What's the longest break you've taken from a game/tv series/whatever before going back and finishing it?

[ChefGuevara]

Best record I know of is my cousin who first played Paper Mario TTYD at age 10, and is on track to finally finish it at age 22 (he couldn't beat the final boss when we were kids)

For me...it's been about 2 years since I started watching Durarara

[Junkhead]

3 minutes ago, ChefGuevara said:

Best record I know of is my cousin who first played Paper Mario TTYD at age 10, and is on track to finally finish it at age 22 (he couldn't beat the final boss when we were kids)

No contest, dude.

 

For whatever it's worth, there's a manga I got all the way up to the final chapter...but I stopped there. Could never finish it, beyond that.

If I take so long a break, I just tend to reset things (like I'm doing with the manga right now) and probably even more-so with games.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

That's a good question. I first played The Legend of Zelda and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link at about age 10 but didn't come back to it until about 18 or 19. But I did both with the aid of a guide because part of being an adult is not fucking around. Or at least I assume that's the joke justification I'd give back then. Mega Man 1 is a similar story, I didn't beat that one until I saw somebody use the pause glitch on youtube for the Yellow Devil fight. That boss definitely deserves to be cheesed, but I feel like I could beat him fairly with enough practice. It's just recognizing a pattern and then mentally reversing it. 

[Jotari]

I think for it to count you need to play the same save file. Like I probably first played the original Super Mario Bros when I was four or five, but I never actually managed to finish it until I was 16, but I wouldn't say it took me over ten years to finish it. Over ten years to beat it maybe, but not finish. When I did beat it, I finished it in like half an hour. Taking that into account, it took me about two years to playthrough Chrono Cross, because that game simply wasn't doing much for me.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Jotari

[Slumber]

Does something like Arrested Development, where there have been YEARS between seasons, count?

Oh, it took me probably 10 years to finish Final Fantasy XII.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Slumber

[Interdimensional Observer]

I can't recall exactly, because I have such a tendency to drop games unfinished.

Probably right now it is Skyward Sword, dropped it at one point b/c Silent Realms, and then I dropped it again when I saw I had to fight the Imprisoned One a third time- UGH! The I failed several times during the second fight.

Twilight Princess I did eventually finish, but I dropped it for years b/c surviving childhood Redead fears.

Did take a prolonged break with Spirit Tracks for some reason, right before the Dark Realm.

Actually, it isn't Skyward that is that game, I, in probably what has been over a decade, never finished Wind Waker, largely because Ghost Ship fears- the Triforce of Courage is poison to me, I'm that much of an irrational coward.

I did finish OoT 3DS, but not the Master Quest. Dropped before Bottom of the Well.

Adventure of Link- dropped at penultimate palace.

Triforce Heroes was dropped b/c The Lady on solo is a no go.

New Super Mario Bros: all of them save NSMB2 I've dropped somewhere along the way, typically in World 8, around the penultimate level in two of the games I think.

SMB3, at Pipe Land for some reason.

Final Fantasy Tactics- Classic Valassic! THIS THING IS SLOW! FE is so much faster. That, and despite being supposedly not a hard game, my guys were constantly dropping like flies in Part 1.

Breath of Fire IV, got it cheap on sale, it wasn't doing too much for me. Made it the forest where the tracks gradually fade away and you have to follow them before they do, that was annoying.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, not bad, I'm just in the midst of IV: Apocalypse at the moment. That and I dislike the fusion mechanics in this game.

Tales of Phantasia- memory wipe on GBA cartridge before the final dungeon.

FFVII was dropped before the Golden Saucer for months because school.

Rune Factories 2, 3, and Tides of Destiny. Dropped sometime into the 2nd Gen, before fighting the Fall boss, and before the ultimate dungeon.

 

 

There are certainly even more games I'm presently forgetting.

And this all goes back to Tales of Symphonia, where I went years without fighting the final boss for some reason.

[Yula]

Donkey Kong Country, our SNES broke when I was six, I didn't beat it til I was 26.

[Heruseus]

The Legend of Zelda. Been playing it for 6 years, and I'm still not done.

[Light Strategist]

Bayonetta 1. I got stuck on something and just stopped playing for ages with the intention of going back and doing it after I recovered from that buildup of aggression. I came back after about 5-7 years and cleared it. THEN I proceeded to forget I did that and loaded the file fully prepared to deal with what I was stuck on but didn't have to. I was confused for about 2 weeks.

Now I at least know I've finished it. XD 

[ChefGuevara]

Oops I have an addendum to make, I forgot about a better one

I first played Majora's Mask on N64 when I was like 5, but then hid the cartridge from myself because the game scared me (I was a bright kid, I know)

But then when I was like...13-ish, I got the GameCube version and finished that

[XRay]

For me, it is probably Kurokami. I think I watched it about half way through in high school before being sick of how boring it is. I think I finished it when I moved back to California some time last year in the fall/winter when I was unemployed for a couple of months.

[henrymidfields]

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: Started back in 1995, cleared the entire game in 1998.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Started back in 2006, but only went past the very first dungeon. I couldn't get through the game as it was a friend's copy. Bought myself the 3DS remake and finished in 2016.

Still counting the hiatus time period:
Pokemon Sun: Started in April this year, but dropped in favour of Persona 4 Golden. Currently not interested in returning to.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE: Played part of the first chapter at a friend's house in a friend's copy in Oct 2017. Would like to finish it at some stage.

[Jingle Jangle]

Not really a break for me, but I have waited 8 years to finish Samurai Jack due to the series went on hiatus. 

[Zkitty8]

I tend to do this a lot with games where I take a break for years before going back to it, and then play it obsessively for a few days.

I got Pokemon Conquest not too long after it came out but didn't finish the main story until last month, so it took 6 years. I still haven't done the post-game stuff because there's so much of it.

I also beat Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow recently after getting stuck on the puppet master boss like 5 or 6 years ago (it's not even that hard I was just using bad souls for that fight) and then I even beat it again in Julius mode.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time is probably the longest if you count beating the post game, because I didn't beat Darkrai until a few months ago. I took a long break after getting stuck on the fight with Wigglytuff and the rest of the guild. And when I would go back to the game, I kept doing missions and stocking up on items instead of trying to beat the main story.