Advice
We all know when you have beaten a game, it’s the end and it’s all over. You have seen everything the game offered and made it to the end credits. Do you wish there was more to do after completing it? Well, here are a list of things to try in making the experience last longer, if you’re not ready to move on.
Post Discussion List
- Things to do after finishing a game
- Replaying the Game
- New Game Plus
- Challenge Run
- One- Hundred Percent Playthrough
- Mods and Romhacks
- Other Ideas
- Video Essays or Retrospectives
- Rank or Tier list
- Watch the cutscenes
- Listen to the soundtrack
- Create fan art
- Animation Shorts
- Replaying the Game
Read on down the list to see what you can do after the journey ends.
Things to do after finishing a game
Replaying the game
I am breaking this down into two sections. The first are options relating towards replay ability. That means when someone goes back to play a game or a specific part of it again. These ideas are for when you have done everything you wanted to do in a playthrough, including post-game and downloadable content.
New Game Plus
The first time you complete a game, you have the option to play it again as new game plus. This means some of the things from the previous file will be carried over to the new game. Examples are inventory collectables, your current level, unlocked skills, equipment, and more. To make the game sort of balanced, its difficulty is increased from the start. Not all games have this and without new game plus, starting a new file is playing it all over again from scratch, with everything gone.
A Challenge Run
A good way to make a game different is doing a challenge run. This is replaying it with a challenge added to the playthrough, containing rules and a specific goal. The challenge is made up by the player and they must complete the game following the objective and not breaking the rules. A good example is not allowing to reuse Pokémon, that have fainted. When you’re doing a challenge run, make sure you really understand the game and know what you signed up for.
See Example
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (Amiibo Only Challenge)
One hundred Percent Playthrough
Some games have an achievement system. They are little optional objectives that can be done as side content. Some people don’t think they have fully completed a game, unless they do all of the achievements and receive the Special Completion Trophy.
After finishing a game, you can start a new game with a goal of fully completing it. A One hundred percent playthrough is playing the game but this time, accomplishing everything. Playing the main game, doing all of the side quests, unlocking everything, and getting certain collectables to the max are common examples. What is considered completed is depended entirely on the game. Video games don’t actually tell you what needs to be done, to reach the goal. It takes intuition, but you should know from playing the game after a certain number of hours.
When someone one hundred percents a game, they should know more about it than the average person. Again, make sure you know what you are getting into, because some games have it really hard to fully one hundred percent from the time it takes and the game’s difficulty.
Mods and RomHacks
If you are tired of playing the same game and wish it had something different, trying a mod or romhack is an option. These are fans who make their own levels/ideas, using the game as a base for people to play. Most of them are on PC and some are on the actual console but be careful doing it that way. They are difficult to access, but if you are able to, give it a chance.
What I like is seeing people using the game’s mechanics in a different way and the ideas they come up with. I made a post about a specific type of romhacks called Randomizers, that will change the progression and test your knowledge about the games.
See Example
Super Mario 64 RomHack (Retro Mario Levels in Super Mario 64)
Here is an example of a game having different modes for replay ability.
Other Ideas
The second section are things to do outside the game. Anything that involves not playing the game, but still relates to it. Here are some extra ideas to do after completing a game.
Video Essays
One of the type of videos I like to watch are video essays. These are videos were people talk about the game, based on a particular subject or the entire game as a whole. The person can discuss on things such as the history of how the game came to be, the game’s plot, its soundtrack, the gameplay, and other factors.
My favorite video essays are the ones where I learn something I never knew before. When watching them, the content creator will have their thoughts and opinions on the subject, and you should keep that in mind.
See Example
Rank or Tier List
Fun videos to check out are rank and tier lists. These videos are placing certain things from the game in a rank or tier category, from best to worst. A Rank list is a numerical order from lowest to highest (mostly top tens). A Tier list is placing something in a grade category on what is the best (S Tier) to the worst (F Tier).
This is completely opinionated, so everyone will have their own grade or rank number. It’s okay to disagree, because what you like, someone else probably won’t. I like to see how others feel towards the same thing and sometimes I learn something from the person’s reasoning.
Movie Cutscenes
Some video games are so long that the cutscenes can take up some of the time. For these kinds of games, you can find a video that has all of the cut scenes together and watch them all like a movie. If you really like the game and don’t want to play it all over to experience the story, doing this is a good option.
I think it’s a good idea to watch the scenes with someone who will never play the game, because I feel video games can have really good stories. When rewatching a game’s cutscenes, I realize new things (like foreshadowing) seeing them again.
Game Soundtrack
I like to watch people play video game music, either from an official symphony or a single musician.
A good way to look back at the game experience is to just listen to the game’s soundtrack. I believe you can Google Seach any video game soundtrack and listen to all of the songs. The songs played will remind you of the levels, locations, and the moments that took place. Video game music is really interesting and unique; however, it does feel strange hearing only the songs and not playing the game.
Create Fan art
If you are an artist, trying to create artwork based on the game is another way to remember it. Drawing your favorite character, or some of the cast members can be fun. Another example is the backgrounds of the locations, or my favorite, the characters in the game locations. Its cool to see fan art in different styles and the original look.
Animation Shorts
Splatoon animation short
What I like to watch sometimes are fan animated shorts. These are quick videos that someone made based on a video game. They are more like little skits using the characters, and they come in different varieties. I have to give these animators credit because this type of work takes a really long time to do. I took a few animation classes in school and there is a lot of steps, thinking, and patience to make these videos. This doesn’t fit with the rest of the ideas; I just wanted to mention it.
Note: Be careful watching fan related videos because they may not be E for Everyone.
Freedom Planet animation
Link Versus Dark Link animation
These are some examples of what you can do to extend that time with the good game you played. More ideas could be speedrun playthroughs, explanation videos, game design breakdowns, reading a manga or anime of the game (if it has one) and purchasing merchandise. They’re ideas I thought would be good to share. Be sure to check out the example links on your spare time. What activates or ideas do you do after finishing a game?
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