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Discussion What are some games you absolutely loved... but just stopped playing for whatever reason?

Edie Napier

Edie Napier

...and the day goes on.
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The world's a busy place, and sometimes you get sidetracked or you just... forget about a game entirely and it falls into the memory hole. And there's no particular reason for it, you're enjoying yourself tremendously but you just take a break from a game or drop it altogether. What are some games that you were enjoying but just fell through the cracks? Not necessarily backlog games, games you actively started but for whatever reason sidelined.

-Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I made it to the third world and was enjoying my time, but I got sidetracked and have yet to go back months later.
-Death Stranding. Again, a game I absolutely fucked with, but the Director's Cut came out and so I had to give up about 10 hours restarting from scratch again. I have a few hours in the Director's Cut, but again, haven't gone back.
-Super Mario RPG. Adore the hell out of it. Marathoned my way into the sunken ship, and then just fell off the wagon because of Christmas time.
-Super Mario Wonder. See above.
-Etrian Odyssey 5. I've done a handful of failed re-starts with this game and it remains the only Etrian Odyssey game I haven't beaten. I just replaced my 3DS several months ago and I've had an on-and-off relationship with the game.

I have a lot more because ADHD lmao, but I'm interested in hearing if other people struggle with the same thing.
 
I was playing Final Fantasy X last summer and was loving it... then just stopped and only this weekend did I pick it back up again.

This has happened multiple times with me but this is the most recent example I can think of.
 
Mekanos said:
I was playing Final Fantasy X last summer and was loving it... then just stopped and only this weekend did I pick it back up again.

This has happened multiple times with me but this is the most recent example I can think of.
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This actually reminds me of another game: Final Fantasy 9 I've had on my switch forever and I just stopped a few hours in lol.
 
Oh shit thanks for reminding me that I still need to beat Black Hole Rising on Advance Wars 1 + 2.
Tears of the Kingdom came out while I was in the middle of it, absorbed me for a straight month and a half and then I kept getting sucked into other games.

And Advance Wars interrupted Prime Remastered! 2023 was just a crazy year.
 
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Edie Napier said:
This actually reminds me of another game: Final Fantasy 9 I've had on my switch forever and I just stopped a few hours in lol.
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That happened with my replay of FF9, funnily enough. Got to the end of disc 1 and got distracted. Now I figure I might as well just wait for the rumored remake.

It happens to me most with RPGs. I got like 20 hours into Persona 3 Portable many years ago and had a blast with it, was staying up late playing it... and it was only over a decade later that I started it again with the remaster and played the whole thing a few months ago. Granted, in that case it was probably because I was just coming off of Persona 4 and playing two Persona games back to back is an easy way to burn out.

This also happened to me with Kingdom Hearts 2, was really enjoying it, went on a trip, and never picked it back up. I'll get to it... eventually!
 
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There are a bunch because I’ve gotten into the terrible habit of starting multiple games at the same time. Here are the first three I could think of:
  1. Skies of Arcadia Legends: I was in college and my silly education got in the way of a far more important life accomplishment.
  2. Metroid Dread: Life in general. I will need to restart from the beginning.
  3. Resident Evil 2 (remake):Dr. Birkin kept punching me in the face.
 
Every Xenoblade on release, SMT 3-5, FF12.... I might just be bad with RPGs
 
honestly even if i'm playing and enjoying a game there's probably a higher chance that I won't finish it than there is that I will

I stop playing games randomly for a few days for no particular reason all the time which often turns into weeks which turns into months which turns into never touching them again
 
I hate to say, but most Xenoblade games, with the only one I have beaten is 2. Not sure why because every time I play these games, i love them. I think its just because of the length, so I guess my interest just wanes after awhile. I really should get back to xenoblade 3 at some point.
 
