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When does replaying a game become a waste of time?

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I started like my 7th (or 8th?) replay of Super Mario Odyssey today, and it's one of the THREE games I beat last year (I have like 50 unplayed games) and I'm questioning if this is just a waste if time at this point. I'm having fun but..... I feel like this is a waste.

Advice?
 
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When you don't enjoy it and play for the sake of nostalgia.

Edit: To "improve" it you might want to try out mods or challenges to make it less of a "time wasting" experience.
 
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Yeah, it really does come down to if you're having a good time with the game. In my experience, don't let your backlog or "must play" list get in the way of playing the game you want. When you're done with a game, you'll know.

If you feel like you're devoting too much time to games in general, that's a different animal. You may want to incorporate other hobbies into your life, like movies, exercising, reading, etc.
 
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For me there is a certain point where I can clearly tell I'm bored of something, because I become extremely restless and it feels like my bones are trying to crawl out of my skin.
That's usually my cue to stop.
 
What differentiates the time „wasted“ on a game you already played from a game you haven’t?

Or asked differently, when time is „wasted“ replaying a game, is playing a fresh game „productive“?
 
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Essometer said:
What differentiates the time „wasted“ on a game you already played from a game you haven’t?

Or asked differently, when time is „wasted“ replaying a game, is playing a fresh game „productive“?
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It's such a funny concept because, technically, watching a movie or TV show is "time wasted" because it's not used for working, exercising, or practicing/studying. That's all "sigma grindset" talk because we need downtime. 100% of our day cannot be spent in "high gear," so to speak, or we'll end up with burnout.

In moderation, hobbies are healthy and allow us to relieve stress.

Sometimes, you could be playing a game and realize you've stopped having fun. That's fine, there's a ton of other games to choose from. I think it's important not to stay on a game you're struggling to enjoy. It doesn't necessarily mean the game is bad, but it may mean that you've gotten all the entertainment you can out of it.

It's a whole complicated thing, I know I've written about it here in the forums. We've had users ask, "do I not like video games anymore?" It's usually not an issue with those kinds of extremes, but it may be burnout/frustration from a particular habit. (Playing games you feel you should like, playing games because they're in your backlog, playing to speedrun instead of to enjoy, etc. etc.)
 
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Outside of obviously PvP games, I typically play for the story and done. Achievements are garbo for the lazy kids who didn't feel like exploring everything on their own. If I missed some side quest, it typically means I honestly didn't care for it or to min-max the game in the first place.

All that said, Monster Hunter is probably one I always come back to because that's the whole point and you can always get better at learning yours and their move sets, etc. and after expansions, most titles just offer SO much I just don't get through it all in that initial sitting.
 
Essometer said:
What differentiates the time „wasted“ on a game you already played from a game you haven’t?

Or asked differently, when time is „wasted“ replaying a game, is playing a fresh game „productive“?
Click to expand...
I "feel" like it is wasted time because I have already experienced this game in its entirety with many 100 percent runs (even though it still is fun).

Playing a new game would be not a waste of time because it would be something new I guess? It feels "unfair" to all those other games just sitting in my library to replay one game so many times maybe?

And some of these new games are ones I have wanted to play for very long like Echoes of Wisdom (literally wanted a "Zelda" game since I was 5 lol) but I somehow gravitate toward Odyssey......
 
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namename11 said:
I "feel" like it is wasted time because I have already experienced this game in its entirety with many 100 percent runs (even though it still is fun).

Playing a new game would be not a waste of time because it would be something new I guess? It feels "unfair" to all those other games just sitting in my library to replay one game so many times maybe?

And some of these new games are ones I have wanted to play for very long like Echoes of Wisdom (literally wanted a "Zelda" game since I was 5 lol) but I somehow gravitate toward Odyssey......
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Ooh, play EoW, it's great fun and it's not super long so you can be back replaying your fave before you know it
 
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Veho said:
And that's all that matters. When it stops being fun and starts feeling like a chore, that's when it's a waste of time.
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It also depends on what else OP has available in his life to spend time on.
Just because something is fun and we enjoy it, doesn't mean it's what we should be doing with our lives.
Especially for the Nth time.

It's an easy amd safe activity, but doing something more productive might be better for your life.

It's part of the reason I sometimes use cheats etc, I might want to play on a certain difficulty level, use a special skill or costume that you unlock or get in the "new game plus", without having to spend an extra 40 hours in the game.
I remember after I beat Persona 5, hearing about Royal coming out. I'd like to have played the new bits, but no way I'm spending another 100+ hours to do it.

