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Started by Keef Monkey, 11 June, 2011, 09:35:35 AM

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Apestrife

Half Life 2, Portal, Portal 2.

HL2 was brilliant always, with some nit picks here and there. The squad based stuff towards the end isn't my favorite, especially not when resistance people constantly stand in the way. Other than that I love it. The setting especially. Few games like it. Also reallly like the physics. Still holds up today. To me every explosive thing (gas tank, red explosive barell and so on) gives me a feeling wonder, that the explosion will send things into the air.

Played Portal before, and it was brilliant. First time with the second game and it was even more brilliant. Managed to make everything I liked about the first one, puzzles, settings and so on, even better. Also has a really fun and gripping story. Felt like a Nintendo game in a grim Pixar-movie setting.

Keef Monkey

Man, Portal 2 is so perfect. Like, a properly flawless game, reading this has made me want to do another playthrough but I know all the neat surprises won't be the same. Definitely one I'd like to erase my memory of and experience for the first time again.

Not so impressed with God of War though, which I finished last night. The presentation is fantastic, and the whole thing looks and sounds absolutely epic (that Bear McReary score is excellent), but the combat never clicked with me so it was a real slog for me. I know people who love it unreservedly so I'm willing to accept I might have been doing something wrong, but I just couldn't find a fun way to negotiate the fights, I never got into the rhythm of blocking and countering and when to do what attacks, and I found I was being stun-locked constantly from all directions.

The story as well hooked me from the simple premise (get to the top of the mountain) but took so many detours and backtracks and macguffin-hunts that it felt about 10 hours too long and I had no idea who I was fighting and why for the majority of it, and none of the plot twists landed for me because I didn't know what any of them meant. The father/son character moments were excellently written and captured, but the beat to beat of the story outside of those cutscenes didn'y really do mucn for me.

Maybe I need more knowledge of the mythology or more investment in the series (I've only played the original way back in the day) but just didn't see what all the fuss was about with this one. As I say though, most people are raving about it so it can't be objectively poor, clearly I just didn't connect with it the way I wanted to.

Dandontdare

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 18 December, 2018, 02:57:18 PM
Man, Portal 2 is so perfect. Like, a properly flawless game, reading this has made me want to do another playthrough

Portal 2 is a prime example of why I hate the way video games demand success - I got stuck several levels in and just could not fathom how to proceed. This means I cannot access a huge chunk of a product I've paid for. Every game should have a cheat mode or a 'skip level' function.

Dara O'Briain put it brilliantly once - you don't get to the end of chapter 1 of a book to be told "I don't think you really understood that chapter - go back and try again before you can read the rest of the book" or be unable to listen to track 2 of a  CD because your dance moves were inadequate on track 1.

I bought it, I should be able to see it all. People who play for the challenge, as opposed to just recreation or entertainment can always set the levels in that way if they wish, but as a crap gamer I very rarely get to see more than half of any game I buy.

(although what I did see was indeed brilliant)

JamesC

Quote from: Dandontdare on 18 December, 2018, 03:56:25 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 18 December, 2018, 02:57:18 PM
Man, Portal 2 is so perfect. Like, a properly flawless game, reading this has made me want to do another playthrough

Portal 2 is a prime example of why I hate the way video games demand success - I got stuck several levels in and just could not fathom how to proceed. This means I cannot access a huge chunk of a product I've paid for. Every game should have a cheat mode or a 'skip level' function.

Dara O'Briain put it brilliantly once - you don't get to the end of chapter 1 of a book to be told "I don't think you really understood that chapter - go back and try again before you can read the rest of the book" or be unable to listen to track 2 of a  CD because your dance moves were inadequate on track 1.

I bought it, I should be able to see it all. People who play for the challenge, as opposed to just recreation or entertainment can always set the levels in that way if they wish, but as a crap gamer I very rarely get to see more than half of any game I buy.

(although what I did see was indeed brilliant)

Hmmm...the trouble with this is that if you don't have the skills required to, say, beat a level 1 boss, then how do you expect to proceed through subsequent levels?
Most games have a limited move-set and in order to complete a game you'll need to hone your skills to become more competent, gradually dealing with greater skill-based challenges.
Why play a game at all if it stops challenging or encouraging you to increase your skill?
Mind you, I generally play more retro games than current stuff so maybe this stuff is more pronounced. Modern games tend to be more narrative based.

radiator

I kind of agree with James here. Obviously it depends greatly on genre, but in my opinion games needs to have an element of challenge to qualify as games. Without that, you've basically got a glorified animation sequence. To me games are a puzzle, a test of reflexes. Locking away content gives the vital incentive to keep plugging away, and taking that reward away would massively deplete the enjoyment and satisfaction of the players who like a challenge and the traditional structure of the medium that goes along with it.

