Is it over yet? Games that you just want to finish and move on

[Wraith_3]

There are those games that you love, maybe an old favorite, that you get towards the end and start feeling apprehensive because you know the ride is over. You might even feel a little depressed after you finish it. Then there are games that slog on for so long you just want it to end. That brings me to what I'm playing now Ghost Recon Wildlands. The game is actually fun and the environments look great. The problem is there's not much story, few vehicles, and a lot of repetition. The game world size is too large for the game it actually is. What I mean is that by the time I finished the first two or three regions, I was ready for it to be over. The game is maybe at 70% and if they had a put a little more effort into the story, variety of vehicles, and mission variety, the game would have been great. I've got three regions left and it's really hard to keep going to finish this thing! Anyone one else experience this and have examples of similar games?

 

[Frag Maniac]

I actually really liked GRW, so much in fact that I enjoyed playing all the missions and regions. I worked my way up to Tier 1 and beat it on that, then just for something a bit less arcade, I went for a run on Extreme mode with no HUD, Upgrades, or DLC weapons. Of course it helps to know the game well first, as you have to find safehouses as close to choppers as possible, then steal them on your way to the mission, if you want to make far away missions quicker, but believe it or not, I averaged only about 10 min per mission, and that's starting and ending at a safehouse. I also always waited for my team to get in the vehicle I was driving or flying, unless in a mission vehicle with only two seats, or one was stuck on terrain or taking too long, which only happened a few times I think. It's kinda tricky getting the driving route to objectives in your head with no objective markers, making use of the map and route planning beforehand essential. It's a far more realistic and immersive way to play.

I've got a playlist of 114 videos I made as a guide on how to do it. Too bad Ubi screwed the pooch on Breakpoint though, they've really become trash developers.

Full Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHB6vX_n-5BOwb6B4izux5HjNAf0YFt00

 

[Zloth]

Yeah, this will definitely be subjective stuff. Kind of like the concept of grinding: it isn't really grinding if you're having fun doing it.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker hit me this way. You finally find out how to attack the big boss and find yourself facing a pretty huge dungeon to get to her. Fine, a big dungeon for a big game. When you defeat her, though, you find you need to fight the power that's driving her. OK, my party is pretty spent but I've done enough JRPGs to be prepared for a double-boss-battle. No. You need to go raise an army. Ugh. I got through it and (eventually) beat the final big bad but it left a horrible aftertaste.

 

[mainer]

Most recently, for me, it was The Outer Worlds. OW isn't a bad game by any means, and there were moments I really enjoyed it, but I kept thinking, the further I got into the game, is that it felt like a rough outline for an RPG, rather than an in-depth experience. It's like the mechanics, skills, companions, weapons/armor, loot just weren't fleshed out enough for me, and while the main story line was pretty good (with the DLC Peril of Gorgon being the best), it just made me want to get it over with and move on to something else after about the 3/4 point in the game.

For instance, companion banter, so important in a party-based RPG, was just lacking. They each had a defined personality, which is good, and conversations with my character, which took you to a closeup screen of that character, were okay, but it was while exploring the world when they talked to each other. I'd hear them talking, turn around, and they're standing like mannequins staring straight at me. Completely immersion breaking. I mean even Skyrim back in 2012 had npcs and companions look at each other when they talked together.

Then there was the weapons/armor and crafting system. At first it was pretty cool, because it was different, but the further I got into the game, the less variety there was, and there just wasn't much you could do with the crafting. Towards the end, I didn't even bother looting bodies or crates, as it was more of the same stuff I already had.

The level up system for the main character was okay, nothing in-depth, but just okay. But for companions, you had basically no input on how they developed. You got the choice of a perk every 5 levels, and that was it. Just no depth to it.

And don't get me started on companion AI. They just rushed every enemy, and either died, or killed most enemies before I could. Skyrim, FONV, ect had far better combat.

From this you might think I hated the game, I really didn't, I just wanted it to end.

 

[Frag Maniac]

The thing with games I've enjoyed like GRW and The Evil Within was I noticed I actually enjoyed them a ton more once I did a final run through with no upgrades. It's not just that the added challenge makes it feel like a different game, it's that you spend zero time collecting resources to apply to said upgrades, which is the majority of the grinding in those games.

 

[Wraith_3]

Don't get me wrong I think GRW IS fun, it just feels like they spent a little more time polishing it it would be less grindy and have more things to do.

I totally agree with The Outer Worlds. I was underwhelmed. It was fun, but felt like it ended at what should have been the halfway point and most companions, other than Parvati, were forgettable, IMO.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Don't get me wrong I think GRW IS fun, it just feels like they spent a little more time polishing it it would be less grindy and have more things to do.

Yeah, but the ironic thing is, Breakpoint, even with a much smaller game world, has far more bugs.

