I feel like I am not in touch with videogames (rant)

[Bulldog13]

Been looking forward to this all week. Grab me a bottle of wine. Eat dinner. Turn off the lights, setup the surround sound. And live a horror movie.

I fired up Penumbra Overture and set the contrast. Been looking forward to this since Tuesday. All was ready. I read the text, I normally don't read text (who you kidding? 4 hours into Neverwinter Knights are you still reading the text). Takin my PC on a goddamn date.

And I couldn't get out of the first cave. Tried for like 30 minutes to figure out where to crawl once you enter the cave. Couldn't do it. Never made it out of the damn cave. It just kept alternating 2 rooms in some rock corridor.

I know I could get a guide. But the first level, jesus.

So I figure let me try the PS3. Maybe PC gaming has left me. The simpler minds enjoy the console. God help em, love the Madden. I fire up Demon's Souls. I loved the tutorial and first level. Felt like Bushido blade.

Rolling around the dungeon. BAM. Some godamn Demosaur flails my ass. Fine.

Here's ghost me. Yay! Casper. Drops me in some Valley of the Souls. Bad joke. 30 minutes talking to ghosts.

No idea. No idea where I am supposed to go. My avatar still has trouble not stabbing himself. Running around a god damn Halloween haunted church. Where I feel like a WoW troll priest is going to jump out.

........ Sigh ...........

And you know what. I am going to admit it. I couldn't find the hammer in Zelda. Could kill the flaming turd monster and a god damn bright red horned Al Borland. Or maybe he was blurple colored. Couldn not pass through the godammn mountain. Tried and tried.

Ninja turtles for the NES. Same thing. Never figured out how to get into the car. Cruise around with some pizzas. All I could do is throw globs of grey sh*t at the first few bosses.

Jesus and then you get the bad idea to load up an emulator and re-live some NES. Awful, awful idea. Download the torrents, all crafty like. First you try playing some obscure title you remember wanting or maybe even played once as a kid. ABODOX. Yeah! I played that! WTF is tha really t how you really spell it? And you fire it up.

I feel like I am giving someone a rectal scan. Honestly, just turned 30. Doctor says "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY YOUR MY RECTAL SCAN..AS A SHITTY CENTIPEDE PAC-MAN. YOU KNOW. THE ONE FROM THAT DIRTY LAUNDROMAT YOU VISITED BY AS A KID." I am a godamn Japanese cancer nanobot. Fight E. Coli. Except, its a some vet on social security. Got himself some robo parts.

Look at the list some more, eh. I could fire up zelda. Nah. Naaaaaaaaaaahhh. Lets go watch some TV.

Admit it. Admit some of your favorite games that got the best of you.


-------------------------
The entire above performed by Louis C.K.

 

[Zenoth]

I'm not quite sure what to answer to this, if anything can be answered, but it made me laugh. It's different for every gamers obviously, maybe you just don't have the patience for video games as a whole anymore, who knows (well, you should be the one who knows really), stay away from gaming for a time, give yourself a break for weeks, months, maybe years, then try again and maybe you'll find your cup of tea.

 

[StormSide]

Sounds like too much w(h)ine .......

 

[BD231]

I don't have so much trouble completing games as I do being entertained by them ...., I'll pick something up for five minutes thinking I want to play it then find myself incredibly bored soon after. Other times that's not the case but for the most part monotony gets the best of a great many gamers I'm sure of it.

 

[shortylickens]

Thats possibly the most random rant I ever heard on Anandtech.
I dont think I saw one actual idea in your whole post. It was just a messy collection of words.
Maybe Ima too drunk.

 

[manimal]

get off my lawn..

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Admit it. Admit some of your favorite games that got the best of you.

"one actual idea"

My nomination: making the return jump back to the Savage Jungle over the canyon separating it from the Claw Mountains in Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny. The first time I got to that point it took me well over an hour to make the jump, and I think I actually cried in real life because of it. Still an awesome game.

