RPGWatch Side Quest - Time Out or Burn Out?

I do wonder if the wealth of information about games is doing some harm. Back in the day, my sole source of game info was Computer Gaming World magazine. Games would be out 2-3 months before the reviews would show up. I remember when they first added the "pipeline" feature to give us a vague idea of games nearing release. Most of my purchases were based on browsing the shelves, reading the back of the boxes. When you're going in like that, you can't help but get some pleasant surprises.

These days, we know everything there is to know about a game months before it hits the shelves. Heck, I had reverse-engineered the race/class matrix for Wiz8 from the demo long before the game came out. There's no real surprises any more. Even word-of-mouth games like Puzzle Quest, Dwarf Fortress and Witcher are pretty well detailed here at the Watch so the only real surprise is that those games somehow slipped under my radar.
 
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The other aspect here is that the line between "fun" and "unfun" can actually be laser-thin.

For example, I've recently started replaying through the classic Ultima titles and I've been struck by the difference between Ultima I (which I enjoyed playing) and Ultima II, which is proving to be an incredibly dreary game that I'm probably going to end up skipping.

The differences between these two games are not particularly large: They're both tile-based graphics. The mechanics are pretty similar. And so forth. The difference between the "fun" of Ultima I and the "unfun" of Ultima II lies in pretty subtle design distinctions: The spawn rate for random monsters. The distance between cities and dungeons. The inability to explore dungeons without first getting a light source.

These differences end up making the difference between an enjoyable hack-'n-slash gameplay and an interminable grind spent perpetually on the edge of death.

Modern gameplay is more complex, but the differences between the fun and unfun can be similarly subtle. I haven't played MotB, but the reason it just isn't "clicking" for you could be as simple as the design of the first dungeon or a slight stat imbalance in the early encounters.

I think you hit the nail on the head! I just started playing U9 with the community script. I've tried the game twice before and never got more than an hour or so into it (once due to system issues, once boredom).

When I look at the game itself, even compared to newer 3-D games today, it's go some beautiful graphics, amazing sky scenes, etc. But it just doesn't feel fun. I'm struggling and I'm only a few hours into it. I think I might have to just do it a few hours every few weeks to get through it.
 
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Can't really relate to the article since I've completed or at least played extensively every game I anticipated or "desired to play." I'm either really lucky or drawing a blank. However there are plenty of games I tried and found not to be my cup of tea. But that's the exception, with the rule being I know what I'm getting myself into.

A game I did drop faster than a sack of sender blocks after playing it for single session was Fable. Its shameless gamey nature, giant trout slap of extremities, bizarro "hide everything under a dozen menus" interface, and embarrassingly abysmal fan fic plot drowning in cliches killed it.

It was terrible overload and I never came back.
 
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I do wonder if the wealth of information about games is doing some harm.

I tend to agree.

Even in an article about Discworld Noir I found a HEAVY spoiler embedded within the article ! With the editors not noticing that ... *sighs*

Maybe that's why I never bought this game so far (apart from the fact that it is simply expensive).
 
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Honesty, I don't think its the games' fault

I think if you are trying to force yourself to play game, than you will almost definitely have a bad experience. I get that way with a lot of games, it took me nearly 2 years to finish Half Life 2. It's just like that sometimes. Again, you may never be ready to play a certain game, it doesn't mean the game is bad (or maybe it does) it probably means you mind is in different place right now. Come back to it later. I can't count the number of times I've deleted games off my hard drive, swearing I never wanted to touch it again, only to re-install it a few months later, when I was "ready" to play it.
 
I agree completely and I've definitely done the same thing. I'm not throwing away the DVD, believe me. ;)
 
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Oh, by the way, I've never been to this sight before (was linked to it by file front news). Glad I found it, as I am a huge RPG fan.
 
Welcome to the boards, and glad you could join us Gooeykat. Hope you enjoy the place. :)
 
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I think if you are trying to force yourself to play game, than you will almost definitely have a bad experience.

That's why I often begin to cheat when I have the feeling that I'm "working" moire in a game than "playing" it.

I wanna have fun, not work within a "game" !

And therefore I don't want to force myself into "working" within a game ...
 
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Excellent article magerette! :)
I think I understand and believe at least in this case it's the developers fault, Obsidian made it an extremely difficult game to get into for several reasons like punishing you for doing good. I think they were experimenting they had taken so much flax for NWN2 in some game design decisions the seemed to have only designed for the extreme audience. Without spoiling it, even the endings were very convoluted and the almost total lack of humor, you almost need to be a masochist to complete the game. :p

I can certainly relate as well after all the frustration with The Witcher, not to mention a week or two just to get it to run, sacrificing credibility on some quests to be perceived as a neutral, minimizing a very good character to force you to choose between two other false choices and the list could go on ad nauseum. ;)

Is it an old wives tale that says, trust your first instincts or was that the tequila talking. :biggrin:
 
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