End of Game Funk

I don't know if anyone else suffers from this, but it's what I'm in now and what I always get after completing a good game.

I recently finished Pathfinder Kingmaker & now nothing I play seems to satisfy me, I feel like I've spent too much time playing a computer game and should now 'do something constructive with my time', but just sit around itching to play another game.

But I can't start another game for some reason, not burned out, just that I know for a fact that there isn't a game out there I want to play that can bring me the same high as my last finished game.

It doesn't matter what the game is or what subgenre it is, it could be an Avernum game, a Civilisation game or a Nancy Drew game or anything really, just as long as it was a game I thoroughly got into and really dedicated myself to.

I look at all the great games I own and think "Now for a replay of XYZ", but then start them but tail off quite quickly. I'll try a few new quicker games but burn through them with barely a percentage of the satisfaction levels.

I know I have some more great bigger games to play, but am just not in the mood yet to start another in-deep game.

A sort of cold turkey period between finishing the last deep dive and starting out on the next. Usually about a month's worth.

Anyone else get this?

I'd have to finish a game first to experience what you are describing.

It happens sometimes when I have finished a really great game.

I can't decide what to play next, sometimes only playing the same game again helps a bit.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
It happens sometimes when I have finished a really great game.

I can't decide what to play next, sometimes only playing the same game again helps a bit.

Yeah, I tried playing P:k again but Solo, but the game is sadly not designed for solo & since my first run was a rogue, I can't really develop a party with any more Skills to experience new content that way.

I pondered on going with a three or four party team, but that wouldn't vary much from six party team as I played most of the later stages of the game with just three or four characters active in combat most of the time anyway. (always keeping the spellcasters back and in reserve just in case I needed their spells later).

I never even consider starting another run of a game I just finished especially when it's a lengthy game like Pathfinder. I've always found it curious that some people can do that.

By the time I finish a long RPG, I'm always ready for a change in setting and/or gameplay no matter how much I enjoyed the game. Maybe it's because I tend to be a completionist and usually exhaust the content as thoroughly as possible.

I do get it occasionally, though only with great games I've really enjoyed. I get it with good books too - sometimes you feel sort of bereft when your time in that place comes to an end.

I'm currently in a partially self-imposed, partially not, funk with playing games. Haven't touched one in over a month I think. And I think I'm gonna make this break last a while. I want the next game I get into, to be ravenous for it.

Last game I played and then replayed very close to my first run, was Days Gone. Such a blast the second time. Maybe I had even more fun the second time around, since I had way more confidence to explore and clear everything.

I find that for many games, my second and third playthroughs are the best. I'm not sure why, but there's a certain comfort in knowing what comes next, and knowing that you can relax and take it all in, and not stress out about missing stuff. Plus you can also min-max a lot better and thus make it easier on yourself, which has it's own charm. I remember this for Gothic 1 and 2. My first playthroughs in both, I was kind of lost. That has a charm, but it's better to know your way around.

I can't finish games anymore. They are usually too long for me to keep my attention. Regardless of how great they are, I always loose interest after 40-50 hours. Maybe I've developed ADD for games
So, I don't reach the point to experience that feeling.

Yep, me too, it's rare though. I've just finished Pathfinder Wrath and just don't know what to play now. I will play Pathfinder again at some point, but it's too big, too recent, too fresh an impact, to just dive straight back in. I might just play something completely different, something first person and shooty guns, but what. Or maybe survival though I never get very far in those.

Sometimes I can smell pretty funky after playing games all day. Turns out I just needed to take a shower and put on some deodorant, thus ending my game funk.

But seriously there have been times when I feel like no game appeals to me and other times where I feel like I have way too many things to play. If its the former, it usually helps to take a break and wait until a game I've really been looking forward to comes out.

I do often fail to finish games, too. It's pretty rare one can hold my interest until the end. It also often seems like the ends of a RPGs are the least compelling part, perhaps the developers often run out of time to polish the end game.

Originally Posted by Myrthos
I can't finish games anymore. They are usually too long for me to keep my attention. Regardless of how great they are, I always loose interest after 40-50 hours. Maybe I've developed ADD for games

I have a similar problem, and it usually appears with me when I find a section too hard, or too boring, and especially when there is too much fighting and too few story, so to say. Fighting bores me A LOT these days.

