Replaying Old/Beaten Single Player Games - Your Experiences & Reasonings

I dunno. Now that I look back at it all, the only reason I replayed games, as a kid, is because it was the only free entertainment aspect I had on weekends aside from TV, books, and the VHS/random music player. I also couldn't buy anything nor go hang out with friends without my folks' permission. So the gist of it is that I basically made the most of what I had. My circle of entertainment was constrained and, as a kid, you think that's all there is to life's joys. This is probably the reason why I like the Legacy board's discussion(s) and barely skim on the rest. (And yeah, I wasn't allowed to game on weekdays til freshman highschool).

As I grew older, my social freedom and spending options grew. So now I sell any current gen game I beat. I've never replayed a single player game in the past 7 years or so if not longer than that. I don't even feel achievement. I just play to pass the time. Enjoy the story. And the only reason I don't sell anything from the past gen games is because I either own them from long ago or there's no market demand for it at the moment. I'd sell those too if I could lol. I'd rather play a different game or read a book. And that's assuming hanging out with friends is not a viable option at that moment (it happens alot during weekends).

So that's how my practice on single player game replaying evolved (Or, to put it in a better way, went extinct). What's your experience? What drives you to replay a game? Reading posts on how people around my age replay a game over and over again has really gotten me curious. It's the same experience story-wise and even as a kid I wished I could format my memory of it to really enjoy it aside from wasting time. I personally don't get it. Kindly enlighten me.

Sometimes the game itself is just fun to play.

I've completed the God of War's several times and know how the story goes rather well now, but that doesn't put me off as the swordy slashy gameplay is more fun than other swordy slashy types. It's nice to try something new, but story is never important enough to force me to endure a poor game.

Another example are the Ratchet and Clank games. I'd rather replay those a few times than find out what happens next in Haven (which is a bloomin awful game). I replay 'Beyond Good and Evil' once every couple of years too because i enjoy playing it, again i know how the story goes but the game itself is cute and well thought-out and it's a pleasure to go back to that world.

On the flipside, i replay 'Shadow of the Colossus' because of that bit halfway through when it starts playing with your psyche, and experiencing that again. Why? Because there are other games (probably) that toy with your morality, but none do it as effectively as SotC. So i replay it.

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I guess it really depends on why you play games. Do you play to pass the time, to be told a story, or to enjoy the interactive experience?

Books tend to do the middle thing far better than games, and they're cheaper too!

I replay the KOTOR and Mass Effect games a few times a year because they're so awesome.

I have a very strange habit of rebuying older games i've completed and replaying them. Don't know why.

I've got a lot of catch up to do on my library so I never really replay anything I've played recently but that is mostly a time issue. I do replay stuff I loved as a kid and haven't played for ten or fifteen years though. Games become practically new again if you wait long enough to replay them.

Several years ago I started replaying games on a much more regular basis. Some games I would beat, then start a new file almost immerdiately after. Alot of time it would be on a higher difficulty. Now I generally don't bother with any difficulty but normal.most newer games I avoid replaying for long periods of time (by my standards) but that's in part due to not enjoying most newer games a great deal. For example I played through Mass Effect 2 5 times fully in around 1 year. By the time I've had ME3 for a full year I'll probably have only played through the campaign twice fully and two incomplete playthoughs around the half way mark.

If a game has incentive to play through more then once then I'll probably go back to it (infamous, mass effect) sooner then a game that doesn't.

There are a couple series that I replay alot but over the past couple years, I've been increasing the time between playthroughs. I used to replay multiple games in a series back to back but now I add plenty of time between some of them or skip out on a certain game in the series.

There are some games I haven't grown tired of replaying like God of War 3 and Ratchet GC, UYA and deadlocked and I intend to continue replaying them for a long time. I'll probably do the same for ascension when it comes out.

So the general trend is I'm replaying fewer games and doing it less often. Mostly because I don't enjoy it as much

i replay games if they are worth replaying. any game i play more than once means its a good game for me.

I still love to play the first Sonic trilogy, once in a while. It's impressive how, gameplay wise, no other Sonic game ever came close. Played Streets of Rage 2 a few months ago, and the game is still as good as i remember!

If it's a game I know I won't want to be replaying, I'll sell it, but I like going back and beating games that I really enjoyed. It helps me save money and not feel tempted to buy new games, because being in college doesn't lend to having a ton of spending money :P

I don't replay a lot of my games and usually wait a while until I do. I just like experiencing new games and playing a good variety.

This past year though, I did come back to Pokemon Red and played with a team I've never used before and also came back to F-Zero GX because that's one of my favorite games of all-time and I've only beaten all of the chapters on hard and one on very hard.