I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".

I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".
Isn't the whole point of RPGs experimenting with shit you think might be fun/interesting/useful then adapt as you learn the pros/cons of that which teaches you to get better at the copying meta builds that you find on google?

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Isn't the whole point of RPGs experimenting with shit you think might be fun/interesting/useful then adapt as you learn the pros/cons
    This is the aim however devs often forget this, often railroading players into scenarios where if they haven't taken certain skills or min-maxed in a particular direction they're unintentionally punished.

    Take Deus Ex:HR as an example:
    >Play stealth build
    >Locked in room with boss who you must fight head on

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".
      When the games are so poorly balanced and designed that many builds aren't viable or so insanely bad it's a pain in the ass and unfun to play, that's why.
      This isn't even something you'd find out until investing a decent chunk of time into the game and if it doesn't allow for respecs, it's even worse.

      It wouldn't have been a problem if the devs could actually balance and design worth shit.

      You don't understand because you've never played a game where the game fricking trolls you for picking a certain class without making it obvious that it's a bad pick.

      Sometimes there is bad design where skills become irrelevant after a certain point in the game, with no warning.
      Sometimes the devs patch things in a way that is counterintuitive and changes how a game was meant to be played.
      What really sucks is when there is a feedback loop where an ability is discovered to be super powerful, so the devs instead of nerfing it, decide to just make all the encounters much much harder, which makes other skills even less relevant as everyone is forced to double down on the OP skill.

      You are talking about "noob traps" or "things i wish i knew before starting". But OP is talking about build guides which go into way more depth and spoil the fun of figuring out a good build.

      >play shooter game
      >8 hours in
      >wow this gun sucks, better pick up a different one
      >play RPG
      >8 hours in
      >wow this build sucks, there goes 8 hours of my time

      Not every game can be finished with any build. Sometimes if you build stupid, you'll face the wall somewhere you *cannot* pass because your build is dogshit. All the time you spent until now is wasted, you have to start again to proceed.
      Not everyone is willing to deal with this, so they look up the guides.

      Starting over only feels like a waste if you're focused on the destination instead of the journey. Most releases tend to have a better early game anyway, and if they're good you won't mind replaying.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Not everyone enjoys figuring out their own build.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >You are talking about "noob traps" or "things i wish i knew before starting". But OP is talking about build guides which go into way more depth and spoil the fun of figuring out a good build.

        "Figuring out builds" are for people that replay games a lot and also find that interesting, a very small niche.
        Most people either just play the game and pick whatever looks fun or good right then, or they look up guides so they won't get screwed by the game.

        >Starting over only feels like a waste if you're focused on the destination instead of the journey

        No, starting over feels like a waste because it is a waste. You have to replay the exact same shit you just played through because the game was poorly designed and balanced, while betrayed the promise made to the player (that all of the choices they can make are not actual choices, since only a few choices are acceptable in practice).

        This is quite literally bad game design.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >here are legitimate reasons as to why you need third party knowledge to play a flawed genre which often has a huge time investment
        >lolno ur wrong, gitgud gayget, play the same 500 hours over again

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Counterargument: you could play literally any other game in the world instead of sinking hours restarting the same game until you get it right

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >it's not the destination it's the journey

        FRICK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU so fricking much you fricking fricker.

        The destination is the sole fricking reason we undertook the journey. The journey may or may not be nice, but the reason we're doing it is for the payoff at the end, whatever it may be. We're not doing this because we're moronic fricksticks who are undertaking something for the purpose of undertaking it. That's moronic. You're moronic. The destination is the only thing that actually matters and everything else about the journey is nice. You meet new people, solve puzzles, see new shit, etc.

        But importantly, the reverse is not true. If the journey sucks ass then unless whatever is at the destination is REALLY worth it, then you'll just fricking abandon it, because it's not worth it. And that's why a good build is important, so that you are actually capable of enjoying and interacting with the journey. And the reason you need to get spoilered, is because you need to know whether the journey is worthwhile or not.

        God you people sicken me.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I disagree. What good is a victory you didn't actually earn? Paying for a maxed out character on a game can get you right to your destination, but what enjoyment does someone truly get out of that? A few days of being "the best" and then boredom?

          Do people actually haven fun with this?

          "Look dude I skipped the entire game and have a min maxed character thats super strong."

