Unfinished RPGs?

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 12:42 pm

Which RPGs have you started, but never finished?

I restarted Morrowind several times, each time convinced I'd finish it, and I spent a lot of time there. I had a high level character with great equipment, but in the end, the lifeless NPCs and uncompelling mainstory couldn't bother me enough to finish.
Fallout 3: Only started once, never finished, don't intend to start again. It's Fallout in name only, with a bland inventory, horribly simple character system and not enough turn based combat. Some breakers, for me, included the too-current-looking combat armour, and the usage of P-80 fighters on a carrier. I understand the need for the fifties atmosphere, but the war was supposed to have erupted way later than 1950. Around 2071, I think? What are those old things doing there?
I played Gothic 2 quite a while, but I lost intrest. I did enjoy the combat, since it never got easy. In the end, however, I didn't really care enough about the story to continue.
Beyond Divinity: the entire first chapter lasts too long for my tastes, and it takes too long before you can unlock the better skills. However, I do intend to finish it one day.
Drakensang: The Dark Eye. Combat was tedious in the extreme, and the main story wasn't exactly compelling.

Over to you.

P.S.: Please note that I do not think that Drakensang, Gothic 2 & Beyond Divinity are bad games at all.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:03 pm

- Albion. It bored me to death once we left cat-people island and arrived on viking-like island. It was borring from the second dialogue line on cat-island, but i forced myself to continue, to see what the fuzz about albion is about. But the problem "Who am i looking for again? Oh, ok. WTF!? They all look exactly the same!" after an hour "found him! WHAT THE..!? What do you mean you're closing!" was too great to endure. I mean - sure, i love diversity and living NPC's, but having to talk to each one to FIND the one you're looking for EACH time.. No
- Gothic 3. Got bored with too easy combat system. Wiping entire cities out with a rank one character, by spamming right mouse button. Storyline and possibilities are worthless, when there is no challenge in achieving anything.
- NWN2 MoTB. n/c
- Deus Ex. My buzz was killed when it turned out that the option to NOT agree with your brother and STAY with the company was removed from the game in beta phase, resulting in linear plotline. The biggest disappointment i've ever had with an RPG.

P.S. Please note that i find Gothic 3 to be a great game, but flaws were too great at that time. I may re-play it though. Albion i respect for beign a pioneer, quite a succesfull one. NWN2 MoTB and Deus Ex i'd rather never have played.

Amanthor · Post by **Amanthor** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:15 pm

Stworca wrote: NWN2 MoTB. n/c
...
NWN2 MoTB and Deus Ex i'd rather never have played.

What makes you say that? I think MotB is the best thing Obsidian have ever put out, the story was compelling and reminded me somewhat of P:T and the NPCs were truly unique I felt. NWN2 was probably one of the biggest disappointments I've faced, the story felt so cheesy, many of the NPCs were dreadfully boring (I've never wanted to throttle a fictional person as much as Elanee and I generally like the concept behind druids), horrible depiction of the Githyanki, etc. etc.

Anyway here's my list of unfinished RPGs:

Arcanum - Started it a long time ago, intend to play someday from start to finish though. I think what was off putting about it was the graphics, guess I was just so used the beautiful maps of the IE games.
Fallout 2 - Started it many many times, never got farther than 1st level of the starting area until recently when I discovered that I had to lock pick the first door and not blow it up. I had always been looking for the freaking explosives the guides talked about... Left me quite frustrated, I'll be going back to it someday though.
Temple of Elemental Evil - Can't remember why I didn't finish it.
Divine Divinity - Felt too much like Diablo 1/2 and I hated the Diablo games. OK I didn't hate them but they were still just a god damn grind fest to me.
Gothic 1 or 2 - It's been so long I don't remember why I didn't finish it.
FF7 - Never gotten into JRPGs, they feel so superfantastical, if you know what I mean. FF7 wasn't much different from what I recall.

There are more unfinished games. Think I started Deus Ex sometime.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:57 pm

For what it's worth, I can vouch for Divine Divinity (Great world, and the game doesn't take itself too seriously), Fallout 2 (Amongst the best RPGs ever) and Arcanum. (Best character system ever.)

Ares2382 · Post by **Ares2382** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:44 pm

Oblivion - It's weird. I love the game (with mods) and I invested a TON of hours into it, but the main story is just such a weak part of the game, that I've never really got into it. Many of the side quests are just so much more interesting then the main quest. If you were to ask me what were the best story arc in any RPG, I'd point to Oblivion and say the Dark Brotherhood quests are some of the best ever written.

