How you’ve changed! - The Bear and Badger

Moot_Geeza

Dark Soldier wrote:

Oh also fuck a Hard setting. Teens/twenties it was hard or extreme all the way. Just bang that shit on Normal now and have it done. Doom Eternal excluded.

I tend to play most 3D games on easy these days. I think the watershed moment was The Evil Within 2 two or three years ago, where my opinion went from 'this is insufferable outdated shit' to 'oh right now I'm having fun, and it feels nicely retro' with the switch from standard difficulty to casual mode. I've always enjoyed the gittin' gud process in 2D games, but in hindsight there are very few 3D games where the character dying doesn't irritate me so it's been kinda liberating. I thought TLOU2 was a magnificent experience on the light difficulty setting, chances are I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if I'd been snagged at multiple checkpoints.

TBF I sometimes play 2D games on easier difficulties now too, if they offer them. Rogues just take too fucking long to finish otherwise, and one thing that's always been a constant with my gaming tastes is the desire to see the end.

Unlikely

I cannot be arsed with infinitely expanding move-sets. Just give me simple controls and a complex world.

Scout

It's been mentioned a few times already, but yup, it's the difficulty setting for me. I always played shooters on their hardest difficulty setting. It was like a badge of honour. 'Normal' difficulty? Excuse me, do you think my gaming abilities are unable to rise above normal?
Now? I'm normal all the way. Don't think I'd drop down to easy mode just yet though.

equinox_code

I used to appreciate having my hand-eye coordination or reaction speed tested with online shooters/racing games. these days I have no interest in that at all. Give me games I can play at my own pace, which always ends up being slow as fuck. So in recent years I think the last 5 or 6 games I have enjoyed have all shared this leisurely pace; X-com, StS, Factorio, Dsico Elysium, The Witness, Crusader Kings 3 etc

[Deleted User]

LivDiv wrote:

You say that like people aren't buying new consoles to get higher resolution textures and smoother framerates.

In all honesty, I bought the Series X so that I could raid CEX for XBOne and 360 games I'd not experienced before.

regmcfly

I like a nicely doable collectathon, a la Miles Morales, but I have managed to move myself away from obsessively getting everything in a game.

stormyskiesahead

Raiziel wrote:

I suppose I discovered my niche and just really doubled down on it as I got older. Do you find your genre preference funnelling into ever smaller spaces as you get older?

Oh yeah. Co-op and competitive online MP games (usually FPS's) are pretty much all I've played for years now. Shit, I only play Minecraft if it's on Dante's server. Playing with friends is the best.

Of course I still buy all the games I think I'd have liked in the past with the intention that I'll get round to them one day, but mostly they just sit there in my Steam or PS library. Never to even be downloaded.

Speedhaak

Great thread Raiziel, read through all the comments and some very insightful and relatable thoughts to digest. I guess for me how I changed harks back to 1999 and the introduction of playing online with Phantasy Star Online and later, Counter Strike, FFXI, Lineage 2, WoW and many years later SFIV and Destiny. The Dreamcast was the catalyst for change in me, of that I am sure.

I think online gaming was a huge pivot for me in my appreciation for games, enthusiasm for them and overall enjoyment. Going from a games design student, avid industry participant and loyal EDGE reader to a pure blinkered online gamer... In all honesty I both curse and celebrate the day I started to play online as for many years after all I did was play online games and completely fell out of love with single player experiences. I definitely (between 2005-2012) found myself in that hardcore demographic I so desperately try to distance myself from now, that space where I still see friends on Steam and Discord logging on every day straight after work for six to seven hours to play WoW or the latest loot grinder.

Seeing this definitely brings up this feeling of self loathing and regret to some degree and just so I am clear as well this isn't a judgmental appraisal of other peoples gaming habits, it's about me looking inwards with the benefit of hindsight. I have tried these past few years to remove that part of gaming that takes over, that occupies my mind when I am doing other things and detracts from the enjoyment of every day life.

Declining and evening with the missus to watch a movie in favor of grinding out loot in Destiny, being temperamental and narky when I can't get a fix of a few hours online... those types of changes in my personality when I introduce intense online games to my life are what really upset me. It's why I pulled the plug on FFXIV last year, used the excuse of lockdown to dive into it and immediately started to see above habits creeping back into my life. It's also why I am very careful with Destiny as many of the hooks in that game are designed around FOMO.

When I hit the reset button and allocate games the position they held for me as a child I definitely feel much better as a person. It's more for me now about playing games when I have time and not seeking the time to play them if that makes sense? Life changes too, with a wife and young son now my priorities have changed and even though I have to remind myself every now and then that there are bigger things than me getting to play games I still do enjoy 'gaming' it's just that with hindsight, it's obvious that I am prone to addiction where online games are concerned. Looking back on those first few years of WoW I have nostalgia that tells me they were great times but I also have trips to the hospital and extreme weight loss that tell a different story...

