Discounting MOBAs since i’ve never tried them, the big two are fighting games and character action games. For similar reasons, since the main hurdle is the whole combo thing. Memorizing button sequences and then outputting them on demand in a stressful situation is just beyond me.
Additionally, anything with any sort of competitive multiplayer. I’m just not a competitive person in general so the idea out of getting enjoyment from beating other people in a computer game is entirely foreign to me. It’s a big hurdle i’ve never really gotten over with the Dark Souls series, in that I hate invasions with a passion but I love the hell out of co-op. So i’ll either play offline until I beat a boss then go online to help people with it, or for a while in Dark Souls 2 I would go to an area and when I got invaded i’d use chameleon and hide as a box in a corner as they got frustrated trying to find me. Sort of an invasion with co-op intent, since while they are in my world they aren’t killing anyone else.
So i’ve played a lot of RTS games, command and conquer, starcraft, age of empires and such, but i’ve never played them online against other people. Similarly FPS games. I play them for the campaign and never touch the multiplayer. With the exception of Mass Effect 3, which is entirely cooperative.
I considered Fire Emblem Awakening because of all of the praise it was getting, but the price was off-putting and it seems to have only gotten more expensive. A different genre, but the ease of accessibility is one reason why I bought Bravely Default. It just seems so daunting to start a massive game like that and not be able to progress.
Modern sports games. They’re just damned complicated and are damned near RPG/tycoon manager hybrids now. I just picked up MLB The Show 17 this weekend for the retro mode. Ken Griffey JR was one of the best games of all time. The regular mode is surprisingly easy to jump into and configure how complicated you want to make it.
I really enjoyed Stellaris. I was leading a race of materialist foxes, and found humanity in the late medieval age, and uplifted them to become a protectorate. I love the stories that spiral out from Paradox games. More micro oriented RTS/4X games tend to lose me too. Once you accept that you’re not ever going to doing anything ‘optimally’, most 4x games are pretty flexible and don’t expect you to always be making the best decision. that was a hurdle I had to overcome myself, anyways.
It’s probably the Dwarf Fortress effect. I hear people talk about that game with such rich detail and I don’t understand how they see that sort of stuff. Maybe once you understand what’s going on, you can start to see the details. Those sorts of designers probably take the time that would use to develop a killer UI to devote to more complex systems. The people that already devote their time to those games will probably be more into advanced systems as opposed to a new UI
Yeah! Honestly, if you want to get over that effect, I’d give Dwarf Fortress a try. Spend a weekend wrangling with the UI. It’s where i cut my teeth on obtuse UI’s, but the reward for doing so is really great.
What it taught me more than anything, however, was how to RTFM. It takes an hour or two (or even a short lived game) to familiarize yourself with complex UIs, but once you get the hang of it, that knowledge gives you a really good sense of what systems the developer has in place.
It’s more about learning to overcome that hump than anything else.
~character action~ games didn’t fully click with me until nier automata tbh
when it’s inevitably $20 in a few years you might wanna give it a shot, it’s a pretty standard platinum game mechanically without the annoying stress of “am i pressing the buttons right.” that said it’ll make you cry over side quests, so it’s a bit of a trade off
Simulator games. That could be sports, racing, skateboarding, truck driving etc.
That said I do like their “arcade style” counterparts like NFL blitz, Tony Hawk, Burnout Paradise. I just find them incredible hard to be engaged with. Maybe because they feel “too real world” and when I play games I want my form of escapism to me more fantastical.
I really like watching other people play grand strategy games but whenever I try to play them myself I am consumed with crippling anxiety surrounding every decision.
I think I need to just get a friend who knows what they’re doing to watch me and tell me every time I start screwing up.
Anything where you click a mouse to move you character while under time pressure. So RTS, Diablo, and mobas pretty much. I don’t have any particular problem doing it, I just don’t enjoy it and controls that feel good are a huge part of what I like in games.
RTS seems to be a popular genre here, and I’m no exception; I think I’ve always assumed games from such a distanced perspective were boring (admittedly, I still haven’t shaken this.) Then, on a whim, I tried XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a gaming experience so consistently grueling and demanding. The stakes were always high, every decision could have meaningful consequences, and chances were always good that I’d get my shit pushed in half the time. I’m not ashamed to say that I save-scummed to preserve my favorite soldiers, but that attachment was part of what made the game matter to me; their lives were constantly on the line.
I’m still relatively skeptical of my ability to enjoy the wider genre, but I’m definitely not as cold on it as I was. I’ll definitely play an XCOM 3.
Sports games are impenetrable to me on a basic and conceptual level. I’d play Barkley: Shut up and Jam Gaiden, though. I’m just not a sports person, nor have I ever been, so even most of the jokes in a game like that would be lost on me.
I honestly can’t think of any? I think I used to have some as a kid but I feel like I have enjoyed at least one game from most genres. Idk, if i’ve ever played a 4x game at all though. Maybe I should try one of those out.
I’ve always wanted to get into MMO’s, but none have really grabbed me gameplay wise. I really liked the story and setting of secret world but WOW and other semi- large mmos just seem kinda boring/empty.
I have a lot of trouble getting into Visual Novels and getting through any of them. Which is weird because I’m a writer and also like to read fiction generally, but something about the Visual Novel format just makes it hard for me to focus or motivate myself. It might just be that nobody’s made the visual novel story I’d actually want to read.
I’m also not into platformers, I’ve never been a fan of Mario games either. I’m not against platforming mechanics entirely, I like games that use it but aren’t all about it, like metroidvania games, but plain platforming has just always felt unsatisfying at best or frustrating at worst. Especially 3D platforming.
I think platformers are such a beloved genre, esp Mario, that people tend to look at you a little weird if you say you don’t like them, though.
Also, I’m not sure if the spellcheck is in the forum software or my browser, but it thinks “platformer” isn’t a word.
