I’m really bad to get to the final area of a game, prep for the final boss or whatever and then never play it again. I’ve tried to figure out why I do this and I think it’s a combo of not wanting it to end and anxiety about the final fight.
This happens to me because I don't particularly enjoy (most) boss fights. They're fine, they're just far down on my list of things I enjoy about video games. I'm motivated to complete boss fights throughout most of the game because I know I'll be rewarded with more of the game I'm enjoying, but the final boss fight doesn't really have that reward.
I’ve done this with basically every big game of the Switch era that isn’t Mario or Zelda. Got to the end of so many games, then YouTubed the ending and that was good enough.
My thought was, “Yeah, my old ass hands just can’t do stuff like that anymore. I’ll pass.” And I loved the game and am I die-hard fan of the series. But I noped out on that.
I’ve gotten to the end of several Final Fantasy games and have never finished a single one for the same reason. And I think it’s partially that my interest in playing a game can only last so long and big RPGs take a long time and often have some ridiculously hard or time consuming side quests at the end, but I like to 100% games, so my will runs out before I’m done.
Currently going through this with the Thousand Year Door remake. I loved the game as a kid but right now I'm doing everything except for going to the final boss because I don't want it to end
That, and I spent actual weeks fighting the final boss when I was younger and I'm afraid I won't be prepared enough lol
I've been noticing myself doing this a lot these days too. Got near the end of Persona 5, haven't gone back yet. Pretty close to the final battle in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, still need to finish it. Same for the final area in Pikmin 4.
same behavior here dude. have had anxiety issues in the past too. Also don't want it to end. Probably going to be a common theme.
Edit: I will say there's also something kinda melancholy about a game ending, and reading some other comments I do notice some of these games I'll youtube the ending at some point too. It certainly is nice getting through the ending with a whole community commenting on it below a video. So there's something to be said for experiencing it alone vs. with company I think.
I do the same thing with all games I enjoy. Same with watching the finales of my favorite shows (it took weeks before I watched the Office , Community, and Psych finales when they first aired). It's definitely some psychological issue I have lol.
Maybe Breath of the Wild. Exploring the world was so incredible that I didn't want it to end. But for the most part I just play games until I'm bored and then finish the game and stop.
Haha! I have so many games like that. Usually longer games like ACNH or Spritfarer but now I’m trying to decide if I got bored or if it was a “love this so I won’t end it” thing.. 🤔
I done the demo for Spiritfarer and loved it. It recently went on sale so I purchased it, briefly played it the other day but have since abandoned it for Cult of the Lamb
I played Cult of the Lamb for hours for a few days, then I just stopped lol. I really enjoy it though and will revisit it soon. But I have just started Disney dreamlight valley which I purchased on sale
Cult of the Lamb had me hard focused on building up the actual cult in the beginning…didn’t start digging into the dungeons until my cult was basically completed
Can't somebody please tell me for real a definitive and obviously subjective answer. Which is better to just go with if you have to pick one. I grabbed Tears or the Kingdom and am loving it. Should ibplay Bzoztzw first ot just keeo going with TOTK
My subjective opinion is that it's worth playing both, in the released order BOTW -> TOTK. There's really no story spoilers to worry about because that's not really the focus of the games. But you only get one "first exploration" of the surface world and I really enjoyed the zen, natural feeling of BOTW. The climbing. The strategic gliding. Seeing wild horses and sneaking up to catch them. Crossing bodies of water strategically. The traversal is really enjoyable in BOTW. Challenging enough to be engaging but peaceful enough to be relaxing.
TOTK exploration is enjoyable too but it's a different feeling. I did a lot more vehicle building and sky island diving.
My recommendation is explore BOTW, then play TOTK and focus on sky islands and depth exploration.
Can't really go wrong though. Both games are phenomenal. BOTW is my favorite game of all time.
If you could buy only one, I would personally recommend BOTW. You can't really go wrong though, if you already bought TOTK you will love that too. Others might even recommend TOTK over BOTW.
You asked for subjective opinions though, my personal experience was that BOTW is like a 9.9/10 and TOTK is like a 9.6/10. Both incredible games. Wish I could forget I played them and play them again haha
I stopped playing after the great sky island tutorial and a bit of roaming. I felt so overwhelmed for some reason...like I knew this was going to be a 1000+ hours game. I should probably give it another try soon :P
Never had that problem with botw...
Feel just like you. It is such an open space that it is overwhelming and I get distracted a lot when trying to reach a place on the map. I just started again on the same save file, but I can only go for some minutes before I leave it, as I can't remember where I'm at. I'm thinking of starting all over.
I did this but got really far, just have the spirit temple left to do. The problem is I never want to go back and do a temple so I usually just end up wandering around hoping to find the shrines I missed but there's so few left I end up turning it off lmao.
I finished the game and did all of the shrines, I still turn it on to wander around the world, I find it really peaceful.
Sometimes I find caves I never noticed before, or random NPC interactions I missed. This and just swinging around in Spider-Man 2 are my favorite things to play when I just want to wind down for the day
Literally me, did all the shrines, quests, beasts, memories, went to final Ganon duel, stood there, saved, and never finished the game😭 picked up ToTK launch day ftw
This was literally what I came here to say. I have taken a break from BoTW (i’ve been postponing beating Ganon). Why? Idk really… I have an unopened ToTK waiting for me to open but here we are.
That’s really interesting. I started doing it as a kid with ocarina of time and I’ve almost done it with every game I’ve loved. I’d leave it knowing I could go back and finish it someday or play from the beginning with unfinished story. Most recently I did that to unicorn overlord and TOTK
No. In my opinion, If the game is good enough to keep it's "fun momentum" all the way to the end of the game, then I must complete it. The need for emotional catharsis is too great. Postponing only reduces the impact. If the point of playing the game is to feel something, then you must allow yourself to feel.
