Same. Replacing doom scrolling on Reddit with posting on beehaw.

All I’m seeing is a place to upload video instructions to the tutorials I’m going to post here. Heh.

I’m with you on Persona 5. My favourite in the series is Persona 2. Plays like complete ass but some of the best writing I’ve seen in a videogame. So it balances out. Then Persona 3 came out and they changed direction with the games, and… Well, I guess it makes more money and being told you’re the best is a lot more fun than the weirdness of early persona.

Weirdly enough, I could never get into Stardew Valley. Whenever I play it, the path to complete optimisation is just so annoyingly clear. Something ALWAYS needs to be done to be optimal. So I always feel like I’m not doing it right or I’m falling behind. My personality just does not work with Stardew Valley even if I really truly want it to.

Exactly my point. The first pokemon games you play generally feel so much more exciting because of the novelty of the world. Exploring the world, finding cool little secrets, it’s genuinely fun that first time round.

For all the complaints about Pokemon tutorials, they are a minority of the actual issues. But a good representation of the fact that Pokemon refuses to break “tradition”. Think about the world design of Pokemon. Like, genuinely think and compare each of the maps and regions. And they’ll honestly start to blend together. Even Alola, which imo had the best designed world, aesthetically, blends in to the rest of the world.

And the issue is, when they DO break the mold. It’s fucking fantastic. Area Zero, the Megalopolis from Su/Mo, the Distortion World. All fantastic zones that are relegated to the 11th hour and then barely brought up again.

Once you’ve explored one Pokemon game, you’ve probably explored them all. And that’s pretty egregious considering the main draw of Pokemon is exploration.

Everyone shits on the guy, but hey, he’s living the dream of making a billionaire go broke while also destroying one of the hell pits on the internet.

Honestly, this might be a bit of a hot take coming in. But I don’t think the lengthy tutorial is the actual issue when it comes to modern Pokemon games. Plenty of games have very slow openings, monster hunter is the first that comes to mind.

I think the issue is that the game doesn’t actually have any depth behind the initial tutorial. Once you know how to battle, catch, and level up, what more is there? Barring competitive play, the basic mechanics are the entire game.

Legends was a breath of fresh air, because you did have to explore and learn about the world and Pokemon in order to succeed. Even if it was incredibly minimal.

If anyone is still reading this, my recommendation for a game that scratches the deep mechanical and monster collecting itch would be Monster Sanctuary. The story is thin on the ground, and the designs themselves can lean on the simpler side. But my god, I haven’t seen an equal when it comes to team building or strategy. Genuinely fantastic.

Right? I feel like a lot of stuff needs to have the golden question asked. That is, “Is this fun?”.

Ooh, I’ll have to give that video a look at some point. I feel like the term game “goop” is actually perfect to describe the main type of mechanic, where the player is meant to learn and experiment with things.

God, that moment, where you realize where the game is going? Honestly fantastic. Everhood has such a sleek design, and I love that there is no “filler” encounter.

Good point. I know there’s an early episode of dark web diaries that talks about mmo exploits and all that. I reckon we’re going to have some dangerous and some fun stories coming from that end soon.

Can’t really speak on the development side on things. But I reckon on the user side of things, botting will get quite a bit worse. Obvious bots are already a big issue in games like FFXIV.

Issue with my own take is that, well, no money in it (yet). Training a bot takes time and money, and sure, the results can be duplicated, but until there’s a bigger push back against the cheaper, super accessible bots, that future will be kept at bay.

Wow! This sounds incredible, and just what I’m looking for!! Thanks so much, I’m going to have to give this a look.

You’ve had what sounds like a really big week, or, hell, month. I’ve stepped away from mmos myself, and I hope you find something that you can really actively enjoy. Because, apologies if I’m making assumptions, my experience with mmos ended when I realized I wasn’t really there while playing. It’s great to turn the brain off, it’s like having old episodes of the Simpsons on in the background as a videogame. But after a while it just gets too be tiring.

I hope you have a lovely day, and find something to relax with :)

Modded dwarf fortress. I’ve always been a bit of a baby, so I mod out the invasions and aquifers. It’s almost like watching ants work once it all gets going.