i feel like people have forgotten what gaming is

Gaming now is all about which game has the best graphics.

Yup, about a month ago I ended up deleting a good chunk of my library that I knew I wouldn't enjoy, or ever complete. Feels freeing.

TheEnd said:

"Should I complete this game?"
"Can anyone help me like this game?"
"I put 20 hours into this game and I'm not enjoying it. Is there something wrong with me"

I see these sort of threads all the time here and on reddit.

Why not, ya know, just don't play games you don't enjoy to begin with? Too many people in this hobby act like it's a part time job to them.

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Not to mention "Era, convince me to buy X".

Who says that about any other product? Why challenge people to convince you to spend money on something you currently have no interest in?

WestEgg said:

Work can be fun if you take pride in the accomplishment. If I love a game, I'll take the time to complete it to its full extent to get the most out of it. I picked up Celeste at launch, which I played to 100% completion, and enjoyed the experience enough to double dip on Xbox and am now working on it again.

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I think this is key here. If you buy enough games you're liable not to enjoy one or the other. Being categorical that if you buy a game, that you're going to finish it, then that is doing a chore.

I had kind of a revelation last year, that I shouldn't just try to play everything to be some kind of gaming guru that knows everything about gaming.

It came with being older and dealing with kind of a mid-life crisis, life is too short and you should just spend it playing the games you REALLY want to play, I literally went "Do I need to play this game before I DIE?" through my entire backlog(which had hundreds of games) and got it down to like 20 or so games, and this year has pretty much been a backlog year for me, finishing the best of the best games.

It's been amazing, I recommend it to everyone, don't play everything for the sake of playing everything and enjoy your lives.

I have less time to game so the moment I notice I'm not really enjoying a game I'll shelve it and move on. On the other side, it does feel great when I find a game that clicks.

My steam backlog is too large. I only play what I find fun.

Put down Spelunky because I wasn't enjoying my time. No obligations.

Fun level, maximum is what I'm after.

I had a pretty bad approach to games until somewhat recently that I'm still trying to fix up. Trying to pace myself, take time to explore all aspects of the game, challenge myself a bit and not feel pressured to always finish. I had an obsession with forcing through games until I finished them and I ended up playing to the end of a lot of games I just didn't enjoy that much. I've dropped a few games recently and it feels great. Important to mention OP is not shaming anyone that does play games to full completion, they do mention that if you enjoy a game for 10 or 100 hours then that's great. Just don't force yourself to slog through massive games for the sake of something that ultimately isn't contributing to your enjoyment. I myself have even gotten a few platinum trophies on some recent games because I enjoyed them to a full enough extent to do that, but I've dropped plenty of games as soon as I hit the credits since I have no desire to go the extra mile.

I'm loving the amazing AAA titles western companies are able to pull like U4, GoW, HZD and the recent Spider-Man, and I think JRPGs are somewhat overrated, partially because it's duration. I don't mind if a title is 12 hours long and I've spent 60$. What I value is that those 12 hours are polished to the max, and I think western developers (and some eastern like PlatinumGames) are the ones who I like the most nowadays.

Because what I want is to have fun each and every moment I'm playing with a game, and I think mostly the japanese developers don't understand this nowadays.

Yeah I agree, I manage to beat 30-40 games most years and have 0 plats and 0 games I've got 100% of everything in

I do the main story and any side content or collectables I enjoy, watch the credits and move on

If I'm bored, I'll drop a game, though I've only bailed on half a dozen games in the last 5 years

I'm more concerned that the next generation of gamers will see gaming as something that requires you to frequently crack open your wallet to keep up/deal with the grind/unlock the next piece of digital tat

I actually decided exactly this recently. And the first major game I didn't bother to day-1? Spider-man.

I'm playing ocarina of time for the first time on 3DS instead. Having an absolute blast. E(xtremely)LTTP thread incoming. Haha

QueenOfHunting said:

ok i know we are an enthusiast forum and so are other places like reddit, but time and time again i see people forcing themself through a game or have a 52 game checklist they must complete each year, or doing a dreaded platnium or 100% run.

and all off above people clearly moan about doing them and i wonder have you forgotten the basics ? gaming is a means of entertainment and fun, if you find a game fun for an hour or 10 or 100 well done be happy, dont kick yourself after an hour or 2 that you got bored or you dropped a game because another game gave you better enjoyment,

my rule of thumb is gaming or a game isn't a checklist, no one needs a checklist of games to complete each year it changes nothing, play what you fancy or feel like, i have multiple games installed because at different times i feel like playing something else, at the same time im not ashamed at myself for dropping a game after a while even if i dont finish it, if i enjoyed that game for n hour or 5 im happy it accomplished what it needed too.

