Yeah. Sometimes when I realize it’s almost over I try to drag it out then lose interest. I almost exclusively play games for the journey.

Kinda. Played Breath of the Wild for hours and hours. Had a whole stack of endgame gear.

But when it came to actually beating Ganon... I dunno. I fell off. Put the game down and didn't return to it.

Not necessarily at the boss, but I have noticed a pattern that I do tend to lose steam once I realize I’m in the endgame phase of the game

I've fallen into this trap many times. Whenever a game's final chapter looks to be close, I start doing a lot of side content. Then I get bored of the game altogether and end up never finishing it.

I’ll always resolve to 100% a game, and then like right after the final boss I go “well… it won’t hurt to start another game while I do the side content”. I never do the side content.

Either I have gotten bored long before I reach the final boss, or I beat the game and want more. There is no in-between.

Terraria is over as soon as I beat the final boss despite having some extra stuff I could do. I'm playing it to fight bosses, I beat boss 1 to upgrade my gear so I can fight boss 2. Once I've beaten the final boss, what's the point in upgrading my gear again?

Cassette Beasts was a game I played to 100% (as I do most creature collectors). I got this game to collect all the creatures, so when I beat the final boss, I played it for another 20 hours to grind out the end-game and obtain the elusive Magikrab.

Skyrim is a game where the entire main quest line is just like any other quest to me, and half the time I play Skyrim I don't even touch it past the point where it allows dragons to spawn.

So that is to say, it depends on the game, and it also depends on what I'm there to do.

My kid lost interest in continuing Spider-Man 2 at some point. When they resumed a few months later they literally just had to walk forward a bit to see the end of the game. So I guess they lost interest right after the final boss.

You don't want it to end.

This kinda happened to me with Breath of the Wild. Beat it, then started the master quest and got again to Ganon. Just couldn't hit him enough to overcome the health regen. Put it down. Years later, Tears of the Kingdom came out. Then the switch 2 came out. Have not picked it back up since. Just can't bring myself to do it.

Speaking of, in Tears of the Kingdom I did literally everything except even engage with Canon. Just... stopped there.

I distinctly remember playing Twilight Princess, I was hanging around in Castle Town, having done literally everything. There was that weird unfinished fishing journal thing I had neglected, but I had done every sidequest, found every heart piece, I think I'd even beaten RollGoal. and I was like "I guess I'll go beat the game then."

There's a weird dead feeling video games take on in that state.

Happened to me with Banjo Kazooie. I got to Grunty and found it needlessly hard, extremely boring, and decided that the fun bit of the game was done. I didn't need to see the ending.

Sometimes, especially if it's a very difficult and long boss fight. I'll be less motivated because there isn't any gameplay after that, so I might just watch the ending on YouTube instead after a few unsuccessful attempts.

This is me for sure. I'll give that final boss all I got, but once it's eaten up too much of my time, and is no longer fun, I check the game off my list and find another.

Most recently was Zelda 2. My save file is me slightly under leveled in the room before the boss, and he just wasn't worth it.

I don't do this often but did with Elden Ring. I felt like I had explored every corner of the map and defeated every optional boss already, so once I learned the move set and died a few times I didn't have any interest in loading that save again

Yet I have started several other runs 🤷🏻

Tf, absolutely not. A good story needs a strong beginning and a strong end. A bad ending can ruin a game for me, and a good one can elevate a mid game to good. Most best boss battles of all time are the final one of the game, including Sekiro which you mentioned. Why on earth would I skip the end?!

I probably finish 1% of the games I start :/ Not even the ones I enjoy most.

Yes... absolutely yes. Sooo many games left unfinished at the very end, and I'm never going back because now I don't remember how to play. They were fun, I just never ended it because "reasons" that even I don't understand. On the flip side, it makes actually finishing a game seem magical

That was my experience with Demons Souls. I reached 1-4, tried to beat the boss a few times but got sick of dodging dragons' breath and riding the slowest elevator in my life so I quit.

5-2 was my final boss it seems.

Happened with me and factorio. I know theirs no final boss, but I lost like 3 ships to the big asteroids and just didnt want to build another one. I still havent finished space age, but I got like 80-90k out so its a win in my book.

Yep happens to me all the time ! I remember when playing Zelda TotK, “Sure I will continue to explore the map and other secondary quest !”, I finished the game and NEVER launch it again 🤣 It does not happen to me with games that does not really have an end (for example I play regularly on World of Warcraft). I do enjoy finishing the game, I just don’t have the motivation to continue after that.

Not really. I look forward to hoping for a well made final boss.

I mostly lose interest AFTER the final boss though. I might know there's a lot of endgame content left, but tend to lose motivation after the final boss. Really want to get back to Silksong to get to Act 3, but beating the story boss kinda put the game on a back burner for me.

No that's the whole point of the game. You have seen everything and then do the boss to finish it off. Of course you are bored if you have seen everything.

Gothic 1 / Gothic 1 Remake for me. I have always disliked the entire endgame from chapter 5 onwards.

At least they made beating the Sleeper a bit more interesting in the remake, but I still don't like the entire Sleeper temple shebang.

Yes, in several cases. Like Trine 3 most recently.

Also in survival games once I become comfortably self-sufficient I usually lose motivation to keep going and harvest so much materials to build fancy bases and such.

I definitely have this feeling but if the game was good I finish it anyway. It’s my way of honoring the creative work that I was fortunate enough to enjoy, I finish it to honor the game’s creators.

I don't usually like bosses, just the normal gameplay

This just reminded me I need to still finish Cult of the Lamb.

I stopped at the final boss.

I don't get bored but I am loathe to complete games. It helps with games that have several endings. So like I have done one or two endings of cyberpunk and with elden ring because of new game plus I finished it off knowing I can run around and eventually if I want to go to new games plus. I completed harry potter but have not went to graduation and can roam around.

It depends on the game for me, but it's happened a couple times. Usually with metroidvanias, my favourite part of those games is the exploration/secrets, so if I'm confident there's nothing left to find I sometimes lose interest. It also depends on my play schedule. Of I finish off a session right before the last boss, and then I have an opportunity to game for a few hours next time, I'm less likely to pick it up again just to finish it off. At that point I'd rather jump into a new game and start getting immersed in a new world.

No but after the beating last boss I get an overwhelming urge to start over and play the game again with everything I've learned.

I'd 90% a game and then put it down. Beating a game bummed me out like leaving a friend's house after a long fun sleepover. So I'd usually wait till the sequel was announced or available before I'd finish out a title as a way to get hyped for the new release.

I rarely even try what I suspect to be the final boss battle.

Game devs without difficulty settings can fuck off and not take my money for the next chapter.

They figure I must have figured out all the mechanics by now, surely?

No motherfucker, I did not. I played this game in 7 minute bursts between real life kicking my ass.

I don't know shit about what game techniques I was supposed to have learned back in chapter 2. Haha.

So when I get to the hard bit, I just turn the game off and never return to it. If I get there during the Steam refund window, I'll ask for my money back, too.

Edit: Now a cozy game with a final cozy cinematic, I am fully down for.

It depends on the game and the difficulty spike. I know what I'm getting into with a FromSoftware game, and they're usually reasonable progressions (outside of some the DLC bosses). I know they're tough, but they should be manageable with some adjustments and patience.

Then there's games like TTYD that shot up the difficulty at the end without much warning. If a game just throws a curve ball like that without much of a means to build you up for that fight, I think that's a failure on the game's design.