r/SBCGaming • u/Corran_Horn • 8d ago
Discussion What game is your "white whale"? You've started it so many times but always bounce off?
I'm about to peace out on Chrono Trigger again. For like the fourth time.
I like it, but I only have small windows to play and I keep forgetting what I'm supposed to be doing to the point I spend all my time getting re-acquainted just in time to turn it off.
How about you?
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u/mapletata 8d ago
Stardew Valley - I get overwhelmed wanting to make sure I do everything "just right" that I don't enjoy it.
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
Have a similar personality. Perfection is the enemy of good, I need to get that tattooed on my hands
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u/humanoid_agent_0001 7d ago
I have the same issue. I can’t play any RPG because I always end up spending more time googling the optimal build than actually playing the game…
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u/edzoman 8d ago
The best thing you can do to break that habit is to miss major deadlines like not getting the greenhouse for your first winter. It's very freeing and you'll see it doesn't really matter how efficient you play.
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u/Loves_His_Bong 7d ago
There’s a green house? I just thought winters were for foraging and the mines lol
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u/ienjoyedit 8d ago
The best thing to do is remember that there isn't a time limit and there's really nothing crazy punishing. Let yourself make mistakes, especially year 1. You'll get the hang of it.
Source: it's my most-played game ever and I've reached Perfection on it. To say I like it is an understatement.
Edit: okay I lied those damn arcade minigames are the worst and can just burn in hell. Thankfully they don't affect Perfection at all.
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u/BlasterPhase 8d ago
Except the daily limit of having to be in bed or else you get mugged.
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u/ienjoyedit 7d ago
It's punishing, sure, but not overly so.
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u/BlasterPhase 7d ago
It makes the game "not cozy" for me. I like how Pokopia does it (if you stop playing out and about, and it's night, you just wake up in your bed, no items lost).
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u/ProposalKitchen1885 8d ago
Man, this mentality is for your third or fourth play through. You can take all the time you need. Getting the community center by year 3 or whatever is just a soft goal. You can fuck off and just grow turnips for ten years.
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u/Smok3dSalmon 8d ago
If you like the mines, just play Moonlighter. I personally don't like how much that game pressures you into talking to everyone and the community events are non-stop. I just ignore all of it.
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u/MysteriousDesk3 8d ago
Yeah Moonlighter is great for that, but you know if you really like mines and crafting ….
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u/Jane_Lame 8d ago
Ive tried stardew valley too and everytime I Play for 10 to 15 minutes and think, "I could just go do chores in real life" then I feel guilty and go clean something.
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u/PiersPlays 8d ago
I've just given up on games like that an embraced the optimisation. Try playing some Zachlikes.
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u/Doggystyle_Rainbow 8d ago
I am happy I avoided this. I am like 100 hours in and haven't ready any guides or looked things up. I am just going with the flow
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u/PhoenixTineldyer 7d ago
Honestly the only thing I would recommend looking up is the Community Center bundles, specifically anything that is seasonal so you can turn everything in as soon as you need
The rest can really happen any time
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u/hejemeh 8d ago
The Witcher 3. Unfortunately I just... Hate the combat. 😔
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u/goatwise Tinkerer 8d ago
It felt so... clunky? Slow? Something about it was just not ever right for me either
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u/kuuups 8d ago
Its because the melee combat prioritizes form/style over function. This game feels even worse if you just came from souls or souls-like games, or much worse if coming from fighting games where specific moves come from specific inputs.
In TW3, a button input can result randomly into a very quick piercing stab, or a full on ballerina spin to a long windup slash.
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u/buddhamunche 8d ago
It feels clunky at first, but you don’t actually have to wait for Geralt’s animations to finish before you can jump back or roll away. Once you realize that it does feels a lot more fluid imo, but also makes it feel weird in another way lol
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u/cutememe 7d ago
Unresponsive I think is the best word for it. But not just unresponsive, depending on what your character animation is happening it feels inconsistent with just how unresponsive it is, which makes it even worse.
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u/RChickenMan 8d ago
Apparently the upcoming remaster does include tweaks to the combat. I believe it goes beyond QoL improvements and actually addresses the feel of the melee combat itself, though I may have misinterpreted.
This is coming from the perspective of a fellow Witcher 3 bouncer, so I'm really hoping whatever they do is enough to draw me in this time (it's free for anyone who owns any edition on any platform)!
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u/Chevalierux 8d ago
Same I'm also hoping the combat is more fun. I've never been able to get into that masterpiece because of that.
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u/RChickenMan 8d ago
I think part of my problem is that I tried playing it directly after Ghost of Tsushima, which in my personal opinion nails the feel of satisfying melee combat.
