Now I remember why I stopped playing games like Fire Emblem and X-COM....

[Paragon Fury]

Because I'm permanently on RNGesus's shit list. I've hard reset and sleep tricked my 3DS on Awakening no less than 28 times and I'm only on Chapter 3. I've seen multiple instances of things occurring so incredible than that should technically never happen ever during someone's lifetime.

My last attempt just ended with multiple characters dying in succession to 1% Crit chance crits all in a row.

At this rate, I honestly don't know if I'll be able to finish the game at this rate. I don't think at this age I have the patience or time to play dice with RNGesus over and over just to complete a game.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I feel this. Started up a game of XCOM to get hyped for XCOM 2. Half of my squad gets wiped out every mission due to being killed in one crit from halfway across the map despite being in half or full cover.

Strangely the only time I haven't lost any soldiers is during the first Terror mission because they actually hit somewhat frequently.

 

[Elfgore]

Fucking hate RNG. It's why I stopped playing Gwent in The Witcher 3. RNG fucked me over too many times and ruined any fun that could be had.

I've only played a little of Fire Emblem, so I"m not really sure how bad it is. X-Com never screwed me over too bad, most of my losses came from me just sucking. RNG is still bullshit though.

 

[Bad Jim]

My last attempt just ended with multiple characters dying in succession to 1% Crit chance crits all in a row.

It might be that the programmer sucks at probability theory. Civilization had this issue, the chance to win formula was wrong and was often a long way out. Just because the crit chance is stated to be 1% doesn't mean it's not 80% or more.

And before you say "no way would a modern QA team miss that", Diablo 2 was supported by Blizzard with patches for a decade and the only information on the character screen that was known to be consistently correct was your name, level and experience earned.

 

[tippy2k2]

I don't mind it so much in XCOM (especially as people have done SCIENCE! to show that it is indeed pretty accurate; I swear everyone's favorite BloatedGuppy has put this in one of his threads but I can't find it so either I made it up or I can't find it...XCOM is in the title so he'll be here soon enough I'm sure ) but that did bug the hell out of me in Fire Emblem.

While it stings in XCOM, it can be fixed. Soldiers can be replaced and you can move on, even when it hurts.

Fire Emblem not so much. Your units are not some faceless soldiers; they're characters with their own hopes and dreams and personalities and you really needed that girl to survive because she needed to bump uglies with that guy! Not to mention that you can get a GAME OVER immediately from it if the main main people went down, which was just freaking annoying.

 

[Xeorm]

Oh yes. Hate RNG so much. Just earlier today ragequit out of my Xenonaut game. Walked out of cover to look around cover with my shield soldier. The shot misses, and hits the guy behind the wall that's not even los of the alien. Instant gib. What the hell?

I'll come back later with the autosave, but grr. It's frustrating.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Generally I'm not against a little randomness. I just want it to be reasonably fair and, if it lets you know the chances, be accurate. Sure, I can understand someone dodging an attack that had a 75% hit chance or hitting an attack that had 35% chance hit. But when every 75% chance is dodged or every 35% chance hits, then it starts to reach reset-the-game levels of annoyance. At the same time, I can understand using randomness to try to more easily reflect some randomness in real life, but when it is designed specifically to screw over the player, then it just makes the game infuriating.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I feel this. Started up a game of XCOM to get hyped for XCOM 2. Half of my squad gets wiped out every mission due to being killed in one crit from halfway across the map despite being in half or full cover.

Cover does not effect incoming damage or crits, only hit chance. And if I remember correctly, it's only -20% for half cover and -40% for full. If you're playing with aiming angles on, that can quickly be reduced to almost nothing by shots from your flanks. And even without it on, aliens like Thin Men start with (if I recall correctly) a native 80% chance to hit on an open shot. Meaning even in full cover with smoke on, you've got a 1 in 5 chance of getting hit.

XCOM is extremely reliant on alpha striking the aliens dead whenever possible. If you try and trade shots with them, even using cover, you're going to lose, unless all you're dealing with are the base level Sectoids. And even then it's a bit dodgy. It's why the "aliens scatter to cover" mechanic exists. They always begin passively, and the human player is always given an opportunity to eliminate the threat before it becomes a battle of attrition (assuming you're not the sort of person who dashes into fog of war with your last soldier).

I don't mind it so much in XCOM (especially as people have done SCIENCE! to show that it is indeed pretty accurate; I swear everyone's favorite BloatedGuppy has put this in one of his threads but I can't find it so either I made it up or I can't find it...XCOM is in the title so he'll be here soon enough I'm sure ) but that did bug the hell out of me in Fire Emblem.

Damn it I didn't even see this until I'd already replied. Am I that predictable?

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

XCOM is a war of attrition game. It's always been that way. Terror From The Deep was probably the most frustrating game I've ever played in my life aside from Ghosts n' Goblins (my goto game for addictive masochistic gaming). I powered through and had maybe one campaign run that didn't feel like RNGesus was punishing my sins. I've a feeling that its because I play a lot of games on easy mode if I can because while I enjoy challenges, I've noticed that hardmode doesn't always mean challenging it can mean frustrating as fuckall.
Anyway, there's a lot of games out there that I get f'ed over by RNG. World of Warcraft comes to mind on how many times I've run Strat to get the Baron mount and after over 1000 (I've got a count thanks to WoW's stats) kills I've never seen the sonofabitch drop... except for the ultra-rare sword that dropped on a character that couldn't use it...
I hesitate to talk shit about RNGesus, because it just exacerbates the punishment. I'd swear that consoles have secret listening devices hidden in them that hear you talk crap and jack up the difficulty artificially just to spite you... and PC games use the mic if its plugged in... OK, maybe I need therapy, games have made me so fucking paranoid.
But it does feel that way, especially in fighting games vs. the CPU.
Son of a ***** hates it when I get arrogant after beating the hell out of it..