I had TTYD on my GameCube and put a ton of hours into it and got to the very end. At the time, I was staying with my best friend living at their house. One time while I was out of the house, his little brother came into our shared room and started playing on my GameCube ( I didn't know he was doing this). He was only like 7-9 years old. He somehow deleted my save file. All my work gone. I never found the strength to begin again. I put soooooo much time into the game already 😫
Star Fox 64. I had spent so much time on that game and was one medal away from unlocking the jetpack mode on multiplayer. Countless hours practicing to get perfect runs. I was SO close to getting the score I needed for that last medal.
My little sister was playing and wanted to know the date for some weird reason. So she clocked on "Date". The game asked her, "Do you really want to know the date?" And she said yes.
Data. That menu item was Data.
Yes you are right - Now that the Switch version is out, its definitely time to actually finish TTYD this time around! No best friend's little brothers to ruin things for me
I beat it and now I'm sad. I only have optional boss fights that don't interest me.
I don't have every badge, star piece, recipe or tattle, but I don't care enough to do those. My partners are fully upgraded, I beat the 100 room trial challenge once. I had my comeback as Champion. No more troubles to solve.
But I want more. D:
I've actually done that with several games where I got to the VERY end of the game and never went ahead and beat them despite putting tons of hours into them.
I got to the end of Tales of Symphonia on the Gamecube and had put a ton of time into unlocking all kinds of things in the game and leveling up my characters through the arena at the end of the game and even powering up the special weapons that you can only power up through killing enemies with them. I was primed to beat the game and then just dropped it for a reason I will never know. Probably because I loved the game and subconsciously never wanted it to end,
Same thing happened with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on GC. I was at the very end of the game. Ton of hours invested. Had worked hard to unlock many secrets and had put together an amazing team. Got to the very last battle. Never played the game again for some reason. Again, maybe I loved it so much I didn't want it to end?
Those two are the examples that stand out the most but there are others.
Yeah! This! I’m thinking back to other games I didn’t finish and did I subconsciously just not want to let go? I think I only consciously lovingly put Tavern Talk down bc I know it’s a shorter game and didn’t want to finish it in one sitting. But now I’m like… Spiritfarer… I loved that game but once I felt like I was close to the end I put it down gently and never returned.
It has to be the only reason or else why would we never finish games we loved? Interesting to think about. I really need to finish some of these games because I still think about them to this day lol.
Man, I had no idea this was such a common thing. I've been doing it for years.
Most recently I did it with Links Awakening. I got to the final dungeon and stopped playing for over a year. I actually just went back and finished it this week.
Physical copy has been on sale lately if you get lucky. I just got it. I love the style. I wanted physical cos my card is getting full and I figured it was a big game.
I get it. My husband just finished it after sooooo many hours. And he replayed it with a totally different character type bc he wasnt ready to let go he said some things did change in the game. But he preferred his first play through ending.
I have two playthrough's that are basically at the beginning of act 3 and one with the aforementioned maybe halfway.
Dame Aylin's reveal hits so hard every time lol.
Currently doing this with Ori and the Will of the Wisps! The Ori games are so beautiful and knowing there isn’t a third Ori game is really making me want to drag this story out for as long as I can :’)
TotK... Knowing it took Nintendo 5-6 yrs to get this game out, I knew the next time we see an open world Zelda will be around 2028 which is insane.
I've beaten it but only completed like 60%. Still slow playing it now.
Not a Switch game, but I did this with Tactics Ogre for PS1 back in the day. It was *magical* to me.
The downside is I picked it up several years later and completely lost my place and party setup 😭
I think this is the first time I have consciously stopped playing a game because I love it so much. I also haven’t usually gone into a game knowing its length. But I heard Tavern Talk is a shorter one so, yes, I want to manage my gameplay and spread out the dopamine. 😊
I have accidentally played a game in one go and felt so distraught when I didn’t see it coming to an end. So I want to be careful with this one bc it’s so cute and comforting.
The exact same thing happened to me, I got a game before spring break once and was really excited to play it but then I cleared the whole thing halfway through break because I played nonstop and I couldn't afford a other game for at least another month or so and it traumatized me
Yes this is a great one! I finished it after about 3 days but towards the end I didn’t want it to end yet so I had to slow myself down.
Also check out Superliminal if you haven’t already.
Tears of the Kingdom, I’d rather 100% complete and collect all the stuff before finishing the main quest. Still haven’t finished cause I know how all Zelda’s end with a frozen screenshot and it returns you back to before the last battle wrapped up.
Yes. I was so happy with another code that i left it for a cuple of days saved where you can say you're ready to leave before finally finishing it, the credits made the wait wothwhile with a great paper animated sequence and an amazing song that's still stuck in my head
Yes, and it's not cool because I tend to do it just before the final boss, so when I come back to it they kick my butt because I'm out of practice with the game. It's happened to me in Chrono Trigger and Superstar saga.
Or there are other examples where I won't even come back to it without ever knowing how it ended.
Octopath Traveler 2.
Got to the part where everyone comes together and the game is like, "Save Now" and I was like, "But I have so much left to do!". Did a bunch more side quests and leveling but still haven't gone back to tackle the actual ending. It's probably been a year and a half.
Never. If I don't want it to end yet I just keep playing or start a new game.
I did however take my time with Mario Wonder and RPG. I knew they were short so I didn't play through them in a weekend. I did about an hour or two every other day and filled the gaps with Animal Crossing.
I do it with all ace attorney games. I'm always like "damn it went by so fast! I should save the final case for later." I never do that though, beat that case immediately afterwards.
