level and a it wasn't really doing anything for me so unlikely I'll go back to it any time soon.

I've even recently given up on Banjo-Kazooi, which seems to get universal praise, as I was finding the camera really frustrating and wasn't really enjoying the structure of the levels - would've much prefered a more linear level style rather than the more exploratory 'here's the map, find as much as you can and come back here when you're done' used here.

Not all negative though - I've finished, and really enjoyed, Dishonored and Titanfall 2 despite not previously really being a fan of first-person games and recently finished Carrion which was a lot of fun and als Injustice 2 which has a surprisingly good story mode for a fighting game.

@dmcc0 Yea the problem seems to stem from having too many options; and gamepass exacerbates that completely. Back in the day when I had a new console and only 1 or 2 games they usually got completed.

Also the “leaving soon” section doesn’t help but i’m trying to be good and focus on only a couple games at a time.

@K1LLEGAL yeah, I'm the same. Usually just try and have a single game pass game on the go at any one time (as well as Forza Horizon 4 and PES for when I want something I can play without too much thinking 😂) but regularly interrupted by the Leaving Soon list too. Doesn't help that my backlog also extends to Switch, PS3, 3DS, GBA etc....

@K1LLEGAL I haven't played the other two remakes, but RE1 remake does have rather intricate puzzles. I actually went back to the original PS1 game earlier this year and I was surprised to see that the original game was much easier than the remake. Usually it's the other way around as older games tend to have aged worse. But I honestly had a more enjoyable experience with the PS1 title. As a result, I've been enjoying this series and other horror games similar to it (like The Medium) a lot more.

I generally find it hard to complete games mainly cause it's hard for me to just find the time to play. Inwork 40+ hours a week plus commuting time each day then have to do other things like errands on my days off and such. Even at night when I get home from work I just find it hard to get a game going. Usually it's dinner time then after dinner it's clean up and by that time it's just not worth starting a game as I got to get to bed in order to get up the next morning to do it all over again.

I just don't see how people finish long game with the schedule I have. I guess they sacrifice sleep time. I honestly don't know. At times I just look at my game collection and go why do I even bother.

@Tasuki Yea well now that i’m married I have a lot less time for gaming. So I have started appreciating shorter games a lot more. I dread all the long RPGs that I want to play. When Octopath hit Gamepass I was excited but just like… exhausted as well? I had just finished DQ XI and was partway through Ys VIII at the time. RPGs are my favourite genre but gone are the days I can pump 120 hours into Blue Dragon and then another 60 or so into Lost Odyssey a couple months later.

Finding it easier to pick up and play the Switch (hence getting through Ys) to eventually push through games than sit on the sofa with the Xbox these days.

Thats also why I haven’t got involved in the monthly gameclub here on PureXbox. I want to but never know when i’m going to have free time so can’t commit.

@K1LLEGAL nice one on managing to finish up some of your games! I've been very similar since march last year. I've been very prolific in completing games but I use an old fashioned method to track them!! Once I noticed I was starting to get through a few, I began writing them down on a piece of paper.

I filled up my first A4 piece toward the end of last year and posted a pic over in the "recently beat" thread. I'm about 3/4s the way through my second A4 piece. I was going to post the pic when it's complete 😅. I think this second piece has been a bit slower due to real life restarting again but I'm still ticking them off regularly

I think I've done over 110 games since last march though (I don't have my list with me to check). All started from scratch but some of them I may have completed before but started again because I was replaying it as part of a series.

I've finished very few games that I had started before the pandemic but if I did do something like that then I would count two of the games id started pre pandemic but finished during pandemic, as one game on my list. Like I'd write them on the same line and only count it as one toward my overall number of finished games. My logic being it's two halves of different games and will make a single game 😅

All my games have been massively varied in length. I think the longest game (and it was one i had finished before and started again from scratch) I played on the last year was MGS V which I think I put another 110+ hours into. Other games that came close were MGS Peace Walker at 90+ hours and Yakuza 0 for 100+ hours.

On the flip side, I have played many many short games that are a few hours long or even sometimes under an hour. Stuff like Fractured Minds on game Pass, Little Acre etc. I do like to break it up a bit!

@Tasuki Yeah, it can be really difficult to find the time to play when you have other commitments, especially longer games where you might have extended periods between play and you end up forgetting the controls or what's going on in the story.

