Video Game Completionism

So, I was talking with Teef the other day about how awesome I thought DA was, when I remembered that I never actually completed the game, because I was so OCD about doing every mission and such that I'd only get halfway through the game before I realized I missed something and would have to start a new playthrough. This happens to me a lot, and really impedes my enjoyment of open-world games, as I always feel obligated to do every mission and find all the side content. For instance, although I've beaten each game in the Mass Effect series a couple of times, I've never imported a save file from ME1-->ME2-->ME3, mainly because I wouldn't port anything less than a "perfect save".

I was talking with Trickster about this last night, and he said that his sense of wanting to achieve completion in games would also sometimes impede on his ability to enjoy video games. I'm wondering what you all have to say about this topic.

 

This is slowing me down on fo3, but I've already finished fo3, so I think it's fair to expect a more complete play through on your second try. I'm just trying to do all the side quests. It's not really that ambitious. It's actually quite easy since my level is way higher than it should be (since I "grind" and get good weapons).

I do have issues with Minecraft. I'll imagine ambitious plans and never quite finish them. I've mitigated this by keeping my plans less ambitious and allowing for "stages" of work.

But I can definitely finish a game, especially if it's my first play through.

 

Only open world games fuck me up like Fallout and Skyrim.

In fallout I must hoard all named weapons and cool armour even if I'm not going to use them, I usually visit all areas and complete quests but it doesn't really matter what percentage I completed as long as I have my cool gear.

Skyrim with all it's side quests was pretty horrible for me but I realized early on that most missions are the same, go to x dungeon kill everything inside, retrieve item. But because of the way leveling works, I was grinding so hard so I could craft the best armour and best weapons possible and when I was done with them it just made everything kind of boring. Seriously, it was like god mode, not even the main boss was a threat.

I had the same problem with ME that you did, perfect save or nothing but I just said fuck it, ignored the grinding missions, did the quests that interested me then I just downloaded a 100% save game that I could import.

 

Skyrim was just awful with its level scaling, but in a completely different way than from Oblivion. If you hit level 50 in Skyrim, things just stopped scaling, so it was pretty much easy mode from there and shit got boring.

Anyways, I do pretty much what Spartacus does, and do a "quick run" through a game and then do a second completionist run; the problem, though, is that I never get around to finishing the second run. The only time where that has actually worked for me was in Mass Effect 3 where the game was so short anyways that it was really no big deal.

Anyways, does anyone else feel as if Mass Effect 3 was just such a shorter game compared to Mass Effect 1 or Mass Effect 2? I could literally beat ME3 w/o doing side content in about 12-14 hours, but ME2 would always take me at least about 20 hours (but then again, I'm counting loyalty missions as main content and post-Horizon recruitment missions).

 

My problem is that i'm an anti-completionist. I can't complete games even though i wish i would. For years now i'm trying to finish Crysis and GTA IV Stories. I either lack the time or the self discipline and if i try to continue after a year or so my save games are gone. Maybe i should pay someone in China to finish the games for me.

 

I would consider myself a completionist, but not to that degree like Trickster is. It all boils down to how fun the side quests / weapons / maps, etc, are.

The only game where I've found it frustrating to complete the game completely is Alan Wake. Those damn manuscript pages cannot be found.

 

I am a completionist on occasion, but just as often I will stop playing a game halfway through so I guess it does impede my enjoyment somewhat. I spend maybe half the game unlocking as much as I can, doing every side mission, etc - but if I feel like I am grinding for little gain I usually just give up. A game really needs a good narrative, story telling and action throughout for me.

for some titles where I am a big fan and Ai know I am going to want to play more than once ai will just try to play through on normal difficulty and then replay it on hard and try unlocking everything.

I like the name though "Video Game Completionist" I think I will pit that down as religion next time I will out the census form.

 

Depends what you mean by completionism I suppose.

I'll explore every corner of a dungeon in skyrim and search every crate in fallout, but I have hardly touched the storyline in either game. Similarly I'll try every bit of weird platforming in dark souls and collect every item I can, but I have yet to bother finishing the plot.

I like to explore games an awful lot, but the actual story doesn't bother me so much. In RPGs I tend to collect things, one of every weapon, bit of armor, that sort of thing, but I don't generally look on the wiki to make sure I've gotten 'everything' or bother with the story much.

Guess overt storytelling doesn't do much for me in games, but I tend to minmax a lot getting the most optimal designs for things. I am completionist with game mechanics, but not games themselves.

And it doesn't affect my ability to enjoy it at all, really, aside from possibly not getting some games that are story driven, but then I can have endless fun in minecraft building stuff and playing with the horribly overcomplicated mods. Same in 4X games.

