Anyone enjoy watching a particular game but cannot actually play it?

With the release of Civilisation 6, I want to boot up Civ 5 up again just to get a feel for the game and realised that I am not enjoying it and cannot get into it this type of game.

I look at Twitch streams from an outside perspective watching people play it and see how great it looks and plays, building a civilisation and battling other countries. However when I boot it up, everything is overwhelming, the gameplay feels slow and I just end up uninstalling it after 1 hour.

Does anyone else get the same feeling with a particular game where you enjoy watching someone play, but cannot seem to enjoy playing it themselves?

Godhand and fighting games. I just don't have the time to git gud.

Survival horror games. I'm sometimes interested in the story, or watching people make fun of the story, but the gameplay is always a turnoff for me.

Modern Street Fighter titles for me .

I just can't compete online but can't find much competition on my own friend group, so i just like to watch people play as I don't have the time or the drive to get any better.

I thought the same when I played Crusader Kings 2. I liked the idea of the game but felt it was too difficult to get the hang of. I turned off the tutorial and banged my head against it repeatedly until I got it, which is the only piece of advice I can give to people.

As for games I like watching but can't play? Probably any number of fighting games. I've tried to get into them many times but I just fail over and over again. Couldn't even beat Street Fighter 2 on easy, let alone best any human opponent. It's embarrassing.

Horror games. There's a lot I don't even like watching, but I don't like playing ANY of them. Whereas I did quite enjoy watching GBE play through Until Dawn.

I really like playing Mario Party games but can't stand watching people play them and not take them seriously.

This has been me with Dota 2 for the last year or so. I still really enjoy following the game and the pro scene but just can't be bothered to keep playing. There's so many other games out these days that i'd rather be playing other things instead of playing more dota

I hate playing Dark Souls, but I always enjoy watching it.

I like reading about eve online but would never play it.

Anime fighting games. To be clear, I can't play any fighting games, but I only enjoy watching the anime fighters. It's just constant flashing colors, screaming catchphrases, and it moves fast. Very fun to watch, but I don't have the patience to get to a level where I can even execute basic combos reliably.

Adventure games, i don't like them much but i like watching GB play them.

As far as "being good" i'd have to say street fighter but i do enjoy playing it even though the amount of time to get even halfway decent with ONE character is more time than I have. Over 60 hours in the game and not good enough to even go online *shrugs*

Does anybody remember the old Gamespot TV? I remember watching a complete play though of Condemned on it.

Back in some of the older giant bomb days of fighting games I really enjoy watching them play them. I sure as heck can't play them though.

A lot of the FMV/Adventure or similar games they play on the site here. I can not deal with the tedium of games like that if I play it myself, but with the added spice of some Carvella it can be very entertaining. Shenmue and Deadly Premoniton ERs definitely come to mind.

As for difficult/complicated games. Not really, anything that catches my eye I'll dive deep on and learn, and things that don't I'm not interested in watching either. Starcraft 2 maybe, but I was Gold/ low Plat at some point so I CAN kind of play it. Just not as good as I want to.

Every character action game is like this for me. Like I really enjoy the spectacle of games like Asura's Wrath or Metal Gear Rising or Bayonetta 2 but I cannot stand playing them

Same here. I can Read stories about some of the shenanigans people pull in that game all day but I have no desire to play it. A fun side note: If you really wanna see a shit show then tell a bunch of Eve Online fans that the game is a glorified excel spreadsheet. Shitty, I know. But the way they blow a fuse over that is fucking hilarious.

Crusader Kings, every now and then I'll get the inspiration to open up the tutorial..... 20mins later I'm playing Peggle.

I enjoy playing traditional turn based JRPGS, and adventure games but they need to have a specific "X-factor" for me to play them. I do enjoy watching people play because I don't need to force myself through the less interesting middle parts like in Persona 4, and Chrono Trigger. I can just watch.

I like watching Halo 5 at the pro league level, but I hardly ever touch the game itself nowadays.

I refuse to play Dota, but I still watched parts of The International for the past three years.

EVE Online is another game I never want to play, but hearing about EVE Online is always a god damn good time.

D4:

Europa Universalis IV. I enjoy watching a good stream of it and love Crusader Kings 2 a TON but I just can't play EU4 to save my life for some reason.

@maluvin said:

Another game I was close to getting was EU IV and am thankful of not going through with it. DOTA2 was another game that I really wanted to be good at but couldn't get into the meta-game. Both games we fun to watch though when gamers were streaming.

Patrick played Alien Isolation on the Waypoint stream a couple times over the weekend and that's certainly a game I would have a hard time playing myself but I do enjoy watching it. I like slightly more action oriented horror games but the ones where you are pretty defenseless and have to stealth/hide your way through give me trouble.

