Discussion Video games you're playing or might have recently finished.

[Imaginos]

I recommend play Pathologic (Is not a game to have "fun" more like a russian suffering and depression simulator But you could like it at the end).

Yeah, I've been meaning to check out the remake at some point, otherwise known as Pathologic 2. The developers (Ice Pick Lodge) make some pretty brutal and unforgiving games, those that are otherwise meant to evoke stress and anxiety in the player, but for me it's hard to find myself in the mood for that kind of thing. I've never bothered with watching let's plays, outside of a rare few, but there's one of The Void which I found pretty enjoyable/useful, since I doubt I'll ever play the game for myself, given the harsh/esoteric mechanics of its gameplay.

If you play Yume Nikki, Tried .Flow (or DotFlow by lolrust). Is a good fangame of the original even better in some aspects (like story).

I tried loading it up on my PC a while back, but I came to find out that it's not compatible with newer versions of Windows. I don't have anything running Windows 7 or older, so I'd have to go the virtual machine route to get it to run. It sucks because I definitely wouldn't mind checking it out at some point, but for the moment I'm just too lazy to get it working.

It was a great disappointment. And make me feel that people doesn't have "good" taste for video games as before.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I think a large amount of the praise it's gotten just comes down to the fact that it tried, with middling results, to pursue the topic of mental health as its primary subject matter. Given this hyper dystopian age we live in, many people are willing to eat that kind of stuff up as a means of catharsis for their own situation, regardless of whether the story is full of holes or the gameplay is extremely lackluster. It probably also helped that the game already had a fairly large pre-established fanbase, what with the stuff on the developer's blog and all, like the webcomic.

Finished playing the Mass Effect trilogy recently. Still think the first game is my favorite because of the story but I think 3 was my favorite to revisit overall. Story feels more focused than 2's and it has the most well-refined gameplay overall. Only thing I think they did wrong was seriously downgrade the dialogue choices and I still don't care for the ending.

Considered replaying Andromeda but I very much wasn't into it the first 2 times I completed it. Might still do it and just treat it as an alien shooting gallery type of game and turn my brain off for the story since I did enjoy the gameplay at least, just very little else.

These are just about my own thoughts of the series as well. I wouldn't mind replaying it again, especially with the release of the new remastered trilogy package, but at the same time I feel like I should play and finish more games on my backlog, instead of replaying something I've already finished a number of times before. Outside of ME3 and Andromeda which I've only finished once. It feels like being inefficient with my time, even though I guess I should just play whatever it is I want since that's the whole point of video games to start with. Well, even though that's the case, I'll probably not be replaying it for a while.

My last playthrough of the series was back during the start of 2019. I had intended to go full renegade, but then backed out of it midway through, since being renegade just screws you out of content later in the series and I wanted to get the most of my playthrough for when I got to ME3. This led to a lot of shenanigans that kind of tainted and soured my replay of ME1, which sucked. Be that as it may, I played the whole series as a shotgun wielding Vanguard and absolutely loved the front line nature of that class. In the past I'd usually go with Soldier or Infiltrator, but Vanguard was by far the funnest class I've done a playthrough with.

Overall, I agree that ME1 had the best atmosphere and story out of the bunch and that ME3 had the best combat, only being trumped by Andromeda later on. I still really like ME2 for its side quests and while the combat is very much mired in tedious cover mechanics, it still has a satisfying punchiness to it. The one thing I really dislike about ME2, especially after my last replay, is how Zaeed isn't considered a proper fire team leader for the final mission, which is just total bullshit if you ask me. Also, when it came to ME3's ending, I actually didn't think it was all that bad, but that's probably because I had the Final Cut DLC installed, not to mention the Citadel DLC as well, which added a lot more closure to your party members and stuff. One of the dumbest things about ME3, for me anyway, was that Sephiroth-like ninja assassin guy, who as a a villain was very weak and forgettable.

I also liked Andromeda for its combat and exploration, even though the story was god awful. Not sure if I'd ever play it again, but my one playthrough was mostly okay enough. It was a small thing, but one aspect of that game I remember is this one side quest where you're tasked to apprehend an Asari, but she tells you to go back and apprehend your quest giver instead as being the real villain. Turns out she's actually the villain after all, but lies to the player in a bid to trick them and escape. Well, I totally fell for it and felt like a big dummy afterwards, but it was cool that it had some consequences for a failure to pay attention, which I otherwise wasn't expecting from a game like this.

Although, it kind of reminds me how gullible I am in games, to be honest. Like letting Oswald go in Dark Souls, or getting bamboozled/betrayed by a couple characters in Kingdom Come. There was also this indie game called The Council that at one point has a classic standoff where two characters look the same and you need to pick which one is the real one and unbeknownst to myself I had totally screwed it up and picked the wrong one, but the game doesn't reveal that to you until like episode 4, and I was like "god dammit, looks like I got fooled again, lol". Then I just shot the other one too, since the fact that they were both dead was probably the better outcome anyway. It's like that meme where the black guy points to his head and says something like, "can't make the wrong choice if both are dead", but yeah I need to realize better when fictional characters, or I guess even real life people, are lying to me in general.

I have just bought Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, and am currently playing through the first game. I have always wanted to get into this video game series but never got around to it until now.

I love the Max Payne series, but I'll admit that 3 is definitely the weakest. 2 can also get a little repetitive at times and loses a bit of the cheeky humor and noir charm from the first game, but the gameplay is still fantastic. I'd recommend checking out the Kung Fu mod for MP1 and the Elements of Style mod for MP2. Elements of Style in particular really kicks the action up to awesome levels.

 

[Lmd]

I've been playing Idol manager. I usually like these games because I don't have to think but it need more updates and improve some things because it gets boring really fast. These couple days ruining lifes and going to bankrupt were fun but I'm gonna wait for more improvements until touch it again.

Spoiler

Also played Yuppie psycho. The story is simple and somewhat disappointing and some puzzles are messy for my current no brain state but I really enjoyed it. I liked the visuals, some jokes and the npcs are charismatics, the whole game is.

Spoiler

 

[nerve]

I'm generally out of the loop with these things but why did nobody tell me Resident Evil Village is good!!

Heisenberg though

 

[Imaginos]

Not many will probably bother to read this, but I just need to post about it anyway.

Most everyone seems to reach an inevitable endpoint when it comes to video games. A point where video games start to feel like more of a chore than anything else. For me, I'd say I reached this point right about 6 years ago. Ever since then, this whole hobby has just never felt the same. I realize that essentially nothing is exempt from the law of diminishing returns, video games included, but I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to get over the near total evaporation of what was once a sprawling ocean of placating distraction, into what is now a measly thin and shallow puddle, only occasionally able to bestow a shred of the sustenance it could otherwise give so bountifully before.

For most other people, the solution to this is ridiculously simple. They merely adopt and pursue other hobbies that now better hold and compel their attention, while relegating gaming to something only occasionally indulged in, assuming they have any further interest in it at all. Needless to say, but this is definitely the healthiest and most natural response to this kind of nigh unavoidable development. However, I'm anything, but normal in this regard. Personally speaking, video games have been such a huge and all encompassing part of my life, and for many years basically were my life, that I'm completely, utterly, and totally incapable of imagining any kind of existence without them. For 6 years I've waited in vain for the consistent stimulation I once received from gaming to return, but the pretty obvious fact at this point is that it, of course, never will.

Now sure, every now and again I can feel a bit of the pleasant contentment, and even outright joy, that used to come from gaming, but it's a rare exception to this newer and much more drab normal. Even when it comes to games I know I'd probably enjoy, I feel too overwhelmed to even consider playing them. I'm just never in the mood for something that, for me, will very probably on some level be a disappointment and, what's worse, also never come close to matching how much the me from 10 years ago would've enjoyed it versus the chronically depressed, jaded burnout and morbidly anhedonic louse I am now.

