Should more games have a % completion indicator?

Player 2 · 29-04-2014 04:42PM #1

Whilst most of the time I'm happy to "enjoy the journey, not the destination", there's always a game where I'm not exactly enjoying it; but am utterly intent on finishing it. In these cases; it'd be nice to know how much of a game I've got left to play. (Or judge when to give up on!)
That said, for many games some of their unpredictability can be ruined a little bit by knowing that you're only half way through a false ending, as opposed to 5 minutes away from the credits.

The later GTA games, or Assassin's Creed series spring to mind as games which present this kind of information, but I don't feel that anything was ruined for me - particularly as GTA has more of an overall achievement indicator, rather than a story completion gauge.

Alan Wake on the other hand - around the middle of that game, if I'd known how much was left I wouldn't have slogged through for "just 10 more minutes".

So; what do you think? Would you enjoy any particular games more / less if you knew how much you had left to go?

2Mad2BeMad · 29-04-2014 04:51PM

hate games that tell me how close I am to finishing it
rather it be a surprise if its a good ending

johnny_ultimate · 29-04-2014 04:55PM

I hate them. I don't like a game constantly informing me that it is incomplete because I haven't bothered collecting 1,000 flags, floating cubes or rat droppings littered randomly around the map. If it's there, it should be tucked away in a menu for the masochists (although a general indication of how many core missions or levels are left is always welcome, if it suits the game in question).

I also think the trend towards tying the percentage to finishing missions a 'specific' way is a big mistake. I hate the way in GTA and Assassins Creed, games that should be all about player freedom and experimentation, constantly pressure the player to complete fairly arbitrary tasks in the middle of a mission (hunt 7 leopards! Kill 25 enemies using stealth takedown!), and penalise you at the end for failing to do so. Leave them until NG+ at least, or better yet leave them entirely optional.

Mickeroo · 29-04-2014 04:57PM

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I also think the trend towards tying the percentage to finishing missions a 'specific' way is a big mistake. I hate the way in GTA and Assassins Creed, games that should be all about player freedom and experimentation, constantly pressure the player to complete fairly arbitrary tasks in the middle of a mission (hunt 7 leopards! Kill 25 enemies using stealth takedown!), and penalise you at the end for failing to do so.

Hate hate hate this. The Assassins Creed games, for all their faults, would be much more enjoyable if they ditched that rubbish.

Will I Amnt · 29-04-2014 05:02PM

You have 45% of the game completed, great, not even half way through yet

10 minutes later... End credits :mad:

deathrider · 29-04-2014 05:25PM

It's not something I've ever really enjoyed. In fact, quite the opposite sometimes. Nothing worse than sitting down for your first session with a new game, pumping two hours into it, and it telling you that you're already 25% through. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth as you play through the rest, knowing that it's not going to take long.

Retr0gamer · 29-04-2014 05:42PM

As an indication of how much of a game I've left to play I'll usually take a sneaky look at gamefaqs.

For % doodads and hickery dickerys, I couldn't give a fook.

Skerries · 29-04-2014 09:57PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

As an indication of how much of a game I've left to play I'll usually take a sneaky look at gamefaqs.

For % doodads and hickery dickerys, I couldn't give a fook.

Testify! yeh Gamefaqs just to see how much I have completed and give me a rough idea of the game time that is left to finish

o1s1n · 29-04-2014 10:08PM

Skerries wrote: »

Testify! yeh Gamefaqs just to see how much I have completed and give me a rough idea of the game time that is left to finish

I scroll down the FAQ to the point I'm at and then use the scroll bar on the side of the screen as a visual aid to approximate how far in I am without spoiling anything :pac:

MitchKoobski · 29-04-2014 10:14PM

I would prefer if the game would tell me what segments make what percentage.

Assassin's Creed for example.

It should tell me, you have 50% or say 500 of the feathers collected, and the feathers count for 5% of the total game completion.
Feathers collected so far = 2.5%/5% of Game Complete.

If a bunch of fans can work it out after the game's release, surely they can take two days to put it into the game?

Been playing FFX-2 recently and it has % completion system on display in the area select menu, but it gives no indication as to what makes up the different sections. Some are missions, some are cutscenes. You could miss a cutscene that account for 0.3% and will have to start a NewGame+ to try and find it.

29-04-2014 10:19PM

I miss the way they did it in old Point 'n' click adventure games - but the end was the end then.

moc moc a moc · 29-04-2014 10:40PM

It can be a good thing, if it helps save you from an unpleasantly sudden ending (I'm looking at you, Rage...). In the likes of the GTA games though, it's pretty pointless for people like me who are only interested in the main story part.

30-04-2014 08:04AM

Not so much as 'in-your-face' % indicator but Trials Evolution has introduced challenges.

I simply enjoyed either getting a perfect run on the Bike, or on the more difficult levels using the retry button and completing the track.
Now I'm distracted by the feeling of 'incomplete' due to this addition.

The counter-argument is that it adds further replay value to the tracks, but considering on average I play a track 30 times to get a good time without any fault, depending on said difficulty I cannot bring myself to replay the tracks just for challenges.

I have no interest in playing a track to knock down a bunch of flowers.

