Spoilers won’t always ruin an experience, but I try to avoid them to preserve the experiences they might ruin. For example, I heard about how the final ending of Neir: Automata goes down and I’m kinda bummed because, while really cool, that would have been a hell of thing to experience going in blind.
I think about some of the gaming moments that stand out to me the most such as Bioshock and The Last of Us and I can’t help but think their impact would have been lessened on me if specific moments had been spoiled for me (The big twist in Bioshock and playing as Ellie in TLOU and the ending itself)
I try to avoid them, sure, but I don’t find having something spoiled ruins the experience. I also find it odd that when it comes to movies and games people get up in arms about spoilers, however in theater and opera most people read the synopsis prior to the show.
Hannibal is dope AF though, an intricately crafted piece of wonderful entertainment with a plethora of incredibly smart references to the whole of the Hannibal world.
There’s totally nothing wrong with people loving something, but you’re right, you don’t need to pretend its more worthy. Though I am gulity of banging that drum with Battlestar Galactica and The X-Files. I think I just have a soft spot for shows that were cancelled or muddled with by the network before they could execute their plans. FWIW, I did enjoy Stranger Things, but I felt its references were more useful for introducing younger pals to the things it was aping, like that excellent intro that was totally borrowed from the amazing Altered States.
You can’t always control how strong you come on, either. I’ve definitely spoiled something for someone in the middle of an experience because I was just waiting for them to get to “that part.” Love can make you do some silly things.
I’ll never forget the time one of my friends saw Inception before I did and kept talking about how pissed he was at joseph gordon-levitt for something terrible he did in that movie. So the entire time I’m watching I don’t trust anything he says and just wait for the inevitable twist and betrayal… that never came.
Turns out my friend was acting pissed about JGL kissing emma paige because he had a crush on her. So that was why I spent the whole movie on edge about something that didn’t happen.
Not a deal breaker at all, most of the time I still enjoy ‘the journey’. There are some games (or other kinds of entertainment) that I knew didn’t work for me because of spoilers, but, I don’t mind that, I knew why it didn’t work and I tend to like stuff that go somewhere o that say something.
I had Persona 4 spoiled for me months before I naturally got to the twist, and that pretty directly ruined my enjoyment of it. I still think 3 is better for a lot of reasons, but I couldn’t really give 4 a fair shake when I knew what the deal was.
At this point I’ve probably watched Giant Bomb’s Persona 4 ER 3 times and I still haven’t played the game myself, but I would in snap if I could. That game seems really fun, well, in a JRPG way.
In some cases spoilers for sure help boost excitement. I remember seeing the final boss for Metal Gear Rising and that made me go from just wanting the game to needing the game. Spoilers for most Platinum games usually have that effect on me, and Nier is no exception.
It’s always gonna depend on the game for me. In general I don’t go out of my way to avoid spoilers, but I almost always enjoy things more when I don’t know what’s coming. I loved Nier, and none of the big things in that game were spoiled for me, but I wish I had gone in completely blind because it’s a game that really thrives on its surprises.
I also feel like it’s a unique issue for certain types of game, though. In games that offer more “choice,” getting spoiled on something is probably gonna affect the decisions I make when I play. I’ll feel like I have to play to the plot I know is coming, rather than directing things in a vacuum, if that makes sense.
I used to be really sensitive about story spoilers, but I’ve stopped being as bother by them. I guess it’s all about context. When I heard that Spec Ops: The Line is an adaptation of Heart of Darkness, that just made me intrigued. There was a lot that I could infer from that, but it really just made me excited to see what they did with it. On the other hand, if someone was to give me a beat by beat description of the ending of the game, I don’t know that I would be as into it.
I still do my best to avoid gameplay spoilers. Discovering the environmental puzzles in The Witness was one of the most satisfying of the entire game. It gave me such a feeling of accomplishment shifted my perspective on the entire game. Knowing about it ahead of time would have completely deprived me of that experience.