But the real horror, which I guess you could say about all this, is that I literally can't stop playing video games. I'm like a junkie who gets far more pain/emptiness from his drug of choice than pleasure, but is too addicted to ever stop. In the case of gaming, it's all I know how to do and I can't even fathom doing anything else. I've certainly tried doing a couple other things, such as exercising and writing, but neither can fill the hole, or make me feel any less empty. Deep down, all I really want is to be satisfied by video games again. I mean, yeah, being ultra wealthy, or whatever else, would certainly be nice, but the one thing I've always found myself wishing for the most is just being able to binge in blissful ignorance on video games 24/7 for the rest of my life. Maybe this all makes me some sort of small brained, laughably adolescent simpleton, but so be it. When it comes down to it, it's still what I yearn for the most. Although, I guess it really just comes back to a wish for peace and fulfillment, which just about everyone is chasing after in their own way.

Having said that, it still bothers me sometimes that those who aren't depressed are naturally able to enjoy gaming, and just other things in general, way more than someone like me can, even though they might have far less time to devote to their hobbies than I do. For me, I have all the time in the world, but it's like sitting on a boat somewhere in the middle of the ocean surrounded by salt water and unable to drink any of it. By contrast, other people who have far busier lives, and as a consequence much less time at their disposal, are ultimately able to get way more nourishment out of everything they partake in. It's funny how, in the end, they probably play and enjoy more games than I do, despite the fact that I have literally all the hours in the day to play/watch whatever it is that I want.

Depression and anhedonia really does rob oneself of the possibility that comes with the kind of time abundant situation that I personally happen to have, but can't enjoy or make use of. It really does make a mockery of your entire existence, since although everything of a certain variety is in front of you and at your fingertips (such as video games, or movies, or books, or what have you), your ability to actually delve deep into these things is often left feeling like a damn near impossibility, requiring what seems like Olympian effort to overcome.

But I guess one could chalk all this up to variety being the spice of life. Those with more varied lives and a wider palate of consumption will ultimately experience and enjoy more of everything in the long run, video games included, even though I have way more time to devote to these things than they do. But it's that exact abundance of time and overexposure to a select form of escapism that unravels the capacity for one to enjoy it, or to even engage with it at all. It makes me wonder though whether or not there are people out there who can play video games 24/7 in near perpetuity and still be satisfied by it/enjoy it. If so, I'd like nothing more than to be one of them.

Many years ago I used to fantasize about how downright awesome it would be to just live alone in some secluded area somewhere in a fancy self-sustaining house, with all the technology and escapism I could ever want, but at this point I can't help, but shake my head about it all, in regards to its sheer foolish ignorance and childish naivete. I never ever considered, not even once, that media entertainment, and escapism in general, could become just as tedious, if not moreso, than even the worst kinds of chores are.

As an aside, it's interesting how these obsessive tendencies of mine really only begin and end at video games. For instance, I'm much more lackadaisical about movies, TV shows, and anime. I just watch what I watch and never get fussed over the fact that I'm not enjoying it as much as I ought to, or that I'm not watching enough, which are things which usually plague my thoughts when it comes to video games. I also hate how in video games, I always remember times I screwed up or did something wrong. Like, even moreso than real life, I remember screw ups I made in games from years ago and still cringe and self-torture in my head over them.

It's times like these where I feel like I truly appreciate the scope/gravity of just how mentally troubled and psychologically defective I am. I'd be fine with how pitiful it all is, assuming these aberrant thought patterns I've described above didn't cause me so much pain, inconvenience and distress on a near daily basis, which only seems to get worse and worse as the years go by.

 

[Makko]

You just need some better games. Wait until they upgrade VR into something that's actually immersive. Or finally make some brain link technology that properly puts you into a detailed game world.

 

[arie]

I recently played Mafia: Definitive Edition and I absolutely loved it. Always loved mafia movies and this game captured that feeling perfectly. The vibe you get from driving through a Chicago like city in the 30s with the radio on in a cab is amazing. Also been playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 a lot but that's mainly because of nostalgia and my love of theme parks. And I have been playing Skyrim and Fallout games a lot. I could talk about those games for hours. Would love to talk to someone about those games. Or any other games. :)

 

[Imaginos]

I just wanted to add a couple extra points to what I said above, but, honestly, all this feels so jumbled up in my head that it seems almost completely futile to even bother describing it any further. Everything below will probably be a rambling mess that I'm sure still won't cover anywhere close the gamut of all this insanity of mine, but oh well.

As many games as I play/finish, and as often empty/disappointed I feel with them, the whole hobby remains to be a self-defeating fixation for me. Relatively speaking, I've slowed down considerably in comparison to how active a player I was even just a couple years ago. As a matter of fact, for a good half of the previous year, I didn't play, let alone finish, a single video game whatsoever. That right there was a first for me in my entire life since picking up a controller. Prior to last year, the amount of games I was finishing per month was slowly becoming fewer and fewer, until I just simply couldn't bring myself to stomach it any longer. As bizarre as it sounds, I've long been chained to this notion that the more games I can play/finish, the better. The less "productive" I am in this now thoroughly ingrained compulsion of mine, the more I chastise myself for my perceived "idleness".

As much as the irrational side of myself can't seem to get the memo on this, gaming should only ever be considered as just another innocent/paltry past time, because that's exactly what it is. Not some sort of tedious job to be run ragged over, with expected quotas and milestones to meet. Taking something like this to that kind of degree of seriousness is, needless to say, a very unwise and unhealthy thing to do. Unfortunately for me, I've been enslaved to OCD ever since I was a child, and the rituals/demands that it's inflicted upon my mind have long, in part, had their roots in gaming. Gaming was, and to some extent still is, the measuring stick for my self-worth. Granting me fulfilling validation for my successes, and bitter self-loathing for my failures. Ever since I was a kid, I'd hoard my save files and approach each game I got my hands on with an, arguably suffocating at times, completionist mindset. The more stuff I unlocked, the more things I collected, the more of everything I did that was available to do, the better I felt about myself.

Once the trophy system was implemented back in 2008 (Sony's answer to Microsoft's achievement system), I was fully hooked. Fast forward about 6 years later and to say I had burned myself out on not just trophies, but gaming altogether, was probably the understatement of all understatements. Putting it lightly, it both sucked and was pretty disorienting in the beginning, but I eventually found myself thrilled to have finally thrown that trophy crazy monkey off my back, but before too long I found myself returning to the habits I had prior to the inclusion of those aforementioned trophies. In other words, I was right back to hoarding my save files and, while my sense of completionism wasn't nearly as strong as it used to be, it was still a tendency I found myself succumbing to. And here I am, to this day, still stuck with it.

Even for those 5/6 months spent last year where I didn't play anything at all, a part of myself can't help, but cringe at all that time I "squandered" that could've otherwise been devoted towards finishing more games on my backlog. It's funny how gaming, to most other people, is itself seen as a complete waste of time, but for me, or at least one part of me, it's seen as not just a productive hobby, but a pressing imperative that demands my full and regular attention. I really don't know how to break this kind of maladaptive thinking because, the fact is, when I take gaming away, I simply have nothing left.

It has to be said though that, during those 5/6 months, I had thrown myself into things that I had never considered doing before, primarily out of a desperation to find some other way to whittle away the hours and get some shred of satisfaction from doing so. It began with writing in a blog I had created to chronicle my thoughts and provide catharsis for my feelings, but in time also included numerous projects around the house I had chosen to take up and complete simply for the sake of doing them.

And, you know, that was fine for a little while, but eventually a familiar emptiness and dissatisfaction started to creep its way on in, eventually leaving me stuck in the same predicament. Although OCD had long been my personal tormentor/slave driver when it came to gaming, anhedonia was an arguably much more sinister infection which had taken root in my soul. Even outside gaming, it slowly corrupted and made useless any possible other use of my time. From writing, to exercise, to just random household projects, to just about anything else that could cross my mind. By the end of the year I was back to playing games again, but sadly, not much about this somewhat long break of mine had managed to change anything as far as that was concerned.

And, despite everything I've said, I'd still just like to go back to how I used to feel about gaming. Even accounting for my OCD, there was still a lot to like about getting lost in gaming. Maybe this desire to return to the absent efficacy once brought by familiar hobbies is just a wish for the pleasant simplicity of days long gone. Which itself seems strange, since my life has never really been that great, except when gaming didn't seem like such a burdensome chore, and was conversely a panacea to carry me through my wretched existence.

But anyway, the bottom line here comes down to the fact that I need to ditch any notions of feeling like I have to do anything. Just as I feel no need to force myself to watch any particular amount of films, the same should apply to gaming. Even if I replayed the same few games over and over, then that's just as well as if I were playing all new ones. There's no way to "squander" or "waste" your time in the kind of way my mind seems to be convinced of, in regards to playing one game over another.

