I totally agree! There’s something special about figuring out game mechanics on your own – it makes the experience feel more rewarding and personal. It’s like unlocking a secret that’s just for you.
When I first played ARK -- it was magical. I didn't know any of the constraints and mechanics and stuff. Then people that have played it just inundate me with all the information -- and it really ruined the magic.
Yes and no. There should be a solid knowledge base available for both basic and advanced mechanics for people who want to know, just not shoved in the players face. If I'm losing a battle over and over to an invisible mechanic that was never mentioned, I'm not playing that game anymore.
Some games go overboard with tutorializing. (I'm looking at you, XC3. Those tutorials are way too much.) But some games assume you've been playing their genre for decades and know certain mechanics instinctively, which hurts new players. Make mechanics explanations accessible in your game.
How about going through the whole game without knowing about some mechanic and then finding you about it?
There's a shame that you didn't find it out, but also a pride that you beat the game with a handicap.
Real but at the same time there's some tech that I feel I prefer to know the earliest in games, such as ultra kill ground pound storage or however you call it
There's some magic that was lost from no longer needing to bang your head against a wall on a level/boss because you couldn't get an optimal meta strat off the internet in seconds.
I wouldn't go back given the choice, but we definitely lost the mystique.
True, having to create your own strategies was an equally frustrating and exciting prospect. Nowadays I can just google how to cheese a souls boss. Or good strategies to defeat them.
Do you know that heavy armor in Skyrim has a huge stealth handicap? I've seen a streamer trying to stealth, failing miserably and thinking stealth sucks because they were wearing full imperial heavy armor.
Obviously there are levels to this, and I think people discovering things on their own is a rewarding way to learn things. BUT if I see someone struggling with something that was either already explained or perhaps they are playing a fan game of sorts that has obtuse 20y/o mechanics. I want to help.
Yeah, but sometimes games refuse to even give you a hint about some mechanics like earlier Pokemon games with IVs and EVs. Discovery is fine, but only when there's enough information in the game to discover.
If it’s a show and tell type of learning and teaching, i’m fine with that. But if they dump all the info during the first minute, it’s gonna irritate me.
See, on the one hand, stuff like durable damage in Helldivers 2 is worth explaining, the same with defense gambits and such. If a game doesn't tell you *anything* about the mechanic, then yeah, explain away.
On the other hand, if the game's obliquely hinting at a mechanic? Let players find out.
Durable damage is essentially a multiplier that works against your weapon's listed damage. Let's take the Charger butt. It's 80% durable, so it only takes 20% damage from any given weapon or Stratagem.
You're not told which parts are durable, or how durable they are.
That's a very thin line in game design. Letting player figure out some things on their own can be very rewarding but on the other hand, not knowing a core feature can be very frustrating and hinder players progress through the game. Most AAA games go for over explanation to not lose any players
But there's some real good games that have found the balance and they make you feel like a genius when you figure something out, thats mostly indie games understandably.
Some go even further and base the whole game around your knowledge of the game mechanics. Like TUNIC for example
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Super Metroid's Dachora and Etecoon are one of my favorite "tutorial" things.
And the "aha!" of figuring out accuracy formulas in FFT was fantastic.
Phantasy Star uses tech names as a buy-in for the series, intentionally.
I hate "spoilers" and would lean to the self-discover experience but I can see the value in the opposite approach also
#stoptoxicgaming
There's a shame that you didn't find it out, but also a pride that you beat the game with a handicap.
Also, when you play a game, it helps to be able to look at the rules.
I wouldn't go back given the choice, but we definitely lost the mystique.
(As I have learned the past couple of days LOL)
On the other hand, if the game's obliquely hinting at a mechanic? Let players find out.
You're not told which parts are durable, or how durable they are.
Some go even further and base the whole game around your knowledge of the game mechanics. Like TUNIC for example
One of the positives of the game going under people's radar is that I don't get my personal discoveries spoiled on social media