Getting a 'better idea' and starting over, frequently

[elgat0verde]

I have been playing Elden Ring and have restarted my character a million trillion times because I am always thinking of new characters and new backstories (all my characters have backstories, this one is the great-granddaughter of Big Hat Logan)

I have realized that I do this a lot with these kinds of games, I start a character and start going well, but then I suddenly snap and have "a better idea that will work better" and restart everything.

Does anyone else do this?

 

[Stuttermabolur]

I don't do this exact thing, but sometimes when playing narrative "choices matter" games, I play two concurrent playthroughs with different choices and save files at the same time, to see more of the story. That way I don't have to worry as much about missing interesting content if I had made a different choice.

 

[Tom]

Very very familiar. Not in games but in the interest areas of my life. For example, I come up with an organization system for a collection, and part way in have ideas how to change ('improve') it. But I have learned that will just occur again and again. So now I try and force myself to pick a system and just stay with it to completion. Once it is completed it tends to be ok enough and functional and more satisfying then the endless series of half completed projects.

 

[Outdated]

I do this a lot with games, a good example is with 0AD. It's a war strategy game similar in style to Age of Empires but much better. It's also free and open source.

https://play0ad.com/
I only play part way in to a game. How well you start in these games is one of the largest deciding factors in the game and so I like perfecting my start. Once I know I would win the game I quit and start a new game, I don't need to complete a game to be satisfied. In fact getting to the end is often an anticlimax.

 

[Slime_Punk]

Unfortunately I do this a lot with life, but one improvement I've actually made in recent years is sticking to my core goals over the long haul and finding the chaos that I thrive on in between.

So, for a videogame reference, maybe this is the equivalent to saving your old characters and revisiting them to see how each of them progress periodically rather than throwing out the old ones for the next shiny object -- maybe create new characters, but continue absorbing the experiences of the old ones? Seems like a win-win.

Plus, your replay value immediately skyrockets -- you'll probably never need to buy another game!