Sometimes I wonder if I'm just too old
Like, I am totally stuck in Trace Memories DS. I played that game for a few days and thought it was embarassingly easy, but now I'm stuck and go nowhere. I also got Sims In The City Urbz DS and have never been able to play that. I started the game, did my jobs, and now I'm literally trapped in some building and no matter what I do there is no hint on how to get out yet there is an entire city out there. I just got Sims 2 DS and I had to hit a forum to do one of the first tasks (calm the mayor) and even w/ help I can't "calm" customers. I just got the new Spyro DS and am stuck doing a task.
What's wrong w/ me that I can't work it out on my own? It's not smarts; I own a business and made it thru university calculus up to DiffyQ. But I just seem to get stuck so quickly in games and I just feel stupid. Is it because I have a thirty-something brain and not a thirteen year old brain? Or are most games flawd and people just don't talk about it?
I'm of the opinion it has more to do with poor game design or lousy instructions/help menus then it does with age...but that's probably me just being old and stubborn.:P
Well... games are definately getting harder. (Although sometimes only for us Americans since games are often made more difficult for North American releases under the, I think false, impression that we all like hard games.) At the same communication is making things easier... remember needing to wait a whole month to see if the answer to your currrent problem would be in "Nintendo Power" magazine? Now's there's the Internet! Cheats on tap 365/24/7! Gamers are also demanding more value from their games and as I mentioned in the discussion on short games one way to do that is to make a game harder. A hard game takes longer to play. Games are also becoming more multi-genre. It seems like you can't play a game today without extra-genre "mini-games" (which, all too often, are actually extra-genre pains in the ass). This makes games harder too... you can't just be good at platformers any more because in every platformers you'll be doing rythm games, racing games, shooting games and puzzle games. But take heart! As old gamers we've got an edge. We know all the tricks! We've got all the folklore knocking around our noggins. We know to always go backwards first in any level to get the "secret" pick-up behind you. We know that you need to hit bosses three times to take them down. We know that bad guys will appear if you open that door. We know that a well placed ass can destroy almost anything... unless it's on fire or spikey. We know that "AI" is a lot more "A" than "I". Yeah we're slower... but dammit, we get there!kiwidust
Wow, I didn't know they made some games harder for America. No wonder Japanese gamers are so happy go lucky! OMG, you're right, hard games do take longer....that's what I get! I always have to deduct the cumulative hour I spent wandering around lost from the listed gametime! You're also right about the mixing of genres. I was laughing at my nephew a while back because he literally spent 1/2 an hour on a stupid sliding puzzle in RE4. He doesn't play puzzle games - he called me and was amazed when I did it in a few minutes. Some things just aren't your forte (my downfall is remembering fighting button sequences like in Prince of Persia: WW, man I died a lot, mainly cuz I was getting my buttons all confused! It's not Mortal Kombat! It's an action/adventure game! Tone down the fighting!).
I was laughing at my nephew a while back because he literally spent 1/2 an hour on a stupid sliding puzzle in RE4. He doesn't play puzzle games - he called me and was amazed when I did it in a few minutes.
Angelbabe531
OMFG I HATE sliding tile puzzles! I can't do them to save my life! :) There's one in Trace Memory and I was about to cry cuz I just couldn't do it! I finally gave up and just started sliding them around randomly and got it! But I hate hate hate them, LOL! :)
OMFG I HATE sliding tile puzzles! I can't do them to save my life! :) There's one in Trace Memory and I was about to cry cuz I just couldn't do it! I finally gave up and just started sliding them around randomly and got it! But I hate hate hate them, LOL! :)I feel the same way about rythm games. I LOVED "JAK 2" but I almost gave up just because of the Onin mini-game (which was, of course, absolutely neccessary to continue). All of the "Sly Cooper" games have also had some... even "Final Fantasy X-2" has them! Damn them! ;^)
laserone
Most of us probably started gaming on an Atari or NES (anyone else miss the ONE button controller on Atari??) I think the progression of games is against us. Meaning, most kids now started with the later systems, which are more complicated (more buttons, longer games, etc). Their learning curve is shorter, it's like they had a headstart for these more complicated next-gen consoles. Like a previous poster said, we get there, it just takes us a little longer :)
I hope this makes sense, its 4am and I am not sure what I am thinking is actually what I am saying, y'know? lol
But take heart! As old gamers we've got an edge. We know all the tricks! We've got all the folklore knocking around our noggins. We know to always go backwards first in any level to get the "secret" pick-up behind you. We know that you need to hit bosses three times to take them down. We know that bad guys will appear if you open that door. We know that a well placed ass can destroy almost anything... unless it's on fire or spikey. We know that "AI" is a lot more "A" than "I".kiwidustThat is so well said! If you think about it, kids these days are growing up on games like God of War and Shadow of Colossus (and many others, the list goes on) where it takes alot of stragetic moves in order to defeat the bosses. And alot of us grew up on games where most of the game consisted on collecting all the rings or jumping on the mushroom...lol. The game industry has grown so much from even 10 years ago. Games are just not made the same as when we were kids. But you're totally right, we have something that alot of the new generation of gamers don't have which is an edge and experience!
