Any other quitters out there?

[HammR25]

That is one of the nice things about shooters. At least you can control the difficulty level even if I don't generally like shooters.

[AtticGamer]

I quit Devil May Cry because it was silly on hard. The camera would literally pull back and pan on the beautiful gate while I was mauled to death, fighting aimlessly off-camera.

 

Ratchet and Clank because it was boring and generic, specially the voices trying to sound cool.

 

Streets of Rage in hardest. I hate the cheap guy helping the boss as a distraction technique.

 

Sonic games (except 1,3 and Knuckles, Adventure). Impossible emeralds, cheap deaths and ranking system.

 

Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan. Again, made purposedly difficult.

 

Axelay. Enemy bullets that pass walls but mine can't? Stupidly small movement space with added enemies are a turn off.

 

Contra Hard Corps. Dying to learn boss patterns? Not for me.

 

BUT I FINISHED ZELDA II!

 

I tend to finish all games I buy but some are mistakes so I sell them.

Edited September 26, 2008 by AtticGamer

[kisrael]

I don't think the "sodomize yourself with a wire brush and die" is a useful way of talking.

 

It's useful if you want to give people a chuckle.

Ehh, I think it's bad karma, and not all high on the funny-o-meter, because it's just histrionics. Unless it was meant tongue in cheek, but I didn't get that feeling...

[kisrael]

There is a brand of "fun" that is facing a challenge that seems difficult, and then overcoming that challenge. It's a sense of satisfaction that you don't get if things are too blatantly easy.

That brand of 'fun' seems to be the only thing most video game game designers have known how to give us over the years. It seems many game designers can't imagine any other brand of fun and most gamers have been thoroughly flooded for so many years with that brand of 'fun' that it's hard for them to realize that they have been brainwashed into thinking that's what games are supposed to be like. They have video game Stockholm syndrome and they don't even know it.

It's a big enough game world that there are plenty of games that explore different types of challenge and fun.

 

And most mainstream games are getting SO much friendlier in terms of checkpoints and saves and reloads etc... compared to the bad old NES days or even the PS/N64 generation? Much, much less hostile.

[Atari5200]

I don't think the "sodomize yourself with a wire brush and die" is a useful way of talking.

 

It's useful if you want to give people a chuckle.

Ehh, I think it's bad karma, and not all high on the funny-o-meter, because it's just histrionics. Unless it was meant tongue in cheek, but I didn't get that feeling...

 

How would that not be funny unless you actually do that or know people that do that and found it offensive??? I don't know, I thought that line was funny.

[Atari5200]

Developers now a days I think have a hard time determining the line between fun and difficult. Most games now have difficulty options so I don't really think it's that bad, and for me, At least I got really good at video games over the years or the games today are much easier than those of the 16-bit era, but I had a lot of difficulty, and still do, with more of the older games than newer.

 

The thing I don't really get, and this comes down to the "fun and difficult" aspect, is shooters and realism. I understand a game is a game, and reality has to be skewed in order to make and complete the game. But with games like Call of Duty, you can take 150 bullets in ONE mission, and still live to fight another day, most shooters I play do not have health, you just sit there and you are fine after a few seconds. The games are fun....but there's really no challenge and I can breeze through most of these on standard difficulty pretty easily.

 

So far, I think this generation is doing a pretty good job for the most part when it comes to games and impossible difficulties, I don't think I've ran into a game that I quit because it was impossible to proceed due to difficulty, even GTA IV, I will die numerous times on a certain mission, but I will eventually get through, or I just skip it altogether, if I can, but it does get frustrating taking 15 times to figure out a stupid mission.

[Artlover]

Yell you what I'm thinking about quiting. Alone in the Dark.

 

I guess I like being kicked in the face or something, because I keep going back to try and finish it. Figured it would be easy with chapter skip, 'cept you can only skip so far, then are required to play specific missions towards the end in order to gain a specific level of spectral power. Problem is, once you unlock spectral power, all the rules of the game change. Killing zombies becomes like 17.24 billion times more difficult and ammo/health spray/flammable liquids mostly vanish of the face of the earth. So you're left to kill zombies by beating them with a glow stick trying to hit their weakspot of a very small glowing scar with your eyes closed.