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I agree with all of this. It's all about having a good time.

Trophy wise I just do it for games I enjoy, I couldn't get 100%/the plat on every single games out there like some does. (to the point of buying the same games in different languages)
As for backlog well, I stopped caring about that too. If there's a game I just didn't finish I'll just get to it someday maybe if I feel like it but I sure won't force myself through it for the sake of clearing my backlog.

I drop games, brand new bought day one games, like hot little potatoes if they are not grabbing me. Life is very short. You should see my Kindle. Book after book that is 10% complete just languishing as I drop them and try another. Life is, I say again, Short.

Thankfully I don't have completionist tendencies as, to me, the value of the work needed for a Platinum trophy became nothing to me as soon as I got one for simply finishing a Telltale game. I do, however, have this weird habit where I never really want to play games unless they're "in" at the moment. For example, I'm currently going through Dragon Quest XI and will go through Spiderman as well whenever it arrives (should be in the next few days. Luckily the two games are ones I really like and will probably really like respectively, but it's not always that way. A lot of the time it leads me to focusing on games I don't like and wasting money on games I don't/rarely play.

This year I tried to finish Octopath because it was the "in" thing and utterly failed at it, finding it a grind that I regretted playing after 20 hours. I bought Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze knowing full well 2D platformers aren't a favorite genre of mine... and sold it a month afterwards. I bought Monster Hunter World twice (physical, sold that, then digital in a sale) yet with the first time I barely played it and with the second time I literally haven't played it. I bought Shenmue 1+2 HD despite being certain that I wouldn't even be able to complete one of them (that was true). I just kept buying and playing these games because they're popular here on Era and it really sucks. It felt like I was "missing" out in a way, which I guess is a by-product of my utter failure at fitting in anywhere but that's too much for this thread lol.

I'm definitely trying to curb this habit, though. I have made a pledge for myself and for my wallet that I will only buy 3 new games this Autumn/Winter, those being RDR2, Hitman 2, and Smash (and Life is Strange 2 but that's episodic so it doesn't really count haha). Games like Tomb Raider, Fallout 76, Battlefield V, Black Ops 4 and AC: Odyssey are those that I would like to play eventually but having them Day 1 with the costs and time that entails is not worth it, especially since work is going to increase for me in the next few months.

I've decided that I'd rather just buy the games that I genuinely am really hyped for and simply wait on those that I'm not too fussed with. They'll still be there when I want to give them a go, and my time will be better divided by allowing myself to deep-dive into games I know I'll love.

I've started just watching "cinematic" games on youtube since apparently people cut the story/cinematic sequences together into a single video or a series of episodes (i.e. Spider-Man, Uncharted 4), saves me $80+ per game, tempers FOMO, and lets me focus on games I enjoy actually enjoy playing on portables.

It took me about 20 hours to get to 40% completion in Shadow of War. This weekend I just said "fuck all these collectibles" and made it to 70% or so in 5 hours or so just focusing on the story and it is so much better. If its that kind of game Story missions tend to get you the most XP anyway. Now I am at the point where I have to complete some fortresses and the grind is starting to set in. I may just go do the DLC stuff and call it a game.

Hogendaz85 said:

This is why I never 100 percent anythjng I don't care and typically when the story is over I'm good on it and move on to the next one. Gaming shouldn't ever be a chore

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This is me, once the credits roll I'm done - and that's if I'm even interested enough to see the end credits.

Mostly my games come and go back to be part exchanged unless I'm enjoying the multiplayer

I'm with you OP. I usually move on right after i beat a game. Only downside is most games have trophy lists or whatever that make you look like you've hardly played it after beating it, ending up around 30% when you could have spent 30+ hours with it.

Gaming is different to different people, and different people all enjoy things differently. Your way of playing is not always fun for somebody else. Somebody else might just enjoy going through a list of games one at a time, in a specific order even. Somebody else might like getting 100% on a game.

My way of playing is more in line with how you play, but I don't see it as the ideal way of gaming, or what gaming "is".

I only play stuff that calls out to me. It's usually 4 or 5 games a year.

I do a lot of research and I always enjoy them.

