Poll: Do you power through games you don't enjoy?

[00slash00]

So this month I've been trying to play horror games, for Halloween. I played Outlast, Silent Hill: Downpour, and Lone Survivor. I never finished a single one of them. I played every game for a while and was just not having fun. Outlast made me feel stressed out and frustrated and Lone Survivor and Silent Hill just plain weren't fun for me. However, I feel kind of bad about just shelfing a game and forgetting about it. Even if I don't want to play a game, I kind of feel obligated to finish it or at least give it another chance to see if it gets better (though I'm halfway through Lone Survivor so if I haven't enjoyed it yet, I'm probably not going to).

When you play a game and realize you just aren't having much fun, do you just power through and hope it gets better, or do you just turn the game off and play something else?

 

[Casual Shinji]

No.

Same as that I don't continue eating something that I find revolting.

I can understand wanting to get the most out of your purchase, even if that purchase is not to your satisfaction at all, but usually that 'most' is just throwing it the fuck away (or trading it in). You already wasted the money, what good will it do you to waste your time and mental health as well?

 

[Rayce Archer]

Sheer, bloody-minded determination checking in.

It's rare that a game produces such contempt in me that I don't finish it.

 

[jamail77]

Sheer, bloody-minded determination checking in.

It's rare that a game produces such contempt in me that I don't finish it.

This is me as well. I don't like leaving things unfinished and I'm lucky to have not played any game so terrible it made me quit altogether and never come back.

The thing about me is that I often know if I'll like a game before I buy it if I've seen enough marketing, Let's Play's, and what not whereas others' perspective on that might not match up with the actual experience when they play it. There are a few curve balls thrown my way now and again: I've managed to enjoy a few games I thought looked lackluster. However, not only are they few and far in between, but it's often still not full enjoyment. I still find things about the game annoying. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it comes down to me having a good gut feeling and/or being able to decipher a lot from what I've seen from a game without actually having to have played it.

If I decide to buy it anyway, knowing the good chance I won't like it, I might as well finish it. It's not just because I payed to play the whole game though. For starters, it lets me argue a game is bad to those who dismiss me as having never finished it and never giving it a chance (as weak as that excuse gets sometimes). I also find there is a lot I can learn from a bad game in regards to me finding out something new that makes good game design that I never realized before because this hypothetical bad game doesn't have that common good game design standard for once. Even though I know the game probably won't get better there might be some ideas that had potential or were executed well and that gives me a new thing to look for in better games. Plus, I like brainstorming game ideas, something I do to tease the notion that I might become a part time or hobbyist game developer. While the game isn't any less bad for giving me any of this, it does allow me to find a way to enjoy the experience in a different way. I can always sell it or trade it in when I'm done. After all, regardless of what you get out of a bad game, it's still a bad game. I only need to play it once to get any of this out of it.

You already wasted the money, what good will it do you to waste your time and mental health as well?

Mental health? What games from the deepest abysses of hell have you had to stop before they affected your mental health? That sounds awful. Also, revolting is a strong word. I assumed the point of this OP addressed games you don't enjoy in general rather than the games that are truly, irredeemably awful.

 

[Casual Shinji]

You already wasted the money, what good will it do you to waste your time and mental health as well?

Mental health? What games from the deepest abysses of hell have you had to stop before they affected your mental health? That sounds awful. Also, revolting is a strong word. I assumed the point of this OP addressed games you don't enjoy in general rather than the games that are truly, irredeemably awful.

This is me having come fresh off of The Evil Within.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Yep. Part of it is sheer bloody mindedness and part of it is wanting to get my money's worth. So long as it isn't causing me physical discomfort, I will likely try my best to complete it once I've bought it.

 

[Evonisia]

It's rather hit and miss. Sometimes I'd just like to know how it ends just so I can be honest and say I did play it all the way through. I stopped having fun three missions into Modern Warfare 3 but I finished the damn thing right sharpish. I finished Dead Space in two sittings even though the first half of it had me right tiffed. I finished Halo 4 in one sitting because I knew I wouldn't ever play the singleplayer all the way through again (I played the first mission on Legendary, then promptly realised that the game only took one mission to piss on the canon).

The biggest reason for me to stop playing a game mid-way is because I'm either not invested or I just have too many games to play. Silent Hill 2 and 3 took me ages to complete on account of the massive game influx I was bathing in last year. Not having fun is rarely a reason, unless I can point out why I'm not having fun (I'm looking at you Murdered: Soul Suspect).

 

[MysticSlayer]

Sometimes.

If I'm really interested in the story (e.g. Mass Effect) or want to get the story for the sequel (e.g. The Witcher 2), then I'm willing to play through a game that I don't like, even despise. Most of the time, though, I'll change the difficulty (if available) to the lowest possible and absolutely torture myself with extended play sessions for a few days just to get it over with. Also, in rare, circumstances, most notably Mass Effect, I may even end with a positive opinion about the game.

