Do you enjoy the "post game" stuff?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I really love it when developers let you continue playing their games after finishing them, allowing you to really absorb the worlds at your own pace, maybe even completing some side stories or challenges that you missed along the way and that weren't critical for your success. I kinda wish ALL games did that, actually...

... But even the most engaging games feel really shallow after completing them, at least for me. And it's something which reasons I could never quite put my finger on. It's really infuriating, in a way.

Like, I loved the hell out of GTA, Bully and Red Dead Redemption, but I can't play more than an hour of each after finishing the main storylines, even with everything unlocked and knowing full-well that I'm in for making my own fun. The disconnect between collecting all the rewards I had worked really hard for and not getting to use them in any meaningful way drains the experience in a way that just doesn't seem possible on paper -- utter chaos meets no higher goal and ends up falling flat after rampaging for a bit.

But then, this isn't a problem exclusive to Rockstar games or even sandboxes. Same thing happened to me during my "victory lap" on Miami Nights 2, one of the most significant games I have ever played. And also on every Pokemon game.

It's just weird that I can't enjoy them all that well after conquering them.

What about you?

 

[Faust03]

I thought the post game boss rematches in the switch remake of mario rpg were pretty fun

Spoiler

especially the rematch against culex in his new 3D model form

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

This is probably a very niche pick coz this one is a mobile game it’s KEMCO’s Band of Monster it’s kinda like a Pokémon clone but with monster fusion mechanics.

It’s an RPG where you battle, catch, train and fuse monsters to make an even stronger one. You set out to win in tournaments but the world went crazy and it’s up to you and your fur babies to save it. But once after the credits roll ended you are thrown out to do some Pokémon stuff and set out to be world champion. Which is a longer playthrough than the main storyline.

 

[Scotty]

Of course! Not only could you complete tasks that you might have skipped over, it gives you the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the world and get to know even more about its inhabitants than what the game previously allowed.

 

[Coon]

Yes, I am usually always satisfied with it.

 

[KaiserMk7]

The postgame content has to be either quick to the point or substantial. Boss rematches? An entire new story act or dungeon? Basically just a superboss or true final boss you unlock in some fashion by 100%ing the main game? Hell yes! Hypothetical aimless mass of nothing to pad out the play time? I mean I'll probably do it...

 

[Kremiso]

i would like every jrpg had a post game, i feel so sad when i complete a great story and there are no info of what happen next, just a couple of hours of extra play would be enough for me

 

[Yousef]

Of course. Can’t live without it.

 

[Lena CE]

I typically love postgame stuff but I definitely think it can feel weird going from having a lot of structure to suddenly having all structure taken away. A lot of games rely on giving the player direction and purpose to make everything feel meaningful and when content requires context to feel worthwhile, the lack of said context makes the entire experience hollow.

For RPGs I just like seeing numbers go up and trying to explore and find whatever goodies I can. Powering up to beat superbosses is exhilarating and being able to really drink up the atmosphere on my own terms is a treat. I've spent so much time just mucking about in FF7's overworld that it's sickening. No goals in mind, just somberly soaking up that overworld theme and scouring for anything I haven't seen before.

It isn't quite the same, but I find NG+ in action games like Devil May Cry to be a lot of fun for the obvious reason of being able to go through the game with all the moves unlocked so you can really style on the entire game and test the limits of what the sandbox can offer you.

The kinds of games that rarely ever compel me are sandboxes like GTA or Ubisoft open worlds. GTA worlds are imo some of the most underwhelming worlds to explore in all of video games. Once the story is done, I rarely ever feel any reason to mess around or track down the seemingly endless collectables. The same goes for Ubisoft games. I'm just too tired of collecting 100 of a random collectable in a game that is not designed for fun platforming and traversal. I love collectathons but if Spyro was as boring to run around in as a Far Cry game no one would bother lol. Its fun to experience the stories and if the game really gets me invested then I'll go ahead and give some time to getting as many collectables as I can, but that is extremely rare.

Something like Breath of the Wild feels endlessly compelling to explore, though. I could try and explain why but I don't really have any logically consistent reasoning beyond just thinking that games like Breath of the Wild and Shadow of the Colossus nail the sense of adventure and soothing atmosphere that just make running around their worlds endlessly enjoyable for me.

 

[Vexicrypt]

It really depends on the game and what type of post-game content it provides. When I'm hunting for achievements I'm always glad to see that game continues with a free roam mode after credits, letting you collect and do stuff you've missed without replaying the whole game again (which I also do sometimes). Achievements is a weird thing because once I get the 100% I never touch that game ever again and the whole motivation kinda comes from outside of the game, right? I dont remember if I ever stayed in the game's post credits world just for fun, without achievements in mind. Well, maybe I did that with games that have those "ending, but not really" endings, where if you stick around you can get the real ending. So yeah, most of the time even if I really like the game, when I finish it I'm probably done with it and dont care if it has any post game content.

 

[Mr. SyS]

Yes. Yes I do. My New Vegas post-game is never ending thanks to MODS.

