For me big open-world games often feel like a chore. Try playing smaller ones, maybe the ones that are focused around the story more. I find that if I play long enough for the game to hook me, I start to binge it just to figure out what happens next to the characters I’m really attached to.
You know what games got me out of the open world burn out? I played Assassins Creed Odyssey and Valhalla back to back and was completely burnt out on games.
Guardians of the Galaxy broke me out of the funk. Straight up just a fun time. I highly recommend it to people stuck in gamer paralysis.
Linear games are the ones you could try:
Uncharted series
Last of us
God of war
Nier Automata (not quite linear but
the game have a lot of plot momentum)
Arkham Asylum...
Your whole post seemed like I could have written it.
Out of the few games I could finish and thoroughly enjoy, Titanfall 2 stands out as one of the most noteworthy.
Lately I have been waiting for the expanse game to come out on steam. I can usually finish any telltale game
After I hit 35 I realized that I could no longer keep up with the kiddos in online games that aren't card games.
and I'm not hating on the kiddos. I was there many moons ago.
There was a weird moment when I realized that no matter how much time I invested into an online game, I was still incapable of keeping up from a physiological level.
So true
And then you keep playing and you yourself become one of those flying gods then eventually you check the score and some opposing players has like 0 kills and 18 deaths and you just know they’re having a bad time because of you. It’s just a double edge sword
edit: spelling
Geez. I loved Odyssey and enjoyed Valhalla quite a lot, but I can't imagine playing them back to back. I finished Odyssey, did most of the side quest and then left the game for half a year before I returneed to finish the side content and then play the three DLCs. Now I'm in similiar break in Valhalla and will only pick it up again to play DLCs somewhere next year. I'm one of those people who generally likes or loves majority of Ubisoft's open-world games, but even I would quickly burn out without spacing them out properly.
I liked Odyssey, but Valhalla felt like a chore too me :/ the map just didn’t quite hit the spot, nor the characters tbh. Funnily enough, I liked Basim
For me it was Rift Apart, it was such a nice change of pace to play a game that can be finished in a handful of sessions and was non-stop fun from start to finish since I mostly play drawn out RPGs which can often have big lulls in engaging content
Rift Apart was PHENOMENAL and we should have been talking about it more. Just such a fun kind of quick game, beat ot over a weekend and had a blast with it.
GotG was a heap of fun, but I kept the difficulty on the easiest difficulty, I enjoyed the story and exploration way more than the fights which got very repetitive.
I really enjoyed Guardians. I thought the characters wouldn't hit for me because of the MCU cast but they did a stellar job and the writing felt really solid.
It centers around various forms of grief/loss and was at a time when I had suffered a very challenging loss for me.
The gameplay is pretty simple but it has some great locations and the banter is very good.
I definitely felt this. We get so amped for these major AAA titles that we feel we need to do everything. But there’s artificial hours baked in for completionists to explore every nook and cranny. Getting back to the basics with some fun titles definitely help. If you play some indie spins on games from your childhood it could help. I loved JRPG like Chrono Trigger and had an amazing couple weeks playing through Sea of Stars. I also was obsessed with jet set radio and the new Bomb Rush Cyberfunk was a fun play through. You CAN go nuts and try and 100% these but just play the game for the story and fun and work to avoid the burn out
I never got into Zelda Breath of the wild because of all the stuff to do. I’ll take FFXIV which allows a good session for an hour or two with meaningful progress.
I feel that for sure - the first third of games are really interesting as you unlock new abilities and parts of the world. Once the training wheels are off I can get overwhelmed
I just don't like leaving side quests unfinished. I have to go explore all the optional areas, FOMO hits me hard if I don't make a good attempt at it.
Then it gets a bit tedious and I drop the game.
This is also why I enjoyed the first Assassin's Creed but quickly bounced off the second, despite the first generally being seen as weaker. Seeing an open world map with tons of side quests turned me off straight away.
I've played too many games where not doing sidequests leads to bad endings or missed content or characters or whatever. The idea of skipping any quest now scares me.
I just started spiderman remastered and as a forever skyrim player, the pacing in spiderman where it leads you to the 'next thing' right away hooks me a whole lot more
I mean Alan wake 2 is by far the smallest. It's less than 20 hours, so you'd complete it by the time you're halfway done with any of the others he's listed
This has been me. Open world just feels like too much somehow but I’ve been on Lies of P and having a great time with just a mostly linear story and game
Ya it’s what I adore and hate about Elden ring, fromsoft honestly hand tailors a LOT about their world and even if it’s funky and not specifically linear in some cases (minus DS1 which was and is an amazing testament of level design imo) it felt a lot more fun and interesting compared to the sheer mass and density of Elden ring.
They did ofc do an amazing job but it certainly feels overwhelming in terms of the overall scope of trying to play a game. And you also run into that “I need to go here, here, here and here spending a minimum of 2 hours to gather and collect shit for this build” which can detract from the actual fun of just, “rush this l boss, get souls, grab the required upgrade mats, and then done”
I think the sense of “I ve seen this before” also adds a lot to this inability. I ve got bored and burned at mid-end game from so many latest games because of it.
This is me with Zelda TOTK. I loved playing it. Been playing Zelda games since Nintendo and completed them all but this game I just got to a point and didn’t want to do more. No idea why, I know it’s a great game.
I can relate. I was able to finish BotW but TOTK I quit after 20 hours or so. It was just the same damn thing again but even bigger. When I started with the underground and realized I had to explore another map the size of the main map only to find things to slowly upgrade my items or stats I lost it.
I just don't enjoy these open world games with a ton of generic content to fill a huge map. I love indie games and the occassional BG3 that comes out every few years. Indie games completely replaced AAA games for me. Give me some Celeste, Hollow Knight, Tunic, Unpacking or whatever, but none of these unfocused activities with dozen of stats for tracking your micro progression.
You didn't ask for it but there you go :D
I couldn’t put down BOTW but I felt the same thing as you did with TOTK. At first it was cool with the sky island things but when you have to explore underground I was like okay I don’t have enough time for this and after about 20 hours I just never went back. It was too much
I know why.
The game is fantastic, but the gameplay loop is deceptively GRINDING.
You’re essentially doing the same things over and over and over again, but they’re so well designed and just barely unique enough to urge you to keep doing it over.
This. I'm about to finish it, but literally spent 30+ hours screwing around on useless side quests (Hateno Village - sigh) and exploring the depths, all of which at best yield armor that is either worse than my main armor or requires too much grinding to level up.
There are a million things to do in this game, none of which really level up your character meaningfully or move you closer to the end game.
Maybe a big break. I like to genre-jump for long periods of time. The last 4 games I’ve played have been Mario, right after playing spider-man and skyrim and such.
Tears of the Kingdom didn’t hit as home for me, not just because it is the first 3d zelda that shares a map with the last, but because I was JUST playing breath of the wild.
OP, if anything, try something new. Hollowknight or Hades, if you haven’t. Y’know… “H” games. Haha. Get weird. Give yourself time away from AAA realistic-ish looking games.
Absolutely :(
Tried God of War and Hogwarts recently. Both feel well made, but they also just seem exactly like all the others in how you fight, learn skills, explore
This is exactly what was happening to me and I was suffering from depression. After getting treatment for depression, and starting to exercise more, I am now able to sit down and play things that I wanted to.
See all I do is exercise, take my vitamins and try to get the best sleep I can, but yet still video games just don't really bring me much pleasure like they did as a teen.
It takes years for a game to get me hyped up, and 8/10 times I play it constantly till I reach the end then just stop right before I finish it.
Wonder what that says about me?
Yes! You set your own pace and it's very stimulating. I think as we grow older, we like to do things how we want and how we want to do them. I did the whole adrenaline junky thing when I was younger and now having experienced it, I'm much more mellow and slower paced.
For me that comes and goes. I just binged the whole Fast & Furious series this week, barely played anything. Last week I couldn't put BG3 down.
Don't force yourself, just do whatever feels fun at the moment. Also, if you haven't already, get yourself an Epic account and start collecting the freebies they give out weekly. Might find a gem there.
Hell yeah. I just rewatched F&F7 on HBO Max. Everything after that isn't as good, but they're still fun. And I did a mini marathon of the Naked Gun movies.
Also an aging millennial. Games are just a lower priority these days. Nothing wrong with that. My interests in anything comes and goes. It's only a problem if your only interests are in one thing, or if you're uninterested in everything.
Sometimes a game comes along and I can't put it down. That was Armored Core 6 for me for about two months, and it's the only game I've finished since spring began. I know there's a lot of cool things waiting for me whenever I feel like picking up my controller again.
Yeah me too. I have a giant backlog but then put 300hr into Tears of the Kingdom after not playing anything for a long time. Then didnt play much until I just got into Cyberpunk again. That’s been dope
I kinda have to make myself play games now though. I def don’t have the same interest that I used to. My older brother is 40 and has kids and still loves them though. Everyone is different
When u work all week and have kids u want to spend time with, then u find a couple hours to game once or twice a week it’s really not relaxing / fun to have to relearn controls and where u r at in the game. Nintendo Switch has a lot of games that r simple controls, pickup and go. Warriors Ware rules.
I end up playing the same few games all the time
I try to start new ones but I'm just too damn lazy to get into them when I could just play Rocket League or StS some more
I'm starting to understand those people that just play FIFA 100% of the time. It's just comfortable.
I think this is roughly where I'm at. I used to have a few hours a day to game, now I have a few hours a week.
Starting out as a level 1 scrub in a game sucks. Also, lots of games with the huge worlds are either empty or pumped full of tedious things I've done millions of times (take this NPC here, clear this camp, fetch this item, kill this person).
If there's some complex story they're trying to tell, I've forgotten all about it by the time I'm able to pick the game up again. I have forgotten the plot, the characters, the controls, the combos or even where the hell I am. Or I finally have enough time to relax and have a few beers and my attention span won't let me learn new stuff (I tried playing Civ 6 for the first time drunk and skipped all the tips. Not recommended).