At the same time, I need to stop getting so hung up on avoiding games out of a sense of fatigue, or feeling like I need to be in the right mood to get the most enjoyment out of them. I mean, as some quick examples, I've yet to play The Witcher 3, or Nier Automata, or heck, even frigging Skyrim, because they all seem like too much work to even contemplate playing. On this point, I'll admit that I'm a lot less inclined to play anything that's super long and requires upwards of 50+ hours to complete, but that largely comes back to depression and anhedonia.

And, just one final thing, but I feel I have a rather insidious self-sabotaging streak when it gaming, combined also with really bad luck. It seems like in nearly every game I play, there's something the games does, or something that I do, or both, that only ends up souring my enjoyment of said game. As a random example, and something I mentioned previously in an above post, my last replay of ME1 was fantastic.....until I remembered that I hadn't installed the Bring Down the Sky DLC, which required me to load an earlier save to include it in my character's journey, which led to me second guessing a lot of my gameplay decisions as far as renegade/paragon was concerned, which basically led to a lot of wasted time/frustration and feeling like I had just ruined my own fun with the game. Also, maybe it's just me, but even after all these years, I'm still absolutely hopeless when it comes to remembering when to save. Honestly, the amount of times I goof up in some random game and then have to repeat 15-30 minutes of progress to get back to where I was, is really enough to make me question whether I'm unconsciously fucking myself over and then sadomasochistically delighting in my own frustration. Games which auto-save every 10 minutes or so are a godsend for an absent minded nincompoop like me.

But yeah, it seems like there are examples of this in nearly every game I play. Some large and some small, but I just don't know why they keep happening. Am I just unlucky, or am I my own worst enemy? Well, I think it's safe to say that both are true, but the latter perhaps a little bit more than the former. Also, I'm becoming a little too focused on achievements again, mostly in adventure games, and I don't like it. Overall, they're just a useless/annoying nuisance and I wish my brain could just ignore them, in just the same way I do with all other kinds of games.

And also, just one more thing to ramble on about, but I envy others who are able to ditch games at the drop of a hat the moment they cease being fun. This is something I can only rarely do, and only when the game in question is awful beyond all imagining, but I can think of many other games I had much rather dropped instead of pushing through them, and in the process allowing a genuine waste of my own time, merely for OCD related completionism.

You just need some better games.

Well, you have no idea how right you are about that. I do, indeed, need to play some better games. By and large, I feel like a not so insignificant amount of the malaise I experience with gaming is because I avoid and am intimidated by better/more expansive games, and so I instead pick lower budget, shorter, and arguably much more mediocre titles, which some part of me finds safer and more accommodating for my rotten brain/disposition to handle. Like as an example, there's no reason why I shouldn't finally load up RDR2 and give it a whirl, but ultimately I'm just too overwhelmed to even consider doing so. As it stands, I really want to push myself to play RE7 next, since enough time has passed already, but damn I just wish it wasn't such a struggle.

Wait until they upgrade VR into something that's actually immersive. Or finally make some brain link technology that properly puts you into a detailed game world.

Well, although I'm no expert when it comes to the technology, I'm not sure if VR will ever reach that level of sophistication, but here's hoping. As an aside, you've actually reminded me of the fact that early last year I bought an Oculus Rift that, to this day, I've yet to open. And the sad/pathetic reason as to why just comes down to the fact that I don't have the motivation to set it up. That's literally it. A younger me from 10/12 years ago would've been blown away by getting their hands on something like that, but for the me of today, it's just left to gather dust in a sealed and unopened box inside my closet.

 

[Lost Magic]

Finished Little Nightmares, Inside, Black Mesa and nearly completed Sleeping Dogs.

 

[Lmd]

I just wanted to add a couple extra points to what I said above, but, honestly, all this feels so jumbled up in my head that it seems almost completely futile to even bother describing it any further. Everything below will probably be a rambling mess that I'm sure still won't cover anywhere close the gamut of all this insanity of mine, but oh well.

As many games as I play/finish, and as often empty/disappointed I feel with them, the whole hobby remains to be a self-defeating fixation for me. Relatively speaking, I've slowed down considerably in comparison to how active a player I was even just a couple years ago. As a matter of fact, for a good half of the previous year, I didn't play, let alone finish, a single video game whatsoever. That right there was a first for me in my entire life since picking up a controller. Prior to last year, the amount of games I was finishing per month was slowly becoming fewer and fewer, until I just simply couldn't bring myself to stomach it any longer. As bizarre as it sounds, I've long been chained to this notion that the more games I can play/finish, the better. The less "productive" I am in this now thoroughly ingrained compulsion of mine, the more I chastise myself for my perceived "idleness".

As much as the irrational side of myself can't seem to get the memo on this, gaming should only ever be considered as just another innocent/paltry past time, because that's exactly what it is. Not some sort of tedious job to be run ragged over, with expected quotas and milestones to meet. Taking something like this to that kind of degree of seriousness is, needless to say, a very unwise and unhealthy thing to do. Unfortunately for me, I've been enslaved to OCD ever since I was a child, and the rituals/demands that it's inflicted upon my mind have long, in part, had their roots in gaming. Gaming was, and to some extent still is, the measuring stick for my self-worth. Granting me fulfilling validation for my successes, and bitter self-loathing for my failures. Ever since I was a kid, I'd hoard my save files and approach each game I got my hands on with an, arguably suffocating at times, completionist mindset. The more stuff I unlocked, the more things I collected, the more of everything I did that was available to do, the better I felt about myself.

Once the trophy system was implemented back in 2008 (Sony's answer to Microsoft's achievement system), I was fully hooked. Fast forward about 6 years later and to say I had burned myself out on not just trophies, but gaming altogether, was probably the understatement of all understatements. Putting it lightly, it both sucked and was pretty disorienting in the beginning, but I eventually found myself thrilled to have finally thrown that trophy crazy monkey off my back, but before too long I found myself returning to the habits I had prior to the inclusion of those aforementioned trophies. In other words, I was right back to hoarding my save files and, while my sense of completionism wasn't nearly as strong as it used to be, it was still a tendency I found myself succumbing to. And here I am, to this day, still stuck with it.

Even for those 5/6 months spent last year where I didn't play anything at all, a part of myself can't help, but cringe at all that time I "squandered" that could've otherwise been devoted towards finishing more games on my backlog. It's funny how gaming, to most other people, is itself seen as a complete waste of time, but for me, or at least one part of me, it's seen as not just a productive hobby, but a pressing imperative that demands my full and regular attention. I really don't know how to break this kind of maladaptive thinking because, the fact is, when I take gaming away, I simply have nothing left.

It has to be said though that, during those 5/6 months, I had thrown myself into things that I had never considered doing before, primarily out of a desperation to find some other way to whittle away the hours and get some shred of satisfaction from doing so. It began with writing in a blog I had created to chronicle my thoughts and provide catharsis for my feelings, but in time also included numerous projects around the house I had chosen to take up and complete simply for the sake of doing them.

And, you know, that was fine for a little while, but eventually a familiar emptiness and dissatisfaction started to creep its way on in, eventually leaving me stuck in the same predicament. Although OCD had long been my personal tormentor/slave driver when it came to gaming, anhedonia was an arguably much more sinister infection which had taken root in my soul. Even outside gaming, it slowly corrupted and made useless any possible other use of my time. From writing, to exercise, to just random household projects, to just about anything else that could cross my mind. By the end of the year I was back to playing games again, but sadly, not much about this somewhat long break of mine had managed to change anything as far as that was concerned.

And, despite everything I've said, I'd still just like to go back to how I used to feel about gaming. Even accounting for my OCD, there was still a lot to like about getting lost in gaming. Maybe this desire to return to the absent efficacy once brought by familiar hobbies is just a wish for the pleasant simplicity of days long gone. Which itself seems strange, since my life has never really been that great, except when gaming didn't seem like such a burdensome chore, and was conversely a panacea to carry me through my wretched existence.