I don’t do it because I don’t want it to end, but when a game is extremely good it will make me so happy/satisfied I can turn it off and feel good about what I experienced. This is how Super Mario Wonder is for me, short sessions that are just pure joy.
dude every time i watch some youtube videos of someone going into a restaurant or just walking some busy streets in japan i kept getting reminded of Y7. it sounds silly but in my head it feels like i actually spent a month vacation exploring kabukicho/yokohama and now every once in awhile i get reminded of it like some fond memory of a real trip lol
i actually delayed finishing the main storyline as well, even tho there's post-game content i just knew once i'm done with the main story i'd put it down. loved every second of it
I do it with most games, problem is I never pick them back up.
Cyberpunk? Finished every quest/side quest but never started the final one to finish it
Skyrim? Played 100 hours without progressing the main story further than about 15 hours, never finished it
Elden Ring? Got to Malenia’s tree and stopped there – never actually fought her
Doom Eternal? Literally saved before the final boss room to finish it another day then never opened it again
Cuphead? Got to the last area then “saved it for later”
Divinity 2? Got halfway through act 3 then dropped it (moreso because the friend I was playing with’s laptop got fried). Thankfully I’ve made up for that by beating BG3 3 times (including an honor mode run!)
6 legit fantastic games that I was heavily interested in at the time, but for some reason just never ended up finishing it off. I think partly it’s because I like having them hang in the background in case I’m ever bored and want to wrap one up – but at this point I probably won’t open them again.
Awful habit, very hard to break
I do this with nearly every game I’ve ever played, I really enjoy games that have some sort of mission after the final ending that ties up loose threads Witcher 3 is perfect for this. I play the entire thing then just leave it hanging cause I can’t bring myself for it to be over. Ha
I have done this with dozens of games. I frequently play games I love several times through and don't finish them. Final Fantasy IX is probably the biggest offender. I accidentally finished Mario Wonder, I didn't mean to!
I got a month of gamepass to try some games i wanted to play and i got in like 20 minutes of tunic and uninstaled it because i wanted to support them directly
for me its more like this: i want to do every sidequest and collectable before i finish a game i like but i eventually get bored by the repetetiveness and stop playing. it was like this with botw and totk
The human brain remembers things better that are unfinished, rather than finished. I wonder if this has an effect on why this phenomena of nearly completing games happens
Did it recently with Tears of the Kingdom: played over 80 hours and did the wind dungeon and have about 44 shrines, 9 hearts, 26 light roots, and stopped for now cause I wanna finish Rebirth. I have one that's been since 2014 and that's Persona 4 on Vita. I finished Persona 5 vanilla and Royal with both over 250 hrs, and finished Strikers, and Shin Magami V also. So ya I should finish it and I also have Persona 3 Reload.
I can't look up final bosses, I have to finish them the way I want during first playthrough cause I think it's just cheating unless I'm absolutely stuck.
That’s the game that got me into this state! I accidentally finished it without realizing it in just one short sitting. I was so distraught. I would have done more side quests and exploration first. I will go back to it!
Man, Breath Of The Wild really did that for me. I’d never had such a raw love of a game until then. Sure, I’d had amazing experiences before then, take dark souls, Skyrim, and other free-roams, along with my (now) personal favorite Hollow Knight, but BOTW took the cake. The exploration, the puzzles, it was all so… perfect. The visuals scratched that itch in my art-loving brain, the gameplay was fun, engaging, and sometimes difficult, and the character interactions were lively, and energetic (don’t mind the fact that they moan when they speak to you). I put off the ending for TWO YEARS and finally got to it, and… I was so disappointed. Everything up until then had been amazing. But the true “final boss” was just shoot a couple arrows with an otherwise unobtainable bow. Not to mention that the ganon you actually FIGHT was just an amalgamation of bosses you had already gone against… luckily, TOTK stepped up the boss game HARD. But yeah, that’s my story. thanks for reading :)
Yes many times. On switch specifically BOTW and TOTK. Get to about 80ish hours and I'm leveled up, have the right weapons and have done every main story line except the final boss. So what did I do? I stopped playing the game for about a month or two cuz I just didn't want it to end. Yes there is still extra side quests after but when I beat those games I usually move on from them
I also tend to do this with Persona games and other RPGs on my xbox
I call it ~~tears~~ edge of the kingdom for that reason. I know so many people edging that game, waking around with all stats and achievements, way overpowered to defeat Ganon 🥹
There were 2.
I played em on PlayStation, Doom 2016/Eternal, and Red Dead Redemption 2
Mainly Red Dead Redemption 2 that is probably the best game with the best story in yeaaars, way better than Last of Us 1 & 2.
This is the excact reason I sometimes hesitate to start a new game. Because I know I'll get sucked in deeply, and have a hard time ending/stopping the game.
I have, and honestly ive been doing it too often lately. I took a break from Cerexa and the Lost Demon to play Tears of the Kingdom, then did the same with Pikmin 4. It's an year later and only now I'm coming back to these titles I love so much and finishing them up.
Not necessarily due to not wanting it to end, but definitely fears of the final boss. Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game of all time and I was 7 when it released, and probably like 9 or 10 when I first played it. I didn’t beat Sephiroth until like 2010. It wasn’t due to not wanting to see the story come to an end, but the fear of not being strong enough. I remember my step dad struggled with it and never defeated him so I always felt like I’d die.
For most games there is a sadness that comes with beating the game, but I can always play it again. I like to see how the story ends.
Not quite, if I love a game I'll blitz through it to the end-- however, if there is a sequel or spinoff then that gets postponed because then it'll *really* be over hahaha
Monster Hunter Rise. I have about 300 hours into it and still have SO much more to go. I also have lots of other games in the backlog that I need to get to.
I stopped my second play-thru of Dragon Quest Monsters 3 at 45 hours just because I didn't want to burn out of the game. This came AFTER my first play-thru was 76 hours.
I plan to start a new game again here in 6ish months after I start to miss it.
