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Beat Vs. Complete

May. 27 1:46 PM by Arturis

I have a confession to make, one which will no doubt diminish what little reputation I may have within the RPG community. This vile secret haunts me, causing many a sleepless night where I stare into the cold, endless darkness and wonder what kind of man must I be to carry such a twisted sin around deep inside the depths of my black heart.

I have never finished The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Now, please, stay your hand before you begin casting your comment-based stones. I insist that I have good reason to hold such a dark legacy. It is not due to any inability to master the devious labyrinthine temples across the land of Hyrule, nor does it have anything to do with being unable to face the might of the dark lord Gannondorf. The reason is far more psychological then that: Golden Skulltulas.

Thats right, those blasted gold skull-looking spiders that are hidden throughout the game. They number one hundred in total, and managing to scour the world for all 100 will net you a coin purse able to hold a near unlimited amount of rupees. But really, its not about the coin purse. Its about knowing that there are still four more of those blasted things out there. How can I go on, defeat the big bad and save the world when there is still collectibles to be had? And here in is my dilemma - Do I beat the game in order to see the story, or do I complete the game and know that I have conquered all the challenges the game developer has presented?

Unfortunately, I am a completionist, though I am trying to get past this. Let me explain further...

It is an epidemic you can see running rampant through all my save games, no matter the console. Practically every Final Fantasy game I have ever played, I have a save somewhere right before the final boss battle, where instead of continuing on to save the world I have turned my airship away in search of the Ultimate Weapons. This need to find them overwrites my need to finish the story, after a few more hours of play time I end up setting the game aside and I never actually confront the final boss.

It is this completionist way of thinking, this need to acquire every last hidden nic-nac, trinket, and do-hickey, that drives a large percentage of the gaming population. Game developers know this; They milk it to it's fullest extent. Why else do you think Nintendo can get away with releasing multiple versions of each Pokemon game? Because they know that we've "Gotta' catch 'em all" and I, with my built in dose of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, am part of their target market.

I have, however, made strides in getting past this minor mental disorder. Most recently, this past weekend I managed to beat Assassin's Creed, viewing the ending (or what passes for an ending, but that's another story) with full knowledge that there were many collectibles and unlockables that I had passed up, or not invested the time to discover. Will I go back and finish these collections? I tell myself I will, but the odds are that is a lie. Life is simply way too busy, with too many other tasks (and games) vying for my time. Perhaps on some rainy day several months down the line, I may put the disc in and make a half hearted attempt at playing through some of the older episodes, but that possibility seems incredibly remote.

For me, the Skulltula has come to symbolize my addiction to collectible items in games. Have you fallen into the completionist trap? Or do you plow through and finish the story, ignoring the collectibles for a possible later time?

Comments

I have fallen into the "completionist trap" many times - I'm considering wiping my Smash Bros. data and starting over because I misused my Golden Hammers.

 

Me, I'm not much of a completest unless I feel like being.

Perhaps I'm lazy, but I'm the type to just want to get on with the game instead of being sidetracked with collecting.

That's not to say that I won't set aside time to do some collecting, but it doesn't take priority over continuing the game for me.

If you really love collecting, I suggest Donkey Kong 64. I've still yet to beat that game due to the sheer amount of stuff they throw at you to collect. I kinda lost interest, but I still play occasionally trying to figure out where I was when I last played.

 

Psychonauts is also a pretty good game for people who love collecting things.

 

Yeah, I need to get back to Psychonauts. Its one of my all time favorite platformers, but once again its on my "havent completed" list.

DK 64 I remember starting to play, but I no longer have my N64 (its on the other side of the country, I think). I may have to ask my brother to ship it to me...

They need to add more hours to the day. That, or I need to learn how to evolve past the need for sleep.

 

I remember almost completing the Original Jak and Daxter on the PS2.

I was one scout fly away from having all the power cells, but I couldn't find it, and my friend was asking for the game back, so I just went on to beat the game without the best ending.

I had the save on my memory card for years after, but I had to delete it for space issues. I'm going to get that game again someday, and complete it properly.

 

This is actually the reason I never finished FFIX -- by the time I got to the end part of the game, I realized that there were a lot of extras that I had missed and that were actually impossible for me to go back and do at that point in the game. Thinking about how I'd have to go back and play through the game *again* to get all the shinies, I was suddenly hit by a giant wave of apathy (which I'm sure wasn't helped by the fact that that game gets really stupid at the end).

 

Of course now that I think about it, I do keep playing through the original Suikoden on the PS1 over and over again, because I keep not collecting all 108 characters, and reviving Gremio, so I keep replaying through that game to get all of them before I move on to Suikoden II.

That's right folks, I've yet to play through the super expensive (though I bought it before it was expensive) Suikoden II on the PS1, because I've yet to complete the original to it's fullest.

 

I have your 64, Muwahaha

 

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