The Value of Replayability

[Zenja]

I value replayability. It saves me money. Most games that release I am not interested in. Every year maybe 10 games come out I care about. I have time to try maybe 4 of them out. I am also often less impressed by what I find in the packaged and sometimes very impressed.

My backlog has gotten big because when I sit down to play a game, I have my go-to games. I play games to relax usually and I have my favorites. If a game is good enough it can replace of of my go-to games for a while or even permanently sometimes. Familiarity helps with the "relaxing" part for me so replayability is actually a very highly valued thing for me. Then if I see another game I want to try and it is not very expensive, I check it out. Sometimes I wish one of my kids cared about gaming so I could check out certain titles without having to play them myself.

 

[SmugFrog]

I encourage you all to play your games over. Not all of them mind you, but look at your library for a moment. See any games there that you play for only a few hours, but couldn?t get through? Maybe try it again, see if an extended break changes the experience for you. How about a game you finished, but didn?t find it as good as you hoped? Try it again, if there are choices in the game, fight yourself to make choices that you normally wouldn?t make, and see if that change in experience leaves a different taste in your mouth.

I think, based on the topic title of the post, everyone kind of got carried away from the OP's message of "retrying" a game over just how replayable the game is.

There are some games that I have gone back to after changes - usually alpha games or a game that introduces new content. Terraria was a big one for a while - you could pretty much finish it but then later come back and start over to find things you never found before (either because there's so much to find or it received a patch with even more stuff).

There are a few games (none in recent memory) that I initially found too challenging or didn't understand and came back to try later and thoroughly enjoyed them. For some of my friends that now love the Mass Effect series, I had to convince them to push on through the Mako missions and those wonky controls. Some games I just can't and never will - Dwarf Fortress, I want to love you, but Rimworld is something I can actually wrap my head around.

I recently tried out Killer Instinct as it was on the Games with Gold platter again, with new content. I probably put a few hours into it, but then became frustrated with the long load times and the grind towards progress. I feel like MS is really trying to make it work and Rare is probably freaking out with how MS has shuttered so many other studios. Someone must be purchasing those micro-transactions. I have other better things to do.

Replayability however is an important aspect to me in my game purchases. I don't have the money or time to buy a game and beat it within a few hours and never touch it again. I need something that will continue to entertain me and I can keep coming back to.

I like a burger. This doesn't mean I have burgers for every serving. It means I have a burger, then after a reasonable time, I have another burger.

I got you Elijin - I thought it was a good analogy. Further, sometimes I like a burger from McDonald's or Burger King or Sonic, they're all different in their own way and you can crave and be in the mood for different types.

 

[critanime]

Are you dense? Its food as a concept. I might go to tiny restaurant in the middle of nowhere serving something I've never heard of. I don't enjoy it, I don't revisit it. I like a burger. This doesn't mean I have burgers for every serving. It means I have a burger, then after a reasonable time, I have another burger. To spell it out for you: I like a game. I'm not going to play it for 24/7. But I might replay it once a month, or get in a play session weekly. Its not one and done.

There are loads of games that I follow this philosophy on. Especially from the C64 days. I love these games. But I could never imagine playing them hour after hour, day after day. I would lose interest in it eventually.

I don't think there is a single game I have not gone back to eventually.