I played through and beat a bunch of games in the past 3 months, all for the GBA/DS, I find that once I beat them I am struck with a feeling of emptiness and loss.

It wasn't always this way. The first game I played on GBA was Metroid. When I beat Metroid I felt so triumphant, it was a great feeling that lasted through the day. I was pumped. It was an adrenaline rush, one more hit would've killed me, then suddenly the dragon exploded and I won.

That's the only exception.

When I beat Zelda as I was beating the bosses leading up to Ganon, I felt pumped and triumphant I was very happy to be getting to the end. Finally I beat Ganon and once it ended I felt very sad and empty.

Lately beating games doesn't feel like an achievement to me, it feels more like saying goodbye to a friend. After living with it for so long, you finally set it away and it's gone. Also another aspect is I think it's important for the game's ending to leave you on a more satisfied note rather than 'thats it.'

Only sometimes. Usually I'm ready for the game to be over.

I finally got 100% on Bully this past weekend and I kind of felt that feeling. I unlocked all these costumes and a new vehicle near the end (after I had already beat all the missions) and I realized 'Now what?' I have all this cool in-game stuff to play with now, but I have nothing left to do with it except aimless screwing around. I had this same feeling with Saints Row, and just about all the GTA-style games, really. By the time I've unlocked all the cool things I'm just exhausted of the game and ready to move on, since there's nothing left of note to do.

I almost wish that '100%' in these games unlocked a special '110% mode' where you got brand new missions that required your cool new vehicles and weapons and whatnot, but couldn't be accessed until you achieved that 100%. That would make it so much more meaningful.

I usually never get far enough to beat the games.

I was actually pretty sad when i got 100% in Lego Star Wars II. I just didn't want to stop playing!

Same here. Almost always I'm ready for it to be done with. Especially for long games.

For instance, I love the shit out of Okami. But I'm 33 hours in and getting anxious to finish it and move on.

Sometimes a game is too short, and I want more of it. But that usually leads to frustration with the developer for putting out an overly short game rather than sadness.

That would be fantastic. As is I don't bother trying to 100% games, especially long games, for just the reason you list. There is no point as you have no use for whatever you get (if you even get anything).

A good example is Super Princess Peach. Getting 100% gives you endless vibe meter so you can use the special powers all you want. But what the hells the point when you've already played all the levels, bought all the extras, and found all the hidden things?

And this is complicated by getting 100% usually involving tedious fetch quests and endless hunting for randomly scattered items.

I finished Saints Row, and am not even maybe 60% done. I doubt I'll get 100% on Bully. I haven't even played it since I got FFXII.

I beat the New Super Mario Bros without unlocking Worlds 4 and 7, so I went back and unlocked those and am going through and trying to pick up all the star coins and all the secret paths... but it's starting to lose it's luster.

I whooped it up on DK King of Swing, but was stuck on the last level for nearly 3 months, got frustrated and traded it in. Now I have "trader's remorse" and wish I could finish it.

No, I rarely finish a game these days, so when I do, I feel happy I accomplished something. I'm at the last boss in GoW (I believe). I have Dead Rising to play and Saint's Row....so, I have a LOT of gaming to do.

I felt that way when I finished playing Baldur's Gate (parts 1+2 with both expansion packs).

Depends on the game. I gave up on Prey and since I was waiting for a couple of games to come out, I decided to go back and finish it. It was more of a relief to beat it than anything else, since I like to complete things, and I didn't care for the game. I was thrilled when I beat PDZ, since it was the first game I ever beat (I just started gaming with the 360). My most satisfying victory was GRAW, which I really liked and probably would still rank as my favorite game. I also have Dead Rising, Saints Row, Call of Duty 3, and a couple of more games sitting on my shelf to get at, so once I finish them as a collective, I'll be sad since I don't really see many more games coming out in the next little while that I will want to play.

I feel sad when I beat a game that has taken a long time, however if it is quick then I get angry.

Only one I can think of is FF7.

I feel that way right now about FF:XII. I beat the game at about 60 hours. My save is now at just over 100 hours and I only have two optional fights left. Last time I turned it on I just kinda wandered around trying to find something to do. I even finished the fishing mini game. I wish there was more in there cause I don't want to stop playing.

I felt bad when I completed the 2 Star Wars Lego games recently on my PS2. Now I really have no need to keep the games since they were both beaten. So now I am faced with keep them for no reason or sell them at a loss. When you really think about it, why keep a game you have finished?

I've rarely felt that way after a game, but god of War made me feel that way. I just wanted more... such a great game.

Beating a game doesn't make me sad.. you know what makes me sad?! Fighting a super boss for FIFTEEN minutes using meticulous dodging and blocking techniques while still being liquefied by its frequent 50% damage critical hits. You know what makes me sad? Chipping away at this bastard at 70 HP a hit from his 40,000 HP total only to get him down to 128 HP and then geting FUCKED BY ONE LAST CRITICAL HIT.

THAT'S WHAT MAKES ME SAD!



Wait.. that makes me mad.. not sad.

I wanted Resident Evil 4 to go on a little longer. As soon as I beat it, I played through one of the side-games. Then I played RE4 again with the Chicago Typewriter.

On another note, I played Dragon Quest VIII and was enjoying it, but got the feeling it would never end. I'll bet I never even got close to finishing it.

Haha, try FF:XII. The longest fight I had was a boss who had 8.6 million HP and I was hitting for about 3000 each...that was until he got to 50% life and his level doubled. Then I was doing about 1700 per hit. If I didn't kill him on my first try I probably never would have played it again (this was after I already "beat" the game.) That fight alone took about 2 straight hours.

Well, did you at least have to fight using.. you know.. strategy? Or was it like the gay super bosses from VII where it was simply a matter of chaining sixteen lame-two-minute-animation summons at them? I always hated people bragging "I beat Emerald." Yeah congratulations, you quad-summoned it to death, here's a fucking cookie. And it was impossible to fight them even at level 99 with normal battle tactics.

When I beat COD2 on veteran, I definitely got a sense of accomplishment from, and was pretty pumped about.

Oh yeah. Without strategy there's no way you'd last five minutes in a fight like the one I mentioned. Regardless of your level you're gonig to be dieing a lot. Unless you have the right combination of gambits and manual comands you'll end up with mutliple status effects and then be dead very quickly. Once you hit a high enough level, summons and the quickenings (like limit breaks) are useless. At that point it's all endurance keeping your party alive, status free, and not running out of magic. If/when I decide to try the next battle out of the last two I'll try to record some of it and post it up.

Back on topic. Another game which I didn't want to end was Morrowind/Oblivion. I check Bethesda's site every day for news of a full Oblivion expansion. I still throw it in every now and again just to realize that there's really nothing left for me to do in it.

Ditto, it was like now I have to go back to reality. For a few days I'd fly around trying to find those 2 crazy hard bad guys, but it wasn't the same.

Some of us like to play through games again at a later time.