1. Playing Guitar
2. Computer Programming/Software Development
3. PC Gaming
All three of these are time consuming hobbies, which unfortunately means that I don't have a whole lot of time to devote to gaming during the average work week. This became all too obvious to me after I beat Bioshock two days ago. I began playing Bioshock on 3/2/2008 and finished it on 7/23/2008. It took me nearly 5 months to make it through a 40 hour game. Oddly enough, I plowed through the 2nd 20 hours of the game over the span of three days this week. I'm currently on a two week staycation at the moment so I have a lot of extra time to burn on video games.
Since I had finally finished Bioshock, I began looking for the game that I would tackle next. Finding a game to play from my current collection is not a difficult task. Apparently over the years I've become very good at buying games and either never playing them or never finishing them for various reasons.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I offer to you my unfinished PC game wall of shame:
From left-to-right and row-by-row starting at the top:
Oblivion/Shivering Isles/Knights of the Nine
I began playing this but quit early on because my previous computer was not quite beefy enough.
Call of Cthulu: The Dark Corners of the Earth
I made it about halfway through this. My save games were lost in a hard drive crash.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
I recently found this in the bargain bin for $10. However, I'm not really sure I want to play all the way through Diablo II again to get to the expansion material.
The Orange Box (Half Life 2 + Episodes 1 & 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal)
I have not played this yet except for taking a quick peak at Portal. I should note that I have not played Half Life 2 before either.
The Witcher
I made it through the first couple chapters of the game, but I immediately quit playing when I heard about the enhanced edition patch that is due out in September.
Unreal Tournament III
I'll be frank. I think the single player campaign is laughable. I quit after about 5 missions.
Unreal II
My PC was a little too weak when I originally tried this one.
Neverwinter Knights
The single player campaign was pretty bad. I quit about 20 hours into it.
Fallout 1/2/Tactics
I just bought this recently and I have not started it yet.
Wheel of Time
My PC was too wimpy when it came out.
Deus Ex
I don't remember why I never finished this one. I remember liking it quite a bit.
Vampire the Masquerade
I think I ran into a show stopper bug, but my memory is a little foggy here.
Doom 3
PC was too wimpy.
Morrowind/Tribunal/Bloodmoon
PC was too wimpy.
Thief
This came with a video card. I have never given it a fair shake.
Baldur's Gate/Tales of the Sword Coast
I never finished this game due to a really stupid blunder on my part. I spent roughly 200 hours playing Baldur's Gate. I purchased the expansion when I was in the last battle of the game. I installed the expansion without backing up my saves. Unfortunately, the expansion just adds some more material to the original story line and raises the difficulty of the last battle quite a bit because they expect that your party will be at a higher level due to the expansion. Unfortunately where my saves were, I could not exit the final battle to go get more experience. Therefore I was trapped in an impossible battle.
Rune
I lost my save games in a hard drive crash.
So the question becomes: what should I play next? I'm leaning towards Oblivion.
