Replay
Geminosity
:3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
:3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Do you complete games more than once?</div>I was sitting meditating on the idea of going through Mirror's edge again to try and get the 'no gun kills' achievement just for the heck of it but I know I won't. I only play most games through once, the exception being anything coop or multiplayer in general (though even then there's still some I lose interest in after getting to the end).
My idea of replayability was completing probotector on the megadrive to see every different ending (each with it's own in-game branch and special bosses). That or completing super probotector properly then slamming in a cheat catridge and cooping with a friend through it over and over again with infinite lives and our favourite weapons gifted :3
I've not had that feeling from recent games though... Mass Effect, Dead Space and Mirror's edge tempted me because of achievements you can get for playing the game in different ways or building up your character differently but the idea of going through a story I already knew and cutscenes and stuff again to do it just turns me off.
I was just wondering if this is me or if this magical 'replayability' games keep plugging in is more of a niche thing? :p
My idea of replayability was completing probotector on the megadrive to see every different ending (each with it's own in-game branch and special bosses). That or completing super probotector properly then slamming in a cheat catridge and cooping with a friend through it over and over again with infinite lives and our favourite weapons gifted :3
I've not had that feeling from recent games though... Mass Effect, Dead Space and Mirror's edge tempted me because of achievements you can get for playing the game in different ways or building up your character differently but the idea of going through a story I already knew and cutscenes and stuff again to do it just turns me off.
I was just wondering if this is me or if this magical 'replayability' games keep plugging in is more of a niche thing? :p
Comments
If by replayability you mean that you'll reinstall the game later and replay it then, then yes, that's what I often do.
The first scenario has for example happened for Fallout 3. I was über excited about finding stuff, doing quests, discovering things, following the main quest occasionally, but now that I've beaten it, I only play it occasionally to shoot stuff and experiment what kind of evil stuff I can get away with. But I'm sure I'll reinstall the game later and play through it with similar intensity as the first time around.
I usually dont play FPS games more than once (MP games dont count).
RPGs and some adventures are worth playing more than once.
Lots of tactical games are worth replaying.
Sometimes are replay or restart a game to play it on a higher difficulty.
Games i played more than once:
Secret of Mana 2 (Multiple endings, you can have alot of party combinations etc)
Diablo II (Game is designed to be played more than once)
XCOM 1+2+3 (Soooo many possibilities and soo many neat things to explore)
Wizardry 7 (I just love this game and it offers endless party combinations)
DSA: Sternenschweif (Great RPG)
Mario64 (Once for the N64 and once for the DS)
Portal (I went achievement hunting)
Although I did play through Megaman ZX like 4 times. Anomaly.
Part of the reason I asked is because I always wondered about things like the 'unlock on completion' stuff I've seen in games of the last generation or two that are only for playing through the game again (things like the MGS extras such as infinite ammo, stealth suit, etc or Resident Evil 4's chicago typewriter and the like.)
I also found myself questioning what makes a good replayable single player with a mind to considering what could be transferred over to make longer lasting multiplayer games (not that they tend to need much help in that department as per cxwl's reply :D ) and I guess I sometimes worry I've missed something with my mindset of "complete, file away, never touch again".
Tycho, you mention movies and I find that interesting too because I only watch movies myself once. I've never watched a full movie again after watching it the first time unless it's with friends: friends are always the exception as I can enjoy their reactions to it the next time around :3
Whereas I just watched <i>The Empire Strikes Back </i>again a week ago. Weird.
Me, I'll watch any movie I like at least twice, given the opportunity. Not in a row though. Games are usually the same, although there have been exceptions. Bioshock was okay, for instance, but I don't see myself going back to it again.
Final Fantasy VII
Half Life 1
Knights of the Old Republic 1
Call of Duty 4
I struggle to do the same single player thing again- especially games that advertise lots of different ways of playing a game, e.g. Metal Gear Solid 4- epic game, fantastic single player, but I can't bring myself to play it again, whether I try a more gung ho approach or a total stealth approach (trying a different approach to what I did first time around would be forced and wouldn't come naturally)
Also replaying on a higher difficulty generally sucks- from my experience all I see are enemies with higher hp.
With that said, I've played through HL2 maybe 4-5 times. That's about it for my replaying of games though.
these days, there are so many good games coming out that my problem isn't so much replaying games, but finishing them even once...
but I do replay my favorite games evar on a regular basis. Ultima Underworld 2 in particular reigns as the game I've replayed the most, probably about once a year since 1992. Ultima 7.5: Serpent Isle would probably be second. A lot of the classic JRPGs (Chrono Trigger, FF5, 6, 7, 8, etc), I try to replay, but they're so time-consuming that I generally don't make it through them multiple times.
As far as recent games go, I can't think of any I've replayed. Does getting multiple characters to 70 in WoW count? =p
A few notable ones I've played through several times:
Half-Life
Half-Life 2 + episodes
Portal
Soul Reaver 2
Legacy of Kain: Defiance
Aliens vs. Predator 2 (The alien campaign, specifically. This would probably be the exception, the story itself isn't all that magical, but there's just something about being the beast yourself...)
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
No! XD
Glad you like the topic though: it's something I've always kinda pondered so I find most responses sorta enlightening :D
<b>Dead Space</b>: I'm on a New Game +.
