Abandoned Any Games Lately?

I actually had a lot of fun playing it, the gunplay felt good, and there was some interesting worldbuilding and lore tucked away. Life just got in the way, and there always seems to be something I'd rather play instead at this point.

Evil Genius 2. I just keep swerving around it whenever I see it on my Steam list.

I want to like this game so much but they leaned too hard into the cheese and dad jokes that I just can't justify keeping it on my hard drive until a spontaneous urge to play the Incredibles
version of Dungeon Keeper hits me.

The frustrating part is I think Evil Genius would be so much better as an XCOM style game and less about just the base.

I uninstalled Lost Ark. It was fun for a while but I'm not touching it now and it takes up a lot of hard drive space.

Elden Ring. I tinkered around with it for a little while but I instantly knew two things about this game:
1. It was absolutely brilliant. I knew everyone who loved it was playing a masterpiece.
2. I hated it. I knew from decades of gaming this title was not for me. Not that it was a bad game, I just knew there was no way I was going to enjoy this title to the same level that everyone else was. I just don't have the time to invest everything in a game that demands and frustrates as much as it rewards.

Budo wrote:

Elden Ring. I tinkered around with it for a little while but I instantly knew two things about this game:
1. It was absolutely brilliant. I knew everyone who loved it was playing a masterpiece.
2. I hated it. I knew from decades of gaming this title was not for me. Not that it was a bad game, I just knew there was no way I was going to enjoy this title to the same level that everyone else was. I just don't have the time to invest everything in a game that demands and frustrates as much as it rewards.

I might be with you man. I'm on a break with it, as it's starting to feel like work.

I started feeling the same way with Dark Souls 3. It's clearly a great game and exploring was fun, but bosses became unfun work. I made it 1/3 of the way, shelved it for a year, started fresh, and ran out of steam again around the same point.

Speaking of revisiting shelved games, I took a break from Marvel's Spider-Man, picked it back up for another three hours, and called it good enough. Traversing the city felt amazing but combat got tedious. Character-action games aren't really my cup of tea and the combat felt similar. I really enjoyed the times when I was allowed to be sneaky about dispatching foes and I wish there was more opportunity for that approach. I could have also used a lot less QTE in the cut scenes.

From Software games definitely fit the category of “not for everyone.” I like them, I like that they exist, but I wouldn’t want all or even most games to be like them.

Ted wrote:

Speaking of revisiting shelved games, I took a break from Marvel's Spider-Man, picked it back up for another three hours, and called it good enough. Traversing the city felt amazing but combat got tedious. Character-action games aren't really my cup of tea and the combat felt similar. I really enjoyed the times when I was allowed to be sneaky about dispatching foes and I wish there was more opportunity for that approach. I could have also used a lot less QTE in the cut scenes.

If you liked the main gameplay loop, I recommend giving Miles Morales a try in a while. They give you more crowd control powers so the combat scenarios go much smoother and you don't feel like you have to dodge a million times before making a move. They also make stealth way more interesting.

steinkrug wrote:

From Software games definitely fit the category of “not for everyone.” I like them, I like that they exist, but I wouldn’t want all or even most games to be like them.

And for the same reason, I don't want From Software games to be like most other games. I love the huge chance they took on Elden Ring being basically "open world Dark Souls", and I actually do love that they stuck to keeping it intensely opaque and mysterious, with an extremely minimal UI, no quest log, very few automatic map markers, etc.

I do totally get how folks can and do bounce off these games, though. It took me a good couple of tries to get into Dark Souls 1, and even then, it was only by the grace of a kind Goodjer to power me through the latter half of the game via co-op that I made it to the end the first time. Once I got it into my head that combat in these games is NOT fast-paced button mashing, but rather each swing has to be carefully planned, it started clicking a whole lot better for me.

I think I have walked away from Assassin's Creed Odyssey (AC:D) after putting about 40 hours into it. After finishing Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (AC:V) last year I was encouraged to play the previous title by friends, many of whom I take great stock in their opinions on video games as they declared it to be the better title.

Sadly, I did not agree. AC:D is not the game I was hoping it was going to be when comparing it to the latest title in this now 15 year old franchise. Yes, you read that correctly, fifteen years. The thing about AC:D is that it is somewhat simplistic in its structure, there is no base to build, no alliances to create, no complex platform puzzles to overcome, no meditative moments to centre the player character's thoughts. It's just chop everything up and then do the same only at sea.

