Gaming Confessions & Blasphemy

I've played every single Ultima game on PCs...and used a walkthrough for each and every one of them.

This one is my biggest secret shame. I grew up with these games, in fact when I first got a floppy drive for my old Atari 400 one of my first ten games (pirated, of course) was Ultima III. That being said, I don't have the patience to take down every little hint and clue to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. Along those same lines...

I use walkthroughs far more than I should.

I know myself; the chances of me replaying a game are very very slim. If I feel like I might be missing something interesting in a game I won't hesitate before popping open the laptop and looking up a good FAQ or walkthrough. I feel shame when I do so but it lets me make sure I'm not missing out on something cool. Naturally, that goes along with my next confession.

I play almost all games on easy mode.

Look, I'm 44 years old. My time for gaming has started brutally conflicting with my time for napping. If a game is too much of a pain in the ass to play, I'll skip it and move on to something else. Also, there are enough damned struggles in my life. I play games because I want to be a badass. Yes, sometimes easy mode is a little TOO easy...but that just means I'm just too much of a badass.

I played the first Call of Duty on the PC. Every other one I've seen sucks.

Not really much more to add to this one except that in my mind, CoD has become the new Madden - incremental upgrades with very little new material. Plus the people that play it on a regular basis don't seem to have a lot else going on. Leading to my last confession...

I think online multiplayer is incredibly overrated and have very little interest in it.

I play games to escape from the world I'm stuck in. To me, there's nothing better than getting immersed in a gameworld that has its own culture and history. That immersion is broken very easily when I have to contend with SMOAK_420LOL running around like an idiot. Also, as I've said before I like to be the hero in a game. When playing multiplayer, whether it's a MMO or a regular game, it's very unlikely I'm going to be that hero simply because I don't have 16 hours a day to devote to getting better. Playing with friends and video versions of traditional games partially based on luck (Uno, Backgammon, etc) are about the only things that interest me in multiplayer.

Food for thought for anyone posting, "I don't understand the appeal of Call of Duty/Final Fantasy/Zelda etc.," or some variant thereof: take your favorite game, estimate its total sales, estimate high even. Subtract that number from, let's say 400,000,000. The resultant number (likely between 390,000,000 and 399,000,000) is how many people don't see the appeal in your favorite game.

I think the PS3 Controller is just fine.

I use the 360 Controller on my PC, and it's fine too. Comparing the two feels like comparing toasters, so long as they get the job done I'm not too fussed beyond that.

Ok, I understand if people don't like something but straight up insulting people that do is a little over the top.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Food for thought for anyone posting, "I don't understand the appeal of Call of Duty/Final Fantasy/Zelda etc.," or some variant thereof: take your favorite game, estimate its total sales, estimate high even. Subtract that number from, let's say 400,000,000. The resultant number (likely between 390,000,000 and 399,000,000) is how many people don't see the appeal in your favorite game.

Maybe people aren't as dumb as you seem to think they are, and take this thread as an opportunity to say such things without judgmental call-outs.

Who cares? Let people say what they want to say.

The Telltale Walking Dead adventure game isn't very.... ah, who am I kidding it's great.

I would say '3D isn't the future' but I don't think that's a controversial statement at this point.

Higgledy wrote:

The Telltale Walking Dead adventure game isn't very.... ah, who am I kidding it's great.

I felt it wasn't that good until I got through episode two, at which point it instantly won a spot on my game of the year list.

I cheated/modded hardcore in almost every singleplayer game I've played in the last 15 years, and pretty much shelf them the moment I m done with the story.
This includes Half-Life 1 back in 1999. I cheated my way through all monkey island games and told my best friend who loves the series that they were crap. Mass Effect games would be the only exception I can remember... well I don't cheat until I am done with the first playthrough anyway.

