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r505Matt on 14 February 2010
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loves2splooge said:
theprof00 said:
loves2splooge said:
Gosh this thread is completely drenched with e-machismo posturing. A perfect example of why gamers are looked down upon as anti-social nerds. Pretty funny to see geeky jrpg gamers of all gamers (who are perceived as geeks by the alpha males of our society) act like e-tough guys. What is it with gamer nerds needing to be confrontational and aggressive behind a computer screen? I expect this kind of behaviour from a Halo or Call of Duty community (high-octane testosterone and what not) but to see it among the jrpg community is quite sad. As a self-proclaimed geek and long-time jrpg gamer, I'm ashamed that our community manages to stoop this low. Sure he made an unfair evaluation on the game (it's not a bad game per se. It does what it intends to do. It's just not for him and he's entirely within his right to disagree with From Software's game design philosophies), but is it necessary to attack him?

You have no right to complain about a game when you turn your attention to something else every 5-10 minutes.

strategy guides are one of the biggest gaming failures for the gamer. It completely removes the player from the game; for what? To get 3 more damage, or a slightly better weapon, or to beat the game in a shorter time? Why? Because you have other games to play? Which will be used with another guide? It's just one run after another and nothing is experienced. It makes the game predictable and reduces it to menial task mastering. It is by far the biggest travesty to the gaming experience.

Sure, if you're one of those people who do feel the need to use a guide, I have no foul intentions for you. But do not, DO NOT critisize it, because you have chosen to play it for some strange reason, and felt the urgent need to beat it in the shortest time possible.

Video games are about fun. I can't imagine that it would be fun for a gamer who can't seem to figure out how to get past an area without outside help to try a gazillion times and keep at it just to save face with geeky rpg gamers on the internets. In the real world, people ask for help all the time so I don't see why getting help on how to pass a part you are stuck on in a video game is all that bad. Is it a personal failing for you if you have to ask a co-worker or manager to help you with something you are unsure about? "I'm too good to get outside help". That is e-macho posturing at it's finest. Men are less likely to ask for help than women. It's cave man, mine is bigger than yours mentality. Men don't like to admit to weaknesses and admit to being the beta to an alpha. And we are seeing this psychology playing out in the gaming community.

For most games, I'd say there's nothing wrong with using a strategy guide. It always detracts from the experience though. Imagine playing a game like Myst or 7th Guest or Space Quest (all those old-school puzzle and/or puzzle/adventure games) with a strategy guide. It would be pointless. Demon's Souls is similar because you ruin the overall experience with a strategy guide.

There are no other games I've played where I'm borderline fearful while playing. Watching out around every corner, walking into a new room with my shield up, and my thumb on the dodge button. Add that tension to a very dark, medieval setting, and you have an interesting atmosphere and game experience. The design to have to redo parts of the level are an important part to that atmosphere and experience. Without that design, the game would not be so dark or 'scary'.

Using a strategy guide also dulls down the darkness. If you know where all the ambushes are, you completely lose the tension. DS isn't like a FF game where you can use a strategy guide just to figure out how to go from point A to point B, and to get a good boss strategy. It just completely shatters the overall experience.