Yup, way too much emphasis on grinding, unlocking, bullshit sense of progression, carrot on a stick crap and RnG fuckery.

Goldenroad said:

It took me about 20 hours to get to 40% completion in Shadow of War. This weekend I just said "fuck all these collectibles" and made it to 70% or so in 5 hours or so just focusing on the story and it is so much better. If its that kind of game Story missions tend to get you the most XP anyway. Now I am at the point where I have to complete some fortresses and the grind is starting to set in. I may just go do the DLC stuff and call it a game.

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I feel like most of these open world games are not designed to be 100%ed, as in, doing that is always a lot less fun than treating it like a buffet

Play the main story missions and then any side content/collectables you find enjoyable

If there is a type of side content you don't like, skip it

Obviously 100 hours of content with only 15-20 being story is going to leave you with a poor impression of the game, I mean, you'll have the plat, but you won't have had as much fun as someone who just blitzed the story and did a handful of side stuff they liked

I bought Horizon: Zero Dawn because of enthusiasm surrounding it. I didn't like it, asked around on if it had grown on anyone and how, ended up playing a little differently and really enjoyed it.

I really disliked Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Did the same and ended up having an OK experience with it.

When you put down $60 on a game you aren't so keen to abandon it. If there's supposed to be value in the experience then you might have the desire to find it.

So playing through a tedious part, or sticking with a game you aren't enjoying, can have merit. I do try to squeeze as much fun from an experience as I can, and that can often mean going through some tedium. I don't arbitrarily 100% games though.

I don't treat games like a slog, it helps. I treat books the same way a lot of the time, pulling out the one that fits my mood for the evening and just getting absorbed in it with no intention of finishing it, often not starting from the beginning.

Makes it hard to follow plots sometimes, but that's how I've enjoyed a lot of games nowadays.

I find it's more of a time thing with me not necessarily because I feel like I have to play the game fully. I have a lot of games in my backlog and I've made a list to play the next game based on how good it is, my favourite genre etc, it helps me keep track of quality of games I'm playing based on my favourite genres, mood etc. I enjoy playing almost every game when I get to them but I never try to 100% them unless I know for sure I'm gonna like doing it. such as Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen I platinumed because it was so fun and not a chore even though it took me 90 hours it was fun.

Right now I'm playing Spiderman and Dragon Quest XI both games I'm gonna 100% as both are excellent and fun to 100%. I know for a fact I'm gonna do that as they're really my type of game to fully enjoy and see everything.

On the other hand there's also Kingdom Come. Another fantastic game I like and playing right now but to 100% for trophies would take far too long and be tedious. Save scumming, playing in a gimped way etc....So I'm just gonna go through it and see as much of it as possible do as much side quests (as they're very good quality) but not go to the point where I'm obsessed with platinum as that will be a chore. That's when games stop becoming enjoyable.

Another recent example Star Ocean Last Hope Remaster on PS4. I beat this last month only got 40% of the trophies but I enjoyed my time with it, the rest of the trophies are extremely tedious and time consuming and you're looking at a 500 hour platinum, no thanks. Another one DMC2. Crappy game that I went through just with Dante and moved into DMC3 quickly after, no intention of playing it fully as it just wasn't a good game but still glad I beat it as it was only 4 hours or so long and wanted to see how it held up and the story etc.

If I had more time I'd play more games but not necessarily 100% them. I have a lot of good games in my backlog but simply not enough time so sacrifices have to be made in what I choose and what I fully complete when I choose the games. This way it doesn't feel like a chore and you still enjoy your favourites and if they're really fun and not tedious you can platinum them too.

Of course you make mistakes too occasionally and play a game you wait for to get better because everyone said it's good you wait and wait and it really doesn't and still sucks halfway. Then you wonder why you playing it still, we all done it. My recent example was Prey. Average game that went nowhere fast, yet I still beat it....because I dunno? I guess I figured I might as well. Was a waste of time and a mistake to but I make those choices much less often these days, having a list of good games to get through helps, not based on critical acclaim but your own preferences. Prey wasn't in my preference of games to play I picked it randomly not sure why and it turned out to be rather crap.

I think one of the main problems here is not only achievements, but also sales. People tend to impulse buy games on sales, even though they're not sure if they'll play the games or not. Which end up become their backlog.

For me, if I skip a game at launch I probably have little to no interest in it. The game being on sale a year later wouldn't change my mind. I'd rather spend $60 on games that I know that I'll fully enjoy than $10 games that I have to force myself to play.

