I’d say we all have them–a franchise or two of games that you enjoy yet never finish–but I’m not sure everyone really does. I know many people have one, but I have two, and no matter how much I know I won’t finish these games, it doesn’t stop me from buying the next installment. It doesn’t matter if it’s a remake, a port, or a brand new game; I can’t seem to help myself. I’m talking about The Legend of Zelda and the Final Fantasy games, two long series of games that I can’t seem to finish and can’t seem to quit.
I own every Final Fantasy (mainstream, not counting Tactics or other off-shoots) game in the series except for the MMOs, FFXI and FFXIV. I’ve started I, III, V, VII, X, and 4 Heroes of Light. I rage quit III at the very end once I discovered that even after completing every single side quest, I needed to level grind about 40 more levels in order to survive the onslaught of multiple boss fights at the end. The story wasn’t great enough for me to do so or start over to begin with, so that one will remain unfinished. With V and I, I just got distracted and stopped playing them for arbitrary reasons. I played VII up to the point of recruiting Cid Highwind, but then the game released on the PSP, so I started over to play it there, and then I just got burned out. I played X all the way to the point where the game releases the linearity and opens up. I had been so focused on the game up to that point, I walked away to take a brief hiatus…about 4 years ago. Now that X is coming to the PS3 and Vita has an HD remake, I’m debating whether to forage on or start over. I have a feeling I’ll play it more if it’s on my Vita than on my larger console, for whatever reason.
The only FF games I’ve finished are XIII and XIII-2. I wish I never started XIII-2.
I’ve suddenly been thinking about my unfinished FF games as I played a little bit of Final Fantasy Theatrhythm this weekend. Listening to the music has reminded me that I really do want to finish the games I’ve started, save for FFIII. Not only that, but I want to finish the other FF games I’ve bought and not started, namely VI, VIII, and IX. Since all of these games are now on my Vita (except for V…not sure what is up with that one, Sony!!), and I’ve moved my handhelds downstairs to stare at me every night, I’m hoping motivation to play them will come to me.
But I need motivation for more than just FF. There are some Zelda games I’d like to actually finish what I start as well.
I’m still not sure if I’ll ever re-pick back up Ocarina of Time 3D after having so much difficulty aiming at a particular boss and all of the pots in the boss room having zero hearts in them, but there are other games I’d like to finish on my own one day. I still have A Link to the Past as a GBA game I can play on my DS, and since its spiritual successor is coming out soon, I’m feeling a stirring to pick it back up again. Also, I recently snagged Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons during Nintendo’s recent eShop sale. I never played either as I never had a Gameboy Color, but they’re part of the Zelda universe, so I feel the need to play them for whatever reason. I admit this is part of the reason why I want to buy Wind Waker HD as well. But maybe I’ll actually finish the game this time. I hope.
In other news, now that E3 is over and is no longer taking over my work day, it’s time to finish up Fuse (so close!) and start Remember Me. Should be getting The Last of Us strategy guide soon as well, so my writer extraordinaire can get cracking on that one. We’ll be fairly slow in July as usual, but we’re excited about things picking back up in August!
Leave a Reply