Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday January 07 2019, @07:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the Figured-it-out dept.

ArsTechnica:

Gaming was like breathing. It was the biggest part of my life as a teenager, one of my priorities as a college student, and eventually one of my most expensive “hobbies” as a young professional.

Then all of a sudden, after thousands of hours spent playing across genres and platforms, boredom hit me hard for the very first time in my early thirties. Some of my favorite games soon gave me the impression of being terribly long. I couldn’t help but notice all the repeating tropes and similarities in game design between franchises.

I figured it was just a matter of time before I found the right game to stimulate my interest again, but time continued to go by and nothing changed.

Is it that games have failed to innovate, or that real life is ultimately more engaging?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 07 2019, @09:41PM (5 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 07 2019, @09:41PM (#783390)

    I think I played this, briefly - I also think it sucked mightily... a graphic tour-de-force that forces you to keep to the shadows and when you don't you die, almost Zork style - one wrong move and you're dead, restore from save, try again.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @10:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @10:31PM (#783415)
    It's for stealthy people, who don't mind moving slowly and accurately. Solving simple puzzles (like which lever opens this gate). On the other end of the spectrum is Quake.
  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 08 2019, @12:53AM (3 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @12:53AM (#783489)

    I on the other hand found it innovative and fun. It involved slowly and carefully sneaking up behind unsuspecting guards and whacking them on the head, or alternately sneaking through areas robbing everybody blind and leaving without anybody even noticing.

    Oh, and there were ways of recovering from mistakes, such as flash grenades that stunned the guards for a bit while you made a dash to get away.

    Thief was really a pioneer in stealth gameplay. If you don't like stealth games, fine, but don't knock it because you don't like the style of game.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 08 2019, @02:46PM (2 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @02:46PM (#783667)

      Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance, I remember playing for about an hour and not "getting anything" from it but frustration. For simple puzzles I'll go back to Riven, the whole "one wrong move and you're dead" thing just never did much for me.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:15PM (1 child)

        by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:15PM (#783687)

        It's not "1 wrong move and you're dead", it's "1 wrong move and you have to hotfoot it and/or use a flash grenade and/or take advantage of another of the guard's weaknesses."

        The game does a fairly good job of teaching you its mechanics. If you pay attention to that, and use the knowledge you've been taught, the first mission goes pretty smoothly.

        --
        The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:59PM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:59PM (#783734)

          Might have been a different game, or I just really took a set against it - I do remember whatever hardware I was running it on (reasonably competent for the day) was struggling a bit, might have contributed to the poor experience.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]