Comments on blow in the game slot: The Endgame Syndrome; Why do we abandon games?

Personally, some of the reasons I'd say this occur...

2009-08-19T18:30:59.683-04:00

Personally, some of the reasons I'd say this occurs is usually down to bad game design on the part of the developers. Many end game sections are basically rushed together quickly, with more effort spent trying to make the first areas entertaining since more people only ever get to playing those first areas/levels. An example might be, in a non RPG genre, The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker and Metroid Prime, where the end games ended up being more fetch quest than gameplay, and the dullness of the sections put off numerous players. A certain site I know calls that Xen Syndrome.

Another factor might be plain old difficulty hikes/walls near the end of games. Many I've seen, especially RPGs usually have a massive difference in the difficulty of the earlier game and the end game dungeons, with the levelling of enemies and bosses usually being at a point where you need to quite heavily level grind to have a chance at survival. That's off putting to many, since it catches them off guard. Non RPG games have it too, except it's usually a leap from relatively reasonable adventuring/platforming to things straight out of Battletoads. Maybe because the developers thought that they didn't have to think about the player much or keep the difficulty to a reasonable level near the end of the game. The frustration here was pretty much said by your Difficulty Arc and frustration article, and you're more likely to quit a game when annoyed in such a way.

My biggest problem in not finishing games is usual...

2008-09-11T14:01:00.000-04:00

My biggest problem in not finishing games is usually because I have about 2 or 3 other newer ones coming along that I am excited to get to, that I just don't bother to finish the game I am currently playing.

Most of the time I "try" to finish games.. but when they are really, really, really big I just tend to walk away from them. I usually don't get bored. If it's a bad game, I will just walk away and never pick it up again. But generally if the game is too long, I've got other games I want to invest time into, so I can't finish every game I start playing.

For example, I loved FFXII and GTAIV, but never got around to finishing either of them becuase other games came along.

Right now I'm playing Assassin's Creed, but I have Mercenaries 2 burning a hole on my game shelf still in the wrapper just waiting to be played.. plus Fable2 and Fallout3 are right around the corner! Oh my.. what is a girl to do??!

I never used to have this problem of excess games to play, and I probably shouldn't complain about it... I just need more free time to play and finish them all!

I don't really agree with the reasons cited...at l...

2007-10-24T16:23:00.000-04:00

I don't really agree with the reasons cited...at least not for games that are not RPGs. "End game syndrome" means just that, near the very end. I've been going back and completing games on PS2 that I stopped short of completing, and that included Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, Castlevania Curse of Darkness, and a few others where I was *right* before the final boss(es).

I'd say games with leveling systems commonly have this problem because you think you're unprepared, or you play a little bit and feel you are unprepared, but you don't care enough to grind yourself in final-boss fighting form.

Or, there are sidequests you could complete to accomplish that, but they tend to be boring or too grind-heavy to bother with. In the case of the KH games, I was plenty prepared and just underestimated how strong/good I was as-is. In the case of Castlevania, I was underleveled, and I just whipped out a codebreaker to "get it over with." Finishing the KH games were worth it--CV, not so much.

Lately I haven't had a problem with it on new games, because titles like Bioshock, Gears of War and Halo 3 have been relatively short and easy and don't give you time to become bored or fatigued.

I really don't think it's that the stories are lac...

2007-10-23T10:56:00.000-04:00

I really don't think it's that the stories are lacking, but that we've seen the same types of stories for decades.

There is also the issue of game playing time as a child vs. as an adult. Which I expanded on in my own blog.

As an avid RPG player myself I couldn't agree with...

2007-10-17T23:20:00.000-04:00

As an avid RPG player myself I couldn't agree with you more. I don't mind putting a lot of time into a game if it has a rewarding storyline. But with so many games coming out at the same time, I find myself becoming that ADD gamer that can't focus on the RPG anymore. And sometimes not looking back. I always thought it was work/real life affecting it, but perhaps it is more of a case of being able to finish other new ga mes in a shorter period of time. And new RPGs just not being as rewarding.

Great blog. ^_^

Structural variance is huge for me. Honestly, whe...

2007-10-16T16:00:00.000-04:00

Structural variance is huge for me. Honestly, when I replayed Rainbow Six Vegas I kept getting levels confused with F.E.A.R. and SiN. Games like BioShock, which actually stand out, are more engaging and I'm more likely to finish them.

Cool blog by the way. I'm trying to relaunch mine, any advice?

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2007-10-14T17:12:00.000-04:00

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