          What are you going to do with it anon?

          "I..uhhh..."

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Ahhh yes, this is why I always read only the ending of a book, or just watch the last five minutes of a movie. moron take

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >only response is hyperbole taken literally
            yeah you're a tard.
            People read reviews of books to get a feel for whether the journey is worthwhile. I have not started A Song of Ice and Fire because it's not finished and it looks like the fat frick may never finish it. I dropped the TV show in season 5 after "the journey" had methodically eliminated any remaining interest I had in the characters or the world as a whole.

            But if we're making dumb arguments by analogy, I like to climb mountains for fun. Sometimes the journey is fun, it's wonderful to encounter a gorgeous waterfall or summit vista after a pleasant walk through a bright, lively forest. But sometimes, it's not fun at all. Deer flies, mosquitos, aching muscles, blisters, sweltering heat and humidity (or frigid cold and whipping wind), all that is shit you endure for the feeling of accomplishment when you're done.

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              >Gotgay calling others moronic
              >Consoomed five seasons of too before finally stopping
              You could've gotten into literally (and this is the actual correct usage of the word) any other series both fantasy or otherwise. You've forfeited all rights of intelligence or basic decision making skills here. Watching/reading a review before getting invested into something is the most lazy, unintelligent and completely backwards when said product exists and it's value can be ascertained by you at any time. Even if you wish to be impulsive or adventurous you can still base it on basic common sense, not someone else's opinion. If you are incapable of doing such a simple task it's no surprise it took you five whole seasons to figure out what's going on.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                >that logic
                I'm only using the level of argumentation you deserve.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                I wasn't the poster you replied to, I only pointed it out for you. People need to learn to stop being afraid of wasting time(you're on 4ch) and to experience things first hand not through proxy, learning from failure is at the apex of our evolution as a species.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Not everyone has low value time.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                And yet here you are.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Yes. You're not as clever as you think, young one.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                You keep coming back and proving the point of your low value time over and over. I'm also older than you.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >Starting over only feels like a waste if you're focused on the destination instead of the journey. Most releases tend to have a better early game anyway, and if they're good you won't mind replaying.
        That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >Starting over only feels like a waste if you're focused on the destination instead of the journey.
        This is not true for RPGs, as the journey involves a lot of story progression. RPGs are not like a procedurally generated shooter in which game mechanics are all that matters.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >Starting over only feels like a waste if you're focused on the destination instead of the journey.
        This is a mindless platitude as not all journeys are equally enjoyable.

        >things i wish i knew before starting
        Yeah hence the reason why people look up "build guides."
        >But OP is talking about build guides which go into way more depth and spoil the fun of figuring out a good build.
        Beggars typically can't be choosers as far as new player advice goes. It takes effort and insight to explain the right mix of relevant mechanics and tips while avoiding spoilers, but it takes no effort and minimal insight to say "build a fighter and max out your strength" or a cryptic in-joke like "kill the dogs first." Meanwhile most serious guide-makers are just out to spoil the whole thing anyway.
        In theory, the game itself should provide the player enough knowledge to have fun making the necessary permanent build choices. In reality, CRPGs are often shit at doing this, especially since so much will depend on content anyway (who would predict that BG2 would drop a godlike katana in your lap right near the beginning of the game?)

        PnP RPGs were designed in an era where players typically had plenty of time to spend away from the table reading the player handbook and assorted rules. These books were often well-written and entertaining. Reading a real book when reclined in a chair or on your bed is always more enjoyable than reading tooltips and shit in a videogame. Once you had the rulebook in your head, you could daydream about possible builds instead of paying attention in class and scribble draft character sheets instead of taking notes. You'd show up to play with a character ready to go.

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".
    When the games are so poorly balanced and designed that many builds aren't viable or so insanely bad it's a pain in the ass and unfun to play, that's why.
    This isn't even something you'd find out until investing a decent chunk of time into the game and if it doesn't allow for respecs, it's even worse.