 

[Bulldog13]

"one actual idea"

My nomination: making the return jump back to the Savage Jungle over the canyon separating it from the Claw Mountains in Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny. The first time I got to that point it took me well over an hour to make the jump, and I think I actually cried in real life because of it. Still an awesome game.

THAT'S THE SPIRIT!

Betrayal at Krondor. Sewers bandits or ratmen or something. Under the big city. Couldn't do it. Tried and tried. Never saw the ending of that game. Would have loved to. I think it was the first read 3d isometric rpg.

 

[ModeEngage]

A+ rant, would read again.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Sins of a solar Empire - Thought it was going to be an awesome homeworld-esque RTS. Fired it up and played the first (presumably easiest) scenario for something like four hours...and lost. Played it like seven more times for more than 2 hours each time(games got shorter because I was trying crazier shit each time in my desperation to win) ...and lost every time. Quit game and never fired it up again.

Now I'm pretty good at RTS. No pro, mind you, but I've beaten homeworld, homeworld cataclysm, homeworld 2, warcraft, starcraft, starcraft 2, supreme commander, and several others that I can't remember. I keep getting the sense that I'm completely missing some vital game mechanic in Sins that makes it winnable. I dunno what that could be, but I know I spent a really frustrating sunday losing to the easy AI in it.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Since I have a lot of time on my hands lately (not a good thing, got my job cut to part time) I have been playing a lot. I can figure out most games. There was one space game though, (I think it was Galactic Civilizations), I could never even get past the shipbuilding stage. Totally didnt get it.

Also, I found Divinity 2, Dragon Knight a fun game, but extremely difficult to determine where to go and how to find quest items. And even worse, you could spend hours searching the map, finally find what you were looking for, and then not be able to use it or enter the area because you were immediately given a new quest to complete before you could use the item or enter the area.

As far as not being able to beat the AI, there was one game, Lord of the Rings Conquest that I could never beat past about the second level. And worse, it had a checkpoint save system and you had to replay a very long level if you died close to the end.

But unclear objectives or a confusing map is one of the most irritating things about a game to me. If I cant beat the AI, well, I just say I suck and let it go. But I hate wasting huge amounts of time just trying to figure out what to do or how to navigate the map.

 

[lozina]

yeah I kind of feel your pain

I remember being awesome at Starcraft - a nearly perfect record. Now with starcraft 2 it's just endless frustration and stress - I cant seem to manage my base anymore. The game feels too fast. My brain cannot keep up with it anymore.

Coincidentally I turned 30 recently too. Maybe there is code in our brains:

if (age >= 30) {
setGamingAbility(GamingAbilities.SUCK_ASS);
}

 

[shortylickens]

yeah I kind of feel your pain

I remember being awesome at Starcraft - a nearly perfect record. Now with starcraft 2 it's just endless frustration and stress - I cant seem to manage my base anymore. The game feels too fast. My brain cannot keep up with it anymore.

Coincidentally I turned 30 recently too. Maybe there is code in our brains:

if (age >= 30) {
setGamingAbility(GamingAbilities.SUCK_ASS);
}

I joined the Navy for 9 years and wasnt able to game constantly, my skills atrophied to the point being almost numb. The only games I am naturally good at any more are racers, and I still get beat online with Grid.

 

[chitwood]

I completed Battletoads when I was in high school, I tried playing through it again at a friend's house last summer...

I could not get past the Clinger Winger. It was as if all my skill just up and left my hands. I was sad.

 

[paperfist]

High dragon in Dragon Age.

I froze her, burned her, flanked her, shot arrows at her, stabbed her, cursed her, tried kitting her, laughed at her, hour after ****ing hour! She owned me, I cheated.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I finally played Half-Life _1_ last year. Played through almost all of it, got to the end with almost no ammo or suit power. Decided to watch the end of the game on YouTube instead of spending hours trying to win the final boss battle.

