The "How to Enjoy" Thread

video games
43

https://i.imgur.com/xluaviH.png

reposting this here. Here‘s the Japanese Sonic cover’s instructions for “How to Enjoy”

44

@seasons#28813 Did you try? My suggestion is to try and remember they‘re not Civ games, they have no win states and you should not feel obliged to play to the end cause, well, nothing happens at the end, the game just stops. I’d suggest looking up basic concepts - what‘s a casus belli? what’s a demesne? - but then just playing. Both CK2/3 and EUIV have a couple of suggested scenarios to play for beginners, with pretty clear early goals that nudge you in the right direction. In CK, start small: pick a duke somewhere on the outskirts (Ireland, Scandinavia) and try and form a kingdom. In EUIV, start with Castile, Sweden or Japan. Don‘t feel overwhelmed by the mechanics cause most of them are not essential: you can get very far with just knowing how to form alliances and wage war. Don’t be afraid to save scum, though you will be fucked over by the simulation sometimes and that's just how it is.

45

This feels kinda ridiculous, but I picked up that Mario 3d package before they took it off eshop, and I've been playing a bit of 64.

I just have a hard time with how slippery and slidey all the physics are. I'm mostly used to it in the 2d marios, but it's not my favorite there.

I've only gotten the first star and fought the bomb guy

46

@Thanatos#30022 I've only played it in handheld, once with the stock joy con stick once with the Hori Split Pad

47

@Thanatos#30022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZBsV6dExZc

This is too long and I don't remember exactly what the details are, but I believe after some thorough testing these people confirmed there is significant input delay for all ported versions of M64.

@dylanfills#30019 Furthermore the Switch's sticks being full-360 makes some sections harder to control--with an N64 or GC controller the eight notches on the side make it easier to play in concert with the terrible camera. I wish I had better advice than "get a different controller."

I did have a fun enough time with it on the Wii (playing with a Gamecube controller). For years I'd tried to play it and it never really felt right; I don't have any concrete advice but maybe just put it down and come back to it another time if it isn't working for you.

48

Is it possible to play SM64 with the Gamecube adapter on Switch?

49

@christoffing#30358 They added GC support for Sunshine but not 64, unfortunately

50

@Thanatos#30385 I do feel it still requires more precision play than any subsequent 3D Marios do (excepting specific challenge levels); it‘s definitely a harder game. It’s jarring on one hand but paradoxically natural on the other to play it following Sunshine and the Galaxies because of that demand for greater control on the player's part.

51

I can explain this phenomenon quite thoroughly, but first we’re going to have to talk about parallel universes…

52

Try playing Mario 64 with a D-Pad on Nintendo DS (don't)

54


55

@seasons#28813 late seeing this but will add my 2 cents - I like the games more for the history detail and imagination material than for being “good games” in a design sense. So I sort of approach them like I would educational software like Oregon trail where you mess around with history stuff and experience/influence a narrative


56

Any suggestions for Baldur’s Gate 1/2? I just bought the switch enhanced editions, and I want to do my best to not bounce off. I’m preparing to do some heavy manual reading and to get myself into as much of a RP mindset as I can, but does anyone have any other tips? Should I just skip 1 into 2 or give 1 a honest shot first? Thanks for any thoughts!

57

  • - How I learned to enjoy FFXII: It is not a “single player mmorpg”, it is a D&D tabletop simulator, dude.

  • - How I learned to enjoy FFX: It is not like the FF's I enjoy, but it is actually legitimately funny at times, and a masterwork of Japanese AAA game development.
  • - How I learned to enjoy Kingdom Hearts: There was only ever 1 Kingdom Hearts game. It was a niche experiment that sold very few copies but garnered a cult appreciation for what it did to push the Action RPG medium. It never really took off, though, and fell to obscurity, along with its spiritual predecessors from Square: Livealive, SMRPG, and Seiken Densetsu. The story is a vague expression and metaphor for pre-teen feelings. The unlockable secret teaser at the end had a cool, hollywood bombast feeling to it, but I'm glad the sequel was never made because it would have been unbearable.
  • - How I plan on enjoying Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on actual GBA hardware: Wow, one of the few original Squaresoft games for GBA!
  • - How I plan on enjoying Kingdom Hearts II:
    • 58

    @MDS-02#31001 The one thing that really helped me with Baldur‘s Gate was to see all non-critical content as something that enriches the world, giving it depth and life, rather than sidequests that must be methodically cleared if you want to claim you’ve truly seen and done it all. There's opportunity and intrigue around every corner, but that just makes the setting a wonderful and unpredictable place to spend your time, not an overwhelming checklist.