But anyway, the bottom line here comes down to the fact that I need to ditch any notions of feeling like I have to do anything. Just as I feel no need to force myself to watch any particular amount of films, the same should apply to gaming. Even if I replayed the same few games over and over, then that's just as well as if I were playing all new ones. There's no way to "squander" or "waste" your time in the kind of way my mind seems to be convinced of, in regards to playing one game over another.

At the same time, I need to stop getting so hung up on avoiding games out of a sense of fatigue, or feeling like I need to be in the right mood to get the most enjoyment out of them. I mean, as some quick examples, I've yet to play The Witcher 3, or Nier Automata, or heck, even frigging Skyrim, because they all seem like too much work to even contemplate playing. On this point, I'll admit that I'm a lot less inclined to play anything that's super long and requires upwards of 50+ hours to complete, but that largely comes back to depression and anhedonia.

And, just one final thing, but I feel I have a rather insidious self-sabotaging streak when it gaming, combined also with really bad luck. It seems like in nearly every game I play, there's something the games does, or something that I do, or both, that only ends up souring my enjoyment of said game. As a random example, and something I mentioned previously in an above post, my last replay of ME1 was fantastic.....until I remembered that I hadn't installed the Bring Down the Sky DLC, which required me to load an earlier save to include it in my character's journey, which led to me second guessing a lot of my gameplay decisions as far as renegade/paragon was concerned, which basically led to a lot of wasted time/frustration and feeling like I had just ruined my own fun with the game. Also, maybe it's just me, but even after all these years, I'm still absolutely hopeless when it comes to remembering when to save. Honestly, the amount of times I goof up in some random game and then have to repeat 15-30 minutes of progress to get back to where I was, is really enough to make me question whether I'm unconsciously fucking myself over and then sadomasochistically delighting in my own frustration. Games which auto-save every 10 minutes or so are a godsend for an absent minded nincompoop like me.

But yeah, it seems like there are examples of this in nearly every game I play. Some large and some small, but I just don't know why they keep happening. Am I just unlucky, or am I my own worst enemy? Well, I think it's safe to say that both are true, but the latter perhaps a little bit more than the former. Also, I'm becoming a little too focused on achievements again, mostly in adventure games, and I don't like it. Overall, they're just a useless/annoying nuisance and I wish my brain could just ignore them, in just the same way I do with all other kinds of games.

And also, just one more thing to ramble on about, but I envy others who are able to ditch games at the drop of a hat the moment they cease being fun. This is something I can only rarely do, and only when the game in question is awful beyond all imagining, but I can think of many other games I had much rather dropped instead of pushing through them, and in the process allowing a genuine waste of my own time, merely for OCD related completionism.



Well, you have no idea how right you are about that. I do, indeed, need to play some better games. By and large, I feel like a not so insignificant amount of the malaise I experience with gaming is because I avoid and am intimidated by better/more expansive games, and so I instead pick lower budget, shorter, and arguably much more mediocre titles, which some part of me finds safer and more accommodating for my rotten brain/disposition to handle. Like as an example, there's no reason why I shouldn't finally load up RDR2 and give it a whirl, but ultimately I'm just too overwhelmed to even consider doing so. As it stands, I really want to push myself to play RE7 next, since enough time has passed already, but damn I just wish it wasn't such a struggle.



Well, although I'm no expert when it comes to the technology, I'm not sure if VR will ever reach that level of sophistication, but here's hoping. As an aside, you've actually reminded me of the fact that early last year I bought an Oculus Rift that, to this day, I've yet to open. And the sad/pathetic reason as to why just comes down to the fact that I don't have the motivation to set it up. That's literally it. A younger me from 10/12 years ago would've been blown away by getting their hands on something like that, but for the me of today, it's just left to gather dust in a sealed and unopened box inside my closet.

I don't know if I got you right and since you mentioned nier automata, Have yo tried nier replicant? My brain is totally rotten and I can feel how the neurons that I have left are dying with each day that passes. I don't play triple A games or ones with fancy graphics because I get overwhelmed for the enviroment and the amount of things on the screen.

With nier replicant things were really easy. The game isn't hard but the enviroment is really calm and enjoyable. There's a story but I did all of the secondary missions first because wasting time grinding was a calm pleasure. I didn't have the same sensation playing nier automata where side quests were a pain and some things took me out of the inmersion.

 

[Imaginos]

I don't know if I got you right

Yeah, that's understandable. Trying to describe all this feels like it should actually be pretty simple, but then in a lot of ways just turns out being like trying to describe color to a blind person. Ultimately, I think it can all just be summed up by saying that OCD and anhedonia have both diminished and made much more of a chore out of the act of not just gaming, but pretty much everything else in life as well.

Although it's often difficult to muster up the wherewithal to actually play anything, part of the reason for that is that in my mind it feels like an urgently important job that I'm slacking on. It's as if playing/finishing as many games in my backlog as possible is the sole purpose of my entire life, so the more time I waste in not pursuing meaningful progress on this, the more I get mired in self-loathing and, in turn, the harder it is to even consider playing anything at all. Even with anhedonia additionally compounding everything as far as the struggle is concerned, this obsessive mental splinter is still firmly stuck in my consciousness and, while it's certainly not as powerful as it used to be, it can still manage to prod me to keep playing/finishing games, even when I really don't want to, or to play them in such a way that runs contrary to the fun I could otherwise be having with them.

I'm sure this probably all sounds absurd, but, be that as it may, it's what I've struggled with for many years now. I know how ridiculous it is, since I've seen some people express similar problems like the kind I described above, but in regards to obsessive anime watching, or being hooked on an MMO. When it comes to the former, it's funny how it gives me a window into myself, since I'm about as casual an anime watcher as they come and could never take it as seriously as some do, but I'm sure those same people might look at me and feel the same way about video games. When it comes to the latter, I've never played an MMO in my life, so I couldn't really comment on that, but considering my obsessive tendencies, I'd say I dodged a bullet on that one. Of course, the obvious answer to all this is to just stop taking gaming so seriously, but, trust me, that's FAR easier said than done.

Having said that, I still enjoy gaming to some extent. For instance, I recently played Hand of Fate 2 and actually really liked it. Far better than the original one for sure, but even the original was still okay too. For me, it only became unfun/tedious when, after finishing the game, my obsessive tendencies took over and I had to unlock all the tokens/shards associated with each card, which was a very grindy/boring process. It's similar to how in older adventure games, I sometimes stubbornly refuse to check a walkthrough, even if it means upwards of an hour of grueling pixel hunting. Point being, that sometimes I let either my obsessions or my sense of pride get the better of me, which in turn gets the better of the enjoyment I might otherwise be having with a particular game.

Have yo tried nier replicant?

I have actually. Way back in 2010/2011, I played and finished Nier: Gestalt, which is the alternate version of that game where you play as the father to that one little girl, instead of the older brother. That was back in the days when I was a trophy addict and I'll admit that my primary concern when I was playing it was just getting the platinum trophy and moving on. As a result, I didn't pay much attention to the story or anything like that, which left me feeling pretty flabbergasted when later on, right around before Automate was going to be released, how everybody began praising Gestalt/Replicant for its amazing story, which I personally couldn't even remember. In my case, all I remember is lots of grinding for rare materials to craft all the weapons/items required for the platinum trophy.

Having said that, I did actually play Automata about a couple years ago and was enjoying it for the most part, but then I felt it just wasn't right to keep playing it until I went back to do a proper playthrough of the previous game. I even downloaded a PS3 emulator and managed to get Replicant running, but right after coming back from the seaside town for the first time, I just lost my motivation to continue and ended up dropping it instead. Even that was about a year ago, but ultimately it kind of worked out, since now Replicant is on Steam and I'd much rather play it that way, instead of through a buggy emulator. At this point, it just comes down to setting aside the time to play it and committing myself to doing so, which often times can be a pretty difficult thing to do, but I'd like to go back and finish Automata at some point, but OCD-wise I can't until I do another playthrough of Replicant.

That right there is what makes me envy people who aren't burdened with this kind of ridiculous shit. I can't even imagine how much better playing games, and just life in general, must be without this OCD bullshit bearing down on their consciousness.

I don't play triple A games or ones with fancy graphics because I get overwhelmed for the enviroment and the amount of things on the screen.

