Game Genres I Don't "Get"

[Ruldra]

Combat Flight Sims

By far my favorite one was X-COM Interceptor. It's essentially Wing Commander with the management stuff from X-COM.

Of course, if we're talking about TRUE simulations, then check out anything made by Novalogic.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'd think TRUE simulations simulate real spacecraft, but what do I know?

[Edmond Dantes]

Well, I now own Wing Commander III, the PSOne version... got it the same day I got Mechwarrior 2.

And... I gotta ask: is WCIII supposed to be this easy? I'm playing it on default difficulty (ace) and, well... half the time the Kilrathi KILL THEMSELVES before they're even in targeting range. Seriously it seems like I win by complete accident.

It's making me appreciate the first game all the more for how challenging it is.

It may just be because its the PSOne version though. But I'm gonna crank up the difficulty and see if that helps.

[Mortificator]

A good space game for PS1 is Colony Wars. It also has a practical third-person view that might help you with 3D dodging.

[Ed Oscuro]

*blink*

[boagman]

*blink*

I am a terrible artist. That's right...I have almost *zero* artistic ability within me, and I swear by all things green and good, I could have done a better job than was done in this ad. I'm thinking that the artist was smoking a doobie, and the person responsible for *buying* the ad was speedballing the hot stuff.

That's *W-O-W* bad, right there.

[Moniker]

A good space game for PS1 is Colony Wars. It also has a practical third-person view that might help you with 3D dodging.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that game. It was aces. Have to see if I can find my old copy.

[Ed Oscuro]

@ boagman: You'll notice that Kenshiro's head and neck kind of got slapped onto something grotesque meant to represent a human, I think. Don't know what Sega's fascination with Last Battle was here...I mean of all the game characters to put in your games, I could understand Kenshiro, if only his game wasn't total garbage.

This was just a mail-out flyer; the front cover isn't any preparation for what you find inside.

[BIL]

Fat Ken got the monies, see
Fat Ken got the honeys, see

[Ed Oscuro]

It's just the perspective that makes their right arms look withered.

[Marc]

It's been informative to read the above posts about scrolling fighters, I've always enjoyed them but; if I'm honest, always assumed they were simply designed to suck money without any real game design in mind. I'm still not sure if I'm right, and people have found a way to 'break' them as such, rather than any of it being intentional, but maybe I'll take another look. Only ones I remember finishing were (obviously) SoRII and Turtles on SNES, I always assumed that they were a little more balanced when they were designed for the consoles. I did manage to finish Renagde (as I know it) when I first got into emulation about twelve or so years ago, but again I remember that as being more about learning the games programming idiosyncrasies, rather than its design.

[louisg]

Re: Scrolling fighters: I really liked Die Hard Arcade. I think that one has some very clear strategy, and many of the moves have a specific purpose. I'll have to try some of the other strategies mentioned for the 2d beat 'em ups though.

[boagman]

Re: Scrolling fighters: I really liked Die Hard Arcade. I think that one has some very clear strategy, and many of the moves have a specific purpose. I'll have to try some of the other strategies mentioned for the 2d beat 'em ups though.

Dynamite Cop (Deka) is cut from the very same cloth, and enjoys a better feel of zaniness, as well. I've always enjoyed that one.

[Mischief Maker]

Flight Sims (particularly combat ones, Wing Commander particularly)

I get the basic idea--"kill them before they kill you"--but it seems a lot goes into that which so far hasn't clicked. For example, I constantly struggle to even face towards my enemy to fire on them, and usually by the time I do they're passing in front of me or overhead and I have to turn yet again. It's worse when there's more than one enemy aircraft... I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to deal with both. I get the feeling there is some very basic concept that I simply have not figured out.

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

Cut back on the throttle. You'll turn tighter and have an easier time getting the bogie in your sights, at the cost of becoming easier to target yourself. Speed management is a major part of Flight Sims.

That said, unless you're going for some sort of historical journey through the genre pioneers, I'd skip the Wing Commander games and go straight to the Freespace series, as they represent the gameplay pinnacle of the genre. Freespace 1 mixed everything good about the X-Wing/Tie-Fighter and Wing Commander flight models, and Freespace 2 took the genre to heights yet to be surmounted. I wanna be in love with Strike Suit Zero, but it's a muddled mess compared to Freespace 2.

Of course, you should be playing Freespace 2 using the SCP update.

This video should help you "get" the appeal!

[Red]

2D 1v1 fighting games. I've never comprehended how to play these games. There's just something about it that I can't wrap my mind around, at all.

Strategy games, mainly RTS games. With the exception of DoW (probably because I'm very familiar with the world it's set it), it's the same problem with fighters. I just can't play them for some reason.

