Why are PC games so hard to finish?

Chris Bardon · 08-22-2003, 01:17 AM

Has anyone else got the same problem as I do, where you just can't finish a PC game? Sure, there's the odd exception (Vice City and Morrowind are the last 2 I can think of), but for the most part I just never get around to finishing off PC stuff. Consoles are a different story however-I think I have maybe 5 current generation console games that I haven't beaten yet. There's just something about playing on PC that...I don't know, makes it easier to quit. I thought of this while I was reading a writeup on Thief 3, and realized that I've started and never finished Thief 1 & 2. Also remembered Max Payne, the last Medal of Honour game, Alice, and a whole pile of other games that have come out in the last 10 years that I've stockpiled. The worst part is-I keep buying more!

Anyone else have a similar problem with PC games?

Darren Haycock · 08-22-2003, 08:03 AM

Hmm, not finishing games was pretty common for me back in the NES days cause they were so freakin' hard. It's different for me today though. I can't put a game (console or PC) that I own back on the shelf until it's complete. Thankfully, it's a lot easier to do that today...

Kyle McKnight · 08-22-2003, 09:44 AM

I'm on the last level of Alice...haven't tried it in a week though. Mainly on the Comp though I play on-line games...so there really is no beating them. OTOH, I've got 27 combined GC/Xbox games (of which 3 are racing) and I've only completed 2 of them. Buffy the Vampire Slayer at a friends house, and Indiana Jones at home.

Noah Gottula · 08-22-2003, 11:29 AM

I'm with you Chris. There are tons I put down halfway through such as Dungeon Siege, Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Half-Life, Heroes of Might and Magic III. I've come to the conclusion that the only games I finish the single player are the ones with Online play. Such Warcraft 3 and Age of Mythology. I think its because of MMORPG's and how I find the some enthralling and time consuming, I'm spoiled with how much fun they are. However the best single player game I've ever played in the last 5 years or so, was on the PC, it was Mafia. It didn't seem to get too much attention, but man I had more fun playing that game then any other game I can think of in recent history.

John_Berger · 08-22-2003, 11:32 AM

Unless the game really aggravates me, due to poor control design, bad story, bugs, etc., I'm compelled to finish the game. Even in adventure or strategy games where there are areas that are optional, I have this compulsive need to see those areas so that I don't know what I've missed. If I don't finish a game, I feel like I wasted my money.

And how could you not finish Max Payne?! My God! That is one of the best games of the past decade!

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KevinRB · 08-22-2003, 07:32 PM

I don't usually play PC games, but one possible reason is PC games are so easy to come by. A lot of PC games are released, and they drop in value very fast. It's tempting to move from game to game before finishing one.

Joel Hurley · 08-22-2003, 09:15 PM

-Noah, I agree totally, Mafia is my favorite game, what a blast!

-And keeping with the thread topic, I just can't get myself to finish the game. I'm right at the end, but it's so hard. Every once in a while I pick it up, move along for a bit, get killed, and put it away for later. Of course I'm in the middle of playing like 5 games, so that does not help much in finish any one of them.

Peter Manojlovich · 08-22-2003, 09:16 PM

I'm not a die hard pc gamer, but I find it very hard to sit in a chair in front of a pc monitor playing a game for hours on end. I'm not sure I've ever finished a pc game. Didn't finish half-life, system shock, starcraft, warcraft 3, age of empires 2, etc.

Dave F · 08-22-2003, 09:26 PM

I find it tough to play PC gmaes now because while I'm at a PC, there are just too many distractions: web, email, downloading, encoding, etc... But when I'm in front of the tv, that has all of my attention.

-Dave

Chris Bardon · 08-22-2003, 10:18 PM

Well, just to get an idea of how bad this problem is, I went through my game list and pulled off everything that I own but didn't finish. 70 games! Only consolation is that I didn't pay all THAT much for most of em. I have friends that'll pass on stuff that they've finished, and I pick up a lot off ebay and used, but still-even at $10 per game, that's $700 in software that's never been completely exploited.

I think I agree that it's just too easy to move on to something else on PC-especially if you also do all your work on it. While I was working on my thesis research, I kept feeling guilty about playing a game on my computer when I should have been working. It's a lot easier to ignore that guilt in the living room...

Will I ever go back to the games I've missed? Possibly. Max Payne, Freedom Force, and the Thief games will get completed eventually-possibly when the sequels are soon to come out.