@Draco_V_Ecliptic Intereseting one - I have played Bloodborne to death and sunk countless hours into it but I think the reason that worked for me was firstly, I gelled with the combat and ultimately, I felt that with most bosses I could grind a little and focus my build. I could also choose a little my playstyle in terms of weapons and tactics. With Sekiro I felt that I had to play it their way and grinding didn't really help -ultimately, to do the best against many bosses, you need to have their moves and parrying down pretty well.
That said, I've not made much headway with the other Souls games. Part of me is put off by the time it wll take me to get up to speed to be honest but I do want to play them if that makes sense. I'm getting Demon Souls for pS5 for example. I am trying to get my wife to allow me to take some time off when she and the kids are out to go through it or Dark Souls
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
Bear with me for the next part, I'm going somewhere with this anecdote.
I went to a psychologist some years ago about my stress handling. I am just really bad at stress management. A little bit of stress can completely ruin my plans of being productive for the rest of the day.
The psychologist told me that completely avoiding stress at all wouldn't work in the long run. Because I was afraid of getting frustrated, I would not train handling frustration in any way, which actually made me even less resistant to stress. If that makes sense. She compared it to walking through tall grass. The more often you do it, the easier it gets.
That is not to say that you should always engage in activities that will raise your stress level. Go consult a professional if you're ever having difficulties with something similar.
Anyway, what baffled me was how I am completely unable to handle real life stress, but I'm a master at that same thing in games. I'm not super good at games, but I will try any boss in my way until I succeed. I'm ok with it taking days. And let me tell you, making progress in Bloodborne, even though it sometimes felt like an impossible task, made me feel so strong. Strong willed to be exact.
But the thing is, throughout my life I have trained enduring hardships in video games a lot. Most games in the nineties were quite a bit harder than some of the games I play now. So that frustration, and the accomplishment felt thereafter, because I have felt it so many times, to me just have become an integral part of gaming.
I yearn to play these way-too-difficult games often, especially because they are testing my patience.
I will even curse a lot at a game, which my partner finds very atypical of me, but it's all part of the emotions and excitement that a game unleashes in me.
I have read somewhere that people like these intense rollercoasters because they experience just a safe amount of stress, so that it turns into pleasure.
Horror movies work a bit the same. You enjoy a horror movie way less if you weren't fearful for the main character's date at any point during the movie.
I think gaming is kind of like that too.
Beating a game only feels as great as it does if it creates just enough stress. You have to feel challenged to really give your best if you want to win, but the difficulty doesn't have to be so high that you experience it as impossible even after I don't know how many tries.
I know that's true for me When I do something amazing in a game, like winning Tetris 99, I feel a sense of pride but also relief. And often in these moments I think to myself 'this had been my greatest gaming achievement ever'. Truth is that I have thought that to myself a lot, so most of the time it just isn't true. But I did feel that same feeling when I beat Cuphead, when I beat some of the bosses in Dark Souls, etc.
It's a kind of mental thrill seeking I guess. Wouldn't be the same without a bit of stress.
@Rudy_Manchego I completely agree with your perspective on difficulty levels in games, and always feel a little shunned whenever I see people complain about having easier options included. It's great when people like a challenge; that's what the Crushing modes and trophies are for, but equally games should cater for the other end of the spectrum, for those who cannot "git gud" for whatever reason.
I think early LEGO games had something they called "adaptive difficulty" as an option, which did the reverse of what you describe in Hades. If you played well, it would gradually increase enemy numbers and their reaction speeds, and take away more studs from you if and when you died (up to a point, of course). Play badly, and they'd reset everything back to their PEGI 3 base levels. Given how clever games have become nowadays, I'm surprised that we don't see more of that kinda thing.
@Kidfried Interesting thoughts, and thanks for sharing that anecdote! You make a very valid point; how can we be expected to successfully handle something we're unfamiliar with? Kinda reminds me of how the winter flu vaccine has a little bit of the actual flu in it.
Most of the time, I'm the opposite. I have difficulty controlling my anger and anxiety in my day-to-day life, and gaming is my escape, my safety net (which is why I tend to prefer easier games). I'll swear like a sailor on leave until I'm holding a DualShock, at which point my attention is steered away from dwelling on things and my rage is placated by some good ol' fashioned escapism. Even when I was struggling with those Crushing trophies, stuck in a seemingly-endless loop of dying within ten seconds of each respawn, I just laughed. Whenever a game crosses what I perceive to be the border between "difficult" and "unfair", that's the only time I'll get angry with it (and that border is drawn differently on everybody's individual maps).
It must be quite a shock for your partner, when you start yelling at whatever you're playing! That's actually really healthy, though, despite appearances. It's a shame when non-gamers see that kinda behaviour and automatically assume that gaming must be bad or unhealthy.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger With most games I agree. Now Bloodborne and the like don’t have harder difficulties, but one they’ve focused on and doing anything would just be changing numbers to unbalance the game they’ve crafted. Which would also mess up the multiplayer they’ve made as well.
