What's the longest you played a game you didn't like? And why?

[Bolivar]

"Life is too short to read bad books."

Shion's Xenogears playthrough reminded me of my time with this cult favorite and how utterly painful it was to try to engage its gameplay. Even still, as many here will attest, the story, characters, artwork, and music made it all worth it. Even when my free time was more abundant, I never spent much time on a game if I truly wasn't enjoying myself. So Xenogears is the closest I can get to this (~60 hours).

This thread is partially inspired by our forum's discussion on FFXIII, how many how many of its biggest haters played it through to completion. I remember expressing my astonishment at someone playing a 50+ hour game they thought was that bad and one member insisted that it was a completely normal thing that reasonable people do all the time. I felt bad for him

Another example of this is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Last time an Elder Scrolls thread came up, someone remarked how those who detract from Skyrim often ironically have 120 hour playthroughs to their name.

Have you ever slogged through a title you did not enjoy and what was the motivation that kept you going?

[Pike]

I put ~40 hours into Oblivion, and it was because I wanted to beat it for lore reasons. I dumped it basically as soon as I finished the main questline. At least Shivering Isles wasn't bad.

Other than that I can't think of any games I played for more than 10+ hours despite not liking it. I usually give up after like two, haha.

[Madame Adequate]

I spent about 35 to 40 hours with FF XII. Must be 70 or more in IX over consecutive, aborted attempts to play. Only maybe 8 or 10 in FF Tactics overall.

[krissy]

i put 2 hours into assasins creed 1

[Quindiana Jones]

I spent about 35 to 40 hours with FF XII. Must be 70 or more in IX over consecutive, aborted attempts to play. Only maybe 8 or 10 in FF Tactics overall.

You hate literally all of my favourite FFs. xD

[Pumpkin]

Chrono Cross. I SO wanted to like that game. But it just felt like a chore to play. Seriously, it would be like "Ugh is it time to play that game again. SIIIIGHHH. Might as well get it over with"

The story seemed interesting and my boyfriend loves it and we do have similar taste in games in some ways, so I wanted to give it a shot. A decent one. But eventually it was just like... I had to accept I don't like it and moved on

[Rez09]

Looking at the save files on my PSP, I have 44 hours logged into Valkyria Chronicles II, which . . . is a game I am not fond of. I managed to log in those hours based purely on the combat portions of the game, which I enjoyed, but, really, eventually everything else caught up to me and I can't stand the game anymore. Had the combat been poor as well, I wouldn't have made it that far.

I also had at LEAST 20 hours in Suikoden Tacomeat (as I have since dubbed it) for the DS, which I simply . . . no. Just no. I tried DAMN hard to like that game, and the only reason I played as long as I did was because it was a day one purchase and I was determined to convince myself something redeeming was buried in the title somewhere. To the game's credit, there was Chrodechild, but she wasn't nearly enough to carry the title for me and it was another one I was forced to put down.

Disgaea, the original, I have put . . . God, well over 100 hours into across three releases. I do not like this title. I don't find most of the humor amusing, I don't like Etna (I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate Etna), I actively dislike the combat and rebirth mechanics, and the item world is the most irritating, soul draining experience I have ever continually subjected myself to. And yet, everyone insists the game is amazing, and I keep telling myself I'll like it if I play it again, because I was just expecting a different experience or some other crap last time I played, and each time I'm just chasing a rainbow. Second game I was more okay with though, which is something.

The Mega Man Battle Network series as a whole also qualifies for this. To be fair, my opinion of these games has shifted quite a bit, as I initially thought they were absolute garbage, but after deciding to give the series a second chance a while back and playing through the first three or four games I can say that, while I still don't like them, I can DEFINITELY see why other people do. I didn't race through the games and spent a lot of time in each collecting V3 chips and standard ones with certain codes to make folders I liked, so I easily spent over 60 hours across the endevor.

