Do you actually finish the games you are playing?

[scorptatious]

By my definition, finishing a game is completing the main story.

However, if there is a bunch of post game content or extra stuff that I find interesting, I'll keep playing the game and attempt to do some of those things.

Latest example is Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, I've finished the main story not too long ago, but by the looks of things, I barely even scratched the surface in the things I can do in this game.

And by my standard, yes, I do finish a lot of the games I'm playing.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

if by finish you mean complete the main story then yes I do, if you be 100% completion then no not always, especially in some games where you have to follow some obscure and totally bullshit line of play to be able to get it(zodiac spear in FF12)

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Most of the time I will finish a game I am playing, only when I'm not having fun will I stop playing. My problem is getting started games in the first place, the main reason why my backlog gets so big. I generally play the through the main storyline and possibly some mutliplayer before putting the game down for good.

 

[nvzboy]

To me I feel finished with a game when I played it through to the end and played on at least a different difficulty setting just to get a feel of what the other difficulty is like. In the spirit of that definition I would have finished Fallout: New vegas over 3 times. If I finish a game that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm done playing it. I finished unlocking guns for battlefield 3 a long time ago, still play it. I managed to beat ftl a couple of days ago, still pick it up now and then.

I mostly end up completing all my games because I don't buy that many games to begin with, I limit myself to only a couple of AAA titles because of the sheer cost to buy such expensive titles.

 

[Miss G.]

if by finish you mean complete the main story then yes I do, if you be 100% completion then no not always, especially in some games where you have to follow some obscure and totally bullshit line of play to be able to get it(zodiac spear in FF12)

Ah FF12, I remember it well. As a treasure whore, that task was hard but (after I restarted my game when I found this out halfway through) totally worth it. It was sort of like an enforced 'good things come to those who wait' kinda thing.

 

[Olas]

So my first question is: When do you say you have finished a game?

Well most games have some sort of final boss or level that you have to beat that usually indicates the "end" of the game. But often there's more to do in the game, such as side missions or DLC. I'd say you aren't truly finished with a game until you've at least experienced all of the game's content.

Getting a full 100% completion is only for devoted fans who love going back into a game's world and exploring every inch, I wouldn't consider it necessary for completion though.

And the main question: Do you actually finish games by your standard?

It really depends on if I like the game. I currently have lots of games that I've started but never finished the main campaign simply because I lost interest and don't feel like trying to continue. There are other's that I keep returning to again and again that I've played multiple times and have at least come close to 100% completion on. I'd say the former makes up about a third of the games I play and the latter at least 2 thirds.

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[DishonoredElderSouls]

Typically, simply getting through a game once on normal is enough for me to qualify as finishing a game, but if a game has excellent replay value (BioShock, Dishonored, any Bethesda game, Far Cry 3, inFamous) I'll go back and replay it once or twice, or in the case of BioShock, twelve times. Typically that's on the hardest difficulty setting.

I've finished the large majority of games I've played this generation, but last generation I hardly beat anything and it was a big deal for me.

 

[Ren_Li]

Most of the time, it's when I finish the main storyline. Many of the games I play I'm primarily interested in the story.

Games like Skyrim are different; they're finished whenever I get bored, really. Next time I pick them up I'll probably start again.

I don't really bother with a specific difficulty beyond "what I find most fun", or with specific achievements. I just care about how much pleasure I get out of a game- and if I need a challenge... There's always Dark Souls.

 

[IshimaruHayato]

I have a rule I follow on this topic. Well I think you should at least beat whatever is considered to be the story mode of the game, after that do what you want. I think the worst I've seen is um, I saw a guy who bought sonic adventure 2 and only played the first level. This gets you the "Welcome to sonic world or hello world" achievement. That I just cant stand. If you cant beat a game for a good reason though I'll let it slide

 

[SckizoBoy]

Recently abandoned Assassin's Creed 3. God damn that thing was dull.

Right with you there... I'm an AC achievement whore... but goddamn, I couldn't drag myself through that game... hell, I gave up before even New York became available, it got boring as hell. And I think only the naval missions got me, what, about a third of the way through the game...

OT: Having said that, it depends on the genre and franchise, for the most part.