If I end up in a hospital bed for decades, paralyzed from the waist down, no responsibilities and no friends or family...
then things might change, I'd probably play a lot more games :)
 
cearp said:
It also depends on what else OP has available in his life to spend time on.
Just because something is fun and we enjoy it, doesn't mean it's what we should be doing with our lives.
Especially for the Nth time.
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Yeah but we're talking free time here. OP has a backlog of unplayed games but keeps replaying games they've already played, and the question is "is replaying an old game instead of starting a new one a waste of time" but I presume we're talking about free time.
If the question was "should I replay a game or work on my job/appointments/chores/obligations" the answer would have been different, obviously.
 
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Veho said:
Yeah but we're talking free time here. OP has a backlog of unplayed games but keeps replaying games they've already played, and the question is "is replaying an old game instead of starting a new one a waste of time" but I presume we're talking about free time.
If the question was "should I replay a game or work on my job/appointments/chores/obligations" the answer would have been different, obviously.
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Yes I agree - one benefit of trying new games / things, OP might find something he likes even more than odyssey! :D
 
cearp said:
I remember after I beat Persona 5, hearing about Royal coming out. I'd like to have played the new bits, but no way I'm spending another 100+ hours to do it.
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This is how I felt. When it comes to P5, it feels pretty complete as-is. As a general rule, when a JRPG re-releases with extra stuff, the new content frequently doesn't mesh organically with the original vision. Like you said, P5 was 100 hours on its own, and it's not easy to restart the same story from the very beginning just for some extra dialog and characters.

Now, if Xenogears had gotten a director's cut back in the 90's or early 2000's, that would have been a different story.

That reminds me, I stopped playing vanilla Dragon Quest XI at about the half-way point, and I'm still debating if I should switch over to the Definitive Edition for those extra bits. It's hard to throw 30 hours of gametime away, and fans have told me I'm not missing much.
 
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Robert Newbie said:
This is how I felt. When it comes to P5, it feels pretty complete as-is. As a general rule, when a JRPG re-releases with extra stuff, the new content frequently doesn't mesh organically with the original vision. Like you said, P5 was 100 hours on its own, and it's not easy to restart the same story from the very beginning just for some extra dialog and characters.

Now, if Xenogears had gotten a director's cut back in the 90's or early 2000's, that would have been a different story.

That reminds me, I stopped playing vanilla Dragon Quest XI at about the half-way point, and I'm still debating if I should switch over to the Definitive Edition for those extra bits. It's hard to throw 30 hours of gametime away, and fans have told me I'm not missing much.
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To be frank though Persona 5 is a different beast I beat P5 twice and P5R twice and it didnt feel that long imo. Much thanks to the folks who made P5R on Switch look better than P5 on PS5!
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cearp said:
Yes I agree - one benefit of trying new games / things, OP might find something he likes even more than odyssey! :D
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I like many games more than odyssey but like its so comfy and chill lol but you all are right I should give the others a chance I might find something better. Maybe that copy of Astro Bot? But I never beat the VR game or the PS5 packin so I hope it's not complicated story wise.
 
Anytime you both don't NEED downtime AND don't have something to do that's necessary. I think that pretty much covers all scenarios. Face it, if you're experiencing chest pain, and you're playing a game instead of heading to a doctor... you're wasting time.


But in the underlying context that you're asking (I had to go back up and re-read, before hitting that "post reply" button), it's a waste if you're not having fun playing it anymore. Provided there is also no goal behind it (higher score, faster completion, less deaths, competition, etc...).
 
namename11 said:
I "feel" like it is wasted time because I have already experienced this game in its entirety with many 100 percent runs (even though it still is fun).

Playing a new game would be not a waste of time because it would be something new I guess? It feels "unfair" to all those other games just sitting in my library to replay one game so many times maybe?

And some of these new games are ones I have wanted to play for very long like Echoes of Wisdom (literally wanted a "Zelda" game since I was 5 lol) but I somehow gravitate toward Odyssey......
Click to expand...
The better question would be: do you still feel challenged by it?

I was going to ask whether the feeling came from the unplayed games, but you're ahead of me.

Still: the unplayed list is the unplayed list. It shouldn't be an influence, as you're not playing those at that time. It's leisure. Free Time. You shouldn't get unplayed games dictate your feeling. You'll get to them whenever you want to.

(btw... Ive got over 1500 unplayed games. I started playing celeste for the third time instead)
 

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