Yeah, I don't often play them either. For me though, it just comes down to their length. The last game I spent upwards of 30 hours with was UnderRail (an isometric RPG), and before that Kingdom Come: Deliverance. When it came to UnderRail, I must've spent something like 110 hours on it, and that was just one playthrough. Kingdom Come I think I spent 77-85 hours on. I played both those games back in 2019, and I haven't played anything longer than 25-30 hours since. I'm just too intimidated by the length of some games. In my case, I'd like to play these kinds of games, but I'm just too tired, depressed, and worn out to motivate myself to do so.

I didn't have the same sensation playing nier automata where side quests were a pain and some things took me out of the inmersion.

Yeah, fair enough. Personally, I didn't get too far while playing it. I only got to the part just after the first boss fight with that naked android guy. It seemed okay from what little I played, but I'm sure my OCD would've had a field day with those side quests you make mention of. I'm not really sure why I dropped Replicant, since it does indeed have a pleasing atmosphere, but yeah, I think it just comes back to my OCD demanding I finish new games, while paradoxically insisting I go back to make replays of older games before moving on to the new ones. Needless to say, but the last word you could use to describe any of this is rational.

 

[Lmd]

Yeah, that's understandable. Trying to describe all this feels like it should actually be pretty simple, but then in a lot of ways just turns out being like trying to describe color to a blind person. Ultimately, I think it can all just be summed up by saying that OCD and anhedonia have both diminished and made much more of a chore out of the act of not just gaming, but pretty much everything else in life as well.

Although it's often difficult to muster up the wherewithal to actually play anything, part of the reason for that is that in my mind it feels like an urgently important job that I'm slacking on. It's as if playing/finishing as many games in my backlog as possible is the sole purpose of my entire life, so the more time I waste in not pursuing meaningful progress on this, the more I get mired in self-loathing and, in turn, the harder it is to even consider playing anything at all. Even with anhedonia additionally compounding everything as far as the struggle is concerned, this obsessive mental splinter is still firmly stuck in my consciousness and, while it's certainly not as powerful as it used to be, it can still manage to prod me to keep playing/finishing games, even when I really don't want to, or to play them in such a way that runs contrary to the fun I could otherwise be having with them.

I'm sure this probably all sounds absurd, but, be that as it may, it's what I've struggled with for many years now. I know how ridiculous it is, since I've seen some people express similar problems like the kind I described above, but in regards to obsessive anime watching, or being hooked on an MMO. When it comes to the former, it's funny how it gives me a window into myself, since I'm about as casual an anime watcher as they come and could never take it as seriously as some do, but I'm sure those same people might look at me and feel the same way about video games. When it comes to the latter, I've never played an MMO in my life, so I couldn't really comment on that, but considering my obsessive tendencies, I'd say I dodged a bullet on that one. Of course, the obvious answer to all this is to just stop taking gaming so seriously, but, trust me, that's FAR easier said than done.

Having said that, I still enjoy gaming to some extent. For instance, I recently played Hand of Fate 2 and actually really liked it. Far better than the original one for sure, but even the original was still okay too. For me, it only became unfun/tedious when, after finishing the game, my obsessive tendencies took over and I had to unlock all the tokens/shards associated with each card, which was a very grindy/boring process. It's similar to how in older adventure games, I sometimes stubbornly refuse to check a walkthrough, even if it means upwards of an hour of grueling pixel hunting. Point being, that sometimes I let either my obsessions or my sense of pride get the better of me, which in turn gets the better of the enjoyment I might otherwise be having with a particular game.

Ahhh, I see. What you say makes sense, you are just going to the extreme. I think I'm the opposite and that frustates me a lot. I can't focus in one game. I'm trying to beat right now 3 games and complete their 100% and I have to focus and learn how to play them well to get some achievements.

The fact of having to change games every x time makes me impossible to connect with their story or atmosphere so I'm always ending the games feeling like I'm missing some details even when I complete them at 100%. This added to my anhedonia turns me into a retless expert zombie with the games I play.

I have actually. Way back in 2010/2011, I played and finished Nier: Gestalt, which is the alternate version of that game where you play as the father to that one little girl, instead of the older brother. That was back in the days when I was a trophy addict and I'll admit that my primary concern when I was playing it was just getting the platinum trophy and moving on. As a result, I didn't pay much attention to the story or anything like that, which left me feeling pretty flabbergasted when later on, right around before Automate was going to be released, how everybody began praising Gestalt/Replicant for its amazing story, which I personally couldn't even remember. In my case, all I remember is lots of grinding for rare materials to craft all the weapons/items required for the platinum trophy.

Having said that, I did actually play Automata about a couple years ago and was enjoying it for the most part, but then I felt it just wasn't right to keep playing it until I went back to do a proper playthrough of the previous game. I even downloaded a PS3 emulator and managed to get Replicant running, but right after coming back from the seaside town for the first time, I just lost my motivation to continue and ended up dropping it instead. Even that was about a year ago, but ultimately it kind of worked out, since now Replicant is on Steam and I'd much rather play it that way, instead of through a buggy emulator. At this point, it just comes down to setting aside the time to play it and committing myself to doing so, which often times can be a pretty difficult thing to do, but I'd like to go back and finish Automata at some point, but OCD-wise I can't until I do another playthrough of Replicant.

That right there is what makes me envy people who aren't burdened with this kind of ridiculous shit. I can't even imagine how much better playing games, and just life in general, must be without this OCD bullshit bearing down on their consciousness.

The gameplay is smoother in the new replicant version and the story is less messy and cryptic. I didn't enjoy automata that much but their achievements are easier to get. If you want to do all things by yourself for your OCD then I hope you don't get to play them because all the grinding is not worth it. I don't know what was Yoko Taro thinking with all that grind for upgrade weapons you won't use.

Yeah, I don't often play them either. For me though, it just comes down to their length. The last game I spent upwards of 30 hours with was UnderRail (an isometric RPG), and before that Kingdom Come: Deliverance. When it came to UnderRail, I must've spent something like 110 hours on it, and that was just one playthrough. Kingdom Come I think I spent 77-85 hours on. I played both those games back in 2019, and I haven't played anything longer than 25-30 hours since. I'm just too intimidated by the length of some games. In my case, I'd like to play these kinds of games, but I'm just too tired, depressed, and worn out to motivate myself to do so.

I tend to drop long games for my lack of concentration and perseverance. I started The witcher 3 and I was really enjoying it but after 50 hours I dropped it. I got addicted to the cards minigame and totally lost the point of the story so when I finished beating all the NPCs and doing the sidequests I didn't know what to do with the main story. I feel bad because I was having fun but thinking about start it again uhh...

Is kingdom Come worth it? I have it in the steam library but I never tried it.

 

[DunnoWhyButYeah]

Is kingdom Come worth it? I have it in the steam library but I never tried it.

You didn't ask me this, but I must say it definitely is. If you are talking about Kingdom Come: Deliverance? It really surprised me with its versatility and "depth".

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

Ahhh, I see. What you say makes sense, you are just going to the extreme. I think I'm the opposite and that frustates me a lot. I can't focus in one game. I'm trying to beat right now 3 games and complete their 100% and I have to focus and learn how to play them well to get some achievements.

The fact of having to change games every x time makes me impossible to connect with their story or atmosphere so I'm always ending the games feeling like I'm missing some details even when I complete them at 100%. This added to my anhedonia turns me into a retless expert zombie with the games I play.


The gameplay is smoother in the new replicant version and the story is less messy and cryptic. I didn't enjoy automata that much but their achievements are easier to get. If you want to do all things by yourself for your OCD then I hope you don't get to play them because all the grinding is not worth it. I don't know what was Yoko Taro thinking with all that grind for upgrade weapons you won't use.



I tend to drop long games for my lack of concentration and perseverance. I started The witcher 3 and I was really enjoying it but after 50 hours I dropped it. I got addicted to the cards minigame and totally lost the point of the story so when I finished beating all the NPCs and doing the sidequests I didn't know what to do with the main story. I feel bad because I was having fun but thinking about start it again uhh...

Is kingdom Come worth it? I have it in the steam library but I never tried it.

Witcher gameplay is repetitive but Gwent saved the game tbh. Kingdom come is kind of shitty imo, but if you already have it I don't see why not.

I'm getting close to mastery on all of the Hitman locations and both difficulties (since I am bad at the game this takes a lot of time and grit, feels like the activity has crossover to IRL tenacity/focus). Planning on doing this with 2 and 3 as well, also doing escalations and challenges if they provide good unlocks. There's a game with replayability, tbh.

