Finish What I've Started. . .

As many of my friends know, I have a problem. It has been around for some time and its one I will fully admit too. I never seem to finish a video game once I have started it. Somewhere between the 10 and 20 hour mark the game vanishes from my radar. That is not to say I haven't beat a game that I own, I have finished several of them, but it is a fairly uncommon occurrence.

I don't think I have always been this way. I used to dedicate myself to finishing a game on Nintendo and even Sega Genesis. That was even back in the day when there were no save files. Sure, you might luck out and get a game that has passwords you can use to launch from the beginning of an advanced level, but with a save you can start from the point of your last save, anywhere in the game.  Take for instance, Mortal Kombat. I sat and played 1, 2, and 3 for hours and hours before school, after school on weekends and late into the night. I had to master every character, be able to perform every combo and finishing move with any character in the game. And I got to the point in most of them that I could do that.

I had dedication, perseverance and a no quit attitude. Well, I can't say "no quit attitude" with a complete straight face because in the process of playing a game there were several occasions that a controler got flung across the room while several swear words were rapid fired from my mouth by video game induced rage. The computer would screw me over and I wasn't going to stand there and take it! But that is beside the point.

A great example of my attitude towards game completion is Dragon Age: Origins. I got this for Christmas last year and fired it up with solid intentions of giving it a great eye humping and play through. I am 25 hours in and haven't played it since March, 14th 2010. The game was going well. I enjoyed the story, the game play and everything else, yet I put it down and haven't returned to it for almost a year now. Its not the game's fault. Fault lies with me.

After careful consideration and inward exploration of my self, I discovered a few reasons why I may put a game down to either never return or return at a much later date. The first big one is I get stuck in a level where either a boss is too complicated or the going gets too tough. Frustration leads me to get pissed then walk away from the game. When this happens, I usually end up playing something else, especially if the offending game has done this to me repeatedly. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was horrible to me in this regard.

Another reason I will put a game down is while playing it, another game will grab my attention. While I was liberating the old west in Red Dead Redemption another game on my shelf kept begging me to play it. It would taunt me every time my PS3 was turned on. Assassin's Creed II would whisper to me, "Forget John Marsden and play me. The desert is getting old. You've seen it. How many people can you shoot down and leave dead in the dirt and the sand? Let it rest and give me a workout." After awhile I relented to Assassin's Creed's seductions and finally put it in. But it fell victim to my curse, to this day it remains unfinished.

Are these good reasons for abandoning my quest in any given game? I am not sure. I know that this is a character flaw on my part and one I should address. I have implemented a "no buying new games until you have finished a few of the ones you own" rule. Being self imposed, it is an iron clad rule. I just started Fallout: New Vegas a few weeks ago and have been giving Black Ops multiplayer a fair share of my time for a few months. I will stick with those until I finish New Vegas and maybe a few others on my shelf, like Red Dead Redemption, ACII, and Dragon Age: Origins. Then again, DC Universe Online does look really fun. . .