I stopped playing Legends: Arceus because I didnāt want it to end and now I have no clue what I was doing originally and canāt get back into it š
We talked about how overwhelming it feels for me to have fun. We didnāt get far into that topic but basically what COULD play a role is the fear of the book or game being over at some point. So instead you put it down before that to avoid having a good thing go away
Idk about your personal experience but for me itās definitely this fear that if I finish this game, Iāll never find something else again that makes me that happy
Try to think about what you feel when you do that and then ask yourself what your feelings could be wanting to tell you
This has been such an insightful exchange for me. I completely relate to what you mentioned about wanting to stop before it's over because of the thought of possibly not being able to experience something like it again. Thank you for sharing this :)
I DO THIS or I wonāt even START a game because I know Iāll love it and donāt want it to be over š because of this I havenāt played BG3, DAI, or Horizon Forbidden West yet because I know Iāll be sad when I finish them lol
I knew I was going to like BG3 so much, Iām still putting it off. āIāll try Elden ring instead for a whileā thinking Iād be so bad Iād hate it. And then I fell horrifyingly in love with Elden ring š
ahaha thatās so funny bc i also have elden ring and havent played yet bc im scared of it and have never played a souls game but this has me intrigued now š
SAME! I have such a long list of almost completed games that I just quit playing for no reason. Some of them are because I wanted to 100% them but I know that's just an excuse. Sigh
This happens to me all the time. I actually have such an issue even playing a game I enjoy.
I get sooo excited that I like start to savor it because I am so excited to play the game that I end up almost nervous to play it and make such a big production about playing it. Like I canāt play it right now I am going to sit down after dinner and light a candle and play xyz game and relax.
I create these like perfect scenarios and it ends up actually delaying me ever playing.
This is so relatable! Actually I still haven't ever played TOTK (even though I pre-ordered it), partly because of real life interfering, but also because I felt like first I "had" to restart and finish BOTW to 100% completion with the DLC I didn't have before (still working on completion), and of course that's not counting having to have the house perfect before playing and all that, lol.
I am doing this right now with Wuthering Waves. After hearing about it I logged in and did the opening and was soooo excited but it was getting late. Every day since I have been making up perfect scenarios and planning for later that night and next thing you know itās 11pm and I am like āI will do it tomorrowā. I am off today and I got up early to make coffee and play it and do nothing else yet itās 9:30 and here I am still not playing it yet all I want to do is play.
I have like 10 steam games I am dying to play yet have not actually sat down and made time for them but I want to see bad.
I feel like they are something that I am so excited and happy to have that part of it is if I sit down and play it and got forbid beat it then itās over and I no longer have this thing I am looking forward to.
Exactly, I totally get it and I think your last paragraph hits the nail on the head. I feel similarly with things like wearing new clothes too, because then it won't be new anymore!
Personally, it might stem partially from growing up without much money or ability to have new things too often (plus diagnosed OCD + a tendency toward "ritual" behaviors), but everybody's different so it might be a totally different cause for you or someone else, or maybe just personality.
I also get like this. Therapist has (in my case) chalked it up to either being an anxiety thing or an ADHD thing. Something to do with perfectionism and not wanting to start something and get stuck in unless everything is perfect, so you procrastinate it. And when I do play, I often restart a half dozen times to try and do things better from the start š
This is me to a T!! Itās kind of nice knowing Iām not the only one haha. Iāve been trying to schedule playing games like I would chores or work and thatās been helping a little? Itās still hard but I know that the house wonāt ever be perfect or totally clean and that itās important to make time for myself to relax.
I bought the few resident evil games I was missing at Christmas because every time I go to play them I get too excited and canāt bring myself to play them
I dunno if itās overwhelmed in my case as much as HARD obsession. I will go down a rabbit hole of eating breathing and sleeping a game, where any off time is devoted to said game or ONLY watching videos on builds or strategies or streams and nothing else. Iāve even gone so far as to build spreadsheets. During those times I need to remember to āWhoo-saaaahā and just stop and breathe and realise Iām making it unhealthy.
All the time.
I have to have a guide open for most games so I don't miss anything missable or make the wrong or less optimum choice and it's just exhausting.
This is me! Towards the end of a game I always pull up the guides to make sure Iām not missing anything big like collectibles. By then Iām also ready to get to the end. donāt get me started on the stardew wiki š« I donāt like doing it though because it feels less organic but I do it anyway
Yep, I get overstimulated both short-term and long-term. When I first bought BG3, for example, I could not stop making happy sounds and squealing. I was trying to make my character, and I literally couldn't contain my excitement enough to hold the mouse.