I guess how I've changed is wanting to enjoy games without becoming a person who can only think about games. I enjoy being free from the prison of obsession if I am honest, it's a lonely place to be.

davyK

I really haven't changed that much.

Once games got beyond flickering and unplanned slowdown I was pretty much satisfied. Loadtimes appeared and I loathe those too and it's disappointing to see them raising their head again. Eyebrows raise at track loading in MK8 on Switch for example.

It's always been about the arcade experience for me. Short burns of play that can be repeated and show some depth as skill builds. Grinding has never been for me. Narratives aren't for me either. The story in a 2600 manual was more than enough for me (and provided context for the flickering blobs though even then the abstract look of a game is a positive for me).

Same room multiplayer is still the optimal experience. I don't get that experience as often any more but as long as the daughters live in the house it will happen when we all have simultaneous downtime.

I've always been attracted to the abstract, the cartoonish, the cute. Realism doesn't do it. The "wow" has a very short half life with me.

I still like playing 2600 games from time to time; especially paddle games.

Super Breakout, Tetris, Asteroids, Monkey Ball, F-Zero X. That sums up my tastes.

Still get a kick from a high score or a best time. That's what motivates me.

The modern shmup for me is the pinnacle and I've lost my love of platformers. That's the only change I've experienced. Once I learned modern shmups weren't the impossible to beat coin munchers they appear to be I was hooked and I always will be. I will go for the 1 credit clear on Normal but I'm not too proud to play on easy or novice first if the need arises.

Speedhaak

davyK wrote:

Once I learned modern shmups weren't the impossible to beat coin munchers they appear to be I was hooked and I always will be.

I recall how proud I was when I finally beat Ikaruga with one credit back on the Gamecube. That game was just pure brilliance from sound to design to the gameplay.

hunk

I'm seriously having trouble getting through my Steam backlogue to the extent I've (temporarily) stopped buying games for the time being. I can imagine others experiencing the same thing with gamepass, it's the ludicrous amount of choice making it hard to focus on one title at a time. I do fall back on certain games and genres (fighters/retro), but I find it increasingly hard to finish stuff? Or rather the idea to dedicate myself to new titles if that makes any sense.

LivDiv

I use to enjoy complete, indulgent submersion into an rpg but I struggle with these days. I think that is mostly down to not having the time/wanting to do other things with my time.
The biggest change since childhood is something I mentioned the other day. With an abundance of choice either through GP or my time/money ratio reversing I no longer explore every pixel of a game like I would have done as a kid. Part of that is also my imagination and desire for exploration not being that of a child but also because with improvements in graphics art in games has become more literal and less interpretive like sprites used to be. In recent years I have found it interesting with games like SoR4 taking those sprite characters and making them into much more detailed or high res versions. I have had a few monemnts of "Oh thats a hat, I thought it was a huge nose". Diverging a bit there.

I am less tolerant of crap in games now and I think that's a thing across many gamers. I want good checkpoints and saves, repetition by design not to artificially lengthen complete times. Likewise shonky controls or cheap enemies. I think I am justified somewhat there as gaming should have become much more evolved and refined over time, which thankfully in most cases it has.

I had a short lived love affair with online MP. Mainly Halo 2 and 3 really but I can't keep up so that has fallen away and I rarely try much these days. Although I enjoy things like weeklys and their high scores. Indirect competitive gameplay I suppose.

Games I have drifted away from...
Used to love Soul Calibur but bought and hardly played SC6.
Nintendo stuff I feel like I have done now. With a few exceptions I feel like while what I am playing is clearly well made Im not getting much out of it. Mario Odyssey definitely fit the bill there.
Pokemon massively done with. I used to spend silly hours on Blue and Silver but I have picked up a few since and just cannot be arsed with it.

davyK

After beating Mario 64 I didn't play another 3D platformer until Mario Galaxy. I 120-shined that. I tried doing Galaxy 2 but just couldn't face it. I doubt I will do another.

I will still play some top of the range SNES platformers - SMW,YI,Castlevania IV,All Stars et al - but I've no interest in new ones. That era killed that love off. Tried Super Meat Boy and couldn't stay with it even though I like it.

Cuphead. Now there's a modern game I liked. I like a run n gun still. Still love a bit of Contra and Metal Slug.

poprock

I’ve always been a lightweight gamer. It’s extremely rare for me to complete a game. Even as a teenager, I collected thousands of games (mostly via playground piracy) and got a kick out of playing a little bit of everything rather than getting immersed in any one title. Always looking for the new and shiny.