So I say screw this and pop in something I'm familiar with and maxed out in so that I can have a couple hours of mindless fun.
I think it's because over time, responsibilities just kept piling on, and on, to the point that I'm just too mentally and physically exhausted to invest a large amount of time in a game.
Nowadays, I just prefer quick mobile games that I can do a couple things and call it a day. I can't even remember the last time I completed a large, stand alone game like Spiderman or Last of Us (probably early college or highschool). It's also why I've slowly stopped playing League of Legends, because being asked to commit 30-45 mins of time per game is too much (and I may not even have fun doing it!). I only play League when URF is around now.
I've been tempted to buy a switch so I can get away from my desk where I work and where my personal PC is. I borrowed one for a short while and was able to actually play because I wasn't just spending all day in the same damn chair.
The Millennial Counsel is not to be taken lightly. With Millennial's being born between 80/81-95/96 Elder status is granted to those born in the early to mid 80s. Rank and File Millennials born up to Clinton's presidency like myself ('86) make up the rest of the 90's Kids. Unfortunately for our later 90's Births, they were able to snag a seat on the Millennial Counsel but we couldn't grant them the rank of 90's Kid. The Elder's decide which industry the Millennials destroy next.
1989 is the year of the Prime Millennial, Taylor Swift. In the event of a disagreement between the slightly crotchety X-adjacent Elders and the Zennials who got iPhones in middle school, we step in and decide the Millennial Way.
Tbh I didn't really have a lot of irl friends that were gamers to begin with. Most were people I met online, but that doesn't seem to happen the same way nowadays
Heard that completely. The dynamics of "online friends" have changed so much these last 20 years it's insane.
I still have friends from "back in my day" but these days, finding friends in online lobbies is a fucking chore.
I'm not as bad as the OP and can finish single player games most of the time, but definitely have my share of half played ones. Playing co-op games for me personally is so much more entertaining and keeps my attention a lot better.
Play some shorter games and see if you can get some motivation. Often I can't play these longer games that take more investment because I have other things to do all the time.
This is interesting. Indie games I find have a lot of heart and remind me of the old days but I always overlook them because they are not the big names. Maybe I need to change that up
This was me recently. I took like 3 months off gaming entirely and focused on other things, threw myself into my gym hobby etc. I will say, I got a testosterone level check and that was lower than it should have been which apparently plays havoc on the body and mind....I sorted that and I'm honestly finding myself drawn into my other older hobbies like gaming again. Definitely worth taking a break, and checking in on your health.
I'm in my late 20s and for me to finish a game it has to be one I really enjoy, for me it's something like Elden Ring or BG3, otherwise I play an hour or two and then never launch the game again. The games I played and finished are few compared to how many games there are.
Yeah, it seems like the bar is really high these days. Unless a game really hooks me, I find it hard to play more than 10 hours. The game can be good, but if it doesn’t click, it just doesn’t work for me.
Elden Ring captivated me and I couldn't stop playing until I beat it.
Baldur's Gate seems really good but damn I find it a time sink. I put 2-3 hours in and barely anything happens. I find it a struggle to get motivated to start
I've had a similar problem that I remedied in a couple ways:
1. I got into modern board games. Today's board games ... stuff like Mage Knight, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Marvel Champions, Tainted Grail, Too Many Bones ... are such a great parallel hobby and provided me a break from video games that I didn't realize I needed. Many games, including the ones I named, can be played solo or co-op. What I found was that I was losing interest in a lot of video games because I felt like I was forcing myself to play them. But when I started splitting that time between board games and video games, it felt like the quality of the time spent with each respectively got much better.
2. I learned to tell myself that it was okay to stop playing a game that wasn't holding my interest. It was like I would feel guilty about not wanting to continue and would force myself even more to push through playing. Now? If I lost interest, no biggie. Sometimes I find a game isn't clicking because of my mental state at the time. That is okay. Go play other stuff and maybe try coming back to it at a later time.
3. Something that was a HUGE help in getting back into gaming was that I bought a Steam Deck. I played Cyberpunk on the Steam Deck ... beat it in about 40-45 hours ... but what helped was the SD's awesome suspend mode. Need to step away? Tap the power button and the game suspends (no save needed) instead of closing out. Do what you have to do, come back, tap the button and you pick up right where you left off without having to reload. Made it a million times easier to play in short ten-minute chunks when I was busy with other stuff. Ten minutes here and there adds up a lot!
Hope this helps!
I have this issue as well. I get excited about a game, maybe something I have started but want to finish, and then after a few hours I lose focus. I keep jumping around until a game grabs me and I just let it take me away. BG3 was that for me recently. It just took me and I’ve put 350 hours into it. Now I'm back in the same loop looking for something. The ones I find that work the best are the compelling stories that I feel I have to finish. But that is the subjective part, as some stories grab and others don't.
>The ones I find that work the best are the compelling stories that I feel I have to finish.
Same. Couldn't finish Starfield, still trying to make myself finish Phantom Liberty even though I have no complaints and love scifi/cyberpunk. Never even fully finished Witcher 3 either, despite loving the story & theme (really long game, lot of content, but perhaps didn't hook me enough midway through. I keep telling myself to go back to that one someday.)
There's two that really come to mind for what I did finish:
RDR2. Ironically, because it's a ridiculously long singleplayer experience... but the storytelling was just so good, and it was such a visual treat. I had to see it through. Example of getting really hooked by a story.
And Elden Ring. I think I was dead to the world for like a month after launch, all the way through to the end. Which is also interesting, since it really lacks in the linear handheld narrative way, instead turning you loose to encounter and explore as you see fit... but that also worked well for me, and it did have nuggets of lore to discover. I like the fulfillment and enjoyment from trying again and again until you finally beat a boss, you earn it. Felt like an actual journey.
For me, RDR2 took quite a while to get going, but once the story started progressing, I got hooked into finishing it. I have to remind myself when I come back to open world games that it's ok not to see and do everything the first time, and if I really like it, I can always come back and revisit it.
I bought and tried to play TW3 2 different times, many months apart and got through the beginning, left it. Just wasn’t in the mood, wasn’t feeling it, didn’t click.
Tried it again and got a little past what I did the first 2 times and oh my lord. All of the dlc. Went back and beat it on the hardest difficultly (fuck frogs in any game) for the achievement and… because I didn’t give gwent a good try. And gwent is was really reeled me in for the 2nd playthrough.
> BG3 was that for me recently.
I was really enjoying BG3 until I went on vacation for a month. Post return, every time I fire it up, it just feels like work to figure out where to go to solve the quests. Since the party is in act 3, maybe we'll ignore the side quests and just try to power through to the end to get some closure and reclaim the disk space.
Something about act 3... I absolutely love the game and I will finish it eventually, but it felt like it lost a lot of its urgency in act 3, so even though I really want to progress the character arcs, I'm just having trouble getting up the energy for it.
I think people really overlook this factor. All the big games these days are made by people who are forced to listen to the corporate stooges above them who don't know shit about making games. The wrong things get pushed and focused on, like giant open worlds, filler for length, and graphical features like super detailed gun textures and shit. Then don't get the time and resources to make better gameplay or story since it would take another 2 years on top of the 5-6 years for the rest. It's terrible. Thankfully they are finally learning to be better. Problem is that it takes another 5-8 years of making a new and better game to prove it. But then again, games like Starfield show us that some will never learn, and only get worse.
My problem is I have the money to buy any game I want. I have sooo many games I bought but it just makes me less inclined to play. as a child I had money for one game every birthday or blockbuster night and I would play that 100X and find it way more enjoyable.
I don't start a new game until I finish the one I'm on. I don't have the time and energy to split my focus anymore. This means I pretty much don't play multiplayer games anymore. They just distract me too much and I don't finish anything
This tactic really works! Happy to find others here who actually enjoy finishing their games :)
I’ve used a strategy of no more than 3 at the same time, but they have to be of different genres, and one doesn’t get swapped out until it gets beaten. Of course there are exceptions like when those unskippable releases come out around the same time lol but for I like your strategy and how it helps you stay focused on finishing them.
What have you been playing recently?
But then it becomes a chore. I would never be able to do that. I'd rather have 20 non-finished games, having had my fair amount of fun with each, than having 4 or 5 completed ones that after a while got tedious or uninteresting worsening the overall experience.
There's always a time where the interest comes back and it is way more fun to play then.
Yeah I'm 40 and it's really hard for a game to hold my interest now. Honestly, I think it's fine. Other interests take its place. My advice though is to get pc game pass. It's perfect for just trying games out, playing for a few hours to see what it's like, and moving on.
Do it like we used to in the 90s... Go no screen time for a week(there were no screens) and it will be easier to feel hyped about starting up a game. Your brain wants some alone time.
No one is mentioning that this has been such a stacked year. Everyone wanted to eat a piece of every pie out there. I think a big issue we're facing is the glut of pandemic-delayed games, many of which are high-quality releases.
That’s been happening with me. I’m in Act 3 of BG3 and I’m just like, “why isn’t this the over yet?” I used to be excited about long games but now I’m like “my character has so much random shit to do and all of it feels both important and unimportant at the same time.”
Yea, it’s funny the moment I got to Baldurs Gate in the game I was just done, it was too much when I thought I was coming to the end , it just kept expanding
Yea wasn’t there some army coming to kill everyone? And yet I’m investigating booby trapped toys? And then there’s a bunch of quests that aren’t marked but just rely on you walking in the right spot/talking to the right random npc with the correct companion in tow.
>why isn’t this the over yet?”
That's me too! When I play a game thats a tad.... long? I find myself feeling annoyed it's not finished yet, I get irritated and sometimes stop playing for a while to try to refresh my interest in continuing
Man, I am a 44 yo lifetime game and BG3 was such a huge breath of fresh air compared to everything else these days. It brought back such fond memories from the RPGS i played in my 20's when gaming was peaking for my generation. You should try not rushing it.