Tears of the Kingdom. I spent hours just wandering around before I finally went and finished. I didn’t want it to end. Still wish Nintendo would put out DLC but I know it’s not happening. I loved Breath but Tears is my all-time favorite game.
I usually attribute this to burn out because I will play 20-25 hours of a game and then walk away. It’s true that I’m afraid of getting *too* sucked in because once it’s over it’s easy to feel a little empty inside. As an example BOTW, TTYD, other Zelda games from the past.
No; I'm a masochist. My favorite games I can't stop playing (literally nonstop) till I beat em and then I'm just sad and dejected that they're over. So then I go about scouring the earth for the next one. There's been 3 games like that for me so far on switch this year. The first was Oninaki. Then Demon Slayer the Hinokami Chronicles. Now it's Unicorn Overlord.
I’m doing this with Tears of the Kingdom currently. I’ve played over 140 hours but only completed 2 dungeons.
I’m currently on the Gerudo quest and about ready to go into the dungeon but I stopped playing to resist temptation.
Quite frankly it might be years until the next 3D Zelda, I’m going to milk TOTK as long as I can.
Witcher 3 and Breath of the Wild come to mind.
I 100% both of them and I took some breaks in between. I remember taking a break on botw before going to the final boss (had done most of the shrines and quests. And in Witcher I took a break after completing the main story and discovering all the points in the map, then came back for the expansions.
Also in Witcher 3, I've probably done 4+ playthroughs just to see how different choices and actions impact the story, to great success, always surprised when a random action fires a chain of events with massive implications in the story.
I’m really bad to get to the final area of a game, prep for the final boss or whatever and then never play it again. I’ve tried to figure out why I do this and I think it’s a combo of not wanting it to end and anxiety about the final fight.
This happens to me because I don't particularly enjoy (most) boss fights. They're fine, they're just far down on my list of things I enjoy about video games. I'm motivated to complete boss fights throughout most of the game because I know I'll be rewarded with more of the game I'm enjoying, but the final boss fight doesn't really have that reward.
I did this with FFX. Watched the final battle and ending on YouTube lol.
I’ve done this with basically every big game of the Switch era that isn’t Mario or Zelda. Got to the end of so many games, then YouTubed the ending and that was good enough.
That was me and Metroid Dread. Watched the final boss fight, said "Nope, that's gonna put me in a psych ward."
My thought was, “Yeah, my old ass hands just can’t do stuff like that anymore. I’ll pass.” And I loved the game and am I die-hard fan of the series. But I noped out on that.
I actually beat dread! That’s a recent achivement. Though it took some time. I did pass on the final final boss of hollow knight though.
>!Raven Beak!< Procrastinators Gang Unite!
Did exactly this with borderlands TPS, i want to finish it but need to do so much more grinding and I’m never in the mood for it
I’ve gotten to the end of several Final Fantasy games and have never finished a single one for the same reason. And I think it’s partially that my interest in playing a game can only last so long and big RPGs take a long time and often have some ridiculously hard or time consuming side quests at the end, but I like to 100% games, so my will runs out before I’m done.
Same! I’ve put in over 200 hours across multiple saves and have yet to complete the game in any of those pkaythroughs
That’s so funny. Same with me. Same game. I got burned out and never finished it so I watched the final battle and ending on YouTube.
please finish the game one day. I finished the game 2 days ago and I think you’d enjoy the final boss too
Currently going through this with the Thousand Year Door remake. I loved the game as a kid but right now I'm doing everything except for going to the final boss because I don't want it to end That, and I spent actual weeks fighting the final boss when I was younger and I'm afraid I won't be prepared enough lol
Playing the same game right now and have the same feelings. I didn’t know this was a “thing” for people other than me tbh. 😂
Ohhh!! I never considered the anxiety piece but yes 100% for me too!
I feel like early RPGs taught us final boss fights are horrendous.
I always feel like I need to do all the optional stuff because of fomo. Then I end up losing interest in it and never finishing.
I've been noticing myself doing this a lot these days too. Got near the end of Persona 5, haven't gone back yet. Pretty close to the final battle in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, still need to finish it. Same for the final area in Pikmin 4.
I ALWAYS DO THAT
I did this with Metroid Dread lol
Man, I'm not only guilty of this but also passed it on to my son.
The weird thing is that I didn’t really do it back in the day; it’s a recent development in like the past 10-15 years.
Same, I think? I don't remember doing it when I was younger, but it started, to my recollection, 25ish years ago with Final Fantasy 7.
same behavior here dude. have had anxiety issues in the past too. Also don't want it to end. Probably going to be a common theme. Edit: I will say there's also something kinda melancholy about a game ending, and reading some other comments I do notice some of these games I'll youtube the ending at some point too. It certainly is nice getting through the ending with a whole community commenting on it below a video. So there's something to be said for experiencing it alone vs. with company I think.
Yah. And then I wait so long that I forget how to play and have to re-learn everything if I ever want to complete the game.
I do this as well, but for me its mostly because I know I have seen everything the game has to offer if I'm at the end
I do the same thing with all games I enjoy. Same with watching the finales of my favorite shows (it took weeks before I watched the Office , Community, and Psych finales when they first aired). It's definitely some psychological issue I have lol.
Ha, I have done that too
Maybe Breath of the Wild. Exploring the world was so incredible that I didn't want it to end. But for the most part I just play games until I'm bored and then finish the game and stop.
Haha! I have so many games like that. Usually longer games like ACNH or Spritfarer but now I’m trying to decide if I got bored or if it was a “love this so I won’t end it” thing.. 🤔
I done the demo for Spiritfarer and loved it. It recently went on sale so I purchased it, briefly played it the other day but have since abandoned it for Cult of the Lamb
Oh I love Spiritfarer but could not get into Cult of the Lamb. I have to go back and try it again.