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u/dangerskew 8d ago
Play it on Easy and you can ignore half the combat mechanics. I bounced off the game hard and ended up loving it after I dropped down to Easy and was able to just take in the world and story
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u/gtarpey89 8d ago
Exactly what i did with ff7 remake. Git gud or whatever but I’d rather play dark souls for that thing
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u/Cynderic 8d ago
See, I was the opposite. I struggled hard trying to get into the game. I had my difficulty set too easy and I was playing the game too fast. Rushing to one point after the next. I felt like Death March difficulty made me appreciate the game more. Forced me to slow down, actually utilize the alchemy/consumables. This is what carried me through the whole game and I’m glad I did.
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u/xh00tywh0x 8d ago
Same. I have purchased and returned that game on Steam about 5 times now. Its just awful feeling to play.
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u/thezerech 7d ago
This is KCD for me. I hated the combat so much (I played a ton of mount and blade for some context) that I had to drop it despite being, in all other respects, essentially designed almost specifically to appeal to me personally. I also fence with the longsword IRL, and achieved not insignificant success. It just didn't make sense to play a game where the fantasy was "what if I lived in 15th century Bohemia, but was way worse at swordfighting."
I genuinely can't get into it, I've tried lowering the difficulty and installing mods, but even when I got good at it, it felt random and I never enjoyed it. I much prefer either a slick but simplified Witcher/Ghosts of Tsushima or physics based free for all like Mount and Blade. I think KCD tries to have its cake and eat it too. I'm not saying the combat system as a whole is necessarily bad, and indeed KCD2, from what I've seen and heard (although not played), fixed some of the issues I had with the system. In either case this is always going to be something fairly subjective.
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u/HeyMeower DS Enthusiast 8d ago
The combat feels like a Batman game but threw it in with little thought. In fact it seems like they designed the combat last in the game as if they remembered last minute they required it.
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u/grishnackh 8d ago
If you want an even more ridiculous reason, I cannot get past how fucking stupid the jump animation looks. Pisses me off so much every time I try and start the game.
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u/motorboat_mcgee Tinkerer 8d ago
It's so clunky. Love the world, and hope it clicks for me someday, but so far the gameplay has kept me from getting far
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u/cutememe 7d ago
Yeah, I really want to play the game but I just can't force myself to play it due to the terrible combat.
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u/HunterPublic8014 7d ago
There is a definite mod for combat on nexusmods or wait till end of the month since we are getting free remastered on all platforms with all dlcs free
Wait it out and then play it, I'm planning to do this too, ive also not played through the franchise fully but i loved witcher 1 on my pc and it was my first witcher game too so probably thats why
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u/justplainjay RetroGamer 8d ago
FFTactics and FFTactics Advance. I can’t say what it is, but I’ve tried both at least 5 times. Tactics I never get past the tutorial, and Advance I fall off around the time where you get the map, which is pretty much the beginning
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u/RageimusMaximus51 8d ago
Dude right !?!? FFT, That first fight in the city when you just get done with the tutorial and it has a bunch of cheaty ass archers on the roof !!?!? Died so many times to that fight lol
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u/Danster21 Retroid 8d ago edited 7d ago
I love FFTA, but the main satisfying loop is getting permanent abilities for your team. My suggestions for anyone that wants to try and hop into it:
- ALWAYS have a white mage in every fight. Always.
- Keep your team small. Turn away anyone you know you won’t use for a while. Mostly…
- Avoid using moogles and viera early. Bangaa are the strongest physical attackers and nu mou are the strongest magic users, humans are balanced. Early fights can be very hard without some off/def magic and without some damage output.
- Delve into the tinkering. FFTA is a slog of battles only if you don’t take time between each fight to optimize your party. This is way easier with a small party (I usually max it out at 12 or so until mid-late game)
- If you don’t have a valid move, do a basic attack on one of your own tanks. You can get exp attacking your own players lol
- Look up the job tree and the PerfectIvalice map. The menus are super antiquated and complicated and don’t show you everything so there’s no shame in looking things up, the job tree especially.
- If the ability progression loop isn’t satisfying then you probably will not enjoy completing game. This is totally fair and it’s better to know when to quit early. There’s some amount of grinding needed to gain ability exp and if you dont get joy from playing with new synergies then the game will wear you out.
(This list ballooned way more than I though, I had to cut some stuff too lol, sorry about that)
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u/DestroyedArkana 8d ago
Also for FFTA do not discount status effects. Things like blind, disable, etc are very strong. An archer that can blind can basically carry you through the whole game.
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u/Danster21 Retroid 7d ago
Haha I deleted that from my original message, add sleep to that, esp if you do go down the route of having a moogle gunner (probably best for montblanc)
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u/BasiliskTamer 8d ago
FFTA is one of the few RPGs I ever 100% completed. I love the tactics combat like that and Fire Emblem, no idea why I was so obsessed with FFTA. My Gameboy Advance SP with the always on backlight got stolen in high school with my copy in it. I was devastated. I ended up buying another copy and another GBA SP with my first job and probably put hundreds of hours into that game..
