Question The genre struggle is real.

[Krud]

So, I've been gaming for most of my life, decades at this point. And during that time I've tried a lot of games in a lot of genres. Some genres I gravitate to more than others, but there are also some genres that I *want* to like, or be good at, but for whatever reason I struggle to "get good" at them, or even to enjoy them despite my not being good. Case in point, epic strategy games like Europa Universalis IV. My friends love this game (and games like it), and I can see what they like about it, and want to like it myself. But I just can't get into it, nor can I work up the motivation to get past the learning curve.

My question to you is this: Is there a genre, subgenre or series that you wish you liked, and don't necessarily see as "bad" or a waste of your time or anything like that, but for whatever reason you just can't get into?

OR, alternatively, are you the sort of gamer who if you don't immediately take to a game, you just shrug it and move on, figuring it must not be worthwhile after all?

 

[Topher]

JRPG

I love western RPGs. Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, etc. Can't get enough. I just can't get into JRPG. I try to force myself because there are so many out there and they look so cool. But typically I can't get into the gameplay.

I'm not giving up though. Sometimes I think it is just a matter of getting a game type to "click" in your head and then you see what others enjoy so much.

 

[Pifanjr]

MMORPGs. I've played a ton of them, but most of them I quit within a week or two. The main problem is that whenever I play with friends they inevitably get ahead of me and it just isn't fun to try to catch up alone.

This even happened when I played WoW with my wife. We started out doing everything together, but then she got addicted to the pet battles and went off on her own. I quit playing not too long after.

I'm also not good at/interested in making new friends online, so I never join a guild that could keep me interested in the game either.

Most of all though, the gameplay for basically any MMO sucks compared to single player games, so I start longing for something better soon regardless.

 

[Zoid]

Same as @Topher and @Pifanjr . For me it's JRPGs and MMOs primarily. I want to love JRPGs, but to date I haven't been able to get on board. I started to see a glimmer of light when I tried Dragon Quest 8 though, so maybe they'll hook me yet.

As for MMOs, I love the organic nature of the worlds and the way that large scale events and evolutions can unfold, but the same thing that drives those (the real human players) is why I haven't been able to get into them yet. There always seems to be just a little too much trolling for me.

An honorable mention for me would be punishingly difficult "dark souls like" games. I love watching videos of them, and I see the appeal, but I haven't yet been able to dive in. The closest I've gotten would be Monster Hunter World, which I quite enjoyed, so maybe I'll give Sekiro a try sometime. That seems like a good entry point.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Same as @Topher - all signs show I should like jRPG. I consider "western" cRPG as my main genre, I like Japan and their culture and yet.... jRPG are always a miss. The only "Japan made RPG" that I enjoyed is Dark Souls series. And that's not really a typical jRPG in any means.

What usually puts me off is their systems. I sooo much more prefer systems where every attribute point matters, like going from 14 to 16 strength in D&D games means something tangible, that makes difference in a fight etc. In jRPG when I see attributes in hundreds, HP bars in trillions and dealing 1231245dmg with even basic attack... I just sigh and move on to something else.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Visual Novels and turned based RPG's.

There are some RPG's that I really think are good but I can't get them to play because I just can't get into the turn based thing. I played of them for a bit (Tyranny), which is technically not turn based but the way you have to play it is.

Visual novels is another one. There is alot of crap in terms of them (like Sakura games I guess), but there are some really good ones too, and the 2 I finished I actually enjoyed. I just can't get myself to play / watch / read more of them, while I own Clannad, which is apparently a great one at it.

 

[Zloth]

Typical RTS games. I made it through the original Command & Conquer but that's been it. I did really like Sacrifice and BattleZone even though those are essentially RTS games. I really liked the Sword of the Stars 4X games, too, even with their RTS-style battles. But Warcraft and quite a few others? Nope.

What usually puts me off is their systems. I sooo much more prefer systems where every attribute point matters, like going from 14 to 16 strength in D&D games means something tangible, that makes difference in a fight etc. In jRPG when I see attributes in hundreds, HP bars in trillions and dealing 1231245dmg with even basic attack... I just sigh and move on to something else.

I don't get it? They're just numbers. If the boss has 35hp and your sword does 1hp damage, it's the same as a boss with 3500hp and a sword that does 100hp. If you like, you can just imagine that there's a decimal point somewhere in the numbers. Also, 14->16 strength probably means 1 extra damage and an extra 5% to hit. You're going to have a difficult time noticing those unless you track hits and misses then do some math afterwards!

JRPGs come in as many flavors as western RPGs, really. Dragon's Dogma is not at all like Last Remnant which is not at all like Tales of Berseria which is not at all like Valkyria Chronicles (if you can even call that last a JRPG).

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

@Zloth I know, this is oddly specific but for me small amount of points > insane amount of points. I like that 1-2 points of difference mean something in D&D, because if it's jRPG than it probably means I would need to invest at least few hundred points for the same kind of difference. I guess I just like low numbers Or i am weird. Wait, surely I am!

