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[Fonz72]

load up your save. Look at what mission you are at, and read a walkthrough of wiki of the story up till that point. Mass effect 1 is the easiest thing to follow. 80% of the story is basically you finding leads to find Saren. The side stuff is forgettable to an extent even though you hear some of that stuff in the sequel.


Also, if you really want to play it from the beginning. Just don't do the side stuff. Youll beat it in 10-13 hours. shorter than what you originally played.

Thank you! I'll give that a shot. Plan on making it my Christmas break game.

 

[Remf]

Had the same situation with FFVII. Got about quarter way through it and moved on to other games. About 6 months later I decided to pick up where I left off and forgot what and where to go so I said screw it and started over again. Damn short term memory...

 

[PKrockin]

I ended up dropping Tales of Vesperia after going on hiatus on it because 1) a new plot development pops up when you get to a new town, and 2) I learned about the whole "paid beta" thing and got pissed off

"Paid beta"? What are you talking about? Surely not the PS3 port...?

 

[hwateber]

This happens to me all the time with xenogears. Freakin awesome game but when I hit the disc change I just stop for whatever reason. I've restarted it 3 times in the last fee years and I can't seem to finish it

 

[SlipperySlope]

While I agree with you, I'd extend that to all single player games. If I ever stop playing a game for a period of time or play something else, I never finish the first game

Same here. I can never go back to a game after, say, a week of not playing it. I would have to start over.

 

[JLeack]

I'm better off starting over.

 

[John Rabbit]

Persona 4 for me.

b-b-but senpai!

 

[Regiruler]

Absolutely, although moreso with RPGs in general.

I just can't go back to Amaleur.

 

[solomon]

I'm like this will all jrpg's, if I don't beat it in one go It takes me months to get back to it. Recently I've just been looking up power leveling guides to get through them faster (I love grinding and a lot of the time power leveling involves that).

Another issue I have is stopping at the final boss, I have a few games saved right in front of a final boss and these are not recent games.

Also a lot of the time if you are deep into the game where things are a little difficult or require you to play smart it's sort of frustrating to just jump into it.

 

[Community Forum]

I've started and played Lost Odyssey through the middle of Disc 2 about six different times. It's almost time to begin my yearly 1 1/2 disc playthrough. One day I'll make it to fourth base.

 

[Lucent]

That's why I try to stick to one major game and then some minor games now. Because I have to have the story and what's going on fresh and like I'm continuing something shortly after so I don't have time to forget and can keep going.

 

[Sora_N]

For all games, sometimes I continue after a while and forget how to play.

Kind of annoying, I usually restart only if I didn't get very far or if I remember what happened / how to play. I hate using extra time to get back to the same point. :/

 

[runnin_blue]

I've been playing Persona 3 FES as a part of my desire to complete my backlog. I got about 30 hours in before I had to stop for other priorities. Now that I have some free time, I find myself...doing other things instead.

I feel like momentum is a big part of completing these games. What do you think?

Yep. I tried to explain to a friend who's finished dozens of jrpgs that I have to marathon a game, basically play and finish it within 2 weeks or else I get distracted and never finish it. He couldn't understand this.

If I leave a game partially played for a few weeks and then try to go back to it, I forget what I was doing in the game, the storyline and the objectives. At the moment I'm trying to build up the stamina to play the Mass Effect trilogy again after putting about 15 hours into the first one and 30 into the second but not finishing either one. So I need to start from scratch.

 

[qq more]

Yep! I have a hard time getting back to games where I haven't touched my last save in weeks.

I should probably stop that habit and finish games like Persona 3 and DQ5 already.

 

[darkistheway]

I'll finish Final Fantasy IX one day.

 

[kamakazi5]

I may need to scan an FAQ but I don't have trouble going back.

 

[Pachinko]

Oh boy can I ever. JRPGs are the worst thing to have on my backlog. From 12-18 it was my favorite genre and then well, it just kind of stopped being that way and I preferred playing action games. I've been in denial for 12 years though and keep buying 1-2 every year or so and they all end the same way - 14-20 hours of playtime and then on the shelf and a promise that "I'll come back to this later".

Xenosaga Episode 1, FFX-2, Dragon Quest 8, Final Fantasy 12, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddysee, Final Fantasy 13, Xenoblade, The Last Story all sit on my shelf.

The first 2 I don't mind leaving unfinished but the rest I still think I'll somehow pull a few months out of nowhere and the ambition to want to play them through but whenever I do load 'em up it's for a few minutes and then back on the shelf they go.

This also says little of the GBA backlog for JRPGs I've maintained for well, almost 10 years I guess. FF4, FF5,FF6 GBA editions. I'm at the final dungeon of 4 at least. Oh yeah, Breath of Fire 2. On the DS there's the 3D remakes of FF3 and FF4 as well as Dragon Quest 4.... oh yeah and pokemon white!

