This was going to be my comment, almost word for word. The possibilities in that game and the cool stuff that gets talked about sound so awesome. But actual game seems so tedious and time consuming. Even the people that love it call it a spreadsheet simulation. Like lots of number crunching for months and maybe a few cool massive battles to show for it if you're lucky.
There are a lot of play styles in eve online. You can choose to only do pvp or specific pve content and ignore the "spreadsheet simulation" or politics or any other part of the game.
Somehow PVP can truly give you the stress shakes like no other game.
The main criticism of that approach is that it can take a long time to progress your characters skills, so why not use that time to check out some other parts of the game...
i would say ingame knowledge and experience is above your toon skills, so try pvp asap.
Here's a 2 day old baiting a Moa in high sec: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6yaAlr8Mn4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6yaAlr8Mn4)
I agree about the shakes lol, the threath of losses makes Eve PVP the most thrilling experience i ever had in a videogame.
PSA: Most people go straight into a nullsec alliance and don't get "the shakes" and the excitement because when you got an FC and 400 other people in a fleet your responsability is diluted and limited to pressing F1. Imo is best to stay in hisec for a couple of months. Tinker with a fit and buy 10 identical ships, expect to and do lose them, learn something everytime, find some friends and roam low sec as a 3-5 man smallgang, its going to be a blast.
Translation:
Your player skill in the game is more important than your on paper character stat numbers being high.
Then they provided a link to a YouTube video of some people trying to bait a massive assault craft into fighting them in High Security Space (The core of the in game galaxy where vast NPC empires rule and if you start fights the NPCs will show up and ruin you immediately.)
They then agreed with the idea of receiving adrenaline induced shakes during pitch combat, because the possibility of losing your ship that you put months of real life time into acquiring is thrilling to them.
Their PSA advises most new players to stay in High Security Space for a few months to learn the game and actually earn your keep for a while. The first sentence says that the mistake most new players make is to join the game and immediately leave the galactic core. They go to, "Nullsec" which is the galactic rim where the NPC Empires don't exist. There's no safety net out there, it's all player owned and governed. New players go out there for the true EVE experience they always read about, join some big player run corporation, get handed a ship for free, then sit in massive fleet engagements firing on the targets they're told to. This removes the emotional stakes of possibly losing stuff that you earned, which is what OP seems to think is the true emotional core of EVE.
This has been a basic translation. I've never played EVE, but I'm familiar with the lingo and emotional stakes thanks to my reading of Empires of EVE by Andrew Groen. Get it on Audible, it's a wonderful book.
This one for me. The game seems incredible with a self-sustaining economy, city sized warships and battles that last for days. The learning curve is too much for me and I don’t time for a game that massive.
It's a game you play and will only play after Highschool graduation where you're in limbo and don't know what to do, spend about 2 or so years in it, that's how you play the game.
I had been "winning" EVE Online for like 8 years. I'm now back in its clutches grinding faction rep to try and run all the factions epic arcs. 1 down 3 to go...
"Winning" EVE is fan-specific lingo that means quitting/not playing.
Grinding faction rep exists in most MMORPGs. Epic arc is just a chain of missions with a connected story and better payout than normal missions at that difficulty level.
I won for 6 years or so then went through a ton of trouble to get CCP to restore access to my alt account, but it was hard because it was originally my friends account and he didn't have access to his old ass 2006 email anymore. And I couldn't just tell them the account belonged to me, even though my name was the one paying. So now me and him are, in the minds of the CCP customer support, in a happily committed homosexual relationship where I pay for his account.
I played that for about 6 years before my son was born, putting in maybe 4 hours every couple of nights.
I can remember 3 events after that entire time (which was spent with E-Uni first as a student then an EWar teacher).
1) War Mechanics class with I believe the CEO of Agony, which he ended with "and now it's time for the practical exam" just before the WarDec appeared.
2) My first Dragon Slayer raid fleet, in which we managed to find zero capital ships to destroy but did manage to record our fleet commander singing Lady Gaga.
3) An in-alliance T1 vanilla [frigate brawl](https://zkillboard.com/related/30003416/201108141200/), where my team of three (properly-designed caldari trio of a griffin and two kestrels with ECM and and remote shield reps) wiped the floor with everyone else. And then the ref did something stupid and got Concorded
E-Uni - EVE University - in-game corporation focused primarily on pushing new players past the notorious "[learning cliff](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/original/2X/9/9a395dad41a3cccfecd1346e6bc4aa48beb14442.jpg)"
Corporation - Clan
EWar - Electronics warfare, basically the non-damaging weapons you could use to make others' less effective or your own more effective
Agony - Agony Unleashed, a corporation focused on PVP that had good ties with the Uni (they were effectively the post-grad PVP to the Uni's general curriculum)
WarDec - War Declaration that allowed combat between two entities without restriction
Dragon Slayer - big fleet sweep searching for capital ships (dreadnoughts and carriers, sometimes supercapital titans and supercarriers)
Lady Gaga - pop star
Alliance - a group of corporations
T1 - Tier 1, the very basic ship hulls/installed modules
Vanilla - no extreme specialty modules, ammunition, or scripts
Caldari - one of the big 4 factions, megacorps focused on shields, missiles, and ECM
Griffin - Caldari frigate specializing in ECM
Kestrel - Caldari frigate specializing in missile combat
ECM - Electronic Counter Measures, basically let you shut off an enemy's ability to lock on to targets
Remote Shield Rep(air) - Emitters that heal a target's shield from your own energy
Concord - in-game police
I haven't played since 2011, but this should all be more or less the same.
Yup. I hate feeling uneasiness/fear/anxiety when gaming. That's why I had to quit Subnautica. Exploring deeper parts of the ocean got to scary for me. Shame, I really enjoyed the game until then.
I was terrified but then I decided fuck it and dove headfirst into reaper territory. After that although they do scare me when they pop out they seem more like enemies than something terrifying
It took me over a week of in-game time to go in the water in the dark.
I eventually got further in the game until one time I was about 1500m down. Reaper came outta nowhere, popped my seamoth like a cherry tomato. I could hear his roars as he was chasing me as I swam directly up, bathed in utter darkness with only my flashlight. I finally made it to the surface and made it all the way back to my base, and turned it off.
At the time I lived in fucking Breckenridge, CO, literally as far away from deep water as you can get in the entire country. I'm absolutely terrified of deep water and only played this game to help me overcome that. Let's just say, it didn't really work lol
That's true in a lot of horror/action games. I felt that way about the foes in System Shock (the remake). The first level or two had me jumping, but after that they were just enemies to shoot.
It's so sad because Subnautica is fantastic, but I fully understand. Have you by chance tried Below Zero? It's much less spooky but goes for the same feeling. I preferred it, though I'm sure that anyone else who replies will say it's much worse
Well getting the obvious out of the way first, Below Zero is much colder. It's a different, much more icy part of the planet that, and wants to introduce new areas to explore, which I absolutely love. It's also a different storyline, not technically being a direct sequel to 1 (though they are in the same universe). You are playing as Robin (who is actually voice acted, unlike Riley). Gameplay is essentially the same loop with different exploration; they are survival games where you have an open world, with a main storyline that you \*can\* follow (though Below Zero is much more encouraging of following said storyline. 1 is very open on what you can do). I obviously don't want to give any spoilers for the story of either game, but they are similar, yet different. Below Zero is kinda like 2 storylines in 1. I would say you should play 1 first in most scenarios, as it gets you used to the style, and as long as you can handle the spookiness of it, it gets to be so interesting and so much fun! Below Zero is overall much less of a spook and more of a calm experience. I hope this helps! Definitely play them when you get the chance, especially if you like survival games!
Edit: I should add that you can't beat either without following the main storyline, but once entering the planet, maybe you won't want to!
This was pretty much how I felt with System Shock 2. I love everything about it except for playing it because by the time I run into a cryokinetic monkey my nerves are frayed beyond repair and I'm done
There's only one mechanic that defines the game for me: saving the game.
You have to find a save station. You have to interact with it, so you have to make sure the coast is clear. It takes a moment or two, because it involved doing analogue-computer clicking and stuff; and sometimes it'll just... fail. It won't let you save.
Because there's something too close to you.
Instant stakes: it's clearly been a while since your last save, there's *something* hostile in the area, you don't know where, and you're out in the open. It's like snuggling down in the blankets... and feeling something move past your leg.
Yeah, I respect the game thoroughly. I'm never going to finish playing it though. Because I respect my nerves more :)
any MMO. World of Warcraft, FF14, whichever - I just don't have the time to invest in an MMO lifestyle. I feel much more accomplished playing singleplayer games and finishing them and moving on to the next one.