I agree that games are getting more difficult and more complicated. Personally, I have a tendency to overthink, over-analyze, and over-complicate things. I know I have been stuck in a game, getting frustrated. Once I get help or figure it out, I am often amazed how simple the solution was.xphile30I know EXACTLY what you're talking about but I'm not so willing to let the game designers off the hook. We expect more from our games these days. Too often sloppy design makes us spend frustrated time attempting a solution that SHOULD work.. Your task: get into that building. The front door is rickety wood. The first floor is laden with windows. You've got grenades, a rocket launcher and a shotgun. Can you get in? No. You need to find the key. Why can't I bust a window or break down the door? This get all the more frustrating in games with some destructive environments... I can breakdown THIS wall with a grenade, but to get past THAT wall I need to overload the generator by pressing three switches and cause an explosion? Don't my grenades cause explosions?! "Farcry" had a lot of this - the game featured some realistic physics, but no way to actually interact with them (like Half-Life 2's insanely great gravity gun). You could, like a quadraplegic water-buffalo use the full weight of your body to push over a barrel... but you couldn't carry it over to the bridge and leave it there as an obstacle. Sometimes things just feel... I don't know, disingenious. For example we're playing "Luigi's Mansion" now (really great game). There's one section where you're told to find a specific ghost who likes to hang out in "rooms with mirrors". Well there are a lot of rooms with mirrors but one room is called "The Mirror Room". So you feel smart that you remember it, you fight your way there and... the ghost isn't there. He's in some other room (the wardrobe room). Now this isn't "wrong" or "bad" really... but dammit, you made you made me feel good that I "figured it out" and then took that away. It's like teasing. ;^) I'm trying to think of better examples... I hope you know what I mean.
Sometimes I wonder if thirty "something" is just too old for gaming. I mean, I play these games and I enjoy it and get addicted, but I it's just all too often that I get stuck and just can't DO anything without asking for help on a forum or looking online. Is it my age? I've been gaming on and off since I was 11 or so.
Like, I am totally stuck in Trace Memories DS. I played that game for a few days and thought it was embarassingly easy, but now I'm stuck and go nowhere Is it because I have a thirty-something brain and not a thirteen year old brain? Or are most games flawd and people just don't talk about it?laserone
Yesterday I completed Trace Memory. I started gaming way after you and also thought Trace Memory was so easy until....
I hit that slider puzzle. It took me a while to complete it. This game certainly used the DS in ways that other consoles cannot imitate. Finding the clue when superimposing one photo over another was the hardest for me. I kept looking at the extremely tiny black print....wrong move on my part. :o After I solved it, I realized it could have be easy! Kudos to the developers for being so creative. ^_^
Them: "You've never even played this level before! How did you know that was even there?"
Me: "Because I am the best video game player person in the whole world, that's why. Now go get me a soda."
. . . for any game on any console that's good because its hard, there are a dozen games that suck because they're hard due to poor programming. PoopsterMcBainHey, it's almost a relief sometimes to find out your problem is a bug in a PC game. It's frustrating when some game developers won't provide patches, when the same bug has been has been discussed over and over in forums. :-/
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