Dark Souls 2 ruined video games for me :(

[moggett88]

I loved Dark Souls. I played through it once, then again, then perfected the achievements, then beat it once more for good measure. I loved the gameplay, the setting, the music, everything.

So I was pretty excited for Dark Souls 2. I pre-ordered it, and played it as soon as it arrived. After about half an hour, I was disappointed. The start was weak, but I thought "it'll get better later" and pressed on. A few hours after that, I was not having a good time (for about all the reasons people have given for DS2 being bad). Normally, I would have called it a day at that point and moved on to a different game, but because I enjoyed the first so much, I decided I would at least finish, hoping to find some fun later on in the game.

I don't remember how long it took, but it was far longer than it should have been because whenever I had a spare hour I'd turn the Xbox on, load up to the menu, then turn it off again because I didn't fancy the slog. But finish I did, and the ending was as disappointing to me as the rest of the game had been. I was...confused. How was it possible that the team that made the first game made this absolute shambles? I decided to download the DLC for the first game to cheer myself up.

However, it seemed that my experience with the second had tainted my ability to enjoy the first. It was a grind (made worse by the fact that I was so familiar with it). I trudged through to where I could access the DLC since I didn't want to feel I'd wasted my money, but after an hour or two in the DLC I had to stop (made it through the gardens to the city or whatever). It was so aggressively dull I just couldn't bring myself to play it anymore. I was a sad panda, since not only was DS2 awful, it had ruined DS1 for me

After a few days I moved on, and started playing Arkham City. An hour in, I stopped, bored, and switched to Monster Hunter. 30 minutes later, bored again, I stopped. Over the next week, I tried to play 10 or so games, some old favourites, some brand new, but just...couldn't. It wasn't fun anymore. That was April, and I persevered for about a month, but haven't even turned a console on since then. Dark Souls 2 has essentially killed my ability to enjoy games

Sorry for the long post, but misery loves company Has anyone else had a similar experience? Or (fingers crossed) has someone experienced this but managed to overcome it?

 

[NPC009]

I think most gamers experience a burn-out like that atleast once. I've had two. The first one solved itself when I just did something else for a couple of months. Instead of playing games I went through like two novels a week. I got sick of that after a while and started gaming again.

The second one was at the beginning of this year. I just didn't feel like playing any of the games in my backlog. Most of them are 40 hours epics and felt like they required too much of a commitment. Luckily there were Steam Sales going on. I just grabbed a bunch of short games that looked good. Half of 'em were indie titles, the other half older games from smaller publishers. I got stuff like Ys Book I and II, Breath of Death VII and Thomas Was Alone. All games that can be experienced in 5 hours or less. I played through most of them in a couple of weeks. It felt good to be able to start a game without worrying I'd have to pour tons of time into it to get my money's worth.

In short:
Don't force yourself to like what you usually like, and:
a) Do something else
or b) Play something else, preferably something short and cheap

 

[asdfen]

replay original Dark Souls or Demons Soul with a fresh toon.
Sound like you enjoy those games as do I and I constantly replaying them at times when other games fail to satisfy the urge to play something great. I've lost count of the amount of times I played through those two games and still haven't been bored by them yet. DS2 is just not what it was suppose to be. Not a bad game but not in the same league as the first two.

 

[moggett88]

I think most gamers experience a burn-out like that atleast once. I've had two. The first one solved itself when I just did something else for a couple of months. Instead of playing games I went through like two novels a week. I got sick of that after a while and started gaming again.

The second one was at the beginning of this year. I just didn't feel like playing any of the games in my backlog. Most of them are 40 hours epics and felt like they required too much of a commitment. Luckily there were Steam Sales going on. I just grabbed a bunch of short games that looked good. Half of 'em were indie titles, the other half older games from smaller publishers. I got stuff like Ys Book I and II, Breath of Death VII and Thomas Was Alone. All games that can be experienced in 5 hours or less. I played through most of them in a couple of weeks. It felt good to be able to start a game without worrying I'd have to pour tons of time into it to get my money's worth.

In short:
Don't force yourself to like what you usually like, and:
a) Do something else
or b) Play something else, preferably something short and cheap

I figured this would be how to get past it, so I left it a few months and downloaded a bunch of stuff through Steam during the sales (funnily enough, Breath of Death and Thomas Was Alone were among them, as well as Papers please, XCOM Enemy Within, System Shock 2, Spore, Shadow Man, RE4, Project Zomboid, Mount and Blade Warband, Kingdoms of Amalur, The Escapists and Fez), but haven't put more than an hour into any of them. It's gotten to the point where any time I spend money on a game, I feel like it's a waste that I could have bought a pizza with instead :s If I had a normal routine, I'd hang out with my family more, or take up another hobby, but I work nights, so all my free time is while normal people are at work (hence so many games). I've been looking at a local 24 hour gym recently though, maybe I'll get super buff instead -_-

 

[NPC009]

Well, it is hard to argue against the greatness that is pizza, especially when you're going to gym to burn off all those extra calories

Maybe you do need to focus on something else for awhile. There's nothing wrong with that. Those games will still be there when/if you feel like playing them.