    It wouldn't have been a problem if the devs could actually balance and design worth shit.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >play shooter game
      >8 hours in
      >wow this gun sucks, better pick up a different one
      >play RPG
      >8 hours in
      >wow this build sucks, there goes 8 hours of my time

      I can't even remember the last time I made a build that sucked. In Kingmaker, I did regret not investing in Blind Fight but that game had a lot of design flaws in general. But how can you even make a build so bad you can't finish the game with it? If you play on the hardest difficulty, I'd assume you had a clue. Normal difficulty is always balanced for the casuals.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        if you was a real powerbuild Black person you'd know blind fight sucks and echolocation facefricks wild hunt

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I know that. If Echolocation was that bard/ranger spell. I can't remember what kind of class setup I had but probably wasn't available.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            it's on a lot of spell lists as a personal transmutation spell, but only alchemists can spread it to other characters
            which is (part of) why grenadiers/vivisectionists/Jubilost are part of a proper powerbuild setup

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Yep, that's the one. However, there's a difference between builds that don't suck and just plainly cheesing the game by researching enemies beforehand and making the most powerful setup to counter them. That's not what RPGs are about, that's a disgrace and undermines the whole point of playing. At the same time, it's also bad game design to dedicate the entire end game to specific weakness. In good RPGs, there is more variety, less build restrictions.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                false, a proper powerbuild effortlessly crushes every stage of the game and there are no other requirements or qualifications

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Nothing I said contradicts with that. Playing broken builds is easy mode and will destroy everything, yes.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      This. I've had to look up on how to do a strong build on Tyranny so I wouldn't get filtered by Ascension Hall, or just the part where you try to recruit Lantry.

      Surprise, apparently the answer is turning off the leveling on every skill you don't use directly to your build because every xp you earn buffs your enemies.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Tyranny was such a shame. What a good fricking premise, but the execution was so goddamn shit. Only amazing thing about it was the spellcrafting system and some of the choices made. I wanted to love that game so badly but it just would not let me.

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >play shooter game
    >8 hours in
    >wow this gun sucks, better pick up a different one
    >play RPG
    >8 hours in
    >wow this build sucks, there goes 8 hours of my time

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The worst part are games woith feat chain that forces you to make choice that will have late game repercussion right at the beginning without you having enough mechanical grasp to make informed decision.

      Also there are games that just put too many fricking useless choice in it like +1 to hit with a specific weapon or whatever that have no use but to bloat the system or force you into a very specific niche that either makes you weak if you expand out of it or give you the impression that you are missing on half of the game.

      This is very present in DnD derived game where casters can learn ALL the spells they come across but fighters have to specialise and restric their choice in order to be competitive.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        That's just because D&D is the P&P system of choice for massive amounts of useless feat chains and trap options.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Most moder cRGP fall into the trap of thinking that more option = better because they catter to buildgay that prefer theorycrafting builds instead of playing the game and having the sheer variety of possible build increase the amount of ''trap'' a player can fall into.

          The result being that every encounter has to be designed with the lowest common denominator possible where they substitute well designed tactical challenge for hp sponges with either cheating or bad AI.

          You missed the part where that fighter can call upon his set reliably and constantly whereas the caster can run out.

          Theres only 24 hours in a day and usually in DnD derived games the ''adventure day'' stops when casters run out of spells, where the whole party stops to sleep. The times wheres the Fighter can make good use of its infinite attack rolls are very very limited since they are so inefficient and ineffective.

          More over fighters have to be extremely narrow in their focus if they want to compete with caster even in term of raw damage and the DM has to willingfully nerf encounters so that they dont feel outclassed in every regards.

          There are other type of system that does it much better, but as far as DnD derivative goes the optimal party after level 5 or so is all mage and PERHAPS a single healer if the mages are careless. By the time theyre lvl 9 they can just teleport in and out of most situation and cast fly+invis combo to scout ahead.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        You missed the part where that fighter can call upon his set reliably and constantly whereas the caster can run out.

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Are there any RPGs where it's possible to finish the game with any build possible, even if it's dogshit?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Action games, like Dark Souls. That's part of why they're so much more popular than grid tactics or turn-based battle games. There's only so much you can do by making optimal decisions in-battle whereas action elements let you "git gud" to the point that stats and builds become merely cosmetic choices. Grinding to super high levels is probably the more classical equivalent.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        True

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Morrowind. It gives you so many outs to deal with the game even if you fricked up your build nine ways from sunday.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I would say it's strictly possible in most games, especially with enough savescumming. The problem is that your build being dogshit usually turns the game into an unfun slog to the point that you might as well reset.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Pillars of Eternity.

