Is finishing a game equal to enjoying it?

[Fatboi1]

Bouncing off this point from another thread, is finishing a game or framing the completion of a game a good way to gauge interest?


There's lots of games I haven't "finished" yet I could sing it's praises and think they're wonderful games. Also the "finishing" of a game is vague. Does that mean getting everything in the game 100%? Beating the final boss? Getting 1 ending aside from multiple endings?

I never finished FFVII, VIII, Chrono Trigger, SMT 3 Nocturne and several other JRPGS but that doesn't mean the game is at fault obviously. I just put it down to play something else and it got mixed in the shuffle. I never finished any Tekken game, any basketball game, never finished Super Mario World etc.

I find this notion that games that aren't completed by a % of players as a way to suggest they aren't worth the effort/purchase scary(not really scary but you know what I mean).

 

[Liquid]

Finishing a game is reaching the credits.

And I am not finishing shyt I do not enjoy.

 

[DPresidential]

Props on the thread.

If the experience is tauted as an amazing and must play single player experience yet a gamer, after the honeymoon stage of a new purchase, finds it a chore to complete the story...

Then the developers didn't do a good enough job in my opinion.

Of course if life gets in the way... That has no bearing on the game.

But if a game is GREAT yet before you've completed that story...other games are being picked over it... I'd argue the single player component is lacking something.

 

[acri1]

It really depends on the person.

Some people have ADD and never finish anything, other people are completionists and play all the way though games they hate.

 

[Why-Fi]

i consider seeing the whole story as finishing. its not equal to enjoying though, ive forced myself through a couple games just to finish the story...last of us a prime example

 

[Fatboi1]

Props on the thread.

If the experience is tauted as an amazing and must play single player experience yet a gamer, after the honeymoon stage of a new purchase, finds it a chore to complete the story...

Then the developers didn't do a good enough job in my opinion.

Of course if life gets in the way... That has no bearing on the game.

But if a game is GREAT yet before you've completed that story...other games are being picked over it... I'd argue the single player component is lacking something.

It's not that the game is lacking something, it's that people jump from game to game without finishing it because reasons(reasons being so many things.)

i haven't finished Titanfall 2 or Wolfenstein 2:TNC yet but that's not because the SP is lacking. The SP is great in those games, I just have a bunch of games I rotate and then new games come out and boom games go unfinished. i usually get back to them but sometimes I don't. I never finished GTA 3 or GTA Vice City and I'd dare someone to tell me the SP is lacking. No, I just loved fukking around and by the time I put hours into it a new one came out. Hell, the avy I'm rocking is one of my favorite games on Dreamcast and I still haven't finished it. I have it on PC and I just stopped playing it for no real reason. I'd say a better metric would be a game failing to engage players past a certain number of hours relative to the game length e.g. 60% of players only played 1 hour of a 45hr game.

The comments on this article are interesting.
Most players won't finish your game - and that's not a bad thing!

 

[Fatboi1]

Finishing a game is reaching the credits.

And I am not finishing shyt I do not enjoy.

that's one reason. That's not the only reason. That's what I'm getting at, the idea that because someone hasn't finished a game(yet) then that means the shyt isn't enjoyable. it's myopic.

 

[Deltron]

nope. There's been a few games that felt like an absolute chore to complete, but I finished them anyway because 1. I made it so far in the game, might as well finish it 2. Wanted to see the ending (before youtube and shyt)

 

[The Prince of All Saiyans]

given I never bought multiple games at once I usually hit the "so what now.."

 

[Kairi Irving]

Some games are so good you dont them to end.


My examples; Vice City, Red Dead Redemption

 

[Tunez]

You trash at gaming

 

[jdashmaj]

There are very few games I 100% completed. For me once I beat the final boss I’m done unless there are multiple endings. Even then I’ll just YouTube the best ending if it requires finishing some boring side missions like Arkham Knight did with those Riddler missions in the bat mobile.
Mario Odyssey I continued playing because there was a lot more actual game left to play after the credits rolled. I need a purpose for continuing to play regardless of how fun the game may be

 

[Doctor Doom]

I have yet to see what the ending to Skyrim is, but I'm sure I have +800 hours on that jawn.

 

[supremeleader]

I havnt finished any of the Xenoblade games but enjoyed them. They are just too long of a game to put so many hours into

 

[DPresidential]

I have yet to see what the ending to Skyrim is, but I'm sure I have +800 hours on that jawn.

This is a good point... Some games, like Skyrim, are more about the experience in the world.

Games like Uncharted or Tomb Raider which are narrative driven - there is something bizarre about hundreds of hours on those game without completing it. If it's not compelling enough for you to finish...the game is lacking something.