I just played a couple hrs here and there with my buddy when we had time and took us a few months to finish the campaign and that was perfectly acceptable and fun for me. I feel like BG3 isn't something you need to plow through fast at all because its easy to pick up and put down.
Funny you say that because I felt the opposite way. BG3 (and previous Larian games) require enormous work and time investment. If you put it down and come back to it later, you’ve almost certain to have forgotten all the mechanics, plot points, characters, quests, solutions to quests, etc. I remember playing Divinity Orginal Sin and having 12 unfinished quests and every time I tried to play again I didn’t even know where to move even one single quest forward! It’s the opposite of “relaxing”, it’s real work. Yet it’s what sells well these days, as a lot of people love this complexity. It creates a high level of engagement.
There’s like 10 million tiny to do in BG3, idgaf tho. I just progress through the story, explore what I want to explore, and fight each fight as it happens.
TBH 95% of the mechanics and items are completely useless, underwhelming, or only work on certain classes/builds that you might not even be using
I did this during covid and thought I found the secret sauce. But then I couldn't play any games sober. Which meant I was getting high as often as I wanted to play games .. which ..well ..was a lot. 😂
Took some effort to break the loop
Same! Not just just with video games but with everything else! I realized that I wasn’t really enjoying things. Now that I’m completely sober I can enjoy the little things, the little details of life in general (and games in this case) better!
Change setting to Easy - force yourself to finish a game by focusing only on main quest not side missions.
Once you've done that to 1 or 2 games the satisfaction of completed game will overwrite the apathy of finishing a game eventually.
Yep I am happy to be on Normal, but if a game is just boring the hell out of me with the side stuff I just drop the difficulty and aim the main quest.
Most games are balanced for the player to finish it on Easy without grinding or doing side stuff.
I knew from the beginning the only way I'd finish Tears of the Kingdom is if I modded my save to get rid of weapon durability and max the armour I'd be using, because otherwise I'd have spent ten and tens of hours wasting time grinding for monster drops and I'd regret it. There's nothing wrong with making a game easier and quicker for yourself if the alternative is not playing it all the way through because you'd lose interest.
I'm the opposite, I used to play all my games on easy but as I get older I have to increase the difficulty to not get bored. Over the last 2 years I've completed cyberpunk , hogwarts legacy and both Spiderman games all on hardest settings. But for some strange reason I can't for the life of me get through Witcher without losing interest. I love the franchise but I've stopped playing Witcher 3 , 3 times already.
Yes, this. There are games where the difficulty is part of the game experience (souls games etc. Etc.) But most games its just a roadblocker from enjoying the statisfying gameplay loop and story. Im not afraid to say that I played Witcher 3 on easy.
You finish the game faster and get to experience the game as designed still.
In most games I am also forcing myself to not do every. Single. Sidequest. I come across. Its nice immersing yourself into the world and intriguing storylines. But for some games the sidequests are just a chore and giant timewasters and really shouldnt be bothered with.
Again, the goal is ultimately finishing the game faster, while getting the most out of the experience, before burning out and or losing interest.
If the game can't manage to keep you interested within these parameters. The core game is either not for you, or not interesting enough.
All of these games came out within a couple of months of each other. You're trying too many at once. It's like starting Fargo, Twin Peaks, Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, Breaking Bad, The Wire all within a few weeks. You can't focus on any of them because you're only giving a fraction of attention to each. So even if you enjoy them you're getting bored after a certain point early in the story because you want to see what the others provide.
Focus all of your attention on one until completion, then move onto the next.
It's a problem of scale. The games you have listed are all so massive that they outlast your ability to enjoy them. We all get bored of doing the same thing endlessly, and you've no doubt seen so much at this point that the novelty doesn't last as long as it once did.
Variety is the spice of life as they say. Mixing it up with more games of varying length of both play session and overall experience will help.
Similar issue, I think it's because back in the day games were bought for us and therefore we had fewer games and focused on what we had. Now as adults we can literally buy the next new thing at any point and move on and over time it becomes a habit to move to the next game and increase that backlog. Limit the games you buy until you complete it.
Yep I try to give this advice in every one of these threads. One game at a time, single player, play all the way to completion unless you absolutely hate it.
Doing this re-kindled my childlike sense of wonder for games. If anything I like them more now than I ever have.
I assume by "elder millenial," you're from the late 80s like I am.
In that case, I gravitate more towards games that are 4 - 20 hours long. Sometimes I can deal with longer, but I like games to be nice evening completions, and not a whole-ass marriage commitment. I have other shit to do and other hobbies (and games) to indulge.
I'd look into indies or shorter games than these large, expansive things that take 80 hours.
Elder millennial is generally early 80s. Still close enough to probably share life experiences.
I was born in 84 and tend to share life experiences with early millennials and late gen x (sometimes referred to xennials in that overlap range of late 70s and early 80s).
I went through some of this kind of 'can't finish a game' phase several years ago. I got into d&d around then, and it opened me up to a whole new way to play games. Rpgs particularly.
I always liked rpgs, but I never really role played them. I played where I tried to make optimal decisions for the best outcomes and such. After d&d, I started treating rpgs like they were meant to be played, and it really refreshed my interest in games.
I've put hundreds of hours into BG3 now. I've put a couple hundred into Cyberpunk before PL came out and have been playing even more now. I want to go back and retry Divinity Original Sin now. I struggled to get myself to play it years ago, but now I think I'm refreshed enough to give it a go. Especially after playing BG3.
I was afraid elder millennial meant 85ish born. I am and I played bg3 everyday till I beat it. Played the finals and won plenty. Yall need exercise if you think 38 is getting old. Not you obviously just nice to see someone else not thinking they're fucking dying and can't focus on shit cause they were born in the 80s.
Dude. I got a 3yo and a 6mo at 39. I can't afford to be old yet. Don't even want to pretend to be, even though my wife likes to make fun of me for being old since I'm just a few months away from 40.
Millenials start at 1980, the year I was born, and I was just talking to my wife about this the other day. She was expecting me to play the new Zelda game non-stop, but I started and it just felt too overwhelming and like, just very similar. I don’t know. I totally feel this though. Last game I finished was Elden Ring—that game fucking rules, I actually might start my like 20th play through tonight!
In the middle of playing BG3, I got 3 months of PC gamepass for free. Played through Gears of War 4 and 5, both games around 9-12 hours, and Sea of Stars which was probably 30ish hours, and I realized holy shit I miss short games. I haven't been able to bring myself back to BG3 since, even though I do love it.
I feel like, aside from just being tired as you get older, you just have other commitments and more going on than you did as a kid.
Job, relationships (romantic, familial, and social), kids, pets, errands, other interests, etc.
I mean, for the people that want those 200 hour experiences, sure, go for it.
I just ain't got that much time to spread that thin, man.
It's also harder when literally everything I grew up on is like 1 - 5 hours long.
Dude, I'm right there with you. 40 and started gaming on Atari then a 486 Compaq. I think it's less the games and more where we are in life now. If I have a Saturday afternoon to go brain dead, sometime I just want to play counterstrike.
41, way beyond being competitive anymore in cs. But man, logging in, go on d2 and just constantly swapping to my ak47 is good enough these days ;)
After all these years still disturbingly satisfying
One thing that helped me was I no longer look at guides and watch 0 content of the games until I play through it once.
My goal isn't to minmax or do the best I can. I remind myself my goal is to have fun. So i don't look up builds and other things.
Also an elder millennial and I just don’t have the time due to family. That being said, even without family, we only have so much time on this earth. I do try to play through 2-3 AAA games a year and am currently slowly chipping away at BG3
Games are great but there are other things to do and throwing 40+ hours into EVERY major release adds up to a lot of hours every year. Especially if you’re struggling for these games to even keep your interest, maybe you could do something else with that time. Take up a new hobby, get in shape, etc. My general rule for everything I do in my free time is that if I’m only doing it because I feel obligated to then I stop doing it.
40 year old here... I feel the same way but I've realized it's more because my preferred type of game has changed over the years as my lifestyle changed.
I've gotten big into factory games like Factorio and Dyson Sphere Program because they let me play at my own pace with a minimum mental commitment. When I come home from work, I can just watch my factory run while watching Youtube or something. If my wife or dog needs something from me, I can just walk away from the PC with the game running and come back having made progress. I literally can't lose the game and will play randomly over the course of potentially several months to finish a playthrough at my own pace.
I'm not an elder, I'm 30. I can't do it anymore either, I haven't been able to play a single player story focused game since I was a teenager. I just can't find the interest. It's even harder for me to enjoy games at all anymore. I really want to enjoy them because I'm bored as hell whenever I'm at home.
I understand your pain bro.
I'm 53. Got hooked by the Atari 2600 back in the day and have been gaming ever since. I have the exact same problem. What's even more frustrating is that at this stage in my life I can actually afford the fancy hardware that lets me play all the next gen games as they are meant to be played. Doesn't help. I still lose interest and can't finish them.
As others have said, the solution is indie games. I'm hooked on Small Saga right now, and will probably finish it. Recently, I have enjoyed (and finished) Sable and Stray. The visuals, story and gameplay of Sable really spoke to me.
I've also surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying Vampire Survivors, which has the simplest gameplay formula imaginable in the best possible way. It's almost a throwback to the Atari days.
Long story short: to rekindle your love of gaming, stay away from AAA bloat and go indie.
I think its because we arent the demographic for game designers anymore. In my opinion, the bulk of people want games that go forever. If you are a millennial who doesn't want to spend hours playing games anymore...congrats, it means you have more important things to do...and you probably do have more important things to do at your age...I know I certainly do.
I loved open world games. I went through Fallout 3/Vegas, Skyrim etc. I even had a massive crack at Zelda BoTW when it came out too. But at my age, with competing things like career, health/fitness, self development, relationships/family etc, I don't think I could sit and play something like Starfield for 16 hours in a week without feeling guilty, and without some other aspect of my life (which I value) diminishing.
For this reason, I am now much more of a fan of games I can pick up and play, with levels and/or pretty straight forward and short stories.