NWN2: MOTB - I'm actually not sure why I haven't finished it. Seems like I get into it and then I find another game that comes along that takes my attention away from it.

Icewind Dale 2 - Never finished it due to technical reasons. The game kept turning into a slide show during a fight with some dragon. I tried reloading different saves and when I'd get to the dragon it just got to be the same. I'm actually retrying the game now, so hopefully I will finish it without a glitch this time around.

EDIT:
Dragon Age: Origins - Haven't finished that one either. I don't know why everyone thinks it's such a great game. To me, it was only great in the beginning. I thought some of the Origins stories was an example of some of the best story telling in game history, sadly, once that was over, it went downhill from there on. It kind of reminds me of a Black Isle game called Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, which suffered from the same problem of great beginning and bad everything else.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:45 pm

Divine Divinity - simply got fed up with it, never even played more than half n hour of Beyond.

NWN and NWN 2. NWN wasn't too bad but crippled by the rule system. NWN2 didn't get past half way I don't, think worst game I've ever had the misfortune to purchase. Worse even than any of the rest of the rubbish Obsidian have inflicted on the world.

Does Awakening count as a game? I finished Origins but couldn't be bothered after clearing the first dungeon on Awakening.

Must be more, but that's all that springs to mind immediately.

DaveO · Post by **DaveO** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:07 am

NWN and NWN2 along with Baldur's Gate. I know that for NWN and NWN2, I had a reformat required for my XP machine and I've been trying to stay focused on a few RPGs at a time before reinstalling. For the poster above me, the Catacombs in Divine Divinity tend to cause a lot of people to quit.

Randomer10 · Post by **Randomer10** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:40 am

For my part then I am rather tolerant so long as the RPG games do not become too much hack and slash.

The reason why many players never finish their RPG games is because they focus too much upon a perfect character and will restart if he has missed of some better skill (which they later on did not notice untill it was too late). But in most roleplaying games then the character itself does not matter that much, since all the equipment makes up for the lack of good stats and the enemies are dumb.

Even that some games like the Elder scrolls and Fallout 4 have not been that special, then I still think that they are endurable so long as you keep yourself to the main quests without ever bothering to explore the wilderness as a mean in itself.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:45 am

DaveO wrote:NWN and NWN2 along with Baldur's Gate. I know that for NWN and NWN2, I had a reformat required for my XP machine and I've been trying to stay focused on a few RPGs at a time before reinstalling. For the poster above me, the Catacombs in Divine Divinity tend to cause a lot of people to quit.

Baldur's Gate? I'm surprised to hear that from you.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:46 am

By the way on this topic the lead designer at Obsidian should own up and confess he never finished KOTOR 2!

Darth Gavinius · Post by **Darth Gavinius** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:24 pm

I have a number I didn't finish:

Plansescape Torment - I will one day finish it, I didn't get bored with it, I just got so attached to my companions I didn't want to know how it ends.
Sacred - Just got bored of the repetative combat.
Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege 2 - the lack of plot got to me eventually
Fallout 3 - I maxed out my stats exploring and doing the DLC and wasn't interested enough in the main plotline to continue.
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal - was too linear, and the fights just weren't as fun.
Arcanum - I moved country in the middle of the playthrough and haven't gotten back to it yet
Drakensang: The Dark Eye - it is loaded with good ideas but gets stale pretty quick. It is kinda like Dragon Age: Lite.
Divine Divinity - kept crashing!
Morrowind - didn't have the time to invest in it and kept getting lost.

I know not completing some of these games is a travesty - but I'm still young

Monks · Post by **Monks** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:12 pm

NWN 1: started on the game late and never really got trough it, was semi fun as an "offgame" though, might go back to it at some point
NWN 2 Storm of zephyr, abselute **** game

(almost IWD 2) managed to tunnel trough it once. there is simply parts where the dungeon crawling becomes to much. it has some very fun points though.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:03 am

Monks wrote: (almost IWD 2) managed to tunnel trough it once. there is simply parts where the dungeon crawling becomes to much. it has some very fun points though.

I know the feeling... I find the start especially tedious, and every time you think "Finally, area cleared!" there's ANOTHER map of hack & slash.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:08 am

GawainBS wrote:I know the feeling... I find the start especially tedious, and every time you think "Finally, area cleared!" there's ANOTHER map of hack & slash.

That sounds like an acurate description of VtM:Redemption. I finished that one though, so it doesn't count. The first time to see where the story was going, the second/third times to see what the various powers were like. But basically you clear out one area after the next.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:11 am

Tricky wrote:That sounds like an acurate description of VtM:Redemption. I finished that one though, so it doesn't count. The first time to see where the story was going, the second/third times to see what the various powers were like. But basically you clear out one area after the next.

