Like many on Giant Bomb, I recently caught the Spelunky bug thanks to Patrick’s travails in Spelunkin’ with Scoops.It was a week ago tomorrow that I downloaded the game from PSN and started my own cave-diving expeditions on the PS3.There was triumph.There was cursing.And now, I think I’m just about done.

It’s not that I don’t think Spelunky is a good game; on the contrary, it’s a fantastic concept and design.The art style and music are full of personality and helps it stand out in a sea of pixel-art indie platformers with chiptune music.I also appreciate the clever touches, like the randomized nature of the prologue text that appears as the game starts up and the intrepid Spelunker enters the cave.And as someone that’s enjoys a good Roguelike, or Roguelike-like (but despises Like Likes), I really appreciate its qualities.

It’s also, in a strange way, helped me cope a bit.A week ago, I learned that a coworker of mine passed away.I worked with him at times, being in the same department, and we’re all going to miss him a lot.And I guess part of the reason I started playing Spelunky was to fill my time with something else I could really focus on.It helps that a good portion of Giant Bomb has been focused on it as well.So even though no one else on my meager PSN friends list has been doing the daily challenges, there’s still a sense of community there.

But it’s time I hang up my fedora and whip and move on.I’m far from mastering the game (I’ve made it to the ice caverns once and usually can’t get more than halfway through the jungle), and there’s a lot left that I could discover.Yet it’s hard to continue to find that drive when a good run is done in by insurmountable obstacles laid by the random seed.I understand that’s sort of the nature of a Roguelike, but unlike a proper Roguelike, which at least presents the player with the consistent ability to grow strongerwith experience points and leveling, Spelunky puts the player’s ability to grow in power entirely at the whims of the randomizer.I’ve had runs where I’ve been swimming in bombs and damsels without effort, feeling really good about myself, and I’ve had runs where I’ve stocked tens of thousands of dollars and have been unable to spend it because an enemy managed to send a shopkeeper into a berserker fury.My ability to progress is only partially based on practice and skill and largely based on whether or not the game has deemed fit to give me a good shot of even making it to 1-4.It’s just not a challenge that I feel willing to endure at this point.

So I’m not going to ever face Olmec, much less challenge Hell.I don’t really feel the inclination to do so.I feel that I’ve just had my fill of Spelunky.I have other games, new and old, that I’d just rather put more time and effort into.Maybe it’s just been the mourning mindset I’ve been in as of late has faded, or maybe I’ve just gotten tired of getting knocked into spikes by cobra venom, but the itch to Spelunk just isn’t there anymore.It’s been fun, duders, but while I’m bowing out, may you succeed in carrying that eggplant all the way.

This sounds like a break up letter. But it's ok, sometimes people/things just grow apart.

I bought Spelunky back when it first came out on the 360, but ended up stopping playing it. I recently re-discovered it with Patrick and have been having a blast with it. If you ever do want to get back into it I just also bought it for PS3 and have been doing daily challenges. My PSN name is the same as my name on here.

Sorry to see you go.

If you keep at it you will find that your skill level hits walls where you feel like you are not getting any better or making any progress, and this can last days or weeks. But inevitably, you will find that one day you all of a sudden have this mass of knowledge and skills to handle a ton of scenerios that you would've just died in before. you will have a fantastic run and make it further than you ever have, and that feeling is fantastic.

Then you hit another wall and have a bunch of terrible runs again. But once again, after running up against the wall for a while you will find that you are better than you ever thought possible. Those issues with "bad seeds" you are having you will find with more experience that you just know hoe to deal with them, you find ways to adapt to what the game throws at you..

I say if you enjoy the game keep at it. If not, dont. Patrick is pretty good at games in general, he picked up spelunky a lot faster than I have, He had some amazing runs early on, but has ran into issues when he started learning new and different strategies. Patrick is still pretty young and his hand eye coordination is better than a fair amount of people. Don't get frustrated if you are not having runs like he does, I don't think that is the norm, I know it wasn't for me..

Apologies for the long winded response

See, that is just the thing though. The random element is indeed random but Spelunky is about being able to learn and adapt to whatever the game throws at you. I think you just need that "Ah-ha!" moment to fuel the fires.

I think you and I have had similar experiences with Spelunky, though I originally got into it when it first came out for XBLA and haven't really touched it since. It's a brilliant game, but it's also a game about ramming your head against a brick wall until you make progress or learn something and like you I think my time would be better spent elsewhere... even if that elsewhere includes "Playing bad video games just 'cuz"

Sorry about your friend. Video games are a good coping mechanism, as I learned when my grandfather died the day that XCOM: Enemy Unknown came out.

I am not done with Spelunky quite yet, but I could see myself getting to this point eventually. It's heartbreaking when a great run all goes to shit all in one moment, and having a "good run" is already so rare.

I feel exactly the same way as you.

I don't mind livestreaming a Daily challenge, but I'm not taking it as serious and the Daily Challenges help me appreciate what the game has going for it.

..... I'm still slightly creeped out over the references to the NES Spelunker. That's still my own bias coming in.

