Beating a video game leaves you dead

[The wingless]

Real content for the topic.

Mine was real content, concerning the title and its misleading implications. I'm sorry if you felt this was your magic moment to, ironically, sidetrack the thread if for but a moment just to shine your contemptuous little spotlight on me.

But let it not be said I never did anything for the people of OCR, obnoxiously officious though some of them may be ::haughty sip of tea::

I'm a bit like you, OP, where I do enjoy games that have the fun without the constraint of the global ending. Games like Unreal Tournament, any fighting game, and some puzzle games have that distinction. While they do have definitive goals "collect X McGuffans, kill Y enemies" these are only parameters.

I think it has something to do with narratives. If a game has a narrative, it must, by definition, have a global ending. Games without a narrative have no such restriction.

It might take some further research, but maybe you're just in the mood for a game without narrative bookends?

[Incronaut]

yeaaa, that might be it, i may just be too nitpicky on how im spending my time

[Maco70]

yeah, to be perfectly honest, when i played tf2 i fell in love with it.. i love how the system worked... the only problem with that game is...

my computer sucks.

lol, oh well..

Play on 360 like me and all the other cool kids. =D

[Tex]

You can explore the web to find some cool flash games to play, like this one and that one.

[XZero]

The type of game I find this problem stemming from the most is the RPG. Once 35-70+ hours of your life has been dedicated to one pursuit, it's hard to move on to another game immediately after finishing the last one. I try to balance gaming with other hobbies. I know exactly what you're talking about, though. In March of 2006 I got Dragon Quest VIII, but because of being busy with school, I only played it for about an hour between March and the middle of May. Then, from sometime around May 15th through to July 4th, I played Dragon Quest VIII for about 75 hours. After beating it, I tried to play Grandia III, but couldn't get into it like I did with my previous obsession. Instead, I read a couple of books. It keeps you from obsessing too much, and gives some nice variety.

[Shadow Wolf]

I think it has something to do with narratives. If a game has a narrative, it must, by definition, have a global ending. Games without a narrative have no such restriction.

I'm not entirely certain that's true. I would argue that World of Warcraft has a pretty rich narrative, with no visible end in sight. The problem I ran into with WoW was exactly that: I kept playing like there was an ultimate achievable goal somewhere, and there isn't. You beat Illidan, and your armor will soon be obsolete because some new arena season reward just trumped it. There was a ton of really good story in WoW, all available on the website, but when you really played the game, all it really consisted of was "Grind for armor and loot in the context of this grand and sweeping story arc that you can only take part in if you can get 30 or more players together 6 hours a night 7 days a week."

So I guess what I'm saying is there IS a really great narrative, it just gets lost in the grind. Personally I prefer games with endings. I like the finality.

[Maco70]

Personally I prefer games with endings. I like the finality.

QFE

tencharacters

[Atomic Dog]

Beating a video game leaves you dead

That's only true for Final Fantasy games.

And maybe Shin Megami Tensei games.

[Devyn]

Beating a video game leaves you dead? Sometimes, but not on those really hard games that require ultimate devotion. I remember the first time I beat Karnov, the sky changed colors and everybody in the room came. The ending left more to be desired though.

[Broken]

Beating a video game leaves you dead? Sometimes, but not on those really hard games that require ultimate devotion. I remember the first time I beat Karnov, the sky changed colors and everybody in the room came. The ending left more to be desired though.

Haha, I want that to happen when I beat games. Unfortunately, I'm too ADD to sit through most games these days. I tend to overlook storylines, too, usually because I'm too involved in gameplay (ex. Fire Emblem Series) or because the story is almost non-existant (ex. SSBM.)

Actually now that you mention it, I remember when I finished Ninja Gaiden: Black for the first time. I felt a great deal of accomplishment, despite the fact the I beat the game on one of the lower difficulty levels. I felt like I was challenged and I rose to the challenge all while enjoying excellent CG eyecandy along the way.

[Devyn]

Yeah, it always seems to let me down less when the game was actually really hard. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that the disappointment comes from knowing the game through and through. I think I was already disappointed when Zelda: Twilight Princess came out because I knew everything about it before I had every played the game. I don't plan on doing that again. Also, it was too easy. That game kinda left me dead at the end, although I still enjoy playing it every few months.