The games you couldn't finish

[Demelza]

I've realised recently that I'm putting down more games than usual. I still complete quite a lot of what I buy and own on the whole, probably 90% of what I buy in a year I finish, but there are just some titles I put down never to look back at. This is less about backlog titles and more games I have literally decided I am not going to finish and I'm wondering how many of us end up in similar situations and our reasons why.

This year the three offenders so far are Tales of Xillia 2, Kingdom Hearts and Chrono Trigger. These are for the following reasons:

Tales of Xillia 2: Now I really liked the original Xillia and I think it was probably one of my favourite Tales of entries, so I'd been excited for Xillia 2. However, not far into the game it introduces a system that basically exists simply to gate your progress in exploring the world - it's system based on you repaying a financial debt that your character owes and as you pay it down your travel restrictions are lifted. This sounds okay on paper but in reality I soon found myself spending far more time repaying the debt than actually making progress and it just wasn't fun anymore.

Kingdom Hearts: Some of the reason this one was put down is a fault on my part. When I started the game I made a stupid remark to my friend about how it couldn't be 'that hard' and chose to begin the game on its medium difficulty instead of easy. I gave the game a good shot but eventually the difficulty and my increasing lack of interest in the story came back to bite me, and I put it down.

Chrono Trigger: Having recently played I Am Setsuna on the PS4 I was really interested in playing Chrono Trigger and when @Linkachu bought me a copy of the DS version for Christmas I was really happy to have the chance to try it out. I'm nearing the end of the game, but like with Kingdom Hearts the difficulty of the game has caught up with me and the battles are being actively frustrating. It's a shame but I don't think me and this game are going to move any further forward.

A lot of it is simply that my life has gotten progressively more busy. My gaming time is a couple of hours in a weeknight and maybe at a weekend if I'm not otherwise busy. Some of it is simply that Xillia 2 and Chrono Trigger don't feel like the kind of difficult I can get over, nor do they offer the reward and enjoyment I'd want for continuing.

Anyway enough rambling from me. Are there any games you've notably put down rather than because a new one came along? Any real reason why?

 

[bakum4tsu]

I always try to finish every game that I buy (this doesnt include at all GwG and Plus games of course). The last one that I've made a bit of effort and struggle to finish was Arslan for PS4. No special reason, just wasnt enjoying and I did stop for maybe 4 months and then came back to finish it.

But like I said, I try to finish every game that I start and spent money on it.

Just remembered... Dropped Ni no Kuni after maybe 2 or 3 hours. It made me sleepy... though I wanna give it a second chance too once I move and set up ps3 again.

Also Dropped Hakuoki for ps3.. just couldnt hold on so much reading lol... even though I like Steins Gates, I did make an effort to finish it too. Not a fan of visual novels, I know that now. Love Psycho Pass but I dont think Im gonna even try to get the game for PS4...

So these were the last ones dropped... over the last 3 years maybe.. I mean, the ones that I've bought...

 

[Winkuru]

I don't think i drop games very often or more precise would be say that i don't drop games often if i have put more than couple of hours into them. There's some games that have had awful difficulty spikes at the end and i have dropped them because of it but there's also games that i just couldn't take anymore like FF13. I think it was during last year when i resumed from the beginning of the "open world" part and made it to a point where i had just 1-2 hour's left but i was already really frustrated and when i couldn't beat one of the bosses with 2-3 tries i just quit.

 

[Linkachu]

I'm notorious for putting certain games aside when new games release (namely due to my inability to rotate between multiple games at a time) but there's definitely a few games in my library that I simply put down due to lack of interest. Off the top of my head, Bravely Default comes to mind.

I really wanted to like that game, and for the most part I actually did rather enjoy it. However, it quickly became apparent that Bravely Default was setting itself up to be very level grindy - and not in a way that I enjoyed. I started researching other people's impressions of the game then and discussed it with several close friends. Not only did they all confirm that, yes, the game was full of random difficulty spikes that would likely require lots of level grinding, there was a resounding agreement that the last 1/3rd of the game or so simply wasn't that enjoyable. It was enough for me to lose almost all interest in the game, but I still wanted to give it one final chance. Sadly, that final chance was also the final straw (level grinding ahoy!). Put the game down then and haven't looked back since. Likely won't ever go back to it either.

It makes me sad to ditch a game that held so much promise (the setting/graphics were lovely and the music was gorgeous) but my patience for artificial difficulty spikes just isn't there anymore. I have far too much else to be playing - or replaying - than to waste it level grinding, especially when it didn't even seem like my efforts would be rewarded in the end...

 

[Winkuru]

It isn't worth it. I liked the music too and the characters were good but that notorius part of the game was such an awful waste of time. I like the idea behind but the execution was just bad. Grinding honestly didn't bother me much but i still did still hate the difficulty spikes.

I did still get the sequel but i haven't played it yet. At least it has some improvements over the first game like letting you save different sets (why the hell wasn't this option there in the first game)