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It’s no secret that I love playing video games, this whole blog is a testament to it. However, sometimes I do something that doesn’t make sense. I’m enjoying my playthrough, and at some point, especially towards the end, I stop playing. Then, When I try to return to it, I feel this uncomfortable sensation that eventually prevents me from continuing. But why?
This is what I want to explore today. I’ll be looking at a few games I quit playing in recent years in the hopes of making the reasons clearer and answering if is it normal to not finish video games.
Unnecessary Grinding
I’ll start with the most recent one, Blue Dragon, which I got for the Xbox Series S. I bought it shortly after Akira Toriyama passed away, feeling the urge to experience more of his work within the gaming industry other than Dragon Quest.
Blue Dragon was an easy choice once I saw it in the store. I had been intrigued by it for years, and this felt like the perfect opportunity.
The game is a JRPG with some interesting mechanics, but it has questionable difficulty spikes. And that’s why I dropped it. I was enjoying my time with it despite the simple nature of the story, but once I realized I was too weak for the final part of the game and had to grind to progress, I stopped.
As a busy father, time is my most valuable resource, and I don’t like wasting it grinding in a video game anymore.
The Mystery Went Away
The next game was Horizon Zero Dawn, which I got on the Steam Deck in early 2024. I was already eager to play this one since I played a demo in a videogames store in 2017, but since I didn’t own a PS4 or powerful PC I had to wait until I got my hands on a Steam Deck.
From the beginning, I knew I was in it for the long haul. The intro was strong, the visuals were amazing, and the characters were compelling. However, the more I played, the more flaws I noticed. Despite being an open-world game, the environment felt empty, with not much to do.
The lands were beautiful, and the contrast of roaming machines against lush nature was unlike anything I had seen in a game. But it lacked a bit of substance in its gameplay.
But all these flaws didn’t stop me because I loved the story! It kept me hooked until the moment before the final boss where every major mystery was unfolded.
I felt like there were no more mysteries to unravel and dropped the game… I still want to see the end myself one day but for now, I have no urge to do so.
DLC Released Too Late
Next, we have a franchise I love, Xenoblade Chronicles, specifically the DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The base game was incredible, even bringing me to tears at the end.
When the new story DLC was announced, I was excited. However, once it was released, almost a year later, I couldn’t get back into it. Had the DLC launched closer to the original release, I would’ve finished it, but, I had already moved on. And this isn’t the only game I’ve had this issue with.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had a new DLC that was released too late. By the time Indigo Disk dropped, I couldn’t care less. I had to push myself to finish it and I am so done with it that haven’t touched the epilogue to finally experience its conclusion.
And then there’s Sonic Frontiers, the first mainline Sonic game I bought in ages and enjoyed. They announced a free update with new story content, and I was excited, but it also came too late. I played it briefly and dropped it the same day because I felt I was doing more of the same and ultimately it wasn’t worth it to keep going.
The Completion Burnout
Tears of the Kingdom is one of my favorite Switch games, and when I started it, I set a few completion goals for myself, like completing every shrine, finding every Lightroot, and collecting all the sacred tears.
If you’ve played the game, you know how time-consuming this is, especially for the father of a two-year-old.
I pushed myself for two months before I burned out and put it on the shelf. However, this was a rare case of me returning to a game and finishing it while completing the goals I had in mind.
I had just beaten another game that I bought, played for a week or two, and never touched it again, Elden Ring.
Since Shadow of Erdtree had just released I felt compelled to giving another try and at least finish the base game. Before, I was determined to beat every boss, but the difficulty of some of these crushed my expectations. I knew I could beat them eventually, but it would be time-consuming.
I only returned to Elden Ring after deciding to play it just for fun with no grand completion goals, and I’m glad I did. I finished my first playthrough last month and loved every moment, even the frustrating ones. (Looking at you, Commander O’Neil!)
Side Note: At some point last year I also tried to complete AC: Valhalla 100%, terrible idea.
Too Many Games and FOMO
As an adult, I can buy games whenever I want, which ironically means I’m less likely to finish them. A shiny new release is always around the corner. In February 2024, when Palworld came out it completely interrupted and killed my Final Fantasy 7 Remake playthrough.
I didn’t plan to purchase it, but there was so much buzz around it on Social Media that I eventually gave in since I felt I was missing out on something great… this is the classic example of FOMO (fear of missing out) in our digital era.
But how do you beat FOMO? It’s difficult when you’re financially stable and don’t have any excuses to not purchase games. Avoiding social media is a great start, but even that can be difficult to do.
However, after writing this I feel like I became more aware of this problem and this is always the first step you need to take to inflict a positive change in your behavior. If I ever find a method that works for me, I’ll let you all know!
Conclusion
So, is it normal to not finish video games? And why do I stop?
It is perfectly normal to not finish video games and the why is a combination of many different reasons, such as unjustified grinding, predictable storylines, content being released too late, or even burnout from doing repetitive or extensive activities.
Then there’s also FOMO that’s my biggest enemy, which keeps distracting for my current playthroughs with shiny new releases.
I think I already knew I had trouble with most of these but having them written down holds me accountable and it makes me want to inflict some positive change in the areas I can control!
I hope you found this helpful and maybe relate to at least one of these reasons why we stop playing video games!
Thanks for reading!