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Some games I dropped for a bit but wound up coming back to:

  • I played through most of SMT Nocturne a few months after its remaster came out, but lost a few times to Ahriman/Hikawa and decided to drop it for a bit. After I finished SMT V in January of 2022, I decided to go back to it, beat him on my first new attempt, then promptly finished the rest of the game and got the Freedom Ending. I started a second playthrough almost immediately afterwards to get the TDE, whereupon it became one of my all time favorite games.
  • I began playing Digital Devil Saga 1 in August 2022, but only played it intermittently as I got busy with school and playing other things. I eventually focused in on it near the end of the year and finished it shortly after the new year, then promptly played all of DDS2 that January.
  • I had a similar situation when I played Tales of the Abyss last year, where I started it in the summer but got busy with work, CPA exams, and playing other games that I found more fun. After I finished with the first CPA exam in November, I devoted my attention to it and completed it by Christmas.
 
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I've been playing Resident Evil 4 Remake and been loving it but I just haven't beat it because so many other games came out. Oops.
 
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Persona 4 Golden. I didn't love the gameplay tbh as it feels like a downgrade from SMT V and even TMS#FE, but the characters, plot and setting is top notch. I would have been likely been much more invested if I didn't already know the big plot twists through osmosis.

I still plan to finish it at some point.
 
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here's a confession of sorts

i'll happily tell anyone who asks me that I think Baldurs Gate 3 is the best game that came out last year, and it's true, I put dozens of hours into it and thought it was amazing

but....I also never finished it, in fact I never even finished act 1(although I did come close)

why? no particular reason, there was no point where I got sick of it or anything like that, I simply got sick for a couple days and those couple days happened to eventually spiral into me never getting back to it

I truly don't think there's anything that is immune to me just straight up dropping it on a whim and never going back to it
 
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Honestly? Most games I play. I have a very short attention span and it's difficult for me to consistently keep playing any game, even if I absolutely love it. It's a problem I've always had and I hate it. It's why I tend to prefer shorter games because it's more likely I will finish them.
 
Joe said:
Honestly? Most games I play. I have a very short attention span and it's difficult for me to consistently keep playing any game, even if I absolutely love it. It's a problem I've always had and I hate it. It's why I tend to prefer shorter games because it's more likely I will finish them.
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I feel this a lot. So many games I play nowadays I wish were shorter lol. I can't handle my 40-60 hour epics anymore.
 
I do this all the time. In fact there's a large group of games in my rotation right now (Thief, Death Stranding, Prey 2017, The Great Ace Attorney 2, Signalis, Blasphemous, Cave Story+) that I'm trying to stop from becoming dropped, as I've taken pretty long hiatuses from them.

I'll try to focus on the ones I really liked:
-Final Fantasy X: Absolutely loved what I played this, but I just dropped off it for some reason. Part of it might just be the fact that I missed an item or something, part of it subconsciously is probably that I wasn't very far into it at all so I still had tons of progress to make which can be intimidating even in good games.​
-Dragon Quest XI: Same story, though here I think I actually did drop it off during a bit of a lull in the story during the ... mermaid part? With the rhyme?​
-Persona 4 Golden: Great game but the part where they waste your time with the fakeout we caught the bad guy arc is a big waste of time, stopped at the beginning of the Naoto dungeon​
-Code Veronica X: Great game but the part with the boss fight on the plane sucks​
-A.I.: The Somnium Files: I really liked how overly weebish this game was and the meta textual No More Heroes esque style of it, but I got kind of burned out right before the end of the first arc and just played till a few hours after the beginning of the second one.​
​
All these games are good enough that I'll probably restart them.​
 
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I stopped playing Xenoblade 3 after the tech demo sea shortly after the water enhancer plot twist. I think I stopped because I wanted to do all the side quests in the area but the sea was just so massive. Though bringing it up now kinnda makes me tempted to go finish it.
 
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It's a little cheating since I eventually went back and beat the game. However, I did take VERY long breaks in between. It was many, many years later when I picked these games back up. Older, more patient and just more determined to get through the backlog.