Cheat codes aren't as common as they used to be, but they used to ruin certain games for me, as I didn't have the discipline not to use them if I got stuck. I don't think I ever played an FPS 'properly' without God Mode until I was in my twenties. Giving the player the ability to just skip difficult sections likewise takes something important away from the experience. How much fun would a Rubiks Cube be if it had a button on the side that solved it for you immediately? Should a novel come with a Wikipedia summary of the plot printed at the back? I mean, that would save you all the work of putting the hours in to actually read it, right?

A large part of why Super Mario games aren't as fun to play these days is that they're too easy - they've lost sight of that exhilarating sensation of walking a tightrope that used to make them so fiendishly addictive. And the fact that they throw powerups at you if you die a couple of times on a given section seems a little condescending.

I feel like games as a whole got too easy and streamlined especially during the 360/PS3 era - it seemed like developers were terrified the player would ever get stuck, and games became quite bland as a result. Things seem to have balanced out a little now, with the re-embracing of hard games, and developers less afraid to present a proper challenge to the player.

Dandontdare

#2180
Quote from: JamesC on 18 December, 2018, 06:21:22 PMHmmm...the trouble with this is that if you don't have the skills required to, say, beat a level 1 boss, then how do you expect to proceed through subsequent levels?

That's the problem as I see it, the obsession with "levels" as opposed to story. I don't want to hone my skills, I'm not playing competitively, I just want diverting fun - why do levels have to be increasingly hard as opposed to simply different?

Take something like the Tomb Raider series, which I enjoyed but never finished any of them. Once I've been killed a couple of dozen times trying to execute a ridiculously hard leap/crouch/shoot combination, I am no longer enjoying myself, it's just repetitive and frustrating. In TR3 I seem to recall it was swimming with piranhas that I could never get past.

There are infinite ways to keep the story interesting without ramping up the difficulty levels. As I said, you should always have that option if you want it, but I'd prefer to find a level that's challenging but achievable, and then be able to play through the story at that level. As it is, games usually start out fun, become challenging, progress to frustrating and then get abandoned.

I want fun not frustration!

shaolin_monkey

Monster Hunter Tales on the iPad is a lot of fun. It's basically a 3D Pokemon-style story-based exploration game set in the Monster Hunter World. Hatch stolen eggs to build your monster team etc.

Large brushstroke cartoon characters pushing the story on, lavish landscapes, and initially straightforward 'rock scissor paper' style turn-based fighting dynamics that really open up into complex and interesting variations when you both fight the bigger beasts, and introduce gene-splicing to your monsters!

It's a blast, and while you might consider it a bit pricey on iPad at £20, I've enjoyed it very much so far.

I rarely get on the PS4 these days, as my partner has discovered a whole bunch of old TV shows on Netflix that she's chaining. That means iPad gaming is the way forward at the moment. 

That said, we've just started playing The Council together - I steer, she makes the decisions.  It's a political mystery story kind of akin to the Telltale games, set in a strange mansion on an island where iconic figures from the 18th century are gathered for some bizarre reason.  All very intriguing, but we're not done with the first episode yet, which is scene and character setting at the moment.  Definitely engaging so far, and it's nice to be playing something together.

Smith

Graveyard Keeper.Its really freaking addictive.

Keef Monkey

About the difficulty thing, I'm on the side of enjoying a bit of a challenge. Getting stuck in a game can be really frustrating, but in something like Portal figuring out the puzzles is crucial to having the tools you need to solve subsequent ones. That's how the game teaches you what you need to know for later stages so to be able to skip through just means you're going to get stuck again shortly afterwards.

Nowadays too you've got YouTube, a quick search on there will usually show you the solution to something, which I try not to look at (I'm always disappointed I didn't figure it out myself, especially if it's a facepalm moment where I realize it was something obvious I was missing) but do sometimes have to if a game has me really stumped. Heck, sometimes I've assumed I've been doing something wrong and then a Google has shown that it's a bug and a script trigger has been missed or something.

