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Stopping a Game Right Before the Final Dungeon

I have played to the end of FFVI many times but have never finished the final battle. Not due to difficulty but because I feel like if I finish the game I won't ever feel the need to play it again, I don't ever want to have that closure, like the bittersweet nature of finishing a series of books or a favorite TV series, I always want that open door to play through it again and maybe get a tad bit further than the last time.
 
Burned out on Pokemon X just before Victory Road (and had previously burned out after the second gym months prior to getting that far). When I finally went back the rest was a cakewalk. >_>

Similarly, I've been on the 4th island of Pokemon Sun since maybe March. Keep getting distracted by other games.

Usually if I'm right at the end I can push through and finish, if I stop it's gonna be at a random point in the middle or immediately after starting.
 
The Witcher 3 was the abandoned game for me. I couldn't stand more of Geralt and his nonesense, especially that part in where
you actually believed I didn't finished Witcher 3 and its 2 expansions? Shame on you.
It was really frustrating.

Also I couldn't finish Rise of the Tomb Raider. Even thought I know it is a very good game. Maybe it was because I played it right after I finished TR2013, and maybe it was the same all over.
 
It's interesting to see a lot of Zelda mentions... I've quitted multiple zelda games on the last boss fight. Usually because I lost a few times and got fustrated.

In BOTW I've decided to wait for the final DLC before proberly finishing the game.
 
I stopped playing Alan Wake before the final boss. I kind of just had had enough, I don't particularly care too much for that game like some other people do.

A little more recently, I actually re-installed DOOM and it turns out I had stopped playing just before the last boss.

I also have the Witcher 3 sitting at probably about 150 hours, idling on the final main story quest.

I suspect this install of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided I have on my PC is probably roundabouts the last little bit of the game.

I may have (and long suspected as much) a similar issue.
 
I've done it with a few rpgs games. A few I went back and finished.
Chrono Trigger - Only things left are to fight through Black Omen and defeat Lavos. Haven't touched it in years.
FFVIII - Stopped playing right before the assault on the final castle dungeon area. Eventually went back after a break.
FFX - Stopped around the ending quest section as everyone in my dorm seemed to play my copy of FFX and I never had time to dig in myself. Ended up finishing it once a few people were able to finish the game themselves.
FFXII - About to go to the final area/dungeon. Lost memory card with save data on it. Haven't gone back because I never felt like replaying the game.
Xenogears - Stopped after getting stuck on the last major Ramsus fight
where you have to then fight Miang with a Elly hanging on a cross in the background
Replayed the entire game sometime later and blew through that fight. I've now gotten to the final dungeon several times over many playthroughs and have beaten the game once.

And this might not count as much (not sure how much is left):
FFVI - Outside of the Phoenix Cave

I'm sure there are more, but those are some where I know I got to the end and just stopped for a bit, if not all together.

Edit: I'm actually at that point in XCOM: EU too.
 
Jacobson said:
I do use a walkthrough, especially if the game has stats/skills that I have to manually increase. Or if the game has missables. Might not seem like a great way for you but I end up enjoying the game more.
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I used to feel this way and then eventually came to the conclusion that I was cheating myself. I wasnÂ’t getting the organic experience the devs intended. Instead, I was getting someone elseÂ’s ideal experience via text and the point of playing the game was defeated. Treating playing through games as a means to some unknown end just became tedious busywork.

Basically, either I play a game to have fun or I stop playing. Every gameÂ’s first time through gets the blind run treatment. After that, IÂ’ll dig in on forums/wikis/whatever and see what I missed. If itÂ’s anything worth going back for, (ex. optional area/boss) then IÂ’ll either reload a save (always rotate when possible) or start a new game. If the gameÂ’s genuinely fun then there shouldnÂ’t be any problem with replaying content if necessary.

And there’s no incentive to make a “perfect run” for trophies or whatever. Cheevos are worthless — the anti-fun.

Zolo said:
Depends on the game, but most games are usually pretty obvious about it. It can get a bit blurry with certain long games like Xenoblade though.

Yakuza 0 explicitly tells you it's the final mission.
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YouÂ’re right. Some games will explicitly tell you thereÂ’s a point of no return. Other than that, I personally can never really tell. It may seem like youÂ’re at the end with a lot of games, but there are often false finishes or even multiple encounters with the main antagonist at several points throughout the game.
 
I did that a lot when I used to play through tons of games in High School. I felt for a lot of games, they would make the ending unnecessarily hard, and you already know how the plot is going to wrap up. I found it to be the most prevalent in RPGs, since many have an average gameplay element, but a completing plot, usually for non-RPGs if they core loop is average, I would just drop the game.
 
Ah, guilty as charged. The most egregious example probably is Zelda Minish Cap -- stopped right before the final boss, never came back, never understood why. The cart is still in a drawer somewhere laughing at me.
 
i've done that a few times. well maybe not exactly the last dungeon but towards the end i've just gave up. did it with the first Witcher. i just couldn't beat one of the bosses (can't remember his name) and gave up to watch the rest on YouTube. I was in a rush to get onto the 2nd game and finish that before the expansions for 3 came out. So yeah I was only really there for the story.

another one would be Catherine. i stopped just after beating Catherine. never did the Empireo level. just watched the rest of the story on youtube.
 
