It's much more painful if the game has a long drawn out intro. I started playing Skyrim again a couple weeks ago after not playing for six months. I got seven characters up to about 5-10 level before starting over again and again. I'm trying to stick with the one I have now. The problem I'm having is after playing and retiring 40+ characters there isn't a lot I haven't already done in Skyrim. Trying to come up with something original is causing the restartitis.

Granted initially it was really stupid things. When I first started playing Skyrim I would find that I didn't like the character's skin tone or shape of their nose from the side and I'd restart. Now with mods and console commands known those things are not issues anymore.

With FO4 I imagine that most restartitis will initially be the same, especially with the 'pull and drag' face sculpting. Honestly I may just use the default character until some decent game saves files are up on Nexus. I'm not that creative ... but have very high standards.

Once I get past the character looks restartitis, it will be the SPECIAL scores not being what I needed causing the problem. I'm sure that will be figured out with some trial and error and eventually every character I make will be exactly the same ... sigh.

Skyrim, I've probably started roughly 50-60 characters. I've only carried about 5 through to finish the MQ and the Dawnguard quests. So far, I have not been able to finish Dragonborn. I like Solsteim, but I am not really a fan of the story or rather, I like the creepy constant building of the monuments that people do when they should be sleeping. It gives a total "I don't belong here" vibe. I don't want that to end.

I expect for Fallout 4 that I am going to keep a copy of my first real success at character generation completely mod free. That way, as mods roll in, I can try them out and keep my character. Aside from that, it really depends on the replay value. If it's like Skyrim, where I personally found great fun in starting characters just to run through the first 10-15 character levels, it might well be another 50-60+ restart game.

Console Commands are not a total cure for me, but they sure help.

Same here.

I thought this discussion was going to be about a different type of restart-itis. Like throw a grenade...off target, reload previous save throw grenade...off target again, reload previous save throw grenade on target...save game. I suppose that would be called reload-itis come to think of it lol.

we got a problem. The first step to recovering is admitting you have a problem.

I don't have this problem, really.
So long as the game has reply value, I will do things differently in another playthrough. And if it doesn't have replay value, it probably wasn't that important that I get that thing I missed, or that one guy got killed.

To each their own, though. Good luck and god speed in recovering from your affliction.

This is something I have a major problem with, myself. I'll restart games so many times that often I'll lose interest before even finishing them.

It's kind of a perfectionist thing, for me. I won't do anything differently when I restart - even specifically doing a lot of things exactly the same. (I'm on at least my tenth vault in that Fallout Shelter game, for instance.)

This wouldn't be a problem, but my most memorable and fun times I've had with games have been when I have been able to just play straight through. A lot of times I'll even keep the original save, telling myself I'll come back to it at some point, but I never do.

I've never ended up feeling my experience was bolstered by restarting all the time.

This time out I'm really going to try to just let go. I'm trying to have a solid (but flexible) character concept by the time I start - something not so detailed I can't fill in blanks as the game progresses but with enough foundation I won't be changing my mind about things halfway in.

I really hope I can just play straight through one character at a time with this one - I always just have more fun when I'm not always back-tracking, and dialogs can get boring when you've played them through exactly the same dozens of times.

5 times? I only do any quest once, unless it unlocks something I need for the RP.

Other than that, it's really rare for my characters to touch big quest. I've done Skyrim's MQ and DLC a total of one time. But I spend several hundred hours in Solstheim when RPing as a Skaal.

Although, I honestly just Ad Lib my roleplaying, I never plan anything, not even the character aside from the looks and the most bare bones of a backstory, everything comes in place as I play. That's why I don't do "builds" I don't see a character as a build, and just like a person preferences change, there's nothing stopping my pistol slinging guy from picking up a minigun.

It also takes a while to get the spark, some characters simply never get the spark and are forgotten.

I haven't had a case of Restartitis since Morrowind, with only a minor flair-up in Oblivion, but the rash has diminished since then.

I force myself to run with my first made character. Even if the build isn't what I'm going for, I remind myself that there is no wrong way to play these games, and that I should just run the course I've set for myself, and see where it leads me.

I like playing lots of different characters. I also tend to enjoy the early game scrabbling and surviving more than endgame loot-fests, so that's probably part of it. I'll probably have dozens of characters that never make it to level 20.

Save Scumming is not Restartitis.

Always have that problem..I usually do it over and over during character creation. I have a perfectionist attitude when it comes to sculpting my characters face i guess. If I can get past the prologue/tutorial area without starting over I'm usually golden.. the problem is making it that far. For a lot of games it comes down to being satisfied with my face and or.. just being so sick of doing the prologue that I say "fudge it" and move on.

I'm hoping this character creation will be a bit different. In this one we have a reference face to look at. In lots of games, I think I make a good face but then it looks goofy compared to the other characters faces in the game.. I end up doing it too cartoony or over/under exaggerated. With another face as the starting reference we'll be able to tell if our eyes are way too big, too small.. too far apart, If our ears or nose are too big or small. I think it'll really help a lot.

I've never had this problem. It's kind of hard to screw up a character in a BGS game early on, unless you just don't like how you distributed your attribute points. As far as layer in the experience, I like to live with the choices I've made. The point of a BGS game is to not make the "perfect" character, but the one you found to be perfect for you at the time. It's okay to make mistakes and I think that adds character and more enjoyment to the game. If you are just constantly starting over and making new characters then I don't believe you'll ever truly be satisfied. You may as well just use console commands and build your super perfect character that way if you are that much of a perfectionist.

Nice to see I am not alone. Maybe we should make a pledge and say we won't do it for Fallout 4. For me that would be something different.

Anyone with me with restartitis, will not do it for Fallout 4?

I've always had this issue with Bethesda games where I create a character and once I make a bad choice or die, I feel obligated to start over as the same character. I can play through Dragon Age and Mass Effect with one single character and no desire to restart. But Bethesda games are just different for me. They are my absolute favorite. With Fallout 4 I also plan to start one character and finish the entire game through. No restarts and no redos of the same character. Anything that happens will be part of their story.

I think another factor that influences my decision to restart with mods. I love mods but they definitely take over and frustrate me. I'm going to be very careful about what I install and hopefully by the time mods are released, I'll already have many hours into my main character. I'll then install and test mods on a new character before I load any game breaking mods on my main.

I don't think I've made more than 2 characters in Fallout. They are usually very slow-starting that The second time I typically know how to speed through the process, if possible. I hope Fallout 4 is not as Slow starting, but it looks like with the addition of full voice acting, It's going to be slower than Fallout 3, but hopefully, not as bad as New Vegas was. I actually preferred the risk of Deathclaws in that foot-dragging snore-fest of a First Act.