Overly coddled by a game

[j0frenzy]

BSI doesn't count falling off as death, which is rather nice considering the number of times I accidentally walked off the edge of something or misjudged a jump.

Well, technically, the BioShock series as a whole doesn't have any form of actual death (not without making some changes in the options menu that is). Maybe Infinite counted you as dying if you got downed too many times, but I was always rescued by Elizabeth. Even the one time I was sent back to a checkpoint, none of my progress was lost.

Anyways, like I said, I don't mind it, but there does come a point where you need to recognize that it can kill the moment as well. Unfortunately, Infinite didn't fully recognize this. The first two games had their moments, but they seemed to be more random events the developers had no control over, not a set-piece that probably should have been left out due to its conflict with the death system in the game.

I know Bioshock doesn't have death per se, but falling off Columbia into the sky below doesn't trigger the revival animation and the monetary cost and doesn't set you back in any way. And the only times jumping off Columbia not having any repercussions killed the moment was me treating all the important and scenic scenes where I was told to look at something as invitations to kill time and Booker.
Though I heartily invite Infinite to do unpleasant things to itself every time it reminds me there's a difficulty below hard.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Final Fantasy 13 I actually enjoyed the post game stuff you know when the game stops being a frikkin tutorial and lets you do your own stuff also theres no point not to use auto attack for a long time which is boring as hell.

I appreciate they didnt want to hit you with a load of new systems off the bat but the game wont let you do anything it dosent want to until post game missions when it finally sets you free.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I have to say I'm getting pretty tired of being reminded what simple button presses do in loading screens. Kinda kills the immersion. Well, I say tired, I've seen it in a lot of games that I haven't really played. Last was Alan Wake I suppose.

 

[cryogeist]

Not sure if this counts but
Oh God. Dog Fight Mode in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
"Let's take away all challenge from dog fighting by literally homing you into the enemy, just smash the missile button a few times and you'll be fine"
Worse part about that was that the enemies (mostly enemy Aces) broke it by literally flying through buildings, moutains, the fucking ground, forcing you to smash into it

 

[Eve Charm]

I'm seeing this a lot with steam indie games and in the community hubs or just whiny youtube play-throughs, Gamers just want to be coddled. It's like because your competent at video games all video games should be easy for you to beat or they are broken!

2 similar examples cause I had a lot of fun with both, Organ Trail, and Super amazing wagon adventure turbo. Both games I have beaten to completion, both games I wouldn't call hard, but both game come under a lot of hate from entitled gamers.

First Organ trail, The number one complaint, how you aim and fire the gun. To fire you have to click and drag and then let go, and it will fire in the opposite direction, like a sling shot or if you played an old PC pool game. It's jarring at first but spending 10-20 minutes on it you'll get it, then start getting better. But the most made and commented threads are basically "The shooting sucks, change the shooting" and so on. And usually those people have only played for 10 minutes.

Second SAWA. Now this game isn't that hard But you will fail until you know what your doing and basically all the enemies, and if the random generator wants to screw you royally. Watching people first play SAWA you see they get basically nowhere and it's funny when people get mad over it and say the game sucks. This game isn't going to hand it's self over to you just because you played shumps.

 

[piinyouri]

Wasn't the first time, but one of the last times I remember really feeling this way was playing Okami.

Great game, and I enjoyed myself, but it seemed really adamant about making sure I felt no self acomplishment in what are already very menial easy tasks.

*new brush that looks like lightning*
*lightning rod looking things everywhere*

"HEY AMI I THINK THAT BRUSH MIGHT SUMMON LIGHTNING OR SOMETHING THOSE PILLARS LOOK LIKE THEY ARE ABOUT TO BE STRUCK ANY MINUTE MAYBE IF-"

Shut the fuck up, please!

 

[FPLOON]

The Trophies in 358... Say what you will about 358 being "not a game, but a movie", but you can just skip them ALL and still get half the Trophies right off the bat... and don't get me started on "reading" the diary reports...