I'm not 100% sure I have completely walked away from AC:D yet, for I did invest a significant amount of time into it. But with a slew of much more entertaining action adventure games out there, and I include AC:V in that mix, I more than likely will not be returning to ancient Greece any time soon.

merphle wrote:
steinkrug wrote:

From Software games definitely fit the category of “not for everyone.” I like them, I like that they exist, but I wouldn’t want all or even most games to be like them.

And for the same reason, I don't want From Software games to be like most other games. I love the huge chance they took on Elden Ring being basically "open world Dark Souls", and I actually do love that they stuck to keeping it intensely opaque and mysterious, with an extremely minimal UI, no quest log, very few automatic map markers, etc.

I do totally get how folks can and do bounce off these games, though. It took me a good couple of tries to get into Dark Souls 1, and even then, it was only by the grace of a kind Goodjer to power me through the latter half of the game via co-op that I made it to the end the first time. Once I got it into my head that combat in these games is NOT fast-paced button mashing, but rather each swing has to be carefully planned, it started clicking a whole lot better for me.

I won’t further clutter this thread, but I posted some links in the Elden Ring thread relating to accessibility. I ended up reading them after posting my comment this morning and found them educational.

Oh! Add Mafia III to the 'Got Bored' section of my list. I think it was free with PS Plus. I played about an hour or so, then stopped. It was a 2016 game masquerading as one from 2009.

And add one of the Major League Baseball - MLB The Show '11(?) - games to my 'Didn't Understand A Key Mechanic' list. I didn't understand how I was supposed to hit the ball (I appreciate how difficult it is in real life, but still...).

I think I got halfway through my first game, then I removed the disk and never played it again.

So yeah, finally uninstalled Elden Ring. Tried it again today and it's a lovely world and the exploration is great but the moment-to-moment gameplay just feels like work.

Speaking of Elden Ring, since it came out before I could finish Ghost of Tsushima, I've pretty much abandoned that one. I'm in the camp of loving all of From's games, so everything else tends to fall by the wayside when I'm playing one. I will in all likelihood get back to Tsushima after finishing Elden Ring however, because it really is a fantastic game.

Veloxi wrote:

So yeah, finally uninstalled Elden Ring. Tried it again today and it's a lovely world and the exploration is great but the moment-to-moment gameplay just feels like work.

I haven't quite uninstalled Elden Ring, but I think I'm going to shelve it for awhile. The exploration and wonder of the first 15 hours or so were truly something to behold, but the grimness of the setting have been wearing on me since then, so I'm taking a break. And considering what else is coming out this year (plus a bunch of stuff already on the pile), I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't come back to it.

Sekiro. I consider From games to be my favorite games of all time, especially DS2: SOtFS. About 6 hours into Sekiro I realized it just was not for me. At my age (46), I don't have those kind of twitch skills anymore. And it seemed to be a perfect encapsulation of everything I'm lukewarm on in the Souls series (i.e. fast, difficult combat) without most of the stuff I really love (e.g. deep and nuanced build options, weird and surreal storytelling). I think it is a brilliant game design, just not one I've been able to enjoy so far.

Budo wrote:

I just don't have the time to invest everything in a game that demands and frustrates as much as it rewards.

Ditto.

I finished the Raya Lucaria Academy on Friday evening. (Though the word 'finished' is carrying a lot of weight in that sentence. I actually ran past every enemy to get to the mini-boss and boss encounters.) The first mini-boss took me two attempts. The second took me 4, I think. I had seven goes at the boss encounter, before completing it.

Add to that around 30 minutes of farming, and that was all I achieved in around 90 minutes of play time.

With 2 Great Runes in my knapsack, I have the option of moving towards the endgame, but a quick Google indicates that that entails fighting...

!!! Including...

Spoiler:

... an Ornstein and Smough-style boss pair battle. And 2 two-stage boss fights

Even if I go the Comet Azure/Mimic Tear route, I'm still looking at a dozen or so hours, which is more than I can find right now. I have a backlog of books and podcasts to get through. I still haven't finished my Unity course. Oh, and my football team's first match is on April 10th.

