How do you play games?

[happyman778]

So I am having somewhat of a crisis, and so I turn to you the fine people of PSNP.

 

Since really getting into trophies I find that I play one game at a time until I get that 100%, and then move on. I find that is means I am really struggling to play any games - my backlog is so massive now because I spend all my time on one thing. I'm currently playing Nioh, and this is the game that is making me have this crisis of conscience and the PS5 comes out next week (I live in the UK).

 

Do any of you play games like this? Am I a crazy person? What can I do to try and break the addiction to getting 100%?

 

I would appreciate any and all insight you can offer me.

[DaivRules]

I try to play one Vita, one PS3, and one PS4 game to completion before moving to another title on that console. 
 

But I recognize when I’m not having fun in a game and move on. I consider it a guideline, more than a rule that cannot be broken. 

I also stopped buying new games and adding to my backlog and they go on a list to buy later instead. 

[PostalDudeRus]

I used to care about 100% and Platinums before, but lost interest over time in console gaming. I used to clear out online trophies from one game and move on to next, this is the reason I having such a big backlog. Nowadays I just find some game I really want to play from my backlog and play it + earn trophies on the way. I don't feel need of gaming and trophies in general now, especially on Sony consoles. If game is fun - I play it, if game is not fun - I will play it later (maybe).

[Mike13858]

I play a game until I either get bored, finish the story, or platinum the game, whichever happens first, then I move on to another game.

[Eagle]

How do I play games, you ask? Well, you see, I turn on my console (a PlayStation 4, to be more precise) via holding the button with the PlayStation logo on my controller, choose the game I want to play, and then, if it's physical, I grab its disk and insert it into the reader. Or, if it's digital, I boot it up by hovering over its icon and pressing . There you go.

 

...and yes, I know this is a bad joke.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Eagle

[Thephoenixshow]

usally to the end and if i enjoy the game i will try to plat it if i can and can be asked too 

[remtalemta]

8 hours ago, happyman778 said:

So I am having somewhat of a crisis, and so I turn to you the fine people of PSNP.

 

Since really getting into trophies I find that I play one game at a time until I get that 100%, and then move on. I find that is means I am really struggling to play any games - my backlog is so massive now because I spend all my time on one thing. I'm currently playing Nioh, and this is the game that is making me have this crisis of conscience and the PS5 comes out next week (I live in the UK).

 

Do any of you play games like this? Am I a crazy person? What can I do to try and break the addiction to getting 100%?

 

I would appreciate any and all insight you can offer me.

 

You must have games you know you can't complete anymore due to server shutdowns and other stuff, and that means you'll never have a profile with 100% completion anyway, which gives you the freedom to ease up. If you have this crisis of conscience that means you still see some sentimental value in games, and you have the ability to separate them from the trophy aspect. You don't enjoy NioH anymore? Don't play it then, that's really so simple. Look up the Store tomorrow and try some easy and relaxing point-and click game with no platinum but some shiny golds and silvers and a solid 315 points if you insist on pursuing stats. That's progress too, right?

Edited November 12, 2020 by Swithop

[AJ_Radio]

Honestly @happyman778 you're too far away from 100 percent to really consider doing that. I highly suggest just playing the games YOU want to play, get what trophies you can, then move on to other games when you feel a long or difficult trophy isn't worth the effort.

[its_ArchroniX]

I always find myself looking for games I will be able to 100%/ Platinum before even starting them. This resulted in a LOT of games being left out of my library because of really hard platinum trophies or just a huge trophy list. I always used to play with a good friend of mine but ever since I've become a 'trophy hunter' I turn down new games he wants to play together because of this. Don't get me wrong though I absolutely love to complete my games and get another platinum trophy and completed game on my counter but it's just not the same as it has been.

 

One big tip I can give you: Play games that you will enjoy to play for the game itself and not for the trophies of that specific game. I found myself playing a lot of games I absolutely hated but because there was a platinum trophy or it was an 'easy' 100% I just went on with it which ruins the experience of gaming. For example, Mass Effect Andromeda used to be a game i enjoyed before I started trophy hunting (I liked the game, sue me) but when I tried to go for the platinum trophy the game became utterly boring and completely ruined the entire experience for me. Now I'm playing Hollow Knight and though the Platinum trophy is extremely hard (so they say at least) but I just keep going because I absolutely LOVE the game.

 

Long story short - Don't let trophy hunting get in the way of having fun in gaming. It almost ruined my experience with gaming and likely that of many others. Don't let it ruin yours.