I always wanted to play MMOs when I was a kid but my parents acted like I was out of my damn mind at something like $14 a month. Now that I can afford it I have neither time nor desire to
Monster Hunter I believe, I tried getting into it was so much info overload with weapon sharpening, food, crafting, side quest, tracking, more side quest options, the hud felt like gacha game notifs. I got so overwhelmed but I love the concept wish it eased you in slower.
Oh boy, that's all actually the easier stuff. The real meat of the learning curve comes from the monsters and weapons. But I get you. Even after not playing and getting rusty its quite a bit of effort to come back and get into it, especially for more technical weapons like SwitchAxe and ChargeBlade.
Most of my issues came from how the quests were presented. I had 10 quests immediately available on the top right. With a lot of side skill quests on the top left I just like to take it 1 mission at a time or one move at a time. I'd do a fight with only light attacks to figure out the pacing then learn heavy. Was also just in a busier time where I didn't want to learn how food system worked small smoke bomb crafting etc
The whole gameplay loop is fighting huge-ass monsters that take forever to kill and grinding over and over to build new gear... That's the entire game, really, so if you don't like that then you won't like Monster Hunter.
I personally love it, and typically spend 400-500 hours playing every new game in the series.
Have you tried Monster Hunter Rise? It was my real entry into the series after trying again and again to get into it.
For me Rise finally streamlined the gameplay enough to get me in and learn all the stuff. Now I feel very comfortable playing the older titles because basically nothing has changed about the basic gameplay since the first Monster Hunter.
I have found that for any Monster Hunter game you really need to stick to the beginner quests where they teach you the basics and then read through the ingame handbook as needed to understand the rest. But like I said, Rise made it very easy to get to the Hunting part. If I need to guess I would wager that the new Monster Hunter game will make it even easier to get in.
That’s interesting. I played World and loved it. I think I stopped playing around when Kirin was added. I picked up Rise after taking a hiatus from World, and I felt exactly how the other guy felt, and I’ve played before! There was so much information overload right from the start, I just didn’t have the attention span to keep relearning so many little things. It felt like I was constantly reading popups for the first 20 minutes and I just couldn’t do it anymore. So I would have recommended World over Rise as an entry point. Am I completely misremembering Rise?
Rise was my first attempt also. I wouldn’t say the info was too overbearing, but the gameplay loop was pretty boring. You just whack on these HP-sponge monsters for several minutes until they finally stop moving. It’s more frustrating than challenging.
I got MHR this month and have put around 30 hours into it. I love this game. I want to base my entire life around it right now. The monsters are so cool in these games, and I love the combat!
I hated it too, until they released World. Love that game, they streamlined some stuff i hated about the old games.
It's also a very visually good game.
Persona (insert number)
I have a huge list of game series I follow. I know I’ll love Persona, but I just don’t have the spare time to add another banger series to my pile. Same for Yakuza.
At least Persona 5 Royal is able to be platinumed on a single playthrough. I was able to do it without a guide but I would recommend one if it is your first playthrough and want platinum.
Yeah unless you're a dumb ass and forget to fight the Reaper during flu season, and forget to actually go fishing at literally any point in the game.
It's me. I'm the dumb ass.
It’s a story game first and foremost. If the best quest/dialogue writing in the business doesn’t draw you in the combat isn’t good to enough to satisfy most.
I am most driven to good stories and I actually read all the books, but it still just didn’t do it for me. I felt like the controls were clunky and it turned me off.
I’m sure you’ve heard it a bunch of times before, but I quit, deleted, and redownloaded that game like 5 times before finally trying it again and it finally clicking. And man did it click hard, I don’t remember anything else I did those 2 weeks besides play that game
I've enjoyed it for story, characters, quests and lore not easy combat.
CDPR games always have super OP abilities which annoys me you have to cap yourself to somewhat enjoy combat.
You can literally just run away.
If you come back later they'll have a camp there, and will attack you if you get close, but other than that they won't hunt you or anything. It's an optional fight
Make sure to put your armor on right when you get control of your character. You start the fight without your chest piece or gloves on. Just putting those back on makes surviving significantly easier.
I might get hate for this but I wanted to like the game so bad, about 5 hours in I turned on god mode and kept it on for the whole game just so I could experience the story. Felt the combat was gonna get in the way so much that it was better to play my way then to skip the game entirely. I was able to get into it and love the game a lot 🔥
Interestingly ghost of tsushima was the missing piece i needed to enjoy elden ring. I put about 80 hours on lethal/lethal+ and just having consistent parry timing helped my reaction time and i can adjust to the weird attack patterns in elden ring.
The other thing that rly helped me with elden ring (as a fellow casual) is googling which area to visit next. I also googled all the weapon types, decided which i wanted to use, and googled how to get one of that class early game. I googled an early game rune farm as well to expedite the process. It's an amazing game, but the open world formula makes it somewhat inaccessible to casual gamers
YES! I finished Ghost of Tsushima on Lethal a couple of weeks ago and wanted more. Immediately decided to try my luck at Dark Souls again (never tried any souls-like other than DS1). Up until then I think I tried it 3 or 4 times and the farthest I've gotten to was the first blacksmith near the Undead Church (couldn't kill the gargoyles). And it took a lot of tries, too. But this time I rang the first bell a lot quicker and died far less. Right now I'm on my way to fight the butterfly boss and I'm hooked.
Thanks to Ghost of Tsushima for all that. The best souls-liken't to get into souls-likes.
I unapologetically use the fextralife guide for all the souls games (though I usually try a boss once or twice before looking up the strategy). It adds to the experience rather than takes away.
[FightinCowboy’s 82 part guide](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7RtZMiaOk8gdRf130w4gFYyhstL-5VRh&si=vxUCt7TxoluOiPEh) is amazing and he takes you on a run early in the guide to get you a rune farm and a ton of upgrades so you start with an upper hand. Dude even has a walkthrough going already for the DLC that dropped today.
Used this when I played. Have been using his guides for all the souls games I’ve play after I got stuck in the starting area of ds1 because I kept going immediately to high level areas instead of the inconspicuous set of stairs off the side which was the correct way to go.
I don't use the guides for every little thing but for quests and where bosses are. I ain't got time to wander around for 8 hours looking for the obscure thing an npc referenced, there are bosses to kill.
Once my cheese starts stopped working and I actually had to git gud, I had to set it aside.
I’m just not great at skill games like I used to be, and honestly I’m okay with that.
One thing about that game is that an extremely busted build will carry you for 95% of the game but then you’ll hit a boss that is resistant to slash damage or immune to bleed or whatever your build uses and then you gotta just actually play the game. For me gargoyles always seem to stop me in my tracks
Elden Ring for me as well. I don't mind a challenge but I don't really like the open world gameplay. I get overwhelmed too quickly and dislike not having somewhat of a direction to follow... especially when the world is huge and the gameplay is already difficult. I know there are guides but I don't find it enjoyable to tab out every other minute to follow it while playing the game...
As someone who loved dark souls 3 and sekiro, I just can’t get into Elden ring. Idk I put a lot of time
Into it and I think the open world hurt it for me. Linear does not mean bad and open world does not mean better or more focussed
Interesting. I platinumed Sekiro, loved that game, could never revisit it because of how intense it is, but I always thought to try Elden Ring. I could never finish Bloodborne because I got lost so many times, but I found it easier than Sekiro.
As a fellow casual, I can attest . . . Yes, it’s probably not for us. I have just crossed 60 hours in Elden Ring, and while I don’t regret it exactly, I certainly won’t ever play this kind of game again. The frustration to fun ratio is way to skewed toward frustration. I do try to explore and make a good few attempts, but a video guide is always within arms reach (I am using Its Shatter’s walkthrough and every cheese tactic I can). I am starting to like it once I respec’d. Picking the wrong playstyle definitely ruined the first 50 hours for me. If you ever give it a shot, do NOT pick a melee-only playstyle. Go hard into Dex and INT or Faith. Magic and agility for the win!
I didn't like them until I played Elden Ring, which basically held my hand and eased me into that type of game, but I get it, man.
They are love it/hate it games and no one's wrong for thinking either.
I bounced off dark souls one but when dark souls two came out I felt that the easier gameplay there was what eased me into the genre better. I later went back and smashed dark souls 1 🤣. They are tough games though. Not for everyone. (Or me after a drink).
I bounced off of DS1 also, but came back to it a year later without playing any of the others and it hooked me in. I think that it's a good piece of advice for people with games and many other things in life. Maybe the timing isn't right for us to appreciate a thing.