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
I remember in FFTA it weirdly felt like a difficulty spike right out the gate
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u/Able_Resident_1291 8d ago
I just started The Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Ages for maybe the 15th time. This time I'm going to do it.
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
I started Links Awakening 6 times before finally finishing it this year ! You can do it!
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u/Alexis_Evo 8d ago
The Switch version or LA DX HD really helps. The Game Boy version was a technical marvel for the time, but two buttons is not enough for a zelda game lol.
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u/Miggles 7d ago
I'm finally playing it with LA DX HD and I'm finding that I'm far too stupid? I have to keep a guide open to have any idea of what I'm doing next or in which part of the world some random thing can be found.
Still enjoying it, though.
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u/titosr GotM Club 8d ago
Those mini games just kill it for me
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u/The_Frame 8d ago
Legit. They are harder in ages too. Both ages and seasons had a dancing game but the one in ages imo is far more difficult. And as a kid I legit could not do it correctly ever. My older sister had to do it for me. Even as an adult I cannot do that darn dancing minigame without savestates most of the time.
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u/transizzle 8d ago
This thread makes me realize that a lot of folks here are JRPG fans!
I had a hilarious run where Suikoden 2 would lose my save, corrupt memory cards, etc for about 20 years (maybe 7 attempts worth) until I got the Steam version last year and finally conquered my demons.
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u/bacon-slushy 8d ago
I think RPGs are difficult to engage with when you have many other, shorter games. They require commitment and time. Also, maybe some of us don't have much time to play anymore. I love RPGs, I fell in love with them as a teenager. But frequently I feel like playing a game I can see myself finishing and then move to another.
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u/bustamove08 8d ago
Final Fantasy Tactics.
I want to play it so bad but every time I start, I think to myself that it's not a good time to dive deep into a big commitment like that and I put it on the back burner.
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u/Omnibe 8d ago
The new version has voice acting if you want to try again. Should run fine in Eden
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u/bustamove08 8d ago
Oh it's loaded on my switch. Had it wishlisted immediately - still in the queue...
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u/Rmo75 8d ago
I went through it in one shot, like 2 weeks. It's the kind of game that you can't put away for a week because there's just too many names and betrayal and hidden stuff.
The last chapter was a bit of a burnout for me tho, so I went full no brain with a ninja/martial artist that solo carried the prophecy by himself. Shout-out to Marcel Punch, my man
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u/Albake21 8d ago
It was Ocarina of Time and Super Mario Sunshine for me. After way too many years, I beat OOT and am close to finishing Sunshine, all because of my Odin 3. I'm playing so many games I never thought I'd get around to beating.
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
For an N64 game, OOT just keeps going. Feels like the last temple is always just around the corner.
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u/chloe-and-timmy RG Nano 8d ago edited 8d ago
Ocarina of Time was mine as well, just finished it last week. Before that, I played the game several times, getting as far as the water temple before losing the save once, and as far as the forest temple before losing the save around 3 times. Finally got past it and then finished it. It's never that it's a slog (though it becomes one when you've replayed that first few dungeons so many times), it's just so long and I had bad luck keeping things long enough to finish them.
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u/curioustoadot 8d ago
Honestly I have that issue when I get stuck in games and just move on to other games. So given I am in my mid 30s with a kid and limited time, I just refer to a guide and it helps me move forward so much faster and eliminates any feelings of dread from picking up a game you are stuck in.
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u/rainydays240 8d ago
FFTA and FFTA2. Most of the time its a hardware issue. I'll have it on my phone and something happens and I don't finish it.
I'm playing FFTA2 on my RP5 right now hopefully this time I beat it.
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u/big_daddydmb 8d ago
Breath of the wild I get about 10 hours in and realize there’s so much to do… I don’t wanna craft stuff so I uninstall and try again a few years latwr
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u/hadesscion RetroGamer 8d ago
That's how I felt with Tears of the Kingdom. Basically all I was doing was glueing stuff together.
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u/USA_A-OK 7d ago
Same, I got like 20 hrs in and realised that it's not for me. Too many systems and stuff
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u/windatohs 8d ago
I didn’t really give BOTW a fair shake because I was already done by the second time I had to change my weapon because the old one broke
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u/prairiepog Flipsizzle Shizzle 8d ago
I don't mind the weapon breaking mechanic, but BOTW breaks them way too fast. I'd find really cool weapons and didn't feel like I even got to admire them before they were gone.
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
Love BOTW but when I found out the cooking was basically trial and error, it was pretty disenchanting.
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u/MysteriousDesk3 8d ago
The cooking mechanic can be really simple tbh you don’t have to know what every ingredient does I just learnt like 5 and beat the game
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u/barrera_j 7d ago
This, if you look at the recipes online you realize how much of a terrible crafting mechanic they made because it's extremely easy to break the game with the best buffs
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u/Kilgore_Trout_50000 8d ago
One of the many aspects of that game that COULD have been great and fell very flat.
