What are you GOOD at in games?

[Brian Boru]

Figured I'd make a thread where my own contri would be very short. There's a companion thread where I have a lot to say tho—What are you BAD at in games?

Strategy, planning and puzzle solving are my main general strengths. Hence my affinity for slow-paced RTS with significant resource and base building requirements, and also TBS 4X games—mostly Civ—with all the time in the world to consider and deploy.

In shooters, the only kind I'm good at are the open world ones where stealthy play is viable. I'm good with a bow, and maybe shooting—is ~50% headshots a good ratio?

I'm also good at word games, as I bragged about recently—played those a lot ever before video games became a thing.

What about you? Brag like no one's reading

 

[Pifanjr]

I'm good at learning new games. I've always jumped from one game to the next, rarely actually finishing games and I think I've played at least one game from every genre. This means I'm not very good at any one game, but I can learn new games pretty quickly.

I've won games against better opponents because I could quickly figure out their patterns. In FPS games, that can mean hiding in corners I notice people overlooking. In fighting games, I might taunt my opponent to the edge and make him fall off. In MOBA games, I might get my opponent to overstretch just enough to prevent him from being able to escape when I attack him.

It's not perfect and the top players usually don't fall for it or can react so quickly it doesn't matter, but it means I'm usually not placing last or at least performing better than expected from someone with limited experience in the game.

 

[ZedClampet]

I'm good at melee games. Timing and positioning just seem to come naturally to me.

I consider myself good at strategy and problem solving, which helps in pretty much any game. For instance, in Craftopia I was supposed to collect 100 of a very, very hard to get resource in a very punishing world where you are constantly having to take potions just to survive. But when you go there, you spawn on a small island where none of that is happening. It's to let you get your bearings before constantly trying to murder you. So I knew that high level creatures that die in this world will rarely drop what I needed, so I brought some with me and started a breeding farm on that little island and set it up so that they would breed very quickly and get pushed off of the platform that I'd created and fall into the lava surrounding the island. People have said on Reddit that it took them hours and hours to collect this material. It took me about10 minutes.

Honestly, I can't think of anything else I'm particularly good at. I can think of quite of bit of things that I'm definitely not good at though

 

[mainer]

I think a lot of what I feel I'm good at depends upon the specific game I'm playing. I'm getting into that whole "game genre" thing again, but I think it makes a difference. I know @Brian Boru that you're into the Far Cry games as well as the Civilization games, none of which I've played. I rarely play pure "shooters" and haven't played a pure strategy game since the Myth games from eons ago. My gaming experience is mainly in the RPG/ARPG category, as well as that "immersive sims" category, which can often feel like an RPG to me.

My point being, that those things or skills that I consider myself good at in one game, might not be very good in a shooter or strategy game. So anyway, the "things" that I think I'm good at from the games I've played:

Archery
Bows, crossbows, a Ranger or a ranged weapon type fighter. I love that combat style and will almost always default to a character build that employs ranged weapons. Silent. Deadly. And in many cases can relate to my next "good" ability:

Stealth
I'm sneaky. I hide in the shadows. I watch your movements and tendencies. I'll wait for that right opportunity to strike, or just move, timing the guard patterns. Silent kills. Or maybe I'll just be in and out with all your valuables without making a sound and without so much as harming a hair on your chin. I can spend hours sneaking, watching, and timing movements; in that, I'm extremely patient.

Sniping and/or the use of sniper rifles
Basically, the same as above only with a sniper rifle. I can wait a long time for that perfect head shot.

Conversion, the ability to change NPCs viewpoints
I love doing that as well, and often build a character with the abilities to do so. Changing someone's beliefs, talking my way out of a hostile situation, finding new info; all kinds of choices & options exist, at least in games that allow it. Sometimes I can alter the way a companion behaves or thinks (again, in games that have those options), and result in different outcomes.

 

[Sarafan]

Choosing the appropriate dialogue options in RPGs. Basically I know how to consistently lead a character in conversations. It's not always possible, but in most cases I make a decision on the very beginning what character I'm going to role-play and try to stick with it through the whole game. I like when the developers give freedom of choice in this matter. Currently I'm playing Disco Elysium and it's hard for a better example of how dialogues in RPGs should look like. You want a centrist? No problem. Left-wing or right-wing? It's there. Basically I have a good feeling when it comes to choosing dialogue options.

 

[Zloth]

I'm good at a lot of stuff, though not really great at any of it. I'm really good at pure logic puzzles ("Joey has a red scarf. Nancy is sitting next to somebody with a green scarf. Three people have blue scarves...") but I don't find them in games often. I'm better with time to think about a problem, but who isn't?

All in all, I think a comprehensive gaming skills report card for me would be a forest of B's. Especially if there's a correction for age. Less especially if there's a correction for time spent playing games. (I play games more than the average gamer, so I sure hope I'm better than the average gamer!)