    (Apologies if this is all very obvious and not your issue at all)
    (Oh! And don't be afraid to adjust the battle difficulty to suit your tastes)

    59

    @MDS-02#31001 i tried 1 several years back and found it extremely difficult, like just getting mowed down by enemies. eventually stopped playing but nowadays think i‘d probably consult a guide. haven’t played many western RPGs so maybe just not familiar with the genre conventions

    60

    @Kimimi#31970 This is how I play any RPG, and I feel strongly that they should be designed to facilitate that rather than making it unwise from a gameplay perspective to ignore sidequests. Hell, even achievements tied to stuff like clearing x percent of sidequests are irritating design to me.

    61

    THIS thread was really where I needed to voice my sticking points with Elden Ring to get the kind of input I am hoping for. (e.g. “Yeah you're not crazy, but I think about it this way and that works for me.”) These comments are not about “game good game bad” but rather “game +me = bad, why game + you = good?” and understanding what the differences are.

    TLDR: Got pretty far in ER and burnt out, would like a mindset shift, details to follow.

    Now that I've hashed it out a bit elsewhere ([here](https://forums.insertcredit.com/d/1417-the-insert-credit-neighborhood-mcdonalds-general-videogame-news-discussion/51) and [here](https://forums.insertcredit.com/d/1417-the-insert-credit-neighborhood-mcdonalds-general-videogame-news-discussion/68), I think I can articulate this a bit more clearly.

  • - I had a blast for 85+ hours, when I was frustrated by something I went and found something else to do, overcame most stuff.

  • - I played it kind of like Dark Souls 2 in that I mostly drew enjoyment out of getting wacky stuff and trying it out, plus the "oh woah that's a cool new zone / vista" and a little "woo my build is kinda cheesey and it worked out"
  • - I also kept close eyes on item descriptions and did what I could to make some mental models of who wanted what where and why, perhaps more so than I did in past souls entries, because I haven't ever really successfully extracted a compelling story understanding from one of these games from the 'playing' part.
  • - I didn't look anything up initially, except to check whether I would ever get a payoff spell-wise for >!going hard arcane, the way bloodborne did (which is my favorite souls experience I've had). The arcane at least enhanced the drops I was getting.!<
  • - I mostly was trying not to be upending the 'vanilla' directions given in the story, to just see what that would lead to. I thus didn't do things like >!initially accept the volcano manor lady's request!<, because it seemed like saying yes to certain dialogues would put me on the 'bad' track as is typical in many games. - perhaps this is an incorrect approach and I should just say yes to whatever and just let things happen - I didn't do this because I already felt a bit too much like a "person holding a weapon at all times" in that world and wanted to be thoughtful as much as the game suggested and permitted.
  • - I really enjoyed the look of the orange spell folks, and hence tried to figure out how to engage with the associated key items, but couldn't because I had just missed the first instance of talking with the associated NPC. - perhaps here is an intervention point where I need to have no expectation of myself to really be able to guarantee follow through a particular strand without external reference.
  • - This left me feeling like "yeah, even if you really try to engage in this game, you're gonna be unable to, OR you have to sink the time wandering back and forth looking for a person somewhere, OR you just should look it up. I didn't do the third option until my breaking point, where I had spent a few evenings wandering around trying to accomplish something, but not succeeding, and ultimately just not having a great time. At that point, I also had pretty much assembled enough different combat pieces I enjoyed and was satisfied with that side content wasn't too motivating, since I liked what I had.
  • - The places I ended were (about level 90): 1) >!I could go do the requests from the volcano lady to get into that castle - but I've already looked that up and know that I can technically skip those by just 'no horse ahead' in a specific room!< 2) >!Inside Leyndell somewhere, needing to slog through multiple big knights or fight one of those meaty worms in a side alley (probably other side paths there too that I haven't gone down - was rather toasted once I was in there)!< or 3) >!beat the double gargoyles on the end of the second entrance to the underground - helped my friend beat them but for whatever reason he couldnt connect to me to help me out afterwards, so I know that there isn't some whole nother thing after that!<.
  • - With #2 , I felt a bit spurned by encountering the same enemies in a place that felt like oughta been hot n new n shiny given its location (and was initially with those >!tooters!<) - perhaps here is where I could use a re-framing so my mind doesn't just see it as "these enemies are nearly visually identical, are scaled up, and maybe have a couple different movesets that are designed to jack with your previous learning" (which I struggled to not just feel jerked around by)
  • - Broadly, I felt rather *compelled* to play when I was into it, more so than with any other souls game, which I think was partly due to the "no dead ends" and "abundance of stuff." Felt, though, like I ended up being a bit unhealthily invested in hitting my head against certain walls, which isn't what I really am into games for.
  • - That above drive to find 'stuff' was drained by the number of respec items the game gives you - felt like I was told by the mechanics very strongly that "what I am" in the game is pretty unimportant. It seems like there is no consequence for respeccing repeatedly, which maybe is incorrect at some later story level. Weapon upgrades aside, I lost connection to any investment in my character, because I could easily become something totally different.

