gaming slump

[adolf hamster]

guessing i'm not the only person this happens to.

currently been playing subnautica, great game and how i wish it wasnt the laggy barely functional mess it is on this laptop, or that i had my main rig to overcome these issues with a bit of blunt horsepower

also recently got sniper elite 3, i've been giving it a go but it's just not engaging me like the original did, just kinda boring for some reason.

final option is borderlands, i've been playing bl2 to death for the past few months and i picked up the pre sequel in the steam sale there, but somehow i can't bring myself to start it even though i know it'll be fun.

so, what do you do when this happens? should i just force myself to concede that i'm not going to get any further in subnautica on this machine, and force myself to play bltps until i get hooked into that?

 

[adolf hamster]

well, i fired up bltps just for the hell of it, hopefully this'll get me hooked into it.

i have a long list of things to do, but my schedule is leaving me with a lot of free time.

women/pets are off the cards atm due to current circumstances

 

[adolf hamster]

What I'm finding puts me off a lot is how many recent games have really half ***** control and menu/UI systems and/or lacking options for configuration - really shouldn't be a thing in this day and age and nothing puts me off a game faster than if I can't just drop in and play it with minimal figuring out of how basic inventory, etc. functionality works.

In quite a slump myself at the moment - still haven't finished Doom 2016 or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, haven't even worked up the enthusiasm to try the new Dishonored or Prey, etc.

indeed, subnautica is a perfect example (albeit yet it's an alpha game) but you have to use the developer console to turn off certain graphical options.

and on the subject of borderlands i see they still haven't got around to having a normal control scheme for the vehicles.....

 

[adolf hamster]

I think I'm a bit jaded from playing games for so many years - back in the day it was all new, etc. and I'd put up with dealing with awkward controls, etc. but these days I've been there, done that and often just turn a game off if there is anything non-streamlined between me and the game :s

i think the problem is we've evolved into having "standard" controls we're used to from certain games, for example i've become used to:
shift- sprint
c- crouch
x- prone (if it's a seperate control otherwise hold c)
f- melee
e- interact
left click- weapon or item use
right click- aim down sights
middle click- grenade (that's a custom one i bind to)
number keys- weapon/item slots

etc etc

the moment something deviates massively from that formula i find it hard, again using subnautica as an example but the amount of times i accidentally eat something instead of move it to a chest, or knife my base instead of opening a container.

 

[adolf hamster]

i still have GTA5 to start and about 10 games that ive put a few hours into and think they were good...just cant get the motivation to get going, usually end up having a couple of games of Heathstone and then logging off.
Ive been gaming for 35yrs (got my Spectrum 48k when i was 8) and im no longer excited by graphics, a game has to have something about it to drag me in, saying that i haven't bought a footy game in a few years (my last was football manager 15) so im going to get either pes or fifa, hoping i get into the manager modes and lose a few months.

gtav is worth playing just to get to trevor- he's an excellent character, some of him and michael's dialogue is amazing

 

[adolf hamster]

One I'll probably never complete - way too many key binds to deal with most of which could have been done with way less keys and the mouse input produces an oval when you physically draw a circle with the mouse due to split X/Y sensitivity with no options to change it

it's really a controller game, i tried the m+kb for all of 5 seconds before this exact issue put me back on controller.

i dont mind really, things like racing games, assasins creed, gta etc, stuff that's blatantly set up for a controller i don't mind using one.

 

[adolf hamster]

I get no enjoyment out of playing a game with 1st or 3rd person and no mouse freelook - it disconnects me from being able to immerse in it.

well, guess that's just the way it is for some folk.

same way i never get how people can play arma for longer than 2 hours without being driven crazy by how badly put together a lot of the basic mechanics are, or people that play the sims.

 

[adolf hamster]

I find I hit gaming slumps every summer. I start to feel guilty about playing games all day when it's nice out. As soon as the winter months are back my gaming picks up.

defo the same right now, what with having bavaria on the doorstep, but ofc inbetween the days of organising trips out to see various landmarks, in the evenings, and on sundays where it seems everywhere is shut there's some gaming time in there.

fortunately i've got far enough in the bltps now to be committed to completing it, got pretty far in the main questline although rushed it and now have to go back and do some side quests to level up a bit.

 

[adolf hamster]

Witcher 3.

if that's for me, it wouldn't run on this pc at all, plus the witcher series just doesnt grab me, i've tried several times with the witcher 2 but i just don't get it.

 

[adolf hamster]

Ah fair enough. Age of Empires II?

How come you can't get access to your main rig?

living in sunny bavaria...

currently finished up my work here so have loads of free time, planning to go full tourist mode in my remaining time here, but the gaps between tying up loose ends and planning trips leaves some prime game time to be had.

hence running an ivybridge i5 laptop with mech hdd and integrated graphics leaves me with limited gaming options. borderlands series runs well on this rig (not even minimum settings and still looks great due to the art style)

 

[adolf hamster]

Why don't you try something completely different for a change of pace? Farm Simulator 17 is awesome and it's only £18 at the moment. Or Stardew Valley. Both would be very relaxing games to play. Farm Simulator works really well with a gamepad as well, so you could really relax when playing it. Try something new!

i do have farming sim '13 with mods, not quite up to splashing for '17 yet but may do some day.

good suggestion though.

 

[adolf hamster]

Hmm, people are into this stuff? Strangely, it does seem a bit interesting...

tis weirdly therapeutic, a slow paced game with zero goals or violence or anything crazier than the odd physics bug.

kinda the gaming equivalent of a pallet cleanser

 

[adolf hamster]

I'm really enjoying playing Subnautica at my own pace, though the glitchy pop-in graphics are occasionally annoying.

yeah, it's glitchy all right, and this laptop is nowhere near able to run it well, i got as far as having the cyclops/seamoth/prawn combo going and it was getting well out the realms of playable by my (rather low) standards.

seeing 30+fps in bltps is a treat by comparison!

 

[adolf hamster]

they ruined SE3 with all the new mechanics, much preferred the silliness as opposed to realism

i think moving it out of war torn europe has made it a whole lot harder, the level design just doesn't seem to be anywhere near as engaging, even if it is more open.

plus the whole lack of easy cover has made it much more difficult to be sneaky, combined with a lack of aircraft/artillery noise everywhere meaning you need to be more sneaky.

either way, it's just not got the same flare the second one did, i'm never a fan of games like this and assasins creed going crazy on the old gadgets, especially if they force you to use them.