are games essentially useless once you have finished them?
- Thread starter Vault101
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This is one of those fuzzy, non answers I'll always give to this sort of question: It depends on the game. Seems obvious but there you go. Playing Heavy rain a second time was pure torture, even though I enjoyed it well enough first time round (gaping plot holes aside). Whereas I could easily replay F-zero Gx tomorrow, or hell, even Wind waker, which I've finished around 7 times already (Ocarina and Majora's mask are in double digits). Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and Timesplitters have also had plenty of replayability for me.
A replayable game needs a few criteria: Gameplay is first and foremost. Story based games are infinitely less replayable. Though a great atmosphere can also add a lot to replayability (see: Zelda). Genre type is also important. Racers, fighters and sim games are hugely replayable. Shooters moderately so. Puzzle games, such as Portal, are really limited in replayability.
Lastly, pacing. I said I like replaying Wind waker, but I nearly always stop after a certain point. And if you've played the game, you'll know what point. A games pacing flaws become magnified times a hundred on repeat runs, and bits where it's boring become more intolerable, since you don't have the drive of looking forward to what comes next. The game must be enjoyable without that drive, which is a rare enough thing to do. In films, anticipation of what's the come isn't just a cheap ploy to keep you interested, it's a core principle of movie making, an inherently good thing. What keeps things driving on the first run can leave it dead on the second and beyond. Games can circumvent this by pure mechanical enjoyment, hence why Multiplayer is so popular: Solid mechanics, with a layer of unpredictability to hone said mechanics, with varying degrees of sociability to spice that up too.
A replayable game needs a few criteria: Gameplay is first and foremost. Story based games are infinitely less replayable. Though a great atmosphere can also add a lot to replayability (see: Zelda). Genre type is also important. Racers, fighters and sim games are hugely replayable. Shooters moderately so. Puzzle games, such as Portal, are really limited in replayability.
Lastly, pacing. I said I like replaying Wind waker, but I nearly always stop after a certain point. And if you've played the game, you'll know what point. A games pacing flaws become magnified times a hundred on repeat runs, and bits where it's boring become more intolerable, since you don't have the drive of looking forward to what comes next. The game must be enjoyable without that drive, which is a rare enough thing to do. In films, anticipation of what's the come isn't just a cheap ploy to keep you interested, it's a core principle of movie making, an inherently good thing. What keeps things driving on the first run can leave it dead on the second and beyond. Games can circumvent this by pure mechanical enjoyment, hence why Multiplayer is so popular: Solid mechanics, with a layer of unpredictability to hone said mechanics, with varying degrees of sociability to spice that up too.
If I truly love a game I'll replay it over and over regardless of whether it offers something different for each play-through. Take Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - not much replayability story wise, it's all linear, but I just loved it so much I've played it at least 3 times. Games with variety and choices, i.e. Mass Effect I will probably be replaying until the day my computer blows up.
Although that seems to be my problem; I seem to be inadvertently picky about which games I like, so instead of having more games that I play through once, I have a small collection that I love to replay.
Although that seems to be my problem; I seem to be inadvertently picky about which games I like, so instead of having more games that I play through once, I have a small collection that I love to replay.
At the very least I like to keep a game around as a trophy and reminder of the happy times I spent in the game.
Games can tell a great story, but I don't replay Bioshock 48,394 times in a row because I want to watch that amazing cutscene with Andrew Ryan again.
I play it 48,394 times because of this.
Seriously though, story doesn't matter if the gameplay isn't fun. It's always nice to listen to Ryan, but it's the Big Daddy fights that get your adrenaline running.
I play it 48,394 times because of this.
Seriously though, story doesn't matter if the gameplay isn't fun. It's always nice to listen to Ryan, but it's the Big Daddy fights that get your adrenaline running.
yeah Im very sentimental when it comes to my gamesGladiateher said:
even now that I have a console and could trade in games, I think there are some I'll definetly keep
I'm even considering getting some of my favorites again on console....
Like portal 2 (actulaly not portal 2, thats a PC titles through and through), I have such great memories of that game (like after I finished it I then went and made a my own companion cube...and then groundhog day was on TV....yeah that was a good night)
Lol excellent, that's exactly what im talking about. It'll be cool to fish those games out or even hang them on the walls ten years from now.Vault101 said:
Depends on the game but usually if the game is more about the gameplay then the actual story I can usually play it more then once, like Harvest Moon on PS1, played that so many times...
That simply depends on whether or not you want to play them again. Does a DVD become useless once you've watched it? Only if the movie sucked.
I finished Arkham Asylum for the second time a couple of days ago, and even got 100%. I'd probably do it again.
There are people that still play Ocarina of Time regularly, and the majority of the challenge in that game comes from puzzles that only have one answer, so I don't think it's at all fair to say a completed game is "useless".
There are people that still play Ocarina of Time regularly, and the majority of the challenge in that game comes from puzzles that only have one answer, so I don't think it's at all fair to say a completed game is "useless".
All depends on the game.
Take Zelda, Phantom Hourglass.
No replayabillity at all. Why? Because some idiot thought re-doing the same dungeon 7 times would be fun.
Why do I have to keep unlocking the doors I unlocked the previous time?
Why do I have to keep putting crap in pedastals.
Opening Treasure Chests I already opened 4 times before for the same damn triangle of gold.
I beat this game once. I'm now playing it again after like a year, it's fun and all... but that damn dungenon... I'm so sick of it.
But man, the replayability on a fighter is pretty good. I assume replayability is more lively in a simplistic/short game, especialy if it has multiplayer(multiplayer in your own room, not online)
Simple short games have the most replayabillity.
Take Space Invader's, Pacman or Tetris.
Simple, short, but tons of replayabillity.
Take Zelda, Phantom Hourglass.
No replayabillity at all. Why? Because some idiot thought re-doing the same dungeon 7 times would be fun.
Why do I have to keep unlocking the doors I unlocked the previous time?
Why do I have to keep putting crap in pedastals.
Opening Treasure Chests I already opened 4 times before for the same damn triangle of gold.
I beat this game once. I'm now playing it again after like a year, it's fun and all... but that damn dungenon... I'm so sick of it.
But man, the replayability on a fighter is pretty good. I assume replayability is more lively in a simplistic/short game, especialy if it has multiplayer(multiplayer in your own room, not online)
Simple short games have the most replayabillity.
Take Space Invader's, Pacman or Tetris.
Simple, short, but tons of replayabillity.
Depends on the game really.
There are games that you will only ever play once.
There are those you may come back to once in a while.
There are those you love and may play a few times.
Then there are those like Fallout 3/NV and Morrowind/Oblivion that you can make or download mods for that keep you going for a looooong time.
I still play Morrowind every now and then just to try new mods out.
There are games that you will only ever play once.
There are those you may come back to once in a while.
There are those you love and may play a few times.
Then there are those like Fallout 3/NV and Morrowind/Oblivion that you can make or download mods for that keep you going for a looooong time.
I still play Morrowind every now and then just to try new mods out.
If a game was good I will always keep it to go back to at a later date (currently going through ME2... Again...) but at the same time I have a pile of games on my desk which I'm taking to trade towards Deus Ex and all of these games are ones that I've finished but I know I won't ever want to sit through it again. The idea that certain levels will turn you off playing the game again is absolutely true, so many games have that one part that require some huge amount of motivation to play through.