 

[Bagger]

I'm playing Prey (2017) right now like fourth time lol, i just love this title. Like almost every Arkane game it's a little shining gem, piece of art unnoticed by most, like always. Too bad for them... Design is just outstanding, enemies hard and not so predictable, and story is a cherry on top. Everything there just clicks for me. If anyone here loved System Shock 2 or other immersive sims, then Prey should be your next game to play. No video will show how awesome this game is but i will share anyway.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

Turns out that hitman 1 progress is not carried over to 2 but 2 is to 3. 1 is also in 2 if u own 1. So in short, the 50/100 hours or whatever of hm1 I will play again first thing as a part of 2. Not even mad about it, tbh. It's that replayable 4 me.

 

[Makko]

Turns out that hitman 1 progress is not carried over to 2 but 2 is to 3. 1 is also in 2 if u own 1. So in short, the 50/100 hours or whatever of hm1 I will play again first thing as a part of 2. Not even mad about it, tbh. It's that replayable 4 me.

Played a hitman game long ago, the scene I remember is how you sneak into an opera and replace a prop gun with a real one. Then when the actors shoot each other dead on scene and their greatest opera fan runs out to them, you drop a chandelier on him. Good game.

 

[Imaginos]

Ahhh, I see. What you say makes sense, you are just going to the extreme. I think I'm the opposite and that frustates me a lot.

Yeah, for me, I usually can't move on to another game until I finish the one I've currently started. If I do end up moving on to another game, it's highly likely that I won't be returning to the previous game for a long time, if ever. Very rarely am I ever playing more than one game at a time. There are actually a few games I left hanging, some going back a number years, that I routinely remind myself how I need to return to at some point, but, when it comes down it, almost all of them I'd rather just forget about entirely. Beats chastising myself over this wacky sense of indolence I have about the whole thing.

Personally speaking, I just wish I were more often able to drop games that are either unfun from the outset, or become a chore at some later point, and move the heck on, instead of feeling like I absolutely have to finish them. For a large majority of other people, dropping games is almost always the rule and not the exception. They know how to commit to things that actually matter to them, and drop the things that don't, all without a moment's hesitation or regret. It's the sort of attitude that extends even beyond gaming, but sadly I've just never been able to truly embody this kind of thinking/behavior. At the very least, I'm a lot better at walking away from games that I'm not clicking with than I used to be, but my OCD tendencies still reign supreme for the most part.

For a good year after my trophy obsession had finally run its course, I managed to be the most "normal" I'd ever been when it came to gaming, and it was the time when I was the most indifferent/liberated from my OCD related tics. Since then, I've found myself far better off versus those now bygone years as a trophy addict, but there are times where I regress and fall prey to my OCD again. Lately, it's been giving me a bit of hassle again, which has been both inconvenient/annoying.

The gameplay is smoother in the new replicant version and the story is less messy and cryptic.

That's good to know. Turns out this is one of the few times I'm actually relieved to have dropped a game, because it definitely would've sucked if I'd actually kept playing and finished the emulator version, since then I would've been kicking myself over the, what seems to be, far superior Steam version being released and how I missed out on it. As it stands, it allows me the perfect opportunity to give it a real/dedicated whirl, but for right now it's just another game out of many on my backlog that I intend to get to at some point.

If you want to do all things by yourself for your OCD then I hope you don't get to play them because all the grinding is not worth it. I don't know what was Yoko Taro thinking with all that grind for upgrade weapons you won't use.

Well fortunately, although I could be better at dropping games themselves, I've become pretty adept at ignoring excessively grindy, and or, obnoxiously time consuming side content. I just flat out don't have the patience for that sort of stuff any more and couldn't force myself into doing it even if I tried. The most recent happening of this for me was with Hand of Fate 2, but overall it wasn't that grindy in the end, especially compared to farming rare materials in RPGs, or what have you. When it comes to achievements, nowadays I only go after the ones that seem the most interesting, or that might lead to additional content within the game itself, but even then just rarely. Only certain games would compel me enough to get all of their achievements, like say Legends of Grimrock 2, or one of the Witcher games (maybe).

I tend to drop long games for my lack of concentration and perseverance.

Yeah, I know what you mean. The level of commitment required to complete particularly long games feels completely beyond me. At the end of the day, I'd just rather avoid them. Only once in a long while do I find myself mentally prepared enough and in the right mood for that kind of thing. Otherwise, I'd just be worried that I'd drop them at some point, which I'd like to mitigate the possibility of as much as possible. However, the crappy end result of that is how even though games like Skyrim or New Vegas have both been around for just about a decade, I still have yet to play either of them. That's how put off I am by games that are ultra long time sinks, but in the case of stuff made by Bethesda it's also how I can't be arsed to find/install the necessary QoL mods for them.

Is kingdom Come worth it? I have it in the steam library but I never tried it.

Well, it has its problems for sure, but overall I thought it was a really neat experience. I wrote a detailed review about it a while ago, and I could post it here or PM it to you if you want, but yeah. If you're prepared for a slow paced, and admittedly at times kind of tedious experience, with a huge focus on immersion, then I think you'd probably like it.

 

[Imaginos]

There's so many co-op games out there, but it's been years and years since I've played anything online. You'd have to go back all the way to 2014, as far as the last time I dabbled with anything multiplayer or co-op related. And even then it was just with randoms. But anyway, it'd just be nice to check out the stuff that's exclusive to that genre, like both the Vermintide games for instance, but I just don't see how I ever will. I don't know anyone, and I'm too fucked in the head to simply do this the normal way and just get to know some other players through the game itself.

It's just that this kind of stuff looks like it actually might be fun, but then I have to remind myself of why it's basically off limits to someone like me. It sucks because I recently saw the trailer for the new game from the Vermintide devs, the one that's set in the 40k universe, and it looks pretty damn cool, but, like with all other co-op/online games, I'll never play it for myself, and all because I'm too much of a socially retarded basketcase to actually make an effort to meet with other players and maybe manage to enjoy myself for once.

Other people get to have so much fun in their lives. Seeing and doing lots of random things, even with stuff as minor (for them, I'm sure) as online games. Meanwhile, I'm just stuck with trying to grasp hold of even the smallest shred of simple mind numbing contentment. It's a shame I happen to be so limited by my own tormented mind and tiresome emotions, such to the extent that I miss out. and continue to miss out, on so much that there is to do in life (even for an agoraphobic hermit like me) but I guess it is what it is. Fucking stupid brain. I'm definitely my own worst enemy. I can't conceive of ever thinking/feeling any differently. I'll never be free from what I am. Oh well.

 

[Lmd]

Witcher gameplay is repetitive but Gwent saved the game tbh. Kingdom come is kind of shitty imo, but if you already have it I don't see why not.

Yeah, contracts end feeling the same but I enjoyed how everyone is fucked up. Gwent was so adictive...

Why is kingdom shitty for you?

You didn't ask me this, but I must say it definitely is. If you are talking about Kingdom Come: Deliverance? It really surprised me with its versatility and "depth".

Well, it has its problems for sure, but overall I thought it was a really neat experience. I wrote a detailed review about it a while ago, and I could post it here or PM it to you if you want, but yeah. If you're prepared for a slow paced, and admittedly at times kind of tedious experience, with a huge focus on immersion, then I think you'd probably like it.

I'll look for the review. I don't think I'll play anyway considering the amount of games I have to pass but it's good have it in mind.

 

[Lost Magic]

I just started playing Batman Arkham City. I know it is an older game but it runs really well on my pc and it is really awesome.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

Why is kingdom shitty for you?

Gameplay is shit and the story isn't even finished lmfao. You also can't create a character (nice rpg lol) and the combat is level-based at the same time as it is real-time skill-based somehow (can't really explain it well, but it sux). Ppl u kill respawn, things feel clunky in general. Just not a good game imo. I suppose the immersion is good enough, was a few years ago but I remember feeling immersed at least.