 

(You suck Atari. How in the hell did you idiots ever begin to think this was a good game {or even finished}? You've created the 2008 version of 2600 ET & Pac-man. Hope this game kills you off again just like they helped do back then. Big giant hell zombie willie up all the asses of everyone who had anything to do with the creation of this steaming pile of pathetically horrible unpolished and unplayable monstrosity.)

 

I don't think the "sodomize yourself with a wire brush and die" is a useful way of talking.

It's useful if you want to give people a chuckle.

Ehh, I think it's bad karma, and not all high on the funny-o-meter, because it's just histrionics. Unless it was meant tongue in cheek, but I didn't get that feeling...

How would that not be funny unless you actually do that or know people that do that and found it offensive??? I don't know, I thought that line was funny.

You see, it goes back to when he was young and his family was poor, and his dad sweated and slaved in a wire brush factory trying to scrape together enough just to support their eating garbage and living in a refrigerator box. So the mention of wire brushes brings back bad memories for him. Especialy since the only toilet paper they had were the rejects his dad brough home.

Edited September 26, 2008 by Artlover

[Paranoid]

Halo 2 lost my interest. But I've finished both 1 and 3, and neither seemd difficult to me.

 

Almost all ofl the Quake, Doom, Duke Nuke 'Em, etc. type FPS series I've completed.

 

I've completed almost all of the GTA series games except for the odd ones in between...

 

The only FRP I am certain I have completed were Wastelands and Fallout. I don't think I've ever made it all the way through any Fantasy type FRP, though. They always get unreasonably hard... either super complex puzzles or outrageous bosses or whordes of minions or, best of all, a completely frustrating combo of all 3.

[kisrael]

[How would that not be funny unless you actually do that or know people that do that and found it offensive??? I don't know, I thought that line was funny.

You see, it goes back to when he was young and his family was poor, and his dad sweated and slaved in a wire brush factory trying to scrape together enough just to support their eating garbage and living in a refrigerator box. So the mention of wire brushes brings back bad memories for him. Especialy since the only toilet paper they had were the rejects his dad brough home.

Nah, I don't mean "THAT'S NOT FUNNY" in the sense of "this might be offensive to someone, and so is inappropriate humor material",(tho there is some of that) I mean it's just, not funny.

This may have been "intended as humorous", but I mean, it's not much a joke, is it? Did you laugh, or even grin?

 

Artlover's response here was a bit funnier, playing with a few ideas that came before.

 

See, humor that has an agenda, like RT's feeling that games are So Darn Difficult, has to work harder to actually be funny, because other wise its mission, in this case, emphasizing the idea that game difficulty is out of control, is too obvious. But just randomly throwing in wire brush sodomy... you need to set that up to bring that out and be funny. Or you need to tie it in to what came before.

 

Something like "designers who think "difficulty = more play time = better game" should have their eyelids propped open with toothpicks and be forced to play NES Ninja Gaiden until they get to the end without losing a life" would have been a bit funnier (still not that great) 'cause like Artlover's response, it ties into other relevant elements, and the punishment would fit the crime.

 

So call me some mushy old hippy, but graphic suggestions of hypothetical violence should be used more sparingly, just for the general sake of human compassion. (dunno about wire brushes, but wikipedia about Abner Louima and then try to be funny about probably-well-meaning game designers )

 

PS it's kind of like how saying LOL to things you weren't actually LOLing at, but just to chucklingly agree with the original poster, ruined it for everyone

[Atari5200]

well there's lol and then there's LOL, and for those crazy enough...ROFL.

[+Random Terrain]

[How would that not be funny unless you actually do that or know people that do that and found it offensive??? I don't know, I thought that line was funny.

You see, it goes back to when he was young and his family was poor, and his dad sweated and slaved in a wire brush factory trying to scrape together enough just to support their eating garbage and living in a refrigerator box. So the mention of wire brushes brings back bad memories for him. Especialy since the only toilet paper they had were the rejects his dad brough home.

