I have stopped forcing myself to play / finish games I don't enjoy.

Ade

Ade

;3
I bought a PS4 last year and Bloodborne. I loved it and also played through New Game+. I then decided to try the Souls games. I stopped Dark Souls 1 after about 30 hours in because I had no idea where to go, I found the weapon system too complicated, and I hated that armor weight affected movement. I gave Dark Souls 2 maybe 7 hours, but I hated the area design and felt like the difficulty ramped up way too quickly. Yes, I get they're hard games, but putting a boss like the Pursuer that early in the game was stupid. I've played Dark Souls 3 for maybe an hour and I'm enjoying it so far. I need to give it more time.

I downloaded KOTOR on Steam for like 3 bucks and hated the controls. Played it for about 45 seconds when I realized I couldn't change it to straight up keyboard controls without downloading a bunch of shit. That pissed me off so I uninstalled.

I played Fable Anniversary Edition (for $3) for maybe 10 minutes until I found the game wouldn't let me reverse pitch the camera the way I wanted. There's no excuse for a game to NOT have this option anytime beyond 2002.

I bought Wind Waker HD because I never finished the original Wind Waker (it was stolen from me years ago), but I got so damn bored with sailing around all the time that I gave up on it. I didn't find it hard; just boring.

I bought the Bayonetta 1 / 2 package for Wii U and played about 1/3 of Bayonetta 1, found it to be too ridiculous and sloppy, and gave up.

And just today, after purchasing it just a few weeks ago, I gave up on Xenoblade Chronicles 3D because I found the combat system to be way too complicated far too early into the game. It's such a jumbled mess that doesn't give you any time to think, and I can't stand it.

I'm done dealing with frustrating bullshit, and I'm done feeling guilty about stuff like this.

It took me 34 years to do this, and I think part of the reason I felt that I had to get every drop out of every game was because I came from pretty modest means growing up, and I had to earn my own money basically from age 10 onward. Now I make good money and have way less time to game, so I cannot be a tryhard completionist with "something to prove" any longer. I need this to be time for fun. If it's not fun, there's no point.

I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. If anyone else ever suffers from feelings like this, just let them go. Nobody gives a shit if you don't beat a game. (Yes, Captain Obvious here.)

I know this was dumb but I had to type it out somewhere. I figured a forum for my favorite game of all time (PSO) would be the best place.
 
I remember being around 13 y.o. and watching the cover of Fable on a hallway's floor where a street vendor sold pirated games. "I recommmend you this one, you are a hero and you have to choose if you'll be a good or a bad one". By that time my pc was a pentium and probably didn't run Fable or i didn't have the money to buy it. I ended up playing it plenty of years later and the first thing i thought was: This looks like "Chicken Run" what a disappointment! I also disliked the camera. A part of me wanted to close and unistall, but now is one of my favorite games of that kind along with Oblivion.

I've done the same as you and i think is healthy to let "must play" games go. Just wanted to note that sometimes a bit of patiente can be rewarding. At the end, i think one can feel when a game is "your kind of game".
 
Ade said:
I bought a PS4 last year and Bloodborne. I loved it and also played through New Game+. I then decided to try the Souls games. I stopped Dark Souls 1 after about 30 hours in because I had no idea where to go, I found the weapon system too complicated, and I hated that armor weight affected movement. I gave Dark Souls 2 maybe 7 hours, but I hated the area design and felt like the difficulty ramped up way too quickly. Yes, I get they're hard games, but putting a boss like the Pursuer that early in the game was stupid. I've played Dark Souls 3 for maybe an hour and I'm enjoying it so far. I need to give it more time.

I downloaded KOTOR on Steam for like 3 bucks and hated the controls. Played it for about 45 seconds when I realized I couldn't change it to straight up keyboard controls without downloading a bunch of shit. That pissed me off so I uninstalled.

I played Fable Anniversary Edition (for $3) for maybe 10 minutes until I found the game wouldn't let me reverse pitch the camera the way I wanted. There's no excuse for a game to NOT have this option anytime beyond 2002.

I bought Wind Waker HD because I never finished the original Wind Waker (it was stolen from me years ago), but I got so damn bored with sailing around all the time that I gave up on it. I didn't find it hard; just boring.

I bought the Bayonetta 1 / 2 package for Wii U and played about 1/3 of Bayonetta 1, found it to be too ridiculous and sloppy, and gave up.

And just today, after purchasing it just a few weeks ago, I gave up on Xenoblade Chronicles 3D because I found the combat system to be way too complicated far too early into the game. It's such a jumbled mess that doesn't give you any time to think, and I can't stand it.

I'm done dealing with frustrating bullshit, and I'm done feeling guilty about stuff like this.

It took me 34 years to do this, and I think part of the reason I felt that I had to get every drop out of every game was because I came from pretty modest means growing up, and I had to earn my own money basically from age 10 onward. Now I make good money and have way less time to game, so I cannot be a tryhard completionist with "something to prove" any longer. I need this to be time for fun. If it's not fun, there's no point.

