Overly coddled by a game

[MBergman]

Hey Escapist

So I'm a bit late to the PS3 party and I'm just in the process of playing through Uncharted 3 after having finished the second one and though I'm enjoying the game as a whole, I've never before played a game that I've felt so coddled by.

It's not the difficulty that's the issue, I'm playing on hard and get killed a decent amount but I'm enjoying the challenge because I don't like being able to just walk through it. What really grinds my gears however is the way the game sometimes makes me skip certain bite. For example I was just playing this fairly tricky bit where there is an armoured truck with an machine gun up on a plateau firing down at me and lots of bad guys on the ground. So what I have to do is shoot out the supports of the plateau, causing the truck to fall, all the while the baddies on the ground do their best to kill me. So on the latest try I get farther than I did the times before, I didn't quite manage to blow all the supports just almost, but when the game reloads the truck in destroyed....

What the FUCK!?

It really annoys me to no end, I'd rather have my ass kicked a 100 times and then heroically succeed and hear the pretend cheers of women everywhere rather than feeling like the game feels sorry for me.

It's not the first time the game's made itself guilty of this either, since I'm enjoying the challenge it's really a major bloody buzzkill when the game just skips it alltogether.

Anyway, when was the last time you felt overly coddled by a game? Tell us about it in excruciating detail!

 

[BQE]

A little late to the party?

Sir, you've just about arrived at last call!

That seems like a pretty unsual situation to me. I haven't quite played a game that skipped difficult sections like that....hmmmmm, when I think about it further I believe something similar has happened in an action game I may have played; A portion where I failed and it reloaded AFTER the part where I died. I couldn't tell you what game it was, or even promise I have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about.

The only other thing I can think of is Devil May Cry's notorious "Would you like us to turn down the difficulty?"

 

[Daystar Clarion]

The only other thing I can think of is Devil May Cry's notorious "Would you like us to turn down the difficulty?"

Hell, that ain't even coddling.


That's basically the game saying 'Hmm, it appears your casual fucking arse can't handle such hardcore style, perhaps the pussy setting is more to your liking?'

Like a boss.

 

[MBergman]

A little late to the party?

Sir, you've just about arrived at last call!

Well, I've had the system but just a couple of games and it's been collecting dust more than anything lately. When I was in the States recently I took the oppurtunity to pick up a bunch of titles that slipped me by or I considered just kind of interesting. It's crazy cheap there compared to back home in Sweden.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think the first God of War offered to tone down the difficulty if you died enough times. Don't remember the phrasing though...
(I'm late at the PS3 party myself, welcome!)

 

[MysticSlayer]

Normally I don't mind BioShock's lack of losing progress every time I die. Even when they ended up giving the option to turn Vita Chambers off I ended up keeping them on.

However, I did come to rue the system in BioShock Infinite, especially during that point where you have to take down some airship and then jump off to grab onto a sky rail for an epic escape. Unfortunately, I missed the sky rail on my first attempt, and just when I was thinking, "OK, time to beat this thing and feel like a badass," the game decides to just put me back on the main platform and I hear Elizabeth saying, "Wow, Booker, that was incredible!" Talk about killing the excitement and creating a highly awkward scenario. Again, I don't mind losing progress in some cases, but for epic set pieces like that, you do not just assume I succeeded after I clearly failed!

Oh yeah, and Nintendo's option to become invincible or allow the game to beat the level for you is annoying. Of course, it is optional, but the dinging that goes on as it is trying to convince you to use the feature makes me wish I could turn it off entirely.

 

[Zhukov]

The XCOM Enemy Unknown tutorial was pretty terrible.

100% scripted. As in it forces you to make the exact moves it wants and all the hit/miss rolls are predetermined.

Just fucking give me control already!

 

[hazabaza1]

The XCOM Enemy Unknown tutorial was pretty terrible.

100% scripted. As in it forces you to make the exact moves it wants and all the hit/miss rolls are predetermined.

Just fucking give me control already!

To be fair, the genre could be new to a lot of people and a lot of stuff in that game could get... not complicated, but I guess obscure without some guidance for some.

OT: The 3D Mario on the 3DS. Watched my little brother play it for a bit, he loads into a level, dies once, they proceeds to jump off the edge to his death until the game goes "welp, guess I should give you a free pass to the next level."

They tried to balance that with the whole "get coins to progress" thing but that just made people like myself who played through legit more annoyance at having to replay most of the stages.

 

[Drummodino]

I was playing Ratchet Gladiator yesterday (the PS3 port is terrible by the way, don't buy it). Anyway I beat the game and elected to start challenge mode.

The game forces you to repeat the basic camera and walking tutorials again. Even in challenge mode. Fucking annoying.

 

[Lugbzurg]

I'm actually new to the PS3 party, myself. Or at least in the case of actually owning one.

Anyway, the only game I can think of that did anything like what you described was Chip's Challenge. Granted, this was a 1992 remake of a 1989 game*, but at least it shows you that this isn't anything new. Although, Chip's Challenge still had the decency of asking first! Yeah, if you died on a level too many times, it would ask you if you'd like to skip the entire level and just move on to the next one. It was stupid, but at least it asked first.

And hey, let's not forget the infamous Medal of Honor: Doorfighter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAp63J8ZsZU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOHyD49DaeA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Ew-awbsNw

*I have no idea if the original 1989 version did this or not.

 

[Queen Michael]

The parts in New Super Mario Bros. Wii where the game would play through a stage that's too hard for you to handle if you want. It goes a bit too far when a game basically has a "play the game for you" mode. Granted, there are probably children out there who are happy that they can get through that one stage that they had so much trouble with, because I remember when I was a kid and how awful that was, but I'd prefer extra items or something like that.