I hate Dragon Warrior II. I grinded my way through the game until that last stretch before Hargon's castle. I stopped. smurf that game. I don't know many hours that took, but I was disliking it fairly early on for whatever reason and stuck with it, thinking I'd end up liking it like the first game. I was incorrect.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is another one. I swear I am the only person in the world that dislikes this game, but I do. A lot. I don't like its mechanics, I don't like how most characters feel, nothing. But, it was one of the first games I got for my DC, and a buddy and I unlocked EVERYTHING in the game and played a ton of multiplayer. No idea how much time was spent on this, but it was at least 20 hours before the game was solidly placed in the -never touch again- basket.

There's also FF Tactics Advance. At least 40+ hours, across two or so attempted playthroughs, worth of it. I don't like the story, characters, learning skills from gear, classes being locked to races, or the card system. I do like sending my people on random 'x day' guild missions though, and using the items from one to complete another, but that's . . . probably not the element I should be appreciating. Every time I pick it up I expect to find what people like in the title and have some dark cloud of ignorance lifted from me so the bright sunshine of its greatness can filter down upon me, but . . . hasn't happened yet, and that horizon looks mighty cloudy still.

Anyway, that's all I can think of at the moment, and looking at the general trend it seems I tend to spend a lot of time with titles I don't like in the vain hope I'll find something I DO like about them. Then I give up. I'm such a quitter.

[escobert]

Hmm. usually not very long. I can't think of an exact instance that I played a game for more than an hour or two that I really didn't like.

[Mirage]

Xenogears. I think I put 20 hours into it but still didn't really like it. I played it mainly because people promised me it was great. That's 10 years ago now, and I actually intend to give it another shot soon. I bought it on psn and all.

I think I'm just really picky these days. I won't play games I've heard nothing good about from the friends I have with similar tastes as I have, or that I haven't read at least decent reviews about. The times that I do take a chance, it's with cheap titles that I would put away within 5 hours at most if I didn't like them. I simply don't have enough free time to spend it on stuff that isn't good.

[Shoeberto]

FFXIII made it an easy one to slog through, purely due to the technical aspect of the combat. The battles almost felt like a far superior minigame, framed inside of a larger game that was a total mess. I beat that game in its entirety and have no desire to ever make a new game.

The first Assassin's Creed was sort of the same deal... it was so bland and repetitive, but the movement was so good. I tried to convince myself that the story would pick up, or something would happen that would actually make the experience feel worth it.

Nope. Got to the end with the awful twist and raged a little inside. The sequel was a good, at least. I've no desire to play anything else in the series, though.

[Vyk]

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

I think I put a good 25 - 30 hours into this game. If not, then it sure felt that way lol And while it amused me in the beginning, it never really grabbed me. And then was completely ruined by Edge's reaction to the first major event in the game. People say his reaction was justified by guilt and whatnot, and I'll give them that. But to drag it on for so long, and try to drag his team down into his wallow'y mopiness as well is just childish and irresponsible. He's the captain, he has a position of responsibility and leadership, and he shrugs it all off to go mope in a corner. I've seen lots of Star Trek, the characters in there sometimes make terrible mistakes, or even if they don't and end up making terrible consequences through good intentions. They feel their grief and stuff, but they also realize they have a ship and a crew to lead. They have to put responsibility there first and deal with their feelings in a mature and responsible manner. Edge dealt with them like a 15 year old. Probably because he was a 15 year old (not honestly sure of his age, but considering the Japanese's love of teenage protagonists in ridiculously unbelievable command positions [Squall] he certainly fit the trope and the personality archetype)

And it's really bad when the characters in the game agree with me and consider him unfit for duty and take command away from him. I was extremely happy that happened, but it didn't change his personality. I was wishing he'd either grow up or stop showing up in the cut scenes. But neither happened. And though he eventually got over it, it was way too late. I forced myself to get that far, and I just couldn't take any more

Immature people should not be in positions of responsibility where people's lives are on the line. Lives were lost. His psychological evaluation for the job should have indicated whether he could handle that or not, and he could not

I have to agree with the people who've mentioned Final Fantasy Tactics (any of them, though I have no played Advance 2)

