Crispy™ How often do you stop playing an RPG and then start over?

[Jenkem]

I've come to terms with the idea that there is no need to finish games as most games you pretty much get the maximum enjoyment out of it somewhere by mid game after which its same old same old and there is no need to force yourself through when there is so much other shit to do.

that's only true in badly designed games

 

[Shadenuat]

Nowadays mostly never, I always stick to my choices and take things like character building mistakes or what looks like suboptimal roleplaying choices as part of the challenge and try to go around them instead of re-rolling. It should be in the nature of good RPG to support that way of playing.

 

[Werdna's Revenge]

I used to restart more often, but I've gotten better about playing whole games through these days. Too much filler content is what can really kill an RPG for me though. Often the starting areas/dungeons are fun and interesting, you get to make lots of character building decisions and get used to the mechanics of the game. Then you hit that mid part of the game which is where I think most people tap out, dull areas that were put in to pad out the game length and fewer interesting new strategic options. The way to get to those new character options is just to restart with a new build/party.

 

[Zombra]

I used to restart more often, but I've gotten better about playing whole games through these days. Too much filler content is what can really kill an RPG for me though. Often the starting areas/dungeons are fun and interesting, you get to make lots of character building decisions and get used to the mechanics of the game. Then you hit that mid part of the game which is where I think most people tap out, dull areas that were put in to pad out the game length and fewer interesting new strategic options. The way to get to those new character options is just to restart with a new build/party.

This is interesting to me. Nowadays I really like shorter games, get in, get the point, get out. But part of the reason RPGs are fun (for me) is the feeling of watching a party slowly grow in power, gain more abilities, to see them quickly destroy a group of orcs that took an hour to beat at the start, 60-100 hours later the transformation is complete. But with so many games in my backlog I often don't want to commit 60 hours, and even if I do give it a whirl it's so much easier for me to lose momentum now than it was when I was younger and had fewer options. I love RPGs the most in my heart, but due to circumstances beyond my control, that attachment has become increasingly sentimental and decreasingly practical over the years. Sad!

 

[Max Damage]

I never restart. Either I will finish an RPG, or drop it for good. Since I often play many different games, and RPGs are often big time commitment, restarting is painfull. I don't remember getting royally screwed because of non-optimal progression choices (not counting bugged games and cases where balance and clarity are simply not used by developer).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I might restart very early in order to change certain aspects of the PC during character creation, but otherwise I stick with a playthrough until the bitter end.

 

[Average Manatee]

Restarting due to shitty build? Pretty much never as long as we're talking games from this millennium, unless it's some really bullshit mistaken thing that you figure out really early. e.g. going into Arcanum thinking that maximizing INT was the right way to build for mage. Ironically it actually kind of is, I should have kept it.

Restarting often happens when I get distracted by something else (usually because the game is a tedious slog that isn't interesting to play) for a few weeks/months and come back later, thinking that it would be more interesting to try something different and see if there is any real C&C or other branches.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Anytime there's some sort of family ememergency, or I just can't play anything for a few days for any reason, I feel like I've kind of lost touch with the game and will restart the game most of the time. If the quest journal is good enough to actually catch me up I'll just keep playing, but it's very common now for quests to be laid out for you in bullet-point instructions in the journal, as opposed to written out as a short story unfolding.

I really love good quest journals in games

 

[Darkzone]

Once i start i don't restart a cRPG and it doesn't matter if i have an suboptimal build or made some falls choices along the way. Everything that went wrong is part of the game and world, therefore i learn on the way to compensate the mistakes.

 

[new fucking guy]

If the game has character creation, I just have to make a test run first. I hate being stuck with something sub-optimal or uninteresting to use.