Then again, maybe I should just accept tje fact that I don't have to use that mode myself if I don't feel like it...

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Zelda Skyward Sword was coddling to the point of frustration. Every time the game re-showed a certain pick-up item going to a specific spot in my inventory, I sighed. "Look, I saw it the first time I picked up that item. I get it. Stop doing that!"

I've been a devoted Zelda fan since the beginning of the series, but if the next game in the series is as hand-holdy and we're-assuming-that-your-either-stupid-or-under-the-age-of-eight, I'm done with the series.

 

[j0frenzy]

Could've just been a bug where you triggered the destruction and then died so the game respawned you after that check point rather than deciding it was too hard for you. Bugs happen.

Normally I don't mind BioShock's lack of losing progress every time I die. Even when they ended up giving the option to turn Vita Chambers off I ended up keeping them on.

However, I did come to rue the system in BioShock Infinite, especially during that point where you have to take down some airship and then jump off to grab onto a sky rail for an epic escape. Unfortunately, I missed the sky rail on my first attempt, and just when I was thinking, "OK, time to beat this thing and feel like a badass," the game decides to just put me back on the main platform and I hear Elizabeth saying, "Wow, Booker, that was incredible!" Talk about killing the excitement and creating a highly awkward scenario. Again, I don't mind losing progress in some cases, but for epic set pieces like that, you do not just assume I succeeded after I clearly failed!

Oh yeah, and Nintendo's option to become invincible or allow the game to beat the level for you is annoying. Of course, it is optional, but the dinging that goes on as it is trying to convince you to use the feature makes me wish I could turn it off entirely.

BSI doesn't count falling off as death, which is rather nice considering the number of times I accidentally walked off the edge of something or misjudged a jump.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

While not a specific example, but a more general thing, I think any game that has a tutorial section should skip it, not just give an option to skip it, if you play on the hardest difficulty. Other games should skip the tutorial if you've beaten the game before. However, always provide a full map of the controls. I know I want to throw a grenade in that situation, but I'm not above looking up the damn button if I don't remember it anymore.

 

[MysticSlayer]

BSI doesn't count falling off as death, which is rather nice considering the number of times I accidentally walked off the edge of something or misjudged a jump.

Well, technically, the BioShock series as a whole doesn't have any form of actual death (not without making some changes in the options menu that is). Maybe Infinite counted you as dying if you got downed too many times, but I was always rescued by Elizabeth. Even the one time I was sent back to a checkpoint, none of my progress was lost.

Anyways, like I said, I don't mind it, but there does come a point where you need to recognize that it can kill the moment as well. Unfortunately, Infinite didn't fully recognize this. The first two games had their moments, but they seemed to be more random events the developers had no control over, not a set-piece that probably should have been left out due to its conflict with the death system in the game.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Call of Duty has become disgustingly ridiculously babyliciously easy. Last one I played was MW3, and god damn, you could probably beat that game without firing one bullet if you wanted to. Every mission was "FOLLOW THIS UNKILLABLE NPC WITH INFINITE BULLETS, HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO DO AT ALL TIMES!"

I'll admit CoD has always been pretty easy but at least it relied on you to do stuff. Now the whole game feels like the you're playing coop with someone who's already beat it.

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

I think the first God of War offered to tone down the difficulty if you died enough times. Don't remember the phrasing though...
(I'm late at the PS3 party myself, welcome!)

What was funny about that for me was the only time I actually died often enough for that to show up was some puzzle or platforming section, like the Hades levels near the end. Changing the difficulty didn't actually do anything to change those sections so it was pretty annoying when the game offered it.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

TES: Oblivion.

"So, you've chosen an illiterate Orc barbarian who solves all his problems with a double-handed axe as a character? Don't worry, you can still be Arch-Mage of the Arcane University! After all, we wouldn't want you to think that any of your character choices actually mean anything!"

>_<

EDIT - Also the whole "Please journey to the ruins of Whothefuckcares, an ancient ruin whose location is lost in the mists of time - btw, here are the exact GPS co-ordinates." thing.

 

[MBergman]

Could've just been a bug where you triggered the destruction and then died so the game respawned you after that check point rather than deciding it was too hard for you. Bugs happen.

I did occur more than once, that the game cleared and obstacle for me instead of me doing it. So it wasn't a bug, but I think you're right in what you're saying about checkpoints, the game was just far too generous in how it placed it's checkpoints, and registered a challenge as beat when it clearly wasn't, because of one reason or another. It didn't always to it mind you, many hard bits I had to clear all on my own. I do think the developer could have been stricter with how it placed some of the game's checkpoints however, because as they are now it's just frustrating.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

The only other thing I can think of is Devil May Cry's notorious "Would you like us to turn down the difficulty?"

Hell, that ain't even coddling.


That's basically the game saying 'Hmm, it appears your casual fucking arse can't handle such hardcore style, perhaps the pussy setting is more to your liking?'

Like a boss.

Screens like that should always come with 3 options.
"Yes, please, and I think I need a plaster"
"Whatevs, I'll get it this time"
"FUCK YOU, MAKE IT HARDER"

I can't stand it when a game mocks me. Instant beserker-mode.
I also can't stand games where you have to die to a boss. If there's a legit in-game reason why you can't kill them (like a bullshit-o-matic shield that needs a magical macguffin to bypass) okay, fine. If they're just supposed to be better than me.... FUCKING PROVE IT GAME.

"Oh, so this is the boss."
"Oh, he just transformed."
"Oh, he's bigger than a city."
"HAVE AT THEE, COWARD!"