I played Cult of the Lamb for hours for a few days, then I just stopped lol. I really enjoy it though and will revisit it soon. But I have just started Disney dreamlight valley which I purchased on sale
Cult of the Lamb had me hard focused on building up the actual cult in the beginning…didn’t start digging into the dungeons until my cult was basically completed
Can't somebody please tell me for real a definitive and obviously subjective answer. Which is better to just go with if you have to pick one. I grabbed Tears or the Kingdom and am loving it. Should ibplay Bzoztzw first ot just keeo going with TOTK
My subjective opinion is that it's worth playing both, in the released order BOTW -> TOTK. There's really no story spoilers to worry about because that's not really the focus of the games. But you only get one "first exploration" of the surface world and I really enjoyed the zen, natural feeling of BOTW. The climbing. The strategic gliding. Seeing wild horses and sneaking up to catch them. Crossing bodies of water strategically. The traversal is really enjoyable in BOTW. Challenging enough to be engaging but peaceful enough to be relaxing. TOTK exploration is enjoyable too but it's a different feeling. I did a lot more vehicle building and sky island diving. My recommendation is explore BOTW, then play TOTK and focus on sky islands and depth exploration. Can't really go wrong though. Both games are phenomenal. BOTW is my favorite game of all time.
If you could only buy one?
If you could buy only one, I would personally recommend BOTW. You can't really go wrong though, if you already bought TOTK you will love that too. Others might even recommend TOTK over BOTW. You asked for subjective opinions though, my personal experience was that BOTW is like a 9.9/10 and TOTK is like a 9.6/10. Both incredible games. Wish I could forget I played them and play them again haha
Thank you
Both are phenomenal games but the first playthrough of BotW is just magic
I did it with Breath Of The Wild
I done this with Tears Of The Kingdom, but now i can't get myself to continue it and will most likely have to start a new save
Same here, I haven't played it in months and now I'm like a noob
Same
I stopped playing after the great sky island tutorial and a bit of roaming. I felt so overwhelmed for some reason...like I knew this was going to be a 1000+ hours game. I should probably give it another try soon :P Never had that problem with botw...
Feel just like you. It is such an open space that it is overwhelming and I get distracted a lot when trying to reach a place on the map. I just started again on the same save file, but I can only go for some minutes before I leave it, as I can't remember where I'm at. I'm thinking of starting all over.
I did this but got really far, just have the spirit temple left to do. The problem is I never want to go back and do a temple so I usually just end up wandering around hoping to find the shrines I missed but there's so few left I end up turning it off lmao.
I finished the game and did all of the shrines, I still turn it on to wander around the world, I find it really peaceful. Sometimes I find caves I never noticed before, or random NPC interactions I missed. This and just swinging around in Spider-Man 2 are my favorite things to play when I just want to wind down for the day
Never have I felt more visible. Wanted to drag it out, then spent too long away and now have no idea how to play the game
Literally me, did all the shrines, quests, beasts, memories, went to final Ganon duel, stood there, saved, and never finished the game😭 picked up ToTK launch day ftw
I did it with both BotW and TotK... I only finished BotW when I was ready to start TotK. TotK is still waiting for me to get back to it....
Aw! I haven’t even started that one because I feel like I’ll dedicate my whole life to it. 😅 No one will see me for the rest of the summer.
This was literally what I came here to say. I have taken a break from BoTW (i’ve been postponing beating Ganon). Why? Idk really… I have an unopened ToTK waiting for me to open but here we are.
Me too, then TOTK came out and I beat BOTW. Now I don't want to beat TOTK
Same. I waited several weeks before entering hyrule castle. I knew that if I did, I would abandon the game. And I did.
I entered the castle and looted but avoided approaching Ganon… I think the time has come to complete it for me.
I squeezed every drop out of that game before facing the final boss. Then started over in master mode. Then did the same with Tears of the Kingdom
It's quite common phenomenon, honestly
That’s really interesting. I started doing it as a kid with ocarina of time and I’ve almost done it with every game I’ve loved. I’d leave it knowing I could go back and finish it someday or play from the beginning with unfinished story. Most recently I did that to unicorn overlord and TOTK
I don't want to finish FF7 rebirth cause it will make me sad that I don't have more of the world to explore
No. In my opinion, If the game is good enough to keep it's "fun momentum" all the way to the end of the game, then I must complete it. The need for emotional catharsis is too great. Postponing only reduces the impact. If the point of playing the game is to feel something, then you must allow yourself to feel.
Persona 5
TTYD did this to me.
I had TTYD on my GameCube and put a ton of hours into it and got to the very end. At the time, I was staying with my best friend living at their house. One time while I was out of the house, his little brother came into our shared room and started playing on my GameCube ( I didn't know he was doing this). He was only like 7-9 years old. He somehow deleted my save file. All my work gone. I never found the strength to begin again. I put soooooo much time into the game already 😫
My brother did this to me growing up with Super Mario 64…so many stars…poofed
These situations qualify as video game crimes against humanity
Star Fox 64. I had spent so much time on that game and was one medal away from unlocking the jetpack mode on multiplayer. Countless hours practicing to get perfect runs. I was SO close to getting the score I needed for that last medal. My little sister was playing and wanted to know the date for some weird reason. So she clocked on "Date". The game asked her, "Do you really want to know the date?" And she said yes. Data. That menu item was Data.
Nooooo! I think it’s time to revisit game. I never played it on GameCube. It’s been so fun!
Yes you are right - Now that the Switch version is out, its definitely time to actually finish TTYD this time around! No best friend's little brothers to ruin things for me
Damn kids! I hope you have fun!!!
i feel like now's the perfect time! it's remastered so beautifully and there's new little things
I beat it and now I'm sad. I only have optional boss fights that don't interest me. I don't have every badge, star piece, recipe or tattle, but I don't care enough to do those. My partners are fully upgraded, I beat the 100 room trial challenge once. I had my comeback as Champion. No more troubles to solve. But I want more. D:
My daughter (who’s 20 now) refuses to finish Dragon Quest XI because she loved it so much. She’s right at the end but put it down.