I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. If anyone else ever suffers from feelings like this, just let them go. Nobody gives a shit if you don't beat a game. (Yes, Captain Obvious here.)

I know this was dumb but I had to type it out somewhere. I figured a forum for my favorite game of all time (PSO) would be the best place.
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*Boobhat hugs Ade'-kun because...Just DOES it because it makes him Smile Dammit!* We ALL question our time spent on this earth dear! There are moments mew'll be at a stoplight and start wondering...The day mew's on her deathbed...Will she be wondering "How did stunblock work on ULT OPT boss again?" As of this month it's now 17 years of PSOing for this energetic kitty...34 years of gaming too huh? By chance did you grow up with PONG too? Or maybe This gem....
<3
 
Damn. Wind Waker is one of my favorites from the Legend of Zelda games. Did you happen to get the melody that lets you teleport to certain locations?
 
I found the sailing in Wind Waker to be relaxing. Oh well. To each their own.
 
There are a wide array of games I enjoy. Games are like a buffet and I want to taste as many as possible. I firmly hold onto the philosophy "Variety is the Spice of Life".
 
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I've just sold a bunch of games on PS4 that I can't gather the energy to complete, and I think the reason I do sometimes is for the achievements which isn't right. I guess it comes with age.

On the plus side games like League of Legends and PUBG are fantastic because they're quick games that require no completion. Which is sort of similar to PSO in the sense you're playing the same game and setting but with a different result at the end of it each time.
 
if you have a problem with sailing in Windwaker you can always try to get the Swift Sail from the auction house. the speed up is pretty good but I know how you feel.
I finished the original once but never could play it again because it was boring.
I finished HD with 2 friends and it was ok because of the swift sail and they changed something that was really time consuming and boring.
and I gave up on xenoblade too xD just couldnt get into the combat.
 
Hi Ade and friends...

I shared a lot of your experiences for very similar reasons. I have a habit of really throwing myself into games to squeeze every last bit of juice out of them, which served me well through my twenties and into my early thirties, maybe. But now... I just don't have the patience to overcome what I see as gameplay flaws, and additionally, it's getting more difficult to play extended gaming sessions of anything without losing my focus. Even with PSO, I have to stop every hour or so to do something else and just afk mag feed.

You grow up always knowing about what advancing age does to you, but this part blindsided me, haha. As a kid or young adult, if I had the whole day off to myself and stuck indoors, I would have noooooo problems playing the same game for basically fourteen hours and then going to bed. I not only played many a day of Everquest or FFXI like this, but also RPGs like Dark Wizard for the Sega CD or Dragon Force for the Saturn. All day, many days, no prob. Can't do it now.

The most recent games to get me genuinely hooked are Kingdoms of Amalur, Borderlands and Titan Quest, and none of those games are particularly new.

And I did grow up with Pong, Mew. :)
Adventure difficulty 3 with random placement is still fun to this day!
 
Aaah my english is so bad. ^^

I played Dark Souls 1 maybe arround 500 hours. NG+++++++, Dark Souls 2 (Charlevel ~550, Nashandra bonfire 99 :D) and 3 too.
The beginning is always difficult in the Dark Souls Series. Try a walkthrough. Dark Souls 1 is great. ;)

Dark Souls 1, Tales of Vesperia and Final Fantasy 7 were my best experience ever. And the first few weeks WoW in 2005.
 
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Incoming long post to defend the Souls series.

TL;DR: try DS1 again with a Bloodborne mentality. I really think you'll like it. IMO it's one of the best video games ever made. (It's the GOAT in my eyes)

DS2 is the worst of all the Souls series, though it's still a great game. It just pales in comparison to its brothers. The beginning of DS2 is by far the hardest of the 5 Souls games, with the limited Estus and the HP reduction from dying. The roll/iFrame mechanics are too different from DS1/3/BB. Unfortunately, it seems that you have to "unlearn" some mechanics from the other Souls games in order to maintain a similar "fast" play-style that you may be accustomed to from BB.

To be honest, I almost dropped DS2 myself for the exact same reasons you're mentioning: "forcing myself to play a game I didn't enjoy." All I can say is that it gets a lot better, and that there are mechanics in DS2 to make you more stupidly OP in PvE than the other Souls games. There is consensus among the Souls community that DS2 has the best DLC's among all of the Souls games, as well, if you ever want to revisit it.

Regarding DS1, it seems logical to me that armor should affect your movement; there are always tradeoffs in video games, and this is a relatively common mechanic across a lot of games I've played.

Try unequipping all of your armor and just fast-rolling throughout the game. It'll be more similar to BB, and it makes things a lot easier, as it's the preferred play-style for most people I know who enjoy DS1.