      Applies to party composition as well. Beat the game with whatever you want, make a themed party.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      The majority of them, probably. Games where you really can get hard-stuck due to build are actually quite rare. Even in Infinity Engine games or Pathfinder you can lower the difficulty if need be.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >Even in Infinity Engine games or Pathfinder you can lower the difficulty if need be.
        Can't speak for Pathfinder, but the Baldur's Gate games are full of companions capable of filling most critical roles. You could probably make a 9-int wizard and do fine so long as you made it far enough to pick up Khalid and Jaheira (or Xzar and Montaron).

        I think really moreso than fearing soft-lock is fearing some kind of pointless frustration* or annoyance later on because they didn't really understand the implications of build-time decisions. Eg not being able to learn high-level spells in D&D because your int is too low or vendors not even talking to you because of a low charisma score.

        * inb4 actual r...

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Deus ex

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Getting achievements/endings

      Age of Decadence. You can literally ignore the final boss by telling people his tomb was empty.

      to follow on from OP's question now that it's been answered - what is your process like when starting a new cRPG for example lads?
      Do you just browse the wiki to see recommended build guides in advance and pick one that seems the most fun? What if a companion comes along that does the exact same thing you do but you want to keep them in your party for story purposes?

      Usually check guides because some games are impossible without the right build. Grimrock 2 was so disappointing.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Almost every one of them. I finished the original Baldur's Gate games, as a kid, whilst playing a vanilla Bard.

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    You don't understand because you've never played a game where the game fricking trolls you for picking a certain class without making it obvious that it's a bad pick.

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Not every game can be finished with any build. Sometimes if you build stupid, you'll face the wall somewhere you *cannot* pass because your build is dogshit. All the time you spent until now is wasted, you have to start again to proceed.
    Not everyone is willing to deal with this, so they look up the guides.

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Sometimes there is bad design where skills become irrelevant after a certain point in the game, with no warning.
    Sometimes the devs patch things in a way that is counterintuitive and changes how a game was meant to be played.
    What really sucks is when there is a feedback loop where an ability is discovered to be super powerful, so the devs instead of nerfing it, decide to just make all the encounters much much harder, which makes other skills even less relevant as everyone is forced to double down on the OP skill.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >patching a single-player game for balance reasons
      Cancer.

      Only thing that would be acceptable is adding an extra hard difficulty setting to satisfy the gays that go out of their way to find OP builds to break the game and then complain it's too easy.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Not being able to understand or relate to others is a symptom of autism.

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    to follow on from OP's question now that it's been answered - what is your process like when starting a new cRPG for example lads?
    Do you just browse the wiki to see recommended build guides in advance and pick one that seems the most fun? What if a companion comes along that does the exact same thing you do but you want to keep them in your party for story purposes?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I understand that good CRPGs almost always require a heavy time investment so I play as best I can and then probably reroll after a few hours once I have a solid grasp on all the mechanics and initial story beats. Looking up guides online is often a lot more useless than it might seem, mostly because the builds are dogshit or because they reveal essential information that the developer intentionally made obscure or downright hid from you for a variety of reasons.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      On certain games, I have done "inspirational browsing" before deciding what to make, but I don't copy "just because".

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Since I have played most older CRPGs I usually play new ones where there are no guides yet, forcing me to figure things out on my own. Depending on the game I try to keep up with what other people are doing though and make plans for subsequent playthroughs for which I will never have the time.

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Isn't the whole point of RPGs experimenting with shit you think might be fun/interesting/useful then adapt as you learn the pros/cons of that which teaches you to get better at the copying meta builds that you find on google?
    Yes, you are correct OP. But people only want to jerk off their ego when playing video games.

  11. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Maybe take a good look at which games get the most popular threads here, what kind of "discussion" happens in them and then rethink why those people have no interest in actual game design.