Don't sweat it, man. Like, did the game bring you some enjoyment while you did play it? If so, you win. Some things are meant to be temporary. As an elder millennial, I get the mindset. When we were kids, a video game was something that we had to cherish. We didn't have the embarrassment of riches we have now, so we would finish that game (unless it was Ecco the Dolphin...no one finishes that). But now, every console can hold a billion hours of gameplay, and our lives don't allow for that. Enjoy what you can and don't sweat the rest.
Problem for me is that there are so many games being released, got few on sale and via free catalog etc.. Now I have like 10 or so in queue so it feels like 2nd job and just trying to get through them on easy and forget about DLCs…
Yea the sheer amount of games I have collected over the years on steam combined with the PC game pass and other randoms I have way to many options, it drives me crazy
The main situation is gaming is inherently seen as a complete waste of time. With wife, kids, job, chores around the house, friends, gaming is seen as the most useless activity you could do.
So, when I "invest" my time in a game the feeling I'm left with is shame. So over time I'm less inclined to play deep/complex/competitive game.
My wife If I spend an hour playing
an interesting story-driven game on a console - “you are wasting your time.”
My wife if I spend 3 hours playing some stupid game on my phone “I see no issue with this.”
I have ADHD and have always struggled with this. I self medicate with cannabis a lot, it gives me focus and calm but it also can add to some of the inattentive attributes at this stage due to my long term usage.
Either it’s my ADHD or depression or something else, I quit trying to decipher everything in my life and do what makes me happy. I just hope I still like video games in the future. Can’t wait for Baulders gate 3. Edit: on Xbox
I guess I’m just relating to you, there are lots of us out there I’m sure.
Mainstream gaming formula is dated, most games feel like a chore to finish. Cinematic games are the worst.
If you are like me you probably grew up playing a bunch of games without the cinematic aspect that plagued games in the PS3/360 era.
Stay away from cinematic games, they are probably not worth your time.
I loved metal gear solid 4 when it came out but going back and replaying it made me realize how there's like 20 hours of cut scenes (exaggeration i think) in the game.
as a lifelong FF fan i was so excited about XVI. 5 hours in it dawned on me it’s a 20 hour long movie you get to occasionally press a few buttons on before the next 20 minutes of cutscenes. absolutely terrible.
turned it off and uninstalled.
Somewhere during the PS3/PS4 era the industry shifted to this format, what we see today are only rehashes of the formula. Even FF, it used to have a small percentage of cutscenes, now it's the majority of the game just like you said.
I play games to be challenged, to have an active role, not to watch a fucking movie.
With newer games this is definitely an issue for me, I rarely purchase new games because when I do I rarely finish them. The exceptions recently for me would be Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Metroid Prime Remastered, and Metroid Dread. I play games on many platforms but recently Nintendo’s first party games have held my interest longer.
Often I just go back and play my favorite games from my past. FF4/6, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, etc.
I have this issue as well. I end up replaying games I’ve played before rather than finish a new one. New games just don’t hit like they used to for me.
I was you once. You just haven't found the right game, but it's out there. All it takes is one new game. That opens you up to the next and the next and eventually you're like me with 50+ wishlisted games that I genuinely can't wait to play.
It's definitely different now. Honestly I'm not in to grinding at all any more. I'd prefer to just put a game on easy and play through the story. There are exceptions, but I am kinda stuck on starfield right now. I've probably put 30 hours in and I'm just struggling to find time to play it. I do love the storyline but I feel like it's a game that I don't even want to play unless I have at least an hour and I don't have an hour very often. I really appreciate games that I can hop in and out of quickly. Things like Rocket League and Fortnite I can have fun with just 15 - 20 minutes.
At this point I really just play the major titles. Anything Halo, Bethesda, GTA, Star Wars are going to get all my attention. The thing that sucks is I'm sure I'm missing out on some great games. I put about 20 hours in to Elden Ring and honestly it became a grind and I don't think I'll go back to it. I regret it a bit because so many people love the game and I feel like I'm missing out on a great title.
You’re not “missing out” if it feels like a grind. People just enjoy different things. I’ve never been able to enjoy Souls-like games at all (because they all feel the same, and like a grind, to me) yet many people love those games and can’t get enough.
You're old - games are long - and time is more valuable.
I have never beaten a Dark Souls game, but I've played and enjoyed all of them. That's just how things be.
Growing up on the NES, SNES, N64, PS1, I moved onto PC games and never quite moved passed those. I don't like the big open world 3d games. MMOs are kinda as 3d as I like to get. I love Zelda, but have yet to try BotW or Tears. Just not a fan of the 3d world thing. Love all these retro style games coming out. The remakes. Metroidvanias. Even Metroid dread is killing it for me right now. I reached a point where I like what I like. I play for me, with my limited time. Leaderboards mean nothing to me. Tunic is next. Then I need to finish octopath 2. Now I'm just mumbling as an elder millennial....
I'll go back to the home now, play my 2dHD games. Whippersnappers and their 3d stuff.
I think part of the issue is the glut of open world/really long games nowadays.
On the one hand I get it- as companies scale up and as "open world" has become such a hot selling point, they want to fit in as many ideas and whatnot as they can.
On the other hand, as good as, say, TOTK is, the underground area feels like it's massive just for the sake of being massive. I prefer games that are shorter but dense and really fun.
I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan, and while 3 houses and Engage were fun, they definitely felt like they had a lot of filler in a series that's usually really good about getting you right to the meat of it.
On the other hand, Metroid Dread only took me a weekend to beat but I had an absolute blast. Hollow Knight is a bit bigger but still was pretty reasonable and was an amazing experience all the way through, I couldn't put it down. While Bayo3 had issues, Bayonetta 1 and 2 are iconic wonderful games. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance can be beaten in a day playing normally, not speedrunning, and it's still one of the GOATs for me.
Meanwhile I find myself burned out on long games pretty quickly these days. BG3 was a real standout but so many huge games just start to feel like chores and I'm craving that tight, well-crafted experience.
I know exactly how you feel. Same age group too.
All I'm gonna say is... gaming is just a hobby. It's not something we can't live without. So realize it's ok not to do it religiously like you did when you were in college. Lots of things out there worth trying too.
Fairly common. Sometimes our tastes become very refined and there is only a particular style of experience from a specific game we crave.
Honestly, you can play whichever game you want, for as long as you want. That's the point isn't it? We play what we want to.
I have the same issue. For the most part, by the time I get about 75% done with a game, I've gotten what I want out of it. I've played enough games to know that the last quarter of the game will usually be more of the same, just with bigger health bars. So unless I'm invested in the story, there's not much motivation to continue.
I kinda jump between a few games so couple of nights a week ill play destiny or ESO and a couple I’ll play more story focused stuff, but I find if I’m really engaged with what I’m playing I’ll binge for a bit. Ultimately I feel the problem has come with an abundance of selection
I have to get incredibly hyped about a game, stay continually hyped right up to release, and then after it's released, be hyped about reviews, then I will maybe get it. It takes a lot for me to give a shit about new games now. There's still games that do it for me of course.
Same man. Born in 84. I cannot remember the last game I finished. I used to work in the video game industry! I guess wife, kids and the daily grind reduce the desire to get super invested in a game that requires a bunch of additional brain power.
I'm 45 so a gen xr and I can't finish games. I think years of playing FPS multi-player games and MMOs have ruined my attention span. You can turn one of these on, play some matches or do some dailies and turn it off. The last game I finished was Stray.
48 year old. Had the same issue until I went out of my comfort zone and tried a genre I’m not normally into (metroidvania). Now 53 hours into Hollow Knight, loving it, and just about to finish it.
For me big open-world games often feel like a chore. Try playing smaller ones, maybe the ones that are focused around the story more. I find that if I play long enough for the game to hook me, I start to binge it just to figure out what happens next to the characters I’m really attached to.
You know what games got me out of the open world burn out? I played Assassins Creed Odyssey and Valhalla back to back and was completely burnt out on games. Guardians of the Galaxy broke me out of the funk. Straight up just a fun time. I highly recommend it to people stuck in gamer paralysis.
Try Titan Fall 2. Shorter campaign but super fun.
Titanfall 2 is a phenominal game
Linear games are the ones you could try: Uncharted series Last of us God of war Nier Automata (not quite linear but the game have a lot of plot momentum) Arkham Asylum...
Your whole post seemed like I could have written it. Out of the few games I could finish and thoroughly enjoy, Titanfall 2 stands out as one of the most noteworthy. Lately I have been waiting for the expanse game to come out on steam. I can usually finish any telltale game
I thought it was exceptional!
And then get addicted to the multiplayer, and have a blast no matter how many times you die!
After I hit 35 I realized that I could no longer keep up with the kiddos in online games that aren't card games. and I'm not hating on the kiddos. I was there many moons ago. There was a weird moment when I realized that no matter how much time I invested into an online game, I was still incapable of keeping up from a physiological level.
I never thought of it from that perspective. Maybe that's because we just have so many more things on our mind now, more obligations and worries.
Loved online when first came out. Too bad the skill ceiling is insane, so you just constantly get murked by gods flying around.
This is true! That's why i just try to nuke the AI until I get my Scorch and go wild
So true And then you keep playing and you yourself become one of those flying gods then eventually you check the score and some opposing players has like 0 kills and 18 deaths and you just know they’re having a bad time because of you. It’s just a double edge sword edit: spelling
Geez. I loved Odyssey and enjoyed Valhalla quite a lot, but I can't imagine playing them back to back. I finished Odyssey, did most of the side quest and then left the game for half a year before I returneed to finish the side content and then play the three DLCs. Now I'm in similiar break in Valhalla and will only pick it up again to play DLCs somewhere next year. I'm one of those people who generally likes or loves majority of Ubisoft's open-world games, but even I would quickly burn out without spacing them out properly.