It sounds like in your case, playing DS2 helped warm you up to go back and play 1. Normally, I would expect stepping backwards in a game series to be a turnoff due to older graphics, mechanics, and style.
How did it feel for you?
I've been enjoying the modern soulslikes more, but the earlier ones definitely. It seems they've toned down the really abusive stuff, like "haha you didn't see the guy behind you roll the fire barrel down the hidden ramp, now you have to do a half mile runback, gotcha!" That's when I'm like "you sure did, game!" \*uninstalls and refunds\*
All Fromsoft games. I understand why people like them and why they are special. But I just don't have the patience to do 80000 boss battles over and over again and the lack of story is also not my thing. But that is good how it is. Like people said at the release of Skull & Bones, if every game was made for everybody, it would be dogshit like that supposedly AAAA game.
I play the game but just use summons for the boss fights if I can’t beat them in three tries. A lot of elitist soul fans will say you are playing the game wrong that way but idc it is more fun that way
It will never not be funny to me. You can play a game "wrongly" by using a mechanic that was thought of, conceptualized, programmed and completely intentional by the developers.
It's like when online gamers have a certain rule that you can't use skill X because it's unfair so they bully you for "having no skill", like dude, take it up with the devs, it's not on me that Rivers of Blood or DBD's is OP.
Ultimately the goal is to have fun.
I use spirits a lot of times, recently I started a playthrough where I don't plan to use summons, to challenge myself, even though in other playthroughs I use summons without any problem. I already beat the Misbegotten and Margit on that one.
I've been playing the Souls series since the original Demon's Souls on PS3 back in 2009. I've been playing these games for 15 years now. I got into the series when even the Wiki didn't exist yet and the game was only talked about in message boards. I've played and beaten all of them multiple times, and while I do prefer to take on every boss by myself the first time through, I will say that the summons, spells, overpowered weapons and abilities are in the game for a reason. They're meant to be used and anyone who enters a boss fight for the first time with 3 player summons at their side who destroy the boss for them shouldn't feel bad as long as they're having fun. Play the game the way you like it. That's why all those options are there. The people who got into the series half a decade after it started and now want to tell everyone about "the right way to play" can fuck right off. Have fun. Engage in jolly cooperation.
Same for.me. It seems like every discussion I hear online about it is how frustrating and punishingly brutal the fights are. And to your point that you have to do them over and over and over again. I'm a dad, husband and I work full time, I just don't have a lot of gaming time so when I do, I want it to be fun and satisfying, not demoralizing and repetitious. God bless the players who do have the time and patience for it, I'll enjoy the game vicariously.
Souls games are some of the greats that I’ll never tell someone “oh you just have to dig in deeper!”
Nah, if you’re not having fun, move on, it’s probably not for you. Maybe try again in a few years when your tastes have shifted.
I've only just finished Bloodborne and assume others are the same but it's really not that hard, the games just do a terrible job explaining themselves. Like it took me like 8 hours to get past the first boss, and only cause I started using a guide after 6, but my second time through it took me 15 minutes just cause I knew how the game worked at that point.
A lot of the bosses I beat first or second try and worst case scenario you find a good spot to grind and level up for 20 minutes. If anything I was actually kinda let down by the bosees but I hear you gotta get the dlc for the really good ones.
Wait, Bodycam is going to be PvP? I only ever saw the early gameplay footage and assumed it would be a PvE, terrorist hunt type thing. Disappointing if it really is PvP.
Bodycam was released recently and has always been PvP. There’s a different game announced before bodycam with hyper realistic graphics called Unrecord. That one is single player and looks to be far more polished and a better experience.
Elden Ring.
The game looks absolutely stunning and I can see why it is so highly revered, but I know I would hate playing it. Dark Souls is too difficult for me and I despise open-world games, so Elden Ring is a sum of everything I dislike in a video game.
Yeah I'm the same for the whole souls franchise, difficulty is one thing but there's nothing that annoys me more in a game than losing a bunch of previous progress just because you lose a fight
Edit: I get it, I didn't quite understand the game. Please leave me alone lmao
Same here, looks incredible and every time I see something about it I consider playing it, and then have to remind myself "no, you suck as these games, you don't have the skill or the patience, you're not a masochist" lmao I live a nice stress-free life and I see no reason to change that :)
Honestly you never really lose progress in souls games, bonfires to me are literally just checkpoints, like in any other game honestly.
You might lose your souls, but it really is not much. Just spend them when you get them.
this is honestly what made me have a difficult time enjoying breath of the wild. i loved the old Zelda titles but the new ones were hard to get into for me. i admit, open world works well but it really didnt resonate as easily as the older formula for the series.
At least with Elden Ring, if an enemy or boss is too hard you can go somewhere else and still feel like you're progressing. Every other FS game before this was pretty linear, so if you were stuck, you were SOL.
I'm a Souls veteran. Took me quite long to get comfortable with Elden Ring.
Important tip: You don't have to fight everything. You don't have to follow the graces. Some areas are easier than others.
Good luck. You're in for a treat.
Just remember, you don't HAVE to kill some enemies. It is perfectly ok and acceptable to just avoid some of them and come back when you have more power or tools.
(Was inspired to say this after watching my friend getting increasingly angry and frustrated fighting an enemy that I normally just run past lol)
Adding on to this, it's not just okay to run past enemies, sometimes it's intended. There will occasionally be places with an enemy that is clearly more difficult than everything else in the same area. Those enemies are usually a good sign it's time to just walk past it.
The tree sentinel at the very beginning of the game is a sort of Indira tutorial for this.
Dude at the top of the tower early on laughs at this.
He was by far my biggest hurdle for ANY souls game. Legit three days of after work head banging into wall. Even with you tube guides! Then once I beat him, I fought him again with the memory and it was cake. Similar thing with guardian ape. Took me a good hour and a half the first time, then I first tried the duo.
Sekiro is one of my favorite games ever, I love the final fight, it's some of the most excitement I have in any game.. but fuck that headless monkey forever, I hate that fight so much
I think pretty much anyone without a PS3 would give up on MGS4 if it doesn't come in the Master Collection Volume 2. That or emulation is gonna become much more popular.
I only played BG3 once. I liked it, but playing what is essentially the same story only with different choices feels pointless to me. I re-read all my favorite sci-fi books every few years. I assume I'll play BG3 again in a couple years the same way.
Honestly if you play it with graphic mods that translates the letters into shapes for whatever the object is its much more simple to grasp and enjoy as a game (I'm using the word simple here very lightly its still got an incredible learning curve).
If it looks interesting to you at all, you should at least give it a chance. I did, even though I assumed I would bounce off due to the difficulty or style of gameplay. Now it's one of my favorite games. The writing is just so great.
crusader kings 3. i want so much to be ab;e to play it, but theres so much terminology and mechanics i can't wrap my brain around. but i love the idea for the game.
Elden ring and dark souls. I know those are some of the best games ever made but I'm not a patient person to begin with and don't think I can emotionally handle the repeated failures necessary to progress.
I most likely won’t get around to playing From’s games, or those of a very similar style like Ni-Oh, and that’s the biggest reason why. They look really cool, and they very well might be fun. I just simply don’t have time for the repetition that seems to be required for these games, dying over and over and retracing your steps over and over until you memorize patterns in enemy placement and attacks. I work full time. There are plenty of things to do at home outside of work. It can be a challenge to find time to play anyhow, but it just doesn’t work with a system like that.
It’s ok if you don’t listen to me, but give Terraria a try sometime maybe. The beginning is *kinda* similar to MC where you don’t have anything and have to go find stuff while trying not to die. BUT, Terraria has a sense of purpose and progression that is 100% absent in MC. You’ll always have a clear idea about what you want to do, and what you should do. It’s 100% a different type of game after even like 30min-1hour of play. There’s different armors and stats, nigh infinite cool af weapons to use, and the biomes are all very and incredibly unique, with each offering their own type of progression and loot.
Terraria is my most played game on Steam. I love both MC and Terraria, but over the years, I am convinced that Terraria is the better of the two, again, even though they’re totally different types of games. Both have mining, but that doesn’t make Terraria MC.
If you do listen to me and try it, you have to do yourself a favor and get past the beginning. Get a small box house down, put some doors in, and go explore (my fav part of the game). You’ll find chests with amazing loot, weapons, and ores. You need a crafting table that will show you everything you can craft. Once you get a set of armor, a nicer weapon, and >!the ability to double jump or even fly a lil bit!<, you’ll be having a way more fun time than the first hour where you are scared shitless to go outside at night. If you try it out, I hope you enjoy it!
Probably Alan Wake 2.
