Can say you like a game that you've never bothered finishing?

[Dirty Hipsters]

I just thought of something the other day, I've never finished Fallout New Vegas. In fact, I've never even gotten close.

It's a long game, and I tend to get tired of playing, switch to playing something else, and then when I come back several months later I forget what I was doing and end up restarting the game. I've probably restarted the game at least 5 times now, I know the beginning like the back of my hand, but I always lose interest around the half-way point for various reasons.

I'm not sure whether I like or dislike this game. Obviously I feel compelled to play it since I've started it on a bunch of different occasions and I keep trying to play it, but at the same time I've never bothered to finish playing the game. Can you really say that you like a game if you've never bothered to finish it? I've recommended it to people before, but should I have? How much of a game do you need to play to even have a valid opinion on it?

 

[Wrex Brogan]

I mean, sure, why not? If you've had a positive experience with the game but stopped playing it for whatever reason, I think it's fair to say you've liked it. Maybe clarify that you never finished it for whatever reason when recommending it to people, but unless you're doing professional full-play videos then completing the game isn't exactly a cap-stone on liking it.

I personally, quite liked Lost Odyssey when I played it, but I stopped playing it about halfway through because it's something like 60 hours long and I just didn't have the time to invest in it properly back then (and nowadays I don't really feel like re-investing 30 hours restarting it to catch up on what was happening). I certainly enjoyed it, but I always say 'I didn't get past disc 3, so take that as you will' when talking about it. Maybe that's when the game goes downhill, maybe that's when shit gets amazing, I dunno, I can just say I liked the parts of it I actually experienced.

 

[Kyrian007]

I don't think its common, but sure. I liked Final Fantasy 7, but I've never personally finished it. I was on the final disk, probably less than an hour away from finishing it... when I walked in on a roommate who was just dealing the final blow to Sephiroth (before the one-on-one) I was already suffering serious grind exhaustion, and I just watched the ending... and never got around to finishing the game myself.

Great game, I don't even really consider it a game I haven't finished... I got all the way there and saw the ending, basically all I skipped was a dozen or so random encounters, and actually pushing the buttons myself in the final fight. I really liked it, just wish it was more like FFVIII which seriously decreased the amount of grind necessary to play through.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Don't even sweat it, dawg. Of course you can.

 

[Zontar]

I've yet to meet a person who has finished Long War, yet all of them love it.

 

[Zhukov]

Sounds like a case of liking a game that is just too damn long and/or bloated.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

If I seriously like a game, usually the only thing I'll seriously complain about is not enough content. Still there are times when unforeseen obstacles intrude.

I liked Tales of the Abyss and even made it up to the final dungeon, but something happened and now my party is stuck on auto-battle without any way to turn it off. I even checked several FAQs without any advice. Even if it's possible to beat the final bosses in that state (I'm sure it is if you grind enough, the game has never been terribly hard at any point), where's the fun in that? Guess I should have kept a backup save file.

I like No More Heroes and its sequel. I finished it on Sweet, but that doesn't let you face the true final boss. I was getting into Mild about halfway through... and then my system died, which has never happened before. Not worth replacing it just to finish one game.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I think the long answer would be, yes it's possible to like it, but not enough to finish it. The short answer would be...no.


I'm this way about a few games in particular. Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut is something I'd like to finish but have already uninstalled due to a couple annoying glitches; one involving a zoomed in hud and another a broken side quest.

Also uninstalled The Evil Within and Wolfenstein: The New Order but these were to free up space and wait for a new rig to play them on.

 

[shrekfan246]

Can you really say that you like a game if you've never bothered to finish it? I've recommended it to people before, but should I have? How much of a game do you need to play to even have a valid opinion on it?

Can you say you dislike a game if you haven't finished it? Surely missing the conclusion means that you're not speaking from as informed an opinion as you could be re: the quality of the game.

If you can say you don't like a game without having finished it, why shouldn't you be able to say you liked it? The threshold for "how much do I need to play" is kinda up to personal interpretation, but if you remember the time you spent with a game fondly, even if you just stopped playing it, that doesn't mean you didn't like it. If you enjoy it for a few hours (in this case let's be generous and say anywhere between 5-35 or whatever, just something that's a larger range than what you'd get from playing in a single day) and then get tired of playing it, then it's probably just a more complicated situation than "I like it" or "I don't like it".

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Some games you never "finish", for example, competitive multiplayer stuff such as fighting games. Sure, you can "clear" the storymode or unlock all the stuff, but that's only the beginning of the experience of getting into a fighting game and it has no end so it can't be "finished".

 

[gsilver]

With most games (all but the most story-focused) once you've established the complete gameplay loop, which can happen early on, you can pretty easily assess what the remainder of the experience is like.
And many, many games are too damn long, even if they're good, otherwise.


