Discussion “Wiki games” and being overwhelmed

[kaelan]

I love Minecraft, but I recognize that I can only play it so comfortably is because I’ve been playing since alpha and I know how everything works, and I’ve learned organically as the game grew. Nowadays when I try to get into a new game where there is a lot of extrinsic knowledge, I struggle a lot because I don’t have the time and energy devote to learning about a new set of rules that aren’t made clear in the game. Recently I was playing Automation Empire and I was having a really hard time figuring out why certain components don’t connect together or don’t work in the way the tooltips seem to suggest. I also gave Noita a shot and there’s a lot of systems, and while I could invest some time and learn some of it organically, it just feels overwhelming. Then I noticed I’ve had that many times with many games throughout the past years. How do you deal with this in games? Especially games where there isn’t a larger community around them for you to immerse in and learn.

 

[Parsnip]

I usually try to not look at wikis or guides and trust that the game provides me with enough direction that I can organically find it all out.
Though recently I've been playing some Subnautica and I feel like it doesn't provide enough of a direction and it frustrates me to no end.
But I can't really recall the last time I was overwhelmed with systems and such right out of the gate, I'm probably not playing systems heavy games that much.


Though I do enjoy find out things on my own, at the same time I enjoy being part of the discovery with other people, I have a bit of FOMO for those types of games in particular.
Like imagine playing FEZ when it was brand new with everyone discovering it, sharing theories and such, vs now when there are specific guides to everything in the game just at the tip of your fingers, all you have to do is look for them. It's hard to resist looking up stuff immediately.

 

[Bonfires Down]

I hate it. Easy to learn, hard to master should be the mantra.

 

[Theswweet]

One of these days I'll ascend in Nethack, I swear!

 

[kaelan]

One of these days I'll ascend in Nethack, I swear!

It does seem like roguelikes are most prone to this, but they also do the most to let the player learn organically learn. Simulation or survival games are where I really struggle.

 

[lashman]

It does seem like roguelikes are most prone to this,

tell me about it

 

[NarohDethan]

I dropped Digimon World Next Order when I realized I had to make spreadsheets to get the Digimon I wanted, no thanks.

 

[Madventure]

There was a game I'm forgetting the name of that I beat and I decided to look up stuff after the fact and I learned that you could dodge after I beat the game and I just went "Huh that probably would of made the game easier"

 

[lashman]

There was a game I'm forgetting the name of that I beat and I decided to look up stuff after the fact and I learned that you could dodge after I beat the game and I just went "Huh that probably would of made the game easier"

Dark Souls?

 

[Madventure]

Dark Souls?

I'm not that dumb unfortunately

 

[lashman]

I'm not that dumb unfortunately

lol ... oh, you

 

[Madventure]

lol ... oh, you

It was a game that had their dodge mechanic tied to double tapping the movement keys and I just never did that is what I am recalling? Most games generally had/have a dedicated button to dodge or whatever but it was the push in the movement stick kind of thing or double tap WASD movement to dodge and I might of done it once in awhile and never actually realized I was doing it on purpose

 

[lashman]

It was a game that had their dodge mechanic tied to double tapping the movement keys and I just never did that is what I am recalling? Most games generally had/have a dedicated button to dodge or whatever but it was the push in the movement stick kind of thing or double tap WASD movement to dodge and I might of done it once in awhile and never actually realized I was doing it on purpose

oh yeah, plenty of games used to do that back in the day

but pretty much since Dank Souls - everyone is now dedicating a button to it (thankfully)

 

[fantomena]

I have barely played Stardew Valley because I felt overwhelmed with stuff I needed to think about.

 

[Mondy]

I have barely played Stardew Valley because I felt overwhelmed with stuff I needed to think about.

You would fucking hate Star Citizen

 

[Myradeer]

I try to figure out everything without guides, but is not averse to looking things up when I feel like knowledge gained vs time spent ratio is skewed towards the latter.

 

[Dandy]

No Man's Sky has a problem with this... Mainly with learning blue prints and such. There are so many, and figuring out where they all come from can be frustrating.

 

[Arsene]

Back when I played Minecraft in alpha I downloaded a crafting guide app on my IPod Touch to help me learn the game lol. Mostly everything else was from experimenting and tips from friends or people on servers I hopped to. Honestly really enhanced the experience to me. I think it was my first time playing a game that I had to rely on out of game sources to really “get”

Terraria I had to have the wiki open at all times.

 

[gabbo]

I'm not sure if it's all Paradox games, but I played the demo of Crusader Kings 2 and it was easy enough, small scale, straight forward. I got the full game a few months later and suddenly the tutorial is over before I know it, the tool tips are useless and/or non-existent and trying to figure out the game through experimentation and trial and error just overwhelmed me more. I feel like I needed an adviser just to sort out my advisers and a guide for everything.

I haven't played it in years, and it really put me off grand strategy even though that demo experience was pure gold.

Old school adventure game logic often falls into this sort of thing for me, but for those times, youtube can occasionally come in handy or I'll figure them out through sheer frustration.