For linear shooters, I'll go through the campaign and won't really bother with trophies etc. consequently, I finish pretty much everything I play.
For RPG's and non-linear games, I better love it or it won't be 100% completion. I'll definitely finish the story if the transit system isn't a pain in my arse and the story is at least a little engaging, but most of the time, I'll ignore the boring side missions, which are either 'kill [x] number of [y] guys' or Fed-Exing (ACII being the exception to this, because of the variation... for the most part, some did get annoying, but the game as a whole was brilliant, so I forgave it).
For strat games, I rarely finish them (well, long campaigns, anyway)... largely because I get most fun out of the mid-game (i.e. TW though I'll gladly finish Rome and Napoleon campaigns regardless of how long it takes), while story driven ones tend to get boring after a while and I only play multiplayer in such cases.

 

[Poetic Nova]

First: When I beat the main storyline.
Second: I'm embarrassed to say, but roughly half the games I start end up in "I'll come back to it." purgatory.

Same for me. Except that The "I'll Come back to it" may take years. Most of the games I own where never finished.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

It varies from game to game. I've been replaying through Batman: Arkham City over the past week or so (because I replaced my Xbox disc with the PC version), so originally, I was going to say that I finish most of my games when I beat the main story but don't consider a game with side quests finished until I've scrubbed all those pesky alerts off my map. But then I considered Pokemon, where the primary side quest is catching them all (or... is that actually the main quest?), yet I feel no drive to make the attempt because it's impossible. I suppose therein lies the difference, then; side quests only feel mandatory when they feel reasonably achievable (come off it, Minecraft, the amount of iron it would take to lay a kilometer's worth of rail could practically build a full-sized MechaGodzilla).

Achievements come into it in a very few instances, though. When playing Halo Combat Evolved: Anniversary, I had already played through the original game more times than I could count (even on Legendary), so 100%ing the achievements became my new goal for the remake. I also made a point in getting all the achievements for Arkham Asylum simply because I loved the game so much (although I would have felt compelled to get perfect scores on all the challenge maps even if they weren't tied to achievements), at which point I set a precedent requiring me to do the same for Arkham City; however, having already achieved that goal, I don't feel all that driven to repeat it on the PC version, though I still know I'm going to inevitably collect all of the 213(?) challenge medals for each of the four characters. God help me.

At any rate, my OCD is matched only by my frugality, so I always seek to finish my games (a mindset facilitated by the fact that I will virtually never lay down money for a game that I'm not already extremely confident I will like). Still, this doesn't stop me from having a by-my-standards-large Steam/GOG sale-fueled backlog, though of late I've formed the worrisome habit of starting a game and then postponing it while I switch to another (games currently occupying this state of limbo are Thief Gold, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mass Effect 2, Star Wars: Republic Commando, Super Meat Boy, and Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell). I take it this "I swear I'll get to it later" mentality is what eventually leads to libraries full of unfinished games, but for whatever it's worth I do honestly intend to complete them all at some point. Time will tell.

 

[Smiley Face]

I'd say that I've beat a game when I've finished the main storyline and completed as many sidequests as I can along the way (assuming there are sidequests).

I've finished a game when the above is satisfied, and I no longer want to play the game.

I finish most games, unless they get really, REALLY boring. Civ V, for instance. Love that game dearly, but I usually manage to solidify my lead beyond all doubt by 1400 (sometimes as early as 500), after which point, the game is a slog. Here's hoping BNW fixes all that.

 

[Fijiman]

1. I usually consider a game completed when I have all the achievements I'm going to ever consider bothering to get. for some games that means all of them, others not so much.

2. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. For some of them I plan on completing them eventually, but not anytime too soon. It doesn't help me though when I end up burning myself out on a game and don't feel like playing it for very long periods of time.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

For me finishing a game means beating the final level. The only ones that I never beat were all of the original four devil may cry games. The fourth was the most painful to play in my opinion.

 

[unbreakable212]

1. A game is completed, to me, if the main story is finished or the credits are rolling, same kinda thing.

2. I usually finish all games that I begin, one series that I constantly begin new games and tire after a few hours or whatever would be the Total War series, so much fun, but damn some campaigns can take ages depending on your difficulty/faction you're playing as.

 

[Something Amyss]

1. Usually, main storyline. Games without one? When I beat the primary objectives. Now, that doesn't mean I'm done with the game, but it does mean I consider it "beaten."

2. If I buy a game, I'll probably do my best to finish it. I like getting as much value as I can out of a game. Some games are freaking insufferable, though.

 

[FoolKiller]

First: When I beat the main storyline.
Second: I'm embarrassed to say, but roughly half the games I start end up in "I'll come back to it." purgatory.

I'm with you on the first one but for me the success rate is about 1 in 15 for the purgatory bit. I have WAAAAAAY too many games. My backlog is in 4 digits now.