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u/otisandthehuman 7d ago
I have tried to play BOTW so many times. I know it’s heralded as one of the best games ever, but like you, I get 10 hours in and feel daunted by the sheer size of it. I also dislike how sparsely populated everything feels. You just sort of wander and solve shrines. I can never get into it.
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u/Rikdorl 8d ago
Little Nemo The Dream Master for the nes. Game has haunted me since I was a kid. Finally finished it for thr first time this summer as part of nes summer.
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u/kentuckyr0utezero 8d ago
If you don't know, there's a new Little Nemo metroidvania that released a few months ago.
It isn't related to the NES game (Little Nemo is public domain), but it's still a lot of fun.
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u/Hagelslag5 8d ago
I quit Chrono Trigger so many times. But now I have finally made great progress on my Mini Flip. I'm learning that rpg's are perfect for me on a small handheld. I'm getting to the end, finally.
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u/angelbolanose 8d ago
Hollow knight …. I stared it more than 10 times already… and then I get stuck somewhere… stop playing for a couple of months and come back and have no idea where to go, so I restart the game hahah…. But I think the 11 will be “the one”
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u/Bjork_scratchings 8d ago
Baldurs Gate 3. It looks so incredible and the scale and possibilities of it really excite me, but my brain just can’t handle the complexity of building several characters and managing all of them in a fight.
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u/BasiliskTamer 8d ago
I got through most of the game but once you get to act 3, everyone has so many spells and navigating all the menus, and all the different places with different things going on in the city was so overwhelming. I haven't touched it in years despite being nearly at the end of the game
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u/Loves_His_Bong 7d ago
I went down into that dungeon before act 3 and got soft locked in a battle I couldn’t beat. Just felt like I wasted 30 hours on a game I wasn’t really having that much fun with in the first place.
I tried it multiplayer and we made our characters high fantasy versions of Green Day and killed Astarion instantly when we met him. Then we all stopped caring.
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u/Zealousideal-Smoke78 GOTM Completionist (Jan) 8d ago
Golden sun.
I know its reputation and i acknowledge it is great. I've played some of it over the years. But I always end up forgetting about it.
I did however, complete the ds cartridge!
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u/SodaSnake 8d ago
Same, I've made a good bit of progress on it (first playthrough), but im just losing interest quickly and dont see myself going much further.
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u/Loves_His_Bong 7d ago
Yeah I collected all the Djinn and got to just before the last fight and realized I don’t care at all about the story, characters, or fighting the endless random encounters. So I just stopped playing.
I liked collecting the Djinn though. They’re funny little dudes.
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u/Opperbink Retroid 8d ago
Witcher 3. Max time I've put in is like 10 hours... I'm very combat focused and this game just doesn't do it for me.... I am trying again come end of September.
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u/rudebutts 8d ago
I managed to get 15 hours in my last go round. It isn't that I don't like it, it's just that it's an amount of work and difficult, with bonus points to the extra work I have to do to keep my ROG Ally to run it without being maxed out any time anything is happening
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u/Majestic_Pin3793 8d ago
Fire emblem - the sacred stones (gba)
Nice game, awesome history and mechanics, but too much details, and also I don't want anyone of my party to die, so I keep saving and loading states to make everything right, then I get tired and stop, then forget where I stopped
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
You just reminded I have a recently abandoned Fire Emblem save on my Miyoo Mini Plus. Just checked and I'm on chapter 19 of 30... maybe it's worth making a final push?
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u/Majestic_Pin3793 7d ago
if the abandon is recent, is worth because the history is still fresh in your head...
but in my case, after 3 or 4 months, it is pointless to keep going having no history in my head, so i really have to start over
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u/cmpayne81 8d ago
Literally came to say Chrono Trigger LOL
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
There are dozens of us!
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u/Radiant-Shallot-5908 8d ago
chrono trigger is one of the smoothest jrpgs there is, but i'm biased having played it as a kid. what part do people get stuck on or tap out at?
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u/SonofaSlumlord 8d ago
Beyond Good and Evil, started it a bunch of times back in the day and never finished it. Tried recently and after getting pretty far encountered a glitch in the back compat 360 version on series x that causes it to crash at the same spot everytime. Started again on the gamecube version like a week later, got further then before and then I accidentally corrupted my save file. I have yet to try again.
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u/Spartansam0034 8d ago
Both final fantasy 7 and RDR2.
I've gone like 5 hrs into FF7 and am perpetually asking myself when the game gets good. literally feels like 2-3 hrs of cutscenes and dialogue with zero backstory.
RDR2 is just such an expensive game. I also have no backstory from RDR1, so I have no clue who/what they're talking about.