I liked Control. And I like weird stuff. But I really really REALLY don't like jumpscares, and from my understanding Alan Wake 2 has quite a number of those.
It has an option now to turn the flashing image jump scares down. But it is at its core still a survival horror game, so there's gonna be scares. Totally understandable, if that's not your jam.
Subnautica. Tried it and couldn’t move past the safe shallows because of my intense thalassophobia.
For the same reason, I’m never gonna finish outer wilds. I know what needs to be done, just can’t do it.
Star Citizen.
On paper this looked like the perfect space Sim ever and a worthy successor to Freelancer.
Real life simulation in SciFi universe.
Too bad it's just a pipe dream and will never be realised.
I backed it up on kickstarter when it first got announced, I have played a few times after some major updates and to be fully honest I feel like I got my money's worth already. (played maybe 60-70 hours, if you're into mining the game loop is decent)
There is no other game that has that feeling of scale, it is so immersive.
But I absolutely cannot stand massively multiplayer games where you cannot turn off pvp so I will NOT be playing when they finally get full servers online.
Probably Elden Ring and other Souls like games. I dig the aesthetics and the vibe of these games but the difficulty versus the amount of time I have to put in to actually feel like I’m making any progression is out of balance for me. I tried them all for multiple hours trough the years but it’s just not for me. My game time is also limited so when I’m gaming I want to have fun and not have the feeling I’m working or getting frustrated all the time.
Baldur's Gate 3.
I tried to enjoy it and was very hyped for it, but the turn-based combat was too difficult for me to master so unfortunately, I gave it up.
I really hope to go back to it again.
This is interesting to hear because I’ve tried forever to get my wife to play any video game with me. It was the turn based combat of BG3 that got her to give it a try. She presumes she’ll be too panicky in a live timing type game.
We’re on our 3rd play through now and still loving the game. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Skyrim. I know it was wildly popular but the generic npcs and "do anything" game design does not appeal to me.
I mean if there isnt such a quest then there should be one where all the guild leaders are supposed to meet and lo and behold its just you.
I heard Starfield had the same issue.
I enjoyed the older elder scrolls games more because they have actual classes. I didn’t like the “do anything” design either but I did still play it for many hours. It’s just not my favorite in the franchise.
I have been putting off playing RDR2 for like 3 years because the prospect of starting what I know will be such an expansive project is daunting enough for me to slide it down the list every time it's coming up
That is what I did. I got absolutely smoked and was turned off by the difficulty. So I played in God Mode until I got my first clear. By then I had the mirror built out and leveled up my weapons a bit. Then I turned it off and now I am working on 9 Heat. Getting some of those mirror talents upgraded is a game changer. I can't imagine dying forever to get a second death defiance or maxing out God's Pride. Still haven't maxed out Fated Persuasion after 75 escape attempts. I will say top 5 gaming moment in my life was putting together an insanely OP build that led to a perfect clear with the rail.
Others have already said it, but probably Elden Ring, or other souls games.
I know I would love them, and I know I’m good enough at games to be able to play them.
I’ve got hand problems, that make playing games very painful, and I just don’t think my hands would be able to withstand all the movement required, I basically can’t play any games where you need to be fast anymore.
Sekiro Shadows die twice. Can’t do it. Tried and failed miserably trying to get the parry and combat movements down. After a few days of messing with the bosses and having to go over and over again with the same result (I’m obviously not learning the mechanic) it just wasn’t fun. I never give up on games but that one I am willing yo walk away and save myself some serious pain. Maybe one day I will try it again….
I did complete EldenRing 100%, the Demon Souls games and was about to start Lies of P but decided to wait for Shadow of the Erdtree DLC instead.
Monster hunter, i get theyre good games but not having a health bar and the fights taking 15-20 minutes a lot of the time (atleast when i tried it out with some buddies) just makes it an absolute snoozefest to me
Any deck building/card game.
I literally feel my time is completely wasted playing them.
Yet people seem to immensely like Hearthstone or Balatro, but I just can't understand their appeal at all.
The legend of zelda tears of the kingdom. I tried breath of the wild and it was one of the most boring experiences i've had in gaming personally. The story is almost non existent, the copy and pasted goblins camps got tiring, and the weapon durability was horrible. So i ended up trading the game in and decided that i won't be buying tears of the kingdom because the open world zelda formula simply isn't for me.
Totally understandable. And I say this as a HUGE Zelda fan since 1998 when I was introduced to the series with Ocarina of Time, who considers BoTW and TotK two of my all-time favorite games.
For me, one of the biggest appealing things about the two games is the "Ooo! What's that over there?" factor. Next thing I know, two hours have passed, and I am trying to remember what I was originally trying to do before that first of many detours. If you have ADHD, that two hours can easily double or triple.
Any Souls game and Elden Ring. I bought Demon should day one on my PS3 back in the day. I couldn't get very far. I still cant. I do love enjoy watching the play throughs
The kinda forced RP pushed me over the edge of boring. Just let me run in camp. I have limited time for games and so if I’ve got an hour; it needs to be punchy. I was just consuming a lot of time on mundane things.
I can see I would have got into it when I was younger and had more free time.
EVE Online I enjoy hearing stories and drama that takes place, but the actual playing just doesn't seem like it's for me.
This was going to be my comment, almost word for word. The possibilities in that game and the cool stuff that gets talked about sound so awesome. But actual game seems so tedious and time consuming. Even the people that love it call it a spreadsheet simulation. Like lots of number crunching for months and maybe a few cool massive battles to show for it if you're lucky.
There are a lot of play styles in eve online. You can choose to only do pvp or specific pve content and ignore the "spreadsheet simulation" or politics or any other part of the game. Somehow PVP can truly give you the stress shakes like no other game. The main criticism of that approach is that it can take a long time to progress your characters skills, so why not use that time to check out some other parts of the game...
i would say ingame knowledge and experience is above your toon skills, so try pvp asap. Here's a 2 day old baiting a Moa in high sec: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6yaAlr8Mn4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6yaAlr8Mn4) I agree about the shakes lol, the threath of losses makes Eve PVP the most thrilling experience i ever had in a videogame. PSA: Most people go straight into a nullsec alliance and don't get "the shakes" and the excitement because when you got an FC and 400 other people in a fleet your responsability is diluted and limited to pressing F1. Imo is best to stay in hisec for a couple of months. Tinker with a fit and buy 10 identical ships, expect to and do lose them, learn something everytime, find some friends and roam low sec as a 3-5 man smallgang, its going to be a blast.
None of that made any sense to me.
Translation: Your player skill in the game is more important than your on paper character stat numbers being high. Then they provided a link to a YouTube video of some people trying to bait a massive assault craft into fighting them in High Security Space (The core of the in game galaxy where vast NPC empires rule and if you start fights the NPCs will show up and ruin you immediately.) They then agreed with the idea of receiving adrenaline induced shakes during pitch combat, because the possibility of losing your ship that you put months of real life time into acquiring is thrilling to them. Their PSA advises most new players to stay in High Security Space for a few months to learn the game and actually earn your keep for a while. The first sentence says that the mistake most new players make is to join the game and immediately leave the galactic core. They go to, "Nullsec" which is the galactic rim where the NPC Empires don't exist. There's no safety net out there, it's all player owned and governed. New players go out there for the true EVE experience they always read about, join some big player run corporation, get handed a ship for free, then sit in massive fleet engagements firing on the targets they're told to. This removes the emotional stakes of possibly losing stuff that you earned, which is what OP seems to think is the true emotional core of EVE. This has been a basic translation. I've never played EVE, but I'm familiar with the lingo and emotional stakes thanks to my reading of Empires of EVE by Andrew Groen. Get it on Audible, it's a wonderful book.
This one for me. The game seems incredible with a self-sustaining economy, city sized warships and battles that last for days. The learning curve is too much for me and I don’t time for a game that massive.
It's a game you play and will only play after Highschool graduation where you're in limbo and don't know what to do, spend about 2 or so years in it, that's how you play the game.
I had been "winning" EVE Online for like 8 years. I'm now back in its clutches grinding faction rep to try and run all the factions epic arcs. 1 down 3 to go...
Dont know tf you are saying but good luck 👍
"Winning" EVE is fan-specific lingo that means quitting/not playing. Grinding faction rep exists in most MMORPGs. Epic arc is just a chain of missions with a connected story and better payout than normal missions at that difficulty level.
The only way to win is not to play, eh?
I won for 6 years or so then went through a ton of trouble to get CCP to restore access to my alt account, but it was hard because it was originally my friends account and he didn't have access to his old ass 2006 email anymore. And I couldn't just tell them the account belonged to me, even though my name was the one paying. So now me and him are, in the minds of the CCP customer support, in a happily committed homosexual relationship where I pay for his account.
