Dude is spot on with Starfield. I've played the shit out of so many Bethesda games. I was SO excited for Starfield. But I just didn't have the time. I didn't even get to that planet where he does the quests, I just quit and I'm afraid that if I pick it up I'll accomplish nothing in the little time I have.

[–] claycle@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

(Preface - I've not yet picked up Starfield, though I have hundreds [far too many] hours in other Bethesda games; Cyberpunk 2.0, though, has thoroughly captured my attention.)

I hear what you're saying, but the YouTube commenter apparently loves Elden Ring, which I found to be an awful game and painful to play. Man, I love complex, deeply explorable games, but I played Elden Ring for 8 hours and never felt like I was making an inch of pleasurable progress. The commenter complains about games being a chore, but what about games like Elden Ring that aren't chores, but are literal punishment?

I guess I had trouble accepting the commenter's point of view after he rah-rah'd for Elden Ring...

[–] wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The point of elden ring and its siblings is the feeling of earned progress through effort and skill. You learn how to kill a boss slowly, and you fight and grapple for every level to build that strength. You do a similar thing with the environment.

The complaint of chores is one of tedium, not challenge. You dont learn to complete the chore list, you just fill time with it.

If you dont enjoy the challenge souls games offer you, its not your type of fun. But I feel the same way about car games, doesnt mean theres fault in the racing genre.

[–] Spuddlesv2@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago

You’ve just described a chore you enjoy vs a chore you don’t. If you enjoy it, great, it’s not a chore for you! If you don’t enjoy it, it’s a boring tedious chore.

I found Elden Ring to be aggressively, intentionally designed to waste my time. At no point did I feel any sense of enjoyment. I found Starfield to be a bit lacking in depth and variety but otherwise OK-ish.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tried Elden Ring because the kids were loving it. I gave it about 3 hours and I still didn't really know what was going on.

[–] TheRealCharlesEames@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

Elden Ring gave me the most buyers remorse I’ve ever felt

[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Elden Ring really scratches that exploratory game itch for me. Every meter felt worth visiting. You never really know what awaits in the next corner. If you’re lucky it might be the entrance to a completely unique area, all with its own set of enemies and bosses. It’s a game that dares to put an optional secret area behind a secret area behind another secret area.

Even on second play through I was caught off guard by some new surprises.

Compare it to Tears of the Kingdom for example. Wherever you go, you will find the same sets of enemies and often even the same environmental assets. After you’ve visited a few of the sky archipelago islands there’s few other surprises to see there. Encountering the first Flux Construct is a fun challenge, but after the 20th one it has turned into a mindless chore.

[–] paradoxxxzero@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

Elden ring was such a great game for me, I'm really sick of these movies with extra steps kind of game. To each their own I guess.

[–] SpeakinTelnet@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I always considered myself a dedicated gamer, like gaming was my sole hobby. Lately the last game I really could get fully into was stardew valley because I could fit in a single "day" or two in my schedule and finish on a hype every time.

Last RPG I played I had to make note of what was happening because by the time I picked up the game again I forgot what was happening.

[–] MudMan@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

That's a you problem, not a game problem, though.

Sure, if you don't have time to binge play anymore it's harder to get into genres that depend on following a narrative for tens of hours. Have you tried going back to Daggerfall or Morrowind? Because those weren't bite-sized then, either, you just had five hours after school to sit down and play.

Which is fine. It's perfectly acceptable to say that you no longer have time or energy to get into long-winded stuff and prefer faster paced games. I agree. But that's not because modern games are poorly designed.

Hell, these days I can boot up a PS5 and be right where I left off in 20 seconds. When I was a kid loading up a game was a 15 minute proposition before the damn thing even rendered anything on-screen.