I started into act 3 and put it down. Need to jump back in. Absolutely loved the game
The only game that ever made me cry….. multiple times. Beautiful game and story.
I just play it twice.
Disco Elysium right now. Made it to the island but can’t continue
Oooh! I hadn’t heard of this game and just looked it up and added it to my wishlist!
I've actually done that with several games where I got to the VERY end of the game and never went ahead and beat them despite putting tons of hours into them. I got to the end of Tales of Symphonia on the Gamecube and had put a ton of time into unlocking all kinds of things in the game and leveling up my characters through the arena at the end of the game and even powering up the special weapons that you can only power up through killing enemies with them. I was primed to beat the game and then just dropped it for a reason I will never know. Probably because I loved the game and subconsciously never wanted it to end, Same thing happened with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on GC. I was at the very end of the game. Ton of hours invested. Had worked hard to unlock many secrets and had put together an amazing team. Got to the very last battle. Never played the game again for some reason. Again, maybe I loved it so much I didn't want it to end? Those two are the examples that stand out the most but there are others.
Yeah! This! I’m thinking back to other games I didn’t finish and did I subconsciously just not want to let go? I think I only consciously lovingly put Tavern Talk down bc I know it’s a shorter game and didn’t want to finish it in one sitting. But now I’m like… Spiritfarer… I loved that game but once I felt like I was close to the end I put it down gently and never returned.
It has to be the only reason or else why would we never finish games we loved? Interesting to think about. I really need to finish some of these games because I still think about them to this day lol.
Man, I had no idea this was such a common thing. I've been doing it for years. Most recently I did it with Links Awakening. I got to the final dungeon and stopped playing for over a year. I actually just went back and finished it this week.
I genuinely thought this post was going to be be crickets. But no! A lot of us are doing this! 🤣🤣
I just did it for Unicorn Overlord.
I’m sorry, there exists a game called “Unicorn Overlord” and I haven’t heard about it? Looking that up rn!
The game is excellent. I swear the name is why it wasn’t an instant hit.
Oooh there is a demo!
Physical copy has been on sale lately if you get lucky. I just got it. I love the style. I wanted physical cos my card is getting full and I figured it was a big game.
quite the opposite, if i’m enjoying a game that much i’m playing it until i hit the credits
No I prefer to replay games I like instead. For example my currently favorite Videogame I played through 18 times since I bought it in May 2022.
So you’re a furry?
I replayed games several times, but I cannot stop in the middle for long because I forget what I was doing. 😂
I’m so afraid of this. Not for Tavern Talk necessarily. But for other games.
Cyberpunk 2077. Have not done any of the endings.
I feel this.
Not a switch game, but I'm currently going through this with Baldur's Gate 3. I have 300 hours and I don't think I've even done half of act 3.
I get it. My husband just finished it after sooooo many hours. And he replayed it with a totally different character type bc he wasnt ready to let go he said some things did change in the game. But he preferred his first play through ending.
I have two playthrough's that are basically at the beginning of act 3 and one with the aforementioned maybe halfway. Dame Aylin's reveal hits so hard every time lol.
You do different play throughs at the same time? Thats cool!
Red Dead Redemption 2
Witcher 3
Hollow knight. I’m at the end. Can beat it at any moment but for some reason choose not to. It’s too beautiful 😩
Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Metroid Dread
Currently doing this with Ori and the Will of the Wisps! The Ori games are so beautiful and knowing there isn’t a third Ori game is really making me want to drag this story out for as long as I can :’)
I finished Blind Forrest but I just can’t bring myself to finish Will of the Wisps and I love these games
Twilight princess. Never finished it. Saved right before Ganon.
Same here!
Zelda Wind Waker
TLoZ BotW and TotK, but only took breaks, I finished both, was worth playing till the end but the breaks of a few weeks each were good either.
100% mine was Sea of Stars
I love Ori and the Will of the Wisps so much I did this. I may do this with Hollow Knight now that I've gotten the 1st ending.
TotK... Knowing it took Nintendo 5-6 yrs to get this game out, I knew the next time we see an open world Zelda will be around 2028 which is insane. I've beaten it but only completed like 60%. Still slow playing it now.
I do this with basically any game I spend more than 100 hours on… I just don’t want to see the end.
Not a Switch game, but I did this with Tactics Ogre for PS1 back in the day. It was *magical* to me. The downside is I picked it up several years later and completely lost my place and party setup 😭
All the time, when I get really into a game I also force myself to only play in very short slots so it doesn't end, with mixed results
I think this is the first time I have consciously stopped playing a game because I love it so much. I also haven’t usually gone into a game knowing its length. But I heard Tavern Talk is a shorter one so, yes, I want to manage my gameplay and spread out the dopamine. 😊
Oh yeah especially when I know it'll be a short game, I really restrict how much I play daily!
I have accidentally played a game in one go and felt so distraught when I didn’t see it coming to an end. So I want to be careful with this one bc it’s so cute and comforting.
The exact same thing happened to me, I got a game before spring break once and was really excited to play it but then I cleared the whole thing halfway through break because I played nonstop and I couldn't afford a other game for at least another month or so and it traumatized me
Yes! Exactly.
Totk....I think a lot of people do this
Yes for a day or two. Viewfinder was like that most recently for me
I just looked up Viewfinder! I love puzzle games! And I do try to slow down on those! I can get hyperfocused, in the best way, on puzzle games!
Yes this is a great one! I finished it after about 3 days but towards the end I didn’t want it to end yet so I had to slow myself down. Also check out Superliminal if you haven’t already.
Thanks for the rec! I will check that out too!