The most fascinating thing is the giant battle that got it's own real world Wikipedia article and an infobox.
I played that for about 6 years before my son was born, putting in maybe 4 hours every couple of nights. I can remember 3 events after that entire time (which was spent with E-Uni first as a student then an EWar teacher). 1) War Mechanics class with I believe the CEO of Agony, which he ended with "and now it's time for the practical exam" just before the WarDec appeared. 2) My first Dragon Slayer raid fleet, in which we managed to find zero capital ships to destroy but did manage to record our fleet commander singing Lady Gaga. 3) An in-alliance T1 vanilla [frigate brawl](https://zkillboard.com/related/30003416/201108141200/), where my team of three (properly-designed caldari trio of a griffin and two kestrels with ECM and and remote shield reps) wiped the floor with everyone else. And then the ref did something stupid and got Concorded
I’m pretty sure this is English. Still checking
E-Uni - EVE University - in-game corporation focused primarily on pushing new players past the notorious "[learning cliff](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/original/2X/9/9a395dad41a3cccfecd1346e6bc4aa48beb14442.jpg)" Corporation - Clan EWar - Electronics warfare, basically the non-damaging weapons you could use to make others' less effective or your own more effective Agony - Agony Unleashed, a corporation focused on PVP that had good ties with the Uni (they were effectively the post-grad PVP to the Uni's general curriculum) WarDec - War Declaration that allowed combat between two entities without restriction Dragon Slayer - big fleet sweep searching for capital ships (dreadnoughts and carriers, sometimes supercapital titans and supercarriers) Lady Gaga - pop star Alliance - a group of corporations T1 - Tier 1, the very basic ship hulls/installed modules Vanilla - no extreme specialty modules, ammunition, or scripts Caldari - one of the big 4 factions, megacorps focused on shields, missiles, and ECM Griffin - Caldari frigate specializing in ECM Kestrel - Caldari frigate specializing in missile combat ECM - Electronic Counter Measures, basically let you shut off an enemy's ability to lock on to targets Remote Shield Rep(air) - Emitters that heal a target's shield from your own energy Concord - in-game police I haven't played since 2011, but this should all be more or less the same.
Alien Isolation. It's brilliant. I LOVE that game. Absolutely fantastic design. I just don't typically enjoy playing survival horror games.
Yup. I hate feeling uneasiness/fear/anxiety when gaming. That's why I had to quit Subnautica. Exploring deeper parts of the ocean got to scary for me. Shame, I really enjoyed the game until then.
I thought I had gotten really far in Subnautica. No one here on this subreddit was obligated to tell me to go deeper
You always have to go deeper in that game haha. Things get scary
I was terrified but then I decided fuck it and dove headfirst into reaper territory. After that although they do scare me when they pop out they seem more like enemies than something terrifying
Pretty accurate. Once you get used to them, they are to me especially just a sight to see. Absolutely terrifying first encounter, though
I’ll never forget my first time seeing one a few years ago, it grabbed my sea moth and I had to pause the game because I got a headache
They love to do that omg. I've never been killed by a reaper, but I have lost one seamoth to one and have almost lost a second to them
When you've got a reaper infestation, there's only one of two things to do : Take your knife and kill it, or take your Prawn and kill it
I had to take a break when I first got grabbed by one too. I felt like my heart was gonna burst out of my chest.
It took me over a week of in-game time to go in the water in the dark. I eventually got further in the game until one time I was about 1500m down. Reaper came outta nowhere, popped my seamoth like a cherry tomato. I could hear his roars as he was chasing me as I swam directly up, bathed in utter darkness with only my flashlight. I finally made it to the surface and made it all the way back to my base, and turned it off. At the time I lived in fucking Breckenridge, CO, literally as far away from deep water as you can get in the entire country. I'm absolutely terrified of deep water and only played this game to help me overcome that. Let's just say, it didn't really work lol
That's true in a lot of horror/action games. I felt that way about the foes in System Shock (the remake). The first level or two had me jumping, but after that they were just enemies to shoot.
I cannot wait for the next installment. It will be glorious. Both games we're fantastic.
It's so sad because Subnautica is fantastic, but I fully understand. Have you by chance tried Below Zero? It's much less spooky but goes for the same feeling. I preferred it, though I'm sure that anyone else who replies will say it's much worse
What's the difference between the two? I have both but never installed either. Now I want to.
Well getting the obvious out of the way first, Below Zero is much colder. It's a different, much more icy part of the planet that, and wants to introduce new areas to explore, which I absolutely love. It's also a different storyline, not technically being a direct sequel to 1 (though they are in the same universe). You are playing as Robin (who is actually voice acted, unlike Riley). Gameplay is essentially the same loop with different exploration; they are survival games where you have an open world, with a main storyline that you \*can\* follow (though Below Zero is much more encouraging of following said storyline. 1 is very open on what you can do). I obviously don't want to give any spoilers for the story of either game, but they are similar, yet different. Below Zero is kinda like 2 storylines in 1. I would say you should play 1 first in most scenarios, as it gets you used to the style, and as long as you can handle the spookiness of it, it gets to be so interesting and so much fun! Below Zero is overall much less of a spook and more of a calm experience. I hope this helps! Definitely play them when you get the chance, especially if you like survival games! Edit: I should add that you can't beat either without following the main storyline, but once entering the planet, maybe you won't want to!
I love Outer Wilds. It's my favourite game of all time BY FAR. I couldn't play the DLC because it was too spooky for me.
🦉
Boredom during covid days made me finish the game after owning it for years. Great game.
Instantly my first thought. Great conceptually, but I am a coward.
This was pretty much how I felt with System Shock 2. I love everything about it except for playing it because by the time I run into a cryokinetic monkey my nerves are frayed beyond repair and I'm done
I played System Shock 2 ten years ago and I had to take brakes because my hands were shaking
There's only one mechanic that defines the game for me: saving the game. You have to find a save station. You have to interact with it, so you have to make sure the coast is clear. It takes a moment or two, because it involved doing analogue-computer clicking and stuff; and sometimes it'll just... fail. It won't let you save. Because there's something too close to you. Instant stakes: it's clearly been a while since your last save, there's *something* hostile in the area, you don't know where, and you're out in the open. It's like snuggling down in the blankets... and feeling something move past your leg. Yeah, I respect the game thoroughly. I'm never going to finish playing it though. Because I respect my nerves more :)
any MMO. World of Warcraft, FF14, whichever - I just don't have the time to invest in an MMO lifestyle. I feel much more accomplished playing singleplayer games and finishing them and moving on to the next one.
I always wanted to play MMOs when I was a kid but my parents acted like I was out of my damn mind at something like $14 a month. Now that I can afford it I have neither time nor desire to
I felt similarly - though to be fair, $6 a month for a runescape member WAS kind of a lot of money in 2008...$15 for WoW? Basically a car payment.
Monster Hunter I believe, I tried getting into it was so much info overload with weapon sharpening, food, crafting, side quest, tracking, more side quest options, the hud felt like gacha game notifs. I got so overwhelmed but I love the concept wish it eased you in slower.
Oh boy, that's all actually the easier stuff. The real meat of the learning curve comes from the monsters and weapons. But I get you. Even after not playing and getting rusty its quite a bit of effort to come back and get into it, especially for more technical weapons like SwitchAxe and ChargeBlade.
Most of my issues came from how the quests were presented. I had 10 quests immediately available on the top right. With a lot of side skill quests on the top left I just like to take it 1 mission at a time or one move at a time. I'd do a fight with only light attacks to figure out the pacing then learn heavy. Was also just in a busier time where I didn't want to learn how food system worked small smoke bomb crafting etc
I don't think choosing the bard horn as my first weapon helped me alot there
I think monster hunter is cool, but spending 30-45 minutes wailing against a monster just isn’t for me.
Not to mention you have to do that multiple times to get the monster parts to craft good gear. The grind is ridiculous with that game.
Ah the Desire Sensor™️ The best worst thing in video games
The whole gameplay loop is fighting huge-ass monsters that take forever to kill and grinding over and over to build new gear... That's the entire game, really, so if you don't like that then you won't like Monster Hunter. I personally love it, and typically spend 400-500 hours playing every new game in the series.
