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Topic: Expanding Your Horizons

Posts 1 to 13 of 13

Tjuz

It's time for my bi-yearly contribution to this forum because I can never seem to keep up with anything. I have a not-so-simple question/quest(?) that I hope some of you may be able to help me with.

I love gaming, and when I play any game I'm likely to spend an unhealthy amount of hours just lying in my bed playing it until I burn myself out or I complete it. Stuff like Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, BioShock 1/2 and Detroit: Become Human have been my most recent conquests in that way. The problem presents itself when you finish it: what now? I usually will try to find a game that's as close as possible to the game I just finished to fill the newly created gaming void. I fail to find it and I drop out of gaming for months. Either that happens, or I do just completely burn myself out with the exact same result.

The short term problem with this is obvious, but the long term problem with this is that I only ever tend to stay in a certain box that I do not, under any circumstances, try to venture out of. I know what I like. I want my critically acclaimed story with pretty graphics or at least a great atmosphere, nothing too hard and a world that I can lose myself in for a bit. The problem with that, in addition to always looking for samey experiences, is that it completely limits any and all possibilities for games to play. I protect myself from buyer's remorse, but I force myself to stop gaming until the next thing that catches my eye comes along, which with all of this isn't often.

Because of this I play a lot less games than I would like to, and it seems like my only shot at changing that is to broaden my horizons and be more open to games that I would not usually give the light of day. I used to be like this with TV shows, but have now managed to eliminate any and all bias to the point where I'll watch anything. Gaming gets more complicated with the buy-in of course vs. just streaming from whatever subscriptions you possess. I wonder if any of you have experienced this and actively tried to be more open to different things.

I suppose the question I pose here and for anyone else who might be in my position: what is some good advice for trying to expand your horizons in gaming? Where to start, and how to do it in a way that will most likely yield some sort of result? When nothing really jumps out you thanks to how you've conditioned yourself to be with gaming habits, how can you get yourself interested nonetheless?

Any and all advice is appreciated! Of course something obvious would be to just buy more games outside of your comfort zone, but as someone with not much disposable income that's easier said than done.

Tjuz

JohnnyShoulder

@Tjuz Try some smaller indie games. I'm the opposite to you usually and will try to play something completely different to what I've just played. So recently i went from Borderlands The Pre-sequel to Infamous 2 to Subnautica to Inside to The Messenger to Batman Arkham Knight. My next game will probably be Southpark The Fractured But Whole.

Sometimes it might mean only play a game briefly while I figure out wanna play or have a quick blast on something like a driving/racing game.

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

kyleforrester87

I do think it’s important to make the commitment of spending some serious money on a new game sometimes, even if you’re not sure about it. If it’s free, or cheap, you tend not to be committed enough to get over the initial hump.

I hated Diablo 3 when I got it, had I streamed it on PS Now or paid a tenner for it i’d have never gone back to it. But since i’d paid £50 I forced myself to “get it” and it’s now one of my favourite games.

So my advice is take a punt If a game is rated 7+ there will be some good stuff in there, somewhere.

Edited on by kyleforrester87

kyleforrester87

PSN: WigSplitter1987

Thrillho

@Tjuz The beauty of constant PSN sales is that there is invariably an older game that you’ve not tried going for quite cheap.

I’m currently on the third part of the Banner Saga and enjoying it. The trilogy was about £15 in the sale and has kept me going for a while and, like @JohnnyShoulder, I like to go for something quite different after I finish a game (in this instance it was Borderlands 2 instead). But I kind of knew it was for me being story driven and with turn based combat.

This place will give you plenty of recommendations too! Little indie games can sometimes be a good “palate cleanser” after another 100hr epic as well.

Thrillho

Th3solution

@Tjuz Hey, great to see you back, my friend! I’ve wondered how you are doing!

As for your question, I think being active (and sometimes only semi-active when life gets in the way) on these forums has been the single best thing to expose me to broader horizons. There are so many games I would have never played if I hadn’t read such high praise for on this very site. Honestly, perusing the ‘PS4 recommendation’ thread and ‘Games you recently beat’ thread is such a fantastic way to get excited about games I would never have tried otherwise. (Examples of some of my favorites that I only played because of the forums are: NieR Automata, Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Virginia, Oxenfree, Firewatch, and Yakuza 0)
PS Plus is the other thing that helps me be well rounded. Since you have no choice what game you will be getting, you end up having an opportunity to play things you’d never pick yourself. (Examples of some favorites I only played due to PS Plus include: Bloodborne, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, and OnRush)

So I hope to see you around and maybe you’ll pick up on something new through the interactions here!

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

KALofKRYPTON

@Tjuz I slip in and out. Combinations of busy, lazy or something I want to watch tend to pull me right out of playing in any consistent way.

I find that it's just best not to 'force' myself to play anything. I started and powered through Spider-Man for example - but the save just sat there for the last 5% or so of the game for a good couple of weeks. I eventually went back - but I just waited until I was really looking forward to jumping back in.

PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)

Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)

"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker

Fight_Teza_Fight

@Tjuz I’m the complete opposite. I like to mix things up & have a bit of a system. After every AAA game I boot up an Indie or older game (Remaster). After every Turn-Based game, I usually go for an ARPG. That way I avoid burn out.
I think my most recent conquests were:
Days Gone->DMC HD collection->Diablo 3->BattleChasers->Mad Max (current game).