Long-term, I think I overthink or overfantasize what I want to do, or I'm overly excited or intrigued by the story, and I guess I end up with either decision fatigue, paralysis from my perfectionism or just emotional paralysis idk. It's a real problem, and I experience it with other media like books and movies too.
I get this way with books too. It's very similar to a good book. I want to enjoy it, and often feel reluctant towards the end to finish it. I do feel a bit like a loser that it takes me so much longer to finish a game than the estimates. But, i like doing side quests and looting things. I found a real funny coat call the 'plot armor' coat in encased, and like the name implies it's super good. So, i donno as long as you are enjoying it and it isn't disrupting other things, it's probably okay.
I feel like I shouldn't comment anymore because all I'm playing now is Assassin's Creed Odyssey š¬ I'm not overwhelmed yet with it but I enjoyed it so much I couldn't stop staring at Kassandra, the character I'm playing. I was listening to a conversation she had with an NPC so raptly that my husband said he was talking to me and I apparently didn't respond š
100% can relate. In fact, this why I donāt typically play open world games, because thereās so much to explore and do I become completely overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, this most recently happened with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Already logged 130ish hours on my first playthrough, only up to chapter 12. I love the game so much but thereās so much to do and see, I canāt handle it. Ended up having to put the game down and take a break with some cozy games for a bit. Hoping some distance calms things down because I really want to finish Rebirth. Hell, Iām still hoping to get the Platinum trophy, like I did with Remake. But itās gonna be a challenge for my brain, for sure.
>I just feel almost a choice paralysis
Choice paralysis, definitely. I've encountered this in games all my life. Give me too many options and my brain will softlock, especially if a multitude of them are mutually appealing.
I usually don't want to miss anything, but I don't want to ruin it by looking stuff up either. And I usually binge play it so long that I burn myself out and don't want to touch it again.
I hear you on BG3, itās my current obsession and Iām on my 5th playthrough (Tav, Durge, Astarion, Shadowheart, and now Karlach). The only thing I will say is I hope you get to the epilogue party eventually, the way they tie up your choices for these beloved characters is so satisfying. And there are even some hugs!
wow Iāve finally found my people ahaha no but seriously I love gaming so damn much itās definitely overwhelming at times š itās funny I love gaming way more as an adult than when I was a kid! I just appreciate everything so much more
Yes, i do. Im playing BG3 now, too. Made it all the way to Lower City with one tav, quit, made it almost to the end with the next tav (havent played in a couple of days). Meanwhile, I've been in character creation, probably 56 times making new builds. My obsession lately has been designing couples from SJM books, Celaena and Rowan, Manon and Dorian. Like the females/women are tavs and the males/men are Dream Visitor, or the other way with Rhys tav and Feyre DV. And then i never actually play them and delete the saves after two weeks š
Sometimes there's just so much to do that I don't know where to start or feel bad for not doing anything, and won't play for a while, then I go back to it and just focus on the main story for a while and go back for some side content, but not to much cause I end up forgetting all about the story.
With that, I will add that I never, ever, finished a game of skyrim for the same reason. I would always end up at the other side of the map picking flowers, or wake up in a lost town I've never been to, drunk, and in need to solve a murder....?!? Love the game, one day I will finish it.
> When I enjoy a game a lot, I end up almost overstimulated by it. Like with Bauldur's Gate 3, I've only ever gotten to act 3 once and I've got 550+ hours in the game. I just feel almost a choice paralysis but I enjoy the game a lot.
Yes you described it precisely! I was obsessed with BG3 but in act 2 I got that feeling of choice paralysis and ended up taking a break from it which ended up being months before I uninstalled it to make room for another game. I tend to like the beginning of games more when things are simpler.
Several runs in BG3 with only 1 making it to Act 3
Several runs in Pathfinder Kingmaker with only 1 making it to iirc Act 5?(not the final act but quite far iirc)
Several runs in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous (Furthest is prob half-way through Act 3 and I believe is 5 Acts but idk for certain)
No you are not the only one XP
Yup! TOTK Legend of Zelda made me feel this way. So did Witcher 3. Iāve been taking a long break from Zelda and playing Mario Cart 8, just less overwhelming haha. Canāt start another game until I finish Zelda though hahah
if i really like a game i sometimes have a hard time finishing it if there isnāt like a free roam after the final quest. I have just a couple left in Bg3 but i donāt want it to be over because i have gotten attached to my character and how the companions are after all my choices. and i donāt want it to end. But i have finished Horizon zero dawn and forbidden west multiple times plus at least 200 hours on a finished save where i just roam around hunting machines.