 

[Johnway]

Generally speaking, Path of Exile has so much end game content crammed into it that i never finish it. Certainly when it comes to leagues i would spend months playing it, burn out and still not see most of the league's boss. In most cases i do up to half of the challenges before i stop. But one of the reason it drags on is probably the amount of luck needed to progress of get the challenges. Which annoys me as its not about a test of skill, but more luck. Sure, i could buy my way to victory but luck of getting exalts or chaos orbs? slim. Unless you play the vendor recipe game a full rare set. its also not helping that enemies can sometimes one hit you and it can come very suddenly.

 

[Pifanjr]

I hadn't been able to come up with a solid example before, but I do have this with all Hack and Slash games. I don't think I've ever gotten past the first chapter in Titan Quest. I played quite a bit of Torchlight and Path of Exile. I did finish the campaign of Sacred, then continued with the same character in Sacred: Underworld and only got a few hours in before abandoning it.

I have a similar experience with MMORPGs, which are very similar to Hack and Slash games, especially if you play them almost exclusively solo, as I do.

EDIT: this is actually also true for a lot of the (sci-fi) games where you can play as a mercenary, pirate, trader or miner. It's performing the same repetitive gameplay over and over, often only for equipment with slightly better numbers but with no impact on the actual gameplay.

 

[PCG Jody]

Pathfinder: Kingmaker hit me this way. You finally find out how to attack the big boss and find yourself facing a pretty huge dungeon to get to her. Fine, a big dungeon for a big game. When you defeat her, though, you find you need to fight the power that's driving her. OK, my party is pretty spent but I've done enough JRPGs to be prepared for a double-boss-battle. No. You need to go raise an army. Ugh. I got through it and (eventually) beat the final big bad but it left a horrible aftertaste.

Kingmaker is exactly the game I thought of too. It didn't help that I was sick of the combat long before that point, but being into the story had carried me through the early- and mid-game. By the end though, I was playing it in tiny slices before getting distracted, and the final 20 hours took months to play.

 

[Yggdrasill]

For me it's definitely Assassin's Creed Origins at the moment. I am interested in the overall setting of the game, but the story itself is sadly rather "meh". Side quests are so repetitive and boring as well. Everything you explore seems to be pretty much the same... I want to complete it, but it feels hard for me. (It's my first AC)
I wanted to play Odyssey as well, but now I'm not so sure about it. Valhalla should be better than Origins or Odyssey some friends suggested, so I'll grab that in a sale maybe.

 

[Frag Maniac]

For me it's definitely Assassin's Creed Origins at the moment. I am interested in the overall setting of the game, but the story itself is sadly rather "meh". Side quests are so repetitive and boring as well. Everything you explore seems to be pretty much the same... I want to complete it, but it feels hard for me. (It's my first AC)
I wanted to play Odyssey as well, but now I'm not so sure about it. Valhalla should be better than Origins or Odyssey some friends suggested, so I'll grab that in a sale maybe.

It's said that Valhalla is plagued with microtransactions, and that many have complained about it.

 

[Yggdrasill]

It's said that Valhalla is plagued with microtransactions, and that many have complained about it.

Oh...

 

[Zloth]

It's said that Valhalla is plagued with microtransactions, and that many have complained about it.

I don't know about Valhalla but they said that about Odyssey, too. It wasn't true. You COULD buy something to give you an extra 10% xp or gold but I have no clue why you would. Maybe it was for people that wanted to go straight through the main campaign without ever touching a single side quest? Basically, buy the game then pay extra so you don't have to play all of it? If you just played normally, though, you get more xp than you can really use. The weapons and stuff you could buy seemed fairly pointless except as cosmetics. So the microtransactions in that game weren't only not required, they weren't even particularly appealing!

 

[SBan83]

Doom 2016 for sure. I mean, the game was damn good fun...visceral, tense combat that sped up my heartbeat but the last quarter of the game was like, "C'monnnnn....how many more times do I have to do this same routine?"

So even though I normally cherish a tough boss battle where I die multiple times till I master the rhythm needed, by the time I got to the final boss, I just turned the difficulty down one click, just to get through with it.

 

[Ryzengang]

For me it's definitely Assassin's Creed Origins at the moment. I am interested in the overall setting of the game, but the story itself is sadly rather "meh". Side quests are so repetitive and boring as well. Everything you explore seems to be pretty much the same... I want to complete it, but it feels hard for me. (It's my first AC)
I wanted to play Odyssey as well, but now I'm not so sure about it. Valhalla should be better than Origins or Odyssey some friends suggested, so I'll grab that in a sale maybe.