End-of-game boss battles seem more like work than fun now that I'm older, By that point I'm usually ready for the game to be over. The easy boss in Mass Effect 2 was about my tolerance level.

I still need to do the end-boss battles in Dragon Age and Persona 3 . . . someday.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I keep getting the sense that I'm completely missing some vital game mechanic in Sins that makes it winnable. I dunno what that could be, but I know I spent a really frustrating sunday losing to the easy AI in it.

One possible mistake you might be making is not building a capital ship as soon as possible. The first one is free to build, you just need to build the capital ship construction structure. Other than that you want to be fairly aggressive in Sins of the Solar Empire, grab as many planets as you can at the start. One tip that can really help you against the AI, but not so much in the early game when you have few ships, is to manually concentrate fire on a single ship at a time. Otherwise your ships will pick seperate targets and won't be as effective.

 

[zinfamous]

That one, tiny fucking jump in the sewer of stage 2, Ninja Turtles for NES--the level where you fight Mechaturtle or whatever.

HOLY FUCK THAT JUMP MADE ME HATE LIFE.

 

[sandorski]

I've been playing Win7's Mahjong a lot lately. Got COD-MW2 for Xmas a couple years back, recently decided to try Multiplayer, but I just couldn't get into it, in fact I found it to be more annoying than anything.

This last XMas received NFS-Hot Pursuit and L4D2. Played Hot Pursuit Single Player as far as I could with Keyboard and quickly found out that Multiplayer was pointless with Keyboard, will need a Wheel I suppose. Tried L4D2 in Multiplayer once, had fun, but trying to Join a game is rather annoying and gave up a couple times for that reason.

Looking forward to DN-Forever and Red Orchestra 2, hopefully one of them hooks me up with some fun.

 

[ultimatebob]

Am I the only person who's frustrated with Angry Birds? I swear... I do the exact some bird shot a dozen times, and it will somehow end up with a different result every time.

I gave up on it after a dozen or so rounds, since the game seems to have more to do with luck than skill. Why this is the most popular cell phone game right now, I'll never know. Plants Vs. Zombies was MUCH better.

 

[mingsoup]

i too have a horrible time finishing games anymore. for me it seems like a chore nowadays to force myself to sit down and try complete red dead redemption or fallout new vegas. I feel I *need* to finish some of these games cause they were GOTY games. Starcraft 2 single player game remains only a quarter finished. Minecraft played for maybe 3 hours. At any one time I have like 10 different games going, cause I can't commit to any one. Cataclysm at times compels me to continue but at other times it doesn't. The most addictive game on the entire planet cannot hold my attention (something is wrong.) Gaming seems so simple and diluted nowadays, shooters especially. I feel like I've been playing the same garbage since I was 10. Shoot reload shoot reload and on. You'd think an MMORPG would have some intricate detailing, but even Cataclysm simply ends up being a continued quest grind. Red Dead Redemption? I'VE PLAYED THIS ALREADY! It was called Grand Theft Auto 3 and its a decade old. It might also have to do with one's current state of mind.

 

[StinkyPinky]

i too have a horrible time finishing games anymore. for me it seems like a chore nowadays to force myself to sit down and try complete red dead redemption or fallout new vegas. I feel I *need* to finish some of these games cause they were GOTY games. Starcraft 2 single player game remains only a quarter finished. Minecraft played for maybe 3 hours. At any one time I have like 10 different games going, cause I can't commit to any one. Cataclysm at times compels me to continue but at other times it doesn't. The most addictive game on the entire planet cannot hold my attention (something is wrong.) Gaming seems so simple and diluted nowadays, shooters especially. I feel like I've been playing the same garbage since I was 10. Shoot reload shoot reload and on. You'd think an MMORPG would have some intricate detailing, but even Cataclysm simply ends up being a continued quest grind. Red Dead Redemption? I'VE PLAYED THIS ALREADY! It was called Grand Theft Auto 3 and its a decade old. It might also have to do with one's current state of mind.

