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  1. #1
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    Finishing games / average time spent for it

    There are two reasons I was interested in this topic and make this thread:

    - I saw a video recently of a german gaming magazine. In it, they analyze the achievements on Steam of different games. The conclusion was: Not even half the people starting a game finish it nowadays. That's true for more or less every game, though to a lesser extent for really short games. Some of the huge games didn't even reach 25% completion rate of people who have played through the prologue.
    In addition, many players buy games and then never play them. Well, who would have guessed.

    - There were / are a few threads in this forum, in which people list their most played games. Those are some outliers for everybody, but I was wondering how much time people spend on average in the games they start.


    So to my questions:
    1) Do you finish the games you start? I mean the main story of the game.
    2) How much time on average do you spend in your games?

    As for help with the second question, there are tools for some accounts (e.g. https://steamdb.info/calculator/ for Steam) which calculate the average time spent in a game you've played at least once.


    As for me:
    Yes, I finish almost every game I start (at least the campaign). This leads me to have quite a high time spent per game: It's at 55.9 hours/game. Overall, it should be a little higher, considering I do have accounts on other platforms (uplay, origin, battle.net, gog), and almost all of the small, short games I own are on Steam. In addition, I've played some games in admin/offline mode due to technical difficulties starting them in Steam (e.g. Gothic, Thief Gold), so they're listed at <1 hour.
    Last edited by mmoc48c29aaf6e; 2016-02-10 at 07:28 PM.

  2. #2
    I'd love to answer directly, but I can't.

    1: Sometimes, sometimes not. Games that's I'm playing mainly for the story, like FarCry, I end up finishing. Games where I want to do everything, like Skyrim or Final Fantasy games I may not end up finishing. Also, I play games like Final Fantasy and Skyrim for the story... so it really depends which takes over first. My completionist attitude that usually doesn't complete, or my desire to see the story out. If I decide to see the story out, I'll tell myself that I will go back and do everything and I usually don't, but those I finish. If I decide to do everything, I usually don't (therefore not finishing), and I try to go back for another playthrough and "just finish the story", but for some reason I start trying to do everything again. I'm friggin weird like that.

    2: Usually average around 40 hours whether I finish or not.

  3. #3
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    That depends... sometimes I just dont have time, leave them to finish later and a new, shinier game comes out. Or sometimes its a game like Watch Dogs. Not a bad game but I didnt feel like forcing myself to finish it cause it was boring.

  4. #4
    What do you mean by finishing? Complete the main story, get all achievements? If you mean the former I try to finish all the games I buy, if the later not so much - after 2500+ hrs I still haven't gotten evry achievement in Skyrim.

  5. #5
    Fluffy Kitten Remilia's Avatar
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    If I start the game I usually finish it at some point (rare occasions of not but nonetheless happens), how long it takes is entirely on the game.
    A lot of games I don't play on steam are really from humble bundle so it's kind of whatever. Just came with everything else so it's kind of annoying sometimes. I haven't purchased a game on steam in the past year or two I think... granted nothing interested me. Right I purchased Soma.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skayaq View Post
    What do you mean by finishing? Complete the main story, get all achievements? If you mean the former I try to finish all the games I buy, if the later not so much - after 2500+ hrs I still haven't gotten evry achievement in Skyrim.
    I was talking about the main story. /Updated the op for clarification.

  7. #7
    Short answer - Yes, usually/eventually. I usually play games in intervals, walking away when it gets repetitive/boring. I come back in a few months and try again.

    The only game i have started/finished in one continuous span is The Talos Principle. I like puzzle games and I started that one when i need puzzles the most I guess. I could not stop playing and completed the main game and the DLC and wished there was more.

  8. #8
    1. Most of the time, unless I decide I don't like the game. I mostly buy games on Steam when they're on sale (can't even remember the last time I bought some "AAA" title for $60 or more), so it's never a huge loss if I buy a game and later decide I don't like it. I do have a few games where I put in a few hours before I lost interest and abandoned them.

