"I'm out of my depth here..."

[Pink Gregory]

Hello chaps.

I say, here's a wizard thought, let's recount stories of being out of one's depth in games!

Partially inspired by two fairly recent acquisitions: Unity of Command and Skullgirls.

The first is a fairly niche (though you should all take a look) WW2 hex-based strategy game. Now, I'm mostly used to Civilization and the like - at which I admittedly lack skill - but I've hit the wall on the first bedamned 'easy' scenario. This only endears it further to me.

The second, well, it appears that I just don't have the reactions for it. So many colours so quickly, it's maddening; and therefore compelling.

So, go on then.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

The first time I booted up Crusader Kings II and took a look at the UI.

 

[Darks63]

Hearts of iron 3 and its command structure as well as the battlefield width stuff.

The command structure takes some time to get used to with the whole units being out of range and different levels of hqs with thier own ranges.

 

[OliverTwist72]

I tried to play Eve Online after like a 4 year layoff and promptly couldn't remember how to do anything/blew up/ragequitted.

That went well I think.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I agree on Skullgirls. The only other 2D fighting games I've played before have been Smash Bros. and Streets of Rage 2 for the Sega Genesis. Going from two button fighters to a game that does directional mashings in conjunction with chaining together the right use of the six button configuration... I suck. Hard.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Any sim games. Arma II, Empire: Total War, Hearts of Iron III, etc. They're a bit to noobie unfriendly for my tastes.

 

[Razentsu]

I've only felt that way about Tekken and Virtua Fighter. I've got a decent grasp of Tekken now, but I'm nowhere near as comfortable with that game as I am with any 2D fighter. I can somewhat play Virtua Fighter, but I am worse at that series of games than I am at Tekken.

 

[Glongpre]

RTS games. It boils down to massing one unit and attack-moving across the map.

Third Strike. But mostly because I refuse to buy a better controller to substitute for the awful xbox pad. Can't do the chicken wing combo because I keep getting superjumps. I mean, how the hell?

 

[PsychicTaco115]

League of Legends

Probably because I haven't sunk enough time into it yet, but I don't to develop Stockholm Syndrome to it ;-;

 

[drthmik]

Myst left me totally lost I think I mighta figured out 1 puzzle but no more than that.

 

[piinyouri]

First time I booted up a demo for one of the Total War games.
Well, a combination of "Out of my depth" and "This doesn't interest me".

 

[The]

Don't Starve. It has a nice atmosphere, but is unforgiving and I still don't know how anything works.

 

[anthony87]

Probably League of Legends at the moment. Started playing it with a friend a few days ago, we've just been playing against bots and have yet to move onto proper pvp.

 

[NoeL]

Dota 2. I don't play RTSs or other click-to-move games, so once I got to the third(?) tutorial where you fight in a lane against a big red dude I got my ass handed to me. That was the first and last time I ever played that game, and I have no intention to pick it up again.

Also, I tried to carry on my game of Okami (Wii) after a year or so break (I always tend to quit games right before the end) and couldn't figure out how to do anything. Hell, even going back to Arkham Asylum after a few days away took me a couple of minutes to remember the controls. Modern games have too many buttons. I'm going back to my game of Pokemon Gold.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Most 2D fighting games. I got Smash Bros. down easily as well as BlazBlue, and once I got the basic mechanics of Injustice down I was able to start playing it decently. However, make me play any other 2D fighter, especially the Marvel vs. Capcom series, and I have no hope of keeping up with anyone who even has a mediocre level of skill. Of course, it doesn't help that I spend 50% of my time in them wondering if I made a mistake or if the game just doesn't control well enough, and that only is made worse when I come across games like BlazBlue where it is very easy to master the basic moves and timing.

Also, when I started getting into strategy games when I was around 13 years old, I had a lot of trouble figuring them out, but now it isn't too hard unless the designer is trying to recapture the spirit of 90s-era strategy games a little too much and ends up creating a game that makes 90s-era strategy games look like casual games.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

All 2D fighting games and most strategy games.

I'm not sure what it is with the 2D fighters but I just can't do them. No matter how hard I practice or how many really good players hold my hand as I play I just can't do anything but barely beat the easiest AI difficulty by button mashing. I'm just bad.

And for strategy games I have a hard time balancing everything. I play rather slowly, taking my time, assessing the situation and planning my moves after along period of time. In an RTS I'm terrible. Things move too quickly for me and I'm not the best tactician, I usually just zerg rush my opponent until I win or lose (I usually lose).

However I'm pretty good at TBS games like Civilization or Galactic Civilization. I've beaten Civ V and Gal Civ II on the hardest difficulty modes twice each (by the skin of my teeth).

And when I first loaded up Europa Universalis III my brain kinda shut down as I had no idea what the fuck anything was. I was out of my depth the most on that one.
Many months of diligent practice (and lots of loss) have made nicely skilled at it

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

Blood Bowl

Even with my boyfriend guiding me and trying to help teach me play, that entire game felt like a massive brick wall I just couldn't get over and understand. At all. Which is a shame since I think the premise is pretty cool. A Warhammer Fantasy version of American Football that is extremely brutal and is more of a bloodsport? Sounds pretty rad.

Too bad the game is confusing as all fuck and makes no sense whatsoever for a tiny-minded action gamer like myself.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

The first time I booted up Crusader Kings II and took a look at the UI.

This. I quit playing shortly after booting it up. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!

I wanted to be a tyrannical, incestuous, evil, humpback king, (Because, I mean, who WOULDN'T want that to be their character?) but that all fell through when I found that I'd spent about an hour doing literally nothing except questioning what "This button" does.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

The first time I booted up Crusader Kings II and took a look at the UI.

Me too, but my friend really thinks I can do it and I don't want to let him down...

Also whenever customisation comes up in RPGs. I never know whether I'm making the right decisions or not. Not just upgrade trees, but also stuff like Materia.

Edit: For people who want to play more fighting games but can't get around the mechanical complexity, ever heard of Divekick?

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Witcher games.
I want to love them, but god damn it that battle system, skill system and whole alchemy crap feels unnecessary complicated.