If a game stopped becoming fun but you put several hours in to it, would you still try to finish it?

[IceBrand]

You're near the end of the game but all the passion you had at the start is gone. Do you still push through or put the game down?

[Augestein]

I generally try to finish it even if it's not fun if I've invested a decent bit of time into it.

[The Draco Knight]

If I stopped playing a game that I've played for quite some time, I would feel..."empty" inside, so yeah, I would still try to finish it.

[saisymbolic]

I would take a step back, give it a break and play something else in the mean time. That usually happens when I play Skyrim or the Sims; I play it really hard for several months, burn out, leave it alone for a couple months and then get the urge to play it again.

[Knight Falchion]

I put it down for good. Happened with Bravely Default after I had put around 60 hours into it and I had no issue dropping it and trading it in. If I momentarily stop playing a game, I recognize that I still enjoy playing it but am not currently in the mood to fully enjoy it. If I've lost interest, then I likely won't regain that enthusiasm.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Knight Falchion

[Refa]

Put the game down. If the game is short enough and I'm close enough to the end, I maaaaaaaaay be able to power through it but generally my attention span doesn't last long enough for me to do so.

[Res]

Put the game down. They're meant to be entertainment and life is too short to complete things for no other purpose than the sake of completion.

I used to try and finish every book/game I started and it was actually a huge relief when I realized there was nothing stopping me from not doing that any more.

I got almost all the way to the end of Skyrim (110 hrs) and Mass Effect 3 before stopping. I'd been entertained up until then.

[The Glass Beast]

Finish the game as quickly as possible. If the game will take a while to finish, then I'd put it down.

[VincentASM]

I see games as entertainment, but also a challenge. If a game stopped being fun for me, I would probably stop or take a break.

Long ago, I also tried to complete every game I bought. Back then, I considered it getting the most out of my money, but as others said, games are meant for fun and how much fun you get from a game shouldn't be measured by simply completing it.

I feel kinda bad, but a recent-ish example is Little King's Story. I played 10-20 hours of it, probably not even beating the first boss, before I realised it wasn't the type of game for it and it just wasn't fun to play. As a result, I just stopped playing and eventually sold it.

Otherwise, most games I've bought are usually the types of games I'd generally enjoy. So I rarely give up on them.

There are occasions, like with Little King's Story, where I try to be more adventurous. Oh yeah, a more encouraging example would be Azure Striker Gunvolt, which I really enjoyed despite being crappy with action games.

[Zera]

I will always finish a game if it's good. If I don't finish it, the negative implications are huge.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Zera

[Azure Sen]

Depends on the game, but generally I'll try to power through it. There are some games, though, that I've tried to put down and come back to but still end up never finishing because they're boring me so bad.

[Refa]

I will always finish a game if it's good. If I don't finish it, the negative implications are huge.

That's a self fulfilling prophecy.

[Deltre]

It depends on my reasons for quitting, really. If I feel that the game has totally went off the deep end with BS I'm not as inclined to finish it, though if I know it's just like one boss or something it really depends on how I felt about the game before that. Someone brought up Bravely Default which is the exact example I would use, to be honest. The game was fun, so I finished it even if the ending was very repetitive. The game was fun, so I finished it even if the ending was very repetitive. The game was fun, so I finished it even if the ending was very repetitive. The game was fun, so I finished it even if the ending was very repetitive.

Otherwise, if I drop a game, I'm probably not that far into to begin with.

[Zera]

That's a self fulfilling prophecy.

What do you mean?

[Omegaprism]

Oh man, I used to try and push through every single game, but I'm old and creaky enough in my bones to have played in arcades in the 80s, where the games weren't actually very long, but getting to the end was so difficult you often had to have a few dollars in quarters on hand just to get past that one super annoying boss in the third level. Now that almost literally every gosh darned game that comes out these days expects you to treat it like a lifestyle (not gaming in general, just playing THIS ONE GAME) to get anywhere near something resembling completion, not so much.

[Zera]

Hello mortal. Do you wish to reach Inheritor rank? Better put in at least 500 hours. Think there's a shortcut that involves actual skill? Think again. This is no mere game. What do you think we are, some indie studio? This game IS your life! Muahahahaha!