I guess I'm in minority. While I do feel empty after finishing a great game, it doesn't last long because I dive straight back into the same game.

I'm very picky on what I play but I really enjoy those few games I play and tend to replay it several times

So its either I give up after 1-2 hours or play it for 100+ hours at least.

Originally Posted by purpleblob1
So its either I give up after 1-2 hours or play it for 100+ hours at least.

This makes perfect sense. I struggle with how people could play for 50-60 hours and then not want to finish?

The only thing I can recommend is putting some rules in place for yourself. For instance, I only allow myself to have one game, that I haven't finished, installed at any given time. The only exclusion I have to this rule and games like Civilisation, CK, EU etc i.e. games that you don't really "finish".

I haven't actually not finished a game in a very long time. I take pride in finishing games and I always try and document the process on steam i.e. take a few screenshots of the end and my character/s. This also means I am less likely to go back and play the game because I can just look at the screenshots I took and remember what it was like to play the game. I definately prefer new experiences rather than rehashing old games except for very very rare cases like Planscape: Torment, Baldurs Gate, Wiz6 and Ultima7 - which I replay every 5-10 years.

Yea I go through the same. Dealing with that now with WOTR although I suspect I will replay it again.

I tend to have 3 games that never really end that I always turn to when in a funk or simply need to zone out. They are like a favorite movie or book or t-shirt. Cozy and comfortable to slip into whenever I want. Skyrim, FO4, and SIMS are my current three escapes when I don't know what else to play but want to do something.

I got over a dozen games, some new, some half-finished, some played a few times, I could dive into but have to wait until the mood is there.

Usually a couple of weeks to clear my head.

I suspect I am a little bit like Purple in the sense of I either play a few hours and move away or I dive in and sink tons of time into a game. This only works for games that allow you make your own character and has some sense of freedom which is why I tend to not play any game with a set protagonist or what I call "movie" games where I am just watching from the back seat.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I don't know if anyone else suffers from this, but it's what I'm in now and what I always get after completing a good game.

I recently finished Pathfinder Kingmaker & now nothing I play seems to satisfy me, I feel like I've spent too much time playing a computer game and should now 'do something constructive with my time', but just sit around itching to play another game.

But I can't start another game for some reason, not burned out, just that I know for a fact that there isn't a game out there I want to play that can bring me the same high as my last finished game.

It doesn't matter what the game is or what subgenre it is, it could be an Avernum game, a Civilisation game or a Nancy Drew game or anything really, just as long as it was a game I thoroughly got into and really dedicated myself to.

I look at all the great games I own and think "Now for a replay of XYZ", but then start them but tail off quite quickly. I'll try a few new quicker games but burn through them with barely a percentage of the satisfaction levels.

I know I have some more great bigger games to play, but am just not in the mood yet to start another in-deep game.

A sort of cold turkey period between finishing the last deep dive and starting out on the next. Usually about a month's worth.

Anyone else get this?

So I assume you know about Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous otherwise isn't your issue solved already ?

Oh jeez, did you really need to quote the entire OP just to do a one-liner?

& no, that's the thing, after the long-hauls it's pretty much impossible to immediately dive into another long-haul. Replaying the same game is different as the meta knowledge speeds everything up and removes the deep-dive aspect.

That happens to me sometimes, after a really nice and satisfying game, nothing else seems to hit that itch for a while, at times. What I tend to do then is read a bit more than usual, until another game comes along to blow my socks off, OR buckle down to replay something that I know I'll enjoy. I have to admit though, this doesn't happen all too often, I'm usually able to bounce right into another game with no mental issues. Well, no new issues at least! -p

Originally Posted by lackblogger
Oh jeez, did you really need to quote the entire OP just to do a one-liner?

So what?

Originally Posted by Myrthos
So what?

Unnecessary clutter. Purely a personal taste thing.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
Oh jeez, did you really need to quote the entire OP just to do a one-liner?

That has become common practise in so many forums these days …