[Vexorg]

Genres I just can't seem to get into:

- Real-time strategy: My brain just doesn't operate at the speed needed to handle these properly.

-MOBAs: Basically an offshoot of RTS. I just don't see the attraction, and tend to attract extremely toxic personalities.

Survival horror: I can't suspend disbelief enough to get into these, and most of the time without the scare factor you're mostly dealing with bad mechanics.

[Ex_Mosquito]

One genre I REALLY cant stand are '3D-Runabout Games' that have little consequence for dying and take 8+ hours to 'complete' You know the ones, awkward analog 3rd person movement with god awful combat and jumping mechanics. For example: Assassin's Creed, Lego games.. Etc. I also have a mild hatred for the overuse of the FPS genre, they all seem to play same! I remember back in the 80/mid 90's, games had there own unique game engine and control nuances that was totally unique to that game. It seem that most FPS use the same basic physics with a different skin, I dunno. Don't get me wrong done right I find them fun, the Portal games for example totally blew my mind, but I class them more in the puzzle genre than mindless shooting at stuff and respawning 5 seconds ago at the nearest 'save point'

Then again maybe I'm just missing something.. I'll admit I'm pretty much stuck in the mid 80's/90's for my gaming preferences.

[Ed Oscuro]

You know the ones, awkward analog 3rd person movement with god awful combat and jumping mechanics.

[1983parrothead]

Anything overwhelming.

[Lord Satori]

You know the ones, awkward analog 3rd person movement with god awful combat and jumping mechanics.

I'm horribly ashamed to admit that that harry potter game for the Playstation was the first console game I ever owned... Don't even think I'm about to praise it, because I'm not. (though if anything was noteworthy, I do recall this one song I rather enjoyed)

[Pretas]

Fans of realistic flight combat sims owe it to themselves to give Taito's Over G (360) a serious look.

[Damocles]

Fans of realistic flight combat sims owe it to themselves to give Taito's Over G (360) a serious look.

That's a pretty damn good game. Too bad most who try it are expecting Ace Combat. I am still disappointed that I couldn't fly an F-4, however.

[ArmoredCore]

I dont understand visual novels and Moe Rpgs outside the otaku fanbase, Wouldnt an anime be just as good or better?

[Doctor Butler]

I'm trying to think of anything that's not a shmup, or a fighter that I enjoy, and I'm struggling.

I don't like First-Person-Shooters, but I suppose that's really a matter of taste.

Brawlers are alright, but the monotony of the games gets to me pretty quickly. I'm seeing a lot of Beat em' up fans here, though, so once again, to each their own.

I like arcadey racers, like Burnout or F-Zero, but I'm not really big on the ultra-nuanced driving simulators. Still, I see the appeal, if you're a gearhead, and you want to create your dream car. I don't necessarily enjoy it, but I get it.

What I don't understand is people who play these AAA narrative-driven single-player games, and become engrossed in the inconsequential circumstances of fake people that don't exist.

Why do they care?

[drauch]

I dont understand visual novels and Moe Rpgs outside the otaku fanbase, Wouldnt an anime be just as good or better?

There is no interaction in anime.

[BryanM]

Never forget the difference of budget. Steins;Gate, consistently ranked in the top... 2 of MyAnimelist was a Visual Novel before it was an overly successful animation.

That line between a slightly enhanced comic book and an adventure game.

Why do they care?

Why do people care about celebrities who are nothing more than their TV friend to them?

We have strange intimate relationships with thousands of inanimate objects.

[drauch]

Uh... do you not like fiction? If not, you're the first person I've ever encountered.

[Lord Satori]

Anything overwhelming.

If this is indeed the case, then you must have a pitifully low experience of... pretty much everything. How in the hell did you get into shmups? They're kinda overwhelming, you know.

What I don't understand is people who play these AAA narrative-driven single-player games, and become engrossed in the inconsequential circumstances of fake people that don't exist.

Why do they care?

Why do you become engrossed in movies and books for that very reason? Such circumstances are equally inconsequential, but I bet your opinion differs on those subjects.

[Gespenst]

Even that I enjoy flight sims on regular basis, I never get why people are so obsessed with ridiculous DCS-level simulators that you even need 10 minutes or more for ramp/coldstarting your plane/helo.

[Pretas]

Even that I enjoy flight sims on regular basis, I never get why people are so obsessed with ridiculous DCS-level simulators that you even need 10 minutes or more for ramp/coldstarting your plane/helo.

Over G has manual takeoffs, but gives you a hot start and lets you optionally skip the taxi on runways. You have to actually land the plane though. It's a pretty good compromise.