That 'empty' feeling...

[?pint]

You all know what I mean. When you've had a really great game, and have been playing it for hours and hours, for weeks on end. And then it ends. You think 'now what am I gonna play?', and have a really empty feeling inside.

Well, I get that a lot. Like when I finish a Final Fantasy game, I just think "Well this has been entertaining me for a month, now what am I gonna do!?". Often, if the hook was good enough or the game had a good enough plot, I would just restart the game from the beginning. God only knows how many times I've played Final Fantasy 7 and 8 through from beginning to end.

Well this evening I finally got round to completing the story end of things in Disgaea, after roughly 60 hours on the clock. Not far into the game compared to some, but suffice to say it's held my attention every evening for the past month or so. I got the standard ending as well, not the 'good' ending, and so I really want to play through it again to get that .

Luckily though, with Disgaea, the game lets you play another 'cycle' without losing your characters etc. Essentially you just keep playing the game from where you left off, only the story starts from the beginning again. I like it, and this time I'll be able to get a decent ending (hopefully).

Other games that have left this feeling definitely include the likes of Zelda, Mario and pretty much any decent Role Playing or story led game I've played. I remember after finishing Ocarina of Time for the first time, I was just... lost. I could no longer get home from school, turn on the N64 and not turn it off until 11 in the evening. .

But anyway, you know the feeling. Have any other games (or, more often than not, books or book series) had this effect on you?

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Yep, quite a few.

Half-Life and System Shock 2 have to rank right up there, I felt totally despondent when I finished these and realised the waiting gap between any potential sequels. ICO was another.

Yet I have found that some games reach such a satisfying conclusion that you don't feel too put out. This is pretty rare though, and usually, for me anyway, it applies to titles which contained characters and messages that I could continue to roll around, contemplating, in my mind for weeks afterwards. Silent Hill 2 and Planescape Torment fall under this category.

[evilmatt]

Ico had to be the most emotional I've ever been at the end of a game, it really is quite moving. I only admit this of course under the strict anonymity of an internet forum

[?pint]

Well games like FF10 ended on such a cliffhanger that I craved more info. I even tried to download the 100 mb FF international bonus ending (on a 56k) because I wanted to know what happened.

And naturally, the wait for FFX-2 (which will hopefully finish the story) is almost over. And it's been harsh.

[Sdub]

I recently finished Wind Waker and found myself instantly restarting it again and couldn't put it down until I had killed the boss of the island that has the Dragon on top!!!

I like Zelda endings though because it usualy consists of people from the world all waving you a happy farewell... aaaahhh

I agree that Final Fantasy's leave you with that feeling too.. probably because you are so immersed in it, that you miss it when it's gone.

[Fuddle]

really only initial d has held my attention for any length of time all year.
drawing me back even when i only had a few minutes spare, but could easily keep me occupied for hours on end....just couldnt leave it alone.
since then loads of things that i thought would be amazing have come and gone without anywhere near the same effect.
but i have high hopes for mario kart DD.

[?pint]

Ooof, don't get me started on Initial D! When I'd finished watching all the anime, I was totally ****ed up. I craved more! I've finished the home version, finished the arcade version, got all the English manga and even attempted to download the huge-in-size translated manga :S. I neeeeed Initial D. And I want one of those watches off eBay :P.

In fact, it's inspired me to start getting into cars myself. Only problem is, I have no idea what's what with them. In fact, anybody know a good 'car' site/forum........?

[darkangel]

out of the many games where ive gotten that feeling, i can re-call ff7, mario 64 and oot...

i got that feeling of sadness, when i ended them knowing i will never go back to them, i feel that ico is going to be like that aswell...

[stroppa]

I've had this feeling a few times, most recently with KOTOR.

Other memorable games which left me this way would be...

Suikoden 2
Skies of Arcadia
Final Fantasy 7
Kingdom Hearts
Blood Omen 2(underrated classic)
Shenmue 2 (probably the biggest empty hole in the history of man)


It's fairly safe to conclude from my list that I get this feeling most with RPG's which is logical considering the amount of time I invest in them.

[Che Musashi]

I must have beat Ico 3 times and evertime I finish I want more. I'm working on Disgaea right now and I look forward to restarting with characters at the same level. The thing that is holding me up is I'm trying to cram Statisticians into Laharl's ninja sword.

