This is why I can basically only play old games or indies. Games shouldn’t feel like work or require me to pay tons of money. I play games to have fun, which I guess is a radical idea now.

Potentially worded a bit abrasively but…kinda yeah. They rely so heavily on fomo, gacha, and other skinner box tricks to keep you playing other than FUN. Just remember what happened to Titanfall 2: "ohhh it was SO FUN it just didn’t have the events and grinding and stuff I wanted >:( "

As someone who loves stardew (I have 1000+ hours in it) I can see what you mean. I hope you’ll find mods you like, but maybe it’s just better to try other games like sun haven? Never played it myself but I read it eliminates exactly this time managing thing stardew has. And yeah, the fishing is hard. I heard “The fishing in Stardew is the souls-like in farming Minigames” a lot and I think it’s true.

The game is kind of a chore at first when you have to manually water your crops. Once you’re more established and have sprinklers you can really put a lot of the farming on autopilot.

I can see why the time mechanic is there but I agree it can be a negative point to the game. You’re not the first person I see complaining about this.

I liked the game enough but needing to get a rare fish that can only be fished at certain season, certain time period and only when raining to complete quests was annoying, as was needing to get out of the dungeon while I was having a good run because of time. It would have been better if there were alternative means to get the fish, like buying from the fisherman, and the option to camp in the dungeon.

I actually feel like Harvest Moon was more chill and relaxing. Stardew Valley stressed me out because I felt like if I didn’t manage my time properly I was doing it wrong which felt weird given the game’s message about leaving the demanding stressful work life of the city behind.

The content and world in MMOs feels superficial. I much prefer a tightly constructed narrative with deep, meaningful character development. The Last Of Us is a great example of this.

I recently tried to play MH: World and bounced so hard. They really need to consider how to ease new players to the genre into the game. The first hour included so much exposition, paragraphs of text, and detailed menu tutorials before I really had any context for why anything is important. I know that the games have always been this way, but it felt lazy.

Out of curiosity, which one(s) did you try?

Please give sekiro a try if you ever get a chance. It’s like dark souls but for people like us that want good fun gameplay instead of constant bs :D

Have you tried Nioh/Wolong? While I really like the Souls games for the exploration and world design I much prefer the faster and more complex combat of the Nioh games.

I played Elden Ring for 2 hours and then refunded it. I don’t like that combat style at all.

I enjoyed some parts of it, but I’m the same way. I was often scouting the world for that one piece of that one vehicle option so I could continue playing the actual game. Ended up spending as much time reading online guides and maps as actually playing.

Yeah I could never get into MOBAs either. Weird thing is I thought my issue was with the control scheme and how abilities are assigned to number keys, but I picked up Diablo IV and I’ve gotta say I don’t mind it at all. Maybe its an implementation thing since Diablo is a very different type of game, but overall I agree with this. Also gives me overwatch vibes because everyone picks based off what their enemy team picks and get mald when your team isn’t 100% efficient. Not for me personally

And a single round takes so long! I don’t know how people have fun with these.

You should try world if you can. Rise has too much systems bloat in my opinion. World was my first monster hunter and I have over 200 hours and I am still not done. Rise added so much stuff with palicos and palamutes that I couldn’t be bothered to do. It tipped the scales just a bit too much towards systems bloat in my opinion. I haven’t played generations but from my understanding, it isn’t as modernised as the current iterations of monster hunter so that may be causing you some friction.

Speaking as a player with thousands and thousands of hours in CS… I definitely get why it doesn’t appeal to some people. But what you describe about it is exactly why I and so many other people like it. The game changes very little, and pretty much only gives you guns and grenades as weapons, no fancy abilities or anything like most modern titles.

That unchanging-ness and limited toolset means that raw strategy and to a lesser degree reflexes are the only ways to get ahead. With the map designs set in stone, many with decades of refinement and balance adjustments, you get intimately familiar with every door, corner, and corridor. It becomes much more about predicting what the other team will do and strategizing against it, rather than just grappling with the game and mechanics.

I agree about Skyrim. The entire world feels dead, the npcs are lifeless. It’s really hard for me to feel the world and the story. The Witcher 3 came out only 4 years later and it’s several orders of magnitude better to me.

I agree wholeheartedly. I don’t feel like Bethesda has innovated with their RPGs in a single meaningful way since Oblivion. Every single game they make just feels buggy and samey, and the “systems” don’t make up for the synthetic quality. Games like Prey, Stalker, The Witcher or Elden Ring all take various approaches to the idea of an open ended gameplay experience and they all do it better than Bethesda’s games.

Here’s hoping Starfield does something genuinely refreshing.

I’ve played Destiny 2 religiously throughout Warmind up to Shadowkeep, but after giving it some thought, I feel like I agree with you. Most of the fun I’ve had in that game was because I played it with my friends. We were happy messing around and shooting at each other’s backsides and maybe occasionally getting something done in the scarce 3-player content there was, kind of like a glorified hangout space, but if I had to play it by myself? I don’t know, chief. I do love the feel of the guns and the lore (up to a certain point), but I wouldn’t call the game itself a good time.

I used to play LoL back in 2012 or so but got tired of not being able to play as I wanted so I left and never looked back.

Having to choose characters based on the needed role was bad enough, not being allowed to explore new builds and possibilities but what the current meta dictated was so ridiculous. I felt some vindication when a build I was exploring later turned out to be considered too powerful and got reworked (AP Yi, fuck you those who shit on me when I bought the magic ring as my first item).

For me it was definitely the combat. I’m not sure why exactly but the movement and attacks feel “off”. I can stand only a few encounters and and then I’m out.

For me its Bloodborne.

Best game of all time, except for all the walking back to the bosses, vial system, framerate drops, shonky multiplayer.

But damn its so good.

I had the same issue with every Witcher game… I had to start each of them a few times, to get totally hooked on it on the 3rd try usually, no idea why.