<b>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: SoC</b>: I played it through vanilla once, then downloaded a mod and played it through again.
<b>Half-Life 2</b>: on my ... fourth? fifth? time through. I've beat ep. 2 twice, though ep. 1 just once. Will rectify that soon.
<b>Bioshock</b>: completed twice.
<b>Morrowind</b>: Beat twice. Never played with mods or expansions, either.
<b>Rise of Nations</b>: Every six months or so, I need to satisfy an RTS craving, and I play RoN heavily for two weeks or so. Pity the online scene isn't very robust.
Can't forget my lovely Wii:
<b>Mario Galaxy</b>: beat 100% twice. Still pop it in here and there for some good ol' platforming fun.
<b>Smash Bros. Brawl</b>: I think I'm the only person alive who tolerated the singleplayer adventure to play it through twice.
<b>Zelda: Twilight Princess</b>: Beat twice.
<b>Metroid Prime: 3</b>: Beat two and a half times. Friggin' hyper mode is hard.
And then there are the old classics that have seen >2 plays:
Fallout 1 & 2
Half-Life 1
Good ol' SNES and N64 games, like Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Mario games. I don't know how many times I've beaten Super Metroid, but it's certainly no fewer than 30.
Deus Ex
System Shock 2
X-COM: UFO
and many more.
Also: I'm certain that I'll be playing Dwarf Fortress on my deathbed. Can't really call it replaying, since you can never win, only lose.
The more recent RPG games tend to drag me down a bit. I liked Oblivion, but I beat it once and struggle to boot it up to complete Shivering Isles. Same with Fallout 3: I beat the main quest and can't find the urge to explore more or start a different character.
And then I get to the multiplayer stuff. TFC, Diablo 2, NS, and now TF2: chronological order of games that I've spent an awful lot of time on. Any other online game has seen only incidental playtime compared to those ones. Perhaps only NS2 shall kick me off my TF2 bender.
There was a game called "Sub Culture" ages ago that was like Freelancer, but under water, and you were in a tiny little submarine (you harvested coins and cigarette butts that were bigger than your ship and stuff). It was great. I used to play through that *all the time*. I completed it so many times. Was great.
Hmmm.... I've played through Oblivion quite a few times, but all three of these games probably don't count as a "play through" though, since the whole point in them is that you can just go wander around doing what you want.
So for actual "games" I've played through multiple times... hmm.
KOTOR
All of the C&C games
Black & White (I never, ever actually finished the game, but I restarted it hundreds of times)
All of the Monkey Island games
The three "Sands of Time" Prince of Persia games
Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy for the yanks)
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Star Wars: Jedi Academy
Star Trek: Armada 1 & 2
Psychonauts
Hitman: Blood Money
Assassin's Creed
Darwinia
How did you make it through the bloody awful story? I just couldn't go on after <span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>i got some super powers</span>
Pretty much the same as Gem.
There's something very odd about the storyline in that game. There are plenty of games, films and books where it looks like the storyline has been revised at some point, but in Fahrenheit it's like they fired their entire writing team, hired an entirely new one, and wrote the second half of the game without even telling the new team what happens in the first half.
But the first half is so fun and... "different" (I can't think of many games that have the same format, and I've never played any of them anyway) that I was willing to put up with the crazy dragonball Z style superpowers and stuff, just to finish the game.
In other news, I typically don't replay many games. If I do, it's for nostaglia or there's some good variety. I almost never replay purely for completion whoring since I typically am too meticulous to not get near 100% completion the first time. Well, I got 60% and over 6 hours on my first run of Metroid, but that was just brutal to find stuff.
Other games I've replayed include Doom, Doom2, Starcraft, and Duke Nuke'm 3d (for nostalgia), Halo, Diablo 2 (don't know if that counts technically), Warcraft 3.
And when I found out about speedruns, I did try on a few games.
Achievements do add replayability but frankly speaking, its only a gimmick that lasts for a short while. The thing that would keep me going is harder difficulty that is not too insane, or something unlockable that makes a difference to the first time i played the game.
Diablo 1 and 2
Final Fantasy VII
VtM: Bloodlines
Deus Ex
X-Com 1 and 3
I've tried to replay Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 several times, but keep getting bored. Odd, given it's like the best RPG I've played, but it's simply too long and not interactive enough from the isometric view these days.
Dune 2 and Starcraft are exceptions to this list, both being RTSs.
No FPSs that I can think of.
I also find I can happily re read books after a certain time period, because there's a lot more in them you can forget during the interveining time period. Films, however, I find hard to re watch for some reason.
Examples:
X-COM UFO Defense
Civ 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-7-8-89-9-9-0-alpha-12-13-323-53246-467-ETC
Diablo II
I also enjoy doing the old ff superfile thing and replaying games with good storylines, but I do this at less frequency.
Examples:
FFw/e
Baldur's Gate
However if I were to make a mass generalisation, the main elements that keep me interested are dynamics which dont simply break into a dead monotone, scope for alternate playstyles and exploration, long term goals of self-gratification. Time and Intensity are probably the 2 major variables in those elements.
anyway /half-assed contribution by me <3
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Civ 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-7-8-89-9-9-0-alpha-12-13-323-53246-467-ETC<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
oh gawd, and then you have all those kool mods like Fall From Heaven and your life has been destroyed.