  12. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Isn't the whole point of RPGs experimenting with shit you think might be fun/interesting/useful then adapt as you learn the pros/cons of that which teaches you to get better at the copying meta builds that you find on google?
    >look up meta builds to see what actually works in the game mechanics in general
    >Step one usually throw all that out the window just to design my cool rpg concept that either turns the whole meta on its ear because what people think is the meta rarely is the end of it, or if it really is the only way, incorporates the meta in some new way they didn't think of and adds a lot of fun flexible shit anyway
    >9 times out of ten end up with something that is better roleplay for the setting and more powerful anyway
    >"I did it my way"

    I'm just that good, and I've just been playing RPGs in all forms since I typed them in from BASIC program listings and rolled a 20 sider filled in with a wax crayon. When you can quickly learn the system, or see through another iteration of a familiar system in order to make something powerful no matter what, seeing "the meta" can often be an exercise in boring shit to avoid as often as it might be something to follow.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      This relates to my post

      On certain games, I have done "inspirational browsing" before deciding what to make, but I don't copy "just because".

  13. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Understand that for some (and this is the same for tabletop rpgs as well) they derive an incredibly amount of good brain chemicals by "following the meta" or "having the most optimized build"
    They don't want to do this whole exploration thing, they want things optimized to their apex, sucking the fun out of the whole process and even spoiling themselves in the process.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >They don't want to do this whole exploration thing, they want things optimized to their apex, sucking the fun out of the whole process
      some people don't consider losing fun

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Some people don't consider exploration losing.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I don't consider exploration losing, what I do consider losing is when I realize I can't progress any further in the game because I've fricked up my build and I've just wasted the last 16 hours of my time for no reason

  14. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Sometimes it's because the game's own description of how things work are insufficient, misleading or even wrong because of bugs and programming errors.

    There's a big difference between how the lightsaber stances in KOTOR II operate according to the in-game tooltips and what they're actually good for in combat. In older hardware based games like Final Fantasy I or Pokemon Red/Blue, some abilities don't work or even do the opposite of what they are supposed to.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      In the original FF1 NES, half of the blm spells literally don't work.

  15. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    If the games were actually transparent on what did what and how different mechanics interacted and didn't have arbitrary restrictions/inconsistencies for "balance reasons" I wouldn't have to.

  16. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    A focus on builds is poor game design. It shows the devs didn't really give a shit about making an RPG. They didn't put the work in to expand the world and allow the player to use their character's skills to solve a task.

  17. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >love video games
    >never look up guides because figuring things out is a large part of the fun
    >stop loving video games, play games only out of habit
    >look up guides because the thought of spending extra time due to failure feels like a chore
    Really gets the neurons running, this one.

  18. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Because fun died at the altar of efficiency.

  19. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".

    Time. RPGs are time consuming and require metagaming to experement. You really can experiment only after you know the game and finished it at least once. "Guides" help a little.

  20. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I care about the roleplay in RPG. As in. Experiencing a cool narrative and make story choices. I dont give a frick about power progression and optimized skills.

  21. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".

    You're clearly a zoomer. Once upon a time, there was no respec option in RPGs. If you made the wrong build choices, you were FRICKED for the rest of the game.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      but getting fricked was an experience and you learned what worked with time

  22. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I get where OP is coming from but at the end of the day almost all video games are very simple systems and solved problems and you're just needlessly gimping yourself if you don't follow the meta.

    I've often wondered if this is a left-brain/right-brain thing because I think people who are more artistic or creatively-inclined have trouble separating the sound and visuals of a game from the hard numbers underneath. They don't realise that it's basically all just numbers and there'll always be a best build for that reason.

  23. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    People who value their time use guides. You may have all the time in the world to game but I don't. I have a full time job and a full time family. I only get small gaming sessions and If a game needs a guide I will use it.

  24. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I like reading the research of other build scientists at the Sperg Collegium

  25. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    well devs should stop punishing me for fricking experimenting. i can't fricking make half way through the game and just start over. i have a fricking life that's time wasted. they need to suck my wiener.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Stuff like that only happens in CRPGs. Stop playing those. Those are for boomers and hipsters.

  26. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    No actually it’s roleplaying hence RPG meaning ROLEPLAYING GAME

  27. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Compared to a decade ago, the average gamer has a much larger backlog but not as much free time.
    Also, the average dev has far less respect for his players, and will happily waste your time for the opportunity to act smug on Twitter.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah treating your hobby like a chore list to get through is great idea

      https://i.imgur.com/zRsf1QO.jpg

      I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".
      Isn't the whole point of RPGs experimenting with shit you think might be fun/interesting/useful then adapt as you learn the pros/cons of that which teaches you to get better at the copying meta builds that you find on google?

