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Post-game depression
- Thread starter Hong
- Start date
It happened to me recently with Nier Automata. Finishing the game and looking at ending E, thinking about this gaming experience I had...wow, it shocked me. I'm currently playing Doom for the first time ( the new iteration) and I'm not enjoying it
I tend to prolong my time with great games as much as I can, stalling actually finishing it, to postpone this feeling. Probably not healthy, I played Breath of the Wild for 230 hours before finishing it, which was probably 100 hours too much, and really burned me out. Sometimes I even forget how wonderful those first 80-90 hours were and just remember the dragged out time after that doing useless things.
This happens to me everytime i play Persona 4 Golden. Most recently i got this feeling from Xenoblade 2. What do I do now? Just wait until the Torna story? Life feels empty and everything is a lie lol.
I felt the same with Life is Strange... The characters and the settingd felt so real and I cannot believe we will not see them again, it was so good!
As for the question.. When I finish a main Final Fantasy game, Xenosaga Trilogy and Xenogears and Wild Arms games... also Suikoden III... and Tales games.
Mostly JRPG games :-) !
As for the question.. When I finish a main Final Fantasy game, Xenosaga Trilogy and Xenogears and Wild Arms games... also Suikoden III... and Tales games.
Mostly JRPG games :-) !
Yes. Same happened to me with these games:
And from recently finished games I can only add Inside to this list.
Most games i feel really quite satisfied with by the end, I think the only game this ever happened to me with was Life is Strange - i was just attached to the characters and didn't want it to end. I'm glad there is a comic coming out to explore it in an non canonical approach.
Only three times, with Persona 4 Golden, Steins;Gate and The House in Fata Morgana. Persona 4 Golden was the hardest, because I spent almost 100 hours playing the game and when you get everything you possibly can, you know it's time to say goodbye.
Depression is a strong word, but I did kinda feel like what you're describing once, the first time I completed Mass Effect 2. Definitely the best gaming experience I've ever had (and I don't think it'll be topped anytime soon). I was so immersed in this universe and connected with the characters. Only game I could play after this was Freelancer, another one of my favourites that almost scratches the same itch as ME.
My last playthrough of the trilogy also left me a bit like this, it was the only time I played all three in a row with every single DLC for each. I've reinstalled the trilogy on my PC along with the controller mods, I'm trying to find the right time to replay them, 150 hours is a strong commitment and I already have too many games I haven't finished yet.
My last playthrough of the trilogy also left me a bit like this, it was the only time I played all three in a row with every single DLC for each. I've reinstalled the trilogy on my PC along with the controller mods, I'm trying to find the right time to replay them, 150 hours is a strong commitment and I already have too many games I haven't finished yet.
Yes, I totally understand you. I feel like that in manga, anime, movies, games and others. Not every time of course but I feel it too when a work really resonate with me and I pass too much time experiencing it. It's not uncommon either and not abnormal either.
I got it for like a few days with zelda breath of the wild and the main kh games but always would listen to the music and then move on
Right now playing through legend of heroes 3 song of the ocean on psp and getting depressed for clocking 38 hours and still nowhere close to the end (apparently halfway done but the translation and slow battle system is annoying me lol)
Right now playing through legend of heroes 3 song of the ocean on psp and getting depressed for clocking 38 hours and still nowhere close to the end (apparently halfway done but the translation and slow battle system is annoying me lol)
After finishing Metal Gear Solid 3 and that final boss, I was quite sad for a couple days.
But other than that the only other time I can think of was Doki Doki Literature Club, though that was likely down to the game's content rather than the act of finishing it / leaving it behind.
It's definitely a common occurance after finishing TV dramas however. I watched My So-Called Life (essential viewing for any Life is Strange fan) in college and was depressed for a week afterwards knowing there'd never be a season 2.
Maaaaaaan.... :(
Huh. So THAT'S what Drake would look like as a girl.
There are a handful of games that's have done this to me.
All of them where fantastic and the best games I had ever played. Then when I was done with them I didn't feel like playing anything.
A good/average game felt lackluster every single time. I would have to take a few days off gaming (or just play something entirely mp base).
Edit: IDK if I would call it depression though, just more unsatisfied with gaming if the next title also wasn't top 10 status (which most are not!)
All of them where fantastic and the best games I had ever played. Then when I was done with them I didn't feel like playing anything.
A good/average game felt lackluster every single time. I would have to take a few days off gaming (or just play something entirely mp base).
Edit: IDK if I would call it depression though, just more unsatisfied with gaming if the next title also wasn't top 10 status (which most are not!)
I got that hard with Trails in the Sky - the 3rd. It's what made me bite the bullet and play Crossbell in Japanese.
I'm more of a post-game slump type, and have also never been one for the "nothing else sounds good anymore" line of logic. I think for my case it's more just not wanting to start anew into something after devoting so much time in another title. There's an initial hump you've gotta get over for any game to really get invested, and that just takes more out of me than most, I guess.
why are we still here? Just to suffer? Every night, I can feel my leg and my arm... even my fingers... the body I've lost... the comrades I've lost... won't stop hurting. It's like they're all still there. You feel it too, don't you?
Yeah thats how i've been with Bloodborne.
Yeah thats how i've been with Bloodborne.
There were three separate occasions that this happened to me, each with different connotation:
1. Mass Effect 3: Like thousands of others, the ending of ME3 left an extremely sour taste in my mouth. The series did a PHENOMENAL job of creating this believable universe with an amazing cast of characters, a great story, and then the final payoff was such a fucking cop out that it ruined the absolute concept of a game for me. I don't mean to over-exaggerate this either, like after investing so much time across three stories, each decision impacting the future of my experience, all of it leading up to such a let down of a finale made me question how much time and effort I put into playing games. After questioning myself, I put down gaming for quite a while - I wanna say like 4-5 months - and then got back into it via fighting games and Pokemon.
