@Lusipurr, You, sir, are a monster for suggesting Ethos play Simon’s Quest!!! No one should be subjected to that monstrosity! It features fake floors you need to spam Holy Water to identify. Townspeople who, unlike not-awful game townspeople, are lying bastards. Puzzles that make absolutely no sense (why would you kneel by the mountain wall thing and use a crystal?). Why would you throw garlic on the ground in a cemetary? And why would game developers think we wanted to stare blankly at the screen for 30 seconds while it says “IT’S A TERRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE.” as if that means something?!? I bite my thumb at you, sir!!! Good day!

It does have good music, though.

@Korusi – I’m opposite with FF7, like I said. All Midgar, all the time.

@Mel – I have no idea about Sega’s financial state, but I get the feeling that because it’s been 10 years since Skies of Arcadia, we probably won’t see that franchise again.

Really loving all the variations on the theme here.

@Matt – Your experience is part of my Quinitialitis sometimes. Not so often anymore, but I would also replay the beginning to replay favourite moments. Final Fantasy VII is the biggest victim of that. I’ve actually only completed the game once, and I’ve probably played up to Kalm over 10 times.

Nowadays, if there is a game I really like (for instance: just started FFXIII for the first time!), it may take a while to beat it, but I’m content with remembering parts that I like instead of actually having to go back and play them again. It saves a lot of time and effort to pinpoint what you know you’re going to love, and leave behind what you’re just willing to dabble in. In the latter case, maybe 5 hours is all their worth.

Other than that, finishing games is very rare for me. I get to the point where there is nothing to do but the final boss fight, and I stop. This is why moments like my completion of Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 are actually very significant.

amirite, ethos? :D

I do think my one friend suffers this fate and worse…. the dreaded “Endingectamy” where she never finishes the game for fear of the story ending and the fun of the game being over…

Then the lack of fun I’m having slowly dawns on me and I just go back to playing whatever quick multiplayer thing I have going at the moment. Sigh.

What I mean by that is, actually, fairly obvious. For the most part (with exceptions) I tend to finish games only if:

1) They are exceptionally good, and
2) I have not already finished them.

Part of this is assuredly the time needed to re-experience. As you point out quite rightly, fans of JRPGs have a high bar for re-entry: the average JRPG is 40 hours in length, sometimes more if one is a completionist.

Shorter games, or games which I know very well (and which I can therefore complete more quickly) tend to be replayed more often. Hence, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy Tactics and games in the Suikoden series do get replayed, despite their JRPGness. Also, short, stage-based games (especially with the Wii’s save state) are replayed: Castlevania, Mario, Mega Man, Metroid, Star Fox.

What games do not get replayed? Anything with a lot of little, fiddly, grindy bits. Pokemon (I always have one file which I work on forever), probably Final Fantasy XIII-2 (see Pokemon), and MMOs in general, where ‘replaying’ means ‘levelling from naught’. Disgaea falls into this category, though FFT does not (at least, not to the same extent).

So, essentially, what is the cause of Quintalitis? Frankly, I think it is the amount of in-between bits in games, combined with foreknowledge and/or a desire to get to the ‘good bits’. The more space there is between the desired story elements or settings, the harder it is to replay. One will find oneself trying to hurry from A to D, because one knows B and C well enough and isn’t interested by them. If this happens a sufficient number of times in a game, it is likely to be set aside.

Shorter games, or games with shorter sequences of gameplay and story, move more quickly and tend to be more enjoyable. This is why I was able to replay Final Fantasy XIII not one or twice but thrice in the space of a few months. For all the griping about its linearity, it was a delightful experience specifically because it could be played in short, meaningful bursts without a great deal of fussing about–the bane of many JRPGs (a fact I am remembering in my Lunar SSSC playthrough).

Of course I am an old codger, so the average age of my gaming collection increases yearly. I do not buy many new games, so the old stage-based platformers of the past are now, combined with Wii VC save states, a major repository of my gaming, and these games seldom need more than a couple hours to complete.

Might I recommend the Castlevania series, Ethos? Play them in order and mayhap you will learn the joy of overcoming platforming and action in a 2D setting. (Best to play them with company–especially female–who will be awed by your eventual mastery of the setting.)

In any case, I wish you luck. If you find a cure, do let me know.