I saw this idea on another site the other day (don’t remember where, sorry), and thought it was an interesting idea. I have an embarrassingly large Steam library, most of them unbeaten, but, in general, really good games will convince me to stick around to the end. But every once in a while there’s a game that is really good, but, for whatever reason, I never end up finishing it. Here are a few.

Dragon Age Inquisition
I absolutely loved the Mass Effect series, so before I was even finished with it, I started looking into its fantasy cousin, Dragon Age. Inquisition had recently come out, and everyone was talking about it, so when I found it on sale for half off I jumped on it. I’ve played the beginning missions at least three or four times and never made it any further. It’s one of those games that I can’t explain why I haven’t been able to get into. I think a lot if it is that I don’t quite “get” the gameplay. I think my biggest problem is that I went in expecting to play it like Mass Effect, where I mostly play my character and let my companions play on autopilot unless I want to focus down something specific. Later I realized that Dragon Age is actually more closely related to the DnD games of BioWare past, and really ought to be treated as such. I’m sure I’ll get back to it eventually; it took me a few tries to get into Mass Effect, so Dragon Age should be no different.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
What does “beating Skyrim” even mean, really? There’s just so much to do in Skyrim that the main campaign doesn’t even feel like a primary focus of the game. For instance, since I restarted on Skyrim Special Edition, I’ve put nearly 20 hours into the game and haven’t even gotten around to talking to the Greybeards. I keep heading that way, but then I get distracted by a bandit-infested cave or end up with a quest to some far-flung corner of Skyrim that sounds way more interesting than shouting at a bunch of old guys on a mountain.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Another BioWare game that I really want to play more of, but has trouble holding my interest. In SWTOR’s case, it’s a matter of the story being more interesting than the game. I bought KotOR when BioWare started talking about SWTOR mainly because I didn’t want to be like all of those people who played World of Warcraft who had no idea that there were three other Warcraft games out there. I’m not sure if it’s a mater of it not aging well or if it’s just not my thing, but I’ve always really hated the combat. The weird “pause and cycle through attack options” system has never made sense to me. Maybe I’m playing wrong, but I always just put a bunch of points into one attack type or the other and queue that attack up a bunch of times. So why couldn’t I just have them do that as their auto attack? If there were cooldowns on them it would make sense. The clunky, awkward movement controls don’t help either. The sad thing is that I’m really interested in the story, especially because I like SWTOR’s so much, particularly the Revan-related stuff (though I have to agree with the consensus that Shadow of Revan was a little anticlimactic, especially for those of us who thought of our character as a Revanite).

Obduction
I was super excited about this game when I backed the Kickstarter, but I haven’t actually made it very far in the game. Maybe I’ve become one of those gamers I used to so despise for killing the Myst franchise, who would rather have games based around action and shooting stuff than puzzles, or maybe it’s because I just don’t often have enough time and mental energy to sit down and play a puzzle game. Either way, the game is excellent, but I haven’t gotten very far in it, despite my excitement for it.

Final Fantasy… any of them
I own at least six different Final Fantasy games (seven if you count Chrono Trigger), but I have completed exactly none of them. I’m really close on a couple of them, but somehow I always stall out at the end. In my defense, I actually hadn’t even played a Final Fantasy game until just a few years ago, so it’s not like I’ve been sitting on these games since the 90s or anything, but still, can I really call myself a gamer if I’ve never beaten a Final Fantasy game?