Time is the most precious thing, don't waste it on games you don't enjoy.

I 100% a lot of games but only if I want to. If I'm not having fun I'll just stop and move on to another game. I still really like trophies/achievements. Just don't play for them.

You can certainly have fun with both the game and trophies/achievements.

oni-link said:

I feel like most of these open world games are not designed to be 100%ed, as in, doing that is always a lot less fun than treating it like a buffet

Play the main story missions and then any side content/collectables you find enjoyable

If there is a type of side content you don't like, skip it

Obviously 100 hours of content with only 15-20 being story is going to leave you with a poor impression of the game, I mean, you'll have the plat, but you won't have had as much fun as someone who just blitzed the story and did a handful of side stuff they liked

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Many open world games, especially recently with the rising prevalence of RPG mechanics, do require a lot of tedious busy work if you want to go through them on anything above easy. AC: Origins, for example, has a few pretty significant soft progress gates where you need to go out and do a bunch of samey side quests to progress. Then you've got games like Destiny 2 and God of War where the most interesting post-game content is either soft-locked or hard-locked behind grinding.

I've personally found that a lot of games have a difficulty system that is less "how challenging do you want this game to be" and more "how much tedious side content do you want to do to have a fair chance of survival." It's why I play games like Yakuza and AC: Origins on Easy; I'd much rather have a slightly less satisfying experience over one that requires me to needlessly grind to artificially get "better "at the game.

I don't think I've ever platinum'ed any game. I just play a game and enjoy it until I beat it then move on to the next one. I feel like I've always played and enjoyed games the way I've wanted and have rarely forced myself to play something I wasn't enjoying. If I get one but don't enjoy it I just cut my losses and trade it in for something I'm more certain I'll enjoy.

Some people like getting 100% in games and grinding.

Others are very young and don't have a lot of money to spend on games, so they feel obligated to play as much as possible of the game they bought, especially if it was a $60 game.

That's my guess anyway.

QueenOfHunting said:

my rule of thumb is gaming or a game isn't a checklist, no one needs a checklist of games to complete each year it changes nothing, play what you fancy or feel like, i have multiple games installed because at different times i feel like playing something else, at the same time im not ashamed at myself for dropping a game after a while even if i dont finish it, if i enjoyed that game for n hour or 5 im happy it accomplished what it needed too.

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Couldn't agree more. If I'm getting bored watching a TV series then I'll stop watching, so why not the same for games? Not gonna force myself to continue when I don't feel like it.

I did it with Horizon and I'll come back to that game when I feel like it.

BlueManifest said:

It's money thing for me, I don't want to spend 60$ on a game and stop playing after 1 - 3 hrs, I'll feel like I wasted it

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Are you buying Nintendo games? Because unless it's from Nintendo, you should ALWAYS wait for a sale on a game since I guarantee it'll have a 50% off sale less than a year after launch, usually with more content bundled in.

I definitely agree with you OP. It's one of the reasons why I don't 100% any game anymore if the content is not worth my time. I did that for like 2 games and I already got bores of it. A very recent example is Spider-man. The sidecontent is mostly repetitive busy work and I'm sure as hell not going to 100% that game.

never have, & never will understand the whole 'some games are just too long for me' thing. if you're continuing to enjoy yourself as you play, then what the hell does it matter how long the game is? :) ...

I prefer to relax and take in the world and characters. Maybe shoot some stuff and jump around too.

I don't really think you can assume that the people playing games the way you described are not having fun. As you said, people play games for all sorts of reasons, finding enjoyment out of making checklist for you video games should be one of them.

If you think someone is not having fun with a game because they didn't get the plat in one run then you're probably wrong. Sometimes, getting through the tough parts is where a lot of people find the most reward. Look at games like Super Meat Boy, or Celeste. I know it's not exactly the same, but my point is what seems like a chore to you might actually be enjoyable to someone else.

Greg Miller said in a recent podcast that he loves finishing a game and then immediately deleting it off of his system. I do the exact same thing and it's not because I was rushing to do so, it's more so I know I can move on to the next thing on my list, and I enjoy that.

Yep, I'm guilty of this. I tend to forget what gaming is all about and end up turning everything into a job.

Weeks ago I decided to go back to WoW and within days I turned everyhing into spreadsheets, timers and checkboxes. "Need to do this, this and this before the reset. Gotta kill x, y and z today. Now I'll wait since some world quests will reset in the next 20 minutes."

