Ben-DutkaEither I'm losing a certain amount of dedication I once had, or I'm reverting to a time when my "completionist" mentality only applied to role-playing games…of which there are so few these days, I rarely find myself in what used to be a familiar "I need to do absolutely everything" position.
I have Gran Turismo 5 . Now, I'm not going to get dragged into a dispute concerning whether or not the game is a disappointment; I haven't touched it and I don't plan to until I finish Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood . Arnold is doing the review and after talking to him about it, I started to wonder: will I adopt my 100% completion philosophy for the game? I did for all the past GTs so why wouldn't I want to this time around? But then, I looked back on the last few years and realized I'm not so heavily into any games that require a huge amount of time and dedication, and could – at times – cause tension. My gaming these days is all about relaxation and anything that seems even remotely like a chore often gets ignored.
I'm not saying GT is a chore. I'm saying there are some games that are fun without the necessity of full-on attention and concentration. I tend to gravitate towards them more, with the exception of RPGs. But even then, unless I really love the RPG, I'm not so much into doing everything there is to do. Even with Brotherhood , which I love, while I do plan to get 100% memory synch and renovate all of Rome, I won't find all the feathers or get golds on all the virtual training sessions or accomplish all guild goals. Because it's a lot like an RPG or GTA (and I always had 100% completionist goals in the GTA series), I want to do most everything…but the motivation to do it all , in just about any game, is lacking.
Thing is, it's most certainly not a decline in overall interest in the hobby. I still love games and still play quite often. I love everything about it and probably always will. But it could be a lack of time or something else entirely – perhaps age? – because I really don't care about Platinum Trophies or anything like that. And you know, a decade ago, I probably would've. I'll certainly play GT5 and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but my mania for 100% probably won't exist. Then again, I've got Fable III sitting here and that might rekindle an old desire…it's an RPG, after all.
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all. 🙂