I find that playing one game at a time helps. If I have three going at once I tend to lose interest in all three of them.

 

[shortylickens]

I find that playing one game at a time helps. If I have three going at once I tend to lose interest in all three of them.

As do I.
Have games running in Oblivion, BG2, Deus Ex, New Vegas, Dungeon Keeper 1, and probably more that I cant recall.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Awesome game, but that part where you're on the back of the truck and you have to shoot all the townspeople was godawfully hard. I must have tried it 5 times, and even when you almost finish it and die it puts you back to the beginning. I finally beat it after hitting my keyboard a few times. And then the game stopped working when I got to a certain point in the refinery.

I also have some days when I just suck at COD4. I usually love it and I'm usually great at it, but those days when I'm just too tired to beat the competition...they aren't fun. That's when I go to a single-player game.

I also remember some old police game. It was text-based, and you controlled a graphical depiction of your character doing stuff that way. It took me forever to figure out how to get into the police car, drive it, etc. Finally bagged a criminal, then I couldn't figure out how to get him into the cell. So annoying. Does anyone remember what this game was? I remember you had to "inspect the car" before driving.

 

[fatpat268]

yeah I kind of feel your pain

I remember being awesome at Starcraft - a nearly perfect record. Now with starcraft 2 it's just endless frustration and stress - I cant seem to manage my base anymore. The game feels too fast. My brain cannot keep up with it anymore.

Coincidentally I turned 30 recently too. Maybe there is code in our brains:

if (age >= 30) {
setGamingAbility(GamingAbilities.SUCK_ASS);
}

I'm 23 and I feel like I'm too damn old for online MP games. I get my ass handed to me pretty much no matter the game. I even try to pick up games day 1 so that I'm not walking into a lion's den of experienced players, yet I still fail.

-My most recent attempt: Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I win maybe 25% of my matches, and I play most of my matches against scrubs like me.

-Starcraft 2 was another game like that. I even tried my damndest to get good at that game. I watched videos, read up strategies, and practiced my ass off and I was still getting beat on one of the lowest tiers (bronze?). I mean, I don't know what I'm doing wrong there. I build fast, and I have a generally decent strategy, but when that fails I feel like I can never catch up.

-I can generally enjoy FPS games. Reaching a 1.0 k/d ratio for me is a pretty huge deal, and I envy those who can get a 2.0+ k/d ratio without much effort. I'm usually impatient though, as going slow and careful isn't my style.

-I also suck at sports games. I pretty much don't even bother playing Madden online anymore. I can destroy the CPU on the hardest difficulty but I struggle against most people online. It's weird, because when I play people in Madden locally, I'm generally pretty good, but it's a complete different story online.


But whatever, I've accepted the fact that I suck at video games. As long as they're still fun, I'll keep playing them.

I finally played Half-Life _1_ last year. Played through almost all of it, got to the end with almost no ammo or suit power. Decided to watch the end of the game on YouTube instead of spending hours trying to win the final boss battle.

End-of-game boss battles seem more like work than fun now that I'm older, By that point I'm usually ready for the game to be over. The easy boss in Mass Effect 2 was about my tolerance level.

I still need to do the end-boss battles in Dragon Age and Persona 3 . . . someday.

At one point in HL1, I said fuck it and enabled god mode. I kept getting destroyed midway through the game by some marines. I usually died or if I made it through, I was left with a sliver of health and almost no ammo. It didn't help that they had near perfect aim and that my strafing around cover to cover didn't really help.

I also remember some old police game. It was text-based, and you controlled a graphical depiction of your character doing stuff that way. It took me forever to figure out how to get into the police car, drive it, etc. Finally bagged a criminal, then I couldn't figure out how to get him into the cell. So annoying. Does anyone remember what this game was? I remember you had to "inspect the car" before driving.

Police Quest?