Topic: Is 100% Completion Really that Important?

The original poster of this topic has now deleted their account. Because the topic had 50 or more replies it has been adopted by the default site profile.

I pretty much never 100% games. If it stops being fun, why bother?

For me, it depends on the game...

I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of getting every star in Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy - the devs clearly threw in a couple of fiendishly difficult levels to really test the skills of those seeking to extend the end game & I don't think my enjoyment dipped at any point ..and it feels great to know that you've managed to collect every star, solve every puzzle and defeat every boss in the game!

Red Dead Redemption was a whole lot of fun to 100% too...it was just difficult enough to feel challenging, but always felt attainable - and it meant spending more time in the gorgeous world they created, which was fine by me! ...and it felt fun, enjoyable and varied from start to finish

..but I'm not a 100% chaser - if it seems like a reasonable challenge that extends my time with a game that I'm enjoying, I'll go for it - but if it seems like it'd be a bit of a chore, I don't bother!

@FriedSquid Very good PR speak.

Also, 100% is important in games where it's important. In the Metroid Prime Trilogy 100%ing is the 'correct' way to play because you see all of the story that way. Corruption even had some optional bosses behind some of its locked doors. Breath of the Wild just isn't designed to make all of its content worthwhile. It's disposable, go play other Zelda games if you want the 100% experience. Majora's Mask makes the most sense to complete, though every Zelda game has late game trinkets.

Depends on what you get out of it...

If it doesn't give me anything worthwhile then I don't care. It's really all meaningless otherwise.

If you enjoy completing a game, then go for it. But you shouldn't play a certain way just because you're pressured to do so.

This. I rarely 100% games anymore unless I really enjoy what I'm playing. I do try to fully complete Zelda games, but I'll be breaking that rule when I get to BotW (maybe with Tri Force Heroes due to the nature of that game). As fun as it looks, I don't want to go crazy trying to find all the Korok seeds just to get a unique "reward".

I used to be quite a completionist. Unfortunately my time is more limited than it used to be, so I had to start picking and choosing my completion battles. XD

Whether 100% really matters just depends on the game. For some games, every bit of content is especially good and the markers for determining 100% completion just ensure that you experience that content. Other games just have an abundant amount of content for you to enjoy whenever you find it, but it's just there to provide motivation to go certain places or do certain things. You want to experience that content, but not necessarily every scrap of it. There are so many Korok Seeds in Breath of the Wild so that you'll be able to find them consistently enough. There's a huge amount of world to explore, so they put them everywhere just to ensure you were looking for them and finding them consistently enough. After the third "put this rock in the missing spot of this circle" puzzle though, it was already pretty bland. They just wanted to let everyone experience that at least once though.

I pretty much play untill the game isn't fun for me anymore. With that said I will at least finish the main story of a game, but side quests and trophies if I am still enjoying them. However I may jump to another game and come back to said game later to finish side quests and such but that's mainly cause how many games I have.

I'd say it depends on the game. Games like BotW it's pointless as your reward absolutely terrible, whereas other games like the Metroid Prime games it is important as the 100% ending gives you more story details.

Of course outside Nintendo games there's another factor, namely achievements/trophies where you get into bigger debates about what does 100% completion actually mean. Does it mean maximum percentage on the stats or file select screen or does it mean that you have the platinum trophy or all the achievements which generally means doing much more than maximum percentage.

I think it's worth it if I can achieve 100% without noticing it... Like, I'm so entertained and enthralled by the game that I end up doing everything there's to do without having to stop and say to myself "ugh I'm missing something" every three steps.

@FriedSquid Lol, I completely forgot that he said that during the stream. Who knew Reggie's influence was so powerful that I would practically start quoting him on stuff that I didn't even know he said.

If in still enjoying the game and wanting to play more of it, then I'll often try for the 100%.

Yes. You must complete games 100% or you are not a true gamer. Even if its not fun and a pain in the neck you must do it. Gaming is a duty not a pastime.

I don't think so, only last year i was playing on Super Mario World (SNES, well was playing it on new 3DS) which i thought i had completed on SNES a hundred times, then i found a new ending in the last ghost house. Only then did i get the 96*, then i found out that was true 100% complete. But only through the internet.
I have fun playing games and try to 100% but after a while i just get bored and sometimes don't even finish the game, to be honest i don't think i ever actually finished Twilight Princess on the Wii, as i was always trying to find all the Poes, until i got the HD version on the Wii U only last year and finally completed it. All becuase of trying to get 100%.
Sometimes when it sucks the fun out of playing, don't bother.

@Snaplocket Absolutely!

I remember Mario Galaxy fondly - getting to Bowser was, as you say, relatively straightforward - and defeating him was satisfying enough to be a good end point for your average, more casual gamer...for those looking for a little extra through, you could play through the remaining unique and interesting levels (not too many so as to feel unattainable, but just enough to feel worthwhile) - and there were a handful thrown in to really test your skills! ..more than enough to satisfy the more 'hardcore' gamer! ..so everyone who put a good number of hours in to the game would leave it feeling satisfied - which is great game design I think!

The 'Luigi's Purple Coins' level (below), in particular, gave me a lot of trouble! ..after passing it, I felt like I'd well and truly mastered the game! ..but, if I wasn't that way inclined and decided instead that I'd just play until I beat Bowser, picking the challenges I wanted along the way, I think I'd have felt equally as satisfied - it had a great balance that way

...I was never really tempted to replay the whole game again as Luigi though - so I guess I can only truly say that I 50%'d the game!

@FriedSquid
lol
i do full completion for all the castlevania/metroidvania/igavania/hemorrhoidvania games.
i go out of my way for at least full castle completion

I'm reminded of a Miiverse post by someone who really seemed to have tortured themselves for the sake of getting a gold badge in New Leaf. Obviously this person has the wrong attitude, but I'm also ambivalent about the badges being in the game in the first place. Sure, a player's behaviour is first and foremost their own problem, but I do think developers should try to avoid having features that encourage that sort of thing too much. (Plus, it just kinda seems contrary to the "do whatever" spirit of Animal Crossing.)

I'm actually not a huge fan of the "easy main quest, hard sidequests" school of game design. I'd rather just have difficulty settings so everyone can have their preferred level of challenge the whole way through. (I do of course mean well-implemented difficulty settings of the sort that do things like adding extra enemies, rather than just changing stats.) Nintendo generally doesn't seem to agree with me, though.