 

[Imaginos]

Finally got around to checking out both of the major DLC expansions for Control. I played/finished it back when it was an Epic Games Store exclusive, so this DLC wasn't available to me at the time. Returning to it now gives me such a sense of depressing surrealness because it feels as if I had just played it a month ago or something, even though it's actually been like a year and a half. The passage of time is so god damned constant and merciless, I honestly just can't even process it at times. I could do without such reminders, but they always seem to find their way to me eventually, which sucks. Anyway, good thing is that the game is still as fun as I remember it. Everything in the new DLC was pretty enjoyable. Still love the combat and physics system, and the new boss fights are actually pretty decent too. I could take or leave the story, but I liked how they furthered the connection to Alan Wake. Out of the two, the one which revisited the mechanics from Alan Wake was my favorite. Based on the ending to that particular DLC, it suggests a potential sequel to Alan Wake being in the works, and that was cool to see. Here's hoping it's good.

I also finished another game recently which I feel the need to mention. It's called Blacksad: Under the Skin. Reminded me a bit of The Wolf Among Us for some of the similarities it has to it (noir atmosphere, graphic novel source material, Telltale inspired gameplay, choices with consequences, etc.), but it's not nearly as good.

For one thing, much of the gameplay/interface could've used a lot more work. Your character moves like a lumbering tank, with a very stiff walking pace to boot. This is made even worse by the fact that there's no option to jog/run, which makes navigation very tedious. On top of this, you also have absolutely no control over the camera, but all the fixed camera angles are abysmal. There's also QTEs, which at times can be very punishing given that if you fail them you're sometimes forced to watch long set pieces play themselves out again. I was lucky to avoid this for the most part, but the times when it did happen fucking sucked. Nothing in this game is skippable, which is just complete bullshit in particular. There's absolutely no excuse for not including a skip button to the dialogue. I also hated how in a couple areas your character will just randomly decide to leave if you interact with the wrong item too soon, even if you're not done exploring yet. This game is completely linear and on-rails, and you have zero say as to where it is you want to go.

The story itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that great either. It seems to be based off some French/Spanish graphic novel series, which up till playing this I had no idea existed. That aside, one thing I really didn't like was how suddenly forced into your face some choices end up being and how arbitrary the right dialogue choices are to get the best outcome. Sometimes you won't have a chance to read even half the responses on the dialogue wheel before being forced to pick something, which I for one just find annoying. I'll admit that I save scummed a couple times on account of this, which in retrospective was largely pointless and caused me needless hassle because, no matter who lives and who dies, the ending will always be the same, save for a few extremely minor differences. That itself tends to be a problem with this particular genre, where the choices you make ultimately don't amount to much of anything at all, despite being told otherwise, and sadly this game doesn't do anything to change that problem. Another thing I thought was kind of dumb was how, even though all the characters are anthropomorphic animals, there's still the concept of black/white racism. In this case, it's based on fur color and not skin color. However, many animals, even many of those shown within the game, have many different fur colors beyond black/white, so where do they fit in all that? For that reason and more the whole concept just came off as pretty dumb. Also, I couldn't help, but lol at cat hitler, who just randomly shows up in a little hand drawn narrative segment when you come across a certain character who at one point used to work for the nazis. I mean sure, the game's set during the 50s in post WW2 America and all, but it still came off as a little silly.

Overall, the shortcomings of the gameplay really took away from what few good things the story had going for it, which is a shame. When all was said and done, it just left me wishing there was somehow going to be a Wolf Among Us 2 made at some point, but, sadly, it's highly unlikely that will ever happen.

Gameplay is shit and the story isn't even finished lmfao. You also can't create a character (nice rpg lol) and the combat is level-based at the same time as it is real-time skill-based somehow (can't really explain it well, but it sux). Ppl u kill respawn, things feel clunky in general. Just not a good game imo. I suppose the immersion is good enough, was a few years ago but I remember feeling immersed at least.

Yep, these were about my exact problems with it as well. I still enjoyed it overall, but those problems you mention are all absolutely true. The combat was something I found especially disappointing because, like you pointed out, it's all based on your character's skill level, and not your personal skill level as a player. Do enough training bouts to get Henry's strength up and, even if you're absolutely terrible at the combat system, it becomes pretty much impossible to lose unless you take all of your armor off. This is lame because the parrying mechanic literally doesn't even work against certain opponents until Henry's levels are high enough, which makes any skill the player has, especially early on, entirely pointless. Best example of that was with the combat tourney you can enter as soon as you find your way around the first major city. It's literally impossible to beat at that point in the game, even if you've already mastered the combat system in prior playthroughs. Dark Souls this game is not. That aside, it was fun to just destroy pretty much everything in your path once Henry skills become so high you're basically an unstoppable medieval terminator.

And yeah, this game has no real chops as an RPG, at least when it comes to character customization. It's actually pretty easy to become a master of everything at this game. It's like Oblivion where the more you do a certain skill/action, the stronger it becomes. That's why by about the middle of the game, you're likely to have high skill proficiency in just about everything that matters, given that you'll find yourself doing it so much (most notably swordsmanship, sneaking, speech and horse riding). This game really should've been marketed as an immersive sim and not as an RPG. Two random things I liked about the immersion was how you need to regularly bathe to keep your charisma skill up, and how you need to actually learn how to read, given that Henry is just a peasant and doesn't know how. It was cool to see Henry's reading skill go up the more books you have him read, since you get the sense that he's actually becoming a better and more learned individual, which gave him a nice arc from his days as a simple peasant to being risen to knighthood.

Spoiler

But yeah, it's shit that the game ends on a cliffhanger. You never even get to confront the people who fucked you over at the beginning of the game, or manage to get your father's sword back.

I'll also say that going back and forth across the map got pretty tedious after a while. Even when you've got a god-tier horse that's traveling at mach 1, it's just annoying to find yourself on errands that have you turning around the moment you get somewhere and then have you galloping to the other end of the map. I also didn't like how in big battles, they're literally impossible to lose. Main characters, like Radzig, can't be KO'ed, so you could literally just stand there and do nothing and still win. But yeah, I don't know. Even with all its flaws, I still thought it was a cool little game, but I can definitely understand why others who are less forgiving of said flaws wouldn't like it.

 

[Imaginos]

TL;DR: Just a post I wanted to make about the Soulsborne series. Didn't intend for it to be so long, but yeah. Just wanted to get it off my chest.

You know, on paper, if there's one particular series I should actually really enjoy more than it is that I do; it's the Soulsborne one. For me, I've only ever mildly enjoyed these games, whereas some people literally consider them the best games ever made. I'm not sure what it is, but something about them has just never clicked with me, and I've been dabbling with them ever since 2010 when all there was on the market was Demons Souls. Of course there was the King's Field series before that, but I have no experience with those particular games.

That aside, one major eyesore on the Soulsborne series, starting particularly from Dark Souls onwards, is the absolutely godawful cesspit of its community. It's really right up there with the worst of them (LoL, CSGO, Call of Duty, etc.). Whether it's the now meme worthy toxicity it's established through its obnoxious player base that, at least when you're talking about the PVP, are otherwise filled to the brim with many shameless trolls/assholes, or the rabid fanboyism that claims this series can literally do no wrong whatsoever (unless it's Dark Souls 2, that is), both end up being the kinds of things that cancerously zap away the likeability of this series, at least for me.

Without all the hype/fanatical worship attached to them and without the shitty userbase, I feel like I'd be somehow a lot more open to enjoying this series, versus the consistently middling feelings I've had with it over the years. As it stands, it's like all that stuff just hangs over these games like a noxious purple cloud, tainting/corrupting the whole feel of them as a result. If there was a way to just flush all that crap out of my mind and, better yet, banish the community into the nether regions of a deep dark abyss somewhere, that would do wonders for purifying all the human rot that this series has accrued over the years.

Having said all that, I'll admit that I've never been crazy about the combat system, and one thing I've especially never liked is the invasion mechanic. I've never been a fan of PVP in general, but that especially applies to the infamously atrocious PVP in the Souls series, and I've always greatly disliked how each game just forces it on you, whether you want to participate in it or not. Granted, there are ways to opt out of it, but each one punishes solo players for simply wanting to play solo, and who also might wish to enjoy the message/co-op system. Whether it's staying in soul form in Demons Souls, or staying hollow in Dark Souls, both feel like a mocking middle finger from the developers to players who simply wish to avoid the PVP. Playing offline is the option I've always personally opted for, but then that locks out everything having to do with the online functionality altogether, which just sucks.

