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Denver, 12:57 PM
Fri Dec 25
21 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/09/09
Usually once I find out what the issue is, I know that it's (1) something obscure that would have never occurred to me, or (2) it's something hidden in such a way, that I would have had to scour every inch of the game to notice, thereby making the game tedious and boring.
Example of (1): *Windwaker Spoiler* I was about 80% of the way through the game before finding out that you can warp. Oh, you shoot arrows in the tornado. I wonder why that never occurred to me. I actually wished I had looked up help earlier for this one.
Example of (2): Finding the Lightseeds in Prince of Persia for the most part was fun; usually they were visible from far away and you just had to figure out how to get to them. However, there were a handful that were hidden in such obscure locations that the only way I would have found them would have been to look over every edge of every platform. This would have completely defeated the point of smoothly running through long sequences. With about 6 light seeds remaining of 1000, I had no qualms with getting a little help.
12/08/09
Sometimes it helps to explain the situation to a friend or have them see it, an extra pair of eyes and all.
Failing that I might do a quick message board search or check a FAQ.
It can be handy to ask the question early on the boards just in case someone happens to see it while you work through the problem yourself.
If there are no FAQs written yet I might consider writing one myself, or making a map if applicable. It might sound strange to write about something you haven't even accomplished yet, but If I've made it this far, someone's either made it farther or gotten stuck at the same spot. Plus something is better than nothing.
As mentioned earlier, taking a break can help as well. Come back to it fresh.
12/08/09
12/08/09
Don't get me wrong, I spend a good amount of time trying to figure out the problem. I love games with a challenge, and I love solving puzzles. But for that very small 1% of the time that I get super stuck, I consult a walkthrough. I play games for fun, not for frustration fuel; and I'm just the type of person whose patience won't last long.
12/08/09
Repeatedly die at the same point for an hour - call a friend who's gotten past that point and ask him how he done it.
If that doesn't work, look up YouTube to see if there's any screen captures of it being done. Most of the time it can be sorted with a nice cup of tea and a sit down.
Unfortunately for Monster Hunter, FAQs can only do so much for you by pointing out weak areas and stuff. They cannot and will not help you one bit when you're panicking trying to kill 2 Tigrex in the same mission alone.
12/08/09
12/08/09
Rathalos, on the other hand....
12/10/09
12/08/09
Anyone have a clue where I can find it?
12/08/09
12/08/09
It came back with all save games deleted and a message, made with the three games saying, "F*CK OFF BRIAN".
Which was odd, since I'm not Brian.
He'd lent it to someone, who in turn had gotten upset with him and deleted all the saves.
12/08/09
Whevener he gets stuck on something that needs thought, patience and care - anything other than utter blind recklessness - he asks me.
When either of us get stuck on something that needs acute observation my daughter/his sister comes to the rescue.
If any of us are stuck on something, usually a puzzle, that requires insight - my wife/their mother will look up and say 'why don't you try [something blindingly obvious]'. We all go 'Doh!!' and what do you know - it works.
Families are wonderful things.
12/08/09
12/08/09
Personally, I don't see any shame in it. It's no different than asking a RL buddy who's already beaten the game "Hey, how do I do this?", which I'm sure all of you hear have done at one time or another.
12/08/09
Sometimes getting stuck will be the straw that broke the camels back and i'll realize the game is no longer fun anymore but is still worth while, remove the disc, replace it in the box, and consider coming back to it someday when it's cheeky and retro [example: being embarrassingly stuck in Fire Emblem in 2003. Just beat that game yesterday :D ]
Sometimes, I get stuck but have stopped giving a shit so I sell the game back and feel as if I beat the game in my own mildly way.
Last but not least, sometimes I am stuck but desperately want to beat a game. Gamefaqs or a related niche wiki site. If my seeming stupidity is standing between my enjoyment of a game, I do not have any qualms in looking for help.
If you like the game, AJ, gamefaq it up.
Now if the game is an intense RPG in which any FAQ used demands you level your characters just so, well... then your Saturday morning pajama-cereal one-two punch sounds like a good tactic as well.
12/07/09
12/07/09
Most of the time when I'm seriously stuck I'll make no qualms about it and look it up to get help.