I loved cover mounted demo tapes/discs. And downloadable demos in the Xbox 360 era. Try everything, stick at nothing.

Every now and again though, something really grabbed me and I’d go deep into it. Jet-Pac. Manic Miner. Head over Heels. Xenon. Stunt Car Racer. Arkanoid. Robocod. Xenon 2. Flood. Tetris. Speedball 2. Tekken. Soul Calibur. Puzzle Bobble. Crazy Taxi. Super Monkey Ball. Gran Turismo. Geometry Wars 2. The Forza series.

I guess the thing that changed over the years was my free time. I don’t have much these days, and I choose to spend it doing things I can share with my wife (like TV we can watch together) rather than things I need to do solo (like reading, or games).

Questor

I am happy to now be a lightweight. Normal is as tough as I'll go. I want to experience the content in a game, and I have so many games to get through, I don't have the time to spend to git gud.

Fightmans are another story though, I'll put hundreds of hours into those if they're good (gimme an Alpha 4 Capcom, and I will forgive SF5)

nick_md

Moot put SoR4 on Easy, when there were three of us playing co-op.

Sorry Moot.

yourfavouriteuncle

I’ve got a little bit fatter, have some faint crows feet and a few greys coming though, other than that though don’t think I’ve changed too much.

regmcfly

I've got no shame in sticking Easy on for a game I just want to see through.

hunk

regmcfly wrote:

I've got no shame in sticking Easy on for a game I just want to see through.

This. Unless the gameplay loop is addictive like crack, I can't be arsed to play a game on hard/nightmare.

Brooks

Unlikely wrote:

I cannot be arsed with infinitely expanding move-sets. Just give me simple controls and a complex world.

And it turns out complex worlds are harder and more expensive to do, so we never really get this much now, and it's annoying.

Moot_Geeza

nick_md wrote:

Moot put SoR4 on Easy, when there were three of us playing co-op.

Sorry Moot.

I've finished about 500 games over the past five years that probably have a collective Metacritic average of 57%. I have no gaming shame. Even my pile of shame gets me tumescent.

Plus non forum Gav has played like twelve games since the 90s.

superflyninja

Great thread! I don't think I've changed much really over the years. My mainstay is still story driven single player games.
The thing that's changed is the time I can sink into gaming. It's reduced to 4 or 5 hours a week. Which is funny as I've never owned so many games before. I've got a ps5, a series s and a gaming pc. So I'm not even looking at the likes of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, despite the fact I own it through ps plus.
I'll pop on Tsushima for an hour do a few side quests and that me then for days.

acemuzzy

Time is the main thing for me too - I used to live long sessions on jrpgs but just not happening these days. And that means that attempting jrpgs, while I still like them, is often folly: they literally take me months to finish.

Coupled with more being in software & interested in how games are made, indies often fill that void. Where I find them often mechanically like interesting as well as more impressive. And something like Hollow Knight blows my mind even were out not an indie.

Tolerance for things I don't like has nosedived too. Just cba with FPS games anymore, so generally simply avoid them.

GaaS I struggle with. So many games to choose from. I'm prone to flitting so love it when I find a game that properly gets its teeth in / I want to play to completion.

Wookienopants

Im lucky if I can find an hour an evening after everyone's in bed to play something so anything that involves too much of a grind can get in the bin.
Same with competitive multiplayer.

I love a simple single player narrative that can be finished in 6-8 hours so I can enjoy and then move on to the next

acemuzzy

I'm more a 2-4h kinda guy

davyK

1hr max for me.

MP will be longer, but solo gaming sessions tend to be brief.

GooberTheHat

"Card games suck"

Slay the Spire comes along.

"Fuck!"

nick_md

I used to get straight onto something after work, either competitive pvp stuff or music games.

These days I don't play anything in the week at all (although I did do a few hands of poker in RDO the other day). I do my gaming pretty much exclusively at the weekends now, but it'll be long sessions when I do (single, live alone).

I have no real taste for competitive stuff anymore though, certainly not shooters. I sometimes boot Warzone just when I fancy shooting a gun, but normally nope out of it after a couple of games. I do still play 3s sometimes though.

Most of my gaming now is either pootling around in RDR, a story-driven game if it gets its hooks in (Resi 8 last one), or something smallish like SoR, Cybershadow etc.

Strictly Saturday and Sunday.

nick_md

In b4 yeah I can't wait for Strictly to start again either.

mk64

I adored both Sim City up to 2000 and Championship Manager up to about the same time 2000. Since then i've not gone back to them, they got too complex and became too micro management to be fun for me.

I definitely also have slowly moved away from racing games and speedrunning games as i tend to get as much enjoyment from watching them on twitch or youtube than the stress of actually competing myself.

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