Good Games You Haven't Finished

MML's Commentaries

Hey hey!

We're planning to record Podcast 2 this weekend. This time the question comes from Zam, who asks if there a game that you knew was good, but for some reason, you never actually completed it.

Give us your experiences! What good games haven't you finished, and why do you think they're still incomplete?

Chester Da Scrub

@mmlscommentaries For me it was Red Dead Redemption 2

Leaf

Chrono trigger for me, mostly because I just never actually got around to finishing it. No real reason, just procrastinated.

Skoops

So, for the last...12 or so years, I've started, stopped, started, lost my data, started, stopped, and started and stopped again with Final Fantasy VII. Back when I first played it, my only association with the RPG genre was Paper Mario. Like...the first one. Back then, a good friend of mine was constantly raving about FFVII, listening to its music all the time, referencing its characters, etc., and it was still "cool" to call FFVII the greatest game ever made. As can be expected, I had pretty heavily colored expectations when this same friend sat me down one day and had me play the game on his PS1.
I played the game for...about 2 hours? Maybe a bit longer. I remember I really didn't enjoy the game. I was so utterly confused and daunted by the battle system, the concept of ATB, limit breaks, and don't even get me started on Materia. I didn't care about any of the characters, (I liked what I saw of Barret, though) the story didn't grip me in the slightest in its opening hours, and the general tone and atmosphere was just too gritty and grungy for my tastes at the time. I determined back then that FFVII was just not a game for me.
Fast Forward to somewhere in 2014, when I started following a Youtuber who was doing livestreams of FFVII at the time. (Somecallmejohnny, for those wondering) Watching him play through the game, I was impressed by how...fun the game seemed. In the time between my initial exposure to the game and then, I'd played a number of other RPGs, including other FFs. (Specifically I, II, V, and VI) Suddenly, I grasped the concepts of the gameplay right away, and things seemed not so overly grim, not so impossible to follow or complex, and I firmly believe that I simply was not ready for a game like FFVII back then. Because of this, I decided to (Ahem, completely 100% legally, cough) play the game myself and give it another go.
I actually greatly enjoyed my time with the game, and played up until the beginning of Disc 2. I was hooked, and I probably would have kept playing to the end if wasn't for the fact that my, ah, completely 100% legally obtained PS1 died on me, and I lost all my save data along with it.
A couple years later, I bought the game on Steam, after hearing that it had been patched with the PS1 music. (Thank god) I still haven't played past Wall Market, but I fully intend to get back to it...eventually.
In recent months, however, I pre-purchased FFVII on Switch, and I've played up to Costa del Sol. Hopefully, between the Steam version and the Switch port, I'll finally be able to finish this game after all this time. I've actually grown to adore the Materia system a lot, and I find it to be one of my favorite alternative leveling systems in any FF.
Also Barret is a huge hunk and I love him.

I first started this game back in...2012, I think? I was doing a blind screencap LP here on LLF, though it didn't last very long; I think the process of gathering screencaps for each post became too time consuming and tedious for me to keep it up after the big stunt involving swapping the president's train car with a dummy car. I did keep playing it on my own time, however, and, as weird as the game was, I enjoyed it a fair bit, playing up to the end of Disc 3 before my....other completely 100% legally obtained PS1 died and I lost all my data.
I've since bought the Steam version a couple years back, though I haven't played it once I heard the music. (I'm a snob; Bite me) I was shocked when the remaster got announced at E3, and it's honestly one of my most anticipated games; I'm really looking forward to finishing the game sometime.

So, unlike FFVII, no big backstory here. I bought FFIX when it was on sale on Steam a few years ago, started playing it, and I really love this game. The cast is fantastic, the world is one of the most fleshed out and lively of any game I've played, and the story has been gripping up to the point that I've played. I stopped playing the Steam version at the big Tetra Master tournament, (Which I'm not looking forward to, hence my indefinite hiatus) and in the Switch version, I've played up to the first real visit to Alexandria.
Now, while I love the cast and the world and the story, and even the equipment-ability-learning system, I'm....not so big on the combat and general gameplay in FFIX compared to VII. The battle system is so slow, Trance...kinda sucks, honestly, and the combat just generally doesn't feel as satisfying as it does in most of the other FFs that I've played. Hopefully I'll get back to this game before anyone can spoil the rest of the game for me.

So, I picked this game up just a few months ago, and it's been a blast. I've admittedly been playing it in a way that has likely been more taxing and draining than it really should be; I refuse to move on to another kingdom until I've collected every last Moon that currently is obtainable in the kingdoms that I've already visited. Now that I'm in the Seaside Kingdom, the fatigue from playing this way has hit, and I've reluctantly considered playing the game more casually until I feel up to cleaning worlds out again.

I've also been playing Pokémon Y and Sonic Generations, (The 360 version) but I've left both games dormant for a while now, and haven't really been able to work up the motivation to get back to them. They're both fine games, but they just haven't really clicked with me like other Pokémon or Sonic games have. Y feels like it lacks a bit of an identity with how heavily it relies on older Pokémon and nods/prods towards Gen I nostalgia, and Sonic Generations...Just isn't as fun as Colors or even the HD version of Unleashed for me. The mechanics are good, but somehow the level design just doesn't quite do it for me here.

I think I've covered everything major that I've left unfinished up until now.