Nah, I don't mean "THAT'S NOT FUNNY" in the sense of "this might be offensive to someone, and so is inappropriate humor material",(tho there is some of that) I mean it's just, not funny.

This may have been "intended as humorous", but I mean, it's not much a joke, is it? Did you laugh, or even grin?

 

Artlover's response here was a bit funnier, playing with a few ideas that came before.

 

See, humor that has an agenda, like RT's feeling that games are So Darn Difficult, has to work harder to actually be funny, because other wise its mission, in this case, emphasizing the idea that game difficulty is out of control, is too obvious. But just randomly throwing in wire brush sodomy... you need to set that up to bring that out and be funny. Or you need to tie it in to what came before.

 

Something like "designers who think "difficulty = more play time = better game" should have their eyelids propped open with toothpicks and be forced to play NES Ninja Gaiden until they get to the end without losing a life" would have been a bit funnier (still not that great) 'cause like Artlover's response, it ties into other relevant elements, and the punishment would fit the crime.

 

So call me some mushy old hippy, but graphic suggestions of hypothetical violence should be used more sparingly, just for the general sake of human compassion. (dunno about wire brushes, but wikipedia about Abner Louima and then try to be funny about probably-well-meaning game designers )

 

PS it's kind of like how saying LOL to things you weren't actually LOLing at, but just to chucklingly agree with the original poster, ruined it for everyone

You want that much thought to go into a quick post in a forum about gaming when you can't even get most people to use a free spell checker?

 

Besides that, the wire brush sodomy wasn't randomly thrown in. There was something that came before . . . in the same sentence:

 

Unless I'm in the mood to fight with a game, I quit if I get to a part I hate and I can't cheat my way past it. It's an F-ing game. It's supposed to be fun. I don't want a time limit. I don't want to die 5,000 times to memorize the exact dance steps it takes to get to the next level. I'm not the game designer's puppet. He is my puppet. Make a game that I will like. Make a game that is fun. If you refuse to do that and get a sick thrill out of trying to punish me for wanting to have fun playing a game that I paid good money for, you can go sodomize yourself with a wire brush and die, you piece of human filth.

Notice the sick thrill part? Many game designers act, or at least used to act like malicious bastards who got a sick thrill out of punishing players and making them perform the most idiotic, frustrating, pull your hair out, kill the family dog in anger kind of feats, but many players would keep plugging away to get that little pat on the head no matter how bad the games made them feel. Reminds me of a schoolyard bully making the weaker kids do the most humiliating things and they'd do it to avoid a beating, but they'd also get some kind of sick, twisted approval from the bully.

 

Joke or not, many game designers deserve a wire brush or maybe even a rabid porcupine up the ass for what they have been doing to players over the years.

[kisrael]

You want that much thought to go into a quick post in a forum about gaming when you can't even get most people to use a free spell checker?

??? Spelling errors, when not pervasive, aren't that big a deal. It's a casual medium, as long as the meaning is clear without too much work or distraction on part of the reader, no big deal. I catch myself on homonym and weird pseudo-dyslexic errors all the time. I'm sure there are many I miss, no big deal.

 

Annoying, maybe, but not inhumane on the scale of graphic images of torture.

Besides that, the wire brush sodomy wasn't randomly thrown in. There was something that came before . . . in the same sentence:

Unless I'm in the mood to fight with a game, I quit if I get to a part I hate and I can't cheat my way past it. It's an F-ing game. It's supposed to be fun. I don't want a time limit. I don't want to die 5,000 times to memorize the exact dance steps it takes to get to the next level. I'm not the game designer's puppet. He is my puppet. Make a game that I will like. Make a game that is fun. If you refuse to do that and get a sick thrill out of trying to punish me for wanting to have fun playing a game that I paid good money for, you can go sodomize yourself with a wire brush and die, you piece of human filth.

Notice the sick thrill part? Many game designers act, or at least used to act like malicious bastards who got a sick thrill out of punishing players and making them perform the most idiotic, frustrating, pull your hair out, kill the family dog in anger kind of feats, but many players would keep plugging away to get that little pat on the head no matter how bad the games made them feel. Reminds me of a schoolyard bully making the weaker kids do the most humiliating things and they'd do it to avoid a beating, but they'd also get some kind of sick, twisted approval from the bully.