    • If anyone resonates with these thoughts or can see them as small stumbling points that you overcame, I'd appreciate input on how to frame my approach to the game. I think the sticking points in my mind that need to get unjammed are: "I'm dealing with palette swaps", "I don't really need this stuff the game offers me", "my character build choices are not relevant", "I can't get the info for the story within the confines of the game", "the game expects me to get the info within its confines", "the game doesn't respect my time by giving steps that break or are unfollowable without scouring the entire known map". Any breakdown of any of those points would be helpful to me! Hopefully this may also help other people who get to similar stopping points.

    62

    Even though I have had a real blast playing Elden Ring, I can empathise with most of the above. I don‘t have many direct answers to the problems you’ve stated that would be all that helpful - for example I didn't have an issue with not feeling invested in my character build since in my mind I was treating the respec item as a highly scarce resource. When I finally went to look I realised I had ten of them! Still, I kept that mindset and respec feels expensive to me (even if it is not).

    One point I may be able to talk to at least is:

    >

    @"MDS-02"#p65572 “the game doesn’t respect my time by giving steps that break or are unfollowable without scouring the entire known map”.

    This likely will not help you, unfortunately. I can't really see this helping anyone that has already got 80+ hours in and feels burned out, but I can at least explain my mindset regarding this point in general.

    I came to this game, before ever pressing "start game" for the first time on the main menu, _knowing_ there would be things that I just will not see (at least, not on a first/single playthrough) and told myself I just have to be ok with that. I will still see _a lot_ of stuff, and I will get my version of a story (a combination of game narrative, head-canon, and gameplay derived "that was cool" memories) during my journey through the world. I feel a completionism mentality, or anything approaching it, would raise the danger of turning _play_ in to _work_. Rather than having a cool time wandering the world, finding some things, doing some quests, failing some, certainly entirely missing others - I'd be (mentally) implementing the ubisoft-style in game checklist and just trying to get everything ticked off.

    I'm not here to say approaching these games with the viewpoint of "I paid for the game, I want to see everything in it" is _wrong_, but I will say that at least the appoach I have taken has helped me not get burned out in my extremely slow play through. I'm about 180-200 hours in now, I think. I haven't looked in a while, and I have a non-trivial amount of idle time so the clock isn't entirely accurate anyway.

    I'm sorry that this can't retroactively help you clear your feeling of burnout, but _maybe_ a similar approach could help avoid it in future adventures.

    63

    @“rejj”#p65574 Thanks for the input!

    >

    @“rejj”#p65574 there would be things that I just will not see

    Yup, with you there on my start as well.

    The problem, I think, came from me allowing my head canon to creep into "My character would be invested in following through with this storyline, they would ensure that they did what was needed for it" which put me into a work mode, as you say. The burnout really was a rapid switch in the last 5-10 hours as I started to engage with one thread or another, and was far enough into the game that the likely 'correct' timing had passed for what I was chasing (but wasn't really signaled as such) and so, I had much more terrain to scour when my character 'decided' to follow up on the missing arm lady (who I had missed at >!the entrance to the plateau!<). I need to let that go, I know, or just fold to looking things up. Hopefully that makes some kind of sense.

    Thanks for the comment, though!!