No matter what you choose to do you're forced to give up on something (which I'm sure some could argue is in keeping with the design philosophy of the series as a whole, but that doesn't mean it still doesn't suck), and all on account of the game's shitty non-negotiable PVP. Of course, if you simply had an option in the menu that enabled/disabled invasions, then all the people who champion the invasion system would cry and bellyache over the fact that they can't invade whomever it is that they want anymore, which really betrays the fact that it's there largely just to grief/troll/challenge other players in their own worlds, whether they want them there or not. And honestly, the invasion system has always felt like just that. A legitimized griefing tool coded in by the developers for trolls to fuck around with. If instead people had to deliberately opt-in to the invasion system, via joining a covenant let's say that directly enabled them, instead of forcing solo players to opt-out by remaining as prune faced hollows, then all this could be solved rather easily. All those who wished to go the PVP route could do so, whereas those who don't could go along their merry way while still being able to enjoy the message/co-op system.

Pro PVP'ers would complain that this would drastically shrink the pool of possible invasions and claim it as the worst thing ever, but, on the contrary, it'd actually be the best thing ever since now all invasions would have players with the same understanding and wish to fight each other. What exactly would be so bad about that? I mean, c'mon now. Instead, the system the developers have here isn't really about providing a properly straightforward and fair PVP experience, but about allowing more aggressive players the universal ability to just barge into another person's game and fight them without their consent. I mean, heck, why not just have a decline option? So and so wants to fight you, do you accept or not? There's really no excuse for not having included an option like this in these games by now, save for the fact that the rabid fanboys of this series fanatically defend just about everything/anything about them, and whom to their dying breath will insist that the glaring flaws of this series are actually intended features and are therefore beyond reproach.

I mean, seriously, even try to make an honest attempt to discuss the shortcomings of these games and it won't be long before all that "git gud" bullshit starts getting thrown in your face, which itself has now long become a blanket term to justify just about anything a game does no matter how dumb/frustrating it is, so long as it makes the experience harder and more inflexibly up its own ass. Even breathe a word of criticizing this kind of stuff and suddenly you'll usually find yourself being screeched at by what I can only imagine must be children (or, worse yet, fully grown adults who act like children) for being nothing more than a pussified casual who needs to acquire their taste buds to lapping up the garbage that they, these cretinous fanboys, have convinced themselves is actually a gourmet meal. And again, it's the fact that this series has attracted so frigging many of these juvenile toddlers that it's really ended up souring/tarnishing the overall image of this series, which, at least for me, is something I just can't separate from it at this point.

I could go on about some other ways this series has always rubbed me wrong, but then I'd be dumping even more walls of text about something that, largely speaking, is really neither here nor there. Even despite all this, I still enjoy the series, along with many of its imitators (some of which I actually enjoy far more than the mainline Soulsborne series), but the one thing that's always sucked the joy out of these games the most, for me anyway, has come back to the people who claim to love them the most, and by doing so just keep on enabling all of their worst qualities.

One could say that the true essence of the Soulsborne series, in its world building, cryptically delivered story/characters, and general design philosophy, is about illustrating the sheer ugliness of human beings (both in the way they act on their own and behave with each other) and perhaps it's for that reason, more than any other, why I've never been able to click with it on a deep level. I've personally always disliked and distrusted most people, and certainly humanity as a whole, and yet the Soulsborne series is arguably at its core all about putting the worst qualities of people directly in your face, whether you want them to be there or not.

I mean, yes, there are certainly a small minority of those who, just like in the real world, might treat you with some modicum of respect, but it's peanuts compared to the sea of shit, which is otherwise just horrible old human nature, that will always drown out any one act of deceny/kindness with ten thousand more acts of indeceny/unkindness. I'm sure there are those who would say that that one act of deceny/kindness is more profound/special because of this, but to me it's just horribly depressing.

You could also put it this way in regards to the fact that the co-op represents the good/redeemable side of humanity, while the PVP invasions represents the bad/irredeemable side of humanity, whereas going offline rejects them both in favor of a neutral isolation. Well, I suppose it's no wonder why I always opt for that last one. All this certainly makes for some interesting theming, but when it comes down to it, it just makes the game less enjoyable for me and that's really all I wanted to say.

 

[doesntevenmatter]

I was playing through the Mass Effect trilogy again when the depression bug hit. I made it to 3, but now I am having trouble focusing on it or enjoying it. I can still play mindless games but anything I have to focus on doesn't work. At least I have played them before, even though I did forget a lot of 3 (didn't forget that ending though..)

Even before depression hit again, I was starting to get gaming fatigue. Games are honestly just getting too big and complicated in my mind. They can still be great, but geez you have to spend so much time just completing them.

 

[Imaginos]

Tried loading up a couple of games these last few days in regards to attempting to decide what I'll play/finish next, but I just can't do it. The thought of playing anything right now, literally anything, nauseates the hell out of me. Wonder how long this new lull in gaming will last for me. All it means is more time wasted that I could otherwise have been using towards playing/finishing more games, whether they be all new ones or those found in my backlog.

Instead, I just sit here staring into space while self-loathing over the fact that I'm entirely crippled by my own tiresome emotions and sense of anhedonia. And I mean, even if I finish a game, what does it really matter if my enjoyment of said game was middling at best and could also never compare to how much I may have enjoyed it 10 or 12 years ago when gaming still managed to thoroughly stimulate/compel my attention?

Honestly, I don't know what it is I really want and, ultimately, I just remain trapped in routines/thought patters of years past that I can't escape from, and almost on some level have no wish to escape from, because change is both scary/incomprehensible and I'd rather just be satisfied by the safe/familiar, even when that itself is basically impossible because depression/anhedonia eventually corrupts everything in your little bubble so that, very often, nothing will ever feel good, or even the least bit satisfying.

I can still play mindless games but anything I have to focus on doesn't work.

Yeah, I got this pretty hard lately with Legend of Grimrock 2. After a six year hiatus, I finally loaded it up again the other day, but I'm way too tired/overwhelmed to figure out what is I want to do in terms of party/character creation. I still have my save from six years ago, but it's like halfway through the game and it'd be way too jarring to just pick up where I left off. It really sucks because this is the kind of game I should actually really enjoy, but for whatever reason I just feel as if my diseased and worn out brain just can't handle the decision making involved in even just trying to manage what to do with my level ups. It feels lame, but I'll probably just look up an ideal character party build and then just follow that because I'm honestly way too lazy/depressed to do it myself, assuming that is I can work up the wherewithal to keep playing it.

Even before depression hit again, I was starting to get gaming fatigue. Games are honestly just getting too big and complicated in my mind. They can still be great, but geez you have to spend so much time just completing them.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel the exact same way. For me, gaming fatigue is an absolute scourge that I'm far more often stuck having to deal with and endure than not. It's the sort of thing I wish didn't exist, but I guess that's basically asking for the impossible. Depression just compounds the problem even further. Not only that, but depression has also made me far more of a casual gamer, largely because I now lack the motivation/patience to tussle with most kinds of games that require a great deal of commitment and skill investment. People who can manage to enjoy a consistent level of enjoyment from their hobbies are really quite lucky. The lack of depression/mental illness must go a long way in ensuring that gaming as a whole never become too unenjoyable.

 

[Seiba]

Too lazy for video games that much, I just web browse. I'm aware that sounds pathetic. I did play a little of legend of the heroes which is a JRPG a while ago and nier replicant. I've been too lazy to bother after thirty minutes or so.

 

[WaaaghEnjoyer]

After not feeling like playing anything for some time I have finally found two games which I started playing again.
The first one is Cities Skylines. I don't know why seeing zoned areas get populated and trying to fix traffic is so fun, but I've been playing for hours. I do sometimes get angry at the traffic though and quit until I calm down.
The second one is Starsector. If you don't know what Starsector is, then my explanation might suffice: harvested organs space stonks simulator. Atleast it's what I'm currently doing in-game.

 

[Skathon]

Tyranny is now one of my favourite games.

 

[Homecoming]

Sky: Children of the Light. That mobile game's graphic is really good.

 

[WaaaghEnjoyer]

Tyranny is now one of my favourite games.

i played it until the point where I had to attack the unbroken camp. i tried a few times but failed each time and then quit.