    2. It depends. Some games take longer than others to complete, so I'm not sure I can come up with an accurate "average" number here. I probably spend more time than most other players because I don't like to rush. I like to explore areas that aren't even relevant to my current objective, break open every single barrel I can find, etc. WoW is a good example there. In Cataclysm, I was still questing in Hyjal after I hit 81 because I wanted to complete the story and see it through to the end (while most of my friends immediately ran off to Deepholm for better XP and lewtz).

  9. #9
    I haven't finished a single player game in a long time. The Trend of people not finishing games has led to incredibly short singleplayer games and an overall decline in interest to produce them.

    The last game I finished was Metro Last Light in 2014 so that is 2 years ago maybe people don't consider that a long time but I do. When I was a kid I was finishing games all the time and multiple times in one week.

    Maybe its because so much of gaming for me has been Wow and wow can't be finished.

    The last single player game I finished before metro last light was Mirror's Edge in 2012. The last time I bought a AAA game and finished the day it released was Kingdom's of Amalur. I sold my copy on Ebay within two weeks of buying it got half my money back.

    I really miss console just because used console games are often cheaper than the steam equivalent even when it is on sale and you can re sell your New and Used games on Ebay and make a lot of money back that you can use to spend on new games.

    You cannot sell games you buy on steam or trade them after you add them to your account Library and play them. You can return them now but only if you play the game under 2 hours and return it within the first week you purchased the game.
    Last edited by Packing an i5; 2016-02-12 at 05:43 PM.

  10. #10
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    I think its the combination of so many cheap games available on steam that unless someone is having the time of their life, they won't finish and would rather play something else but also that games are filled with repetitive things to do in order to keep you playing. Older games typically had you move from point A-B, these days, its open-world shit.

    I never even finished games like GTA and Fallout NV because while I had fun, I did some exploration and open-world stuff rather than go through the main story. Also, don't forget that people can just go on Youtube to see the end of a game if they couldn't be bothered to go through the main story. I did that with Bioshock Infinite. I hated that gameplay but loved the story but it still wasn't enough to get me to finish it.

    If the gameplay is good imo, then I'll stick with it and complete it but those are rare exceptions. Games like Assassins Creed and Farcry to me have good open worlds but poor or generic gameplay which isn't enough to keep me playing.
    Last edited by mmocd786cabdc9; 2016-02-12 at 06:07 PM.

  11. #11
    1) Do you finish the games you start? I mean the main story of the game.
    2) How much time on average do you spend in your games?
    1. Very rarely.
    2. Hard to say. Some games take only a few hours (Until Dawn), others many hours (Pillars of Eternity).

  12. #12
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    I ALWAYS finish a game I start & I cant play 2 games at the same time. I have to invest everything and immerse me fully in 1 game. Even if the game have some what bad gameplay Im usually always interesting in the story and wanna see the end. I cant drop a game and its a bad habit, wish I could.

    Played Dragon Age Inqusition not too long ago and finished with pretty much 40h in. After like 25h I didnt get too far in the story and just did a lot of useless side quests and started to get boring. But I ditched that and did the main story only and then it got so much fun again. I started again with a nightmare run as a rogue and I'll do all the dragons and so on. Will take a long time but that I'll play in between.

    I just want a good game and I dont really care about the hours spent. Finished Transistor in 1 sitting 2 days ago and it took me 4½h, amazing game. But it would be annoying if I only had 40h+ games.

    Also the reason I have such a huge backlog with The Witcher 3, Xenoblade Chronicles X and many many other good games I still need to play.
    Last edited by mmocbc4c51efd3; 2016-02-12 at 09:58 PM.

  13. #13
    Scarab Lord Lime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Forsta View Post
    So to my questions:
    1) Do you finish the games you start? I mean the main story of the game.
    2) How much time on average do you spend in your games?
    1) Do you finish the games you start? I mean the main story of the game.
    Usually. Witcher 3 is the only game that comes to mind that I never got around to beating. I definitely need to.

    2) How much time on average do you spend in your games?
    For games I enjoy? Generally 40-60 hours if they're simply story heavy and they can allow that much. Smaller story games generally only last around for a playthrough.

