What’s the point of finishing a game? - GUI 133

Join Alex & Mike at GreenDragonCVR to discuss the point of completing video games. Is the point of a game to see the end of its narrative? Is finishing a game necessary to “understanding” or appreciating it?

[masterfox]

to entertain yourself so in the end you can say: well that was freaking awesome!, but a good story, good gameplay, good characters are lacking alot in todays SP experiences, developers sadly are running of ideas or are just limited to todays crystal society , for example COD repetitive iteration nonsense, or how abour Destiny 2 that after almost 10 effing years they are still putting stories that involves around the Darkness ? the B...wiitch queen whatever, or how about todays JRPGs that is all about small cute anime girls and fan service, or RE Remakes, I mean is cool the visual upgrades but in the end is the same effing story that was told more than decade or decades ago, or the latest nonsense of the TLOU Remake, with no shame asking 70 bucks for it like if it was a brand new game, at this point at least for me I dont see too many SP games that is worth finishing. I mean how sad are todays new SP experiences that SquareEnix have no choice but to Remake the whole FFVII game!, where is the new Sephiroth or better villian that can trascend time and be remembered for example, or how about the New Mario Bros character.

I can name dozens of examples easely how gaming in general is getting stale , and one of the main reasons why is happening that is cause developers no longer can think outside the box, and reason behind that is that todays society are so damn fragile and get offended very easely.

[Knushwood Butt]

Returnal

[Daeloki]

I'm about to specifically go on a rant about your comment on Destiny, cause I kinda used to think the same and well, apologies in advance :)

I only just got into the Witch Queen, so can't say for sure about the whole endgame, but I wouldn't say their focus on darkness has been bad. I mean recently they've slowly been revealing (as far as I've read into it) that maybe darkness isn't the big bad guy and maybe light isn't just for the good guy.

So you have this organisation that for years has believed they're the good guys because they wield the light, including yourself as the player. For years we've played with the knowledge that the light is what makes guardians the heroes, the guardians were chosen by the Traveller to protect earth. Light is what gives guardians their powers, we even had a brief moment of losing that light and had to struggle to win it back. The light is reveared religiously by some of the guardians even.

Now in the last expansion we got to wield the darkness. And despite sceptisism from the ghost (literally a piece of the traveller that gives the light), and warnings from other guardians, the player doesn't seem to become evil or corrupted from using darkness. Now with the Witch queen they push it even further by giving the bad guys light.

So yes, the story has always kinda been about darkness, but I think they've done it in an interesting way and it makes you think about how things you fully believed to be good/right might only seem that way because of what you grew up with.

(Disclaimer, I've played since day 1 on the first Destiny, and I kinda nerded out with reading the lore entries, so I will admit that there is a lot of story hidden there, such as the origins of the hive gods, including the Witch Queen.)

[ApocalypseShadow]

Really? At first I wasn't going to answer these stupid questions. But I'll just say this:

You pay for a ticket (buy a game) to a big matchup baseball game(AAA). You sit down in the bleachers(on the couch) and buy hot dogs and popcorn(bag of Doritos) and you watch the game(press start). Maybe even root for your favorite team(play with your favorite character or vehicle).

As the game starts to get good with a player hitting a grand slam and the crowd cheers in the 4th inning(you kill a game boss), you get up and walk out of the stadium and drive home(turn off the console without saving to never play that game again)............

What idiot does that?

Baseball game.Videogame, Movie, rack of ribs dinner, sex... As things get good, just gets up and walks away thinking there's no need to finish. You appreciate the experience as the small sampling was enough for you without closure. WTF???

[xander31]

are you okay?

[HeliosHex]

Lol

[Terry_B]

-thats MY line.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Perfectly fine. Are you?

The video is just a long winded trash heap that is just filled with FKing this and FKing that and FKing, FKing FKing. It could have been condensed into 5 to 10 minutes tops.

I know they are trying their best to get a point across but when you fill it with that same word that is said more than any rap video(and I like rap) while trying to sound intellectual, the two don't mesh and they lost me.

So, I came up with a simple metaphor of a baseball game and a video game. If you PAY for a great game, (because I don't buy trash), and excluding real life obligations and responsibilities, why would you not finish the game you bought?

Not only did you waste money. You wasted your time not finishing. And that can be applied to anything you jump into.

[Godmars290]

Use to be a good and engaging story/gameplay.

Not so much now with this production line mentality and using psychological manipulation to get you buy DLC/MT and subscriptions.

[HeliosHex]

I would think the whole point of getting a game would be to see it through to the end. I mean the only reason not to would be if the game was bad and you lost interest, or as is the norm these days too many games not enough time to finish them all.

[Knushwood Butt]

I'm currently playing Bayonetta 1 and have zero interest in the story. In fact, despite the game being crammed with cut scenes it wasn't until around chapter 10 or 11 that there was a cut scene that was remotely interesting, and Bayonetta herself wasn't even the main focus.

[Terry_B]

..whats the point of watching a movie until the end?

[Petebloodyonion]

Do you need to finish a game to understand it?
F no!
Because the simple objective of a game is to entertain you, it can be with the story, the multiplayer, the gameplay, etc.
Tetris is one of the best games ever made and tons of ppl are still playing it and I doubt they play it to finish the story mode.
How many modes is an EA sports game?
How many ppl played Super Mario Bros and beat the game by using the warp zone?

So as long as you are enjoying the game then it's succeeding.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I like to finish most of my games, it's rare that I don't finish a game once I start it, although I have quit bad games 1/2 or 3/4 or the way through (I gave them a chance at least).

[Pedrof]

I'm definitely more interested in reading reviews written after actually completing the game rather than playing 2 hours and quit.
As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't see the point in gaming without actually finishing my games. No point at all.