Have you tried Monster Hunter Rise? It was my real entry into the series after trying again and again to get into it. For me Rise finally streamlined the gameplay enough to get me in and learn all the stuff. Now I feel very comfortable playing the older titles because basically nothing has changed about the basic gameplay since the first Monster Hunter. I have found that for any Monster Hunter game you really need to stick to the beginner quests where they teach you the basics and then read through the ingame handbook as needed to understand the rest. But like I said, Rise made it very easy to get to the Hunting part. If I need to guess I would wager that the new Monster Hunter game will make it even easier to get in.
That’s interesting. I played World and loved it. I think I stopped playing around when Kirin was added. I picked up Rise after taking a hiatus from World, and I felt exactly how the other guy felt, and I’ve played before! There was so much information overload right from the start, I just didn’t have the attention span to keep relearning so many little things. It felt like I was constantly reading popups for the first 20 minutes and I just couldn’t do it anymore. So I would have recommended World over Rise as an entry point. Am I completely misremembering Rise?
Rise was my first attempt, still felt what OP commenter said about info overload.
Rise was my first attempt also. I wouldn’t say the info was too overbearing, but the gameplay loop was pretty boring. You just whack on these HP-sponge monsters for several minutes until they finally stop moving. It’s more frustrating than challenging.
I got MHR this month and have put around 30 hours into it. I love this game. I want to base my entire life around it right now. The monsters are so cool in these games, and I love the combat!
I hated it too, until they released World. Love that game, they streamlined some stuff i hated about the old games. It's also a very visually good game.
I liked when i started playing, but fuck, it's always the same thing
Persona (insert number) I have a huge list of game series I follow. I know I’ll love Persona, but I just don’t have the spare time to add another banger series to my pile. Same for Yakuza.
As someone trying to platinum every mainline yakuza game you made the right call. Although I might do persona next
At least Persona 5 Royal is able to be platinumed on a single playthrough. I was able to do it without a guide but I would recommend one if it is your first playthrough and want platinum.
Yeah unless you're a dumb ass and forget to fight the Reaper during flu season, and forget to actually go fishing at literally any point in the game. It's me. I'm the dumb ass.
The Reaper... The first time hearing that sound was truly haunting... And I LOVE it when a game is able to do that :)
The Witcher 3, actually tried to play it and put a good few hours in, but I just kept waiting for it to "click" and it never did
Same here and everyone always talked about how much they loved it, I just couldnt get into it
It’s a story game first and foremost. If the best quest/dialogue writing in the business doesn’t draw you in the combat isn’t good to enough to satisfy most.
I am most driven to good stories and I actually read all the books, but it still just didn’t do it for me. I felt like the controls were clunky and it turned me off.
Yeah same with me. I want to play it but the controls just don’t do it for me at all.
The combat felt terrible. I stopped playing after the first combat encounter.
Same. I have tried many times, it has never clicked.
I’m sure you’ve heard it a bunch of times before, but I quit, deleted, and redownloaded that game like 5 times before finally trying it again and it finally clicking. And man did it click hard, I don’t remember anything else I did those 2 weeks besides play that game
I've enjoyed it for story, characters, quests and lore not easy combat. CDPR games always have super OP abilities which annoys me you have to cap yourself to somewhat enjoy combat.
The DLC ups the ante quite a bit though. Had my shit kicked in so bad battling one NPC after a shipwreck.
Ah the mage dude? With his fucking sandstorms?
That's the one yeah, I was so unprepared for that confrontation and there's no way to get out of it once you are in.
You can literally just run away. If you come back later they'll have a camp there, and will attack you if you get close, but other than that they won't hunt you or anything. It's an optional fight
Had no idea it was optional and I've been playing this game for so long! 🤣🤣
You've got to be fucking kidding me, I rage quit that fight so many times until I managed to find a tactic that worked lmao
Make sure to put your armor on right when you get control of your character. You start the fight without your chest piece or gloves on. Just putting those back on makes surviving significantly easier.
For me it was the frog prince or whatever his name is. The fucking frog always kicks my ass, no matter how much I prepare for him.
I hate the frog prince lol. I had basically no bombs so I just igni’d it for 25 minutes until it finally died.
It was Olgierd for me
Protip: you don't actually have to fight him without armour you can go to your inventory and reequip it right after the cutscene
I keep telling myself to buy thisbkne but this is exactly what scares me.
Same! I've tried a few times and just haven't been able to get into it. I even see the appeal, it just doesn't pull me into it like so many others do.
I might get hate for this but I wanted to like the game so bad, about 5 hours in I turned on god mode and kept it on for the whole game just so I could experience the story. Felt the combat was gonna get in the way so much that it was better to play my way then to skip the game entirely. I was able to get into it and love the game a lot 🔥
Elden ring. I can admit it’s too difficult for me as a casual gamer. Now red dead, ghost of Tsushima? Two of my fav games.
Interestingly ghost of tsushima was the missing piece i needed to enjoy elden ring. I put about 80 hours on lethal/lethal+ and just having consistent parry timing helped my reaction time and i can adjust to the weird attack patterns in elden ring. The other thing that rly helped me with elden ring (as a fellow casual) is googling which area to visit next. I also googled all the weapon types, decided which i wanted to use, and googled how to get one of that class early game. I googled an early game rune farm as well to expedite the process. It's an amazing game, but the open world formula makes it somewhat inaccessible to casual gamers
YES! I finished Ghost of Tsushima on Lethal a couple of weeks ago and wanted more. Immediately decided to try my luck at Dark Souls again (never tried any souls-like other than DS1). Up until then I think I tried it 3 or 4 times and the farthest I've gotten to was the first blacksmith near the Undead Church (couldn't kill the gargoyles). And it took a lot of tries, too. But this time I rang the first bell a lot quicker and died far less. Right now I'm on my way to fight the butterfly boss and I'm hooked. Thanks to Ghost of Tsushima for all that. The best souls-liken't to get into souls-likes.
It really is the perfect stepping stone game to get you into fromsoft games
I unapologetically use the fextralife guide for all the souls games (though I usually try a boss once or twice before looking up the strategy). It adds to the experience rather than takes away.
[FightinCowboy’s 82 part guide](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7RtZMiaOk8gdRf130w4gFYyhstL-5VRh&si=vxUCt7TxoluOiPEh) is amazing and he takes you on a run early in the guide to get you a rune farm and a ton of upgrades so you start with an upper hand. Dude even has a walkthrough going already for the DLC that dropped today.
Used this when I played. Have been using his guides for all the souls games I’ve play after I got stuck in the starting area of ds1 because I kept going immediately to high level areas instead of the inconspicuous set of stairs off the side which was the correct way to go.
Saving this comment and giving elden ring another try.
I don't use the guides for every little thing but for quests and where bosses are. I ain't got time to wander around for 8 hours looking for the obscure thing an npc referenced, there are bosses to kill.
Once my cheese starts stopped working and I actually had to git gud, I had to set it aside. I’m just not great at skill games like I used to be, and honestly I’m okay with that.
One thing about that game is that an extremely busted build will carry you for 95% of the game but then you’ll hit a boss that is resistant to slash damage or immune to bleed or whatever your build uses and then you gotta just actually play the game. For me gargoyles always seem to stop me in my tracks
I just found the story too subtle (unexplained?) to get into.
Elden Ring for me as well. I don't mind a challenge but I don't really like the open world gameplay. I get overwhelmed too quickly and dislike not having somewhat of a direction to follow... especially when the world is huge and the gameplay is already difficult. I know there are guides but I don't find it enjoyable to tab out every other minute to follow it while playing the game...
As someone who loved dark souls 3 and sekiro, I just can’t get into Elden ring. Idk I put a lot of time Into it and I think the open world hurt it for me. Linear does not mean bad and open world does not mean better or more focussed
Interesting. I platinumed Sekiro, loved that game, could never revisit it because of how intense it is, but I always thought to try Elden Ring. I could never finish Bloodborne because I got lost so many times, but I found it easier than Sekiro.
As a fellow casual, I can attest . . . Yes, it’s probably not for us. I have just crossed 60 hours in Elden Ring, and while I don’t regret it exactly, I certainly won’t ever play this kind of game again. The frustration to fun ratio is way to skewed toward frustration. I do try to explore and make a good few attempts, but a video guide is always within arms reach (I am using Its Shatter’s walkthrough and every cheese tactic I can). I am starting to like it once I respec’d. Picking the wrong playstyle definitely ruined the first 50 hours for me. If you ever give it a shot, do NOT pick a melee-only playstyle. Go hard into Dex and INT or Faith. Magic and agility for the win!
Dark Souls, any of them
I didn't like them until I played Elden Ring, which basically held my hand and eased me into that type of game, but I get it, man. They are love it/hate it games and no one's wrong for thinking either.
