I’ve started playing an old favourite recently (On a work computer, the adsl off-network one) - Wargasm. (The US version might have had a different name, which makes sense in hindsight of the janet jackson-boob incident)
I’ve never completed this game, or even conquered more than two continents. It was a damn difficult game, but it was also a lot of fun, and graphically ahead of it’s time.
I’ve also never completed Black & White, Populous the beginning, GTA3, GTA Vice city, Doom3, Unreal 2, Unreal, (I could go on I think)
Going back as far as a commodore cpc464 game called ‘fairlight’. I was probably about 10 when I was playing that, but it was just too hard and perplexing.
Final Fantasies I, III (the real III, not VI), and V…all of them I get to the final dungeon (or final boss for FFV), but have never managed to FINISH them. And I’ve lost my FFIII savegame, and haven’t bothered starting again. I did, eventually, finish I…in Origins, on Easy Mode.
Kingdom Hearts…I’ve been in Hollow Bastion for a year…that’s more ‘I’ve gotten distracted by other games, and haven’t gotten around to finishing’, though.
Super Mario I and II(j)…2e and III I’ve beaten.
Robotech: Battlecry. I’ve been stuck in chapter 2 for-freaking-ever.
Super Mario Brothers I
The Legend of Zelda (The original, and I onlu count this because I never finished the master quest. I have completed the first quest dozens of times,.) Baldur’s gate
GTA: Vice City (I know there is no real “end” since it’s open ended, but there is an end to the plot missions, and I was two or three away from being done.) Quest for Glory 2 (Damn if those weren’t hard. If you don’t know what you need to type, you can’t do it!) Jackal (COuld get to the last level) Half Life (I stopped a little while after using the engine to kill that oen big alien) Doom Command and Conquer (All of them) Eye of the Beholder II and III
And about a dozen of those old SSI EGA TSR RPG’s
I enjoyed playing Infocom’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” on my Commodore 64 back in the '80s, but I got stuck in the game and never finished it. Likewise, Zork III. I guess I was getting burned out on text-adventure games at the time. I still have my C64, so it’s possible (though unlikely) that I might revive these oldies again.
Here’s an obscure one: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure for Atari Lynx. I never could get myself to Texas, I could get as far as Europe and back to Rome but there was always a “Bogus Time Paradox” blocking me.
Also URU, the Myst flop. Loved Myst I, II,and III. I’m still working on IV. But URU is a pain in the butt.
Neverwinter Nights, the starting campaign. Got all the way to the two cursed dragons at the end, had no protection from their fear aura, and my will save was pathetic. Endgame for me.
Short Circuit, an Apple game, drove me nuts in 1986. Then in 2002 I got an emulator, played it, beat it, and was underwhelmed by the victory screen (“HOORAY” over and over until you reset the computer).
Sometimes the reward isn’t worth the years of soul-twisting.
I’m not much of a gamer. Of the tiny handful of computer games I’ve played more than 3-4 times, I’ve never gotten through:
• The Uninvited. I know there’s a hidden tunnel somewhere in the maze but I’ve never figured out how to get into it; a locked room in the mansion I’ve never gotten into; never caught the naughty little goblin-creature with the key, either (which might pertain to the beforementioned locked room).
• Leather Goddesses of Phobos. I haven’t played in a long time so my memory is fuzzy but I never got far enough into it to have any real sense of what I was supposed to be accomplishing. I remember getting out of the cell and eliminating one direction to turn in in favor of another, and somehow getting up above the city (?)…
I used to play the sequel to “Secret of Mana”, SD3 a bit, but got to a point after going to the mana tree and gave up. I guess because then I knew I’d have to fight all the bosses over again.
I keep telling myself that eventually I’m going to beat the game.
I can’t contribute much to this thread, but if it were called “Games I’ve played 5 minutes of and planned to play, but still haven’t yet”, I could make a very long list.
Currently Far Cry and Half Life 2. That because there are scary things that jump out at me and freak me out. But I do love them both, the graphics are amazing. I’m also working through my second go of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, this time dark side. That’s one of my favorite games. And lastly Medal of Honor Passific Assault. It’s not worthy of the last MOH titles, but not bad either. Right now I’m stuck on one tough level and I have no inclination to finish it. Fairly enjoyable game, though.
Railroad Tycoon II—There’s not reason for me never to have finished the last five scenarios; I just haven’t. I just finished the India scenario last month, and I haven’t moved on to the next one. I’m really interested in doing the Cape to Cairo scenario; I just need to make it that far. I’m still stuck on the “Which Way to the Coast” scenario; building railroads through the Australian Outback is tough!
Rampage—I played this on arcade machines in the late 1980s. I kept pumping quarters into it because it was fun, and because I realized that the cities the monsters were destroying followed a logical path. You destroy New York, and then work your way up to New England, then in a ring down to the South, over to the West Coast, hooking up and then back east to Bismarck, North Dakota… where I ran out of quarters. I’m not sure if this one can be finished, but I wouldn’t mind getting a couple rolls of quarters and some like-minded friends on a machine and destroying America!
After about three years of intermittant play, I finally conquered Carmageddon II, which absolutely rules. I was starting to think I’d never do it.
And I suppose I might as well brag: in 1989, pumping quarters into the machine, I actually finished Galaga. It really can be done! I can’t remember, but I think the last level is No. 128. Just make sure you’ve got a few hours to spare, and that you don’t mind standing up for a long time… (There’s no spectacular ending; it just stops, so don’t get your hopes up.)
Ditto on GTA3 and Black & White for me. Played both and loved them, then got bored before I finished.
I’ll add the original Hitman:47 too. Played it a lot and got to the final showdown (where you have to defeat 10 clones of yourself) and could never finish. Don’t know if my version needed a patch or what, but I maintain that it was impossible to beat that final chapter.
