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Games You Keep Coming Back To

Posted by Bob Mackey

There are a few games out there that I know I'll never finish, but will continue to perpetually play for the rest of my life.  The greatest offender (in the nicest of terms) for me is Final Fantasy XII; I bought it the day it came out in 2006, and to this day I still play it ten hours at a time in shifts five to six months apart.  Even now, nearly two years later, I'm thinking of picking up my old save to try out some of those trickier hunting sub-quests, mainly because my brain has been completely ignorant of the game's story since pre-2007.  I know it has something to do with evil twins, but I might be confusing FFXII with an episode of The Patty Duke Show.

Honestly, I can blame Final Fantasy XII itself for my bipolar feelings; director Matsuno gave the franchise a much needed shake-up (which will be all but forgotten by FFXIII), but the game's skill system is in dire need of refinement--which is why it was refined, in a Japan-only re-release.  As things currently stand with America's only version of the game, all the characters in your party are basically the same, and any kind of planned specialization soon falls apart when you realize just how counter-productive this strategy is.  With the addition of refined license boards built for specialization in the aptly-named Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System, it's possible that XII might actually be my favorite Final Fantasy; but I'll really never know.

Final Fantasy XII isn't the only game that I've had an on-again, off-again relationship with; while there are many games that I never finish and which subsequently haunt my dreams, I've come crawling back to quite a few others after months of downtime.

Dragon Quest VIII is the first one I can think of; nearly an entire year passed between me putting it down and picking it up to play to completion. Even today I haven't finished the post-game content, so DQVIII may end up breaking FFXII's record for the longest period of time I've played a game from start to finish. I had a similar experience with The Wind Waker on my first playthrough; as soon as I could map out every square of the ocean, I did... Only to realize that later in the game I'd have to sail back to every island the map for the various trinkets and doo-dads necessary to complete Link's quest.

My most shameful example: I have a 120+ hour save of Dragon Quest VII on a still-alive PSX memory card; for the past six years, I've actually toyed with the idea of going back to the game. I need help. And maybe you can be my support group. Am I alone in this?

Related Links:

Anticipation Time: Dragon Quest IV
Know Your Final Fantasy IV Trivia. It Could Save Your Life.
Would You Play a Final Fantasy VII Remake? Hmmm?


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT
Posted Sep 11 2008, 01:00 PM
Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

John Constantine said:

Bob, do not go back to that DQVII save! There was a time I thought that was a good idea. It only leads to heartbreak and another fifty hours.

September 11, 2008 1:02 PM

Roto13 said:

I'm actually nearing the end of a second (well, third, but my second playthrough's save file was lost to the ages about ten hours in so I'm not counting that) playthrough of Final Fantasy XII. My relationship with that game evolved from pure disdain to mad love over the course of a few years. I played the demo that came with Dragon Quest VIII and thought it was absolutely terrible. Not until I bought the full game (launch day a year later, don't ask why I bought a game I thought I would hate) did I realize just how many important gameplay elements they had left out. Gambits! I liked my first playthrough, and I felt like playing through it again and it's so much better the second time through. Seriously. Now it's probably one of my favourite games.

Too bad Revenant Wings was ass.

September 11, 2008 1:23 PM

Bob Mackey said:

Playing 120 hours of DQVII and making it to the last boss without finishing it is like hanging yourself in the prison showers the day before your release :(

September 11, 2008 1:47 PM

Jes said:

My problem with finishing games is I will start one, go away for a few months, and when I come back not remember the story enough so I just re-start it. I have the beginning of Final Fantasy X, XII, Pokemon Red and Blue, and about four different Zelda games memorized.

September 11, 2008 8:35 PM

Thompson said:

constantine can attest to my almost frightening obsession with the gambit system in ffxii.  i had played the hell out of the thing, still using the gambits to keep role specialization even if everyone could "do" everything.  setting the thing up to almost run on it's own was the part of the game i had the best time with.  stepped away for about six months and then killed it off in an afternoon.  was amazingly satisfying. generally, i am guilty of playing games to near completion, walking away, and then coming back much later to end the things.  bad habit, that.

September 11, 2008 8:38 PM

Shogun Warrior said:

The FFXII Japan-only Zodiac Job System version of the game doesn't actually give the FFXII's skill system any kind of sensible refinement. The new skill system is actually much worse than the US version's skill system.

September 12, 2008 10:26 AM

Bob Mackey said:

That just makes me sad.

September 12, 2008 11:02 AM

Roto13 said:

You don't really need anyone to hold your hand to make your characters unique from each other anyway. I had Balthier poking things with the Zodiac Spear and casting buffs between battles, Ashe hacking away with a Katana (because it's power is based on magic power as opposed to strength and Ashe's magic power is pretty high) and healing, and Fran zapping everything with their elemental weakness and casting buffs in battle.

September 12, 2008 9:12 PM

Bob Mackey said:

I tried specializing in one tank, one magic-user, and one character halfway between these (think red mage), but it's too easy to just learn the whole license board.

September 14, 2008 10:31 AM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

If unsatisfied, please return unused portion for partial refund.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

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