I tried Dragon's Dogma recently, the controls killed it for me. Can't remember all the jRPG I tried, but there was always something making me leave them very soon and it's not the graphic style.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Krud great question!
Puzzle games. I try and play them, I get a way in then at some point I get stuck then bored. I dont like to look up solutions, so I end up taking a 'break' and then never going back. I did with, with Portal, Talos Principle, The Swapper and probably more. I guess you can add Point and Click adventure games there too for the same reason.

ARPG's. I played Diablo a bit and most of Diablo 2 through once and I was done and not interested any more. Years later I picked up Torchlight 2 and did about 10 hours and got bored. More recently Grim Dawn got me for about 25 hours then I got bored again, before even finishing one play-through.

I have a friend who plays Path of Exile religiously. I'm kind of jealous of the way he gets excited every time a new season starts. I want to feel that excitement he gets for that one game, I guess like many feel for Fortnight or whatever else. I just usually cant even bring myself to replay a game more than twice, when there are so many new games that look interesting!

MMORPG's too, I've always needed gaming as time to wind down on my own away from the world, and I never really learned how to communicate to strangers in those games when I tried. I'm fine IRL so I guess the opposite of many.

An honorable mention for me would be punishingly difficult "dark souls like" games. I love watching videos of them, and I see the appeal, but I haven't yet been able to dive in. The closest I've gotten would be Monster Hunter World, which I quite enjoyed, so maybe I'll give Sekiro a try sometime. That seems like a good entry point.

The Souls games are fantastic ! I was a latecomer too, got into Dark Souls on Switch of all things. Sekiro released just as I was finished with DS and after that I finished both DS3 then 2 on PC.

I have to say, Sekiro is not the recent Fromsoft game I'd start with. I had a tough time with DS as expected, but struggled through and got real enjoyment out of that. Sekiro is by far the hardest of all 3. DS3 and 2 were relatively a breeze after Sekiro. I still havent beaten the final boss, to my shame.

I'd probably suggest DS3 to start as I think its the most polished and consistent DS game IMO. The story is oblique and only vaguely connected to the other games. So you wont be spoiled for anything if you try the other games afterwards.

 

[Johnway]

Fighting games. I want to get into them and be able to hold my own but frankly i'm rubbish at them. can't get the moves right, there's a lot of technical stuff that i don't understand or didn't realize and frankly its too late to "get good" at them.

RTS multiplayer comes a close second. The amount of management and memorizing buttons is just too much. when there are so many buttons it feels like i'm learning an application or a new piece of software and thats tedious. I learn enough to play in SP and even then its on normal. Hell, even on normal i get taxed. COH2 Ardenne assualt i'm looking at you.

 

[Frindis]

Good post @Krud There is one genre I seldom play and that is fighting games like Mortal Kombat. Like @Johnway I also have problems learning the controls and execute correct moves. Oh, and I do not play clicker games a lot. I find them to be absolutely bonkers most of the time!

 

[Hveðrungr]

Case in point, epic strategy games like Europa Universalis IV.

I recommend you buy an old copy of EU1 (or 2) instead. The new versions suffer from excessive Paradoxitis, where until you drop a hundred bucks you are only playing a glorified paid-for demo. But the original, the one that made their name, was a great game out of the box. And it had a proper manual!

MMORPGs. The main problem is that whenever I play with friends they inevitably get ahead of me and it just isn't fun to try to catch up alone.

You could try Elder Scrolls Online. It has systems specifically designed so that the highest-ranked players can play content alongside absolute beginners. Sure the plot elements will have already been seen by the higher player, but if the gameplay loop is fun that doesn't matter much. ESO also has a friendly, mature community.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Is there a genre, subgenre or series that you wish you liked, and don't necessarily see as "bad" or a waste of your time or anything like that, but for whatever reason you just can't get into?

I solve this problem by deciding that any genre I'm bad at or can't get into is dumb and a waste of time. Issue resolved.

 

[Pifanjr]

You could try Elder Scrolls Online. It has systems specifically designed so that the highest-ranked players can play content alongside absolute beginners. Sure the plot elements will have already been seen by the higher player, but if the gameplay loop is fun that doesn't matter much. ESO also has a friendly, mature community.

My wife is a big Skyrim fan and has expressed interest in ESO before, but the main problem now is that we simply don't have a lot of time to play together due to work and our daughter.

 

[Jeff Kaos]

I pay attention to you a lot more than anyone else on the PC Gamer website and I assume you and I are a of a similar age as well as have similar tastes and thoughts as far as gaming is concerned. Case in point: I also want to like Epic Strategy games like "Crusader Kings 2" or "Galactic Civilizations 3" but I lose interest in the games after a while or in the case of CK2 all of the rigamarole overwhelmed me during the first half hour of the tutorial that I was like: "I'm a middle-aged man with a family and a career; I don't have the time to learn and retain everything I need to know to play this game" so I put it down.

