More forgiving, but less patient
As I wrote last month, the way I approach games is shifting; I’m more inclined to focus on the things they do well than to dwell on their faults. I recently discovered a corollary: when something does get on my nerves, I’m much quicker to write the game off.
Case in point: After making some decent progress in Beyond Good & Evil I happened upon a tricky stealth puzzle in one of the dungeons. For the first time there was no option to fight — failure meant instant death from a mounted security gun. I died four or five times and then quit the game, exasperated. I haven’t been back.
My issue wasn’t with the difficulty. I had happily played through other difficult parts of the game already, and had much more time on them than at the security gun puzzle. There wasn’t an excessive punishment for failure, either; you lost some health and were kicked back to the entrance to the room. The problem was that the instant deaths were not fun, and once the game stopped being fun I found I had little patience for it to pick back up.
It looks obvious enough when written down, but that’s a much different approach than I’m used to. There are plenty of games that start slow or lag somewhere in the middle, and I’ve always been willing to wait for “the good part.” Hell, there were whole areas of Grim Fandango that I didn’t enjoy playing, but I just kept GameFAQs open in another window and plodded on through. Now, upon encountering the first such area in Beyond Good & Evil, I’ve bailed.
While I’m intrigued by the change, I hope that my new approach isn’t permanent. I’d like to finish Beyond Good & Evil, and I’m interested in other games that seem like they’d require more patience (such as the Persona series). For now I’ll just see if I can recalibrate my threshold for irritation.
Just remember that no game is perfect (Portal being an obvious exception =P ), and irritation will never be wholly avoided. As such, don’t quit on a game if you like it. Unless your obstacle is game-breaking, it shouldn’t deter you.
Good luck getting back on track. =)
I have encountered this problem before as well, but in my case, I have actually quit some games and not gone back. Even the thought of having to look up the spoiler to get by the punishing spot was a deterrent. After all, games are meant to be challenging, but enjoyable, as you said.
As a gamer who enjoys adventure games, I have a higher tolerance for puzzles, but insta-death absurdities can frustrate even the most patient person. I hop you get that “A-ha!” moment while dozing off for a nap and can go back and continue playing the game. BG&E is quite fun.
Be well.
Do you find your forgiving nature and lack of patience a personal thing or an external change in game design?
Personally, I used to be harsher on games until I grew up a little and realized how much work it is to make them; that the people on the teams were being impacted by real artistic, economic, and social forces, rather than just being afflicted with a case of the “teh sux.”
I also sympathize with your lack of patience, as games now have a growing history from which to learn from. If a game comes out that has a sloppy stealth implementation or convoluted menus, I think it’s fair to ask “why didn’t they do their research before releasing this?”
I am an old man. When I was 11 years old and playing King’s Quest 3, I had nowhere to turn when I was stuck. I had no friends who played it, I was long distance from BBS’s, and there was no guarantee any of them would even have hints.
After months of making no progress and bothering my parents to participate in thankless brainstorming sessions (“try TAKE the cat?”) we eventually called the Sierra On-Line 1-900 hint line for $5 or whatever it was and later I found a hint book in a computer store (it had invisible ink and a marker you would use to reveal the hints).
So these days when a game frustrates me I’m pretty unforgiving. I’m also the same way with movies though and they never did anything to me.
Sometimes I’m wiling to concede to unfunness in games if it doesn’t last too long and there is a rewarding payoff. The part you mentioned of BG&E was what I found most frustrating about the game as well and definitely the least fun. I thought the animal (think it was animals; it’s been a while) photographing side quest was the best part of the game, so if you haven’t gotten to that I’d say the game is still worth your time, at least until you complete that and have to sneak around again…
Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. I’m sure I’ll polish off BG&E one day, but with so many other games clamoring for attention I’m not inclined to indulge it while it frustrates me.
Scott: Interesting question. I’m willing to bet it’s a personal change only because I haven’t been playing new games lately, so I’ve been hitting different points in game design evolution. Perhaps that has something to do with the forgiveness aspect, actually — I don’t fault BG&E for its simplistic puzzles just as I don’t fault, say, Ultima IV for its limited dialogue. I’m willing to cut some extra slack if it makes for a more enjoyable experience.