Chronic restarters

Moomintroll

I'd like to know how other people play these games. I restart over and over again, I don't set out to do this, it's kind of a compulsion. I really want to play another class, race, character, whatever - MORE than I want to continue what I've started.

Please let me know if you play like this or more frequently are faithful to completing a single run of the game.

Yes, I did say I didn't want a poll about this a few minutes ago, I am fickle, a hypocrite etc.

Phælin

Sometimes I start all over. In most cases I play from start to finish but there are some restarts beceause of the pretty long hiatus.

Moomintroll

Cool, I'd consider that a vote for character fidelity.

I want to know because I just read that subrace DLC could be considered a lower priority if most people invest lots of time in a character and are less willing to spend time on new ones. That isn't the way i play. (obviously)

Krypteia

I force myself to play one character at a time, because otherwise I know I'm going to try and do everything at once, and make no progress at all.

Zafiro

I have a confession to make...I never finished any of the IE games(yes, I'm ashamed); I've tried many, many times, I just can't, I think I've started BG about 50 times in the last 2 years or so. This is why I avoid reading spoilers. I hoped to finish it in multiplayer, but my partner in crime went missing.

Moomintroll

@Zafiro

Zafiro

Help!

Gridian

Restarter here. Actually there are only 3 games I ever finished in more than 25 years of playing hundreds of games: Doom 3, Diablo and the first X-Com. Also, my WoW warlock hit lvl 80 when that was the top level. Somehow restarting is more fun to me than finishing :-)
In a couple of years I can tell you if or (more likely) not I'll ever have finished BG:EE. In the original Baldur's Gate, by the way, I never saw the city of Baldur's Gate. :-)

csuzw

I've put more hours into Baldur's Gate 2 than most other games I've played but I've only got past chapter 1 once (and went on to complete it that time). I've played chapter 1 so many times now that I get less and less far due to boredom, although it's been a while and I hope by the time EE comes out I'll be able to get past it. I've done better on Baldur's Gate, completing it at least 3 times I think but I've still probably spent more time in character creation than any other part of the game.

Moomintroll

I'm just going to bump this because I am impatient for for data, thanks to all those who have voted and commented so far, hopefully this isn't a massive faux pas :P

State_Lemming

I think I have started games with six characters in VTM: Bloodlines and only finished two. I've had similar problems with almost every Bioware title with the exception of Mass Effect.

toanwrath

I have only actually beaten BG2 twice, and ToB once. I have only finished BG1 twice. I have made at least 2 characters of every class (with Multi/dual involved) and have played at least 3 characters of every race. So many possibilities for CHARNAME, and every time I try a (slightly) different party formation.

Hopefully, with age and an Enhanced Edition, my habits will be better and I will play equally as many characters, but complete them one at a time.

Spuzzin

On a brand new game I'll usually restart a couple of times once I get a feel for the game and make basic errors in character progression and decide how I want to play. Once I've established that I'll play through to end.

Cyhort

I hate having to do things twice, especially twice in a short amount of time. When I make a character that's my character and I get really into him, making up backstory and motivations in my head and planning out his romances and end goals. I've never stopped playing one character just to start another one from the beginning of the game. I wait till I beat the game for second playthroughs, usually months later.

rexreg

i've beaten BG1 several times & left several games sitting...i find the city of Baldur's Gate to be my stalling point, usually

Mortianna

I only play one game at a time. Sometimes I play it to the end and sometimes I delete it and start over. Much of it depends on whether I manage to remember to complete every quest in an area/region before moving on. I remember a game where I somehow lost Nester's dagger before making it back to Baldur's Gate and couldn't complete the quest. Even though I could have simply used Sword Coast Keeper to put it back in my inventory, it made the rest of the game feel incomplete. I've found that the more familiar I become with the game and all of the quests, easter eggs, etc., the more OCD-like my style of playing becomes.

rexreg

when i first saw the title to this thread i thought the word 'chronic' might refer to something else

RadioactiveGary

Man I do this all the time... I still haven't finished Skyrim due to always restarting since last November!

Earthling

Something else....

I start BG1 and take the character through BG2 into ToB. Once I'm close to the end I lose interest and start over - with the exact same character.

ARKdeEREH

When I first learned how to play I experimented with different character classes and races. Once I found one that I really liked I stayed with it. For five years I played BG1 with the same PC and did not start any other games in BG1 with other characters. I eventually lost interest in BG and after a hiatus I am now doing the same thing in BG2, but with a new character that is only slightly different from the earlier one.

I have tried starting new games with other characters on occasion, but rarely finish them and go back to my main game because I find that not having high level mage and cleric spells is exceedingly boring.

I recently learned how to use Near Infinity to transform an NPC into a PC and have used it to change one of my long-term BG2 NPCs into a PC. I currently have a game as her in Tutu, and for a while it was interesting, but I am beginning to become bored with it too, because even though the game thinks she is a level 40 cleric, she still only has cleric spells, and the spells I find the most fun to play with are level 9 mage spells.

JariahxSynn

Hello my name is JariahxSynn and I'm a chronic restarter...

Elessar

With most RPGs I play my first character through to the end, then the amount of time I play before restarting to try a new character concept steadily declines with each new character created after that.

Also sometimes I just create characters a bunch on the generation screen but don't actually start games with them.

triclops41

when i play an rpg for the first time, i usually restart several times early on. i realize i dont like the way my char is specced, made some stupid errors whose consequences i dont want to live with, etc.

after i get the hang of the game, and realize what i want to do, i dont restart.

AlexDeLarge

Would be interesting if someone here has a degree in psychology and would give us a pro explanation on why people have this chronic restarting problem. My amateurish guess would be that a lot of people here indulge in a form of permanent escapism and, thus, do not ever want the adventure to reach closure.

Moomintroll

Wow @Earthling that's some stamina! I should have made the poll more specific I guess, seeing as you manage to complete both BG1 and BG2 in your runs!

Mythago

Ehh yeah.. I keep restarting and creating different characters in most games that have some kind of leveling/character building system. I often have a few test runs before I know what kind of character I want to play, and then proceed to finish the game once with it.

If I like the game enough, I keep creating characters and testing out other abilities/skills/spells and completing quests in different ways if possible. Actually completing the game again is not too common after the first time, unless there's clearly some alternate paths I can take and get completely new content. Or if I just find another character I really like. Some games like Fallout 1&2 and BG 1&2 have seen dozens upon dozens of my characters wander about, with maybe 1-5% of them completing the game again.

MurrayConfederacy

I honestly thought that not *that* many people restarted with new characters a lot. Good thing to know that I am in the majority - at least in this community.

Mungri

Depends on the game. BG1 + 2 I;ve never had to restart. But a lot of ARPGs with lots of level up variables and no reloading allowed, I never finish them because I always want to try different build variations, but cant without restarting them.

Mechalibur

I'm the kind of guy who will quit a game completely due to losing 1 hour of progress. I could absolutely not stand going through the begining multiple times in BG2 (despite loving Irenicus' dungeon), but thankfully BG1 has a much shorter intro segment.

So absolutely no restarts for BG2. Maybe for BG1, but it's not common.

ThomasMink

I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want to play before I start. However, I quite often do not play all the way through to end without starting another game (in a different save slot) as a different character.. usually of a class that is a bit opposite of what I'm playing in my main play through. That second game has yet to ever be finished, whereas the first usually is.

Montresor_SP

I think I must have started 10 or 20 games of BG2 before forcing myself to finish the game.

And in typical fashion i *then* bought BG and started playing it 4 or 5 times before finishing that one.

*shakes head at self...*