Finally someone who understands...
That advice of "start small and just finish something" has followed me around since I started planning Grass Elemental back in fall 2021. I've always ignored it. GE is essentially my dream game, and I've always wanted to release it as soon as possible. Not knowing anything about coding at all, I dove in and started learning from Day 1 - Developing the game with no experience.
Was it frustrating? At times. Did I care? Hell no.
Looking back, I have learned so much about Gamemaker's language (GML), and I have an excellent base for if I want to learn other languages. I went from getting a square moving on a black screen to a several minute long RPG with two turn-based battle systems so far, semi-unconventional mechanics, multiple choices to alter those battle systems, etc. And I've had a blast making it.
Now I wouldn't say "start small" is bad advice... It's just good advice for people who don't know what they're doing. For those who don't mind waiting years and years to start developing their "dream game", or just their ultimate goal as an artist. It's really hard to find reliable people, to fully play and review a multi-hour long video game (I'll need people like that someday T-T), and to help provide strengths where we have weaknesses.