After I tried Hollow Knight for the 3rd time I finally had the realization that I just don’t like metroidvanias. Tunic, Ori, HK, Guacamelee. Bounced off every single one of them despite wanting to like them. The closest I’ve ever gotten to liking one was Death’s Door, but that took some work to get through. Not really a metroidvania but it sort of feels like one? Ultimately the music and vibe/combat kept me going and you don’t really need to return to locations if you don’t want to, so you can keep marching forward for 90% of the game.
I do like this genre but I had the same experience with hollow knight. I wanted to like it, but something about the way it controlled felt really off to me, and I didn’t enjoy the punishing death mechanics.
The old school save point thing was definitely something I wasn’t really used to anymore. I liked the tension it created when I started venturing further and further but yeah, it ultimately just frustrated me.
For me personally I’ve never liked combining hard challenges with infrequent saves. I don’t mind things to be hard if I’m allowed to get right back to the same spot after, but I don’t like having to get back to the hard thing from far away just to try again.
Not that my opinion matters any more than the next person’s, but I also can’t recommend Celeste enough.
It does so many things so very right.
The pure gameplay is crisp and responsive platforming.
Like any good platfmorer it has some specific mechanics that make it unique, but every one is intuitive enough to pick up easily enough. I have heard it called something like “the hardest platformer that everyone can finish.”
And it is true. I could never finish some of the harder SMB levels but I never got too frustrated with Celeste.
And if I were, there would have been accessibility options to make the game more approachable.
But it also caters to the hardcore crowd with completely optional collectibles that are organically included into the gorgeous level design.
It is speedrunnable for those folks.
And as if that wasn’t enough to make a good platformer it also tells a heartwarming story supported by a beautiful soundtrack.
Sorry I am rambling, but Celeste is fucking awesome.
I’m in the same boat: Hollow Knight frustrated me so much that I never finished it, even though I really liked the lore and the world and the non-boss fights. Celeste on the other hand might be even “harder”, but as you respawn on every screen literally instantly, you can fail and retry hard parts a hundred times until you make it.
I finally tried the first one not long ago and went in super excited. I had the same experience, though… I think for me what caught me off guard the most was how hard it was. I’ve played a lot of platformers and metroidvanias, and I found Ori to be punishingly difficult. The “escape the area” sections were the killers ultimately. The first one in the tree took me dozens of tries, and it turned a very cool and cinematic moment into a frustrating slog that I couldn’t wait to put behind me. I got as far as the next one of these in the ice area and it was even more intense, and finally I just threw in the towel. It’s a shame because there was a lot to like, but the difficulty was a bit too much for my enjoyment.
i think this is what made it unfun, not the difficulty but the fact that you have to die a few times to even see what you’re supposed to do and it was aggravating way early in the game. Also I’m not a fan of the difficulty stemming from the controls being hard to use, like when you’re carrying stuff.
When I was 12 my Mum gave me my first PC, it was a second hand work PC with a tiny HDD.
There wasn’t enough space to install The Sims, so I deleted the Program Files folder, thinking I don’t need any programs, only games.
I bricked my PC lol. Needed a tech to reinstall Windows. Thankfully, I could tell him I needed enough space for the game and he debloated it as much as he could. Legend.
Reminds me of my younger sibling inheriting my first PC - 486 with a 500 MB hard drive that I had assembled from several scrap computers - and trying to install this game to it. It did just about fit and there was even enough RAM (48 MB instead of the minimum 32), but the CPU wasn’t compatible, since the game required the MMX instruction set.
I enjoy the mystery around the galaxy in ME1. I enjoy the interactions in ME2 the most. However it's a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE sequel. ME3.. Honestly It's disappointing compared to what came before, however the multiplayer was some of the best fun I ever had. Then they come out with Andromeda which has some weird retcons or interference with ME3s lore which boggles my mind. Pick a lane Bioware!