I'm also a bit odd in that I tend to start games over lots.

Like I'm currently playing four different characters simultaneously in dark souls. I start games in sword of the stars two or three times a week, and I've lost count of how many characters I've done in skyrim and fallout and oblivion and the like. I don't really get bored, because I pick different stats and use different stuff and go a different direction from the start. Currently I'm havin fun playing a diplomacy focused liir game in SOTS2, trying to ally everyone against either the buffed loa or suulka, whoever wins in the other corner of the map, other times I might play a totalitarianist hiver game, colonising everything and ruling absolutely.

To say nothing of the millions of games of minecraft I seem to play, generate world, build base, get bored, delete, build new base in different architectural style. Lots of fun.

 

Given that I stopped playing the witcher 2 once I realised that the gameplay was never going to progress past 'hit things with one of your two functionally identical swords' I would imagine that completionist tendencies would greatly improve the appeal of that game.

 

Still haven't gotten any further than half way through Crysis 2, still haven't gotten any further than 2/3 of the way through GTA IV (not including the episodes either). I just cannot bring myself to go back to a save after so long. It ends up being 2-3 years and I just can't do it.


And yeah, I'm a terrible completionist, I never finish anything, except for my perfect FF VII save. But I struggle to enjoy games nowadays simply because I know I'll never complete them to a standard I can be happy with. I was pretty happy with Just Cause 2 because I did all the faction missions and side stuff, even though I didn't chase down all the little artifact things. But other games I just don't get anywhere with. Trying to play through Pokemon HeartGold and taking "gotta catch 'em all" quite literally turns into a real grind. I basically hit the safari zone with upwards of 30 pokemon on my list to catch and just don't have it in me to start that.

It really doesn't help that I have so little time now. That's why nice quick, linear games like Call of Duty are actually pretty great for me. I can blast through them once and get the vast majority of the content out of it. It's also worth saying that I struggle with open world games that have hidden side quests. I missed so much of Fallout 3 it wasn't even funny. But it's a shitty situation for me. If I use a walkthrough, I spoil the entire game constantly as I read through it. If I don't use one, I miss half the game. In an ideal world, I'd zip through the game once, and then go through it again with a walkthrough to get all the content, but I will never ever get time for that until I retire, which is (hopefully) like 10-20 years off.

I also find myself grinding multiplayer games, like Killing Floor and Battlefield 3 for all the unlocks.

I may have problems.

 

300 Hours in Morrowind --> Never started the Mainquest
800 Hours in Oblivion --> Never completed the story
300 Hours in Fallout3 --> did the whole story, was disappointed by mainquest.
400 Hours in Fallout New Vegas --> No idea what I was doing :D
140 Hours in Skyrim --> Stopped playing it after I ruined the game with shuffle videos

--> Bethesda must have hidden magic code in their engine that causes massive distraction.

 

Witcher 1 was great and one of the few massive games i finished. Altough the last 10 hours i had to force myself playing.

 

The only games that I tried to look in every nook and cranny for extras was the Metroid Prime series, and that's because you get more energy tanks and missiles and whatever. Never really cared about completionisting other games because I only ever want to follow the action, not doing the "where's waldo" boring stuff.

 

It's also kinda shit for gameplay.

The closest thing they have to complexity is a crafting system for pre-fight buffs. You're apparently supposed to win by cramming lots of potions down your gullet before doing anything difficult.

Other than that it's mostly just hitting things with your sword, your one sword that gets turned into a sword +1 as you progress, or your other sword that you didn't bother turning into a sword +1 because you never used it for ages and now it sucks.

Basically I would play the witcher if it was dark souls combat.

Also if it was dark souls story for that matter, 'beat up everyone from the opening cutscene to become the baddest dude' is about all the motivation I need for a game.

I guess basically I want a beat-em-up with RPG elements, which is kinda what dark souls is.

 

Yes.

If I make it through more than the first 30 minutes then I will more likely than not need to get 100% on the whole thing. This usually means multiple playthroughs due to the games I like (FO, STALKER, etc.)

 

I must have all 150 Pokemon... I MUST!

I am generally a "completionist", but it is only a hassle for open world games like MMORPGs. I usually accept that I can't do lvl 10 quests at lvl 30 and continue on

 

On a linear game like HL2 I really want to complete the game at least once. On more nonlinear games I generally have less of a desire to do everything. I've spent 1000-2000 hours on Marble Blast Platinum and still haven't completed ~12 of its 120 levels, and I usually don't feel like doing them (I have played those levels, but I just haven't beaten them).

I have a few ambitious plans in Minecraft single player, although I am currently working on only one of them. That being said, it's coming along nicely and I see myself consistently working on it for quite some time in the future.