It's Monday -- so what games did you FINISH?!

[JasonPratt]

I have decided that, according to math, I have a bunch of games.

;D

So, for discpline's sake, I really really really reaaaaallly ought to start finishing some games before I buy any new ones.

Since weekends tend to be when I get to play the most, Monday is most often when I have recently finished games.

So in the spirit of the weekly Friday game thread, I propose a weekly Monday thread, dedicated to reporting any games I finished (or at least made headway on if I didn't finish them) over the weekend, or that I finished since the previous Monday.

.... not that I have any "finished" entries this week.

...

...
..........

BUT I HOPE TO BEAT PORTAL TONIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME!!

(I know. Baby steps.)



As for criteria, tentatively I'm considering the following (for myself, not for other people):

1.) Finish five games before buying a new one.

2.) A single game gifted to me counts as "new"; a gamegifting season (i.e. birthday or Christmas or some rare gift-giving occasion) counts as one new game, so long as I'm not the one buying the games. (I didn't want upcoming Christmas to fox my procedures out of the gate and trap me with 20 games to finish before getting any new ones. THEY'RE MY PROTOCOLS SO THERE!)

3.0.) What does "finish" mean?

3.1.1.) Games I've already given up on for whatever reason don't count as finished. (This keeps me from digging around and saying, "Oh, I bought Rogue Spear ten years ago and never beat the campaign, so that counts as finished.")

3.1.2.) Games I've already "finished" before now, according to criteria below, don't count. (This keeps me from digging around and saying, "Oh, Warcraft 2. Finished, that counts as a game.")

3.1.3.) Games I buy that I quickly give up on because I don't like them or they're buggy, don't count as finished. (This forces me to move through more products.)

3.1.4.) Games I own that I can't play yet because I don't have the hardware don't count as finished. (Obviously. And soon to be fixed with a new Falcon MachV soon to arrive.  ;D )

3.2.1.) Games with a clear progression to a conclusion of a story or campaign count as finished. This includes games like Brothers In Arms: Road To Hill 30, or Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, where there isn't much to do after the storyline is over. But it also includes games like Company of Heroes where there's lots of viable skirmish and multiplayer action after (or instead of) the campaign.

3.2.2.) Relatedly, finishing a grand campaign in a more freeform strategy game counts as finished.

3.2.3.) Alternately, if I play the game for at least 25 hours (conservatively estimated where I don't have a gameclock) I'll count that as good play value and thus finished for purposes of when I can buy a new game.

So 125 hours of play or five storyline/campaigns, whichever combination of the two comes first.

3.3.1.) Games I've been playing that I like but haven't finished, aren't finished yet but still can be.

3.3.2.) Expansion packs count as separate games, although smaller scenarios may be substituted for grand campaigns. (But if new campaign-storylines are included, at least one of those has to be finished.) So every expansion to Elven Legacy counts as its own entry to be finished.

3.3.3.) If a game has multiple long campaigns, only one has to be finished to count. For example every faction in Dawn of War: Soulstorm has its own campaign; but I would only have to finish one.

3.3.4.) If I spend up to two hours seriously trying to get into a game and I just can't, that counts as one game finished. So Demons' Souls would have counted, had I not already finished it according to this protocol; but the PC version of Hornet Leader, which I quickly decided I wasn't fond of and which featured a game-breaking bug wouldn't have counted. This keeps me from being shackled to a game I've tried hard to like, while also keeping me from "burning" a game in my stacks that I suspect I won't like or that I quickly find to be not fun.


I'm not sure I'll have any other games "finished" by next Monday, aside from Portal (which I expect to finish tonight), but with public accountability perhaps I can curb my terrible addiction and be an example of fiscal responsibility to my brethren here on... wait, have I checked Steam's holiday sale today yet?

{checking}

{whew, nothing I care for that I don't already have}

...here on the forum.  :D

[Bison]

None.  I just started Balder's Gate again.  So that should be complete sometime next spring.  Also started up a game of Eador: Genesis.  I'm pretty sure that might last about 3 years.

[JasonPratt]

See, I badly want to try the Eador: Genesis game (now that it's sort-of not broken anymore), and also the Balder's Gate upgrade (which I never got close to finishing originally in the first place).

BUT I REALLY OUGHT TO FINISH SOME OF MY OTHER GAMES FIRST!!

Good examples though. Thanks for reminding me of them. :)

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I finished Max Payne 3.  Very nice graphics and top notch production values but I felt that there wasn't enough time spent playing between the many cut scenes.  I had fun while I played it but I think I would have been disappointed had I paid full price.