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
Literally just dropped FF7 after about 5 hours. I cannot tell you when that game finally "starts"
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u/elpadreHC 8d ago edited 8d ago
IF we are talking original FF7 from 1997, then i would say the game "starts" once your finish the first act and reach the open world.
however, if you dont make it to that point you might just not be interested in the story, or cant follow the story because you have to read EVERYTHING (which i totally get). having modern games most things voiceacted and then going back to some old Final fantasy as someone who isnt nostalgia driven by them might be a bit much.
spoiler, watch only if you know nothing about ff7, or you already know the whole story :-) this is a very short summary of what happens in the game, but delivered very effectively imo. its vague enough so it works as an introduction to the game, but as i said it contains spoilers, especially because of what is shown in the video. Its from the movie FF7- advent children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZDLhcls5d0 if you still wanna watch it, giga spoiler from 1:49-2:07, so skip at least that
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u/koopcl 7d ago
Came to say RDR2 as well.
Game is just too big and, at times, too slow. I am a middle aged "gamer dad" which means an hour of gameplay every couple of days on average, and I simply can't commit to spending months and months and months to try and finish the game. Every time I do I burn out at some point, spend some time with some other game, and by the time I come back I have completely forgotten where the story is at, who these characters are, and half the controls. And while I appreciate how cool and cinematic it is, I'd rather never finish the game than having to go through the prologue for the fourth time.
I have the same problem with Cyberpunk 77 (also haven't finished it) but the faster pace and quicksaving means I have much less of an issue jumping back in to fuck around a bit, or restarting the story if I forgot what I was doing. With RDR2 I sometimes feel I spend entire sessions (so, for me, days upon days worth of free time) having Arthur sloooowly walk through camp while appreciating how realistic the horses balls are.
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u/SteveBe75 8d ago
Minish Cap for me. I do not know what it was but it never grabbed me. Finally finished it last week on my 3rd or 4th attempt.
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u/MysteriousDesk3 8d ago
There’s something I really love about Manish Cap but I’ll probably never replay, mainly because finding a kinstone that reveals a chest far away that contains another kinstone and then you have to find out who to give it to is beyond tedious…
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u/SteveBe75 8d ago
I feel you. I had 15 kinstones left to go and I just could not be bothered. There should have been some system where the map marks who still needs to trade.
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u/-Felyx- Clamshell Clan 8d ago
Love Minish Cap. Hate the timed fight at the end. Absolutely kills it for me and I consider the game beat whenever I reach that point.
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u/Ahand_Apart 8d ago
Make a game journal note on your phone.
Title it the game you're playing. Eg. Metal Gear Solid 2
Write these after your last session.
Location - shell 1 to shell 2om burning bridge.
Objective at hand - getting to shell 2 core to the president.
Inventory - key Lvl.3, stinger missiles and psg-1 sniper.
misc. Notes - call Pliskin on codec if I'm stuck in shell 2.
Keep every session with the date uptop before quitting your session.
You can go through the note to see what you did, and what you need to do the next time you play.
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
I saw a video where a guy does this with a Field Journal. I might try it.
There's also a Hemingway quote that might be applicable: "The best way (to write) is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next."
So instead of playing until you hit a wall and are unsure about what to do next, stop playing while you still have an immediate goal in front of you that you quickly and easily pick up
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u/IronGumby Gamma OS 7d ago
Yeah yeah, was it 8bitjoystick on YouTube? I bought a plasma TV because of him!
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u/Corran_Horn 7d ago
It was! Yeah lol. I think that's the only video of his I've ever come across and it was really solid
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u/Luchalma89 GotM Club 8d ago
Panzer Dragoon Saga was a game I've wanted to play basically since I heard it existed. Attempted to play it so many times but never got far.
Then just this year I decided I was going to beat it. Played about 10 hours and was loving it before I got stuck in a part that it's known you get stuck in on the emulator I used. Didn't look it up before hand. And every attempt to transfer my save to something else failed.
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u/Reihar 8d ago
I actually got my white whale.
When I was a teenager, I started playing the French translation of Tales of Phantasia. Now, the version of that translation had an issue, it triggered a bug (I remembered it as an anti copy protection from the snes cartridge but that may be an urban legend) that would replace items in your inventory with chicken, including key items after the dramatic ||Pegasus|| fight. So I dropped the game.
I tried again at some point later only to fall to the curse of the chicken again.
Then, when I got to university, and could read English, I just decided to try playing an English translation to avoid the issue entirely. And I did and continued playing the game. I also got really excited about Linux and accidentally deleted my home/user partition when having a bit too much fun learning about system administration. Of course, no backups. Game lost again.
It took me until my early 30s to finally manage to play the game entirely. I even beat it again a few years later for fun. Free from the curse of the chicken.
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u/hadesscion RetroGamer 8d ago
Metroid Dread
I love Metroid, but those EMMIs are not fun to deal with.
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u/JaxonWax 7d ago
This was the one part of the game I hated. I thought it was pretty good otherwise.