 

[KaiserMk7]

Yes. Yes I do. My New Vegas post-game is never ending thanks to MODS.

A wise Redditor once said "I don't care who you send. I'm not raw dogging a Bethesda game."

 

[NotReallyHere]

Something like Breath of the Wild feels endlessly compelling to explore, though. I could try and explain why but I don't really have any logically consistent reasoning beyond just thinking that games like Breath of the Wild and Shadow of the Colossus nail the sense of adventure and soothing atmosphere that just make running around their worlds endlessly enjoyable for me.

On a similar note, I will never tire of running around Afghanistan with Quiet in MGSV, blasting 80s tunes on the Walkman all the way.

I 100%'d the game years ago. Every mission is completed with a S rank. Every objective is done. Every Side Op is completed. "But love... love will tear us apart. Again."

 

[LaserMoose]

Most games I enjoy are more arcade-oriented in their progression; fighting games, character action games, STGs, and platformers like Ghouls N Ghosts all fit the bill here. With most of these, the games lack a real post game, as they are designed with repeat playthroughs in mind. In a sense, the "post game" is where many of these games feel like they really begin.

My tangents about different game design philosophies aside, I think having post game content in JRPGs makes sense, as that genre is built upon character interaction; It's natural to want more of those interactions after the credits roll, or to want a superboss like Emerald Weapon from FF7 to give the player a game's most difficult challenge.

That said, I will always prefer a more compact main game with great amounts of depth over post game content that is possible to be skipped/disregarded by a player, or alternatively, experienced once and never again.

 

[PSVitaForever]

After my Dad has played the story of "Monster Hunter Stories 2", I've played the whole postegame (I thought it would have been too difficult, but in the end I completed everything and I was proud of my team with the rarest monster - only one I miss was Volcanic Tigrex or something like this, never been able to beat it).

On "Megadimension Neptunia", my first (and for now only one) game of the main series of these titles, I totally ignored the post-game after getting the true ending with a guide in the first playthrough. I've enjoyed it very much, I like those characters and their jokes and the gameplay, but I didn't care about quests to complete.

In the end, it totally depends. There are games in which I wanted to completed everything I could after reaching postgame, others in which I totally didn't care anymore, after getting any "true/best ending" available and the most 100% I could inside the main story I just quit and sold it.

 

[qw90700]

I especially appreciate it when the game doesn't "game over" after it ends so I can actually complete side contents that developers worked on it a lot. It doesn't make sense to me when game is over and require a restart when it ends, making all these side content a waste. Sometimes I intentionally wanna left the side content to play it later but I wanna finish the game now. The BS is instead of age rating I would want the game to make it clear if the game ends for good or can continue after it ends.

On the other hand I like the way post game side content unlocks in games. For example I do dislike the way in RPGs you invest in your character and party a lot but you mostly use your best version in the last battle and then "game over", it seems all the improvement is wasted.

For example in Radiata Stories and Rogue Galaxy you unlock special side contents after the game ends to improve yourself beyond the limit and thus you can unlock new stuff. But then this happens: For example you unlock a character at the end of the end of Radiata Stories but then this character is "useless" because not playable in story mode, then it makes you think "should I use this god-like character with random encounters like rats"? Then it make you hack the game to add these unlocks at the beginning of the game if you can to make all these development from your part and the games' developer part to not go to waste.

In that regard I think they being lazy to don't even bother with ability to continue the game after it ends so you can play it.

Another thing to mention is what I hate about Persona games: No matter what you cannot complete everything in the game in first playthrough and even when you skip and speed run the game takes a lot and require you to do the same stuff to progress and then experience stuff you couldn't before. IDK what kind of genius think this is okay lol. Even its new game + logic is useless and it's another bothering point that games not having useful significant new game +.

 

[KaiserMk7]

Hmm... Something like Rabi-Ribi makes the postgame a bit difficult to ignore. The postgame is additional full chapters of content including the hardest boss fights shy of the DLC, a requirement to clear all of the pre-postgame basegame bosses you might not have yet, and the proper conclusion to most loose plot threads and unresolved character arcs of the main story.

 

[Kaze01]

To me, the ultimate example of post-game content is the Battle Frontier from Pokémon Emerald, Platinum, and HG/SS. It massively boosts the replay value of these games — even today, I find myself going back to my HeartGold save to try and complete a Battle Tower streak or test my luck in the Battle Factory.

 

[qw90700]

The kinds of games that rarely ever compel me are sandboxes like GTA or Ubisoft open worlds.

TBH there are only too less exception to this:

For example only GTA that has sandbox fun even after the game ends is GTA SA. You can still enjoy military jet plane action like it's Ace Combat, enjoy street racing like it's NFS Underground, modify your cars, develop your skills, capture Los Santos for Grove Street, be good at pool, play basketball, explore the game map and discover some weird shit like weird graves or weird closed off wells in some town or something. I sometimes enjoyed the bike riding challenges like triathlon. And my favorite is arena battles lol. My point is never underestimate how GTA SA is because it's actually like 100 games in one game lol.