And... I'm probably overstepping my boundaries, but could it be that not being in the mood for gaming is a symptom of something else? Your comment about work makes me thing you may be feeling down, perhaps even worse. Take good care of yourself, okay?

 

[moggett88]

Well, it is hard to argue against the greatness that is pizza, especially when you're going to gym to burn off all those extra calories

Maybe you do need to focus on something else for awhile. There's nothing wrong with that. Those games will still be there when/if you feel like playing them.

And... I'm probably overstepping my boundaries, but could it be that not being in the mood for gaming is a symptom of something else? Your comment about work makes me thing you may be feeling down, perhaps even worse. Take good care of yourself, okay?

Yeah, you're right, I hate my job I'm looking at the moment and got a few interviews lined up to move into days, maybe I'll get my groove back once I'm in a day job and doing stuff with my evenings (and so no longer have time to play games :s)

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

The burn out. Happens to everyone. Don't feel like playing anything. Either try genres you don't ususally play ( RTS? Visual Novels? Advenure Games?) or just do other hobbies.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I don't play enough games to get burnt out across the board. Very occasionally with certain games, sure, but that's a little different.

And whilst I'd agree DSII was a major letdown (so much so that I've still not got more than 20hrs into it, after having bought it on day1), I can't see how it'd colour DS's Knight Artorias DLC - that's arguably one of the best and most poignant slices of Dark Souls, so if you loved that game (for the lore as well as the game design), the DLC's a fitting grace note for a masterpiece.

Oh, regarding DSII: it no longer being Miyazaki's own project likely explains why it felt lacking compared to its predecessor.

There's nothing wrong with just not gaming for a little while (or a long while). If it's a medium you genuinely have affection for (and history with), then you'll always come back to it, provided you have the time, or make the time for it.

 

[Dandark]

It's a gaming burnout, happens to anyone who plays games a lot including myself. You probably won't feel like playing games for a while.

I usually get past it by indulging more in my other hobbies like reading or watching TV shows/anime until I feel like playing something again.

 

[sanquin]

My gaming burnouts usually happen for specific games. Especially WoW. (A game that won't release it's hold over me, dammit! WoW ruined mmorpg's for me! ) I've had two, year long burn-outs for it. Other games, it usually lasts a month or two. And once I pretty much stopped playing games all together for a few weeks, then slowly started picking them up again over the few weeks after that.

It's just a gamer thing, I think. Get your mind off of games for a while, and probably sooner than later, that itch will return again.

Captcha: Groundhog Day. I guess WoW is kind of my groundhog day, yes.

 

[Ferisar]

What everyone else said. Do something else for a bit. Read a book, catch up on some shows, go hang out. I just scribble to pass the time, but yeah. It'll pass. After a couple of days it's honestly a bit liberating to not be playing games for a second.

 

[joest01]

nothing to add really. Just that it doesn't take burn out to not enjoy arkham city.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Try some other games then. If you can't find a game that you like after so many different games after Dark Souls 2 then your problem has little to do with Dark Souls II. Try to play again Dark Souls, or Demon's Souls, if you haven't played it already, this game is a real treasure.

 

[Fox12]

I think most gamers experience a burn-out like that atleast once. I've had two. The first one solved itself when I just did something else for a couple of months. Instead of playing games I went through like two novels a week. I got sick of that after a while and started gaming again.

The second one was at the beginning of this year. I just didn't feel like playing any of the games in my backlog. Most of them are 40 hours epics and felt like they required too much of a commitment. Luckily there were Steam Sales going on. I just grabbed a bunch of short games that looked good. Half of 'em were indie titles, the other half older games from smaller publishers. I got stuff like Ys Book I and II, Breath of Death VII and Thomas Was Alone. All games that can be experienced in 5 hours or less. I played through most of them in a couple of weeks. It felt good to be able to start a game without worrying I'd have to pour tons of time into it to get my money's worth.

