When to Stop Playing a Game

gasline09 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:35 pm

So I have been really really into Dark Souls, but at this point, I just want to finish it. I love this game an am having lots of fun with it, but the sooner I can beat this game the sooner I can move onto other games that need beating.

I'm almost done this game, just a little more leveling up and upgrading my weapons and I'm ready to take on the final boss!

I beat the game, finally! Now I can move onto my other games.......................

Dark Souls - Welcome to New Game Plus! You start at the beginning of the game with all of your gear and stats, but the monsters are a lot stronger and you can have more interaction with others online lol

Me - Fuck you Dark Souls......

So I'm replaying this game again, which is going to put me behind on a lot of game releases, because I have a huge list of games that I need to beat. But has this ever happened to anyone before? Have any funny stories you would like to contribute to this online message board community? Is it true that kiwis have tiny seeds that put microscopic cuts on your tongue?

I think this might belong in the general chatter section. MODS AND ADMINS!!!! TO YOUR DUTY!!!!

The Bastard Gamer · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:56 pm

When you're pissed off at it from getting your ass kicked by it/losing so many matches.

You need sleep.

Link · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 1:05 pm

You stop playing when you've got the most out of it. With Bastion I jumped back into new game plus for a couple extra hours and then stopped playing because I was way overpowered and it was just for some achievements. I'll usually play a game to completion of some degree, and then replay it in New Game + or whatever they offer me to "clean up" and do anything I forgot to do the first time through or do the more challenging achievements. But that's like... WAY later. I think New Game + is a good thing to COME BACK TO, because it's a New Game you'll re-tutorial and re-learn the ropes. I think that's the best time to drop a game to return to later.

Ehsan · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:21 pm

Normally, I buy 1 or 2 disk games and maybe a few downloadable games a year, so I'm usually not ambushed by a backlog. If it's a game with multiple scenarios, I replay them, but not right after I just beat it. I come back to it a few weeks to a month later (depending on my schedule) and replay it then. Games like inFAMOUS and Resident Evil 2 have kept my interest long enough to play them again. But then again, I usually replay shorter games. Considering how RE 2 was only 4ish hours, it was easy for me to replay it again in a shorter span. When I was younger, I easily relpayed a game to death, but now that I'm older, 2 times is usually my max, unless it's an extremely good game.

gasline09 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 6:43 pm

Don't get me wrong, I'm still really enjoying this game right now. I guess that's all that matters right?

Crono · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:02 pm

You can always come back to it ... I mean, that's like the entire point of a save file

Mr Black · **Posted:** Sat Dec 24, 2011 12:47 am

Link wrote:

You stop playing when you've got the most out of it. With Bastion I jumped back into new game plus for a couple extra hours and then stopped playing because I was way overpowered and it was just for some achievements. I'll usually play a game to completion of some degree, and then replay it in New Game + or whatever they offer me to "clean up" and do anything I forgot to do the first time through or do the more challenging achievements. But that's like... WAY later. I think New Game + is a good thing to COME BACK TO, because it's a New Game you'll re-tutorial and re-learn the ropes. I think that's the best time to drop a game to return to later.

Replace Bastion with Arkham City and this is pretty much what I was going to say.

Fox · **Joined:** Tue May 27, 2008 1:07 am **Posts:** 1507

As much as I would enjoy replaying some games there are too many new games coming out and older games sitting in my backlog to get to.

I have to set a cut off point. Usually my cut off point is just beating the game, but sometimes I might go back to clear up some side missions or pick up a couple extra achievements. I usually save harder difficulties or new game plus for a much later date.

Link · **Posted:** Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:14 am

Fox wrote:

I usually save harder difficulties or new game plus for a much later date.

Exactly. I think once you get all the "story content" out of a game you're done. I don't consider hidden packages and other bullshit to be "story" but it'd be like... I dunno... not doing all the missions in Red Dead Redemption and just calling it quits after you finish the main missions, or racing to the end of the Mass Relay in ME2 without bothering with exploring planets or loyalty missions.

Ehsan · **Posted:** Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:36 am

Out of curiosity, what if it's a game with 2 scenarios that play fairly similar but have different story points? Again using RE 2 and inFAMOUS as examples, but when you beat the game, you still have the next scenario to tackle to see how the other perspective ended. Do you still instantly jump back in for the sake of knowing the story or do you give it a break? It varied for me. I beat RE 2 with Leon A a while back but recently beat Claire A (when I learned that this was canon). For me, I might be inclined to beat the game again right after the first time just to see the other scenario, but only if I don't get burnt out on the game itself. inFAMOUS on the other hand, I instantly replayed to see the evil scenario. Then again, I didn't do any of the side missions, so I breezed through the game and didn't get tired of the game the second time around.