I've given the first one so many tries. But it's just so complex and tedious. And like every other game in the genre outside of Shining Force, it's just battle battle story battle story story battle battle battle

I can't imagine any other type of RPG getting away with this. People give Xenogear's disc 2 trout for being nothing but story and boss fights. Plot development and fighting, when they want to play a game. Well Tactics is nothing, absolutely NOTHING but plot and battle. And people love that game for it? Final Fantasy XIII adds the bonus of hallways, but other than that it's just battles and plot too, and people hate that game for it. Why does Tactics (and every other strategy game that takes the easy route and cuts out the option of an overworld and replaces it with a damn map instead) get a free pass? I haven't managed to play through any of them. And god damn was Fire Emblem: Awakening a great game, but I could not beat it. The pacing just seemed horrible. All battles and story. I loved the character interactions, but they were over so quickly, and came off as rather gimmicky, with just a couple of sentences traded between characters in between battles. And then off to another battle or story point. How I dream of being able to walk around in that world and actually talk with the people in it and actually have longer conversations or hang out with the people I grow to care about in it. I care about that game more than a thousand Final Fantasy Tactics could ever compare to. And this would include Disgaea, La Pucelle, Luminous Arc, Vandal Hearts, Yggdra Union, Gungnir, Tacts Ogre. So much potential to have more than just battles and story and micromanaging. And I've sunk so many hours into them hoping it would pay off, that at least ONE game would have proper pacing and not try to burn everyone out on so many battles. But they're all the same. It's hard to believe Shining Force; probably a 25 year old game by now, is literally the only shining example of a strategy game with the deftly handled pacing of any other RPG on the market. Why has nobody seen the potential there

Yes I had to rant. All these games that could have been magnificent if they had only put a little time and effort into crafting a world instead of just a battle system with a story >.< and so much of my time given to them hoping and praying any of them got it right. And I haven't beaten a single one

(I should probably also note that I am drinking right now.. lol)

[Mirage]

People are more honest when they're drunk so that's fine.

[Rez09]

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

I think I put a good 25 - 30 hours into this game. If not, then it sure felt that way lol And while it amused me in the beginning, it never really grabbed me. And then was completely ruined by Edge's reaction to the first major event in the game. People say his reaction was justified by guilt and whatnot, and I'll give them that. But to drag it on for so long, and try to drag his team down into his wallow'y mopiness as well is just childish and irresponsible. He's the captain, he has a position of responsibility and leadership, and he shrugs it all off to go mope in a corner. I've seen lots of Star Trek, the characters in there sometimes make terrible mistakes, or even if they don't and end up making terrible consequences through good intentions. They feel their grief and stuff, but they also realize they have a ship and a crew to lead. They have to put responsibility there first and deal with their feelings in a mature and responsible manner. Edge dealt with them like a 15 year old. Probably because he was a 15 year old (not honestly sure of his age, but considering the Japanese's love of teenage protagonists in ridiculously unbelievable command positions [Squall] he certainly fit the trope and the personality archetype)

And it's really bad when the characters in the game agree with me and consider him unfit for duty and take command away from him. I was extremely happy that happened, but it didn't change his personality. I was wishing he'd either grow up or stop showing up in the cut scenes. But neither happened. And though he eventually got over it, it was way too late. I forced myself to get that far, and I just couldn't take any more

Yes. Yes. Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes. I have relatively minor complaints about SO4 overall, but Edge is the sole MAJOR complain I hold against it. At least Reimi had what it took to be our commander while he moped around aimlessly for the middle of the game, as I likely wouldn't have finished it otherwise. (Then again, TotA does something irritatingly similar as well, only I DIDN'T get someone like Reimi and still finished it, so . . . meh.)

[Pumpkin]

I really like Star Ocean: The Last Hope. No complaints with Edge

Voice acting is terrible for the most part would be my biggest complaint

[Spuuky]

Let's not make this into a The Last Hope thread, but yes, I actually completed that awful game, so that's gotta be high on my list of Hours Spent On A Game I Didn't Like.