When do you consider a game complete?

[Gavin]

Was just looking at the games finished/to be finished in 2007 thread and was wondering what people's opinion's are on when they consider a game to be completed?

I've not completed a game in years (see the motion sickness thread!), but have recently gone through COD4 on normal. For many people I'm guessing they wouldn't count that as completed? For me, I've completed a game when I've done enough to see the end credits...... For others I'm sure they'll say when they've got 1000 points (if it's a 360 game), or say for a game like SMG when they have 120 stars etc.

I may go back and do some more of COD4, just because I enjoyed it so much, but to me, I've still completed it....

Discuss....

[Brogan]

Well, most of the games I play have a very definite collection element to them ie Zelda, Wild Arms, Metroid etc. So in those cases Zelda wouldn't be completed until I'd collected every heart container and so on, Metroid I'd have to have every energy tank, missile and power bomb upgrade, and on the likes of Wild Arms there'd have to be lvl 99 characters with maxed out stats (not that hard surprisingly), every optional boss defeated, every locked room opened, all guardians obtained and every item weapon and piece of armor in the inventory. That's not to say I always go out of my way to complete a game, FFXII was a prime example, after killing the final boss I became so disillusioned with it that I haven't played it since, such was the disappointment

[Adam Stone]

I consider a game complete when i feel i've experienced all the game can possibly offer...

For instance, some games may have lots of additional fetch quests or whatnot left but if i feel they are simply just added on, offering nothing i haven't already seen, then i will consider that game complete. I wont collect for collecting's sake.

Mario and Zelda titles are always good in the sense players are rewarded for their hard efforts and gathering all the stars or heartpieces is almost always an experience in itself - so for those games I don't consider them complete until i have everything.

I'm someone who cannot leave a game unfinished. I just can't. Paper Mario 2 on the wii, for instance, once the final boss was beaten you are able to go back and carry on with unfinished buissness, or completely new things altogether. I've spent over 40 hours with that game, seen the credits, beaten the boss, but i consider myself nowhere near completing it :-p

[bingowings]

for me it's normally when i beat the last baddie and see the credits roll. then it's back on the shelf to gather dust.

with games (such as Metroid) that have a collecting element which is beneficial to you as the player i will go back until i feel i have played it enough. but when it's tacked on as in MGS2 (with the dogtags) i really don't bother because that's more story-driven and the collecting seems to be more down do Kojima's mild OCD than anything else.

a couple of games that completely buck the trend is Half Life 2 and Halo - i've completed them a couple of times but still i go back and play through certain areas just because i enjoy it so much - as a result i feel that i have never ever really completed Halo because i'm still playing it, 5 years on.

[Concrete donkey]

For me I feel there is a distinction between three different types of finishing a game

Finished with – I’ve got all I want out the game and can’t see the point or no longer wishing to finish the game. Mostly this is with sports titles like Pro Evo, and story based games with crap endings or beyond my skill level. Civilization type games go in this category as well as I can finish a game a million times before I’m finished with it.

Finished – Got to the end credits, top of the league, can progress no further with the main game.

Completed – Finished the game on hardest difficulty level, got every single unlockable trinket, character and collected each Orb. Everyone talked too and every piece of fantastic and tedious monotonous game play bleed dry. I can’t recall me ever doing this.

[Fuddle]

for me, finished means seeing the end credits.

doesn't matter what difficulty it was on, wether you got 100%, or all achievements etc.
of course having 'finished' a game doesn't mean i automatically stop playing it. as long as i feel i've got my monies worth i'm ok.

[burntoutbanger]

Same as Fuddle.

[Ouenben]

A game has been 'completed' by me when I've gone through the main story/mode and seen the credits,ending.
Completed like a dvd movie I've seen the main affair etc. but not looked at the extras. Alas fully completed means all extra missions/characters unlocked etc which is something I don't do much of anymore

[Gavin]

Completed like a dvd movie I've seen the main affair etc. but not looked at the extras.

That's a good analogy and fits with my take on it - if I buy a dvd, I'd watch the main film, but I may go back and watch the special features, it's rare, but it happens occasionally.....

[SteJay]

I don't have the time, or quite often the inclination to *fully* complete games. Completing the main game and seeing the credits, regardless of difficulty level, is enough for me.

[Concrete donkey]

As said in my earlier post, I rarely go for 'complete' and finishing a game doesn't have to be on the hardest level, just one I'm comfortable with. The word complete though means to be nothing left to do, everything done.

[fallenangle]

I don't think you can fully complete most games unless you're borderline OCD. There's almost always something more you could do so deciding on what the completed criteria is must always be a purely personal decision.

I do think you have to complete the single player game on at least one difficulty setting and see the final credits roll. I'd also say that completion must include any other single mission/arcade/challenge mode having to be tried at least once. After that it's up to you.

[Concrete donkey]

Take a game like Oblivion. If someone plays the through story , clocks it and the game ends but all side quests and guilds ignored has the person completed the game or just finished it ?

[Keith]

As far as I'm concerned, a game is "complete" for me when I don't feel the urge to put the disc in. I've got so little time to play games these days that there's not much point in playing things I don't genuinely want to play anymore.

[Red_Breast]

I do like to try games on harder difficulty settings.
If I start to get the impression the developers are using cheap tricks to make it harder I'll stop playing but I think the mark of good AI is when say you die on a harder difficulty but you know it's your fault and you'll want to try it again.