Duggy747 · 30-04-2014 09:58AM

Knowing when you're close to the end should be left to the room full of medkits and ammo before you enter the giant room.

ShadowHearth · 30-04-2014 10:05AM

I like it, but a lot of the games make very bad use of it, which more harmful then useful.

I hate when they put progression percentage right in your face. Like the last of us, you see percentage every time you save game. It really destroys immersion. Story games should not have it, point blank.

Diablo 3 has it right though and it suits such game. It has its,own achievements in game. Whole game has 100%, on top of that it is split in different section and each of them have,their own 100% indicators.

Kiith · 30-04-2014 10:13AM

I've no problems with it being included, but as above, it shouldn't be plastered all over the screen when completing missions. Having to do something a certain way to get 100% is completely against the idea's of an open world game.

Have an optional menu, which tells you the % for anyone who likes that kind of thing.

murphyebass · 30-04-2014 10:19AM

Personally I'd like it if it was just the main campaign or story.

eg. I played Lego City Undercover there a few months back and % wise I was only at I cant even remember now but lets say 30% but I had finished the game. I'd love to have known how close I was to the real end without having to look it up on the interwebs. As someone else said I got to the end and it was like what the hell I'm only at 30%!! Very annoying.

Maybe have a % for the side missiony stuff seperately for those who like that stuff or unlike me have time to go through it all.

The problem when its put in as one isnt it.

As for people saying they dont want to know thats fair enough but put it in there somewhere for those of us who would like to see it. The rest of ye can then show a bit of self control. :-)

I'm currently about 8 hours or so in to little kings story and enjoying it I have to say, its really starting to open up.
I've heard its about 25 hours so I'm nearly a third through it if thats the case but that said some people play games faster than others so maybe it'll take me 30 hours so it'd be nice for me to see how far I actually was from the end. For me that would enhance the game as I'd feel I'm getting somewhere, like a book I might play it a few more minutes or hours to get to the next chapter or finish it etc..

With a book I always do that check how far from the end of the chapter to see do I want to continue before going to sleep or plough on through one more or get to the end of the book or whatever.

... as a side note is there a particular website that people use for getting the hours it does take to finish a game? I always end up spending a good 10/15 minutes just googling the answer and finding differing opinions on different sites. Would be nice to have a site that is generally right and I can just throw in the game title and get an idea of the time to complete the main campaign.

Cheers!

ps.. Really interesting thread there OP. I'd never really thought about it that much but I think with certain game types in particular it would help. Probably RPG's in particular it'd be nice.

30-04-2014 10:21AM

Duggy747 wrote: »

Knowing when you're close to the end should be left to the room full of medkits and ammo before you enter the giant room.

So true, you know there's a Boss fight / credits incoming :pac:

johnny_ultimate · 30-04-2014 10:34AM

http://www.howlongtobeat.com/ is good for a general indication, and split into main story and 'completionist' sections.

You don't go into a film or read a book without knowing what type of commitment you're letting yourself in for. Gaming is obviously different since it's more dynamic and fluid in terms of running time, but at the same time it's easy and nice to give an idea of whether you're committing to a weekend or so of play or a hundred hour epic. So knowing there's, say, fifteen 'chapters' left or a certain amount of main missions is IMO welcome.

It's when developers constantly remind me how much busy work I have left or unnecessary tasks to complete that I find it incredibly annoying.

Although it goes without saying that you can't really slap a time indicator on an MMORPG or fighting game!

snausages · 30-04-2014 10:57AM

I guess it's handy if it's a game like DMC or Revengeance where most of the value lies in multiple playthroughs on higher difficulties due to how deep those games go with their combat engines, but annoying in open world type things where gameplay options are fairly limited. I also find it a little deceptive when it's a game like Ground Zeroes, where playing through on normal and hard only gets you 11% of the 'game' completed, but the other 89% is just recycled mission and boring, arbitrary objectives and that kind of ****e. "Look guys, our games offers HOURS of content, don't you see? Don't be so entitled! It's soooo worth it!" :rolleyes:

CiDeRmAn · 30-04-2014 12:42PM

Great, a percentage, so the game can accurately let me know how little I've completed before giving up.

Sarky · 30-04-2014 12:47PM

I'd prefer if they had a "% of actual game completed" meter and a "% of pointless maguffin-collecting padding because we ran out of ideas completed" one.

Hercule · 30-04-2014 12:48PM

It adds to certain games, ruins others - it does not fit well with very story driven games like Ass creed but does fit with sandbox games like Just Cause 2

Varik · 30-04-2014 03:59PM

Only dislike them when they give a false sense of you place in a game's story.

If you're at 30% and think that the game has load more to offer and then you beat the last mission and get 31%, and the rest is all collectables and multilayer.

CastorTroy · 30-04-2014 04:19PM

I remember playing Sands of Time and as if the whole "sure I'll just play to the next save point" wasn't enough, the percentage was for the actual game rather than collectibles so I could start the whole "sure will just play to the next 10%".

But I now usually just look up a walkthrough for number of chapters/sequences

lertsnim · 30-04-2014 04:56PM

I think all games should have them but the player should have an option of seeing them or not. Set it to off as a default.

Should more games have a % completion indicator?

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