2. Batman: Arkham Knight: Don't get me wrong, I was part of the minority that absolutely fucking LOVED Arkham Knight. But after beating it, knowing that it was going to be the last of its series, I couldn't play anything remotely similar to it because of how well it was made. Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War suffered from this; I couldn't get through either of the two because of how similar to Batman they were, so I dropped them (I picked up Mordor in an attempt to get a Batman fix, but it backfired instead). The Arkham series is one of the few games I wish would've lasted forever.
3. Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - This goes without saying. I had a love/hate relationship with Witcher 1, absolutely LOVED Witcher 2, and then Witcher 3 comes around and blows it out of the water. The production quality, the atmosphere, the depth of the choice/consequence system, the cast of characters, the lore, EVERYTHING. It set the bar so high that anything I played afterwards just felt dead and empty.
1. Mass Effect 3: Like thousands of others, the ending of ME3 left an extremely sour taste in my mouth. The series did a PHENOMENAL job of creating this believable universe with an amazing cast of characters, a great story, and then the final payoff was such a fucking cop out that it ruined the absolute concept of a game for me. I don't mean to over-exaggerate this either, like after investing so much time across three stories, each decision impacting the future of my experience, all of it leading up to such a let down of a finale made me question how much time and effort I put into playing games. After questioning myself, I put down gaming for quite a while - I wanna say like 4-5 months - and then got back into it via fighting games and Pokemon.
2. Batman: Arkham Knight: Don't get me wrong, I was part of the minority that absolutely fucking LOVED Arkham Knight. But after beating it, knowing that it was going to be the last of its series, I couldn't play anything remotely similar to it because of how well it was made. Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War suffered from this; I couldn't get through either of the two because of how similar to Batman they were, so I dropped them (I picked up Mordor in an attempt to get a Batman fix, but it backfired instead). The Arkham series is one of the few games I wish would've lasted forever.
3. Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - This goes without saying. I had a love/hate relationship with Witcher 1, absolutely LOVED Witcher 2, and then Witcher 3 comes around and blows it out of the water. The production quality, the atmosphere, the depth of the choice/consequence system, the cast of characters, the lore, EVERYTHING. It set the bar so high that anything I played afterwards just felt dead and empty.
Yeah I understand that feeling, maybe not quite depression, more a post-great game funk or malaise, definitely worse when I don't have another new game lined up to play.
I am very close to this with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I am in Chapter 9 and have crossed the 100 hour mark and not 100% sure when the story ends but I am very close. I wanted to finish the game before Octopath Traveler was released but I have not made much progress the last couple nights. I have been killing a few unique monsters and filling out affinity charts because I simply do not want the game to end. This game has really grabbed me and I am thinking of picking up a used Wii U so I can play XC and XCX.
I thought this symptom is called "withdrawal", because it happens when your brain is recovering from "being in the zone" too long.
I usually need at least a week between big games. just can't finish a game like God of War and then immediately jump into anything else that has a story. usually use that time to catch up on tv shows/movies and then also spoilercasts and podcast discussions of the game. but i was able to jump into God of War after platinuming Ni No Kuni II with just 3 and a half days break.
Like binging a TV series in a few months and getting used to all the characters.
The Witcher 3 is probably the most recent example. You're dumped back into an empty Kaer Morhen post-credits with none of the characters present anymore and it's just like... well, shit. Thankfully, the two expansions would be worthy continuations of Geralt's story and Blood and Wine, in particular, would give a fitting farewell that felt like the best place to let it rest.
Mass Effect 3 also got me, for all the wrong reasons.
Mass Effect 3 also got me, for all the wrong reasons.
Poured in like 90h into Xenoblade Chronicles 3D during the holidays. Still trying to fill that rpg hole. Finished like 10 other rpg on the 3ds since that but they just can't compete.
I recently bought Prey and Rise of the Tomb Raider because they were cheap and I'd been meaning to play them. I had loved the Tomb Raider reboot, so thought I'd get Prey out of the way first so that I have the new TR to look forward to.
Instead, of course, I ended up adoring Prey and played it pretty incessantly for weeks.
I'm now slogging my way through Rise which isn't a bad game by any means, but every so often I find myself cursing it for not being like Prey. ("Prey would have let me climb up there" etc)
Instead, of course, I ended up adoring Prey and played it pretty incessantly for weeks.
I'm now slogging my way through Rise which isn't a bad game by any means, but every so often I find myself cursing it for not being like Prey. ("Prey would have let me climb up there" etc)
But you have not stopped thinking about it..I finished it about 2 years ago and still think of it randomly throughout the years, what an amazing game / story.
I mean more in a thinking about existence, sentience and what it truly means. The game itself comes up every now and then yeah. Was an incredible experience.
This really.
For me the biggest impact was Nier Automata, which was funny because I was actually initially optimistic with the mindset of "Wow, games can do this to me? Let's dive into more!" and was disappointed in every game I play after until I discovered Nioh and Dark Souls.
Final Fantasy XV did this to me.
"I waited 10 years for this... now it's finally over. Now what?" I just want more adventures of Noctis and friends, but with how the story ends, it seems impossible for the story to continue in any meaningful way.
"I waited 10 years for this... now it's finally over. Now what?" I just want more adventures of Noctis and friends, but with how the story ends, it seems impossible for the story to continue in any meaningful way.