I enjoy gaming generally, but I've found that there are two fairly prolific genres which are beyond me, and I can't help but feel I'm missing out. These are Real time strategy games and fighting games, I find both of these types of games to be unfathomable and frustrating and they are as far beyond my comprehension as learning french or interpreting modern dance.
Between the two I have most experience with fighting games, spending some time with dead or alive 4 and street fighter 2 though I can play neither convincingly while street fighter IV decimates me and I can only play it at the level of a six year old.
The extent of my interactions with RTS games are quick dabbles with a handful of demos and I suppose viva pinata. I find these games extremely stressful as they require a lot of multitasking, keeping track of units and a battlefield (?) or lovely pinatas as the case may be. I feel I may not be giving these games the respect they may deserve, are there fans of these genres who can suggest where I may be going wrong or games I should give a chance ( I've been ruminating on this since the talk on the bombcast about super street fighter and starcraft 2).
Also, are there genres or games that are widely accepted and enjoyed by others but which escape you?
My gaming blind spots.
I enjoy gaming generally, but I've found that there are two fairly prolific genres which are beyond me, and I can't help but feel I'm missing out. These are Real time strategy games and fighting games, I find both of these types of games to be unfathomable and frustrating and they are as far beyond my comprehension as learning french or interpreting modern dance.
Between the two I have most experience with fighting games, spending some time with dead or alive 4 and street fighter 2 though I can play neither convincingly while street fighter IV decimates me and I can only play it at the level of a six year old.
The extent of my interactions with RTS games are quick dabbles with a handful of demos and I suppose viva pinata. I find these games extremely stressful as they require a lot of multitasking, keeping track of units and a battlefield (?) or lovely pinatas as the case may be. I feel I may not be giving these games the respect they may deserve, are there fans of these genres who can suggest where I may be going wrong or games I should give a chance ( I've been ruminating on this since the talk on the bombcast about super street fighter and starcraft 2).
Also, are there genres or games that are widely accepted and enjoyed by others but which escape you?
RTS games scare me, they are the only games which i am too afraid to go online with, i used to enjoy them when they were simpler, but the emphasis they now put on micro managing is beyond me. Until recently the only genre i felt i was missing out on was horror, used to be and still am a little girl when it comes to scary stuff in games (it prevented me from playing half life and bioshock). Though dead space helped desensitize me I don't think ill ever touch a silent hill game.
Mmm, I'm having my own first forays into horror with Penumbra: Overture. I personally don't like fighting games, I see them as merely button mashes, although I guess you can consider Smash Bros and DBZ as fighting games, I enjoyed them. As for RTS, I'm a firm old schooler in this regard. If you did want to get into the genre, I recommend Age of Kings (Age of Empires II) as a wonderful start to the old school style of RTSes.
I can't do RTS or Strategy games, things like Civ, Sim City, Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Command and Conquer, all of them either scare the crap out of me or put me to sleep. With the exceptions of Age of Mythology and Dawn of War. Oh and Commandos.
Fighting games on the other hand, go grab yourself Super Street Fighter IV, it's budget cheap.
My major one seems to be the FPS genre, not the genre as a whole I love it, and have played almost every major release (the genre includes some of my favorite games of all time) but the multiplayer aspect. I just don't understand the fascination with it, let alone how people can spend 10+ hours playing Call of Duty in a weekend. I've literally never even been to the multiplayer menu in either MW or MW2. Ever. It just doesn't interest me in the slightest for some reason.
But hey *shrug*
I played a lot of Starcraft back in the day, but I never really got great at it. I still feel pretty outmatched by a lot of RTS stuff, but this time around I'm hoping to really work to be good in Starcraft 2. As far as fighting games go, I really like the idea of them. I just can't spend time memorizing moves and combos. I'll stick to watching, I guess.
If you're talking competitively, against other players, RTS and Fighting games are hard to get into.
Just playing casually though, with friends or against AI, or the campaigns/story stuff, generally they aren't that bad.
I can't seem to get into FPS games these days. I used to love me some UT and Quake, but all the newer ones are urgh...
Also, i suck at fighting games, doesn't mean i don't still have fun. Well, when i'm not getting completely owned.
I can't get into platformers or puzzle games much either, as much as some other people love them. Horror games are also a bit eh for me, can't get into them most of the time. Sometimes i do though, and in those cases i really like them.
I like both RTS games and fighting games. I know enough about RTS games to play them, I just never have that competitive spirit when I play them; I'd much rather build and tech up.
I am awful at fighting games. I think the one I'm best at is Tekken, and even that I am just okay.
" I've literally never even been to the multiplayer menu in either MW or MW2. Ever. It just doesn't interest me in the slightest for some reason. But hey *shrug* "You owe it to yourself to at least play one match of MW. It may not interest you, but you just might like it if you gave it a chance.
Thinking on it maybe I don't like fighting games because I get obliterated while playing them...
@The_A_Drain: I also have modern warfare multiplayer apathy, it didn't hold my attention like it does for other people and I may be the only person in the world who bought that game for it's single player campaign.
i feel the same about rts games. i played a lot of sc:bw and am currently playing a lot of the sc2 beta and ive come to realize that i just dont have the creativity or problem solving ability to be a good palyer. i am mechanically very good and can execute certain builds that ive read online but i cant adapt and think of my own strategies. im ranked 1-3 in my gold division (just thought id throw that out there and brag a little lol) but ill never be a high level platinum player no matter how much i practice =/
EDIT: Although weirdly, I couldn't stop playing Battlefield 1943 to help unlock the plane map. And then played the heck out of the coral sea map.
@EVO: Perhaps I will sometime, for now though i've got things like Alan Wake to keep me going, and all my multiplayer time is consumed by Street Fighter. I can only play 2 though as 1 got stolen ( :( ) and I hear people complaining about 2 a lot. Although i'm tempted to brush it off as childish whiney bitching, i'll admit I don't know enough about competitive shooters to comment.
I thought that Dragon age would be too much of an RTS for me to play but as it turns out I synced up with it perfectly.
Interesting post, I think as others have pointed out, both RTS and Fighting games have relatively steep learning curves in the current generations. For someone who started playing them back at the original release of Starcraft and C&C, it is somewhat more manageable (although I will never play online). Same thing with fighting games, my first fighter was SFII, and I played the first Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Soul Caliber. Again, I will never play online.
I think the type of game that I have never really understood is the open world action/platofrmer. Infamous, Prototype, even the last Jak and Daxter, I just never really cared. Even games like Super Mario Galaxy, which I can tell is a technically proficient game, with nice design and something of a story, I just can't bring myself to finish.
Just tried to play through super street figher 4 on easy with Sagat. Ended up getting ravaged by Ryu and giving up.
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