Mastodawn

IrgndSonDepp

@Judeau you gave it more than an honest try. You deserve a break. 😊

Judeau (EatTheRich)6d ago

@irgndsondepp Thanks! I probably fought this guy a couple of dozen times before finally switching to easy mode.

I'm just glad that easy mode was an option.

I remember playing Sly Cooper on the PS2. I loved that game. After getting around 80% of it completed, there was a boss fight with an owl & I could never beat him. I tried for weeks. I never beat the owl & thus never completed the game.

It's always disappointing to put a bunch of time into a game & not be able to complete it.

IrgndSonDepp 5d ago

@Judeau I tried to get into Viewtiful Joe a few times and that game broke me. I had a similar feeling, where I thought I was good at videogames and Joe just said No! 🤣
I think I managed to beat the first stage eventually, but that game is brutally hard.

@irgndsondepp @Judeau For me the closest thing might be something like, say, Hollow Knight. The game is so deep, atmospheric, and fun during the first half or so, but then at a certain point "the darkness creeps" so to speak for a non-spoilery way of putting it and suddenly NPCs are turning, everything is 10x harder and even just going through areas you went through before becomes a pain.

I'm pretty sure I could have stuck through it and even beaten the game. I do think I could have. But what I also know is that I didn't want to. It just wasn't fun anymore. I hate that I never beat it or got the full story directly, but it just wasn't fun anymore.

I'm kind of sad that nothing since has come close to that same sort of feel as Hollow Knight's first half was — but all the way through.

@nazokiyoubinbou @irgndsondepp One of my friends had a similar experience with Hollow Knight. They eventually picked up Silk Song when it came out and it was so hard they decided to go back and give Hollow Knight another go.

They mentioned they had an easier time going back to it after playing some of Silk Song, though I'm not sure if they ever beat either of them.

@Judeau @irgndsondepp It's that first half that fools you. And I'll bet they were still within that first half.

There is a very definitive point that Hollow Knight just sort of switches over. Suddenly there is a new type of enemy around, NPCs get infected, etc. (I still am upset about the singing miner. That was kind of a dark point for me to see the game just ever so casually do that.)

IrgndSonDepp 5d ago

@nazokiyoubinbou @Judeau But it's very freeing to grasp that feeling of "hey, this is no longer fun" and act on it!
There was a time where I felt guilty and would often force myself to finish a game, but I'm glad I left that behind. With other media too, books and TV shows. Life's just too short to be stuck with something inconsequential that's not even fun.

@irgndsondepp @nazokiyoubinbou I totally agree. It's a hard thing to do, especially when you've committed a chunk of time to it, but at the end of the day these things are supposed to be fun. If they're not, why force yourself to continue with them?

@Judeau @irgndsondepp The problem is, Hollow Knight was something special for me — at least up to that point. The sheer atmosphere, the exploration, its all around style, and oh my god the music...

Then suddenly it just wasn't anymore. Without even warning. And this is not a branching paths thing. It always was to be this way. So it sort of felt like I was giving all that up — or even like it was being taken away.

@nazokiyoubinbou @irgndsondepp I've never played it, but that does sound like it would be a hard decision to make/accept, especially having loved the first half so much.

@Judeau @irgndsondepp Exactly!

And I mean, I could have powered through, but it wouldn't recapture what the first half presented. I suppose I still would have gotten a lot from it if I had, but it just wasn't the same anymore.

And I mean, ngl, it gets hard.