Speaking of stories, I quite often wikipedia/google the story/endings of singleplayer games when there are player choices that affect the ending.
I thoroughly looked up Mass Effect 1/2 before finishing them, so I could get the endings I wanted. I didn't do THAT much 'homeowrk' with Mass Effect 3, but I did look up what I needed to get the 'completionist' ending options. Dishonored? Yeah haven't finished it, but I know what the very-end diversions are. I dont know... I just want to 'win.'

Never finished Bioshock
After getting 60 percentish of the way through, lost the saves, youtubed the endings, hurled, and never looked back. Also never really played Bioshock 2 I pre-ordered as a result. But hey Skyshock will give me a clean slate!

I play the one or two multiplayer games of my choosing like it's my job for stretches of a year or more.
Dunno why, but no matter how much 'storytelling in games' has evolved (I put it in quotes, but it truly has), there's nothing still quite like spending my free time beating the online-crap out of other online-people OR getting infuriated by people doing the same to me. 511 hours clocked in for Bf3 as of right now. And steam says I've put in 1000 hours into Bad Company 2. I also know if I add up all the hours I've clocked in on my WoW characters (i'd check but I no longer own the account), it would comfortably add up to 365 days (In my defence, I left WoW just turned on and logged in quite often while I worked/studied in the last 8 years).

I have never played an Assassin's Creed title.
Though I really want to... but I don't think I will ever get around to it.

Flower and Flow are the only games I've ever completed on the PS3
I bought that damned 'blu-ray' player in 2008. No, Flow/Flower did not make me feel like I got my money's worth (rather neat games though). I own at least 10+ full-priced games I have not put in more than 10 hours into collectively. I blame you GWJ Conference Call, why do you mindwash me into buying stuff I don't need?

Hellgate: London
I played it. A lot. And I thoroughly hated myself during all of the 150+ hours I've dumped into that dump.

I believe FPS are better 'ROLE playing games' than 99% of the RPGs
My imagination has always filled in the backstories/world better than a codex.

ps. This post makes me feel dirty.
pps. Very. Dirty.
ppps. Kinda feels good to let it all out though. And now I can go on and start pretending that everything on this post is a lie.

Has anyone finished Bioshock? I feel like that's the number one confession in this thread.

(I haven't finished it either. I'm not at all excited for Bioshock Infinite because of it)

one more.

I do not understand people who put the Final Fantasy games on a giant shining pedestal any more than people who are sexually aroused by feet.

Pikey26 wrote:

one more.

I do not understand people who put the Final Fantasy games on a giant shining pedestal any more than people who are sexually aroused by feet.

Heathen!!!!!

Feet are sexy.

Pikey26 wrote:

ppps. Kinda feels good to let it all out though. And now I can go on and start pretending that everything on this post is a lie.

It's cathartic isn't it.

Pikey26 wrote:

I have never played an Assassin's Creed title.
Though I really want to... but I don't think I will ever get around to it.

It's a fantastic game. AC2 and Brotherhood are probably the best. As you're into beating down random people up on line there is nothing better than stealthily assassinating, or being assassinated by, a face from the crowd in AC multiplayer. It's one of those games that, even as you die, you have to acknowledge that the way you were taken out was very cool.

Tannhauser wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

Food for thought for anyone posting, "I don't understand the appeal of Call of Duty/Final Fantasy/Zelda etc.," or some variant thereof: take your favorite game, estimate its total sales, estimate high even. Subtract that number from, let's say 400,000,000. The resultant number (likely between 390,000,000 and 399,000,000) is how many people don't see the appeal in your favorite game.

Maybe people aren't as dumb as you seem to think they are, and take this thread as an opportunity to say such things without judgmental call-outs.

Who cares? Let people say what they want to say.

If they extend it beyond "I don't see the appeal in X game," to "I think people that enjoy X game are stupid," I'll just keep on judging. The thread's basically turned into Troll So Hard or Show Your Ass, but I'm not mentally labeling the whole thing null and void just because everyone's doing it.