Honestly I'd reccomend the original trilogy. After more than 10 years I have learned that if you are super into ME then its best off not digging too deep if you enjoy it! I dont even go into detail pointing out the problems anymore as I dont want to spoil anyones fun! lol
I acutually have many problems with ME3. Some are little things and some are big things. Like I'm not a fan of the click npc and stand around or run in circles while they all talk to each other thing personally. Im much more into the whole chatting thing via the dialogue wheel. (But that's just a preference. I also wish they had kept Mordins original VA)
Most problems in ME3 can be boiled down to a poor framework left in ME2. ME3 starts with you under house arrest after a bit of a time skip. So you are instantly dropped off into a situation that you dont really know whats going on with people around you that you have relationships with that you dont really know. Then instantly its all "we need to save earth".. because reasons.. like I get it.. saving Earth is important.. but it's mostly marketting. "Take Back Earth!". Earth isn't important when it comes to stopping the reapers. Then you have to get to mars because the Prothean Archives are bigger than originally thought (because reasons) and they think there are some plans for a superweapon left by the protehans (maybe?). It's an asspull. The entire crucible thing is just thrown in there because they had nothing set up from the previous games. Don't get me wrong, the writers did great considering they had written themselves into a corner, but it's a hell of a lot worse than it could have been.
The Mass Effect Trilogy will always be known to me as a trilogy that only scratched it's potential. I eagerly wait a remake of the series with a lot of these problems ironed out.
I can’t think of another game that I like so much and enjoy playing so little. I will spend countless hours creating families and houses and then five minutes playing the actual game before I’m like “oh, right, I hate this” and then I start making another family.
The thing that helped me felt very counterintuitive, but I ended up just picking one family member as a ‘main’ character, and letting the rest run on their own.
My instinct is always to try and micro-manage everyone in the household, which gets stressful quickly. If I focus on one person and let the rest just generate their own stories I tend to last a lot longer.
I loved the building, but I find the other half of the gameplay quite boring. Some of the more focused games i thought were a bit better, but it’s been quite some time since I’ve played them.
I loved the building, but I find the other half of the gameplay quite boring.
i would spend hours using cheats to create the perfect house for the sims family and then lose interest within 30 minutes of letting the family do its thing.
i would rinse and repeat with each house becoming more elaborate and strange each time; they should make a game that focuses on that aspect of it more
Have you seen any of the youtube previews of Paralives? I’m very curious if the building in that title will be better. They have a couple features that seem really nice
I absolutely adored the Urbz game for DS. Pretty sure it’s the same game as the GBA version, but it had an added post-game minigame. I loved maxing out friendships and having bonus areas to decorate!
I’ve played Sims 2 and 3, and generally enjoyed them. I think I would have played both a lot more if they hadn’t been prone to such severe performance issues. Especially 3. I was in a better position financially back then, upgrading my PC every 2 years, and somehow even a brand new PC built around gaming performance could not run Sims 3 without severe lagging and stuttering. I tried various mods intended to improve performance, but never really made any headway on the issue. Gave up, haven’t tried Sims 4 because the quantity of DLC is huge and expensive.
I have exactly the same issues with Sims 3. My PC is pretty much as powerful as it’s gonna get but Sims 3 with all the performance tweaks and mods just won’t run properly, it’s downright unplayable. Too bad it’s my favourite Sims.
Does anyone actually buy the Sims games? Like the full game costs a fortune, just sail the high seas, EA shouldn’t get a cent.
While I have gotten fairly proficient with the TV and film high seas, I struggle with games and software, often leaving me uncertain if what I’ve actually downloaded is a virus.
Fair enough, that’s a sense you build up over time with some plunder, or at least it was for me.
If you wanna try Sims 4 I’m using Sims 4 updater by anadius, that gets everything you need and keeps everything up to date (while having less of a footprint than Origin).
My favorite is the Sims 3, and I’ve spent a lot of time on it! It’s a very addicting game for me, but only by spells. I’ll play it every chance I get for a few weeks, then let it sit for a long time. I’ve also played 2 and 4 as well. 2 was good, and 4 was disappointing to me. The overall gameplay wasn’t as good in my opinion, and losing the open world aspect of 3 was a negative too. Add to that the launcher and additional login requirements and I quit playing it fairly quickly.
I think the main reason I like 3 better than the others is because of the open world aspect. I can quickly switch back and forth between two sims at opposite ends of the map, and the world itself feels more real due to not having loading screens. I also like the graphics style a little better, but that’s a minor thing.
The way I normally play is to create a sim, either by picking traits or randomizing, and drop them into the world with a starter house. From there I normally have them get a job or learn a freelance skill to make some money. I generally let my sims find their own friends and spouses by finding who they get along with and going from there. I generally get at least a few generations in before I move on to another game or start over. I rarely do the challenges and things that many people do, but I have done games where I tried to keep a generational line going for a while.
I was really looking forward to both Life by You and Paralives, but the publisher and/or devs of Life by You just blew through their third release date, and have now delayed it indefinitely. So maybe Paralives will be good!
