Games you've been playing for BLOODY YEARS but have still never beaten

[Phil_A]

I felt the need to start this thread as I've finally come close to finishing The Wind Waker, which shamefully I started playing in 2005. 2005!

Do anyone else have any games that you've had on the go for a decade or more but have still convinced yourself that you will one day go back and defeat?

The winner for me must be Final Fantasy VIII, though. I've been playing that on and off since 2000 and have yet to come anywhere near finishing. Every couple of years I find myself picking it up again and thinking, "hmm, well maybe I could get through it this time..." And I always stop at exactly the same place, halfway through Disc 2. Every time I start a new game(and I've lost track of the number of times that's happened now) part of me knows it's utterly futile as I'll never have the persistence get to the end. But due to completionist madness, I feel like I have to at least try.

[Desi Rascal]

 i don't think i have ever finished a game,with the exception of morrowind,swat iv and  possibly x-com on the easiest setting but for most games the journey is more interesting than the destination.and if theres mods i'm in hogs heaven i'll fill it up with everything till it becomes an unplayable buggy conflicted mess, a bit like the Unpatched release#,eh readers?

edit oh yeah and gravity bone though that bearly counts

[Cerys]

Some time soon I'll go back and give Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness another go.  Maybe.

[j_u_d_a_s]

Rock Star Ate my Hamster on the Amstrad. Eluded me now since about 1990. That's 21 years. Children have been born and become fully grown adults in that time, some are married, some have experienced terrible grief. Lives have begun and ended during that era. And can I get that last platinum seller?

Can I fuck.

[NoSleep]

i don't think i have ever finished a game,with the exception of morrowind,swat iv and  possibly x-com on the easiest setting but for most games the journey is more interesting than the destination.and if theres mods i'm in hogs heaven i'll fill it up with everything till it becomes an unplayable buggy conflicted mess, a bit like the Unpatched release#,eh readers?

edit oh yeah and gravity bone though that bearly counts

Yes. The number of games I have finished are few. Metal Gear Solid 1 (and the extra mission disc) & 2, FFVII & VIII, Front Mission III, Zelda: Link's Awakening, probably a few others, but they are vastly outnumbered by those I've yet to finish. It's usually related to the momentum involved in playing a game. If I get called away on a major project for work, then I might not see a console for weeks and forget the skills required to play at the later levels. It would mean starting again, but that isn't a very enticing thought, so I start another game.

[Little Hoover]

Some time soon I'll go back and give Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness another go.  Maybe.

Still intrigued to play that after all this time, I will say from what I've heard they were at least trying to take it in a more interesting direction than the rebooted franchise of Legend, Anniversary and Underworld, but it sounds like the game was completely broken, even though there were about two years of delays.

[Cerys]

I think the best way to approach it is as 'Not Tomb Raider'.  That way you don't get disappointed.  It's a good game, but with some very frustrating aspects that TR as a whole just doesn't have.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Usually the only games that make me feel like I must must complete them are time consuming and tedious, or stressful in some way. The rest I'm quite happy to soak up the journey, piss about, and generally try and make the game do things it isn't supposed to.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Some time soon I'll go back and give Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness another go.  Maybe.

I've yet to finish the first Tomb Raider, which I must have started sometime in the mid-90s.

[Cerys]

Where did you stop?

[mikeyg27]

The jumps in difficulty that Metroid Prime scatter about the place mean I tend to ignore it in frustration for 18 months at a time.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Where did you stop?

Christ, I've just looked it up on an online walkthrough - and not very far it seems!

It must be about level 5 - as I don't remember any lions or crocodiles.

I think what happened was I got a new PC and didn't copy the save over onto my new one.  And I couldn't be bothered to go through it again.

[Mister Six]

Never made it past the elemental castle things in FFIX despite it being a million times more charming and funny than FFVIII, which I have beaten. I just find that my interest in the game falls away completely.

I DID finally manage to complete Cruise for a Corpse this year with the help of an FAQ, which I needed because the game - completely without explanation or notice - spawns vital items in objects you've already searched, so not only do you have the whole 'using every object in the game' problem inherent to point 'n' click adventures, you have to do it every time you get to a dead end! And to make it all worse, the ending was absolute shit.

[Desi Rascal]

 That reminds me of Discworld Noir with its infuriating find the runes on the badly rendered wall pixel-hunt.

[Steve Lampkins]

Not exactly the same issue, but I got some way through XIII at least a couple of times, but had to restart as the game became corrupted. I discovered the problem was a no-CD exe that I was using. Annoying! I bought the game, it had a ton of discs, and I'm too lazy to get the disc, just for a quick game. One of the many advantages of Steam for me!

[thisaintnopicnic]

The winner for me must be Final Fantasy VIII, though. I've been playing that on and off since 2000 and have yet to come anywhere near finishing. Every couple of years I find myself picking it up again and thinking, "hmm, well maybe I could get through it this time..." And I always stop at exactly the same place, halfway through Disc 2. Every time I start a new game(and I've lost track of the number of times that's happened now) part of me knows it's utterly futile as I'll never have the persistence get to the end. But due to completionist madness, I feel like I have to at least try.

I have also started FFVIII many times without ever finishing it. I always get hooked on the card game and whenever the rules change to make it more difficult I get annoyed and give up.
I think I've probably played every Pokemon game on the GameBoy and DS without finishing one. I do about 2/3rds of the Gyms before I get bored.

[madhair60]

Ooh, that reminds me - Pokémon Trading Card Game on the Game Boy Color.  Pure class, but too tough to beat.

[mcbpete]

This is about my fifth attempt at playing through Chrono Trigger, I'm right near the end of the main quest now (though there's many side quests for me to complete before finally attempting to face Lavos) and have been tackling it to and from my journey to work nearly every day for the past couple of months. It's so perfectly suited to mobile phone play as you don't have to be quick with the controls what with the battles being turn based and as soon as I reach my stop on the tube I just hit Save & Close and it's ready for me to get straight into it again on my next journey. Square would make a killing if they released their back catalogue of RPGs on the mobile market.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Playing The Devil Went Down to Georgia against Lou is the sole reason I've not finished GH3 on Expert to this day.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Playing The Devil Went Down to Georgia against Lou is the sole reason I've not finished GH3 on Expert to this day.

That's certainly bastard hard, the song is bad enough as it is, without all that stupid duel gubbins going off.