Is it possible to be too picky about games?

[Niccolo]

Yeah. I can hardly play Japanese RPGs anymore (too samey) or American FPS (same reason) - exempting highlights like Dragon Warrior VIII or Half-Life 2. Actually, after a childhood spent playing ALOT of games, very little in 2008 enthralls me.

>_> You know, I originally bought DQ 8, a JRPG... and nearly turned it off when I realised the monsters all looked like retarded rejects from bad anime shows with a budget the size of my income.

I think, the only thing that kept me playing to begin with was trying to see just how much damage I could inflict on one thing. Then I got hooked.
So my pickiness nearly lost me what has turned out to be a pretty good game. Sure, I'd rather the giant lobster attacking me wasn't grinning like the cartoon lobsters in dodgy ads for the stuff... but meh. Rain and such.

Pickiness is bad, yes. But actually, sometimes it's a good thing. I reckon pickiness on our part will eventually filter through to the developers and halt FPS clone 45 and create a game that is going to be good and different.
Pickiness is necessary... meh. I'm too tired to argue coherently.

 

[WingedFortress]

I think that picky gamers are very necessary. If people didnt make ridiculous demands of the industry, and demonstrate their rage of tired old cliche's, we likely would've been forced to endure something like "call of duty 4: Mabye you can kill hitler in this one" this holiday season.

 

[laikenf]

I think that you should try and play other types of games, don't be afraid to experiment. The problem is that dev's are not making anything interesting. FPS here, another FPS there, another FPS way over there, an RPG, an FPS, FPS, FPS, a racing game, an FPS, FPS... No wonder people are getting bored and picky.

 

[laikenf]

The jump function is only for people who think it should be there and other people will start to forget it has a point in those games. Just remember this: FFVII characters couldn't jump. FFVII:AC characters...yeah.

More to the point, I think the demanding nature of some gamers has more to do with the types of good games they played. If a person plays only the best possible games, then they may find it hard to play anything else, especially when someone else tells you exactly what's wrong with it. It's a whole psych thing, so just try to not be so judging on a game while you play it. I find it hard, but it doesn't stop me from playing games that score 7.5 on Gamespot.

I remember Gamespot giving Monster Hunter Freedom 2 for the PSP a very low score of 5/10. Being the sadomasochist that I am I went along and bought the game anyway. As of today MHF 2 is the game that I have played the most in my entire life, It is a very good and deep action adventure game that turns people off because of it's level of dificulty and it's sometimes overwhelming complexity; which makes it a very rewarding experience .

 

[EzraPound]

Pickiness is bad, yes. But actually, sometimes it's a good thing. I reckon pickiness on our part will eventually filter through to the developers and halt FPS clone 45 and create a game that is going to be good and different.
Pickiness is necessary... meh. I'm too tired to argue coherently.

You pretty much nail it on the head right here.

By the way, it's interesting to note that RPGs and Shooters are the most popular genres in Japan and America, respectively, which might explain why so many of the are redundant - i.e., because they're a license to print cash in their homecountries.

 

[Count_de_Monet]

Being picky means you have been playing video games for too long .

At some point a gamer has seen and experienced everything and they come to expect games to evolve along with their experience, however, that rarely happens.

You see a mechanic in one game, a setting in another game, a great story in a different game and expect the next game to include all of those things, however, all you get is another "cut and paste" first person shooter with a single driving gimmick with everything else only half thought-out. I'd love for the next Call of Duty to have a cover system, improve upon the ways in which your character vaults/climbs though windows, have a wonderful sandbox campaign, include a server finding system which doesn't blow chunks, and improve upon the AI instead of making infinitely respawning buildings but I doubt that will ever happen...

 

[Terramax]

Most importantly, if you aren't enjoying some kind of game, don't play it. It can only serve to sour you even more.

Sorry, is this after you've spent £40 on it because there was no demo so you took the risk, and the store manager won't give you a refund?

Luckily most of the games I buy are for the PC and I can usually download the demos.

