Topic: anyone else just suck at games?

@TheJGG ha! I had no idea you were talking about Demon's Souls. Ironically, that's the one Soulsborne I haven't played (well, that and Sekiro). I'll be getting a PS5 soon though, and hope to remedy that. In any case - while I'm unsure how Dark Souls compares to Demon's Souls, Dark Souls saves automatically while you play (and constantly). Bonfires do save, but they also restore your health and allow you to spend your souls to level up. Die once and you'll be booted to the last bonfire you were at losing all the souls you're holding, die again before you can recover them and they're gone for good.

Soulsborne games really should have demos available. I'm sure tons of people buy them and are unhappy with how inflexible they are. A bit of trivia about Bloodborne: the trophy for beating the first boss in Bloodborne had only been earned by about 50% of players. Thats insane. The relative popularity of these games really surprises me.

Mentioning Bloodborne has me thinking too that if you found Demon's Souls not too your liking you may enjoy one of the other games. Personally, I don't like Bloodborne that much. When I play Dark Souls I go for a beefy tank build. High HP, heavy armor, and a big shield (I need all the help I can get lol). This playstyle doesn't really translate to Bloodborne. There aren't any (useful) shields and armor is not nearly as important. Being aggressive is more beneficial and, well...I'm not. For this reason I'd say Bloodborne is the hardest Souls game for me, but conversely I've seen others rank it as their easiest.

If you do try Dark Souls let me know 😁 I enjoy the thought of offering advice instead of always requesting it. I've played DS Remastered, DS II, Bloodborne, and currently on DS III (which I started not too long ago after a break from the series). I still get smooshed into wallpaper paste but every new area or shortcut I find feels like a revelation.

@Sunsy Look at it like this - what if playing the game is supposed to make you frustrated? I don't like being scared and yet I play survival horror games.

Just to be transparent: I'm not advocating for "no easy modes evaaar" or accessability. Just that both should be able to exist independently of the other depending on the designers preferred way a person experiences their game.

Regarding this, I am someone who would appreciate a demo. However, I did just discover that my library has access to something like 190 switch games, so I was able to pick up and try Dark Souls this week. Still trying to decide if I like it or not. I do feel like I learn something new each death, but there are definitely points that are frustrating (running into someone out of no where who can one-hit you and cause you to restart pretty far back because all of a sudden your shield doesn’t defend you). I can see how it may start to feel a little grindy, though. But it does provide some good fun and sense of accomplishment, even from early on!

Edit: to stay on topic, I am not good at games, but try to play them on Normal mode (or equivalent). That being said, I do need to look up things from time to time (how to beat bosses, where to go next, etc) in order to move ahead in the game, because I do not like getting too frustrated because of a game (similar to what someone else said above).

@Pirate1 There's definitely a learning curve, and it's tough to say when but if you've been playing it awhile and you're not enjoying it then I'd pass on it. For me I'd say it was a pretty close call on Dark Souls Remastered

There's a thread in the forum for Dark Souls discussion if you end up sticking with it 😁

@Losermagnet will do! Also, I’ll consider myself lucky because the first place I went was the one you didn’t know about

@Pirate1 absolutely! And trust me - you will have your own stories to pass along in due time.

@Snatcher Alrighty, I'll keep that in mind.

@Losermagnet I understand you're not advocating against it, I was sharing some personal experience. I see what you mean, I don't think a developer would go out of their way to make a game frustrating so people won't want to play. Challenging yes, as it does have an audience.

I don't rule out games without a difficulty option. The original Sonic Riders comes to mind, that game had no difficulty setting. I've played games with no easy or hard option in them, still didn't feel frustrated.

@Losermagnet I mentioned Demon's Souls already just now so we will see if you agree with my sentiments! Dark Souls actually sounds pretty forgiving considering the mechanics of Demon's Souls. Saving at a bonfire restores your health, but also revives all of the enemies in the area... I'll absolutely look to get it if it's cheap in the near future.