As for Ubisoft, things get more complex. AC4 offered endless ship battle fun and AC Syndicate offers endess great beat 'em up fun. But perhaps the actual Ubisoft game that gives you a more endless fun in sandbox way is Watch Dogs. You can hack around and have the lolz of it lol. Beyond that there are cool minigames you may wanna replay if you want and then random encounters stuff.

And then we have Watch Dogs Legion, for years I spent time improving my crew by finding interesting people to add and customize for my crew. In my mind the game is like Radiata Stories that take place in modern days of our world but you cannot battle as a party and then it also seem like Sims in the way you can dress up your party members to create your own characters. In this way the game has a rare CRPG taste we love in table top RPGs without the game is a RPG. There are only few CRPGs that allow you to create your own "party" and most popular one is Dragon Quest IX.

Long story short people underestimate GTA and Ubisoft games especially because bad apple newer games. If I had only played GTA games like GTA 4 and 5 and if my own Ubisoft experience was any AC since Origins and Far Cry experience had started from 4th game, and if I only had played Watch Dogs 2 I would never think GTA and Ubisoft games can be good. Ubisoft gone to waste after Prince of Persia The Sands of Time, Splinter Cell Double Agent (PS2 version), Far Cry 3, AC 2 and Watch Dogs 1. Since then they sinking hard lol. As for Rockstar, their peak was when they released GTA SA and Bully, afterwards they are nonsense as much as new Sony now. More story, more character drama and more cutscene but there is no game in it lol.

 

[nobitakun]

Honestly, I don't mind if the game lets you play after finishing it (New Game+ I assume). What I dislike is when a game gives you the feeling there is nothing else to do when you beat the last boss. I was so pissed off after finishing Alan Wake I never replayed it again. For me a game is good when it gives you extra content to accomplish, like Resident Evil does.

 

[UnDubious]

It's just weird that I can't enjoy them all that well after conquering them.

I have that exact same feeling - it's like a game dies after I beat it. I no longer believe in its world, so I don't care to do any overly elaborate post-game, with rare exceptions.
In RPGs, a lot of post-game requires absurd amount of grinding just to beat some superboss, or consists of an absurdly long dungeon. It feels like a waste of time. Then you have the games where the "post-game" should really just be part of the main game, a trend that started with Dragon Quest VIII AFAIK. Not really a fan of when they do that.

 

[qw90700]

I have that exact same feeling - it's like a game dies after I beat it. I no longer believe in its world, so I don't care to do any overly elaborate post-game, with rare exceptions.

I understand your point but, post game dungeons are for so you won't feel like your characters being wasted due to story mode's end. Sometimes in some games you are attached to your character and party so you wanna improve them and enjoy playing with them even after the game ends just like how Persona series, Radiata Stories and Radiant Historia can be, so I have save files for it before fun battles and moments and stuff. I never gave importance to story mode, the actual game is in side contents for me because I take side contents as my own adventure to experience. In that regard I like the way how story progression is in The Elder Scrolls games. For example in Skyrim player can play the game for years without ever learning about they are dragonborn. In my mind this is fundamentally how CRPGs should be, it shouldn't force a story. Just throw me into the wild world and let me enjoy my adventures lol.

However it depends on the side content. Generic fetch and related trivial side contents only there for EXP and item gain so they are pointless when they are unlocked after the story mode ends and you have no post-dungeon to care about. IDK why developers bothers with such post-game content. But if they had unlocked a story after post-game just like Rogue Galaxy then it's good because the end game dungeon and its story is only for those who loved the game so they wanted to learn about a main character and experience the game's lore further. Otherwise yeah, after the game ends and side content is not meaningful it's useless to have such content after end.

 

[PrismRed]

Generally I enjoy it, but it still depends on what kind of post game content is being offered.
I like Steambot Chronicle's post game, fast forward to 1 year after whatever ending you got, you are free to explore and see how your action changed the game world, you can walk around find all the important NPCs to see how they're doing or do some post game side quests.
Best part? No tracker, you need to explore to see all the new stuff. it's all completely up to you at this point.

 

[Janunba88]

Most of the time not. I prefer an NG+ or something hidden/secret that you can do before fight the final boss/going to the final stage. I don't know how to explain it, but post games, for me, tend to be more boring/not interesting compared to what you can do in a normal campaign.

 

[Yousef]

The kinds of games that rarely ever compel me are sandboxes like GTA or Ubisoft open worlds. GTA worlds are imo some of the most underwhelming worlds to explore in all of video games. Once the story is done, I rarely ever feel any reason to mess around or track down the seemingly endless collectables. The same goes for Ubisoft games. I'm just too tired of collecting 100 of a random collectable in a game that is not designed for fun platforming and traversal. I love collectathons but if Spyro was as boring to run around in as a Far Cry game no one would bother lol. Its fun to experience the stories and if the game really gets me invested then I'll go ahead and give some time to getting as many collectables as I can, but that is extremely rare.

That’s interesting because gta embodies all my favorite postgame stuff while Ubisoft embodies everything I hate. I loved virtually every gta I played and it’s my favorite series, while Ubisoft feels like virtual lobotomy to me LOOOL.