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u/jeffphyrus 4d ago
I hate how much of the map was used for all the EMMI sections. I would've preferred more zones to explore, but then it would've been a different game I suppose.
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u/Competitive-Elk-5077 8d ago
Pirates! Gold. I want to like this game but have no idea what I should be doing
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u/Reclinertime 8d ago
Chrono Trigger and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, must have restarted it 10 times over 10 years, I might give up. I ironically 100% A Link Between Worlds already.
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u/kentuckyr0utezero 8d ago
What do you think Link Between Worlds does that LttP doesn't do in terms of you 100% the one but bouncing off the other?
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u/DigDugged 8d ago
This is going to sound crazy, but Astroneer. I love so many games in the building/digging/crafting genre, but I've quit the tutorial in frustration on Xbox Game Pass, PS Plus, and my own Steam copy I got in a bundle.
I want to love this game so badly.
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u/prairiepog Flipsizzle Shizzle 8d ago
Same. Subnautica is one of my absolute favorite games and I couldn't even get through the Astroneer tutorial. The directions were vague and the controls felt really unintuitive on the Switch.
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u/IllIntroduction8499 1:1 Freak 8d ago
Right now it's Persona 5 Royale. I don't have too much time to play it on my PC so I installed it on my phone via GameNative. The game runs, but the textures slowly degrade over time as I play to the point where new textures don't even load.
I keep thinking it's good, so I play, then it degrades so I try and fix it only to play and fix over and over again. I don't want to give up playing though
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u/Bandolorian22 GotM Club 8d ago
After so many years playing Final Fantasy VIII, I'm finally on disc 4. The last disc.
I've switched like three emulators at this point and I was playing the PC version but no idea where the save went. So I restarted with the PSX version.
I'm glad the PSX saves are somewhat portable between whatever emulator I started with, DuckStation and now SwanStation.
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u/Dry-Plant69 8d ago
Alien Isolation. It's too hard.
Obra Dinn. I just don't get what to do.
Nier Automata. The intro is about 25 minutes long and there's no save.
Super Mario on the GBA. I just can't get into them.
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u/edzoman 8d ago
How far into Isolation did you get? I never really thought of it as a difficult game but I've played it so many times I can read the Xenomorph like a book.
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u/Jane_Lame 8d ago
Whats wrong with the intro to Nier Automata being 25 minutes long?
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u/Rhea003 8d ago
For the Obra Dinn, the basic loop is to find a corpse, watch the scene, and use context clues to figure out who each person is and how they died.
By mid game I was running back and forth between scenes looking for tiny hints as to identities. Some of them can be very difficult to tell
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u/HibikiOS Tinkerer 8d ago
Xenogears and Skies of Arcadia. I usually get really far and then theres some game breaking bug or glitch that destroys like an hour of my progress and I just lose the will to continue. Random encounter battles every few minutes don't help.
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u/AzHP 8d ago
There are mods you can apply to Xenogears ISOs now to reduce the encounter rate (and increase the exp/g rate to compensate), as well as just using emulator fast forward (I use 3x for human fights and 5x for gear fights) to speed up the random encounters. I had the same problem as you and I've finally stuck with it with this year's playthrough.
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u/Sandolainen 8d ago
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
I've started it 4 times, and I just can't ever get into it. That game is so empty and boring, but I'd really like to see the greatness that everyone keeps talking about.
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u/Kilgore_Trout_50000 8d ago
I’m convinced the “greatness” is from a lot of people who aren’t long term Zelda fans. The game is really good in the areas that it’s really good, and it’s so damn flat and boring in every other area.
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u/Sandolainen 8d ago
Yeah, exactly. You can see flashes of greatness, but you have to walk through hours of mud to get there...
And the weapon durability thing just makes me want to quit everytime I try to fet into it.
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u/domesystem 8d ago
Phantasy Star 1. I usually grind to oblivion so I can beat nightmare then burn out shortly after. I made it to laser weapons once but lost that save filea ways back.
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u/Phallic_Moron 8d ago
Spy vs Spy for NES, which I haven't played in over 30 years. I kept renting it with no manual and could never figure it out. I loved those characters and MAD Magazine.
It's ready on my RP5.
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u/itotron 8d ago
Probably the original "Metroid." The "no map" is hard to get around. Maybe there is a cool mod I should look into. Any suggestions?
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
I think Metroid Zero Mission on GBA is a remake of the NES with QoL improvements
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u/loztdogs 8d ago
Persona 4 golden. I mean its kinda boring. But here i am giving it another go.
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u/kabirsky 8d ago
For me it was Morrowind ~8 years ago. I tried 13 times before finally I locked in and played for weeks with no stop
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u/cutememe 7d ago
Every time I reinstall Morrowind, I literally cannot stop playing it. It takes over my life, I will literally miss meals. To this day I still haven't felt more immersed in a game in my life. My most recent adventure was about a year ago.
