Genres you?re intrigued by but could never really get into

[hanselthecaretaker]

Mine has always been RTS. Their premise sounds amazing, but to me the multitasking elements have always been a hurdle that?s ended up feeling like too much of a micromanaging chore to fully embrace. Maybe if I ever got to the point of learning all the hotkeys that could change, but it?s literally like an entire keyboard plus the augmented set or two of commands to really get the most out of it.

I?ve mostly dabbled in the C&C series, with the latest being Tiberium Wars. Someday I?d like to finish it; maybe if the mood strikes just right I?ll be determined enough to learn it properly and end up having a blast.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

MMORPGs or really any game that's basically a job. I kinda like the idea of getting heavily invested in a custom character, a story like WOW's, and having a group of friends who talk to almost every night.

Then I get so panicked at the idea of what a time commitment that is. I hear those horror stories of dudes with diapers playing for days on end, of parents hand feeding their 20 year olds who are basically comatose but play games, of streamers who literally shit themselves on stream to keep grinding. and I keep going back to the old ZP adage, its a second job you have to pay for. I don't like playing the same game for more than one week in a row, I can't imagine forgoing all other games and activities to play WOW classic long enough to become meaningful to a Guild. Hell even when I was super into WOW back in like...2005 I never got higher than 45. And I remember hearing once(not sure if true) that the time it takes to get from lvl60-lvl70 is the same time it takes to get from lvl1-lvl60. And that scares the hell out of me.

 

[CaitSeith]

Woah! Déjà vu! Although I don't remember well what I answered back then.

Usually multiplayer-only games. I like the trills and strategies of online multiplayer, but dislike to lose and not being able to go back to try again right away like in single-player (not to mention, some online comunities are pretty toxic and unenjoyable to deal with).

I have tried MMORPGs in the past, but I prefer to play alone so I didn't even joined guild or tried a raid.

 

[Xprimentyl]

JRPGs for me. I love how they look, i.e.: the sharp, clean fantasy often far removed from typical ?dungeons and dragons? you get stateside, but when it comes down to gameplay, they get too technical, convoluted and menu heavy. I played (and loved) Final Fantasy VIII, but I needed the guide basically from beginning to end. Final Fantasy XIII looked absolutely gorgeous, but I not only needed the guide, but even when I knew what to do, I was too busy navigating menus to appreciate the spectacle on the screen. I resolved that the genre, as much as I like to look at it, just isn?t for me; I?m not really ?playing? a game when I?m just going through the motions of a guide.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

in an incredibly selfish sort of way, kinda wish I could get into every type of game, as that would remove all the disappointment and negative experiences that add up to a fair amount of wasted time and indeed money. no need to think before purchase, just pick up the first trash on the shelf with the trashiest price and boom! a garunteed stretch of time where the brain isn't naturally gravitating focus towards the various methods and opportunities of escape. perhaps that would imply never getting bored at all, which seems like it would have other repercussions in life that may not be as useful?

but to be a more specific twatwaffler; team based multiplayer. and probably competitive fighters. would like to feel comfortable interacting with other strangers in games, but can't. lot of anxieties and stupid worries and inadequacies creep in from every direction they can like slithery tentacles of aggressive desolation. Dark Soulsbornes cooperative seems to avoid that festering nest of shame though. well, as long as the moments are relatively short, like boss cooperations. but the thoughts find a way eventually, persistent weeds. invasive tentacle weeds

 

[Elfgore]

Some of the really popular older RPGs of yesteryear. Gothic, Deus Ex, Arx Fatalis, and a lot of CRPGs. I really wanna play them because I hear they have fantastic stories to tell and cool world-building. Damn tho have they aged like shite. They're bad to look at, especially the CRPGs, and sometimes their gameplay is clunky as crap.

 

[Lufia Erim]

I like The idea of team based games like Overwatch and Smite. But barring having a dedicated team,i could never get into them. Playing with randoms suck. Usually they are toxic and ,quite frankly, pretty bad at the game(s).