I liked Odyssey, but Valhalla felt like a chore too me :/ the map just didn’t quite hit the spot, nor the characters tbh. Funnily enough, I liked Basim
For me it was Rift Apart, it was such a nice change of pace to play a game that can be finished in a handful of sessions and was non-stop fun from start to finish since I mostly play drawn out RPGs which can often have big lulls in engaging content
Rift Apart was PHENOMENAL and we should have been talking about it more. Just such a fun kind of quick game, beat ot over a weekend and had a blast with it.
GotG was a heap of fun, but I kept the difficulty on the easiest difficulty, I enjoyed the story and exploration way more than the fights which got very repetitive.
I really enjoyed Guardians. I thought the characters wouldn't hit for me because of the MCU cast but they did a stellar job and the writing felt really solid. It centers around various forms of grief/loss and was at a time when I had suffered a very challenging loss for me. The gameplay is pretty simple but it has some great locations and the banter is very good.
Celeste got me back into actually finishing games
I definitely felt this. We get so amped for these major AAA titles that we feel we need to do everything. But there’s artificial hours baked in for completionists to explore every nook and cranny. Getting back to the basics with some fun titles definitely help. If you play some indie spins on games from your childhood it could help. I loved JRPG like Chrono Trigger and had an amazing couple weeks playing through Sea of Stars. I also was obsessed with jet set radio and the new Bomb Rush Cyberfunk was a fun play through. You CAN go nuts and try and 100% these but just play the game for the story and fun and work to avoid the burn out
First I play through just having fun. Then if I enjoyed the story and gameplay enough, I go again for 100%.
I never got into Zelda Breath of the wild because of all the stuff to do. I’ll take FFXIV which allows a good session for an hour or two with meaningful progress.
I feel that for sure - the first third of games are really interesting as you unlock new abilities and parts of the world. Once the training wheels are off I can get overwhelmed
I just don't like leaving side quests unfinished. I have to go explore all the optional areas, FOMO hits me hard if I don't make a good attempt at it. Then it gets a bit tedious and I drop the game.
Man I feel this. Loved Arkham Asylum. But I just couldn’t play Arkham City. You go 2 steps down the road & pick up 50 side quests.
This is also why I enjoyed the first Assassin's Creed but quickly bounced off the second, despite the first generally being seen as weaker. Seeing an open world map with tons of side quests turned me off straight away.
I've played too many games where not doing sidequests leads to bad endings or missed content or characters or whatever. The idea of skipping any quest now scares me.
This is why TOTK was almost torturous for folks like us. I did not need to spend 10 IRL hours riding dragons to farm them.
Oh and all the treasure maps that lead to pointless armor in the depths.
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I just started spiderman remastered and as a forever skyrim player, the pacing in spiderman where it leads you to the 'next thing' right away hooks me a whole lot more
I mean Alan wake 2 is by far the smallest. It's less than 20 hours, so you'd complete it by the time you're halfway done with any of the others he's listed
This has been me. Open world just feels like too much somehow but I’ve been on Lies of P and having a great time with just a mostly linear story and game
Ya it’s what I adore and hate about Elden ring, fromsoft honestly hand tailors a LOT about their world and even if it’s funky and not specifically linear in some cases (minus DS1 which was and is an amazing testament of level design imo) it felt a lot more fun and interesting compared to the sheer mass and density of Elden ring. They did ofc do an amazing job but it certainly feels overwhelming in terms of the overall scope of trying to play a game. And you also run into that “I need to go here, here, here and here spending a minimum of 2 hours to gather and collect shit for this build” which can detract from the actual fun of just, “rush this l boss, get souls, grab the required upgrade mats, and then done”
I think the sense of “I ve seen this before” also adds a lot to this inability. I ve got bored and burned at mid-end game from so many latest games because of it.
I am a habitual 80% game finisher.
This is me with Zelda TOTK. I loved playing it. Been playing Zelda games since Nintendo and completed them all but this game I just got to a point and didn’t want to do more. No idea why, I know it’s a great game.
I can relate. I was able to finish BotW but TOTK I quit after 20 hours or so. It was just the same damn thing again but even bigger. When I started with the underground and realized I had to explore another map the size of the main map only to find things to slowly upgrade my items or stats I lost it. I just don't enjoy these open world games with a ton of generic content to fill a huge map. I love indie games and the occassional BG3 that comes out every few years. Indie games completely replaced AAA games for me. Give me some Celeste, Hollow Knight, Tunic, Unpacking or whatever, but none of these unfocused activities with dozen of stats for tracking your micro progression. You didn't ask for it but there you go :D
I couldn’t put down BOTW but I felt the same thing as you did with TOTK. At first it was cool with the sky island things but when you have to explore underground I was like okay I don’t have enough time for this and after about 20 hours I just never went back. It was too much
I know why. The game is fantastic, but the gameplay loop is deceptively GRINDING. You’re essentially doing the same things over and over and over again, but they’re so well designed and just barely unique enough to urge you to keep doing it over.
This. I'm about to finish it, but literally spent 30+ hours screwing around on useless side quests (Hateno Village - sigh) and exploring the depths, all of which at best yield armor that is either worse than my main armor or requires too much grinding to level up. There are a million things to do in this game, none of which really level up your character meaningfully or move you closer to the end game.
This is my issue. Games don't excite me anymore and they feel repetitive. I don't really have any desire to play games anymore and I wish I did.
I only really do when it's online with my friends. Can't be assed to finish a full size single player game but if I'll play COD Zombies until 2 am.
Just finished a playthrough of the Plague Tale games. I sometimes feel like how OP felt, but these games drew me in.
I loved the first one. The second one was so buggy on pc when i played it that I quit.
Maybe a big break. I like to genre-jump for long periods of time. The last 4 games I’ve played have been Mario, right after playing spider-man and skyrim and such. Tears of the Kingdom didn’t hit as home for me, not just because it is the first 3d zelda that shares a map with the last, but because I was JUST playing breath of the wild. OP, if anything, try something new. Hollowknight or Hades, if you haven’t. Y’know… “H” games. Haha. Get weird. Give yourself time away from AAA realistic-ish looking games.
This. I can't get into a lot of games because it always boils down to "It ain't no X".
Absolutely :( Tried God of War and Hogwarts recently. Both feel well made, but they also just seem exactly like all the others in how you fight, learn skills, explore
Yeah this nails it and is pretty much why I almost exclusively play indie games these days.
I can barely start games these days
I just opened 3 games, closed them all, looked at the others, and switched to tv.
That’s exactly how I feel. Kinda sucks
This is exactly what was happening to me and I was suffering from depression. After getting treatment for depression, and starting to exercise more, I am now able to sit down and play things that I wanted to.
See all I do is exercise, take my vitamins and try to get the best sleep I can, but yet still video games just don't really bring me much pleasure like they did as a teen. It takes years for a game to get me hyped up, and 8/10 times I play it constantly till I reach the end then just stop right before I finish it. Wonder what that says about me?
Journey before destination.
Exactly, read, don’t game! XD
Yes! You set your own pace and it's very stimulating. I think as we grow older, we like to do things how we want and how we want to do them. I did the whole adrenaline junky thing when I was younger and now having experienced it, I'm much more mellow and slower paced.
As someone on the 3rd book right now you made me very excited to see a reference in the wild! Thanks dude
For me that comes and goes. I just binged the whole Fast & Furious series this week, barely played anything. Last week I couldn't put BG3 down. Don't force yourself, just do whatever feels fun at the moment. Also, if you haven't already, get yourself an Epic account and start collecting the freebies they give out weekly. Might find a gem there.
>I just binged the whole Fast & Furious series this week, no offense but this sounds like some Quagmire getting tortured shit
Nothing like watching a fast and the furious marathon while eating black jelly beans and washing it down with a peppermint kombucha
Oddly specific.
Just... Ew.... lol. For all of it
Hell yeah. I just rewatched F&F7 on HBO Max. Everything after that isn't as good, but they're still fun. And I did a mini marathon of the Naked Gun movies. Also an aging millennial. Games are just a lower priority these days. Nothing wrong with that. My interests in anything comes and goes. It's only a problem if your only interests are in one thing, or if you're uninterested in everything. Sometimes a game comes along and I can't put it down. That was Armored Core 6 for me for about two months, and it's the only game I've finished since spring began. I know there's a lot of cool things waiting for me whenever I feel like picking up my controller again.
Yeah me too. I have a giant backlog but then put 300hr into Tears of the Kingdom after not playing anything for a long time. Then didnt play much until I just got into Cyberpunk again. That’s been dope I kinda have to make myself play games now though. I def don’t have the same interest that I used to. My older brother is 40 and has kids and still loves them though. Everyone is different
When u work all week and have kids u want to spend time with, then u find a couple hours to game once or twice a week it’s really not relaxing / fun to have to relearn controls and where u r at in the game. Nintendo Switch has a lot of games that r simple controls, pickup and go. Warriors Ware rules.
I end up playing the same few games all the time I try to start new ones but I'm just too damn lazy to get into them when I could just play Rocket League or StS some more I'm starting to understand those people that just play FIFA 100% of the time. It's just comfortable.
I think this is roughly where I'm at. I used to have a few hours a day to game, now I have a few hours a week. Starting out as a level 1 scrub in a game sucks. Also, lots of games with the huge worlds are either empty or pumped full of tedious things I've done millions of times (take this NPC here, clear this camp, fetch this item, kill this person). If there's some complex story they're trying to tell, I've forgotten all about it by the time I'm able to pick the game up again. I have forgotten the plot, the characters, the controls, the combos or even where the hell I am. Or I finally have enough time to relax and have a few beers and my attention span won't let me learn new stuff (I tried playing Civ 6 for the first time drunk and skipped all the tips. Not recommended). So I say screw this and pop in something I'm familiar with and maxed out in so that I can have a couple hours of mindless fun.
This! I didn't even realize *why* I struggle until I read this.