      I'm convinced the only people who use build guides are people who don't actually like games

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >chore list
        That's gacha battlepasses, and such.
        Even sticking to more traditional games, AAA usually has tons of filler, so why are you surprised to see people try and skip to the good parts?

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          This is an awful way to approach a hobby you supposedly enjoy

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            I'm describing the situation as is, you think the average gamer will stop looking at walkthroughs because of your posts?
            Make better games or nothing will change.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Not really. Someone trying to learn woodworking or any sort of practical skill as a hobby will naturally use guides or ask for advice to make their experience of learning more efficient and enjoyable.

            Meanwhile you can't use a shortcut for something like books/movies/music because you have to develop your own taste in media over time.

            Vidya is in-between those two types of hobbies so you both have to invest huge amounts of time into countless experiences but you also have access to methods of making that process more enjoyable and less time-consuming for yourself.

  28. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    im my experience people who look up build guides are actually too fricking dumb to understand the game in the first place. ive never had to look up a guide because i was able to understand how everything works by myself.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >plays skyrim and persona games

  29. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    If you can respect them sure. In a lot of RPGs you make choices that make or break your character before you even start the game proper, and I don't fault anyone for not wanting to discover 10 hours in that their playthrough is fricked because of a choice they made 10 minutes in.
    Besides, in a good game most of the fun should come from playing your character rather than making them.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      *respec then, whoops

  30. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Imbeciles that start a thread with "What am I in for" should be instabanned.

    You know what's the biggest problem with the modern consumer? Literally starved for dopamine that you need to be told how to enjoy a product.
    What's the point of this thread?
    Go play the game.
    See for yourself.
    Why sit in a thread where you will be spoiled, your expectations will be skewed and you will never have a single shred of an authentic experience.
    Think for yourself.
    Literally develop a brain and have the experience on your own.
    Stop waiting for others to tell you what to think, feel and do.
    Stop living life through proxy.
    We were never meant to learn so much of our life through proxy.
    We were never meant to be this detached from ourselves that we need other people to fill in the gaps for us.
    Stop making these moronic threads and asking these braindead questions like "What am I in for?"
    What you are in for is a life devoid of any authenticity. A boring dull and completely souless existence where your mind is nothing but a drone to other people's whims. A literal slave, mind and body forever stuck in validation and scarcity FOMO hell.
    This generation is completely fricked. Stop.
    Live.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      This copypasta is always funny to me, it has the same energy as that"why are we still here, just to suffer" meme. Facts veiled with shitposting to make it palatable for NPCs.

  31. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Dnd is cancer

  32. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I just did this with Wrath of the righteous. I am looking to a 55 hours game with a lot of options for classes, skills, feats, and I want to at least have an idea 1. how things interact 2. if I can get fricked over by poor choices.

  33. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    This is why Bethesda has it right. Every build just works.

  34. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I don't care if people use build guides, so long as they don't b***h on the forums about how easy the game is or that it's no fun after somebody else solved the puzzle for them. Enjoy the product you paid for in the way you want, but don't gripe because the devs didn't design the entire game around the top three builds of players with 1k hours. Jesus Christ.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      > don't care if people use build guides
      But thats exactly what they are doing.
      Its a Zoomer-Thing. Most of them dont have the mental capacity to learn from their mistakes but still want the Satisfaction of beating the game on hard, so they look up the most broken build, the most game-breaking cheese-tactics and breeze through a game for a quick dopamine hit, walk-through open on another monitor.

      You better believe that these are the same people who then b***h on the internet how the game was easy.
      Or they struggle because the game-mechanics still frick you over at some point and then they b***h about bad game design and artificial difficulty.
      They essentially sound and act like women, everything is always someone else's fault.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >Its a Zoomer-Thing.
        Oh please, gamefaq is probably older than you.

  35. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    It's because you have no foresight into the game mechanics to make an educated decision.
    >hmmm should I put my points into HP or "Stache"
    >I want to be a melee fighter. Let me decide how to split my points between strength, constitution, endurance, fortitude, agility, dexterity, accuracy, perception, speed, luck, knives, edged weapons, simple weapons, blunt weapons, alien weapons, exotic weapons, penis weapons...
    >no respecs btw. Also half the skills don't do anything (luck and agility in smt: nocturne)

  36. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Isn't the whole point of RPGs experimenting with shit you think might be fun/interesting/useful
    That used to be the point.
    Then devs figured that out: knowing the players would pick whatever was fun/interesting/useful, they made those options weak to increase the challenge and force the players to experiment more.
    Then the players noticed, and started sharing and utilizing guides more and more to avoid trap options and gotchas.
    Things won't change until the industry at large stops this meta approach and goes back to a more spontaneous approach.