On a more serious note, I remember when my cousin was playing the final stage of Rez for the first time ever... and when he failed that final final FINAL boss, the game ends and the credits roll... We had NO IDEA that the game technically had TWO endings, but after all my cousin has been through... It felt the only thing that was "weird" about that game in general...

Also, I found getting 100% on all the "story" stages of Child of Eden playing on Normal difficulty WAY TOO EASY on my first try... and considering how "well" I played through Rez[footnote]I could never get pass the second stage at the time... (sad, I know...)[/footnote]... I was almost about to call shenanigans, especially when my cousin calls me up asking how to beat the fourth stage of CoE... just to place the icing on that "shenanigan" cake I was about to call out...

Other than that, if a game does that, I barely notice... even if it's super obvious...

 

[Specter Von Baren]

The only other thing I can think of is Devil May Cry's notorious "Would you like us to turn down the difficulty?"

Hell, that ain't even coddling.


That's basically the game saying 'Hmm, it appears your casual fucking arse can't handle such hardcore style, perhaps the pussy setting is more to your liking?'

Like a boss.

Screens like that should always come with 3 options.
"Yes, please, and I think I need a plaster"
"Whatevs, I'll get it this time"
"FUCK YOU, MAKE IT HARDER"

I can't stand it when a game mocks me. Instant beserker-mode.
I also can't stand games where you have to die to a boss. If there's a legit in-game reason why you can't kill them (like a bullshit-o-matic shield that needs a magical macguffin to bypass) okay, fine. If they're just supposed to be better than me.... FUCKING PROVE IT GAME.

"Oh, so this is the boss."
"Oh, he just transformed."
"Oh, he's bigger than a city."
"HAVE AT THEE, COWARD!"

That's something I like about one of the bosses in Tales of Symphonia. When you first fight him, you pretty much have no conceivable way of beating him outside of maybe grinding for eternity before you get to him or being a "lord of gaming" because you're only expected to be leveled up enough to beat him, the second time you have to fight him. But the game actually does allow you to beat him the first time if you can do it (Likely through the end game option of starting a new game with your current levels). It doesn't change the story at all, but they did allow the option.

I remember one of the more annoying examples of a game forcing you to lose though was Magi-Nation, because if you do a new game +, you have to pretty much sabotage yourself in order to get past the boss you need to lose at because if you beat him then the game glitches out.

 

[omegaweopon]

Injustice: Gods Among Us, was guilty of this. It seems every time you lose the difficulty goes down. After losing to Superman in the final battle 4 times, he didn't put any sort of fight. It washed all enjoyability out of the game.

 

[uchytjes]

rarely if ever. If I'm ever "coddled" by a game its because I asked for it when I chose the difficulty. If its coddling me on the hardest difficulty, you may have a problem.

 

[Sandjube]

Mario 3d land. If you lose a level enough times it gives you some stupid thing that makes you basically not be able to lose. Like I died on a level 5 times or something and on the 6th there was a box I hit which gave me the raccoon tail mixed with a star, for that whole level. So I literally couldn't die barring falling.

 

[Schadrach]

The only other thing I can think of is Devil May Cry's notorious "Would you like us to turn down the difficulty?"

Hell, that ain't even coddling.


That's basically the game saying 'Hmm, it appears your casual fucking arse can't handle such hardcore style, perhaps the pussy setting is more to your liking?'

Like a boss.

Screens like that should always come with 3 options.
"Yes, please, and I think I need a plaster"
"Whatevs, I'll get it this time"
"FUCK YOU, MAKE IT HARDER"

I can't stand it when a game mocks me. Instant beserker-mode.
I also can't stand games where you have to die to a boss. If there's a legit in-game reason why you can't kill them (like a bullshit-o-matic shield that needs a magical macguffin to bypass) okay, fine. If they're just supposed to be better than me.... FUCKING PROVE IT GAME.