I reinstalled Assasin's Creed and i'll take one last crack at trying to finish it.  I deleted it both other times I tried by about the 3rd or 4th assassination.  Too much time walking down the hill from Assassin HQ and they really need a button that lets you stab your victim in the throat again once they launch into a soliliquy after you've stabbed them the first time.

[mikeck]

I can't keep up with the rules of this thread let alone finish anything. Does getting my arse kicked by general slocum on day 1 of Chancellorsville count as finished? Sure felt that way. Didn't see that brigade on my flank.

[MetalDog]

I started, and finished, my sixth or seventh attempt at Monarchy level in Civ IV BTS.

[Rekim]

Monday is my Friday  8)

I'm starting a game of VG Carrier. It's August 1942. My mission: to prevent the japs from reinforcing Guadalcanal with a priority on hunting down IJN carriers operating in the area. I'm just about to pull the ships that will make up my carrier task force(s) from the cup.

[Anguille]

I finished the campaign of Gemini Wars...it took me a while (life) but i did finish last week.

[Toonces]

Monday is my Friday  8)

I'm starting a game of VG Carrier. It's August 1942. My mission: to prevent the japs from reinforcing Guadalcanal with a priority on hunting down IJN carriers operating in the area. I'm just about to pull the ships that will make up my carrier task force(s) from the cup.

Interestingly enough, I just thought of pulling that game out myself to play over Xmas break.

[jomni]

 That's what you get when you have big games with big campaigns and lots of replay value.   hooray for 6 hour shooters!!!!

[MengJiao]

I can't keep up with the rules of this thread let alone finish anything. Does getting my arse kicked by general slocum on day 1 of Chancellorsville count as finished? Sure felt that way. Didn't see that brigade on my flank.

Done with Bismarck 1978-1980 the very wierd boardgame.  Well it was cheap.  It's going to the hayloft for a few years.

Done with my "Thingsgowrong" scenario for CMBN:CWF.  I'm going to see if the Americans can get across this creek without having
more than 30 killed.

[W8taminute]

I finished the Leviathon DLC for Mass Effect 3 this past weekend.  I finished the campaign on Hardcore for Gears of War last week.

Games I'm trying to finish:

1. History: Legends of War Patton
2. Mass Effect 3 2nd playthrough in order to pop Long Time Service Record cheevo
3. Dynasty Warriors 7 Campaign mode (need to capture a few more cities to complete that cheevo)
4. Commander: The Great War*

*Now here's a game that I liken to a stunningly hot blonde who knows it and is a bitch.  You can't stop thinking about her and just want to perform the desired action to completion but she constantly smashes through your defenses at the last minute from out of nowhere totally destroying your chances of getting a second date.   

So in my grand 1914 campaign I've stabilised the western front, Turkey is holding the line just north of Damascus and I'm happy with that for the time being, Russia and Rumania are disintegrating before the combined onslaught of Austria, Bulgaria, and Germany, and I finally have fighters with forward firing machine guns in action.  The only part where I'm getting schooled very badly is on the Italian front.  Due to a stupid mistake of mine the whole front crumbled and Italy is now drinking beer in Munich.  I'm f'ing pissed that for once I was doing well with this game only to make one tiny f'ing mistake that cost me an entire front.

I want to jump this games bones so much because it is so hot but on the other hand I just want to bitch slap it so bad it ends up in another time space continuum different from mine.


EDIT:  My 1100th post!

[JasonPratt]

I can't keep up with the rules of this thread let alone finish anything.

Don't worry, the rules of the thread are only for me. :)

Although it does sound like Chancellorville is finished with you!  ;D

[sandman2575]

3.1.4.) Games I own that I can't play yet because I don't have the hardware don't count as finished. (Obviously. And soon to be fixed with a new Falcon MachV soon to arrive.  ;D )

....just wanted to officially register my jealousy...

[JasonPratt]

I reinstalled Assasin's Creed and i'll take one last crack at trying to finish it.  I deleted it both other times I tried by about the 3rd or 4th assassination.  Too much time walking down the hill from Assassin HQ and they really need a button that lets you stab your victim in the throat again once they launch into a soliliquy after you've stabbed them the first time.

I have had enough sense to keep AssCreed1 permanently installed on my PS3 for years, so that every once in a while I can advance the next repetition of prior gameplay.  :P I think I only have four complete "missions" to go. (The last two in the last city, and then the final two missions whatever and wherever they are.)

I've gotten an impression (possibly false) that the gameplay isn't so ridiculously repetitive in the sequels. So if I can just get past this opening hump... it's certainly on my list of games to finish.


I finished Max3 several weeks ago--I think I paid full price for it. Not particularly disappointed with the length, since the production values had shot up a lot. As someone else said, yay for 6 hour gameplay!