I keep on doing this to RPGs before. The most recent one for me is Witcher 3 where I stopped just before the last mission. Eventually I restarted the game and I made the same decisions throughout and will probably finish this time.

I think its due to not wanting the ride to end. In modern meme standard, the game did not end if I did not finish it. Finishing a thing I spent lots of hours into and getting to all twists and turns has this feeling of emptiness once you are done. I think its a way to avoid this empty feeling.

I never thought the design of the game is bad ever. Its just I enjoyed it too much. I avoid doing this now though.
 
I stopped playing The Witcher Blood and Wine because i can‘t beat
the vampire friend (so long ago i even forgot his name.)
 
I did this with Tales of Vesperia, although not intentionally. I got to what was very obviously the final dungeon, was like "okay this is the final Tales dungeon, lemme set this down for a day or two to prepare for it" and then life happened and I've never finished it.

I think my save file shows I stopped playing it in 2010. I'm now stuck in a limbo where it's been so long since I played that I forgot key story beats for the characters, so I loaded it up once and was like "who is she, again?.." so I've wondered if i should just start from the beginning so I can refresh the story in my head.
 
I stopped playing The Wonderful 101 near the end because the game became so insane that I just did not want it to stop and I could live in a world of ignorance about the games ending. Eventually forced myself to finish it before Bayonetta 2 finally dropped however, haven't regretted that decision, that ending was absolutely bonkers and I loved it!
 
I know multiple people who played all the way through FF7, got to the North Cave, then dropped that save point inside the dungeon and used it only to realize shortly afterward that you couldn't leave the dungeon once inside. They quit the game because of that...

Personally, I quit Legend of the Dragoon because I wiped about 30 minutes into the fight with Melbu Frahma and then never found the drive to start all over again. Boss's HP is some ol' bullshit.
 
Thores said:
I've had this unfortunate tendency as well. The most recent instances of this that I remember are Digimon Cyber Sleuth and Yakuza Kiwami. I still plan on going back to beat Yakuza, but it feels like too much time has passed since I left Cyber Sleuth behind.
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I did this with Cyber Sleuth as well, and BotW most recently.

Once I feel that "point of no return", I want to do all the things I can before I'm done with the game and ultimately that is not very fun and there's a new, shiny game waiting game in the wings.
 
Just the once, with Persona 4 Golden.

I was in psychologically vulnerable place at the time as a lot of drastic changes happened in my life in a short space of time and it felt like things were out of control when I started playing it.

As strange as it sounds; because the game was focused around days and schedules and each decision was my choice it felt like the only bit of structure and agency I had going for me at that time. I knew I'd reached the finale but I couldn't quite let it end with someone else's choices taking that agency away; so I finished at at the time of my own choosing and head-cannoned the wrap-up for myself.
 
I've done this with several TV shows. Never watch the last episode of two.

Never done it with a game. When I'm that close I just finish it.
 
Every time I've played Skyrim I've got to around lvl 30 and quit. I don't know if it's boredom or what but I'll never finish it. Persona 5 I did the first dungeon with the evil P.E teacher and just stopped. It wasn't bad, I just couldn't be arsed.
 
Yeah I've done that a few times, often because the final dungeon is too long and draining, after a game that itself may have been long and draining.
 
I do this a lot. I think it has something to do with what drives me when I play a game (or at least an RPG), and that's possibilities. Playing through a typical JRPG (that I'm interested in, anyway) usually keeps me driven forward to see the next area, or the next bit of plot, or the next characters.

But once I reach what is obviously (and that is important) the end of a game, I kind of check out. It's like, "well, this is just one more dungeon and a boss or two." And I don't know that I particularly care about any specific dungeon all that much. Maybe I'll get some sweet new accessories or materia?! But, I'll barely have an opportunity to use them.. basically, the game is over at that point, and it's just going through the motions to finish it.

I'll look at the overworld and think of all the side quests I've done and how I've basically seen all the content in the game besides this last bit before it just ends and the whole thing kinda reveals itself more nakedly as a bunch of (now exhausted) curated entertainment rather than a fun world to explore and I kind of just feel drained and checked out and end up with little to no motivation to finish the thing.
 
I do this with RPGs. The final dungeons or final bosses just tend to be extremely long. I only power through to the end if I care enough about the story and/or characters.
 
I stopped Breath of the Wild after 100hrs and just before Ganon.

Glad the OP reminded me. I should at least go back to see the ending.
 
I keep doing this with games I really like and don't want to be over already.

It's so bizarre because almost every time, I wanna finish it up but some reason I somehow manage to convince myself that when I don't finish it now I'll get more milage out of it while in reality I don't.
 
Did this with FF12, started the file in 06, ended it in 2012. I was all 99s with end game weaps too. When I beat the final boss in under a minute, my friend looked at me and said "wtf, really dude?"
 