For the most part, though, any game that I find boring I'll just stop playing. Then again, when I'm bored, there's clearly nothing to interest me, not even on a "why is this so bad" level. Why would I continue wasting my time with those games when there are more good games out there than I can count, including dozens I already have?

 

[gamer_parent]

are you guys just made of free time or something?

 

[Colour Scientist]

Generally no.

I have a small collection of unfinished games. Games I either hated, found boring or games I was playing until got distracted by another game and they were forgotten about.

I'd just prefer to spend the gaming time I have playing something I actually enjoy.

The same goes for books and television shows.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Most of the time, nope.

There's only been a handful of games that I forced myself to keep playing, but those instances are pretty rare for me now. If I don't like the game, I stop, and it get's tossed right back into the case. If it's something I've downloaded, it's get tossed into the digital trash bin.

I have a huge backlog and I really don't want to waste my time on something I'm not having fun with.

 

[Artina89]

It all depends on the game really. If it is something like Yaiba: Ninja gaiden Z I will power through it as it is a fairly short game so I don't really lose anything by trying to play it through to the end. If I can tell it will be a bit of a time sink, like Assassin's Creed III then I will drop it like a hot brick.

 

[Bad Jim]

If I make a lot of progress, then start getting bored, but not hating it, I usually keep playing through to the end. If I hate it, or if I get bored early, I put it down.

 

[Ronald Nand]

I've got plenty of games on my backlog usually so if a game can't hook me in within a few hours I'm just going to get bored of it and leave it neglected on my desktop. The only exception is when I'm trying to like a game, I'll give it a couple more hours then, sometimes I end up liking the game (for example Borderlands 2) or I just give up and stop playing the game (Max Payne Series).

 

[jamail77]

I finished Halo 4 in one sitting because I knew I wouldn't ever play the singleplayer all the way through again (I played the first mission on Legendary, then promptly realised that the game only took one mission to piss on the canon).

Excuse me if this makes me sound ignorant, but how does Halo 4 contradict or ruin preexisting lore? Admittedly, I haven't read any of the books nor have I played any of the Halo games besides 1, 2, and 4. Even then, while I played a good chunk of 4's campaign, I still missed some of it because I played it at a friend's house (don't have a 360 or One) and he did quite a bit on his own whenever I wasn't there. Even so, I have read some of the other lore on the Halo wiki (I know, not exactly the best way to get informed). Of what little I know, I didn't see any blatant disregard of preexisting lore. There were some questionable interpretations and extensions of that lore I guess, but it didn't seem to me to go much farther than that. Again, I'm ignorant of the lore though even with as much as I know.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Nope. I don't like what I'm playing? I stop playing it.

Not wasting my precious time doing something I don't enjoy, when I could be enjoying something else or maybe even do something productive. Perhaps both.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Sometimes I don't even finish games I like so no, I would not continue playing something I don't enjoy. I'll just stop playing and do something else.

 

[Byte2222]

I got to the end of Bravely Default. 'Nuff said

 

[The Madman]

Nah. I'll try and keep going as long as I can, especially if I've heard it's one of those games that 'only gets good after X amount of time' but if X time has passed and I'm still not enjoying myself, chances are good the game is getting shelved and forgotten.

 

[Evonisia]

I finished Halo 4 in one sitting because I knew I wouldn't ever play the singleplayer all the way through again (I played the first mission on Legendary, then promptly realised that the game only took one mission to piss on the canon).

Excuse me if this makes me sound ignorant, but how does Halo 4 contradict or ruin preexisting lore? Admittedly, I haven't read any of the books nor have I played any of the Halo games besides 1, 2, and 4. Even then, while I played a good chunk of 4's campaign, I still missed some of it because I played it at a friend's house (don't have a 360 or One) and he did quite a bit on his own whenever I wasn't there. Even so, I have read some of the other lore on the Halo wiki (I know, not exactly the best way to get informed). Of what little I know, I didn't see any blatant disregard of preexisting lore. There were some questionable interpretations and extensions of that lore I guess, but it didn't seem to me to go much farther than that. Again, I'm ignorant of the lore though even with as much as I know.

I'd actually say the Halo Wiki (or maybe Halopedia now, I haven't checked) is a good place to read up some information.

And it's the cynical use of the Elites as enemies. I'm not sure how far you got into Halo 2, but for the last third of the game:

Spoiler

Truth deposes the Elites of their roles, ultimately leading to a full betrayal later on by the Prophets and the Brutes. The Elites then join up with Humanity to fight the common foe, and continue to do so until after the events of Halo 3.

The disregard comes from the fact that the game never explains why the Elites are your enemies in that game. One of the books which were designed to slash at the canon to fit in 343's story establishes that a rogue faction formed from the Covenant Separatists, but in game the only justification for it is "four years is a long time". I believe they put gameplay before story. Elites are more commonly known as the enemy in the Halo series, and it would attract long time fans to buy the game if they were in the enemies again (this was a big part of Halo Wars and Halo: Reach's marketing but it made sense in them as they were set before Halo 2).