You were serious about the "Sick Thrill" part?

besides, don't attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. I bet the cases of this being deliberate power games are FAR fewer than just a game maker being clumsy.

 

Besides, even if Baron Von Tuffgame was sitting in his lair, rubbing his hands giggling to himself "haha this is going to REALLY frustrate them"... I STILL wouldn't think shove sharp implements up his ass was an appropriate reaction.

 

Either learn to create appropriate emotional boundaries between you and the game or grow a pair and deal with the level of challenge the designer thought was appropriate.

 

The game design is not your puppet, anyway. You put down your $50. You got what was in the box. You put the time into it you find rewarding. You're free to walk away. Most people can play and enjoy and even get deeply involved in games without seeing it as a puppet/puppeteer scenario. Until you're paying the VC for your own game company, then you can dictate. (You do make a stronger case for the use of FAQs and cheating devices.)

[moycon]

I thought it was funny. In the end if only one person gets it, and has a chuckle...it's "useful"

But wait.... more people than just I thought it was funny??

The issue here might not be RT's statement. The issue might be kisrael's sense of humor?

 

I realized that these days I tend to finish games more than I ever did before.

I think it probably has to do with the achievments, many of which include one for finishing a game.

More often than not now I'll see a game through to the end....as long as it's on the Xbox 360.

I have a pile of games for the PS3 and Wii...and I haven't played through even one of that pile.

 

This includes games like Zelda, Folklore, Uncharted, Elebits, etc...all great great games for sure.

[Atari5200]

You want that much thought to go into a quick post in a forum about gaming when you can't even get most people to use a free spell checker?

 

??? Spelling errors, when not pervasive, aren't that big a deal. It's a casual medium, as long as the meaning is clear without too much work or distraction on part of the reader, no big deal.d

 

 

Yeah tell that to I think, Moycon? Who got blasted by Wii-fanboys for typo'ing a name of a game wrong. It was crazy how people reacted to a simple typo.

[kisrael]

I thought it was funny. In the end if only one person gets it, and has a chuckle...it's "useful"

Alright, true; but the utility of someone having a chuckle has to be weighed against the hippy karma stuff, the unpleasantness of the visualization in people's minds, the general sense of compassion, and maybe most importantly from a rhetorical point of view, save that kind of imagineering for times you really need it. (Though RT seems to be taking this stuff way more seriously than I would find appropriate, in this who puppety psychological warfare game-designer-as-bully thing)

 

But wait.... more people than just I thought it was funny??

The issue here might not be RT's statement. The issue might be kisrael's sense of humor?

One man's Woody Allen is another man's Carrot Top I guess.

(I just have higher standards for my sodomy jokes, besides humor is more of an aristocracy rather than a democracy)

I realized that these days I tend to finish games more than I ever did before.

I think it probably has to do with the achievments, many of which include one for finishing a game.

More often than not now I'll see a game through to the end....as long as it's on the Xbox 360.

I have a pile of games for the PS3 and Wii...and I haven't played through even one of that pile.

 

This includes games like Zelda, Folklore, Uncharted, Elebits, etc...all great great games for sure.

Now, from a psychological point of view, and a game-companies-manipulating-gamers, THAT'S interesting -

you just clearly stated, it's the achievements that are enticing you to play a game for longer than you otherwise would!

What do you get for an achievement? Money? Fame? Nope! (AFAIK) - just a more quantified feeling of satisfaction (that admittedly creates kind of a 'narrative' about the games you've played) and a status number that probably mostly only your gaming buddies see!

 

I think it is good to isolate why you play games, though... for me, it is somewhat that sense of satisfaction for doing things that seem impressive (even as games get easier and easier to slog through), but mostly it's about experiencing new virtual interactions, seeing what the game has to offer that I haven't seen before, whether it's a new mode of physics, new play input device, new kind of boss, etc etc. A good story and cut scene can help as well.