 

[DementedSheep]

I usually don't like too much randomness but I don't mind it in games like X-Com. The fact that people dying and (unless it one the earlier terror mission) losing isn't automatically a game over makes dealing with the pitfalls of RNG less annoying and more just part of dealing with the unexpected in the game

Except of course when a Cyberdisc somehow spawns in middle of you squad and in and area you have already cleared and kills them all.

 

[Doom972]

Always plan for the worst scenario and make sure that your units are in fortified positions. If you make sure to have a significant advantage over your enemy, you don't have to rely on the RNG being in your favor.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

It's hard to keep count of all of the 95% hit probability shots I've taken in Fallout and Fallout 2 that still miss, even when I decided to cheat to bring skills up to 100% plus and SPECIAL stats up to all 10s. To counter act this I'm absolutely shocked at how many 20% or less shots I've taken in both games when not cheating that result in critical hits with critical success and one thus shot kills. RNGs are absolutely amazing at skewing odds that make the impossible possible. I still rage quit Fallout 2 every time I take make more than 5 attacks in a row that have a 95% chance of hitting, and that all STILL miss!

 

[Cid Silverwing]

YES! Finally other people who share my searing passionate HATRED of scummy RNG moments.

I'm among many who get perpetually screwed by the RNG on X-COM so I don't even bother playing it legit anymore if it's going to be such an asshole and not let me get a foothold even early in the game no matter what I do. I had this shit with Final Fantasy Tactics too and it's all the same fucking story - whenever I try to hit with a status effect, Steal or whatever with anything less than 90% hit chance, it's going to fucking miss, but whenever the enemy tries to cast Haste on their own units with 40% hit chance they ALWAYS succeed, this even when their Zodiacs are incompatible.

This isn't limited to games either - this is a huge reason I quit tabletop games too, specifically those that run on MapTool and similar software. I've joined -maybe- 10-ish campaigns, most of which were only 1-shot test maps whose groups then disappeared, stopped and fell apart someways in, I get kicked for really petty and half-assed reasons or for complaining about spending 80% of the runtime incapacitated, and in the 1 proper campaign where I DID actually last a while, I get gang-banged by multiple enemies and screwed on my death roll and die.

Fucking hell, there's just no winning for any of us when RNG is involved. Even Heroes of Might and Magic 3's RNG has never been this bad, but then that could be because you can always cast Bless on your troops and Curse on the enemy troops to directly tilt the odds your way.

 

[baddude1337]

XCOM RNG is kinda weird to me. I always get lucky with MEC's, who seem to hit everything even with less than 50% chances, but my snipers can at times be totally useless, missing every 80%+ chance shot they get.

RNG is a love and hate mechanic for me, as it is with most people. I think the problem stems from when a games core mechanic is RNG only. For example, you can usually get guaranteed shots in Xcom depending on your position and buffs, but something like Darkest Dungeon can just screw you over for an entire level with your guys not hitting anything.

 

[Ishal]

Damn it I didn't even see this until I'd already replied. Am I that predictable?

On certain topics, yes.

I chuckled a bit when Tippy put that there, was surprised you didn't drop in already. But then it is the weekend.

For me it's just remembering certain avatars and putting them with thread titles and content. I vaguely remembered your presence in XCOM threads, and I usually suspect I'll see you pop up in GoT TV show threads at some point. We all have topics we love to post in.

As for me, I showed up because I finally purchased Enemy Within this steam sale and just installed The Long War. So we'll see how that goes in the coming week.

 

[Piorn]

I feel like basic propability courses should be mandatory even in elementary school. Humans have no inherent understanding of it, so you need to learn it rationally. If you know your math, you can't fall for gambling, or fallacies like "I'm unlucky".

That said, I feel mechanics that rely on propabilities definitely feel unrewarding.

 

[LordLundar]

*reads the title*

Got your butt kicked again huh?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

This is what it was like with me in Valkyria Chronicles. I'd have clear line of sight with a sniper, 100% chance of hitting and 25% chance of critical. I fire two shots. Miss BOTH. Guy turns around and with a machine gun from miles away one-hit kills my full health sniper.
And then I rage quit.
X-Comm was like that too! I missed more than a few 100% chance shots.

 

[cleric of the order]

Heretics, the lot of you.
All yo must do is show devotion to the rng goddess and good results will come to you.
Blessed be the goddess whose' power surpasses even Ashera and Naga, no alien can stand against you if her favour you carry.
She will confound your enemies, grant you strength and bring you victor if place your faith with her
umbasa

Seriously archetypical lords have that 1% = 100% crit when you need them

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I really didnt like the new Xcom, like the original and Terror of the Deep. The original was difficult, but atleast you had a fair chance of catching enemies unawares to get the first shot. In the remake every time you saw an alien they got a free turn to run to cover. Hated that. Not played Fire Emblem.