Redwing wrote:

I think the PS3 Controller is just fine.

I use the 360 Controller on my PC, and it's fine too. Comparing the two feels like comparing toasters, so long as they get the job done I'm not too fussed beyond that.

I get lots of raised eyebrows for it but I share a similar opinion. I can use with the Dual Shock 3 or the 360 pad quite comfortably. And I've got large hands which it wasn't really designed for. Maybe I'm just due for crippling arthritis later in life.

I say keep your Sunshines and your Galaxies... Super Mario 3D Land is the only good polygonal Mario since the N64.

I beat Bioshock. Twice! Got all the achievements (back when I cared about them). Beat Bioshock 2, too.

Now let me try something that won't be flame baiting, as I doubt many around here will care.

I think Halo ODST would have been better if all the characters died.
Maybe it was that first trailer, maybe it was the tone of the game at the start, but it just felt like a story that would end in trying to complete one simple objective, even if it meant death. It felt like it would be so emotionally excellent to slowly discover how this team fell apart, and how the rookie, on his first day, had to give his life so that others may live.

And then it was simply "Halo" at the end and you all saved the day and no one died. Not even Romeo. It felt cheap, like "Oh man, if we actually try to do something meaningful with this game, and actually try and portray regular human warriors that aren't SPARTANS as frail and easily losing this war, then players will be pissed". So they took the easy route and everything is happy at the end.

That said, I want another ODST. I don't care if it's with the same crew or not, but I wouldn't mind playing those guys again.
Either I want the game that I felt I was promised (gamer entitlement ho!), or I'd like to return to those guys with a better writer. Despite the atrocious dialogue in ODST, I still liked the characters. Maybe the Firefly guys were just that good at delivery, I dunno. I just feel like if you're going to keep them alive, then let me play them again.

Grubber788 wrote:

Has anyone finished Bioshock? I feel like that's the number one confession in this thread.

(I haven't finished it either. I'm not at all excited for Bioshock Infinite because of it)

Three times.

Yup. I went through BioShock like 2.5 times or so.

I was a bit apprehensive of BioShock 2, thinking it was a quick cash-in as it was farmed out to a different developer. However, to my surprise, I found it to be a fantastic game and along with the stellar Minerva's Den DLC the whole franchise has gone on to rank among my most memorable gaming of the current gen.

I thought that Part Two of Telltale's Walking Dead was pretty awful. Predictable story, poor gameplay. I failed that last bit

Spoiler:

backing mom up the stairs to the zombie

probably 15 times, and when I finally passed it I had done exactly the same thing as the 15 times I failed it. No interest in the rest of the series.

When there is a sexy female character on the screen...yeah, I look.

CptGlanton wrote:

I thought that Part Two of Telltale's Walking Dead was pretty awful. Predictable story, poor gameplay. I failed that last bit

Spoiler:

backing mom up the stairs to the zombie

probably 15 times, and when I finally passed it I had done exactly the same thing as the 15 times I failed it. No interest in the rest of the series.

You're doing better than me, I can't get motivated to get out of the first house.

@Drekk,

I have a lot of sympathy for your confession to starting on Easy. I'm 41 and - for pretty much the same reasons as you - I regularly 'dial down' to Easy during games (provided it's not an irrevocable choice).

My rule of thumb is that five attempts without success/progress justifies a turning the difficulty down a notch.

I tend to restrict this to shooters though, where it's all about learning sequences and deploying the reflexes of a teenage. If the game has a more strategic bent then I figure I'm old enough and smart enough to work out the correct tactics.

I'm saddened by the number of people who never finished Bioshock. I only picked this up two weeks ago, and was looking to see what all the fuss was about over the Xmas break.

Aaron D. wrote:

Yup. I went through BioShock like 2.5 times or so.