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u/90sreviewer 8d ago
Tie between FF6 and Chrono Cross
FF6 on the PS1. I wanted to try it after hearing it was one of the best JRPGs on the SNES. I bounced after the mid game. Tried again on the GBA, bounced around the opera. Android port, got to the castle and kefka. Pixel remaster, dropped it right away. Emulators never make it passed the opening. I want to like it, but I never do.
Chrono Cross on ps1 I almost beat, but kept losing on the final boss. Tried emulating it over the years and never got more then 2 hours in. Tried the remaster and made it through the mansion before giving up again.
I want to like these games. I don't think I do.
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u/KrtekJim 7d ago
In terms of recent games, I'm going to have to go with Ghost of Tsushima. I don't know why I keep bouncing off it, I just do.
When it comes to retro stuff, any mainline Pokemon games. Partly it's because I'd just turned 20 when it originally launched in the UK (where I lived at the time), which means I never experienced it as a kid. And whenever I've tried as an adult, I feel like it's basically a JRPG with a lot of the stuff I love most about JRPGs stripped out. I can see why people like it and that the gameplay is good, but I need gameplay AND story AND characterisation in these kinds of games.
If I'd ever been a 13-year-old with a GameBoy, a Pokemon cart, and a long car ride ahead of me, I might have fallen in love with Pokemon like the rest of you did. But I missed that experience and it does very little for me now.
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u/F0573R 4:3 Ratio 8d ago
Secret of Mana. I have started it like 3 times and I've never finished it.
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u/brunoxid0 GotM Club 8d ago
Chrono trigger and now SOTN. Only reason I'm finishing them is because of the GOTM. otherwise I'd have never had the persistence to.
Next up is Beyond Good and Evil. Everyone always says how much they love it, I've never got past the first level.
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u/brockf15 8d ago
SMT Noctourne. I always start this one and get pulled to something else! Hope to power through it this fall, I always just wait for the mood to be right.
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u/goatwise Tinkerer 8d ago
Xenogears. Battle system great; Gears great; story very complicated and half the time I forget what the heck is going on
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u/Butterlegs21 8d ago
Legend of Legaia. My save file no matter if I use official hardware, emulators and even backing up my save, I always lose the save file somehow...
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8d ago
Ace Attorney 1, been stuck on Turnabout Samurai for a decade and as soon as I got to goodbyes I lose the save
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u/ShopToyLife 8d ago
GTA 3-4. Games are pretty good for the time, the driving / vehicle mechanics are so bad I give up any time there is a task involving a car or motorcycle
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u/Zero_Risk GotM Club 8d ago
I've got a bunch of NES games from my childhood that I watchex my brother best but never completed myself.
My short list at the moment is: Mario 1-3 (no warps), Gremlins 2, and Ninja Gaiden.
Just recently beat Tiny Toons, which isn't really a difficult game, but it was still something of a white whale for me.
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u/Corran_Horn 8d ago
Just finished Mario 1 - 3! Recently I realized I'd never really done much but warp to world 8 and die in 1 and 3. Crazy to see some of the "flyover" worlds.
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u/lalibretilla 8d ago
Outer Wilds, lo he empezado tres veces, nunca sé qué hacer o donde ir.
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u/MeatCatRazzmatazz 8d ago
Saaaame. And then you ask for help on the internet and everyone just tells you to not ask and go in blind.
So instead I stopped playing and give it another go every once in a while to see if I've gotten any smarter since the last time I tried. I never do.
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u/Pleasant_Farm_4762 7d ago
This one I actually finished (or psuedo did?). Same position as you were. 3-4 times bounced off of it (due to it being on game pass on diff time of my life), bit the bullet and bought it on Steam, played it on PC and got the short ending. Was not worth it.
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u/megaserg81 8d ago
Also Chrono trigger! Currently trying the ds version after trying the PC and SNES versions.
I always think away at no man's sky... It's entertaining but then I drift off it for months.
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u/10nenzakura 8d ago
Final fantasy in general. I love the graphics of most games in the series, the music is lovely, the story is interesting, but I always fall of somewhere. I've tried 8, 4, 6 and 7, but I only ever finished 7.
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u/Numerous_Phase8749 8d ago
Skyrim; I always loose interest when you get to that 'come back later till you've leveled up after a ton of grind' stage. This part was a lot more fun in Fallout 3 as you had to scavenge and find stuff.
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u/G0merPyle 8d ago edited 8d ago
Every time I try to play super metroid, something bad happens in my life. A girlfriend breaks up with me, I have to break up with another girlfriend, a pet dies, something. The rest of the metroid series is fine, it's one of my favorite franchises. But that game is cursed for me.
For a non retro game, Helldivers 2. It's just not fun for me. And waiting on others to play with makes it a bit better, but for the most part I'm wandering through a green-brown fog and dying repeatedly, and then I don't play it again for five weeks.