[Kirie]

Definitely not. Games are meant to be fun. If I'm not enjoying playing one, I have other, better things I could spend my time on. Life is too short to waste time on shitty games that I'm not enjoying.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

In general I decide very early if I want to continue a (not so good) game or not. I usually drop it.

Latest example was Final Fantasy 6. Dropped it after like 2h playtime because certain mechanics pissed me off.

I still have to finish some other games, so it'd be stupid to waste time and effort on sth. which can't satisfy me.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Ayama Wirdo

[Emerson]

Normally such a thing doesn't happen to me, since I mostly play games I already know I'll like, but I know from playing etrian odyssey untold an experience that I'd put it down.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Emerson

[Magical Glace]

Games are meant to entertain. Like with Jules, this is why I dropped FFVI, the mechanics were very unfun for me (to the point I don't want to play anny FF game from 4-9).

Though sometimes I fail to continue/finish things solely because something else was shinier, as was the case with FFIII.

[B.Leu]

Generally, I give it my all when I play a game, but the Harvest Moon series is an exception.
I mean, the series is build arround repetitivity, and doesn't have an ending most of the time, so...

In any case, it only means I'll put the game down for a time. If I stop playing, it's either that, or to play something else, or that the game is crap (which is, obviously rare).

[Sire]

Depends. Chances are I will probably finish it eventually because of my inner completionist, but overall if I am not having fun, I will archive the game to the backlog.

However, some games I do press on during boring segments. Bravely Default's second half is a prime example, and while the side stories were entertaining, it was more of a checklist before moving on to the next thing. In Dungeon Fighter Online (my current game), there are sections of the story where it is drawn out and takes forever to get anywhere, but I still blasted my way through anyway. After the boring sections, the game became fun and enjoyable again.

Otherwise, I likely drop them and come back to them later when I feel the urge to play them again.

Skyrim has its moments with mods, but the combat is fairly dull. I also had to start all over because I had no idea what mods I had installed previously and I got a new computer at the time, so there's that.

Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations - I made decent progress, but the gimmicks were getting old and I was burnt out after marathoning through Birthright and Conquest, not to mention I had several other files going as well.

Factorio - A game about building a factory. However, as soon as I realized that the entire game was simply about efficiency, my enthusiasm dropped. I eventually stopped playing, but plan on returning because I enjoy the concept.

Xenoblade Chronicles - I am right at the end boss. I can literally walk right in and start the end sequence, but the completionist in me wants to finish the side quests before I do so. Problem is, the side quests tend to be boring and one needs to rely on a wiki finish them. So, it is backlogged.

Dues Ex & Dues EX: Human Revolution - I played through Invisible War and enjoyed that and apparently it is the worst in the series. However, when I tried to play these, either I didn't understand or I just sucked at playing them. I want to go back at some point to see if I can comprehend these games, but as I watched an LP of Human Revolution, I don't know if playing it myself will be worth the time if I am not enjoying it.

Of course, sometimes there is just a different game that takes my interest and I just play that instead, even if the previous title was good and enjoyable.

[Thane]

It's what I did with Fire Emblem: Gaiden because the game just became a chore and a slot machine. I might pick it up again sometime to finish what I started, but I feel no strong urge to do so right now.

[Topaz Light]

The whole reason I play games is to get enjoyment out of them, so there's not much point in playing a game if I'm not enjoying it. A lot of times I'm able to kinda tell when it's not gonna be something I'll like after I've made it a little ways in, but other times things just get put on indefinite hiatus (like Dragon Quest III) when it becomes apparent that I'm going to need to do copious amounts of some ratio of grinding and save scumming to proceed. This is kinda different in that I'd ideally finish those games, but I'm just not invested enough to motivate myself to push through the dull grindy bits.

Generally, though, I'm fairly stingy about actually buying games. I always research a game before buying it to see if it's my cup of tea, and the few "on a whim" game purchases I make tend to be games that I've looked into previously and decided I'd like that happened to pop up for a reasonable price. This means that it's thankfully pretty rare that I end up getting a game that I don't enjoy, although it has definitely happened.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Topaz Light

[Loki Laufeyson]

I never finish games that cease to be fun.