"Oh, so this is the boss."
"Oh, he just transformed."
"Oh, he's bigger than a city."
"HAVE AT THEE, COWARD!"

That's something I like about one of the bosses in Tales of Symphonia. When you first fight him, you pretty much have no conceivable way of beating him outside of maybe grinding for eternity before you get to him or being a "lord of gaming" because you're only expected to be leveled up enough to beat him, the second time you have to fight him. But the game actually does allow you to beat him the first time if you can do it (Likely through the end game option of starting a new game with your current levels). It doesn't change the story at all, but they did allow the option.

I remember one of the more annoying examples of a game forcing you to lose though was Magi-Nation, because if you do a new game +, you have to pretty much sabotage yourself in order to get past the boss you need to lose at because if you beat him then the game glitches out.

...and then there was Suikoden where there was a boss that appeared to be one of those, but who you actually had to beat (among other things) if you wanted the good ending.

 

[barbzilla]

The only other thing I can think of is Devil May Cry's notorious "Would you like us to turn down the difficulty?"

Hell, that ain't even coddling.


That's basically the game saying 'Hmm, it appears your casual fucking arse can't handle such hardcore style, perhaps the pussy setting is more to your liking?'

Like a boss.

LMAO, god I love you sometimes...

OT: I think there are plenty of games that cater to both crowds, and I when one or the other asks for a game to be changed for their specific needs, the other side gets bent out of shape (most notably as of late, Dark Souls Easy Mode debacle). I honestly think that it would be nice if all games were programmed with a good strong organic challenge, and then had multiple choices to make the game easier or harder depending on tastes (though I understand this isn't always possible). Unfortunately, it seems like challenge is only partially accepted by the gaming community (even hardcore gamers occasionally like a simple god mode style game).

 

[Something Amyss]

I have to say I'm getting pretty tired of being reminded what simple button presses do in loading screens..

Howabout constant popups in game, like GTA V and Saints Row 3?

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

The XCOM Enemy Unknown tutorial was pretty terrible.

100% scripted. As in it forces you to make the exact moves it wants and all the hit/miss rolls are predetermined.

Just fucking give me control already!

It's just one mission, and you CAN choose not to do it. Which I always do now, since it gives you 4 specialists at the end instead of just one.

 

[Zhukov]

The XCOM Enemy Unknown tutorial was pretty terrible.

100% scripted. As in it forces you to make the exact moves it wants and all the hit/miss rolls are predetermined.

Just fucking give me control already!

It's just one mission, and you CAN choose not to do it. Which I always do now, since it gives you 4 specialists at the end instead of just one.

I'm not saying it ruined the game or anything, it was just a a shit tutorial.

 

[sageoftruth]

I actually found this coddling experience once while playing Dark Souls of all games. When facing the Bed of Chaos, it is defeated by attacking each of its 3 weak points once. However, if you die (which is very easy if this is your first time), you don't lose any of the progress you made. Because getting to the weak points is much easier than surviving right after hitting one, this fight suddenly becomes a cakewalk as long as you're okay with making the trek to the boss area 3+ times.

 

[sageoftruth]

Could've just been a bug where you triggered the destruction and then died so the game respawned you after that check point rather than deciding it was too hard for you. Bugs happen.

I did occur more than once, that the game cleared and obstacle for me instead of me doing it. So it wasn't a bug, but I think you're right in what you're saying about checkpoints, the game was just far too generous in how it placed it's checkpoints, and registered a challenge as beat when it clearly wasn't, because of one reason or another. It didn't always to it mind you, many hard bits I had to clear all on my own. I do think the developer could have been stricter with how it placed some of the game's checkpoints however, because as they are now it's just frustrating.

So true. One of the easiest ways to get through the game is by NOT leveling up ever. I called it the Insomnia method, since you had to sleep in order to level up.