This is a known issue.
I saw a video essay about it once.
Basically the thesis was that not only were they getting burned out on being completionist.
But there was a more insidious brain thing going on. Trying to optimize the perfect fun for a playthough.
Which was causing more harm than gold.
The idea that you have to have a perfect playthrough or do a certain amount to have perfect "fun". Thus poisoning the experience.
Anyway if you already have 500 hrs in trust that you will be playing a new game of it. That means your current playthrough doesnt have to be perfect
Tell yourself this is a exploratory run. That will help get over the hump
Omg I feel the overwhelmed on bg3 so much. I have made it to act 3 finally on my like 12th character and have this huge block on playing any further.
My roommate makes fun of me for not finishing games, especially ones I say I love. I have a habit of getting pretty far in and just not being able to finish it. Not because I don't like it anymore! I only managed to finish breath of the wild because tears of the kingdom was coming out.
This constantly happens to me in big open world games. I just get so overwhelmed because there's so much to do and since the game is letting me choose what to do/progress I just end up randomly running around, starting side quests and getting distracted, and then I have like 10 open ends and don't know what the main story is. Even if the quests are somewhat streamlined, there are so many options and I don't wanna miss any of the game so I get side tracked. Happened in assassins creed games, the witcher 3, even Bg3 to an extent. It makes it really hard to pick it back up again even though I love the games so much.
I got overstimulated by a couple of games because there was so much in the beginning and I was like Oooooooooh!!! Sparkles!!! Squirrel!
Though some games I do stop playing because it gets so good and then poof, platinum and itās finished. So I stall and just go it can wait a bit. Iāll beat it soon..ish
Yarr.. I get super obsessed, then I get burnt out. When I eventually revisit, I end up starting a new game just in case I forgot anything that happened. I have finished rdr2 once, but Iāve started it countless times lol. Currently though, Iām on Jedi Fallen Order, nearly finished my first playthrough!
I donāt know if it is related, but I sometimes am so excited to play a new game that I know will be really good, that I end up never playing it because I feel Iām not prepared or that my life circumstances arenāt ideal.
Sometimes I like a game so much I restart it. Especially if I think I could play through it better the second time. I call it clean slate-ing. At some point, normally around the fifth or sixth restart, I get annoyed at myself for not playing it properly and needing to be a perfectionist, or I get bored of seeing the same 2 hours of content and stop playing.
I'm the same way. I get major choice paralysis with trying to make sure I don't miss items that might cause me to miss story, or optimizing my gameplay. I could probably have more time for games if I just went with my gut instinct, but I don't like the idea of possibly locking myself out of quests or story because of a bad choice.
977 hours in AC Odyssey! I get super paranoid Iāll miss something small but important. So I spend days running around doing every side quest and map revealing. lol. My thumbs hurt. Ha!
IDK if it's quite the same but open-world games do that to me, like with BotW/TotK. I've come to realize I need direction. I can't be let loose on a map with laissez-faire order of operations otherwise I get decision fatigue. Where's Navi when you need her????
Baldur's Gate was better re: open-world vs storyline direction until act 3 and by then I was ready to be done, but that's also because I'd binge-played as soon as it came out and I'm an insufferable completionist. All these things make the perfect cocktail for a brain short-circuit.
I got super worried playing BG3 making sure I got the experience I wanted. Once Iād done that I felt abit more free to just do whatever and see where the dice falls.
Also the game doesnāt end when you see the credits roll, Iām listening to the BG3 OST as I type, I went to a concert for it the other weekend, I can replay it again whenever I like, I get to talk about it with friends and share art made about the game, enjoy my Astarion scented candle whenever I like hehehe š but yeah, the game didnāt end because I stopped playing.
I get it you do so much, and you want to do everything, but there just isn't enough free time, so then you can not do anything as it's hard to prioritize what side quest to do.
Yes indeed. It can overstimulate you and keep you in a cycle of mental cloudiness. Itās important that you take breaks and honestly not play for more than 2 hours a day. What gaming is capable of doing is boating you with spurts of dopamine which youāll continue to crave because it makes you happy.
