To go the 100% enjoyable route, I need to know more things which naturally put people in this state. I do such things by experiencing them myself, and once they get there I know this is something which would fit in such a work.
Regarding this point, I think one of the most safe and efficient tricks to do this is to keep introducing novelty. If you have a game that has a fairly limited number of distinctive unique things that are introduced quickly and afterwards are simply repeated in different combinations it will less likely have such effect. For example a sandbox that introduces everything in 10h and then 90h you just play around with it will probably not have this effect, it can even become a chore. But a story-driven game which constantly introduces novelty on plot level but also sometimes introduces some new mechanics and content, have big chances to have this effect. In reality it’s more complicated, and there are many dimensions to this like challenge/frustration for example. There are games that use frustration as a tool to some extent to make winning certain fights feel exceptionally rewarding (soulslikes is the most popular example). But if you make it too challenging/frustrating there is a risk that player gives up and leaves in state of frustration which makes it a big failure. This particular thing is high-risk/reward type stuff.
I like this detailed answer. Firstly frustration and risk/reward is the opposite of what I’m looking for, the nature is a bit different from what I’m looking to experience. The things I need are not achievement but completeness of concept. To that end even relatively tough action games with the quality of life features to reduce frustration might fit the requirement, as long as the gameplay concepts are “fully thought out”—not only is enough thought given to what you’ve put in, but the nature of each addition and how it relates to the persons playing them, what it makes them feel… along with the relation with other mechanics to make sure how they go together. Games which use frustration also use this to some extent—but frustration is the opposite of what I’m looking into. The stuff I work it makes the user feel as comfortable as possible—with thought put in to remove all frustration, while simultaneously delivering depth of concept. These two are not incompatible, but requires a lot of thought and effort to deliver. Eventually it goes into the psychological of what people like, why people like them, and what specific feeling causes you to like such a thing. Eventually you go into questions like is such a thing natural—is it something people will like without having a particular mindset, political stance, education… or will it only be enjoyable with any or some of these things and are looking for aligned art.
Then, after understanding these, it comes to making something that anyone can enjoy, as long as they’re not coming into it expecting affirmation for the things they believe in. That latter part is up to the user and it is not up to the maker to determine whether a person should like it or not—the emphasis of the maker is on not messing up the process itself, and then to let people react naturally to your work. Of course, the world has an element of malice for the sake of it, but dealing with it in an adequate manner and not be aggressive in general, especially against people who merely want to use your work and know more about it, is important. That is a place many modern makers are failing in. But that is not related to the process of making something itself.
The most important element in this process is making something which isn’t malicious—cause harm to anyone for any sort of gain, even to affirm your own thoughts—while, at the same time, pushing the levels of depth in your work till it reaches a natural state of full enjoyment. This is part of the learning process which must be completed before work is started on anything. This last part is what I’m finishing up on. At the moment, usually the deeper you go into art, the more you see things which are inclined with enjoying instances of cruelty—or so it seems many times, but it is not always the case. Understanding to the end the reasons of many things, the things I’m trying to experience, is key to delivering an even deeper work which is not embarrassed of anything, but does not take pleasure in cruelty. The reason for this is not to attract mainstream crowds—which is always going to be hit or miss—but to ensure anyone… mainstream, those who aren’t what is called ‘normal’ (I personally fit into the latter) enjoy the work completely while not feeling the slightest bit unpleasant. The showing of villainy can still be delivered while doing so, by placing importance on structure—whether you show the cruelty for most of the time, and show its resolution for a short amount… or whether you describe what the situation is and then allocate a lot of time to the detailed described resolution of a problem and how it affects the people around.
All these things are, again, to be learnt before starting anything. Understanding the things that people enjoy is most important when structuring your work well—even when you already have made a fully developed idea for a story. These are the things I’m focusing on. I cannot really explain it in detail other than saying pride and achievement are on the opposite side of these things and, as elements, do not really go into the work I want to do. I’m intimately aware of the natures of pride and achievement—mostly the negative aspect, which I’m not going to get into here because I do not consider it my problem to worry how people think, and these explanations are likely to cause debate, no matter how well intentioned either or both sides are. On the other hand, my understanding in the basic nature of enjoyment of a bit limited, and that is what I’m trying to implement when I start my work so I’m trying to change my limited understanding at the moment. Such a thing is possible by experiencing oneself—from any place, such as books, movies, games, people taking action… from anywhere.
Biggest surprise for length was Dragon Quest VII, the PSX version. Started playing it close to release, dropped it several times and finally finished it years later.
I’d played multiple games in the series before and I think the longest one topped out at 40 hours, so I really was not expecting a 100+ hour marathon like that was (although the very, very long prologue should probably have served as a warning).
In most JRPGs of the time, at the 30 hours mark you do your endgame sidequests, collect ultimate weapons and whatnot. In DQ7, you unlock the job system 🙃
Jumping off Vampire Survivor I highly recommend Halls of Torment! Similar vibe, easier, very satisfying. The aesthetic is very similar to Diablo 1 but with vampire survivor gameplay. I’m in love with it
I didn’t check out what the news about it was but they announced at least half a decade ago that Geralt’s story was over and if they’re creating another Witcher game, it’s going to be Ciri
So I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that Cirilla, daughter of the emperor, the girl with elder blood, groomed by the Witchers to become one of them… MIGHT just be the next protagonist.
And I’m all for it. She’s the future, Geralt is the past. I love Geralt, but he’s so old and broken by the end of 3, it’s not even funny anymore. They could do prequel games with him or something, but not a sequel to 3 at this point.
It might be related to the recently announced move to make Ubisoft Connect completely optional for Steam games.
I’m just speculating since they only mentioned it in regards to The Rogue Prince of Persia (bottom of the page) but they might roll out it to everything else as well? Maybe? Possibly.
If they do remove Ubisoft Connect, I really hope the cloud saves on Steam get supported. Ubisoft Connects implementation of Cloud Saves are so buggy for me
Sounds like you’re ready for the wonderful universe of TBS games (Turn Based Strategy). There a soo many sub genres but you can filter the steam shop for turn-based and read reviews and recommendations. Some personal highlights:
Things can get rough but I play mostly to have thriving communities with social drama. Deaths happen but that’s part of the challenge. Turn down the difficulty and play it like The Sims, it’s surprisingly chill.
It can be. Lower difficulty and phoebe chillax as the storyteller. I highly recommend modding the game. Both the common QOL mods and tweaks to what you don’t like.
If you’re into simple games, there’s one called Lato from F-droid. It’s just a snowboarding game where you click to jump over boulders and cliffs with a changing atmosphere and relaxing music. It helps me ease my mind.
This is interesting, it looks like a remake of Alto’s Adventure. The control sensitivity takes a moment to get used to, but the background is just as nice as the original, and the music is indeed relaxing
Which handheld do you have? The games depends on the screen size and buttons available. Without that information, /m/balatro@lemm.ee is the only safe bet I have.
A Retroid Pocket 4 Pro? That thing is an emulation beast. For me, I'd be right at home playing Dreamcast and PSP games with RetroAchievements turned on. But this thread isn't about emulation.
I bet /m/skychildrenoflight@lemmy.world runs great on this thing. Dead Cells and Streets of Rage 4 seem to be popular picks too. I'd look into unofficial ports like RSDK, Ship of Harkinian, Open XCOM, Open Lara, and D1X-Redux. The Retroid front end can probably install some of those for you.
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