Can you like a family-sized Snickers bar that you never bothered finishing?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I quite liked Mankind Divided even though I never got round to the story's conclusion.

...

Oh, wait, no...it was the devs who never got round to finishing that. My mistake!

[Insert obligatory Half Life reference]

Wasteland 2 was ok, never finished.
Banner Saga was ok, never finished.
Arkham Knight was ok, never 'truly' finished.
Enter the gungeon was ok, never finished.
Mount and blade: warband was ok, never finished.

Ok, the list is probably quite long and I'm already bored. I'll return to finish it later maybe. [small]nahp![/small]

 

[KissingSunlight]

Can you really say that you like a game if you've never bothered to finish it? I've recommended it to people before, but should I have? How much of a game do you need to play to even have a valid opinion on it?

Can you say you dislike a game if you haven't finished it? Surely missing the conclusion means that you're not speaking from as informed an opinion as you could be re: the quality of the game.

If you can say you don't like a game without having finished it, why shouldn't you be able to say you liked it? The threshold for "how much do I need to play" is kinda up to personal interpretation, but if you remember the time you spent with a game fondly, even if you just stopped playing it, that doesn't mean you didn't like it. If you enjoy it for a few hours (in this case let's be generous and say anywhere between 5-35 or whatever, just something that's a larger range than what you'd get from playing in a single day) and then get tired of playing it, then it's probably just a more complicated situation than "I like it" or "I don't like it".

If you don't like a game, then stopping before you finishing it makes all the sense in the world. I think Yahtzee said it best, "If you are telling me that it will get better 20 hours into the game, then it's not a very good game."

As for the question, the only one that comes to mind is Brutal Legend. I started playing it. I liked it. I stepped away from the game too long that I forgot how to play it. I still have the game and I am looking forward to start from the beginning again.

 

[CaitSeith]

Yes, you can. I do it all the time with a specific genre: tactical RPGs. I love to start playing those games, but I don't think I have ever finished one (except Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1).

 

[jademunky]

I've logged over 100 hours thus far into Warhammer: Total War and have never successfully finished the grand campaign.

I love the game itself, fantastic variety in armies, great combat but there always comes a point where things get too grindy and micromanagey and I invariably get bored and start a new campaign with another race.

I'll see if a horde army makes it a little more interesting late game.

 

[shrekfan246]

If you don't like a game, then stopping before you finishing it makes all the sense in the world. I think Yahtzee said it best, "If you are telling me that it will get better 20 hours into the game, then it's not a very good game."

I mean, yes, but my point was that it works in reverse, too. Mostly just pointing out the logical inconsistency of "I can't say I like this game if I haven't finished it", because if you need to finish a game before you can say that you liked it, you need to finish a game before you can say that you didn't like it.

Basically, liking/disliking things isn't a simple black/white dichotomy, it's many layers of gradients.

I quite liked Mankind Divided even though I never got round to the story's conclusion.

...

Oh, wait, no...it was the devs who never got round to finishing that. My mistake!

Hah!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Is there any way to "finish" Minecraft?

 

[Xprimentyl]

I guess I?m in the minority, but I rarely play more than one game at a time, so I am rarely ever distracted enough to not finish a game. If I don?t finish a game, it?s because I don?t like it.

Is there any way to "finish" Minecraft?

I never did it, but the story mode does have a dragon final boss that's technically "beating the game."

 

[sageoftruth]

It's always possible to say you like a game to a point.

While I frequently decry the unnecessary scoring systems of game reviews, they do make the point that enjoyment of a game doesn't always come down to "yes" or "no". Often it's "yes, but..." or "no, but..." If the "but" in "yes, but..." applies to some part near the end, then it's definitely possible.

 

[meiam]

There's this game called ring of red on the PS2 that I picked up many time and played the first 20-30 hour a bunch, but the game is pretty exhausting to play. Its a tactics with a very interesting combat system but essentially every time you attack an enemy it takes 3-4 minutes so mission are long. After awhile I just need to stop and play something else for awhile, but then when I come back I've forgotten a bunch of important details (story and gameplay wise) and so it makes more sense to restart the game.

Then like other said there's the game where there's either no ending or the ending isn't really the point, skyrim must have a dismal completion rate but that doesn't mean you dislike it, just that the main story isn't really the draw of the game. Some game have an objective but there's no real effort put into the ending since its not really made with the idea to end the game, just finished stellaris the other day and there's literally no ending message, the game just dumb a bunch of graph at you and that's it. I'm not even sure if mount and blade/crusader king have ending screen. I also played a crapton of every civilization game but I've seen the ending of most of them 2-3 time.