It wasn't fun anymore. I ended up buying Spider-man and Dragon Quest 11, and just cruising around killing monsters or doing random missions made me remember that I should be having fun.

Alienous said:

I bought Horizon: Zero Dawn because of enthusiasm surrounding it. I didn't like it, asked around on if it had grown on anyone and how, ended up playing a little differently and really enjoyed it.

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I had such a frustrating experience with Horizon. I could see a game I would really enjoy and, at times, I could even play it, but it was one of the very few 2D games to give me bad motion sickness and, as such, I couldn't actually go through it the way I wanted. It's perhaps one of the only times I've given up on a game for a reason other than "I can't be bothered anymore."

Brian Damage said:

Not to mention "Era, convince me to buy X".

Who says that about any other product? Why challenge people to convince you to spend money on something you currently have no interest in?

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I don't see that often, I see the more absurd "I just bought <game/series/entire console library>, are they worth playing?".

angelgrievous said:

I don't really think you can assume that the people playing games the way you described are not having fun. As you said, people play games for all sorts of reasons, finding enjoyment out of making checklist for you video games should be one of them.

If you think someone is not having fun with a game because they didn't get the plat in one run then you're probably wrong. Sometimes, getting through the tough parts is where a lot of people find the most reward. Look at games like Super Meat Boy, or Celeste. I know it's not exactly the same, but my point is what seems like a chore to you might actually be enjoyable to someone else.

Greg Miller said in a recent podcast that he loves finishing a game and then immediately deleting it off of his system. I do the exact same thing and it's not because I was rushing to do so, it's more so I know I can move on to the next thing on my list, and I enjoy that.

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Yeah as long as fun is being had then it's cool. I mean I have over 10,000 trophies and like them as milestones or doing something hard. But if it's frustrating, then it's buh-bye I'm moving on, that 89% completion bar isn't going to bother me.

Like for example, Final Fantasy IX is my favorite game, but I'll never attempt to get the platinum or even want to attempt because I like playing the game the way I want.

I play what I want for as long as I want, whether that's dropping GoW after 8 hours or playing 30+ hours of Star Traders.

QueenOfHunting said:

i also want to add everything i do is blind, i dont read reviews, i dont watch any streamers or that on twitch etc, every purchase i do is through me finding the game or threads heres and seeing it take my fancy, hell im one off those that buys games still on box art etc, seriously no lies here either, and frankly going by games i love i stick by my instinct,

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Me too! The last time I read a review was during the PS2 days lol I don't know any of these YouTube or Twitch personalities.

I would disagree but I'm sitting here once again trying to learn mahjong in a Yakuza game to get 100% and suffering for it.

Important to remember with the onslaught of new titles from now until February.

If something isn't to your liking after giving it a decent chance and a few attempts, do not feel bad about the purchase. Just don't finish it. It doesn't matter if it's a critical darling either. Time is more precious. Every game out there is competing for your time and attention. Find a game that you, personally, get enjoyment from.

I play multiplayer games with my friends almost every single night.

Gaming's never been more fun IMO.

Going for the platinum or 100% for the sake of it, to the point where fun is no longer part of the equation, is absolutely dumb to me.

Everyone have their dumb shit they like to pursue, glad that isn't one of mine.

Kyrios said:

Yeah as long as fun is being had then it's cool. I mean I have over 10,000 trophies and like them as milestones or doing something hard. But if it's frustrating, then it's buh-bye I'm moving on, that 89% completion bar isn't going to bother me.

Like for example, Final Fantasy IX is my favorite game, but I'll never attempt to get the platinum or even attempt because I like playing the game the way I want.

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Oh, I completely agree. I have so many games that I absolutely love and will never get a plat or 100% in, Final Fantasy XIV being a good example. I used to argue with people on another site that would not buy a game or not play a game because it either didn't have a platinum trophy or the platinum trophy was no longer obtainable. I don't argue with them anymore because if that's what they find enjoyment in then who am I to argue.

I know there are some folks out there that are probably afflicted with sort of compulsion to complete games to their fullest and is possibly not having any fun at all, and I think that deserves more than an ERA thread, but overall I don't think people are doing it for the "wrong" reasons.

Of course then you get muddy with creator intent issues and all that. I mean, do you fault someone for playing a game wrong? If so then how, or why?