I had the same experience with Origins. It's strange, but Origins and Odyssey have very similar ratings, both* critic and user scores. That said, (I'm currently playing Odyssey right now) I personally think Odyssey is better in pretty much every way. I stopped playing Origins at 20 hours and I already have over 60 hours in Odyssey. I never properly finished Origins. Odyssey improves the combat significantly imo, has actual dialogue options (which is quite significant for me), has a better story and characters, and - like Origins - nails the setting very well. It isn't a perfect game, but I personally recommend Odyssey and have a harder time recommending Origins. Odyssey is a more refined game and I think Origins was a necessary "stepping stone" game in their transition of the AC series to more RPG-like.

I don't know about Valhalla but they said that about Odyssey, too. It wasn't true. You COULD buy something to give you an extra 10% xp or gold but I have no clue why you would. Maybe it was for people that wanted to go straight through the main campaign without ever touching a single side quest? Basically, buy the game then pay extra so you don't have to play all of it? If you just played normally, though, you get more xp than you can really use. The weapons and stuff you could buy seemed fairly pointless except as cosmetics. So the microtransactions in that game weren't only not required, they weren't even particularly appealing!

Yea, as noted above, I'm currently playing through Odyssey and have over 60 hours in now. I'm not sure why anyone who enjoys the game would buy microtransactions, honestly. I agree with you that simply playing the game normally provides you with plenty of gold and xp. If you want to speed run campaigns, open world games are generally not your genre, I think.

 

[drunkpunk]

I can't remember the last time I beat an assassins creed game. Maybe the first one? I dunno, they usually grab me a bit initially but I always fall off hard less than halfway through the game.

Pathfinder is also my "is it over yet" game. So much so, in fact, I have yet to beat it. I've managed to get to chapter 6 twice now, I believe, but just lose interest or something else comes out that catches my attention. I'm playing the Wrath of the Righteous beta right now which so far, I'm enjoying a bit more, but I'm still pretty early in and unsure if it'll stick. It's weird though because there are parts of Kingmaker I absolutely adore, but there are other parts that just feel like such a chore to get through.

 

[Johnway]

For me it's definitely Assassin's Creed Origins at the moment. I am interested in the overall setting of the game, but the story itself is sadly rather "meh". Side quests are so repetitive and boring as well. Everything you explore seems to be pretty much the same... I want to complete it, but it feels hard for me. (It's my first AC)
I wanted to play Odyssey as well, but now I'm not so sure about it. Valhalla should be better than Origins or Odyssey some friends suggested, so I'll grab that in a sale maybe.

i'm playing through origins atm and yeah the game is surprisingly huge. I guess i think its mostly because you're actually travelling through the entire country as opposed to localized to a city. I'm enjoying it, taking in the sights and trying to visit all the ? in the world. The level of the enemies is a bit of a mess atm but i'm sure there is a reason.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I don't know about Valhalla but they said that about Odyssey, too. It wasn't true. You COULD buy something to give you an extra 10% xp or gold but I have no clue why you would. Maybe it was for people that wanted to go straight through the main campaign without ever touching a single side quest? Basically, buy the game then pay extra so you don't have to play all of it? If you just played normally, though, you get more xp than you can really use. The weapons and stuff you could buy seemed fairly pointless except as cosmetics. So the microtransactions in that game weren't only not required, they weren't even particularly appealing!

Yeah, I know in reality there are always a lot of fan overreactions to microtransactions. For example the same was true of Dead Space 3. People complained about it a lot, but it was really all stuff you could get by playing the game, and in the game you can find a total of 3 scavenger bots, which was plenty to deck yourself out well. The thing is though, many of us are still opposed in general to the concept of microtransactions, because there's always more chance when they're implemented that we get shorter campaigns, and stuff that should have been included in the game, added later in the form of pay DLC. THAT is definitely not acceptable.

Regarding the latest AC games. I liked Origins most. Origins had a more appropriate, primitive, and challenging combat style, with shields. I felt ridiculous playing a Spartan turned merc in Odyssey, with no shield. It's not only disingenuous to the tactics and values Spartans had, it made for very silly arcade gameplay. It's a shame too because some aspects of Odyssey were pretty good. I enjoyed the boss fights against the mythological creatures, but I was disappointed that the Sphynx was merely an easily solvable puzzle. The arena fights were also far better in Origins, especially the elephant battles, OMG! Some of the best parts of Origins though were the boss fights in the Afterlife realm, and in The Curse of the Pharaohs DLC in general, really good stuff.

Valhalla, especially after Ubi's disaster title GR Breakpoint, I expect to be horrible compared to the previous two ACs. If I even choose to play it at all, it won't be until it's at bargain bin prices.

 

[Rensje]

Almost all games I play these days outstay their welcome. Open world games in particular are guilty of this, often just padding the experience with side stuff you don't care much about but that you should probably be doing because you are missing out on a lot of upgrades and strength boosts otherwise. I tend to tire of other genres too, though. I liked Two Point Hospital, for example, but when I was on the sixth hospital min-maxing room layouts and putting bins in strategic locations I was like "what the hell am I doing"?