I would love to play RTS games but:

a) There aren't (m)any on console

b) I can't micromanage to save my life.

I really like TBS games though.

 

[Voidrunner]

For me it's turn-based or real time strategy games, both of which I used to play a lot when I was younger, and still occasionally want to play out of nostalgia these days, but I just can't get back into them.

RTS games just make me panic now, because I feel like I'm not fast enough to keep up with all activity going on and any second now enemies are going to obliterate me. I even had an annoying dream about it once, where I keep loading and reloading a scenario in an RTS only get slammed by the computer AI army a few minutes in. Friends would turn up and give me advice but nothing worked.

Turn-based strategies don't make me panic as much, because I have time to think, but in those ones I tend to get baffled by menus and miss a million little details. It wasn't so bad in Total War Medieval 2, or in the last one I tried, Fall of the Samurai. But when I installed it the other day(Samurai) I was just uninterested and unwilling to play for more than five minutes. And Crusader Kings 2 just blows my mind, I can't get passed a single turn in that game, it's just baffling.

I still feel pangs about buying strategy games from time to time though, even though I know I'm terrible at them. Like Total War Three Kingdoms has my interest, because I love that time period, but I know I'd just get wrecked after a few turns so I don't waste the money.

 

[Dalisclock]

Grand Strategy games. I love them, or at least I used to, but the time commitment to learn and play is so intimidating. What makes it worse is that I'll buy Paradox GS games but considering I'm still stuck on a Crusader Kings 2 game that I haven't touched in 2 years it feels like a pointless endeavor. I really want to play Stellaris, which makes it even more annoying.

MMORPGs. I tried Everquest and City of Heros back in the day but never managed to hold my interesting for very long(I dropped EQ after a 3 month trial and CoH after a free 1 month trial). I loved the idea of the Secret World and if it were a Single Player game, I would have snatched it up in a heartbeat. Again, the time commitment is a massive factor here, but having to coordinate with randos is another big issue.

 

[Catfood220]

I'm going to say Soulsborne games, or any game that claims to be like that. And it comes down to time really. I only have a couple of hours a day to play so I need something I can get a sense of progress from. Something I can play for a couple of hours and then die and lose my progress completely saps my enthusiasm for it.

I got Demon's Soul's on the PS3 and was excited to play something that was going to kick my arse. It kicked my arse and I rage quit calling it bullshit and deleting it from my hard drive. I went back to it a couple of times, the last time I decided to use the guide and got a bit further into it, then I was prodded to death by a big bee or something and that was it. My fault, I should have healed, but at that point I was done with it and any game like it.

I tried Bloodborne when it was "free" on PS+ and I remember people saying that you have to be more aggressive while playing it. I tried being more aggressive and it splattered me all over the streets. Yeah, I literally do not have the time to play games like this. Which is a shame, I didn't hate my time with Demon's Soul's or the tiny bit of Bloodborne that I played, they are well made games. But again, I just don't have the time to play them. Maybe if I were younger.

 

[Hawki]

Probably MMOs.

I?ve mostly dabbled in the C&C series, with the latest being Tiberium Wars. Someday I?d like to finish it; maybe if the mood strikes just right I?ll be determined enough to learn it properly and end up having a blast.

Careful. After Tiberium Wars comes Tiberian Twilight...

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Probably MMOs.

I?ve mostly dabbled in the C&C series, with the latest being Tiberium Wars. Someday I?d like to finish it; maybe if the mood strikes just right I?ll be determined enough to learn it properly and end up having a blast.

Careful. After Tiberium Wars comes Tiberian Twilight...

Oh yes I?ve heard about the fall of the C&C series even though I haven?t been following the RTS scene. No, if I get hooked on them enough I?ll probably check out Iron Harvest next if it ends up being any good. Looks promisingly decent so far [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RMavHnT2ixI&t=1020] (17min. in if link doesn?t jump to it).

More info on the official game page [https://kingart-games.com/games/7-iron-harvest/game] for anyone interested.