Did this with Magna Carta 2. I don't know if it was just how my party was set up or what but I got to a point and just couldn't bother to keep trying to slam my head into the boss. At least...I think it was near the end. Honestly I don't know for sure but I do definitely do this pretty regularly with RPGs. Or Cuphead...I've gotten to King Dice and he just kicks my ass so I've decided to try and take a break and attempt to come back to it later.
 
I did this a few times as a kid. FFIX, Shadow Hearts, Dragon Quest VIII, and Star Ocean 3 spring to mind. I've gone back to finish some of them.

Edit: Lost Odyssey too. Finally completed it last year after ditching it in 2008. Had to start over though.
 
I used to do this all the time with JRPGs. I'd get burnt out doing all the side quests, start playing something else, and then just never get around to finishing the game
 
I stopped Persona 4 Golden right before the final dungeon. Watched the (good) ending on YouTube. Why? Because even I played on easy the boss was too hard.
 
Only 3 times in my life this happened and always for the same reason: I did not want to say goodbye to a cast of characters that I've grown to love.

Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy X
and, coincidentally, right now Persona 5
 
I feel like it's sometimes really easy to take a breather right before you know the next part is a non-stop train to the credits.

Anytime I take a break from a game there is a chance I don't return to it for a while, then sometimes a while becomes long enough to forget or feel disconnected from what's going on. It makes continuing all the harder.

I can't think of any specific examples for myself, but I'm sure it has happened, and I can understand why it would happen to others.

I hate it, but sometimes I just stop playing a game for no reason at all.
 
Did this with Xenosaga 1. Stopped right at the start of the final dungeon. Still bugs me to this day and my save is long gone at this point. Not like the save matters too much as I don't remember anything about what happens in the game.
 
This is not that strange to me since JRPGs tend to put up an incredible barrier on the last dungeon where difficulty spikes up to a point you have to grind for hours. That always annoys me greatly since itÂ’s fake playtime. I donÂ’t mind a healthy amount of grinding in between sections but I hate to blast through a game and then suddenly the final dungeon is incredibly hard.

Happened to me last time on I am Setsuna, thankfully there were some grinding spots I could exploit.
 
When I was little I would always get to the end of an rpg like Final Fantasy VII/IX/X and even Chrono Trigger...and just stop or end up doing any sidequests I had left... I was too sad to have the journey over so I would just quit so it seemed like the journey was never ending lul.
 
I've done this all the time with Zelda games.

They are all about the exploration and having fun in the world for me. The final due geo is always such a downer for me that in more than 1 Zelda game I've just stopped right at the end.

Wind Waker, OoT, Botw...

Wind Waker is one of my favorite Zelda games even at release because of the beautiful world, music, and all the stuff to do, but I don't think I officially beat the game until Wind Waker HD on the Wii U a year or two ago!
First time I owned the game I got stuck at the Triforce hunt and gave up.
Then I went back to it by the time the Wii came out and used a guide for the triforce hunt, but I stopped again right at the last dungeon because I didn't want to end it.

In OoT, I actually love the world so much that once I avoided the adult Forest Dungeon for as long as possible doing everything I could (I think I was able to get the unbreakable Biggoron sword before even getting the bow, haha).

I had always kinda dreamed of a Zelda game like the Elder Scrolls series were theres just hundreds of hours of stuff to do. And even though BOTW lacked some of the other stuff I love in Zelda's (lots of great dungeons and the traditional equipment system for the most part), it did nail that aspect of letting me just have nearly endless fun in the world.
After 100 hours or so I beat Ganon just as another thing to do, not because it felt like it was ending my experience with the game.
 
When I was younger, I will play the original Saga Frontier all the way through with every character except for Tiki. I save that character for last because I could never get past this boss who required special team attacks to defeat. I think you had something like five turns to do an obscene amount of damage and he would one hit kill the entire team afterward.

I felt that this was completely random and unfair so I quit the game even though I was one character short of beating it.

Is this also counts, I quit Witcher 3 after I completed every single quest in the game except for the last mission. We're talking 120 Minutes invested in the game already. Two or three months later I finished it. Purchased the two expansions but never got around to playing them because I don't want the best game ever to end.
 
Every tri-ace game I've played except Valkyrie Profile I end up saying "fuck it" at the last boss and never finishing it.

MGSV - got to the actual Metal Gear fight and never got past it. I was a bit tired of the game at that point.
SMTIV - I genuinely really like this game but finishing the neutral path has you do a bunch of side quests just to finish...so I kept putting it off. That was years ago now :(

Valkyria Chronicles almost became another example of this but thankfully I made time to finish it today. There was like a 5 month gap between getting to the last battle and actually beating it. I must've played like a dozen other games in between.
 
Happens to me a lot. I just have no patience for floaty platforms in abstract dimensions that go on forever. It's a tired and done concept that I'm fed up with. As soon as I get thrown into those these days, then gameplay and story is dead for me. Can't find it in me to continue.
 
I've dropped at least 3 games after losing to the final boss because it was just too much of a hassle to fight it again. One game had bad combat, one had a tacked on boss fight, and the third had no checkpoints.
 
I did this in FFVIII. Got to Adel and she kept annihilating me. So I restarted the whole thing again with the knowledge of proper junctioning and the game was a cakewalk.
 
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