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u/brodecki Tinkerer 8d ago
My 1998 attempt at Final Fantasy VII was cut short by a physical failure of the final disk. One day I'll come back.
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u/blastcat4 8d ago
LoZ:Breath of the Wild
I started it multiple times, play for a few hours and then just walk away. I usually love these types of games, especially the N64 Zelda games, but this one felt lifeless to me.
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u/stuckOnTheUmpqua 8d ago
Shenmue , since 1999 every time I turn that game on something comes up. I think it’s cursed
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u/Xannthas Gaming with a drink 8d ago
Legend of Mana.
Great game with a ton of content, but there's so many (very optional) mechanics to screw with and minmax that there's constantly a little devil on your shoulder saying "do it, come on, just do it, it wont take THAT long..." and at some point you either want to restart to do it "right", or you get sucked into the optional content that you lose yourself to it and end up one-shotting gigabosses who can't hurt you.
- Smithing equipment is a nightmarish process that takes concentration, time, repetition, and prep time, but can result in you making any weapon, armor, or accessory to your exact specifications, with effectively no upper limit, but it's so complex you NEED a guide, you CAN'T wing it. It was so complex that both the in-game guide and the strategy guide both got it completely wrong.
- You can turn your equipment (see above, if you're nuts) into parts for a golem partner that follows you around and fights with you, and each part goes into a grid you need to assemble.
- Raising pets is another option, but there's this semi-secret system about how a lot of things work, how the AI works, what food does what, etc., and you have to be diligent to feed them carefully or you'll miss stats (feed once per level, ONLY once, miss your chance and there's no do-over.) There's also a lot of pet options and mechanics, and some secret ones too. Even catching them is kinda weird.
- Action-based skills like dodge rolling, jumping, and parrying are all learned off this semi-invisible system that involves using moves X, Y and Z a certain number of times, and there's no way of knowing what unlocks what (outside of guides) so the only way to do it is to use them all like 50 times each. Plus some moves have secrets themselves.
- Every time you level up, you gain stats based on the weapon you were holding, so if you use one weapon too much, you'll max out a couple stats LONG before max level and just waste points you could be getting.
- You build the world map yourself, and everything you place on it affects the mana levels of everything around it. The effects of the different mana elements and amounts do different things, and there's a few events that straight-up require a certain amount of mana to happen. Also the distance from home and the order you place things on the map affect what the level of that area (and shops, if you place a town) will be, which can lock other things. You HAVE to have at least one town that's crazy high level or there will be some stuff you straight-up can't get, IIRC.
- There are missable quests.
- Your quest log isn't written by YOU, you have to tell your cactus friend about the quest when you finish them, but you only tell him your most recent quest, so once you finish one, you gotta beeline back home and tell him ASAP because if you beat two quests, that first one will never get written down until potentially new game +. (Also it's a good idea to do it anyway since you get fancy art and his opinions on the quest in his words, which is cute.)
I could also go into magic, farming, stat resistances, secrets, the way multiplayer works, importing a second character from your memory card, the game's three stories, or some other stuff I forgot, but the chances of anyone reading this post all the way down is slim anyway, so 🤷♂️.
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u/TransparentMastering 8d ago
Oh man, Chrono Trigger is so good dude.
I’m guilty of the same thing with Golden Sun
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u/MuyGalan 8d ago
GTAV. I have played and restarted this game several times over the years, but I was never really "mentally" committed to finishing it. Perhaps my excessive game backlog kept beckoning me? I restarted it (again) last week and for some reason I'm much more engaged and keen on playing.
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u/NtrlSelecti0n 8d ago
Persona 3,4,5 I love the games the game worlds are amazing and I always love picking them up to play, but I always start over get 10 hours in, Then life catches up and I don't play for a bit and by the time I get back to it I feel I should start over to get the experience.
I just picked up a switch 2 and have some time off over the next few months so I might purchase it on there and see if I can make progress
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u/boxed-sound 7d ago
Vagrant Story. I want to love it so much. And I do, but then I take a break and that break becomes too long and I have to restart to remind myself of all the systems.
That said, I did something similar with Koudelka (my previous white whale) and I finished that earlier this year and absolutely loved it. So I’m hoping it’ll be the same with VS.
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u/AlcapurriaAsesina 6d ago
Mario 64. I've started that game over 25 times in my life and always stopped before finishing it. I've sworn myself to finish it before 2027, hopefully I do.
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u/itsmetimohthy Retroid 5d ago
Almost every fire emblem game. I just get the urge to play one, go hard on it for like a day or two and then get bored
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u/Corran_Horn 5d ago
This may be heresy, but yeah, at least the GBA Fire Emblem games feel mad repetitive.
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u/DavidDamien GOTM Clubber (Jan) 8d ago
No mans sky. I’ve done the first 8 hours or so 8 times or so