So while I'm a huge fan of strategy games I tend to stick to games that play more like the table top board games I've been playing for most of my life. Luckily a lot of the board games sitting on my shelf have a digital version available either on PC or tablet. And there's a lot of games that play like one; "Heroes of Might and Magic III" is a family favorite that even our 8 year old has gotten into.

I also can't really get into Japanese RPGs. I grew up with western RPGs in the 80s on my old Commodore 64 computer but when I started gaming on consoles in the late 80s and throughout the 90s I gravitated towards JRPGs because I love RPGs. I thought they were good games until I played "Fallout 2" in college. Once I played a newer RPG (new at the time anyway) I realized that JRPGs lacked the sense of freedom I like in my RPGs. They look pretty and have decent stories. But they're not really "Role Playing" games since 9 out 0f 10 times the "role" is chosen for you.

 

[Krud]

MMORPGs. I've played a ton of them, but most of them I quit within a week or two. The main problem is that whenever I play with friends they inevitably get ahead of me and it just isn't fun to try to catch up alone.

I run into this same problem (though I sometimes last a couple of months -- I stuck with LOTRO for almost two years in F2P mode), but I keep playing them, just in case. I actually fell in love with City of Heroes for a while, and keep hoping for that to happen again.

 

[Zloth]

I actually fell in love with City of Heroes for a while, and keep hoping for that to happen again.

Yeah, CoH basically spoiled the whole MMO industry for me. The ability to play with anyone I knew at any time, whether they were lower or higher level, and contribute meaningfully was huge. The difficulty sliders were huge. Each class covering two roles (or 3 for the Kheldian (sp?) space squids) made nearly any combination of 2-8 characters a viable group. You could even add people right in the middle of a mission and the opposition would increase to keep it fun - or decrease if somebody had to leave.

Trying to play an MMO again where I have to stay in lock-step level with my friends is just not going to happen. Oh, we can't possibly run without a healer - oh, the tank had to log, we better stop and find a new one!? Ugh. Guild Wars 2 at least tried to deal with some of this but, last I checked (which was quite a few years ago), it still wasn't in the same class.

 

[Krud]

"Heroes of Might and Magic III" is a family favorite that even our 8 year old has gotten into.

For some reason I haven't really checked out the Heroes of Might and Magic series*. I played "Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic," but I'm assuming that's far different.

(* - Partly because I never got into the Might and Magic series, other than Dark Messiah. I tried Clouds of Xeen in college, but I have no memory of it besides thinking it felt a bit like the TSR Gold Box games, format-wise.)

 

[Sarafan]

I have a problem with adventure games. Many people love it, but I can't get into them. My attempts of playing adventure games usually ended in reading solutions on the Internet and doing a walkthrough with a guide launched in the background. I guess that I don't have patience to play this kind of games, but I'd love to play and enjoy them.

 

[Hveðrungr]

I have a problem with adventure games. Many people love it, but I can't get into them. My attempts of playing adventure games usually ended in reading solutions on the Internet and doing a walkthrough with a guide launched in the background. I guess that I don't have patience to play this kind of games, but I'd love to play and enjoy them.

There's no harm in keeping a walkthrough open as a backup for when you can't solve a problem. Don't listen to the gatekeepers. You're there to enjoy it, not to get a qualification. Novels don't make you pass tests to be allowed to turn the page, games don't have to either.

 

[Jawaka]

So, I've been gaming for most of my life, decades at this point. And during that time I've tried a lot of games in a lot of genres. Some genres I gravitate to more than others, but there are also some genres that I *want* to like, or be good at, but for whatever reason I struggle to "get good" at them, or even to enjoy them despite my not being good. Case in point, epic strategy games like Europa Universalis IV. My friends love this game (and games like it), and I can see what they like about it, and want to like it myself. But I just can't get into it, nor can I work up the motivation to get past the learning curve.

My question to you is this: Is there a genre, subgenre or series that you wish you liked, and don't necessarily see as "bad" or a waste of your time or anything like that, but for whatever reason you just can't get into?

OR, alternatively, are you the sort of gamer who if you don't immediately take to a game, you just shrug it and move on, figuring it must not be worthwhile after all?

not really. I've pretty much just acknowledged that I'm just not a fan of certain genres and instead play games from the ones that I know I like.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

For me it has to be the souls-like. I have only finished two of the genre, Dark Souls III and just the other day Code Vein. I have tried and failed many more. DS 1&2, Lords of the Fallen, The Surge and Sekiro.

Anyway these games do some incredible world building but the difficulty always gets in my way. Code Vein was a lot easier than any of the others and I thoroughly enjoyed that one, but even having finished DS3 I can't say it was a fun experience. It really bugs me I can't get enjoyment from these games I paid for because of their game play.