1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Pre-timeskip Felix failing his promotion test got me putting down the game in frustration.
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The game took too long to get into its stride and I wasn't enjoying the odd map layout. I 'dropped' the game after Gormott.
 
I have way too many RPGs on my plate but I also don't really wanna start multiple at thw same time to not brun out on the genre and give each game its time of day.

I really liked what I played of Golden Sun and the first Xenoblade, but with each, I played up to a point, really liked my time with them but then put off playing them for a whole because I was busy with other things and then was in this Limbo of "It's been kinda long since I played them, but I also don't wanna start over, but I also don't really wanna start another game in the same genre"

Same thing happened to me with the second AI the Somnium files and Ori Will of the Wisps.
Atleast I sidelined AI the Somnium Files to finish up Ghost Trick, but it still kinda blocked me from starting up similar games.

It's so weird cause I really liked all 4 of these.
I'll see probably start over one of them after I finish up my current Persona 5 Royal playthrough, and maybe Ori after going through PoP: Lost Crown.

edit: oh boi, don't get me started on Fire Emblem, I have liked all recent games in that series but only really finished Warriors and TMS lol
 
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Xenoblade 2. I really loved it, I think I was in the middle of chapter 5 when life intervened and I had to take a break, and then when I thought to get back to it I realized I no longer remembered any of the fighting mechanics that I painstakingly learned up to that point (and that I had a hard time keeping track of even when I played).

Edit: I did finish the OG Xenoblade Chronicles as well as Xenoblade 3
 
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Elden Ring.

I had so much left to do I'm sure, but 230 hours and one battered controller later, it was definitely time to hang it up. My wife held a mini intervention and everything 🤣
 
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I still haven't technically beat Breath of the Wild. I've tried to go back, even recently, but drop it every time within an hour. And I've had it since day one and while I absolutely applaud what the game does and the ripple effect it's had on other series, I've come to accept that I probably never will finish the game -- or get around to TotK -- because it doesn't offer much of what l've come to enjoy about Zelda games. Amazing game for sure, but after 50+ hours of just meandering and exploring the systems I'm ready to set it aside for good.

Weirdly, I actually think I could have gotten more into it if the Zelda characters were replaced by other original characters/designs. Dunno why, but if BotW was some other random original IP it might have appealed more. The Zelda window dressing set me up for expectations that never seemed to be realized. And after looking up stuff I missed online, I don't feel like my opinion would be any different if I just finished the castle and knocked off Calamity.

Huge Zelda fan by the way. Aside from the open air games and Skyward Sword. Hell, I even enjoyed the cdi games. :/
 
I fell off Tears of the Kingdom after about a hundred hours sometime last Fall. I also fell off Elden Ring after completing about 80% of what I aimed to do, and suffering a lot for it. The discussion around TotK and in particular Zeltik et Monster Maze videos made me want to pick up TotK again and, lo and behold, I'm hooked again! I might be able to finish this time. I suppose (hope?) the same will happen with Elden Ring once the DLC is released. It would be a shame to not beat the game after spending so much time "gitting gud", or sort of.

Felony said:
The Zelda window dressing set me up for expectations that never seemed to be realized.
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I feel the same, even more so than with TotK, but that's the way it is now I suppose.

And well, I'm replaying Twilight Princess HD (one of my favorite) with my kids, and even though we're all having a great time with it, it does feel incredibly dated compared to the open air Zelda games. The only Zelda game my oldest has played extensively is BotW and when we're playing TPHD, he keeps trying or suggesting things that the restricted game systems don't allow but that would work just fine in BotW/TotK, and it's a cause for many disappointments and "why is that?" moments.

On the other hand, the kids are pretty engrossed by the story, much more so than BotW where my kid mostly ignored the story altogether, but I guess that's the nature of open-world, sandbox-y games. TPHD is also much easier to get to grips with.