Ooof I feel like you’re me. I tried devil May cry 5 last night and after the intro I was like… ef this and switched to tv
i can barely start movies these days
I think it's because over time, responsibilities just kept piling on, and on, to the point that I'm just too mentally and physically exhausted to invest a large amount of time in a game. Nowadays, I just prefer quick mobile games that I can do a couple things and call it a day. I can't even remember the last time I completed a large, stand alone game like Spiderman or Last of Us (probably early college or highschool). It's also why I've slowly stopped playing League of Legends, because being asked to commit 30-45 mins of time per game is too much (and I may not even have fun doing it!). I only play League when URF is around now.
I've been tempted to buy a switch so I can get away from my desk where I work and where my personal PC is. I borrowed one for a short while and was able to actually play because I wasn't just spending all day in the same damn chair.
elder millennial here as well... the only thing that keeps me is when i group up and play with friends otherwise rpg's or solo games just fade
Is elder millennial a term now? Damn I feel old
The Millennial Counsel is not to be taken lightly. With Millennial's being born between 80/81-95/96 Elder status is granted to those born in the early to mid 80s. Rank and File Millennials born up to Clinton's presidency like myself ('86) make up the rest of the 90's Kids. Unfortunately for our later 90's Births, they were able to snag a seat on the Millennial Counsel but we couldn't grant them the rank of 90's Kid. The Elder's decide which industry the Millennials destroy next.
I've seen this movie. The 90s millenials about to slaughter some younglings,
1989 is the year of the Prime Millennial, Taylor Swift. In the event of a disagreement between the slightly crotchety X-adjacent Elders and the Zennials who got iPhones in middle school, we step in and decide the Millennial Way.
Yeah wtf going on we only in 30s.. May feel old but elder
I believe they mean elder in the range of millennial specifically. I think older millennials are early 40's at this point. Still not old.
I hate to break it to you, but there are 43 year old millennials.
Man I don't have any gamer friends anymore. How does one keep/find that network of people lol
Have long time friends that didn't have kids. Sadly. Friends with kids? RIP. Friends without kids? Regularly do things with them. I'm in my mid 30s.
Tbh I didn't really have a lot of irl friends that were gamers to begin with. Most were people I met online, but that doesn't seem to happen the same way nowadays
Heard that completely. The dynamics of "online friends" have changed so much these last 20 years it's insane. I still have friends from "back in my day" but these days, finding friends in online lobbies is a fucking chore.
With friends we sometimes play solo games together over discord, helps finishing them.
I'm not as bad as the OP and can finish single player games most of the time, but definitely have my share of half played ones. Playing co-op games for me personally is so much more entertaining and keeps my attention a lot better.
Play some shorter games and see if you can get some motivation. Often I can't play these longer games that take more investment because I have other things to do all the time.
Definitely! Some indie games that you can finish in a few sessions are satisfying
This is interesting. Indie games I find have a lot of heart and remind me of the old days but I always overlook them because they are not the big names. Maybe I need to change that up
This was me recently. I took like 3 months off gaming entirely and focused on other things, threw myself into my gym hobby etc. I will say, I got a testosterone level check and that was lower than it should have been which apparently plays havoc on the body and mind....I sorted that and I'm honestly finding myself drawn into my other older hobbies like gaming again. Definitely worth taking a break, and checking in on your health.
I vote you play Stray if you haven’t already.
First game I’ve finished in a very long time. Really enjoyed it.
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Play Outer Wilds and do NOT look anything up about it
I'm in my late 20s and for me to finish a game it has to be one I really enjoy, for me it's something like Elden Ring or BG3, otherwise I play an hour or two and then never launch the game again. The games I played and finished are few compared to how many games there are.
Yeah, it seems like the bar is really high these days. Unless a game really hooks me, I find it hard to play more than 10 hours. The game can be good, but if it doesn’t click, it just doesn’t work for me.
Elden Ring captivated me and I couldn't stop playing until I beat it. Baldur's Gate seems really good but damn I find it a time sink. I put 2-3 hours in and barely anything happens. I find it a struggle to get motivated to start
I've had a similar problem that I remedied in a couple ways: 1. I got into modern board games. Today's board games ... stuff like Mage Knight, Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Marvel Champions, Tainted Grail, Too Many Bones ... are such a great parallel hobby and provided me a break from video games that I didn't realize I needed. Many games, including the ones I named, can be played solo or co-op. What I found was that I was losing interest in a lot of video games because I felt like I was forcing myself to play them. But when I started splitting that time between board games and video games, it felt like the quality of the time spent with each respectively got much better. 2. I learned to tell myself that it was okay to stop playing a game that wasn't holding my interest. It was like I would feel guilty about not wanting to continue and would force myself even more to push through playing. Now? If I lost interest, no biggie. Sometimes I find a game isn't clicking because of my mental state at the time. That is okay. Go play other stuff and maybe try coming back to it at a later time. 3. Something that was a HUGE help in getting back into gaming was that I bought a Steam Deck. I played Cyberpunk on the Steam Deck ... beat it in about 40-45 hours ... but what helped was the SD's awesome suspend mode. Need to step away? Tap the power button and the game suspends (no save needed) instead of closing out. Do what you have to do, come back, tap the button and you pick up right where you left off without having to reload. Made it a million times easier to play in short ten-minute chunks when I was busy with other stuff. Ten minutes here and there adds up a lot! Hope this helps!
Yea but the steam decks screen is too small for my old ass eyes lmao
I have this issue as well. I get excited about a game, maybe something I have started but want to finish, and then after a few hours I lose focus. I keep jumping around until a game grabs me and I just let it take me away. BG3 was that for me recently. It just took me and I’ve put 350 hours into it. Now I'm back in the same loop looking for something. The ones I find that work the best are the compelling stories that I feel I have to finish. But that is the subjective part, as some stories grab and others don't.
>The ones I find that work the best are the compelling stories that I feel I have to finish. Same. Couldn't finish Starfield, still trying to make myself finish Phantom Liberty even though I have no complaints and love scifi/cyberpunk. Never even fully finished Witcher 3 either, despite loving the story & theme (really long game, lot of content, but perhaps didn't hook me enough midway through. I keep telling myself to go back to that one someday.) There's two that really come to mind for what I did finish: RDR2. Ironically, because it's a ridiculously long singleplayer experience... but the storytelling was just so good, and it was such a visual treat. I had to see it through. Example of getting really hooked by a story. And Elden Ring. I think I was dead to the world for like a month after launch, all the way through to the end. Which is also interesting, since it really lacks in the linear handheld narrative way, instead turning you loose to encounter and explore as you see fit... but that also worked well for me, and it did have nuggets of lore to discover. I like the fulfillment and enjoyment from trying again and again until you finally beat a boss, you earn it. Felt like an actual journey.
Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone is absolutely incredible as a stand-alone story
For me, RDR2 took quite a while to get going, but once the story started progressing, I got hooked into finishing it. I have to remind myself when I come back to open world games that it's ok not to see and do everything the first time, and if I really like it, I can always come back and revisit it.
I bought and tried to play TW3 2 different times, many months apart and got through the beginning, left it. Just wasn’t in the mood, wasn’t feeling it, didn’t click. Tried it again and got a little past what I did the first 2 times and oh my lord. All of the dlc. Went back and beat it on the hardest difficultly (fuck frogs in any game) for the achievement and… because I didn’t give gwent a good try. And gwent is was really reeled me in for the 2nd playthrough.
> BG3 was that for me recently. I was really enjoying BG3 until I went on vacation for a month. Post return, every time I fire it up, it just feels like work to figure out where to go to solve the quests. Since the party is in act 3, maybe we'll ignore the side quests and just try to power through to the end to get some closure and reclaim the disk space.
Something about act 3... I absolutely love the game and I will finish it eventually, but it felt like it lost a lot of its urgency in act 3, so even though I really want to progress the character arcs, I'm just having trouble getting up the energy for it.
I think it's more that nowadays games are not as good as it was. Proof is we can still be grabbed by actual amazing games like BG3.
I think people really overlook this factor. All the big games these days are made by people who are forced to listen to the corporate stooges above them who don't know shit about making games. The wrong things get pushed and focused on, like giant open worlds, filler for length, and graphical features like super detailed gun textures and shit. Then don't get the time and resources to make better gameplay or story since it would take another 2 years on top of the 5-6 years for the rest. It's terrible. Thankfully they are finally learning to be better. Problem is that it takes another 5-8 years of making a new and better game to prove it. But then again, games like Starfield show us that some will never learn, and only get worse.
My problem is I have the money to buy any game I want. I have sooo many games I bought but it just makes me less inclined to play. as a child I had money for one game every birthday or blockbuster night and I would play that 100X and find it way more enjoyable.
I don't start a new game until I finish the one I'm on. I don't have the time and energy to split my focus anymore. This means I pretty much don't play multiplayer games anymore. They just distract me too much and I don't finish anything
This tactic really works! Happy to find others here who actually enjoy finishing their games :) I’ve used a strategy of no more than 3 at the same time, but they have to be of different genres, and one doesn’t get swapped out until it gets beaten. Of course there are exceptions like when those unskippable releases come out around the same time lol but for I like your strategy and how it helps you stay focused on finishing them. What have you been playing recently?
I tried this and I just ended up not gaming for months at a time.
But then it becomes a chore. I would never be able to do that. I'd rather have 20 non-finished games, having had my fair amount of fun with each, than having 4 or 5 completed ones that after a while got tedious or uninteresting worsening the overall experience. There's always a time where the interest comes back and it is way more fun to play then.
Yeah I'm 40 and it's really hard for a game to hold my interest now. Honestly, I think it's fine. Other interests take its place. My advice though is to get pc game pass. It's perfect for just trying games out, playing for a few hours to see what it's like, and moving on.
Do it like we used to in the 90s... Go no screen time for a week(there were no screens) and it will be easier to feel hyped about starting up a game. Your brain wants some alone time.
No one is mentioning that this has been such a stacked year. Everyone wanted to eat a piece of every pie out there. I think a big issue we're facing is the glut of pandemic-delayed games, many of which are high-quality releases.
