The Video Game Critic

Sorry you don't 'get it'.  It has nothing to do with understand the game.  It's the fact that despite being able to understand how to play the game in less than 5 mins the developer felt it necessary to put a boring ass tutorial with a bunch of crummy cut scenes in the beginning of the game.  So despite being ready to play and have fun...the game is LITERALLY designed to prevent you from doing this.  

If I boot up Contra III (SNES) the title screen loads and then in about 5 seconds I'm mowing down alien scum from the Red Falcon.  It's great.  My blood gets pumping from the awesome music and I'm ready to hunker down and play.  I could probably finish the game in the time it takes to kill the first zombie in Dead Rising 2.

Also, just because YOU don't care about 'instant gratification' means that the rest of us don't.  Which is why we're expressing that opinion.

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]Sorry you don't 'get it'.  It has nothing to do with understand the game.  It's the fact that despite being able to understand how to play the game in less than 5 mins the developer felt it necessary to put a boring ass tutorial with a bunch of crummy cut scenes in the beginning of the game.  So despite being ready to play and have fun...the game is LITERALLY designed to prevent you from doing this. [/QUOTE]It's a consequence of gaming going super mainstream and the investment of AAA productions: so many "casuals" are buying games they don't want to risk disinterest because the player "can't figure the game out."

What's missing in modern games is "figuring the game out" as part of the game itself. It's why the Souls games strike such a chord with many gamers.

[QUOTE=Gentlegamer][QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]Sorry you don't 'get it'.  It has nothing to do with understand the game.  It's the fact that despite being able to understand how to play the game in less than 5 mins the developer felt it necessary to put a boring ass tutorial with a bunch of crummy cut scenes in the beginning of the game.  So despite being ready to play and have fun...the game is LITERALLY designed to prevent you from doing this. [/QUOTE]

It's a consequence of gaming going super mainstream and the investment of AAA productions: so many "casuals" are buying games they don't want to risk disinterest because the player "can't figure the game out."

What's missing in modern games is "figuring the game out" as part of the game itself. It's why the Souls games strike such a chord with many gamers.[/QUOTE]

It's a shame more developers don't see the success of the Souls series and try to emulate it.  The games walk a fine line between being rewarding and frustrating.  


Last night I played Super Ghouls n Ghosts on the SNES.  It took me 35 mins to beat the first stage.  35 minutes!  I must have died close to 40 times.  You know what?  I loved every second of it.  I slowly learned the stage, kept making progress and it was highly rewarding.  After about an hour and a half I had made it all the way to third stage boss.  It was so much fun playing this.

Afterwards I played the original Splatterhouse.  Man that game is great.  The music is so eerie for such an old game.  It really gets under your skin (in a good way!).  The levels are short, but each one has a new and interesting twist to see.  That is one of my favorite part of retro games...as you advance the designers tended to reward the player with cooler stages and interesting stuff to discover.  

Both of these games were perfect for some retro, spooky Halloween style games.  Like BanjoPickles...I need to start playing some Castlevania!

JustLikeHeaven, I'm right there with you. The higher the risk, the greater the reward. Hoping that the Critic will tackle Souls soon. He'll certainly have a lot of people to get advice from!

25%

I agree w/ desiring instant grat. I played bioshock infinite for over an hour and still was roaming around the city doing nothing. That was 2 months ago. Maybe someday I'll try it again. On the flip side fallout 3 takes forever to get going, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Collecting items, character creation and learning about people that will still be relevant later in the game makes the difference for me.

Yeah, but try going back to play Fallout 3 after you've already done that opening/tutorial level again.  I did last year and I wanted to pull my hair out.  I couldn't skip through that part fast enough.  That's saying something...because it's really well done too.  

I dunno...I just have zero tolerance for this type of stuff nowadays.  I actually prefer over the top stuff because at least it's so silly that I find it enjoyable.  Games that take themselves so seriously tend to make me cringe and bore me to tears.