On pecking at games, having many on the go, and leaving things unfini

general
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@“milo”#p95231 i don't know why, but your post made me think about “missed connections” with video games.

like maybe if i'd met any given game at a different time in my life, i'd have fallen madly in love, but because i didn't play that game until age X, we just didn't really have much to connect on, and there wasn't much of a spark.

i think sometimes we approach games (or libraries of other kinds of media) as kind of static objects or resources that we can draw from, expecting equal results regardless of where we're at in our lives. but it never works that way, does it? there's a lot of "right time, right place" when it comes to video games, and we discount that at our peril.

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You know, just based on how against conventional wisdom all of these lovely posts from wonderful folks are in this thread, it feels like this discussion should be essential reading for new posters and/or lurkers.

It encapsulates a lot of what is special and unique about our community's particular brand of chill.

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Gaagaagiins: @“connrrr”#p95219 JUST putting it out there but I think you’re a funny, vivacious, insightful, generous, and genuine presence on here. Remember, I’m pullin’ for ya. We’re all in this together.

[size=40]**_! ! ! !_**[/size]

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@“connrrr”#p95219 You don’t?

Only when it makes me stare into the eyeballs of games as I shoot them in the face with the I Don't Want To Play You Anymore BFG (IDWTPYABFG).

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I’m starting to wonder if big breaks in a playthrough don’t automatically ruin my enjoyment of a game

Yeah breaks are a different thing. Sometimes they're involuntary! I put Dark Souls II aside to wait for the online to come back, not because I didn't like it. (Of course you're joking @"Gaagaagiins"#p95140 but, _for the record_) I put FFX aside because I lived on another continent for a year and wasn't going to bring a PS4 with me. Now, do I start over, or soldier on... the big elephant awaits... what's it called... the "shoe hump"? not looking it up....

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@“pasquinelli”#p95157 i want to want to play it.

yes. in terms of my dumb spreadsheet this is a way more fun column to look at, longingly, daydreamingly

[img width=150]https://i.imgur.com/lpSeiux.png[/img]

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@“captain”#p95263 the big elephant awaits… what’s it called… the “shoe hump”? not looking it up….

# [Ride ze _shoopuf??_](https://youtu.be/jkbf1TYQ6hs)

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@“captain”#p95263 that is a tantalizingly solid list of games right there.

and i also second everything Gaags said about you, @connrrr

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@“captain”#p95263 Now, do I start over, or soldier on…

This is its own side stream to this overall discussion, 'cause, like, lots of games are really _bad_ at facilitating picking them back up after an extended hiatus.

I'm thinking of it because of the above still, but, being within the _DQXI_ Kotako Review Video layer of sedimentary rock of folks flocking to the revival era Insert Credit Forums, that's really one of the absolute most charming things about _DQXI._ You get a little context sensitive "Last Time On" style recap of whatever is going on in the story _every time you load the game_ based on where you are in the story. Obviously it's easily skippable but yeah it's always available. It is great. It even has a silly little tune attached to it!

_Dragon Quest_ in general is lovely about that sort of thing. The more _Dragon Quest_ games you play the more you get the shared mechanics of it deep into your bones. They are just great games to play all sorts of ways, really. Man, when is _Dragon Quest XII_ coming out... I wasn't even a _Dragon Quest_ superfan when _XI_ was coming out. I'm gonna be one of those work dodgers on _Dragon Quest_ release day for sure now.

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@“Gaagaagiins”#p95274 …that’s really one of the absolute most charming things about DQXI. You get a little context sensitive “Last Time On” style recap of whatever is going on in the story every time you load the game based on where you are in the story. Obviously it’s easily skippable but yeah it’s always available. It is great. It even has a silly little tune attached to it!

yeah, i played _Dragon Quest 11_ for years, literally, without losing track of what i ws supposed to be doing.

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@“whatsarobot”#p95233 there’s a lot of “right time, right place” when it comes to video games, and we discount that at our peril.

Oh man... YEAH! I actually whispered _Dude, YES!_ at my desk. I mentioned earlier that I "adore" _Bloodborne_ but honestly, I adore the time I had with it in 2018 when I was living alone, was unhealthy and pretty depressed. It gave me something to smash my head against for a couple hours every night. Revisiting the game recently (now that I'm doing much better) I don't have a good time. At all. Honestly, it's a truly miserable gaming experience.

