Games

Bully

Little Kitty Big City, the superior cat game

Factorio

I had a ton of fun 100%ing Super Mario Odyssey. There's a big amount of post-game content and a good amount of variety in exploring the different levels. Some of the moons need a guide though since they can be reallt vague.

Why? The padding is there for those with the stomach for it, but you can just… play a new game once you’ve stopped having fun?

Sekiro

Pokemon Uranium. The (in)famous(?) banned fan game that is still being developed. Minus a couple pokemon, it follows the Black and White philosophy of having no returning pokemon.

I've played through the game multiple times, beating the final fight for the main story and calling it there, without hating myself or the game.

Hell, I've even gone through the trouble of completing the pokedex once and struggled to find an early route bird for the last two entries I needed. Pokedex for that game can be hard because when it comes to 2 of the pokemon, you can only get one per save and must online trade to get the counterpart and 1 line is a trade evolution with no in game trades for it or trade evo items. Obviously starters require online trade, too.

Only problem I have with it is the fact I'm still waiting for the rest of the post game to be developed and released so I can hopefully get the unreleased legendaries you can find on the fandom wiki.

I burned myself out of many a game as a kid attempting (and usually succeeding at) 100% them, so I learned my lesson. Nowadays I just play for fun and maybe go after the platinum if I liked the game enough. My time has value and I'm not going to squander it to "look at the minimap, go to waypoint/marked location, collect random collectible, rinse and repeat for 10-15 hours", nor am I spending dozens of hours grinding some random activity.

For example, I did almost 100% all Yakuza Kiwami. Did all side quests and enjoyed most of the random activities! Iirc those I had most trouble with were karaoke and billiards, but I still had tons of fun learning them and gradually getting better at them. But fuck me I'm NOT going to grind the coliseum for hours just to buy random weapons that I don't need but are arbitrarily required for the 100% completion.

I've also learned not to rush it. I frequently replay games that I like, so if I miss an achievement, that's fine. Maybe in five years I'll pick the game up again and grab the random achievement I missed the first time around. There's no need to sweat it, no need to read guides before/while playing the game and potentially spoiling me some major story events, and no need to immediately replay the game just to reach that random achievement.

That being said, the game I had the most fun with was CrossCode. Movement is fluid, combat is snappy, story and characters are fun and puzzles are actually challenging. It's the most charming experience I've ever had playing a game, and it's why it immediately jumped straight into my top favourite games ever. There is technically a "completionist list" within the game with some abdurd and missable requests, but it's not required to 100% the game and it's basically just a pile of challenges that you can tackle on if you feel like it. If you don't, you can just play the story, do the side quests and collect all the treasures, which is a lot of fun. The platinum only requires you to beat the story iirc, so you don't even need to do any of that; I did it because I liked the game and wanted to do it. Twice! I bought the game on PC and console and 100% it both times.

Most other games that I enjoy completing are platformers/collect-a-thons, such as Spyro, Crash (except Crash 1, never managed to finish it, but had tons of fun nevertheless), Ori, Celeste, PS1 Oddworld games, etc... and metroidvanias, if they are not overly long (basically every one I've played except for Hollow Knight).

The longest run I had was Final Fantasy XIII. I liked the game so much that I kept going back to it over the years, slowly chipping at the side content and grinding my way to max level. I got the platinum almost ten years after starting my save file, and I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much if I attempted to rush it all in one sitting.

Kotor.

MGS 1,2,3,4 and MGR:R

I've 100% Kingdom Come: Deliverance three times back to back if that tells you anything. Red Dead Redemption 2 is also up there.

City Skylines

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring and most other soulslikes.

Other games are unbearable to try 100%, for example: Cities Skylines where you have to wait for a generated special natural disaster that may or may not appear after X hours in your current savegame.

Subnautica. It's not long but I enjoyed every minute of it. And the requirements for a 'perfect game' on steam aren't too difficult.

We didn't 100% yet, but we did just beat Super Mario Wonder. It's a lot of fun if you like the side scrollers.

Umineko VN.

It has about 100+ playtime and excellent story. The anime sucks ass though.

Golf With Your Friends

I got 100% on Final Fantasy X-II. Don't. Just don't.

Kirby nightmare in Dreamland