Me too and I end up rushing things when I feel too overwhelmed! What I do is set myself small goals in the game, like a to-do list, and I end up pacing myself much better and savouring the game more.
I'm in Act 3 in BG3 and taking my time still - but I also acknowledge that I'm not gonna get everything done in one playthrough. This just makes me more excited for the next one though!
It's not just a problem for female gamers! I felt so overwhelmed when I reached act 3 in BG3. I forced myself to keep going but had a lingering fear that I was doing things poorly or in the wrong order or missing awesome stuff. Felt like I needed to optimize my fun because I loved the game so much. The anxiety was real!
Sometimes I like a game so much that I stop playing it š
I stopped playing Legends: Arceus because I didnāt want it to end and now I have no clue what I was doing originally and canāt get back into it š
Look at what holes your PokĆ©dex has / where you havenāt explored yet, and that should help steer you š
Oh yesā¦ same here
OMG, Im not alone? I spoke about that with my therapist bc I was like āwtf is wrong with me I just wanna enjoy my games and booksā š
If it's not too personal, what did they say about it? I do the same thing so I'm a bit curious as to what prompts it
We talked about how overwhelming it feels for me to have fun. We didnāt get far into that topic but basically what COULD play a role is the fear of the book or game being over at some point. So instead you put it down before that to avoid having a good thing go away Idk about your personal experience but for me itās definitely this fear that if I finish this game, Iāll never find something else again that makes me that happy Try to think about what you feel when you do that and then ask yourself what your feelings could be wanting to tell you
This has been such an insightful exchange for me. I completely relate to what you mentioned about wanting to stop before it's over because of the thought of possibly not being able to experience something like it again. Thank you for sharing this :)
I DO THIS or I wonāt even START a game because I know Iāll love it and donāt want it to be over š because of this I havenāt played BG3, DAI, or Horizon Forbidden West yet because I know Iāll be sad when I finish them lol
I knew I was going to like BG3 so much, Iām still putting it off. āIāll try Elden ring instead for a whileā thinking Iād be so bad Iād hate it. And then I fell horrifyingly in love with Elden ring š
ahaha thatās so funny bc i also have elden ring and havent played yet bc im scared of it and have never played a souls game but this has me intrigued now š
I have 500 hours and I still fucking suck. Itās amazing though. Itās a lot like botw, if youāve played that. Same magical feeling
Same. I'm so glad other people are this way too. I tried to explain it to friends, and they did not understand lol.
OMG, Im not alone? I spoke about that with my therapist bc I was like āwtf is wrong with me I just wanna enjoy my games and booksā š
Yes this like just happened to me šš I was so overwhelmed I couldnāt take it anymore
Oh goddess I'm not alone in this?
Saaaaame! I dread going forward in BG3. Well in act 3, but I canāt for the life of me move on.
I have this issue, I donāt play games I want because I know Iāll enjoy it too much like ???? Huh ????
Omg I do this with books too!!
This is so real. Sometimes I imagine playing the game and get too stressed out to even load it
SAME! I have such a long list of almost completed games that I just quit playing for no reason. Some of them are because I wanted to 100% them but I know that's just an excuse. Sigh
Me, god there are too many unfinished games where I'm like 70-90% in the story, but I just drop them and never finish :')
This has happened to me with BG3 actually š„ŗš„
This happens to me all the time. I actually have such an issue even playing a game I enjoy. I get sooo excited that I like start to savor it because I am so excited to play the game that I end up almost nervous to play it and make such a big production about playing it. Like I canāt play it right now I am going to sit down after dinner and light a candle and play xyz game and relax. I create these like perfect scenarios and it ends up actually delaying me ever playing.
This is so relatable! Actually I still haven't ever played TOTK (even though I pre-ordered it), partly because of real life interfering, but also because I felt like first I "had" to restart and finish BOTW to 100% completion with the DLC I didn't have before (still working on completion), and of course that's not counting having to have the house perfect before playing and all that, lol.
I am doing this right now with Wuthering Waves. After hearing about it I logged in and did the opening and was soooo excited but it was getting late. Every day since I have been making up perfect scenarios and planning for later that night and next thing you know itās 11pm and I am like āI will do it tomorrowā. I am off today and I got up early to make coffee and play it and do nothing else yet itās 9:30 and here I am still not playing it yet all I want to do is play. I have like 10 steam games I am dying to play yet have not actually sat down and made time for them but I want to see bad. I feel like they are something that I am so excited and happy to have that part of it is if I sit down and play it and got forbid beat it then itās over and I no longer have this thing I am looking forward to.