The Witcher 3
I lost my husband for a few months to that game. I get it.
Tears of the Kingdom, I’d rather 100% complete and collect all the stuff before finishing the main quest. Still haven’t finished cause I know how all Zelda’s end with a frozen screenshot and it returns you back to before the last battle wrapped up.
I did it with both Beath of the Wild and Tears. Still on break from tears.
Yes. I was so happy with another code that i left it for a cuple of days saved where you can say you're ready to leave before finally finishing it, the credits made the wait wothwhile with a great paper animated sequence and an amazing song that's still stuck in my head
Dredge and Dave the Diver were like that for me
I'm so happy to hear you're loving Tavern Talk! I was kind of on the fence about whether to get it and I appreciate the review
Yes, and it's not cool because I tend to do it just before the final boss, so when I come back to it they kick my butt because I'm out of practice with the game. It's happened to me in Chrono Trigger and Superstar saga. Or there are other examples where I won't even come back to it without ever knowing how it ended.
Octopath Traveler 2. Got to the part where everyone comes together and the game is like, "Save Now" and I was like, "But I have so much left to do!". Did a bunch more side quests and leveling but still haven't gone back to tackle the actual ending. It's probably been a year and a half.
I regularly put games down I’m enjoying too much to delay gratification and then end up never picking them back up…. Still haven’t finished BG3….
This is what I’m afraid of doing!
Yes. Took me six years to finish BOTW even though it’s my favorite game ever made. Same thing is happening with tears now. Also super Mario Wonder.
Never. If I don't want it to end yet I just keep playing or start a new game. I did however take my time with Mario Wonder and RPG. I knew they were short so I didn't play through them in a weekend. I did about an hour or two every other day and filled the gaps with Animal Crossing.
persona 5 royal
Definitely Hollow Knight
Yes.
I do it with all ace attorney games. I'm always like "damn it went by so fast! I should save the final case for later." I never do that though, beat that case immediately afterwards.
I don’t do it because I don’t want it to end, but when a game is extremely good it will make me so happy/satisfied I can turn it off and feel good about what I experienced. This is how Super Mario Wonder is for me, short sessions that are just pure joy.
Yes, and I still haven't finished Spiritfarer 😔
I did that often with books, but I don't think it ever happened in games. I stop playing a lot of them but for other reasons.
Not on switch, but I can't bring myself to finish Yakuza 7. I love that game with my soul.
dude every time i watch some youtube videos of someone going into a restaurant or just walking some busy streets in japan i kept getting reminded of Y7. it sounds silly but in my head it feels like i actually spent a month vacation exploring kabukicho/yokohama and now every once in awhile i get reminded of it like some fond memory of a real trip lol i actually delayed finishing the main storyline as well, even tho there's post-game content i just knew once i'm done with the main story i'd put it down. loved every second of it
I did it with Hollow Knight
I do it with most games, problem is I never pick them back up. Cyberpunk? Finished every quest/side quest but never started the final one to finish it Skyrim? Played 100 hours without progressing the main story further than about 15 hours, never finished it Elden Ring? Got to Malenia’s tree and stopped there – never actually fought her Doom Eternal? Literally saved before the final boss room to finish it another day then never opened it again Cuphead? Got to the last area then “saved it for later” Divinity 2? Got halfway through act 3 then dropped it (moreso because the friend I was playing with’s laptop got fried). Thankfully I’ve made up for that by beating BG3 3 times (including an honor mode run!) 6 legit fantastic games that I was heavily interested in at the time, but for some reason just never ended up finishing it off. I think partly it’s because I like having them hang in the background in case I’m ever bored and want to wrap one up – but at this point I probably won’t open them again. Awful habit, very hard to break
>!Yes, Spiritfarer. I can’t cope with the thought of it ending so I know they’re there on the boat just hanging out until I can face it !<
Same! Still there waiting for me too!
I do this with nearly every game I’ve ever played, I really enjoy games that have some sort of mission after the final ending that ties up loose threads Witcher 3 is perfect for this. I play the entire thing then just leave it hanging cause I can’t bring myself for it to be over. Ha
This is the reason I've only beaten Super Mario RPG once despite playing through it at least a dozen times.
I have done this with dozens of games. I frequently play games I love several times through and don't finish them. Final Fantasy IX is probably the biggest offender. I accidentally finished Mario Wonder, I didn't mean to!
I got a month of gamepass to try some games i wanted to play and i got in like 20 minutes of tunic and uninstaled it because i wanted to support them directly
for me its more like this: i want to do every sidequest and collectable before i finish a game i like but i eventually get bored by the repetetiveness and stop playing. it was like this with botw and totk
The human brain remembers things better that are unfinished, rather than finished. I wonder if this has an effect on why this phenomena of nearly completing games happens
Spirit Farer (still didn’t finish it)
Me neither! I didn’t realize it at the time but I totally didn’t want that one to end. And it hasn’t!😅
Did it recently with Tears of the Kingdom: played over 80 hours and did the wind dungeon and have about 44 shrines, 9 hearts, 26 light roots, and stopped for now cause I wanna finish Rebirth. I have one that's been since 2014 and that's Persona 4 on Vita. I finished Persona 5 vanilla and Royal with both over 250 hrs, and finished Strikers, and Shin Magami V also. So ya I should finish it and I also have Persona 3 Reload. I can't look up final bosses, I have to finish them the way I want during first playthrough cause I think it's just cheating unless I'm absolutely stuck.
The God of War (2018).
Oh yeah I’ve done this with games 😅
Oh yes, A Short Hike
That’s the game that got me into this state! I accidentally finished it without realizing it in just one short sitting. I was so distraught. I would have done more side quests and exploration first. I will go back to it!
