Are you a RPG completist?

How far have you gone to fully, 100%, complete a RPG, milking it for everything it's worth?

This question can be asked for just about every other game genre out there, but it's usually RPGs that have a high amount of side quests and collectibles, so I'll deposit the question here.

I'll admit that nowadays, I rarely try to do everything there is to do in a game. Once I finish a game, I usually never look back. This mostly has to do with time constraints and the steady stream of new stuff that comes out each month.

Back in the day, I've done some crazy things to get the most out of a game, though.

Take Final Fantasy 7, for example. Maxed out levels. Master Materia for each and every character. 255 stats for Cloud. Gold Chocobo. Tons of gil. All sidequests finished. I must've sunk over 250 hours in that game.

Final Fantasy 8: Just about everything done, including collecting all cards for the card game.

Final Fantasy X, same thing. Ultimate Weapons for each character. Battle Arena finished. Dark Aeons buried. All sidequests done - yes, Blitzball as well.

From Final Fantasy XII onwards, I haven't really poured much time into any single game though, although I sometimes do try. Can't help but feel 'guilty' when I finish a RPG with the majority of the sidequests left undone!

So what about you? Do you play your RPGs quickie-style, or do everything there is to do until there's nothing left?

That's why I'm Playing Zelda:OOT and Zelda:Wind Waker again so i can collect everything. And up until recently i had every Pokemon game to fulfill my collecting desires.
With Wind Waker I'm resigned too the fact that i won't be able to collect everything as it's just daft trying to collect all the pictographs.

It depends, and I expect this is true for everyone here. When I really get into an RPG then yes, I will play it to death, unlocking everything, finding every secret item, maxing out all the characters etc.., but the game has to grab me and draw me in. If I play a game and it only interests me because it's a genre I enjoy, but I'm only playing it for gaming reasons then I generally just complete the game, not worrying too much if I have missed something. But if a game really grabs and addicts me straight away then I have to find and complete every aspect of it.

One game that really stands out for me in recent years is Knights of the Old Republic on the original Xbox. For me that game was near to being perfect. Brilliant story, amazing character voice acting, great graphics, great control system, etc, etc, very close to being a perfect game for me and one of the few games I will award a real 10/10 to. It just hooked me as soon as I started playing. I played around 60 hours on the first play through on the light side, and then about another 40 playing through again on the dark side. And every time I knew the game was nearing the end I just wished it would go on longer. And I really need to play it again soon!

Strangely I still haven't played the second KOTOR game through very far at all. I purchased it on release and quickly played a few hours, but have since not touched it once. I think it was too close to the original for me. I had spent so many hours playing the first that the sequel somehow came too soon and I still wanted to enjoy the original some more. KOTOR II is therefore a game I might actually play properly as my next game now that I've thought about it.

Another game that really got me addicted was the online RPG GuildWars. I bought it just after it was commercially released (after the beta finished) and loved it. The original Prophecies campaign was brilliant. Very will balanced, a nice selection of characters to choose from, a great story, and a gaming structure that meant even though you were playing online you didn't actually have to rely on other real players to progress, although that was a big part of the fun for me. I completely the whole game with 4 different characters, playing right through the story with each one, including completing all of the side quests and collecting every object possible. And the good thing is that each time it isn't exactly the same because each character class receives different side quests in addition to the standard ones in each area, so there is always something different.

Sadly the first expansion pack Factions wasn't as fun or enjoyable to play. They made it too hard and frustrating with progression being very slow and near impossible without a real party of gamers along for every quest or mission which wasn't possible all the time. The next one Nightfall was much better and back to the gameplay of the original part, but by that time I think Factions had made me lose interest a bit. I still logged up over 600 hours playing the game over a space of 18 months though so you could say I got my monies worth and really played the game fully.

But if anyone is interested in playing GuildWars then I would be very interested in playing it again. But really only the first original part of the game as that interests me much more than the other expansion packs. Teho also used to play the game and we partied together a few time in the game which was great fun.

Going back further, Final Fantasy 7 got me, as it did with many people at the time, addicted and I played that trying to complete every aspect if it. I was not quite as dedicated as Sharingan and haven't unlocked and gained everything in the game, but I might play the game through again at some point and would then try. FF8 didn't grab my imagination in quite the same way so although I played it, I never tried to do everything. But Final Fantasy 9 was different. 9 is still my favourite FF game to date and I have probably played it more than any other and want to play through it again at some point.

Going back to the beginning though, I think the first RPG I played so completely must have been Dungeon Master on the Atari ST. I mapped the whole game out on squared paper, noting the locations of everything. Followed by the Eye of the Beholder games on the Amiga, doing exactly the same thing. And some more included Worlds of Legend and Shadow Worlds.

Yea I am the same, will only complete it all if I really like it. I have almost finished FFX and working on FFXII but also finishing of Burnout Revenge and others.

Yup, same here. I finished most of them completely, only one I got a bit bored lately was FF12. Finished only 50% of the hunts, as they bored me a bit with the time, it was just always the same.

It's funny how some people can get only 20-25 hours of playtime out of a game, and on the other hand we have the hardcore 'gotta catch 'em all' people like us who can squeeze 100+ hours out of the same game. Basically, you can make something last as long as you want it to last.

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With Wind Waker I'm resigned too the fact that i won't be able to collect everything as it's just daft trying to collect all the pictographs.

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Yeah, things like these can be quite frustrating. There have been times I was committed to collecting everything in a game, only to find some tasks so terribly hard or time consuming, I had to give up. The collecting of all the Ultimate Weapons in FFX was the last really frustrating sidequest I bothered doing.

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I was not quite as dedicated as Sharingan and haven't unlocked and gained everything in the game, but I might play the game through again at some point and would then try.

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I might give FF7 another try sometime as well ... just for the story and nostalgia, though. I can't imagine repeating some of the more fiendish sidequests again! There have been rumours floating around that a FF7 remake for the PS3 might be possible, however.

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Yup, same here. I finished most of them completely, only one I got a bit bored lately was FF12. Finished only 50% of the hunts, as they bored me a bit with the time, it was just always the same.

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I actually started a 'Perfect Completion' save file for FFXII a few months ago. I've done everything (and I mean everything, including the hunts) up to the part where the party enters the Golmore Jungle. I might go back to it some day. FFXII's sidequests were definitely a lot less interesting than the ones in the previous FF's.

I've also heard rumours of a FFVII PS3 remake, but I won't hold my breath because such FFVII rumours have been floating around for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if such a thing turns out to be a more direct PSP port.

*yawn* No way, I'd get bored way before getting to 100% on an RPG. In fact I very rarely play RPGs in the traditional sense - they just aren't my bag.

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How far have you gone to fully, 100%, complete a RPG, milking it for everything it's worth?

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I've gone very far when it comes to Fallout 1 & 2. Have played these games for years now.

Have also spent a lot of time wandering around Morrowind. ;)

Zelda OOT was/is my fave! The only thing I didnt do was get all 100gold skultullers. I done the masks and everything else, but just not that!

I could have done it the easy way, but that got boring after using the glitch to get enough to get the big purse, and to free all the family from the curse.