Friday Five – Games That Got Away

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Welcome to the Friday Five! Each week we help you get to know our writers with the help of a top 5 list. This weeks category: Games That Got Away!
 
So, I’m sure we’ve all played a game that we were legitimately interested in, but never got to play. Or maybe you heard it was great, but it didn’t grab you right away so you walked away only to have it sit in the back of your head for a long time. For some reason you never go back to these games, but you always consider it. Whatever the reason, these are the games that got away. Here’s our list.
 

Chris

1. Mass Effect III – I really enjoyed the first two Mass Effects, I didn’t actually start playing any of them until after all three had released. But I went through the first two pretty quickly, then started up the third and just kind of forgot about it. The gameplay was just as good and the story still interesting, I think I just got myself played out on the series. Someday I’m going to go back and finish that up!
2. Dragon Age – Another Bioware game, this one I’ve started probably a half dozen times, but every time I run into something that just puts me off. It’s a fun style game and the story seems cool. With ow awesome the new one looks I really need to get through this and the sequel sometime soon to make my PS4 a more useful machine.
3. Final Fantasy XII – I’ve played through every Final Fantasy from VII-XIV plus IV and most of III. But for some reason XII just didn’t appeal to me the way the others did. I’m still behind on XIII-3 (Lightning Returns) but I’ve even enjoyed the often times hated XIII trilogy more than I ever enjoyed XII. Maybe someday I’ll get back to this one.
4. God of War – I bought the God of War collection on PS3, and put a couple of hours into God of War one, after hearing how great the series was up to that point. But while it’s cool, it just didn’t keep my interest. Funny thing is I played all the way through the first PSP God of War game and thought it was great.
5. Chrono Trigger – Chrono Trigger is often considered one of the greatest RPG’s ever. And I’ve only ever played for about 2 hours. When the game released on DS I thought, finally now I will play Chrono Trigger, but alas it’s not worked out that way at all. . .

 

 

Drootin

1. Legend of Dragoon – A pretty awesome JRPG on the PS1 that for some reason I could never bring myself to actually finish. I’m not sure why because I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about the game.
2. Final Fantasy IX – My least favorite of the PS1 era Final Fantasy games. I never really understood the skill system in the game and thats mostly what has kept me from getting past disc 1. The game was gorgeous for the time and played well, I just don’t know why it didn’t hook me like FFVII and FFVIII did.
3. Jade Cocoon – A Pokemon-esq game also from the PS1 was probably a little beyond my comprehension at age 12 when it came out. I would combine the monsters and make things that looked cool but it would make them weaker and I couldn’t progress like I should have. It was hard to figure out what I was supposed to be doing.
4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – I don’t know if its because I just finally bought this like 2 years ago in a Steam sale and it hadn’t aged well, or if it’s because it is a GIANT pain in the ass to play on PC now (really buggy), but this game didn’t hook me like it has most other people.

 

 

Vogel

1. Dragon Quest 8 – I played so much of this game, but then one day just stopped. I was having a lot of fun and I’m not really sure why I stopped, but I did and never picked it back up.
2. God of War – Franchise – I played GoW1 when it came out and never beat it, so I never played 2. When 3 came out I got the 1 and 2 combo and 3, started playing 1 again and once again never finished it. I ended up trading in the games without even playing them.
3. Pikmin 3 – I got this game because I enjoyed Pikmin 2, but mostly for my son. I played this game in spurts and have yet to finish it, even though I’m currently at the final boss.
4. Batman Arkham Asylum – I really enjoyed this game, but for whatever reason just stopped playing. When discussing the game with friends I realized I was almost done, so I quickly finished it up months later.
5. Final Fantasy X – I really liked this game, which is odd for me because I’ve never really been a fan of FF games. I went a couple week between playing and that gave some friends time to beat it. We started discussing plot and spoilers and I was so unhappy with the end that I never went back.

 

 

Audra

1. Majora’s Mask – To be honest, I couldn’t get past the time elapsing. It drove me nuts.
2. Night’s – For both the Sega Saturn and Wii. I played the hell out of the first couple of levels for Saturn, but could never get very far.
3. Spirit Tracks – I’m not sure why I never finished. It’s probably going to be my next game.
4. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence – The game froze on me and then wouldn’t let me get past a certain part.
5. Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom – I was hooked on this game, but then couldn’t figure out a part with Patrick and was convinced there was an issue with the game itself.

 

 

Eric

This one was fairly difficult for me because when I get a game, I tend to finish it. There are a few notable exceptions however…

1. Lost Odyssey – I picked this up after hearing so much insane buzz about the game. I loved Blue Dragon, Mistwalker’s first game. But when I started playing, I couldn’t really get into it. It was definitely cool, but something just didn’t grab me at the beginning. I still want to get into it.
2. Dark Cloud 2 – I LOVED the first game. It was a ton of fun rebuilding the towns and exploring the dungeons. But the second game complicated things with “perfect town layouts” and way more materials needed to craft new cities. I thought it was great, but never really got into it.
3. Front Mission 4 – I owned, sold, and reowned this game but never got more than 4 or 5 missions into it. I love turn based strategy games, and the prospect of controlling mechs definitely amped things up. Like the few others on this list, it just couldn’t hold my interest.
4. Company of Heroes – A real time strategy game based in World War II, utilizing realistic tactics from the actual war. Tanks can’t be damaged by infantry unless they plant sticky bombs, units can take cover in tall grass. It’s really intricate, but I never finished it… I should get back to that.
5. Sid Meier’s Civilization V – Ok, this isn’t a game you can really finish. There’s no story. But I’ve never actually finished a game. I usually start one up, play for a few hours, then stop. Next time I play, I start a new game. I would love to actually finish a game, see the ending… if only Augustus would stop being an a-hole and wiping me out every game!

 

 

Eric is not a boss. You can Email Eric or follow Eric on Twitter @EricSweeten or Facebook

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