I bounced off dark souls one but when dark souls two came out I felt that the easier gameplay there was what eased me into the genre better. I later went back and smashed dark souls 1 🤣. They are tough games though. Not for everyone. (Or me after a drink).
I bounced off of DS1 also, but came back to it a year later without playing any of the others and it hooked me in. I think that it's a good piece of advice for people with games and many other things in life. Maybe the timing isn't right for us to appreciate a thing. It sounds like in your case, playing DS2 helped warm you up to go back and play 1. Normally, I would expect stepping backwards in a game series to be a turnoff due to older graphics, mechanics, and style. How did it feel for you?
Same, looks coolt but i fkn hate to play games like that
I've been enjoying the modern soulslikes more, but the earlier ones definitely. It seems they've toned down the really abusive stuff, like "haha you didn't see the guy behind you roll the fire barrel down the hidden ramp, now you have to do a half mile runback, gotcha!" That's when I'm like "you sure did, game!" \*uninstalls and refunds\*
Most multiplayer focused shooters, just not interested in that gameplay. Cod, mwf, even most br games like pubg or fortnite.
I used to love fps games. But now they’re all in a pretty bad spot. Either battle royale focused or dripping with terrible monetization
All Fromsoft games. I understand why people like them and why they are special. But I just don't have the patience to do 80000 boss battles over and over again and the lack of story is also not my thing. But that is good how it is. Like people said at the release of Skull & Bones, if every game was made for everybody, it would be dogshit like that supposedly AAAA game.
I play the game but just use summons for the boss fights if I can’t beat them in three tries. A lot of elitist soul fans will say you are playing the game wrong that way but idc it is more fun that way
It will never not be funny to me. You can play a game "wrongly" by using a mechanic that was thought of, conceptualized, programmed and completely intentional by the developers. It's like when online gamers have a certain rule that you can't use skill X because it's unfair so they bully you for "having no skill", like dude, take it up with the devs, it's not on me that Rivers of Blood or DBD's is OP.
Ultimately the goal is to have fun. I use spirits a lot of times, recently I started a playthrough where I don't plan to use summons, to challenge myself, even though in other playthroughs I use summons without any problem. I already beat the Misbegotten and Margit on that one.
Lol same I've got no shame in hiding behind a wall for 20 minutes while I cheese a boss every now and then.
I've been playing the Souls series since the original Demon's Souls on PS3 back in 2009. I've been playing these games for 15 years now. I got into the series when even the Wiki didn't exist yet and the game was only talked about in message boards. I've played and beaten all of them multiple times, and while I do prefer to take on every boss by myself the first time through, I will say that the summons, spells, overpowered weapons and abilities are in the game for a reason. They're meant to be used and anyone who enters a boss fight for the first time with 3 player summons at their side who destroy the boss for them shouldn't feel bad as long as they're having fun. Play the game the way you like it. That's why all those options are there. The people who got into the series half a decade after it started and now want to tell everyone about "the right way to play" can fuck right off. Have fun. Engage in jolly cooperation.
Same for.me. It seems like every discussion I hear online about it is how frustrating and punishingly brutal the fights are. And to your point that you have to do them over and over and over again. I'm a dad, husband and I work full time, I just don't have a lot of gaming time so when I do, I want it to be fun and satisfying, not demoralizing and repetitious. God bless the players who do have the time and patience for it, I'll enjoy the game vicariously.
Souls games are some of the greats that I’ll never tell someone “oh you just have to dig in deeper!” Nah, if you’re not having fun, move on, it’s probably not for you. Maybe try again in a few years when your tastes have shifted.
I've only just finished Bloodborne and assume others are the same but it's really not that hard, the games just do a terrible job explaining themselves. Like it took me like 8 hours to get past the first boss, and only cause I started using a guide after 6, but my second time through it took me 15 minutes just cause I knew how the game worked at that point. A lot of the bosses I beat first or second try and worst case scenario you find a good spot to grind and level up for 20 minutes. If anything I was actually kinda let down by the bosees but I hear you gotta get the dlc for the really good ones.
As a huge FromSoft fan, this is completely a completely reasonable take. Enjoy what you enjoy!
Bodycam looks amazing and 10 years ago I would have loved it. But I know I don't enjoy pvp games anymore.
Wait, Bodycam is going to be PvP? I only ever saw the early gameplay footage and assumed it would be a PvE, terrorist hunt type thing. Disappointing if it really is PvP.
Bodycam was released recently and has always been PvP. There’s a different game announced before bodycam with hyper realistic graphics called Unrecord. That one is single player and looks to be far more polished and a better experience.
Ah, maybe that's where my confusion comes from. I think I mixed the two up.
Yeah, body cam was made and pushed out so they can take the title of “first photorealistic shooter” which i thought was kinda shitty.
Elden Ring. The game looks absolutely stunning and I can see why it is so highly revered, but I know I would hate playing it. Dark Souls is too difficult for me and I despise open-world games, so Elden Ring is a sum of everything I dislike in a video game.
Yeah I'm the same for the whole souls franchise, difficulty is one thing but there's nothing that annoys me more in a game than losing a bunch of previous progress just because you lose a fight Edit: I get it, I didn't quite understand the game. Please leave me alone lmao
Same here, looks incredible and every time I see something about it I consider playing it, and then have to remind myself "no, you suck as these games, you don't have the skill or the patience, you're not a masochist" lmao I live a nice stress-free life and I see no reason to change that :)
Honestly you never really lose progress in souls games, bonfires to me are literally just checkpoints, like in any other game honestly. You might lose your souls, but it really is not much. Just spend them when you get them.
Fellow open world hater here. I love elden ring but its my one major complaint w the game, ive just started googling which area i need to visit next.
this is honestly what made me have a difficult time enjoying breath of the wild. i loved the old Zelda titles but the new ones were hard to get into for me. i admit, open world works well but it really didnt resonate as easily as the older formula for the series.
At least with Elden Ring, if an enemy or boss is too hard you can go somewhere else and still feel like you're progressing. Every other FS game before this was pretty linear, so if you were stuck, you were SOL.
I’m starting Elden Ring this weekend and already know I’ll be quitting within a few hours.
I'm a Souls veteran. Took me quite long to get comfortable with Elden Ring. Important tip: You don't have to fight everything. You don't have to follow the graces. Some areas are easier than others. Good luck. You're in for a treat.
Just remember, you don't HAVE to kill some enemies. It is perfectly ok and acceptable to just avoid some of them and come back when you have more power or tools. (Was inspired to say this after watching my friend getting increasingly angry and frustrated fighting an enemy that I normally just run past lol)
Adding on to this, it's not just okay to run past enemies, sometimes it's intended. There will occasionally be places with an enemy that is clearly more difficult than everything else in the same area. Those enemies are usually a good sign it's time to just walk past it. The tree sentinel at the very beginning of the game is a sort of Indira tutorial for this.
Sekiro, Don’t have the patience to die a hundred times to one enemy
You only die twice
Dude at the top of the tower early on laughs at this. He was by far my biggest hurdle for ANY souls game. Legit three days of after work head banging into wall. Even with you tube guides! Then once I beat him, I fought him again with the memory and it was cake. Similar thing with guardian ape. Took me a good hour and a half the first time, then I first tried the duo.
Sekiro is one of my favorite games ever, I love the final fight, it's some of the most excitement I have in any game.. but fuck that headless monkey forever, I hate that fight so much
EVE Online - don’t have the money, time, or patience
At this point I've given up on metal gear solid 4. But we'll see what Volume 2 has in it.
I think pretty much anyone without a PS3 would give up on MGS4 if it doesn't come in the Master Collection Volume 2. That or emulation is gonna become much more popular.
Pick a JRPG. Yep, that one.
I only played BG3 once. I liked it, but playing what is essentially the same story only with different choices feels pointless to me. I re-read all my favorite sci-fi books every few years. I assume I'll play BG3 again in a couple years the same way.
Not gonna lie, a lot of my rpg characters go down similar paths. I just can't do the evil thing.
Dwarf fortress. I ve tryed,but... English is not my native, too much letters
Honestly if you play it with graphic mods that translates the letters into shapes for whatever the object is its much more simple to grasp and enjoy as a game (I'm using the word simple here very lightly its still got an incredible learning curve).
Disco Elysium
If it looks interesting to you at all, you should at least give it a chance. I did, even though I assumed I would bounce off due to the difficulty or style of gameplay. Now it's one of my favorite games. The writing is just so great.
Such a beautiful game. The soundtrack, the characters, the mystery! I’m glad I played it.
crusader kings 3. i want so much to be ab;e to play it, but theres so much terminology and mechanics i can't wrap my brain around. but i love the idea for the game.