 

[Worgen]

Whatever kind of game the total war series is. I don't think its quite grand strategy but its certainly not rts. I suppose just strategy. I've played 3 different total war games but haven't gotten into any of them enough to finish a campaign. I'll probably still get Total War:Warhammer 2 when it gets cheaper since Lizardmen, but I have a feeling it will end up like the other games. 8 hours played then never touched again.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

For me it's turn-based or real time strategy games, both of which I used to play a lot when I was younger, and still occasionally want to play out of nostalgia these days, but I just can't get back into them.

RTS games just make me panic now, because I feel like I'm not fast enough to keep up with all activity going on and any second now enemies are going to obliterate me. I even had an annoying dream about it once, where I keep loading and reloading a scenario in an RTS only get slammed by the computer AI army a few minutes in. Friends would turn up and give me advice but nothing worked.

Turn-based strategies don't make me panic as much, because I have time to think, but in those ones I tend to get baffled by menus and miss a million little details. It wasn't so bad in Total War Medieval 2, or in the last one I tried, Fall of the Samurai. But when I installed it the other day(Samurai) I was just uninterested and unwilling to play for more than five minutes. And Crusader Kings 2 just blows my mind, I can't get passed a single turn in that game, it's just baffling.

I still feel pangs about buying strategy games from time to time though, even though I know I'm terrible at them. Like Total War Three Kingdoms has my interest, because I love that time period, but I know I'd just get wrecked after a few turns so I don't waste the money.

Haha, yeah that's how I felt loading up my save one objective into the Croatia level of C&C: Tiberium Wars. I look up a gamefaq walkthrough or youtube clip and there are often comments like, "It's easy. Just do (continues to rattle off a three or four paragraph diatribe of instructions)."

I think the key to success with RTS seems to be learning as many hotkey commands as possible so that all you have to do with the mouse is literally direct traffic for all your stuff.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I think the key to success with RTS seems to be learning as many hotkey commands as possible so that all you have to do with the mouse is literally direct traffic for all your stuff.

IIRC, serious RTS competitors have a mental checklist and just tick off each thing in order as fast as they can. There's no strategy (at least when playing the game), just go through the correct series of motions as fast as possible.

EDIT: But yeah, hotkey mastery is important.

 

[BrawlMan]

Most Dynasty Warriors style games and its clones.
RTS
MMOs - Too expensive and not fun for me.
Realistics sports games
Open World/Sandobx games after GTA IV & Saints Row 2. There are identical to me at this point with minor variations.
COD in genreral.
WRPG/JRPG

 

[Dalisclock]

I'm going to say Soulsborne games, or any game that claims to be like that. And it comes down to time really. I only have a couple of hours a day to play so I need something I can get a sense of progress from. Something I can play for a couple of hours and then die and lose my progress completely saps my enthusiasm for it.

I got Demon's Soul's on the PS3 and was excited to play something that was going to kick my arse. It kicked my arse and I rage quit calling it bullshit and deleting it from my hard drive. I went back to it a couple of times, the last time I decided to use the guide and got a bit further into it, then I was prodded to death by a big bee or something and that was it. My fault, I should have healed, but at that point I was done with it and any game like it.

I tried Bloodborne when it was "free" on PS+ and I remember people saying that you have to be more aggressive while playing it. I tried being more aggressive and it splattered me all over the streets. Yeah, I literally do not have the time to play games like this. Which is a shame, I didn't hate my time with Demon's Soul's or the tiny bit of Bloodborne that I played, they are well made games. But again, I just don't have the time to play them. Maybe if I were younger.

If it makes you feel any better, Soulsborne isn't as hostile to you making progress as it's made out to be. Shortcuts opened stay open from that point on and can save you a lot of time on the next run. Levels don't go away once you've got them(and a number of the games allow respec), lanterns/bonfires lit stay lit and allow make it easier to move forward next time(and pretty much all of the games allow warping). Not to mention items stay in your inventory and most consumables are potentially infinite(as in you can always find or purchase more). The fact enemies always spawn in the same places and patrol the same routes helps skirt them if you really don't feel like fighting.

