i beat the video game getting over it with bennett foddy. i have 7+? (a lot of hours weren't on steam) hours in the game. most of that time is strewn throughout months, as i've owned the game for over a year. recently came back to it and beat it across 2 days (in game time was an hour and 23 minutes)
the game is beautiful. it took me so long to beat it that i am a much different person now than i was the first time i played it.
several of those hours my ex watched me play it. he's the reason i got as far as i did, then. one of my thoughts as i was approaching the end of it, was that he'd be proud of me. it's a small thing he would have genuinely cheered me on for, purely because he knows how much effort i put into it. it's bittersweet. i think im okay with him not being in my life anymore. i started life and this game without him, i finished this game without him and ill eventually finish life without him. he, like many other people who i am not in contact with anymore, changed my life. it's okay for him not to be here. he doesnt need to be. he and everyone else left an imprint on me, big or small, and those imprints are a part of who i am.
coming back to how long it took me to finish the game, there was a part i got stuck on for a very long time. months. a series of rocks following an end table with an orange atop it. you cant rush through this part, at least not without the knowledge that would let you go through it slowly in the first place. your hammer does not have a perfect rectangular hitbox, it rolls and different parts of the hammer intersect with surfaces differently. you have to find spots on the rocks where you can firmly apply pressure, and slowly rotate your hammer on them. this section of the game, like the rest of the game, is often frustrating. but this part in particular really frustrated me. it forces you to take your time. i was able to bs most of the game before that point but i couldnt do that anymore.
eventually i learned how to better deal with frustration and not let it cloud my judgment and actions in life, including games. i can savor failure in games, and frustration, as a part of the game, as a part of the art. it's a game that evokes feelings. i feel like i got over it.