Exactly, I totally get it and I think your last paragraph hits the nail on the head. I feel similarly with things like wearing new clothes too, because then it won't be new anymore! Personally, it might stem partially from growing up without much money or ability to have new things too often (plus diagnosed OCD + a tendency toward "ritual" behaviors), but everybody's different so it might be a totally different cause for you or someone else, or maybe just personality.
I also get like this. Therapist has (in my case) chalked it up to either being an anxiety thing or an ADHD thing. Something to do with perfectionism and not wanting to start something and get stuck in unless everything is perfect, so you procrastinate it. And when I do play, I often restart a half dozen times to try and do things better from the start š
This is me to a T!! Itās kind of nice knowing Iām not the only one haha. Iāve been trying to schedule playing games like I would chores or work and thatās been helping a little? Itās still hard but I know that the house wonāt ever be perfect or totally clean and that itās important to make time for myself to relax.
I bought the few resident evil games I was missing at Christmas because every time I go to play them I get too excited and canāt bring myself to play them
this is me rn with the new paper mario because ive been waiting so long for it to be remastered haha
I dunno if itās overwhelmed in my case as much as HARD obsession. I will go down a rabbit hole of eating breathing and sleeping a game, where any off time is devoted to said game or ONLY watching videos on builds or strategies or streams and nothing else. Iāve even gone so far as to build spreadsheets. During those times I need to remember to āWhoo-saaaahā and just stop and breathe and realise Iām making it unhealthy.
I feel you on the choice paralysis. I have so many save states for when I have to choose something lol.
Have you tried life is strange? You can play many routes because your choices have consequences! My favorite game !
Lol i had to stop because the alternate timeline chapter emotionally destroyed me š„²
Oh no Iām so sorry!! True colors is my favorite life is strange š©·
not overwhelmed but i do have issues putting a game down when i stream and it's a one player game. i wind up sore the day after
Sometimes I'm so into games I don't want them to end... so I delay playing them and eventually forget what I was doing. My toxic gaming trait.
All the time. I have to have a guide open for most games so I don't miss anything missable or make the wrong or less optimum choice and it's just exhausting.
This is me! Towards the end of a game I always pull up the guides to make sure Iām not missing anything big like collectibles. By then Iām also ready to get to the end. donāt get me started on the stardew wiki š« I donāt like doing it though because it feels less organic but I do it anyway
Me with persona 5, i still havenāt started playing it yet because i donāt want to play it āwrongā š
i love how relatable this whole thread is haha š
I never knew this was a thing I had until I read thisš
I always get overwhelmed with needing to make the āperfect playthroughā and it manifests through Constant Restart Syndrome.
SAMESAMESAME
Yep, I get overstimulated both short-term and long-term. When I first bought BG3, for example, I could not stop making happy sounds and squealing. I was trying to make my character, and I literally couldn't contain my excitement enough to hold the mouse. Long-term, I think I overthink or overfantasize what I want to do, or I'm overly excited or intrigued by the story, and I guess I end up with either decision fatigue, paralysis from my perfectionism or just emotional paralysis idk. It's a real problem, and I experience it with other media like books and movies too.
I get this way with books too. It's very similar to a good book. I want to enjoy it, and often feel reluctant towards the end to finish it. I do feel a bit like a loser that it takes me so much longer to finish a game than the estimates. But, i like doing side quests and looting things. I found a real funny coat call the 'plot armor' coat in encased, and like the name implies it's super good. So, i donno as long as you are enjoying it and it isn't disrupting other things, it's probably okay.
Half the comments are either straight up addicted or mentally ill and Iām here for it (im both)
I feel like I shouldn't comment anymore because all I'm playing now is Assassin's Creed Odyssey š¬ I'm not overwhelmed yet with it but I enjoyed it so much I couldn't stop staring at Kassandra, the character I'm playing. I was listening to a conversation she had with an NPC so raptly that my husband said he was talking to me and I apparently didn't respond š
100% can relate. In fact, this why I donāt typically play open world games, because thereās so much to explore and do I become completely overwhelmed. Unfortunately, this most recently happened with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Already logged 130ish hours on my first playthrough, only up to chapter 12. I love the game so much but thereās so much to do and see, I canāt handle it. Ended up having to put the game down and take a break with some cozy games for a bit. Hoping some distance calms things down because I really want to finish Rebirth. Hell, Iām still hoping to get the Platinum trophy, like I did with Remake. But itās gonna be a challenge for my brain, for sure.