In short:
Don't force yourself to like what you usually like, and:
a) Do something else
or b) Play something else, preferably something short and cheap

I figured this would be how to get past it, so I left it a few months and downloaded a bunch of stuff through Steam during the sales (funnily enough, Breath of Death and Thomas Was Alone were among them, as well as Papers please, XCOM Enemy Within, System Shock 2, Spore, Shadow Man, RE4, Project Zomboid, Mount and Blade Warband, Kingdoms of Amalur, The Escapists and Fez), but haven't put more than an hour into any of them. It's gotten to the point where any time I spend money on a game, I feel like it's a waste that I could have bought a pizza with instead :s If I had a normal routine, I'd hang out with my family more, or take up another hobby, but I work nights, so all my free time is while normal people are at work (hence so many games). I've been looking at a local 24 hour gym recently though, maybe I'll get super buff instead -_-

This is pretty normal, actually. You just need to leave games for a while, don't even touch them. Don't even think about them. You're burned out, and your mind is telling you that it wants something else. You see, I've gone through something similar. I've wanted to be an author since third grade. It's been my dream and life goal all my life, the one thing I want from life. Well, last year I put my writing on hold so that I could focus on my term papers. I essentially spent two weeks doing nothing but writing papers, probably shelling out 40 pages worth of material that needed to be constantly rewritten. On top of that I had to cite sources, do research, and read read read. This is normal, of course, but for whatever reason this time it was particularly hard. I put my family and social life on the backburner so that I could focus on my work. Finally my classes were over, and my life could go back to normal. That night I fired up my lap top and started writing a story, only to find... that I didn't really care. Writing was no longer an adventure, it was a slog. All those papers had killed the part of me that mattered. The colors were gone, and the bright marble towers of Minas Tirith had been replaced by shanty towns in Africa. Suddenly my dream was gone, and nothing could seem to bring it back. I was terrified, since it felt like the most important thing in my life was gone. But, you know, it didn't last. One night, many many weeks later, I randomly read something, or saw something, or listened to something that ignited that old spark inside of me again. And then I started writing. The thing is, it hit me when I wasn't looking for it. If you're burned out, then take a break. You'll probably come back to it when you least expect it.

Also, Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 were made by different teams. The team that made Dark Souls 1 is making Bloodborne now.

 

[Factorization]

The feeling is too familiar among gamers, my advice is to mix up the genres.If I get tired of a long winded rpg, I'll play a platformer or fps and so on. Got petty annoyed with inquisition recently, so I just switched over to halo to take all my built up aggression out on the bodies of dead covenant. Oh the bliss <3

 

[Guy from the 80's]

I suffer from the same disease. Bought Far Cry 4, played about 5 hours and now I'm bored.
I think its because games now days are so....boring. I've seen it (almost) all before in one way or another.

But I just bought Elite Dangerous, and I hope it will restore my faith in gaming as its a game thats true to itself and the formula.

 

[Shpongled]

I enjoyed Dark Souls 2, and i'm still enjoying many other recent releases even after playing it. I always knew i was a little odd but apparently i'm an absolute freak of nature for not seeing shite in every video game i play.

This negativity in the gaming community is so depressing.

 

[drakonz]

dark souls 2 had different creative director than demonsouls,dark souls 1 and bloodborn and was overfocused on killing the player rather than making the game a challenge like orginal dark souls (combined with the fact that map layout does not make sense unlike in orginal dark souls) those are my problems with the game anyway. which why i have over 200 hours in first dark souls(thx to challenge runs) and only 56 hours in dark souls 2 (its still enjoyable but you have to take compledly different mindset in dark souls 2 to take full enjoyement out of the game) still i would say its worth the cost considering 2hour movie cost between 5-10? in movie theater.

 

[MHR]

I actually decently liked DS2. Thinking back, it wasn't as good as DS1 in many respects, but I think the more fluid combat and build variety made up for it.

What ruined it for me though was the broken-ass PvP. I can't stand it, so I quit, even after finishing the game once and gearing up to get all the achievements. I was actually a very good player that never lost a bloodstain, and with almost a 10-1 K/D against players using only a falchion, target shield, and mid-tier gear, and when everyone was still playing through their first game and everybody just chose whatever playstyle and weapons they liked at the time like I did, but then the second playthrough rolled around and I got paired with different players. Having cheap weapons and builds such as having hex-buffed ghost katanas that stabbed from across the map and batfog, faggots with lag switches that freeze your game up while they pound on you, and straight-up hackers and trainers completely ruined it for me. It kills enjoyment 100% having to deal with that shit.

They should have just continued to ban anyone that had a VAC record and threatened to ban anyone that used hacks instead of telling everyone "we are disabling VAC because we can't get it to work," pretty much giving every kid licence to load up some hacks and let loose. But then, they should have done a lot of things different in regards to PvP. Garbage covenants, listen servers, chickenshit hosts alt-F4ing out of combat(woulda been fine if you got an orb refund and they always got penalized, but you didn't and they had ways to quit so that they didn't get the penalty,) and probably a few things I've forgotten. Bottom line, I'd rather had played something else than deal with broken PvP, so I did. Now I'm just sour whenever I think about that game.

I get the impression that DS1 PvP was even worse, but I had a legit way to opt-out by always being hollow and never having phantom advantages for any bossfights. I went human a few times on my second playthrough and it was just an endless parade of over-leveled gankers, so at least I can't say DS1 was better then.

 

[42]

Man why does everyone hate on Dark Souls II, it's still the same amount of fun the original was.