  37. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >I never understood why people look up shit like "build guides".
    Because a lot of people prefer being prepared over being surprised. For every person who hates seeing spoilers there's another who goes to check the ending before bother starting the book/movie/game.
    You can cry as much as you like about muh experience, but the actual fact is that it's just your personal preference and other people feel differently.
    It's not a new thing either, before build guides on forums we had printed guides for sale in videogame stores. Anyone pretending it's a zoomie expecting to be fed phenom is just a delusional moron who refuses to remember how shit was a few decades ago.

  38. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Agreed. I like playing the games for myself. Using my smarts and wits to compile what I think are the best goods and solutions to whatever I am role playing as.
    You could easily look up anything on the internet within seconds. It’s literally cheating.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Because we basically had no choice in the past. There were no playthroughs and guides were scarce, not to mention that some of them were complete bullshit or lies, especially on the forums where people would make up literally fake shit just to mess with you. Zoomies can literally never understand, it's entirely normal for any person today to "just google a guide", it's there, it's convenient and most importantly it's the only thing they know.

      Personally I think it's quite funny that new generations, who in theory have many more years to live and experience things on the planet default to looking up guides to "save time" while the older generation doesn't. The irony is beautiful.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        There were magazines, there was word of mouth. It wasn't as easy to find full spoilers to be sure, but we also didn't have the flip side mentality where you go in utterly blind thinking that is the "true" experience. Hell games themselves shipped with thick manuals in some cases including the kind of detail you find online now.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Not every game came with a manual or full playthrough, especially PC games 2000+. While magazines required purchase or a subscriptions, not everyone could afford it. I came from a lower middle class family in the US and had to play crpgs without any guides at all. It's nowhere near the same now as it was.

  39. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >start new rpg
    >20 hours in
    >waste points on things I never use
    >game isn't noticeably harder
    >still restart anyway

  40. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    When I was younger I prefered strategy games, sure I had played DA:O and Kotor 1 & 2 but Kingmaker was the first crpg I played with a more complex system and the biggest problem I had with the game was understanding the system, I didn't how many points each atribute should have I didn't know the feats so I couldn't plan ahead and I ended up having to restart several times and I didn't know about stat dumping or dex builds so I thought I should have all stats a little raised which ended up on my aldori defender having like 14 dex or so and I got all the way through varnhold vanishing when you fight those undead cyclops and the game became unplayable because my character couldn't tank deal damage or hit enemies so I dropped for a while until I came back with a higher understanding of the game mechanics, because of that If I want to play a game and I don't want to go through that process I'll usually look up a guide to see how much should I have in CON and what atributes are pointless to what class and I'll go on from that information so I don't have to keep restarting like a fricker

  41. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    There are a few reasons:

    1.) Prior to the advent of the internet, or rather prior to its widespread adoption, the only thing players COULD do was experiment. Thus, games were developed specifically for those players in mind. They were either simpler to afford trial and error, or forgiving. Those that weren't were either vilified as trash or praised, depending on how addicting the gameplay was.
    2.) Since the internet now exists, most games expect you to go online and look up where all the items are, what the effective builds are, when you can get them, how you can get them, etc. Seriously try playing modern RPGs blind, they have so many missables and punishing mechanics that it's often exasperating.
    3.) And finally, the biggest one for most gamers today, time: I have a backlog of games from the fricking 90's that I'm trying to play. Some of them are ones I've played before, some of them are new ones I never played then, and some of them are shitty ones I just want to experience so I can rage. For newer RPGs unless they are stellar I just want to get through them for the experience, sad as it is to say. There are the occasional diamonds in the rough but as a general rule I can't be bothered to slog for 40 hours like in the good old days, because that 40 hours is now 2 weeks instead of 3 days.

  42. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Gosh it’s like there’s more than one way to enjoy a game or something

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      It's like when faced with difficulty some people choose to use their own brains and some don't.

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