I've been thinking about this a lot with _God of War: Dadnarok_ recently coming out. All I can think is _I woulda loved this game so much my last year in college_. Now-a-days I just don't have the patience or time for a 60+ hour prestige video game that wants you to bask in the prettiness and polish. I did that recently with _TLoU2_ and it was a slog to get through by the end. But 22 year old me LOVED the first one. Instantly labeled it a masterpiece. 30 year old me would probably kind of shrug and think it was neat.

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@“Gaagaagiins”#p95225 I was trying to explain why I don‘t take meds and going into way tmi about why that is and trying to cut it down. When I examine how disordered one of my behaviours is, it always comes back to trauma. One of the only self-help books I ever got anything out of—Complex PTSD by Pete Walker—informs a lot of how I approach my own mental health. In the past six</s>~eleven years I’ve made a lot of lifestyle and habit changes that have been very successful at allowing me to overcome my shit. That's pretty much what I was working on writing!

Some of my maladaptive behaviours have looked like ADHD, but also avoidant disorder and OCD. That's complex trauma for you. So, I don't know if I'd have a place in the Totally Brain Cool thread but why the heck hasn't someone created that already? Seems like it would be welcoming to a lot of people here.

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JUST putting it out there but I think you’re a funny, vivacious, insightful, generous, and genuine presence on here. Remember, I’m pullin’ for ya. We’re all in this together.

Thank you. ♡
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I‘m no completionist by any means, but when it comes to narrative focused media, I often feel compelled to finish out the narrative in whatever capacity that entails. I’ve absolutely pushed myself to sit through movies, games, and books I really don‘t like. This year, for the first time, I’ve felt way more comfortable dropping media unfinished and fully knowing I won't return to it.

BUT

Sometimes I get halfway through a game, take a break and have a real hard time returning to it. It definitely seems genre/style related more than anything for me. Genre wise, Open World games are probably my biggest offender. Unless I get truly sucked in to the games world or story, Open World games don't hold my attention well enough for me. Every few years, a big Open World game does suck me in and I'll spend 100+ hours with it. This year, Elden Ring did it for me. I always find something to do, and find a reason to come back to it. The last open world game to really do this for me was Breath of the Wild back in 2017. I tried Red Dead Redemption 2, Fallout 4, Horizon Forbidden West, Ghostwire Tokyo, and probably a few others I can't remember, and dropped them all within the first few hours. While I don't necessarily feel guilty about not playing them, I often wonder if I'm "missing out" on something by not having completed those experiences, mostly when it comes to the story. Writing this out is giving me the feeling that I should start just reading through story summaries on Wikipedia and moving on and letting go of some of this.

I don't personally keep a backlog, but there's always a small list on my mind of **_classic_** games that I need to get through. Unfortunately some of these games end up being ones that I drop too. I've started and dropped Earthbound, FFVII, Resident Evil, and MGS1 many, many times. @whatsarobot makes an incredible point about experiencing things at "right time, right place" which I think influences my ability to complete a game. Whether it's time of year, the device I can play a game on, and ease of access.

**"right time, right place"**

During 2020, I finally completed my first JRPG. It took me from late spring until early fall to finally get through Chrono Trigger. Having the game just on my phone made it super easy to pick up and play for a few minutes whenever I had downtime, which I think greatly lead to my success in completing it. Granted, 2020 gave us all a lot of downtime at home, the situation was perfect for me being able to actually get through that game.

I feel really guilty because I started playing FFVII on Switch in the early summer after finishing FFVII Remake on PS5, and haven't touched it since August. I was truly enjoying my time with it, and was really interested in the story. I actually found the story to be far more compelling than I expected, and started to really understand the reverence for this game. I don't like that I dropped it, I think life maybe just got in the way. Having it on Switch means I bring it with me, but I haven't had the headroom for ingesting a huge story like that lately.

Should I feel guilty? Absolutely not. This thread has definitely made it easier to reconcile that fact. I read through these posts yesterday and felt really good seeing that there's a lot of us who drop games and don't necessarily come back. This year, I've gotten better about dropping things when it comes to other forms of media, but games are still the one thing I latch on to and feel some kind of strange urge to complete them, at least when it comes to narrative focused ones.

I read through more than half of Snow Crash back in May, and realized I hated the characters and pacing and decided to just drop it and don't feel bad about it. I'm learning and growing I guess...