For other games that have difficulty options, they should have some sort of easier mode even if it’s not the most comprehensive thing.
And given how many games only put damage numbers up or down for difficulty options, I'm not surprised we don’t have more adaptive difficulties. We’re still just slowly getting better at that.
@Jaz007 Oh yeah, don't get me wrong; if your game is specifically designed to be challenging, then that's cool. I would never expect a FromSoft game to have a "story" mode because they don't have that reputation, and they're usually good about advertising their intent (didn't one of the games have "PREPARE TO DIE" emblazoned on its box?) but to be honest, I kinda consider them niché games anyway, albeit a very popular niché. I'm more concerned about the lack of a choice in more mainstream games, the big blockbusters that even non-gamers want to play.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Yeah, they called the PC version of DS2 the “Prepare to Die” Edition.
You know, I'm trying to think of games that haven’t had an easy mode as of late. What are some examples? I’m trying to think of non small games that might have the problem.
@Jaz007 There aren't too many examples, but there have been some close calls. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order nearly didn't have its Story Mode. It was only added at the last minute after casual Star Wars fans played a preview build and kept getting killed. I made it through most of the game on its normal difficulty, but it got progressively less enjoyable and ultimately I was forced to lower it to Story after struggling against its final boss for an hour. It ruined my immersion in the narrative.
I guess it depends on what you'd call a "small" game, as well. Cuphead started out as an indie, but has become a pretty huge name of late, so I can see curious casuals booting it up and suffering a rude awakening. That may be a bad example because Cuphead is (from what I understand) a deliberate homage to bullet-hell shooters, but it shows that nothing is guaranteed to be obscure forever.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
After being blocked for ‘being too negative about Sony’, it made me realise that these types of people are using the internet wrong. Seeing different opinions and responding to them, even if you don’t like them, is surely the entire point of discourse? If you just shut out negativity then you’d be in an echo chamber full of people praising Sony non-stop, which is exactly not what being a fan is.
Ehhh I can understand people being a bit fed up with the negativity @nessisonett... Especially surrounding gaming in general lately.
Sony being tight lipped beyond belief is not doing them any favours at the moment I most certainly agree with.
Doesn't make it any less boring to me though looking at an article and seeing the same few comments written about 50 different ways every single time something comes along.
I mean for me it helps I'm not getting a PS5 for two years most likely so I'm not all that invested in the news coming my way (I'd no doubt be frustrated alongside everyone if I was getting it come next month).
There's nothing that can really be done about it (Especially in a comment section on a gaming website) barring Sony actually opening their damn mouth so... it just feels a bit pointless I guess baring one or two rather well written bits of snark
Sorry ya got ignored/blocked though!
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I feel there’s a difference between clear trolling and genuine discourse though. If everybody just blocked people for not agreeing with them then it would entirely undermine the point of public forums.
Well of course there's difference... But what can I say @nessisonett other then humans are terribly flawed individuals who sometimes want to see and hear nothing more then someone else agreeing with them?
Let's just hope we all get the information blowout we all need soon and find out the PS5 can dispense jaffa cakes whilst beaming the games directly into your brain... Or maybe if you unscrew the bolt at the top of a ps5 it just falls apart into a heap of expensive junk
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I’m telling you, that one bolt is all that holds it together! It’s like a deck of cards held together through sheer force of will 😂
@nessisonett I get that someone is just a bit fed up with all the negativity. I experience that myself as well and put quite a few people on Ignore, that were only here to stir trouble. But... why the person specifically took an issue with the three of you confounds me.
@nessisonett
I think that's just the age of social media for you, its easier than ever to create an echo chamber. It is disheartening to see people behave in that manner, going into overdrive with confirmation bias and dismissing anyone or anything that might bring another point of view. But I think all we can do is be careful not not make those same mistakes ourselves.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy@Kidfried@nessisonett Yeah seeing the same old comments from mostly the same people again and again has gotten a bit tiresome of late. Even when the news is a bit positive you see a load of negativity. Yep I get it, Sony has been really off with the messaging recently and slow in releasing the news in regards to PS5. Its disappointing and i get people are frustated by it. But I don't think there is a need or does anyone any good to keep banging the same drum again and again.
I try not read the comments as I mostly find it really depressing, and when I do I usually immediately regret doing so.
And for what it is worth Ness, I don't recall finding any of your comments particularly bad. There must have been some right horrors to be blocked.
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.
@LieutenantFatman It's easy to create an echo chamber, sure, but internet has also made it very easy to be annoying to people all over the world.
@JohnnyShoulder Some of the members here are like a lot of the drunk dudes I used to meet in pubs. They'll just moan on and on about the same thing, and then five minutes later just moan about the same thing again. At some point you're just going to be like "Look at how late it is, I think I need to go"
The ignore button can be helpful like that at times.
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