I'm into Tales of Phantasia for the SNES right now, but my problem is that I always want to get through the first few hours of the game as perfect as possible.
For example, I instantly lose interest if I get a Game Over too early, and if I figure out a small improvement somewhat early in the game I will restart for that reason as well (for example, buying the Jet Boots before the sewer part).
Even having to use the Life Bottle on Mint in the sewers can zap my interest, because if I need to do that then my strategies weren't optimal, and I wasted a fine Life Bottle when I wouldn't have needed to.

I also have weird tendencies to adapt my playing sessions to the game's storyline.
For example, when they travel back in time about an hour into the game I always Save State the file and continue with the past a few hours later - that way I get a strong feeling of really starting a completely new part of the story, and it makes the beginning of the game feel more "far away".