As for expanding your horizons...
Not really sure. I’d say definitely look at some Indies that share traits of some AAA games you like.
Just keep an eye out & wait for some of the higher rated titles to get on sale.

Lives, Lived, Will Live.
Dies, Died, Will Die.
If we could perceive time for what it really was,
What reason would Grammar Professors have to get out of bed?- Robert & Rosalind Lutece

RogerRoger

@Tjuz 'ello! Welcome back! I suffer this same issue, so I'm glad you've posted this.

Back in the good ol' days of PSone and PS2, I used to get the Official PlayStation Magazine and play their monthly demo discs. I tried everything once and in doing so, discovered the obscure We Love Katamari that I'd never, ever have picked off the shelf at full price. This approach also introduced me to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (and therefore the entire Metal Gear franchise) although it's likely I'd have gotten around to it eventually.

Nowadays, we don't have this luxury, but there is a "demo" tab on the PS4's PS Store. Very few games now offer a free demo, but there are a couple in there and so, for the cost of a little bandwidth and half an hour waiting for the download, you could sample a few things.

That being said, there's likely a free-to-play version of most genres out there, so you could always download, say, Apex Legends to test yourself with the gameplay and see if you're in enough of a shooter mood to spend money on a Call of Duty or a Battlefield (random example).

Another thing I do is trust my best friend. She's a huge gamer like me, but she plays a much broader range of things and our core tastes are a little different. Several times, she's recommended things I'd never usually choose to play, including Life is Strange and the Dragon Age trilogy (the latter I would've actively avoided for the rest of my life, were it not for her, yet I had a blast). Despite my initial caution, she's been right every single time and so now, if she recommends something, I'll add it to my backlog for the next time I'm feeling stuck in a repetitive loop.

Folks here at PushSquare have done the same for me a couple times, most notably @Kidfried recommending Virginia. Nobody here is gonna deliberately steer you wrong. That's why we have a recommendation topic; if you ever need to break your pattern, come here and tell us what you've been playing and I'm sure somebody will reply with good antithetical suggestions.

Best of luck and hope this helps!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

FullbringIchigo

@Tjuz Demos and Open Beta's are a great way to find new games and new Genres to play and so is PlayStation+ the variety of games they offer each month is quite large plus there is no commitment, you don't like it then delete it

also of you have an XBOX or P.C then i would suggest Game Pass, yeah it's a subscription service but it gives you hundreds of games to play so you can try what you want, same with EA Access i suppose

but really the only thing i can say is take the plunge, people can tell you what to play and what to do but the first step is yours so just dive in

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"

"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!

Tjuz

Thank you everyone for your advice!

I will definitely look into the available demos on the store and keep an eye on well discounted games that I wouldn't usually purchase otherwise. I took the advice some of you gave and perused the PS Store for an indie game in a genre I wouldn't normally go for and bought Observer today. I don't really play horror games, but it's still story-focused, so I felt it was a good first compromise to start. I also looked into some physical copy sales and found Ratchet & Clank for a reasonable price. Again, I don't usually play platformers, but I very much enjoyed Insomniac's recent Spider-Man so I felt it wouldn't hurt to take the gamble!

I'll also definitely keep an eye on the beaten games and games you're playing threads. I hope I can keep up my gaming habit more this time around, which in turn I hope should keep me coming onto this forums more consistently. I finished Batman: Arkham Asylum yesterday, since I figured I would start by clearing out some of my backlog at least, and heeding @KALofKrypton's advice decided not to jump into the sequel immediately, as tempting as it is for me. Waiting to get really excited about returning again! And to also take the advice many people gave with playing different games after each other, I continued Dreamfall Chapters today. What better game to play after a combat-heavy game than an adventure game with no combat in sight?

As for some specific advice not yet mentioned: @kyleforrester87, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I have had my eye on Control and wasn't quite sold, but maybe I'll pick that up soon at a high prince nonetheless despite of that and hope it catches me like Diablo 3 did with you. And if not that game, I'll keep it in mind for a future one!

@FullbringIchigo, the XBOX Game Pass on PC doesn't include streaming yet, right? I don't have an XBOX and my laptop can't handle any post-2012 AAA (or generally graphically demanding) game, but I did hear they were going to implement streaming for PC at some point at E3. I might have to look into it once they have that!

Hope I didn't forget any advice in there, but I promise I've read it all and will keep it in mind in the future! You have all been very helpful, despite me coming on here with a long winded post. That's why I always love this community, even if I tend to not post for months at a time. Thank you all once again and it's great to be back for longer than usual, I hope!

Edited on by Tjuz

Tjuz

JohnnyShoulder

@Tjuz Cool, glad you picked up some games you wouldn't normally have! Just bear in mind Ratchet and Clank isn't an all out platformer, more like a shooter with some light platforming action. The most fun comes from playing around with all the inventive weapons! I won't spoil any for you but some are hilarious to play around with!

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

themcnoisy

@Tjuz Jump on the store and pick up celeste, Fez, Rogue legacy, resogun and the Witness.

Forum Best Game of All Time Awards

PS3 Megathread 2019: The Last of Us
Multiplat 2018: Horizon Zero Dawn
Nintendo 2017: Super Mario Bros 3
Playstation 2016: Uncharted 2
Multiplat 2015: Final Fantasy 7

PSN: mc_noisy

FullbringIchigo

@Tjuz i don't think it does yet no BUT PlayStation Now does allow streaming of games and it's a similar kind of service

"I pity you. You just don't get it at all...there's not a thing I don't cherish!"

"Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!

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