But IWD2 has Wandering Village...

wait, is there no emote for madness?! This is an outrage!

However, IWD2 had Sherincal, a huge plus. And it kept me playing because i wanted to know if i can join the main badguys, if i agree with their methods and am a half-breed party myself.

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:47 pm

My list of 'unfinished' RPGs:

Gothic: Played around 2 to 3 hours before giving up. A combat mechanic that looks like it was adapted from Time Commando's combat but clunkier than the latter, which came out 6 years before Gothic's release (as in 1995).

System Shock 2: Played it for 5 or 6 hours before quitting. Was interesting at first, but became repetitive after a while. Also, while it is better than Bioshock, it does begin to feel the same with the only difference being the difficulty.

Fallout: Played it for, I think, 15 to 20 hours and couldn't be bothered to continue after that. Combat was okay but the AI is dumb as they are prone to friendly fires and use the wrong weapons at the wrong time. Not to mention that customising their equipment requires 'reverse' pickpocketing which gives the impression that it is not designed as a team-based game at all. Not that I find the latter a huge deal. It's tolerable. What is 'not' tolerable is the dumb AI in combat.

Fallout 3: Better than Oblivion, but I still got bored of it after playing for 20 or so hours, even after loading it up with a variety of mods. The story is forgettable and its shooting mechanics is rubbish, requiring the use of VATS to get accurate and deadly shots.

Oblivion: Despite playing with mods, it felt like a boring game and I quit after 12 hours. Story is pretty much non-existent and the rest of the game is average.

[QUOTE=GawainBS]...I understand the need for the fifties atmosphere, but the war was supposed to have erupted way later than 1950. Around 2071, I think? What are those old things doing there?[/QUOTE]
Maybe it's the view of the future through the lens of the 50s? Even in Fallout did I recall seeing 50s-looking vehicles littering certain towns. Another thing I find odd is the lack of ground-based vehicles in working condition but Vertibirds can still be seen flying around, especially by the Enclave.

For remnants of the government (The Enclave) to rely only on Vertibirds and completely ditch ground vehicles, it is just weird, especially when you're talking about a faction more advanced than the BoS and even possess the technical know-how and equipment to manufacture them and other high-tech weapons and armour.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:46 am

As I said, I understand the need of the '50 atmossphere, but if you place the war in 2070 or something, and then use a jetfighter that by that time is more than 120 years old, and base it on an aircraft carrier, which the type never did, then you're just intruding on my suspension of disbelief.
As for the Enclave not using ground vehicles: I always thought it was because of being stationed offshore (And apart from Navarro, not having a landside base) and that Vertibirds offered enough mobility.

LastDanceSaloon · Post by **LastDanceSaloon** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:45 pm

I can certainly second Sacred, a truely mind-numbingly ride. But OOooo, you get to ride a horse! But yeah, that's about the only OOooo in the game.

I also second Beyond Divinity. Although I was glitched out, I was quite happy that this occurred. The XP farms really did bring me to the verge of epilepsy (a condition I do not suffer) with their vastness, banalness and sheer quantity of one-hit wonder bad guys and relentless back-pack filling rooms full of literally piles of saleable crap. And no two-way teleporter!

Divine Divinity hits the cool factor once you've left the initial encampment after clearing the catacombs, but, yes, the catacombs do get to the stage of "if this thing goes down one more level I'm gonna scream!" And lots of screaming later and you're still finding new levels...

Sykar · Post by **Sykar** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:42 am

Oblivion
Oblivion
Oblivion

Did I mention Oblivion? I made it through Kvatch, then uninstalled the crap.
damicat

Probably the best analysis why Oblivion sucks to the max.

I do not understand the complaints about games like Arcanum, FO, Deus Ex, Gothic etc.

They are all good or even great RPGs. Certainly better than DOHblivion imho.

On a side not, never finished Sacred. Was kinda meh imho.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:50 am

Sykar wrote:Deus Ex

Spoiler alert.
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cEg5Xo7VFU"]26 second video explaining why Deus Ex was borked.[/url]

Those of you who played the game, will know what i mean. So will people who have read my first post in this thread.

Oblivion may have been an overall worse game - it was, after all, the worst TES part so far - but it had no plot raping moments. Sure it was too convenient at times, and it too was linear to boot, but at least the game didn't rub it in your face, like Deus Ex. The biggest crime DE committed was making a pseudo-"villain" organization that was right and forcing you to betray it.

Regards