Edited November 12, 2020 by its_ArchroniX

[happyman778]

9 hours ago, BRKs_Eagle said:

How do I play games, you ask? Well, you see, I turn on my PlayStation 4 console via holding the button with the PlayStation logo on my controller, choose the game I want to play, and then, if it's physical, I grab its disk and insert it into the reader, or just boot it up if it's digital, by hovering over its icon and pressing . There you go.

 

...and yes, I know this is a bad joke.

 

I laughed, so I don't know what that says about me.

[ladynadiad]

I try to play to 100% completion, but some games that require multiple playthroughs for that I may take breaks from in the process of getting there.  For example, Tales of Symphonia requires 4 playthroughs.  I finished the 1st and got as many trophies as I could and then moved on to something else for a time.  Games that are longer or more grindy I may only play for a short time each day to ensure it doesn't ever feel tedious.  Sometimes I have a game where it just starts to annoy me about where it stands as far as trophy progress and I may just boot it up and get a few trophies and then put it away for a time after that.

 

Overall, I focus on what I can do as far as making progress and as long as I feel I'm making some progress then I don't feel as bad about ignoring the games I don't enjoy as much for now. If you're looking to improve your completion earning trophies in incomplete games will help there.  You don't have to go and finish each one right now, you could easily just go pick a random game with low completion and aim to finish the story or earn a few trophies in it and make some progress that way too.  For me my biggest aim is to not add to my pile of incomplete games by starting stuff I won't finish by the end of the year and to work on tackling a few older games.  While I do try to get 100% within a reasonable timeframe, some games are just so long that it would be boring to do so without a few breaks here and there.

[remtalemta]

52 minutes ago, ladynadiad said:

For me my biggest aim is to not add to my pile of incomplete games by starting stuff I won't finish by the end of the year

 

How can you know beforehand which games to avoid knowing that it's likely you'll lay them off? I'm already loaded with games I barely touched because no matter how many reviews I read or walkthroughs I watch before I give them a try, after ten minutes of gameplay I already feel like this was a waste of money, let's delete this and move on. Nine out of ten games I'm interested in initially share the same fate and I don't know why this is happening.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Swithop

[ladynadiad]

5 minutes ago, Swithop said:

 

How can you know beforehand which games to avoid knowing that it's likely you'll lay them off? I'm already loaded with games I barely touched because no matter how many reviews I read or walkthroughs I watch before I give them a try, after ten minutes of gameplay I already feel like this was a waste of money, let's delete this and move on. Nine out of ten games I'm interested in initially share the same fate and I don't know why this is happening.

 

Honestly, I'm extremely picky about the games I buy as it is.  I'm an older gamer, so at this point I've tried out most genres and know what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy.  Stuff like platinum length and difficulty doesn't deter me, I just look for what the genre is.  I also tend to go for playing less popular stuff.  I've learned over the years that I tend to go into a popular game with overly high expectations due to hype and talk about the game and tend to be disappointed due to that.  So I've found I tend to enjoy games the most when I know nothing about them besides that it's a genre I like.  I'm a bit more adventurous on Steam, but for me to try a new genre, I usually would need a recommendation on a game from someone who I know has similar tastes as me and Steam is truly a far better platform for that.

[VigilantCrow]

I tend to only allow myself to have 5-6 games started at any one time. It gives me some variety, when I need a break from one of my 200+ hour grinds. 

Honestly I wouldn't even worry about the PS5. I'm an older guy myself and the FOMO is a much younger man's problem. Play what you have, take your time and enjoy it.

 

As for breaking away from 100%ing games, just stop worrying about it. The only person who cares about that sort of thing is you yourself. 

Edited November 12, 2020 by VigilantCrow

[remtalemta]

35 minutes ago, ladynadiad said:

 

Honestly, I'm extremely picky about the games I buy as it is.  I'm an older gamer, so at this point I've tried out most genres and know what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy.  Stuff like platinum length and difficulty doesn't deter me, I just look for what the genre is.  I also tend to go for playing less popular stuff.  I've learned over the years that I tend to go into a popular game with overly high expectations due to hype and talk about the game and tend to be disappointed due to that.  So I've found I tend to enjoy games the most when I know nothing about them besides that it's a genre I like.  I'm a bit more adventurous on Steam, but for me to try a new genre, I usually would need a recommendation on a game from someone who I know has similar tastes as me and Steam is truly a far better platform for that.

 

Having standards doesn't make life easier, does it.