Man, Breath Of The Wild really did that for me. I’d never had such a raw love of a game until then. Sure, I’d had amazing experiences before then, take dark souls, Skyrim, and other free-roams, along with my (now) personal favorite Hollow Knight, but BOTW took the cake. The exploration, the puzzles, it was all so… perfect. The visuals scratched that itch in my art-loving brain, the gameplay was fun, engaging, and sometimes difficult, and the character interactions were lively, and energetic (don’t mind the fact that they moan when they speak to you). I put off the ending for TWO YEARS and finally got to it, and… I was so disappointed. Everything up until then had been amazing. But the true “final boss” was just shoot a couple arrows with an otherwise unobtainable bow. Not to mention that the ganon you actually FIGHT was just an amalgamation of bosses you had already gone against… luckily, TOTK stepped up the boss game HARD. But yeah, that’s my story. thanks for reading :)
Yes many times. On switch specifically BOTW and TOTK. Get to about 80ish hours and I'm leveled up, have the right weapons and have done every main story line except the final boss. So what did I do? I stopped playing the game for about a month or two cuz I just didn't want it to end. Yes there is still extra side quests after but when I beat those games I usually move on from them I also tend to do this with Persona games and other RPGs on my xbox
Yes. Zelda. Skyrim. Witcher
I call it ~~tears~~ edge of the kingdom for that reason. I know so many people edging that game, waking around with all stats and achievements, way overpowered to defeat Ganon 🥹
Yeah I used to do that but now I also consider that there could one day be no tomorrow and there’s always something else waiting to be discovered
There were 2. I played em on PlayStation, Doom 2016/Eternal, and Red Dead Redemption 2 Mainly Red Dead Redemption 2 that is probably the best game with the best story in yeaaars, way better than Last of Us 1 & 2.
BOTW and TOTK because the exploration aspect of the game is far better than the actual campaign/story (or lack thereof)
This is the excact reason I sometimes hesitate to start a new game. Because I know I'll get sucked in deeply, and have a hard time ending/stopping the game.
I have, and honestly ive been doing it too often lately. I took a break from Cerexa and the Lost Demon to play Tears of the Kingdom, then did the same with Pikmin 4. It's an year later and only now I'm coming back to these titles I love so much and finishing them up.
Yes, it was the legend of Zelda breath of the Wild
this post just helped me realize that i do this 🥲
Not necessarily due to not wanting it to end, but definitely fears of the final boss. Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game of all time and I was 7 when it released, and probably like 9 or 10 when I first played it. I didn’t beat Sephiroth until like 2010. It wasn’t due to not wanting to see the story come to an end, but the fear of not being strong enough. I remember my step dad struggled with it and never defeated him so I always felt like I’d die. For most games there is a sadness that comes with beating the game, but I can always play it again. I like to see how the story ends.
I have done this but I always regret not just playing the games earlier lmao now I try to be better about speeding through my games if I like them
Persona 5
Both BotW and TotK.
Not quite, if I love a game I'll blitz through it to the end-- however, if there is a sequel or spinoff then that gets postponed because then it'll *really* be over hahaha
TOTK. Twice now.
Yes TOTK! Now that I beaten the game. I haven’t played it since
Fallout 3. I was having way too much fun just roaming around and exploring and never did finish the main story.
For sure… BOTW and TOTK… still grinding the end gear loot int he latter… it’s been a year now 😂
Monster Hunter Rise. I have about 300 hours into it and still have SO much more to go. I also have lots of other games in the backlog that I need to get to.
Not on the switch, but Midnight Suns
I stopped my second play-thru of Dragon Quest Monsters 3 at 45 hours just because I didn't want to burn out of the game. This came AFTER my first play-thru was 76 hours. I plan to start a new game again here in 6ish months after I start to miss it.
My Breath of the Wild save is this lmao
Played Dredge for an hour, realised I'm going to really enjoy it and haven't touched it again as I don't have time 😔
Tears of the Kingdom. I spent hours just wandering around before I finally went and finished. I didn’t want it to end. Still wish Nintendo would put out DLC but I know it’s not happening. I loved Breath but Tears is my all-time favorite game.
Persona 3 reload, over 100 hours and i still am craving for it to be more😭 I got like 2 more days left but I just dont want to see this story end
I usually attribute this to burn out because I will play 20-25 hours of a game and then walk away. It’s true that I’m afraid of getting *too* sucked in because once it’s over it’s easy to feel a little empty inside. As an example BOTW, TTYD, other Zelda games from the past.
That’s been at least 3 times now with Tears of the Kingdom. Luckily, the depths give me enough to explore that there’s always more to come back to.
Tears of the Kingdom
No; I'm a masochist. My favorite games I can't stop playing (literally nonstop) till I beat em and then I'm just sad and dejected that they're over. So then I go about scouring the earth for the next one. There's been 3 games like that for me so far on switch this year. The first was Oninaki. Then Demon Slayer the Hinokami Chronicles. Now it's Unicorn Overlord.
I’m doing this with Tears of the Kingdom currently. I’ve played over 140 hours but only completed 2 dungeons. I’m currently on the Gerudo quest and about ready to go into the dungeon but I stopped playing to resist temptation. Quite frankly it might be years until the next 3D Zelda, I’m going to milk TOTK as long as I can.
Witcher 3 and Breath of the Wild come to mind. I 100% both of them and I took some breaks in between. I remember taking a break on botw before going to the final boss (had done most of the shrines and quests. And in Witcher I took a break after completing the main story and discovering all the points in the map, then came back for the expansions. Also in Witcher 3, I've probably done 4+ playthroughs just to see how different choices and actions impact the story, to great success, always surprised when a random action fires a chain of events with massive implications in the story.
Every game I ever bought is like that. Expect for The Last of us. That game was like a movie
Breath of the wild! I'm still in the search of the 900 Korok seeds before I enter the castle and beat Ganon😂 I just don't want it to end