Action games/shooters are trickier I guess because you can't easily look up a 'solution' to a shootout, but they tend to have pretty flexible difficulty levels. I am pretty firmly in the camp of honing skills to unlock content or progress is important in games, because that progression is what makes it a game and sets it apart from movies/books (for me at least!)

I did see Dara's bit on it live though and while I didn't agree I did find it very, very funny! He also did a really great bit about Metal Gear Solid, always nice to see a comedian talk about gaming in a way that's funny to everyone without being condescending or sneery about the people who play them, you could tell he genuinely likes that stuff.

moogie101

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 19 December, 2018, 11:12:28 AM
I did see Dara's bit on it live though and while I didn't agree I did find it very, very funny! He also did a really great bit about Metal Gear Solid, always nice to see a comedian talk about gaming in a way that's funny to everyone without being condescending or sneery about the people who play them, you could tell he genuinely likes that stuff.

Its a great bit, he also talks about how all the driving in GTA4 was like commuting to work.

Personally nowadays I can't be arsed with a game being too hard, but normally you can drop the difficulty if struggling or look online for the solution. But usually its just a case of preserving. For example everyone claims the Dark Souls games are too hard, but once you've mastered the roll & attack from behind strategy its pretty straight forward.

broodblik

Quote from: Dandontdare on 18 December, 2018, 08:03:14 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 18 December, 2018, 06:21:22 PMHmmm...the trouble with this is that if you don't have the skills required to, say, beat a level 1 boss, then how do you expect to proceed through subsequent levels?

That's the problem as I see it, the obsession with "levels" as opposed to story. I don't want to hone my skills, I'm not playing competitively, I just want diverting fun - why do levels have to be increasingly hard as opposed to simply different?


I also play the game for the story and many cases I stopped playing because my hand-eye coordination is not what it used to be. I always select easy mode on any game and if I wanted a challenge I will try to do my budget
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

Quote from: Dandontdare on 18 December, 2018, 08:03:14 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 18 December, 2018, 06:21:22 PMHmmm...the trouble with this is that if you don't have the skills required to, say, beat a level 1 boss, then how do you expect to proceed through subsequent levels?

That's the problem as I see it, the obsession with "levels" as opposed to story. I don't want to hone my skills, I'm not playing competitively, I just want diverting fun - why do levels have to be increasingly hard as opposed to simply different?


If you want a fun story with no challenge then watch a movie or a box set. Read a book.

I like games being difficult, for me the story comes second. Hard levels don't frustrate me as much as having to sit through exposition and cut scenes that prevent me from actually playing the game. Unskippable cut scenes annoy me more than any Cyberdemon.

Video games are the only medium that provide a test of skill. Despite what ehhhhhh Dara ehhhh O'Brien says, that's a good thing.
You may quote me on that.

Dandontdare

You misunderstand - I don't want them to be pointlessly easy, I do want a challenge, I just don't want an increasingly difficult challenge - what other game or pastime does that? If I play darts, I don't have to stand further away with every throw, if I read a book, the syntax and vocabulary doesn't get progressively harder as the book goes on. I want a narrative game for which I can set my preferred difficulty level - challenging, requiring several attempts to proceed, but not impossible - and then play through the whole story at that level. As it goes, I love the first dozen levels of games, but that's all.

I know I'm in a minority here, and don't think I know better than a multi-billion pound industry with millions of fans, it's just a personal gripe - I think I've moaned about this before, so expect to see me dragging this old chestnut out again in about 30 pages!

(agree on unskippable cut scenes though - the first time may be fun and informative, but after that you just want to kick the screen in)

Professor Bear

If I follow the logic about "gaming skill" correctly, then Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a better game series than Metal Gear.  Anyway, good luck with that.

Having played games since the 8 bit era you can stuff your difficulty up your arse as far I'm concerned.  I've suffered enough repetitive side-scrolling shitshows like Super Mario 3 and its 12 thousand identical levels to do me a lifetime.  It's 2018 and when Batman beats the shit out of 12 thugs at once, I only have to push one button to make it happen - two if I'm feeling flashy - and that suits me just fine.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

Quote from: Professor Bear on 19 December, 2018, 03:49:31 PM
If I follow the logic about "gaming skill" correctly, then Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a better game series than Metal Gear.  Anyway, good luck with that.


Playing with just one hand is quite difficult to be fair.
You may quote me on that.