Part of me still has fun with these games but after playing them and only them for a few years when I was a teenager , it gets very hard to hold me interest and then later return to it.

So basically don't feel too bad OP. Just keep 'em in your collection. If disc rot doesn't destroy them , perhaps you'll get to play them in 20 or 30 years

 

[joecanada]

To me every SP game is hard to come back after long downtime - doesn't matter what genre it is.

Very true its weird but sometimes at the point where I grind to get my levels up I suddenly dont care, ffX was this one for me...
Other sp games too... dragon age went to final boss and was like... meh

 

[graywolf323]

I'm like this with all games, not just RPGs. I forget how to play at the level I was at before, and then I just have to start over.

yep, also I hate it when I've forgotten what's going on in the story and there isn't any easy way to catch back up

 

[staticneuron]

I've been playing Persona 3 FES as a part of my desire to complete my backlog. I got about 30 hours in before I had to stop for other priorities. Now that I have some free time, I find myself...doing other things instead.

I feel like momentum is a big part of completing these games. What do you think?

Yes but not all JRPG's are like that. Only a few that have alot to keep track of like the later persona titles.

 

[dcassell]

I started and stopped Persona 4 about 6 times before finally beating it. I also somehow get about 20 hours in, long enough for me to feel like it'd be a drag to play through all of it again, so I end up waiting like two years to try again. P4 took me until last month to beat. I bought it at launch. But, most games I just power through. The end is almost always worth it.

 

[abrack08]

I'm this way with almost any game. If I don't play it within like a week, there's a pretty high chance I'm either never going back, or I'm going to play a bunch of other stuff for months and start the game over at a way later time. Not a rule I try to enforce or anything, just something I've noticed about myself.

My parents are divorced, so when I was younger I would go to my dad's house every other weekend (or less if I was busy with school/friends stuff). There were a lot of games I only had at his house, I would play them all weekend, then not play them again for a month or two, then start the game over when I went back. This is the reason I never beat Ocarina of Time (until the 3DS), Majora's Mask, or Wind Waker (and a bunch of other stuff).

 

[Seda]

Generally speaking, I only play one game at a time, so I don't have to worry about remembering what I was doing or relearning the mechanics.

 

[Kyzon]

How's that going for you? I played this game exactly one time for like 2 hours and didn't get back to it ever. I've heard it is very long. Is it the sort of game I can play just once in a while and enjoy?

its going great for me. the game is looooooong and thats why i haven't finished.
if you're the kind of person who can start a show and be perfectly fine stopping for a while then starting again later, then playing this in bites may work for you.

 

[OccamsBlender]

I usually stop playing a JRPG due to a difficulty spike so once I stop that's it. I pretty much quit.

Only exception is Lost Odyssey, my disk 4 got damaged and 360s constantly breaking on me made it nary impossible.

 

[RaikuHebi]

Generally speaking, I only play one game at a time, so I don't have to worry about remembering what I was doing or relearning the mechanics.

This is the best way to do things.

 

[E92 M3]

Yes, I find this too. For me it's the OCD nature of playing them, I'm all into it when playing but after a break it's sometimes difficult to see what was so important about obtaining your little self-made goals and grinding.

Exactly this for me. When I'm playing a game, all energy is devoted to mastering it and finding every hidden nook I can. RPGS (in general) are immersive experiences that are very difficult to get back into after a long break.

A recent example: While have over 200 hours in Skyrim, I do want to go back and play Dragornborn, but don't remember some of the minor details for crafting, items, and some general setups that I had. Also, don't remember some characters. Overall, whenever I start I feel a little disconnected from the world of Skyrim. It's one of my favorite games, and I really want to play all of the DLC but just don't feel that initial magic.

Maybe during the Christmas break I'll give it another go.

 

[mechphree]

When I was a teenager I could just sink in 100 or 200 hours on some of the FF games...not any more. I tried to get back into some JRPG'S but as of late they are just boring...and slow...and archaic. The only ones I can play are stuff like Dark Souls..

 

[The Elite]

This could be remedied.

Games need to recognize a long gap in play and setup mini tutorial prompts if the player has been away for more than a couple of weeks.

I know that the big hurdle for me when going back to a game that I stepped away from for a while is relearning the game mechanics.

There was one game that did this and I was easily able to jump back in. Can't remember the name of the game for the life of me though.

 

[Celegus]

It can be difficult, but the mechanics and everything usually come back to me pretty quickly. But when they barely make sense in the first place... I'm not sure Last Story is ever getting finished.

 

[Elvick]

Not really.

Though it's easier to get back into the ones with a 'recap' message when you return to it, or a 'journal' that tells you those things. Like Xenosaga II's load screen. One good thing about that damn game.