PixlBit

It's difficult to tell when to stop. I've definitely put time into games that I wasn't enjoying. World of Warcraft would be one. I didn't get crazy into it like some people do, but I enjoyed the game up to about level 45 or so. Anyway, around there I got so tired of it and I just quit. It was like having a job.

Same went for GTA IV. I bought that game day one and when I realized I had to do things like meet up with my cousin and take girls on dates, I thought, "I do this stuff in real life. I don't want this in my game!" It's to date the only game I've ever sold off. I picked up FFXII with the proceeds, so I'm happy with that choice, haha.

I had similar feelings about GTA IV actually. Spending 10-20 mins to drive across the city and play a pretty tame bowling mini-game was pretty damn boring.

You know, I've been saying I don't have a huge backlog, but now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the percentage of games I've actually completed out of what I own is as high as I thought ... this may just become a blog. lol

But, basically, for the most part, I'm a completist in that I feel the need to at least beat the games I own to get my money's worth. But then when a game ends up being too frustrating, I feel I get nothing accomplished, cause the thing I paid for isn't fun, and I should probably just go outside and cool down. Then when the urge to play the game again creeps up, it makes the challenge fun again, after I've had some time away.

I think I've convinced myself my backlog isn't that huge by not counting anything that stopped being fun (also, sports titles you don't really "complete"), because I feel it's the game's fault at that point and not mine.

In any case, I think I might just plug the N64 in today, and if it works, try once again to get all the masks in Majora's Mask so I can feel I've really completed the game when I fight the final boss, who I've been able to fight for years, but refuse to until I collect all the masks. And, if it ends up feeling like a chore again, I'll reconvince myself not to count it. lol

At the start of this gen, I was very quick to trade in games once I got fed up and just moved on. At the moment though, I tend to agree with you and I just want to finish them. My backlog isn't terribly long number-wise but hour-wise it's pretty massive. This combined with my newfound itchiness to buy some long games I missed out on (e.g Fallout: New Vegas) is what tempts me to move on

I don't finish many games but I always hope in the back of my mind I will eventually get back to them, even though I might not ever do that.  I can go months without playing a game, and then pick it up one day and have a great time with it.  I haven't finished Skyrim myself, and have been playing it in fits and starts.  I want to finish it though, and I have been thinking about finishing it and Spec Ops, another game I'm halfway through, lately.  

Yeah my intention is always to come back following a break but lately, i've been going back less and less. I put about 10 hours into Final Fantasy XIII-2 which I liked but I don't see myself going back to that any time soon (if at all). I think my level of patience of late has shrunk

I want to go back to XIII-2 myself.  I hope that I do.  I liked that game.  

the DLC is worth it.  I mean Dawngaurd and Dragonborn, Hearthfire not so much.  The two main expansions really add a lot to the game, especially Dragonborn.  It's in an all new area that's really dense and packed together quite well, no more running long stretches clear across the acrtic tundra while only picking up a snowberry or two!  Dragonborn really feels like a DLC for players that have already plunked down 70-80 game hours into Skyrim.  There's even a quest for minimum level 38 characters, hunting the Deathbrand armor!  I enjoyed it. 

Thanks for the info. I see they're $10 at the moment so could be worthwhile. You certainly sell it well

Skyrim is definitely one of those games where you only get out of it what you put in.  That goes for other open-ended games where you have to set your own end-game goals (perhaps you want to play until you're exhausted with it, see all the content, get all the achievements, etc).  I remember when I was playing White Knight Chronicles and all the times I thought I was going to quit playing.  I needed to dig real deep to find the resolve to finish the online portion of the game, because I wasn't going to let the game (or its terrible community) beat me.  I truly wanted to see everything the game had to offer before moving on, even though it took me a year to do that.

The same goes for more structured games; I don't move on until the game is done (either the credits roll or all the extra content is explored), regardless if I enjoy it.  There have been exceptions, though, especially when it comes to games that have static gameplay experiences, like Dungeon Explorer and Valhalla Knights (both on the PSP).  I have better things to do, and other games to play, than to play a game whose gameplay and difficulty remains the same throughout the entire experience.

Yeah I get what you mean by "your own end-game goals". I don't think i'll ever bother with the little search quests that keep popping up. Once I decide I want to beat the main quest, i'm done................. I think

I went back to Xenoblade Chronicles a coupla weeks ago. I'd left it a year ago at a bossfight that I kept losing on. I realised it wasn't the boss that put me off, but the pixelated graphics. It felt like I couldn't see what was happening properly, so I've abandoned it. I'll go back to it when they release a HD version.

To be honest a lot of the time I couldn't even tell you why I take a prolonged break from a game. Most of the current games half finished in my backlog I genuinely enjoy. Too many options perhaps...

I try not to think about my backlog of great games. My work schedule makes it tough to do a lot of gaming. But when I do it's usually an hour or two. I have a feeling I will catch up this summer. Due to the new consoles coming the game companies are focusing on making games for them. Could be a bit of a dry spell after Bioshock Infinite comes out.

I try not to get bogged down on the backlog trully but it can be annoying. I want to replay MGS4 for the new trophies so thats my next goal after Skyrim. As for new games, I think I'm gonna ignore new releases for now and pick up some I missed. Yakuza 4, Fallout: New Vegas & Deus Ex are my next three I think. Thats adding some hours there...

Skyrim was love hate with me too, but I have it for PS3...not sure if that's the system you have it on as well. But I dropped it like a hot potato when I couldn't really do anything with all the bugs so I was waiting for all the patches to start coming out before trying it again. Since most of the bugs are now fixed I logged about 130 hours into the game. Now I logged all this time in before beating the main story line lol. The DLC is great, Hearthfire being ehhh. But with me playing so much Skyrim I have a very big backlog of games.

Yeah I have it for the ps3 and I remember the water freezing bug really annoying me. Everything does seem to be ok now so i'm back with a bang. I really am considering the DLC but i'm going to wait until I finish the core game