I play games to have FUN. I don't want frustration and waste hours upon hours figuring out what to do next. Honestly what's with this "hardcore" stigma that automatically makes you a loser when you get help?
12/07/09
There is a part in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance for the GBA where you're supposed to race through a maze like room and get to a door at the end before a rolling ball. I've tried probably a hundred times and can never quite make it. It seems you have to be absolutely perfect to get there or else I am missing some trick to it all. I finally gave up and haven't played it in years. My game save is still there on the cartridge. There's a similar part in Metriod Fusion for the GBA where I gave up... haven't played it in a while.
But for the most part, I do what you do, save, turn it off, play something else or just take a break from gaming for the day and come back to it later. That usually does the trick.
12/08/09
12/08/09
It's at 4:18 of this video...
[www.youtube.com]
I'll have to find video of the Castlevania part.
12/08/09
such a pisser you don't gain anything from it
12/07/09
But I got stuck pretty badly in MGS3, by saving in a very stupid place where I had nothing to heal myself with, I had pissed off the enemies in every direction (so I had no chance of sneaking), and I was just about out of ammo. I told myself many times that I'd just start a new game and do things right this time, but I still never have. My friends told me the rest of the game so now I have no real drive to see it for myself. Thanks guys.
Any other games I haven't finished (and there are a couple) are more due to being distracted by newer games and never going back to finish up rather than being stuck.
I guess as games become more complex it just gets harder to get back into one you've left for a time.
But as guides and cheats go I've come to feel that it's best to hold off on either until it's absolutely clear my skills are not enough (or I'm not that into the game) to get through. Unless it's GTA--that game is so much more fun with cheats.
But I admit I find it disheartening when a person tries to cheat their way through a game before even trying to make it through. It's like, why do you even bother playing a game if you don't want any challenge at all? I'm actually referencing a person I know who seems to prefer mini-games.
12/07/09
However after returning to it, if I still can't figure it out, I have another tactic before I cheat for a solution.
Yes I consider walkthrough's or asking for help on forums to be "cheating". But that's just my personal standard, so let's not make an issue of it.
I test for bugs. Basically go to a popular forum for a game and try some key word searches. This serves two purposes;
Firstly - if there's a glitch or bug or something like that it'll tend to show up in topic tittles. If you know there's a problem that's not your fault then it's ok to use a work around, a "cheat" as I call them, to progress. No sense beating your head against a wall for no reason after all.
Secondly - simply seeing the number of topics about said issue can actually help solve the problem. If there's 100 topics all asking "How do I ***** the ****" in some variation, then maybe it truly is just something absurdly hard to figure out. This can both inspire you to go back and try to solve what so many couldn't, and also indicate that any sort of traditional solution is not going to work since if it was an "obvious" solution then so many people wouldn't have a problem with it. Once you know to start trying things "outside the box" you can probably quickly narrow down your options and find a solution. You'd think that "trying different things" would be an automatic reaction to being stuck, but sometimes, especially in games where 99% of the time is spent doing the same things repeated ad nauseam, you need that little nudge to remind you you have a brain of your own.
Conversely if there's very very few topics about your sticking point then it's a very good sign that you're just missing something obvious. This is a good sign to take a break then just try it again from square zero. You've probably just made a simple mistake.
That usually gets the job done for me. If I'm really REALLY frustrated after a lengthy stall then yeah I'll go to a walk through but... well that's just so crude. I tend to try to avoid that situation unless I simply just don't care about the game. In that case though why even bother playing it anyways?
12/07/09
Same bullshit happens in Dragon Age. My main (who is a mage) gets plopped down in front of a revanent, his mage friend and a couple other undead baddies. The idea being that I was 'ambushed' right? Seriously, force me into a scenario that I managed to prevent the entire game because I'm not an idiot. Like I'm stupid enough to mess with a grave sight and be unprepared for something bad to happen.
I fucking hate that kind of cheating gameplay from the computer. Thankfully in Dragon age I figured out how to cheat and just kill everything on screen.
If the game is going to cheat, so am I.
12/07/09
12/07/09
12/07/09