What's the longest break you've taken from a game?

[jb143]

So, it's been a while since I've actually had the time to really get into a game and now I'm really wanting to finally finish Skyward Sword. The problem is that I last played it more than a year ago. I really don't want to start over since I have some 30+ hours into it that I don't want to have to redo. I mostly remember everything storywise and the game has objectives and hints to remind me what was goign on, so I don't think there will be too big of a problem.

So my question is, what's the longest everyone else here has taken a break from a game and then picked it back up without restarting?

[Aussie2B]

Probably the GBA version of Breath of Fire. I dropped it in early 2014, or maybe even late 2013, and didn't pick it back up and beat it until the summer of 2018. I was fairly close to the end of the game, so I didn't have too much left to do, and I admit I referred to a guide a little to get the ball rolling again. I also didn't really care about doing and finding every last little thing in the game.

I'm in a similar situation as you with Majora's Mask. I started that not long after I dropped Breath of Fire, and I ended up dropping that too. I left off on the last of the four main dungeons, and I remember I had gotten stuck, though I wouldn't blame that on why I dropped the game. It was just kind of a crazy time in my life. That one seems harder to pick back up because I was aiming to do everything 100%. I had already put consider time and effort into collecting a ton of masks and heart pieces and such. I wouldn't want to scrap that effort to just quickly finish off the game, and I also don't want to start from scratch. But it would be tough to try to remember what exactly I have and haven't done.

What's funny is that I had also dropped Ocarina of Time back in the day, but that was only for a few months.

I frequently take breaks from visual novels, often for months or years at a time, but I don't find it challenging to resume those.

I'm gonna shuffle this topic over to Classic Gaming, by the way.

[jb143]

I have a game saved about halfway through Majora's Mask as well, but that one has to be at least 10 years old by now. So I'd be starting that one over if I decide to play it again.

I did play Skyward Sword for a couple hours last night. The story and objectives were easy to jump right back into. Relearning the controls, however, took some getting used to... and I had saved just before a boss battle... so it took me a few more tries than it should have.

[SpaceHarrier]

I really want to start playing Chrono Cross from where I left off in 2000, and attempted it once a few years ago, but I just don't know where to go.

In terms of picking up and actually finishing.. I got Donkey Kong Country 2 for Christmas in 1995, dropped it in 1996 until 2004 where I made some more progress, then dropped it again until I finally beat it somewhere around 2013. I still haven't completed the challenging levels and gotten the good ending though.

[pichuscute]

I did about the same with Skyward Sword. It's a difficult game for me to finish. Not bad, though.

I think the longest break I can remember off the top of my head was Tales of the Abyss on 3DS. I started it soon after getting a 3DS in like 2013 and got about halfway through. Then got bored (I honestly mostly don't enjoy that series at all). Eventually ended up revisiting it near the end of 2017 and actually beat it, because I was annoyed that I hadn't more than anything else. So that was 4 years or so, but there may be some longer I'm not thinking of right now.

[WulfeLuer]

I really want to start playing Chrono Cross from where I left off in 2000, and attempted it once a few years ago, but I just don't know where to go.

If you want to take another stab, bug me sometime and tell me where you are and what people are saying and I'll try to point you in the right direction. Though to be fair it isn't a long game so a restart might be in order anyway.

I think my personal longest right now is Romancing SaGa. I didn't so much get stuck as I wasn't happy with the "final" scenario I had gotten and didn't feel like tinkering around with background mechanics for another three hours to fix it. That's something on the order of around 8 years ago, now. Because of the way the game's NG+ works, I still don't want to wipe the savefile and start all over again.

[goldenband]

Assuming we're only talking about games with savefiles or passwords, then:

- Games I've actually beaten: I know I've gone a year-and-a-half on a PlayStation tennis game (V-Tennis), and I think I've gone much longer on others.

- Games I haven't beaten yet: I took about 3.5 years off from BattleSport for 3DO, resumed it briefly last year, but still haven't beaten it. If I ever beat Guardian's Crusade for PlayStation it'll be longer than that, since I haven't played it since February 2015. And I have a bunch of PlayStation games with savefiles well over 5 years old that I might resume...

If we throw in games that have things like individual courses or scenarios you can beat, or going through all of a game's difficulty levels, then I've got plenty of games where I had some concrete achievement (e.g. beating a low level, mapping the game out, completing certain self-contained scenarios), threw in the towel for a while, and came back and beat it years or even decades later.

[SpaceHarrier]

If you want to take another stab, bug me sometime and tell me where you are and what people are saying and I'll try to point you in the right direction. Though to be fair it isn't a long game so a restart might be in order anyway.



Thank you, and I think you are right. I just need to start over. I was always miffed when I found out I missed recruiting a certain character early on and would need to wait until NG+ to have another chance. Additionally, I never really understood how to take advantage of the battle system, as dumb as that sounds. I will keep my original save file for nostalgia, but I'm going to begin this one anew.