This Old Neon Forum

We all have games we decide not to finish because they are, well, not worth our time. How long does it take you to figure out that a game isn't for you? 5 minutes? Half an hour? 5 hours?

For me there's a bit of variance based on genre. I might give a jRPG 3 hours of my time before deciding to abandon it, but a puzzle game usually only takes 15 minutes. A platformer might get 15 or 30 minutes. Genres I don't like, like shooters or racers, get 5 minutes.

What about you?

I agree it`s based on the genre. If I`m not having fun with a puzzle game within the first couple puzzles I`m out. Games that generally don`t hook me within an hour I`ll usually drop as well. If I get half way through a game a decide it`s mediocre then I`ll usually try to finish it anyways.

With rare exceptions, 15-30 minutes is enough for me.

I don't usually abandon games...

I'm a pretty open-minded gamer and enjoy most genres, and I enjoy most games in most genres, even if they're bad, and even if I'm bad at them. (Final Fantasy XIII-2 was terrible but I enjoyed it and completed it. Gotham City Impostors is a genre I'm terrible at but I enjoyed it and completed it.)

It might be because I'm an old man, but I already kind of have a good idea of the relatively few types of games I don't like. For example, I haven't played an RTS in years, mainly because I know I've disliked (almost) every one I've played. Ditto with MMORPGs.

That's a long way of getting around to answering your question!

Assassin's Creed is a weird example for me. I "abandoned" it after 10-15 hours of play time. I got close to the end of the game and got stuck on completing a side-quest that I really wanted to complete. Then I shelved it and moved on to other games. I don't really consider this game abandoned, though. I have every intention of going back to play it again.

I actually do have a habit of going back to games after leaving them alone for a long time. I took a year-long break from Super Meat Boy. Same with Demon's Souls (which I stopped playing because it scared me).

It depends on the genre and price I paid but usually at least 1 hour.

For me, it's about gaming sessions rather than a time figure. Almost all my now regretted Steam-purchases have only been played once, which usually is between 40 minutes and one hour. If I don't have fun the first time playing a game, I rarely find myself playing it again.

If a game isn't entertaining or at least consuming from the start, the developer has failed in a way.

If I'm not having fun I stop.

I only "abandon" games if I'm playing a couple of them at once. I tried to do that this year, but it usually results in not playing a game for over a month and putting it on hold. When I focus on 1-2 (max 3) games, I always finish them. Doesn't matter if they are good or bad.

I'm, just like Kong, quite open minded to all sorts of games. I do have my preferences of course, but I don't think I dislike any genre.

I should point out that abandoning a game is really rare for me, because I know my tastes well enough to keep bad purchases to a minimum. More commonly, I'll let myself get distracted and leave a game for long enough that I'm compelled to restart (most common with RPGs), but I do/will get back to those.

The Last of Us is the last game I can recall truly abandoning.

VictorViper wrote:The Last of Us is the last game I can recall truly abandoning.

Did you abandon it after 15-30 minutes?