Management games I used to love get stale now, too. I spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours during my childhood playing RCT and now I'm just done after three or four scenarios. Civ? Can't make it into the modern era without getting utterly, desperately bored with the whole thing. Even XCOM isn't holding my interest anymore and that was my go-to strategy game.

So what games DID I love and finish over the past few years? I finished Control and loved it. Same with Resident Evil 7. I saw the end of CoD: Modern Warfare's campaign, beat The Last of Us 2 and.. that's about it? All of those have campaigns that last anywhere between 10-25 hours and that's about all I can sit through these days.

You know what's funny, though? I never learn. I keep buying (Ubisoft) games thinking I'll play them for a while. I made it about 10 hours into Valhalla before I was like 'yeah, nah'. Breakpoint, same thing. Rage 2, thought I would love it but I hated it. So far I've managed to talk myself out of Immortals and Cyberpunk but we'll see how long I can resist.

A game I am playing and enjoying for longer than I expected to is Death Stranding. I'm about 30 hours in and nowhere near close to beating it, but the insane story is just enough to keep me going. I like the strangeness of the whole thing, including the gameplay.

 

[Yggdrasill]

I had the same experience with Origins. It's strange, but Origins and Odyssey have very similar ratings, both* critic and user scores. That said, (I'm currently playing Odyssey right now) I personally think Odyssey is better in pretty much every way. I stopped playing Origins at 20 hours and I already have over 60 hours in Odyssey. I never properly finished Origins. Odyssey improves the combat significantly imo, has actual dialogue options (which is quite significant for me), has a better story and characters, and - like Origins - nails the setting very well. It isn't a perfect game, but I personally recommend Odyssey and have a harder time recommending Origins. Odyssey is a more refined game and I think Origins was a necessary "stepping stone" game in their transition of the AC series to more RPG-like.

Thanks for your insight!

 

[Frag Maniac]

So what games DID I love and finish over the past few years? I finished Control and loved it. Same with Resident Evil 7. I saw the end of CoD: Modern Warfare's campaign, beat The Last of Us 2 and.. that's about it? All of those have campaigns that last anywhere between 10-25 hours and that's about all I can sit through these days.

You know what's funny, though? I never learn. I keep buying (Ubisoft) games thinking I'll play them for a while. I made it about 10 hours into Valhalla before I was like 'yeah, nah'. Breakpoint, same thing. Rage 2, thought I would love it but I hated it. So far I've managed to talk myself out of Immortals and Cyberpunk but we'll see how long I can resist.

A game I am playing and enjoying for longer than I expected to is Death Stranding. I'm about 30 hours in and nowhere near close to beating it, but the insane story is just enough to keep me going. I like the strangeness of the whole thing, including the gameplay.

To me, I feel Remedy did a ton better with Alan Wake than Control. Control just looks far too repetitive and boring to me, and many say with the way the difficulty and checkpoints are, you end up having to replay lengthy segments if you die. That said, I have been skeptical about Remedy's vision since their spin-off to Alan Wake called American Nightmare, which to me felt like a cheesy, overly arcade offering with not nearly as much atmosphere.

RE 7 for me was a mixed bag. It had a lot of good stuff, but my main issues with it were the non human based monsters were far too easy to run past and couldn't even get through doors if you just close them behind you. I also didn't like that the fight against Lucas was just an easy puzzle instead of a boss fight. I've seen the trailer for their upcoming game called Village, which seems based on the RE7 style, but I remain skeptical.

What's really shocking to me though is how much you liked Death Stranding. For most that game was very disappointing, and considered to be a flop. I spent a few days of long sessions playing it, but really got bored with it. I liken it a bit to Prey 2017, which I felt wasn't as good as the original and just more weird than interesting. I'm really not a big fan of generic looking black blobs as monsters, and I fear that's a trend Capcom are adopting with RE.

That said, I still hope for Kojima to have success away from Konami. I really enjoyed MGSV TPP and Ground Zeroes.

 

[mainer]

Another game that I love but wanted to be over was Divinity Original Sin (Enhanced Edition). I greatly enjoyed my travels and time in that game (as well as the humor), but towards the end, it just became way, way, too puzzle heavy. All those teleporter pyramid jumping puzzles at the end just got to me. Throw a pyramid here, teleport there, split your party, teleport behind that gate (surprise! poison gas!), teleport through another gate, flip a switch (surprise! burning flames!), teleport out, and on and on and on. I got to a point and I though OMFG, please, not another teleport puzzle.

I mean the idea is fine, but it was just way over done at the end, and I just wanted to complete that final quest and move on. I still love you Larian, and you got better in DOS2.