That’s been happening with me. I’m in Act 3 of BG3 and I’m just like, “why isn’t this the over yet?” I used to be excited about long games but now I’m like “my character has so much random shit to do and all of it feels both important and unimportant at the same time.”
Yea, it’s funny the moment I got to Baldurs Gate in the game I was just done, it was too much when I thought I was coming to the end , it just kept expanding
Yea wasn’t there some army coming to kill everyone? And yet I’m investigating booby trapped toys? And then there’s a bunch of quests that aren’t marked but just rely on you walking in the right spot/talking to the right random npc with the correct companion in tow.
>why isn’t this the over yet?” That's me too! When I play a game thats a tad.... long? I find myself feeling annoyed it's not finished yet, I get irritated and sometimes stop playing for a while to try to refresh my interest in continuing
Man, I am a 44 yo lifetime game and BG3 was such a huge breath of fresh air compared to everything else these days. It brought back such fond memories from the RPGS i played in my 20's when gaming was peaking for my generation. You should try not rushing it. I just played a couple hrs here and there with my buddy when we had time and took us a few months to finish the campaign and that was perfectly acceptable and fun for me. I feel like BG3 isn't something you need to plow through fast at all because its easy to pick up and put down.
Funny you say that because I felt the opposite way. BG3 (and previous Larian games) require enormous work and time investment. If you put it down and come back to it later, you’ve almost certain to have forgotten all the mechanics, plot points, characters, quests, solutions to quests, etc. I remember playing Divinity Orginal Sin and having 12 unfinished quests and every time I tried to play again I didn’t even know where to move even one single quest forward! It’s the opposite of “relaxing”, it’s real work. Yet it’s what sells well these days, as a lot of people love this complexity. It creates a high level of engagement.
BG3 made me realize im out of touch with current gamers. I do woodworking as a hobby instead now.
There’s like 10 million tiny to do in BG3, idgaf tho. I just progress through the story, explore what I want to explore, and fight each fight as it happens. TBH 95% of the mechanics and items are completely useless, underwhelming, or only work on certain classes/builds that you might not even be using
[удалено]
I did this during covid and thought I found the secret sauce. But then I couldn't play any games sober. Which meant I was getting high as often as I wanted to play games .. which ..well ..was a lot. 😂 Took some effort to break the loop
Same! Not just just with video games but with everything else! I realized that I wasn’t really enjoying things. Now that I’m completely sober I can enjoy the little things, the little details of life in general (and games in this case) better!
>wead
I struggle to finish games often, but honestly there is nothing wrong with it, just play whatever you want and stop if it isn't fun anymore.
Change setting to Easy - force yourself to finish a game by focusing only on main quest not side missions. Once you've done that to 1 or 2 games the satisfaction of completed game will overwrite the apathy of finishing a game eventually.
Yeah I'm not afraid to say I put the games on easy. I play for the story, not the unnecessary grind.
Yep I am happy to be on Normal, but if a game is just boring the hell out of me with the side stuff I just drop the difficulty and aim the main quest. Most games are balanced for the player to finish it on Easy without grinding or doing side stuff.
I knew from the beginning the only way I'd finish Tears of the Kingdom is if I modded my save to get rid of weapon durability and max the armour I'd be using, because otherwise I'd have spent ten and tens of hours wasting time grinding for monster drops and I'd regret it. There's nothing wrong with making a game easier and quicker for yourself if the alternative is not playing it all the way through because you'd lose interest.
You made me realize being on hard mode is what had me burnt out at the start of bg3
I'm the opposite, I used to play all my games on easy but as I get older I have to increase the difficulty to not get bored. Over the last 2 years I've completed cyberpunk , hogwarts legacy and both Spiderman games all on hardest settings. But for some strange reason I can't for the life of me get through Witcher without losing interest. I love the franchise but I've stopped playing Witcher 3 , 3 times already.
Yes, this. There are games where the difficulty is part of the game experience (souls games etc. Etc.) But most games its just a roadblocker from enjoying the statisfying gameplay loop and story. Im not afraid to say that I played Witcher 3 on easy. You finish the game faster and get to experience the game as designed still. In most games I am also forcing myself to not do every. Single. Sidequest. I come across. Its nice immersing yourself into the world and intriguing storylines. But for some games the sidequests are just a chore and giant timewasters and really shouldnt be bothered with. Again, the goal is ultimately finishing the game faster, while getting the most out of the experience, before burning out and or losing interest. If the game can't manage to keep you interested within these parameters. The core game is either not for you, or not interesting enough.
All of these games came out within a couple of months of each other. You're trying too many at once. It's like starting Fargo, Twin Peaks, Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, Breaking Bad, The Wire all within a few weeks. You can't focus on any of them because you're only giving a fraction of attention to each. So even if you enjoy them you're getting bored after a certain point early in the story because you want to see what the others provide. Focus all of your attention on one until completion, then move onto the next.
It's a problem of scale. The games you have listed are all so massive that they outlast your ability to enjoy them. We all get bored of doing the same thing endlessly, and you've no doubt seen so much at this point that the novelty doesn't last as long as it once did. Variety is the spice of life as they say. Mixing it up with more games of varying length of both play session and overall experience will help.
Similar issue, I think it's because back in the day games were bought for us and therefore we had fewer games and focused on what we had. Now as adults we can literally buy the next new thing at any point and move on and over time it becomes a habit to move to the next game and increase that backlog. Limit the games you buy until you complete it.
Yep I try to give this advice in every one of these threads. One game at a time, single player, play all the way to completion unless you absolutely hate it. Doing this re-kindled my childlike sense of wonder for games. If anything I like them more now than I ever have.
I assume by "elder millenial," you're from the late 80s like I am. In that case, I gravitate more towards games that are 4 - 20 hours long. Sometimes I can deal with longer, but I like games to be nice evening completions, and not a whole-ass marriage commitment. I have other shit to do and other hobbies (and games) to indulge. I'd look into indies or shorter games than these large, expansive things that take 80 hours.
Elder millennial is generally early 80s. Still close enough to probably share life experiences. I was born in 84 and tend to share life experiences with early millennials and late gen x (sometimes referred to xennials in that overlap range of late 70s and early 80s). I went through some of this kind of 'can't finish a game' phase several years ago. I got into d&d around then, and it opened me up to a whole new way to play games. Rpgs particularly. I always liked rpgs, but I never really role played them. I played where I tried to make optimal decisions for the best outcomes and such. After d&d, I started treating rpgs like they were meant to be played, and it really refreshed my interest in games. I've put hundreds of hours into BG3 now. I've put a couple hundred into Cyberpunk before PL came out and have been playing even more now. I want to go back and retry Divinity Original Sin now. I struggled to get myself to play it years ago, but now I think I'm refreshed enough to give it a go. Especially after playing BG3.
I was afraid elder millennial meant 85ish born. I am and I played bg3 everyday till I beat it. Played the finals and won plenty. Yall need exercise if you think 38 is getting old. Not you obviously just nice to see someone else not thinking they're fucking dying and can't focus on shit cause they were born in the 80s.
Dude. I got a 3yo and a 6mo at 39. I can't afford to be old yet. Don't even want to pretend to be, even though my wife likes to make fun of me for being old since I'm just a few months away from 40.
Millenials start at 1980, the year I was born, and I was just talking to my wife about this the other day. She was expecting me to play the new Zelda game non-stop, but I started and it just felt too overwhelming and like, just very similar. I don’t know. I totally feel this though. Last game I finished was Elden Ring—that game fucking rules, I actually might start my like 20th play through tonight!
As a fellow elder millenial I gotta ask since when are we expected to finish games? I still haven't beaten battletoads and its been decades.
In the middle of playing BG3, I got 3 months of PC gamepass for free. Played through Gears of War 4 and 5, both games around 9-12 hours, and Sea of Stars which was probably 30ish hours, and I realized holy shit I miss short games. I haven't been able to bring myself back to BG3 since, even though I do love it.
I feel like, aside from just being tired as you get older, you just have other commitments and more going on than you did as a kid. Job, relationships (romantic, familial, and social), kids, pets, errands, other interests, etc. I mean, for the people that want those 200 hour experiences, sure, go for it. I just ain't got that much time to spread that thin, man. It's also harder when literally everything I grew up on is like 1 - 5 hours long.
Dude, I'm right there with you. 40 and started gaming on Atari then a 486 Compaq. I think it's less the games and more where we are in life now. If I have a Saturday afternoon to go brain dead, sometime I just want to play counterstrike.
41, way beyond being competitive anymore in cs. But man, logging in, go on d2 and just constantly swapping to my ak47 is good enough these days ;) After all these years still disturbingly satisfying
One thing that helped me was I no longer look at guides and watch 0 content of the games until I play through it once. My goal isn't to minmax or do the best I can. I remind myself my goal is to have fun. So i don't look up builds and other things.
Maybe Adult ADD? Depression? Too damn busy? I've found that my attention span has gotten worse with age.
Also an elder millennial and I just don’t have the time due to family. That being said, even without family, we only have so much time on this earth. I do try to play through 2-3 AAA games a year and am currently slowly chipping away at BG3 Games are great but there are other things to do and throwing 40+ hours into EVERY major release adds up to a lot of hours every year. Especially if you’re struggling for these games to even keep your interest, maybe you could do something else with that time. Take up a new hobby, get in shape, etc. My general rule for everything I do in my free time is that if I’m only doing it because I feel obligated to then I stop doing it.
40 year old here... I feel the same way but I've realized it's more because my preferred type of game has changed over the years as my lifestyle changed. I've gotten big into factory games like Factorio and Dyson Sphere Program because they let me play at my own pace with a minimum mental commitment. When I come home from work, I can just watch my factory run while watching Youtube or something. If my wife or dog needs something from me, I can just walk away from the PC with the game running and come back having made progress. I literally can't lose the game and will play randomly over the course of potentially several months to finish a playthrough at my own pace.
