Fear of Completion

[Courier_87]

Ok, so looking round there are threads asking about phobias/fears or frustration getting in the way of completing a game. My question is this: are there any other forum users that do not complete games because they have a fear of the adventure/story being over, despite wanting to find out the ending. I have reached this stage with several games including Zelda Spirit Tracks, Red Dead Redemption and several others.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I have that problem.
I finished the first game today I have in a long long time (The Witcher 2),
and now I have this empty feeling like "Now what?"

But then I remembered I have an enormous backlog of games because of this feeling,
and I should really get to finishing them.

 

[Genocidicles]

I generally feel bad when I'm about to finish a good game, but I never let it stop me from finishing it.

I usually end up spacing out the time I'm playing it so much that I get through about one hour a day when I'm near the end though.

 

[krazykidd]

Kinda but not really it . A few years ago , i would start a game play it for 20-30 hours ( mostly rpgs) get to the last 1/4 of the game and just stop . A massive lost of interest . Although the ending is supposed to be the best part i lose the will to go on . I have no idea why this happens , this creating a HUGE backlog . So much that i played through legend of dragoon 3 times until the law city on disc 4(40 hours into the game) and just stopped . I did manage to beat it on my 4th playthrough fighting to urge to stop at the exact same spot.Since 2010 , i convinced myself to finish any game i start in attempt to reduce my backlog , which have worked for the most part * stares at Metroid : Other M*. So i kinda know how you feel . But i was never afraid of the game ending.

 

[Scrustle]

Oh yeah, I get that a lot. I don't feel like it's a problem though. I just try to get as much enjoyment as I can out of a game before it's over. I want to savour it and explore everything, instead of rushing through it all and missing stuff, and not letting the atmosphere sink in.

I guess I do have a problem with it though, in a sense. As I've gotten older I've found it harder to get sucked in to the atmosphere of a game. I'm far more aware of the fact that what I'm actually doing is interacting with a very deliberately designed computer program. Hyrule doesn't really exist, it's just a collection of polygons. Dungeons aren't really ancient ruins filled with booby-traps and indigenous creatures, they're incredibly contrived to create an enjoyable challenge. Everything I see and hear are just digital assets. It's all textures, shaders, audio files, pre-programmed A.I. patterns, etc., etc.

Because I'm aware of how a game is made and what makes a good game I find it really hard to lose myself in a game world. It can still happen, but it takes much longer now and plenty of games that could have done it when I was younger can't now because I can't ignore their flaws. Being knowledgeable of the medium can be a curse as well as a blessing sometimes. I wouldn't want to go back to being an easily impressed ignoramus though.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Fear? Not exactly. I remember being really, really reluctant to finish Grim Fandango because I didn't want to say goodbye to all the characters, though. (Man, that was a good game.)

 

[jbassic]

When the game's ending has so much riding on it I feel a certain reluctance to finish the game but the fear of never getting any closure on these characters vastly outweighs my fear of finishing the game.

 

[Goofguy]

No, not really. I tend to have enough of a backlog of games waiting that I don't have time to dwell on whether I miss a game or its characters. I just move on to the next one.

However, I did feel of tinge of remorse at the end of ME3. All crappy ending discussions aside, I knew I was going to miss those squadmates I came to know and kind of care about. Six months later however, I don't care anymore.

 

[Thrashgrinder]

I had, Maybe still do a little. It was actually making me not enjoy video games anymore a while back. Here is the list of some games I didn't finish deliberately on my first play through because of this issue.

Mirror's Edge
Fallout 3
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
L.A. Noire *
No More Heroes
Red Dead Redemption
Beyond Good & Evil *
Bastion *
Witcher 2 *
Shank
Persona 2-3
Metal Gear Solid 4
(I still haven't finished the ones with the * at the end)

All these games are in my all time best games list. I didn't wanted them to end. The characters and the themes I loved, I was getting too attached. But without conclusions stories had no meaning anymore and I started feeling nothing about games. One day I wanted to Play Mirror's Edge again and when I got to the part I left off the first time I decided to force it. I liked the ending and It made the experiance better. So I started forcing my way through the games I didn't finish before.

So yeah.

 

[Dusty Donuts]

Not really.
Team Fortress 2 seems to get really repetitive in the story after all this time though. I'm wondering when I can finish this game!
And don't even get me started on the environments they re-use again and again in Left 4 Dead 2.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

I reached the point in Fallout: New Vegas when the ending starts taking shape and I've found myself coming up with reasons not to get back to a game I was enjoying to a great extent, but ended up drifting away from. I guarantee I will get back to it and through it before Fallout 4 ... whenever that happens.

 

[Best of the 3]

Yes. Although it's not so much a fear, more I get so overly distracted that I just don't ever get around to it as other things seem more important. This especially applies to 3 games I own. Oblivion which took 5 different characters and several years to complete for me. I just get side tracked so much that the main quest seems so petty in comparison. Same for Skyrim. On my 5th character for that and still haven't even started the main story quest.

The only other one is Red Dead Redemption. I like that game but for some reason I can't seem to want to do the main quest. Those damn animals are just too fun to hunt. Is it bad I find the skinning scenes really satisfactory? probably is XD

 

[karcentric]

I normally don't complete games because I move on to something new.

 

[snave]

I'll often put off completing the final stage until I've completed the optional objectives if I know there's a single ending only, simply because I want to experience all the content, but doing so feels kinda hollow if I've already seen the ending.

 

[Louzon]

The only games I have that problem with are RPGs. You put so much time into those, and then it's almost over...and I don't want it to be, so I take like, a week off. lol

 

[Signa]

Yup, same here. The better the game, the less likely I will finish it. I actually was kinda depressed for a few days when I beat No One Lives Forever 2. I knew there wasn't going to be any more games, and that just made me sad.

Then there's other games like Okami where I slowed the amount I was playing once I got near the end, but I still finished it. It was sad finishing it, but the ending felt quite triumphant, so I didn't mind so much.

Then there's Morrowind where I've done maybe a third of the main quest with one of my many characters over the hundreds of hours I've spent on it. No need to ever finish that game.

 

[Fasckira]

Risen.

I got so into that game and was really starting to develop my character. I knew the end was coming up but I didnt realise just how soon it was - was quite surprised when I defeated a pathetically easy boss and it suddenly cut to credits with no chance to carry on playing!