@Sunsy As @Snatcher says there's a big chance it's not directly aimed at players per se, but it's still better to approach it as a game developer with the mindset that it's not a bad thing to use an easy mode. Some games are programmed to automatically offer you an easy mode if you die enough times, like the New Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario 3D Land/World games. If you die a specific number of times the Golden Tanooki suit appears at the start of the level. In Xenoblade Chronicles X if you die to a boss I think five times, the game offers to decrease the boss' level by 5, to make it an easier fight. In Mario's case there isn't any player to game communication.

I don't rule out games without a difficulty option. The original Sonic Riders comes to mind, that game had no difficulty setting. I've played games with no easy or hard option in them, still didn't feel frustrated.

I do this a bit as well, though the game's usually easy enough that skill isn't a factor.

@TheJGG Ya I think its just something to do to poke a little fun, bc if they really didn't want you to play easy mode, they wouldn't over it in the first place.

@TheJGG I also look at it this way, if it's not the developer's intention to have an easy mode, or a difficulty selection, then it wouldn't be in the game to begin with. Trying to remember if I ever encountered that in Super Mario 3D World, I do remember being offered an easier option in Tokyo Mirage Sessions the first time I lost a battle.

Yeah, or if the game has no difficulty option, it could be the case of trial and error, or trying until you get it. This happened to me recently when I tried the demo to Ghostrunner which has no easy or hard mode, and as difficult as attacking is, once I figured our to use the slow down key to dodge attacks (something the developer intended as the game teaches you this), it worked so well.

@MorningRain Everyone sucks at video games. No one is good at everything. There's so much variety in games out there that anyone claiming to be good as video games in general is just talking out their butt.

And if you're comparing yourself to other people, just stop. Because there is ALWAYS going to be someone better than you. There's like 7.5 billion people in the world. Be it games or sports or music or writing or school or work or anything. There's always someone smarter, strong, faster, or more skilled. If you compare yourself to them, it just gets depressing.

If you want to judge yourself, compare yourself with yourself. You'll likely find that if you don't give up, you're always getting just a little better.

I am horrible, HORRIBLE at sports games. Watch me play Madden and you'd think I'd never played a game before in my life.

@Losermagnet There’s two types of sports games to me. Sports games, like, all of them, and then racing games. I don’t care about sports games but I love racing games. I’m terrible at sports, but very competent in racing. I plan to pay EA £60 in July for F1 2021, but not a penny for anything else!

@MorningRain game finishing isn't and shouldn't be why you want to complete. And that should be the enjoyment and if your missing that then well that's life.

@SwitchForce yeah honestly durning quarantine I got in this habit of oh I have to try and complete these games so I can understand all the talk about them and that got me in a very grindy feeling when I would play games that I had to get it done and fast so I can play this other game. Luckily I've broken out of that cycle because It was feeling more like a chore to play games so now I just take all the sweet time I want with a title before getting to the end instead of rushing to the end so I can check off some dumb mental list.

@MorningRain if you play games just to get to the end you not gonna enjoy them as much as games that you spend time in doing side things or just fooling around is basically what i'm trying to say and that you don't have to rush with a game

@MorningRain Also going to add from personal experience. I don't know if anyone else likes doing this, when I get to the end and finish a game, I still like going back and playing it. Whether it be from the start or just going back to enjoy my favorite moments and levels.

Maybe it's just me, I've always been the type who likes revisiting games, movies, shows, even after they ended.

@MorningRain @Sunsy Oh for sure. Games lose all their fun as soon as they become an errand or a chore. Getting to the end of a game should be a natural process that is justified through playing the rest of it. I’ve made it a habit of mine to revisit games I’ve beaten, erase my save and start over again. The best games are the ones that I enjoy multiple times; so Xenoblade Chronicles 1/X/2, Final Fantasy X, countless Zelda games, DQ11 and so on.

I play games too quickly so I like taking my time and doing quests, and so on.