    Game with a lot to do (sidequests; multiplayer) that I love tend to last 100-3000 hours.

  14. #14
    The Unstoppable Force May90's Avatar
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    I finish all the games I start which I don't quit very early on, realizing that I really don't like them. How much time I spend on them... Well, depends on the game. KotoR 1 completionist playthrough usually takes me around 40 hours to do. While, say, entire Neverwinter Nights 1 triad of campaigns took me around 200 hours total. On some online games I've spent enormous total time. The leading one is, by far, Starcraft 2; I would estimate a total amount of hours spent on it to be around 4,000 hours.
    Quote Originally Posted by King Candy View Post
    I can't explain it because I'm an idiot, and I have to live with that post for the rest of my life. Better to just smile and back away slowly. Ignore it so that it can go away.
    Thanks for the avatar goes to Carbot Animations and Sy.

  15. #15
    A tangential resource that may be useful is http://howlongtobeat.com - most of my games i'm solidly halfway between the standard beat time and full completionist playthrough (per playthrough). I play most games twice with about 80-90% completionist. I rarely dont finish a game, but sometimes i get bored of or never get around to DLC.

  16. #16
    Scarab Lord Mister Cheese's Avatar
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    I try to finish every game I start. Most of the time though if I buy a game though and I know I won't finish it I won't even bother playing it. I think a third of the games in my steam library I bought but I've never even booted them up.

  17. #17
    I make it a point to try and always finish the main story of every game I start. Sometimes I put it aside and restart it later or pick up where I left off after a long distraction, but I do try to make it a point to finish the story. Getting platinum, or even chasing trophies, is exceedingly rare.

    That said, I've also become a collector of games, so I do have a ton I haven't played yet.

    However, I'm also 100% console with said collection, so we're talking Atari 2600 through PS4 with a lot in every generation. I don't do Steam... if I did, I'm sure I'd also buy a hojillion games on sale and never even boot them up. There's just not enough time.

  18. #18
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    I generaly finish games 100%. But i ignore usless achivments and pointless things (like minigames).

    Zelda minigames were pretty anoying for example.

    Right now i am playing FF explorers and we could say i am at 80% finished with game. However...i still have other classes to try. (and some quests suck)
    So in the end i will probaly finish the game on 95% stage (ignoring some things).

    But if i try a game and it ends up so bad....i will just remove it and never finish it.
    In other words...it all depends on the quality of the game.
    Don't sweat the details!!!

  19. #19
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    For games that are heavily story/character based, such as most RPGs, I'll play through the entire campaign eventually. Sometimes it takes me a while though - I started BioShock Infinite and Deus Ex Human Revolution more than 18 months ago, and still haven't finished them!

    But for many of my games, the story or campaign is non-existent or at least not a major focus. Building games like Banished and Prison Architect, or strategy games like Endless Legend and EU4. Those are the games where I spend the majority of my time, and I definitely get my money's worth : 75+ hours on average, I reckon.

  20. #20
    The Lightbringer barackopala's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Razamith View Post
    A tangential resource that may be useful is http://howlongtobeat.com - most of my games i'm solidly halfway between the standard beat time and full completionist playthrough (per playthrough). I play most games twice with about 80-90% completionist. I rarely dont finish a game, but sometimes i get bored of or never get around to DLC.
    There are some times that are heavily broken, the how long to beat ds1 states 50+ hrs, It takes around 30 hrs for a first time playthrough, then after that it can go down to around 6 hrs and even 3 if you know what you're doing. The dlc (extras) 66 hrs? the dlc takes around 2 to 3 hrs max @-@

    Nowadays i rarely finish games, the ones I do really have to get me hooked enough to finish it, one case being monster hunter 4 U, beat the "main storyline" and got GCrown and clocker around 200 hrs (playing it on travels is just nice), love that game.
    Cod has a new campaign, new weapons, new multiplayer levels every year. Zelda has been recycling the same weapons, villains, and dungeons since the 80's. Zelda recycles enough to make cod blush. The same weapons, villains, dungeons, and princess in every single Zelda for the most part. It's almost as cheesy as bowser vs Mario round 35

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