Poor Spelunky. Such a short relationship; not even enough time to really get to understand one another. :(

I thought that for a while. Now I have all 3 shortcuts open and have fought Olmec (and can't beat him, no tips, please, I know what to do, just can't do it yet) many times.

Whatever you think you can't do, you can do. Well, unless what you want to do is beat Olmec by starting at the 3rd shortcut. That's a PITA because every level is loaded with stupid mummys and you start off with no weapons and only 4 bombs.

Spelunky guy wears a hard hat not a fedora.

@49th: I'm pretty sure he wears a Fedora as a reference to Indiana Jones but with a light strapped to it.

Oh yeah, looking at a different picture it's totally a fedora.

I keep playing it on and off, and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. First of all, I think I'm just bad at video games in general, so an extra difficult one might just not be my thing, (though I adore Dark Souls) and second of all, I tend to like progression in video games quite a bit (which may account for my love of Dark Souls.) There are times when I think it's brilliant, and love it, but most of the time, I mistakenly take fall damage because I fell a single block too far, which usually results in me being thwapped by an enemy, occasionally onto spikes. God, if there were just less single hit deaths, (the spikes, being crushed by the myriad of crushing things, getting your brain fried by Anubis) I might enjoy it a lot more. I just don't enjoy getting heavily invested in something only to see it all disappear. I'm going to keep throwing myself at it for a while, but like you, I'm probably going to end up putting it down.

@hailinel: Damn man, sorry about your co-worker. That's got to be hard on you since there's no escape from that. I'm sure nearly everyday you notice he's gone.

That stuff can linger on the mind for a surprisingly long time. I've noticed similar gameplay behaviors in myself when mourning. I can't imagine playing a game like Spelunky in that frame of mind. Failure just feels extra soul crushing. I'll usually go for some JRPG or something where I know can cruise for a bit without worrying about fail states etc.

I'm sorry about your coworker. That sucks.

As for Spelunky I'll just say there's rarely a truly insurmountable obstacle in Spelunky. Most obstacles are very surmountable, it takes a combination of patience and decisiveness and skill to surmount them, sure, but that's where the progression comes in. Instead of giving you arbitrary experience to help make things easier next time, each run you are improving your decision making and learning the skills necessary to do better on your own. If you don't get the tools you want you can make do with the tools you have, or learn how to use the new tools you're given. That's the beauty of the game.

Yeah, I imagine it's going to be rough for quite a while. My manager actually shared an office with him for years; I can't imagine what she must be feeling. He was just a great guy and fun to work with. I'm really going to miss him.

I think that Spelunky just clicked for me this past week like that because it's so easy to get locked into that focused, "one more time" frame of mind. Though I suppose it's easier to think that when your average run lasts about five to ten minutes.

Thanks. I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather. These things aren't easy to get over, but it is kind of interesting how games can help people cope.

Heh. Yeah, maybe. Though I doubt that moment will come for me any time soon.

Thanks. I might send you a friend request later. Maybe I'll get back into Spelunky someday, though I don't know when that'll be.

Sorry to hear about your co-worker but yeah, I can see what you mean when it comes to Spelunky. It's a great game and it looks and controls beautifully but I whenever the random seed or some event that (supposedly) inexplicably fucks you over it can really be disheartening. It feels like it's not respecting your time and it's frustrating. I mean, you could have checked the bottom of the level first before grabbing that gold idol at the top of the level that triggers the boulder and destroyed the shop, branding you as a "Terrorist" and thus gaining the ire of all shopkeepers for the rest of the game (who I think move way too fast for their own good) but at that point it just feels unnecessary and unfair. I like it just enough to keep playing every now and again but I totally agree on your sentiment. Sometimes it just feels like you could have done other, more productive things.

Totally, that makes perfect sense. Rogue Legacy got its' hooks initially into me that way.

...And I just realized that all of the spaces between sentences in the post were taken out when I copied and pasted from Word into the editor. Well, then.

That really is a large part of it there. The game can just turn on you on a dime for some element you don't have control over, and and then kills you before you have a chance to compensate.

I'm now going to look at all video games quit in frustration as failed relationships.

@eroticfishcake:

Or you could realize that the meager 5k the idol in the mines nets you isn't worth the potential risk grabbing it if it's at the very top of the level. I complete ignore the idol in the mines, because that is easily the worst of the idol traps for that very reason. It ain't worth the risk unless you're pretty sure you are in the clear.

Of the hundreds of deaths I've had only a handful ever felt like it was because the game truly fucked me in some way.

Sorry for your loss, Hailinel. As Slag said, losing a co-worker is especially tough because you can't escape it in that work environment. It's nice to hear Spelunky has played its part in helping you deal with it, though - as others have said and I can attest to, video games are a great coping mechanism, most likely due to their escapist nature.

Personally I've avoided catching the Spelunky bug, and I think you've hit on the core reason why - these Roguelike-likes have a tendency to fuck the player over through their procedurally generated design in a way that they can't overcome through skill alone. I experienced something very similar when playing The Binding of Isaac, and eventually put the game down because I felt like my chances of progress were tied more to the random dungeon layouts and item drops than to my own ability to play the game. Maybe I just wasn't very good at it (that's very much a possibility), but that was how I felt about it, and what encouraged me to part ways with it.