[Silverbackmethod]

Oh dear, from my own experience I can tell that your play-style is probably a LOT better than mine as what I currently do (or did - as I stopped that about 2 weeks ago) is playing like 4-5 games at the same time.

My problem is that I do not really get into a game because as soon as there is the smallest annoyance, I switch over to another game and so on and so forth.

Once I play a game for a while, I typically tend to forget the controls, combos etc. for another game I played before (probably comes with my age ?).

When you are already halfway through a game and stop playing it for about a month or so it is damn hard to get back into it.

So I started to do what you are currently doing. Letting my backlog be my backlog and grow and instead focus on ONE game at a time and enjoy it.

The 100% thing is another topic though where I cannot give much good advice except to not care about that too much (had the exact same problem a few years ago - my problem was solved the day my first kid was born ?). 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Silverbackmethod

[Herbset]

I usually play 2-3 games at a time unless I'm really into something, then i focus on that particular game. I used to care about completion list and plats and all, but i realized it's a waste of time. Now i play whatever i feel like. Still, if i like something enough i will go for that plat. Like now I'm playing Witcher 3 to get 100% tho i feel like I will keep playing after I get all the trophies.

[Jelly Soup]

I like to play to 100%, but I don't hold myself to it if I'm not enjoying the game. At the end of the day, it's just a number.

[Hoshi]

My backlog suffers, too, but for different reasons. I keep a lot of different games going at once. Sometimes I get excited to try out something new and forget the older ones, so my percentage of even beat games is pretty low. But I've learned long ago to just go where my interests are. If I beat it, I beat it. If I don't...I still have fun with my slow progress. I can get burnt out of doing one thing for too long really quickly, and than I might not touch it again for over a year.

[Shua_J]

@happyman778 It completely depends on motivation. First, it's a great problem to have because it shows that you are a person who values finishing what you've started and seeing things to their conclusion. Having a strong sense of responsibility to your decisions is commendable.
                                                                                      

                                                                                                                       But...

Psychologically it's much better to break things down into smaller chunks...because the situation you are in now...every single time you see a new title that interests you..that interest is followed immediately by the dreaded "but then I'll have to do everything".

In anything...a perceived lack of options will bring about a small form of depression if motivation is absent. If you grind too much and always trap yourself away from what you are really interested in doing..eventually you will have to change your psn handle to "sadman778". It's a real thing. Follow your motivation but retain your sense of responsibility and learn how to balance the two in a way that works for you just a little better.  

[Lava_Yuki]

I always play two games at a time, one on my PS4 and one on my Vita. As for platinums and 100%, I only play until the platinum as most games don't actually require you to get 100% in everything to get the platinum. Also, I pick and choose my games according to their platinum durations/difficulty unless it's a Tales or FF game where I will happily put the hours in until the plat. 

I tend to avoid very difficult or time consuming plats like Disgaea or Yakuza, especially if you are a trophy hunter where it's more about quantity than quality. However, if you prefer having a small number of difficult plats as opposed to a large number of easy plats, then by all means go for those games. 

 

In the end, with tons of players, no one really cares about other peoples platinum trophies, they are too busy focusing on their own to look through other profiles. You could play easy short games in between hard games and alternate between two games to keep your motivation up. That's what I do. 

[Biertje373]

I had a small period that I played like this.

I do still play one game at a time because I want to give whatever game I am playing my full attention. But now I am playing until I feel satisfied with the game (most of the times that is until I beat the story).

But there are times that I want to do a bit more, for example with FF7 Remake there were 2 trophies I really wanted until I could say that I am satisfied. I got those trophies and moved on to the next game, can't remember what game that was though.

[LoveInHell]

I enjoy the games first before I start trophy hunting unless its a very easy plat (like Ratalaika games), I try to stay away from those.

 

I’m not obsessed with trophies, I just like to get as many as I can and I don’t feel rushed either.

 

I tried going through my library alphabetically but that failed and now I just play whatever I want. When I get frustrated, I quit immediately before winding myself up too much.

 

I quit playing a game permanently when getting the platinum unless I play it with friends. I don’t care about 100% completion, getting the plat is more than enough for me. The game must be insanely fun for me to care for the 100% which has only happened once: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

 

Oh and I tried playing one game at a time but its just impossible with some games. I like to switch it up.

Edited November 15, 2020 by LoveInHell

[happyman778]

I want to thank every single one of you that has posted in this thread. It has been incredibly insightful and interesting to see how different people approach playing games.