Veloxi wrote:

So yeah, finally uninstalled Elden Ring. Tried it again today and it's a lovely world and the exploration is great but the moment-to-moment gameplay just feels like work.

That means you have more time to play Endless Space 2, which I'm sure you agree is the gretest Space 4x game ever. Certainly better than Distant Worlds.

Budo wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

So yeah, finally uninstalled Elden Ring. Tried it again today and it's a lovely world and the exploration is great but the moment-to-moment gameplay just feels like work.

That means you have more time to play Endless Space 2, which I'm sure you agree is the gretest Space 4x game ever. Certainly better than Distant Worlds.

Hey man I'm actually still heartbroken about DW2. I hope they fix it, but in the meantime I've gone to Old World, which is ASTOUNDING.

Yes. Old World is genius.

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. This is I think the third time I've bounced off a Borderlands game. I really want to like them. The writing is a lot of fun, especially in this one. But I always end up finding the combat boring and frustrating. I wish I could get what other people love so much about this series, but it just doesn't click for me.

I kind of hate to say it, but it's time for me to move on from Tunic. The combat reached a difficulty threshold where it just became frustrating for me. I turned on the No Fail mode, which was fine, but then the game suddenly switched to an obtuse puzzle game. Some of the puzzles are great, and I really appreciate how clever a lot of it is, but at the same time, it's also stuff I'd kind of rather just watch on youtube. If I didn't have a demanding full-time job, young kids and a puppy, I'd probably be way more into it. But right now, I don't have the energy to fully invest myself the way the puzzles seem to want me to.

But like, I do feel bad to put it aside - it does a lot of great things. The in-game manual is brilliant. The way it slowly controls the pacing of the game, while slowly unravelling secrets that were hiding in plain sight all along is nothing short of amazing. Really brilliant game design. It never stops surprising.

jontra wrote:

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. This is I think the third time I've bounced off a Borderlands game. I really want to like them. The writing is a lot of fun, especially in this one. But I always end up finding the combat boring and frustrating. I wish I could get what other people love so much about this series, but it just doesn't click for me.

Damnit. I am an idiot. I buy Borderlands game on day 1. And never finished any of them. Im not sure why I get excited about them so much that I purchase it. Great marketing? But damn, I always lose steam so fast... Borderlands 1, 2, 3 and now this. Wish I could refund.

Yesterday, WH40K: Space Marine became the first game I have ever refunded on Steam.

It's no shade on the game, mind you. It seems good. The problem is that I suck so very, very much at action games - especially shooters. I wanted the fantasy of being an Adeptus Astartes juggernaut, and so I started on Easy mode. "You will rarely die," the game promised. I did die, though. Often. Specifically in the many set-piece moments where the player character is swarmed with enemies. Couldn't do it. Couldn't even see how I was supposed to do it.

It's funny: I really enjoy the Souls games, with their famous "difficulty", and I am at least competent enough to bumble my way through them, for the most part. And yet I have abandoned early almost every other action game I've ever played because they are usually far beyond my abilities. I don't know why this is the case. Believe me, I've spent a great deal of time trying to figure it out...

Try 40K Martyr: Inquisitor. Perfect ARPG for people who don't do well at FPS games.

Tasty Pudding wrote:

Yesterday, WH40K: Space Marine became the first game I have ever refunded on Steam.

Your post reminded me I owned Space Marine, so I loaded it up and started the campaign for the first time. SO FUN.

Though yeah Inquisitor is the best.

Veloxi wrote:

Your post reminded me I owned Space Marine, so I loaded it up and started the campaign for the first time. SO FUN.

Definitely fun, and I loved the "weight" of the combat. I'm just so terrible at it that there's no way I'd be able to get through it.

Thanks, both, for the Inquisitor recommend... I notice it's on sale on Xbox for $8, so I'm tempted. Consensus seems to be that it's not on the level of Diablo and Grim Dawn, et al., but I admit I don't know much about ARPGs.

It's personally my all-time favorite ARPG because it's just so easy to play one mission or ten.

You are a filthy enabler. You've sold me on it!

As posted in the D2 thread, but I think I'm officially done with Destiny. Bought the Witch Queen, played the campaign and then BAM. I'm just done, no desire to go back.