I am bit miffed as to why you think the weapons system is complicated in DS1. Weapons scale based on the letter corresponding to the stat in its description, and weapons can be upgraded to either +5 or +15. That's just the easy part. It gets a little bit more complicated when you min-max and want to imbue elemental effects, but you really don't need to bother with that.

Even if you pumped every single level-up into stamina or health, you can still kill things very easily just by upgrading your weapon. The starting weapons, when upgraded, are more than powerful enough to last into the endgame.

I can kind of see why you think it's hard to know where to go in DS1. It's a game where you must figure out the lore/story/directions from reading the item descriptions and talking to the NPCs. Not to mention, you have to talk to NPCs more than once to exhaust all their dialogue to find out what to do. It is purposefully obfuscating and it frustrated me as well, but I learned to appreciate it for what it was afterwards.

DS1 has the best world design I've ever played in any video game, period. You can walk, without warping, from Firelink Shrine to pretty much anywhere in the game. Everything is interconnected; it's beautiful to me, really. In a sense, there's really no "right" way to go because all the options are kind of unlocked from the get-go. There are very few "hard progression checkpoints" which may end up frustrating the player in the end.
 
This probably resonates with everyone. I think about kids now coming into the gaming world and wonder how they keep up with it/ handle it when so many of them are eternal games without definite ends. Read an article about young kids being insanely addicted to minecraft, and I was trying to pinpoint why, and realized it's because there is no definite end point to any objective. You are left with an eternal sense of incompleteness in an infinite world of creation. There used to be a more defined structure, like a book, where you complete a chapter and feel enough satisfaction to let it rest. Now everything demands your constant attention and dedication. Most of us remember the early days where you couldn't even save your progress. I hate that feeling now in a game where I complete that last objective, and the game continues on and I think "well now what the eff do I do? Was all that effort and time meaningless? I don't feel satisfied with that box being checked, and the game is like, wow good job now get back to grinding slave!!!" It's exhausting.
 
I have a friend that has never finished any major game. I'm not talking about complete clears, he straight up does not finish the game. That I don't understand. Ocarina of Time? FF7? I can't read half a book and move on with my life, I at least need to finish it, even if I'm just skimming.
 
Kelthas said:
Aaah my english is so bad. ^^

I played Dark Souls 1 maybe arround 500 hours. NG+++++++, Dark Souls 2 (Charlevel ~550, Nashandra bonfire 99 :D) and 3 too.
The beginning is always difficult in the Dark Souls Series. Try a walkthrough. Dark Souls 1 is great. ;)

Dark Souls 1, Tales of Vesperia and Final Fantasy 7 were my best experience ever. And the first few weeks WoW in 2005.
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I unlocked all the achievements in ToV on Xbox 360 and played through the game several times. I'd like to give the PS3 version a try because it has additional content.
 
Mayn said:
I unlocked all the achievements in ToV on Xbox 360 and played through the game several times. I'd like to give the PS3 version a try because it has additional content.
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I know, but japanese only. We need a PS4 Remake. :D
 
phantasystarved said:
Hi Ade and friends...

I shared a lot of your experiences for very similar reasons. I have a habit of really throwing myself into games to squeeze every last bit of juice out of them, which served me well through my twenties and into my early thirties, maybe. But now... I just don't have the patience to overcome what I see as gameplay flaws, and additionally, it's getting more difficult to play extended gaming sessions of anything without losing my focus. Even with PSO, I have to stop every hour or so to do something else and just afk mag feed.

You grow up always knowing about what advancing age does to you, but this part blindsided me, haha. As a kid or young adult, if I had the whole day off to myself and stuck indoors, I would have noooooo problems playing the same game for basically fourteen hours and then going to bed. I not only played many a day of Everquest or FFXI like this, but also RPGs like Dark Wizard for the Sega CD or Dragon Force for the Saturn. All day, many days, no prob. Can't do it now.

The most recent games to get me genuinely hooked are Kingdoms of Amalur, Borderlands and Titan Quest, and none of those games are particularly new.

And I did grow up with Pong, Mew. :)
Adventure difficulty 3 with random placement is still fun to this day!
Click to expand...
DRAGON FORCE !!!!!! <3 <3 <3 OMG OMG OMG!!! One of mew's Fave Working Design Games!! Mew had found All the hidden wandering generals...and that one annoying one...."BOOM Baby! Boom!" YUNI was another fave character in it! One of her Battle cries is..."Mew!" lol =')
 
I can't sit through games and play them anymore like I used to be able to do as a kid, either. I never really forced myself to beat games I didn't like for completion's sake (despite maintaining a Backloggery...), but I could easily throw in 12+ hours in one sitting as a kid, pulling all-nighters all the time. I can't do it anymore.

Well, except for Persona 5. That game's awesome, and I've caught myself dropping 8+ hour sessions onto it on weekends when I'm not busy. Good lord. If you have a PS3/4, get it and play it, and if you don't, play it sometime before you die... especially if you're into JRPGs or games that just look cool. It's so impossibly stylish. My God.
 
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