For some reason as soon as I get to the “end” of the game, I completely lose motivation to play. This happened with DOOM: Eternal, Sekiro, Bloodborne, Paper Mario TTYD, Cassette Beasts, Shovel Knight, Oblivion, Baldur’s Gate, God of War, Mass Effect… Pretty much every game I’ve ever played. It’s like the fun part was the journey, and I’ve seen everything the game has to offer, and I just don’t really enjoy the ending process. Feels like a formality at that point.
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Yeah. Sometimes when I realize it’s almost over I try to drag it out then lose interest. I almost exclusively play games for the journey.
Kinda. Played Breath of the Wild for hours and hours. Had a whole stack of endgame gear.
But when it came to actually beating Ganon… I dunno. I fell off. Put the game down and didn’t return to it.
Same, never finished BOTW. Finished a ton of shrines, explored everywhere and did all four divine beasts, then motivation completely crashed lol.
Relatable, although I still occasionally come back to BotW the journey was the big part. While for other games like Sekiro in which perfection makes it more thrilling, the repetition sort of makes sense.
On the other end, the final boss of tears of the kingdom was my favorite part.
That battle was super disappointing, so I wouldn’t feel bad about missing it.
Not necessarily at the boss, but I have noticed a pattern that I do tend to lose steam once I realize I’m in the endgame phase of the game
Has happened to me with Persona 3, 4 and 5. It’s not that i get bored, but burned out. In the moment I don’t realise I’m near the end so that when I eventually get back to the game almost a year later, I realise I was literally only like 2 or 3 sessions away from finishing it.
I’ve fallen into this trap many times. Whenever a game’s final chapter looks to be close, I start doing a lot of side content. Then I get bored of the game altogether and end up never finishing it.
I’ll always resolve to 100% a game, and then like right after the final boss I go “well… it won’t hurt to start another game while I do the side content”. I never do the side content.
This kinda happened to me with Breath of the Wild. Beat it, then started the master quest and got again to Ganon. Just couldn’t hit him enough to overcome the health regen. Put it down. Years later, Tears of the Kingdom came out. Then the switch 2 came out. Have not picked it back up since. Just can’t bring myself to do it.
Speaking of, in Tears of the Kingdom I did literally everything except even engage with Canon. Just… stopped there.
Same. I have a thing where I like to complete everything i can in a game before beating the final boss. I discovered the Master Quest, and then nothing would do but to beat that first and roll up to Ganon a god. Bashed my head against that wall for a while then put it down. Cue the second half of your first paragraph.
DSLR King, Canondorf 😈
Lol, leaving it.
I distinctly remember playing Twilight Princess, I was hanging around in Castle Town, having done literally everything. There was that weird unfinished fishing journal thing I had neglected, but I had done every sidequest, found every heart piece, I think I’d even beaten RollGoal. and I was like “I guess I’ll go beat the game then.”
There’s a weird dead feeling video games take on in that state.
Yes exactly, I had that same feeling in that game. I talked to every NPC 3 times just to make sure I didn’t miss any dialogue, and just sat there on the bridge, and then stopped playing lol
The game stops feeling immersive, and starts feeling like a game again for some reason. All the creative choices are interaction have been exhausted, and you’re just funneled into the final boss. Generally the boss only has one way to finish it and the same cutscene at the ending. It doesn’t feel like “play” anymore to me.
I don’t do this often but did with Elden Ring. I felt like I had explored every corner of the map and defeated every optional boss already, so once I learned the move set and died a few times I didn’t have any interest in loading that save again
Yet I have started several other runs 🤷🏻
Doesn’t help that phase 2 and the endings both suck pretty hard, so why bother.
This is me for sure. I’ll give that final boss all I got, but once it’s eaten up too much of my time, and is no longer fun, I check the game off my list and find another.
Most recently was Zelda 2. My save file is me slightly under leveled in the room before the boss, and he just wasn’t worth it.
Yep happens to me all the time ! I remember when playing Zelda TotK, “Sure I will continue to explore the map and other secondary quest !”, I finished the game and NEVER launch it again 🤣 It does not happen to me with games that does not really have an end (for example I play regularly on World of Warcraft). I do enjoy finishing the game, I just don’t have the motivation to continue after that.
I dont quite have what OP is saying because I do usually fight the endgame bosses but I do have what you’re describing where I never mop up or do postgame content. I will sometimes come back to the game a good while later and replay it in ng+ though
This just reminded me I need to still finish Cult of the Lamb.
I stopped at the final boss.
It depends on the game for me, but it’s happened a couple times. Usually with metroidvanias, my favourite part of those games is the exploration/secrets, so if I’m confident there’s nothing left to find I sometimes lose interest. It also depends on my play schedule. Of I finish off a session right before the last boss, and then I have an opportunity to game for a few hours next time, I’m less likely to pick it up again just to finish it off. At that point I’d rather jump into a new game and start getting immersed in a new world.
Yes, in several cases. Like Trine 3 most recently.
Also in survival games once I become comfortably self-sufficient I usually lose motivation to keep going and harvest so much materials to build fancy bases and such.
No that’s the whole point of the game. You have seen everything and then do the boss to finish it off. Of course you are bored if you have seen everything.
Yeah but to me the boss itself doesn’t really have any value. It’s hard to explain but whether I beat the boss or not doesn’t mean anything to me. I’ve proven I can do it, I’ve seen every corner of the map, and the boss is just kind of… There. Like an optional footnote to me.
I’d 90% a game and then put it down. Beating a game bummed me out like leaving a friend’s house after a long fun sleepover. So I’d usually wait till the sequel was announced or available before I’d finish out a title as a way to get hyped for the new release.
