Okay the title is hard to understand what I am trying to get at,

How long can you not play a game and then continue your file and still feel emersed in the story?

For example if I have started a Final Fantasy game and lets say I stop playing half way through the game, and then decide to play it again 4 months later, I have to start again, If I'm not playing the game in one straight I lose the feel easily.

6 weeks is about the maximum gap I can have before feeling to distant from the game to continue,

Some of my mates can pick up an RPG file after not playing it for over a year and be fine with that, not me.

I never feel attached to games, even in-depth RPGs or fantasy worlds. I appreciate the graphics, music, gameplay, humour (when available) and rewards, but never the story.

Therefore, I can continue the save file from whenever I like with the same feeling.

I enjoy games with little or no story. They still have to have depth (not puzzle games), but Super Mario 64 was a great example of that.

It depends on the game.  For something like an RPG, I'm with you, I have to start all over if it's been more than several weeks.  That kept me from finishing FFV for years until I got it for GBA.

There are also some games where short-term memory plays a big role.  I got a third through Metroid Prime 2 when it first came out, and then Life(tm) distracted me for a while.  I tried to pick it back up again, but I had no idea where I was in the game world.  The hint system is helpful, but there are so many other things to remember besides the location of your immediate goal.  I had to start that game over as well.

I don't like to leave it more than a couple of weeks if it's something like an rpg. I've never played through ff8 fully, I have a file on the 4th disc from 2 years ago but I got distracted by work and never completed it.

I'll probably get around to it sometime although I do like to feel immersed in the story so I might play around just talking to npc's for a while just to remember where I am. I wouldn't say I'm ever really attached to a story but I've never understood the point of playing an rpg if you pay it no attention, I had a friend who would just mash the button through the text on ff7, it always seemed to me like watching a film and just fast forwarding to the action.

@Sham: I too know someone who just mash's through FF just to get to fights, that's just plain boring!! I too find work to be my biggest distraction.

@Entroper: I know what you mean, luckily MP and other games alike don't last as long as an RPG like FF, giving it more if a chance to finish it.

@Game_boy: I find it weird you get attached to Quote=*In-depth* RPG's yet claim you care nothing for stories.

I haven't finished FF8 nor Twilight Princess because of this level of what you could say work interference or procrastination.

It's usually around 2 weeks for me, any longer than that and I have to start again, it's the same with watching multiple-part tv programmes and reading.

On the point of what distracts you from a game, I don't know whether this is true of anyone else but I find I can actually get distracted from completing a game by the game itself.

I mean, on a game such as one of the Final Fantasy series, before I go into the last area where the final showdown takes place, I take some time to complete sidequests, get armour and weapons, maybe level up a bit. After a while I get a bit bored by this, some sidequests get rather dull, especially the collect x number of objects, and put the game down for a bit and end up forgetting about it.

I like to complete the game fully but sometimes it's just a bit boring doing that.

Exactly, good point.

Perfect example for me is FF XII, I got up to the last boss, but before fighting I went around finishing all the quests and I got bored doing so and gave up on the game as a whole.

I would say maximum 2 weeks... actually, it happens very often to me because as a PC gamer, I get lots and lots of games, and usually I only finish the masterpieces, or a game that really sucks me in.

Dam not even a week 2 days or so.