Edited September 26, 2008 by kisrael

[Tempest]

The only game in recent memory that I quit on was Mega Man X6 on the Mega Man X collection. I just found the game waaay too frustrating and since I had just played 5 other Mega Man X games before it, I wasn't in the mood to screw with it anymore. I never did go back and beat that one, but I may give it another shot.

 

Tempest

[+remowilliams]

Yeah tell that to I think, Moycon? Who got blasted by Wii-fanboys for typo'ing a name of a game wrong. It was crazy how people reacted to a simple typo.

Ahh, the famous Mack and Zicki debacle!

[moycon]

Yeah tell that to I think, Moycon? Who got blasted by Wii-fanboys for typo'ing a name of a game wrong. It was crazy how people reacted to a simple typo.

Ahh, the famous Mack and Zicki debacle!

 

It was Mack and Hicky I think.

 

I think the real issue here is kisrael is bitter because he didn't get a chuckle out of RT's statement.

I'm thinking this is probably because kis has a more refined sense of humor than some of us.

I have come up with the solution to give kis a chuckle!!

 

Here ya go kisrael, I'm pretty sure you'll find this a REAL hoot!!

 

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/much_ado/full.html

 

What do you get for an achievement? Money? Fame? Nope!

 

I have gotten a free retail game and free arcade game, free MS points, and a free T-shirt for achievements. No money though.

Fame? What sort of fame do you mean? The kind where people shower you with money and follow you around with camera's? No that hasn't happened. I have had other people, friends on my friends list, and even sometimes complete strangers, PM me, and make comments to me, congratulate me, or ask me questions about getting particular achievements. I dont know if thats fame, it is something though eh?

So there ya go.

 

I will agree achievements seem to make me stick to a game longer than I have in the past.

Edited September 26, 2008 by moycon

[+Random Terrain]

Besides, even if Baron Von Tuffgame was sitting in his lair, rubbing his hands giggling to himself "haha this is going to REALLY frustrate them"... I STILL wouldn't think shove sharp implements up his ass was an appropriate reaction.

The next time I feel like shoving something up the ass of an evil game designer, I'll be sure to consult you first so the object will be appropriate.

 

 

Either learn to create appropriate emotional boundaries between you and the game or grow a pair and deal with the level of challenge the designer thought was appropriate.

Or people can grow a pair and stop being the playthings of malicious game designers and just stop buying their games. Think of all of the extra money and time people will save.

 

 

The game design is not your puppet, anyway. You put down your $50. You got what was in the box. You put the time into it you find rewarding. You're free to walk away. Most people can play and enjoy and even get deeply involved in games without seeing it as a puppet/puppeteer scenario. Until you're paying the VC for your own game company, then you can dictate. (You do make a stronger case for the use of FAQs and cheating devices.)

Are you trying to say that the game designer is not my puppet? Most game designers have treated us like we're their puppets for many years and it's about time they understand that if anyone is supposed to be the puppet, it's the game designer. If a game designer wants to make a product that I'll want to buy, he better be my 'puppet' to some extent. He's making the game for me, not for his ego or the sick pleasure he gets from torturing players, so he better focus on me or her or him and pull his head out of his ass so I won't have to have a meeting with you about what I should shove up there.

Edited September 26, 2008 by Random Terrain

[kisrael]

I think the real issue here is kisrael is bitter because he didn't get a chuckle out of RT's statement.

I'm thinking this is probably because kis has a more refined sense of humor than some of us.

I have come up with the solution to give kis a chuckle!!

 

Here ya go kisrael, I'm pretty sure you'll find this a REAL hoot!!

 

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/much_ado/full.html

Eh, a little dry for my taste.

 

Hmm...OK, let's try it the other way...

 

...I HATE HENRY PAULSON SO MUCH I WANT TO ASS RAPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

 

nope, sorry, didn't work for me either :(

(and i CAPSLOCKED and tried to make it politically relevant and everything )

What do you get for an achievement? Money? Fame? Nope!

 

I have gotten a free retail game and free arcade game, free MS points, and a free T-shirt for achievements. No money though.