Also, coming from someone who played Dark Souls 1 and 2 before Bloodborne, the opening area still gave me a lot of trouble, up until the point I was able to open the first shortcut in central yarnhem after beating the cleric beast. I'm not sure if that makes you feel better but yeah, that area is rough.

 

[sXeth]

Pokemon. I enjoy turn based strategy and JRPG stuff, but yeah, none of them have ever clicked for me at all.

Battle Royales. Interesting concept, but they invariably just have too much of an RNG curve, and developers can't seem to resist throwing in that one option that outranges all others and is basically a win button because you can kill from out of any reliable vision range. Even Dying Light felt the need to toss the bows and guns in there (Which were in the base game, but just unhinge the balance in the BR mode).

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I'm going to say Soulsborne games, or any game that claims to be like that. And it comes down to time really. I only have a couple of hours a day to play so I need something I can get a sense of progress from. Something I can play for a couple of hours and then die and lose my progress completely saps my enthusiasm for it.

I got Demon's Soul's on the PS3 and was excited to play something that was going to kick my arse. It kicked my arse and I rage quit calling it bullshit and deleting it from my hard drive. I went back to it a couple of times, the last time I decided to use the guide and got a bit further into it, then I was prodded to death by a big bee or something and that was it. My fault, I should have healed, but at that point I was done with it and any game like it.

I tried Bloodborne when it was "free" on PS+ and I remember people saying that you have to be more aggressive while playing it. I tried being more aggressive and it splattered me all over the streets. Yeah, I literally do not have the time to play games like this. Which is a shame, I didn't hate my time with Demon's Soul's or the tiny bit of Bloodborne that I played, they are well made games. But again, I just don't have the time to play them. Maybe if I were younger.

If it makes you feel any better, Soulsborne isn't as hostile to you making progress as it's made out to be. Shortcuts opened stay open from that point on and can save you a lot of time on the next run. Levels don't go away once you've got them(and a number of the games allow respec), lanterns/bonfires lit stay lit and allow make it easier to move forward next time(and pretty much all of the games allow warping). Not to mention items stay in your inventory and most consumables are potentially infinite(as in you can always find or purchase more). The fact enemies always spawn in the same places and patrol the same routes helps skirt them if you really don't feel like fighting.

Also, coming from someone who played Dark Souls 1 and 2 before Bloodborne, the opening area still gave me a lot of trouble, up until the point I was able to open the first shortcut in central yarnhem after beating the cleric beast. I'm not sure if that makes you feel better but yeah, that area is rough.

Yeah, I?m pretty convinced that once people get past the opening couple of bosses in all SoulsBorne games they have what it takes to tackle the rest of the their challenges. It?s just that initially high learning curve that acts as a bigger gatekeeper than any fanatic defending the games? perceived difficulties. In all, I?d think most people would agree these games are pretty forgiving upon knowing what (and what not) to do. Definitely not as sadistic as something like Darkest Dungeon for example.

The majority of enemies for instance are basically just leveling/item fodder. If they were as tough as bosses or required defeating before progression to them, then that?d be a very different story and legitimate point of contention.

 

[Hawki]

Haha, yeah that's how I felt loading up my save one objective into the Croatia level of C&C: Tiberium Wars. I look up a gamefaq walkthrough or youtube clip and there are often comments like, "It's easy. Just do (continues to rattle off a three or four paragraph diatribe of instructions)."

I think the key to success with RTS seems to be learning as many hotkey commands as possible so that all you have to do with the mouse is literally direct traffic for all your stuff.

Oh boy, that mission's a doozy. It's kinda weird, because the mission after it is a pushover, and then we get another really tough one.

Hints I can give are:

*Don't take any risks with your base.

*With the MCV, don't rush it. Enemies shouldn't attack it straight away, so take your time in getting it to your base.

*Take out the Nod bases in the order of south, west, east.

Granted, it's been ages since I've played the mission, let alone the game, but that worked for me.