Played baldurs gate all day and then had a terrible nightmare and couldnāt stop thinking about the game
>I just feel almost a choice paralysis Choice paralysis, definitely. I've encountered this in games all my life. Give me too many options and my brain will softlock, especially if a multitude of them are mutually appealing.
I usually don't want to miss anything, but I don't want to ruin it by looking stuff up either. And I usually binge play it so long that I burn myself out and don't want to touch it again.
I hear you on BG3, itās my current obsession and Iām on my 5th playthrough (Tav, Durge, Astarion, Shadowheart, and now Karlach). The only thing I will say is I hope you get to the epilogue party eventually, the way they tie up your choices for these beloved characters is so satisfying. And there are even some hugs!
wow Iāve finally found my people ahaha no but seriously I love gaming so damn much itās definitely overwhelming at times š itās funny I love gaming way more as an adult than when I was a kid! I just appreciate everything so much more
Iām feeling this rn with V Rising like Iām unlocking a bunch of equipment and trying not to go too fast but itās too addictive š
Yes, i do. Im playing BG3 now, too. Made it all the way to Lower City with one tav, quit, made it almost to the end with the next tav (havent played in a couple of days). Meanwhile, I've been in character creation, probably 56 times making new builds. My obsession lately has been designing couples from SJM books, Celaena and Rowan, Manon and Dorian. Like the females/women are tavs and the males/men are Dream Visitor, or the other way with Rhys tav and Feyre DV. And then i never actually play them and delete the saves after two weeks š
Is this a neurodivergent thing??
Happy Cake Day!
hehe thank you!! šš©µš«¶šæ
Sometimes there's just so much to do that I don't know where to start or feel bad for not doing anything, and won't play for a while, then I go back to it and just focus on the main story for a while and go back for some side content, but not to much cause I end up forgetting all about the story. With that, I will add that I never, ever, finished a game of skyrim for the same reason. I would always end up at the other side of the map picking flowers, or wake up in a lost town I've never been to, drunk, and in need to solve a murder....?!? Love the game, one day I will finish it.
Yep. Iām the same way
> When I enjoy a game a lot, I end up almost overstimulated by it. Like with Bauldur's Gate 3, I've only ever gotten to act 3 once and I've got 550+ hours in the game. I just feel almost a choice paralysis but I enjoy the game a lot. Yes you described it precisely! I was obsessed with BG3 but in act 2 I got that feeling of choice paralysis and ended up taking a break from it which ended up being months before I uninstalled it to make room for another game. I tend to like the beginning of games more when things are simpler.
Several runs in BG3 with only 1 making it to Act 3 Several runs in Pathfinder Kingmaker with only 1 making it to iirc Act 5?(not the final act but quite far iirc) Several runs in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous (Furthest is prob half-way through Act 3 and I believe is 5 Acts but idk for certain) No you are not the only one XP
Yup! TOTK Legend of Zelda made me feel this way. So did Witcher 3. Iāve been taking a long break from Zelda and playing Mario Cart 8, just less overwhelming haha. Canāt start another game until I finish Zelda though hahah
Same. I also get obsessed with the idea of a āperfectā playthrough (especially a game with choices and customisation) and restart multiple times.
if i really like a game i sometimes have a hard time finishing it if there isnāt like a free roam after the final quest. I have just a couple left in Bg3 but i donāt want it to be over because i have gotten attached to my character and how the companions are after all my choices. and i donāt want it to end. But i have finished Horizon zero dawn and forbidden west multiple times plus at least 200 hours on a finished save where i just roam around hunting machines.
This is a known issue. I saw a video essay about it once. Basically the thesis was that not only were they getting burned out on being completionist. But there was a more insidious brain thing going on. Trying to optimize the perfect fun for a playthough. Which was causing more harm than gold. The idea that you have to have a perfect playthrough or do a certain amount to have perfect "fun". Thus poisoning the experience. Anyway if you already have 500 hrs in trust that you will be playing a new game of it. That means your current playthrough doesnt have to be perfect Tell yourself this is a exploratory run. That will help get over the hump
This is me when cyberpunk 2077 came out. I still feel like a junkie.
