"Overplaying" and the value of an initial playthrough

[Vanessa28]

This happened to me with TP. When I first finished TP I liked it so much I played it again...and again...and again. Sometimes even 5 times in a single week! I played it so much and didn't get bored. But after a while other games got released or got my attention. When TPHD was released I picked it up but it never got my attention anymore like it used to. The only other game I played more than TP is HW. And I still love to play that game. But I think I definitely overplayed TP while it doesn't give me the great memories as OoT gave me on my first gameplay.

 

[accio boomerang]

So for me I used to replay FFX a lot because there was so much to do and I only occasionally 100% it but I haven't played it in awhile because I was starting to feel a bit ehh when I thought of playing it which makes me sad because it's such a good game and I really enjoyed the storyline so I told myself I would only play it maybe once a year or just play it sporadically where I don't complete it right away but just play it in chunks. It's still one of my favorite games I just don't want to get super bored with it.

I luckily haven't felt this way about any of the Zelda games like MM or OoT which I have played quite a bit, but once again with those I don't play the game in one sitting I try to play it when I am stuck in a new game that is making me mad so I play a game that I know I don't have to think hard about until I get motivated to play the other game again.

 

[Mamono101]

With certain things for me, I obsess. When I truly find a game (or any media) that does something in some way that just speaks to me, I will hyperfocus on that thing for a very long time. It’s not so much then that I’ve played something so many times, that it loses its impact, it’s more that something else finally comes along that I will then latch onto as the next major thing I can obsess over.

For example, the novel Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I would literally finish the book, flip it over and start reading it again. It’s a short book and only takes me a few of hours to get through on a good day and I did this for the better part of 3 months. Rocky Horror was another huge obsession of mine. I would watch the film after school everyday and listen to the entire soundtrack both on the bus ride to school, and the bus ride home. I know all the lyrics to every song by heart and can recite most of the characters’ dialogue as well. This particular obsession lasted for about 1.5yrs before something finally replaced it. Funnily enough that was OoT. I’ve played that game so many times over the years that it’s probably in triple digits. Similar to my other two examples, I would finish the game, watch the end credits for the post credits cutscene, and then do it all over again. But I guess that’s just how my brain tends to work. These days I tend to revisit OoT only a few times a year whenever my brain gets kind of an itch to play it and the impact may not be the same as my initial playthrough, but I still very much enjoy the experience. Same goes for other things I want to watch or listen to. I’ll start to think that I really want to watch/play/listen to something and the more I think about it, the stronger my need to do the thing gets.

 

[the8thark]

So what games have you overplayed? Have they lost all their value, or has it just diminished for you?

I have not gone back to many games of recent as I just move on to new ones. Mind you, at that point I have played the game for 40+ hours and totally donw with it. The games I do come back to are ones with far too much content to do before burnout hits - Hyrule Warriors being one example. Breath of the Wild being another. I have a few hundred hours into Breath of the Wild, done almost all the Shrines but none of the 4 Guardians and not entered Hyrule Castle. I am happy with that and one day I will get back into it and finish it. To me the exploring and the scenery was the #1 thing I enjoyed about the game and I am happy with my time in it.

Randomised games I have replayed the most. Think Civilization or Master of Orion 2 or similar. Games where each play through is different.
Different ways to do each run so it makes the game have far more appeal after the first run.
I am happy to speed run shorter games or replay them though. Longer games, not so much as I'd prefer a new experience.

The one exception is New game plus. I will do a NG+ run as that adds something new. Mostly it's very minor but enough to make me go back.
The other reason is NG+ is often a different experience as most of the content is already earned from the get go. My most recent NG+ runs were Persona 5 and Persona 5R. I do want to to do the Persina 4 NG+ run at some point as well. Probably Xenoblade Cbronicles 2 NG+ one day, as well, just to muck around at a high level.

I do not think overplaying a game deminishes it's value. The value in that case is past tense. You had fun with it for many hours. Had your money's worth. Time to move on to new games.
Games overstaying their welcome and are just padding filler to lengthen the game's content, now that overstays its welcome but that's a slightly different subject. Probably outside the scope of this topic.

So after the above long answer, I guess the short answer is no.