This is the reason why I think Nintendo don't allow demos of their games. They want to force owners to buy games without any knowledge of what they're like.

When STALKER came out it was all the rage. I never bought it because I found something suspicious about the fact that you couldn't download a demo. My suspicions were proven right when soon enough reviews on Amazon had numerous complaints about bugs and advising people to wait a few weeks/ months for updates.

To answer your question, I'd say no. 1.) you're paying £30-50 for a new game. How many hours wages is that for some of us? Over a day's work, maybe even two?

I guess one thing we must understand is some games, mainly sequels, are released for people who didn't experience the originals first time round. Like Bioshock. I wasn't fortunate enough to play to original, so whilst Yahtzee ranted it was too close to SS2, I didn't see a problem.

I agree with xbeaker about playing old games. Yesterday I received Destruction Derby for the PSX and NiGHTS into Dreams for the Saturn through the post. Both really fun games. I also played Gradius V again, now on my X-Arcade stick and it's wonderful.

So long as I don't OTT on these games I don't think I'll ever get bored of them.

 

[cattypat]

Taking your pickyness to a notepad of ideas towards improvement is good!
Trying many other games to find likable improvements to a genre is great!
Using an editor or SDK to make your funky idea and pulling together like minded helpers is fantastic!

Ranting and raving about it in blogs, forums or in developer emails is a waste of everyones time!

But a bit of both is needed to stay sane

 

[xeall]

i think every big gamer comes to a point where they have played so much that it takes more and more to impress you. The bar is raised in your head and if it doesn't reach that point then you don't care. One of the best gamers i know couldn't even play assassins creed for more than 10 minutes because he was bored of the dialouge where as he is a big RPG fan, but now only RPG's of old, same problem happens with most new RPG's. He now needs something to grab him in the first 10 minutes (well done portal, mario galaxy and uncharted)

I come across this problem all the time running a small independant game store. Try taking a break or trying a type of game you have never tried before. As i have said elsewhere i was getting bored of games until i tried black and white 2 for the first time and found myself at 4am still playing.

As for spending £40 on a game you don't like thats your own damn fault, either read a selection of reviews or rent it first. Or play the safe game (no pun intended) and pick up titles that are known to be good. Or ask the guy behind the desk, if he stutters and says yeah its great don't buy it. If he attempts to tell you every last detail buy it.

 

[The Irrelevant Gamer]

It's not possible to be too picky. You like what you like, and if a game doesn't do it for you sell it, and move on. I played five games in row last year that disappointed the hell out of me, and thought perhaps I was becoming too picky, but then I played a couple of good games, and figured the other ones just weren't for me.

My tolerance for bullshit in games is very low. If the frustration, or boredom ever outweighs the fun the game goes into the resell pile. I no longer slog through to find out if there is more fun in store. My free time is too valuable to waste on games I don't enjoy.

 

[shadow skill]

It's not possible to be too picky. You like what you like, and if a game doesn't do it for you sell it, and move on. I played five games in row last year that disappointed the hell out of me, and thought perhaps I was becoming too picky, but then I played a couple of good games, and figured the other ones just weren't for me.

My tolerance for bullshit in games is very low. If the frustration, or boredom ever outweighs the fun the game goes into the resell pile. I no longer slog through to find out if there is more fun in store. My free time is too valuable to waste on games I don't enjoy.

I like your attitude, one should not settle for bullshit in anything in life not just games.

 

[werepossum]

My tolerance for bullshit in games is very low. If the frustration, or boredom ever outweighs the fun the game goes into the resell pile. I no longer slog through to find out if there is more fun in store. My free time is too valuable to waste on games I don't enjoy.

Amen. I was playing GRAW for awhile, and I really wanted to like it. But eventually I realized that herding and baby-sitting my short-bus soldiers was giving me more stress than it was taking away.

I don't care about cover systems because I only play FPS's; if I want to get behind something, I just go get behind it. I do like to lean and go prone, but I can enjoy games without these features. But everyone has some point at which he decides the game is no longer fun.