Fame? What sort of fame do you mean? The kind where people shower you with money and follow you around with camera's? No that hasn't happened. I have had other people, friends on my friends list, and even sometimes complete strangers, PM me, and make comments to me, congratulate me, or ask me questions about getting particular achievements. I dont know if thats fame, it is something though eh?

So there ya go.

 

I will agree achievements seem to make me stick to a game longer than I have in the past.

HEY YOU TOOK OUT MY "AFAIK" DISCLAIMER!

That would be, indeed, a little bit of fame, and maybe worth sticking with stuff, so I stand somewhat corrected.

 

How many achievements do you need for that kind of stuff???

[Atari5200]

this whole thread is funny

[kisrael]

Besides, even if Baron Von Tuffgame was sitting in his lair, rubbing his hands giggling to himself "haha this is going to REALLY frustrate them"... I STILL wouldn't think shove sharp implements up his ass was an appropriate reaction.

The next time I feel like shoving something up the ass of an evil game designer, I'll be sure to consult you first so the object will be appropriate.

GOOD BECAUSE I AM AGAINST ASS RAPE.

 

Either learn to create appropriate emotional boundaries between you and the game or grow a pair and deal with the level of challenge the designer thought was appropriate.

Or people can grow a pair and stop being the playthings of malicious game designers and just stop buying their games. Think of all of the extra money and time people will save.

One guy's go-home-and-cry-to-mommy-and-write-about-plotting-sodomy impossibly frustrating task is another guy's engaging challenge. And I'm not all that in favor of challenge for its own sake! I just recognize that my views of game design aren't universal.

 

The game design is not your puppet, anyway. You put down your $50. You got what was in the box. You put the time into it you find rewarding. You're free to walk away. Most people can play and enjoy and even get deeply involved in games without seeing it as a puppet/puppeteer scenario. Until you're paying the VC for your own game company, then you can dictate. (You do make a stronger case for the use of FAQs and cheating devices.)

Are you trying to say that the game designer is not my puppet?

Um, yes?

Most game designers have treated us like we're their puppets for many years and it's about time they understand that if anyone is supposed to be the puppet, it's the game designer. If a game designer wants to make a product that I'll want to buy, he better be my 'puppet' to some extent. He's making the game for me, not for his ego or the sick pleasure he gets form torturing players, so he better focus on me or her or him and pull his head out of his ass so I won't have to have a meeting with you about what I should shove up there.

they're not making games for you, they're making games for an audience. If you choose to be part of it, great, if not, go screw.

And I think you great overestimate the "ego and sick pleasure" bit they're getting.

[Artlover]

One man's Woody Allen is another man's Carrot Top I guess.

Apples & oranges. Carrot top is funny. Woody, when he's not buying underage girls from their parents, just makes you want to scrape your brain out of your skull when he tries to act in what he thinks to be comedy. He's right up there with ratpack wanna be Jerry Lewis on the unfunny scale.

 

Yeah tell that to I think, Moycon? Who got blasted by Wii-fanboys for typo'ing a name of a game wrong. It was crazy how people reacted to a simple typo.

Ahh, the famous Mack and Zicki debacle!

Sandpaper condoms. Get your sandpaper condoms.

 

...I HATE HENRY PAULSON SO MUCH I WANT TO ASS RAPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

 

nope, sorry, didn't work for me either :(

Try making a coherent statement. You kinda just left it hanging midstream. You needed to specify atleast what you want to ass rape. Your dog? Your car? And with what? An umbrella, your willy, an ardvark.

 

It wasn't funny because it was just you "trying" to be sarcastic in an incomplete manor.

[+Random Terrain]

They're not making games for you, they're making games for an audience. If you choose to be part of it, great, if not, go screw.

And it seems that audience is often an imaginary one made up of people from another galaxy. "Conform to my game. Rearrange your body parts to fit the new controller that I created especially for this game. This game was made for an audience that has fingers on their foreheads and eyes where their nipples should be. If you don't fit the profile, you're not part of my target audience, so go jump off a building, you F-ing loser."

[Wickeycolumbus]

I cant beat one of the last bosses in Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga and havent played it for over a year. Hopefully I will get around to it sometime...