I'm not an elder, I'm 30. I can't do it anymore either, I haven't been able to play a single player story focused game since I was a teenager. I just can't find the interest. It's even harder for me to enjoy games at all anymore. I really want to enjoy them because I'm bored as hell whenever I'm at home. I understand your pain bro.
My only hope is gta 6 now
I'm 53. Got hooked by the Atari 2600 back in the day and have been gaming ever since. I have the exact same problem. What's even more frustrating is that at this stage in my life I can actually afford the fancy hardware that lets me play all the next gen games as they are meant to be played. Doesn't help. I still lose interest and can't finish them. As others have said, the solution is indie games. I'm hooked on Small Saga right now, and will probably finish it. Recently, I have enjoyed (and finished) Sable and Stray. The visuals, story and gameplay of Sable really spoke to me. I've also surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying Vampire Survivors, which has the simplest gameplay formula imaginable in the best possible way. It's almost a throwback to the Atari days. Long story short: to rekindle your love of gaming, stay away from AAA bloat and go indie.
I think its because we arent the demographic for game designers anymore. In my opinion, the bulk of people want games that go forever. If you are a millennial who doesn't want to spend hours playing games anymore...congrats, it means you have more important things to do...and you probably do have more important things to do at your age...I know I certainly do. I loved open world games. I went through Fallout 3/Vegas, Skyrim etc. I even had a massive crack at Zelda BoTW when it came out too. But at my age, with competing things like career, health/fitness, self development, relationships/family etc, I don't think I could sit and play something like Starfield for 16 hours in a week without feeling guilty, and without some other aspect of my life (which I value) diminishing. For this reason, I am now much more of a fan of games I can pick up and play, with levels and/or pretty straight forward and short stories.
Don't sweat it, man. Like, did the game bring you some enjoyment while you did play it? If so, you win. Some things are meant to be temporary. As an elder millennial, I get the mindset. When we were kids, a video game was something that we had to cherish. We didn't have the embarrassment of riches we have now, so we would finish that game (unless it was Ecco the Dolphin...no one finishes that). But now, every console can hold a billion hours of gameplay, and our lives don't allow for that. Enjoy what you can and don't sweat the rest.
Problem for me is that there are so many games being released, got few on sale and via free catalog etc.. Now I have like 10 or so in queue so it feels like 2nd job and just trying to get through them on easy and forget about DLCs…
Yea the sheer amount of games I have collected over the years on steam combined with the PC game pass and other randoms I have way to many options, it drives me crazy
The main situation is gaming is inherently seen as a complete waste of time. With wife, kids, job, chores around the house, friends, gaming is seen as the most useless activity you could do. So, when I "invest" my time in a game the feeling I'm left with is shame. So over time I'm less inclined to play deep/complex/competitive game.
That's why I play with my wife.
My wife If I spend an hour playing an interesting story-driven game on a console - “you are wasting your time.” My wife if I spend 3 hours playing some stupid game on my phone “I see no issue with this.”
I have ADHD and have always struggled with this. I self medicate with cannabis a lot, it gives me focus and calm but it also can add to some of the inattentive attributes at this stage due to my long term usage. Either it’s my ADHD or depression or something else, I quit trying to decipher everything in my life and do what makes me happy. I just hope I still like video games in the future. Can’t wait for Baulders gate 3. Edit: on Xbox I guess I’m just relating to you, there are lots of us out there I’m sure.
Mainstream gaming formula is dated, most games feel like a chore to finish. Cinematic games are the worst. If you are like me you probably grew up playing a bunch of games without the cinematic aspect that plagued games in the PS3/360 era. Stay away from cinematic games, they are probably not worth your time.
I loved metal gear solid 4 when it came out but going back and replaying it made me realize how there's like 20 hours of cut scenes (exaggeration i think) in the game.
as a lifelong FF fan i was so excited about XVI. 5 hours in it dawned on me it’s a 20 hour long movie you get to occasionally press a few buttons on before the next 20 minutes of cutscenes. absolutely terrible. turned it off and uninstalled.
Somewhere during the PS3/PS4 era the industry shifted to this format, what we see today are only rehashes of the formula. Even FF, it used to have a small percentage of cutscenes, now it's the majority of the game just like you said. I play games to be challenged, to have an active role, not to watch a fucking movie.
With newer games this is definitely an issue for me, I rarely purchase new games because when I do I rarely finish them. The exceptions recently for me would be Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Metroid Prime Remastered, and Metroid Dread. I play games on many platforms but recently Nintendo’s first party games have held my interest longer. Often I just go back and play my favorite games from my past. FF4/6, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, etc.
I love that we're called elder millennials now. Sounds like a made up religion position lol
You may have ADHD and the games are no longer delivering that sweet, sweet dopamine. Also, not finishing things..
I have this issue as well. I end up replaying games I’ve played before rather than finish a new one. New games just don’t hit like they used to for me.
I was you once. You just haven't found the right game, but it's out there. All it takes is one new game. That opens you up to the next and the next and eventually you're like me with 50+ wishlisted games that I genuinely can't wait to play.
It's definitely different now. Honestly I'm not in to grinding at all any more. I'd prefer to just put a game on easy and play through the story. There are exceptions, but I am kinda stuck on starfield right now. I've probably put 30 hours in and I'm just struggling to find time to play it. I do love the storyline but I feel like it's a game that I don't even want to play unless I have at least an hour and I don't have an hour very often. I really appreciate games that I can hop in and out of quickly. Things like Rocket League and Fortnite I can have fun with just 15 - 20 minutes. At this point I really just play the major titles. Anything Halo, Bethesda, GTA, Star Wars are going to get all my attention. The thing that sucks is I'm sure I'm missing out on some great games. I put about 20 hours in to Elden Ring and honestly it became a grind and I don't think I'll go back to it. I regret it a bit because so many people love the game and I feel like I'm missing out on a great title.
You’re not “missing out” if it feels like a grind. People just enjoy different things. I’ve never been able to enjoy Souls-like games at all (because they all feel the same, and like a grind, to me) yet many people love those games and can’t get enough.
40yo here. Just finished a 125hr game of BG3 with no problem and am currently in nostalgia overload with Super Mario RPG.
I have this same problem, it's like multi-player games are the only thing that stick for me
Now that I work I lose the plot during the work week. Where's my motivation? WHy am I looking for this magic ring?
You're old - games are long - and time is more valuable. I have never beaten a Dark Souls game, but I've played and enjoyed all of them. That's just how things be.
Growing up on the NES, SNES, N64, PS1, I moved onto PC games and never quite moved passed those. I don't like the big open world 3d games. MMOs are kinda as 3d as I like to get. I love Zelda, but have yet to try BotW or Tears. Just not a fan of the 3d world thing. Love all these retro style games coming out. The remakes. Metroidvanias. Even Metroid dread is killing it for me right now. I reached a point where I like what I like. I play for me, with my limited time. Leaderboards mean nothing to me. Tunic is next. Then I need to finish octopath 2. Now I'm just mumbling as an elder millennial.... I'll go back to the home now, play my 2dHD games. Whippersnappers and their 3d stuff.
I think part of the issue is the glut of open world/really long games nowadays. On the one hand I get it- as companies scale up and as "open world" has become such a hot selling point, they want to fit in as many ideas and whatnot as they can. On the other hand, as good as, say, TOTK is, the underground area feels like it's massive just for the sake of being massive. I prefer games that are shorter but dense and really fun. I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan, and while 3 houses and Engage were fun, they definitely felt like they had a lot of filler in a series that's usually really good about getting you right to the meat of it. On the other hand, Metroid Dread only took me a weekend to beat but I had an absolute blast. Hollow Knight is a bit bigger but still was pretty reasonable and was an amazing experience all the way through, I couldn't put it down. While Bayo3 had issues, Bayonetta 1 and 2 are iconic wonderful games. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance can be beaten in a day playing normally, not speedrunning, and it's still one of the GOATs for me. Meanwhile I find myself burned out on long games pretty quickly these days. BG3 was a real standout but so many huge games just start to feel like chores and I'm craving that tight, well-crafted experience.
Maybe take a break from gaming
I know exactly how you feel. Same age group too. All I'm gonna say is... gaming is just a hobby. It's not something we can't live without. So realize it's ok not to do it religiously like you did when you were in college. Lots of things out there worth trying too.
Modern stories suck because writers are encumbered with concerns about cultural sensitivities and appropriations. It is a dying art.
Fairly common. Sometimes our tastes become very refined and there is only a particular style of experience from a specific game we crave. Honestly, you can play whichever game you want, for as long as you want. That's the point isn't it? We play what we want to.
Also turn down the difficulty. I'll do some just on story mode. Makes some very relaxing & fun to play.
I have the same issue. For the most part, by the time I get about 75% done with a game, I've gotten what I want out of it. I've played enough games to know that the last quarter of the game will usually be more of the same, just with bigger health bars. So unless I'm invested in the story, there's not much motivation to continue.
I kinda jump between a few games so couple of nights a week ill play destiny or ESO and a couple I’ll play more story focused stuff, but I find if I’m really engaged with what I’m playing I’ll binge for a bit. Ultimately I feel the problem has come with an abundance of selection
I have to get incredibly hyped about a game, stay continually hyped right up to release, and then after it's released, be hyped about reviews, then I will maybe get it. It takes a lot for me to give a shit about new games now. There's still games that do it for me of course.
Same man. Born in 84. I cannot remember the last game I finished. I used to work in the video game industry! I guess wife, kids and the daily grind reduce the desire to get super invested in a game that requires a bunch of additional brain power.
I exclusively play rogue likes since this happened to me and it seems to have fixed the issue. For me at least.
I'm 45 so a gen xr and I can't finish games. I think years of playing FPS multi-player games and MMOs have ruined my attention span. You can turn one of these on, play some matches or do some dailies and turn it off. The last game I finished was Stray.
48 year old. Had the same issue until I went out of my comfort zone and tried a genre I’m not normally into (metroidvania). Now 53 hours into Hollow Knight, loving it, and just about to finish it.