Maybe there's a future for both expansive, open-air Zelda games and simpler, more story-driven ones.
 
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Path of Exile. Still consider it one of the best games ever made, watch it a bunch on Twitch, but I just don't really play it anymore.
 
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I'm coming up to nearly a year of playing Persona 5R and not finishing, I've stopped and started it several times. But I do like it! I just think it can get a little frustrating at times and I need a break
 
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While not I have not stopped playing it completely, I do take breaks between play sessions. That game is Undernauts Labyrinth of Yomi, as a fan of drpgs I really like this game, however the rng and difficulty spike sometimes frustrates me and make me quit for months lol. I am almost done with the game and I have plans to revisit it during the summer time.


But the one that actually fits the category its Metroid Prime remastered. I got to the ending, needed to find the artifacts and never booted it again lol. I had a great time, but I have no plans to return anytime soon.
 
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Concernt said:
@chocolate_supra will kill me for this, but Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon.

I just fell off a bit into it. It's absolutely beautiful, but I just. Stopped for a bit.

Then Tears of the Kingdom came out.
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Oh that one too. A truly beautiful game but the nigh unusable map was a real annoyance. Also, my brain would panic as soon as Cereza and Cheshire's positions were reversed.

Then, TotK did happen.
 
every Xenoblade game on the switch.
love the world, the exploration, the sense of adventure, i reach 70to 80 % of the game and but then the gameplay just does not evolve and remains "flat" for significant amount of time without providing significant variation.
So after 100 hours i just do not go back and choose something else to play.

I have to say this almost true for all Jrpg on the switch except SMT5 and DQ11
 
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Metroid said:
Every Xenoblade on release, SMT 3-5, FF12.... I might just be bad with RPGs
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I know a quirky, stylish Indie-RPG that might help with that problem...
Persona 3 Reload comes to mind, Darkest Dungeon...Touhou Spell Bubble for sure.
That's my choice, spell bubble.
 
I rarely 100% games, especially those that would take a lot of grinding or have a lot of random things to collect. So I loved a game like Mario Wonder, for example, but I didn't bother getting every single coin. I got all of the Wonder Seeds but only maybe 80% of the Flower Coins.
 
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Okami, have tried playing it like 3 times and each time I get like 20-25 hours in (and love every bit of it), but then I just fall off of it for some reason. I honestly think the game might be just too long.
 
I was enjoying Age of Calamity but I just didn't stick with it. I've dropped it twice.
 
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Dragon Quest 11 was one of those for me, mostly because all of the optional quests near the end of the game. After something like 120 hours I did not feel like grinding anymore to defeat optional bosses and I just wound up coming back less and less often until I stopped playing. Which I should remediate because 11 was honestly one of my favorite RPG's since the SNES days.
 
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Tamantayoshi said:
Okami, have tried playing it like 3 times and each time I get like 20-25 hours in (and love every bit of it), but then I just fall off of it for some reason. I honestly think the game might be just too long.
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Maybe it's just me but I found Issun's lewd humor so grating that I just gave up on the game. What the hell is that character?
 
This happens to me so many times and for varying reasons that it's a bit difficult to make a list. Usually, my interest doesn't crater, but I guess this occupies the same space in my brain as habits, where they're not easily formed but also really easy to break. So sometimes just taking a break from a game I'm playing a lot of is enough to ensure I end up forgetting to finish it.

One different case that stands out is the Link's Awakening remake. Incredible game, love the remake. But I was trying to 100% the fishing minigame and was getting annoyed with that, then I received another game in the mail (might have been BotW, which would be really funny to me, but I can't remember now) and I haven't gotten around to finishing it since. I really, really should. And then replay it.
 
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Crystal Project is one of my favorite RPGs and an absolutely brilliant game in general, but I dropped it somewhere near the endgame

The constant difficult encounters were starting to grate on me, and without much of a story there wasn't much driving me to complete it
 
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