Four months ago, I gave myself the herculean task of completing every videogame I own. It’s been many things: daunting, rewarding, and even downright boring in some parts. Most games started off great and some have just come to a complete stop. It’s painful completing some of them. My vow was to not get any new games until this list was complete and I broke it in the middle of January. It looks like I have five games to add to this list. However, I did want to share with you my progress since October. Now, realize that I started every game over from scratch. You can see my progress below. (Click on it for a larger image).

I must have missed the original announcement while I was still recovering from my ridiculous travel schedule.
I just looked. I have 89 games currently in my library. I have finished 19.
On the other hand, I have some games I consider “Done”. Not completed, but I’ve played them about as much as I care to. Most of these stay in the library due to the kids or because I know I’ll just rebuy them later if I trade them in. However, the list of “Done” games is short still than the list of “Completed”.
Ugh, that means I have over 45 games that I think I’ll eventually get around to playing more? Not a happy realization. That doesn’t even count the library of PC games collecting dust.
A bar graph of completion percentages? Nat, that is the nerdiest thing I have ever seen. It is AWESOME. Good luck making your way throught more of those games! I’ve almost licked Bioshock, Pokemon Diamond and Halo 3.
@Jason – 89 games is quite a pile. Good luck with that.
It will never happen. Such an endeavor would end me.
As it is I look at Nat’s list and kind of shudder at attempting such a feat. I am doing something similar but cheating. Nat stated he started all these games from scratch? Not so with me, I am now trying to finally finish off some games that I’ve come close to ending but never quite made it.
Let me tell you, finishing Halo was a chore unto itself. One for the OCD sufferers out there but not for mortal men such as myself.
I had to start from scratch with most of them for a couple of reasons:
Only two did I have any progress on: Lego Star Wars and Puzzle Quest. The rest were either unplayed or in the opening stages.
Before anyone may ask, I need to add these games. The irony behind getting them is that I had already paid for most if not all of them. So, technically, I have not really bought any. However, this process has proven to me that pre-purchasing and reserving doesn’t make a bit of difference. I need to be a better steward of my money and not just throw it away willy nilly and follow the current gaming fads. It’s a weakness. I get games because everyone else does.
It’s also sad because it shows me that most developers cannot make a game that keeps me enthralled from start to finish. One one has a 100% track record with me and that is Valve.
Here are the games:
However, some games shouldn’t make the list because they are open or ambiguous.
Shoot. I should have made this another post. 😀
Yeah, let me know when you finish Endless Ocean.
When you say completed, do you mean getting 100% of everything in the game or finishing the main storyline?
I have lots of games where I’ve finished the storyline and I concider them done, beaten, finished… you get the drift. There are only a few games in my entire gaming ‘career’ that I’ve 100% completed, but I usually don’t care about finding and unlocking every last thing as long as I’ve finished the story proper.
A game like Professor Layton, for example, is a game I’ve finished, even though I still have about 10-15 puzzles that I could work on before it’s completed. I’ll keep it in my collection and bust it out every so often to see if my brain is up to the task of those last few puzzles, but I don’t feel compelled to keep working on it right now due to the pile of other games that have come out.
I think a large part of the reason that I don’t play through games multiple times or try to unlock every achievement or secret area, etc. is that I haven’t quite reached the level of enlightenment that you have. I have dialed down the amount of games that I’ve bought, especially this winter, but I haven’t gotten to the point where I can keep myself from picking up those gems like Endless Ocean and Sins Of A Solar Empire, no matter how many other games I have on my plate.
ALL of that said, the past couple of months have been banner months as far as game completion goes. I haven’t finished all of the games that I want to, but I’ve been able to make it through several since October/November and it’s very satisfying to clear the backlog out a bit.
Now to get to work and finish up the last couple fights in No More Heroes so I won’t feel guilty about being so close to the end. Stupid Lost Odyssey and it’s massive amounts of awesome, keeping me from finishing another super awesome game.
@Jason
Yeah, it’s pretty endless. Sins of A Solar Empire doesn’t have a campaign, so there’s really no completion there either. Amazing how games have become more ambiguous over time. they are just more open to interpretation.
@Brock
I’m going for story lines. I’d have to really love a game to do 100% completion of everything. I’ve only done that twice: Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I’ll probably do it with Jeanne D’Arc.
My only 100% completion exception on the list above is Lego Star Wars. I’ve done the story, now I want to collect all the LEGO pieces.