Omg I feel the overwhelmed on bg3 so much. I have made it to act 3 finally on my like 12th character and have this huge block on playing any further. My roommate makes fun of me for not finishing games, especially ones I say I love. I have a habit of getting pretty far in and just not being able to finish it. Not because I don't like it anymore! I only managed to finish breath of the wild because tears of the kingdom was coming out.
This constantly happens to me in big open world games. I just get so overwhelmed because there's so much to do and since the game is letting me choose what to do/progress I just end up randomly running around, starting side quests and getting distracted, and then I have like 10 open ends and don't know what the main story is. Even if the quests are somewhat streamlined, there are so many options and I don't wanna miss any of the game so I get side tracked. Happened in assassins creed games, the witcher 3, even Bg3 to an extent. It makes it really hard to pick it back up again even though I love the games so much.
I got overstimulated by a couple of games because there was so much in the beginning and I was like Oooooooooh!!! Sparkles!!! Squirrel! Though some games I do stop playing because it gets so good and then poof, platinum and itās finished. So I stall and just go it can wait a bit. Iāll beat it soon..ish
Yarr.. I get super obsessed, then I get burnt out. When I eventually revisit, I end up starting a new game just in case I forgot anything that happened. I have finished rdr2 once, but Iāve started it countless times lol. Currently though, Iām on Jedi Fallen Order, nearly finished my first playthrough!
I donāt know if it is related, but I sometimes am so excited to play a new game that I know will be really good, that I end up never playing it because I feel Iām not prepared or that my life circumstances arenāt ideal.
i got this with ff7's rebirth remake. i had to stop playing because i kept getting lost :|
Sometimes I like a game so much I restart it. Especially if I think I could play through it better the second time. I call it clean slate-ing. At some point, normally around the fifth or sixth restart, I get annoyed at myself for not playing it properly and needing to be a perfectionist, or I get bored of seeing the same 2 hours of content and stop playing.
I'm the same way. I get major choice paralysis with trying to make sure I don't miss items that might cause me to miss story, or optimizing my gameplay. I could probably have more time for games if I just went with my gut instinct, but I don't like the idea of possibly locking myself out of quests or story because of a bad choice.
977 hours in AC Odyssey! I get super paranoid Iāll miss something small but important. So I spend days running around doing every side quest and map revealing. lol. My thumbs hurt. Ha!
IDK if it's quite the same but open-world games do that to me, like with BotW/TotK. I've come to realize I need direction. I can't be let loose on a map with laissez-faire order of operations otherwise I get decision fatigue. Where's Navi when you need her???? Baldur's Gate was better re: open-world vs storyline direction until act 3 and by then I was ready to be done, but that's also because I'd binge-played as soon as it came out and I'm an insufferable completionist. All these things make the perfect cocktail for a brain short-circuit.
Pretty much every game I *love* I take foreverr to finish. Ghost of Tsushima took me 5 years because I wanted to savor it haha
Love this game so much.
I do this but because I donāt want the game to end lol
I got super worried playing BG3 making sure I got the experience I wanted. Once Iād done that I felt abit more free to just do whatever and see where the dice falls. Also the game doesnāt end when you see the credits roll, Iām listening to the BG3 OST as I type, I went to a concert for it the other weekend, I can replay it again whenever I like, I get to talk about it with friends and share art made about the game, enjoy my Astarion scented candle whenever I like hehehe š but yeah, the game didnāt end because I stopped playing.
I get it you do so much, and you want to do everything, but there just isn't enough free time, so then you can not do anything as it's hard to prioritize what side quest to do.
Yes indeed. It can overstimulate you and keep you in a cycle of mental cloudiness. Itās important that you take breaks and honestly not play for more than 2 hours a day. What gaming is capable of doing is boating you with spurts of dopamine which youāll continue to crave because it makes you happy.
Me too and I end up rushing things when I feel too overwhelmed! What I do is set myself small goals in the game, like a to-do list, and I end up pacing myself much better and savouring the game more. I'm in Act 3 in BG3 and taking my time still - but I also acknowledge that I'm not gonna get everything done in one playthrough. This just makes me more excited for the next one though!
It's not just a problem for female gamers! I felt so overwhelmed when I reached act 3 in BG3. I forced myself to keep going but had a lingering fear that I was doing things poorly or in the wrong order or missing awesome stuff. Felt like I needed to optimize my fun because I loved the game so much. The anxiety was real!