Poll: Do you finish games more than once?

[GabeZhul]

Same as the others: It heavily depends on the game and when in my life I played it. For example, I replayed FFVIII about five times back in high school and I still like it a lot, flaws and all, but nowadays I wouldn't pick it up because I don't have time to grind AP, items and cards like I used to in order to break the game.

I also replayed KotOR II something like eight or nine times, and I enjoyed it all the time... except on the last occasion when I tried the restoration mod and it bugged up so bad I would have needed to reload a save from six hours before, at which point I gave up.

There are other games I sometimes replay when my time and mood allows it, like Persona 4, Bioshock, some of the Warriors games, the DMC series, etc., but those are usually just to scratch an itch.

Sadly nowadays I don't have the time, partially because I am an omnivore who also watches anime, reads books and VNs, plays online games and lurks forums and discussion boards, which all eat into the same already small free time slot of my life.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

I tend to finish the game on the hardest setting i can first attempt and then on my second playthrough i go with a guide to see what i've missed along the way and pick up the achievements i didn't even know about. If i didn't replay games i wouldn't have anything to play most of the time because 2 days is probably the longest a modern game will take me to complete (with the exception of RPGs which is probably why i prefer them over most other genres). I rarely walk away from a game i haven't finished unless i feel it is too broken to be worth my effort and still i have nothing to play most of the time...damn modern gamers being so shit and lowering the standard too far!

In terms of games i have gone back to time and time again there are quite a few and generally it's for the same reasons...the leveling system is varied enough that i can alter my playing style into something entirely different (such as the Fallout games) or there is some way i've thought up to power-game to ridiculous degrees and break the game (Elder scrolls or Final Fantasy).

 

[Creator002]

I often play games multiple times, though only if I like the story enough. If there's an achievement I missed, I'll usually stop my progress and get that.
Just recently completed Murdered: Soul Suspect a second time and I'm playing through Life is Strange, which I can see myself doing again.
Bethesda games I often find myself doing over and over. Completed the stories of Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas more than 3 times each, including a few guilds multiple times and DLC.

 

[Blue_screen]

Well nowadays I play mostly rougue-like games or similar fare due to time constraints (ftl, papers please, risk of rain) so I have an incentive to play the game over and over again to collect all the achivements and doodads.

 

[Politrukk]

Only if the game is really, really good.
And even then it usually is because there's multiple campaign directions and the like.

For example:
In the Witcher 2 you can pick Ioreth's Path or you can pick Roche's path, both lead you through different aspects of the campaign, so much so that most people say you really have to play the game twice.


On the contrary games that I felt had very little re-play value were usually very linear story based games for example the Mass Effect games.

Whilst in the Witcher one can change major aspects of the story without even knowing it, Bioware games have always had a tendency to give you the illusion of choice only when the rails have stopped for a bit to give you a breather before dragging you back on track.

 

[duwenbasden]

only if there is no 'story' or 'character arc' to drag it down. story + predined characters = linearity = not gonna do it more than once.

eg:
SimCity 4 - 7000+ hours
Warcraft 3 - 4000 hours.
Skyrim - 1000+ hours
Cities SL - 250 hours