I was a bit apprehensive of BioShock 2, thinking it was a quick cash-in as it was farmed out to a different developer. However, to my surprise, I found it to be a fantastic game and along with the stellar Minerva's Den DLC the whole franchise has gone on to rank among my most memorable gaming of the current gen.

Yes, to all of this. I really love the style of the series and still appreciate the original for the sense of shock I had when I got to Rapture and it was just so effing cool, but Bioshock 2 is to me far more compelling and just plain better in every way even before Minerva's Den, which is the best DLC I've ever played.

detroit20 wrote:

I'm saddened by the number of people who never finished Bioshock. I only picked this up two weeks ago, and was looking to see what all the fuss was about over the Xmas break.

I've finished 1 and 2. They're great. I'm looking forward to Infinity. As with any game, it's either going to click with you or it isn't. It's a fantastic ride if you do get into it. I'm going to play through them again now I have a high def TV :).

I finished Bioshock. Had a break and played through again. I enjoyed it. I used to take out the big daddys by setting lots of electro traps, acting as a decoy so they ran through them then finishing them off with a couple of homing rockets. Easy.

Maybe the most interesting part of the thread to me is the volume of BioShock discussion. I didn't realize its universal love was so ... not universal.

CptGlanton wrote:

Maybe the most interesting part of the thread to me is the volume of BioShock discussion. I didn't realize its universal love was so ... not universal.

I must (slightly) balance this by saying that System Shock2 is still better, although, f*** Ken Levine for the psychic monkeys.

Scratched wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

Maybe the most interesting part of the thread to me is the volume of BioShock discussion. I didn't realize its universal love was so ... not universal.

I must (slightly) balance this by saying that System Shock2 is still better, although, f*** Ken Levine for the psychic monkeys.

This. Though I loved the story of BS1, and the gameplay of BS2, SS2 still was the better package, especially when adjusted for time of release.

Tanglebones wrote:
Scratched wrote:
CptGlanton wrote:

Maybe the most interesting part of the thread to me is the volume of BioShock discussion. I didn't realize its universal love was so ... not universal.

I must (slightly) balance this by saying that System Shock2 is still better, although, f*** Ken Levine for the psychic monkeys.

This. Though I loved the story of BS1, and the gameplay of BS2, SS2 still was the better package, especially when adjusted for time of release.

Yeah, time of release, but a lot of the old games I've repurchased and failed to be able to play were better adjusted for the time of release, yet are pretty unplayable now.

Higgledy wrote:
detroit20 wrote:

I'm saddened by the number of people who never finished Bioshock. I only picked this up two weeks ago, and was looking to see what all the fuss was about over the Xmas break.

I've finished 1 and 2. They're great. I'm looking forward to Infinity. As with any game, it's either going to click with you or it isn't. It's a fantastic ride if you do get into it. I'm going to play through them again now I have a high def TV :).

Bioshock was one of the first games I picked up when I got my Xbox360 two years ago. Played through once, considered going back for some of the achievements.

I bought Bioshock 2, because our local GameStop still had one of the collectors editions up on the shelf and it was down to $30. Art book + vinyl & CD soundtrack. I've got Minevera's Den purchased from over a year ago when it was on sale on XBL. And....the game is still in its shrinkwrap on my pile.

I will never play another Peter Molyneux game after finishing Fable 3

Whenever I have morality choices, I always lean good. Even in tabletop games, I tend to be a goody goody, "let's save the world" and take on everyone's problems kind of guy. I did this in Fable 3 (without the aforementioned time cheats), and the result you get at the end of the game? Every night I thought I'd have more time, I would think "no way, he's gotta give me a chance to get more money and buy my way out of this".

I did not break a single one of my promises to the groups that help you get to the end.

And what do I get?

Spoiler:

99% of Albion doesn't survive.

I beat the game, but felt like I failed. I finished, but so unsatisfactorily. Don't get me wrong - the last few hours of the game gives you some amazingly hard decisions, but I won't let Molyneux do that to me again.