Do you ever get frustrated playing a game that has no wiki?

[ZedClampet]

A lot of games maybe don't require a wiki, like your standard singleplayer FPS. But some games require a ton of knowledge, like some survival games, for instance, and really need them. I'm playing Craftopia a bit these days, and it is so utterly frustrating. There's almost zero info on this game out there. I've become so used to using a wiki that this feels extremely frustrating.

 

[Pifanjr]

I can't remember the last time I played a game without a wiki, or the last time I couldn't find the answer to any question I had regarding a game for that matter.

 

[ZedClampet]

I can't remember the last time I played a game without a wiki, or the last time I couldn't find the answer to any question I had regarding a game for that matter.

Technically this game has a wiki, but every page is either blank or contains only a very obvious summary: "Workbench. The workbench is used for crafting" sort of thing. Of course, I guess I should shut up and start working on it...

 

[Zloth]

That's the most annoying thing about a Wiki. If any part of it annoys you, you've got nobody to blame but yourself! Harrumph!!

(Well, unless it's falling apart. The Sword of the Stars games' wikis are dying.)

 

[Brian Boru]

Civilization games have had good built-in Civopedias, but it's still amazing how much more is left out. Luckily, there's CivFanatics forums

some games require a ton of knowledge

If there's a serious lack of info about such a game, I'll pass and move on. Much of the reason I usually avoid fantasy & syfy is I have no desire to have to learn whole new systems and unit abilities—my priority is to enjoy gameplay, not to learn it.

 

[Pifanjr]

my priority is to enjoy gameplay, not to learn it.

But that is the enjoyable part of games, when everything is new and you get discover how it all works.

 

[Brian Boru]

that is the enjoyable part

that is A enjoyable part, but not for me

 

[Frindis]

Not really, if I need to find something about the game, there are always forums I can visit or people in different chat/streams I can ask.

 

[Pifanjr]

that is A enjoyable part, but not for me

I made a thread about that over 1.5 years ago:

Favourite Core Aesthetics

In 2004, a paper was published in which an attempt was made to formalize some of the language used to talk about game design: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=24640B609CF819EE213B7C42AC0E1355?doi=10.1.1.79.4561&rep=rep1&type=pdf A video that explains the aesthetics...

forums.pcgamer.com

I suppose neither ZedClampet or you have Discovery as your favourite aesthetic. Though perhaps it's just in a different way.

 

[Brian Boru]

I suppose neither ZedClampet or you have Discovery as your favourite aesthetic. Though perhaps it's just in a different way

Funnily enough, I voted Sensation, Discovery and Acquisition
Discovery in the sense of exploring.

 

[Sarafan]

Any bigger release has some wiki or guide on the internet. The problem starts when we play some small indie games. In these cases I sometimes miss the information that bigger titles receive. I won't lie to you. I sometimes consult my playthroughs with online sources. There are situations in which solving puzzles on your own or finding particular item or location in a vast open world on your own is very hard and frustrating. I never was a fan of playing games without any help because the developers sometimes prepare very hard challenges. So yeah, there are moments when I miss game wikis.

 

[Pifanjr]

Funnily enough, I voted Sensation, Discovery and Acquisition
Discovery in the sense of exploring.

Ah, I suppose that still makes sense then. Learning new mechanics really only involves Discovery of those three, it doesn't really incorporate Sensation or Acquisition, though tutorials that do incorporate those would probably work better for you then.

My choices were Discovery and Fantasy. Tutorials almost always immerse you into the lore and workings of the world (the fantasy) as well as the working of the game.

 

[Zloth]

The Last Remnant was really bad about needing a Wiki. Your characters all upgrade their own weapons, but they need various materials to do so. You can find these all over the game and, in general, the ones you'll be looking for will be in the areas you're hanging around. When it's not, though, or when you miss something, you're suddenly trying to remember where that "royal cotton" was. The game doesn't record what you've found, so either you keep a LOT of notes, you use the wiki, or your character gets gimped. (There's several dozen characters, so having a few get gimped isn't a huge loss.)

 

[mainer]

Recently, no. Any games I've played in the past few years had a Wiki, or at the very least sources of information that you could Google to find. For me, it's usually for riddle or puzzle solving, if I get to a point where I'm just completely stumped, I'll close the game and consult a Wiki or other internet source. Like some of the more complex Astarium Constellation puzzle in DA Inquisition, or some of Pyramid Teleporting puzzles towards the end of Divinity Original Sin 1; I'd have been lost without help. But as far as learning a game's mechanics and systems, I'm usually pretty good at learning those.

Years ago, before the internet was a "thing", I sometimes resorted to those 1-900-Hint lines, where you could call (and pay) for a clue or solution. I remember a certain door that required solving a riddle to open. It was either in ES Arena, or ES Daggerfall; but I just couldn't solve it, so I consulted the hint line, as it was a main quest location and I couldn't proceed otherwise. Thankfully, those things don't exist anymore.

 

[Krud]

I'm so old, I miss game manuals. I know that games change too much nowadays for a manual to be consistent, but they could at least post a digital PDF and update it as needed (and put version numbers on the PDFs.) So yes, if a game has neither a manual nor a wiki, I get mildly annoyed. And accessing in-game help is sometimes easier said than done, depending on the title. (And is often not super helpful anyway, beyond telling you what keys/buttons do what, and some lore.)