[Adam Stone]

The Zelda series are the main ?life consumers? for me, Ocarina of Time in particular. Even after all these years following its original release, when I re-played OOT during the summer holidays I couldn?t put it down, nor would it escape my senses. I found I couldn?t concentrate properly on most things due to the sheer pull the game had on me. A most welcome feeling that indeed. The first play through of Wind Waker in Jap and then again in English had a similar effect. When I get into that state of mind nothing else matters. Everything gets put on hold until I have completed the game? and then when i do... there is most definitely a feeling of being 'lost'.

The environment in which I play helps create this ?gaming-mode? quite significantly I believe. You see my Tv etc is up in my room in the loft (I am luckily enough to own two rooms, one upstairs, the other higher still in the loft. I sleep in the lower room, play games and watch dvds in the loft) Up here the world seems to fade? I can shut myself away and truly let my mind escape for a few hours. No sounds of hideous kids screeching outside, no cars, no?no?no nothing. Utter Bliss?

Metroid Prime is probably the only game that has ever nearly surpassed the amount of life OOT consumed . At first it didn?t really do much for me? I played it and thought ?meh. I can see how it is impressive? but? meh? But I failed to see the amount of depth that was screaming out to be heard/seen. After a few hours though? my goodness? I couldn?t stop playing. The gaming world no longer were mere polygons and cleverly crafted programming.. it became as real as you and I. After beating it on Normal I went straight back on Hard. Such a blooming shame I lost all my saves *shakes fist*

Also? and this is largely due to my loft conversion? Eternal Darkness, RE-Remake and Zero have left a shallow feeling inside after beating them due to me wanting more. Of course I went back and beat them again (in ED?s case another 3 times) but the feeling isn?t quite the same as the first time?

I find that Arcade-type games can never grasp me like the above. No matter how good they may be, such as Viewtiful Joe, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Ikaruga etc etc, I can only play them for restricted time here and there. I cannot lose hours upon hours without knowing like I can say with Metroid Prime or OOT? and when i do complete them, they can be placed back on the shelf with me feeling rather content.. unlike when i had to take the Metroid Prime disk out of the cube it was like i was ripping one of my limbs off...

[JetBlack]

I clocked over 130 hours on Disgaea and I was sad to see it end. I had that "hollow" feeling. And others games all fell short of continuing that "quality" feeling. I believe I got the "good" ending, so I wasn't so fired up to restart it all over for lesser endings. But I might just for the sake of leveling up more and opening more character classes.

As for the statisticians I wish I had known about them. I played the game the hard way, which included long sleepless nights wondering why my characters were so hard to level up. But I won. Beat it fair and square like an underdog.

I have a friend who is still playing it. He knew about the "statisticians" from message boards and the guide book. Now his entire game is all about cramming those statisticians into weapons and armor - which I find interesting, because that's not the "goal" of the game. Sure leveling up is a priority, but not the only aspect. My friend has clocked over 40 hours and he has barely advanced the story.

After I beat Disgaea I headed over to the message boards to see what I missed out on. I found everyone was talking about those statisticians, and how to level up to 3000 and up. But I guess that's the beauty of Disgaea, you can play it in so many variations.

Other games I had that sad feeling of "Game Over" was with "Ring of Red". God I loved that game. It was a serious war and Konami had me hooked. I hated it when it ended. I still pick it up from time to time.

Klonoa much like Ico had tough endings mainly because they are emotional and both titles are short. So I was rather wanting when it was over so soon. Still, the ride is worth it, and I'd do it again.

[Che Musashi]

I hear you jetblack about the whole game about being about that. Mine isn't just as of late because I found a few items that had them in them. A majority of my leveling is spent in the item world the old fashioned way.

[JetBlack]

Che, yeah.....

I did the same thing. Item World all the way. And I went out of my way to clear every floor and geo color/symbol. I went so much that I filled my warehouse up with items three times. I started giving away good stuff to the Dark Assembly due to bonus items from so much damn Item World.

Hahah!

God I loved that game! Hated to see it end! Good luck with your game Che. No matter how any gamer plays Disgaea one this is for sure.....you'll hate for it to end, and there's always something still to be done (for the completists out there).

[JRMacumber]

The only game recently to make me feel that way was Knights Of The Old Republic. When it was over and the credits started to roll I was like, "NOOooo! No, it can't be over! I still have worlds to conquer! Generals and upstarts to grind under my boot heel! Don't deny me my destiny!!"