I cannot play horror games because I'm such a chicken, but I love watching other people play them...well, some people. A lot of Youtubers and Twitch streamers like to ham it up to the point that is just becomes aggravating for me to watch. Then there the ones who I swear have ADHD because they'll play a story-based horror game like SOMA or Until Dawn, but then sprint through the entire game and talk over the story and then halfway through the game they're frustrated because they don't know what's going on.

Anyone who doesn't fit into those two groups? I love.

I can enjoy watching other people play the Dark Souls games, but I just don't have the patience to play them myself.

Yeah Crusder Kings for me too. It's not that I hate the game, but I just haven't had the patience to get into it myself.

For the same reason, Dwarf Fortress.

Until Dawn because I don't have a console.

My Summer Car. I would get too upset from dying all the time. My friend played really carefully, got a lot of food and didn't drive anywhere after that, just worked on his car and kept an eye on all the meters. You would think that is safe right? But then the phone rang, he answered it and lightning struck the phone and killed him. Start all over again...

I'm into pure stealth games. I'll choose to play Dishonored with no kills, never seen (even if that does involve a healthy amount of unconscious bodies so not exactly defenceless). Thief is definitely a series that taught me the fun of not being seen.

But specifically Alien: Isolation is a game that fits this topic for me, I'll not play myself but will watch streams. First person being choked in a game about dread and running away: nope.jpg. Just not up for that.

i think adventure games(point and click/fmv) generally suck but I love watching Vinny play them. Thats about it.

Not currently, but Marvel vs Capcom 3 was that for me. It could be a very entertaining game to watch, but I never could reach a point while playing it that was actually satisfying, although not for a lack of trying. I spent months trying to get better at that game, but I eventually just came to the realization it's just not as fun to play as it was to watch and haven't really touched it since.

I think the list is to long for me but an example would be the FNAF games, Metal Gear Solid 5 (I SUCK at stealth games) and Mario Maker extreme levels. I REALLY love watching Vinny and Alex play point and click adventure games as well. To be honest, I like watching Vinny and Alex play games together period. They work really well off each others antics.

Fighting games pretty much in general. I love the look and psychological intensity of a good match. I understand some of the finer points of something like 3rd Strike to know what's going on under the hood (like when someone parries), but I can't play them for shit. It's like Jason describing his Guilty Gear Xrd experience: I do fine in training and sometimes against computer opponents, but in a one-on-one fight with a person, my fingers just refuse to work properly. Even jump-kick, low punch to Hadouken is hard for me. I can't - with no amount of practice - reliably bust out a decent combo in the heat of a fight. Even less know WHEN is a good time to use said combo.

But that's okay because they are in fact, very fun to watch!

I had a lot more fun watching Vinny play Dark Souls than I ever had playing it. Same for MGS2 with Metal Gear Scanlon.

I want to play CK2 but the UI scaling seems way to small for modern resolutions

Fmv games bore me to tears, but the beast crew videos are some of my favorites.

Haven't actually tried it myself, but watching the Endurance Run for Deadly Premonition was enough for me. The act of playing that game seems to be such a chore that I'm perfectly fine having experienced the weirdness and surprising depth of humanity that game has totally secondhand.

Fighting games

Resident Evil 4. I can watch multiple people play it, but I can't seem to ever be in the mood to play it myself.

I can play Dead Space. I've played more RE5 than anyone in their right mind ever should, and I almost bought RE6 during a Steam sale, but with RE4 I just opened up the control options, said "okay" and just did something else.

What the hell is wrong with me?

This is totally fighting games for me. You could call me a pretty big fan. I've tried a ton of them and really love watching stuff like EVO and YouTube channels like Max Christensen's stuff. I've watched so, so many exciting matches in KI and Street Fighter but I... I'm just really bad at them. I'm really bad and I've been bad for a long time and I just don't have to time or drive to git gud. Once I get over that crushing disappointment (which comes in waves every few years) I find myself just really enjoying seeing good FG players go ham.

Oh. And SaltyBet, while not really the same thing, is also good TV.

Most competitive Street Fighter (mainly 5, 4, Third Strike, and Alpha 3) is fun to watch and understand the nuances of, but I have no real interest in playing fighting games myself.

I also like watching a variety of Overwatch content on Youtube like some pro stream VODs, game philosophy, update news, etc.; even though I've never played it and don't think it's my style of shooter.

I don't like playing Fallout, but I love watching Many A True Nerd play it on YT. He comes up with fun ways to challenge himself, and he edits out all of the time spent walking around in the empty brown landscapes that I find so dull.

And I actually love playing Dark Souls, but rarely have the time to invest in a game that large, so I've really enjoyed watching Epic Name Bro and the GB guys play through those games.

It's less a game and more a particular way a game is played, if it counts: Nuzlocke runs of Pokemon games. I love watching people get crushed when a random critical hit takes out their starter, but I quake in my boots starting a run of my own. I don't need that stress!