Sims 3 was my favorite for the open world and freelance jobs too. Was nice to be able to secure an income without disappearing off the map for 8 hours a day. Was surprised 4 didn’t follow through on that as much but I only played it a little.
My wife plays Sims with cheats all the time and I get that it becomes a fancy interactive dollhouse in that case, but to me the game is all about that progression from bachelor in a one room box to old family man in a mansion.
That is my primary playstyle in a nutshell! 😂 I really like the painter and writer professions, but I sometimes don’t even go that far! I’ve had sims that have never had a job and have made every simoleon by picking up rocks, playing guitar, and selling random things they found in the dumpsters around town. That’s the great thing about it, you get more freedom to do what you want.
Sims 3 has the most hours played in my steam library, but I haven't played it recently. I seem to go in cycles where it's all I'll play for a few weeks, and then I won't touch it for several months, and then I'll come back to it again. It's a great game to have mindless fun in, and last I checked, the mod community was still going strong.
My first experience with the Sims was jumping behind a random computer at some kind of event that was running the Sims 1. Most of the family had just died because the previous person behind the PC had let the house burn down. Needless to say, I was a bit confused. I’ve played the Sims quite a bit after that, and I honestly like messing around with it.
I don’t think I’ve ever played a game without cheating a lot of money. I don’t like that the Sims that I made have to go off to work or school, so usually I just build a big fence around the property to keep them all there. From there on it used to devolve into chaos when I was younger. Building huge mazes to access basic necessities, launching fireworks indoors, etc. Nowadays im a bit more behaved though.
Imo the Sims 4 is the best nowadays. The older ones are showing their age. That being said, the Sims 4 is definitely in need of some competition. It’s inexcusably buggy sometimes, and I personally think there’s a lot more that can be done with a game like this. Hopefully the upcoming competitors can spark some fire into this genre.
The Sims 2 Castaway is basically the proto survival crafting game. It’s kinda cool to see the classic Sim stats get used in such a different way. I sometimes wish EA would return to those days of selling spinoff Sim games like Castaway and the Urbz, rather than just dumping every single new idea they get into one game as DLC.
I liked 1 but played so much sims 2 back when I was in school. It is still really relaxing for me, so from time to time I come back and build a house with a crazy family in it.
I think original Sims made the biggest impact on me since I probably played that one the most. Our PC couldn’t handle The Sims 2 when it came out, and I only tangentially tried 3 and 4. Mostly enough to build a cool house and spend a few days with the Sims I created. Sims 1 I probably poured a ton of hours into it.
One thing I did discover and never fully completed in the later games was trying to do some sort of haunted house family. As in, have someone move in and intentionally die in a way that created a new color of ghost. Get all of the different ghost colors in one house/lot then move a normal family in. I don’t think it really mattered in any way, I just loved the idea of a regular family cohabitating with a rainbow of ghosts.
There’s something both so unique and also so simple to the Sims that I’m surprised it’s taken this long for folks to try and “go for it” the way Cities:Skylines went for Sim City. Like, you have to craft interesting stories within the game but you don’t need to wholecloth invent a galactic empire/fantasy world/etc…you can broadly look at our world and copy/paste for inspiration. With Paralives and Life By You “coming soon” in some fashion, there’s going to be some interesting competition here.
This might be my first PC gaming experience. My niece had this game and when I came to visit we would play it together and build houses and stuff. I have really fond memories of the first game and some of its expansions (vacation and night-life, also pets if I remember correctly?).
I somehow completely skipped The Sims 2, but by the time The Sims 3 released, I was extremely hyped. It is the only time in my life I bought a collector’s edition. It had a USB key chain in the shape of the green diamond! I remember really enjoying it and especially loving the music and the vibes it brought.
I also had a Sims game on Game Boy Advance (with cats and dogs) and one on Nintendo DS (on a lost island). Both were really fun!
Half-Life was my introduction to FPS gaming; I loved every game in the series that I had the pleasure to play - Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift and Half-Life 2 (Lost Coast, Episode One, Episode 2). I never got round to playing Alyx; I didn’t have hardware that would cope!
Half-Life also spawned the CounterStrike series; I sank way to many hours into them.
My favourite game remains the original; I enjoyed the narrative and the occasional puzzle. I purchased the upgraded graphics pack (which also fixed a few glitches) and prefer the original with this pack to the remastered version of the game (Half-Life: Source).
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