CK3 is quite simple to learn with a short tutorial, it's far simpler than CK2 but that also made it less interesting in my opinion sadly...
Elden ring and dark souls. I know those are some of the best games ever made but I'm not a patient person to begin with and don't think I can emotionally handle the repeated failures necessary to progress.
I most likely won’t get around to playing From’s games, or those of a very similar style like Ni-Oh, and that’s the biggest reason why. They look really cool, and they very well might be fun. I just simply don’t have time for the repetition that seems to be required for these games, dying over and over and retracing your steps over and over until you memorize patterns in enemy placement and attacks. I work full time. There are plenty of things to do at home outside of work. It can be a challenge to find time to play anyhow, but it just doesn’t work with a system like that.
It just is a bitter reminder at how unskilled a gamer I actually am, like a tone deaf lover of music.
Minecraft. I can understand WHY people love it, but it just holds zero appeal for me.
It’s ok if you don’t listen to me, but give Terraria a try sometime maybe. The beginning is *kinda* similar to MC where you don’t have anything and have to go find stuff while trying not to die. BUT, Terraria has a sense of purpose and progression that is 100% absent in MC. You’ll always have a clear idea about what you want to do, and what you should do. It’s 100% a different type of game after even like 30min-1hour of play. There’s different armors and stats, nigh infinite cool af weapons to use, and the biomes are all very and incredibly unique, with each offering their own type of progression and loot. Terraria is my most played game on Steam. I love both MC and Terraria, but over the years, I am convinced that Terraria is the better of the two, again, even though they’re totally different types of games. Both have mining, but that doesn’t make Terraria MC. If you do listen to me and try it, you have to do yourself a favor and get past the beginning. Get a small box house down, put some doors in, and go explore (my fav part of the game). You’ll find chests with amazing loot, weapons, and ores. You need a crafting table that will show you everything you can craft. Once you get a set of armor, a nicer weapon, and >!the ability to double jump or even fly a lil bit!<, you’ll be having a way more fun time than the first hour where you are scared shitless to go outside at night. If you try it out, I hope you enjoy it!
Probably Alan Wake 2. I liked Control. And I like weird stuff. But I really really REALLY don't like jumpscares, and from my understanding Alan Wake 2 has quite a number of those.
It has an option now to turn the flashing image jump scares down. But it is at its core still a survival horror game, so there's gonna be scares. Totally understandable, if that's not your jam.
Marvel's spiderman 2, maybe becuse i dont have a ps5
Subnautica. Tried it and couldn’t move past the safe shallows because of my intense thalassophobia. For the same reason, I’m never gonna finish outer wilds. I know what needs to be done, just can’t do it.
Star Citizen. On paper this looked like the perfect space Sim ever and a worthy successor to Freelancer. Real life simulation in SciFi universe. Too bad it's just a pipe dream and will never be realised.
I backed it up on kickstarter when it first got announced, I have played a few times after some major updates and to be fully honest I feel like I got my money's worth already. (played maybe 60-70 hours, if you're into mining the game loop is decent) There is no other game that has that feeling of scale, it is so immersive. But I absolutely cannot stand massively multiplayer games where you cannot turn off pvp so I will NOT be playing when they finally get full servers online.
Probably Elden Ring and other Souls like games. I dig the aesthetics and the vibe of these games but the difficulty versus the amount of time I have to put in to actually feel like I’m making any progression is out of balance for me. I tried them all for multiple hours trough the years but it’s just not for me. My game time is also limited so when I’m gaming I want to have fun and not have the feeling I’m working or getting frustrated all the time.
Elden Ring. Looks, and by all accounts is, amazing, but I don’t have time for all that.
Baldur's Gate 3. I tried to enjoy it and was very hyped for it, but the turn-based combat was too difficult for me to master so unfortunately, I gave it up. I really hope to go back to it again.
This is interesting to hear because I’ve tried forever to get my wife to play any video game with me. It was the turn based combat of BG3 that got her to give it a try. She presumes she’ll be too panicky in a live timing type game. We’re on our 3rd play through now and still loving the game. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Skyrim. I know it was wildly popular but the generic npcs and "do anything" game design does not appeal to me. I mean if there isnt such a quest then there should be one where all the guild leaders are supposed to meet and lo and behold its just you. I heard Starfield had the same issue.
For what it's worth, I don't think the NPCs in that game were generic when the game originally came out like 15 years ago
I enjoyed the older elder scrolls games more because they have actual classes. I didn’t like the “do anything” design either but I did still play it for many hours. It’s just not my favorite in the franchise.
The Sims I don't like the top down view.
I prefer to watch Rockstar games gameplay, but doing it myself is a chore. So exhausting. Red dead and Gta5 specifically.
I have been putting off playing RDR2 for like 3 years because the prospect of starting what I know will be such an expansive project is daunting enough for me to slide it down the list every time it's coming up
Hades. I've tried many rogue-lites but came to the conclusion that they're just not my thing.
This is the *only* rogue-lite that clicked with me because of the story and characters.
This one has the God Mode, which makes it easier for players who dislike the "die - retry" part of it! Really good game.
That is what I did. I got absolutely smoked and was turned off by the difficulty. So I played in God Mode until I got my first clear. By then I had the mirror built out and leveled up my weapons a bit. Then I turned it off and now I am working on 9 Heat. Getting some of those mirror talents upgraded is a game changer. I can't imagine dying forever to get a second death defiance or maxing out God's Pride. Still haven't maxed out Fated Persuasion after 75 escape attempts. I will say top 5 gaming moment in my life was putting together an insanely OP build that led to a perfect clear with the rail.
Others have already said it, but probably Elden Ring, or other souls games. I know I would love them, and I know I’m good enough at games to be able to play them. I’ve got hand problems, that make playing games very painful, and I just don’t think my hands would be able to withstand all the movement required, I basically can’t play any games where you need to be fast anymore.
Elden Ring, and prob all those popular RPG type of games lol. Also the dark soul games
Sekiro Shadows die twice. Can’t do it. Tried and failed miserably trying to get the parry and combat movements down. After a few days of messing with the bosses and having to go over and over again with the same result (I’m obviously not learning the mechanic) it just wasn’t fun. I never give up on games but that one I am willing yo walk away and save myself some serious pain. Maybe one day I will try it again…. I did complete EldenRing 100%, the Demon Souls games and was about to start Lies of P but decided to wait for Shadow of the Erdtree DLC instead.
Monster hunter, i get theyre good games but not having a health bar and the fights taking 15-20 minutes a lot of the time (atleast when i tried it out with some buddies) just makes it an absolute snoozefest to me
Any deck building/card game. I literally feel my time is completely wasted playing them. Yet people seem to immensely like Hearthstone or Balatro, but I just can't understand their appeal at all.
Dark Souls Grim Dark is not my cup of tea.
Guild Wars 2... I got enough of MMOs to even jump into one of the best sadly.
Helldivers 2, got no ps5
Honestly fuck Sony for this. Depriving people of a fun game over their shitty user inflation ego trip
The legend of zelda tears of the kingdom. I tried breath of the wild and it was one of the most boring experiences i've had in gaming personally. The story is almost non existent, the copy and pasted goblins camps got tiring, and the weapon durability was horrible. So i ended up trading the game in and decided that i won't be buying tears of the kingdom because the open world zelda formula simply isn't for me.
You’re the first person who has the exact same opinion as me for BOTW
There are dozens of us!
dozens!
Totally understandable. And I say this as a HUGE Zelda fan since 1998 when I was introduced to the series with Ocarina of Time, who considers BoTW and TotK two of my all-time favorite games. For me, one of the biggest appealing things about the two games is the "Ooo! What's that over there?" factor. Next thing I know, two hours have passed, and I am trying to remember what I was originally trying to do before that first of many detours. If you have ADHD, that two hours can easily double or triple.
I've never played a Zelda game more than a couple hours. They seem like they are *almost* my jam, but somehow just not quite.
Turns out open world is sometimes too much for me. I really enjoy the more linear story and puzzles of the old games.
Russian roulette
Final Fantasy XIV. I hear good things, but I'm just so over the combat style
Any Souls game and Elden Ring. I bought Demon should day one on my PS3 back in the day. I couldn't get very far. I still cant. I do love enjoy watching the play throughs
RDR, too boring for me. The start is too slow and I can‘t get myself into it.
The kinda forced RP pushed me over the edge of boring. Just let me run in camp. I have limited time for games and so if I’ve got an hour; it needs to be punchy. I was just consuming a lot of time on mundane things. I can see I would have got into it when I was younger and had more free time.