Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Violent By Design]

You can't get the same experience but it's relatively easy to project how a game can play based on a person's past experience and what knowledge they have of the mechanics.

If I've played Pacman, I can project how Ms.Pacman plays and so on and so forth.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

That's not fair. Pac-Man is a genre unto itself.

[Violent By Design]

That's not fair. Pac-Man is a genre unto itself.

That makes zero sense.

I can play Super Mario Bros and know what Super Mario Bros 2 (Japanese) is like. I can keep going if you'd like.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

What I mean is, Pac-Man and all of its clones are nearly exactly the same and everyone knows it. Your argument here is that you'll know what it feels like to play a game based on watching a video or reading about it, but you only know what Pac-Man games are like because you've played one. Sure, Ace Combat 04 is a lot like Ace Combat 5, but if you have never played a flight game you'd have no idea how it felt to handle the game.

[BurningDoom]

You can't get the same experience but it's relatively easy to project how a game can play based on a person's past experience and what knowledge they have of the mechanics.

If I've played Pacman, I can project how Ms.Pacman plays and so on and so forth.

But then you played Pacman, so you've had that experience. A better description of your argument would be that you've never played Pac-Man game and you saw a video on Classic Game Room so you know all about Pac-Man.

Regardless, there are differences between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man that you really don't "get" until you play it. The ghosts act a little differently, so you have to strategize a bit different than Pac-Man.

[Violent By Design]

You can't get the same experience but it's relatively easy to project how a game can play based on a person's past experience and what knowledge they have of the mechanics.

If I've played Pacman, I can project how Ms.Pacman plays and so on and so forth.

But then you played Pacman, so you've had that experience. A better description of your argument would be that you've never played Pac-Man game and you saw a video on Classic Game Room so you know all about Pac-Man.

Regardless, there are differences between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man that you really don't "get" until you play it. The ghosts act a little differently, so you have to strategize a bit different than Pac-Man.

But you're undermining what the person said, and making it an issue of black and white.

Obviously if you've never played a game before you'll never know EXACTLY how it is. But if you've played previous titles, and looked up the differences, then there is no reason why you can't make an assumption about that said game.

I haven't played Battlefield 3, but I have a pretty good idea what I'd be getting into based on the previous ones I've played. So on and so forth.

Like you point out you have to strategies differently in MsPacman. Of course, it's not the same exact game. But I think if a person played a game with in the same genre, especially a game that has similar mechanics, there is no reason to pretend that individual has no idea how that game feels.

[brunoafh]

I haven't played Battlefield 3, but I have a pretty good idea what I'd be getting into based on the previous ones I've played. So on and so forth.

Yeah, you would have a general idea, but as far as judging the game or having any real say about it, that's another story. You can't just say "well I played a Battlefield game so I know how all of them are" and expect to have your opinion valued in the conversation, especially among people that have played the game.

Like with Call of Duty games, I pretty much imagine they are all carbon copies, but I refrain from ever actually talking about them because I never play them.

Plus games can pretty wildly change and evolve within franchises. Not everything falls under "played one played them all". Using Pacman/Ms. Pacman and Mario Brothers is a simplistic example that doesn't take into consideration how much games can change within franchises.

[MrEco]

Ah, the old "how can you judge it if you haven't played it" argument. Yeah, that use to work back before Youtube, detailed video game reviews, and plot summaries on Wikipedia existed. It doesn't work anymore nowadays though.

Watching videos and reading what someone else has to say about a game is in no way equivalent to actually playing a game for yourself.

If you could get the experience by watching and reading, there wouldn't be any need for video games at all.

To everyone: Please note what my gripes with the two games actually were. They were either a problem with a design decision (I said I didn't enjoy Infinite's limit of only holding 2 weapons at a time, for example), or a story related issue (such as plot holes or HR being too preachy). Oh, and then yes, I also complained about the uncanny valley effect HR had with it's NPC's.

Now please explain to me. How is there any difference between seeing those things in a Youtube video (etc) vs. seeing them while playing the game? I can easily read in a review that Infinite limits you to only 2 weapons, then from past experience with the other Bioshock's I can say "Hey, that doesn't sound like a good idea."

I can clearly experience the story of both games in either a video (And I watch a ton of Let's Play's, especially for games I'm on the fence about) or a plot summary if I so wanted. The story doesn't change at all if I'm not the one holding the controller.

And once again, in a video or even from screenshots in a review, I can clearly judge for myself what I think of the character models in a game. And in HR's case, they look jarringly bad to me.


Also, please, please, don't accuse me of being one of those people that read a review and take it's words to mean law. I only read reviews to inform my own judgement's, such as when the author of the review manages to just state facts ("This game last about 8 hours") and not opinions ("This game was over too quickly").

[Damm64]

That's the beauty of videogames, they are a interactive media. It dosen't matter if you already know the plot, the looks and the gameplay if you sit down and play it then you're experienting the game by yourself, you're FEELING the controls, making you're way through the game and using your own way of taking down the enemies.

I saw a bunch of gameplay of minecraft, i saw a bunch of images of minecraft, i saw a bunch of reviews of minecraft, every tough i got was "Wow this looks boring as hell", and then i played the game and got hook in a second and wasn't able to spot playing for at least a week. This also happened the other way around i though of some games "this looks fun" and then i got it and didn't like it.

And sorry if there's some bad spelling around this post.

[Violent By Design]

That's the beauty of videogames, they are a interactive media. It dosen't matter if you already know the plot, the looks and the gameplay if you sit down and play it then you're experienting the game by yourself, you're FEELING the controls, making you're way through the game and using your own way of taking down the enemies.

I saw a bunch of gameplay of minecraft, i saw a bunch of images of minecraft, i saw a bunch of reviews of minecraft, every tough i got was "Wow this looks boring as hell", and then i played the game and got hook in a second and wasn't able to spot playing for at least a week. This also happened the other way around i though of some games "this looks fun" and then i got it and didn't like it.

And sorry if there's some bad spelling around this post.

Yes, but it is not like you cannot take an educated guess on how a game feels. It is a game afterall. It's almost like saying a person who has played Monopoly has no idea how Star Wars Monopoly plays.

I've never played Skyrim, but I've certainly played games like Skyrim. Unless I play it and it starts playing like Sonic the hedgehog, I don't think I'd be shitting myself. It doesn't mean that I literally know everything there is to know about Skyrim, but it is not like I cannot envision how the gameplay works based on the countless hours I've had playing games just like it. Literally every gamer does this, it's why you play the games you play. It being an interactive media really doesn't mean anything, because this applies to every form of entertainment.