Link · **Posted:** Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:54 pm

Well, RE has Leon A & Claire B, and Claire A & Leon B. All of which are awesome. I think in the game's own way the entire thing is canon, as they cherry pick the parts they want from which parts. At least that's the vibe I've always gotten, then again I never read into it too much beyond what they usually tell me. I think that game is interesting and short enough to explore all facets of, then again, I'd consider it the longest Resident Evil and the one with the most replay value because of that.

inFamous and stuff like that, where there's a small branching plot, or like... going Renegade instead of Paragon in ME, I think that kind of stuff can wait because of how trivial it feels overall.

Ehsan · **Posted:** Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:35 pm

I think what drew me in to beat inFAMOUS a second time was the side missions completely changing. If you chose to be good, you helped out civilians, the police, etc, while being evil let you help out the gangs and other major villains you were supposed to take down. That was kind of cool and playing as evil on your second playthrough allowed you to get ridiculously overpowered by the end to cause a ton of mayhem.

And with RE, Capcom said that the official canon was Claire A/Leon B (which is annoying because Claire is on Disk B, making me accidentally do Leon's scenario first). That and

Spoiler

But yeah, seeing how the two stories weaved in together and their short lengths (it took me around 4 hours to beat) made it a lot easier to continue playing.

Mr Black · **Posted:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:34 pm

Ehsan wrote:

Out of curiosity, what if it's a game with 2 scenarios that play fairly similar but have different story points? Again using RE 2 and inFAMOUS as examples, but when you beat the game, you still have the next scenario to tackle to see how the other perspective ended. Do you still instantly jump back in for the sake of knowing the story or do you give it a break? It varied for me. I beat RE 2 with Leon A a while back but recently beat Claire A (when I learned that this was canon). For me, I might be inclined to beat the game again right after the first time just to see the other scenario, but only if I don't get burnt out on the game itself. inFAMOUS on the other hand, I instantly replayed to see the evil scenario. Then again, I didn't do any of the side missions, so I breezed through the game and didn't get tired of the game the second time around.

I can't do inFamous back to back playthroughs. It's a meaty game so I beat it once for the good ending and went back pretty much a year later and played it for the evil ending. Same thing goes with inFamous 2. Great game, but back to back playthroughs is a bit much for me so this summer I'm going to go back and play the evil side and finish off getting the remaining trophies to get the platinum for it. Such big games I think you need to break up playthroughs or you'll end up getting very sick of the game.

Ehsan · **Posted:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:07 pm

The first time I played through it, I just went through the story without side missions, so it wasn't as long to me. And that was the first PS3 game I played, so I was in that "holy crap, the Wii never had a game like this" phase.

Mr Black · **Posted:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:14 pm

Ehsan wrote:

The first time I played through it, I just went through the story without side missions, so it wasn't as long to me. And that was the first PS3 game I played, so I was in that "holy crap, the Wii never had a game like this" phase.

When it comes to sandbox games I try to experience everything I can (well everything that doesn't annoy me). I have to admit, for my second playthrough of infamous I didn't do nearly as much as I did the first time. Did just enough side missions to completely upgrade my powers and get full negative karma and that's it. Same thing will probably happen when I replay 2 in a few months.

I think this might actually be the year that I replay a whole bunch of my games though. Took a good look at my shelf and there are a bunch of titles I want to experience again. That and I really need to save money this year...

Link · **Posted:** Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:06 am

I'm playing 999 right now and... yeah, it really forces you to replay the shit out of it. I wish you could just skip around to particular plot branches instead of just fast-forwarding... makes it EXTRA repetitive with the puzzles. But, I'm not sure if I'm going to gun for the best ending or just dick around until I eventually get the best ending.

gasline09 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:29 pm

Well I finally put Dark Souls down. All I had to do was play more Killzone 3 online and I got really into that. Right now I'm playing through Deathspank. It's an awesome game but I don't see myself playing through it more than once, unless it's a year or two from now then I might pick it up again.

Mr Black · **Posted:** Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:35 pm

gasline09 wrote:

Well I finally put Dark Souls down. All I had to do was play more Killzone 3 online and I got really into that. Right now I'm playing through Deathspank. It's an awesome game but I don't see myself playing through it more than once, unless it's a year or two from now then I might pick it up again.

Deathspank is a really easy game to 100% everything, including achievements/trophies. I beat it on PC this time last year and while I enjoyed it I'll probably never play it again. Still working on Thongs of Virtue though.

Link · **Posted:** Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:49 pm

Deathspank is fucking LONG, or at least it feels that way. Wife and I were co-oping the shit out of it forever.

Mr Black · **Posted:** Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:26 pm

Link wrote:

Deathspank is fucking LONG, or at least it feels that way. Wife and I were co-oping the shit out of it forever.

I put about 12 hours into the first Deathspank, but I've already put 12 into Thongs of Virtue and I feel like I've barely done anything. The sequel is way longer.

When to Stop Playing a Game

Who is online