I tend to have a few games installed that I can drop in and out of without getting too involved - usually can squeeze in a few matches on PES or Rocket League or a couple of Races on FH4 in an evening if I don't have time for much else. "Proper" games usually have to wait until the weekend when I don't have to get up for work the next day, which usually means they take forever to finish - I started Xenoblade Chronicles on Switch about 6 weeks ago and I think I've only just hit 15hrs or so according to the save file so maybe just over a quarter through if the HLTB time is accurate (I'm usually slightly over) so it's going to take me months at this rate.

@dmcc0 Yep that's what I try to do. Most of the time when I do game it's quick games like a few matches in Call of Duty or completing a few races in Forza Horizon 3, stuff like that. I want to play games like Dragon Quest XI but to often I start them and don't get back to then for awhile sometime for months and when I do I completely forgot what was going on and what I was doing. I then start over thinking yeah this time I will finish it for sure but, the same thing happens I can't get back to it for awhile and after so times attempting to play and finish the game I just let it go, never to be finished.

@Beagle I get you. I definitely don’t want to force completions. Similar to what @IndoorHero said; I don’t want to do it for the sake of doing it to drive my stats or figures up. But I am enjoying finally ticking games off that have been in my backlog for years and this has encouraged me to do it.

I like looking at my gaming statistics (like achievements/time played) but it only really means something when it’s natural. E.g. I mentioned completing Pokemon Red as a kid; i’m curious when that was and how long it took me, when I was just playing in a perfectly natural way.

On my Switch I have my games sorted by order of playtime… and usually when I exit out a game I check to see where it is in the rankings. Hoping not to get too obsessed haha.

@Ralphdibny wow 110. I’m on 51 for 2020 and 42 for 2021. But that includes finishing off games so like Mario Land 2 on 3DS I just had to clear the final level and final boss (that game had been unbeaten for me since I had it on Gameboy as a kid). Fractured Minds was another one - that was about 20mins. Then on the other end I have 8 Yakuza Games, Dragon Quest XI, Ys VIII etc.

@IndoorHero it’s cool looking at the stats on HLTB once you have it all in. Here is my platform spread for HLTB at the moment. At least from what I remember. I’m sure the odd Gamecube/Gameboy/PS2 game is missing. Also I did it based on the platform I was playing on. So I completed Yakuza 6 on Series X so it went under Series X. And I completed Zero Mission on Wii U so it went under that instead of GBA.

@K1LLEGAL 110 is a conservative estimate 😅. I'm away from home at the mo and don't have my piece of paper with me to check. It's a bit too raggedy from a year and half of scribbles in biro for me to take out the house lol. Hopefully I'll fill up the second page in the next few months and post a picture of it!

I do use HLTB but not to log games. I always check game lengths on there before I decide what to play next. I think pre pandemic it was a bit of a curse because I'd never have enough time to play the games so id always put them off or HLTB told me it was long. With work easing up though, I've found it an invaluable resource for me to guage how much time something will roughly take me!

@Beagle Same for me. I probably beat one out of every 20 games I play. I just kind of get my fill of it and move on to a new shiny thing. Sometimes I kind of wonder what I missed and go back to it. Sometimes that works well. Sometimes I can't even remember how to play or what I was doing.

But I really don't understand the post-achievement/trophy world where everyone on the internet seems to be obsessed with getting the "platinum" - you HAVE to play the game until you sell 300 cheese wedges to the vendor under the bridge and do a pirouette and dodge roll while the bird blocks the sun while slicing all the hibiscus flours on TimeWaster Hill in a single swipe. The game isn't done until you achieve this!

@Beagle It's always best to pirouette at every possible location while doing every possible combination of actions. The platinum ALWAYS depends on it!

Good topic.

I personally over the last year have made a concerted effort to finish more of my games off. Ive always been a bit slack with completing games. Sometimes this is due to work or prior commitments and other times its just down to the fact I lose intrest with the game or find something else to play.

I must admit I do look at How long to beat to give me an estimate but Ive not been logging anything I have done as that takes to much effort. So now regardless of what console a game is on or genre I am trying to make headway in my gaming pile of shame.

Thanks for the responses guys; seems like a lot of people tend to go through phases of completing games and then phases when you’re starting a bunch of different releases (thanks, Gamepass).

Looks like IndoorHeros comments have all disappeared which is a shame. I was basically going to say to them that with older releases that you don’t know how long it took you to beat you can just add them to your completed list on HLTB so it acts like a checklist in a way.

But yea I am tending to mix some bigger games with smaller ones at the moment. Skyward Sword & A Plague’s Tale are both on the go. And then with a couple of friends we have Halo 5 and The Ascent started. After A Plague’s Tale hoping to go through some shorter Gamepass releases like Raji, Last Stop and then 12 Minutes when it’s out.